Destiny IS Mass Effect?

[Jake0fTrades]

Hear me out. I didn't play the Destiny Beta, and I wasn't sure I was even going to buy Destiny until Xbox Live offered an insane deal for it. So I downloaded, started it up and actually had a lot of fun with it--props to that wonderful soundtrack--but I kept getting a sense of deja vu to a very specific game: Mass Effect. The stories are quite different, thematically they're different, even if they do have similar settings, but there are a few enemies and set designs that look suspiciously like they were lifted directly from Mass Effect 2's "Suicide Mission."

For example, this is a "Servitor" from Destiny:

Spoiler

...and this is an "Oculus" from Mass Effect 2:

Spoiler

It goes on from there.

Spoiler: Acolytes are Collectors

Spoiler: Thralls move and behave exactly like Husks

There's even an entire system of caverns and lairs beneath the surface of the moon in Destiny that seem to be a poorly-lit rendition of the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2 (I couldn't find any pictures from Destiny to compare them).

I still really like Destiny, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but I'm not even level 12 in Destiny and I can already point to all these things and say "Hey, doesn't that look like..."

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Tell me I'm not the only one.

 

[Keoul]

They do have their similarities but aside from the prothean comparison those are pretty generic mobs.
Floating eye? pretty common place.
Zombies? also really common.

Just cause they have a few things similar doesn't make it a rip off (not that you said it was but ya know). They're just 2 games in the same genre of sci-fi shooters so it's kinda expected that some features n mobs and stuff look similar.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Out of those 3, the only one really of note to me is the Collector one. Zombies and big eye robots arent exactly unique to Mass Effect

 

[LaoJim]

In fairness, Mass Effect cribbed a lot of its basic plot from Halo. Ancient civilizations building massive structures, external threat trying to over-run the galaxy etc.

That said, the design of Destiny does seem to be particularly generic.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

And Mass Effect borrows from Star Ocean.
No big conspiracy. It's the circle of life...

I'd say Mass Effect draws more from Starflight and Star Control II, both of which are older and share many similarities in both story and gameplay. Also, Starflight has been specifically mentioned by Casey Hudson as an inspiration.

[tweet t="https://twitter.com/CaseyDHudson/status/67417995101736961"]​

 

[Asclepion]

In fairness, Mass Effect cribbed a lot of its basic plot from Halo. Ancient civilizations building massive structures, external threat trying to over-run the galaxy etc.

That said, the design of Destiny does seem to be particularly generic.

And Halo itself came up with those?

A fanatically religious hierarchical empire of alien races fights a war of conquest around massive ring-shaped space habitats:

Spoiler: Image

A parasitic life form with infection and combat variants threatens to overrun the galaxy. An ancient civilization builds a super weapon to destroy it and themselves. Their ultimate sacrifice turns out to be in vain as the parasite lives on, eventually coming into contact with humanity:

Spoiler: Image

Bungie has openly stated that they've drawn influence from other works. Halo is great (at least 1 and 2), but it's story is by no means original.

 

[LaoJim]

And Halo itself came up with those?

A fanatically religious hierarchical empire of alien races fights a war of conquest around massive ring-shaped space habitats:

Bungie has openly stated that they've drawn influence from other works. Halo is great (at least 1 and 2), but it's story is by no means original.

Fair enough, you got me. I'd forgotten about Ringworld when I posted the above comment. I wasn't particularly claiming that Halo is original, just that ME and Halo are supping from the same pool of tropes.

 

[Danny Dowling]

Destiny let's you control the action and get out there to fuck shit up. Mass Effect is hours and hours and hours of talking and chatting and bullshit and omfg shut up I don't care just let me play...

yeah, they have similar aesthetics, but they're very different to play.

 

[RJ 17]

Everything "borrows" from something whether intentionally or not. Even if you think you're coming up with something original, chances are it's been done before. South Park had a great episode covering this topic.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

There is nothing new under the sun. No matter how original you think you are being, chances are you could just be thinking along the same lines as somebody else.

I do like the idea of a post apocalyptic sci fi where the human race isnt bound to a single planet like your usual Fallout type scenarios. But actually being able to go out and explore what was once Human owned land on other planets but is now a frontier again. Thats a rarer scenario. Not original mind.

 

[sanquin]

If anything, what little I've seen of the game's multiplayer reminded me of ME3's multiplayer. A small team of players fighting hordes of monsters with a boss monster every now and then, in a sci-fi setting. Titan sounds like a vanguard with nova and shield. The warlock reminds me of an adept. And Hunter has some hints towards an engineer.

That being said, everything's been done before. So it's not THAT surprising this game looks like others.

 

[UmberHulk]

Its almost like 80% of all military sci-fi has the same exact setting, plot, characters, and overarching themes.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Not really. That just what happens when you use a really really generic art style.

 

[Guerilla]

Everyone rips off everyone, not a surprise. But I'll agree, it's the generic style that confuses people.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Destiny let's you control the action and get out there to fuck shit up. Mass Effect is hours and hours and hours of talking and chatting and bullshit and omfg shut up I don't care just let me play...

yeah, they have similar aesthetics, but they're very different to play.

Duh!!! Mass Effect is an RPG, a good portion of proper RPGs are talking, you know, developing your character's character. That's why Mass Effect is an RPG and Uncharted, Gears, etc. are shooters.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

the prothean one is the only one I would consider similar enough to say "hey, this is a bit too coincidental", the other ones are all generic/too common.

also as many have mentioned, mass effect drew from many works, so whatev's.

 

[DementedSheep]

They do have their similarities but aside from the prothean comparison those are pretty generic mobs.
Floating eye? pretty common place.
Zombies? also really common.

Just cause they have a few things similar doesn't make it a rip off (not that you said it was but ya know). They're just 2 games in the same genre of sci-fi shooters so it's kinda expected that some features n mobs and stuff look similar.

Basically this^

I think I've probably seen less sci fi games without some sort of floating eye robot than with it and having some sort of mindless thrall (zombies, mind controlled people, low ranks subset of their race or another enslaved race ect) seems to be the go to evil alien race signifier. Plus it fills the easily killed mob that rushes you in groups slot for game play.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Except that one of the original RPGs, Final Fantasy I (and II and III, actually) all feature nameless, personality-less heroes plonked into the world with no real history or backstory to call upon.

Character development done right: Ni No Kuni. Yeah there's a lot of dialogue sometimes but it's generally split up but hours of actual game play and strategy with monsters and stuff.

Character development done wrong: Mass Effect, chatting for 70% of the game (that isn't an exaggeration either). Mass Effect is like a social sim with a side of underwhelming sci-fi shooting.

And don't ever "duhh" me your stupid little boy, it's quite rude and as you might have realised from feeling the need to call you a stupid little boy, I've taken some offense to it.

Most video game RPGs aren't RPGs because the actual role-playing aspect is not there. Video game RPGs mainly just copy the combat and leveling from RPGs and leave out the role-playing. Bioware and Obsidian are one of the few developers that actually try to implement role-playing into their games. Most JRPGs like the ones you've mentioned are basically adventure games when you take away the combat aspect. The characters in those games have completely set dialogue that you can't change or influence and you can't make any story related decisions either.

1) I bet that I'm older than you just from the fact you've called me a stupid little boy.
2) What's with people and getting offended? There is literally nothing you can say to me that will offend me because the whole concept itself is rather stupid.

Spoiler