The Good, The Bad And The In-Between Of Bungie's 'Destiny' Beta

Forbes: I absolutely do not begrudge the beta for holding a lot back, however, and there’s still a lot to talk about regarding what’s improved or changed from the alpha, and what might be still to come.

[thorstein]

The Bad is that you don't understand the narrative? How is that Bungie's fault? That doesn't make it a "bad" it means you have trouble comprehending the narrative.

I think the narrative at the beginning of the game wherein Bungie blatantly tells you what happened clues us in pretty well to "what's going on."

[Dynasty2021]

Well yeah the whole scenario makes sense.

The reasoning for the missions and the objectives don't. Tell me why we went to the moon after the missions on Old Russia, WITHOUT CHEATING?

Because I can't.

But that's because it's a beta, not necessarily in order, and is completely out of context.

[thorstein]

Why did we go to the moon? Your companion cube (Ghost) tells you that we are searching for an NPC (forgot the name) and that it is a good idea we got that hyperdrive.

All of this off the top of my head, your ghost then downloads info from the computer by the boss.

[telekineticmantis]

I understand the narrative and it‘s cheesy, im talking more cheesy than Halo cheesy.

I am starting to come around on this game, I particularly like that they allow you to carry multiple guns on a mission, not just 2, so gameplay is more diverse. Other than that, ill hold off judgement, until the full game.

[kneon]

I think it's too early to tell just how cheesy it is, but there is certainly cheesiness in abundance ;)

As for the weapons I'm glad they fixed the ammo issue. In the alpha you could carry 30 weapons each with their own individual ammo supply.

[telekineticmantis]

@Kneon
At first, i was a little annoyed by this game because of all the bullets you have to sink into an enemy, but then I recognized, this is an MMO, lvl is the difference, and that kinda makes things awesome.

The game could use a cover system, either like Killzones or Battlefields, that jumping out of cover feels archaic at this point, doesn't feel tactical or soldier like, just kiddie, the jump and float mechanics are cool though

[Gunstar75]

I enjoyed the beta, but I must admit to preferring the comparatively low budget Titanfall more.

after 3 hours of Destiny, I was bored..after an hour of Titanfall, I need to lie down!

its all subjective, at the end of the day, but after all the hype (Destiny being the most hyped game in history) I came away a little disappointed.

I love the halo series and whilst this reminded me of Bungie's legacy franchise, it felt a little empty and slow.

will still buy it though

[matt139]

Agreed. I do like destiny and will be picking it up come launch day but titanfall has more replay value for me.

[JeffGUNZ]

I personally rank Titanfall third in all time shooters with 1. Counter Strike 2. COD4MW and 3. Titanfall.

Destiny's PVP was eh at first. I hated the moon map and the vehicles are overpowered. Once I did Iron Banner and played 4 other maps, it felt more balanced. They only gave you a slight taste and it worked out well. I really do like how PVP will give you upgrades you can use in PVE and that PVE and PVP character is yours all the way though. So, if you put your time in exploring and fighting and get top tier gear, you can reap your rewards in Iron BAnner. It's a brilliant system.

Problem with Titanfall for me, I'm Regen 8, is the challenge to win 100 matches before you can regen to 9. That killed my mojo for playing it. Still, the mechanics and feel of the game are AWESOME in Titanfall.

[Ripsta7th]

Youtu.be/dzP-TTCpZlg
^someone try to top that lol

[strangeaeon]

Here are my only issues with a game that is otherwise lots of fun:
1. Give me more loot please
2. Nice environments are mostly lifeless and boring
3. The missions all felt too similar

[kneon]

I think there were really only 3 types of explore missions as it doesn't count as a new mission type just because you're shooting enemies to gather x rather than y. If that's all there is it will get boring fast.

[diehardmetallicafan]

@strangeaeon

agreed on all points. but also they need some kind of terrain map (especially when in exploration), and the option to start in a different area.
the biggest disappointment for me though was the lack of loot and enemy types. spend 5-10 minutes killing a bigger enemy and when he dies, ammo and blue thingys fly out of him and theres nothing to pick up...

[tanookisuit]

Agreed, there just isn't enough loot opportunities. Thankfully, Bungie isn't making us hunt for ammo though (like Borderlands - Jeeeesus!).

I give them praise for the character customization options though - miles better than those "things" in Skyrim/Dark Souls, LOL.

[iceman06]

I would agree with 2 and 3. As for 1, you have to do the traditional grind or farm for loot that is associated with most MMO's. My issue is that the large bosses that take forever to take down often aren't worth it, in terms of loot. However, go to the area with the rusted out helicopters and stay for about 30 mins. (there are 4 groups of respawning enemies plus loot chests and spinmetal) and you should get at least 6 uncommon engrams and several common ones. I stayed for an hour, trying to wait for the event that is pretty much on a day/night cycle, and got about 20 engrams. 12 uncommon (or green). Unfortunately I couldn't use most of it as, when they were encrypted, they were level 9.

