Did Lightfall Fall Flat?

The Raid Race honeymoon phase is over. Now that a majority of Destiny 2’s newest expansion has been revealed (not including the seasonal content), we can finally take a deeper look at Lightfall.

There’s…a lot to talk about here. We’ll go over some of the general changes, the introduction of Strand, and story and character observations. There will be some spoilers ahead, but without further ado, let’s jump right in.

General Gameplay Changes

We got some major overhauls in our customization options. As many people have said, this is what Destiny 3 would have been if the franchise didn’t convert to live-service. Some of the most notable changes were Armor Mods and PvE Difficulty (I mean, Commendations was a new addition, too, but they’re not really doing much).

Destiny’s loadout customization has been phenomenal. There are multiple gear options you can make, and last year’s Light subclass overhaul gave us even more opportunities for creativity. This year, the armor modifier system got streamlined and consolidated. The once element-bound mods were set free.

Instead, they became bound to specific armor pieces. Everything fell in line with the old Charged with Light combat style. Elemental Wells got retooled and incorporated into our subclasses. Warmind Cells got removed completely (unpopular opinion: I wish they didn’t).

This revamp wasn’t bad, per se. If anything, veteran players were a bit overwhelmed at first. New players unlock mods as they level up their new Guardian Ranks, while veteran players were automatically promoted to Rank 6 and had all armor mods available. There was just a lot of information to read through. When I loaded up Lightfall on launch day, I didn’t even touch the campaign. I just went through my old loadouts and adjusted them to be usable once again (you can check them out on the Round Two Gaming YouTube channel; they are still viable!).

As for the Difficulty changes, many players were upset when Bungie announced that there would be a significant increase in threat level. While not the most welcome change, it was certainly a necessary one. For years, “power creep” had infected the game. Our characters acquired so much new gear, had their abilities tweaked and strengthened, that core game modes became monotonously easy. Running strikes, patrols, and seasonal activities began to drag after a while.

With the spike in difficulty, we players can no longer sit on our laurels. We have to use more thought and creativity when it comes to loadouts, while still keeping them fun. Granted, some of the core activities no longer factor Power Level in, so some players have already started bounty hoarding for next season. We’ll see how playtime engagement goes…

Strand

Swinging in as the go-to traversal subclass, Strand is the newest element we can wield. Acting as the “fabric of reality,” Guardians are able to grapple around and unravel their foes. Their unhinged ability to completely skip jumping puzzles has left other subclasses green with envy.

I have my own opinions about the Darkness subclasses, but that’ll come in a later article. What I will say is that there has been some complaints about Strand, and not in the usual ways. Unlike Stasis, the element we got prior, Strand did not come in over-tuned. It actually rolled out rather balanced. If you’re affected by Strand in PvP, you can still shoot even though you can’t move (unlike being completely frozen by Stasis). So, what could the complaints possibly be? Well, there are two big ones, one that I can understand, while the other is, to put it mildly, unnecessary.

The unnecessary complaint is using Strand outside of the story campaign. When we first encountered it, our ability and Super cooldowns were sped up, allowing us to swing around with reckless abandon. This occurred several times throughout the campaign. However, once we completed the story and unlocked full access to the subclass, those super fast recharges slowed down considerably. This has left players underwhelmed.

However, this is nothing new. Every time we unlocked a new subclass, we had brief periods where we could use our new abilities repeatedly. This happened in Beyond Light, when we acquired our icy Stasis crystals. This happened in The Red War (aka the base game at launch), when we reacquired our old Light subclasses. These are meant to whet our appetites for each subclass, not be the standard on ability usage. If you want to use Strand to swing more often, there are ways to do that. Hunters have the Widow’s Silk aspect, giving them an extra grapple charge and anchor points for all allies. Titans can use exotic armor pieces, such as the Heart of Inmost Light or the Armamentarium chest armors. Warlocks can…well, I don’t play Warlock often, but I’m sure there’s something you can use! If anything, just grapple a rocket before Bungie patches that, too.

The more understandable complaint regarding Strand is how it hijacks the story. “Understanding Strand” became such a focal point that it detracted from the narrative. Major story beats were interrupted by the new subclass. This leads us to our next major point:

Story and Character

While I do appreciate the 80's-style training montage to fit the neon cityscape, the writing for the campaign was rough. When My Name is Byf, one of YouTube’s foremost Destiny lore-storians, is upset about narrative choices, you know we’re in for a doozy.

