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Destiny - Review Thread
- Thread starter opticalmace
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JetBlackPanda
Member
Game is a 9/10 for me. When I read a 6.5 review something is highly suspicious.
See how that works?
Wait, really? didn't it open...4 hours ago?
Dictator93
Member
Yes, you probably have a well grounded reason to give a game that score in your experience. But IGN is not some sort of well grounded reasoning critical site. It is just an industry barometer that regurgitates scores based upon hype and perhaps even incestuous contact with marketing teams.
Here IGN obviously beat the war drum of the industry (destiny is next best thing): they constantly just agree with the industry discourse/hype/anti-.hype. So given their history, I am really curious what score they will give the game. The discourse before game was out (and IGns) "best game eva" "nex gen", afterwards industry discourse "500 million for what?" "6/10"
JetBlackPanda
Member
Fair enough. I am pretty interested in IGN's score as well.
Really? Thats pretty awesome. Lol, I'm getting distracted by astronomy. I can't remember what I came here to post. Something about raids...
No, not really. Sorry. Turns out the streamer was lying/joking about it. They're on the second of supposedly four bosses.
GrizzleBoy
Banned
The last few points you make are indeed critical mistakes.
Taking influence from beloved games and genres and only implementing any one to a bare minimum means nobody is going to be satisfied unless they didnt care in the first place.
The only thing that seems to have any passion in destiny is how it feels to shoot aliens. Almost everything else is a half done shadow of some other game we recognise and therefore expect to be better.
And has it been reviewed by Game Informer yet?
Opinions are allowed to vary from the majority without being "suspect".
Stop being ridiculous, please.
Yes. They gave it 8.75.
People afraid the raid would be just Strikes with more sponge can relax a bit. The sponginess still exists but there are definitely more interesting mechanics at play here.
Nocturno999
Member
Great review with an hilarious end.
His posts perhaps?
There were probably around a hundred enemies in that section besides the boss.
PerezDeCorcho
Member
As much as Phil can be a tool, I think he has very valid opinions of games and has decent insight.
It's just funny to me to see Luke work on a game where every single instance(strike/raid) is just a series of trash mobs followed by bullet sponge bosses with no interesting game mechanics. Didn't he used to whine about that shit in WoW when it first came out while he was at 1UP? Congrats, Luke, you managed to take us back in time to when MMO end-games sucked.
Opinion warning: I'd peg Destiny between a 7 and an 8...
. My one sentence review of the game would be "Destiny = Halo meets Borderlands + Phantasy Star Online + a hint of Dark Souls and Journey" which I think does the game a better service than a numerical score.
I've noticed a lot of people falling into this narrative of Destiny being a bad game, which it isn't; gunplay is sublime, controls and character friction are sublime, music is sublime, artwork and world-building are sublime. The combat loop is satisfying, especially as you start to unlock new skills, which are all tempting in their own way and offer distinct tactical advantages to mix things up.
So is it enjoyable to play? Yes indeed, which should be chief in how you review a game. It's just rough around certain edges.
My disappointment comes primarily from the failure to create a satisfying campaign, since the game goes through the effort of giving you something that feels like a campaign, but does not work and has very little payoff. Theres a dissonance between the way the plot expects you to understand and enjoy the story and what is actually taking place. There is absolutely no moment for you to talk about at the proverbial "watercooler" (save Sword of Crota,
) with your friends/family/co-workers, and the average person could not explain to you what just happened by the end of the story. Which is criminal.
I like most of what they've done here, it borrows from a lot of games I like (see one sentence review at top), not to mention I've been a fan of Bungie since their early Mac days (I consider Myth II well beyond most games, as would this thread), so it all works for me. I'm legitimately enjoying myself regardless of what some (awful, caustic) posters would say about buyers remorse or stockholm syndrome. It's just not going to click for everyone, especially(!) are those looking for a campaign to rival Halo's.
A couple of points:
- People are still talking about Ghost being voiced/written terribly, and while I wouldn't disagree with the plot not doing enough to bond you with him or explain what he is and why you are listening to him, I think his voice works as a combination of C3PO and R2D2. He sounds like a weird robot sidekick that is somewhere in limbo between human and inhuman, awkward and omnipotent, which I like. But to each their own.
