Destiny 360/PS3/XBOX ONE/PS4 review

[fishbowlhead]

Not wanting to be some angry internet troll guy but that statement is daft!
What has budget got to do with it?
If it cost 500million and they were charging you ?200 a copy then fair enough....but its the same ?40 every other game costs you. Unless you are an Activision shareholder the budget is meaningless!

Of course, your rating is your rating...but surely it should be based purely on fun??

That 500m is for all 3 games, plus download content for all of it along with marketing too, so it's not like that total was spent on this game alone. Most likely a lot of this game was done long before activision got involved too.

Personally don't feel the need to score this at all. Had a blast already and I'm no way near finished, had some brilliant social moments with randoms along with some good games with golgo in coop.

Yes there's always room for improvement, but it still manages to be fun as it is, that's a good start for me, and the series has only just begun.

[Panta Rhei]

I think I beat the game. The game didn't tell but I got no new planet. Okay, the Story is absolutely not worth it AT ALL. Its one of the worst I have experienced. And its missions aren't worth it either. You're better off leveling via Strikes and Crucible if thats your goal (don't forget to equip Bounties). This also goes for co-op, Story is too easy and interrupts a lot to be as fun in co-op as Strikes are. Its like I prefer to play RE5 Mercs co-op instead of Story chapters. Store set pieces are more tame.

I am level 21 and what keeps me going is the gunplay, and the MP. And the loot although this is also rather bad. You see, you have to go to the tower (loading) to decrypt engrams. Once you've hit 20 engrams are your sole purpose so get used to do this A LOT. Another issue I have is that Legendary ingrams can be everything; from just Rares to items. Worse yet, they can be gear for classes you don't play. Also it doesn't matter who you're going to kill; ingrams can drop everywhere. You can basically farm lowlife enemy waves all day. Or do whats popular right now; the Nexus Strike trick.

Leveling quickly isn't hard by the way. Just make sure you have bounties ready. If you want to do MP, pick some Crucible ones such as Frag 25 Hunters. This can be done in 2 or 3 games. They boost EXP significantly.

[capcom_suicide]

I quite like the crazy strikes. This one needed teamwork and took nearly an hour.

[Silvergun X]

The Diablo comparisons are entirely accurate. This is an FPS for ARPG enthusiasts and loot whores, it's as simple as that.

I hit level 25 today and I still can't stop playing it.



If you're playing it for the storyline or for completion then this really isn't the game for you. You'll finish it in a day and throw it away.

Regarding Post Level 20 progress, the grind begins at Level 25.

As soon as you hit 20, the game starts throwing blue engrams at you quite regularly. Level 17+ Blue items carry the Light stat on them, so you can level up from 20 just through these. A full set of level 20 blue items will put you on Light level 24, and these EASILY drop from Strikes and PvP missions.

When you start adding Legendary and Exotic items to your character, the upgrade paths require some proper effort to complete, and Light gets added with every defensive upgrade you complete. I have four defensive upgrades left on my legendary gloves - The first one required 750 Glimmer, 16 Spinmetal and 25 Plasteel Plating.

The final 3 upgrades need 750 Glimmer, 16 Spinmetal and 6 Ascendent Shards, which only drop (VERY RARELY) through PvP and the Level 26 Raid.

20 to 25 is easy. 25 to 30 is LOOOOOONG.

The game has just thrown the Weekly Nightfall Strike at me which I'm REALLY looking forward to trying as soon as a few more friends are geared up enough to attempt it.

For those that want to know what game progression is like when you start hitting later levels. Some of these might be off as I can't completely remember when the exact unlock levels are:

->Open Spoiler<-

Level 16+ - Vanguard Playlists, Daily PvP
You unlock the ability to play Vanguards, which are random strikes set to a specific level. There are 4 playlists for Level 18, 20, 22, and 24.

Level 20 Playlist gives you 2 Vanguard Marks per strike

Level 22 Playlist gives you 3 marks.

Level 24 playlist gives you 6 marks.

You'll also see a small PvP icon on the left hand side of the Set Navigation menu - This is your daily PvP mission. Completing this every day gives you an XP bonus.

Level 18 - Vanguard Marks and Crucible Marks unlock.
At this level, you can start earning marks in PvP and PvE to start buying legendary gear with. You'll need to save up quite a bit though, and it'll take you a week and a half just to get one weapon. Both mark types cap at 100 marks per week.

Level 20+ - Daily Heroic Story, Weekly Heroic Strike, Additional Storyline Difficulties
Once you've hit 20, the Daily Heroic Story unlocks, which is a random storyline mission with the difficulty ramped up completely. This can be set to Level 20, 24, or 28, with the daily rewards increasing per choice.

Heroic Story difficulties (Level 20+) contain additional modifiers that change every day. The heroic modifier stays there (more enemies in number, enemies are far more aggressive) but the other difficulty modifier will change. Today's is set to 'Juggler' for example, where no ammunition will drop for your equipped weapon so you need to be swapping between weapons.

Another example of a heroic modifier I've seen is 'Arc Burn', where all Arc type damage from ALL sources (enemies AND you) is massively increased.

The Weekly Heroic Strike follows the same rule as Heroic Storyline missions - A random modifier and the Heroic difficulty modifier are enabled. You get Strange Coins, Vanguard Marks and Vanguard Reputation for finishing this. Strange Coins are a currency used to purchase exotic gear from Xur, who only appears Friday to Sunday next to the Crucible Quartermaster. You'll need to run this quite a few weeks and get some lucky drops in PvP before you can earn anything decent.

Weekly Heroic Strike CANNOT be matchmade. It must be done with a premade group.

Level 26+ - Vault of Glass raid unlocked.
This launches on Tuesday. Not much is known about this right now other than a 6 man premade is necessary, it's absolutely huge, and resets every Tuesday.

