Forgiving Destiny: why my Biggest Disappointment Of 2014 is winning me back.
For the record, Destiny is still a crushingly disappointing missed opportunity. Bungie had the duty to introduce us to a brand new universe, to get us excited about and engaged with the setting, and they bottled it. I don’t care about the world. I don’t care about the characters. I don’t care about the story. Because, unlike Marathon, Pathways Into Darkness and Halo, Bungie don’t seem to care themselves. As such, it’s incredibly unlikely that I’ll buy into any future sequels, not to mention the offensively overpriced DLC.
I’m also sick and tired of people defending Destiny’s lack of story, RNG loot system and always-on requirements as if it’s an MMO. It’s not an MMO. There’s nothing “massive” about it!
However, as I often point out in reviews, there’s a difference between the game we want and the game we’ve got. The game I’ve got has dragged me back in, at least for the short-term.
Forgiving Destiny: why my Biggest Disappointment Of 2014 is winning me back
Which brings us to the loot. I hate RNG drops and the Light system as much as anyone, but whatever mode I choose, I’m constantly earning experience and upgrades for my gear and subclasses, continually growing in power and more versatile ways to spec my Hunter. And, even though I know better, the cynical slot machine is still an addictive draw when you get a run of good luck… oh gawd, no, even I haven’t quite fallen that far.
But none of that really explains the main reason why I’ve gotten back into Destiny, which I completely missed the first time around. I can’t believe that I’m about to write this, but the fact is that it respects my time and the time of the people I play with.
This seems ridiculously counter-intuitive, I know. Destiny wastes time in a number of painfully obvious ways, not limited to the aggravating loading times, always-online connection voiding the convenience of resume game functionality, the Tower and the obfuscation of progression and items behind the Light system and RNG loot drops.