Venture into Destiny – Part 3: An Inspiration for Regicide

Destiny, Activision

<p class&equals;"western">If you&&num;8217&semi;re positively bewildered by what madness you&&num;8217&semi;re spotting here and would like additional context&comma; a link to previous entries in this series can be found at the end of the article&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">For you it&&num;8217&semi;s hopefully only been a week&period; However time is a strange force when you&&num;8217&semi;re able to make things and long before they&&num;8217&semi;re released&period; Since my last dabble in <em>Destiny<&sol;em>&comma; an entire month has passed&period; Much has occurred within this month but perhaps the most important thing to occur was the release of <em>Rise of Iron&period; <&sol;em>That will be a nice treat when we finally reach level 40&comma; but we still have a long journey ahead of us&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">If you are able to dig your memory out&comma; you may recall that a random person teased us into perhaps visiting Venus for a nice hunting holiday&period; That this time we&&num;8217&semi;ll finally be fighting the main threat there&period; The main force&&num;8217&semi;s identity is still unknown at this time but it would finally be known when we meet her there&period; Right now all we know is that they are wanting to topple the last known sanctuary and that of course cannot happen&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">However&comma; if there is one thing that hasn&&num;8217&semi;t changed since my Venture into the Borderlands series&comma; it is my poor attention span&semi; deciding the fate of the world can wait for now&period; I decide to go do something else&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s right&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m going to go save the world from something else&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114957" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114957" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114957" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;03013012&sol;Destiny&lowbar;20161010014030-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Destiny&comma; Activision" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114957" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Destiny&comma; Activision<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>As well as swinging a sword around again&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">I guess this is a good time to bring up another narrative part that bugs me about <em>Destiny<&sol;em>&period; Since the start of the game&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;ve had &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the fate of the universe” hanging over my head&period; Always that indistinct wave coming to crush humanity into a paste that The Traveller once saved us from but no longer can&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">So the question is&colon; How is it possible to raise the stakes higher&quest; You can&&num;8217&semi;t exterminate the human race harder than total eradication&period; They&&num;8217&semi;ve even somewhat written themselves in a corner by announcing The Tower as the last bastion of humans&period; Bungie can&&num;8217&semi;t have the threat of a few thousand of the dwindling last people in danger of being stomped all over&period; Once the singular last stronghold is made into a crater&comma; there is no more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">They&&num;8217&semi;ve used the biggest motivation on me&comma; with no indication of deviation &lpar;e&period;g&period; money&comma; resources or personal love&sol;friend interest&rpar;&period; Even chasing up a different threat doesn&&num;8217&semi;t feel like&comma; what us professionals would call&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;smug-inducing faffing about”&period; Instead it is just putting another fire out as a volunteer fire fighter armed with just a bucket&period; Since every threat is equal from beginning to end&comma; the antagonists begin to blur together into something vague&comma; ambiguous and indistinct&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s quite sad&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114958" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114958" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114958" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;03013225&sol;Destiny&lowbar;20161010014958-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Destiny&comma; Activision" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114958" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Destiny&comma; Activision<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>With the personality of a plank of wood&comma; it is hard to want to do anything for her&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s great that she pays for tolerance of her evil Sam Fisher eyes with loot&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Getting back to my misadventures&comma; do you remember last week where I took down the Temple of Crota&quest; Well&comma; apparently it turns out I didn&&num;8217&semi;t do so entirely and that there are some leftovers that still need to be shot in the face&period; To be precise&comma; Crota had many disciples&period; The first of which&comma; Sardon&comma; is trying to bring Crota back by waking his soul&period; Although they did warn me about The Fist of Crota&comma; so I  really shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be that surprised&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">After a good few minutes of playing &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Chase