Completely agree with your sentiment but I will say that the story is thin and incoherent presently and is barely a skeleton of what needs to be here for people to get their bearings and investment into the story. Is there a good story here? Perhaps. Was it well told in this prologue? No. When your audience has to work to make even the least connection to your tale you fail as a story teller. Thinking and causing thought is great but there is no motivation to go to the methods they are using. Got to provide a full and clear sketch with the details and trimmings left to those who want to search them out. Ragnar Tornquist is a master at this as is Ken Levine. So people are disappointed when the great story telling of Halo is this thin facade of what Bungie is known for. And I would argue that the story is intriguing IF you work for it but is not captivating for most people because what is given is thin at best.

Some stories are simply complex and REQUIRE work on the part of the listener. ...and it isn't "thin". Its' that they are being kept a mystery because working to clarify those mysteries will be part of the hook that Bungie needs to keep playing the game over time. Rather than binging for a few weeks...then abandoning the game...and then coming back for the next installment. Which is how FPS fans are used to dealing with games.

The hook, as you so aptly put it, was put in the wrong place and dangled WAY AWAY from the fish and Bungie currently has no hope of setting that hook into their audience. So far the vast majority of reviews and players are all saying "what the hell happened to the story?" so I would call it an absolute failure from a story telling perspective.

Beacuse most people are used to dealing with video game stories that are do simplistic they make comic book....*ahem* "graphic novel"... plots look like great works of literature by comparison. This story is going to reqwuire them to work, and to think in order to understand its complex, and deep story...and people are balking at it. Bottomline, is people showed up looking for a videogame story...and they got a NOVEL buried in a video game instead.

1) I've thought plenty about it, looked through the extended content, and it's still horrible storytelling riddled with holes, contradictions and grade-school level writing. The voice acting is bad because the writing is bad, as anyone with experience in this industry can relate to. If you want to think about something, think about why some of the best voices in the industry come across as complete idiots, and how much some of them were paid to do boring, meaningless bit lines for NPCs in the tower (also, to under-utilize Claudia Black like that is a sin against humanity, or at least sci-fi fans :) ). There is a significant mismatch in delivery here that is more than just style. 2) The Lore provided via cards is actually less in depth than that in competing games such as Mass Effect, and you aren't provided any explanation for almost any key aspects of the universe. There aren't hours of content here, it's mostly production notes used in universe-building, but nothing is done with it (yet). It's interesting, but shallow. The information about the enemy races is mind-blowingly minimal considering how much time you spend shooting them. 3) The game provides content which singles you out as a key character with an important roll to play and then does nothing with it. There is no justification for the lack of any character development even if you are nameless - and it doesn't have to be about you, it can be about NPCs, like the Queen, or the Exo. Don't think master chief, think ODST. MMOs like FFXIV do this no problem (and even then the story is considered lacking). 4) All indications are that in the immediate future expansions will be more of the same. More of the same isn't good, this game needs some meat added to the shiny, beautiful, well cut bones. Also has to be taken into consideration is that this is an entertainment product that needs to recoup massive production costs and provide a franchise that will last many years. After $60 out of pocket this game to most players amounts to little more than a vague prologue to a real story. Most writers would take people like yourself running around saying "you just aren't thinking about it enough" as a red flag on a production product - only independent artists usually get away with being so arbitrarily vague. Regardless of how interesting you or I think the universe is, Bungie does have a responsibility to their employees and Activision, to release a quality, accessible, interesting story, because at the end of the day the game needs to sell not only the current release but future games. This first installment isn't it, and yes, they're going to have to step up to keep this train rolling so we can enjoy more of it.

I'm guessing people who think there's 'tons of story' also thought Call of Duty single player missions were epic novels... Seems like they haven't even seen Star Trek...

