To start I have to say that Destiny is a really, really pretty game. It looks for all intents and purposes fantastic. However the environment/world so far has been boring, extremely boring.
Environment
The maps and environments the players play in are seriously sterile and lifeless, the player can’t interact with it on any level whatsoever and nothing changes no matter how much time has passed or what happens. The best example of this is where you can see the Fallen and the Hive duking it out in the areas of the Cosmodrone. Sure they are fighting each other, in the same places however they do nothing else but give us something to shoot. You don’t see which side wins, there aren’t corpses littered around, you don’t see them disposing (or absorbing) their dead and because no one ever wins there are no effects on the environment.
Imagine the Fallen cleansing the area of the hive presence when they win while observing the toxic effect the hive previously had on the environment retreat as the Fallen become more present in the tunnels and set up a serious base of operations. Only to have the hive emerge from right underneath them in a surprise assault which defeats/displaces the fallen and watch the environment undergo another shift where the barnacles and green miasma of the Hive spread into buildings and the general area. Instead we have a few units that run out and shoot each other over and over again where we could have a wonderful, interesting and intricate cycle.
Also there is legitimately nothing to find in the environment except a chest or ghost here or there (and spinmetal) players should be able to scavenge things from dead guardians (not PCs), old supply caches, supplies guarded by enemies etc. There is none of that to be found here which makes adventuring/ killing never ending re-spawned AI’s unrewarding. Scavenging in this setting makes sense and for gameplay it fits in for exchange and glimmer purposes.
[spoiler]The use of only one unchanging map “for everything” should not occur. Ever. I really do hope we come back to earth and unlock even more areas to enjoy so we have some variety but for now we have been in the same map for many separate missions (and raid of sorts) going in slightly different directions each time. All of these missions should have really been clumped together namely finding the ship and the warp drive and finding the hive then activating the array. This would help improve player interest in going back to these areas.[/spoiler]
Lifeless
The NPC’s in this game are glorified vending machines or seemingly do nothing at all. They have exceedingly little substance with only a fragment of personality given in their dialogue, I have no reason to care about the various groups that have vendors in the game or their views as their missions consist of two sentences in free mode that involve collecting or killing things that have no impact on their dialogue, actions or environment. What you do is folded out of existence never to be heard again until you repeat that same mission [spoiler]and considering we just came back from the dead this is the perfect opportunity to allow the player to ask questions or inform us of these things while interacting with characters we will be seeing often.[/spoiler]
Your enemies have no purpose whatsoever. They stand around, looking around places for no reason and then defend them to the death like they are somehow important (none of them actually run away or escape). Killing on sight is ok for some but the Fallen are a hit and run race that are supposed to utilise agility to fight yet they stand out in the open most of the time and are not agile in any sense of the word (they can also scale walls really well but I have yet to see that actually implemented in their AI).
All in all these reasons kill any intention of going back to explore because you already know exactly what it will be like and know that it hasn't changed since you last saw it.
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Agreed, it's static, boring and predictable. Hopefully they can do more with the NPCS and add some dynamics to the environments. However they're off to a great start. The Tower has good ambiance with ships coming and going, the PA voices and the little snips of NPC dialogue do build the world a little. Old Russia is beautiful and the level of detail in the Cosmodrome is staggering.
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6 RepliesLet's be honest; the mistake is most likely due to cross platforming it. There could be more details such as critters and better AI, as well as many of the other items listed here and below the original post. But the ps3 & Xbox 360 couldn't hang. It should've been a current gen game period or at least separate from last gen. The last gen has to be holding Destiny back. Not hating on it; but cross platform meant from the start that Destiny's full potential was gimped.
