Halo was a game that changed the FPS game genre in a pretty big way. I was a freshman in collage when it game out, and missed a whole lot of classes because of it. Bungie had won me over with every new version that came out. So when they announced they were done with Halo in order to pursue other projects, I was curious to see what they would come up with.
Destiny is that new project. I remember looking for updates and waiting for this game to release for almost two years. As a dad with a family on a budget, I don't buy many games when they first come out anymore. Maybe one a year if that. But for Bungie, who played a huge role in making my college years much harder thanks to the time I spent playing their Halo games, I jumped at the chance to preorder. Destiny was supposed to be this game that revolutionized the FPS once again much like Halo: Combat Evolved did back in 2001. Sadly, that didn't happen for me.
Here are my top five reasons why I ended up trading in Destiny after a month of playing it.
#1 The Story Is Terrible
Apparently, Bungie has been working on this game for ten years or something like that. After ten years of development and waiting for this next major franchise I really was disappointed in the story. It was very fractured and was void of really any characters I could make a connection with. Now this may be fixed with the upcoming DLC, and patches, etc, but for $60 I'm tired of games being released and only being half of a game. That is exactly what Destiny feels like at this point. I felt no sense of accomplishment at the end. Honestly, I was more concerned about getting better gear then I was about whether the darkness would destroy the traveler, or me, or whatever in the world it was supposed to do anyway (I was too busy trying to find exotic armor to really care). Nothing in the story compelled me to care about my guardian or any other character in the game. I was expecting a lot more, and maybe that is where my first mistake was, but I wanted more then a Halo version of Diablo.
#2 I Can't Play The End Game
After you reach level 20 the game really does open up. The problem is the hardest strikes that have the best gear require 6 friends and anywhere between 4-6 hours of gameplay. To be real here, I'm not even sure I have 6 friends, let alone 6 friends with an xbox one (yep that's what I have, don't hate PS4 fans) and 6 hours to sit down and beat a strike at the off chance of getting some good gear and finding out a little more of the story. I'm old now (at least in gaming years, not human years) and most of my friends have families as well. Its hard to get everyone together and coordinate a time to all play together. I also am not going to join and then try to find team members in Bungie's forums. Call me old school, but I think its weird as a 30 year old to ask a bunch of strangers or 12 year olds to join up and beat a game. Xbox has this thing called matchmaking... and playstation has their network too... so why aren't we using them? Oh, because Bungie wants Destiny to be a social gaming experience. So why again can't I play with my friends who are holding out on xbox ones, and still have 360s? Because according to Bungie there would be a group of people that would complain about the .05s delay because of graphics and processing power in PVP. For real, look up the article. The game is just limiting in its ability to just jump in and play. If you really want to participate in and beat everything you have to go online, join a clan, and really get into that side of the game. I just don't have that time, and after working all day, and spending time with my family at night, I don't want to then find what clan members are on and talk about clan things to play some new end game stuff. The crazy thing is a lot of the strikes already have matchmaking... its all just confusing.
#3 No Split Screen
This reason ties into the reason above. All these new games coming out talk about playing with your friends, but don't have split screen. Am I supposed to buy more xbox ones so others can play in my family? How about when my kids are old enough to play? A lot of my gripes above would be avoided with a split screen option, since my brothers or friends could stop by and we beat a few things on split screen. Its crazy because I remember playing Goldeneye on the N64 split screen on a 22 inch TV as a kid with my 2 brothers and our dad. Now that TVs are huge, the gaming companies are getting rid of split screen. It seems so backwards...
#4 Terribly Balanced PVP
This one speaks for itself. The game does balance out the weapons you own and the damage output. The problem lies in the abilities and effects the weapons and armor give like faster reload time or jumping ability. I know they will fix this in the next few patches, but it is one the most frustrating things when a kid who has exotic armor with all sorts of extra abilities just runs around and wrecks everyone. I know I'm not as good as I used to be, but it just gets ridiculous and not fun. When I get wrecked by someone because they are better, a tip of the hat goes their way. When I get wrecked because someone has an advantage because they are able to play the game way more than me and have better luck at finding items, I just don't want to play the game anymore.
#5 The Loot System (The Grind Is Real)
If you have read up on the game at all, you probably know this is a problem. The loot system is just frustrating and adds to the sense of apathy toward completing parts of the story and/or game. It is basically completely random, with rare, exotic, legendary, etc items being able to drop from just about every enemy. Its cool in one sense, but after beating a huge boss that took 20 minutes to an hour I want to feel some sense of accomplishment. Typically nothing drops other then a small item to sell. You do get rewarded for completing the strike or whatever game mode you are in, but it just doesn't feel the same. For the most part, the game is centered around grinding and farming. Finding loot is the main focus and good stuff very rarely drops. I was expecting a cross between World of Warcraft and Halo and instead found Destiny to be the love child of Halo and Farmville...
Overall, I liked the game and really wanted to love it. The problem was after playing for an hour or so at a time I was done. With almost 2 days of gameplay logged I gave it every chance for me to really keep it in my gaming rotation, but I just lost all interest. With every new strike or weekly challenge that was released that I couldn't really complete, I got more and more frustrated. Then Super Smash Bros. came out for the 3DS, and most of my friends and family had it, where none of them had Destiny. So off to Gamestop I went with their guaranteed $40 for Destiny and out I walked with Smash. After a week, I have no regrets, and haven't missed playing Destiny one bit. Plus, my first love is coming in less then a month, and it has split screen...
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