At the end of the mission, we finally meet Ghaul, who is terrifying in his all-white armor and his Darth Malak-esque mask. He gives a great speech and welcomes us to a world without light, as he strips the Traveler of its power. He then promptly kicks your de-powered self off the edge of the Tower and the Destiny 2 logo fades in to end the Beta’s mission. I assume the next mission will take place within the city. But the first mission of Destiny 2 impressed and if they can keep that up with the rest of the campaign, it could be great.
Of all the things players can do in the open area, Adventures are the most story-driven. Presented on the map as an orange banner with a white sword, these activities task Guardians with following a series of objectives. Structurally, Adventures most resemble the mission design of missions from the original; get an objective, go clear out a wave of enemies, listen to Ghost speculate a bit, and battle a boss.
The first thing to strike (no pun) in the Destiny 2 Beta was how well-worn it felt. Like wrapping up in a comfy blanket that is always waiting when returning to the family home…while it crumbles and burns to ash. The one thing that’s been on the brain is how Destiny would need to pull a Halo maneuver if it hoped to pull itself up from the original launch, and so far, so good. Destiny 2’s beta does exactly what Bungie’s previous title Halo did before it, taking everything it learned from the first game and improving on that at every turn. The gun play is tighter, the environments more stunning (not just visually) and the state of Destiny in a better place than when it started. It’s a shame then that the beta doesn’t offer more, because the sparseness of it all itches at the back of the mind. Why only show the opening mission, a strike, and two crucible maps/modes?
There’s a lot going on in this Beta, even though it’s relatively small with not a lot to do. The changes so far are mostly positive, showing promise for the real thing. Destiny 2 comes to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6 and then to PC on October 24, so there’s not much time left.
That’s Protheon’s big mechanic. Once you get him down to a certain damage point, he drops out the floor beneath you and lands you in a new arena. He does this three times throughout the fight. The difficult part about Protheon is that he plays floor’s lava with you. When he gets pissed enough, he’ll slam his fist on the ground and burn the entirety of the floor, which forces you to jump up on some small platforms. All this does, however, is put you in the line of sight of Protheon, who has two different weapons with which to take you can look here down. It’s a tough fight, but it’s interesting and different, and that’s what we want. I will say, however, that the rest of the strike is pretty mundane. Save for the couple of interesting set pieces I mentioned earlier, it’s kind of simple. It doesn’t have many interesting mechanics, but it is short, so running it over and over as you grind will at least be quick. So again, if all of the strikes in Destiny 2 are short and simple but also take you through a new and interesting setting with a neat boss at the end, then sign me up for more.
For example, in the EDZ, one Adventure features the Taken taking up residence deep in the forest. At first, the mission is simply about pushing forward and clearing away all hostiles. Following some speculation by Ghost about why the Taken are here, players face off against a Taken Cabal boss who remains shielded as long as grunts are running about. Take care of them, and the boss becomes vulnerable until more grunts spawn.
After that first mission, though, players are immediately ejected to space, where a limited number of things to do sits in a classic Destiny menu. Like, what? I can’t even land on a planet and just wander around? With nowhere else to go, it’s either hop in the Strike or hop in the Crucible.
Loot boxes make money. This is still the unfortunately reality of things despite the absolutely massive backlash that hit the likes of EA and Activision six months ago. Despite everything; despite the massive outcry and governmental investigations into this slimey practice, gamers are still buying loot boxes frequently enough to make them worth all the trouble they cause. They’re still in Overwatch, PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds is still developing theirs and now Bungie has unveiled yet another type of loot box to Destiny 2 as their response to the massive outcry against their baffling insistence on walling-off much of the game’s gear behind RNG loot boxes. The developer has even gone on-record to acknowledge fans’ dislike of the loot boxes and promised to explore ways to improve Eververse for players. Yet here they are with another loot box; they either don’t have any idea what the issue is or they think they’re going to make a lot of money from it. With Destiny 2 in such a sorry state, they’ll need to make that money fast.