https://stayclose.social/CindyFish391167/ Latest updates from Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5428/does-bungie-really-care-about-what-their-fans-think-anymore/ Bungie unloaded a full clip of Destiny to the face and the feels are real . Remember when I said to pay attention to Zavala? Destiny 2 immediately proves it has more heart than the first game, even with all the expansions. Using the opening of the showcasing of Destiny 2 as a platform — having Zavala introduce the player base to a more serious tone which immediately sets the stakes higher -- is a strong move. Zavala’s more serious demeanor isn’t all brooding, but a calculus of everything going around him. Which is why the story to Destiny 2 is already immensely important. While there are a number of things in Destiny 2, Nonary Manifolds Farming the PvE aspect of things makes for the skeletal structure that holds up the Destiny universe. In other words, lore matters.

Bungie has received massive amounts of criticism ever since Destiny 2 launched and they’re now poised to launch the expansion that will either make or break the game moving forward. They need Destiny 2: Warmind to be a success. They need it to convince players to come back and get invested in the game again. If neither of those things happen, then they’re going to have a hard time getting anyone to fork over more cash (probably forty dollars) for their major expansion coming this fall. Warmind might not be Destiny 2’s true final chance, but one would think that Bungie would still be doing everything it can to show gamers that they’re committed to improving the game, and that they’re eager correct the multitude of mistakes and exploitative policies that have defined its life thus far. That doesn’t seem to be the case, though. Instead of implementing an à la carte system like Fortnite or even just dialing back the cash shop to something closer to how it was in Destiny 1, they’re just adding a slightly less random loot box into the mix.

The campaign mission was the "Homecoming" mission from the gameplay reveal. It's the first mission of Destiny 2 and kicks things into action with a giant explosion. The Cabal’s Red Legion has launched a strike on the Last City in an attempt to steal the Traveler. Homecoming is the perfect opening mission for Destiny 2, illustrating just how much is changing between the new game and the old. There are epic moments, like helping Zavalla hold back waves of Cabal infantry, interactions with NPCs and actual set piece moments taking place.

This new loot box is known as a "Prismatic Matrix" and works very much like a package gacha. The Prismatic Matrix has its own pool of ten possible items for players to pull out of it and players can make ten pulls per week. Once the next weekly reset hits, the matrix will refresh with a stock of ten new items. The Prismatic Matrix only awards items players don’t already have, so each pull will award the player with something new. It sounds good at first, but there are a few catches. Players only get one free pull per week and all the others have to be paid for with real money. Players can’t even bank their weekly pulls in order to guarantee themselves something they want because Destiny 2 will only allow players to bank a maximum of three free pulls. This means that the absolute most one could get for free in a week is four items. That...really doesn’t sound like much of an improvement does it? If anything, these boxes will encourage burst spending as overeager players race to make sure they have all the items available for a given week.

Many familiar faces filled the screen as the hour of Destiny 2 played out, characters any player could recognize (Holiday did look slick flying that ship.) Destiny 2 means introducing new faces to the fold, folks that may have been there the whole time, but Guardians were to busy running around the galaxy to pay attention too. At least, that’s what I like to think. Getting down on the people's level though, actually coming down from their Tower, Guardians will hopefully see firsthand the struggles that the Last City had to go through on a daily basis. New places and new faces means new content. Guardians always had a pretentiousness about them. I enjoyed my Guardian, but it felt like we were all on a high horse policing the universe without a care for those we were actually supposed to be protecting. This isn’t a new concept, though, even having been written into the lore. It's known that children are told stories at night about Guardians to frighten them. Protectors or a something worse? Guardians are undead soldiers after all, Zavalas haunting speech while returning over and over again, shook me. My guardian has done this exact thing, but actually seeing the impact and hearing how twisted it sounded made me feel like one of the children that lives in the Last City.

It’s surprisingly fun figuring out how to trigger the Heroic Public Events, and the rewards are well worth the effort. Whether you lose, win a basic Public Event, or triumph in a Heroic Public Event, Destiny 2 always makes sure to reward you.

Oh, patrols return in Destiny 2. The blinking green beacons are littered throughout the EDZ, and the missions they dole out haven’t changed from the first game. Kill a certain amount of enemies to collect materials, kill a captain, scan an area, etc. Patrols are still meaningless busy work, but you do get some rewards for completing them.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5428/does-bungie-really-care-about-what-their-fans-think-anymore/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:08:48 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5409/review-destiny-2-pc/ Bungie did turn a corner with the laying out of the plan moving forward for Destiny 2, destiny2Focus.com which was a nice gesture, but showing us the content road ahead isn’t what earns trust back ; it’s the work put into Destiny 2. Guardians have been putting in the work of playing the game. Many couldn’t keep up with the grind, but those that stayed see that brighter tomorrow that every NPC is always gabbing about to whichever Guardian will listen.

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With 2018 in full swing, a solid first quarter down and plenty of games to keep anyone happy, Destiny 2 is likely not on the mind. Bungie has been straightening Destiny 2 out, though, and it finds itself on almost the exact same path that its predecessor took. This isn’t a bad path, but it leaves a a bland taste in the mouth. It’s medicine that can be swallowed with maybe some slight discomfort from past experiences. Destiny 2 will continue to course correct, and those improvements do help the game, but do they help it enough? That’s up for the player to decide, because making things work that should have been working all along isn’t a reason to come back.