- Others have pointed out how neat it would be to scan enemies a la Metroid Prime, and I totally agree. A couple minutes in the Grimoire section of the website/app tells you more about the games universe than the plot itself. At least put this section in the game, but try to add some cool animated vignettes (like Myth II!) that bring these stories to life.
- I really enjoyed the Devil Walker fight because of its Monster Hunter-esque elements, and it was a shame to find out its basically the only fight of its kind. Strikes would have benefited greatly from more unique bosses with destructible pieces and optional objectives (like shooting the blue lazer box on top). More Monster Hunter, Bungie!
- I have not had a single crash yet, and I have been playing for the better part of the last week. Compare this to Battlefield 4, which crashed all the time for me, and its a shame it doesn't get any credit for how well everything works. The servers have also worked remarkably well compared to a lot of other online-only games (many of which remained unplayable for a week), which they should be commended for.
though I think if I were to compare Destiny to its budget and/or its marketing I would give it a 5 or 6, so I guess the scores make sense to me.
I've noticed a lot of people falling into this narrative of Destiny being a bad game, which it isn't; gunplay is sublime, controls and character friction are sublime, music is sublime, artwork and world-building are sublime. The combat loop is satisfying, especially as you start to unlock new skills, which are all tempting in their own way and offer distinct tactical advantages to mix things up.
So is it enjoyable to play? Yes indeed, which should be chief in how you review a game. It's just rough around certain edges.
My disappointment comes primarily from the failure to create a satisfying campaign, since the game goes through the effort of giving you something that feels like a campaign, but does not work and has very little payoff. Theres a dissonance between the way the plot expects you to understand and enjoy the story and what is actually taking place. There is absolutely no moment for you to talk about at the proverbial "watercooler" (save Sword of Crota,
which is just using a sword
I like most of what they've done here, it borrows from a lot of games I like (see one sentence review at top), not to mention I've been a fan of Bungie since their early Mac days (I consider Myth II well beyond most games, as would this thread), so it all works for me. I'm legitimately enjoying myself regardless of what some (awful, caustic) posters would say about buyers remorse or stockholm syndrome. It's just not going to click for everyone, especially(!) are those looking for a campaign to rival Halo's.
A couple of points:
- People are still talking about Ghost being voiced/written terribly, and while I wouldn't disagree with the plot not doing enough to bond you with him or explain what he is and why you are listening to him, I think his voice works as a combination of C3PO and R2D2. He sounds like a weird robot sidekick that is somewhere in limbo between human and inhuman, awkward and omnipotent, which I like. But to each their own.
- Others have pointed out how neat it would be to scan enemies a la Metroid Prime, and I totally agree. A couple minutes in the Grimoire section of the website/app tells you more about the games universe than the plot itself. At least put this section in the game, but try to add some cool animated vignettes (like Myth II!) that bring these stories to life.
- I really enjoyed the Devil Walker fight because of its Monster Hunter-esque elements, and it was a shame to find out its basically the only fight of its kind. Strikes would have benefited greatly from more unique bosses with destructible pieces and optional objectives (like shooting the blue lazer box on top). More Monster Hunter, Bungie!
- I have not had a single crash yet, and I have been playing for the better part of the last week. Compare this to Battlefield 4, which crashed all the time for me, and its a shame it doesn't get any credit for how well everything works. The servers have also worked remarkably well compared to a lot of other online-only games (many of which remained unplayable for a week), which they should be commended for.
space magic will make it exactly like earth except for the color of the sky. pewpewpew.
Anton Sugar
Member
Yeah, but I don`t care at this point. Everyone knows that Destiny is a mediocre game by now. IGN or Eurogamer won`t change that, and Gamespot gave an honest review.
Leatherface
Member
Wow. I just got back from vacation so I have not been able to purchase or play the game yet, but I absolutely loved the beta. Is the final game really that lackluster? I'm totally disappointed now. Not sure if I should buy it. :\
If you liked the beta, its the same game. Just more of it. For better or for worse.
WrenchNinja
Member
All of the world building is in the Grimoire.
Because it's repetitive, but not boring. In-fact, it's incredibly fun, beautiful and highly addictive. I've poured more hours in to this game already than I have with most shooters in the last few years. It's a fantastic game with early teething and content diversity delivery issues.
I tried my best to level up for the raid, at almost LV25. After seeing the streams and hearing that you need to be higher than LV26 to even make it doable..
