Destiny Leaked Gameplay

I think it looks great, a bit slow but otherwise something I'll actually buy.

This looks to have none of the stuff that makes Halo combat so good. Seems like you are encouraged to just use your one gun rather than in Halo where you are constantly swapping weapons out in response to ammo running out and the different combat scenarios they give you. The ability to aim down sights looks to slow the game down and just create COD-esque shooting gallery kind of gameplay. The wide open spaces don't really seem like they are being taken advantage of to create interesting combat and are instead just there to look cool and allow some exploration because I guess this is a kinda MMO thing. In Halo all the combat scenarios are very finely tuned along with checkpoint placement and it feels like the combat flow came before the look of the levels whereas in this it seems like their main goal was to make a pretty place to explore and that enemies are just there to keep you from getting bored and for you to grind on. Making it into this open world MMO thing looks to decrease the quality of the moment to moment combat and turn the game into a big old grind fest. I hate MMOs. Game is the worst thing ever created and should be banned.

I think the reasoning behind the high TTK is different though. In Halo it is all about skill. A bad player might take a minute or so to down a normal elite but a skilled player can take them down in like 3 shots with a default weapon. The high TTK is enjoyable because as you play more and more you get better and better and start killing enemies faster and with more efficiency.

I don't know for sure but I Imagine one of the main reasons for the high TTK in Destiny is because they want you to want better loot and better weapons. For you to get sucked into that MMO/RPG loot grindy fest. Rather than the high TTK being enjoyable because you feel your skill level improving it is enjoyable because "oh man I got this sweet new gun and it can take guys down in fewer shots". Not fun

In the first video, not very far in. As soon as I saw it took a full clip to kill a dude I stopped watching. I already know this game is not for me. This looks exactly like that shitty MMOFPS Defiance. Which was a terrible ass game. Same floaty HPs on impact. Same half to full clip to kill anyone. It just has better graphics. No thanks.

I dunno, kinda needs a claptrap babbling at you constantly interspersed with mouthed dubstep and internet memes.

@seppli: If the vehicle warfare stuff is awesome I'm down as fuck to play this. I'm imagining a Halo Big Team battle match but much larger.

this might make me buy a PS4... sucks it's not coming out on PC though..

Sure looks like a console shooter. Play like trash -> win.

yawn, and the video quality doesn't do it justice. or at least I hope.

@pie: Its funny then that consistently SWAT was one of the most popular modes in Halo games. High TTK just isn't any fun. Now having to be quicker on the draw than the other guy or face death puts you in a spot where your constantly on edge. Its a fun tension and makes aiming skill more important than getting the bigger boom stick.

What I take most issue with is that in typical FPS games the baddies have very limited health and a single headshot will usually drop them dead, while it only takes a few more body shots to do the same. That is the entire nuance of the first person perspective, the increased finesse in aiming that allows you to aim for the head. For ages we've played this genre knowing that shooting the head is more difficult but is also rewarded with a satisfying headshot - we are conditioned to expect this result in a way. When First Person games like Borderlands began introducing enemies that essentially felt like sandbags to shoot the entire experience felt "wrong" to me personally. In Borderlands 2 at least they introduced some new animations that made the baddies stumble if you shot their legs and such. But whenever you were tasked with taking out a Boss character and you're just dumping dozens of rockets into a single humanoid and seeing his health bar ever so slowly eek out that is just the worst. I don't want to set anything in stone here, but I'm willing to bet we will get exactly such encounters in Destiny - "special" commanders or some such that will soak up ammunition like a lead sponge.

Now you might ask "whats the fun in fighting a boss that you can kill with a single headshot?" Well I'm not a game designer so I don't know how to solve this conundrum. One way I guess is to make it a puzzle fight where you have to stun the enemy to unlock some environmental triggers which end up destroying his thick armor or something. I dunno. All I know is that I absolutely hate dumping entire magazines into a single enemy because it just feels wrong and makes the game tedious.

