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Bungie's Destiny
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With the Alpha wrapping up, I was commanded to give my impressions. Thoughts below.
First off, this is an alpha in name only. The level of polish is impressive, even if it's been in development 3 years. I think I only ran into one bug in my short time this weekend. The graphics are pretty, if not spectacular, and the frame-rate was solid. The sound design is superb - a couple of time I followed the sounds of someone in battle and as soon as I had line-of-sight the sound cleared up from being muffled to being sharp and poignant. Very, very smooth.
The game does reek of Halo. From the AI Ghost which is basically a redesigned Monitor, to the flood-like hive, or the setting of a broken-down Earth. I'm a little surprised at how similar it is. You'd think they'd have strayed a little further from what they know.
The double-jump is, of course, fun. Between it and Titanfall I'm dubbing double-jump the go-to FPS feature of this gen. The sprint feels a little sluggish, probably because you can't dash forward the way you can upward. You can't reload while sprinting which coming from BF is maddening. A lot of unintentionally cancelled reloads.
The areas are pretty big. Sort of empty in the early going, aside from AI spawns. Don't know if that's missing content. The AI respawns too frequently, leaving you constantly clearing them treading paths you just crossed. Considering there are less players on a map than on an MMO this is confounding.
The portion of the ma available in the alpha was quite generous and its inferred this is only a small slice of the game. There were also areas holding far stronger enemies, implying that you may not quite level too far above an area to make it useful.
The mission part of the game was surprisingly shallow – it seems to repeat missions easily, and worse it sends you chasing through areas to pick new ones up – which then require you to backtrack a good deal. A lot of walking for no good reason. Fast travel would underscore how useless it is. The missions themselves were also incredibly shallow; Standard MMO fair: Kill so many X, kill x to try and farm y, go to point A and scan/search it (this takes literally less than two seconds. walking is the biggest timesink).
Outside the missions are group events. These feel much cooler as they happen more randomly, involve the entire server and have a grand scale. On the downside, it seemed there was only one that occurred, in only 1 of the 3 areas, and it was a massive bullet sponge. I compared it to Zelda: In Zelda you have to defeat a boss my exploiting his weak point to get crit opportunities and then inflicting damage three times. In this you pour bullets into the weakpoint a lot of times, get the crit opportunity, try to milk it using a power weapon, etc., then rinse and repeat a lot more than three times times. Also, the guy can swat you like a fly with one hit. It's exciting once or twice before it becomes a chore. Also, there's a time limit, because those always make gameplay more fun.
Now, I'm not entirely clear on the game mode differences, but there seemed to be campaign, explore, and strike. Confusing things, if I wanted to Explore, I could only load to one secific map even though I could explore all the maps. Loading into another map would automatically put me in a fireteam with two other players. Further, once in a fireteam, there seems to be no way for your friends to join your local instance. Having played CoD and then moved to BF, three players is a woefully small amount of people and having expanded my friends list, its frustrating to have to split up into smaller groups. I suppose they think it would be too easy. Still on strike there were instances of taking 30-60 minutes on just one mission, because it was bullet spongy grinding. Just imagine some Halo level mission, you'll probably be close enough.
Speaking of difficulty, the enemies are less than impressive to deal with. This is partly because I'm used to dealing with real people who use tactics and have predictable health. In this you get all the greatest hits of enemies that know your presence when you're behind them, dodge the moment before you pull the trigger (and do so in a manner you can't replicate as a player), and eat bullets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Further, as far as I can tell there's no assassination for getting behind, which is also BS.
Enemy variety is pretty good, even in the limited alpha. Multiple factions, multiple foes, multiple weapons.
Transitioning to weapons, that's where the game shines. For those of you who have played an MMO, there's two thins you always focus on: Skills and equipment. This game is no different. The limited alpha offered a taste of skills (though really anything before level 4 is more gimped than the higher levels being super-powered). Equipment drops I saw were white and green (uncommon) some with some type of elemental bonus (Yes, Borderlands). Oddly, they decided to hide unlocks for weapons behind some kind of usage, and one of the upgrades is just a flat damage bonus (why?). Armor can give stat bonuses. Limited to only 8 levels options were limited but the damage difference between common and uncommon weapons were quite noticeable. There's also a good amount of weapon types within the classes (pulse, scout, auto), (shotgun, sniper, I forget), (rocket launcher, LMG). This was basically all I yearned for after I capped out. Weapon handling wasn't that great, but typical for a bungie game, strong recoil, mediocre accuracy. I read there's no difference in accuracy between hip-fire and ADS (ADS also hides the radar, making you quite vulnerable).
