[b]Where is this game?[/b] In 2002, I got to play Halo; Combat Evolved for the first time, and I was in love. It was a bright and vibrant and colorful world unlike anything I had ever seen. It had enemies that made you cringe when they looked at you funny and you knew they were going to be a problem, and it had a moving and sweeping orchestral background that fueled each moment of game play with an energy unlike anything else I'd ever felt. I'd played video games before that one, sure. Ratchet and Clank, SW Battlefront, but never had I seen anything like Halo... A few years later, and I'm playing Halo 2, and I've found myself in love with a franchise, and to this day, the one song I can listen to on end for hours without getting bored is that electric guitar hammering out those key notes in that grand old theme that Marty O'Donnel and Michael Salvatori made. Then , along came the third installment in their franchise, and by this time I was already head-over-heels for their franchise. The story, the characters, everything and everyone was compelling and real to me and I loved every repeated cut scene in spite of knowing the story by heart. I could say every line in synchronization and yet it was still new to me. So needless to say, my excitement had hit an all-time high as I finally beat Halo 3 on Legendary, no skulls on mind you, but still it was... safe to say, Legendary. Then Bungie gave us a few more pieces of lore-rich and incredibly entertaining nuggets for the Halo Universe before entrusting it to the traitorous sell-outs that became 343 not unlike their namesake. Halo, in my eyes, is dead. The last one in that legacy is Reach, and even then, it's a strenuous pull because it doesn't line up with the pre-approved set-up by Bungie in the novels. I'm among the people who felt 343 really lost their chance at proving themselves when they woke the Chief up long before he was even needed. Especially when they had any other point in the Halo Universe to create a new story, a new stamp on the timeline... the unification of the Covenant, the creation of the UNSC, the Insurgency and the usage of the SPARTAN II's by the UNSC to combat them. Hell, even going back and doing something in regards to Orion, or TREBUCHET would have been great, but they failed to take that into account and brought back our war-torn and battle-weary hero long before he should have been used. Then, a light appeared for me, Bungie at the end of a long, dark, and damp tunnel, and even more incredible, a game they were advertising as being a revolution in the industry. This was from the same studio who first brought us a limited load-out, and who revolutionized the FPS genre of gaming forever. They were advertising not an idea, but a revolution, a game that would introduce a new and gigantic world on a scale unrivaled by anything or anyone else. They promised us locations from around not only the world, but also the Solar System, and even greater, they were offering a gateway into a fantastic and inspired future with a timeline that would take ten years. So I thought to myself," [i]This is Bungie, these are the guys who made a universe that carried me through my childhood and early teenage years. I want to be there with them for this new game too.[/i]" Two years whipped by and I kept an ear to the tracks the entirety of the time, doing my finest to try and perceive what was in the works. Stories and rumors of incredible adventure and battles began to leak out of the golden goblet that Destiny now held, and I could only look on in wonder at what I thought I was seeing. I was simply stuck though imagining how great this brand new game could be, or rather [i]would[/i] be. I'd seen ambitious before, and I'd seen big. I heard they were going even further, and that they were going even farther, so then I thought, [i]could it be, that this will be the game I've been looking for[/i]? An idea formed in my mind, of a universe like Halo, but with each map being something to the same scale and size as Bethesda's own Elder Scrolls game: Skyrim. Enemies looming in the shadows of giant Redwood Trees, and firey sunsets on the shores of Venus. Then a live trailer came out and I couldn't help but look on and have even further things be made manifest in my mind. Planets reimagined and given a feel unlike anything else. The giant sandy deserts of Mars, and the road up Olympus Mons. The sudden revelation of spacecraft also being customizable brought me to think that perhaps they were going to give us a true space combat game alongside this brilliant new gem they were holding and by now I was thoroughly thrilled and excited. Then the game came out and a week later I was putting into my room-mate's PS4 to try it out, and immediately upon finally getting my ship, I realized something was horribly horribly wrong. I found myself at the tower, and there was a lack of life, a lack of mobility, no way to explore. Perhaps this wasn't the actual matter? I went to orbit and looked on in horror as I found that my ship was nothing more than a loading screen as I departed for the Cosmodrome to do a few patrol missions, and further my horror compounded as I noted the players lining to take a shot at a loot cave, and the endless grinding now obvious in the area. This is when the entire experience began to fall apart. I went online to see if what I was getting from it was what I thought, and indeed, everywhere