There are a total of eight maps and five game modes. Supremacy, Clash, and Control are part of the Quickplay option, and new modes Countdown and Survival are part of Competitive. Unfortunately, there is no option to select the game mode you want once you select Quickplay or Competitive. If you really want to play Control, you have to hope that the game’s matchmaking doesn’t randomly throw you into Supremacy or Clash.

Upon release, one of the main criticisms hounding Destiny 2 was its conversion of shaders from permanent unlocks to single-use consumable items . In response, many were quick to point out that shaders in general were easy to come by and that players wouldn’t actually be hurting for them all that much. In general, this is true. Shaders as an item are indeed relatively easy to come by. However, most of the best shaders are only gained through opening "Bright Engrams", items which are loot boxes in all but name. They’re obtainable through in-game means but only at a snail’s pace unless one decides to fork over some real cash. Players also have absolutely zero control over what they get out of them. So while those cool shaders are technically obtainable, there’s no guarantee that a player will ever get the one they want, much less more of it. So instead of encouraging players to enjoy Destiny 2’s new system that allows every piece of gear to be individually customized, the game instead pushes players to do the opposite and hoard what shaders they do get until they manage to obtain a piece of endgame gear that won’t be immediately scrapped. Armor and weapon mods suffer from a similar drawback too, though they can at least be bought with in-game currency. This problem isn’t just limited to consumables either. Thanks to Destiny 2’s deplorable token system, there’s been wholesale reduction of player control over the gear they earn. The system is probably meant to promote grind, but instead it does the opposite. Why should the game’s players bother with the grind loop if they can’t grind for the things they actually want?

Curse of Osiris does include two new strikes, but both are pulled directly from the campaign with no changes. Crucible doesn’t fare much better with only two new maps on Xbox One and PC, and three on PS4. Unfortunately, as of publication, Crucible is wholly broken thanks to the Prometheus Lens, a new trace rifle that is completely unbalanced. Bungie says they’re working on a fix, but a solution has yet to materialize nearly a week after launch.

Destiny 2 is headed in the right direction. Perhaps it's too little too late or maybe it could pull a healthy player base back in. For now, Destiny 2 is trying its best and is showing signs of quality of life for its future. Today it’s no surprise when buying a new game to be hit immediately by a patch, because what game makes it out of the door ever without having to go through a few updates and patches once it’s out the gate? Usually a major update will hit games freshly released within the first month followed by the steady stream of content and improvements. All of this is commonplace in the video game world and yet we as the audience still find time to get mad that games aren’t the perfect embodiment of what was envisioned. Developers do have a responsibility to be open with their audience and it does become a let down when certain things promised are nowhere to be seen or the game is more broken than let on. So let the saga of Destiny as it continues through the ages be a lesson, one that we are seeing more and more frequently – Anthem is on the horizon, after all. But it's our responsibility as players and developers to keep the dialogue going to get the best experience possible from all sides. Good luck out there, Guardian.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5409/review-destiny-2-pc/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:54:07 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5393/destiny-2-beta-shows-worrisome-signs-to-fans/ There is one final note to touch on. Destiny 2 has made the same mistake as its predecessor. Introducing a new expansion has now locked out many Guardians from participating in some of the easier end-game content, and if those Guardians don’t pay up, too bad. It perfectly sums up the open arms of the Destiny franchise, while only having room to hold so many. Much like the Infinite Forest, Destiny 2 looks to be in a constant state of flux and can’t quite figure out the right simulation.

Those looking for some competitive action will find it, once again, in the Crucible. Overseen by Lord Shaxx, the Crucible has undergone some radical transformation since the original game. All game modes are now 4v4, down from 6v6. Whether this is a positive change for the franchise will remain a mystery until players get their hands all over it.

While I didn’t mind Dragon Age II, it still was a step down from the incredible hardcore experience that was Origins. BioWare was able to meet in the middle, creating a more modern Action-RPG while maintaining an old school essence. There was no game on this list that I spent more time with than Dragon Age: Inquisition, and for good reason. It’s an RPG of the highest caliber, introducing us to Thedas like we’ve never seen it before, and some of the most affable characters to ever grace the Dragon Age fiction. There’s so much lore packed into this sixty dollar package that you’ll be engrossed in the story, not to mention the vast expansive world that has been finely crafted. The branching paths and party specific dialogue also give Inquisition an incredible amount of replay value; never before directly after finishing a game did I want to replay it an entirely different way. That’s not to mention the fights with dragons are some of the most satisfying occurrences to be found. Dragon Age: Inquisition has it all, and while I would like to see BioWare expand upon the addictive multiplayer mode, its campaign drove deep into my addictive personality.
AI has been improved to where enemies don’t just stand there waiting for players to off them. They will duck and weave and attempt to drive players out of cover. They aren’t as aggressive as, say, Uncharted or Halo, but it’s a noticeable step up from the original game.

Destiny 2 is a full-fledged sequel to the original game and not an expansion. It contains all new locations, weapons, armor, characters, etc. You will not need to have played the original game and its expansions to hop into the sequel, but those that have can carry-over their character. Plus, there will be areas within the game that will acknowledge that you have played the previous content.
While the whole editorial staff contributed to our 2014 awards, we wanted to allow everybody the opportunity to publicly name their personal top 10 games of the year. While many did play the majority of releases in 2014, please remember that unlike our main awards, the editors are not naming the best games, but their personal favorites out of the selection they played.

