UFG Has a Brush with Destiny…2!

I have been covering Destiny since it’s Alpha back in 2014. Like many, I was hooked within moments of realizing what this game’s true potential was – or rather what it could have been. My excitement dwindled a bit after receiving our review copy from Activision. Though I was having fun playing with other UFG members and friends, the core game felt unfinished. A lackluster story, missing socialization features (it was hard to find potential companions using in-game options), and an odd leveling system that seemed to be only present to pad the experience made it a tough game to recommend. You know…besides the great competitive options.

Of course, a lot of that changed over time. Additional content like Raids were added and better story options came via expansions. Bungie even improved on tiresome mechanics and added new temporary modes (Sparrow Racing). While all of that was great, Destiny still felt like the sum of its parts; players who had stopped playing/refused to buy expansions like The Taken King, missed out on some great content. Sure, Destiny had great bits but as a whole, it left some players wanting. Thankfully, Bungie is looking to change all of that with Destiny 2. One of the ways they plan to do this is by starting fresh-ish.

The beta opens with the Red Legion (a Cabal faction) attacks the Last City/the Guardian’s tower. Their emperor, Dominus Ghaul, feels that the Traveler was supposed to bestow the Light to him and not the humans. In looking to right this wrong, he dispatches his army on the city, forcing the Guardians to regroup before fighting back. Things take a turn for the worse as our heroes’ connection with the Traveler is cut, rendering them powerless…

I’m not a fan of starting over. After the nonstop grinding for armor and weapons in the original Destiny, the notion that all of it was for naught doesn’t sit well with me. I know it isn’t a MMORPG and that the building blocks would be knocked over once a sequel was announced. Still, Bungie did make it seem like we’d be growing with the game over time; in this case, we grew to a point before being reborn…or something. In all fairness to though, the small amount of the story presented was interesting to say the least. As a writer, I am a sucker for redemption stories or even stories where the villains actually win in the end. As morbid as that may seem, things have become way too predictable. And while this isn’t exactly new for Bungie, it is for this franchise; they created a real problem/established a since of urgency that was absent for most of the first game. For now, it’s worth seeing how things pan out.

What I was most looking to get from this beta was a reason to be excited Destiny 2. It was awesome to go back to our old social area and see it ravished and in shambles. Seeing our Guardian leadership in battle was something we lacked in the last game so I was extremely stoked to see them in action. Again, the narrative is front and center. Great. Still I need more. It’s a shame we only got to play the prologue as I wanted to see how open things have become. Bungie has stated that there will be towns with NPC’s, treasure hunt like quests, and dungeons (Lost Sectors). Does that mean we’ll be able to explore the world(s) in a way that’s similar to what was promised…er…“hinted at” for the first game?  We were all sold on an open world initially, and though it was somewhat, we soon figured out that Destiny was far more linear than we were sold on. Due to the beta’s limited content, I can’t say whether or not things have changed.

There also weren’t any new Guardian classes. This won’t keep anyone from playing of course. It’s just would have been nice to have new ones to dive into. The good news is that old supers have been tweaked, there are new subclasses, and new class based abilities. Take Titans, for instance. They now can erect large barriers to physically block off areas as well as smaller barriers that instantly reloads weapons when one takes cover behind them, regardless of subclass. They can also sport the new Sentinel subclass, which allows them to summon a shield that can block enemy fire and/or be used to smack foes in the face (think Captain America). Add in new sets of passives for each subclass and gamers seemingly have more options than before.

Destiny-2-beta-gif

When it comes to the competitive side of things, Destiny 2 feels like it never skipped a beat. It still provides an exhilarating experience – even more so thanks to the new modes. Personally, I’d grind for armor and weapons so I can battle it out with other Guardians. The strikes, raids, story missions, etc. were great but once their repetitiveness sunk in, I turned to the competitive modes. And the way things feel here, I’ll probably be doing the same when Destiny 2 launches later this year.

All and all, the beta was ok. What I played made Destiny 2 feel like an expansion as opposed to a full-on sequel. The premise surrounding the Red Legion’s quest to steel the Light from us is cool. On the other hand, the loss of our powers is a clever way to spin “aye, let me get another $60 up off you!” That said, I’m still excited for the game. This is due to all of the stuff I didn’t get to experience in the beta. Besides the returning competitive modes, there’s just so much more (supposedly) to this sequel that the core experience should be better than what came before. The beta itself didn’t peak my interest nor would it have swayed gamers who didn’t like Destiny. It didn’t necessarily turn people away either…

Destiny 2 will be available on the PS4 and Xbox One on September 6th. It’ll land on PC on October 24th. Feel free to check out our review/thoughts of the first Destiny!

Editor’s Note: Some of the images here weren’t pulled from the beta.

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