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jp's Destiny 2 (PS4)
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| [January 11, 2021 06:43:47 PM]
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I quit playing in March 2020 or so, didn't get the expansion that was coming out around then, and I haven't picked up the newest one either. I stopped mostly because the social group I was playing with dissipated (or schedules diverged) and it wasn't as fun anymore.
However, I picked it up again over xmas break mostly because some friends wanted to play and I said it was a great co-op experience. (which it is).
And wow, stuff has changed and I don't understand any of the systems anymore (the armor, the upgrading, etc.). So, I'm just "levelling up" my light level - and swapping out better light-level loot and we'll see how far this goes.
HOWEVER, I did get to play a few strikes with a friend new to the game (whose light level was, at the time, higher than mine!) and it was a REAL blast to play and vicariously experience the game's strikes with someone 100% new to them. It helped that I didn't remember everything necessarily (e.g. oh, here we need to do this to then do that and move on here) so it was "fresh" for me as well to a certain extent.
And, it just made me remember and appreciate how good this game just feels to play and move around in (the shooting is still the best - feel-wise).
Not sure how much longer this will go - it's mostly dependent on other people I want to play with, but we'll see?
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| [October 19, 2017 12:36:46 PM]
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Beat the raid the other night! I was lucky to get "called in" for just the ending (Calus) - which was the only part I had been unable to clear. After several attempts with different groups. The next evening I came in, again to help, with the ending - and this time got to do the "other dimension" part which - strangely, I found easier to do (less likely to die) so long as everyone in that dimension works well together (thought I did cause two team-wipes)
Overall thoughts on the raid? I think changing the order of the encounters every week is interesting - but weirdly detracts from any narrative/dramatic arcs that could be used - one of the things I enjoyed about the Wrath of the Machine (and Vault of Glass) is that you really felt like you were traveling somewhere special... and although the giant spaceship is a cool location, it feels much more like a bunch of encounters stitched together. It doesn't feel like an epic quest.
That being said, the encounters are interesting - I like how the raid is more about teamwork and collaboration than DPS. Yes, there is DPS - but there's less emphasis on that, and I think the damage multiplier mechanic for the DPS rounds (in Calus and the dog gardens) is a neat way to address that issue. I'm not a fan of the Castellan-repeats...and I have yet to really chew into the underbelly parts. Oh, and the keys? I hate that they wipe and I'm not enthused by the fact that, once you beat the raid, you have to go back to open the chests...
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| [September 29, 2017 12:56:10 PM]
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I played a guided game last night. It was fun, exciting, and there was a lot of weird... Prior to this I had only seen two of the raid areas as I was invited to join an existing group that had lost a member. One area (gauntlet) I knew pretty well - having spent at least a few hours trying to clear it. The other (gardens) I had only played for maybe 15 minutes before the group disbanded when someone else dropped out.
Here's a few quick impressions of the guided game experience:
a. I waited 45 minutes, a little bit more I think. When I signed in this was the expected (advertised) wait time, so I'm not bringing this up to show that I was angry/surprised/or disappointed... The main thing about the wait is that I couldn't really do much while I waited - I fiddled around a bit with my gear, but other than that I sat with my headset on and my phone in my hand. What I would have really liked would be an opportunity to, say, tootle around on a planet and then get "summoned", say, a few minutes before it's "go time". I don't think this is really that feasible, but it might make the waiting experience better? Either way, once the invite came in you only have about 30 seconds to accept it...I think. It sort of caught me by surprise when I saw it and I was confused because it looked like Iwas getting invited to do a nightfall...but that might be because the group that invited also did those?
