Destiny: FIN

[Shook]

What is the point of the tower? It's massive, with loads of tunnels and offshoot areas with no purpose, and vendors scattered all over the place like it's meant for more than the 16 people it holds. I guess it's meant to convey that it's a living, working city but with it being so sparsely populated, it just makes it seem emptier than if it had been a single corridor with everyone lined up on either side.

There is a lot about the game that feels half-finished, such as the different races you pick. Why are they there? They don't play any differently, sound or animate any differently, you only ever see the back of their head when you're in the tower, so what's the point?

Yeah, very little context.

It does feel a bit unfinished I think. Too sparse.

I think about games like Skyrim (I know, not the same genre etc) but it just had so much to do, constantly.

[Guest]

Had a good couple of hours with Jon on here tonight. Some fun laddish memes happening as usual.

Look at these three fucking moon pigs (princes on the moon)

Combat is to die for. Could patrol for hours (and will). Loving the darker tone compared to Halo. Level stuff causing a slight issue with me playing a few hours (than Jon) more; I feel like a badass storming in for kills but can imagine it's a shit feeling the other way around. Should be good when we all cap out and start the raids.

Think the fact we are racing home to play and laughing our heads off means Bungie have provided the goods.

Love it.

Here, piggy, piggy!

[angel]

Hows your next gen experience Jon are you pleased you bought it.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Had a great night with this last night doing the first strike mission at lvl 7. First time some random immediately disconnected, so had a crack at it with just two. To be fair we did pretty well, but in the end the wave after wave struggle to blast away whilst being on res watch just wore us down. The gig was comically up when instead of spawning another attempt we both just started dancing at the same time.

It was about half ten by this point, and I should have just put the joypad away and watched Banshee or something, but I hate leaving things half done, so went straight back in. This time with a couple of level 9 guys it was a whole lot easier, but fuck me did these guys die a lot. Like they had no survival instinct whatsoever and would just leeroy everything. Finally finished it at midnight with something ridiculous like 29 resses.

Cracking fun though. I totally see the criticisms of this, but to be honest I'm too busy enjoying the fuck out of it to care.

[jonamok]

Was Rab's take already posted?

http://www.amusementarcade.org/2014/09/10/destiny-diary-day-one/

That's a great article. Loved this line:

"First Person Shooters arent about witnessing a spectacle. They're about BEING the fucking spectacle."

Nails why I love this game. I am a fucking space Warlock in a maroon leather cloak. I glide and shoot and dance around those nasty alien fuckers all day. I take them on en masse and decide how I will kill each of 'em, and in what order.

Oh, and purple electric jizz shoots from my motherf*cking hands.

[Wickedkitten]

I was looking around the Tower last night and it seems there are definitely some areas that aren't open to explore yet. In the main area where you arrive, go right to the back between the Bounty giver and the Gunsmith and you can look through into a big area that's currently blocked off.

That bit opens for Iron tower crucible events

[V3zna]

That's a great article. Loved this line:

"First Person Shooters arent about witnessing a spectacle. They're about BEING the fucking spectacle."

Nails why I love this game. I am a fucking space Warlock in a maroon leather cloak. I glide and shoot and dance around those nasty alien fuckers all day. I take them on en masse and decide how I will kill each of 'em, and in what order.

Oh, and purple electric jizz shoots from my motherf*cking hands.

That's a really inspiring article. I've been slightly unconvinced by Destiny. After reading that I can't wait to play it again.

[Dave White]

I had hoped that other fireteams on the same world would kick off an auto team deathmatch alongside the enemies in the levels. I understand the balance that the weapons and unlocks are capped in the crucible, but surely with the whole crux of the game being based on leveling up, surely placing the same level players in a room and match is the logical step? otherwise its kind of pointless and separates the main game from the Crucible.

I really love the game, the art direction and environments are spectacular and like ive said before it feels like you inhabit a game world painted by Chris Foss, but I keep waiting for the enemies to arrive in massive vehicles or ships, thats the kind of thing that is missing for me. I just hope that kind of stuff arrives.

In essence what ive played feels like a glorified horde mode on a repeat cycle, and as pretty as it is there is something lacking and i cant put my finger on it

[Guest]

Hows your next gen experience Jon are you pleased you bought it.

Yeah, the Xbox has been brilliant so far.

The pad is fantastic - a definite step up from the 360 pad. The TV integration thing is great - when my girlfriend gets home from work she fires it straight up into TV mode, then while she's making dinner my eldest son can easily switch to Minecraft with a simple press of the glowing Xbox button, then when I get home I can just as easily switch over to Destiny. Having everything so easily accessible like that might not seem like much, but it's really satisfying to use. The Console itself is only slightly larger than my old 360, but a much better shape. Whoever said it was huge is mental. And it's deadly silent. Very impressive.

As for the games, I've got Minecraft, Titanfall and Destiny, and they're all really good. Especially Destiny which runs perfectly. Oh, and the online has been absolutely rock solid - not a single disconnect yet.