i looked, the writing was on the wall, I had been cheated. DLC-this and DLC-that. There was a substantial lack of game, and in the week following, as I did my best to make my way through the game, never playing it easy, always going full-on hard as could be, and I found myself no longer fearing the enemies, simply growing annoyed with them. No longer was there utter fear in the sound of hearing a Hive Knight suddenly swing his sword, and the simple claustrophobia induced by the pent-in conditions of each section of the map brought me to realize I had wandered into perhaps the greatest atrocity of all, the game I had thought I loved so dearly, Destiny. Don't get me wrong, I play the game same as anyone else, but instead of playing it for hours at a time, now at level 28, I play maybe an hour or two at most once every two days. Even now I find myself wondering, [i]was that it[/i]? What happened to the forests and the cities on Earth? What of the giant sandy expanses? Now when I try to venture out over the surface of the moon, I find myself stuck looking out over an expanse I know could be made into such a well-developed world, but if I dare venture towards it, I find myself going on a "misadventure" and dying to be re-spawning back at the top of the cliff I was over a moment before. This isn't a world anymore, it isn't an immersive new gaming experience that is revolutionizing the gaming industry, and it really isn't all that impressive. It's a disaster. It's a limit on everything you said you weren't going to limit. This isn't even a matter of a developed game already being built or not, because honestly, I can explore more in Kerbal Space Program than I ever could in Destiny. Oh, Destiny has guns and powersuits? Well, lemme just go pay a modder to do the same to KSP. Now, this isn't an advertisement for KSP, it hardly is what I'd go to for an online FPS RPG, but when I feel that I can explore more in a game not even built to really have a story, and when I feel I can sympathize with little green-men that quite frankly can't even be considered a main character at all, and all this comes in over a game from a pedigree in story--telling and character development like Bungie, and suddenly I'm left questioning," wait, what just happened?" Here's where I come to my conclusion, Bungie sold-out. Not Bungie proper, but rather, what has been left of Bungie since they left the Halo franchise. They lost their best story-writer, they lost one of their two best composers, and that's the just the tip of the iceberg. I'm certain the further we look, the more we'd see Bungie losing the muscle it had gained in making Halo, only to gain the fat haunches of a cow lead to the slaughter by perhaps one of the biggest offenders in gaming culture today, Activision. The promoters of games with little to no inspiration, a lackluster plot, and barely considered lore. Sure, they've had a few great turds, but that still doesn't change what they are, turds. So now i'm left wondering, is Destiny the tolling of the bells for an era in entertainment? Is it the deep and groaning wail of a dirge as it floats down the long funeral procession that is modern gaming? When a company can quite literally sell simply by over-hyping their game and waving around a sales report, what does this mean? It means that I'm ashamed, as should every other gamer in the world be ashamed, because we've simply slammed the last nail into the coffin. With the arrival of Destiny, we see a game, that promised to be incredible, to be breathtaking and spectacular, to be utter garbage and nothing out of the norm for what it is. A cheap, over-rated, and hardly developed game like every other one out there. Simply because people play it doesn't make it good, they just have nothing else to do with their time, and for those of you with the gall to protect an atrocity like Destiny, answer me this: do you see limits in the game? If you answered yes, then you're no longer capable of defending Destiny. It promised to be a game without limits, and while I understand that realistically there have to be limits, it is just a game after all, it (Destiny) plays out more like a glorified PvP game with a PvE grinding option than an FPRPG.

give us voice chat and we would be a heck of a lot happier..... Its not hard to implement a on/off toggle for jebus sake

You are right ... but it's too late. Bungievi$ion already have our money. It's probably not what they expected to earn with Destiny, but it's probably enough to just move on and ignore the current shitstorm around Destiny. I have to admit that despite my playing computer games for over 25 years, despite my usually not being impressed by big names and big words, despite my usually not purchasing a game right after it has been published, but rather a year or two later when I have enough information to be able to tell whether I would like it and it would be worth it or not, I did buy into Bungie's big name and nice vidoc. I should have known better. Many other (mostly younger) players probably not. We can only hope that many, many gamers have learned from this experience to never buy into the hype and promises created by a big name and a nice vidoc again, and will only purchase a game after it has been published, reviewed, and enough actually useful and accurate information about it is available to make an intelligent decision whether it is worth buying it or not.