Well said. You've managed to put into words my exact sentiment about the story. Think of the story as an ongoing, interconnected network of past, present and future events that are revealed while serving a system and people that is much much MUCH larger than any one individual. Most games nowadays use a completely different type of story telling, one where the main playable character single-handedly (or nearly so), changes the course of in game history and events. There is nothing wrong with either type of story telling, however most people are simply not accustomed to what Bungie is doing here. I would compare it to two different types of film. The typical video game shares characteristics with a blockbuster action movie. Twists, turns, explosions, bad guys, and heros there to save the day. Destiny, as it stands at launch, is more like a documentary. Bungie is guiding us through the first few steps of a MASSIVE universe, and while we get to experience bits and pieces if what is happening, the truth of the matter is that the game and the story are bigger than any one of us. We will see how this story develops, but I must say that I am more than intrigued. I won't claim that the way Bungie is telling the story is my favorite, but Bungie has the reputation they have for a reason. Anyone can write a cookie cutter story that fits into the typical mold we are used to. A few can write a story that fits that mold, AND make it engrossing and immersive. But only the very best can write something that forces people out of their comfort zone, opens their eyes and their minds, and, from the ground up, pulls them into an entire new world and makes them invest in it. This is what Bungie is trying to do, and if anyone can do it, using the medium of video games, its Bungie.

Agreed. ...and all this frustration that's being vented is evidence that they are maintaining the dramatic tension pretty well.

You feel tension? Amazing. To me it was poorly told and evoked no emotion at all. It has potential but as a writer myself I find their narrative to date thin, without foundation and no reason to compel anyone to have reason to really care at this point UNLESS you really work for it. Don't get me wrong, I really like this game but the story is not well developed or told at this point. Yes there will, we hope, be story of substance EVENTUALLY but the story in this prologue is not engaging or substantive.

O come on. If you are a writer, I expect better than this from you. The narrative style is classic In Medias Res. With the forward narrative being the war story against the servants of the Darkness...and the first game introduces us to the various enemies, breaks their connecdtion to the Darkness and sets the stage for the awakening of the Traveller and the return of the Darkness later on. The backwards narrative is being presented as a mystery to be unravelled in PARALLEL to the forward narrative. The reason why things are mysterious is because the Collapse ushered in a Dark Age where learning, knowledge and history were lost. Part of the forward narrative is you and your Ghost going out and helping to recover these things. Your Ghosts "riffing" in the background while you are fighting off waves of Fallen in the Ishtar Sink Archive mission, gives you a big insight into JUST how advanced our knowledge of things had become before the Collapse...and how sinster and vast the Vex may be. The main character is deliberately left a Tabula rasa....a blank slate...so that the gamer can project himself into the role. The second you give the character a specific HISTORY, you elimate the possiblity of the gamer being the "ancient dead" person who is being resurrected 700 years into the future to join the fight to save humanity. Pretty standard stuff. Just MUCH more complex than videogamers are used to...and some are balking at being asked to do mroe than zone out.

Not standard in the manner in which it is told. To accomplish this there must first be connections that are then broken. What we are given is the broken state that we repel but no real hint of who, what, when, where or how the Golden age was broken - not even a thread and that is the backstory and there is no premise established. They misfired and badly. The story is over edited to the point of being disjointed and incoherent. My 12 year old son, who wants to be a writer, told me that "the story makes no sense Dad, but the game is fun!" All I could say was "yeah its fun, but you are right about the story. I guess we will just have to wait and see if it makes any sense later." My eldest is interested in graphics and animation and story is not a big deal for him and he said "I just don't get this. Oh well, my new armor looks cool though." You are grasping to justify a poorly told story by getting into technical writing babble that still cannot justify the poor way in which the story has been conveyed so far. I am a story and lore junky and collect video games for story as well as books, movies, art - all for the story that they tell. I also write (technical writing as a part of my income, fiction as an advocation and wanna be author) and have been published in trade journals. To me the story was NOT well told. It has some hope of being turned around, but as a stand alone project that needs to hook people its a horrible misfire.

