Destiny 2’s Leviathan Has an Identity Problem

[JH]: Like any good story, it’s going to live or die based off the depth and reliability of your villain. We put a lot of hours into developing Ghaul. At first, yeah, he seems like a guy who just wants to kick us in the balls and move on down the road after taking Earth.

Starting with Record Books seems like the appropriate place. Destiny took the idea of achievements or milestones, whatever they might be called, and put them in the form of Record Books. A way for Guardians to keep track of all their glorious achievement plus receive gifts for leveling up through the Record Book that can be shown off when around other Guardians. Nothing like a sweet skin, right? Much like its Age of Triumph title comes the ultimate Record Book. Not only is this Record Book the largest seen so far, but it also is tough as nails to get through. It is sure to keep any Guardian busy, especially those that might be returning. What’s nice about the Age of Triumph Book is even if it seems like a slog (nothing new for Destiny), the records are easy to achieve, especially before September. Nothing bombastic or hardcore. Just a challenging but fair checklist. Things players will find worth doing, hell maybe even starting up that class you’ve always wanted to play but never got around too. September is a long way away after all and that Age of Triumph book wont fill itself out.

Convinced yet, Guardian? Ready to come back to the fold instead of drinking your woes away locked in a dark dingy Tower bar? Sure, you might see Cayde-6 roll on through, but does he really have anything interesting to say yet? He’s just waiting for the action he has no idea is on the way. The Cabal have been a long time coming and what better way to kick off Destiny 2 then an all-out assault on the place Guardians call home? Get it while it’s hot Guardian, the Tower won’t be around for much longer and all that hard work you’ve put in over the years (or ignored), well either keep at it or kiss it good bye. See you in space, Guardian.

Curse of Osiris does include two new strikes, but both are pulled directly from the campaign with no changes. Crucible doesn’t fare much better with only two new maps on Xbox One and pve weapon Rolls PC, and three on PS4. Unfortunately, as of publication, Crucible is wholly broken thanks to the Prometheus Lens, a new trace rifle that is completely unbalanced. Bungie says they’re working on a fix, but a solution has yet to materialize nearly a week after launch.

Destiny released in September of 2013 and with it came an avid fan base, not necessarily for the game itself, but for developer Bungie as a whole. Unfortunately, Destiny wasn’t the most well-received game and its history is marked by scars of mistakes past. Nonetheless it pushed ever onward and a healthy fan following remained to keep it alive-and-well. There’s even a Guardiancon now and the game is still in its child years if breaking it down. It can think, play and be socially engaging; it just needs to grow a bit more. Thankfully, Destiny is giving the ultimate gift in its last few months before Destiny 2 comes out.

As the name suggests, The Last City is the central hub of Destiny and is the only safe haven on Earth. Well, maybe safe haven isn’t the best description of the city and the state of civilization, especially considering the events at the beginning of Destiny 2, but it’s certainly better than what awaits those on the outskirts. The massive walls weren’t built for show, nor are they there to keep Titans out, but instead hostile alien races that have been left over from numerous battles following The Collapse. Most notably are The Fallen, but you’ll also see a monstrous species called The Hive on Earth, as well, due to their hideout being relatively close to the planet.

That same week the raid dropped, I was able to pull a fireteam together for the weekend, landing epically on Leviathan’s Golden walkway towards the gates of opulence we made our way in. Having watched and read up on what to do because we didn’t feel like messing around with figuring out mechanics, the Bath House was up first. We did not succeed on getting it that first night and spent a number of hours just trying to get coordination down, eventually calling it and deciding to try again the next day. Meeting up the next night we aced it no problem, coordination was up, fatigue was gone and we were on point. Next was the all too known (by now) Pleasure Gardens. Stealth isn’t Destiny’s strong point and that’s all that will be said on the matter. What did cause us grief was attempting this freaking room for the next four hours while the dog (bosses) continually got more glitchy. They would cut in and out, reset their paths, see one of us even though they were facing another direction and it lead to general frustration among the whole group. We had figured out what to do but the game mechanics weren’t helping, especially when they constantly kept breaking. At this point we had already spent nine hours banging our heads against just two rooms. The fireteam called it quits for the second night and a third night seemed less hopeful.