The Gist - Does Destiny’s Lack of Compelling Plot Matter?

Plots can also be great , but bad scripts and voice acting can ruin it all...

I'm not just saying this cause I'm a Sony fan, but The Last of Us is probably the best story / acting I've seen in a game. The characters have definition and personality. As with Uncharted.

Also Gears of War can be pretty good at some points. (Occasionally the characters have some cheesy heroic lines) but other great moments make up for it.

A game like Destiny... should have some sort of story... not just a bunch of futuristic gunslingers worried about the last Arch ... instead of protecting it, they are attacking enemies that just stand in one spot till aggrovated. Doesn't seem like the enemy has a single intrest in what your hometown is doing.

But I'm sure some would argue.

It sold well because of the following reasons

1. Hype

2. PS4 gamers though they were buying the next Halo.

3. Lack of SciFi shooters

4. Lack of Shooters in the PS4 library besides a mediocre Killzone game hardly anyone plays now.

Good FPS typically focus on great Game Play: Counter-Strike, Destiny, COD, Battlefield, etc.

Good Non-FPS typically focus on great Story: Oblivion, Witcher, Skyrim, Fallout, RDR, GTA, etc.

Both have their merits and both are enjoyable... Some players like one or the other, some like both.

The beauty of gaming... Choice!

Resolution is only a plus :)

I don't really care much for stories, but since this was Bungie and since this wasn't exactly an MMO and since this wasn't exactly and open world, then yeah, it kinda needed a story that wasn't as weak, dull and childish as it was.

It seemed like a project that was a little too ambitious for the simple formula story telling capacity of the writers. Basically lame fantasy garbage with no depth that assumed it's unique yet vague elements such as the 'Traveler' and the 'Darkness' would make it seem compelling. Light and dark, good and evil... Very simple and primitive concepts obviously.

My guess is because everyone pre-ordered it and they were starved for a decent multiplayer shooter.

I believe Zen Pinball has a better story than Destiny...it's just a generic shooter.

The reason I don't mind is because it was advertised as a story that would be told over ten years. To me they merely introduced us to the universe with the story so far. The game was overhyped, but if you didn't see that coming well...

Still a fun game that I play constantly.

At the start of the video I was going to post something like "It's gotta have a great story first, and decent gameplay second." I think I'm shifting my opinion lately. Yes, absolutely, I need some kind of story to give me a reason to keep playing. If the story is so over the top bad, then I typically have a hard time enjoying the game even if the gameplay is good. Like I said though, I don't think I'm as story focused as I like to think I am. For example, I just finished Mark of the Ninja, and I can't really say the story was all that compelling. Basic revenge stuff. But it was the smoothness of the gameplay that kept me excited about that "next level."

Fact is most of them probably pre-order the game. Plus, it's no secret that the most successful games are multiplayer oriented with little to no «story».

Story doesn't matter to gamers, if it did we'd read a book.

I don't know why everybody is so surprised. I mean, look at HALO, for crying out loud. Even after playing through 1, 2, 3, ODST and Reach (not to mention Halo Wars), I can pretty much sum up the story in one sentence. "Alien religious zealots want Humanity dead, Master Chief (or some other faceless dudes) to the rescue." It's flashy, it plays best with others, but I wouldn't call that "compelling storytelling." Excarbating the problem is the fact that most of the lore is established OUTSIDE the games. Comics, novels, anime, what have you. By the time Halo 3 rolled around, I stopped caring about the story and just pointed my gun at the next soon-to-be dead alien.

So, when Destiny rolled around, I expected a shooter with mild RPG elements, and I got a shooter with mild RPG elements. The story? I go somewhere because Dinkleghost tells me to and I kill stuff. That's enough context for an evening of loot grinding with my buddies.

What I can say is that Destiny fails to make me care. I don't care about the endgame. I don't have the desire to grind in this game, because not only does it lack a story, my characters lack any trace of a personality. And once again, most of the lore which could make the game richer is relegated to an outside source, namely the companion app/website. Why the hell would I put down my controller, grab my tablet and look at that while I can shoot stuff? Who even thought this a good design decision? "Let's put it there, because we need SOMETHING for our companion app. Please!"

I'm with Angry Joe on this - something major must have happened in the later developement stages of the game, something that had them toss over everything they had so far and whip up SOMETHING to show to Bobby Kotick. Or they intend to plug the gaping emptyness with ten years worth of DLC. I wouldn't put that past Greedyvision. Anyway, with Shadows of Mordor out and Far Cry 4 around the corner, I can put Destiny to rest, unless one of my buddy needs me as a bullet magnet...

