Posted in: Games, Movies, Video Games | Tagged: Destiny, entertainment, video games

Contemplating Destiny – Bungie's Game At A Crossroads

By Phil Harris

In September 2014 Destiny, a videogame developed by Bungie and published by Activision, was released upon the world to a reasonable degree of critical reception, with impressive numbers playing the game and pumping hour after hour into the story mode, strikes – with their daily and weekly variants – and raid. For many Bungie represented one word, Halo, having been responsible for bringing that successful franchise to the Xbox and Xbox 360 before passing the torch on so they could concentrate on this, a new pinnacle in Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) gameplay for the console market rather than the more traditional home of the PC. And so it came to pass and all was good… or was it?

Many people bought into Destiny, paying for the first two packs of downloadable content (DLC) before having even tried the game. The general feedback from previews and beta tests of the product had been good and Bungie had an established track record with First Person Shooters (FPS). In fact given the number of hours invested into the game it could be said they all got their monies worth and gameplay elements and design appeared to be solid from the outset: Guns fired hails of bullets over dramatic landscapes, armour could be upgraded and the level cap in place seemed ultimately attainable.

So the story wasn't really up to much, well neither was Halo's – the games setting being nicely designed but not having its full potential uncovered in the story writing – except for moments of brilliance in the spin-offs of ODST and Reach. This was reflected in the original release of Destiny with an absolutely brilliant opening, questioning if all humanity was dead, some ancient system was merely resurrecting the bodies, whether the Fallen could be the remaining vestiges of humanity and leaving many questions about the Traveler: Why it had come to Earth and why other, seemingly alien, races were after it.

Three or four missions in and most of this had been forgotten, plot lines drifted around points like they were caught in an storm and the whole affair felt like it had been written by proxy. What is worse were vignettes of history, collected as Grimoire cards, which you could view online – rather than be presented in the game – and these seem as muddled as the main story as well as being dully written and inspiring the player to read less. Like or loathe Peter Dinklage's voice over the real issue is that they shouldn't have got a sought after actor to do the role; better an unknown who could continue to produce dialogue instead of a noticeable absence of your cynical and chatty partner in The Dark Below DLC. Perhaps they will retcon the character like Holly/Hilly in Red Dwarf for amusing effect.

It would be easy to criticise the plot further (Why do we end on Mars when the Traveler is on Earth?) but there are other things to consider first with balance being a major issue. MMO games require balance between players to keep them happy and in general the balance of Destiny seems good until you scratch its surface. Player versus player (PVP) options had a selection of modes to titillate the gamer, nicely designed maps added to the competition with weapons damage and armour effects leveled between combatants (until release of the Iron Banner tournament); so whilst it was possible for the lowest level to defeat one of the highest the potential unlocked at the higher levels meant you had a distinct advantage for the time you had spent. It was a fact that some weapons were overpowered but gamers knew that as the game was patched these issues would be balanced.

Where issues arose were with the initial trawl to reach Level 30. Whilst it was attainable players had to complete the raid Vault of Glass – a well designed but lengthy and still, unfortunately, buggy affair which required players to team up with six friends to complete and carried no match making options allowing you to play with strangers. Whilst Bungie resolutely stuck to this plan players used this mysterious tool called "the internet" to gather together and ignore the initial principle – friends working together – the raid was meant to instill. Worse still was that, given the length of the raid, players often dropped out mid way through – leaving the rest of the team desperately searching for another team member or quitting themselves – giving the whole affair a rather disparate feel and nullifying any enjoyment. Level 30 became an exclusive club to some and that just meant it was even harder for others to get the gear to reach that level, ultimately feeling disenfranchised with the whole affair. If things were looking a little frayed around the edges then the release of The Dark Below (DLC) simply compounded the problems on offer.

The Dark Below's release came with a significant shift in the games internal economy, putting a cap on the funds a player could hold, allowing players to buy certain upgrade items and restricting them from selling others whilst turning Xur – Agent of the Nine, the oft visited weekend treat market, into a thrift store who held very little the player wanted any more. Players who had ground to get their exotic weapons and armour to Level 30 would simply need to start again and the changes came in as subtly as an anarchists brick through the window of an upper class club. There was certainly some consternation and the massive shift in emphasis did nothing to raise confidence in Bungie's ability to run an MMO. Worse still was the fact that they failed to address the issues they should have learned from the Level 30 problems and made Level 32 equally difficult to reach by shifting the emphasis and items required to complete the task.

Strangely worse was the fact The Dark Below actually had quite a good plot (or a plot at all), revealing just how tawdry the original storyline had been and making those original levels even more of a churn to get through, as you listened to the same unskippable instructions time and time again. The DLC also, almost criminally, failed to deliver on the content received and some shoddy stunt bike (called sparrow's in game) and a cruddy gun delivered to thank those who had bought into the package with the game and first two pieces of DLC was hardly going to win awards.

Destiny is at a crossroads and one that it needs to solve soon. At the moment the player base is still fairly packed but, however good the gameplay is, the lack of anything perceptibly new coming over the horizon until the launch of The House of Wolves (DLC) in Quarter 2 is telling and if that package is another one with questionable value versus content then it is hard to see a rosy future. MMO's depend on the player base to keep them moving, they represent one of the reasons to engage and play but, if your friends can't be bothered any more, why play yourself.

Personally I'm taking a long break from Destiny and will come back hopeful The House of Wolves will prove me wrong, I'll not simply visit for a month and then head for the hills again.

Until that day…

Phil Harris (@PhilipGHarris) is a games developer and writer currently working with One Thumb Mobile on their MMORPG Celtic Heroes. He also created Zentorii, helped design Nevistech's Pet Roulette for Android devices and is the story writer for Blazing Griffin's new space strategy game Distant Star: Revenant Fleet. To read more about Phil check out his profile on Indie Teamup.

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