Destiny

[melmer]

I quickly discovered during the Beta that this game is faaaaaaaar more enjoyable played in co-op. I've been bolstering up my friends list so i can just jump in a fire team with whoevers at a similar level as me, then i just go with the flow. The stories non existent, the mission are all carbon copies of each other, so i don't really have an opinion on where we go and who we shoot.

 

I put a bit of time in to the crucible to get the 'complete 5 games' bounty which was actually a lot of fun, i came top of my team two games running. [iDLE] clan represent. Although it appears there's currently a lot of noob fodder, which is why i've doing so well and i know its not going to last. Highlight: disintegrating three people guarding a flag with my super power MULTI KILL

[Griddlelol]

I think the reason I'm so happy with Destiny while others aren't is because to me it feels like a step towards perfection of the Boarderlands games. The gun play is better, there are no dumb jokes or annoying characters, there are no useless guns, the environments are art are beautiful, and it embraces the coop feel, rather than fighting against it. 

 

There are things where sometimes I think "why not just copy WoW?" I play as a Defender Titan, and my class ability is a shield bubble I can throw on the ground. What would be really useful is for there to be party health bars at the side of the screen. I'd know who to jump on and throw the bubble over. Obviously on voice chat people call out when they're dying, but not normally until it's too late.  

I'm sure health bars would be useful for everyone, just to see who's getting hurt, not just for the Defender ult. 

 

I also snagged an issue in PvP. I was rocking a low level blue hand cannon for a long time because the stats on it were decent, and it had a huge clip. I hit level 20 and upgraded to a green hand cannon with almost double the damage. 

While in PvP the low level blue was able to kill people with 2 head shots. Which was pretty good and seemed balanced - if I panicked and missed or got a body shot I'd go down, but 2 head shots was possible while keeping my cool. However the green upgrade needed 2 head shots +1 body or head shot to kill. So 3 hits. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes all the difference in PvP. I guess for its level the green weapon had slightly lower damage than the blue for its level, so when everything is standardised, the low level blue was significantly stronger. 

 

Does that make sense? It means that a PvE upgrade might not be an upgrade in PvP and can make a huge difference to your efficacy at killin'.

 

Edit: Pro-tip. Set your fire team to public if you're playing alone.

[ByDefault]

Realised my fire team setup was set to friends only so I've changed that, hopefully means more people can jump into games I'm doing. Bungie are the absolute best at perfecting just how good the basic gameplay feels which more than makes up for my other issues. Really looking forward to doing more of the Strike missions/raids. Co-op is easily where the game shines it feels like.

[JonCole]

I think part of the reason I'm loving Destiny is probably a lot of the reason other people don't like it - namely, it's a serviceable RPG wrapped in great shooter. Alluding to what Griddle said, I consider Borderlands 1/2 to be a serviceable RPG wrapped in a serviceable shooter that got a lot of attention because it was a new-ish formula. Even though Destiny plays a lot better, BL deserves a lot of credit for being first and having a great sense of humor about things.

 

For me, the humor doesn't make all that big a difference so I guess it's not a surprise that I like Destiny more than BL. Beyond that, I just love FPS games a whole goddamn lot. I play a lot of them, even bad ones, just because they're comfort food for me. So what better game could there be than a shooter with the RPG context that lets me grind levels by continually pumping out good gunplay? To me, the RPG aspect of the single-player/co-op mirrors the competitive element of COD where I got really pretty good and could periodically get that high from 5.0 KDR sprees where my flow state let me just tear through headshots. This time, I can tear through headshots on AI and feel a sense of progression, so it all works.

 

I don't know if that was coherent, but suffice it to say I love Destiny so far. I'm level 11 and I really like my lady Titan.

[Griddlelol]

You pretty much described how I feel, except instead of playing FPSs, I play RPGs and have always felt the RPG as comfort food. 

 

 

How is the remote play on Vita? I've not tried it yet, but I'm hoping it's good. 

[YoThatLimp]

So, looking at side by sides, the PS3 version looks TOTALLY IDENTICAL (well, basically fine compared) to the PS4 version. 

 

Has anyone played on PS3? Does it suffer major performance hits or anything? I was considering getting a PS4 or waiting for a PC port, but the PS3 version looks pretty serviceable. 