[strangeaeon]

Cool, did not think to wait around, always too curious about what's over the next rise. I am sure they will make use of the feedback, this is Bungie after all.

[iceman06]

I stumbled upon that area while trying to level up an uncommon sniper rifle. Once I saw what was going on, I would pretty much go there for any of the Vanguard Bounties. Forgot to mention that every once in awhile, the factions will start fighting each other. THAT gets hectic with Wizards, Captains, Knights, and purple eyes everywhere. It's probably the most fun that I had in just exploring.

[pompombrum]

For me

The good:

PvP/Adversarial MP - absolutely spot on, feels like they've finally completed what they started on with Reach with the successful implementation of abilities and the somewhat faster pace than halo makes it extremely addictive. Best yet, it feels very skill based, if you're good 3 v 1 is possible.

Graphics - I was very impressed with the quality of the graphics. While they can't compare to what I can get with my gaming PC, they are still very beautiful and think Bungie done a great job for a console game.

Strike missions - Had an absolute blast doing the one multiple times. I done it with randoms but got lucky with them generally either knowing what they were doing or catching on fast. I can imagine it being very frustrating if you done it with people who were stupid.

Gunplay/Weapons - Best gunplay and weapons I've experienced in a game. All the different types feel different not to mention all the different variations. Better yet, for the most part it feels quite balanced from my experience.

The Inbetween

Special Abilities in PVP - Just seems very cheap imho and needs work. With no way of telling when someone has them, it feels like there is just nothing you can do to counter. The golden gun in particular feels crazy good.

The AI - 95% of the time feels like nothing but cannon fodder made worse by the fact they look to go hide behind walls making battles quite frustrating if you're like me and stay back with the scout. They rarely challenge either nor even bother to flank you in numbers. It was only in the strike mission that I felt the AI was great and forced me to think a bit more.

The Bad:

No communication options - It's supposed to be an MMO yet there is no talking or anything. An MMO without social interaction between random players just feels empty. Not to mention I wonder if Bungie will scale the difficulty in strike missions to factor this in? If bosses have phases like in most other MMOs which require strategy, it's going to be extremely frustrating trying to coordinate it with randoms.

Very little interaction on missions - I guess it's down to the barren wasteland feel of the world but ultimately, the game is seriously lacking in character interaction or anything on missions except for your ghost talking. It's not a huge deal but it's very noticeable on the missions I've done at least and detracts a little from the whole experience.

Reused buildings in missions - I guess it's inevitable being set on the same planet but it becomes painfully obvious way too fast and I regularly got Déjà vu. Worse still, the mob placements seem almost identical on the reused buildings. Now I'm sure it's a common practice in games but never has it been so obvious, I remember going through the explore mission and actually thought I was replaying my last mission by accident at first.

[thorstein]

If you have a mic you can communicate. If you focus on another player you can see the letters R3 appear next to their name. Click it, then you can join their fireteam. As of the Beta you can communicate at any time with your fireteam.

I think the scope would make it a bit overwhelming to have all talk when you are running around.

I don't know the plans for further communication but I am sure we haven't seen all that is available.

Also, did you play the Moon Mission? There is a hint at an NPC during that mission, so I think interaction will increase. I believe the Beta was mostly designed to look at server loads and trying to break it as they did on Saturday. It was flawless gameplay on my end except that Iron Banner and Crucible were inaccessible at that time.

[matt139]

Decent game not amazing though. It will tide me over until halo comes out.

[guerojose]

"it only took me an hour or so to get through all the Russian story missions"

I call BS on that. Even if you're attempting to sprint thru the levels as fast as you can, taking no note of anything, I still call BS on that. Even if you played all the levels thru several times and memorized them first, then replayed them as fast as possible for a cash reward, I still call BS on that. Even if your mom was in the hospital and her life depended on...

[JeffGUNZ]

If one runs through the level and fights the darkness enemies to conclude the level, then yes, I believe him. Yet, who does this? It's like a mini MMO, you want to upgrade your stuff, the more people you kill the more loots/ammo/glimmer/weapons/XP. I killed everything and searched everywhere during the single player levels and each took me close to an hour. It's all on people's play types. Their shouldn't be a rush when playing this game. Level cap for XP is only 20, the higher levels will be Motes of Light and will pay off by taking your time and exploring.

[Soldierone]

It's not really fair to judge the title based on this. Look at other Beta's, what do they offer? Battlefield for example always throws ONE map at you. Does it represent the game? No.

This beta was purely for server loads, anything beyond ONE mission was pure bonus gameplay, period. Allowing us to level at all, and all the loot we did get was all bonus.

[Gunstar75]

Not sure anyone is writing the game off, me included. People are just voicing their opinion on the Beta, which is what we have all played.