Destiny 2 – Not a Sequel, as Suspected.

Author: Isey September 20, 2017 3 Comments

I am not picking on Destiny 2 for the sake of it. I like the game. My disappointment rests on the fact that it has underachieved in my eyes as a true sequel and opportunity to move the game forward. This thought was further compounded by the seemingly light and lack of content in the game. “Four new planets!” you say. The truth is, each has very little in terms of content to begin with. Everyone who has played D2 a reasonable amount is already pushing up against the hard Light level cap, and are even trying to find ways to “game” the system to not feel like they are crushing their skull against it. Two weeks in.  My own experience has been they have given us these neat new planets, but very little story missions on each. The game also really feels like they channel you to these little narrow spaces (tightly on rails) and when you pull back the curtain the new areas feel really, really small. Back to the story missions – I remembered how much time and enjoyment I had with the Taken King expansion in Destiny so I used that as a comparative.

Destiny 2 comes with 16 story missions in the main campaign.

The Taken King expansion had 31. That is not a typo.

You might argue on varied length, etc. I haven’t gone back through to time them all, but there was definitely more content in TTK.

Destiny 2 has two strikes to start off their new “sequel”. One of which is a PlayStation exclusive. So, technically, it launched with a single strike.

The Taken King (again an expansion) has five. FIVE.

I think what Destiny 2, Bungie, and Blizzard has pulled off here is amazing. They built a sequel by recycling 90% all enemy assets, some minor visual and gameplay tweaks, hired a high school writer and AV club to do the voice acting for the cut-scenes (my apologies to High School AV clubs – you deserve better!). In terms of dedicated budget this expansion had to have been minimal investment (based off of what we got) – and with the huge sales it may be one of the industry’s largest returns in 2017. So from a business perspective, it’s brilliant. What will be even more brilliant <sarcasm alert> is that the next two DLCs (which many pre-bought) will probably bring the total content up to what a real launch of a real new game – especially an IP as deserving of Destiny – should be. It’s really frustrating and depressing when you look at it through that lens. Worse yet, the DLC might actually have more content than what is available in D2 now. It should, unless they are skimming on that also.

Heck, User scores on Metacritic [5.9] (which I am not a huge fan of to begin with) are approaching Mass Effect: Andromeda levels [5.0] which is a shocker considering there is no Alt-Right / SJW arguments about sexuality and social agendas with Destiny 2. Not yet, anyway.   On the upside, the Metacritic fan reviews are actually surrounding gameplay, lack of change, missed opportunities, and attacking the terrible story line. I haven’t read through all 1000+ of them but the reviews are actually focusing on the game – not the people who made it, or the perceived issues that need to be in or out of the video game narrative.

Gosh, I have been cranky lately around here, haven’t I? So unlike me.

I know people are enjoying it and I admit that I am too – but the nagging thought that we have all been part of a big scam, a rouse, is hard to ignore when you look at how little content was actually provided with how little change. It feels like I ordered the Prime Rib at a fancy restaurant but instead got ground beef that was shaped to look like Prime Rib. Failed analogy – I don’t even like red meat. Point is, it just feels off. Feels Wrong.

I like gaming sequels and I accept that things need to change, and that companies might take risks with that. The best part of sequels is that you normally get some familiarity with a bunch of new “stuff”, and usually a slew of improvements and, well, change.  They may not always hit the mark but at least you can tell there was effort – that they tried.

Ultimately, I think, that is why Destiny 2 missed the mark for me.