Well who would have thunk it? According to a massive report from Kotaku's always informative Jason Schreier, Destiny as we know it was cobbled together in a very short space of time following the decision to scrap its original story.
Sources say that upon showing Bungie's top brass a 'supercut' of the title's major plot points, the senior staff members weren't impressed - and this was in 2013, a year before the game would eventually release. Basically, this means that the writing team had less than 12 months to create an entirely new narrative that could still work alongside some of the missions that the developer had already crafted. No wonder it lacked any kind of cohesive structure.
Apparently, the original plot had a lot more to do with the artificial intelligence known as Rasputin. It also featured more characters, and each mission was to be bookended by cutscenes, some of which were supposedly lengthy cinematic scenarios. One interviewee even states that the Dreadnaught - the new location from The Taken King expansion - was originally going to appear in the main release, and that it'd play host to the last third of the plot. When the story was slashed to bits, the Dreadnaught was cut completely and moved to one side, ready to be reused at a later date.
Likewise, the plot itself was shoved away from the spotlight as the studio ramped up for the shooter's release. Instead of spending any more time on its now butchered narrative, Bungie focussed on polishing existing gameplay mechanics, and so we were left with a half-baked story that had been stitched together as quickly as possible.
Certainly answers a lot of questions, doesn't it?
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 30
wait Destiny had a story!!!!!!!!!
I actually decided to take a look back at the original launch trailer at E3 and the first gameplay footage as I'd never seen them. The thing that shocked me the most was that a level 4 player, got an exotic engram on his first mission and it was Thunderlord, and his friend, (level 10 I believe) was rocking a Gally!
Kotaku is garbage though, and I don't trust anything that they report.
Though I can't say I would be surprised if this was truly the case.
It's a shame Activision did this to the game.
They should have known better than to scrap the story. It would hve been better by default lol.
It's a shame that Destiny is classed as a success, personally I think it was a utterly CRAP game and Bungie have completely lost my trust.
What I find interesting in the article is that Destiny 2 is meant to be coming this time next year.
@thatguyEZ Regardless of personal views of Kotaku, the site has dug up info numerous times that turned out to be absolutely bang on the money - sometimes months before the truth comes out. Jason Schreier is especially good at this.
That's marketing for ya, ruining games and computer science since the late nineties.... Lol
@thatguyEZ totally agree
Halo ODST story was awful - maybe that happened to Bungie then too.
Hearing about this pre-release mess, I'm amazed that Destiny launched in the state that it did
Really wishing I could have gotten a refund before it was too late
@ShogunRok Def agree, I did my own research months ago and drew the same conclusion. that E3 trailer on youtube is the best example.
My question is why Bungie's leaders let Activision take the reigns? and did Bungie actually make the call to butcher Destiny or Activision?
The story is mindblowingly deep, reduced me to tears.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi We should start running a 'best of the comments section' weekly article and just feature your scorn every time.
@DirectAim I really dont think it was bungie. The game feels rushed. and we find out that the story seemed much more intricate, with more weight to them. I think it was activision. I think they wanted to get paid asap, and rushed Bungie to finish a game that was not ready.
@wittypixel I personally think it was Activision.
Here's a funny thing, I've a got friend who told me not to support Activision by getting COD: Black Ops 3 but he plays Destiny pretty much everyday. Not only that, he bought both the vanilla and TTK Collector's Editions.
@wittypixel Could be both… after seeing Luke Smith's interview I wouldn't be surprised if Bungie had a part in it too.
@ShogunRok thanks, the story if pretty naff but I don't know what people expect, it's still just a shooter with frills
Lets be honest here - this isn't exactly new news. This has been said many times over the last few months - maybe not quite as specific but certainly that they changed the direction and 'story' after the departure of Marty O'Donnell.
I do feel that the mission structure is more suited to the end-game content where each can be the 'daily mission'. They seem to follow a similar structure to 'strikes' culminating in a 'boss' or wave type fight with little to no cut-scenes. Each also is relatively short too. Personally I feel this type of structure is better suited than a long, cut-scene mission that may or may not end on a conclusion. Some missions in other games end in a way to make you want to continue into the next where as Destiny's feel more like an ending of that specific event. To me this is a more satisfactory way to end each mission in the end game although it does affect the 'campaign'.
As I am not an employee of Bungie or Activision, I don't know the exact reason things were changed at quite a late stage in the development. I can't deny that I think the lore and universe that Bungie have created around Destiny would/could have been a great campaign in the traditional sense but I do think it could have impacted on the end-game content too. I doubt many missions would have been suitable as a Daily. I doubt many people replay a traditional campaign more than once or twice - certainly not in the first year. I also doubt that anyone has played the more traditional campaign missions as much as Destiny players have played their 'story' missions.
Whether this 'Structure' was in the game prior to the changes mentioned above or that was one of the reasons Bungie opted to change, I guess we may never know for sure. I doubt it was the first game to have some radical changes in the latter stages of development and I doubt it will be the last.
I certainly feel they nailed the game-play mechanics and over a year later, many people are still playing. I doubt many games have as many hours invested in it per person as this with many players investing thousands of hours
Everybody makes mistakes and after Taken King they have redeemed themselves IMO. How many people here complaining are so perfect in their careers or their lives? I can't wait to see where Destiny goes next - for me definitely one of the best shooters I've ever played. The gameplay more than compensates for 1st year bitty story. Hope next Destiny expansion carries on with great storytelling.
My honest interpretation is that the reviewed their "existing assets" and decided that they had to spread content thinly to eek out enough DLC launches, which we know they are contractually obligated to. The story, or rather lack of it, is a consequence of this asset economy; as things are held back from the main narrative, it naturally suffers and Bungie appear to lack the skill to cover that up.
@BAMozzy The original article on Kotaku is much more of an interesting read, albeit too lengthy.
http://kotaku.com/the-messy-true-story-behind-the-making-of-destiny-1737556731
Don't sell them the full steak you fools! Chop it into tiny bite sized bits, every time they get hungry offer another bite.
Don't sell them the full steak you fools! Chop it into tiny bite sized bits, every time they get hungry offer another bite.
Whatever issues there are with the story, Destiny is a fantastic game that gets more than its fair share of hate. It's far and away the best value game I've owned since I was a youngster (when I would replay the same game again and again - I just don't do that as an adult!), even including the cost of the DLCs. I've sunk nearly 200 hours into it, and there's no sign of that stopping any time soon.
I am glad for the people who enjoy this game. That is the point of gaming- to have a good time, otherwise it would be called work. However, destiny feels like work to me. Every time I hear something new about it it just reinforces my decision to abstain. I will continue to sneak around afghanistan with snake and soon shoot some storm troopers in the dome.
@Ps4all if this site had a like button, I'd have clicked on it here. Well said, we all like different stuff - just play and enjoy rather than spewing hate on to those who don't agree with you
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