Played a little ODST today... (Destiny)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Sunday, October 12, 2014, 01:55 (3939 days ago) @ Oholiab

ODST remains my favorite Halo game because it offered a "stylized" Halo experience. The concept of film noir permeated the story, art, gameplay, sound, etc. and all those components worked to enhance that concept. The fact that it had such a short development cycle only increases my appreciation for the game. Destiny, too, demonstrates a well-defined concept that informs and inspires those same components.

Agreed. Several times I marveled at how much total darkness Bungie allowed in ODST and at how good the story + setting + music worked.

My one beef with ODST is that it relied heavily on the "defend position" scenario. Too often the situations are defensive, rather than offensive, and These moments stall a good story rather than advancing it. I'm sure Halo 1-3 had these moments, but they were so few and far between that I can't recall any. IMHO Destiny suffers from too many of these defensive scenarios as well.

Off the top of my head, and as a though exercise for myself:

1. Each group of Marines you rescued in Halo 1's "Halo" were assaulted by Covenant troops via dropship.
2. You kinda reverse defended the position at the bottom of the Truth and Reconciliation's gravity lift and again in the lift room.
3. You defend the T&R's landing bay for a few waves while Cortana works on the modulating encryption key.
4. A few times in the Library with the locked doors.
5. You defend that structure from multiple waves right off the bat after you crash land in New Mombasa in Halo 2.
6. The Arbiter has a defend the room section on the gas mining station as the Flood waves attack... Hmm, and on the slow elevator too.
7. You defend the initial Forerunner ruins you land at as the Chief from a few dropshipped waves.
8. The Arbiter defends the Covenant positions against Flood waves on Halo 05.
9. In Halo 3 you defend the dam from a couple of waves after you rescue Johnson.
10. You defend the UNSC base from dropships coming in to the landing bay.
11. You defend the Marine outpost against the jetpack brutes and tanks outside of Voi.
12. In Reach you defend the communications station at the end of the first level.
13. You have a T&R style defense of the Covenant Frigate's landing bay room.
14. You defend the civilians in New Alexandra while waiting for that elevator in the glass roofed building.
15. You defend Halsey's lab under the ice.
16. You defend Keyes' landing zone next to the Pillar of Autumn for a few waves.

ODST had:
1. Defend the area outside the ONI building's access tunnel after driving the Scorpion through the city.
2. Defend the ONI building outside and in.
3. Defend the crashed Pelican on the rooftop.
4. Defend the Engineer at the end of the highway level.

So yeah, it happened several times, but that's from 2001 to 2010. In Destiny many if not most of the mission end with defending a thing, so you're point is well taken. I really liked assaulting the Ketch and the Cabal's warbase, but those kind of missions were unfortunately outnumbered.

Like Destiny, ODST also tells the story in a non-linear way, proving that an engaging story doesn't require a chronological telling. Somehow though, the story of Destiny feels much more disjointed.

It's because ODST's story had several cutscenes with a cast of memorable characters who all interacted with each other while most Destiny missions had a two or three sentence voice over, a few comments by your Ghost during the mission, and a short "well done" sentence or two from your Ghost as the mission ended... The Queen, her brother, and the Exo Stranger were all good but they appeared so little. :(