Looking back at the original beta for vanilla Destiny, there was a tremendous amount to do and see, even some leveling involved. The Destiny 2 beta feels like Bungie is keeping their cards close to the chest because anything that could rock the boat might just tip it over. Destiny is successful, but it comes with a reputation, and scuffing up that reputation in anyway could make or break sales numbers once September rolls around. The beta gives enough of itself to put players at ease while also remaining the carrot and the stick. For a Destiny fan, it’s easy enough to digest; take everything learned from Destiny and apply that to this beta, it’s a guaranteed good time. For those who might be making their way back though, this might look more like a shooter than the online multiplayer game Bungie promised. While I can only speculate as to why the amount of content was significantly trimmed down, it’s probably for good reason or it’s just actually a beta.
The other side of the loot pool is the now titled "Illuminated Engrams" (previously Bright Engrams) which drop all sorts of cosmetic goodies and sometimes an exotic ship, sparrow or Ghost. Bungie is sticking to their guns with how these engrams function — aside from the debacle of XP gain — a minor complaint comes against it. With so many new cosmetics, mainly shaders, why can’t these items be locked like armor or weapons? Why can’t they be deleted in mass? Having to systemically break-down shaders one by one is tedious and a waste of time. No one wants to sit around and delete 65 bland shaders, "wooo, look how much fun I’m having."
Who would have ever thought a mobile game would end up on my list? As a big fan of the Hitman franchise since its second iteration, when it was announced that Square Enix Montreal would be working on a mobile game in the same universe, I was no doubt concerned. To my surprise, it ended up being one of the best games of the year. It takes the scenarios we’ve come to love in the full-fledged stealth games and creates bite-sized puzzles. There’s no game on my Nexus 5 that I played more of this year, trying to master each mission, while doing so with the least amount of turns or picking up the optional briefcase. While it’s not what I hope the series will move towards in the future, it is a nice side activity that will distract you for a couple minutes at a time.
With these sorts of compromises becoming commonplace, it’s no wonder that there are many gamers out there who’ve become afraid of the casual audience. More and more often they’re seeing niche series they enjoy getting compromised and simplified for the sake of attracting the casual player. Are they right to vilify the casual audience? No, absolutely not . Like it or not, the casual audience is vital to gaming’s survival and it’s not the their fault that publishers are trying to get their attention. Instead of insulting and ridiculing casual players, hardcore fans should be trying to bring them into the fold. In fact, publishers and developers should be trying to do the same thing. Major departures like Fallout 4 and Dead Space 3 would better serve their creators and IP as side-games rather than mainline series entries. If a given publisher’s goal really is to expand a series’ player base, then use these sorts of games to attract people that can actually be converted into fans rather than simply going for the easy sale. They should be trying to create long-term customers rather than simply attract short-term guests. There is still great value to be found and lots of money to be made in the various genre niches. Their fans are passionate and are willing to support honest effort if it means getting more of what they love. It’s just a matter of respecting them and the series they love when trying to increase their ranks.
It wants to be a sci-fi epic, but also a dedicated "fan’s game." It wants to welcome in new players, but old systems built in are great for pushing them away. It wants so much, and it can’t focus on what. This can most prominently be seen in the new Raid-lair coming out. Destiny as a series has gained a reputation for world-first completions of its raid, something to be seen as a race. What happens then to those who casually play that might want in on the action? It pushes them away, like everything else in Destiny 2. Why would anyone want to try their hand at the end-game content when it’s advertised as something for the best of the best.
The most exciting thing by far is the fact that all the Raids are back. Updated Raids matching appropriately the light level of Guardians and its fair because it’s not even the max light level of 400, it’s 390. This ensures that more people will get to experience the Raids, instead of just the top tier level players. Besides having free reign on all Raids and smashing in some old baddies' faces, the updated Raids come with something even more worthwhile: the coolest armor to ever come out of destiny 2 update 9.1.0.2. While I haven’t been the biggest fan of some of the armor choices made by Bungie, whoever thought of this totally revamped package of all armor was a genius. Seeing the new Raid armor was enough to sell me on Age of Triumph — Vault of Glass aside. It just looks so space-magic, and isn’t that what it’s all about?
