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#feedback

7/19/2014 5:36:33 AM
281

The Lifeless World and Environment of Destiny

I agree and wish to see changes made

3324

It doesn't bother me either way

736

I disagree and wish to see no changes made

352

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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  • Edited by Bill Shred: 7/19/2014 9:14:00 PM
    Many people are saying, "Well, this is beta, what do you expect?" I get that it's only a small slice, but it shouldn't subtract from the fact that this is a concern regarding the whole of the game. Will the remainder of the game be as lifeless? I had similar concerns with the Alpha version. I'll preface this by saying I'm in love with this game. I want the full version so hard, and have a feeling it will be contender for GOTY, but... Enemies are boring. They are fun to shoot on a basic level, and sometimes difficult running solo, however, they have zero personality or anything that makes them interesting in the slightest. Enemies should taunt you and communicate with each other in an esoteric alien language. What are they doing here in the first place? There's nothing that gives them purpose. Are they searching for something? Simple scouts? Who is their leader? The ranking officer in their groups should be pointing and issuing orders to flank, hold, attack, defend, or whatever. They seem to only be there to be shot at, respawn, and then nothing more. The environments hardly tell a story. A great example of telling a story through environment is Bioshock. There is nothing that is telling me the purpose of the trucks and planes strewn about. How was this place destroyed? Who was here before? What did they do here? What was it like before? What kind of creatures have made this their home now? Where are the lost skeletons of old expeditions? These kinds of questions aren't asked out of intrigue, they're asked because there is nothing intriguing in the environments whatsoever. Bungie can amend this by having skeletons with arms trapped in locked chamber doors. What were they running from? Why was this person trying to get in here? Or out? Have a sign next to the door saying, "TOP SECRET GOVERNMENT STUFF" or whatever, to invite intrigue. Have the skeleton's arms wrapped around a lootbox. Another fix/addition, could be company logos on airplanes, trucks, and cargo. What were they transporting? Who owned this place? Where are they now? What were they shipping? What about distant billboards advertising the election of a potentially promising candidate for President that never happened? All of these things could paint a far broader, and more inspiring picture of the universe in Destiny. It's lacking hard. In fact, it's lacking almost completely. Otherwise, I still agree with every word you said. There is hardly any soul in this game besides the core FPS and RPG mechanics.

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