I think that for this game to live up to expectations the persistent qualities and open world exploration need to be on point. They have made a lot of promises but what I have seen so far just looks like an average co-op shooter. I'm assuming that shooting is about 90% of what you can expect to be doing in this game so its a bit disappointing that it looks so familiar. The way the character moves seems too slow and sluggish for me and the way the enemies just kind of mill about in the open while they get shot up seems not great.

This still seems like good game material and I really like the universe and backdrop they have created for this game. But if they spent $500 million bucks to just create what boils down to a regular co-op shooter thats gonna be a disappointing.

I would disagree with that. I loved the back and forth in Halo multiplayer. The individual encounters could vary so much depending on what weapons each player was packing, if anybody throws a grenade, if somebody jumps, if somebody is near cover, if you encounter each other at range or in melee distance, if you decide to back off or push forward, if one of you has back up and so on. So much to think about and master there.

The idea of playing Halo SWAT always seemed silly. You're playing on a console so the idea of aiming being important is just weird. If anything I think SWAT (and to some extent the base game modes) was more about knowing how to move through maps well to ensure your reticule is always placed in the best position so that you can put in the least amount of effort to line up a shot when the time comes. The fun in normal Halo comes from knowing how to apply the right weapons and tools to the encounter you are presented with. There really is no bigger boom stick. Sure the rocket launcher is big and powerful but it is useless at long and short range. Seems like Destiny has neither of these things and IS just about who has the bigger boom stick

I believe the bodies only vanish for certain enemy's seems to be a lore thing.

I really do wonder if fatigue across the whole genre is going to crash the whole genre. These games only offer limited interaction (explosions) and complexity (different styles of explosions) where just offering more of the same without something really interesting in the systems then it will do "meh". We need to see the whole thing running together especially the parts that are outside the "on the maps shooting doods" parts.

I think for a good example of a "boss you can kill with a single headshot" you can look at something like the scarabs from Halo. They really did feel like these epic encounters but all you had to do was get a grenade in the right place. You basically describe the main way to take them down "puzzle fight where you have to stun the enemy to unlock some environmental triggers which end up destroying his thick armor" and on top of that you could do stuff like hit ramps just right so you could land on top of them or just fly onto them

I'm a moon wizard and that's fucked up.

@pie: That would be fine, just nothing like a guy wearing no helmet and you can run up to him dumping an entire shotgun point blank into his face and seeing the health move slightly over.

It looks okay I guess, but it still looks way too much like Borderlands to me. Or, should I say Borederlands because that game practically put me to sleep.

This has to be alpha right? Sounds like placeholder audio. Assuming it is...with polish game will probably be amazing.

Dude obviously knew he was streaming. Hell I think it was you!

I really hope they show off some cool segments tomorrow, that footage (while alpha) looks terribly boring and less exciting then Borderlands.

Oh I thought it was place holder audio at first. Like some guy from the office. Not a TV star...

Suprise: Bungie was a one-trick pony all along. What other self-patting dev would invite you over to watch a 2 hour video-tour of their offices?

Is this where I put my snarky negative comment?

@themanwithnoplan: If you do it with some witty you get an internet cookie :D

Not all console shooters are terrible. I think some of them, particularly Halo and Call of Duty play better on consoles while others like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 play better on PC.

Yeah I'm not sure I understand all the hate. It reminds me of Halo which isn't a bad thing and I am really interested in the evolving nature of the world that Bungie has hinted at. Bungie is on of the few studios such as Naughty Dog and Remedy that I will try every game they release.

The key to not using many bullets in Halo is charging up a plasma pistol, hitting them with it, then hitting them in the head with a pistol, DMR, or BR. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything in Halo that actually takes a ton of bullets if you know what you're doing. Maybe those new enemies in 4, but 4 was kinda boring. I always have loved the myriad ways that Halo combat can play out, especially on the higher difficulties. I don't know, sometimes it seems like people play through one of the Halo games on Normal and complain about how boring it is - perfectly understandable reaction, but there's nothing quite like scraping through on Legendary. If Destiny is Halo's combat but with a structure like Borderlands and a more interesting story, count me in. Provided the PS3 version runs at a solid framerate because I'm not buying a new console yet and fucking Bungie won't fucking release a fucking PC version. Fuck.

