Support NeoGAF

[MormaPope]

Kind of. It's at least pretty in depth with regards to altering what your character can do.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/12/27/the-character-progression-of-destiny.aspx

Green: Everything gets the XP [reward] unless you have an XP bonus or something. You might have a piece of armor that gives plus XP to your weapon. So you might take that 10 XP on every piece of gear except your weapon, which might get 11 XP because of the modifiers. You might have a consumable or a perk active that gives you a bonus to how fast something else levels. It can vary from object to object. But generally speaking we’re definitely not asking anyone to make any hard decisions like, “Maybe I should only equip this one piece of gear because that’s the only thing that needs to level up so it power levels that one thing.” We’re trying to keep those mechanics very straightforward.

Green: The three things that all characters can upgrade are their weapons, their armor, and their focus. Those all level up as you use them. So when you’re wearing your armor and earning experience your armor’s leveling up. When you’re using weapons to get kills, those specific weapons are leveling up. And your focus also levels up when you’re getting kills or completing activities.

Green: A focus is a thing that captures all of your abilities in one bundle – sort of a thematic bundle, but also a functional bundle. It carries your grenade abilities, your super attacks, it carries certain passive abilities that change the way your character plays. The focus is the thing that defines how your character is going to play at both the lowest and the highest level. It’s what your character is thematically about and it’s also functionally what abilities you have available to use.

You could call it a spec. You could call it a build. You could call it a lot of things. For a long time we called them builds, but your build is a bigger thing because it also brings into account which weapons you’re using and what modifiers are on your armor. I want people to be able to talk about playing a Void Warlock sniper build, which is something that encompasses more than just the focus item.

Weapon tuning arguably sounds the most involved.

 

[BruiserBear]

Just watched the Polygon video preview, and even their guy who traveled and played the game seemed to be hinting at the exact same things many of us are asking here.

What makes this game special? What makes it fresh? I'm not sure he came away with real answers to those questions.

 

[Bsigg12]

Weapon tuning arguably sounds the most involved.

Yea pretty much. The focus is what determines how your super actually works so it sounds like each class will have options on how you build it which could change the way 2 hunters approach a situation. It's no RPG, strength, stamina, etc., but there is at least some things you'll be able to decide.

 

[Perfect Cha0s]

That's the first thing that got me excited about Destiny, really. Like high/opera sci-fi but in a warzone universe where the sheen of Star Wars has faded and what you're left with is really intimidating enemies in really intimidating environments. Now, I don't wanna say what we've seen is sterile, because the skyboxes are still really nice, but there hasn't exactly been footage where I think "Man, I want to experience that." The presentation just feels flat which is disappointing because I thought the New Mombasa hub in ODST was one of the best co-op shooters I've played in terms of keeping the atmosphere alive through all the shooting and explosions.

I don't know, I think the real atmosphere will come into play when you decide "Oh, I'm going to see what's happening on the Moon today," and then go explore, see the vistas, run into people doing larger events, etc. I would have been disappointed if the game had blown its atmospheric load, so to speak, in a single 7 minute video. I'm wondering why in the world they only gave us a short video that doesn't even really capture what will likely be the main draws of the game, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt since we have beta coming up soon.

I'm just going to reserve judgment until beta -- I think that the type of game Bungie is going for is really hard to sell with shorter videos. While the game isn't an MMO, it seems to focus on longer-term character development, community, and exploration, which is something that can't be demoed easily.

 

[viveks86]

What was shown was a glimpse of combat

That's all I'm saying. It's a glimpse of combat that, according to you, is simple. That is a fair conclusion to make. Everything else you said is pure extrapolation based on an assumption that there is no more depth to be shown anymore. You may not like anything you've seen, but don't you agree that you haven't seen much to begin with?

 

[Head.spawn]

Where does the gun go when he's using his power?

It transforms into red-gun backpack for a moment.

Also this game looks so much more interesting for that moment when the player goes into 3rd person. :/

 

[IAmRandom31]

I'm disappointed. Did not see enough QTEs

Pre-order cancelled. Still get my beta code

 

[Karl2177]

We're four and a half months away from launch and no one really seems to know what the game is really about aside from HaloLands FPSMMO. There isn't a date for the public beta that they have been touting for months. The first visit from the press was the only ViDoc that's been shown to date, and that was over a year ago. There are tons of red flags going up in my head.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Mass Effect has bad core combat... You just spam your favorite ability and use some crappy weapons to bring down health bars on dumb enemy AI with little to no reactivity and feedback. There's... not really a whole lot going on there. Some of the weapons in 3 were good--that shotgun, mmmm.