Weapon rarity remains identical to Destiny. Basic (white), uncommon (green) and rare (blue) will be your most common drops while playing the campaign. Once you reach level 20, legendary (purple) and highly coveted exotic (yellow) weapons will begin dropping.

It wants to be a sci-fi epic, but also a dedicated "fan’s game." It wants to welcome in new players, but old systems built in are great for pushing them away. It wants so much, and it can’t focus on what. This can most prominently be seen in the new Raid-lair coming out. Destiny as a series has gained a reputation for world-first completions of its raid, something to be seen as a race. What happens then to those who casually play that might want in on the action? It pushes them away, like everything else in Destiny 2. Why would anyone want to try their hand Www.destiny2focus.Com at the end-game content when it’s advertised as something for the best of the best.

Which brings this full circle back to the Strike. With only one Strike to tackle, any Guardian checking out the beta will probably play this a few times. It was with my second group that more problems started to crop up. The beta is a stress test on Destiny 2’s system, so having such sparse…everything...became more noticeable. There is a limited arsenal in Destiny 2 at the moment, and when the party hit the boss, we started to wipe. After the third wipe I began switching out weapons in every combination imaginable, but we just couldn’t land it. Having played Destiny since vanilla, I’d say the skills are there. But here is Destiny 2 presenting itself as challenging, but there is always that inkling that it’s a façade. Again, every Destiny expansion has done this. New encounters, new mechanics, new gear. It makes it all seem like the game has changed, but level up enough, equip the right stuff and that boss that was causing so much grief becomes laughable. One can only hope that this beta is not tricking players into a false experience, but that won’t be revealed until September. So, for now it’s the waiting game.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5393/destiny-2-beta-shows-worrisome-signs-to-fans/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:41:47 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5365/destiny-2’s-biggest-problems-don’t-include-a-lack-of-loot/ Casual players are the single largest audience in gaming; there’s no getting around it. This is the audience that every major publisher wants to appeal to; the one group that every development studio hopes will latch onto their game. After all, capturing the attention of the casual or mainstream audience usually means massive success and wondrous profit. So it’s understandable that they, publishers especially, would have a vested interest in making their games more accessible and appealing to that audience. Making that appeal often means simplification. The simpler the game is, the more accessible it is, the more mainstream appeal it can have. While there’s nothing innately wrong with making one’s game more accessible to the wider gaming audience, doing so always comes at a cost. Just as a game cannot be both simple and complex, neither can it simultaneously serve its niche and successfully appeal to the mainstream audience. Therefore compromises must be made, usually ones that rob the game of what made it special in the first place.

Many familiar faces filled the screen as the hour of Destiny 2 played out, characters any player could recognize (Holiday did look slick flying that ship.) Destiny 2 means introducing new faces to the fold, vault Management Tips folks that may have been there the whole time, but Guardians were to busy running around the galaxy to pay attention too. At least, that’s what I like to think. Getting down on the people's level though, actually coming down from their Tower, Guardians will hopefully see firsthand the struggles that the Last City had to go through on a daily basis. New places and new faces means new content. Guardians always had a pretentiousness about them. I enjoyed my Guardian, but it felt like we were all on a high horse policing the universe without a care for those we were actually supposed to be protecting. This isn’t a new concept, though, even having been written into the lore. It's known that children are told stories at night about Guardians to frighten them. Protectors or a something worse? Guardians are undead soldiers after all, Zavalas haunting speech while returning over and over again, shook me. My guardian has done this exact thing, but actually seeing the impact and hearing how twisted it sounded made me feel like one of the children that lives in the Last City.

There’s no real choices and trade-offs to be made anymore. The same goes for the rest of the game. The in-depth and often rewarding dialogue trees are gone, replaced with options that boil down to whether or not the player character is going to be either nice or sarcastic nice. There are no karma checks, no skill checks, no special checks, nor even long and interesting conversations to be had. Dialogue might as well just be there because previous Fallout games had it. The list could go on, but is perhaps better saved for another time. As it stands,Fallout 4 has gained massive mainstream success. It just had to become a different game in order to get it; a game that’s much more a shooter with RPG elements than it is an RPG with shooter elements. It became a game one that fans of the old Fallout games have grown to hate and possibly a series that RPG fans in may no longer care about in the future. Taken on it’s own It’s a decent game, but one that has nonetheless been compromised for the sake of short-term sales. The same is true of Dead Space 3.

Well that didn’t take long. It’s only been about a month since Destiny 2 released and it’s already struggling to hold its players’ attention. Many are focusing on loot or the sheer lack of content as the cause, but the game's real issues run a bit deeper. Having loot to grind for is all well and good, but it doesn’t amount to much when there’s not a whole lot one can actually do with it. The game’s economy has also undergone a very player-unfriendly change, one that encourages microtransactions and hoarding over fun and engagement. Even the moment-to-moment gameplay has suffered. What was once relatively fluid and fast-paced combat has become slow and laborious. As it stands, Destiny 2 meets the basic requirements necessary to be called a full and proper sequel rather than a glorified expansion, but falls into the category of unsatisfying sequel that "fixed" all of the wrong things.

Hardcore Gamer was invited out to Bellevue, Washington to check out Earth’s new open area, the European Dead Zone (EDZ). Replacing the Cosmodrome, the EDZ may look fantastic, but does it provide enough meaningful content to keep players invested?