I don't know what I expected, of course they were going to be poorly designed.
I'll come back to Destiny if an update comes that fixes a ton of the game, but for now I feel like I wasted my time. The game died as soon as I finished Mars, and it seems Bungie really did expect you to run the same strikes(or actually, low level enemies to farm) to be eligible to play a single underwhelming hours long mission after roughly 40 hours.
Sorry I can't justify spending a whole other day just to try the Raid... 5/10 is final.
Gunplay is slightly worse than what we had in Halo 1, not very good AI and a piss poor loot/leveling system. Story, setting, music... Despite 2/3 being good, mean nothing when you're expected to be exposed to it for the time it takes to reply most FPS campaigns 4 times over just to unlock the next area.
I grew up on PSO, and I have loved every Halo... And this game had tried to be both in one, but it fails so seriously that playing "Halo-like" is not enough to pull me away from any other aRPG when I feel scammed out of my time playing. I have finished everything this game threw at me, weekly strikes, all bounties, and my only legendarys have come from Blue Engrams dropped by aLV3 enemy...
I don't know what I expected, of course they were going to be poorly designed.
I'll come back to Destiny if an update comes that fixes a ton of the game, but for now I feel like I wasted my time. The game died as soon as I finished Mars, and it seems Bungie really did expect you to run the same strikes(or actually, low level enemies to farm) to be eligible to play a single underwhelming hours long mission after roughly 40 hours.
Sorry I can't justify spending a whole other day just to try the Raid... 5/10 is final.
Gunplay is slightly worse than what we had in Halo 1, not very good AI and a piss poor loot/leveling system. Story, setting, music... Despite 2/3 being good, mean nothing when you're expected to be exposed to it for the time it takes to reply most FPS campaigns 4 times over just to unlock the next area.
I grew up on PSO, and I have loved every Halo... And this game had tried to be both in one, but it fails so seriously that playing "Halo-like" is not enough to pull me away from any other aRPG when I feel scammed out of my time playing. I have finished everything this game threw at me, weekly strikes, all bounties, and my only legendarys have come from Blue Engrams dropped by aLV3 enemy...
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
The past generation had severe review inflation. Many games getting high 80's and 90+ did not deserve them. Destiny being in the 70-low 80 range is completely appropriate from a more reasonable perspective that does not treat 60 as awful and 90 as "good"
Metroid is a great example of world building where almost none of the actual lore is available in game. You can feel a Metroid game, know a Metroid game, even knowing nothing about Samus or the Federation. Metroid Prime enhanced this through scanning, but you can still get the gist of the world without scanning.
The visual and environmental storytelling in Destiny is excellent. Just not the actual plot of the game as delivered to the player.
Yeah, some of the writing on KS is sometimes koo-koo.
You know, double the number of strikes, add some variety in patrol missions, and add 3-4 more raids of this caliber and I think they have a winner (oh and change the horrible loot drop algorithm).
None of those things seem undoable and all of them could be added in 2-3 expansion packs. Destiny complete edition holiday 2015 could be pretty great.
None of those things seem undoable and all of them could be added in 2-3 expansion packs. Destiny complete edition holiday 2015 could be pretty great.
Anton Sugar
Member
What a ridiculous thing to say.
As it stands now, I'd give the game a 7/10. Beautiful but shallow, with some horrible omissions (pub matchmaking + social aspects) and some puzzling decisions (no market/trading yet we are rewarded with items from other classes).
The core game is solid enough and its a lot of fun with friends, but I am not going to "wait" before reviewing the game I paid for.
The lack of content is a big reason for low scores, as well. You need to be in love with the mechanics/gameplay in order to really enjoy it.
More strikes means nothing when they are almost all the same. Every boss is simply - shoot weak point, kill minions, repeat - they would have to restructure the leveling system to make doing the same ass thing fun, and if they don't, then they would need to make combat with Dregs and shit more fun. Because right now a dreg and captain are the sane enemy except Captains just stay back and have mote health...
Leatherface
Member
Just keep in mind what a difference it made when Diablo 3 had the awful auction house removed and loot system fixed among other things. I think this game, if tweaked with a good patch, can be a big winner.
It seems like it would be pretty easy to turn the strikes into raid training missions. Look at all the mechanics used in the raid and make simple versions to incorporate into the strike. Almost every modern MMO does it for their progression and I was surprised destiny didn't do it right away too.