Me Around the Cave While I Shoot You”&comma; The Fist of Crota was deknuckled and I went on my merry way&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Wait&excl;”Eris Morn shouted just as I turned to leave with my new reward&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The threat still remains&excl;” they shouted at me&period; I nearly told her to shove it and that THE THREAT ALWAYS REMAINS&comma; but I think my character had given up long ago&period; She is no longer in it to save humanity&comma; but rather to put food on the table&period; So&comma; after a weary defeated sigh&comma; I asked&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Okay&comma; who is next&quest;”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Or should I have asked &&num;8220&semi;Where&quest;&&num;8221&semi; Apparently Rasputin was not the program I originally thought it was&comma; but rather a physical entity of computers in a bunker&period; A Wrist Mourns tells me Crota&&num;8217&semi;s devout followers wants to burgle Rasputin&comma; with fears of them breaking it or worse&comma; controlling it&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s never quite clear what both could mean&comma; but it seemed too late to ask now&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Turning up to the bunker&comma; classical music starts playing through the intercom&period; At first I foolishly thought it was giving me a greeting&period; A Wrist Mourns corrects me by saying&comma; &&num;8220&semi;No no&comma; this is like Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker where it sings when it is distressed&period;&&num;8221&semi; It Turns out the bunker was absolutely riddled with The Hive&comma; and I would act as a ballistic pest-control&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Once that was wrapped up&comma; I found out that killing Sardon stopped absolutely nothing and the soul was still being woken up&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For realsies this time&comma; can you destroy the soul which lies in a crystal akin to Zordon&&num;8217&semi;s tube&quest;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What&comma; like this&quest;” I say&comma; as I sprayed the crystal with so many bullets that you&&num;8217&semi;d think I&&num;8217&semi;d go find a bigger gun&period; With the soul finally floating off free&comma; I had this awkward feeling that&&num;8217&semi;d come to haunt me later&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114959" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114959" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114959" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;03013510&sol;Destiny&lowbar;20161010024010-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Destiny&comma; Activision" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114959" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Destiny&comma; Activision<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>Wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t it have been better to just store his captured spirit somewhere rather than free it&quest; Maybe use it as a street light&quest; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">A Wrist Mourns then gave me my final mission with her&colon; Defeat the champion of Crota&comma; thus putting out that religion-infused fire&period; This is the part where I&&num;8217&semi;d examine what makes a boss fight interesting and what makes a boss fight frustrating&comma; but <em>Destiny<&sol;em> is somewhat legendary in its approach&period; I can confirm that Bungie grabbed one of the main criticisms JRPGs face and just ran with it&period; After all&comma; making meaningful interesting puzzles to solve is too hard and giving an enemy a lot of health and damage is just too easy&period; Even with three people it still took a good ten minutes of bullet spraying to put the laughably named Omnigul &lpar;like a seagull but without being limited to the sea&rpar; into the floor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">So with that done&comma; Eris gave me the<em> Destiny<&sol;em> equivalent of a high-five by saying that work was finished and I was free to go on my merry little way along with a legendary weapon&comma; which was nice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Finally&comma; I went to Venus to seek out the information on the next fire to I needed to put out&period; Apparently it is a collection of not-terminators&sol;geth called Vex&comma; who are mysteriously all named after fantasy creatures&period; I honestly had to do a double-take as Goblins&comma; Hobgoblins and Minotaurs surrounded me&period; While at first I wanted to grumble &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Same thing&comma;<em> really<&sol;em>&quest;” but an afterthought came first&period; They are actually different since they shamble toward you boldly with some mild teleportation&sol;invisibility properties&period; I had to give some credit for remembering to mix things up a bit and throw in some variety with the Vex&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">While kicking through the colossal body build-up&comma; I finally got to meet my friendly stalker&period; In true <em>Destiny<&sol;em> form&comma; she told me next to nothing&period; Not who she was&comma; who she was sent from or what her position was in this big space drama&period; In fact&comma; she uttered this frustrating phrase&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114955" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114955" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114955" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;03012306&sol;Destiny&lowbar;20161010045240-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Destiny&comma; Activision" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114955" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Destiny&comma; Activision<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Ugh&period; All