Destiny’s Five Biggest Problems

Entertainment Fuse: Destiny is one of the biggest games to be released this year. Trailers are everywhere for it. Commercials on TV are plentiful. And news from Activision is sales are high. But review scores are low. So what is wrong with Destiny?

[Webbyy]

This article right here is on point. I agree with everything.
Only problem is why can't I stop playing destiny when I get home from work? O_o

lol

The Game is fun guys

[The Meerkat]

It is fun but it could have been so much better.

The bad guys don't feel bad. If anything I feel like the bad guy for stomping in there and shooting them when they were all just minding their own business.

The bosses are all just bullet sponges.

There is no big bad guy to hate. You feel that there is nobody pulling the strings.

[SamPao]

Yeah it seems they actually built it so that the story unfolds within 10years :P so we have to wait 5 years to even get who's bad and why

[tlougotg]

Man i thought i was the only one lol At first i was like meh so overhyped but last three days i havent been able to put it down even going to bed at 3:00 a.m. smh. It is very fun and just feels bad #ss when you team up with buddies to take on a strike and just cause havok!!!! Also character designs, armor and graphics overall are pleasing and i dont mind looking at the game.

[DVAcme]

The game IS good. It's just that it's merely good when it should be outstanding. And the game's loot system is BADLY broken, with your performance in the game influencing NOTHING on the loot you get. The Cryptarch continuously screws people over when item appraising, and I CRINGED when I watched the Angry Joe review and saw a player being the MVP of a strike and his two fireteam allies getting Legendaries while he merely got crafting materials. That shit is ridiculous.

I'm sure that these issues will no doubt get addressed, but as it stands, the game needs work. It IS fun, and when at its best, it's fast, furious and exhilarating, but when it's at its worst, it makes you want to give up on the game, which could be a death knell for the game's long term plans.

Oh well, at least Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel comes out in a few weeks to scratch my loot itch :p

[generalthadeape]

Yes-- I'll take Borderlands over Destiny any day!

[theDivision]

LET ME TRADE! The game makes it so that you get random class for legendary and exotic armor engrams so why not let me trade? I have exotic armor for the titan and warlock and am a hunter, why am I not allowed to trade them for something of my own class? I have 70+ spinmetal I need helium filament, I know there is a guy with helium filament that could trade me. I am not saying that materials are hard to get, but they could be so much easier and could make destiny more social if trading was allowed. Plus the tower would ACTUALLY become a social hub as opposed to a place where people just drop stuff off.

[DVAcme]

The lack of trading baffles me. Trading is one of the classic MMO socialization/player interaction methods that enriches the game and here it's missing. There should be an auction house, too, and daily challenges that give guaranteed pieces of loot.

[JeffGUNZ]

The campaign was the same mission over and over again. That I didn't like. I enjoyed killing enemies and whatnot. The endgame is where it's at for me. Waiting for that purple emblem to pop up and the anticpation on the way to the crypatch is awesome. Yet, the loading times are awful. You do a countdown...3.2.1......and your ship hasn't moved.

[WeAreLegion]

It's still an enjoyable game. I like it.

I just wanted so much more out of it. I wanted to roam around the planet on my sparrow and take out randomly spawning enemies, finish both story missions and side missions, and basically just be awesome out there in the vast wasteland of the future. Nope. Here's one location on each planet with spawn points for enemies and little reason to explore. :/

[Baka-akaB]

"The Loot System In Destiny Is Terrible"

No it's not . Sure it could be better or easier , but it's not as if it's impossible and take many days to drop purple or exotic items .

And let's not even pretend you dont get weekly chances to buy legendary and exotic items if you can't drop any .

" You know how in Diablo you are constantly finding loot, most of it is junk sure, but you usually are finding something worth while at least every half hour or so. "

Yeah it's not the loot from Diablo , but no you can find tons of junk constantly .

There are stuff that are insanely annoying in the game , but that's not it . For starters i dont understand how can there be such a tedious groups and clan system , all handled on the website .

Grimoires cool , but why are they only visible on the web or a phone app ? Why isnt the app included within the menus of the game somehow ?

Why are there so few purchasable colors shade as well ?

[theDivision]

Agreed! I want the ability to make and manage my clan in game. I don't want to be forced to use my computer. Another issue of mine is that there is not matchmaking for EVERY mission. I like playing with other people, my friends don't always get on in the times I'm on and since there is no local chat I can't simply ask people I have to pause the game and message them or invite them and they have no idea what I'm doing so over 60% of the time they just decline it.

Destiny bragged about being a social game but I feel far more isolated than in other games.