Starting with Record Books seems like the appropriate place. Destiny took the idea of achievements or milestones, whatever they might be called, and put them in the form of Record Books. A way for Guardians to keep track of all their glorious achievement plus receive gifts for leveling up through the Record Book that can be shown off when around other Guardians. Nothing like a sweet skin, right? Much like its Age of Triumph title comes the ultimate Record Book. Not only is this Record Book the largest seen so far, but it also is tough as nails to get through. It is sure to keep any Guardian busy, especially those that might be returning. What’s nice about the Age of Triumph Book is even if it seems like a slog (nothing new for Destiny), the records are easy to achieve, especially before September. Nothing bombastic or hardcore. Just a challenging but fair checklist. Things players will find worth doing, hell maybe even starting up that class you’ve always wanted to play but never got around too. September is a long way away after all and that Age of Triumph book wont fill itself out.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5365/destiny-2’s-biggest-problems-don’t-include-a-lack-of-loot/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:25:38 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5291/destiny-2-the-story-so-far/ Looking back at the original beta for vanilla Destiny, there was a tremendous amount to do and see, even some leveling involved. The Destiny 2 beta feels like Bungie is keeping their cards close to the Moirai Hunter chest armor because anything that could rock the boat might just tip it over. Destiny is successful, but it comes with a reputation, and scuffing up that reputation in anyway could make or break sales numbers once September rolls around. The beta gives enough of itself to put players at ease while also remaining the carrot and the stick. For a Destiny fan, it’s easy enough to digest; take everything learned from Destiny and apply that to this beta, it’s a guaranteed good time. For those who might be making their way back though, this might look more like a shooter than the online multiplayer game Bungie promised. While I can only speculate as to why the amount of content was significantly trimmed down, it’s probably for good reason or it’s just actually a beta.

The Strike is a good place to start. It reveals a little more of the world players can expect, showcasing great improvements to Destiny. The most notable thing about the Strike is just how open it felt. Instead of running casually down one big hallway that twist and turns, the Strike makes use of all the space available. The number of paths available was astounding and never has it been so easy to get separated from the group, meaning communication (or keeping an eye out) is key. Party members can’t just run ahead to go off and do their own thing; the Strike actually requires some teamwork and that’s a good thing. More than a few times, imminent danger is awaiting any careless Guardian who might think "I’ve got this." The mechanics of it all also helped with this feeling, giving the Strike enough complexity, but not so much that it felt bogged down. It’s hard to get an exact read, though, because this is only one Strike and without leveling of any sort, it might just seem tough. This is how every Destiny expansion has played out. Things feel like they were getting more challenging, but level up enough gear and light, and those Strikes become cake-walks. I even encountered some of this already, by just breezing past the giant drill without stopping. What looked like a challenging set piece became just a set piece. No interaction required.

Destiny 2 did a 180 degree turn with how the loot pool dolled out those sweet, sweet items. Where in Destiny it could feel like pulling teeth just to find an exotic, Destiny 2 was happy to shower Guardians in them with its new reward structure. Like everything else in Destiny 2 though, it couldn’t help but have a slight fault, those exotics every Guardian wants just aren’t… exotic. Exotic items in Destiny had a feel about them because they behaved in a way that was reminiscent of some of the quirkier items to come out of video games ( the Cerebral Bore ). They weren’t supposed to be godly, but some of the perks had just enough of a twist to make them feel unique. Only one exotic comes to mind in Destiny 2 that shines in this regard, a new grenade launcher titled "The Colony" that was part of the expansion. The other exotics with Curse of Osiris do look to be pushing in the right direction, but like everything else in Destiny 2, only time will tell with how people feel about these new armaments when preforming.

Having done every previous raid in the first Destiny, it was exciting looking forward to the first raid for Destiny 2. What would it be thematically? How would it operate with challenging a fireteam of six? What would the loot be? Would it be so fun that it would call Guardians back for multiple run throughs? And then Leviathan dropped. It looked spectacular, challenging and unlike any raid seen yet. It was a freaking massive space fish eating a planet; it screams ominous!

Destiny starts off as you’re resurrected by a Ghost in the desolate ruins of Old Russia. Things aren’t looking great as there are Fallen roaming around and you need to make it to civilization. Finding a ship, you make your way the Last City where you meet a whole network of faces, including Ikora, Zavala, Cayde-6, and The Speaker, who now represents the Traveler. They instruct you to go back to Earth and search the Cosmodrone in which you find the Hive holding out underground in the abandoned subway system. Seeing as these beings usually reside on the Moon, you’re tasked to travel outside of the atmosphere and investigate.

Mercury sits happily at the top of the destinations menu like it was there all along. Brother Vance welcomes Guardians with open arms to the Lighthouse (only reserved for the best of PvP in Destiny), waiting for Osiris' return. Like everything else to follow though, Mercury quickly proves that it is a veiled guise for a rather bland play space. It's small while giving of the illusion of unlimited potential. It only has one public event, and while covering much more ground than other public events, it’s still the only one (plus sparrows don’t work). At least the other destinations have multiples. The Infinite Forest is a clever trick, that has been pulled before, it’s just on a slightly larger scale, not confined to a space like the Prison of Elders from House of Wolves in Destiny. It’s doing the same thing though, just changing the facade.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5291/destiny-2-the-story-so-far/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:42:53 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5265/destiny-2-beta-first-impressions/ There are a total of eight maps and five game modes. Supremacy, Clash, and Control are part of the Quickplay option, and new modes Countdown and Survival are part of Competitive. Unfortunately, there is no option to select the game mode you want once you select Quickplay or Competitive. If you really want to play Control, you have to hope that the game’s matchmaking doesn’t randomly throw you into Supremacy or Clash.

