I have to say that despite the garbage story and the horrible voice acting I’m not having a terrible time in Destiny. In fact I like it a lot more now than when I first played it. There was a very early alpha phase that we played and it was pretty disheartening. I went back through my email and found the mail I sent to Jerry at the time. This is right after I had played Destiny for the very first time.
On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 11:56 AM, mike krahulik wrote:
They are fucked.
Now to be fair Bungie is obviously not fucked. I’m pretty sure the game sold a bajillion copies. There was an embargo at the time so I couldn’t talk about the game publicly but even the sanctioned previews that came out around that time had an odd tone. They are getting beat to shit in the review department right now but let’s be honest, reviews don’t really matter.
My initial impression of the game was not great but now that it’s out I find myself not hating it as much. If I can get a couple friends in there with me it’s actually not a bad way to spend an evening. I think the hard part is untangling the experience they delivered from the one their marketing promised. I am not going to “Become Legend” in Destiny but it’s fun to shoot aliens with my buddies. I think when measured against the hype Destiny feels pretty underwhelming but if you can forget about that it’s a decent game. You could argue that they have squandered the games potential but I don’t think “potential” is a limited resource. Bungie did not start with five pounds or potential, flush it all down the drain and now they have no potential left. There is still the potential to tell an incredible story in Destiny and there is no reason they can’t do that with future updates.
For my part I don’t understand why they would not reach out to an established Sci-Fi author to help them craft some of this stuff. When you have a game with a budget like Destiny why don’t you make a phone call to someone like Alastair Reynolds, John Scalzi, or Hugh Howey. This is your big new property. You’re building a brand new Sci Fi world. Get someone with a couple Hugos under their belt. I’m not even a big story guy and Destiny just feels like a big mess. Like I said though, that’s something that can get sorted out.
Today’s comic was fun for a couple reasons. First it marks a return to shitting on Bungie which has been a staple of the comic for more than a decade. Second, I actually made the Pee-Chee in real life. I thought about trying to do it all digitally in Photoshop but then decided against it. I had to go to a few different stores but finally found a place that still sold Pee-Chees, then I got some ball point pens and went to work. It was really fun going back to my school days and remembering all the shit I used to doodle on my folders. I may actually hand this folder off to Jamie for the Child’s Play auction this year. Maybe someone will want it.
-Gabe out