[Baka-akaB]

I'm lucky , i can always have 2 or 3 people from the same level bracket on . And truth be told , examplary chat and matchmaking or not , i wouldnt have bothered if i was going to be the sole destiny player from my community ...

I'm weird that way , i'm only midly open to playing with strangers and discovering them ... i want friends around or else i skip the game .

It's even one of the reasons i skipped the first borderland and left for dead 1 at release

[WickedLester]

My biggest gripe with Destiny is the lack of private PVP matches with friends. I hope Bungie plans to add this in the future.

Also, I get annoyed having all this money with nothing to spend it on. All of the weapons and armor available to purchase at the tower are beneath what I already have. I could buy new ships and sparrows but what for? To have something different to look at I guess. Same with symbols. Bungie should not be selling anything that doesn't have some kind of impact on the game.

[DougLord]

I thought Destiny was going to be a massive open world FPS MMO. Turns out it's a small mission based co-op FPS. Very disappointing.

[RyujiDanma]

"thought"

[S2Killinit]

now that the politics that is the review scores are over and done with, with the remaining sites attempting to get a few more clicks by having titles like "5 problems with Destiny", people are actually starting to take the sheep goggles off, and realize that this whole time, they've been playing Destiny and loving it. lol

I for one, am enjoying the hell out of the game. So is my brother. I'm honestly at awe at the audacity of gaming sites bashing this game just because Bungie refused to allow them to "review" it ahead of time (AKA make money for them). I mean "6"?? Come now. Its ok critics, you guys won this round, but you lost soo much credibility in the process, hope it was worth it for you.

[EinRobot]

Its funny you say sites lose cred for giving 6/10 reviews. I played Destiny and its meh. Any site giving it 8/10 lost cred with me. Its a half effort game seriously.

[deathstriker]

It's all subjective. It seems like most gamers want video games to be treated like art, just like all other forms of entertainment, but then some people take it like a personal insult when a game they like isn't reviewed well.

It's a personal and subjective choice, just like when Roger Ebert gave a thumbs up or down. It's fine to disagree, but stop acting like it's a conspiracy or that the person was wrong by saying what they think.

Destiny was obviously half-assed in some areas even though it is fun to play.

[ScottyHoss]

Now, with the whole gamergate thing recently, you must think review sites would want a huge controversy to take the heat off of it, like any scandal. That combined with bungies lack of review copy and open beta (yes closed at first, but later open), and direct line to gamers through bungie.net, therefore eliminating them as middle men, was seen as a threat.

2 birds one stone, well played reviewers, well played.

However fun it is to play, you're right, there are flaws, some flaws that have been in current games for years. Maybe this will benefit us all, if they maintain this new style of harsh criticism, it could mean better games, less lazy developers and more credibility to journalists if they abandon their obviously payed off ways. Who knows, but there was definitely a purpose behind the low scores, I would give the game an 8. 10 in terms of gun play, but it lacked in many areas and excelled in many also.

[S2Killinit]

@EinRobot
I hope you say the exact same thing when you play Halo, because its pretty much the same game.

@deathstriker
you say some people are upset that a game they like is reviewed badly. I would state that differently as it applies to me. I'm upset at the double standard, and Im upset at having my intelligence insulted by the reviewers. As for gamers bashing the game, i personally think a lot of them are fanboys, upset that the game is similar to Halo and that it was on a console they didn't like. As for me, I don't really care, Im enjoying the game immensely. I just feel that its important for gamers to be able to see past the BS, that's all.

[deathstriker]

Destiny is probably my second or third most played game of 2014 so far, so I can't say it's a bad game, but I do understand it getting 6 to 8 on the review scale. It's dumb fun with friends, with no story, no characters, horrible mission design, needs more content, etc.

The core of it, the gameplay, is great and so are the graphics, most other things are "meh". Most of the sites I go to didn't review Watch Dogs well either, which was another overhyped AAA game, but more so than Destiny.

Whether people think Destiny or Watch Dogs deserved their scores is subjective. I don't see a conspiracy.

[jnemesh]

Biggest problem? Reviewers who just don't get the game, or the style of gameplay. It's a great game, don't listen to the narrow-minded.

[jts1891]

That's not really the issue. The problem is how the reviewers are treating Destiny. Rather than reviewing the game as a whole, almost every review dissects Destiny and puts it's divergent pieces in different boxes. They then compare the elements it borrows and compares them with the gold standard of the various genres. When you look at Destiny's RPG elements, sure, they are mediocre compared to those from a fully fledged RPG like Skyrim. If you look at it's loot system, sure it's mediocre compared to a game that is designed around loot. If you look at it's story, sure it's lacking compared to a game like TLOU.