Speaking of enemies, Destiny 2 Story guide 2 doesn’t add anything new to the mix. Each of the factions from the original game returns with a few new units, but they don’t change the fact that these are the same enemies we’ve been shooting for the past three years. Considering we’re exploring new, exotic worlds, it would have been nice to get some new enemy species thrown in.

Where does Destiny 2 go from here? Curse of Osiris, much like previous Destiny DLCs before it, is more of the same. It can barely hold a spotlight on Osiris, who’s supposed to be one of the most important Guardians and it leaves more questions than it answers. Destiny 2 might be in more of a state of flux than Destiny. It wants to appeal to everyone. Casting such a wide net means knots, holes and all sorts of other problems.

Seeing as so many Destiny players invested time and money into The Taken King and Rise of Iron, it’s understandable that they’d want to see some of that content return. Luckily, The Taken King is well represented in Destiny 2. Rise of Iron? Not so much.

The third piece of DLC starts off with the Taken King, and Hive God, Oryx, travelling the stars in his colossal dreadnaught ship to kick off the Taken War. Apparently he wasn’t too thrilled with the Guardians killing his baby boy. The Awoken rally a pre-emptive strike, but it ends up being a massive failure, with their armada destroyed, and their Queen presumed dead. After this, Oryx begins enslaving members of other races, ala the Taken, so it’s up to the Guardians to put a stop to this. The Guardians obtain a new set of powers and are able to land relatively safely on the Dreadnaught where the Cabal are also waging war.

The most significant aspect of Destiny 2’s campaign is that it has an actual campaign. After Destiny and Rise of Iron’s cookie-cutter missions, it’s nice to have something with more variety and substance than "bad guy over there, go kill it." That’s not saying Destiny 2’s campaign is anything deep. Characters jump in and out of the campaign quickly as the story moves you from world-to-world. While the quick pacing keeps things moving, it never slows down enough to create any connections between the player and the world. Worst yet is the player’s Guardian who, in Destiny 2, is relegated to a silent protagonist. Ghost ends up speaking the entire time for the player and comes off as annoying. The current set up with the Ghost quickly becomes grating, and even more annoying when other characters point out your silence. This was purposefully done so that players can become invested in their Guardian, but in execution comes off as cartoonish.

Destiny 2 has its share of issues, a lot of them to be frank, but it’s still an entertaining adventure that the developers have properly improved. The shooting mechanics are some of the best in the business, and the art team has done an amazing job in bringing this futuristic universe to realization. With that said, it’s not a monumental leap, feeling less like a sequel and more like an overloaded expansion. That’s not to mention the worlds, while beautiful, are less memorable than most of what the original game had to offer. Thankfully, Bungie and Activision have outdone themselves with the PC port. While the graphics are primarily sharper and more defined, the 60 FPS frame rate is the real game changer, ensuring you’ll never want to go back to another 30 FPS shooter. The keyboard and mouse controls also add a level of precision you couldn’t find on consoles, making this the go-to version to get. In the end, the PC release will give players a decent idea what console players have been talking about over the last three years, for better or for worse.

That's Protheon's big mechanic. Once you get him down to a certain damage point, he drops out the floor beneath you and lands you in a new arena. He does this three times throughout the fight. The difficult part about Protheon is that he plays floor's lava with you. When he gets pissed enough, he'll slam his fist on the ground and burn the entirety of the floor, which forces you to jump up on some small platforms. All this does, however, is put you in the line of sight of Protheon, who has two different weapons with which to take you down. It's a tough fight, but it's interesting and different, and that's what we want. I will say, however, that the rest of the strike is pretty mundane. Save for the couple of interesting set pieces I mentioned earlier, it's kind of simple. It doesn't have many interesting mechanics, but it is short, so running it over and over as you grind will at least be quick. So again, if all of the strikes in Destiny 2 are short and simple but also take you through a new and interesting setting with a neat boss at the end, then sign me up for more.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5265/destiny-2-beta-first-impressions/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:29:17 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5223/destiny-2-beta-first-impressions/ For all that can be said about Curse of Osiris’ disappointing content, it can’t be denied that Mercury is a beautiful place to visit. The Vex architecture that litters the landscape is as fascinating to take in as ever, and the brief glimpses at Mercury before its transformation are astounding. If only we had more space and time to play around in these fascinating playgrounds.

That's Protheon's big mechanic. Once you get him down to a certain damage point, he drops out the floor beneath you and lands you in a new arena. He does this three times throughout the fight. The difficult part about Protheon is that he plays floor's lava with you. When he gets pissed enough, he'll slam his fist on the ground and burn the entirety of the floor, which forces you to jump up on some small platforms. All this does, however, is put you in the line of sight of Protheon, who has two different weapons with which to take you down. It's a tough fight, but it's interesting and different, and that's what we want. I will say, however, that the rest of the strike is pretty mundane. Save for the couple of interesting set pieces I mentioned earlier, it's kind of simple. It doesn't have many interesting mechanics, but it is short, so running it over and over as you grind will at least be quick. So again, if all of the strikes in Destiny 2 are short and simple but also take you through a new and interesting setting with a neat boss at the end, then sign me up for more.

