MMOs, Console Games and anything else with buttons
Good old Bungie making things more difficult than they should be.
If you’re looking for the Abomination Heist strike in Destiny, which is on the Moon, it isn’t called that when you look at the map. Instead it’s The Summoning Pits strike, but you need to ensure you set it to ‘Normal’ mode before launching it, otherwise it doesn’t count.
Hope that helps
So today saw Nintendo flesh out the previously released information about the Nintendo Switch console which is launching on the 3rd March. 2016 was a huge year for games if not consoles, but 2017 is shaping up pretty huge in that regard as well.
Some initial impressions:
1. The controller, whether in the ‘normal’ play mode or when pulled into its component parts, seems too small / flimsy to me. I like the dedicated screen capture button (with video capture apparently coming down the track) and the HD Rumble system appears to be a big improvement on the Wii and Wii U functionality as far as vibrations.
2. The 1-2 Switch game looks fun, think Wii Party on steroids. It launches on March 3rd as well.
3. The Arms game looks even better – I can see this one being a huge hit. I can also see each player’s wrists getting a very heavy workout. Solo and versus player options out of the box with online battles coming – no set release date except ‘Spring’
4. Splatoon 2: I would have been surprised if this franchise hadn’t made it onto the Switch and it is indeed there with a new game with extra weapons and new battle zones. Not launching until ‘Summer’
5. Super Mario Odyssey: sandbox world – looks huge and is cited as the first big successor to Mario 64. Coming 2017 ‘Holiday season’ so at end of year.
6. Xenoblade Chronicles 2: looks impressive, not a lot of detail though, no launch date.
7. Other games shown briefly or announced: Dragon Quest 10 and 11 (Japan only), Dragon Quest Heroes, Project Octopath Traveller, Skyrim, EA Sports Fifa,
Overall, Nintendo have shown they have a substantive platform in the Switch. Like a number of their previous console launches, there remains a concern over launch titles. As fun as Arms and 1-2 Switch look, I’m also wanting a big title to play with. Zelda is confirmed as a launch title but unfortunately it looks like we will have to wait a while for the other big games. I’m honestly dumbfounded that Mario Kart didn’t get a mention at all aside from Mario Kart 8 being shown in the initial introduction.
The live stream hasn’t changed much for me: I’m keen to use it, but I’m worried about what games I will be able to use it with. Maybe I need to become a bigger Zelda fan.
2016 was a huge year for games if not consoles, but 2017 is shaping up pretty huge in that regard as well – I just hope the Switch ends up being a big part of that.
For ongoing Switch coverage, check out Polygon, IGN and CNET to name three
To finish off, here’s some assorted pictures from the live stream:
I’m going to jump straight into the review of The Taken King without a paragraph or four regurgitating the challenging first year Destiny has had. We all know the story of ‘no story’, so let’s move on.
The first thing that jumps out is the improvements in navigation (thanks as much to the Destiny 2.0 update). The quest screens, the communication is all more obvious and it’s a great thing. Here’s the quest overview screen, something that wasn’t there at all in year one:
If you played in Year 1, you’ll have 5-10 minutes of running around the Tower picking up some gifts for your previous patronage then you’re ready to launch into the new story. And I’m extremely pleased to report there is story! It’s quite engaging as well, with the banter between Eris Morn and Cayde-6 particularly entertaining.
As far as locations go we only get the one new one: Saturn, but the re-use of the other planets is done well enough to keep it fresh. The new vistas are as stunning as you’d expect and throwing Taken into the mix gives the new content some good variety whilst also ramping up a feeling of how hectic things are getting in the story. The main storyline revolves around taking down Crota’s dad Oryx, but once you get to the end of that there’s a bunch of other quests to do to build your reputation, skills and sub-class. Time-wise, it took me half a dozen hours maximum to get from Level 34 to 40.
The game mechanics in the new Strikes are overall excellent – lots of frenetic activity is the name of the game with most. I really enjoyed the Echo Chamber strike in particular – there are some nice mechanics to keep it interesting. I haven’t gotten geared to Raid level yet, let alone that the Raid content isn’t available at time of writing, so I can’t comment there. On the PvP side of things I’ve only recently gotten into Crucible matches but from what I’ve seen of the new content it’s a worthy addition to the stable and the new modes (Mayhem and Rift) are welcome as well.