If you judge Destiny that way, you're going to end up with a mediocre score. But if you look at how the divergent elements come together in the actual gameplay, you realize it's far, far more than the sum of it's parts. Which is why you have all these review sites like Polygon asking themselves why a game that is so 'mediocre' is so addictive and why they can't stop playing it.

[jts1891]

1. A minor gripe, at best. The loading times are tedious, but given Destiny's nature, it's to be expected. As for why you need to go back to orbit after you complete a mission, it should be obvious. Almost every mission gives you an upgrade or reward that you have to return to the Tower to get.

2. This 'complaint' is just as inaccurate as every other site that's parroted it. There are 26 missions in Destiny, not including patrols or raids. Out of those 26 missions, only 11 include the dynamic where your Ghost hacks a computer or scans something, and triggers waves of enemies. And even then, it's only a small portion of the overall level. Also, you're playing a FPS. If you don't like shooting things, why exactly are you playing it to begin with?

3. The Loot System is randomized. Cry me a river. Also, if you went through a mission and didn't get anything, you were probably playing on Normal. On Hard, I tend to get 5 drops per level at the very least. Also, the problem is that you are 'farming'. That's probably the least efficient and most repetitive way to get loot.

The random loot chests are a mixed bag, but the extra glimmer and upgrade materials you commonly get are good enough. The goodies come in the form of the Golden Chests, of which there are 5 on each planet that you can find.

4. And it explains how to do it, but it doesn't explain it. Great way to contradict yourself. You don't need to know what 'Light' is to know how to upgrade your armor.

5. "Destiny ends up feeling lonely and empty most of the time I play it without friends." ...Maybe because it was designed to be played with friends? Also, you do realize you can just add people to your friends list with the click of a button and do party chat, right? Destiny didn't include in-game chat options because it isn't needed and it would've detracted from the world. There is nothing more annoying then playing on an online game, and having to listen to kids trolling, people screaming, and babies crying in the background.

[ScottyHoss]

Couldn't agree with you more on #5. Was on Battlefield 4 and heard a man call his wife a bitch for smoking all his weed, while there was a baby crying, and she yells back "shut up Darrel I need to manage my stress! I'm pregnant I shouldn't have to deal with your s***!"

I was dying of laughter after about 5 seconds where my face was like O_O then I realized how awful it was and it was back to O_O

[r3f1cul]

ive put in over a hundred hours now... the campaign or lack there of is awful, there is only a baselined story that is so generic you cant possibly care about it at all, on top of all that, none of the characters have any personality at all, i didnt care about any of the grand total of 5 character you meet along this horrid journey of go here shoot that, then go there shoot that story line... also why the holy fuck can i not skip cutscenes? i mean seriously your game has no fucking story let me skp the cutscenes especially when i have to do this mission again for bounties week after week, or day after day... and im apparently the most unlucky person ever with this terrible loot system, i had better luck on diablo 3 when it first released on pc honestly... its very frustrating when your cryptarch is lvl 20 and still shafts you on every single fucking legendary weapon engram i get, and ive gotten more then enough to warrant me getting something to show for my time and dedication on this game... alienating your player base is never a good thing. every legendary ive gotten on my 27 warlock has been earned from vanguard marks, which the game limits you in the amount you can actually get per week... if the game is all about griding dont limit me to what i can grind... also this game is supposed to be all about end game stuff??? really what end game? there are like 7 strikes that you do over and fucking over again? this is end game content? spare me... this game is a good game overall but it is a horrible RPG, and its a horrible MMO, its a decent shooter with solid mechanics that gets incredibly tedious and repetitive and if you have somehow not realized that yet, you are fooling yourself thinking there is depth to this game, or maybe you havent put in the time i have with no reward what so ever... if i was rewarded just a bit more i would be cool with it, im not saying it has to shit out legendaries, i dont want that by any means but i also dont wanna play for 120 plus hours and feel i have nothing to show for my time and effort :/

[Soc5]

All of what you said is what's wrong with this game, it's fun but in the end not very rewarding...as it stands now anyway.
Reading your comment, your frustration is pretty evident and Bungie should really take note that what your saying and the frustration many feel, goes against good game design. Come on Bungie, or maybe its Activision, either way. Don't put out a game that is obviously meant to slowly grow over time without making sure that in the meantime it rewards gamers with meaningful content.

[Soc5]

I see what they're trying to do, they want to release story and content slowly over time, but what happens when gamers get bored too early and stop playing? There probably is a really good compelling story they have planned to release over the next "ten years" but you have to pace it just right or you will end up losing your audience rather than hooking them.