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9/29/2014 11:36:22 PM
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What happened to Destiny's Story: behind the scenes

Anonymous former Bungie employee responds to Redditor’s request for an explanation on the state of the game: [quote]I can confirm that there were sudden and abrupt changes in the development of Destiny less than a year ago. There was tension between higher ups the entire time we were developing the title due to a lack of cohesion about the vision for the game. One side wanted this huge space epic, like an MMO Mass Effect and the other side was not convinced that would sell and wanted to pare things back to more "easily accessible" standards. They were afraid too much story elements and cut scenes would drive players off. Then Joe left and everything just fell apart. Joe Staten, Bungie’s lead story writer left Bungie in 2013. By the time we were 7 months out to release, word came down that we were making massive revisions to the game's story. Huge portions of dialogue were excised and I think several recordings were redone to support the new narrative. Entire areas that would have been in the final game were removed, but some of the context wasn't, which explains weird reactions from NPCs and strange, unexplained motivations. We had a guy come in to write the grimoire cards who was given access to the original script with notations on what was cut and what needed to be revised in order to make this zombie of a game seem plausible. All of the Last City factions had their storylines and dialogue cut, the Guardian's initial introduction to the Tower and the Last City was cut, and ALL the origins were homogenized down to the one originally used for Exo characters. Most of what was cut was planned to be re-polished into DLC, but it's all there on the disc. Not all of it is live on the servers, but it's all there on the disc. Some last minute art assets needed to be remade, which is what you'll be downloading. It's an embarrassing disaster and not the game I thought would be published.[/quote] Second part below!
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  • Edited by NotSoLoneWolf: 9/30/2014 12:13:50 AM
    [quote]HumanCatnip: Will we be seeing these tidbits of dialogue or are they lost to the Darkness forever? [b]404Architect[/b]: I don't know the answer to that. Some of it I doubt will ever see the light of day because it contradicts the story as presented now. Some of it could be repolished and turned into DLC. That is what is happening with some of the locations on Earth and Mars. The_Prince_of_Wishes: Was Jupiter, Saturn, Europa etc. cut content or still in development? [b]404Architect[/b]: They were still in development. Fasterthanapigeon: How come the fallen can climb and there are trip wire mines in the intro... But never again? [b]404Architect[/b]: The introduction you know is closest to the original content, which had more robust and cinematic level design. It was originally designed for the Exo introduction but was generalized to represent all guardians closer to launch. The trip mines make a brief appearance again in the published game in the strike where you face Sepkis Prime, whatever that is called now. There were plans to include more dynamic enemy AI, but there was not sufficient time to develop that. hardshocker: I have no way to know if you are telling the truth but I'll ask anyway. Is there a way for you, or someone else who is willing to tell the tales from inside bungie, to give a real view of the original story to me. I don't care about getting it out or exposing anyone, I just want to know the real story that was planned. This was the one game I was excited to get in a long time and it hurts me personally that I didn't get a chance to see the true vision. There must be way for me to know. [b]404Architect[/b]: The closest you will ever get is the ViDoc from 2013, unless someone risks their job and jail time to get design documents out. I hope no one is that reckless. GoCallYourMommy: From where you sit, do you feel the long term expectation is lots of DLC/patches that will be improving the game as the standard moving forward? I have just been coming to this subreddit for the last day because I am abysmally bored with the constant grinding/repeat missions and was looking to see if there was something else I have missed to keep the game interesting. I can only guess the long term strategy was to get people hooked, then pay for a better experience as time goes by to justify the costs of development/release. Seems to be the standard now in gaming regardless. Thanks for even posting in here. I didn't realize so many people were into the behind the scenes drama, and hope you don't get attacked by too many folks. [b]404Architect[/b]: There is an ongoing plan to release regular DLC flow, provided the game continues to be profitable/projects to be profitable in the future. If the end-user experience thus-far is any indication, it may not be enough content. The game is considerably more barren than what was intended to ship. I'll add a little more. Part of the reason why so much was cut and held back was to buy time. When Joe and others left it was a blow to development cycle. What was cut was cut in order to take the place of newly developed content so we could "catch up." Larima: Were the 'higher ups' on the publishing side or the development side? [b]404Architect[/b]: I can't say that with any authority, but there was pressure from Activision to meet our deadline. Larima: Will we be seeing the cut storyline content? [b]404Architect[/b]: In some form or another. The Reef story mission is cannibalized from the Awoken character arc. Larima: I see. Will the coming content expand the story to be, uh, more complete at least? [b]404Architect[/b]: I don't know, unfortunately. Whatever shape it will be taking will not be the original direction the game was designed in. That said, I do think what is developed in the future will attempt to "right" the sinking ship. There are still many talented and devoted people there. Larima: So, the story of Destiny in the future has yet to be written basically? [b]404Architect[/b]: In a fashion, yes. But if some things stay aligned to the original outline, the past has yet to be written too. Larima: Do you think the, uh, let's say 'vague' story is making the development of a more complete one easier at all? [b]404Architect[/b]: I will say it is making more work. Larima: Ah. Are there any plans to do anything with the tower factions? I would like to back Dead Orbit in some other way than being fashionable with their cloak. [b]404Architect[/b]: Everything for the factions was cut. I do not know if there is plans to expand on them as was intended in upcoming DLC. Possibly? That's uncertain at present. Larima: That's a shame. Was there plans for a faction war system? Who was new Monarchy's 'Monarch'. What's the deal with the FWC? Dead Orbit's deal was to just leave the solar system, right? [b]404Architect[/b]: All of those points were detailed in the original plan for the game. Each faction had a distinct story. Voice acting was recorded (beyond the ambient voice work you hear while walking around). Some of this content may make its way back into the game in the form of DLC or patch updates. I do not know what kind of schedule or plan is on that, however. There are whole factions that were cut as well, some directly tied to the original story and will need to be extensively re-tooled for the new storyline.[/quote] Third part as a reply to this comment! Also, take this with a grain of salt. It makes an overwhelming amount of sense, but we have no way of verifying this guy's identity.

