Destiny

[The Rogerer]

No thread?

I played the beta for this over the weekend. Halo meets Borderlands is sufficient enough to describe i. I was enjoying it quite a lot, it's very well put together, up to the end of the beta where the wheels come off a bit - there's no 'end' as such, so you just do another quest that goes through the area you've already been through and are now overlevelled for. It feels solid though. It runs well enough on PS3, a solid 30fps which is still better than a lot of games can manage. I'm worried when the time comes I'll be tempted to get a PS4 to play it at 60fps (EDIT it doesn't even run at 60 ffs), but I cannot be such a cunt to spend £400 on myself on the week of my wife's birthday while she unwraps her Terrys Chocolate Orange.

So, my advice would be that if you're thinking of playing this on 360/PS3 it's still worthwhile. You can see it's sharper and clearer and smoother on the new consoles, but at the same time it just runs like a normal game on the old ones, and it's just a better looking version of that on the new consoles - otherwise you're getting exactly the same game.

The Peter Dinklage voice acting does sound off, though. 'Robots are meant to be emotionless!' they say, but there's plenty of examples of how to play that role better. They have 'improved' his voice for the beta which is just putting a 'Beep boop I am a robot' filter on it.

[Morrison]

i played the beta the first time around a few weeks ago. couldn't get past that mission where you go into that dark room and get swarmed by a bunch of enemies. couldn't do it alone and all the other players that would pop up in the world would just fuck about on the outside or disappear. i imagine it'd be tremendous fun with a group of actual friends.

[The Rogerer]

I don't know how the grouping system works, there are some bosses in the game that I was paired up with a couple of random people, and without being able to resurrect each other, it would have taken forever to get through them. At times it feels like Halo, except we had to shoot at a giant glowing ball for what felt like a solid 15 minutes. So there's no guarantees that there's going to be other players around to do these bosses with you, I'm not sure how they'll scale.

I'm on the fence. I always appreciated Halo even though I thought it was weird, and the level design has been some of the worst in the history of games. Then there's the aspect that most of the beta has you carefully walking a line of being the right level, and what happens once you start overlevelling...

The game is solid mechanically, but it's hard to get a sense from the beta how it will play out. You can't just predict that the rest of the game is going to be the same because it's based on quest type, other players, new weapons and events.

That said, what else are people going to play this year?

[The Rogerer]

Just read that Destiny isn't even 60fps on PS4, it runs at 30. I realise they could be spinning it as 'consistent experience', but Jesus Christ, what is going on with these new machines?

Edit: I'm glad I found that out, I'm sure the rumour before was 60fps. I remember buying my first ever 3DFX card, which was £100, the world to me at the time, and I started up Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, and it looked exactly the same as it did before, I actually felt a little sick, until I realised you had to turn on the 3D card in the options. I'd get to relive that moment except the sickness would never end.

[VHS]

3D Monster II was my first 3D card :)

That moment when you ran Quake 2, saw no change, hit 3D card ON, exited... oh my, that was a wonderful moment.

30 fps though? That's some lame bullshnouse.

[Alf]

I can't figure out this game. Is it just an online shooter?

[The Rogerer]

The single player game is you going on 'quests' which is essentially just a mission in a relatively open environment. A bit like Far Cry. You will then find 20 different guns in each mission which may or may not have slightly better stats than the other, but ultimately still be a shotgun/assault rifle, whatever. Some quests will randomly pull in other players from online so there's several of you fighting a boss. So it is sort of like a normal shooter, but stats matter, so it's borrowing stuff from MMOs without fully committing to that idea.

The weird bit is when you then go in for a deathmatch, you're taking your character from single player in. I think they try to level out the stat differences to a degree, but there's still the issue of people having guns that are better because they played 300 hours in single players grinding for the best gun to randomly generate.

The game starts quite well, but it depends how hooked you get. I thought the normal combat was quite decent, but the two boss fights in the beta were absolute slogs and those both had two other players in with me. The multiplayer was very much like Halo except with the nagging feeling that someone else has a better gun than you.

My feeling is that it'll do quite well because Activision were quite happy to throw mountains of money into the development and marketing in order to get the Halo guys. Even as tired as CoD is, I don't see it beating it or catching on in the same way. I don't think it's anything particularly new or exciting though, and I think it's probably not going to do as well as it could due to the weird way it brings in MMO stuff but without the actual draw of an MMO which is the social aspect and the massive free world.

[Bert]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkOXXWf3pYQ

I'll be picking it up on Tuesday.

[Alf]

Has anyone picked this up? I'm intrigued. I still have a very loose grip on what the fuck it is.

[mr sabu]

first person looter shoot mmorpg

[Alf]

Is it fun?

[The Rogerer]

I don't think so. Reviewers seem perplexed, the main feeling I hear being "Is this it?". They say it's the 'biggest' game they've ever made, but it actually feels really small because of the way they keep sending you back to the same place. It's like Halo but sort of aimless and not as good action. And then all the stuff about the community - it's like an MMO but only to a superficial level. It seems to fit the definition of jack of all trades, master of none.

