I Hate Destiny, We All Should

After months of hearing people tell me to give Destiny (my pick for biggest disappointment in gaming last year by the way) another chance, I finally decided to. I'm not going to mince words here: Nothing has changed for the better. I can, I'll admit, see what people want from the game, but as for what it is right now? It is still the same grind and farm heavy, outright joke of a shooter/MMO hybrid that it always was.

The idea that people expect me to buy the expansions for the "true experience" disgusts me. I already paid full price for the game, how about making that something that isn't a boring, loot denying piece of shit? Fix that first, then we'll talk about possible season pass nonsense. Flat out, you all have Stockholm syndrome and it makes me feel bad for you. They make one small change to how loot works and everyone acts like it's the second coming for this thing. Destiny isn't a game, it's a grinding simulator. No more, no less.

The story, what little there is of it that doesn't require you to go to their website to read up on, is trash. The reward/loot system rewards farming and not skill. Multiplayer only exists to deny you end match rewards...regardless of how well or badly you do (It's all random. You could be top player and get nothing or be last place and get a legendary weapon). There are way, WAY too many currencies in the game for no real reason beyond "Here's what you bought the expansion for!".

I want to like what Bungie set out to do, but here, where the only thing to really do is the same three mission types or farm "House Of Wolves" enemy spawns at the chance for something, anything worth claiming as a reward? No. Fuck them and fuck us all for falling for it. You can't even use a matchmaking system to get a group ready for a strike (i.e. A Raid, basically). You have to either hope a friend is on who you can pester to go along with you or use a completely different (and separate from Bungie's own) website to find a group. Sure, you could conceivably get lumped in with randoms but it never worked consistently for me.

The only redeeming quality of the entire game is that the shooting feels nice and the controls work well. Anything good that could otherwise be said about Destiny is hidden behind so much terribly designed bullshit that, at this point, if you buy Destiny 2, I would seriously consider checking yourself into an asylum. Any support for this kind of haphazardly designed drek might as well just come with a straight jacket and be done with it.

Witcher 3 Works Now, Rejoice

That is, honestly, some serious hyperbole: Witcher 3: Wild Hunt actually worked fine for me to begin with. People were having trouble with quests, but as of the most recent patch, things are back to (relatively smooth) sailing. No crashes, save deletion bugs or anything like that, knock on wood of course. Just a whole lot of witchin'.

In the promotional talk for the game, it was often stated that it would take about 200 hours to finish everything in the base game and, having put about forty hours or so in myself, I could easily see that happening. Even a simple "Go and get this for me" quest can become a huge multi hour story line at the drop of a hat. Also, unlike it's nearest design competitor Skyrim, Witcher 3 doesn't force your hand on most things. Here's the choice and the quest. Will you pursue it? That's on you. Skyrim always felt like anything you did was just filler because, oftentimes, it damn well was. Each quest I've gone on in Witcher 3, regardless of it's actual content, made me feel like I was part of something more. You're not some hero out to save the world here. You are merely a man who has the power to help those willing to help him.

Long story short: You have a purpose to fulfill, not a prophecy. It's such a refreshing change to be in a world that actually feels like people live in it instead of merely going through the "Someone save us all!" chant whenever you walk by. Actually had an elf tell me to piss off because, even though I helped her this one time, she asked "Where will you be tomorrow? Or the days after that when the prosecution gets even worse?" You're not a god to these folks. Just a man who could possibly serve a purpose.

Like I said, refreshing to not have to play the role of yet another messiah type character. These people have seen some shit and, like it or not, they have far more important things to do with their virtual lives than stroke your ego 24/7. Love it. Gritty with great combat and little hand holding to get in the way.

Two Sides, One Coin

Both are games but, because Destiny was (and still is) an over-hyped POS, Witcher 3 has been dominating most of my recent playtime. Do you care? I doubt it, but eh, why not ramble for a while, you know?

Later peoples.