In Halo: CE, halfway through the game you encounter the Flood for the first time. This is undoubtedly one of the greatest revelations in gaming history, regardless of how you feel about Halo, Bungie, or the Xbox. This revelation struck gamers, reviewers, everyone that came across it. Today we live in a world where gaming and gaming news is a lot more accessible. Reviewers get copies of the games early, and France has a habit of leaking Bungie's games early. Days before release, we'll undoubtedly have to avoid the forums and internet as a whole if you wish to go in near blind. Bungie/ Activision will also need to hype this game tremendously considering their goals for this franchise, and we can only hope they don't give away too much. What am I getting at? Well you see, in Destiny I see a new beginning for Bungie as I'm sure many of you do, but I also see the potential to relive past glories. Bungie did something RIGHT when they revealed the Flood. They didn't turn a friend into a villain with it (I mean, 343's turn on you was great and overlooked, but he wasn't a 'true' villain... I'll get into it shortly). They didn't have your character suddenly get shot or ambushed or imprisoned (mind you when Fable did it in 2004 it was the most brilliant thing they could have done since it actually fit the plot perfectly), and the game did not get that huge twist revealed before the world got to see it firsthand. There was nothing cliche, at the time, about encountering a surprising alien race. Sure we have movies where unsuspecting researchers or adventurers find hostile aliens or head crabs, but nothing like the Flood's reveal ever manifested so brilliantly. Quickly, via Sgt. Johnson, Mendoza, and of course Jenkins, we establish characters that seem more fleshed out than even folks like Kat in Halo: Reach, or Miranda from Halo 2-3. Why? Probably just the fact that the scenarios they found themselves in weren't one-dimensional. A quick discussion about their music that didn't seem forced, but was slightly funny, mystery of entering the room, then their final moments (well, not for Johnson!). This was all done in a believable manner. Shortly after this revelation, we are piled on with one more. Now, this revelation didn't just shock us and become a momentary 'scare' or 'shock.' No. When Cortana had 343 reveal what the Halos' true purpose was, that DEFINED the series for the next decade. The possibility of the weapons you almost activated almost coming to life and wiping out all of humanity set what the Halo series was about through Halo 3. This is an overshadowed plot twist. We all remember the Flood, but few people call the Halo-Revelation a plot twist worthy of note. I believe this is because since that plot twist became so defining to the series and made [i]so much logical sense given the circumstances[/i], gamers just accepted it. You were about to wipe out the last plot twist and save humanity- hurray. Then... oh shit, doing that is the worst thing you could possibly do. It just [i]fits[/i], you know? So finally, after all these paragraphs, what am I REALLY getting at? Just this: Destiny needs that. We need something defining, something seen as a great act of story telling. Not some character we are supposed to care about dying. Not some friend turning bad that we didn't see coming. No. We need something completely new, completely revolutionary in terms of storytelling. We need something that just cannot be compared to anything else that has been done to make us go, 'Wooooooowwwwwwwwww now I really want to stay in this universe.' We need... another Flood/Halo Revelation. How can Bungie do that? I have no idea. If I did, then it wouldn't work anyway. To make this story great, I don't think it's enough that we all want to keep coming back here. I don't think it's enough that there's some over-arching enemy like the Lich King or Deathwing from WoW. No- we need something that none of us saw coming. This is a matter of storytelling. To be the next Star Wars, a game without something as revolutionary or defining as the moment the Flood was revealed and the Halo was revealed to be a dangerous weapon has no chance. Only through a masterful stroke of storywriting will players want to stay in this world and want to find out what happens next. We don't need a, 'Sir, finishing this fight.' We don't need a, 'OMG Aliens!' again. We don't need a cliche. And we don't need something like Bioshock Infinite where it is too confusing to be truly appreciated by most people (I still don't understand it completely, and that's a problem that this is the case even after online research). What we need is something new, something we instantly accept as an audience, something jaw-breaking, and something nobody has seen before. A masterful stroke of storytelling the likes of which we have not seen from Bungie since Halo: CE (does Bungie have great writers? Yes. But it is no shame to be unable to meet those two moment in sequel games... it was an impossible goal). This is a new world and Bungie has a chance to forge this story into something extravagant. That means nothing seen before. And no, 'To War' line from Halo 3. Get that stuff out of here! Twas quite the facepalm moment :P These were my rambling thoughts on what Destiny's story needs. I welcome the thoughts of you all too.