Well put and here are my two cents, as a 46 year old Let me first start off with a bit of personal history. I am a long time gamer grew up with it more than most as I have played every type of game. Puzzles riddles, mazes, video games of all types from early arcades and the earliest consoles with a paddle or simple stick. Pong, intellivision, Atari, early computers and the entire evolution of video gaming. From the text adventures to the current modern styles. I have played major MMO's, private RPG's and simple little diversions and I honestly had higher hopes for this game. I bought the full deal, all the bells and whisles. The full game, extra content, and future DLC. But what was promised is far from what I got so far. Not that I don't like it a whole bunch. But I wanted to love it. I wanted it to be the FPS meets RPG I thought Bungie was crafting. The one that would finally fulfill the genre jumping gap started by Borderlands. When I heard Bungie was going to do this I thought man someone with true storytelling skill is going to do the right thing. As a older gamer story is extremely important to me and my enjoyment of the game. Many of my friends are the same way, story and co-operative play is what brings us together. Makes us buy games and consoles. I love to identify with the protagonist to actively worry about their welfare While there are major hints to deeper philosophies and ideologies each hint falls flat. Left with hints and sound bites, brief little blurbs during missions or out on patrol but nothing even in the grimoire that goes too much deeper. As if, and I know there are theories to content secreted away, locked out, denied us by the corporate less is more thing. But I also know Bungie as I have seen their evolution as well. They like to give hints and teasers to things coming down the line. So if they have an idea it's there to be revealed sooner or later. But they could have made it bigger now. Should have made it bigger now. There are many things they could have given us to tease us to future things to do while still saving so much for later. But he we sit wondering as to what will happen in areas that we can get to but no story leads us. The back of the Forgotten Shore... Under the Cosmodrome, On Venus behind force shields the elevator to the Citadel..in the area behind the Black Garden... and other areas. But lets not worry about that. Where are the silly obligatory side missions you find in the countless RPG's and MMO's out there. The help me find this, go fetch this, help defend that, take revenge for this or that. Go find my lost child. that lost guardian? The little things that don't really build into the story but make the world alive and maybe just maybe a little bit less repetitive. Bounties while good don't quite live up to what they could. And most of the play seems to be about just a slightly different challenge by doing a story mission with a heroic modifier. Where are those missions that are separate? Those little fillers that really give life to a world? Gearing so much of their focus on Player versus player Bungie has told us basically they don't care to expand the story past the basics, stay vague and you can imagine your own story. Well that may work if story doesn't matter to you, but PvP is not story, it is outside of it. It also is not something that lasts unless it is unique or has a large group of people who have no other way of experiencing their favorite game world. But when you compare this to Halo this does not have that. It is new and therefore doesn't garner the same respect as something we grew with. Something that at it's time was revolutionary, groundbreaking. Back then it was epic because it was so unlike everything else available, Utilizing new tech, advanced graphics, being able to battle random people from around the world was new and exciting. Now every FPS game has multi-player versus. So how do you get the same level of commitment out of this? You can't unless you make this as epic as it was supposed to be. It has to have the world, and story to get the following. They are so in love with the idea of PvP that they design everything around it. Bounties, Iron Banner, Queens Wrath, the Crucible Factions of The Future War Cult, Dead Orbit, and New Monarchy. But these same things could be, and I thought were supposed to further the story not distract from its lack of being there. I am not a PvP player and I resent being told that I must play PvP to get the exotics that are not for sale. Or that if I want to be included in their idea of new content I have to be in PvP. I am a combat veteran. I have killed real people for my country. I have been changed by it and find PvP distasteful. Forcing players that also dislike PvP to play in there is wrong. There should be alternative paths to unlocking exotics. To unlocking the various unique items. I know that Bungie also grew-up with competitive multi-player. And that they want players to experience every game mode so that they feel there is more game out there for them. But forcing every player to do it? That is not right. Their PvP history is there from the LAN parties on Halo and the even running around splitscreen on Marathon. But I also am old enough and wise enough to know that if that was where they are going with their current multi-player, to appeal to competitive players, then why are there no leaderboards? Tournaments? Plus there is by comparison to other PvP heavy games a woeful lack of maps, and play styles. I understand you are trying to distance yourselves from Halo but the one thing great about the PvP there was literally every one was equal. It took skill to win not gear. Why are they even trying to balance PvE weapons and skills with PvP, those should