Once upon a time, Bungie justified microtransactions by saying that all future, non-major expansions would be free. They held that promise throughout the lifespan of The Taken King and Rise of Iron, but have since broken it. Not only do we have to pay for expansions again, but most of the loot that could previously be earned during Destiny’s lifecycle is also all locked behind microtransactions. Every ship, sparrow, cool shader, ornament, and emote can’t be obtained by completing challenges in-game, but only by opening Loot Boxes. Considering that Bungie was just caught handicapping XP gains to encourage real-money purchases, this move feels entirely wrong.

Outside of The Hive, The Cabal are arguably the biggest threat to Humanity. Similar to the Fallen, because apparently aliens like to follow one another, these hulking beasts came after The Collapse, but the difference comes in the form of rank and organization. While the Fallen are more multiple competing tribes, the Cabal are a consolidated race that doesn’t reason with other species; they only take what they want and do what they believe is best for their empire. Sure, there are mutinies, but they’re a militarized civilization. Unfortunately, not a whole lot is known about them prior to the events of Destiny outside of their constant advance of colonization within the solar system, namely taking over Mars and its moon, Exotic armor reworks Phobos.

There's a lot going on in this Beta, even though it's relatively small with not a lot to do. The changes so far are mostly positive, showing promise for the real thing. Destiny 2 comes to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6 and then to PC on October 24, so there's not much time left.

The mission takes you through a bunch of rooms and corridors of the Tower you've never seen before, teams you up with Cayde, Savala, and Ikora for small objectives of the mission, and has a few mini bosses that you'll fight your way through before taking on a sort of final boss. There's also a point where Amanda Holiday takes you up to a Red Legion ship to take it down. I won't go into too much more detail, but what I can say is that it was much more fleshed out than most of the original Destiny story missions. It's more reminiscent of a Call of Duty campaign mission in that it had other friendly characters doing things and talking to you as you go through the waves of enemies and various other objectives. Destiny just had the ghost talking you through more simplistic story missions that were repetitive and this is different and exciting because you don't know what's going to happen next.

The Taken are a fightable enemy in Destiny 2 in both the story and out in the open areas. There aren’t any new enemy types within the Taken race, but it’s still entertaining to fight them. The different tactics they use compared to their non-Taken counterparts make them a more unpredictable foe.

A new set of class specific abilities are being added as well. These abilities stay the same no matter which subclass you choose, and are generally meant to help your teammates. Titans can plant down a shield, Warlocks can cast an area of healing and Hunters get a dodge roll similar to the one that was part of the Nightstalker subclass. The first two are activated by holding down the circle or B button and the Hunter's roll is done by double tapping it. They are all a nice addition to each class' set of abilities and are super tactical. They were all incredibly useful in both PvE and PvP.

Arguably the most dangerous force alive, The Hive are a deadly ancient race hell bent on war. While their appearance seems more of a feral and radical race, they’re actually quite organized, with hierarchy of ranks and stature. With their current residence in the Solar System being on the Moon, with constant plans to advance on Earth, these beings originally came from the gas giant of Fundament in a galaxy far, far away. They are the most advanced race known to anyone, tapping into the Ascendant Realm which houses their gods, and constantly researching alternate dimensions. They also have the most connections with other races, most in particular with the Vex and the Darkness. They have been known to use The Darkness in their favor, creating The Taken in the process, which are just enemies who are possessed by the mysterious Dark force.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5223/destiny-2-beta-first-impressions/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:09:08 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5202/destiny-is-a-roaring-engine-of-space-fantasy-love/ We liked the way the Hunter, Titan and Warlock complement each other. In terms of the lore, these are all disciplines that took centuries to discover and master. At this moment in time, the theme is about losing those abilities and rediscovering them. It’s about mastering them in some new and exciting ways.

Getting back to the main story, though, you kill one version of Oryx in his chambers, but that’s not good enough, so you need to track him down once more in the Ascendant Realm and put the final nail in his coffin. This come in the form of the lengthy and well organize raid.

The most exciting thing by far is the fact that all the Raids are back. Updated Raids matching appropriately the light level of Guardians and its fair because it’s not even the max light level of 400, it’s 390. This ensures that more people will get to experience the Raids, instead of just the top tier level players. Besides having free reign on all Raids and smashing in some old baddies' faces, the updated Raids come with something even more worthwhile: the coolest armor to ever come out of Destiny. While I haven’t been the biggest fan of some of the armor choices made by Bungie, whoever thought of this totally revamped package of all armor was a genius. Seeing the new Raid armor was enough to sell me on Age of Triumph — Vault of Glass aside. It just looks so space-magic, and isn’t that what it’s all about?

For all that can be said about Curse of Osiris’ disappointing content, it can’t be denied that Mercury is a beautiful place to visit. The Vex architecture that litters the landscape is as fascinating to take in as ever, and the brief glimpses at Mercury before its transformation are astounding. If only we had more space and time to play around in these fascinating playgrounds.

We have all-new worlds to explore. Immediately after the opening act, your character is exiled into the European Dead Zone. It’s an Earth destination and the biggest map we’ve ever created by far. You will explore this destination and its lush forests. That’s really where you’ll start your new journey. You’ll journey to Titan, an oceanic moon. The entire moon is one big sea, but there are these human installations that were erected during the Golden Age. You’ll go to Io, which is one of Jupiter’s moons and is the last place the Traveler touched before the Collapse. It’s a place of magic and mysticism. Finally, you’ll go to Nessus, which is an unstable planetoid that has been completely transformed into a machine world by the Vex.

The story campaign has more missions and cinematics than you’ve ever seen in a Destiny game. The player experience has more variety, more types of activities, and more ways for you to enjoy the experience by yourself, or with other players. It is, in terms of the action you’ll enjoy, a more diverse experience than any Bungie game ever.