Just to be as balanced as possible, there are still some annoyances with the game. There are a number of locations where you’re presented with a vast chasm to get across. If you look in a certain direction a small levitating rock ledge appears that you jump on, with the next ledge appearing. For me at least though, the next ledges didn’t appear a lot of the time, either because it was glitchy or I wasn’t looking in a very specific location. Very frustrating and unnecessary – how many players want to be playing Mario jumping in a game like this? The direction arrow on your mini-map also remains very misleading in some locations – there was one instance of me dying three times assuming I had to try and do some Mario jumping when in fact I was meant to go in the opposite direction to where the arrow was pointing. Hopefully there’ll be some incremental fixes on this stuff.
So is The Taken King worth the nearly $100 you’ll pay for it? For me the answer is yes, though I’d still tend towards buying the disc given it has all the content on it to date. For new players there’s now a game that will keep you occupied for months. For those that listen to our podcast, you’ll know we both lost a great deal of faith in the game. I’m happy to say most of that faith has been restored but I still have an eye of what moves Bungie makes in the coming 3-6 months. In the meantime, I’m never going to get sick of that view:
Now it’s your turn: if you’re playing The Taken King, is it meeting your expectations?
Electronic Arts announced today that Star Wars™ Battlefront™ will be playable exclusively at the PlayStation stand at PAX Australia, held in Melbourne between 30th October to 1st November, 2015.
Fans will be able to go hands on with a Survival Mission, set within the desert of Tatooine that can be played solo or co-op with a friend.
I’m not heading to Pax this year but this announcement makes that decision a little more ulcer-inducing than previously. What about you?
I want to start by saying I am a Destiny fan. I pre-ordered the legendary edition and have no problems with it. I have been playing since the alpha and have enjoyed the game immensely. But today I am seriously questioning if I will continue to play anymore. Why? Because the newest expansion (this one I will call an expansion as it actually looks to be one content wise) is going to cost more to buy in Australia than the original game. Since when has an expansion ever cost more than the original game?
I would much rather be writing about all the great things the expansion has in store for us. New sub classes, new story missions (with actual story included this time round), new strikes and a new raid. All stuff I’m extremely keen to play. Plus I’m sure there will be new trophies/achievements to pickup, which will help entice some of my clan mates back into the game. But instead I’m sitting here writing about how it is going to cost me more than the original game did. And that’s not right.
Let’s first look at the offered pricing coming out of the US. The digital download of taken king is US $40 (AUS $51.77), The “Legendary Edition” is US $60 (AUS $77.65), and lastly the Collector’s Edition is US $80 (AUS $103.53). Also announced today the price for the digital Collector’s Edition items (that’s only the digital items included in the collector’s edition, not the game) US $20 (AUS $25.88). All the prices listed here when converted to Australian currency all look to be pretty reasonable (excluding the digital collector’s items only which I think is overpriced both in the US and Australia) from an average consumer point of view. When Destiny launched in September of last year the Standard Edition was AUS $79 at most retailers. For comparison to another AAA title, I purchased Batman: Arkham Knight yesterday for $69 on the PS4 (on special, normal price is $89 at the retailer I went to). So that’s the prices we should be expecting, however Bungie and Activison seem to have a different idea in mind.
To break it down this is what we are looking at in terms of price from the current pre-order options available in Australia (according to the official Destiny website). To Pre-order the expansion digitally the options are as follows: PS4 $119.95
And Xbox One $119.70:
Those are currently your only digital options Australia. You’re seeing that correct! You can only order the digital collector’s edition. There is currently no way to pre-order a straight up digital download of just “The Taken King” itself. If you select digital download on the Bungie website for your selected console your only options are “coming soon”, except for the Xbox One which does offer a link to the Xbox store but there is no price currently listed.
The big thing to keep in mind is this is the digital price. Not the physical price. I can’t stress that enough. So shall we compare the physical copy prices now? Well it’s not going to get much better folks. To start with let’s look at what they are calling the legendary edition. The two pre-order options for Australia listed on Bungie’s website are JB Hi-Fi and EB Games (Australia’s version of Gamespot). JB Hi-Fi has the legendary edition listed for all consoles at a staggering $99:
That’s a whole +$20 more than what is being paid in America. Sadly our other brick and mortar option isn’t much better. EB Games is also the only retailer selling the Collector’s Edition. And again they are charging another $20 more than when purchasing in the States:
What’s your take: will you be forking out for The Taken King?