I missed this post. This is a good post. I'd argue that Halo 2 wasn't very focused design-wise, which is why it's the worst campaign in the series. I watched my room mate play all the way through 2, 3, and Reach recently. 2 is just... it's so bad. Reach is actually surprisingly well done. The more I watch of it, the better I think it is.

But yeah, think back to Combat Evolved. Assault on the Control Room and Two Betrayals are virtually identical areas with a ton of similar arenas. That said, the weapons you end up using in front of each room (game basically encourages you to lose ammo and change up weapons quite often, especially before a fight), and the AI within each room is always different, leading to a situation where you are constantly working out great weapon and weapon/enemy combinations. It's brilliant design, and no one's ever matched it. Reading an article on Vanquish the other day, I couldn't stop laughing, because just... no. It's got nothing on Halo in this regard, but the writer was treating it as if it was.

I don't spam abilities. I keep it fun. I love Mass Effect's combat, absolutely love it, so we obviously won't agree on this point.

Also gotta give Bungie some credit, the art and landscapes are incredible from the looks of things.

 

[DR3AM]

We're four and a half months away from launch and no one really seems to know what the game is really about aside from HaloLands FPSMMO. There isn't a date for the public beta that they have been touting for months. The first visit from the press was the only ViDoc that's been shown to date, and that was over a year ago. There are tons of red flags going up in my head.

100% agree

And we basically don't know anything about the competitive MP, which Halo was all about for me.

 

[ryan299]

I'm curious how Bungie is feeling reading everybody's reactions today. Can't feel that good.

 

[Sean]

I've been extremely underwhelmed by all of the Destiny footage I've seen so far.

The graphics aren't that good, the environments seem really sterile, the music in this video feels completely out of place, the enemy AI is just horrible...

 

[MormaPope]

That's all I'm saying. It's a glimpse of combat that, according to you, is simple. That is a fair conclusion to make. Everything else you said is pure extrapolation based on an assumption that there is no more depth to be shown anymore. You may not like everything you've seen, but don't you agree that you haven't seen much to begin with?

Can't disagree with that, I haven't seen much to begin with. When it comes to discussing previews and gameplay clips all that can be done is extrapolation. As of now I'm not really hyped for Destiny, and I really do believe what I'm saying will probably be true. Of course that's what everyone says for any interpretation. There is a difference though when showing off a RPG compared to a first person shooter, or even a open world game.

For Halo 5 if a chunk of a mission is shown and the combat looks lackluster, other aspects might not make up for that fact. If a GTA VI trailer comes out and it takes place in Liberty City, concerns about varied locales and activities would be plentiful. For Destiny, combat was shown, and the powers/way the game is played raises concern if Destiny will amount to being more of the same or something unique.

If I'm right I'm not going to be prideful, because I'll be disappointed by Bungie.

 

[IAmRandom31]

I'm curious how Bungie is feeling reading everybody's reactions today. Can't feel that good.

The finer points of the gameplay systems will be tweaked in Beta anyway.

I have a feeling when beta is out and people actually play the game and see what it is about the opinions will change pretty quick.

This generation is the most negative I have ever been a part of. Seems every game reveal almost so far has been ripe with negativity. People went apeshit over 2 button presses in a small The Order showcase

 

[viveks86]

I'm curious how Bungie is feeling reading everybody's reactions today. Can't feel that good.

Yeah. Quite sure they are a little disappointed by the reactions. I really was expecting a full blowout. This seemed like a more regular monthly update. I hope they have a constant stream of info and videos focused on specific aspects of the game and don't go silent till E3. If this was all they had to show till then, then it failed in its objective of hyping people up for the main event. There are a few exceptions, but going by this thread, it's definitely not the majority.

Can't disagree with that, I haven't seen much to begin with. When it comes to discussing previews and gameplay clips all that can be done is extrapolation. As of now I'm not really hyped for Destiny, and I really do believe what I'm saying will probably be true. Of course that's what everyone says for any interpretation. There is a difference though when showing off a RPG compared to a first person shooter, or even a open world game.

For Halo 5 if a chunk of a mission is shown and the combat looks lackluster, other aspects might not make up for that fact. If a GTA VI trailer comes out and it takes place in Liberty City, concerns about varied locales and activities would be plentiful. For Destiny, combat was shown, and the powers/way the game is played raises concern if Destiny will amount to being more of the same or something unique.