Level 28 - Weekly Nightfall Strike unlocked.
This is the big one for 3 player PvE content. The Nightfall Strike is a 3 player random strike set to Level 28 MINIMUM.

The 'Epic' modifier is used, where all enemies are heavily shielded, extremely aggressive, and in greater numbers. THREE random difficulty modifiers are added.

The 'Nightfall' modifier is used, which means you only have one go. No respawning. If all 3 party members die, you're returned to orbit and you have to start from the beginning. You unlock this around Level 24, but I would NOT recommend playing this any sooner than 28.

Completing the nightfall strike gives you a blue aura around your helmet, which everyone can see to signify you've completed the nightfall. All XP gains on classes and equipment are increased until the weekly reset.

[eastyy]

is there a proper single player storyline or would it be like titanfall ?


Got to say i rarely ever play multiplayer in any game just the idea of the enjoyment of a game based on servers and other people just is not my thing

Also i find that if you take a game that is basically multiplayer and took the core gameplay and put it into a single player experience there just not that good and it rely's to much on the multiplayer component

[dvdx2]

is there a proper single player storyline or would it be like titanfall ?


Got to say i rarely ever play multiplayer in any game just the idea of the enjoyment of a game based on servers and other people just is not my thing

Also i find that if you take a game that is basically multiplayer and took the core gameplay and put it into a single player experience there just not that good and it rely's to much on the multiplayer component

There is a story to it with narration; i have occasionally saw a few other people running about and been involved in a few scripted battles, but it generally seems to be a fairly single player experience so far. (Although i have only put a few hours into it)

[Colin]

Every time I reach a point where I'm thinking "urge, repetitive" I then seem to hit a tense and exciting firefight that makes it all worthwhile. Still only level 11, doubt I'll even get in to the teens this weekend. It's really passed the time though, just need to get my mate roped in to some co-op.

[Silvergun X]

I need two volunteers on PS4 Level 22+ (Preferably closer to 26) to do the weekly heroic strike before the reset next Tuesday, if anyone's up add VallyStyle on PSN or send me a PM on here.

[Uli]

The Diablo comparisons are entirely accurate. This is an FPS for ARPG enthusiasts and loot whores, it's as simple as that.

Compared to Diablo exploration in this game is limited and unrewarding. And where is the loot? Good equipment is rare and the materials use i still haven't figured. So what is it for?

[Silvergun X]

Diablo is hardly about the exploration either. Run bounties, run rifts and greater rifts ad infinitum. Doesn't stop it being digital crack mind you.

The loot comes very rapidly 20+ in the form of green drops and blue decoherant engrams. Exactly like the legendaries in diablo that you'll be identifying after every rift, blue drops serve the same purpose.

Materials serve two purposes. Weapon/armour upgrade paths, and reputation trades. When you start upgrading blues, legendaries and exotics, you burn through plasteel, weapon parts, spinmetal, spirit bloom etc very very quickly. The comparisons to diablo are still really strong here.

If you have an abundance of mats you just want to shift, the planet based mats like helium filaments can be taken to either the vanguard or crucible quartermaster for reputation.

Where in diablo you're salvaging garbage yellows and legendaries constantly for things like stat rerolls, you're constantly salvaging greens and garbage blues for plasteel and weapon parts.

[dave heats]

Got around to buying a white PS4 Destiny bundle yesterday, and have to say I'm getting a massive Phantasy Star Online vibe from this so far, which is a great thing. Theres a pointlessly enormous central foyer, the storyline is either bewildering or non existent, you pick up brightly coloured boxes from fallen enemies, and when you first start the game, everything (particularly the UI) makes no sense whatsoever. Even the Ghost reminds me of a PSO Mag.

I've tried to ignore most of the reviews so far, but am already getting an idea of the positives / negatives mentioned in this thread.

[Lebowski]

how dose the online pvp side of this work i was playing last night and I'm level 9 and it regularly put me against level 20'+ are their weapons and armour more powerful or dose it level out. I'm feeling its a bit unbalanced at the moment and i need to level up properly before i try it again, but it could just be me being rubbish.

I found some players could get my energy down way faster than I could and even when sneaking up on players and unloading half a clip in there back this is just enough to take there shield down!! they would then spin round and one shot me?? I could get the odd kill if I aimed for the head and they didn't start shooting me at the same time, but it felt a lot of the time like I was underpowered. The specials some players had where crazy one in particular on the warlock class hit a few of us at the same time out of nowhere and there was no defence against it.

[Silvergun X]

Everything is normalised in PvP. Damage and defense values as well as level advantages are all completely removed.

The only exception to this is Iron Banner which is coming soon - This completely removes all balancing, and weapon attack / armour defense values matter.

[Lebowski]

That's good to know weapons and armour are astetic only, the skills don't seem to be though so I think this is where balance issues show up for me, i suppose it's no worse than cod players having perks for the higher levels.

[fishbowlhead]

Got around to buying a white PS4 Destiny bundle yesterday, and have to say I'm getting a massive Phantasy Star Online vibe from this so far, which is a great thing. Theres a pointlessly enormous central foyer, the storyline is either bewildering or non existent, you pick up brightly coloured boxes from fallen enemies, and when you first start the game, everything (particularly the UI) makes no sense whatsoever. Even the Ghost reminds me of a PSO Mag.

I've tried to ignore most of the reviews so far, but am already getting an idea of the positives / negatives mentioned in this thread.

I get this feeling with it too. It probably wasn't intended that way, but it's just ended up feeling like pso for some reason. I've ignored the reviews completely, I enjoyed the beta a lot and that made my mind up. At the end of the day, if you enjoy it, you don't need a review to justify that enjoyment.