b. I accept the invite...and then..I'm in orbit with 5 other people! Yay! I'm starting to get really excited because I hadn't see the raid from the start. I quickly get a friend invite which I accept and, unsurprisingly, soon after I get an invite to the party chat. But the PS party chat - I'm guessing people really don't like the in-game voice chat..and to be fair the PS experience is generally better? (also, it keeps on running if someone bails in the game or gets disconnected - which helps)
c. I sheepishly start talking and... I get answers in Portuguese! Uh oh. We quickly figure out that at least one person speaks English so we can go ahead..and we chat so they know what I know/don't know. I'm now really curious to know what this looks like on the guide end - do you sign up and say what languages you speak? Does the location thing just randomly give you a group? Might I run into French players next? It's weird because I often do play with spanish-speakers from latin america...but never with Brazilians! It also turns out that of the 5, all Brazilian, one was living in the US, so maybe that's how it worked? Anyways, curious to know how matchmaking happens...
d. We spent a LOT of time on the gauntlet which is the first part of the raid (but maybe not really because the order changes). We also spent a lot of time lost trying to get to the bathhouse. It was a bit frustrating and I'm not sure this'll make for a good new raider experience...because the getting lost part was...well, I had a lot of downtime just sitting around with another dude waiting to know where to go.
e. We weren't able to finish the raid because the game glitched out severely on the boss. It had been glitchy (graphics glitches for me) and laggy prior to this, but this was pretty bad. So we all bailed...
f. If you bail or such you lose rep/points... I'm not sure what happened here. Did my Brazilian raid-guides lose points? I hope not, but I'm not sure what to do about it....
Either way, MUITO OBRIGADO!
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| [September 20, 2017 03:24:19 PM]
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Played my second Nightfall strike last night. I find it really interesting that they've added a tough time limit (run out of time, you fail and get booted back to orbit) together with some non-shooting mechanics. In the case of the inverted spire nightfall you had to jump through hoops (literally!) to get increments of 30 seconds added. In the current one, you have to destroy hidden/secret lattices for 30 second increments of extra time.
I guess it makes the nightfall more "creative" because it's less about DPS and holding out for longer, and more about coordination and tactics. I'm not sure yet if it's more "fun" - because sometimes I just enjoy going in to shoot monsters, and the time pressure sort of gets in the way of that. On the other hand, after you've done them a few times you get into a hyper-efficient mode where you literally run to the end as quickly as possible and hammer away at the boss. I kind of liked the challenges they had at the end of D1, but I guess I also stopped paying attention to those after a while.
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| [September 16, 2017 08:07:39 PM]
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I've finished the story, cleared level 20 and I've slowly been working my way up to a light level that'll allow me to try the raid.
Overall I'm enjoying the experience just as much as I did Destiny 1, but still trying to figure out the new things. Here's a few of my "subtle" highlights so far...
a. When you're about to barely miss a jump (didn't get high enough), the character now automatically grabs the ledge and climbs up. It's pretty subtle, but really appreciated! (and more realistic?)
b. It's really neat to look at the map and immediately see where some stuff is going on (live events, Cade stashes, story missions, etc.) I now find it a lot easier to navigate and get lost less often even though the maps are much more complicated and convoluted.
c. Fast travel between areas in the same map is also super appreciated - especially when all you want is to head back to cash in tokens or something like that.
d. When you're in a fireteam and the leader fast travels - it doesn't pull everyone else along. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Sometimes I've wished I did get pulled, other times I wish I wouldn't.
e. I miss being able to buy synthetic ammo to use - I've sometimes run out of "heavy" (purple ammo) and it's been a pain.
f. I still don't really understand the point of the different weapons types. I understand them conceptually (well, except for the "heavy")...but I often just switch between kinetic and power just...for fun, rather than need.
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| [September 8, 2017 10:21:48 AM]
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I've played two nights in a row for a few hours and...it's feels interesting and strange to start fresh. I care again when an enemy drops an engram - cause it's a potential light boost. I don't care what items/weapons I'm using because...well, light level above all. I've hit level 9, and I've done a few story missions as well as some of the patrol-type missions.
It all feels so familiar that it's like an expansion rather than a new game because, so far it's more of the same, but tweaked a little. I'm curious to see if there's anything super new waiting for me as I finish the story? (e.g. an entirely new race? more new enemy types? etc.)
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jp's Destiny 2 (PS4)
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Current Status: Played occasionally
GameLog started on: Wednesday 6 September, 2017
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