I'm not to worried about making the 1-20 "more fun" if they use those levels to teach you different aspects of the end game and how it will work. You can do the 1-20 grind in less than 3 days.
Which is precisely what the game nails above all else and seems to get completely glossed over by critics.
Yeah, those hundred enemies are like the ones you've been fighting the entire time in the dungeon , and qualify as "shooting adds".
Groundbreaking.
Except it doesn't nail those at all. Halo had interesting AI and weapon choices. I'd say even Halo CE was way better than this game at creating environments to contain interesting encounters with varied opponents. This game's enemy encounters feel like a dumbed down horde mode in comparison.
Stop talking about "critics" like they're some foreign collective of people. These issues exist, and regular players see them too.
ArkkAngel007
Member
Except even the lower end reviews acknowledge this. Fun /=/ quality. I'm having a ton of fun, but I'd probably still give the game a 7 in its current shape.
legendofjelda
Member
I'm so far removed from the general review consensus, it's a little unsettling. This game is bliss in a box for me. I usually don't care about reviews, disappointing or not, but this overwhelming disappointment is starting to eat away at me. Why am I enjoying this so much when most people don't seem to like it at all? What's wrong with me?
Actually I think the core gameplay is fantastic. If you want to play Halo, want Halo-level AI and Halo level encounter design, go play Halo.
I find the AI perfectly adequate in the game, the guns are very satisfying, traversal is beautiful and the Supers are great fun.
Adding raid wont mean shit if 99% of the player base cant play them.
Nothing. Enjoy what you enjoy. I eat fast food and I know it's not the best stuff around.
Portugeezer
Gold Member
Looking at this thread was quite interesting. I didn't buy the game because I had the feeling it wouldn't live up to the hype and that I could wait for the price to drop. Seeing some "lower" scoring reviews was not too unexpected for me, but then once a handful of lower scoring reviews came out people started acting like the game was some piece of shit and coming to this thread for confirmation bias that the game was shit.
Looking at the metacritic score, Game Informer is about 1 point above... not much, people all butthurt about it. I saw "respect to polygon" for it's review... a fucking site we trash every other day (with good reason). Let's not act like the below average review of polygon or gamespot is somehow the fucking norm when it is close to 2 points below the average. I didn't buy the game after hearing about the lack of locations, nor do I give a shit how well Destiny reviews but it just reeks of people being disappointed compared to what they expected, rather than the game itself being mediocre as some people act. Many people are just coming here to shit on the game and discuss the negatives of the game and the underwhelming review scores, god forbid we should get a more positive review from another big outlet; what the fuck do you guys want when a game reviews 1 point above average? Every review to match your disappointment? Get real.
You have your confirmation bias already. Do you still need help with you negative opinion? It's sad.
Just enjoy it. People seem more disappointed than anything, not that it's a bad game.
The game didn't live up to the hype, it was disappointing; Bungie disappointed, but it is not a bad game and there is no need to over react to a good review.
Looking at the metacritic score, Game Informer is about 1 point above... not much, people all butthurt about it. I saw "respect to polygon" for it's review... a fucking site we trash every other day (with good reason). Let's not act like the below average review of polygon or gamespot is somehow the fucking norm when it is close to 2 points below the average. I didn't buy the game after hearing about the lack of locations, nor do I give a shit how well Destiny reviews but it just reeks of people being disappointed compared to what they expected, rather than the game itself being mediocre as some people act. Many people are just coming here to shit on the game and discuss the negatives of the game and the underwhelming review scores, god forbid we should get a more positive review from another big outlet; what the fuck do you guys want when a game reviews 1 point above average? Every review to match your disappointment? Get real.
You have your confirmation bias already. Do you still need help with you negative opinion? It's sad.
Just enjoy it. People seem more disappointed than anything, not that it's a bad game.
The game didn't live up to the hype, it was disappointing; Bungie disappointed, but it is not a bad game and there is no need to over react to a good review.
JetBlackPanda
Member
Nothing.
I mean we have been shitting on review scores for years around here. They hardly ever get stuff right.
just play what you like.
Ol No Bones
Banned
I bet bungie is pretty upset by these reviews given their past. I'm glad reviewers had the sense to see some of the serious issues and score accordingly.
There are bliss reviews. 'gamecritic' doesn't refer to a hive mind.
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