be separate. How they act is that they don't seem to care about the PvE effect at all. Nerfing weapons because of an outcry by what appear to be self entitled, self important children, who just so happen to be the loudest voice on the forums. For example the Vex Mythocast, At the time they decided to nerf it and all Auto rifles the Vex Mythocast couldn't be in the hands of more than 15,000 players out of the 4.5 million who purchased and play the game. So how could a significant amount of people be effected by it? Now it and all Auto rifles are so weak as to be worthless in the field against any foe. Even dregs and thralls laugh it off taking a whole clip and still coming. The only way to fix a PvP balance problem is by fixing it in PvP only. Otherwise the beauty of building a hard to find hard to acquire exotic losses all value. Which then brings me to Xur... Oh I hear your wheels spinning.... Xur breaks the game and I admit I buy from him just like the next guy. But I would feel better about my exotics if they only came from epic moments in the game. Hard won and earned. But we have a generation that feels so entitled to instant and absolute gratification that if it is too hard to acquire the gear they need to max out their character they will move on. I say giving in doesn't do anything for you either. In an MMO or long term RPG you are supposed to grind and if you don't have time to grind you just have to wait til you finally acquire what you need. You make what should be a sense of accomplishment in finally getting to that elusive 30 mark and say oh well here you go son you can buy your way there with a few simple bought items that cheapen what was earned by those that came before. Also cheapening the epicness of a drop or the acquiring of it in a spin at the end of a match. Exotic should mean EXOTIC not just "Well heck look you got one too? well whatever..." cheapened, washed out value. And for what to satisfy the noisy few with acquiesce? Bungie you know if you had stuck to your values and just said that everyone had to truly earn their stuff everyone would have respected you for it. Instead you caved and now everyone expect you to continue. But you can still make a stand and make it better. Stand up to the doubters and entitled. And make the epic masterpiece you promised us.

I'm 38 and I want my pong console back

It's clear Destiny just isn't your type of game and maybe you don't have a firm grasp of how expansive game worlds typical of MMO's are programmed. Planning ahead with infrastructure already in place for very near future DLC only serves to improve stability and playability once the content drops. It allows Bungie to more extensively test those areas and play with server loads, before actually releasing the content. It falls in line with the fact that Destiny is one of the very few always online games that was completely playable Day 1. I fully expect the expansion to be similarly stable and playable immediately upon release. If you have any experience with World of Warcraft, you are well versed in the issues that arise with every big patch or expansion or new content release.

As a 28-year-old, I also share this role of being in the "Average Gamer" category. I remember pondering the events of Marathon Infinity and piecing together the story of the Halo rings, not from books I'll never buy, but instead from terminals and attention to detail. This game has the depth of story of Titanfall, another half-hearted shooter with a marginal prospect of sequel. Destiny is not worthy of further development unless Bungie is prepared to go back to their roots. With Marathon, terminals revealed a rich world, and I remember reading about Mars, the Pfhor, and rampancy. With Destiny, I wonder without explanation why the Vex are even fighting the Fallen to secure the Archon Priest. What is the Prison of Elders? I don't actually expect anyone to tell me, and that sentiment is the worst part of the game. There are dozens of references to content that will probably never be developed. Why bother killing an Archon Priest if the Vex were probably going to do it anyway? It's going to take time to grow the story, but even if it grows I fear that there won't be any more answers. The missions will be good, but I don't feel attached to the game at all. I was Master Chief. The world depended on me. In this game, I'm just important enough to earn a yellow level 16 pulse rifle. There's no emotional attachment to the game. As for gameplay, I gladly point out that Bungie has developed an excellent engine with outstanding physics. That does not make up for the weak attempt at holding us over for the DLC. If you want to give me a reason to log on, it should be that all my friends aren't playing something else. I care enough to post here. They have already given up. Do you really think they got the DLC? I'm not going to sell it for you. On the other hand, I got several friends to install Marathon on their iPhones. That game was fun for the story. It could have ended there, but you graced us with Marathon 2: Durandal. Destiny clearly has no resolution. It's like a show cancelled mid-season. I should hate my enemies, but instead they only annoy me. The game needs story to justify fear and anger directed against them. The Flood were terrifying. The Brutes were easy to hate. The Cabal don't mean anything to me. I don't know what you can do to fix it. I guess you can start by living up to old promises, like buffing my exotics and giving me chat options. Instead, you dig the hole deeper by taking away obvious exploits to make the already ridiculous parts of the raids harder. If there were another game worth playing, I'd probably be on that. Let's not find out when the next big game comes out.