Bungie's Destiny

[wittyscorpion]

May 3, 2014 13:51:32 GMT -5 -3055- said:

IM NOT NEAR A COMPUTER ATM. GIVE ME THE IMPORTANT POINTS.

I could give it a try but I can't really do nearly as good as a job of these 2 videos. This guy was able to cover all the essential points leart in under 30 minutes, very good job IMHO. Strongly recommend watching them, much clearer and more efficient than trying to make sense out of articles.

That said, below are my quick notes regarding the core game play only (aka the combat sandbox):

As a long time Halo player, I can see the familiar gun fight elements in the video. Halo players will feel right at the home with this game.

New game play elements introduced are

1) "Focus" that ties "Super" and other abilities together. In general, the abilities are designed to serve the "Super".
2) For each character class, two Focuses are revealed (most likely the ones unlocked right off the bat);
3) "Super": a special ability that need to be charged before can be used (e.g: the gold pistol, which does insane amount of the damage);
4) Each character class has its own unique vertical movement: e.g.: Hunter has double jump, Titan has jet pack;
5) Each character class also has its own unique melee: e.g.: Titan's shoulder rush, Hunter's throwing knife;
6) There are also seem be horizontal movements as well;
7) Elemental effects: "arc", "fire"(?), "void";

[-3055-]

Thanks.

So halo styled FPS experience with borderlands oriented RPG? I already love it.

As a person who have never played halo, what does the game "feel" like compared to cod?

[wittyscorpion]

I am sure that many bros on this board can give much better analysis than I can, I'll give it a shot first:

1) TTK (from Competitive MP point of view): CoD is a twitch shooter with very fast TTK. In comparison Halo is on the other end of the spectrum. While CoD encounters are all about who sees who first and use the right weapon for the right engagement range, Halo encounters are more like a duel, with players exchanging several shots with each other before the outcome can be decided;

Destiny: Bungie claimed that Destiny's TTK will be somewhere in the middle;

2) Weapon wise Halo's focus is on semi-auto / burst. Automatic weapons are very weak;

Destiny is going to have a much better variety of weapons, more like Borderlands than Halo. Based on what I read from the press articles, looks like Bungie still maintains their preference on semi-auto, as automatic weapons feel lukewarm at the best.

3) In Halo MP: Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, and Rocket Launcher are considered power weapons that can't be directly equipped. They have to be picked up by knowing when and where they are spawned (except for Halo 4), or "earned" in Halo 4;

Destiny introduces 3 weapon slots: primary, secondary, and "heavy". Seems to me that all weapons of the same category share the same ammunition type, possibly color coded for easy identification. In particular, the heavy slot seems to come from Halo's "power weapon" heritage. They can now be equipped as part of players' "Focus" (like loadouts in CoD), but ammunitions are much more scarce, so players still need careful planning when using them;

4) (with the exception of the original Halo), Halo's health system is shield based, with a little bit of health underneath (since it is pretty small, no health packs are needed to "restore" health). To kill an enemy with shields (other players in MP, or the main opposing NPCs in campaign), shields need to be stripped first, after which a headshot, or a follow up melee, or > 1 body shots, will do the job. As a result, headshot ability is a pretty important skill in Halo;

Destiny's health system seems to be consisted of shield and health, more like Borderlands 2.

5) Due to the sci-fi nature of Halo, it has a set of "direct energy" weaponry (besides the traditional projectile/bullet based weaponry). Such weapons are effective at stripping shields, but weak at the final kill;

Destiny seems to have even more variety in this regard. On top of that, it also has the "elemental effects" borrowed from Borderlands.

6) Melee: In Halo, "back stab" melee is one hit kill. front melee can only strip the shield;

Destiny seems to have a more elaborate melee system, with each character class having its own special melee moves.

7) Enemy on mini map: in Halo, this is motion based. Static players or players that are crouch walking won't show up on the mini map.

[-3055-]

Never playing it there's no way to be sure but it sound like I'd love halo. And consequently Destiny.

[wittyscorpion]

May 4, 2014 12:01:41 GMT -5 -3055- said:

Never playing it there's no way to be sure but it sound like I'd love halo. And consequently Destiny.

Bungie has already said that PvP (competitive MP) will be playable at next Month's E3. We can see how fans feel about it.

Offering an extended free beta is a great gesture to the player community, it also shows their confidence about the game. Doubters complain about the fact that preorder is required to get into beta, IMHO that's not an issue to bitch about at all. People can always perorder, play the beta, and simply cancel the preorder if not liking it.

For bros who have not yet preordered, I suggest doing so before E3. Beta date is expected to be announced during E3, and I am sure that as soon as that happens lots of players will pre-order to get into beta. Since Bungie may have a limited number of slots for beta access, do so earlier than that will be wise.

One not well known fact is that you can choose the platform to play beta, not necessarily the same platform that you preordered the game on. For example: some players are still deciding on when to buy the next gen console and Destiny is the game they are waiting for. In this case, they can preorder the game for XONE/PS4 but play the beta on X360/PS3, and only buy the console and the game if satisfied with the experience.

