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Angry Joe Destiny 2 Review

Destiny's raids are more or less the epitome of their PvE design goals. It's the same as MMO's.
How is that a counterpoint to what I'm saying?

Of course they want the most people to partake in their end game content as possible and made strides in the sequel to get more people to do them but they would never come out and say the raid is a requirement to experience Destiny in a meaningful way or to enjoy it. That's ridiculous and not how Destiny 1 or 2 were designed.
The idea that you need to play the raid to have an opinion on Destiny, 1 or 2, was always just a way for fans to deflect criticism and consistently move the goalposts so criticisms aren't valid. It is and was always a complete farce.
Certainly seems that way.
 
If the raid was the only way you can progress or level up I'd be more prone to agree with you but it isn't. The raid isn't the end, it's an option.

Yeah, but there's no point to progressing then. You're basically just aimlessly milling about at that point. That's part of what infuriated me about D1. Just progressing for the sake of progressing... What is that?

Taken King's story didn't even conclude properly til you beat the raid.
 
Yeah, but there's no point to progressing then. You're basically just aimlessly milling about at that point. That's part of what infuriated me about D1. Just progressing for the sake of progressing... What is that?

Taken King's story didn't even conclude properly til you beat the raid.
That's what you do in loot games, though.
 
You guys are really doubling down on your immaturity, huh?

I don't know about a jacket, but I said tgat seriously. His gripes and annoyances stayed the same when the industry and games changed and evolved. He reviewes have little justification on anything he hates/likes besides his personal tastes.

Where am I immature?
 
Yeah, but there's no point to progressing then. You're basically just aimlessly milling about at that point. That's part of what infuriated me about D1. Just progressing for the sake of progressing... What is that?

Taken King's story didn't even conclude properly til you beat the raid.
I suppose the idea is to be able to do strikes and nightfalls faster, but since the game is so broken that they made public events more efficient than any other content, there's no reason to actually do them.

I'm assuming the raid gear lets you do better in the raid itself to be able to run it faster, but since all of that will be obsolete when people move on to the raid in the dlc in a couple of months, I wonder if there's any reason to try to grind the raid 3 times a week for the next two months.
 
Yeah, but there's no point to progressing then. You're basically just aimlessly milling about at that point. That's part of what infuriated me about D1. Just progressing for the sake of progressing... What is that?

Taken King's story didn't even conclude properly til you beat the raid.

I mean, games like Diablo do exist. There's ways to make progressing for the sake of progressing both fun and rewarding. It's genuinely curious how little Bungie has learned from Blizzard despite Blizzard's mastery of the style and accessibility to Bungie. The lack of something like Greater Rifts is a puzzling omission. Adventures represent something of a step in that direction, but they're more story-driven and not endlessly repeatable and procedural.
 
Having never played Destiny 1(PC only) how is it that that game is so hated yet Borderlands 1 and 2 are looked upon so favorably? I played Borderlands and enjoyed it but the gunplay was awful. PvP was non existent and end game was non existent it felt like. It had a season pass as well. Did it just have a ton more to do than destiny one or?
 
Yeah, but there's no point to progressing then. You're basically just aimlessly milling about at that point. That's part of what infuriated me about D1. Just progressing for the sake of progressing... What is that?

Taken King's story didn't even conclude properly til you beat the raid.
If you like the content outside of the raid and like getting more powerful there certainly is a 'point'.

You seem to be conflating your personal preference with how a lot of people actually play the game. Going by trophy data, only 1/5 of everyone who played the first game ever even completed the raid. That number is skewed by other raids coming out after year 1 and the number would have been smaller during vanilla destiny.

If only 20% of people over the entire lifetime of the game completed a raid and given how many copies of Destiny were sold, do you really think the raid was essential to people's enjoyment of the game or only when they completed it they would know if they liked Destiny? Nope.
 
Great review by Joe, really missed his these lately!
Hopefully he'll be more on point with his reviews in the coming months with so many games flooding.