It just depends if you're shallow or not...

Oh it matters Destiny just had. New systems with no games to play and plenty of hype and marketing behind it is all. Now people realize the game is a dud but what else is there to play? thats the story opf my friends list right now and once Halo and other big hitters start coming destiny is getting dropped like a bad habit.

lol as long as the game is fun who cares and at the end of the day people only "your" opinion matters

Story matters, gameplay matters... all the aspects matter.

what really matters though is very simple. do people have fun playing your game. In the case of Destiny for me it's a resounding yes.

GTAIV had it all allegedly, big story and great gameplay- and i couldn't stomach it for more than a dozen hours because it was just, plain boring to play.

However, i'm over 100 hours in Destiny because when you sit down to play it, join your friends and have at the Vault, Nightfall, the daily or weekly... it's just fun.

Gameplay will always, ALWAYS be first. We're playing video games, not watching movies.

That said, Destiny's gameplay is also a bit lackluster: Bullet sponge bosses, uninspired missions, that whole deal. The mechanics are great, but gameplay is more than just mechanics: it's utilizing those mechanics in creative and resounding ways to progress through the game. And shooting at everything in sight for a possible loot drop is the wrong way to do it.

But Destiny players will continue playing anyways. It'll only be a matter of time until they've realized what they actually bought.

Destiny lacks way, WAY more than just a compelling plot. Lackluster mission structure, lackluster patrols, lackluster loot system, lackluster leveling system, lackluster PvP.

It looks nice, the audio is exceptional and the core mechanics are very sound, but absolutely every other aspect of this game is bland, generic and downright amateurish. Just like the story.

The only way excellent gameplay can redeem a game for me is if the story isn't a prominent part of the experience from the start. Shadow of Mordor falls into that category. The story is just enough to get by ... nothing absurdly bad but nothing to write home about either. I was in it for the Nemesis system's ability to provide emergent narrative..

With Destiny, you're constantly bombarded by cringe-worthy cutscenes and NPC dialogue. I hone in on my place in a world, I pay attention to why I'm doing something and whether the fiction is consistent or immersive. If Destiny had no story, I'd appreciate it as a whole more ... what's good about it. But the story's detracting in its distraction.

I fall into the "everything has to be good" category I guess.

I too would probably enjoy Destiny, for $25...

I'm of the mind that there's room for all types of games.Whether they favor story, gameplay or try to balance both, having variety and choice can only strengthen the medium as a whole. It's a shame, however, that the industry uses their marketing budgets to push/hype certain types of games

A lot of gamers care, especially when it is cut out and sold as DLC and swept under the rug. But there is more than a lack of story. It's a lack of soul, a lack of proper itemization, and it's a commercial success because it was marketed to hell and back and is one of the only games that was hotly anticipated for this generation. If people knew now what they knew then, you wouldn't see nearly the amount of sales. Sad really. This game sets a new low for cash in DLC. Lets see how many people are playing once the fall line up hits, including Far Cry 4 and other hotly anticipated games which will be available, and the trade ins are a plenty.

--Every GOTY has had a good story + gameplay mechs. You surely need both. If the characters(even NPCs) dont matter to you, it'll be dust on the shelf in no time vs wanting to play the next installment. Like watching a good movie vs bad movie.

Destiny lacks a soul, but i guess over time it may develop one.

I think its a little harsh to say that gamers don't care, most true gamers do care, its just that most true gamers who consider Bungie to be a talented studio were clearly duped by the obviously over hyped marketing

I have always preferred games with strong stories as well as gameplay, but I am the first to admit that I have really enjoyed my time with Destiny. The biggest disappointment to me is not the lack of a story, but rather the really mediocre presentation of said story. If you go and read all the Grimoire bits on Bungie's site, it's obvious they DID put quite a bit of thought into the backstory, but it just absolutely fails to come across in the game. Reminds me of Gears of War in that sense -- while playing, you kept feeling like there was some big, deep backstory to the whole locust conflict, but a couple of one-liners and 10-second cutscenes does not a compelling story tell. I'm having loads of fun with Destiny and will continue playing, but can't help but feel a bit sad at the lost potential due to poor execution.

heres my take Destiny is just a shiny non cell shaded borderlands...so that means theres millions of people didnt want to play borderlands cuz it looked cartoony...cuz iv played destiny finally and i don't see the hype in there...there practically identical...its just an fps diablo 3 (damn jess i was just gonna say that but then i heard you say it XD)...