Has Bungie stated anything about the story of Destiny?

[Phaerim]

Hello everyone!

So I for one really enjoy the gameplay and the universe presented in Destiny. I think it is a great game to play, aside from one very hard hitting critique from journalists and fans alike:

The games atrociously bad story, and total lack of interest into introducing interesting characters.

I presume I am halfway through the story, and so far the story only leaves a lot of questions. Also telling the story of the game through the Grimoire is so terrible, that I haven't even bothered to look at it yet.

I know that I am not alone on this one. Reviewers - including the Escapists own Jim Sterling - and fans alike have pointed this out. The Bungie forums are filled with posts about how bad the story is. After browsing various gaming sites (that I know of), I have wondered if any game journalist out there have taken the time to get a comment from Bungie on this. I am really curious to hear what they have to say.

Have any of you guys found anything? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

I have not played Destiny, but I don't find that all that surprising given Bungie's history. Maybe some of the older Bungie fans can tell me otherwise, but from everything I have seen, the folks at Bungie have always been crap storytellers. They have been great world builders and designers, but when it comes to actually telling and interesting and cohesive story they have generally been terrible.

I enjoy the Halo universe, but the 'story', has never been particularly good, especially within the games. The original 'trilogy' felt so different from each other that they could have been from a different series altogether if you swapped around the assets and characters.

It seems like Destiny would be a good fit for Bungie's strengths but I guess not.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

...but from everything I have seen, the folks at Bungie have always been crap storytellers. They have been great world builders and designers, but when it comes to actually telling and interesting and cohesive story they have generally been terrible.

I enjoy the Halo universe, but the 'story', has never been particularly good, especially within the games.

Well, subjectivity FTW: as my interest in vanilla FPS's has diminished, the story and characters are what's kept me playing the series, and it's that which may eventually sway me into getting an XB1. Bungie are, for me at least, quite underrated as storytellers - I particularly loved how ODST's narrative was built.

I've got the impression from one reliable and fairly savvy review source that Bungie perhaps never intended a compelling or engaging narrative, and that its bland accessibility is there to just provide a virtual environment to play around in. Thus, it's more about priorities for the experience they want to foster.

 

[Mezahmay]

If I'm not mistaken, a dev from Bungie said on Twitter that he thought it was a shame reviewers sent out their reviews before some more of their content was released. Which is perfectly sensible logic, waiting a few days/a couple weeks for Bungie to release more content before the game reviews are released to the public. Presumably more story was/will be included with that content, but based on what I've heard about Destiny I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Redryhno]

If I'm not mistaken, a dev from Bungie said on Twitter that he thought it was a shame reviewers sent out their reviews before some more of their content was released. Which is perfectly sensible logic, waiting a few days/a couple weeks for Bungie to release more content before the game reviews are released to the public. Presumably more story was/will be included with that content, but based on what I've heard about Destiny I wouldn't count on it.

Wait...a Bungie employee was talking about how reviewers shouldn't be critical of the story because they haven't gotten the story put into the game yet? Sorry if that's not what you're saying, that's what I'm understanding this as at the moment however. And if that is the truth...what is wrong with them? You either release a game complete with the option to add more in, not leave crap out and put it in after you get your money for it...

 

[Asclepion]

I enjoy the Halo universe, but the 'story', has never been particularly good, especially within the games. The original 'trilogy' felt so different from each other that they could have been from a different series altogether if you swapped around the assets and characters.

The Arbiter sections in Halo 2 are the high points of the series to me. I was disappointed every time the player was forced to return to Master Chief.

 

[Mezahmay]

If I'm not mistaken, a dev from Bungie said on Twitter that he thought it was a shame reviewers sent out their reviews before some more of their content was released. Which is perfectly sensible logic, waiting a few days/a couple weeks for Bungie to release more content before the game reviews are released to the public. Presumably more story was/will be included with that content, but based on what I've heard about Destiny I wouldn't count on it.

Wait...a Bungie employee was talking about how reviewers shouldn't be critical of the story because they haven't gotten the story put into the game yet? Sorry if that's not what you're saying, that's what I'm understanding this as at the moment however. And if that is the truth...what is wrong with them? You either release a game complete with the option to add more in, not leave crap out and put it in after you get your money for it...

On further review, I can't find where I heard of that developer tweet. I could have been a false memory or something. Perhaps I misunderstood the part where a Bungie dev said they did not really release early review copies of Destiny since it needs a lot of players to get the proper experience. However, Deej from Bungie did have this to say:

From the beginning, we set out to make Destiny feel like more than bits on a drive. We wanted to build a place for players to visit - a place filled with luminous life. Without a vibrant population for the last safe city on Earth, and Guardians roaming the wild frontiers, Destiny is a shadow of what it should be. That's not how we wanted to submit for review.

