Last week, 'Destiny' came out, a game I've talked about and been after since I played the beta. Well, it's awesome, but the reviews are spilling out and many websites and magazines tend to repeat the same negative things, which is quite sad. I totally get why, some of its parts don't work as well as they should and for a grand space opera the $500 million budget led us to believe, it's not as big a game or epic as I hoped for. Despite all of that, I can't stop playing it because, dammit, I just love being a space bounty hunter. With a cape, an all powerful sniper rifle, a little Ghost AI companion and my new fancy-pants jump-ship, I can travel star-side and retake the dark corners of the Solar System with other like-minded players. Role-playing games and books offer the greatest thing you could hope for when you're tired of boring reality, escapism.
Where Did that Wizard Come From?
I never used to like RPGs. For me, you can have a gigantic world stuffed full with things to do, information to find and characters to chat with, but what's the point if the combat sucks? Combat is key and when you craft a character to play a certain way, it's no good if it isn't any fun. That's why I couldn't get into 'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion', I hated fighting. I crafted a pure thief and although, stealing was great fun, I was hopeless when it all came down to closing an Oblivion gate. It was the same story with 'Fallout: New Vegas' too. 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim', though, that's different. Everything about that game works. It's so fun to make your own story in games where a lot of games have the story waiting for you and your character is shaped for you as well. It's nice to put a piece of you in games. The great thing about 'Skyrim' is that you can do whatever you want. I prefer to be a hybrid player in a sense. I tend to be stealthy, use bows and also dabble in magic like summoning suicide clones and castling light. Sometimes a sword and shield are useful as well. Stealth, though. That's king.
'Destiny' is like that too. Although, you only get a choice of three classes: Titan, the tank who gets in the thick of it. Hunter, stealthy approach and adept with ranged combat (me!). And Warlock, keen recovery skills and masters of space magic. 'Destiny', as it turns out, doesn't have much of a story apart from it's back story, but that's OK. The world is so interesting and worth exploring, I just make up my own. By no means is it close to 'Skyrim's' level of RPG authenticity, but it's got more than enough to feel like you're getting more powerful when you progress. I love games. No, I love stories where you can pretty much make up your character and carve a path through the universe. That's where video games have it better than books sometimes, books always keep you on a focused story whereas in games you can branch out a lot of the time and strike different parts of the narrative. Sure, you get some books, I forget what they're called, but you'd make a decision and flick a few pages forward to see what your choices did. Except in games, you make those decisions every few seconds. Venture into this ruin or head into town and complete that quest you had idle for hours?
'Destiny' is like that too. Although, you only get a choice of three classes: Titan, the tank who gets in the thick of it. Hunter, stealthy approach and adept with ranged combat (me!). And Warlock, keen recovery skills and masters of space magic. 'Destiny', as it turns out, doesn't have much of a story apart from it's back story, but that's OK. The world is so interesting and worth exploring, I just make up my own. By no means is it close to 'Skyrim's' level of RPG authenticity, but it's got more than enough to feel like you're getting more powerful when you progress. I love games. No, I love stories where you can pretty much make up your character and carve a path through the universe. That's where video games have it better than books sometimes, books always keep you on a focused story whereas in games you can branch out a lot of the time and strike different parts of the narrative. Sure, you get some books, I forget what they're called, but you'd make a decision and flick a few pages forward to see what your choices did. Except in games, you make those decisions every few seconds. Venture into this ruin or head into town and complete that quest you had idle for hours?
Drift Away
I'm keen on both books and games and sometimes I'd rather play a game than read a story. It makes no difference, the results are almost always the same. You get to live an alternate life for a while. Plenty of people don't see the appeal in games, and that's fine. They don't have to. Just try to understand why a lot of us do see the appeal. I don't see the appeal in films or sports, but I understand why people do. You don't have to like it to understand. Fiction is there for us to dive in and tune out our lives for a while, like most things, actually. Games can often play the hyper-real cards more than books because, like movies, everything is on the surface. You have to think more with books sometimes, and that's fine. Plenty of books wouldn't work as games, that's why they're different worlds. I play 'Grand Theft Auto' because they're bloody fun and they play on the little dreams of 'what would it be like to be a criminal?'. Of course, we're not bad people so we're not going to do it for real, we'll settle for the virtual idea. Same with 'Call of Duty'. And soon, 'The Crew' is coming out which is all about road-tripping the USA. I'd love to do that for real, but I don't have a car. What I reckon Bungie might do with 'Destiny', or what I hope they'll do, is evolve the story in books. There is so much potential, I just hope they call it in.
Songs of the Week:
Songs of the Week:
- 'New World' by Azryd
- 'As You Were' by Pierce Fulton
- 'Our Names in Lights' by Two Friends ft. Breach the Summit
- 'So Wrong' by Illenium
- 'We Are Together' by Planet of Sound
- 'New Age Girl' by Deadeye Dick
- 'Take' by The Lupins
- 'The Eco-Terrorist in Me' by Rise Against
- 'Rusted Nail' by In Flames
- 'If You' by Skrux