It's the main problem with MMO games. (Whether Destiny is an MMO, or not, is irrelevant. The game follows the same method.) In 'Lord of the Rings', 'The hobbit', 'Beowulf': There is a point, and direction to the story. A sense of achievement. MMO's do not have this. They can't. When you complete a quest, when you become 'Legend': Another thousand people are doing the same, at the same time. A million will kill the same boss, for the same reasons, over the next month. A million already have. Everyone has, are doing, and will do. The boss you killed yesterday? Well, you'll kill him today, just as you did last week. No matter how many times you do it, nothing you ever do will have any impact on anything. There is no end game. No victory. No satisfaction. You are not Frodo, nor even Tom Bambadil. You are 2846592, or 184965234. Utterly irrelevant. We have no role. A persistent world is one devoid of pliability.

Yeah, its like havin a Book with empty Pages and telling everyone how GREAT the Story is because you can Write it yourself .^^ The emperors New clothes in sciFi

I think that's a good analogy and more on the mark of the idea of the game having roots in epic fantasy. If you look at the concept art: [url=http://gamingbolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Destiny-Concept-Art-14.jpg]here,[/url] [url=http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Destiny-Concept-Art-1.jpg]here,[/url] [url=http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Destiny-Concept-Art-4.jpg]here,[/url] [url=http://www.itsartmag.com/features/itsart/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/destiny-34.jpg]here,[/url] and [url=http://conceptartworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Destiny_Concept_Art_02b.jpg]here,[/url] you'll see that game originally had a much more fantasy feel. It was later that they started changing it towards more sci-fi opera (if you go search the Destiny art, you'll see they had elements that remind me of Star-Wars style concept art that was popular in the 70's). But the look aside, I think the idea that you are involved in a much bigger piece of a greater story is spot-on. Yes , you are chosen for a greater purpose, but that doesn't mean that you (or any of the characters for that matter) truly grasp the extent of what's going. Maybe the Speaker knows more, but if you listen even he isn't fully aware of what is going on. Even the villains - the creatures we are fighting - may not have the full picture as they follow their own agendas (the Vex maybe?). Frodo knows the Ring is important, and it his willingness to take the Ring to be destroyed that makes him heroic - not his stature. The importance of the Ring - what it does and how it can corrupt - you'll notice is kept from him by various characters at the start. He is trusting those around him when they say: "Go do this; it's evil." Similarly - Guardians are not given the why's - they are told that you are needed to do this because only you can. The need to question will come later, I suspect. I see in Destiny also analogies to the original epic fantasy tales: Arthurian stories and the tales of Charlemagne. Both have parallels to what Bungie has tried to create; I guess I would call it "mythic" in comparison. Like the Knights of the Round Table or Charlemagne's Paladins, the Guardians are the new knights living in a time when they are fighting to push back darkness. Go and read [i]Le Morte D'Arthur[/i], or [i]The Quest for the Holy Grail (Penguin Edition)[/i] or [i]Charlemagne and the Paladins[/i], it is filled with similar ideas of defeating things (sometimes without good reasons) to push back evil forces and protect the kingdom/City. They are the "heroes", but that doesn't make them omnipotent or flawless. It is despite their weakness - their bravery and willingness to face the darkness - that makes them legends. That's why I find the phrase, "Be Brave, Guardians" to be interesting. Another thing that is also common in those stories is that no one is telling these heroes what is going. When the Knights of the Round Table have a shared vision of the "Holy Grail, " they don't have any information as to why they must find it. They just know it is important - it's only as they search that they make discoveries/fight wicked things that the revelation that land is dying (depending on which version of the story, mind you). In similar fashion, Guardians know they have been chosen for a special role, but how that role will play out is just as vague and will only becomes more apparent throughout the story's encounters. Heck - even the Crucible can be compared to medieval jousting as part of the parallel. Now - does this make for a great story to play in some ways? Maybe not. Those old stories often lacked "personal depth" in their characters; and it is hard to feel heroic when you have to grind for Excalibur. That you could partially blame on marketing hype or just the lack of greater details that Bungie didn't provide from the start. The game is great mechanically, but definitely feels like it is "setting the story" for more details and stories. Maybe that could seem cynical or greedy on Bungie's part to keep you interested. Still, there's an element of optimism that makes we believe that we will see so much more in coming additions. For now, when I look at my Titan's armor and Sparrow, I can't help but feel he is riding off on his charger to slay dragons/Hive Ogres and defeat evil enchantresses/Wizards in the name of Camelot/Traveler/The City in a good way.

