Sagacyte's BG corner

I played two hours of Destiny 2 last night. That stupid little voice on the back of my head warning me about the very real dangers of falling asleep on the wheel the next morning. Still, those two hours were very enjoyable and cannot wait to get back to it tonight! For now, I wanted to give a small suggestion to those who are just starting out on their new adventure.

Will contain slight spoilers from the Beta version.

On your first playthrough I advice going slowly. Don’t run everywhere. Don’t just rush past corridors, forests or space ships. Unless the game forces you to (such as presenting a timed event) try to go about it in a way that will allow you to take the sights, sounds and atmosphere the world is trying to sell. Use your imagination to go beyond.

I won’t spoil any Destiny 2 mission, so as an example I’ll refer to a section of Destiny’s ‘Taken King’ expansion’s very first mission ‘The Coming War’. Sent to a Cabal base on Phobos to investigate a distress signal, your Guardian finds Cabal forces fleeing or dead. Inside the fortress is a series of corridors of Cabal corpses and debris, littered with patches of black light. There you’ll meet the Taken, infantry of Oryx, the titular Taken King. Eventually you are faced with a vision of your new enemy and a strong Taken leader for you to deal with. You can run through the halls of the base rushing to the next “trigger” that will regale you with story tidbits or another encounter. Play like someone who doesn’t care about the story would, or a seasoned veteran who has done the mission a dozen times before. But I advocate another method.

Walk slowly through the corridors of the base. Look at all the small details. The broken cables, the sparks flying about, the sounds of the alarms. The flailing of the Cabal soldier that a second later vanishes into a pool of black nothingness. The erratic movement of the Taken. Try to get an idea of what the level is or was. Play as if you’re experiencing what your Guardian is experiencing — I believe this results in a much stronger gameplay experience.

To apply this to a tiny moment of the Destiny 2 Beta: when Amanda drops you on the Cabal Command Ship, you are expected to run up the ramp and into the structure. Stop for a moment. Look around you. You’re in a ship above the city while rain furiously dashes around you. Those spheres that carried Cabal infantry to attack the Tower are being propelled to the ground by the electricity powered corridor on your left. Understand what is going on and try to make that a part of the experience.

I can think of dozens of moments in Destiny 1 (and many other games) where people just rush through instead of appreciating what is going on. I even have friends that don’t care one bit about the story and just rush it in order to farm end game currency. I am not saying that is wrong, or that my suggestion is right. I am just giving you an idea that may end up enhancing your experience — and I truly hope it does.

See you in orbit, Guardians.