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[quote]Your enemies have no purpose whatsoever. They stand around, looking around places for no reason and then defend them to the death like they are somehow important (none of them actually run away or escape). Killing on sight is ok for some but the Fallen are a hit and run race that are supposed to utilise agility to fight yet they stand out in the open most of the time and are not agile in any sense of the word (they can also scale walls really well but I have yet to see that actually implemented in their AI). [/quote] Lmao sooo true
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It makes sence to have multiple missions on the same map. It should only change once it conquered. In war we gain and lose the same ground many times
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3 RepliesSo far the AI seems pretty weak, they don't have much personality to them at all.The big guys that have crap ton of life should be hunting guardians, same for bosses. The Dreg or weak fallen are suppose to be flankers, but all they do is pop their weak heads around corners, they don't move to surround guardians while captains push forward. They don't press any kind of advantage except when your in melee range, then they chase you. Environments that evolve would be great, as it stands we walk into areas with tiny events that have use kill a few waves. Then there is just the normal running into small groups that pose no threat at all with more then 1 guardian on the scene. Those ships should be covered with a dozen or more with 2 captains on them, exploring seems to be so casual that it is boring. Campaign and strikes need difficulty settings with rewards for playing it on harder, which stands alone from Legend mode. Just something that ups all the lvls +1-3 or simple give them extra damage and health. Maybe even allow legend mode, I know in alpha it had extra spawns points, increased hp, increased damage; this mode would be great from the start for players looking for a challenge and getting properly rewarded for it. Sadly, im not expecting much at all different from what we been seeing. That raiding guild must have really sucked to fail in VoG, will see.... in Sept.
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Yeah those changes would be great
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Edited by KingSora: 7/19/2014 11:37:52 PMI agree that its a beta. The only thing that could be different is make the lvl cap higher, cuz i love customization. Other than that, im sure they will make the environment more interactive and interesting. its next gen, THEYHAVE TOO! please check out my post, i realllyyy want bungie to see this http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/66484855/0/0
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5 RepliesI agree 100% when I play this game Im more into roaming and being that "lone wolf" I'm not big into the 3 player instances and I suck at pvp I like to wonder and enjoy the landscape. The number 1 thing I hate the most is every time I go somewhere now I know exactly where the enemy's are and what to expect going into a fight with them and they are always at the same spot. I'm a hunter and will be when the game comes out and they tell you about the strath aspect of the hunter, I could be a mile away looking at an enemy threw my sniper rifle and they still see me and start shooting, the AI and NPC's are to repetitive. Just my thoughts
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5 RepliesI agree with most, if not all of the points made and I would like to add that I would like to see more of the NPC's in the map. There are multiple places in the map where there is a group of enemies in a section, then no more enemies and I just wasted 5 min of walking time. Seriously just add more enemies and possible another difficulty beyond level 8 for missions?
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2 RepliesAgreed it makes the game boring the same thing happens in other games and eventually we will get board and stop playing. It really seems to repetitive
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1 ReplyI agree 100%. There should be different corpses lying around the lifeless planes in order to add more texture into the game. I would also like to see futuristic animals running to find cover from the fighting. I think they should also include different loot to the bosses so players would want to keep going back. More should be going on and less barriers from limiting us from exploration, the maps need to be drastically expanded so there is more to do than go to the same exact planet, kill the same exact monsters, do the same exact steps every time. Things should shift and rotate each time a player visits a certain location. It should be randomized every time. I'm also curious, is the game played in real time? Such as a night theme when someone is playing at night and a day theme when someone is playing during the day, I think that would be awesome. The game looks fantastic and I can't wait for its full release.
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1 ReplyCatching the NPCs while they were reacting to the world (looking at a computer, chatting with another NPC, looking over a digital map of the area, ect, ect...) Would be awesome and really help with the immersion.
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11 RepliesEdited by RookVT: 7/19/2014 6:12:07 AMProbably one of the best written posts I've seen on here. You're absolutely right...it's a post apocalyptic world...you would think it would be sort of Fallout-esque, where you could search in the old russian bunker for weapons or armor, on dead bodies, in compartments on the old rusted out ships and planes...instead it's run around and hope for an oddly placed chest that seems like it shouldn't be there in the first place. They took a very pretty world, dropped a few scattered chests in, a ton of static enemies, and called it a day. As far as the enemy goes...I remember climbing to a high spot and looking through my scope and just seeing enemies off in the distance standing there, waiting to die...what's their purpose other than that?....you would think they'd be doing patrols, making camp, scavenging, etc...that's the sort of thing that brings life to a world. The sad thing is that this is what's going to kill exploring and most of these people are too stupid to realize it and are primarily concerned with the beta not having any new content since the alpha or the level cap only going to 8.
