Zero Punctuation: Destiny - Always-On Grind

[Zefar]

I'm sorry, according to the official Gaming Hipster handbook, you are only permitted to like the following games: Minecraft, Gone Home, Dark Souls, The Walking Dead, FTL, Papers Please, and/or The Stanley Parable.

You may appreciate Spec Ops: The Line as something akin to a challenging homework assignment, but you are not allowed to actually like it.

(I like Destiny too, but many of Yahtzee's criticisms have merit to them.)

How are Dark Souls and Minecraft hipster games? They sold millions.


Anyway how did Destiny even get such high scores on MetaCritic from professional reviewers? I saw AngryJoe video about this game and boy does it look boring.

 

[carpathic]

This is one of those games I would've bought in a second if it was not for the damn multiplayer.

I just wish that they would stop forcing multiplayer into games.

I hope people enjoy this game, and I look forward to a non-multiplayer release.

This definitely isn't a game that they've 'forced' multiplayer into. This game is pure multiplayer. It's the whole point of the game.

Wasn't as clear as I would've like to have been. What I meant by "forced" was why couldn't I enjoy a single player adventure in the world, all by myself. Especially one that didn't require xboxlive gold etc etc.

Just whining really. The game looks gorgeous, and Bungie does great things but the online aspect just irks me.

Chalk it up to reactionism.

 

[Dalisclock]

But you can do the main story missions etc. as long as they're single player and as long as you have an internet connection.

Which begs the same question Yathzee had. Why should someone need an internet connection to play single player?

And this isn't just a Destiny issue. Assassins Creed/Ubisoft has this problem too, last I checked.

Because that's the way the industry is moving? From cartidges, to CDs to DVDs, downloads.. it's just the way of things..

But again, like in the Simcity, why force people online when the option to play single player is perfectly viable? From what I understand, the only reason to play mutiplayer(and spend money for the paywall) is so you can do missions with other people. If you don't, the other players could have been replaced with NPCs and it wouldn't make a difference to the person playing.

"Everyone else is doing it" really isn't an answer.

 

[Gatlank]

But you can do the main story missions etc. as long as they're single player and as long as you have an internet connection.

Which begs the same question Yathzee had. Why should someone need an internet connection to play single player?

And this isn't just a Destiny issue. Assassins Creed/Ubisoft has this problem too, last I checked.

Because that's the way the industry is moving? From cartidges, to CDs to DVDs, downloads.. it's just the way of things..

But again, like in the Simcity, why force people online when the option to play single player is perfectly viable? From what I understand, the only reason to play mutiplayer(and spend money for the paywall) is so you can do missions with other people. If you don't, the other players could have been replaced with NPCs and it wouldn't make a difference to the person playing.

"Everyone else is doing it" really isn't an answer.

That's why i dont like 'always online' games with SP. Not everyone has a stellar connection, if something goes wrong i just bought a very expensive paperweight.
And what happens when servers are shutdown?

 

[Makabriel]

But you can do the main story missions etc. as long as they're single player and as long as you have an internet connection.

Which begs the same question Yathzee had. Why should someone need an internet connection to play single player?

And this isn't just a Destiny issue. Assassins Creed/Ubisoft has this problem too, last I checked.

Because that's the way the industry is moving? From cartidges, to CDs to DVDs, downloads.. it's just the way of things..

But again, like in the Simcity, why force people online when the option to play single player is perfectly viable? From what I understand, the only reason to play mutiplayer(and spend money for the paywall) is so you can do missions with other people. If you don't, the other players could have been replaced with NPCs and it wouldn't make a difference to the person playing.

"Everyone else is doing it" really isn't an answer.

Control over the game's environment. Stability of the game itself. Ease of patching, hotfixing etc. There are plenty of reasons why a developer would go this route.

 

[Something Amyss]

Control over the game's environment. Stability of the game itself. Ease of patching, hotfixing etc. There are plenty of reasons why a developer would go this route.

Except those really don't stand to scrutiny.

 

[Cpt. Slow]

Yes, yes... this pleases my Glorious PC Gaming Master Race heart. A 500 million dollar bore-festival. Did they perhaps work with James Cameron on this? That would explain a lot.

 

[Covarr]

Virtually everything Yahtzee said, that all the worthwhile reviewers are saying, is that it's boring and grindy. When I said that on a few messageboards (But not here, I don't think) after playing the alpha, people thought I was crazy. I guess it's more obvious when you've got an entire game's worth rather than a small demo.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Miral]

Oni was a great game, and it had a great story (got me emotional in places). But it's all been downhill from there, ever since they sold out to Microsoft. I used to hope they would make a sequel. Now I'm hoping they don't.