MS keep on adding useful functionality with every update, which just keeps making the console better.

In summary, I've got nothing at all to complain about and I'm really happy I went Xbox again.

Except that fucking Plex app hasn't been launched yet.

[Harsin]

It's just for a supposed social game that reviewers couldn't even play because they wouldn't get to experience the 'vibrant' world with 'millions' of players running around, Bungie have made some incredibly weird decisions.

No matchmaking for story missions. I've already mentioned this and the stock response is that it doesn't matter because you can run up to other players and then invite them. That's not good enough, when they have a system for quick and easy grouping, making players wander around like some kind of virtual beggar spamming invites until someone, hopefully, eventually bites is bonkers. I'm lucky enough to have a group of friends I play online with, but this must feel like a pretty miserable experience if you want to group with randoms to get through the game.

The communication options are laughably bad, Bungie have disabled the mic unless you're already in a fire team with someone, there's no text chat, so the only way you can communicate in most situations is by dancing, pointing, waving or sitting. Even the cheapest jankiest Korean online game has more emotes than that. How about a dialogue wheel or something? The touchpad on the PS4 version is used for nothing but a comically oversized select button at the moment, how about allowing you to say 'I want to group' or setting a flag above your head that you're looking for teammates. This is really basic stuff.

Someone mentioned the customisation, it really is bottom of the barrel. One of the potential joys of an online game is seeing the characters players come up with. This has probably some of the most basic customisation I've seen. I know they probably didn't want to put in Saints Row levels of customisation because of their precious lore, but it hasn't even got a facial hair option. Not that it really matters as it's difficult to see individual faces in the Tower and in inspect view you just get to see the identikit helmets.

It may sound like I hate the game. I don't. I'm just shocked at what a basic package it seems to be after so long in development and all the hype/marketing behind it.

[Sng]

Let us know of you're still using it for tv in a few weeks!

[BarryL85]

So I checked the weapons on the pvp rep vendors and they were all meh for me....until I saw The Calling from FWC

Its main ability is called Firefly, which you might think is cool regardless, but its what it does is really amazing - "Precision kills with this weapon cause the target to explode." Not sure if these weapon abilities are randomised or not, but who's with me and the FWC?

How do you go about acquiring this gun and other legendary gear? I really can't understand it all. I'm level 15 and have absolutely no idea how to earn the correct currencies all I get is glimmer, was on patrol missions and it said rewards were Vanguard reputation but not Vanguard moneys.

[Guest]

Let us know of you're still using it for tv in a few weeks!

Have I missed something? What's happening in a few weeks?

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

I would have loved to be able to put a goatee on my robot.

[Scruff]

I would have loved to be able to put a goatee on my robot.

Just don't let it drink alcohol for a few days.

[mechamonkey]

Are level differences balanced in the Crucible? I ask because one (lvl18) guy literally just started dancing when he saw my lvl 8 and I could barely dent him with a full clip (t think I took about 10% of his health off firing at his head) , of course I got one shot every time by him.

[angel]

Yeah, the Xbox has been brilliant so far.

The pad is fantastic - a definite step up from the 360 pad. The TV integration thing is great - when my girlfriend gets home from work she fires it straight up into TV mode, then while she's making dinner my eldest son can easily switch to Minecraft with a simple press of the glowing Xbox button, then when I get home I can just as easily switch over to Destiny. Having everything so easily accessible like that might not seem like much, but it's really satisfying to use. The Console itself is only slightly larger than my old 360, but a much better shape. Whoever said it was huge is mental. And it's deadly silent. Very impressive.

As for the games, I've got Minecraft, Titanfall and Destiny, and they're all really good. Especially Destiny which runs perfectly. Oh, and the online has been absolutely rock solid - not a single disconnect yet.

MS keep on adding useful functionality with every update, which just keeps making the console better.

In summary, I've got nothing at all to complain about and I'm really happy I went Xbox again.

Except that fucking Plex app hasn't been launched yet.

sweet, good to hear, thats what its all about. the extra sensitvity of the pads, much more precise, the dashboard not chugging, all the little things...that and the games not looking like they can barely run on the system.

[moosegrinder]

Are level differences balanced in the Crucible? I ask because one (lvl18) guy literally just started dancing when he saw my lvl 8 and I could barely dent him with a full clip (t think I took about 10% of his health off firing at his head) , of course I got one shot every time by him.

It's broken to shit. Bungie can't do matchmaking to save their life.

[Cosmic_Guru]

The music in this is utterly incredible.

This. Every time there is a horde defence situation, which is pretty often let's face it, the music really gets the adrenaline going, it's superb. Also the sound effects generally, all the squelching in the moon tomb is unsettling.