We explored several options to populate the world for reviewers. Our team estimates it would take thousands of gamers to ensure each potential public space in Destiny would be populated - that every activity would be accessible at all hours of the day and night. Where on Earth would we be able to find thousands of gamers?

I read a slightly different story when I see those words, but hey, my bias has already been established in my last comment.

 

[Redryhno]

On further review, I can't find where I heard of that developer tweet. I could have been a false memory or something. Perhaps I misunderstood the part where a Bungie dev said they did not really release early review copies of Destiny since it needs a lot of players to get the proper experience. However, Deej from Bungie did have this to say:

From the beginning, we set out to make Destiny feel like more than bits on a drive. We wanted to build a place for players to visit - a place filled with luminous life. Without a vibrant population for the last safe city on Earth, and Guardians roaming the wild frontiers, Destiny is a shadow of what it should be. That's not how we wanted to submit for review.

We explored several options to populate the world for reviewers. Our team estimates it would take thousands of gamers to ensure each potential public space in Destiny would be populated - that every activity would be accessible at all hours of the day and night. Where on Earth would we be able to find thousands of gamers?

I read a slightly different story when I see those words, but hey, my bias has already been established in my last comment.

Ok, I can understand it better based off that quote, but still...if your game is a shadow of itself because there's not enough people playing, maybe it doesn't deserve to be more than that?

 

[Mezahmay]

snip

Ok, I can understand it better based off that quote, but still...if your game is a shadow of itself because there's not enough people playing, maybe it doesn't deserve to be more than that?

I agree, but this game has been in development for like five years. It had to ship at some point. They think they have a wonderful sci-fi experience to offer, which they probably wholeheartedly believe, and they very well may in a couple months. All the paying customers have to do is wait for that content to get patched in. And while the players are waiting, they can go around, level some Guardians to 20+, and enjoy some PvP or hidden raids or whatever.

Right there is where I think the disconnect between the Bungie and the reviewers/paying customers lies. From what I've heard, all the story that's currently in the game leads to something, but that something is clouded behind so many cliches and so much silence that no one can really guess what it is. It doesn't present mystery to be theorized, it doesn't present an epic adventure full of wonder to most players. What it currently does offer is a solid MMO-shooter-RPG amalgam with shiny graphics where you play as up to three not-spartans and some tiny robot who isn't Guilty Spark follows you around. This not-Guilty Spark also happens to be voiced by Peter Dinklage doing an impression of Samus in Other M.

 

[Redryhno]

snip

Yeah, but wasn't it supposed to come out like 8 months ago and they delayed it BECAUSE it wasn't finished? And now that it's out, they want the playerbase to wait even longer for their random killing of aggressive shoulder-high-wall-hugging aliens, moon wizards, and hour-long hacking shoot-fests to have more than "go here, kill them, receive vague warning, repeat". It just stinks to me of EA/Squeenix-type shenanigans at the moment.

I'm not saying they did it on purpose, I like to think Bungie is still mainly into making games mainly and they've already delayed this game for more than long enough, but it's those types of statements that are really close to blaming a consumer base for not buying enough copies and the (sometimes very good, sometimes very bad) franchise then dying.

 

[Legomaniac91_v1legacy]

From what little I have seen of the story, this is what I took away from it: "Darkness bad! You Guardian! Go kill!"

 

[StriderShinryu]

I'm of two minds about the story in Destiny. I actually like the story that is there. It may not be the most original story and premise, but originality is not required for something to be enjoyable. I don't, however, think the way the story is being put forward is good. To me, it really feels like an MMO thing. By basically limiting the story to mission intros/outros and a few custscenes, Bungie is basically doing story in a very MMO-esque style. There just isn't much meat there and you're left with little time to really develop characters or plotlines. You're just left with a lot of dead air where there could/should be story but isn't.

 

[Gergar12_v1legacy]

It's the same as the old game. I think the darkness replaces the alien religious prophets, and mix it a little with fallout, and defiance.

Instead of fighting a armed group/state/government in other games like say COD or Battlefield or Fallout whatever you fight basically a sort of hive minds(Darkness), and a bunch of ultra racists which does sound comparable to each other.

Dang it Bungie. Is making a more complex plot than a Disney film that hard???

I have not even played that game as I am saving up for a PS4, but the story, and thus the emotion to fight/lay is low. The taking back what is ours is 2-D thinking in my opinion. Those aliens are beings with families, and mothers, and governments, but instead they are made like the usual orcs, bandits, and goblins.

 

[Willzors]

The game feels hollow. It's nice to look at and the gameplays solid, but the world seems to be missing something.

After finishing the story I can't help but feel like it's the equivalent of reading the first chapter of a novel that only explains the setting. All of the characters introduced have no charisma, and the NPCs in the tower are just all vendors the world just feels so empty.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I havent finished the story yet but so far its pretty bad this doesnt usually bother me but here for some reason the problem just seems especially glaring in this game maybe because they treat it so serious.