If I'm right I'm not going to be prideful, because I'll be disappointed by Bungie.

Valid concerns. Are you in the beta?

 

[malfcn]

Was that Devil's footage essentially what they showed already?

 

[Jest Chillin]

Not good, depending on how often you get to use these power-ups. In regards to Halo balance, people would argue about like a .1 second difference in kill time. Too many crazy powers, everybody may as well have a rocket launcher as a secondary weapon.

You have to acrue kills in order to use your Supers in Competitive PvP.

 

[AgentOtaku]

Where does the gun go when he's using his power?

lol

 

[Trickster]

Where's this gif from?

 

[Bsigg12]

Was that Devil's footage essentially what they showed already?

Pretty much. It's a strike mission in old Russia which we've seen before in the E3 demo, though in a different area of Old Russia. Seeing the hive in battle is new though but being on easy mode doesn't help show any AI design at all.

 

[funkystudent]

Looks a little flat but a borderlands/diablo ish game is all about progression and loot.

A tricky thing to demo. They need to get the beta out and let people play around.



Also for a game that apparently is wide open and full of different settings they sure love showing off brown abandoned industrial earth settings during a sun set. I hope they show something with some scale at E3. At least something on the scale of a classic large area Halo fight.

 

[Nydius]

I have a feeling when beta is out and people actually play the game and see what it is about the opinions will change pretty quick.

This generation is the most negative I have ever been a part of. Seems every game reveal almost so far has been ripe with negativity. People went apeshit over 2 button presses in a small The Order showcase

I imagine the beta will start to change minds as well, however, Bungie isn't doing themselves any favors with the stuff they've shown so far. I don't necessarily agree that this generation has been the most negative so far (I remember early X360 launch and early PS3, that was pretty damn negative) but it's hard to get enthused over a game that simply looks bland and hasn't explained itself well. So far, nothing shown regarding Destiny has made it look like a must have title. Every video has made me increasingly blasé.

To that end, I'm just going to quote Karl2177 because I think this sums it up nicely:

We're four and a half months away from launch and no one really seems to know what the game is really about aside from HaloLands FPSMMO. There isn't a date for the public beta that they have been touting for months. The first visit from the press was the only ViDoc that's been shown to date, and that was over a year ago. There are tons of red flags going up in my head.

 

[Fjordson]

Looks pretty good to me. Love the overall visual style. Environments, weapon models, enemies, etc. Just seems like an interesting world to explore.

 

[GrizzNKev]

Now THIS is the game I want to play. Please tell me there's more.

 

[IHaveIce]

We're four and a half months away from launch and no one really seems to know what the game is really about aside from HaloLands FPSMMO. There isn't a date for the public beta that they have been touting for months. The first visit from the press was the only ViDoc that's been shown to date, and that was over a year ago. There are tons of red flags going up in my head.

Sums up my thoughts.

The beta and a possible info blowout after E3 with lots of gamemodes and stuff would help IMO at least I would get some kind of hype, tbh if it wasn't Bungie I probably wouldn't even follow the news for this game.

I hope the game has a difficulty scaling like Diablo, the more players the harder it gets, and multiple playthrough like nightmare, hell, inferno etc.

 

[bigboss370]

sorry about the big gif:

those graphics, dat scenery, dat star filled night sky ^_^


also that tower in the foreground looks like a dropped mace from a giant creature. anyone else see that?

 

[zedge]

I've been extremely underwhelmed by all of the Destiny footage I've seen so far.

The graphics aren't that good, the environments seem really sterile, the music in this video feels completely out of place, the enemy AI is just horrible...

About on par with how I feel. Rather dissapointed to be honest.

 

[kittens]

The GIFs are awesome yall, keep'em coming.

 

[Interficium]

The finer points of the gameplay systems will be tweaked in Beta anyway.

I have a feeling when beta is out and people actually play the game and see what it is about the opinions will change pretty quick.

This generation is the most negative I have ever been a part of. Seems every game reveal almost so far has been ripe with negativity. People went apeshit over 2 button presses in a small The Order showcase

The only time it gets annoying for me is when it becomes blatantly obvious a poster is trying to one-up previous criticisms in the thread in an attempt to rise above the chorus, like the dude who was saying the game seemed very headshot-based when head shots were never a big part of Halo gameplay or someshit.

