The next big thing from Bungie is now live. I've heard the title "Destiny" for a while now, but it's exciting to see some concept art, thoughts behind the game, plot synopsis, etc. http://www.destinythegame.com/
Got to play the Alpha and liked it. It was a very small portion of the game (to be expected) but was enough to show off the combat mechanics, tease at the world size, and also how missions will be laid out. Am I sold on the game after the Alpha? Not completely but I have a much better opinion of the game heading in to the beta.
Alpha is test phase of game development when the game is not feature complete. Beta is the test phase when the game is feature complete.
The game looks pretty bland and boring. And Bungie still has not abandoned the feature of the player being able to up 60 feet in the air, like in Gaylo.
Started up the beta last night; held off on going deep to wait to play with friends tonight, what I noticed so far is it is a looker. The lighting, color, landscape, and skyboxes are all beautiful. Even the facial animation of the characters is great, something Bungie has always struggled with. Also cool to see just how much more polish/improvement/addition there was to the game compared to the Alpha; colors seemed richer, there was more added to the landscape and the voice acting/ additional effects to Peter Dinklage was really noticable. Which is to be expected of course; but not being part of press, it is pretty cool to experience that part of video game development. OH! If ya pre-ordered you will get three beta codes to share with friends, except if ya ordered digitally.
Played a couple hours of so last night, my initial impression.... it's a cross between Halo and Mass Effect. It's a pretty game, but didn't blow me away. It feels just like Halo in nearly all aspects of combat. I think my character even sounds like Master Chief. Is it enough to make me want to buy the game? For now, no. I'll put a couple more hours into it to see if it's something I'd continue with, but so far it hasn't impressed me in the slightest.
I don't think I'll preorder it, but still tried scoring a beta code off Major Nelson a couple times yesterday. No luck.
You could always go the Amazon route @Dills; pre-order (no charge until game is shipped), get codes, cancel pre-order... that is if ya wanna go the pre-0rder route
Forget what I said previously @Dills, beta is now open for everyone. "Today, at 4:00 PM PDT, we’re opening the Destiny Beta to anyone who wants to create a character and walk in their boots. There are, of course, some requirements. You’ll need to have a compatible console equipped with PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold. You’ll need to be brave." link
Yeah, @NORML ... thanks for that. Downloaded the beta - took a loooonnnngggg time - and played for a bit. It's pretty good. In hindsight should've played with my headset on. Isn't the beta done this weekend? Saw there was some full-game reward for those playing the beta at 2PM Pacific on Saturday ...
hoping to check the beta out tonight....do you create your own charcter? or is there any customization to the charcter you're playing as?
Played the beta with a buddy of mine last night, and he and I both thought of The Old Republic while we were playing. It's basically a FPS MMORPG. You have a PvP area with PvP only gear (not available in the beta though, just saw the vendor). There was a heroic area. You can do a mission in an area or just explore if you like. While I wouldn't call this "revolutionary", it was still fun. Was playing on the 360 so I can't vouch how it looks on the next-get systems, but if the idea of playing a MMORPG in first-person mode with a gun sounds fun to you, you'd probably get your money's worth out of it.
You can do the missions on your own if you want, but there will be other people in them. It can get annoying, there was one guy running around last night being an ass in a game I was playing.
It's a mix between solo and co-op. When you are in the open area doing the tiny explore missions you are in a public area and you can have people swing through and wipe out enemies with you. There are regular missions that you can do on your own or team up with a fireteam to do, these missions are done in the open explore area as well as dedicated co-op/solo area. Then there are the Strikes which are straight up co-op missions, with match making and everything. In the Strikes like the regular mission you will traverse through the open world explore area to the dedicated area where you and your teammates will fight. My advice to you @General Disarray, if you want to try the beta out tonight, start downloading the beta ASAP. Like @Dills said the XboxOne version takes a long time to download. If it's like last weekends timed event the Crucible will have a few extra maps along with armor and weapon rankings playing a factor (Iron Banner). So, try and get a character up to level 8 so you can have the best items equiped.
Some of the story areas though do instance, it looks like. You'll go into what they call a 'darkness area', and it'll just be your group, and if everyone in your fireteam dies you'll have to restart the area. Pretty much any other time getting killed really doesn't mean much. The strike mission requires 3 people. If you're not in a group it'll put you in one. That one took us a good hour or so to beat.
The Strike mission has gotta be my favorite part of the beta, and that is without having a chance to go through it with friends yet.
I lied. I did. Gonna trade in BF4 and Titanfall to offset some of the cost. Didn't realize the beta was done at 9:30P eastern. Hopped on around 10 and the game said I needed to be logged into XBL to play. Saturday's event was cool (didn't get to participate), but they opened the moon up to everyone.
When I was playing on the 360 a friend of a friend said his character transferred between the Xbone and 360 versions. I imagine it's the same between PS3 and PS4. Anyone know if the characters transfer between XBox and PlayStation?
Yup characters will transfer between console generations but not companies. With the 10 year plan Bungie has for the game I kinda wonder if the final game in the series will even be made for the 360/PS3. After yesterdays news about Raids not having matchmaking I've begun to wonder if I will be buying this game. It doesn't help that I keep seeing the Raid described as the end game either. Why would I buy a game where it's a good chance I will be walled off from experiencing the end?