I got was that I needed to go find out about the Black Garden and destroy what&&num;8217&semi;s in it because it&&num;8217&semi;s making these Vex creatures&period; It sure seemed like a bit of a humdrum solution when reprogramming could work &lpar;while creating an interesting question revolving around the philosophy of overwriting someone&&num;8217&semi;s personality&rpar;&comma; but hey ho&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">I head out to speak to The Awoken at the edges of space to find out where this Dark Vineyard is&period; For whatever reason&comma; they decided I was important enough to speak to the queen or because it&&num;8217&semi;s the only way to further the plot &lpar;I&&num;8217&semi;m thinking the second reason&rpar;&period; I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t that important though because I was still treated like dirt &lpar;because <em>Destiny<&sol;em> is against regicide as an option&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">Finally they send me off to go slay a Gate Lord&comma; with the smug look of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Betcha can&&num;8217&semi;t even find one&comma; let alone kill one&period;&&num;8221&semi; Determined to wipe that smirk off that brother&&num;8217&semi;s face&comma; I shuffle off with my Ghost&period; Although Dingle-bot makes sure to chastise me for not checking with him before promising to kill a Gate Lord&comma; despite having every opportunity to interject&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">So&comma; the good news is Not-Claptrap found out where one was located&period; The bad news is he decided to do that by redirecting their transfer gates to one place&comma; so I have to fight through swarms just to get to the lord&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114956" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114956" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114956" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;11&sol;03012438&sol;Destiny&lowbar;20161010052351-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Destiny&comma; Activision" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114956" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Destiny&comma; Activision<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>GOD DAMN IT CLAPTRAP 2&period;0&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">One by one I shut down the gates by way of the highly technical process of just shooting them&period; Finally I arrive at a colossal one that creepily reminded me of the end of <em>Borderlands<&sol;em>&period; The the Gate Lord finally came through confused&period; Looking left and right&comma; he sizes up this little human who has began to fire at him&period; Oddly enough&comma; rather than shrugging and just going home&comma; he decides to crush me&period; Although I guess this particular lord was very unpopular due to its robotic antics as a very limited force came to reinforce this assassination attempt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">A couple of LMG magazines later and I&&num;8217&semi;m dragging a lofty head back to the queen&period; Her brother seemed tempted to not fulfill his end of the deal&period; Maybe he was wanting to get the key I needed and keep it to himself with a blatant &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Oh&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s broken” type lie&period; I guess the queen quickly realizes my patience was running on fumes and I was close to recreating the lift scene from <em>Drive<&sol;em> on her head&comma; as she tells her brother to just hand the key over&period; Finally with the key in hand&comma; she reminded me that she may call on my assistance someday &lpar;a call that I&&num;8217&semi;ll have to decline for my own sanity&&num;8217&semi;s sake&rpar; before sending me on my way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">I&&num;8217&semi;m then dumped in a new outpost where its leader&comma; Petra&comma; shares a bit of a joke about how The Queen thinks highly of me&period; I share a joke back about how I totally know what she&&num;8217&semi;s talking about concerning the House of Wolves&period; I think in the next coming parts she&&num;8217&semi;s going to be my pillar of sanity in this cold cruel outpost&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western">As I ponder whether to kill time with the side missions or to just leap into tearing down the Vex&&num;8217&semi;s factory&comma; I thought this would be a good time to take a break&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll have to come back next week to see if I end up snapping and seeing if the royal siblings can breathe in space&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" lang&equals;"en-US" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em>Past Parts<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"western" lang&equals;"en-US" style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">&lbrack;<strong>Part 1&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;venture-into-destiny-part-1-unfunny-little-robot&sol;">Unfunny Little Robot<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&rsqb; &lbrack;<strong>Part 2&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;venture-destiny-part-2-absolute-lunacy&sol;">Absolute Lunacy<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&rsqb;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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