Also if you don't have anyone you know that you'll be playing it along with, then definitely don't get it. Most of the praise has been around people playing it together as a co-op experience.

[Bad Collin]

I got it and I have enjoyed the first few hours. I think this is going to be another case of ' good game but too much hype'.

[Alf]

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/09/11/listen-to-paul-mccartneys-destiny-theme-song

Wow, just wow. How out of touch are Bungie with their audience?

The backlash to the game is growing in intensity now people have basically caned through it and realised there's nothing to it. Yikes.

[The Rogerer]

I always thought Halo was, not overrated, but people would go nuts about it in a weird way. A friend said he wouldn't play Reach because Master Chief wasn't in it :wtf:

Anyway, this has all the po faced pomp of Halo, but it's lacking the rocking action scenes that it could pull out. They say it's the biggest game they've made, but when you're making a loot driven game then that expectation completely changes to a first person shooter. There's so much repetition in where you visit that it makes the game feel really tiny. Also, because it's modelling itself on MMO combat then you're constantly aware that there's numbers behind the combat and the AI isn't as good. So it feels like Halo, but objectively less interesting. I've seen apologists say "You have to think of it as an MMO", but no. MMOs require less dexterity in favour of skill timing, and they have a massive social element that Destiny doesn't come close to approximating.

The thing is, it's easy to see how you can review this and give it 10/10, this many people worked on it, $500 million budget, but it's really missing the soul as far as I'm concerned. Of course people will love it because they've emotionally invested in it, I did see a post of someone saying they've been wearing destiny t-shirts for the last 3 years, of course there's going to be positive stuff, but by the end of the Beta I was done with it. Sounds like the Beta was pretty much just a large chunk of the game which is just there, unchanged. People will say that this is going to discourage Betas... well if your game doesn't leave people hungry for more, then that's your problem.

Metacritic is only listing 2 reviews at the minute. It feels like people are holding their breath.

[The Rogerer]

Metacritic is currently 75 and falling. Interesting to see as with stuff of this size and games that get people addicted there's always a load of podunk sites happy to get 100% reviews out as soon as possible. It seems this anecdotally was shifting a lot of pre-orders and getting people to move onto the new consoles. It, however, is not the messiah. I wonder how well it actually sold, it was going to be a hard sell between space shooters being passé and the game not being able to tell people what it's supposed to be, because it's not sure itself.

[Kyle_242]

It's kind of an interesting case. I was really intrigued at first because I think Bungie does great work, but after the Alpha I was left feeling like, as has been said, there just wasn't enough to it. It's Borderlands without all the character that makes that game special. Seems like that hasn't changed, which is disappointing.

Really hoping that Arkham Knight is good, otherwise I may have some real reason to regret buying my PS4. And I just noticed that's now almost a year away. :(

[The Rick]

It's kind of an interesting case. I was really intrigued at first because I think Bungie does great work, but after the Alpha I was left feeling like, as has been said, there just wasn't enough to it. It's Borderlands without all the character that makes that game special. Seems like that hasn't changed, which is disappointing.

Really hoping that Arkham Knight is good, otherwise I may have some real reason to regret buying my PS4. And I just noticed that's now almost a year away. :(

I don't think you should regret buying any of your consoles this early in. Destiny just wasn't as great as everyone thought it should have been. Hell neither was Titanfall. We haven't hit that blockbuster marquee title yet, and that's fine. the PS3, Xbox 360, and PS2 didn't have great games for their first years either.

[Grimario]

Played it a bit today. I don't particularly like FPS on a console/using a controller, feels unnatural compared to mouse/keyboard... however, the opening few levels are possibly changing my mind. Is Bungie this good with how natural their control schemes feel in their previous games?

[The Rogerer]

Controllers on FPS have been pretty well mastered for years now. The deadzones on the PS3/360 were a lot better than previous generations and Call of Duty/Halo meant that I don't really think twice about playing games on a controller now. Destiny feels quite similar to Halo, handling wise. I actually find mouse uncomfortable with some games now. Weird accelerations options and whatnot.

[Cewsh]

I'm loving the hell out of this game. Obviously I was part of the crew that sunk hundreds of hours into Halo, so the familiar gameplay and ridiculously ramped up style are right up my alley, but yeah. Loving it.

[Alf]

I'm really enjoying it. If anyone wants to play my gamertag is goodkingalf

Doing a big jumping punch thing is great fun

[Alf]

Iron banner is a load of fun.

[Hlebsfall]

What's the difference? I've been playing it, and all I've been getting is control games. multiplayer is pretty brutal. I'm only a level 12, and every other cunt on there seems to be 25+

[Alf]

In the normal PVP (Crucible) all weapons and armor are leveled and only the different perks on your weapons and armor make a difference. In Iron Banner, all bets are off. I#m usually shite in the crucible but I've been cleaning up on Iron Banner even though eveyone is around my level (titans have better defence as standard I think).