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The multi is nothing to write home about. 6 v 6, two maps (one loaded with annoying vehicles), and a terrible game mode (domination) that required you to be practically making out with the flag to capture it. Ammo for your secondary only spawns intermittently, and even less for your power weapon. There's discussion as to whether your class powers are OP in multi. No destructibility. Oh, and of course, there's Halo jumping (now with an extra-jump! Let me kill myself!)
Verdict? If you're looking for Halo on the PS4, this is probably for you. If you value co-op gameplay over multiplayer this is for you. If you tend to play in small groups rather than large gatherings, this is for you. It's a beautifully well-built game, but the depth seems shallow and outside of co-op gameplay I'm not sure loot farming is really enough to make it worthwhile (let alone worth the cost of entry). Will have to see what new features they unveil in the lead-up to release that make the game deeper and more worthy of its price tag.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Reeks of Halo + bunny-hopping = count me out.
Pity, does look preeeeetty.
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I agree with all of what Dakar said, but I think a lot of the issues (enemy spawn rate, AI, etc) can be attributed to this being an alpha. I hope.
There are going to be a lot more PvP modes (yay), but I'm not sure how I feel about gear effecting PvP. I think the weapon damage, armor, and life should all be normalized in the PvP mode.
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by boy8cookie
There are going to be a lot more PvP modes (yay), but I'm not sure how I feel about gear effecting PvP. I think the weapon damage, armor, and life should all be normalized in the PvP mode.
Does it work that way? I know everyone is releveled to parity.
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Originally Posted by The Final Dakar
The game does reek of Halo. From the AI Ghost which is basically a redesigned Monitor, to the flood-like hive, or the setting of a broken-down Earth. I'm a little surprised at how similar it is. You'd think they'd have strayed a little further from what they know.
Did you play Marathon? Because my reaction when playing Halo was how much they copied from that. The weapons loadout is almost exactly the same and the corresponding weapons behave the same (Halo has a sniper rifle that Marathon misses, and has the silly needler instead of the flamethrower), the background with the AIs going rampant is the same, the Elites look and behave more than a little like the Pfhor, there was something like the flood in Marathon Infinity, etc, etc.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Oh yeah, I detail I wanted to mention, but I forgot. They use a cursor controlled by a joystick for the menus and it's completely stupid. I could navigate and change my equipment in a fraction of the time if I was allowed to use the d-pad instead.
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Games Meister
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Still could do it faster with the dpad. Down, left, X. Takes a second.
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I know, I was being facetious. At least we're not playing the X1 version, there you have to navigate the menus using voice commands.
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Posting Junkie
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Originally Posted by The Final Dakar
Oh yeah, I detail I wanted to mention, but I forgot. They use a cursor controlled by a joystick for the menus and it's completely stupid. I could navigate and change my equipment in a fraction of the time if I was allowed to use the d-pad instead.
That sounds infuriating. Like entering in text using the Wiimote.
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by sek929
That sounds infuriating. Like entering in text using the Wiimote.
Or owning a Wii
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Beta is coming out tomorrow. Anyone get their codes yet?
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Games Meister
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I'll take on of you beta codes if you have any left over.
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Managing Editor
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Yeah- I'd dig one for the 360 as well!
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by EstaNightshift
Yeah- I'd dig one for the 360 as well!
Codes are platform specific.
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Managing Editor
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Yeah, and I found that there is no 360 beta
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Originally Posted by The Final Dakar
I'll take on of you beta codes if you have any left over.
PM sent. Fatty I have one more left. Buy a PS4 already!
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Mac Elite
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I have a ps4 and wouldn't mind a code but I'm not fat.
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Posting Junkie
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If anyone else needs a beta code, I have one remaining.
