Like a meat cleaver to a melon, few games have divided the gaming audience like Destiny. For proof, it seemed to appear on just as many Most Disappointing Games of 2014 lists as it did Best Of lists.
On the one hand, you have its detractors – those (like me) who find it hollow, shallow, and just don’t really see what the point of it all is.
And on the other hand, it feels like more and more people are sticking with it, and talking it up like it's an all-time classic. Heck, there are those who go on about the Vault of Glass raid like it was the defining moment of their lives.
It's exactly how I felt when everybody started going on about the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, before I'd seen it.
And I still haven't seen it. YES, ok! I'm that guy! I'm the guy who hasn't seen Game of Thrones, and doesn't know what the Red Wedding is. I will, I will. Have a go at me another time. I'm busy right now. I'm busy having a Brown Wedding...
Anyway. Point is, I feel like I’m missing out. Worse than that – I feel like it’s a joke I’m not in on. Or even worse still – that I’m stuck at home on New Year's Eve watching everyone tweeting and status updating about how awesome the party is that they never bothered inviting me to.
Yeah, nice hats and party poppers, you absolute dastards. When you said you were "busy" I assumed it was with a funeral, or a medical examination, or something. May karma lay an egg in your throat. I hate you.
But I digress...
On the one hand, you have its detractors – those (like me) who find it hollow, shallow, and just don’t really see what the point of it all is.
And on the other hand, it feels like more and more people are sticking with it, and talking it up like it's an all-time classic. Heck, there are those who go on about the Vault of Glass raid like it was the defining moment of their lives.
It's exactly how I felt when everybody started going on about the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, before I'd seen it.
And I still haven't seen it. YES, ok! I'm that guy! I'm the guy who hasn't seen Game of Thrones, and doesn't know what the Red Wedding is. I will, I will. Have a go at me another time. I'm busy right now. I'm busy having a Brown Wedding...
Anyway. Point is, I feel like I’m missing out. Worse than that – I feel like it’s a joke I’m not in on. Or even worse still – that I’m stuck at home on New Year's Eve watching everyone tweeting and status updating about how awesome the party is that they never bothered inviting me to.
Yeah, nice hats and party poppers, you absolute dastards. When you said you were "busy" I assumed it was with a funeral, or a medical examination, or something. May karma lay an egg in your throat. I hate you.
But I digress...
THE EXPECTATION FACTOR
I'm happy to admit that part of my issue with Destiny was un-met expectations. That might be my fault, admittedly, for building it up too much in my brain.
At the same time, Bungie and Activision probably need to shoulder some of the blame, for failing to properly convey what I was actually getting.
And yet, coming from the people behind Halo, I at least expected something a bit like Halo, but better. A sort of always online Halo, with an epic, ongoing, storyline that I felt invested in. Instead I got what seemed to me like a token single player game shackled to a pretty but repetitive, atmosphere-lacking, frustration-inducing, innovation-deprived, theme park ride. I don't want to spend my whole life grinding through all that just to get some new gun or cape.
It's like the gaming equivalent fighting the Black Friday sales crowds to get a new handbag for a quid less than I'd normally pay.
I'm happy to admit that part of my issue with Destiny was un-met expectations. That might be my fault, admittedly, for building it up too much in my brain.
At the same time, Bungie and Activision probably need to shoulder some of the blame, for failing to properly convey what I was actually getting.
And yet, coming from the people behind Halo, I at least expected something a bit like Halo, but better. A sort of always online Halo, with an epic, ongoing, storyline that I felt invested in. Instead I got what seemed to me like a token single player game shackled to a pretty but repetitive, atmosphere-lacking, frustration-inducing, innovation-deprived, theme park ride. I don't want to spend my whole life grinding through all that just to get some new gun or cape.
It's like the gaming equivalent fighting the Black Friday sales crowds to get a new handbag for a quid less than I'd normally pay.
NO SURPRISE
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, Halo is another game that I’ve struggled to appreciate as much as everyone else (and I gladly accept that's probably heresy to say).
