This week I’m going to talk more about the different aspects of the Hunter, the various focuses and my impressions. This is a fairly large post so continue after the jump to continue reading.
Alpha Impressions
Video Game Tuesday: Destiny [Alpha Impressions Day 1]
This week I’m going over Destiny’s Alpha with my first day impressions of it. I got only two hours into the game, but I’ll be talking more about it in the next few weeks with my impressions over the 3 day Alpha.
Plot Synopsis: Destiny is set seven hundred years into the future in a post-apocalyptic setting following a prosperous period of exploration, peace and technological advancement known as theGolden Age. In a universe where humans have spread out and colonized planets in the Solar System, an event known as “the Collapse” saw the mysterious dissolution of these colonies, the end of the Golden Age, and mankind teetering on the brink of extinction. The only known survivors of the Collapse are those living on Earth, who were saved by “the Traveller”, a white, spherical celestial body whose appearance centuries before had enabled humans to reach the stars. The Traveller now hovers above the last remaining human city, and its presence allows the “Guardians of the City”—the last defenders of the human race—the ability to wield an unknown power, only referred to as “The Light”.
Upon mankind’s first attempt to repopulate and reconstruct after the Collapse, it is discovered that hostile alien races have occupied mankind’s former colonies and civilizations and are now encroaching upon the City. The player takes on the role of a Guardian of the City, and is tasked with investigating and destroying these threats before humanity is completely wiped out.
Plot: So far it’s really mysterious and it definitely evoked that zerg-like vibe when I stumbled upon the Hive (think zombies in Space) in the lone story mission that I’ve accessed so far.
Gameplay: I spent my first day playing as a Hunter, the class I’ll be playing most often most likely, it’s a fast moving character who prefers precision and speed over the heavy armored Titan class or space-magic using Warlock. I was impressed with the amount of customization I was able to do to my character. I chose to be an Awoken female, but I probably will end up just playing as a Human Female depending on their different animations. For some reason it bugs me when I hit the wave emote that I bow.
Battles: That said I was really impressed with how the Hunter felt and played. I was able to choose a Scout Rifle, think the DMR from Halo 4 or Reach, and instantly fell in love with that class of weapons. I also used a shotgun until I picked up a Sniper Rifle to switch it out with, and I got a rare Heavy Weapon off a enemy. It’s a heavy machine gun, but I don’t mind too much as it does what looks like Frost damage to enemies. I’m glad that it’s hard to run out of ammo for my primary weapon, but the sniper rifle and heavy weapon definitely were stuff to be used only in emergencies as the ammo drops off enemies are rare for those weapons. I do have one complaint and that is for your special weapon, like the shotgun or sniper rifle, that when you switch between them you instantly lose all ammo you had. I understand why you’d do that for the Heavy weapons, but it’s just annoying for the special weapons.
Abilities: A hunter is based on precision and speed, and while I’m only level 5 or 6 I still feel really powerful once I get my power ability called “The Golden Gun” (Really? You need to get a better name for it Bungie!) that gives me a super powered hand-cannon that wrecks enemies. It only has 3 shots and lasts for about 10 seconds so you can waste it if you don’t get off the shots in time. I’m going to try and probably fail at getting to level 15 to see how the other super ability works for Hunters, as I always prefer melee weapons in any game and see how the supercharged sword I get works out.
Multiplayer: I haven’t touched the PvP multiplayer yet, and probably won’t in the Alpha at all to be honest, as I dislike PvP in games and prefer co-op modes. I’d love it if you could sign up for Strikes and get a random team to go into them with. Or that they scaled based on the people in the mission so I can solo them. I did run into a few other players out in the world in the exploration area that was open and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was to just snipe from a few hills away an enemy that was about to kill another player. It was kind of cool to see them wave to me through my sniper rifle’s scope. However after about 15 minutes they all seemed to disappear and I really hope that when the game launches that I’ll see the entire map full of people fighting enemies. Because that’s what an MMO is all about and this game is definitely an MMO.
Music: The music in this game is amazing and during that first encounter with the Hive in that story mission I was nearly scared to death by the sudden change in music. Needless to say I panicked and started running around like a ninny until I realized that I could hide behind a corner and scope down enemies as they came at me. That is until a pack of enemies I killed a few rooms behind me respawned and murdered me.
Artwork: This world looks amazing and I’m quite impressed with how it looks on the PS4, which is the version I’ll be getting at launch. Just take a look at this awesome world!
Overall: I’m impressed enough to cement my decision to pre-order the game in the next few days, and if you enjoy space shooters and want it to have a real story and have freaking Peter Dinklage, better known as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, be your guide in this world you’ll love this game.
For those who like: Space Operas, Sci-Fi, FPS games, MMOs, Bungie Games, Amazing worlds, Peter Dinklage as your guide.
Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate Peter Dinklage?
Windborne's Story Eatery 