This Destiny review was largely spot on imo, 6 is fair considering this game sorta does feel like a major expansion of sorts. No new enemies is one of my bigger gripes with the game along with loot not being as interesting or varied as I imagine.

Still I'm having a lot of fun with the game at my own pace right now, it's a much better experience than D1 but I wonder how long I'll be playing for.

Glad I didn't blindly pay for the expansions yet, I could be burnt out on this game by Xmas.
 
If you like the content outside of the raid and like getting more powerful there certainly is a 'point'.

You seem to be conflating your personal preference with how a lot of people actually play the game. Going by trophy data, only 1/5 of everyone who played the first game ever even completed the raid. That number is skewed by other raids coming out after year 1 and the number would have been smaller during vanilla destiny.

If only 20% of people over the entire lifetime of the game completed a raid and given how many copies of Destiny were sold, do you really think the raid was essential to people's enjoyment of the game or only when they completed it they would know if they liked Destiny? Nope.

I'm saying having nothing to do is what made me hate D1 rather quickly. Just grinding for the sake of grinding... Ugh.

No different than rats endlessly pressing levers hoping for treats to pop out.

Not saying that's what D2's like since I haven't done much outside of going through the campaign, but when it boiled down to shooting things to make x number of triangles pop out, or doing the strikes over and over while the other players randomly flaked out or had grown so bored their primary goal was just to fuck with you instead, that was an empty, empty experience for me.
 
I agree with alot of the points angry Joe made, but don't agree on that score.

A 7 would have been more realistic.

Having said that, the game does seem more like a $40 expansion.

Was watching AEGabriel stream D2 and he apparently switched back to D1 while I was using the bathroom. I didn't notice the difference and assumed he was still on D2 lol.

He eventually started Titan skating the map and only then did I notice.
 
Angry Joe has become one of my favorite reviewers ever.

What an amazing review. Could not agree more. No bullshit, just straight up the truth.

I rate this review: 10/10

Edit: Also hate the guy all you want but DSP's Destiny 1 review was also amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8NJeTmroMY

I hope he also does one for Destiny 2.
 
For those of you saying D2 feels like an expansion, would you still recommend it to newcomers? I've never played Destiny but while I was always interested, I holder out as D2 was just always on the horizon.
 
If this was mainstream media review would you say the same?

Let say Polygon, Kotaku, IGN or Gamespot?

Hint:
absolutely not.

Wait, you think the majority of the mainstream reviewers who mostly rushed to get their review on time have touched the raid ? You think many reviewers do 100% of the activities before writing a review ?

Hint:
absolutely not.
Ps: i still think that checking a reviewer profile in order to dismiss an argument is petty.If that's the best they can do , then that just show their limits
 
For those of you saying D2 feels like an expansion, would you still recommend it to newcomers? I've never played Destiny but while I was always interested, I holder out as D2 was just always on the horizon.

i wouldn't call it an expansion. it is very different from the first game and for that reason yeah i'd recommend it because i feel it's more friendly to new players and has much less grinding.

in D1 it took me about 60 hours before i even thought about doing the raid. In D2 it was 25-30 hours. At no point have I felt like I've been grinding. The game is more simplified and feels like a different game. Graphics aren't a huge step forward and shooting feels the same (this is a HUGE positive) but the rest has been changed a lot. Some people will complain about having the same enemies/classes/game modes from the first game but IMO these aren't really problems. Each of these things have been improved but I guess some people see this as a reason to say it's just an expansion.

even if you had spent hundreds/thousands of hours in Destiny 1 you'd still need to take the time to figure out how everything works in Destiny 2. that's why i wouldn't call it an expansion.
 
Anthem should focus on being good and have a good endgame progression first rather than aping Destiny

You are setting yourselves up for disappointment

If I were boss of Anthem the top of my 'To Do' list would be:

1. Make end-game varied, satisfying, long-tailed and invigorating.
 
For those of you saying D2 feels like an expansion, would you still recommend it to newcomers? I've never played Destiny but while I was always interested, I holder out as D2 was just always on the horizon.