That's not what I quoted you for, but at least it's on topic.

I mean a huge factor of RPG games is seeing how cool your character looks which is completely lost in first person anyway.

I just don't agree with this much. RPG's - at least at their core - are about managing resources, stats, numbers. Build up a character or characters to employ a strategy to fight things (Etrian Odyssey is all about this and almost nothing but this - JRPG's in general are built on this). They're also often about role-playing a character (most Western RPG's), which fits a little more with this sentence but it isn't essential. I think you can totally have a great RPG where you never see your character. Grimrock, Etrian Odyssey, Might and Magic, etc.

EDIT: Well, nevermind. All of the footage I've seen of this game up to this point has looked as entertaining as Borderlands. I've played tons of Borderlands, I don't need any more of it. What I've seen also doesn't appear to have anywhere near as much nuance as Halo's combat on higher difficulties, it looks... well, it looks like you fight a bunch of guys with reasonable health bars and one guy who isn't actually more difficult but has a ridiculous health bar.

I think it looks great, but I always liked Halo. Obviously it is not polished, it is still in alpha.

But that voice acting was terrible, I thought it was just a random guy did not even realize it was Peter Dinklage.

Well you don't pre order games you think suck. So yeah, they love it. Even the part where they killed a wizard. PS: Dinklage sounds crappy by design, supposedly the voice will get some editing work before final game as he is meant to sound robotic. Like Paul Bettany as the iron man suit. This is what I have been told anyway.

Those drums at the start of that video!

It looks like a loot-based shooter with rpg whatnots. Shooting looks like Halo. I'm in, but I'm still waiting for something a little more unique to show up.

This whole thing reminds me all too much of Rage. Promise for new mechanics and intriguing gameplay, amazing graphics, and an expansive open world... but turns out to be more or less a very very linear game with access points to missions spread throughout the "open world"

@believer258: It's a matter of preference I suppose. Some people love to play with color matching armors and all that jazz. For instance I cannot play Dark Souls in a completely utilitarian way - if the armor I'm wearing looks incredibly ugly then I will not wear it despite superior stats. I know I'm not alone in this.

So for some people it most certainly is about cold hard stats. For me it's really about the power fantasy and that includes looking like a badass. I appreciate any game a lot more if there are cosmetic changes to how you look, especially from upgrades. One of the things I really liked about Bioshock 2 was that every ugrade you got for your weapons was represented on the weapon model - an extra clip, exhaust vent, etc. The new Tomb Raider did this and I thought it was a really nice touch.

I don't think you can have Halo combat with a structure like Borderlands. They counter each other out.

At the end of the day, is this not the same type of game as Borderlands? Didn't a lot of people NOT play Borderlands? I just watched all of those videos and it's not wildly interesting. It looks graphically impressive, but it looks like a single player MMO. I dont want that.. I really wish we knew wtf this game is. We dont know if it will have a payment model, since their comments are "We're trying not to have one" which doesnt mean there isnt one. So it's not an MMO, as in you dont pick a server and play on it. But it also looks like a Jump in Jump out Multiplayer Shooter like Borderlands. I initially thought it was going to be completely unique, but i can't say it isnt because we know nothing about a game that's almost complete,

THIS HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED

I AM DISAPPOINTED IN ALL OF YOU

@fredddi43: Holy shit. That is Peter Dinklage! I didn't notice till I saw your comment. That's....weird? I dunno, is he just some kind of announcer guy, or an actual character? If he's just some announcer, then that's a little disappointing since that dude is rad.

The absolute best group combat experiences one can have these days, in my opinion, are to be found in classic MMORPGs. My fondest coop experiences are from playing heroic instances with a steady group of friends during the Burning Crusade era of WoW.

