Whenever Jeff wants to rip into Destiny, he brings up the anecdote about the time he visited Bungie and they gave this big presentation to the press about Destiny, before they had shown much gameplay. And they said something about how you would have these "stories" about your gun, and how you got the gun, and it's your gun that is this kinda unique, memorable thing for each player. I don't know if Jeff's version of that presentation is apocryphal or not, but for the sake of discussion, let's just go with it as is.

Jeff is right to blast Destiny for making that vague promise, because Destiny is not even remotely close to that. It's a random loot game, and you run the raids/horde mode over and and over until you get the handful of guns that people think are really good, then you spend ages upgrading them. There is nothing memorable about the event in which you get a random loot drop, at least not memorable enough to warrant some anecdote you would share with other players of the game.

That being said, has any game ever accomplished something like that promise, where obtaining the weapon that you use was this really cool, remarkable experience you would share with others? It seems like a really tall order, when a lot of equippable weapons in games are either randomly in a chest somewhere, or you get them as you level up (like Call of Duty) or they randomly drop and have no real significance because it's just a roll of the dice what traits they have and who knows, maybe another roll of the dice will give you an even better weapon.

Part of the problem is that unless the game in question has Witcher 3-level quest writing, or incredibly top notch emergent gameplay or something, I don't see how you'd really associate the weapon itself with "how you obtained it" for more than a day or two, before it just becomes "that really good weapon in my inventory, who cares how I got it". For the most part, the weapons themselves don't have hugely thematic links to the events where you get them.

Off the top of my head:

• Demon's Souls/Dark Souls/Dark Souls 2: getting a Black Knight weapon after defeating a Black Knight is kinda close? On one level it's kinda ho-hum, but for some percentage of players, maybe the first Black Knight they ever successfully beat was this incredibly tough fight that they barely completed with only a sliver of health left, and then the Black Knight weapon that they got was probably one of the better weapons that they'd encountered so far. To a lesser extent, maybe the boss weapons sorta count? I'll lump the whole series in on this one. Bloodborne kinda misses the mark because for the most part you just get the weapons from a vendor, which is a real mistake, in my opinion.
• Massive Chalice: The "bloodline relics" that are created by particularly accomplished members of a noble lineage, that are then passed on to the heirs of that lineage, is actually a really rad idea and is a cool aspect of the game. The circumstances of you obtaining the relic aren't necessarily crazy memorable, but the weapon at least has some meaning, or legacy, or history, to it. Which I appreciate.
• Monster Hunter: Maybe? I don't play the series, but fighting some of the monsters in that game is such an arduous task that finally being able to craft that piece of gear from the remains of these monsters you've conquered is kinda neat.
• Day Z/that whole genre: I don't play the survival genre, but I guess if you worked your ass off for no gain, toiling away with mediocre gear, and then you jump some random dude and take all of his top notch gear, that would be reasonably memorable? I feel like the story of how you jumped him would have to be really, really good, though.
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: I thought most of this game was a really uninspired retread of Ocarina of Time, but I did think it was clever that at one point you fight this armoured knight that is swinging this giant spiked ball and chain at you and smashing the shit out of stuff. Then you beat him, and the ball and chain is an item Link takes into his inventory, so now you have this comically oversized ball and chain that Link barely has the strength to swing around above his head, and you can just wreck the shit out of enemies and certain barriers with it. For a series that mostly doles out items in conveniently placed chests, taking a weapon off of an enemy (and having it be just as effective when Link uses it as when the enemy used it) was kinda memorable.

What games do you think actually have these memorable stories about how you got your weapons and gear that might actually tell someone about?

That's a pretty interesting concept... Makes me want to play some of those games you mentioned if only to test your speculations!

Only thing that comes to mind for me is Half-Life 2. I know it's just part of the campaign, but when your gravity gun gets supercharged, it's just plain awesome/exciting. Easily the most excited I ever got about just a weapon in a game!

Morrowind for me. There was a ton of secrets and unique equipment in that game. And me, my brother, and a couple of other guys would talk about all the cool stuff we would find through exploring that world every day. I guess this was before wikis were are big thing so not every unique item was cataloged unless you have the official strategy guide.

You're right about Dark Souls. The Black Knight weapons in particular. Though, ironically I don't remember where I got my Black Knight Halberd, the passion and love for that weapon has followed through into Dark Souls 2. That's my weapon. I feel naked without it. I cheese as much of the game as I can until I get that weapon and then I go into "let's just play the game" mode.

Destiny had a lot of potential for that but they just straight goofed everything they did.

Maybe in some kind of way FTL fits into that? It's not randomly generated stuff but you do find it randomly. It goes just beyond weapons into crew and even modules. By the end of a run good or bad you could have "your" stuff that you just might not find again, together. Especially with mods that can give you so may different types of weapons/crew/modules.

It's a pretty doofy claim to make for any game, I agree. Especially Destiny.

I got a really emotionally significant sword in my Witcher 3 clear save. I'm not dismantling that thing, ever. Not really a story I'd tell around a fireside, however.

They certainly have been trying to move the game towards that initial promise recently. The whole upgrade path and mini quest to get the necrochasm was really interesting, there were just two main problems.

1. The gun sucks.

2. It's an online game so millions of other people have it, and got it the same way.

Number 2 is going to be the problem for everything they try going forward. Unless they are able to introduce some super dynamic way earn exotic weapons, the two choice seem to be either "get it from RNG/Xur" or "get it in an interesting and specific way, but everyone else gets it the same way too."

I would say Skyrim has those type of weapons with the daedric aritifacts. A lot of those weapons/armor are unique in the way they look and the way they affect fighting enemies.

If you go into Morrowind/Skyrim blind then that game is chock full of the moments you're describing.

Dark Souls as well, (again, if you're going in blind without spoilers).

Destiny is a huge letdown in many regards, this one included.

Something funny I just remembered about destiny. Remember the weapon the girl gives you at the end of the main story? All I remember is it being garbage and dismantling it immediately. That gun basically sums up why destiny is such garbage.

I think WoW sort of accomplished this early on in its lifespan before websites with item databases became a thing. With the body of quests and items in that game, knowledge of less commonly found items was sort of esoteric, and people regularly asked "where did you get that?" Silly gimmick trinkets from long quest lines and faction reputation tended to generate such inquiries in particular. So some extent, this continued on into later expansions as well, depending on how up to date one was with the databases and wikis. Maybe that's not exactly the same as what Bungie intended, but it does seem to be in a similar vein.

One of my earliest "Aha!" gaming moments was playing Morrowind.

I had completed some quest, and in going to turn it in, I accidentally killed the person I was meant to talk to. This was especially frustrating, as I've never played those games as someone who'd murder the innocent. So as any rational gamer would, I ran out of town to find a fun way to kill my character as penance for that dastardly deed. Realizing I was near the coast line, the obvious choice was drowning. I picked a direction, and planned to swim straight to oblivion... until I noticed a glimmer in the sea bed.

Paying no heed to the breath meter, I plummeted to the bottom to investigate, realizing all too late that my suicide plan might make that mystery an eternal one. I looted as fast as I could mash my keyboard, and desperately swam back to the surface to gulp in some precious digital air just seconds before the gods took me.

I had completely accidentally stumbled upon Fin Gleam, an ancient glass helm, enchanted with permanent water breathing.

From thence forth, I roamed Tamriel born again. I had atoned for my crime and RNGesus had rewarded me with a way that would never allow me to drown my sorrows away again.

Fucking. Amazing.