Friends with PCs asked me that question a couple of times. Destiny 2 is a good game and yes I would recommend it to newcomers. But it's not mind-blowing, a unique or special experience or something that doesn't get repetitive or will give you an unlimited amount of enjoyment. The game has flaws and is best played with friends. I recommend diving in, playing for a couple of weeks until you get tired and then to jump back in after a mayor update or DLC drops. That's of course only if you like FPS games.
 
Wait, you think the majority of the mainstream reviewers who mostly rushed to get their review on time have touched the raid ? You think many reviewers do 100% of the activities before writing a review ?

Hint:
absolutely not.
Ps: i still think that checking a reviewer profile in order to dismiss an argument is petty.If that's the best they can do , then that just show their limits

100% of the activities of course not. The raid is a selling point of the game and a big part of the complete package. You criticize the game for content then skip or just watch a big chunk of it is to me in my opinion is unprofessional.
 
For those of you saying D2 feels like an expansion, would you still recommend it to newcomers? I've never played Destiny but while I was always interested, I holder out as D2 was just always on the horizon.

The visuals, music, and combat gunplay are all quite good. Mindless fun in co-op.

Everything else is either rubbish or meh. The campaign is trite, meandering, unceremoniously dull, and filled with writing that I found mostly cringe. The game balance is absurdly, stupidly easy with no real modifiers to adjust. Loot feels unsatisfactory as you are draped with Legendary and exotic gear by the time the story concludes, leaving no excitement to build towards in the endgame. Strikes feel like an afterthought, and the progression grind can be a lethargic chore with little point but hope for better future content.

Still, even if you don't get into its endgame treadmill, with friends there is a charm and thrill to spending a dozen hours just seeing the content once and kitting yourself out in better equipment every few feet. That alone is largely worth the money for most players.
 
Destiny is a game that is meant to be played with friends. Unfortunately, Bungie has yet to make the experience more streamlined for solo players or folks who want to progress through the end game content. Also the difference in player count between fireteam, PVP and raid causes even more confusion.

Destiny 2 is worlds better than D1 in terms of content and qol user experience. It is an iteration on TTK, highest rated Destiny expansion, and IMO it far surpasses it. I guess it comes down to whether or not you find the gameplay loop enjoyable and whether you are playing with friends. It is akin to playing sports with your friends or meeting your buddies/regulars at the bar. That is Destiny's magic/appeal.
 
I mean, games like Diablo do exist. There's ways to make progressing for the sake of progressing both fun and rewarding. It's genuinely curious how little Bungie has learned from Blizzard despite Blizzard's mastery of the style and accessibility to Bungie. The lack of something like Greater Rifts is a puzzling omission. Adventures represent something of a step in that direction, but they're more story-driven and not endlessly repeatable and procedural.

I agree but let's be honest Destiny has no depth, it's built to be as accessible as possible, GR a la Diablo as much as they would fascinate me, would add very little to the game progression, gears and abilities are too bare bones in their structure and conception.
A grind structure like Diablo needs another kind of complexity, something i don't think even Destiny community really wants or needs.
 
The problem is Joe is trying to cling to the silly notion that a 5/10 is the score for an average game. That would make his 6/10 score represent slightly better than average. Unfortunately that isn't how most people interpret the 10 point scale. Joe's 6/10 really is a 7.5 - 8.0 score the way most people would view it. Trying to define 5 as average is simply adding more confusion and not returning anything useful.

Bit late but can I just say that this is a beautiful post. It lands perfectly at the intersection of sincerity, sarcasm and unfathomable stupidity and I don't want anybody to ever tell me which of those it was actually meant to be.
 
It did, which is why the game has amazing reviews from every single review site. There are actually 100s, a bunch of 95s, 90s, 85s, 80s. and maybe 1 or two 75s.. in fact joes is the lowest review out of any site so far. I think its at an 85 metacritic or something like that?

