Incoming: Destiny

The gaming community has been waiting with baited breath after the release of Halo Reach to find out what developer Bungie had in store for them.  Though the veil on Destiny has been lifted for a while, we're still vague on the details of what Destiny really is.  In this article we will focus on what we know, as well as what we hope may be in store for us later when Bungie drops its next SciFi adventure.

 

What We Know

 

The gaming news community just LOVES to throw around the word MMO with Destiny.  Reason being that before anyone knew what Bungie was going to do it was speculated that they would do a fantasy MMO.  Since everyone was DEAD WRONG about that, they have been trying to be "half right" about the MMO part by insisting that Destiny is at least part MMO.  Which it is not.

 

Then what is Destiny?  Coined by Bungie themselves the game is a "shared world shooter" meaning that the world you play in is shared with other people from your friends list, and beyond.  Beyond could mean people from your region, people of similar skill, or just flat out "other people".  Bungie has not offered details though on how many people you will share your world with.  It could be 8, 16, or 32 or more.  It could also end up finding people based on what mission or part of the game you are on, or what part of the universe you are exploring.  There just aren't enough details to speculate on this without having to backpedal for being wrong about it.  But the allure of it is fascinating.

 

We also know that there are at least 3 different classes of characters in the game.  You can play as either the Titan class, the Hunter class, or the Warlock class, each offering differences in play style.  Want to be a juggernaut?  The Titan class could be for you.  Want to use neat magic like abilities, sign up for the Warlock.  I refuse to use the old addage "there is something for everyone" but there appears to be something that could appeal to most shooter fans playstyles here.

 

The universe this time around is based on our galaxy, our solar system.  You will see Earth, Mars, the Moon, Venus, and perhaps more over the course of Bungie's 10 year plan with Destiny.  All that is known about the story is that humanity has seen a great enemy and would have been wiped out if it weren't for "the traveller", a haunting, large, somewhat decayed sphere suspended over Earth's last remaining populated city.  The player fills the shoes of not an iconic series hero, but as one of many "guardians" tasked with helping keep the last city safe and perhaps branch out into the universe again.

 

 

 

Travel between Earth and the other galactic destinations will take place via your own customizable spacecraft.  It is not know at this time if you will have to manually fly to Mars from Earth or if a cutscene will see you off to a distant location.  As far as we know nothing about space combat has been mentioned by Bungie, so we'll have to wait on confirmation for that. 

 

So who is the main enemy?  Well in Destiny, it seems like "enemy" has been replaced with "enemies".  Not in the classic Halo sense of different species all conspiring to see your demise, but different species, with different reasons for wanting you out of the way.  I'll be excited to see if different enemy factions war with each other as well as with Earth dwellers.  So far we have seen the Hive, which seems to be kind of a flood-like enemy race, the Vex are time traveling killer robots, the Cabal which are a juggernaut and powerful class, and the Fallen, a species of aliens that were "once noble houses now scattered to the wind".  There is a rumored 5th species, right now known as "the Glimmer", but not much is known of them at this time.  We are hedging our bets that this will be revealed at E3 2013.  Here is a link to the wiki for Destiny which is filled to the brim with great info.

 

http://destinypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Destinypedia_Wiki

 

To depart from "what's in Destiny" and get back to "what is Destiny", the game seems to me at this time to be kind of a "Halo meets Borderlands" kind of experience.  There has been talk about loot and bosses and things of that nature.  Co-op has a big roll and seems to be a huge focus for this game.  Bungie has also said that adversarial multiplayer will make a return as well, meaning that long after we've completed the game we can still get our Destiny on.

 

There will be special loot items and mass customization options in Destiny.  I'm really hoping for unique items that are really rare and could even possibly be only one of in your shared world.  That would make some finds really great.  Bungie says that your character could become somewhat of legend in the game.  The customization in Destiny promises many options to really make your character unique in the universe.

 

 If you've seen the first ViDoc "Pathways Out of Darkness" then you've seen the menu bit that shows an option called "Raids".  Not much is known about this but it does sound like a mode in which you could gather a party of people and delve into a kind of "dungeon", if you will.  Maybe this is why everyone is so adamant about calling Destiny an MMO, but to me this seems like it will be a dungeon dive that could end in some awesome boss battles and some awesome loot drops!

There will also be a staging area, an area in which you can rest easy and hangout with friends and party members before missions.  There was information dropped I believe by Bungie themselves that in this safe area, your first person view will pull out to 3rd person so that you have a chance to admire the aesthetics of your character.  That was one of the things about Halo is you could make your Spartan look awesome, but you really never had any opportunity to look at him/her while in action.  This seems a little bit trivial, but little details like this are what pushes a game outside of the normal expectations. 

Bungie explained the matchmaking with a bit of whimsy.  They said that you could launch the game and be solo for awhile during a mission.  You get into the thick of a firefight and suddenly a fellow guardian jumps in to help you.  They talk of these kinds of experiences as special.  Moments were you are like "wow, there is another guy!".  Maybe you party up and adventure on afterwards, maybe not.  Maybe the guy that helps you just grabs his portion of the loot and bids you good day.  Maybe the guy is on your friends list, maybe not.  The way it works right now is mysterious, but Bungie talks of the experiences as though they will be seamless and that is why another guardian showing up will make you say "Wow!". 

Just think of the roles being reversed.  You are making your way back to your ship or something and you happen upon a poor guardian in the middle of a firefight.  You have an excellent flanking position so you just start laying down the fire.  Win/win.  You got some great action and a person that was fighting hard got some much needed help.  Experiences like this are what have me yearning for Destiny.

What We Hope For

We hope first and foremost that Destiny will be a shooter of the likes we have come to expect from Bungie.  Tight shooter controls coupled with awesome story delivery and a multiplayer aspect that keeps you returning night after night.  The "thirty seconds of fun" that Bungie is known for is something we hope returns too.  In the Halo series, the studio really showed that they had a knack for crafting encounters.  Even when you are faced with ridiculous odds, you just know that with hard work and perseverance, you can overcome anything.

The sad part of Destiny is that we've probably seen the end of LAN parties in a Bungie game.  Destiny touts an "online only" tag.  That's alright though because if this game is done right, that may be a feature we don't even miss at all.

If Destiny has great shooter controls, fun encounters, a great story, and a well put together co-op and multiplayer mode, we should be set for a long time.  Part of Bungie's plan with Destiny is to make sure there is fresh content every year from the launch through the next 10 years.  So if the company can deliver on that kind of schedule, we should be in for one hell of an exciting ride.

The game is coming out for PS3, PS4, XBOX 360, and XBOX ONE.  There was speculation that the game could hit holiday 2013 (and might for the current gen systems) but the rumblings as of right now say a 2014 release.  Regardless of when it is, I know I am ready to forge my Destiny.

Let us know what you think in the comments section below and stay tuned to Big Ups Gaming for news on upcoming titles like Destiny.  Thanks for reading!