Oh please, Now I remember why I dislked Wynton Marsalis when he was young. That is just ONE way of telling a story...and not every story HAS to be told that way. Like other posters, you are trying to present matters of personal TASTE as if they are issues of poor technique. If the narrative were poor, NO ONE would be able to follow the story and no one would care what happened and that is clealry not the case. Let me claer up the confusion. The plot --at this point---is a PUZZLE to be worked. Not a DOCUMENTARY. One probable solution....A classic Heroe's Tale/Monomyth. YOur guardian is one of the ancient dead resurrected to fight a war. He must fight a war while at the same time helping humanity recover what it lost, an come to understand what happened between his death and resurrection. The Traveller and the Darkness are clearly entities of some sort locked in an eons long (ideological) struggle. Each seems to operate like the Monolith from 2001. They interact with species and help them evolve. The Traveller--seems to do so by promoting Light, Creation, Order and Cooperation. Races it touches flourish rapidly. The Darkness seem to do so bgy promoting Darkness, Destruction, Chaos and Conflict. Races touched by it "evolve" and become stronger through conflict and devouring/destroying other races. Probably subjugating to the Darkness those races whom they don't annihilate. The Vex and Hive seem to have the closest ties to the Darkness (The Shrine and the Black Garden), and seem to be playing a pivotal role in keeping the Traveller in check. A hold that our guardian helped to break. Setting the stage for the awakening of the Traveller and the Return of the Darkness later on. ...and epic battle...and eventual triumph by one side Meanwhile you have wildcards in teh deck. The Fallen whose various houses have their own agendas. The Awoken and their Queen, unclear who their allegiences lay with. The Cabal just looking to be devourers of worlds....probably weakned by the Darkness. Rasputin. Unclear whether It played ar role in the Collapse, or will play one in humanity's (hopeful) triumph. Meanwhile your guardian is also on a journey of self-exploration to come to understand himself and the world he now find himself. Half the plot of this first game installment invovlesl him raiding storehouse of information. This game has done what all good mystery novels do in their opening stages. They introduce you to the players and the game pieces to a PUZZLE...and then teases you with whether or not you can put them together before the author TELLS you how they fit.

That is what I got from the story. It was conveyed and I understand all of that. That isn't the issue. While it conveyed the information it was flavorless. That is what I am talking about. The information is conveyed - I get it. Honestly I am right with you. The premise of the game's story is great. The telling of the tale sucks. It missed for me. Story is only partially content and delivery is, frankly, everything. I think the delivery of the story sucked - not the voice acting - that was good to great - but the way it was told. In the minute I read your synopsis I found the story more compelling there than in game. So is that content issue or a delivery issue? Its a delivery issue in my mind.

Like I said. The story---and its style of narrative---IS NOT TO YOUR TASTE. Just because it doesn't work FOR YOU, doesn't mean it doesn't work. Hence my example with Star Wars. With a life long fan...and someone who fell asleep in the first 30 minutes...sitting side-by-side in the theatre. I don't like country music. I find its harmonies simplistic. I find its melodies unimpressively basic. I find its tonality nasal and irritating...and I find its lyrics generally annoying. But jsut because I don't LIKE it, doesn't mean its "poorly composed".

I agree, the idea of having a fully developed storyline just given to you for free is outrageous. I also dislike the fact that everyone compares Destiny to Halo; halo was and is a SERIES it has books, movies, and like 8 different games all explaining the storyline not to mention Halo Waypoint arranging everything into a nice little timeline. So if you're like me who waited a year just to get a copy of it, then i bet yall can wait a little longer for some dlc or a new destiny

You're confusing story with lore. They are separate entities...interlinked, but separate nonetheless. So far, Bungie has not presented any sort of a story arc. They have offered a prologue. It's fine if the intention was to use an MMO approach, but they have to admit, none of this was disclosed in the beginning. That's why people are, rightly, a bit upset at the empty feeling they get when the game amounts to a lot of grinding against the backdrop of a premise. Don't get me wrong...I love this game to death. But count me as one of the many who feel a bit let down by the story so far. If Bungie intended to let the story play out over time, and paid DLCs, that should have been made known. The way they worded things, most people felt they would get a standalone story with their copy, and then have it augmented and expanded over time if they chose to invest more time and money into it.