Destiny [PS3,X360,PS4,XO]

[scooby_dooby]

How is the gunplay? To which game would you compare it? How are the particle effects, like plasma?

The gunplay is Halo, through and through, with a sprinkling of Mass Effect. So, this is a good thing. Think Borderlands, if it had really excellent 'feel'.

The effects are god damn beautiful. This game is just gorgeous, and framerate is butter all day. The lighting and art style, are both off the charts in my book. I just love it. The sense of atmosphere and history in each environment is very heavy.

Each character has permanent jump jets, so they can do a double jump. What's interesting is how different each character feels. Titan is really heavy, and can't get much velocity with his jump jet. The 'Hunter' has a much more powerful jet, that makes him get up and down really fast, and the Warlock is super floaty, so he's quite vulnerable when up there.

Each character is very unique in how their Melee and Specials plays as well.

The hunter for example, stabs dudes, and once leveled up, gets throwing knives so you can melee from a few metres away. The Titan has a power punch, that is weak at first, but becomes pretty strong after leveling up. And the Warlock, has some sort of force-push, that knocks guys over and hurts them a bit.

The specials are quite varied too. The Hunter gets a set of golden guns, with 3 shots, that do massive damage. The Titan gets an AOE ground stomp, which is only effective in close encounters. And the warlock has a wicked AOE ground missile, that he fires from up in the air. Specials are basically free, they don't cost ammo, but they are on a timer that slowly refills. There's various equipment upgrades that can reduce the cooldown, and also Orbs that spawn when playing co-op that also reduce special cooldown.

 

[scooby_dooby]

How addicted are you to this game? Hard to put down? Always thinking about it? etc?

I want MORE, but because the levels are capped at 8 in the Alpha, it's frustrating. There really are just 3 levels in the Alpha:

1. Basic campaign mission. Great sense of atmosphere, but not a lot of variety/challenge once you've leveled up.

2. Huge free-roam area, with beacons scattered around, each beacon is a randomly generated sidequest. You can play this forever, but it does get a little repetitive.

3. 3-person strike mission, with 2 boss battles, feels like an MMO-raid.

The game is not fully open world, instead it's a series of discrete maps, with the free-roam ones being super expansive. The one free roam area in the Alpha, probably has about 10+ sub-areas with their own little battles going on, and you can just use your little jumpjet to rip around from section to section.

At any point you can return to your ship, and then travel to a new planet/mission, or to the central hub for equipment/upgrades. Currently, only Earth > Russia are available.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Does it do the Borderlands thing where they reduce the damage your weapon does if you're fighting enemies that have a higher level than your character? I always hated being artificially limited like that.

Well the game has a full Armor system (helmet, chest plate, gauntlets, leggings), as well as energy shields. So enemies likely do take less damage, since they are wearing higher level armor, and their energy shields take way more damage. That's just my guess though, I didn't study the numbers to see if theyre higher or lower depending on level, will get back to you on that!

 

[betan]

I've been playing the Alpha for a while now, so if you guys have an Q's just ask!

Thanks for the info, sounds like a blast.
What platform are you playing on?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

There's a three day closed alpha on PS4 running from Thursday through to the weekend. I've registered my interest in this and am waiting to hear. Then there is the PS4 open beta in just 5 weeks away, starting July 17th. You just need to pre-order to get a code.

 

[Billy Idol]

Thanks a lot scooby dooby! Sounds really good!

 

[djskribbles]

Is there a single player campaign/story mode in this game? It almost seems like an MMO, against NPCs, with a competitive MP mode. Or am I wrong?

 

[DieH@rd]

Is there a single player campaign/story mode in this game? It almost seems like an MMO, against NPCs, with a competitive MP mode. Or am I wrong?

Yes, there are core missions that will lead you through narrative storyline across Solar system.

Gameplay of the game is separated in several parts:
- core campaign missions [1- 3 players]
- roaming missions where you can find mini-missions on the fly [1-3 players]
- raids [1-6 players]
- multiplayer [6 vs 6]

If you have time, check out GiantBomb quick look of the Destiny alpha [they played everything except MP, matchmaking problems].

 

[djskribbles]

Thanks.

 

[DieH@rd]

Thanks.

During core & roaming missions there is a chance that special "mini raid" event will happen, enabling multiple parties to join up and fight against enemies. Entry to that fight is optional.

 

[Rangers]

This game could flop or, it could be really, really big, I fell like...

First time I'm getting the feel like it could be really huge. Basically could be the first MMO to catch on on consoles.

September release date will help I think. Less competition. Like what benefited Watch Dogs.

 

[homerdog]

If you have time, check out GiantBomb quick look of the Destiny alpha [they played everything except MP, matchmaking problems].

Those guys are awful at videogames. Painful to watch.

 

[shredenvain]

I really love all of Bungie's work but I dont undersrand why the game requires being online to play if it offers a Sp campaign.

 

[scooby_dooby]

I really love all of Bungie's work but I dont undersrand why the game requires being online to play if it offers a Sp campaign.

Even in SP, you'll still get other people in the game at all times. You can choose to stick together, or go at it alone, and when an Event happens, then players from all around will join in.

FWIW, I was able to play 2/3 missions without Playstation plus, but I needed to purchase Plus in order to do the 3-man coop strike mission, and the multiplayer Deathmatch.

So there's some sort of partial support for non-plus users, story missions are totally available, but you won't be able to do strike missions (mmo raids), or PvP without it.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

This game could flop or, it could be really, really big, I fell like...

I agree. From what I've seen, and my experiences of playing EverQuest, EverQuest 2 and World of Warcraft, it looks really solid as both a sole (single player) and party (multiplayer) experience. A good party is unbeatable but sometimes it's nice to solo things, or you may just not be able to pull together a good group and for me, solo is definitely preferable to a bad group.

Bungie seem to understand the core problems faced by MMOs and, I gather, have nailed the shooting elements - as you'd expect from the creators of Halo.

But yeah, it's one hell of a gamble. I can think of a fair few high profile MMOs (Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, Dark Age of Camelot, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online) that launched in a blaze of excitement then struggled to maintain an active player base. For every Lineage or WoW, there's dozens of flops. Elder Scrolls Online certainly hasn't set the world on fire.

An MMO is a real gamble and the money Activision have sunk into this is crazy.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Thanx for the impressions Scooby. Can't wait for the damn game to be released !!!

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Thanx for the impressions Scooby. Can't wait for the damn game to be released !!!

Pre-order it you fool! Then we can co-op in beta

 

[scooby_dooby]

Looks like Bungie finally got sick of people saying they didn't understand the game.

Pretty much a complete breakdown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIxxsw7TNd4

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Looks like Bungie finally got sick of people saying they didn't understand the game.

You'll know better than I but I'm guessing that Destiny is probably attracting a lot of shooter fans who may not be overly familiar with core MMO mechanics. I remember when I first started with MMORPGs (EverQuest) and it took me a while to get used to adapt the the 'rules' of an MMORPG. Quite different to a multiplayer shooter.

 

[DJ12]

Well got my alpha code. Not my type of game but I'll give it a go.