Yesterday, Bungie released the first gameplay trailer for Destiny 2 at an event in Los Angeles and on their Twitch stream. This latest installment in the franchise will be much different than its predecessor. For example, the characters in this story will–instead of focusing on the multi-planetary excursions that Destiny players are used to–battle to take back Earth’s Last City from an invading alien force (from the trailer, it looks like the Cabal). It’ll be our job, as Guardians, to retake our home and keep the Traveler from harm, the only life force capable of protecting the Earth in the future. Check out the trailer below.
As a fan of Destiny 1, although disappointed with the lack of depth to the story and characters, I believe that Bungie is heading in the right direction with Destiny 2. Similar reports come from The Verge on the issue. Even in this gameplay trailer, we see a group of characters, all with distinguished personalities and skills, fighting together to protect Earth’s Last City. These are additions we didn’t see much of in the first installment. We had Peter Dinklage (later replaced by Nolan North due to Dinklage not being as available as Bungie had hoped) playing the infamous Ghost. As unique as the sentient little robot was, he just wasn’t enough to carry an already flawed story on what he’d call his ‘back’. Granted, there were other characters, but rarely did we discover who they truly were; a key element any great story should include. The lack of depth made for an underwhelming experience when it came to playing the campaign.
In Destiny 2, players will be able to carry over their characters from Destiny 1 but not any of their gear. This is an interesting choice on the part of Bungie, as it allows players to continue to use characters they’ve invested time in, but not the gear that took much more time to obtain. But this decision makes sense, after all, there’ll be a whole new set of gear and weapons to collect in Destiny 2. What makes this venture a bit more comforting is that Bungie has plans to make Destiny 2 less of a chore (like the first game) and more of a fun activity to be enjoyed with the whole community.
In fact, Bungie is introducing a new matchmaking system, Guided Games, which will allow solo players to join Raids or Nightfalls with clans or other groups. In the first Destiny you needed a set team before you could go into a Raid or Nightfall, but with Guided Games, the whole experience becomes a lot easier to achieve. No more waiting around for your friends to get on. Instead, you can search for a group to play with based on certain criteria (kid-friendly, competitive, for fun, etc.).
If you’ve played Destiny 1, then you know the time-consuming and frustrating feeling I’m talking about. With the amount of gear and weapons to collect and the number of materials needed to obtain the gear or weapons, the daily grind felt like a job in which you’d rather call out sick from. There was simply too much to do with only a few ways to do it. For example, I remember sitting in front of this cave on Earth because the enemies pouring out of there were known to drop Legendary weapons and gear every so often. But Bungie wants to prevent these kinds of things from happening. Destiny 2 will be focused on removing a lot of that grind found in Destiny 1 so that those who play the game don’t end up feeling like the game is their destiny. There may be a whole new lot of weapons and gear to collect, but at least it won’t be as difficult (and time-consuming) to obtain them. All of these elements are essential changes.
Destiny 2 will feature brand new Exotic Weapons and Armor. pic.twitter.com/zQsu5sKpO5
— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) May 18, 2017
The gameplay trailer shows how aspects of Destiny 1 leak into the new and improved Destiny 2. We see classes we’ve seen before with similar or new (like the flaming Warlock sword) abilities. We get an idea of how the story compares to the first game, and the lengths Bungie went to ensure that there was more depth than before. In turn, we get the feeling that the game will be less of a grind and more of what video games have always stood for: fun. Bungie confirms this feeling, and they also promise to make the game a better social experience. Destiny 2 will be released on September 8 to Xbox One, PS4, and a little later on PC. Stay tuned for more news regarding the game as we near its release date.