[n1gh7]

As someone who played a crap ton of Halo, witty got the differences between Halo and COD down. The only thing I would add is that Halo is more fluid and floaty compared to COD's tightness. I'm sure you've heard people in COD complaining about "Halo jumping" and what not. Basically the aiming and movement in COD is very tight compared to Halo. Your jumps don't propel you very high and you fall back to the ground quickly, while in Halo you jump higher and seem to fall back to the ground more slowly. You don't lose forward momentum when you jump and if you land on an angled surface, your downward momentum will get translated into horizontal (depending on the angle of the surface and all that). Also the act of crouching and uncrouching in Halo has some force to it, as opposed to COD where changing stance just kinda changes your player model. Due to this (and map design) gunfights in Halo have more verticality. In Halo you can get onto higher ground during a gunfight and disrupt the flow of the engagement while giving yourself an advantage. In COD when 2 people engage each other, they tend to stay at the same vertical position for the duration of the engagement and only move in the horizontal (with the exception of an occasional dropshot).

The difference in TTK also makes cover more important in COD than Halo where during an engagement, you'll want to force your opponent to miss shots while still hitting your own, with the long TTK prolonging an engagement can be extremely detrimental to a team that is trying to complete an objective.

Anyways, I can go on and on, but that's the basics of it.

If you're in the US, Amazon pre-order won't charge you anything until the game ships and they send you the beta code right away and you can cancel at any time. (The beta code will still work even if you cancel the pre-order too)

[wittyscorpion]

What n1gh7 said about the fluid vs. tightness is actually one of the huge differences between the two games. I had a feeling that I missed something big that I don't know how to describe in words, n1ght7 nailed it.

Another big difference: in Halo team shooting is very important. A good team wants to get into 2 (or more) on 1 as much as possible, because even one extra bullet from a teammate can mean the night and day for the outcome of the duel.

[Deleted]

Two on one is always a fun thing.

[wittyscorpion]

New video explaining the weapon system and looting in Destiny:



Regarding weapon:

Destiny's arsenal is vast and varied: fire-spewing shotguns and head-melting fusion rifles coexist beside traditional pistols and rifles. Weapons span three broad categories: Primary (autorifles and hand cannons), Special (shotguns and sniper rifles), and Heavy (rockets and belt-fed machineguns).

There's plenty of variety within each category, too. The autorifle sub-category include burst-fire pulse rifles, single-shot carbines, and an array of full-auto assault rifles that prove murderously effective at close range. Despite the sprawling arsenal, Bungie's designers are taking pains to hand-tune each weapon's look, feel, and lore, making them feel like natural extensions of the game's fiction, not the expressions of some rampant computer algorithm.

Regarding loot: loot is private to each player, tailored to player's interest. So no need to worry about fighting for loot.

[-3055-]

Full auto shotguns only please. Thank you.

[wittyscorpion]

ActiVision just announced during their earning call that Destiny beta will begin some time in July. PS players will have earlier access.

On a related note: Activision is spending over $500 million to develop and market Destiny. This is the most expensive game that is being made, and Activision is placing high bets on it being successful: www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/06/us-activision-destiny-idUSBREA4501F20140506?feedType=RSS

CEO Bobby Kotick revealed the number, which dwarfs Hollywood spending on some of its biggest firms, during the Milken conference in Los Angeles last week. A company spokesperson said on Monday the number was accurate but also included marketing, packaging, infrastructure support, royalties and other costs.

“If you’re making a $500 million bet you can’t take that chance with someone else’s IP,” Activision CEO told the Milken conference. “The stakes for us are getting bigger.”

[wittyscorpion]

E3 is coming in 2 weeks and Destiny's competitive MP will be playable by fans. Below is a fan's recount of everything released so far, pre-E3 edition:

www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post?id=65087528

[wittyscorpion]

Interesting development on the Marty O'Donnell incident: kotaku.com/halo-theme-composer-sues-bungie-1587220892

Composer Marty O'Donnell, the man responsible for Halo's iconic theme song, is suing his former company Bungie for not paying benefits he claims he is owed

[n1gh7]

Whatever compensation that is being sued over is probably just a drop in the bucket of Bungie's total operating expenses. Even when doubled. I think that Marty is still a co-owner of Bungie even though he was fired from his position, which makes this whole thing a bit weird. From reading the document, it seems like Marty is having problems with Harold Ryan specifically, as he mentions that Bungie's standard procedure would be to pay out, but that Harold blocked this. There was probably some internal tension at Bungie with Harold that got Marty fired.

To make it clear, Marty is suing Harold specifically for blocking his payout after getting fired, not Bungie.

[wittyscorpion]

So the PS4 exclusive beta access appears to be 4 days only? Make you wonder how long the beta period is. I would hope at least a month?