I am totally surprised at how awesome it is. Fairly stable frame rate, looks great, plays great. I am totally pleased I didn't wait a few months for ps4. Plus getting the free upgrade copy and knowing I will be able to play my characters on ps4 seemed like a pretty great incentive to buy now rather than wait. 

[Denial]

I think part of the reason I'm loving Destiny is probably a lot of the reason other people don't like it - namely, it's a serviceable RPG wrapped in great shooter.

 

I think this nails it. I'm interested by the way Bungie pushed the lore down mainly to item descriptions and Grimoire cards. I'm still absolutely tickled by the fact that when you meet your class vanguard commander for the first time you get one line of canned speech. No dialog, no big "welcome to the fight" thing. Just "Bill Nighy filled you in, right? Have a bark and some equipment, and go kill things."

[Professor Video Games]

I think part of the reason I'm loving Destiny is probably a lot of the reason other people don't like it - namely, it's a serviceable RPG wrapped in great shooter. Alluding to what Griddle said, I consider Borderlands 1/2 to be a serviceable RPG wrapped in a serviceable shooter that got a lot of attention because it was a new-ish formula. Even though Destiny plays a lot better, BL deserves a lot of credit for being first and having a great sense of humor about things.

 

For me, the humor doesn't make all that big a difference so I guess it's not a surprise that I like Destiny more than BL. Beyond that, I just love FPS games a whole goddamn lot. I play a lot of them, even bad ones, just because they're comfort food for me. So what better game could there be than a shooter with the RPG context that lets me grind levels by continually pumping out good gunplay? To me, the RPG aspect of the single-player/co-op mirrors the competitive element of COD where I got really pretty good and could periodically get that high from 5.0 KDR sprees where my flow state let me just tear through headshots. This time, I can tear through headshots on AI and feel a sense of progression, so it all works.

 

I don't know if that was coherent, but suffice it to say I love Destiny so far. I'm level 11 and I really like my lady Titan.

 

This echoes my thoughts pretty much exactly. I played Borderlands 1 and got tired of it quickly because I found the combat so boring (didn't help that the humor didn't really work for me). I was thinking about it while playing last night...this is the kind of game I could just sit down and play for a few hours, level up my robo-wizard a bit and maybe get some cool new gear for him (ie run on the RPG treadmill a bit), and most importantly have some very satisfying Halo style combat. Definitely total comfort food.

 

I'll have to try the open Fire Team...I missed the first day so I'm a bit behind the curve level-wise and haven't been able to team up with anyone here. On the bright side, I've got a cool new white DS4 now!

[Professor Video Games]

I think this nails it. I'm interested by the way Bungie pushed the lore down mainly to item descriptions and Grimoire cards. I'm still absolutely tickled by the fact that when you meet your class vanguard commander for the first time you get one line of canned speech. No dialog, no big "welcome to the fight" thing. Just "Bill Nighy filled you in, right? Have a bark and some equipment, and go kill things."

 

It seems crazy to me that the Grimoire cards are only available on the website. Why not let me read them in game?

[Griddlelol]

Interesting find: If you attain the ability to switch class spec on one character, it's then available for all as soon as you create them.

[juv3nal]

I also snagged an issue in PvP. I was rocking a low level blue hand cannon for a long time because the stats on it were decent, and it had a huge clip. I hit level 20 and upgraded to a green hand cannon with almost double the damage. 

While in PvP the low level blue was able to kill people with 2 head shots. Which was pretty good and seemed balanced - if I panicked and missed or got a body shot I'd go down, but 2 head shots was possible while keeping my cool. However the green upgrade needed 2 head shots +1 body or head shot to kill. So 3 hits. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes all the difference in PvP. I guess for its level the green weapon had slightly lower damage than the blue for its level, so when everything is standardised, the low level blue was significantly stronger. 

 

Yeah I have no idea what's going on under the hood, but my hand cannon has way better stats/efficacy in pve, but in pvp I'm doing way better with my assault rifle. I'm still absolutely terrible at pvp, but somehow gained 2 levels while doing the bounty for completing 5 matches. I'm not sure I actually want to play more of it (because I suck so hard), but fully half the bounties are for it, it's tempting.

[Boris Stoke]

I'm loving this game a ton.  It's so great.  You're right on, Video Games.  Total comfort food.