I don't think it is high fantasy. But more mythological in nature i've made several posts on this without response. But it references a lot if mythology across a ton of cultures. Also the ancient motif of dark vs light is very plain to see. I make refrence to the ancient duality of light and dark. Not our modern interpretation of this.

Guardian, mind telling me what you're doing on that ship? --Sir. Finishing this fight (Que Halo 2 music) That about sums up the ending.

I concur with you're evaluation of the story and just like The Hobbit or The Lord Of The Rings trilogy I love Destiny's story sure I wish there was more to it and that it delved more into the background lore other hen what's on the Grimoire but it's a story you write yourself one that you don't just see happen but imagine happen. Like when the speaker says guardians are fighting on earth and beyond. At that moment I envisioned other guardians fighting waves of enemies claiming back humanity's lost past and worlds and felt a sense of scale/epic ness to my small role to play.

Destiny can't have it both ways. It cannot have a queen ask me specifically to get that weird ass head, or tell me I might be the one to succeed, or have me go trough the same gate everyone else is using on Mars and destroying a heart and at the same time argue that I can't be THE HERO... That just doesn't work and it's flawed. Seriously guys, no matter what your role in the story should be, there should be something driving the plot forward and there isn't... Much. I play a big role in the story by doing the above, but it's so weak I could do a 1 minute segment on it all. You cannot say I'm not a hero, then set me up to be the hero, then provide me with such a watered out story. If it was a prelude into the destiny world they should have done more with the invasions, make us lose people, see humanity pushed back, make us CARE. That's what a prelude does, not just tell u there is a traveler, darkness, some factions and a queen..... Weak. Ps: I love he gameplay

Consistent or repititive?

No body is misjudging anything. The story is short. It was deliberately made that way, so parts can be added on later. Its not a full 60$ purchase story wise, because the other parts will be added as dlc, until Destiny 2. Think of it as a weekly manga. It's sort of like that

[quote]Preface: I'm level 20, but I haven't been to The Rift or set foot on Venus yet. Bungie said they made Destiny for every type of player, and that's how I choose to play. I have not been avoiding spoilers but I have not been reading every post on every site. This idea is just something that occurred to me, with the little bit of what I've experienced so far. A lot of people complain that the story in Destiny is too thin, too under developed. But what if everyone is miss judging the role of the player character in this story. Or at least at this stage of the story. Most video games set the player as The Hero, capital T, capital H. It is YOU that will take down the mob boss, save humanity from alien invasions, slay the dragons, defeat Zeus, etc. To dip into The Lord of the Rings for the same of reference, everyone wants to be Gandalf, Strider, Gimli or Legolas. But what if in Destiny, you instead are Frodo or one of the other Hobbits. These hobbit characters go on to do heroic things by the end of the tale. But do they ever know what is really going on? By the end of the entire epic, they might have a thumb nail idea, but they will never truly know or understand as much as the more experienced adventurers. And that's where I see the parallel. The hobbits had never been outside of The Shire until beginning of the story. Your guardian was DEAD until two days ago. The hobbits only learn BIG things from the people they meet (elves, humans, more elves, etc) along the way. And even the information they are told is not very deep. It may be the same thing with the guardians. They are so busy bouncing around from one adventure to another, there isn't time to learn the full depth of the story. Just pit stops for guns and ammo, and a brief "We tired to go over the mountains, now we must go under!" I am not comparing Destiny to The Lord of the Rings (yet) or Bungie to Tolkien. I'm just saying reconsider your role in the game. I think we've at best made it to Rivendale. I'm HOPING it's more like we just arrived in Bree.[/quote] Silly noob. Sam is the only real hero in The Lord of the rings.

I'm not a fan of the story, but too many people aren't seeing this as the prologue to the series. This was meant to set up plot lines, not finish them. There's all sorts of ways they can take this narrative.

You need to beat the story before you say shit so stop acting like you know anything the story was good and the last level was really fun but it could've been better