I remember watching that scene on Venus where you meet up with that chick who called you there from the moon I think and it was cringeworthy (even more than that laughing scene in FFX) it just sorta slapped me in the face and made me pay attention to how bad it was. Granted its only one scene but honestly so far all the story cutscenes have ranged from forgettable as in I wish I could skip them forgettable to horribly bad.

The game has a lot of problems but can be enjoyable (im enjoying its mediocrity so far) however they have totally failed in making it seem like a living universe it just feels like a few levels stuck together and a bit fragmented to be honest. The story itself is the time worn battle of light and darkness which I have no problem with but here its told in a really unengaging and unimaginative way just feels like they had no clear direction and slapped something together later on or tried to salvage something from a possible earlier failed direction.

Gameplays solid but I havent had the impression I am fighting against any serious threat having the same MMO problem of your actions having little effect as in no matter how many you kill they just respawn oh that boss you took down yeah we got hundreds of em just leave and he respawns for you to take down again if you want. Its not as bad as most MMOs though as at least there are progression quests for the story but if you are getting Destiny for the story expect to be massively disappointed its up there with SF4 bad imo ok maybe not quite that bad but close. I dont know about the lore but at least they have tried to tailor that to the game type and it looks like they have put some effort into that shame it doesnt reflect well in the story or world.

 

[sXeth]

The game feels hollow. It's nice to look at and the gameplays solid, but the world seems to be missing something.

After finishing the story I can't help but feel like it's the equivalent of reading the first chapter of a novel that only explains the setting. All of the characters introduced have no charisma, and the NPCs in the tower are just all vendors the world just feels so empty.

I think my main qualm with the story is its failure to introduce the setting.

It could do with more personalities involved, or even more screentime for the handful there are (Speaker, The Stranger, and the Awoken Queen and her brother). You get a couple of named baddies thrown in, with barely defined personalities (slightly bettered in Grimoire) in Draksis and Valus T'laruk, but they don't even get cutscenes or dialogue. All the faction guys get nothing whatsoever.

Back on the setting though, despite introducting you as revived from hundreds of years of being dead, which seems designed to allow an introduction to the world, they do basically nothing to explain anything. Your ghost leads you around, and occasionally spouts tiny exposition. It even becomes contradictory when they introduce the Vex as an unknown, but shortly after your Ghost seems thoroughly educated on what a Vex Gatelord is, and how exactly to hack their systems. Most iconic of this failure to establish the world is the cutscene where the Stranger asks if you know about the Black Garden (the major objective of the story), and rather then "Uhm.... no what?" and have her explain, it is instead answered by your Ghost saying "Oh yeah, we know that legend". Meanwhile the player is going "wait what, no I don't".

There's dozens of moments peppered throughout where an explanation could've been given even in bland Ghost exposition, but instead it just throws names, legends, and places about like the player has been fully familiarized with the world. The Zero Punctuation on Skyrim does a pretty good commentary on this sort of practice, and how bad it is at introducing a world. There's either an inconsistency with the storytelling's introduction of new elements, or there's a ton of offscreen learning and scouting being done between missions to jump from "scary new aliens" to knowing intimate details of their fortifications, command, and objectives.

 

[Artemicion]

I'm not at all surprised that the story in Destiny sucks. You said it, OP - Bungie have never been masters of the narrative. This is probably because their games all revolve around being a supersoldier with no identity or purpose, and supporting characters whose motivations can be summed up as "doing the right thing". That's what made ODST so engaging; Bungie deviated from this formula to bring a story about a squad of pretty normal guys just trying to regroup and survive the night. IMO ODST is the best game they've ever made as a result.

 

[BaronVH]

Everybody loves Halo 2, but I am not a fan of the cliffhanger ending in games, so I was put off by that. Don't even get me started about Half Life 2 and their promise of episodic content. Yes, it is not War and Peace, but you are basically just shooting aliens in the face, and the story has kept me going. I did not disagree with Jim Sterlings review; however, as I have stated elsewhere, Destiny is perfect for me. The MMORPG elements are very bare bones (and I hate MMORPGs), and the multiplayer is option light, and I am not the most competitive in those arenas. I love the art style and the gameplay is perfect. After a stressful day at work (and I have an extremely stressful job), I can shoot aliens in the face for 45 minutes.

 

[kingthrall]

I hereby declare my youtube video officially open to watch, Read the date I put it up.

Still dont believe me you should actually play the myth series and then look at the plot of destiny. When you watch the ending of myth 2 (blue screen) listen about the cycles and then relate it to the darkness in destiny.

Anyway that was my hypothesis almost over a year ago. Someone can tell me if its different would be nice

Also quick mention "quote" not for another 940 years. Consdiering its medival fantasy it would mean the year would be 14 Century (rough estimate) + 940 = year 2340 ie' the future