TLDR; he just doesnt like destiny and thats ok
Joe mentions that Actv/Bungie are really sensitive about criticism for Destiny 2 and so it's very easy to get on their shit list so reviewers want to minimize those consequences.
 
100% of the activities of course not. The raid is a selling point of the game and a big part of the complete package. You criticize the game for content then skip or just watch a big chunk of it is to me in my opinion is unprofessional.

The raid is a big part of the complete package ? For you maybe .
I'm not going to argue semantics what % of of the 100 the raid is for you..since it's moving goalposts

My points still stands :
-The point raised in the review is still valid.
-The mainstream media doesn't wait for content for posting reviews for games like this . Never have , never will
-Checking his profile to try to discredit him is still ridiculous , IMO

Call me back when : " i used the opinion and footage from people i trust to inform my viewers and credited them" is unprofessionnal as long as the info is correct.
This is nitpick, plain and simple
 
Regardless of the score, or even game, itself think about someone reviewing a game you like and stating out and out he's played every part of the game, goes on to criticize one part of it and then it transpires it turns out he didn't actually play said part.

Destiny or otherwise I still think lying about what you played of the game is a tad rough, and I'd say the same for anyone reviewing any game. It's like reviewing TW3, saying the Bloody Baron quest is poor and melodramatic despite never having actually played it and just watched someone else do some of it.
 
Having never played Destiny 1(PC only) how is it that that game is so hated yet Borderlands 1 and 2 are looked upon so favorably? I played Borderlands and enjoyed it but the gunplay was awful. PvP was non existent and end game was non existent it felt like. It had a season pass as well. Did it just have a ton more to do than destiny one or?

Hard to make a comparison like that. Other than there being loot in the Borderlands series, I don't think there's a lot of similarities between them. Borderlands doesn't try to be an an mmo/mmo-lite/shared world shooter or whatever prefer to Destiny to be called. It's got co-op, sure, but that's very different than what Destiny does.

In short I'd say Borderlands is a series that lives and dies by it's writing, not amount of content or pve endgame loot grind. If you bought Borderlands 2 and played through the campaign, you got put on 30-35 hour ride where you met some of the best written comedic characters you'll find in a video game. It just absolutely nails the writing in a way that very few games do. Destiny 1 (and 2 from the sound of it), by and large did not nail what it tried to do

The writing + feeling like an expansion is also why people still talk about Borderlands 2 instead of the Pre-sequel btw.
 
I spend 500+ hour on destiny and i will probably spend the same on d2.
I'm still agree with Joe, about the flaws of the game and the notation not he gives.
To me it's apparent big part of the problem is how you deal with grind.
I love grinding and i find content variate enougth to not be bored.
And it seems Joe is not made to like that kind of repetition and the game don't do a lot change the formula there (i mean content, there is also the enemy / encouter part...hardly a 2)
But can a AAA level game produce enougth variated content with workforce and level of detail needed to be a AAA game to satisfy people having hard time grinding same content ?
It remains to be seem how AAA to come (like Anthem) will deal with that (go procedural content , instead of full static ? why don't they do it in destiny ?)
 
Yeah, Joe more or less mirrors my own misgivings about the game.

Much of the essence of what makes D2 superior is the QoL improvements that they somehow failed to implement in several 'soft reboot' style expansions.

I mean, they went so far as to re-record Dinklebot's entire dialogue with one of the most recognised names in the industry, but they didn't think that adding a simple feature like hopping from one location to another without returning to orbit, would be a worthy inclusion.

The problem for me is that the universe and opponents already feel so utterly exhausted. I could happily go the rest of my life without ever shooting a Fallen Dreg or a Vex Hydra ever again - I've literally felled thousands of the bastards.

To jump into Destiny 2 and within a few hours find myself once again squaring off Vandals, Dregs and Captains exhibiting all the same attack patterns has really made it very hard for me to even push through the campaign.
 
