The Beginning of the End (maybe)
The Final Shape launched this week. This 10-year journey is finally reaching a climax. Now, we can fulfill out…Destiny.
With the new expansion came many changes and expectations. New gear, changing metas, the end of the Light and Darkness saga; the excitement has been palpable. Factor in that it took over 18 hours for someone to win the Salvation’s Edge raid race, and you can see why players have been in such a buzz the last few days.
Now, I can’t cover everything that The Final Shape brought to the table, but I can comment on three things today: Prismatic, the Dread, and the overall campaign (don’t worry; no spoilers).
Prismatic
Prismatic, Destiny’s new(ish) subclass, combines abilities from both Light and Darkness elements. The number of possible combinations is staggering. Prismatic Hunters are especially terrifying, since turning invisible is almost easier here than with the original Void subclass.
While the grenades, melees, supers, and aspects are generally the same, the fragments have much more depth to them. Their descriptions are very wordy, which can be daunting for new players. Even I, who has settled into the build-crafting niche, have to reread the fragment characteristics a few times to make sure I fully understand what they do.
During the campaign, there were several instances where certain enemies could only be damaged by Transcendence, Prismatic’s special mode. As per Destiny’s usual method of promoting new abilities, there were spots that let us super charge our meters. Surprisingly, while there were more instances of needed Transcendence, it didn’t feel as heavy-handed. A friend of mine even reported you could charge Transcendence with a mono-element subclass, so long as you stayed in the charge spot.
After playing the new Liminality strike outside the campaign, I haven’t seen other cases of Transcendence-damage enemies appearing in other areas of the game. This includes the new Liminality strike, at least after you play it the first time in the campaign. I hope they keep it this way, because as fun as Prismatic is, I still like abusing Sunspots and Restoration on my Sunbreaker Titan.
The Dread
The Dread, Destiny’s newest enemy type, were one of the only purely-positive things I found when The Final Shape’s content was announced. Programming new enemy units in a game as massive as Destiny is quite an undertaking, so we were glad Bungie took the time to make them.
Even though we were told what these enemies could do, actually panning around them was a challenging breath of fresh air. Grim bullets and Omen stasis blasts can find you if you’re not deep enough behind cover. Swarms of Husks keep you shooting, especially if you miss that precision kill. Run-and-gun tactics and constant movement keep you on your toes. I had many a team-wipe because Weavers kept yanking us into enemy fire. The Dread certainly live up to their name, but encounters with them kept me engaged and eager for the challenge.
Spoiler-Free Campaign
The level designs in the Pale Heart were creative (and sometimes terrifying). Unlike past maps, where the locations were relatively circular, our new space opened up in a linear sequence. The further we explored, the more area we had access to. Aesthetically, the Pale Heart is based on memories. There are many easter eggs littered throughout the space, ranging from familiar landmarks, to statues of other races, to bushes trimmed in interesting ways.
In order to acquire the Titan’s rocket chest piece as soon as possible, I opted to play the campaign on Legendary. Ironically, the most difficult fight I had on Day 1 was against Currant error codes. What surprised me most was that it was manageable with two people running together, even though the difficulty spikes with each additional fireteam member. Things only got truly spicey when our third man joined in for the final level.
It’s tough to be the story guy and not delve fully into the narrative. However, this soon after launch, I’d do a disservice to readers, players, and developers if I revealed too much. What I can say about the story side is that there was a much better build up of drama and tension between all of the characters.
Will we beat the Witness in the campaign or in the raid? You’ll have to play the game to find out. Hope to see you in there!