The biggest elephant in the room would have to be the Veil. Despite being the supposed key to our enemies’ plans, the MacGuffin of the story, we’re not really told what the Veil is. Supposedly, the Vex of the Black Garden created the Black Heart as a way of copying the Veil, but that doesn’t explain what they’re copying.

A friend of mine suggested that it’s the Traveler’s heart, but I have a slightly different theory. A literal veil is an object that hides or obstructs something from view. The Veil from the game was probably an access point, a paracausal curtain that kept the heart of the Traveler (in the mountains of lore text, it could be the alluded-to Gardener) safe from harm.

There could have been a little more explanation within the narrative, though. Word is circulating that Bungie will release a quest that will address this plot hole. While not ideal, at least we’ll get some answers. We’ll see if my theory adds up. I did get pretty close to the Exo-Vex relationship back in Beyond Light!

On the Character side, some key figures felt underutilized. Rohan and Nimbus, the Cloudstriders of Neptune, came swooping in as our new, bright and shiny cyborg additions to Destiny’s expansive cast. However, they suffered from some poor writing choices, especially Rohan. They fit the archetypes for grizzled mentor and spunky apprentice, which already made us think that Rohan would be passing the torch very soon. The moment we saw Nimbus as the NPC vendor, our suspicions were all but confirmed. When Rohan brought up the Cloudstriders’ 10-year lifespan and “my time’s almost up,” the final nail was hammered in the coffin. Rohan was going to die. This on-the-nose foreshadowing cheapened his sacrifice later in the story.

How could Bungie have run things differently? Well, a good plot twist would have been Nimbus dying instead of Rohan. We’ve already set up Rohan’s limited time, and Nimbus already embodied the whole “go with the flow” mentality of Strand. Sure, it’s doubtful that Bungie would kill off their first blatantly (and ironically) non-binary character, but imagine the possible narrative threads. Osiris would have embraced the new mentality more willingly by Nimbus’s sacrifice. Rohan would have to find a new Cloudstrider candidate (possibly our Guardians) before his body gives out.

The new raid, Root of Nightmares, doesn’t do much to repair the narrative, but it was set up much better than previous raids. Partway through the story campaign, we discover the presence of a character long thought dead: Nezarec, the self-proclaimed “god of pain” and the perpetrator of humanity’s past collapse. We’ve known about Nezarec from armor and lore tidbits, but this was the first time we heard his voice and saw his face. While Rhulk, the boss of the Vow of the Disciple raid, had much better characterization, Nezarec had a much clearer introduction and inclusion within the main story. The stakes could’ve been higher, but it was a step in the right direction.

Amidst the turmoil of Lightfall’s overall narrative, there was one spark of storytelling that did shine through the turbulence: Osiris’s personal journey.

We already knew Osiris was a crotchety old man, but he was extra ornery at the start of the story. Honestly, I can’t blame him. Over the course of the last year and a half, he was the unconscious agent of one of humanity’s greatest threats, exposed closely guarded secrets, and lost his access to the Light. People either treated him like he was made of glass, or refused to trust him entirely. He was desperate to prove himself, which is what made him push everyone to reclaim and protect the Veil. That tunnel-visioned drive made him lose sight on important details and dangers. As he interacted with the Cloudstriders and researched the bizarre power of Strand, he realized that, in order for them to succeed, he had to loosen control over the situation and simply go with the flow.

Osiris had a clear character arc, but this was just a tiny thread in the entire story. As the vehicle driving the narrative, our Guardians should technically be the focus. Osiris may have been barking orders, but he wasn’t the one charging after the Veil. We were. This storyline could’ve worked for a seasonal story, but not as well for a main expansion campaign.

So, with all of this said, we must repeat our starting question: Did Lightfall fall flat?

I wouldn’t say it landed completely on its face, but it was a much lower quality than we’ve come to expect. Gameplay improvements have been phenomenal, and the new weapons, armor, and abilities have been so much fun to use (I have been raving about the new Vexcalibur exotic glaive for over a week). However, the story campaign’s writing, or lack thereof, made it a slog to get through. Hopefully, with the seasonal content and that supposed “plot hole fixer” quest, the narrative can be salvaged.