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

Story matters to me, i did play destiny up to level 20 but thats as much as i could muster.

'Do gamers care about story'?

As it turns out there are 10's of millions of us and we have quite a wide variety of interests when it comes to the games we play.

Story doesn't matter, what does is none repetitive and varied gameplay. None of the above is available in Destiny

Unfortunately I am in the minority. I want an FPS with a good single player campaign. I have no desire for the multiplayer aspects of an FPS.

What matters to me is immersion. Atmosphere, gameplay and story all feed into it.

Not all of these are necessary but if one element is failing then immersion is ruined. A positive example is Dark Souls, which doesn't have much of a story but it isn't really trying to tell you one. It does everything it's trying to do well.

On the flip side you have something like Assassins Creed and Shadow of Mordor. Games that basically tells you where to go and what to do 100% of the time. Heads up displays indicate every item of note, no discoveries, no surprises and the exact distance to every target.

I can appreciate if players don't need one element or another, I don't necessarily need them either to enjoy an experience. But if a game has an aspect that is obviously failing it's like a drop of ink in a glass of water, the experience is ruined.

It does matter that's why I didn't buy this piece of crap.

really need to rid of the ads having to reload the video and watch the ad again

Well i think I'm among the milions of happy Destiny players who think that this game is great, really addictive. Completing raids with friends and getting exotic gear is the most fun i've had in the year. If you don't like it just don't play it.

Not if it had compelling gameplay, compelling itemization, compelling class design, or compelling loot.

Unfortunately, it excells at nothing.

A while back I watched Angry Joe's post review discussion and I found it fascinating that there was a lot of lore and back story that isn't directly shown in the game via grimoire lore pages. Destiny had a compelling story under the surface it just wasn't executed in an interesting way.

Or, the more obvious answer; The plot isn't lackluster at all. Frankly, every review I've seen that actually lists specific problems they had with the plot tells me that they didn't pay much attention to the dialogue, the mission and item descriptions, or that they totally misinterpreted certain portions of the cinematics like our meeting with the Speaker and the Stranger.

There is a sliding continuum I think where good gameplay can make up for a weak story, and good story can make up for bad game play, however, there reaches a point on that scale where no matter how good the stronger aspect of the game is, it fails to compensate for the weaker aspect. Destiny is one of those games that is right on the cusp. It has great gameplay, its challenging and brings you back because you want to maximize your gear with legendaries and exotics. After getting to lvl 24 on my titan, I am done with this game. I can't stand grinding the same zones over and over again, listing to the same boring mission briefing that I also have absolutely no context for. I believe destiny has been so successful merely on the fact millions of people paid $70 or the foreign currency equivalent in pre-orders hoping for what bungie promised and were simply left wanted to get their money's worth slogging it though this horrible game. Destiny's true success will come in the DLC (an entirely different beef I have with the game) and whether they can flesh out the story and make us care about the universe. As it stands there is no drive to defend the city of the last scraps of humanity. Why are we training in the crucible or taking on difficult strike missions? MMORPG's like WoW can get away with loot grinding raids and bosses encounters because they are dynamic but that is what the entire game is built around; Get better gear to and learn the boss mechanics so next time you win and can challenge the next fun boss. But with Destiny that isn't its MO. It wants to be something more, but fails to clearly define what that something more is. I believe that "something more" is in the story, the reason why people would come back to this universe to defend humanity, and until we get that motivation, I think a great number of that 3.2 million will move on to other other titles.

My question is why in the world is this video related to Diablo III ?

I think the fact that Destiny is so popular and has such a huge fan base despite the very loud complaining online just further proves that the angrier, misery-inducing gamers choose to continuously lurk in comment sections but don't represent the whole in the least, while those that actually like finding joy in gaming decide to go play games and be happy doing so, only popping onto sites and comment sections every now and then while generally commenting far less often. It creates a skewed view of gamers that developers tend to let affect them more than it should, but it is the nature of people. I find far more useful criticism rather than just insults of Destiny on their forums rather than on gaming sites simply because haters generally don't go to product-specific sites to complain near as often as they do with general news/entertainment oriented sites, whereas the exact opposite is true of actual fans. Fans seek out a community to increase their knowledge, voice their concerns and offer what they can to other like-minded individuals, which is how it should be.

Good Games can get away without having a compelling story. The problem is when developers attempt to include a compelling story but the story is in fact crap.. In which case the game probably would of been better off without the developers attempting to tell a story at all and instead leave the story telling up to the imagination of the players ((Aka Demon Souls/Dark Souls).

I believe games are games first and foremost. I enjoy and good story but if it's not attached to good game play I'd rather just watch a movie or read a book.

I agree with the GS perspective.

While games that have both are simply fantastic (Deus Ex, ME, etc...), gameplay will always come first because gaming is an active entertainment medium distinct from reading books, watching movies, listening to music. Since the gamer is an active participant, gaming is more akin to a musician who plays music at home, trying things out. Imagine if he couldn't play the music vs. not being able to compose a nice score? I know several people who can't compose music scores to save their soul but really enjoy playing the piano, guitar, etc... So in active forms of entertainment, being able to participate effectively is always going to have higher priority over being able to articulate precisely how you got there (story/plot). With passive forms of entertainment, knowing how you progress/get there takes on greater importance which is why books, movies, etc... need a compelling story.

For the last time, the story "sucks" because it isn't over. It was the prologue to the game at large. Though it is a bit of a weird move, they are saving the main story twists for later on down the road. This is the calm before the storm. They literally said at the end (dont worry no spoilers) that the "darkness is coming and we need to prepare for it". Right now we are grinding for the endgame which they have also said is "just the beginning". Why on earth are we reviewing an MMO on its first few hours of gameplay? They have already left so many strategically placed unfinished plot lines that more than hint a future completion. Are we really this ADD? Be quiet and go back to leveling your character. *rant over

I always favor gameplay over story and if a game is not fun to play I won't play it even if the story is great. On the other hand, I will play games with super tight gameplay mechanics to death even if I skip every story cut scene (or don't because there is no story). Destiny is a great, possibly the greatest, example of gameplay trumping story and can be seen by the huge amount of people who continue to play it despite its lack of narrative. The shooting looks and feels really great which makes the moment-to-moment gameplay satisfying. I mean, people are still playing despite the awful loot and progression systems that it shipped with.

Honestly devs and producers should stop thinking one-sided about what gamers prefer. I prefer a game worth my money. Not a game that has one feature great in it (i.e. multiplayer) and the other stinks (campaign) or vice versa. Give gamers what they deserve, an overall great product that is worth the time, money, and energy to play.

I'm as picky as they come. I prefer games with great game play and great story. Very hard to come by and I end up going months without new games, but when those games shine, oh do they shine. Worth the wait....