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    • Don’t expect anyone dev side to ever confirm or deny any of this, but it is obvious something happened. Maybe we’ll find out years from now, after the whole franchise has tanked. The bit about different races having different story arcs makes sense though, especially when the stranger ask my awoken if I’ve ever heard of the awoken and my ghost tells her we haven’t. That would have added a lot of re-playability too.

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      • comments have dropped alot !!! good thus game is a slap in the face 8 like many others are boycotting this BS . ive already baught the dlc and have happily returned my copy towards boarder lands ..... either that or cod is going to satiate your fps tastes way better than thus sell out of a game . bungie and sqauresoft all the talent opportunity and ability in the world asking top dollar for chopped up ideas and half assed end products rushed and chopped for an extra pay day . made easier for a younger audience that is not these game makers core adience .. look up what the destiny story was sopposed to be when halo story writer was still there and all the chsnges they made and why he left . this company like square chopped up an artists baby the artist that actually makes these things a success all for an extra buck lol .... even if this is a success they did it chopping up a guys ideas that is no longer with bungie . the days of quality fps coming from bungie are now over . we need to follow were this guy goes next for our next halo esq experience .

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        • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzopWRXK_r4

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        • You know, I can understand cutting the cutscenes. Because players of today are like this when playing a game with story and cutscenes: "BOOOOOOOOOOOOORING! SKIP SKIIIP SKIIIP! WHATS GOING ON!? WHO IS THAT?! WHAT IS THAT?! THIS GAME IS STUPID! LET ME PLAY!" That's propably why they didn't want to bog us down with cutscenes and stuff. And I can totaly understand that. Because people just want to blow stuff up.

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          • I think bungie to hard on yourselves game would sell no matter what... I for one would have welcomed more to an mmo aspect or more area story... but still good game have faith you guys can keep making this game great.

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            • Edited by Mattg082: 9/30/2014 6:27:37 AM
              Unless you really like the crucible and mp, the strikes, while fun wear their welcome out pretty fast and repetitive. Between the strikes and story, it felt like it was all chopped up. The strikes felt more like a story than the campaign. With that said after you get to around level 20, the mp is where its at for now. If thats not your thing and your more into solo and story, i can see why some may not like it. I can easily, put in 4hr days 3 days a week into this and more just playing mp. Ive kinda dismissed any lore or story. But hey titanfall got talked up and it was far less of a game with no story and a few maps in comparison to destiny. Watch dogs and many others were trash in comparison this year. Destiny is worth the money if you enjoyed halo mp hrs on end and want a bit more. Im not a cod guy, so this is the only mp shooter ive got right now to be honest, and its good.

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              • You imbeciles will believe anything , wouldn't you?

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                • Yes, let's continue to spread rumor as if it's fact. A very feasible rumor, but regardless: [b]still a rumor[/b]

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                  • BEGINNING TRANSMISSION: (Low melodious hum.) Do not be fooled so easy. ENDING TRANSMISSION:

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                    • Did you know the pope shits in the woods!?

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                    • Already posted, already debunked by DeeJ.

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                      • There is already a thread on this.

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                        • theres already a like 5000post thread about the same thing stupid kunt

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