Structurally, Destiny is more akin to Monster Hunter, I'd bet. You take a mission at a terminal, then go to a mission specific version of the zone that mission is at, where you proceed through some semi-massively open world zone to the entrance of your group instance, which will be just as tightly designed and scripted as your average Halo-level - probably with multiple difficulty settings, or at the very least one version for when leveling up, and one version for max-level.

In MMORPGs content can be extremely tightly balanced. The developers know what kind of *item-levels* players have when they hit levelcap, and from there it's an item level progression, where-in one levels up by beating the content at hand, to get better gear, to beat harder content, to get better gear, and so forth. As far as I know there will be Raid-type content too. Likely for 8 players. What we see in this leak is low-level solo content. Old Russia (the level in the leak) is the equivalent to questing in Durotar or Goldshire in WoW.

The gameplay they released a month ago is the equivalent of a beginner group dungeon. The easiest and most basic directed grouping experience. That looked pretty exciting to me. If you haven't seen that yet, here you go...

I feel like most people seem to lack a sense for the whole scope and scale and breadth of Destiny. It's not just Borderlands. That's a tiny part of it. It's also competitive multiplayer (god only knows what they're cooking up for that side of the game). It's also tight tailor-made small group content as seen in the trailer uptop. Apparently there's also public quests. I believe I've heard the developer's drop the term *Raids* a couple of times.

Countless things for your persistent character to do, to get sucked into a feedback loop of immediate FPS gameplay and persistent RPG-growth that fuels progress in all manners of PvE and PvP, from solo questing to tight instanced group content to massively multiplayer open world content to raids to competitive play of untold awesomeness. It's pretty likely there will be vehicular gameplay too. That's the promise at least, and I for one can see it shine through already.

This is exactly my problem with games like Borderlands and, apparently, Destiny. I really don't like games where enemies are bullet sponges and FPS/RPG hybrids ALWAYS lead to this problem.

@seppli: Seems to me like you're getting lost in your own imagination and hope. I'm a lot more tempered to look at what they've shown us and what I've seen, not what I expect, and right now I'm just not all too impressed. I'm still infinitely open to what they may have in store because a lot of the game hasn't been announced, but I can't form an opinion of the game based on what could be.

I like to extrapolate, I love to dream. Sure, I might be mightily disappointed once all is revealed to me whenst it comes out - but I'd rather live in a world of bright hope for the gaming future, than being a cynic all the time. There's too many gaming cynics already.

@seppli: I'm not at all saying I don't have hope, no no no. But that I keep my hope and opinions separate, and between them lies reality.

@hurricaneivan29: I keep my hope and opinions separate, and between them lies reality.

Just re-read this... damn... that's some Confucius shit up in here...

Its not hate but apathy so please don't get the two confused. If Naughty Dog released another Uncharted instead of The Last of Us there would be a lot of "meh". Hell, Uncharted 4 is probably going to be greeted with a lot of "meh" unless they show some stellar interstitial material.

If Destiny turns out to be some sort of MOBA-FPS hybrid that is achievement oriented instead of goal oriented that could be exciting. If it is just more space marines shooting more space aliens with more perks and more exp unlocks then...."meh".

Please don't just be Borderlands. Please!

They said they might do it but even if they did that version would probably be fucked at launch.

I like Halo.

This looks like Halo.

But at this point with all the Bungie departures/firings, 343 has about as much of an "original Bungie" presence as Bungie itself does. I'll probably just wait for Halo. At least I'm kind of interested in the Halo story.

I really like Halo, and I want Destiny to be super awesome. I'll certainly buy it because I like their combat design.

But something about the footage so far hasn't gotten me excited. Here's hoping for a good E3 showing.

Beta stuff is being sent out...

Platform selection and Beta download code generation will be available at a later day. You have successfully reserved your spot in the Destiny Beta. We will contact you in 2014 with next steps.