 

I've enjoyed getting different idle thumbs friend requests.  I'm sorry if I don't play with you any time soon!  Eight month old baby requires a lot of attention.

[Salacious Snake]

I appreciate the way you people are describing the game. I feel like I'm going to enjoy it a lot, but I'm going to approach it as mindless comfort food right from the start, listening to podcasts and junk while I get my shoot on. I may have been disappointed had I gone in expecting something more engaging.

[Thrik]

I'm still not sure what exactly this damn game is. I gather that it's essentially an FPS RPG with co-op baked in, but is there a central quest (like in Skyrim) with lots of side-quests? Or is it just side-quests without any real central pillar of story? And do you roam around this world or choose missions from some kind of menu? Just listening to people talk about it makes it so hard to figure out, but I don't want to ruin it by watching loads of gameplay.

[Arthur]

Urgh, I played too much today and now my eyeballs, brain and hands hurt. I guess that means I like it, then.

[JonCole]

I'm still not sure what exactly this damn game is. I gather that it's essentially an FPS RPG with co-op baked in, but is there a central quest (like in Skyrim) with lots of side-quests? Or is it just side-quests without any real central pillar of story? And do you roam around this world or choose missions from some kind of menu? Just listening to people talk about it makes it so hard to figure out, but I don't want to ruin it by watching loads of gameplay.

 

There are three kinds of PvE modes that take part in the same overworld -

 

Story/side missions - you select these on a map, you start the level in one place and go from waypoint to waypoint until you complete certain objectives. This is most like a standard Halo mission thing.

Strike missions - similar to the first kind, except there is no story-based artifice for these - these are basically raids where you beat a series of bosses in a more directed attempt to get loot.

Patrol - this is where you are dropped into the overworld and can roam around, taking small MMO-style mission where you collect things or kill certain guys or whatever.

 

For Patrol, you always see other people in the same world as you. For the others, there are areas that other people hang out in but eventually you go into certain areas that are completely instanced and you only play with your fireteam.

[Horse Bag]

 

I also snagged an issue in PvP. I was rocking a low level blue hand cannon for a long time because the stats on it were decent, and it had a huge clip. I hit level 20 and upgraded to a green hand cannon with almost double the damage. 

While in PvP the low level blue was able to kill people with 2 head shots. Which was pretty good and seemed balanced - if I panicked and missed or got a body shot I'd go down, but 2 head shots was possible while keeping my cool. However the green upgrade needed 2 head shots +1 body or head shot to kill. So 3 hits. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes all the difference in PvP. I guess for its level the green weapon had slightly lower damage than the blue for its level, so when everything is standardised, the low level blue was significantly stronger.

I believe the attack rating of weapons is moot in PvP. You do want to be mindful of the stat bars, though, as those percentages do carry over.

 

In your case I suspect the blue Hand Cannon has a higher Impact rating than the green, meaning it does more damage per bullet. Naturally it will fall short in some other regard, like quicker damage drop-off or longer reload speed, but in competitive play stopping power is pretty crucial to that weapon type given the shallow magazines.

 

Changing the subject, I'm actually baffled by how poor and unfinished the story feels, as so much else about the game is polished to a sheen; it's like they were so focussed on their 10 year franchise plan that they forgot to make the first part in any way satisfying or interesting. It's bizarre as Bungie have clearly spent a long time filling out the minutia of their universe — history, iconography, company names, etc — so obviously it's something they care about, yet Destiny's 'campaign' is one of the most meaningless I've played in a long time.

[YoThatLimp]

I'm still not sure what exactly this damn game is. I gather that it's essentially an FPS RPG with co-op baked in, but is there a central quest (like in Skyrim) with lots of side-quests? Or is it just side-quests without any real central pillar of story? And do you roam around this world or choose missions from some kind of menu? Just listening to people talk about it makes it so hard to figure out, but I don't want to ruin it by watching loads of gameplay.

Okay so you have a hub (orbit) where you pick from several locations (earth, moon, venus, etc) and then you pick a mission. It can be a strike mission (boss raid), a patrol (think free roam from Red Dead Redemption with less non-killing stuff in it and more fetch quest grinding) or a story mission.

 

In the list of locations you also have the town (buy upgrades, "social" stuff) and the crucible which is online multiplayer.

