My 2017: Clearance Destiny 2

2017 was memorable for many things. We wrote about some things on time, about some things – not very timely, and about some things we didn’t manage to write about at all. Some interesting stories and events passed by like background noise, which you don’t even think about telling. But as the year comes to an end, Santa Claus, Nintendo, conscience, and just the desire to tie up loose ends knock on the door, and at least now, looking back at the past 12 months, to fill in some white spots on the canvas.

I will start, perhaps, with the most, um, relevant and the biggest gap, namely – impressions from playing Destiny 2.

I bought the sequel to one of the main console projects only on sale, and even then for PC. By that time, Destiny 2 had already managed to start fairly well on every toaster. While critics were writing strange things about the game, key sellers were enthusiastically reporting on the stunning success of the multiplayer shooter.

Being late to the ball was, on one hand, more unpleasant than usual. After all, there is a special joy in MMOs when you pioneer your way onto the game servers and explore the locations ahead of everyone else. On the other hand, those who pre-ordered, as is the custom nowadays, trampled all the virgin meadows ahead of schedule. And in general, console players have long since explored the galaxy before us.

There’s no need to rush, especially if you only have enthusiasm for a sale key.

The main story of the original Destiny, if I remember correctly, was not about some cosmic conflict between Earth and the chosen ones of the light side of the force, but about Peter Dinklage not being able to elevate the aforementioned boring plot with his voice acting. Since then, several expansions have been released, in which, most likely, the mythology of the universe was further developed.

For those who don’t know what happened before, congratulations: you haven’t missed anything. Just like last time, everything was bad, and intergalactic alien buttocks were hanging over the solar system. I distinctly remember that our PlayStation Plus subscriber company was able to stop some kind of apocalypse, but the plot twists and villains were so vivid that unless you delve into the thematic Wikipedia, you won’t remember anyone, and they were so cool that defeating them didn’t affect anything.

In short, the situation is like this. This time, the fleet of space ogres wants something bad for the Solar System. These powerful guys were once rejected by the local Jedi, and the failed Guardians of the Force were initially even confused, but then came up with a clever plan. With the help of the Dyson Sphere, military discipline, space marines, and the abduction of a princess – I mean, prince – the initiative wing of the Red Legion, under the united cries of “Spartacus lives!”, began to simply drain the Force resolutely from everywhere it could.

It sounds awesome, but it quickly lets you go. Somewhere around the second episode, when they start sending the hero on cruises not only to Earth but also to Titan. You constantly want to turn left from the start, but you don’t have time to seriously think about whether to forget about this plot. After five minutes of corridors, the game itself demobilizes you to enjoy traveling along random paths.

I want to say that at this very moment, a gamer who has tried the original Destiny will feel right at home. They will recognize all the old mechanics, shed a tear at the sight of a random quest to collect ten scalps, and rush to participate in the latest local event with computer dummy soldiers. All of this will be true – the shooter hasn’t changed at all in n years. But yes, this truth, like a well-known advertising joy, will be incomplete without a couple of clarifications.

The first clarification: in order to immediately feel like a seasoned sniper, an experienced special forces soldier, and a cosmic fate changer, no gaming experience in anything in the world is needed. Our wonderful MMO tries very, very hard to ensure that the gamer has no worries in PvE. Except for finding new tickets for a no-lose lottery that gives away an endless wardrobe of equipment and an equally endless arsenal of weapons.

The hardest role falls to the rank-and-file alien fighters. Poor things pretend that they can eat more than a third of the hero’s health bar and act as if they are not trying to quickly expose themselves to the crosshairs. Their complex choreographic numbers deserve a separate honorable mention. First, a whole ensemble of enemies bursts onto the stage, then the actors hide behind boulders and other cover and start dancing complex tactical patterns. You look at the screen and your heart rejoices. It seems like you are surrounded by a whole crowd, but you only have to engage in a shootout with two or three enemies at the same time. Some peek out, others synchronously hide, wait for you to take out their neighbors, and then join the battle themselves.

With such a dance, it’s impossible not to feel like a terminator.

Here Destiny 2 is trying to catch the player. After dozens of realistically defeated local bosses of various calibers, you want to knock them down in the same way as everyone else – head-on, without reloading and without a second of rest behind bulletproof bushes. Here, the most audacious and lazy heroes, sometimes, go to the nearby respawn. Without penalties, of course, God forbid, just to cool off.

Raids, of course, are a bit more challenging, because if you forget yourself and run to surrender to the over-equipped squads of strangers for the occasion, there is a risk of ruining the game not only for yourself but also for your allies. Therefore, you have to keep yourself in check and pretend that you are playing a real hardcore shooter.

But otherwise, it’s all happiness, relaxed adventures, unobtrusive events, beautiful maps, pleasant graphics, and shooting at countless targets. D2 is the perfect shooter for those who, on the one hand, do not know how and do not like to play real multiplayer FPS games, and on the other hand, find FPS “story-driven” games (a la Bioshock Infinite or Wolfenstein) insufficiently alive. There, only dummy characters run around, and the space is very confined, but here, sometimes, neighbor Vasya might pass by, then a whole group will gather to defeat a boss, then some patch will come out, a new gun will appear, content will be added, and most importantly, in whatever doses you want, that’s how you can experience Destiny.

Just don’t forget to complete the story, as a second clarification, so that you can receive the full set of toys. And then buy the seasonal pass.

At the end of the campaign, I was in for a big disappointment. I thought that’s it, now the game will finally stop pushing me left and right, restricting my gamer rights, and hiding content behind a curtain.

It turned out to be exactly the opposite.

After getting knocked down ten thousand times by various daily activities, exploring all available planets and admiring their beauty, my character limped through the second-to-last tedious hour-long mission, died of boredom a few times during its completion, defeated a toothless yet surprisingly fat boss, moved to a new base, and was dumbfounded.

Level 20 doesn’t mean anything in the game, and we all knew that from the start. Character growth is determined by equipment, not experience points. It’s a decent system, by the way, I like it. The only thing is, here I am, all handsome and ready to enjoy the endgame, and suddenly it turns out that the folks who bought the seasonal pass will be running around at level 25. But… but… but Destiny 2 on PC, I don’t know, it’s at most three months old!

I was ready to pay for the expansion if it had come out somewhere around a year after the release of the live servers. Okay, they sold us a discounted key, we’ll make a reverse bow – after six months. But not right after the end of the campaign.

MMO, it turns out, lasted for a week. Any potential activity like searching for exotic super weapons, participating in large in-game events, or even PvP, lost its meaning. Suddenly, all the leaps and bounds became uninteresting.

Sorry, I didn’t arrive late enough to cut me off from new content. No more Destiny 2 for me. The game is great, but I don’t have the desire to buy it again every two months.