[-3055-]

Tis lotsa tabs bro

[n1gh7]

So there has been alpha gameplay leaked.

It's pretty cool. Watching it now.

[-3055-]

So what exactly determines a game's alpha/beta/finished stage?

[n1gh7]

The devs.

[Dumien]

Destiny is the first game in forever where I feel pumped for its release. Especially since I'm going nex-gen shortly.

[mannon]

I thought they were releasing last-gen versions of it as well? Personally I'm pretty much done with last gen consoles other than wanting to grab a few of the PS3 exclusive classics for cheap someday, or anything cheap/free from PSN. 90% of the older games I would still want to play on either 360 or PS3 I can and would prefer to get on PC.

Eventually I'll prolly get a PS4, though. There's some cool games on there not on PC and a few from PS3 getting PS4 remakes that I'd rather play than the original... well, Last of Us really. I already have GTAV on PS3 and prolly won't rebuy it for PS4, but you never know.

[wittyscorpion]

On a related news, MSFT is releasing June SDK that hopefully can even the battle field a little bit on graphics. Bungie is going to use it to improve Destiny's resolution.

June Xbox One software dev kit gives devs access to more GPU bandwidth. More performance, new tools and flexibility to make games better.

PS4 probably still have the edge on graphics, but hopefully with help from software the gap between the two won't be too significant.

[mannon]

That's probably good all around. Don't want Sony getting too comfortable with themselves.

[wittyscorpion]

Destiny news:

1) Alpha on PSN this weekend, sign up required. Excited to finally see some live streaming on Twitch (I am sure people got in alpha will be doing that)

2) Beta on PS4 starts on 07/17, other platforms "soon after";

3) Special white PS4+Destiny bundle priced at $449.99;

4) Exclusive content on PS: weapons, ships, gear, 1 strike mission, 1 MP map;

[wittyscorpion]

Destiny MP info:

1) 6 v 6
2) Vehicles are part of the combat sandbox;
3) Map control is just as important as Halo. ammo drop (color coded for the 3 weapon slots, primary, secondary, and heavy) instead of power weapon drop will be the focus;
4) Headshot and team shooting are just as important as in Halo;
5) Player shield/health will be visible to others, like Titans in Titanfall. This is an interesting change and will significantly affect how combat is going to be played out;
6) Super meter is filled up by getting kills and completing objectives. Death won't cause it to reset. This should reward aggressive play over camping. Once activated, it must be used before the timer expires (similar to Titan's core ability in Titanfall);
7) The game play has the feel of Halo, but more fast paced; (along with more weapon variety it should be more accessible to CoD fans);
8) 3 classes have different strengths (like the Titan choices in Titanfall): Titan - more armor, Hunter - more agile, Warlock - recover health faster;
9) Real time of the day engine is used for MP as well; (If I understand correctly, this means the lighting on these maps changes depending on when you play, giving you different look and feel);

Game play videos like the following have started showing up online. The MP game play looks great to me. Not as twitchy as CoD, and not as one dimensional as Halo in terms of variety and style.

[wittyscorpion]

Jun 9, 2014 14:03:23 GMT -5 wittyscorpion said:

On a related news, MSFT is releasing June SDK that hopefully can even the battle field a little bit on graphics. Bungie is going to use it to improve Destiny's resolution.

June Xbox One software dev kit gives devs access to more GPU bandwidth. More performance, new tools and flexibility to make games better.

PS4 probably still have the edge on graphics, but hopefully with help from software the gap between the two won't be too significant.

Looks like with the help of this SDK Bungie is able to get 1080P / 30 FPS on XONE: thedestinyblog.com/2014/06/10/bungie-reportedly-states-it-will-get-destiny-to-1080p30fps-on-xbox-one-thanks-to-new-xbox-sdk/

[Dumien]

So yeah... Peter Dinklage is voicing the main hovery Navi thing. +2 points for Destiny.

[wittyscorpion]

Destiny's game mode list:

1) Crucible - competitive MP, with its own sub game mode, like "Control", which is like CoD's Domination mode
2) Explore - free roaming in the open world
3) Strike - quick co-op missions usually end with a boss fight that provides loot;
4) Tower - the place where players (called "Guardians" in game) socialize (think Sanctuary in Borderlands 2);
5) Story - campaign story missions;
6) Raid - difficult, time consuming missions to take down very tough boss; (it was reported that in one of the tests it took a team of players 16 hours to finally "solve" a Raid);

Game play videos from DattoDoesDestiny:

Player customization:



Explore:



Tower:



Story:

[wittyscorpion]

Bungie's co-founder Jason Jones explains what Destiny is in 7 minutes:

[wittyscorpion]

If you own an PS4 and have not signed up for the alpha yet, you may want to do so soon because looks like everybody who signed up will get in:

segmentnext.com/interstitial.html?return_url=http://segmentnext.com/2014/06/12/you-will-definitely-get-destiny-alpha-if-you-sign-up/

BTW, live streaming already started on twitch.