I loved the setting of the first game – the Halo itself – but I’ve never really bought into the wider mythology. I’ve never liked the spongy handling of the vehicles. The weapons, for me, lack oomph. I don’t like the openness of the level design. And I’ve always found the Covenant more cuddly than menacing.
And yet, they’re the sort of games I feel I should like, so I've played all of them at length - online and off. I have the exact same issue with Christopher Nolan movies and the Lord of the Rings franchise. On paper, they tick my boxes, so I always watch them in the hope that they'll finally live up to my hopes. In reality, I find them ponderous, and trying too hard to be epic and portentious; never quite as smart or revolutionary as they’re strutting around pretending to be.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, Halo is another game that I’ve struggled to appreciate as much as everyone else (and I gladly accept that's probably heresy to say).
I loved the setting of the first game – the Halo itself – but I’ve never really bought into the wider mythology. I’ve never liked the spongy handling of the vehicles. The weapons, for me, lack oomph. I don’t like the openness of the level design. And I’ve always found the Covenant more cuddly than menacing.
And yet, they’re the sort of games I feel I should like, so I've played all of them at length - online and off. I have the exact same issue with Christopher Nolan movies and the Lord of the Rings franchise. On paper, they tick my boxes, so I always watch them in the hope that they'll finally live up to my hopes. In reality, I find them ponderous, and trying too hard to be epic and portentious; never quite as smart or revolutionary as they’re strutting around pretending to be.
BILLY NO-MATES
With Destiny, though, it seems increasingly that there's a reality I'm going to have to face up to. And that reality is this: it's not a game for me. And the reason it isn't a game for is because it's a social game, that's meant to be played online - with your mates.
And, as you may have ascertained from my whinge about parties, I don't have any mates. Well, I do. Just none that want to spend New Year with me, apparently, or who own Destiny. Or who own Destiny on the same format as me.
Therefore, it appears that I'm never going to get it. I'm never going to enjoy what it is about the game that so many seem to love. I don't want to trudge through the grind of those raids on my own or with strangers, and that's probably why I've thus far failed to love it and stick with it.
There's nothing wrong with creating a game that isn't for everyone - obviously, no game can be universally adored. But the frustration from a personal standpoint is that Destiny looked exactly like it was a game for me. Before I played it, I'd convinced myself that it was everything I wanted in a first-person shooter.
Yet the more I've tried, the more I've become alienated from it. And the more others have hailed its achievements, the more stubborn I've become, the more consolidated my resolve.
Destiny may be a classic for you. It may be your favourite game. But for some of us - those of us who find online gaming a solitary experience - it's a fly-blown, sweating, manure heap, The Emperor's New Game.
Enjoy your capes.
With Destiny, though, it seems increasingly that there's a reality I'm going to have to face up to. And that reality is this: it's not a game for me. And the reason it isn't a game for is because it's a social game, that's meant to be played online - with your mates.
And, as you may have ascertained from my whinge about parties, I don't have any mates. Well, I do. Just none that want to spend New Year with me, apparently, or who own Destiny. Or who own Destiny on the same format as me.
Therefore, it appears that I'm never going to get it. I'm never going to enjoy what it is about the game that so many seem to love. I don't want to trudge through the grind of those raids on my own or with strangers, and that's probably why I've thus far failed to love it and stick with it.
There's nothing wrong with creating a game that isn't for everyone - obviously, no game can be universally adored. But the frustration from a personal standpoint is that Destiny looked exactly like it was a game for me. Before I played it, I'd convinced myself that it was everything I wanted in a first-person shooter.
Yet the more I've tried, the more I've become alienated from it. And the more others have hailed its achievements, the more stubborn I've become, the more consolidated my resolve.
Destiny may be a classic for you. It may be your favourite game. But for some of us - those of us who find online gaming a solitary experience - it's a fly-blown, sweating, manure heap, The Emperor's New Game.
Enjoy your capes.
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