Destiny 2 Story Discussion Held With YouTubers, As Bungie Seeks To Make It Work Again

While Bungie's Destiny 2 started off rather well on the game charts, there's no question that it's seen a drop-off in users since that time, with a number of them becoming bored with what the developer has tried to provide for the game.

So, in an effort to get to the bottom of things, Bungie's Christopher Barrett decided to speak with a few YouTubers about the big problems with the storytelling in Destiny 2 via a Destiny Lore survey, in the hopes to "right the ship," as it were, and maybe put things back on track. Tomorrow's content reveal for the new expansion, Warmind, should certainly help, but it sounds like more is needed.

The full Reddit is here, but here's the sum-up of some of the most important content talked about during the session:

The summit started with a group session for general feedback, then the attendees were divided into two groups for breakout sessions. Different developers were available in each breakout group. The developers rotated through each breakout group so that the attendees had a chance to speak with each developer. The developers were extremely open to feedback and recommendations. However, after I had rotated through both groups of developers I became concerned because there was not a representative from the story/narrative team. Whilst I had asked some lore/story questions during the breakout sessions, I didn't feel it gave enough opportunity to give feedback about Destiny's story. I mentioned this to Christopher Barrett during one of the breaks and he offered to organize a meeting with someone from the story/narrative team on Friday. At the time, Mercules904 (contributor to planetdestiny, destinytracker and pcgamer) and theAER0KNIGHT (destiny reset podcast) were nearby, and as lore lovers they were also invited to attend.

And the big thing discussed? Apparently, cohesiveness.

We spoke about a number of things that I would consider cohesiveness issues, that is how multiple aspects of the game fit together to tell a story.

• Raids continue and conclude stories. The Taken King DLC was given as an example that showed good cohesiveness between the main campaign and the raid. Many of the survey responses explained how the Taken King had a satisfying conclusion because Oryx's story was developed during the campaign and continued into the raid, where he was defeated. We highlighted the disconnect between Destiny 2's campaign and the Leviathan Raid, specifically how Calus was not developed in the campaign missions, strikes and/or adventures. We also highlighted how Raid Lairs are also disconnected from the story.

• Synergy. The Taken King DLC was once again used as an example that showed good synergy, improving its cohesiveness. In the Taken King, not only did the campaign's story continue into the raid, however other aspects of the game, such as calcified fragments (i.e. Books of Sorrow), exotic quests (i.e. Touch of Malice) and strike missions synergized to tell the story of Oryx. We explained how we did not feel like Destiny 2 synergized to tell a cohesive story about Calus.

• Puzzle pieces. Whilst Destiny 1 grimoire cards were difficult to collate and organize, we explained how they still felt related and interconnected. A player who invested time in collecting and reading grimoire cards could fit multiple grimoire cards together in order to tell a story i.e. like pieces of a puzzle. In Destiny 2, we highlighted how it felt like Lore tabs felt disconnected from each other and lacked the feeling of connecting the puzzle pieces.

• Open-ended vs concrete conclusion. We spoke about achieving a balance between open-ended conclusions and concrete conclusions to plotlines. Once again, The Taken King was used as a good example. Many players felt that Oryx had a satisfying conclusion upon his defeat in the raid, with his body floating off to Saturn, however the conclusion still had mystery with the release of Touch of Malice, an item that potentially allowed Oryx to live on. In addition, Oryx's sisters still remained unaccounted for. The Exo stranger was provided as an example of a plotline that was left too open-ended, and players felt dissatisfied. It was challenging describing how the lore community views certain plotlines, some plotlines we are happy to remain mysterious and open ended, some plotlines we definitely want answered, and some plotlines we want a mix.

• Exotic quests. We spoke a lot about how exotic quests was an effective way to deliver lore to the player and increase cohesiveness. The Taken King was once again used as an example, specifically the Touch of Malice quest line. The Touch of Malice quest line had players collect Calcified Fragments, and upon returning to Eris Morn, more and more information was simultaneous revealed about Eris and about Oryx. Eris's backstory was expanded upon with in-game dialogue and NPC written dialogue as the player proceeded through the quest, whilst the Books of Sorrows revealed the story of Oryx. We commented on how we have not seen an exotic quest of this caliber yet in Destiny 2. Compounding the issue, is that exotics do not feel powerful to use. Ideally, exotic weapons should feel powerful from a gameplay point of view, but also from a lore point of view. Touch of Malice feels powerful not only because of its mechanics but because you built it from the heart of Oryx and his defeated lieutenants. Gjallarhorn feels powerful because of its gameplay mechanics but also because it was built from the armor of Guardians who fell at Twilight Gap. Destiny 2 exotics do not feel powerful from a gameplay point of view or from a lore point of view.

• Impact. We spoke about how players want to feel like they have an impact on the world. This was difficult to unpack, as I still need to read more survey responses to understand how this can be achieved. At this stage, I believe it is related to the backstory and depth of the villain. For example, when players defeated Oryx in the raid, they felt like they really did save Earth because they knew that Oryx had defeated so many civilizations before them. In addition, Oryx's death scene was very cinematic, adding to the impact. Whilst defeating Ghaul in Destiny 2 had an impact on the social space and the appearance of the Traveler, players felt like nothing changed. The Traveler awoke but this did not have a consequence. For example, we did not get stronger, we did not improve our technology like the previous golden age, we didn't try communicate with the Traveler etc.

So...it looks like Bungie may have its work cut out for it. But you have to make progress somewhere, right?

Again, the full Reddit thread can be found here.

Destiny 2 is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.