Has anyone done any public events yet? I only had one on the way to 20 (on Venus) and none so far on a new char, I'm sure they were kicking off much more often in the beta

Only done one so far and I've spent a fair amount of I time "on patrol"(I think exploration was a better title for this personally), the frequency has undoubtedly dropped. Unfortunately it was very early on and we failed to take down the spider.

A couple of other points: the updated version of the companion app is much better for reviewing your grimoire cards and some of the artwork is cool. Also the revived ghosts ones have a bit of backstory and context which is nice.

I also like the fact you can check out other peoples load outs.

The pace of the game is undoubtedly strange at times and probably comes across even more strongly so for the dedicated FPS players. I was on moon patrol and hanging around the area with the circular "stalk like" structure. I picked up a kill streak mission and it seemed that a other player had done the same thing for he hang around too. Anyway, short of formally inviting one another onto a team there was nothing we could do to communicate whilst waiting a fair time for enough enemies to spawn.

I'm not rushing to get to level 20 but seen a good few over 20 s out there already.

[Timmo]

It's broken to shit. Bungie can't do matchmaking to save their life.

Halo 2 and 3 had fine matchmaking.

This game is making me pine for Halo, I'm glad I kept my 360.

[instasis]

This. Every time there is a horde defence situation, which is pretty often let's face it, the music really gets the adrenaline going, it's superb. Also the sound effects generally, all the squelching in the moon tomb is unsettling.

Only done one so far and I've spent a fair amount of I time "on patrol"(I think exploration was a better title for this personally), the frequency has undoubtedly dropped. Unfortunately it was very early on and we failed to take down the spider.

A couple of other points: the updated version of the companion app is much better for reviewing your grimoire cards and some of the artwork is cool. Also the revived ghosts ones have a bit of backstory and context which is nice.

I also like the fact you can check out other peoples load outs.

The pace of the game is undoubtedly strange at times and probably comes across even more strongly so for the dedicated FPS players. I was on moon patrol and hanging around the area with the circular "stalk like" structure. I picked up a kill streak mission and it seemed that a other player had done the same thing for he hang around too. Anyway, short of formally inviting one another onto a team there was nothing we could do to communicate whilst waiting a fair time for enough enemies to spawn.

I'm not rushing to get to level 20 but seen a good few over 20 s out there already.

This is the thing I can't figure out. Why can't I put my reticule onto a player (especially if we're clearly on the same mission) and invite to my fireteam at a button press? Or can I?

[metallicfrodo]

This is the thing I can't figure out. Why can't I put my reticule onto a player (especially if we're clearly on the same mission) and invite to my fireteam at a button press? Or can I?

You can, click the right stick in and you will get the inspect/invite to fireteam options.

[Uncle Nasty]

It's a confusing, schizophrenic mess of a game. Either there's going to be an epic reveal that changes everything and Bungie will say "told you so!" or we've been spectacularly Molyneux'd.

The gunplay and combat is good, typical Bungie. Everything else is either average or laughable.

[BarryL85]

It's a confusing, schizophrenic mess of a game. Either there's going to be an epic reveal that changes everything and Bungie will say "told you so!" or we've been spectacularly Molyneux'd.

The gunplay and combat is good, typical Bungie. Everything else is either average or laughable.

Music, atmosphere, art design, graphics all average or laughable

[NecroMorrius]

Oh my Jesus.

For the 1000000th time. Damage and defense is equalised in crucible. Guns are reduced to their base stats (a "raven wing IV" becomes a stock "raven wing").

The damage (attack/impact) on your weapons is equalised to match every other gun equipped by every other player. You can switch from a +255 damage level 20 autorifle to a level 1 autorifle and do the same damage.

There's a mode called Iron Banner which removes the equalisation if you really want to see what a lvl 8 versus a lvl 18 looks like.

The higher level guys have perks that you don't have (exactly like every other multiplayer FPS these days) but they have no real advantage when you're trading bullets.

[K]

It's broken to shit. Bungie can't do matchmaking to save their life.

What? This is just wrong. Bungie set the standard for matchmaking in Halo 2, it was amazing.

[Uncle Nasty]

Music, atmosphere, art design, graphics all average or laughable

No that's all fine if unremarkable, I meant the structure and game design.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

So all this time I've been shit at online FPS games, it has just been poor matchmaking? That's a relief...

[droodling]

I don't normally play FPS's (as anyone thats had the misfortune to be in a Fireteam with me has found out!) but i do enjoy this when played with others. Solo it's a bit dull and frustrating.

When I've been on, it seems any rllmukers on my friends list are quite a few levels ahead, is there a way to join a fireteam with randoms? I can't find an option anywhere.

[Harsin]

When I've been on, it seems any rllmukers on my friends list are quite a few levels ahead, is there a way to join a fireteam with randoms? I can't find an option anywhere.

Nope, only matchmaking is for Crucible (multiplayer PvP) and Strikes (and then only on normal Strikes, Bungie in their infinite wisdom have disabled matchmaking on the weekly heroic Strikes for some reason).