 

[MormaPope]

Yeah. Quite sure they are a little disappointed by the reactions. I really was expecting a full blowout. This seemed like a more regular monthly update. I hope they have a constant stream of info and videos focused on specific aspects of the game and don't go silent till E3. If this was all they had to show till then, then it failed in its objective of hyping people up for the main event. There are a few exceptions, but going by this thread, it's definitely not the majority.



Valid concerns. Are you in the beta?

Thought it was for current gen consoles only, turns out its for last gen consoles as well. Might pre-order, but it sounds like if people already reserved spots it'll be hard to get in now.

 

[True Underdog]

Where's this gif from?

Now THIS is the game I want to play. Please tell me there's more.

Destiny for PS4: Bungie Talks Co-op Strikes


That particular scene may be in another video but I did see it in this video. Probably not as in depth a video as you want but there it is. The area in that .gif seems to be the more open exploratory area in contrast to the close-quarters strike area.

Thought it was for current gen consoles only, turns out its for last gen consoles as well. Might pre-order, but it sounds like if people already reserved spots it'll be hard to get in now.

If you pre-order the game, you can get into the beta. You have to create an account on Bungie.net (if you don't have one already) and enter the beta code. You won't get a platform specific code right away; I'm guessing that as the beta draws nearer, or even when it comes out, you'll get to pick the platform you want and you'll get a code then.

 

[Mister Negative]

Man, that melee animation at 1:25 just felt so...Bungie.

Edit: Upon further watching, I kinda wish the health bars were less intrusive and big. Seems like it'll feel like you're just shooting at health bars and not really paying attention to the actual enemies, which is a bit of a bummer.

 

[GodParticle]

Glad I'm not the only one who was confused on what this game is about. The video wasn't exactly compelling

 

[viveks86]

Thought it was for current gen consoles only, turns out its for last gen consoles as well. Might pre-order, but it sounds like if people already reserved spots it'll be hard to get in now.

Nah. They are still accepting. Preorder, check the beta and cancel if it isn't your cup of tea. I'm suggesting that only because you sound like a shooter fan.

 

[Gordon0Freeman]

sorry about the big gif:

those graphics, dat scenery, dat star filled night sky ^_^


also that tower in the foreground looks like a dropped mace from a giant creature. anyone else see that?

Man this gif is nice

 

[Mechazawa]

Oh shit, they got Commissioner Daniels.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

I don't know, I think the real atmosphere will come into play when you decide "Oh, I'm going to see what's happening on the Moon today," and then go explore, see the vistas, run into people doing larger events, etc. I would have been disappointed if the game had blown its atmospheric load, so to speak, in a single 7 minute video. I'm wondering why in the world they only gave us a short video that doesn't even really capture what will likely be the main draws of the game, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt since we have beta coming up soon.

I'm just going to reserve judgment until beta -- I think that the type of game Bungie is going for is really hard to sell with shorter videos. While the game isn't an MMO, it seems to focus on longer-term character development, community, and exploration, which is something that can't be demoed easily.

I'm not totally dismissing the game or how good it might be. I agree with you that the beta will be a better representation than anything we've seen because it might simply be a tough game to demo. All I can do is comment on what they've chosen to show us, and based on that footage I'm not being pulled in. The pacing has mostly been "go go go" co-op shooting, the sounds are all very Halo, the atmosphere and interaction within these sections just come across as fancy muliplatyer maps, etc. There's no ferocity, no mystique; it's felt like a very laid back experience in gameplay while the narrative marketing is making it out to be this huge, dramatic, epic thing. It's not matching up.

And look at it this way: I've always felt that Bungie squandered a lot of the potential in Halo's narrative because, frankly, it just wasn't very engaging. Aside from New Mombosa in ODST and very final stand in Halo Reach (which would've been even better with seamless editing), I've never felt a strong connection, atmosphere, sense of place, mood- whatever you want to call it- from a Halo title. it was all very airy, distant, cold (in the wrong way) and I thought with those backdrops, and that music, and those mechanics, it could've been more. When Destiny was announced and I started seeing art like the picture I quoted....I don't know, I just thought it was going to have a stronger presentation. And sure, it might be great and I'll do a 180 when the beta's out, but all I can comment on is what we've seen.

 

[ryan299]

If they showed gameplay on another planet and not in the same area from the first trailer, then there wouldn't be as many complaints. Seems like a lot of people really want to see everything but Earth.

