melmer

Destiny

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As someone who liked the idea of borderlands, but hated the world, piss poor humor, "style", and gameplay, it looks like Destiny is intended for people like me. 

 

Yeah, the Borderlands series doesn't have anything that hooks me. After watching a

of the Destiny alpha, I'm a lot more interested in that. I trust Bungie to deliver superb FPS mechanics and I find the aesthetics of the world a lot more appealing.

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So far:

 

It's pretty!  The day/night cycles are beautiful.

 

From my ship I can choose to go to Earth, where I can choose to either free-roam and look for "quest beacons" or play a story mission set in the same zone (Old Russia).  There is what I think is a second story mission, but I can't access it as it requires Playsation Plus.  I'm tempted to subscribe just to test out the rest of the content, but this is a short "alpha" and I've already played the available free games for June on PS3.  There seems to be a lot to do with the free-roaming, though, so I'm not lacking for content.

 

From my ship I can also go to The Crucible, which I'm guessing is deathmatch-style multiplayer arena combat?  It's locked away by Playstation Plus as well.

 

Then there's The Tower, which is a hub-like location.  It's in 3rd person, and I can run around and talk to shop keepers, guild peeps, etc.

 

Loading times are a bit much between The Tower and Earth, but nothing overly crazy.

 

It's the first Bungie game I've playing since Marathon Infinity, so I'm not the one to say how much like Halo it feels.  The aim-assist feels pretty heavy.  Thankfully you don't have to click on items to pick them up like in Borderlands.

 

Overall, though, I'm just running around shooting things, and it's fun.  And shiny.  The polish is pretty intense.  There's got to be a lot of developers mad that Bungie is playing with the definition of "alpha"...

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Hit the level cap at level 8.  The ambient "explore" mode is wonderful.  You can choose to pick up little tasks one at time, or you can just explore.  There are community events like having a giant tank-bug fall down and a 5 minute counter appears.  I really like that the main quest is completely separate from the explore mode.  

 

It has so many hooks!  You can only gain a limited number of arena-combat points a day, which means that kids who have all the time in the world can't just grind away in the first week and get all the cool stuff right away.  Shops have counters letting you know how long it will be until inventory resets.  Character upgrades tend to feel nicely substantial.  There's a whole sub-class thing going on, but I think you have to get higher than level 8 to unlock that stuff.  There's just a lot going on that makes you want to keep playing (just one more turn), but also good reasons to "check in" every day, which moves this game into the dangerous to purchase territory.

 

It's just really pretty.  I liked being in the world, though combat being the only way of interacting with the world will get tiresome sooner than in something like Skyrim, where you could at least count on odd NPC interactions/quests breaking up the gameplay loop of killing things.

 

Curious to see how much more content is available in the beta, and to hear others' impressions of the alpha.

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Peter Dinklage's voice acting in this game is horrible. Every time I hear grating video game voice acting, I wonder what the fuck the people in charge of hiring and recording voice actors are thinking. You can't walk ten feet in Los Angeles without running into one hundred capable people who would love to provide a voice in a video game. And I guarantee they'd sound far, far better than whatever weirdos are hired by modern game developers. It's like, "well, if we can't get Nolan North, let's just go and find someone who's currently trending on twitter or else that guy yelling in the alley about the government!"

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I dunno, the voice acting seems more out of place and awkwardly worded than poorly acted. I was watching Giant Bomb's Quick Look and he literally had to say a line that sounded something like: "The Hive must have come from The Moon. The Wizard is up ahead. We must hurry before The Darkness catches us." or something to that effect. I think even Daniel Day-Lewis would have trouble making that sound good.

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The more I hear about this, the more it sounds like Bungie made an MMOFPS. So you're saying there are public events and an instanced story mode?

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Peter Dinklage's voice acting in this game is horrible. Every time I hear grating video game voice acting, I wonder what the fuck the people in charge of hiring and recording voice actors are thinking. You can't walk ten feet in Los Angeles without running into one hundred capable people who would love to provide a voice in a video game. And I guarantee they'd sound far, far better than whatever weirdos are hired by modern game developers. It's like, "well, if we can't get Nolan North, let's just go and find someone who's currently trending on twitter or else that guy yelling in the alley about the government!"

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be sad to hear the words "That wizard came from the moon!" spoken aloud, but alas, Destiny has made it so.

I wonder if they're considering changing the voice acting based on the near universal negative feedback, or if Peter Dinklage's paycheck was too much for them to even consider it.

