How Destiny 2 is Winning Me Over to the Series

I don’t like first-person shooters. There, I said it. Good to get that off my chest.

It’s not that I don’t like shooting guns in first-person in video games; it’s just that most FPS’s focus too much on the shooting and violence for me to get on board. I love me a rich story, vibrant world, and quirky character in video games, and most FPS’s I try fail to deliver.

That being said, I’ve enjoyed Overwatch enough — diverse cast of eccentric heroes and crazy fun fighting — but I need exploration, stories, quests, and new experiences that go beyond team battles.

Destiny piqued my interest when it was first announced, but too many facets seemed poorly thought out, making for an experience that couldn’t win me over. Destiny 2, however, seems to be changing my mind for the better.

Why I Didn’t Get Destiny

I’ll admit that hearing Destiny was coming from Halo devs turned me off a bit. I’ve played my fair share of Halo, and it started feeling like the same thing over and over again far too soon.

I was intrigued enough by trailers and reviews to try out my friend’s copy of Destiny, and I picked it up quickly. The controls felt great, and the gunplay was awesome. While I was excited to check out the different planets’ environments, I found there wasn’t much to do in them beyond patrols.

The premise of the story sounded very interesting, but from what I played, reviews I read, and gameplay I watched, it wasn’t executed well at all. The writing was pretty poor, and I just didn’t feel like there was enough content to the campaign.

Though I can’t say many bad things about Destiny’s multiplayer, I’ve already made it clear that I need more than that, and Bungie really left me wanting. Sure, the DLC’s added a ton of content, but why pay for an underdeveloped game only to keep forking over more cash for every expansion?

Why I’m Getting Destiny 2

Destiny tried to do too many things at once without enough development given to each individual thing. From what I’ve seen, Bungie has learned from those mistakes and is fixing the game’s lacking features.

I know Destiny 2 isn’t even out yet, but Bungie has detailed some pretty exciting improvements coming to their next project. Basically, it looks like capital-M More — more content with more thought put into each aspect, as opposed to the A+ multiplayer and C- everything else in the first Destiny.

1. More to Do

Bungie has added actual towns and NPC’s that give more robust side quests than what patrols offered in Destiny. General exploring is more of a thing with added areas and treasure to uncover.

While Destiny 2 will still have patrols, planets will offer more public events with new Heroic objectives for more challenge. There will also be actual maps with filters to cater to your focus at the time.

 2. More to Explore

Destiny 2 will have four new worlds to explore, including Titan, Io, Nessus, and Earth’s European Dead Zone. The new Earth map is twice the size of any map in the original game, and I’m hoping that’s a good sign for the other worlds.

You’ll also be able to fast travel from planet to planet without going into orbit first. Thank God for less loading and more exploring.

3. More Abilities

I love the classes in Destiny, and I’m crossing my fingers for more in the sequel. Even if there aren’t, the new Super abilities have me intrigued. Warlocks are getting a sword-based move called the Dawnblade, Titans can summon a shield with Sentinel, and Hunters will be able to wield a powerful staff with the Arcstrider move.

I’m all about dynamic and amusing fighting, so I’m stoked about trying out more classes, weapons, and abilities.

4. More Platforms

While the first entry in the series came only to PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Destiny 2 is making the trek to PC. What’s more, the PC version will support 4K resolution and an uncapped frame rate. I’m in the process of building a PC, and come September I should be ready to explore those new worlds with the shiniest graphics possible.

Also, think of the mods, people!

If Destiny 2 keeps those parts of its predecessor I love and greatly improves on its flaws, it’ll be a first-person shooter for the ages.