(No damn way at that price – Ed)
For those who listen to our podcast, you’ll know I’m a real fan of Mario Kart. I played it on the SNES, N64, Wii and now Wii U. I love the online racing option and have worked my way up to 2900 points from the 1000 base points you start out with.
I’ve seen players with 8 or 9 thousand points here and there, and the more rare person on 10 or 12 thousand points. And then I joined an online racing group tonight and saw this:
Haupi from Germany and SA Sparks from France: I salute you both. I’d love to know the story of your rivalry and I’d argue the word epic could legitimately be used to describe it.
The Star Wars goodness just keeps on coming out of E3. This time it’s the turn of the Star Wars Battlefront game slated for release this November. Over five minutes of actual gameplay footage from Hoth is now yours to digest:
Not a lot to criticise from what I’m seeing – what’s your take?
Destiny. It’s one of those games that divides gamer opinion. It’s a game you love to hate, but if it gets its hooks in it will be one you won’t want to stop playing. You only have to look at Polygon or Kotaku any day of the week to see that the game has its fair share of issues. Yet these same people at both sites can’t seem to stop playing it or writing about it. So what is it about Destiny that keeps people coming back for more? Well for each person I’m sure the reason is different. For me, I keep coming back to play with my friends, and with the competitive nature we all share we keep trying to out perform each other. Also I am part of a pretty relaxed raid team that can complete the content and enjoys playing together. And if you ask any end game player, they will tell you that the raids are the best parts of the game.
So what is wrong with Destiny? If you’ve spent even half an hour in the game you will probably notice that the game is very, VERY story light. It’s most noticeable after the second mission when in the cut scene the Speaker says “I could tell you about…” and then doesn’t really tell you anything at all. Even better is another point in the game when you first meet “the Stranger” and she says “I don’t even have time to tell you why I don’t even have time.” Thankfully this has improved slightly in the recent The Dark Below (TDB) Expansion. Eris is a character that at least attempts to fill in some gaps. Not many gaps are filled in, but something is better than nothing.
The biggest problem with Destiny’s story is its delivery. There are countless moments throughout the main campaign where the opportunity to fill in the blanks is missed. An example: the line about the wizard coming from the moon, that was cut last year, is early on when the player encounters the hive for the first time. Now your ghost simply says something about the hive being on earth and that’s the end of the mission. If you were to do only the main story missions you would next go to the moon to track down a missing guardian for the speaker. The problem here is that the main story essentially skips two missions about Rasputin, which itself could be better integrated, and doesn’t provide a link between your first hive encounter and your reason for heading to the moon.
My idea to rectify this plot hole would be to have a dialogue with the speaker or your vanguard mentor where you report about the hive being on earth. Following this they maybe send a fellow guardian to the moon to investigate what the hive are doing there, while they send you back to Russia to find out what the hive are after, which would lead you to discover Rasputin. Once you get Rasputin up and running again, you return to your Vanguard mentor where they inform you that the guardian who went to the moon has gone missing and they ask you to seek him out. By doing this it would give the player the sense of inclusion into the proceedings at the tower and also it would give the NPCs a chance to have a personality. I’m not saying this needs to be fully integrated cut scenes, just put a small dialogue tree in when returning to the tower with mission rewards. It might not be much but it’s still better than what is there now.
As I said before, the problem isn’t so much the story itself, but its delivery. Other ideas to help with story mechanics for House of Wolves, or any other future content, would be to include the NPC characters in the missions. For example, have Cayde-6 (the hunter vanguard mentor) show up half way through a mission to help you track down and kill the boss. Doing this it would give your guardian a chance to speak. The few times you guardian does actually speak in cut scenes are the only good parts as it finally gives the NPCs someone to have a back forth dialogue with, even if there is very little dialogue there. Bungie did this is in Halo with Sgt. Johnson, so why not do something similar with the Vanguard mentors.