The ๖ۜBronx;249204190 said:
Regardless of the score, or even game, itself think about someone reviewing a game you like and stating out and out he's played every part of the game, goes on to criticize one part of it and then it transpires it turns out he didn't actually play said part.

Destiny or otherwise I still think lying about what you played of the game is a tad rough, and I'd say the same for anyone reviewing any game. It's like reviewing TW3, saying the Bloody Baron quest is poor and melodramatic despite never having actually played it and just watched someone else do some of it.

Thank you for the exemple that doesn't work at all with the current situation. I think you could have picked a worse exemple if you tried a bit more.
 
Thank you for the exemple that doesn't work at all with the current situation. I think you could have picked a worse exemple if you tried a bit more.

Perhaps respond to the argument rather than the poor example then..?

Regardless of the score, or even game, itself think about someone reviewing a game you like and stating out and out he's played every part of the game, goes on to criticize one part of it and then it transpires it turns out he didn't actually play said part.

I don't see how expecting reviewers to be truthful about what they played prior to review is that strange a concept, regardless of person or game.
 
I thought Joe's review was mostly on point. They basically remade Destiny. It's better in some ways and not so much in others. Who cares if his review scale doesn't match whatever metacritic has trained you on?

The beta was a little bit of a bait and switch. The first story mission was actually pretty cool. But after that it's all on par with the ho hum missions of D1. Ok maybe not quite that bad, but you have to admit that there was very little in the way of new enemies. And strangely there didn't seem to be much in the way of boss fights. The story was also pretty meandering... you'd think it would be a bit more cabal focused but it just takes you on a tour of all the other races before circling back for final showdown time. Go to X planet and fight corresponding baddy for a couple of missions. Great now go to Y planet and fight other baddies even though they have only the flimsiest of relevance to the plot.

All the new friendly characters were pretty lame actually (and yes Failsafe was especially garbage). The villain and his buddy were actually pretty cool but grossly underutilized. D2 is more on par with Rise of Iron than The Taken King in my opinion. TTK basically did just about everything better. The only improvement as far as progression goes is that you don't have to carefully max your light with every engram tediously. But the actual process of building your power level is far worse. In TTK lots of the content felt more relevant. There were just more things to do to get your light up and have fun.

They have sold needing to make a new game in the context of their content pipeline and bad tools needing a rework, and a clean-ish start on current gen systems. Launch doesn't really show me that the content problem is solved at all. The expansion pass releases need to be on time, and suitably huge. One TTK or ROI level expansion per year is not going to cut it. With the look and feel of the PC version, plus a fixed content pipeline, I'm in for the long haul. If expansion 1 comes out and it's trash I'm checking out.
 
The ๖ۜBronx;249204750 said:
Perhaps respond to the argument rather than the poor example then..?

Regardless of the score, or even game, itself think about someone reviewing a game you like and stating out and out he's played every part of the game, goes on to criticize one part of it and then it transpires it turns out he didn't actually play said part.

I don't see how expecting reviewers to be truthful about what they played prior to review is that strange a concept, regardless of person or game.

I think you missed my previous 4 replies in this thread before this one.

Far from me from saying the same thing over and over again. my position on this issue is simple.
If there is any need for more clarification , then i will
 
Well at least he is posting game reviews again. Angry Joe reviews are always entertaining (often in unplanned ways) and informative.

Also, while i think AJ personally may not have played D2's raid, i think he was smack in the middle of his friends doing it. Ive seen his name tag pop up on the chat in the raid video section of his Destiny 2 review.
 
I don't know about a jacket, but I said tgat seriously. His gripes and annoyances stayed the same when the industry and games changed and evolved. He reviewes have little justification on anything he hates/likes besides his personal tastes.

Where am I immature?

I'm not speaking for that person and I don't really like a 'maturity' dichotomy. I'm the last one who should be the maturity police anyways.

But I don't think it was your critiques of the critique but more about the "just like him" bit. Especially coupled with "full of fluff", basically trying to highlight his weight in a context that isn't very relevant.