Curse of Osiris does include two new strikes, but both are pulled directly from the campaign with no changes. Crucible doesn’t fare much better with only two new maps on Xbox One and PC, and three on PS4. Unfortunately, as of publication, Crucible is wholly broken thanks to the Prometheus Lens, a new trace rifle that is completely unbalanced. Bungie says they’re working on a fix, but a solution has yet to materialize nearly a week after launch.

In the same year we got great expansions like The Frozen Wilds for Horizon Zero Dawn , Defiant Honor for Nioh and In The Name of the Tsar for Battlefield 1 , it’s amazing how dull destiny style star wars game 2 – Expansion I: Curse of Osiris is. Filled with half-baked ideas, repetitive mission design and the smallest explorable area yet, Curse of Osiris feels as empty and meaningless as The Dark Below. The expansion’s campaign fails to push the overall narrative forward and does little with its interesting setup, the Crucible is a mess until Bungie patches it, and the Infinite Forest feels like it needed more time in the oven. Add in some extremely-questionable business practices and you have the most disappointing expansion to hit the Destiny franchise. Though the expansion is as beautiful as ever, and the gunplay as solid as before, Curse of Osiris fails to provide Destiny 2 or Bungie with a new lease on life.

With Destiny 2 is quickly approaching, everyone going in should have a decent understanding of the plot. Maybe you played through the first game and don’t remember what happened or decided to skip it entirely; well we have a general breakdown of what happened previously on Destiny. Before getting into events that transpired throughout the course of the relatively short-storied campaign, let's give a little bit of background regarding the world.

However, probably the most disgusting offense this expansion imposes on players is that vanilla players are now locked out of key content they had access to just weeks ago. The Prestige Leviathan raid now requires a Power Level that can only be attained by purchasing the DLC. This is especially terrible for PC owners who have only had six weeks to enjoy this content. Considering ‘Dark Below’ did not lock vanilla Destiny players out of the ‘Vault of Glass’ hard mode, there’s no excuse for what’s going on here.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5202/destiny-is-a-roaring-engine-of-space-fantasy-love/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 10:58:56 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5186/the-european-dead-zone-is-born-to-keep-destiny-2-alive/ It was the third week which meant the Gauntlet room was up first; a room I hadn’t encountered yet. The mechanics were explained and I felt good with the ease at which this seemed like it could be done. The Gauntlet room only echoed what the world-firsters had stated; those seeking to guide others through the raid were going to have a hell of a time. A certain party member who also was a seeker wasn’t talking much throughout the two hours spent trying to get coordination down. They kept wandering off, not listening and generally being unhelpful. It ended with them dropping out of the fireteam never to return even with party invites thrown their way. It was time to call it quits. Defeated the third seeker and myself thanked the Clan that had been the guides for their time and parted ways.

Destiny 2 is laying the groundwork for outstanding storytelling and unforgettable moments. It's setting a solid foundation for the game it always wanted to be, while delivering the things Destiny never could. It’s an exciting time to be a Guardian even if it means the Last City falling only to pick ourselves up one more time. At least this time, there are those worth fighting for.

While I didn’t mind Dragon Age II, it still was a step down from the incredible hardcore experience that was Origins. BioWare was able to meet in the middle, creating a more modern Action-RPG while maintaining an old school essence. There was no game on this list that I spent more time with than Dragon Age: Inquisition, and for good reason. It’s an RPG of the highest caliber, introducing us to Thedas like we’ve never seen it before, and some of the most affable characters to ever grace the Dragon Age fiction. There’s so much lore packed into this sixty dollar package that you’ll be engrossed in the story, not to mention the vast expansive world that has been finely crafted. The branching paths and party specific dialogue also give Inquisition an incredible amount of replay value; never before directly after finishing a game did I want to replay it an entirely different way. That’s not to mention the fights with dragons are some of the most satisfying occurrences to be found. Dragon Age: Inquisition has it all, and while I would like to see BioWare expand upon the addictive multiplayer mode, its campaign drove deep into my addictive personality.

Then thoughts of what Bungie had envisioned for Guided Games began cropping up in my head. When Bungie announced Guided Games, it seemed exciting. Here was a feature that would ease the stress of finding a group and knowing that group could be handpicked by the seeker. It meant not having to sift through toxicity, feeling a bit closer to strangers and maybe making a friend or two along the way. Guided Games has a long way to go and needs some serious refinement. I was not about to spend another hour waiting for the next group, for fear of having the same thing happen all over again. Destiny 2’s Leviathan was proving to be more of a monster than first imagined.

The Forza series has never been my cup of tea, at least not until Forza Horizon. Driving through the beautiful scenery of Colorado in a semi-open world environment really made me appreciate the mechanics behind the series, while at the same time had me lightly touching upon the more hardcore tuning aspects. Turn10 Studios and Playground Games were able to expand upon this, bringing us to the luscious and visually breathtaking Southern Europe. It’s the interconnected world that ties into Xbox Live’s social features that really brings the world to life, as driving through the vast open world will never make you feel alone. If there’s one racing game you need to play, it’s Forza Horizon 2; it’s certainly the closest we’ll get to another Burnout Paradise.

The battlefield then led to the dig site, which shows just how cinematic Bungie intends all missions to be. Giant drills are circling around, and getting smacked by one of them automatically kills a Guardian. You have to navigate across a Cliffside while trying not to get hit by them, and dealing with the Cabal. With so many moving parts, The Inverted Spire is easily more cinematic than anything in the vanilla version of Destiny.