It'll be a really good way for you to level up quickly and get loot though Hlebs, it looks like the lower levels get the best loot.

I'm level 26 now, just did shit loads of bounties and raids and rattled all the way through to level 20 easily. After that you can only increased in level if your equipment is good enough (equipment has a light level, the more light the higher the level).

Have you done the earth strike yet? If not, I'll come along for the ride and help you out. The real fun is when you are high level enough to do the strike playlists, the weekly and daily heroic missions, and nightfall strike which is BALLS HARD but worth it. Then on top of all of that is the raid. Big bad scary teamwork shooty bomb bombs.

[Hlebsfall]

I've barely done any of the main game. I got up to level 5 and have been dicking around in MP ever since trying to level up. Not sure if that's the best way to go about it, as its pretty slow going.

Didn't realise there was a difference in levelling in Iron Banner, didn't seem to be doing any better or worse than in the Crucible.

[Hlebsfall]

But yeah, we'll have to do a strike at some point. I need to get a better gun though, I've been using the same one I've had since about level 5. I did get a better levelled pulse rifle, but the damage it gave out was absolute shit.

[Alf]

Just load up on bounties and plough through some of the story missions (I think I might be able to join in for those too). You'll level up really quickly, pretty much 1 level per mission, and you'll get weapons and stuff as rewards.

[Alf]

I did the raid yesterday!

It was fucking hard but a lot of fun, and quite different to the rest of the game as there is quite a puzzle solving focus.

Team work with a bunch of randoms was tricky (especially as there was a loud yank who kept saying the same obvious shit over and over).

The loot is random so I got a sweet auto rifle but the rest was just upgrade materials, everyone else got loads of cool shit, including the incredible looking chatterwhite shader. Jealous.

I'm going to run it again this week if anyone fancies it.

[RuneEdge]

I know weapon power is balanced in PvP but how significant are the other stat advantages when you're playing against someone who's 10+ levels higher than you?

Whenever I do 3v3, I'm at level 12 and usually playing with a few mates who're 25+ and also matched up against other 20+ opposition. And more often than not I get my ass handed to me. It takes me longer to kill people and I seem to die pretty quick.

Am I just really shit at this or am I missing out on something by having a lower level character?

[Alf]

Level and equipment only matters in the Iron Banner event they are running at the mo, and even then not by much.

In normal PvP level and damage doesn't matter, but the little perks/upgrades you can add to your equipment does.

What weapons are you using? You need something that fires fast and accurately.

[RuneEdge]

I'm using some autorifle and a shotgun. I actually switched my shotgun for a weaker one but with better stats such as impact and stability, thinking it should work better online but it hasnt helped much.

I might just have average weapons at this stage in the game.

[Hlebsfall]

Nice little strike there with ALF. Have to do another soon, so I can get something better than a pair of fucking boots for my efforts. I'm not that interested in doing the group stuff with randoms, as I'll know I'll get lumbered with useless cunts.

[The Rogerer]

I got a deal on this, so I'm collecting it tonight. PS4.

[The Rogerer]

Double posty

[Alf]

Excellent Rog, get levelled up quick-sharp and we'll go striking and raiding.

[The Rogerer]

I'm Level 12 now, and at Venus. I completely understand the reaction to this game, and I'm alright with it. The promise is a massive game and it instantly draws comparisons to MMOs, Borderlands and Diablo. It really doesn't make sense next to those as the campaign is much shorter and a lot less content. Where it does make sense is the future of Halo/COD games.

They have tried to solve the problem where the CODs are a product of two games, a single player campaign and then multiplayer that you can spend days with, and trying to build a game around that. It holds up when you think about it like that, because the combat is much more involved than an MMO or Diablo, Borderlands is still too loot and number based, and COD campaigns are quite limited and based around set pieces.

The game does have that Halo thing where you always feel you've missed part of the conversation, both with the plot and with how the hub works. It assumes some MMO literacy, and even then it's baffling that most of the shops completely lock you out of everything until you're level 20 or have some other thing that qualifies you.

Nice shooting. Nice enemies. I've not played much multiplayer but it seems very aggressive. If I was making a director's cut I would completely dump all of Peter Dinklage's lines. They sound bad and stupid.

[Alf]

That observation about Halo is spot on. With Halo I was always like "Sorry... whatnow?".

[The Rogerer]

I was doing a Strike on The Moon there, where you had to kill this big chained up beast. There was just a constant stream of knights and wizards, but we were struggling through. It was down to about 50% health after a good 20 minutes, and then boomf, I'm just kicked out of the strike. Man, that is no good.

Edit: I presume there's a faster way to kill him, or are you meant to come back when you're a higher level? It was level 12, I was 12, another 12 and an 11. I've heard it's harsh on underleveled people. Still, just a constant struggle to keep our heads above water, would have been at least half an hour just on that one boss