Edit: calling any person as "devoid of meaning" is perhaps more brutal. Almost dehumanizing. His critiques, sure, if you feel that way. But him as a person? It's harsh and feels personal, as opposed to valid criticism of the videos he puts out.
 
I don't mind Angry Joe, and agree with him about the grimoire stuff and I hate that Bungie didn't include it.

Legitimately curious though, is anyone who has played the game a decent amount still bothered by the shader system and the bright engram microtransactions?

As someone who has put a ton of time into Destiny 2 and doesn't care for it much I feel like the game is throwing shaders at me all over the place and I've received a ton of these microtransaction bright engrams by levelling, they just tend to be useless skins and emotes that you can earn by yourself easily. The mods you get are useless.

The expansion pass stuff, how out of touch is this guy? Feels like a complaint from 2011, you can put hundreds of hours into Destiny 2 for 60 bucks, if you don't like what you got, don't sign up for more, yeah? We all pay the same price for single player games that last 10 hours or less.

The shader system is terrible. I'm afraid to use the good looking ones because I'll eventually get better equipment. So I'm stuck not being able to make my character look the way I want him to.

In terms of your last point, I'd happily pay full price for a great put together 10 hour single player game. There have been many that warrant full price purchases. I don't think hours spent on a game always mean it's worth more. Personally I'm not too bothered by the expansion pass but I can see why others have an issue.

Also is anyone else bothered by the teleporting AI? They did it in the first game but it's so much worse now. It's like they couldn't figure out how to make the AI better so they allowed them to start teleporting everywhere. So damn annoying.
 
The idea that you need to play the raid to have an opinion on Destiny, 1 or 2, was always just a way for fans to deflect criticism and consistently move the goalposts so criticisms aren't valid. It is and was always a complete farce.

Completely agreed. This is a laughable statement even in a conventional MMO. In Destiny, a game that alternates between MMO and Diablo clone to suit whatever a person's current argument is, it's downright comic.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast with Destiny 2. It's a great game. But its fan base needs to stop being so damn defensive.
 
People who get deep into Destiny, start to understand why the game has the following it does. I respect some of the things Joe has to say in the video, but find it laughable that some are like, damn glad I watched that Angry Joe video saved me 60 bucks. Joe doesn't have to partake in endgame to create a review, but at the same time don't expect Bungie to treat him like part of the online community when he doesn't. I really respect his reviews and enjoy his content, but for games like Destiny I've got my own opinion.

If I need to do the endgame stuff to see the great parts, the game is seriously flawed.
 
Completely agreed. This is a laughable statement even in a conventional MMO. In Destiny, a game that alternates between MMO and Diablo clone to suit whatever a person's current argument is, it's downright comic.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast with Destiny 2. It's a great game. But its fan base needs to stop being so damn defensive.

Completely agree. The game is more then just the raid, so people who say nothing else matters but the raid are pretty dense. They shipped an entire game, every part of it is connected, not just the end game material.

And the biggest thing is, why does it matter. You're the perfect example, regardless of what angry Joes review was, you're still having a good time with the game.

People have this mentality that, if they like something, everyone else has to like it, and if you disgaaree with their opinion or feeling, you're wrong.

It's such backwards thinking. For the people enjoying the game, good for them. Glad they got their money's worth and are enjoying it.
 
The shader system is terrible. I'm afraid to use the good looking ones because I'll eventually get better equipment. So I'm stuck not being able to make my character look the way I want him to.

In terms of your last point, I'd happily pay full price for a great put together 10 hour single player game. There have been many that warrant full price purchases. I don't think hours spent on a game always mean it's worth more. Personally I'm not too bothered by the expansion pass but I can see why others have an issue.

Also is anyone else bothered by the teleporting AI? They did it in the first game but it's so much worse now. It's like they couldn't figure out how to make the AI better so they allowed them to start teleporting everywhere. So damn annoying.

On my end the more the game make me grind the better.
In 2, i have now more reasons (and objectives) to play and spends hours patrolling with my firends ! yey !
 
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