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Games Meister
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Yeah, I ende up not needing mine because I got a code emailed anyway. I guess I didn't need to pre=order the game after all. lulz
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It took forever to download and install, and ultimately it still feels exactly the same as the alpha - boring, clunky, and pointless.
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Beta is open on 360. I've downloaded it but haven't fired it up yet.
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Yeah, after work here, I'm going to look at it.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Anyone fired up for the release then?
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Managing Editor
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I am, and trying to see which kidney works better for resale, so I can take advantage of next week's deal.
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Addicted to MacNN
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While I'm 99% certain that I won't be getting Destiny, I'd still be interested in feedback from those that play it.
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I'm pretty sure I'm the only one getting the game on this forum. Oh well, off to the NeoGAF to find some teammates.
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by Stogieman
I'm pretty sure I'm the only one getting the game on this forum. Oh well, off to the NeoGAF to find some teammates.
The adamsappel crew should be all in on it. That's good people. Of course, you might end up being 4th wheel. Which is a big reason Destiny can **** right off.
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Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. That 3 person fireteam can suck it.
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Can't link to it from work but according to a Kotaku article there's a level 26 player already. Nine hours after the servers went live.
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This is the first Bungie game that I won't be playing within 24 hours of retail release since Marathon 2 on HD floppy.
Yes, even Oni.
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I was going to stay up to midnight so I can get started on creating my character. I passed out around 11:30.
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by mattyb
Can't link to it from work but according to a Kotaku article there's a level 26 player already. Nine hours after the servers went live.
Gotta reach max level first!
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Posting Junkie
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I just picked up my pre-order. Guess I'll be downing a 5 Hour Energy at around 10 PM tonight.
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Grizzled Veteran
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Bungee is offering a free digital copy of Destiny for the Xbox One if you buy the digital copy on the 360 (this applies to both the basic version and the digital guardian edition). It also applies to the game's expansion pass. I was going to wait to get it until I get my XBone in November but after seeing this it's a no brainier. Pretty sweet deal from Bungie!
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by KCrosbie
Bungee is offering a free digital copy of Destiny for the Xbox One if you buy the digital copy on the 360 (this applies to both the basic version and the digital guardian edition). It also applies to the game's expansion pass. I was going to wait to get it until I get my XBone in November but after seeing this it's a no brainier. Pretty sweet deal from Bungie!
One of the big things publishers seem to be getting right this gen is not trying to hose players that want to upgrade/double-dip.
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Hey Dakar, were you surprised to see Sharp and Mitch playing Destiny last night? I joined their party chat and it seemed like they were enjoying the game. Our BF4 meetups maybe put on hold for a while.
Meanwhile I managed to join a fireteam with Jawbone and some random last night. We had a blast playing through the story missions. The moon level was quite fun.
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Games Meister
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I did see sharp was on. I guess I misread his comments.
I'm still fine not playing Destiny. With 3 player teams it always felt I was too early (no one to play with) or too late (every fire team full). It was a shitty experience.
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Posting Junkie
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That was my first experience with the moon mission, as I missed the window during the beta. I definitely enjoyed myself last night, but I usually like co-op better than competitive.
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Games Meister
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Competitive was ok. Using your characters was nice, but the dom mode was hobbled by excessively slow capture times, and of course combat was halo jump-fest, hobbled with some maps having almost OP vehicles.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Whats your opinion of the solo or co-op stuff?
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Posting Junkie
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Stogie and I have been playing through the co-op missions the past two nights — it's been really enjoyable, especially last night when we finished a mission that took us five or six tries to get through.
The story is of no consequence, but the gameplay, environments, and challenge: all good.
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Games Meister
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Originally Posted by mattyb
Whats your opinion of the solo or co-op stuff?
It's in the OP
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Addicted to MacNN
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They opened up the first raid yesterday, Vault of Glass. Anyone down to try that out? Jawbone?
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Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
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Posting Junkie
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Not yet. I haven't been able to hop on lately.
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Professional Poster
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What happens when I dismantle weapon?
I seem to have 2 of the same rifle. So I might as well get rid of one.
How many weapons can you have? Can I collect all of them, or will I have to keep the best 4 or whatever number?
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Mac Pro Dual 3.0 Dual-Core
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