So this is the OP of a thread I made that seems kind of appropriate here:
Forum's moving fast lately, hopefully this doesn't get buried before we can discuss a little.
So after having dabbled only slightly in the Destiny alpha/beta on PS4 and now delving further into it on my XB1 (although I still haven't touched crucible due to working 13-hr shifts the first 2 days of the beta, /sad), I had a thought occur to me: it's awesome to see a dev team's personal fingerprints shine through.
What's been obvious even since the first screenshots of Destiny appeared online, and what has been concreted during the alpha/beta, is that Destiny definitely has that 'Halo' feel, as many have said. But what they REALLY mean, I think, is that it has that BUNGIE feel.
So many times these days devs will see what is successful for another studio and try to mimmick it, yet shoehorn it into the mold that their own game entails, leading to a less-than-satisfying experience by many people's measure.
Now, some people will argue the following point, but IMHO gaming has truly progressed to an art form over the years. Not every game is art, mind you, but many games are. The medium has reached a level of refinement and sophistication that there is truly no limit to the potential games have to evoke deep thought, genuine emotion, and intelligent discussion.
That being said, we see certain development studios that have a unique 'fingerprint' arise to their products that translates from one game to the next. I'm not just talking about franchises here where one game is unquestionably like its predecessor either. In fact, at times developers intentionally try to 'break away' from the series that made them a success, yet the audience can still see/feel/intuit that studio's particular touch even in an unrelated series or a new IP. And this is most definitely not a negative thing.
To me, Destiny is a prime example of this. In a world where so often ideas are facelifted from one studio by another trying to piggyback off the success of a particular game mechanic or style, other studios intentionally try to break away from what made them a success and tread new ground, but their personality still shines through.
The studio that Bungie is now is not the same studio that made Halo, but a lot of the same people are there, and you can feel it in Destiny. It's not something so pedestrian as 'oh, yeah the Titan armor looks like modified Mjolnir' or 'oh yeah the kill times are longer than BF/CoD so it must be like Halo'. It's an overall feeling, a sense that I get when I'm roaming the world and experiencing it as a whole rather than the sum of its parts. It's not TRYING to be Halo, or CoD, or Borderlands, or anything else. It's trying to be Destiny, but in so doing, it is Bungie, through and through.
Art aficionados instantly recognize a Monet when they see one. They know a Picasso from a Rembrandt by touch alone. So too do fans of certain studios' work know it when they play it. Picking up Destiny I'm reminded why I'm so emotionally invested in Bungie's work. I love this game. It saddens me in a way that the life plan for Destiny is so long, because it means that while I'll be loving this franchise for years to come, I will also potentially be missing out on an opporunity to see them craft yet another amazing universe with their fingerprints, their soul, all over it.
Naughty Dog, Platinum Games, Rare, Epic, Bungie, even dare I say it Squaresoft... these names and others are the names of modern-day artists. Their fingerprints are all around us, and their souls are alive and well.
Does anyone else feel this way?
