Editor s Choice: Beck s Top 10 Games Of 2014

Humanity isn’t the only thing occupying the wide-open galaxy; there are the other two races as well. The Exos are powered by the light and that seems to be a living source. Besides humanity fighting its war there are the Awoken and Exo, both related to humanity while not being human. Equally as important to the scope of it all. Without getting into the nitty-gritty of these two races, just know that Bungie does plan on telling their stories eventually. The other major tie in for these two races is all the other high sci-fantasy space stuff going on. Without getting into space dragons (because they exist), there are also things in this universe the Destiny community has yet to encounter, unless counting Xur. Which brings this to the Nine. The Nine have been a known part of Destiny since the game's release, but the only contact anyone has had with them is strictly through Xur, an agent of the Nine. With Destiny 2 taking us to Titan, players just might get closer than ever before to this elusive group of who knows what (hint space dragons). Doing some digging, it's known the Nine occupy either Europa, a moon of Jupiter, or Titan, one of the new locals in Destiny 2, a moon of Saturn.

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.

As the EDZ’s NPC, Devrim provides relevant info and commentary while playing on Earth, and serves as the area’s vendor for purchasing new weapons and armor. He also serves as the area’s Faction Leader and will reward players with Legendary Engrams after earning enough Reputation with him. Reputation is earned through exploring and participating in activities throughout the area. Doing so will grant players area-specific tokens and materials that can then be traded into Devrim for Reputation. Once the bar is full, and you’re level 20, Devrim will give players the engram. Once collected, he Reputation Bar will reset, giving players the chance to earn additional Legendary Engrams.

One of the biggest questions around Destiny 2 is if Activision and Bungie are doing enough to fix what is an extremely wonky machine, and if so, can it be saved? Destiny 2 does have a dedicated fan base, but even that has hit a low point compared to when Destiny found itself going through these same woes, just with less grief, which makes sense. Destiny isn't perfect and it came a long way from when it launched, but many of the problems in Destiny 2 didn't exist for Destiny. In many ways Destiny 2 felt like it had taken about a thousand steps back. Now Destiny 2 finds itself not only on the same trajectory as the original, but also with more patches and leaks to fix. The boat was sinking as soon as it hit water, it just took a little time at sea to see just how bad things were.

Fallout 4 and Dead Space 3 were both the standout best sellers of their respective series. More gamers are familiar with these series thanks to their widespread success. On it’s own, this success is a good thing. In the case of Fallout at least, it means that the series has a future. Just like with Destiny 2, however, that success came with a price. In the case of Fallout 4 , greater success and mainstream appeal came at the cost of its RPG depth. Instead of defining what kind of character they want to play at the outset of the game, players can instead develop them as they play. The Sole Survivor’s identity is fluid. They can be anything and everything given enough time. They’re basically competent in everything from the outset of the game and developing them is mostly just a matter of increasing their damage with/resistance to different types of weapons.

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.

Destiny came up short in many departments following its 2014 launch, including exploration. Exploring Earth, Venus, Mars and the Moon was supposed to be exciting, www.destiny2focus.com but ended up being a chore. The open areas of each planet were flat, plain and lacked exciting activities to participate in. They were pretty but didn't have substance to keep players entertained outside of mindless busywork. This is something Bungie is directly addressing with Destiny 2.

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, the PvE aspect of things makes for the skeletal structure that holds up the Destiny universe. In other words, lore matters.