Ok, I’m resurrecting this little topic. “Speaking of Destiny…” was a little joke I started on Future Monkeys (my old podcast), because for a long… long… time, all I ever talked about was Destiny. Why? Because it was all I played! And trust me, I got a lot of crap for it. A lot has happened since then though. I mean, the first and only article written under Speaking of Destiny was way back in 2015. The TL;DR of it was basically I spent a ridic amount of money on this one freaking game. Having to buy it, then rebuy it, and constantly rebuying the digital version, and at the end of the day I felt it was all worth it because, well, it’s Destiny.
Looking back, you can probably replace the word Destiny with [random drug] and it’ll probably still fit and make sense. I’ve been riding this train off and on since 2014. The second I stepped foot on the Cosmodrome during the beta I was instantly hooked. Hearing Peter Dinklage’s voice in my ear, warning in his flat, monotone voice that that wizard came from the moon is a time of the game’s history I’m happy to have lived through. Don’t know what I’m talking about?! Here, check out the video, it’s a nice trip down memory lane.
It’s one of those moments, you know? And for a long time, other Future Monkeys banded together to explore the reaches of the solar system, in search of sweet, glorious loot.
It’s best when you’re with friends. Experiencing everything together, making memories. And it’s really one of those games that you can play to no end. Which, in all honesty, is one of its drawbacks for many. Including myself.
Destiny is one of those games that you either love or hate. It’s hard to find someone who is middle ground because if you’re playing it and you’re into it, then you’re really into it. It’s weird I feel guilty for loving it so much, too. For some reason, Destiny leaves a bad taste in the mouths of people who speak it. It’s just not held in high regard amongst many, being labeled as an unfinished game with no end. I feel it doesn’t get the respect it should have, especially since it’s kind of a mix of World of Warcraft and Borderlands with a side of Halo. It can really dig its claws deep and it’s hard to get them loose. Yet, it’s one of those games that people just love to hate.
I have my moments too, where I don’t even care to hear its name. But then I have periods like now where the hype is too much and it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. And it’s not even the story! The story is notoriously all over the place with no real underlying plot. What grabs me the most is the settings and the gun play. The settings, my goodness. If you’re a space lover like I am you’ll be right at home. Traversing ancient technological alien puzzles on Venus, fighting hoards of black magic wielding beings on Mars, and for the first time since the first Destiny we’re about to head back to our moon! But more on that later.
The gun play is by far the most magical thing of the game though. And even people who aren’t fans of the game will admit to that. It’s seriously like watching butter melt on a golden toasted bagel, it’s so smooth and beautiful to shoot, you’ll find it hard to appreciate anything else. And so many different guns too. No, not as many as Borderlands, but each one will feel and fire differently, making it a blast to find your favorite. Me, I’m partial to fusion rifles.
And the music! My goodness, the music is so great. I’m a lover of soundtracks from both games and movies and the scores from Destiny games are top notch. If you were ever a fan of Halo and the rich orchestra sounds coupled with the melodic chorus chanting and singing their ooo’s and aaaa’s, then you’ll feel right at home here. With every season so far, I’m pretty sure they’ve had a different soundtrack to accompany it which is absolutely bonkers, if you ask me. That’s some deep passion for good music behind your game and I can appreciate that.
I think you get the idea here. The purpose of writing this up was to both enlighten and hype. And to remind me of why I love the game. I love to look back at these articles I write and seeing where my mind was at with certain things. I see my unboxing for Destiny 2 Limited Edition, and also The Taken King Collector’s Edition, and I get bummed because I would’ve loved to jump on Shadowkeep’s Collector’s Edition but the dumb thing sold out. If you’re curious, check out The Relaxing End’s unboxing video of it. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted to be in an unboxer, it’s so… relaxing. I need to try and get my Ghost Edition unboxing on here, that would be really cool. See if I can find those pictures somewhere. Those were the glory days of Destiny, with all the awesome live action trailers. Man, those were good times. Here’s my favorite one, which features the moon, coincidentally.
With Destiny 2: New Light out now, the free to play version of the game, there is going to be a huge amount of new Guardians adventuring in space. When a game goes free to play it’s always a little scary. But I’ve been looking forward to this as if I didn’t already have it pre-ordered. Like I mentioned, lots of people have this hang up with Destiny because it’s one of those never ending games that give you this world to have fun in but you don’t really have a definitive ending to it. As much as I enjoy playing, man, do I get that. That reason alone is why I’ve taken quite a few breaks from the game myself. It just didn’t respect my time, as dumb as that sounds. Played and played and played and was never able to progress. Well, I’m happy to say progression is easy if you follow what has to be done now. And even if there is no end to the game, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the ride you’re on till you get bored.
Destiny for me is the type of game you can enjoy for as long as Bungie plans to support it. There are people who play it non-stop, like there’s nothing else available out there. Then there’s others, like me, who love it and get their fill, and then take a break before coming back. When I stopped playing I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it anymore. I wrote it off and had no care for anything regarding it. And I stayed like that for most of Destiny 2’s life. For almost 2 whole years I didn’t touch the game I spent so much money on and time invested in. It wasn’t until my 9 year old had the urge to play a game he remembers I used to love. He wanted to get into it and see what it was about. And just like other 9 year olds, living the Fortnite life, I was happy to let him play a real game to invest time into. He even wanted to spend his allowance to buy the Forsaken expansion himself! Next thing I know, as I’m helping him with a mission here, or a jumping puzzle there, I felt the claws reaching in. That infectious gameplay that Bungie mastered and feels so amazing to play drew me back in. I decided to play alongside him and there we were, father and son, yelling at each other across the house about which ugly alien to focus fire on.
I quickly found my stride again. Well… not quickly. It took me a few hours to just get an idea of what the heck was going on now. But once I did, it was like riding a bike. I found myself hooked again which is both bad and good. And that excitement carried me for the last two months or so, all the way to today, with the release of Shadowkeep. And as of a few hours ago of this writing, the servers seem to be up and not bursting into flames like they were all day. I think the new expansion along with the free to play players of New Light turned Bungie HQ into a giant ball of fire. And that’s good! More players means more fun. I’m excited to see and hear so many are giving it a shot. Sure, there are the few entitled jerks I see on Twitter demanding refunds because “this is ridiculous, how can I pay for this game and you not have it working?!?” But hopefully developers don’t pay no mind to those. The moon isn’t going anywhere, and this is a Guardian who’s excited to send those wizards packing.
Speaking of which, let me get to it. Maybe I’ll continue these Destiny specific posts, maybe I won’t. Consider this a test 🙂
If you’d like to shoot me a friend request so we can explore and take our moon back, feel free to!
I hardly ever play on PC but I’m going to give it a shot with New Light.
PS4: Los_33x
Xbox One: xThe1llusiveMan
Steam: The1llusiveMan