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9 RepliesI wouldn't say this game is lifeless. I think the only reason it feels so empty is that there aren't many people on the servers yet. When everyone is on it'll feel like a living world with people going about their own business
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1 ReplyWhat you're asking for is pretty extreme and requires tons of resources/time. The game would end up being only a fraction of the size it is as a result. Honestly, with all the ships coming and going, the random events, random players, and constant fighting the world feels relatively alive. Would I like to see more? Sure but I can say that about every game. The interactions you're looking for are again, very complex and consuming.
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1 ReplyWell said. This is why I won't be purchasing the game. No replay value for me and too monotonous an environment. I 'll rent to play the story through once, particularly since I have seen 10% of it already. I have been going back and forth between 3 classes and I hit level 8 with my Titan and finished the story on Earth. Short of funds to get a ship to the moon so I explored more with the Titan but the sub quests started to repeat themselves. I just had no incentive to earn the funds to get the ship. Hardly anyone on the map to fight with and was tired of the vending machines environment. Servers are hit and miss with players on a map.
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3 RepliesI do very much agree with you, especially on the NPCs. I would love to see Mass Effect/Skyrim dialogue options. It would open up a lot of possibilities for lore and other things. On another note, a slightly smaller issue I have with the NPCs lies with the Exos. Since they're robots, I was really hoping/expecting them to sound like robots. Instead they sound like normal people, and it slightly breaks immersion for me.
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1 ReplyWe need more wildlife as well. If birds can survive the collapse then I'm sure other creatures can too. Like in Far Cry 3 where a Tiger mauls the baddies, maybe a bear could maul the Fallen in Old Russia. We already see a big flying insect in Venus, so I'm hoping there will be more there. I love me a good wildlife ecosystem
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1 ReplyEdited by JaracRassen: 7/19/2014 12:40:24 PMAll good points. They probably won't be able to change it now, but hopefully they can in the expansion and future Destiny games. More dynamism on the maps would be great. We should see enemies on patrol, scavenging and camping. We should see enemy factions fight eachother and actually win or lose. We need to have enemy bases we can raid that they set up randomly in the world. We have a solid base to start from, but hopefully these changes can be implemented in future updates. Because it is pretty static right now, and it could get easily boring in the future for players.
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1 ReplyI kinda agree but I feel that it's a case of the wasteland being a place derelict of life due to the darkness killing life that does not bind with it if you start adding wildlife it is no longer the hostile environment it's meant to be. As for the tower and it's NPC's don't feel any changes need to be made
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5 RepliesI do agree that the world does seem kinda empty but we as the players are suppose to be the last few remaining things alive on the planet and we were even revived. It would be nice to have some movement in the world though whether scenery or critters.
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1 ReplySorry for the redneck response but I agree the game needs more critters... The wildlife could even deal with the corpses! Wolves mutated from eating fallen and hive... Ugh... That'd be creepy!
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1 ReplyAll valid points :( sadly they still won't stop me from fawning over every detail about this game for the next few months
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1 ReplyThere are summer things that bother me and some that don't. Truthfully that part about the corpses littering the ground is not a good idea. The reason for this is quite simple, eventually there would be no environment to interact with just an open mass grave. That being said it would be interesting if after the fight you could see them falling with the dead (i.e. burning the bodies, eating them, bring them etc.).
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1 ReplyWhy aren't you working for bungee... Gees you could give them all sorts of great ideas on how the world should work in destiny!! But yes if they added that I'd just sit back and watch the battles and watch as the world changed around me!! That would be amazing!!
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1 ReplyI hate to say it but I agree. I'm hoping this is just a beta thing...