Showing posts with label Bungie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bungie. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Destiny 2 ~ First Impressions

Though I'm only part of the way into Destiny 2's story campaign I'm finding a detachment from the situation, and the characters presented in the extended lore. Instead of building upon the dire circumstances plaguing Earth, and it's citizens Bungie pushes things forward at breakneck speed not building enough upon side characters' relationships, but instead going way overboard with the guardian's role in the predicament. While everyone else from Earth's last safe haven struggle somewhat to get their sh*t together, and put up a fight your guardian, and ghost have a miraculous vision that leads them to a chunk of the Traveler which in turn restores their gifted powers. Ultimately making them the last hope for humanity. Between the immersion breaking missions, and the cutscenes that follow in which your guardian and ghost gain the starring role you'll find little emphasis on the emotional joint elements that should have been in place in such a tale. Everything in the story seems halfhearted, and forced to a point that it's more like an expansion to the first game than a true sequel. Your roles as the guardian hero (from what I've seen) include missions that require going from area to area to rebuild social gathering sites, and fixing safeguards as well as taking on outings that require you to fight supposedly formidable foes. The usual enemy suspects return seeming so out of place, and equally as forced as everything else that their existence is of little consequence to the proposed pivotal points of the new Destiny equation.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Destiny Update

Yesterday, after a significant wait for the latest update to launch it finally dropped, and I downloaded it with great expectation. I delved back once again into the immersive universe that makes up the Destiny lore hoping for the best. As one of Destiny's paying founders I was anxious to see if Bungie had redeemed themselves with this hyped mini-expansion. The teaser trailers, and studio commentary boasted like it was one of the biggest things to hit Destiny since it's release. The videos showed some fairly impressive new features, some of which have been long awaited by dedicated gamers like myself. I won't lie in saying that I was a little excited to see if these add-ons made sticking around for the long haul worthwhile. At this point Destiny was in desperate need of a revival. Both for the gamers who were invested in it, and for the developers who are pushing it.

Monday, January 11, 2016

The State of Destiny 2016

I've been outspoken about Destiny since it's launch. Sometimes I've praised it, and other times I've outright bashed it because of it's growing laundry list of problems. Even with it's major downsides though I continue to play the game with friends, and admittedly so. I liken said experience to beating my head against a brick wall, but finding euphoria in the trauma induced dizziness afterwards. It's just one of those things in life, I suppose ...

Seeing as it's 2016 I figured in my spare time between reviews that I'd try to breakdown my thoughts on what Destiny has become, and what needs to be done in order to revive fan's faith in the game/series. I definitely have a lot to say, and honestly a lot of it is going to put the game in the negative spotlight. At the same time though I want you to understand that I don't want to see the game fail. I don't want to see it in the state of mismanagement that it's in. I'm hoping the team at Bungie can get it together enough to do what needs to be done in order to reverse the damage that Destiny's current build has done to the morale of those who have invested so wholly in it.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Destiny - "A Reflection, A Farewell"

This morning, out of sheer curiosity I logged into to Destiny on the PS4 just to see what Xur was selling. It's like a bad habit now. Regardless of the nature of this routine addiction I played through two weekly heroics with my Hunter, and Titan to get the strange coins I needed to buy whatever it was that Xur had in stock. The weekly heroic playthroughs went by fairly quickly, and smoothly on the level 32 difficulty setting, mostly thanks to void burn damage. As usual I was rewarded with 9 strange coins in each playthrough, and went to spend said tokens on Xur's stash. I should also note that someone at Bungie gifted my Titan 9 extra strange coins, possibly because I complained about the state of Destiny this morning. It didn't say it was from Bungie, but the tagline "gift from an unknown benefactor" pretty much stated the obvious. When I finally found Xur near the 'New Monarchy" vendor in the Tower (At the large sealed door) I discovered that he was peddling the same damn crap he always does. It's SSDD at it's worst. Regardless I nabbed some exotic chest armor for my Titan, and a pair of exotic gauntlets for my Hunter. Both of which will not likely be of any use for my preferred play style. As I went about my morning Destiny biz doing all of this some thoughts came to mind. Particularly about the current state of the game, and what it used to mean to me ...

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Staying Socially Relevant & Other Stuff ...

Socially relevant, I shall stay socially relevant. That's what I keep telling myself. Honestly, though my coverage of gaming is fading due to several different factors. For one thing I find that games worth reviewing, or talking about are becoming fewer, and further between. Most games are half-assed pieces of shite that never live up to the hype. Some are even blatant rip-offs meant solely for cheating gamers out of their hard earned money. In light of these blasphemous gaming developments my review requesting has waned, and rightfully so. I've found my passion for covering such games, and gaming topics dwindling. Gaming in general has become aggravating for me on so many levels. The online multiplayer experience that I once loved is being snuffed the f**k out by hackers, and is leaving a lot to be desired in it's wake. Even the offline only games are leaving a lot to be desired with their half-baked delivery. Seeing as new-gen consoles are mostly built for the online experience the consoles themselves are also posing a potentially threatening problem for the future of gaming. Where does a passionate journalist go from here? What does one do when they've reached a realization of what is truly happening to one of their most beloved hobbies? It's a question that I'm going to have to answer for myself before the new year comes into light as I may, or may not continue on this journalistic path due to the oppressing factors that weigh so heavily on me now. Heck I might even go retro before it's all over.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Game Developers, Half-Assed Releases & What To Do About the Issue

Okay. So, this is going to be a slight rant. It's directed solely at game developers, and content creators ...

We all know as gamers that everything from video games to patches/updates have been being botched, and released regardless of their unsatisfactory condition. This has got to stop. What it all boils down to is pure laziness, a lack of commitment to the product, and a lack of willingness to supply the funds needed to make things right. If you are going to make a game set in an online environment, or even an offline game it is imperative that you get things right from the start, and that you work out all the kinks before it hits shelves. There's no if's, and's, or butt's (I typed it that way on purpose) about it. If you are not willing to fund a team who can get such a job done then you do not need to be releasing the game, or patch in the first place. While I could point fingers, and call names all day I'm going to go a different route, and offer up a viable suggestion that will help get the development process back on the right track, and no it does not require more money to do ...