 

 

Man those Strikes are kind of hard. That first one (two of us were under leveled) took me 1.5 hours and at the very end the other under leveled dude bailed making it even harder! I really wish the rest of the game had match making, they really made inviting people into Fire teams really shitty and drawn out. 

[Griddlelol]

I'm warming to the PvP. It feels a bit too CoD for my liking, but control is really fun. When you find a choke point and lock it down, you can single handedly win the game for the team. Any weapon or ult that can help with area control is fantastic. Plus there are some really good gear drops in PvP.

 

After Titanfall, the game play feels super slow though, it's taking time to get used to. 

[ByDefault]

Have had a convenient week off work due to house moving and birthday so I've ended up putting quite a bit more time then usual into the game so far. It's definitely got that, oh just one more go feel to it, even though for the most part the mission/strikes structure all feels the same. Have hit the level cap (so many boxes sitting in my house still unpacked, shit) and have started doing some of the random higher level Strikes to get gear so we'll see how much longer it can keep my interest. So far having a lot of fun though. 

[JonCole]

Has anyone tried Destiny on the Vita via Remote Play? I gave it a go this morning, not too bad. The latency is such that I wouldn't want to try PvP with it, but it's just fine for Patrol and easy story missions. Also, I wish there was a way to adjust look sensitivity automatically when you use Remote Play. My 10 sensitivity on the Vita's controls is absolute shit. It's hard enough to use precision weapons (hand cannon, scout rifle, sniper rifle) on that small a screen, but with any sensitivity over like... 3-4 it is almost literally impossible, at least for me.

[Griddlelol]

I tried it last night. It was...OK. I found it quite hard to aim, which I think could be easily fixed with gyroscopic aiming, or as you said; an automatic drop in sensitivity upon remote play. As you said, it's fine for patrol, but anything more difficult than that would be impossible.

 

It's fine, but I wouldn't want to do it for long periods of time. 

[Cbirdsong]

I think this game has convinced me that scaling stats in fast action games like this inherently sabotages their ability to be compelling action games. The balance can't avoid being fuzzy and granular, which much harder to make intelligent moment-to-moment tactical decisions in the heat of combat. Your attack and defense are constantly going up just a little bit, and the enemies are endlessly scaling along with you. This means you can't reliably operate on the very edge of your abilities as a character, because you can't get a sense of where they are. Exactly how much damage you can take/dish out is always floating somewhere along this fuzzy edge, which changes with the level of the enemies you're fighting, relative to you.

Because of this, you end up having to make the safe, boring choices, because those are the only ones you can be sure don't end with you dead. You can't really be know if your melee is going to kill someone in one hit, or if you can take out that group entirely with a single grenade, so you just sit back and chip away with your basic weapon, never finding out exactly how awesome you are, as a player or a character.

Even despite feeling that way, I'm still having reasonably good time playing along with my friends in co-op. That's just inherently fun, and fortunately the game works pretty well with high-level players playing with low-level players, so a friend getting a bit ahead of you isn't the end of the world. They're a bit more durable, but they can still die, so it never feels like you're being carried through the level by your buddy 8 levels higher than you. It's just disappointing I have to even worry about that. I happily played Halo levels over and over again in co-op, because the minute-to-minute combat was so compelling. This definitely isn't making me feel that way. It's a bummer.

[melmer]

 

Just out of curiosity, what are the thing that appear down the left hand side of the map about? I've currently got a link to one of the crucible games

 

I think i'm going to hunt down a destiny end game guide as there's a hell of a lot of stuff i still haven't got a clue about, i think polygon wrote one.... oh its a video

[JonCole]

I believe that those are weekly/extended length events, like a Crucible match type that gets bonus XP or a Strike with some Heroic modifiers and a high level that'll give you great loot.

 

It's kind of amazing how many things in the game are not explicitly explained. I really had no idea that the stuff you can harvest around the levels had multiple purposes, like you can trade them in for Vanguard marks/rank (not sure which one?) or use them to upgrade certain equipment (had no idea that upgrading used any more than glimmer until I hit level 20). The dude who collects the strange coins seems to come and go, and he seems to be some weird agent of the Darkness based on the product descriptions of his junk. It also seems like you should buy a faction class item ASAP when you hit level 20 because you're just leaving reputation on the table if you don't have one equipped.