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I didn't think Dinklage was so bad except for a few really awful lines.  He's playing a robot and I think most of his lines can be as straightforward as he reads them.  Mostly the "Lots of movement ahead...." line was the most grating.  It sounds to me like they just gave him one take and went with it.  Maybe they can have him do a second take.

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I like the look of this game, and it appears to have potential. I watched giant bomb's quick look of the alpha. I do, however, have 2 issues with it. One is that this is not an alpha, not even a beta, it is just a demo. The other is that I generally don't like playing first person shooters with a controller, but this game is not coming to the windows compatible personal computer. I am getting a PS4 eventually for Bloodborne anyway though, so when I get one I might also get Destiny, depending on how well it is received post-launch.

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I really want to get in and try this out, because everything I've seen makes it seem pretty lack-luster to me. I realize that the GB guys aren't the best folks to watch alpha game coverage from, since they tend to goof off and not really understand the game, but they seemed to be talking pretty positive about the whole experience and it looked really plain to me. *shrug* Maybe it's something you don't really get until you hold the controller.

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Destiny is huge because 1) no mainstream shooter in the last year has captured my interest for more than a couple weeks, including Titanfall and 2) an MMOFPS that actually seems to be a good FPS with potentially good fiction is practically unheard of, at least by me. Not to mention the game's design is impressing the hell out of me and there doesn't seem to be a better candidate in my mind for the first visually impressive game to make a next/now-gen console purchase feel justified.

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Urgh, everything I read/hear about this makes me want it. Hearing someone describe it as "Halo x Phantasy Star Online x Borderlands" just makes me want it. Hearing the phrase "there are raids of 8 people..." makes me want it.

 

God damn it Bungie I DON'T WANT A PS4! 

 

I'm forcing myself not to watch game play videos. That'll be £400 I can't spend right now, and my partner will go mental considering I just bought a Wii U.

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Urgh, everything I read/hear about this makes me want it. Hearing someone describe it as "Halo x Phantasy Star Online x Borderlands" just makes me want it. Hearing the phrase "there are raids of 8 people..." makes me want it.

 

God damn it Bungie I DON'T WANT A PS4! 

 

I'm forcing myself not to watch game play videos. That'll be £400 I can't spend right now, and my partner will go mental considering I just bought a Wii U.

 

I'm basically swearing off buying any video games or eating out of the house until this game comes out so I can afford the bundle.

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I just did that with my Wii U. Even if I did save up by not wasting money on eating out etc. my girlfriend would still kill me. I'd have to buy it, put it near the tv and hope she didn't notice. 

 

I do want that white PS4 though. And Bloodbourne. And whatever naughty dog puts out next. And I could play The Last of Us DLC I never had a chance to play. And I can't believe I'm talking myself into this. 

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Urgh, everything I read/hear about this makes me want it. Hearing someone describe it as "Halo x Phantasy Star Online x Borderlands" just makes me want it. Hearing the phrase "there are raids of 8 people..." makes me want it.

 

God damn it Bungie I DON'T WANT A PS4! 

 

I'm forcing myself not to watch game play videos. That'll be £400 I can't spend right now, and my partner will go mental considering I just bought a Wii U.

 

Well you've got 2.5 months to come up with the cash!  Just stop eating meals.  :)

 

Regarding Dinklage's voiceover:  I didn't mind it.  Was never made clear who or what he was, but the story seems pretty silly so far.  Better to have a purposefully detached/monotone narrator (opportunity for some dry humor?) than someone trying to wring out every last emotion from moon wizards.  I recognized Lance Reddick giving some explore mode quests, so that's great!

 

Anyone on the alpha get to try out the Crucible stuff?  Is it just standard deathmatch/capture the point stuff?

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I need to go on a diet anyway...

 

I think I have a plan. If I save up enough money for a PS4 bundle AND a certain handbag that my girlfriend's had her eye on AND lie about the price, I might get away with it. 

 

To eBay!

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Deception, the foundation of all good relationships (kinda not kidding about that).

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Man, so happy my wife doesn't care much about handbags and enjoys games as much as I do. Not that it means she's super excited about me burning $480-ish on a PS4 and game, just that she can appreciate my needs and may get something out of my purchase in the long run.

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Yeah...

That'd be cool if she liked games, but if it wasn't for her I'd never read and I would have missed out of so many fantastic novels. I just have to convince her that it's ok to have an expensive addiction to technology considering I don't drink/smoke. 

 

I would say it's not lying that makes a good relationship, but more like spin. If you can spin things well, it'll work.

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Just seen that the alpha has been extended. Hopefully it'll still be going tomorrow as I've been away all weekend

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