But again, like in the Simcity, why force people online when the option to play single player is perfectly viable? From what I understand, the only reason to play mutiplayer(and spend money for the paywall) is so you can do missions with other people. If you don't, the other players could have been replaced with NPCs and it wouldn't make a difference to the person playing.

"Everyone else is doing it" really isn't an answer.

That's usually the actual reason though. Management are a bunch of sheep.

The main "justification" that I see for it though is that it helps to prevent cheating in games where the singleplayer and multiplayer are linked (such that you can acquire resources or unlock things in singleplayer and use them in multiplayer). And because apparently everything nowadays requires multiplayer and DLC, no matter how much it has to be shoe-horned in and how little sense it makes.

Personally, I'd much prefer they ditch the multiplayer and let players cheat as much as they want in single player. There used to be official cheat codes in games. Developers used to be proud of the amusing cheats they included. Now, if they exist at all, they're paid DLC. Bugger that.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Seems to me that Destiny would have been way better if it hadn't tried to be an MMO, which would have made it tighter, less drawn out and grindy and more fast-paced.

I think this was a game designed around a monetization plan rather than game designed to be fun and engaging that they then monetized.
It looks like they took a genre they had been successful at, looked at the way to extract the most money from it, and came up with a game that was always online, with a low level cap and grindy, grindy, grindy. I think they want to sell us a BUNCH of DLC, that will incrementally up the level cap, parcel out more story missions a couple at a time, come with bigger and badder gear, so that all those people who got the best drops will have to buy the DLC or fall behind the loot race, and there will tons of it, the larger packs with story missions, the single area or raid packs, the skin packs, item packs, all of it, ranging from 0.99c to $9.99, $19.99, who knows.
Just wait and see, the "full game" is probably going to cost you $200+ to play.

 

[Something Amyss]

That's usually the actual reason though. Management are a bunch of sheep.

No, the consumers are a bunch of sheep. Management is going to do what it can get away with, including locking down games and selling us palette swaps for 50 bucks if they can get away with it. The problem is that we have two very large camps: those who will buy it anyway, and those that will make excuses as though they're shareholders.

If people buy it, they will do it. The Xbone's numerous issues weren't because management were sheep. It's because they thought we were too spineless to go without our overpriced toys.

I think this was a game designed around a monetization plan rather than game designed to be fun and engaging that they then monetized.

Considering reports that the story was actually gutted so they could sell you it as DLC, this would absolutely not shock me.

 

[Miral]

That's usually the actual reason though. Management are a bunch of sheep.

No, the consumers are a bunch of sheep. Management is going to do what it can get away with, including locking down games and selling us palette swaps for 50 bucks if they can get away with it. The problem is that we have two very large camps: those who will buy it anyway, and those that will make excuses as though they're shareholders.

If people buy it, they will do it. The Xbone's numerous issues weren't because management were sheep. It's because they thought we were too spineless to go without our overpriced toys.

True. Maybe I picked the wrong animal. I just meant that when they see someone else do something, they have to do it too, no matter how silly it is. So maybe management are lemmings. (And yes, I know that stereotype was faked.)

 

[el_emmens]

So after several rewatches of this review I've found myself sitting on what I feel is an elephant in the room.

This is an unfinished review.

before anyone comes at me I'm gonna say right out that all the criticisms against destiny are valid, the story, the almost paper thin hidden dlc strategy and everything else everyone is saying against the game are all valid.

But I can't help but feel bothered about how Yahtzee didn't even review the strike, pvp and raid content solely because of it being locked out to people with out a ps+ subscription. And people would defend it as a "Statement against how bullshit it is to have to pay money to play a game you already paid for" which while true still is not an excuse to make a review like what we've been given. Which in all honesty is just the same repeated statements against the game everyone else is saying.

and anyone who tells me "Yahtzee can't afford ps+" needs to realise the guy works for one of the most popular review sites on the internet for video games and has put out two books. He has money.

It's not enough that people are going to write the game off solely on his word alone but the fact that he didn't review all the content just drives me mad.

 

[Adultism]

Some worker at gamestop literally yelled at me because i turned in this game 30 minutes into it. "It gets better at max level. That's the best part! You don't know a good video game. I was just like uhhh whatever dude.

Anyways OT yeah feels like bland halo but the diehard fans defend it to the grave.