 

[MaritalWheat]

Man, this project must be crazy to manage and keep on track. The art effort alone has to be ridiculous - all that handcrafted content with the huge variety in environments they've promised and the fidelity they seem to be going for and achieving in these slices must be taking a huge amount of man hours. I hope that the fact they've held their cards close to their chest and very carefully curated any small glimpse they've given of Destiny is representative of wanting to awe and surprise, and not a sign of troubled development...what gets me worried is that it's hard to imagine Activision letting Bungie do that and not taking every opportunity to market the game to hell and back and flood gaming outlets with previews. Anyways, hoping for the best still - and still hoping competitive multiplayer is actually a big focus for them despite the lack of information on it, because I still have nothing to fill Halo 2/3's void. Seems more and more that the beta and subsequent flood of impressions will be the momentum builder or breaker for this game - hopefully the lack of information is a show of confidence in what they'll put directly out to players to try!

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Let us play a game, everyone who posts in this thread should come back post E3 and reply to their own current day thoughts on Destiny...

I have a feeling Bungie have been quiet due to PS4/X1 launches and the first crop of launch window games. E3 they'll be pushing out a bunch of game info. I don't expect much about the story side, which is nice so we you know get to experience it when we buy it. I'm hoping to see more of the seamless matchmaking, less progression and more competitive stuffs.

I still have this thing in the back of my mind that Destiny might just enable cross platform play e.g. 360 owners playing in the same world/matchmaking as X1 owners and PS3 with PS4. I wish for all to play together but I don't see Sony/MS playing nice for that to happen.

 

[bigboss370]

might be a minor detail for others but i really loved the lighting on the gun in this part:

 

[viveks86]

Competitive MP playable at E3! Didn't know that...

 

[Mascot]

I don't understand the queries about the nature of Destiny's gameplay. Seems to be a copy/paste of Borderlands with Halo physics. Will probably please a lot of people I guess.

 

[NullPointer]

If they showed gameplay on another planet and not in the same area from the first trailer, then there wouldn't be as many complaints. Seems like a lot of people really want to see everything but Earth.

Maybe, like Halo, Destiny is so many things to so many people that their audience is looking for wildly different things. You've got people in it for the next Bungie competitive multiplayer, people in it for intrigues in a brand new sci-fi universe, others are MMO fans interested in the group dynamic and raiding, solo gamers maybe looking for the next Bungie Legendary campaign experience, and still others who just want to casually blow enemies up and level up in co-op with their buddies (maybe in split-screen). Those are all going to be the most important thing to different people.

In the end it will all come down to how well it plays, but at least for getting the ball rolling it'd be better to see something more foundational, that we can string each of these other experiences around without losing sight of the big picture.

In a perfect world anyway. In the meanwhile we'll just have to made do with whats ready to show and the impressions from those who know more.

BTW, in terms of this footage, was this captures of the press playing? Or was this Bungie folks playing it?

 

[AusRoachman]

If they showed gameplay on another planet and not in the same area from the first trailer, then there wouldn't be as many complaints. Seems like a lot of people really want to see everything but Earth.

I would have been happy with a 10 sec slide show of all the other environments.

 

[AusRoachman]

might be a minor detail for others but i really loved the lighting on the gun in this part:

Reminded me of Halos Guilty Spark for some reason.

 

[TheActtionFigure]

I still think that Destiny looks like it'll be a good time despite the boring trailer today. Halo + Borderlands! Sign me up! I wish that they would come out and show the competitive multiplayer already because that's what Bungie does the best IMO.

Everyone has the right to an opinion, but a lot of the negativity confuses me. We knew since last year that Destiny was to be a Halo/Borderlands hybrid of sorts, yet a lot of folks act surprised. I'm starting to believe that either most people's expectation for this generation was extremely unrealistic or I've become a man blinded by optimism.

 

[NemesisPrime]

Reminded me of Halos Guilty Spark for some reason.

Isn't it ironic that they didn't want to do another halo and they end up making another halo.

 

[bigboss370]

Reminded me of Halos Guilty Spark for some reason.

can we talk about how the thing the ghost is scanning looks like a saiyan pod from DBZ? >_>

 

[Kaezul]

The finer points of the gameplay systems will be tweaked in Beta anyway.

I have a feeling when beta is out and people actually play the game and see what it is about the opinions will change pretty quick.

This generation is the most negative I have ever been a part of. Seems every game reveal almost so far has been ripe with negativity. People went apeshit over 2 button presses in a small The Order showcase

Exactly what I posted earlier. Negativity on this board has just been ridiculous with this new generation. People need to relax.