What does relationship mean for lore though? Of course, the actual relationship aspect of Destiny is there, but it’s always been there. Destiny 2 is not only creating worlds, though, it’s actually telling stories within those worlds. The people that inhabit these spaces are important and Bungie seems to be doing everything to make the player care about them. From the looks of interaction with those around you while traversing the many environments bolt charge destiny 2 2 has to offer, the aspect of relationship is everywhere. Zavala giving command to the player and other NPCs around him. It creates a sense of urgency immediately invoking a compassion that only comes from feeling connected to others. Then there is the EDZ a new area for players to call home. The people they were protecting have started forming communities here. Actively participating in these places will create a more grounded sense of community. It’s the reason WoW cities felt so lived in; the people that inhabit these spaces are going about their daily lives. It isn’t about, go out, kill aliens, return. It feels like being the Pavlovian dog waiting for the treat. None of that seems to be in Destiny 2.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5186/the-european-dead-zone-is-born-to-keep-destiny-2-alive/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 10:47:05 +0000 Cindy Fish https://stayclose.social/blog/5140/digging-into-destiny-2-lore-relationships/ Destiny 2 did manage to fix a cool way to improve couple of small issues from the first game, but it’s otherwise taken several steps back. Its consumable cosmetics and loot box-style method of awarding gear encourages hoarding and disengagement from the end-game grind. Its failure to offer at least as many features as the original Destiny has unsurprisingly led to rapid onset of player boredom. Worst of all, its neutering of the PvE’s moment-to-moment gameplay has resulted in a sequel that just isn’t as much fun to play. Destiny 2 may indeed have a loot problem as so many are loudly pointing out, but that’s small potatoes compared to these major fundamental flaws.

Bungie did turn a corner with the laying out of the plan moving forward for Destiny 2, which was a nice gesture, but showing us the content road ahead isn’t what earns trust back ; it’s the work put into Destiny 2. Guardians have been putting in the work of playing the game. Many couldn’t keep up with the grind, but those that stayed see that brighter tomorrow that every NPC is always gabbing about to whichever Guardian will listen.

Destiny 2 has even managed to mess up its core gameplay. While the developers’ hearts were surely in the right place when they chose to streamline the gameplay in the name of accessibility and PvP balance, in practice most of their changes have done more harm than good. One can tell that PvP was the major focus, because the changes work quite well for it. No longer do players have to endure the frustration of shotgun metas and constantly getting mapped by sniper rifles. Reduced access to abilities and power/special weapons allows for slower engagements. They’ve opened the door for an improved Crucible experience. The problem is that these changes are downright awful for the rest of the game. As it stands, Destiny 2’s gameplay mechanics encourage the hoarding of abilities and ammo rather than their enjoyment.

The biggest improvement was the most recent update fixing a massive number of woes that have been plaguing Destiny 2 since day one and adding certain improvements where needed. Sniper rifles are useful now; it’s been six months and a weapon choice has been entirely useless up to this point. For anyone who played Destiny, jumping back in now will bring you right back to when Icebreaker was popping Vex heads off from a comfy distance. This isn’t just a rant about snipers being bad and boo-hoo, this is just one major example of one of the many pitfalls Destiny 2 has been filling in. The best part is all weapon choices seem to have gotten a nice healthy balance. Every gun feels good to use and is reminding me more of old play in Destiny with the improvement of Destiny 2. Classes have also seen dramatic improvements; not once did I find myself using the Sunbreaker until this most recent patch.

This new loot box is known as a "Prismatic Matrix" and works very much like a package gacha. The Prismatic Matrix has its own pool of ten possible items for players to pull out of it and players can make ten pulls per week. Once the next weekly reset hits, the matrix will refresh with a stock of ten new items. The Prismatic Matrix only awards items players don’t already have, so each pull will award the player with something new. It sounds good at first, but there are a few catches. Players only get one free pull per week and all the others have to be paid for with real money. Players can’t even bank their weekly pulls in order to guarantee themselves something they want because Destiny 2 will only allow players to bank a maximum of three free pulls. This means that the absolute most one could get for free in a week is four items. That...really doesn’t sound like much of an improvement does it? If anything, these boxes will encourage burst spending as overeager players race to make sure they have all the items available for a given week.

What we want to do is make every player in Destiny feel essential. We want every single player to feel like a superhero that gets to save the day at some point during the match. As a support player, I’m guilty on many occasions of hanging back and scoring assists. In Destiny 2, I’m going to be provoked into being a hero and helping my team of four in the competitive landscape.

We have all-new worlds to explore. Immediately after the opening act, your character is exiled into the European Dead Zone. It’s an Earth destination and the biggest map we’ve ever created by far. You will explore this destination and its lush forests. That’s really where you’ll start your new journey. You’ll journey to Titan, an oceanic moon. The entire moon is one big sea, but there are these human installations that were erected during the Golden Age. You’ll go to Io, which is one of Jupiter’s moons and is the last place the Traveler touched before the Collapse. It’s a place of magic and mysticism. Finally, you’ll go to Nessus, which is an unstable planetoid that has been completely transformed into a machine world by the Vex.
]]> https://stayclose.social/blog/5140/digging-into-destiny-2-lore-relationships/ Mon, 15 Dec 2025 10:20:48 +0000 Cindy Fish