The other big story problem with Destiny is the Grimoire. Yes all the story that fills in the blanks is in there. But guess what? No one wants to go to the website to read it. I have seen many people say it should be in the game. One of my mates said just for looking at reputation levels he doesn’t even want to look at it on his phone or on a laptop screen. His reason: he doesn’t want to put down the controller to do it. All these things are essentially menu screens that need to be added. Probably a lot easier said than done, but when you pick up any RPG with extra background information/story, you can usually find it all in a journal of some sorts. Mass Effect and the Elder Scrolls series are great examples of this. Even last years Dragon Age: Inquisition has something along these lines (which reminds me I should go back and play this some more as it is bloody amazing). Hopefully this is something be added in the background for future DLC or updates. If you’re looking for a great way to get into the Grimoire, look no further than the Guardian Radio Networks audio Grimoire cards. All voice acted, brilliantly done and worth a listen.
The other big problem that turns players away in droves is the walls that are placed in front of a new level 20 guardian. This was not something I was aware of until I was listening to Flash Point Episode 92 the other week. Essentially Simon, David and David all said they were stuck at the grind to get better gear so they could just participate in TDB missions. From what I was able to understand they were doing the strike playlists, which itself is a great start, but is not the best way to get legendary gear. The problem with this scenario is there isn’t any real explanation on what to do once you reach level 20 in the game. In the mentioned scenario here I would recommend the guys do the weekly strikes to start out as even at the lower levels the chance to get a legendary piece is higher than doing the strike playlists. The problem with this is the minimum level for this is level 24 (prior to TDB it was 22) so having a few pieces of blue gear with a reasonable light level before attempting this would be a good idea. By doing the weekly strike they would gain 3 strange coins (more depending on the level being completed). Once they get thirteen they can trade them in with Xur, in the tower on the weekend, for an exotic piece of armour. One exotic piece starts with a light level of 30 and can be upgraded to 36. That alone would boost a new player up a few light levels. But there are no tool tips or information provided to the newly levelled player to guide them to discover this.
I mean seriously, just put in the tool tip for strange coins that says something like “can be traded for powerful armour and weapons in the tower”. Not really rocket science here. The other big barrier here is weeklies still have no match making, so if you don’t have a few friends to group with you’re on your own for the entire strike, which is doable but for some new players can be extremely challenging and off-putting.
Finally, I want to talk about expansions. I’ve got no issue with the content or how much there was or even the price. My problem is calling it an expansion. If you look at it as a straight up DLC content pack or more like a DLC episode than an expansion, then size and cost don’t seem like a big deal. Let’s compare it to say, a Call of Duty DLC pack. You get maybe 3 or four multiplayer maps and a co-op map and a couple of new guns, for I believe $15-$20. Most people seem to see that as reasonable. Now for almost the same price with Destiny we get a new raid, some new single player missions (which can be done co-op), 3 new multiplayer maps and new weapons and armour. So comparatively, Destiny’s DLC seems like the better deal. I’m not saying the DLC itself is better, that’s up to an individual to decide, but for price it’s on par with what else is offered out there. But the reason so many people complained about it being small or a rip off, and so on, isn’t because of how much was there, but because of the way it was presented. People see the word expansion and immediately start comparing it to say a World of Warcraft expansion or anything else along those lines. Even the last SWTOR expansion had more content, and I think was for a cheaper price (if you pre-ordered and were a subscriber). The Dark Below feels nothing like a true expansion and therefore should not be called one. Naming it as episodic content or a DLC pack like Call of Duty does would have prevented it from being issue before there even was one.
It’s not so much what is in the game that is the problem: it’s that the way it is delivered to the user is poor in performance. Whether it is by design or marketing, it’s these things that let Destiny down. Because at its core, especially when playing with friends, the game is a tremendous amount of fun, glitches and all. I just hope Bungie can turn around the way it delivers its product before the next DLC.
Did you purchase the Expansion Pass? Bungie sent you a toy in the post…. Yeh they did…
As a reward for purchasing The Dark Below, everyone who purchases it before 2015 will receive the Tumbler Sparrow on December 9th. If you have the expansion pass you will already have it waiting for you at the Postmaster. My opinion on the sparrow: it is fun as hell to do tricks on.
Hold the right trigger when you get airborne and you will spin whichever way you turn the left thumb stick. Hit the d-pad while in the air and your Guardian will do a variety of tricks. Expect to see plenty of videos in the coming months of tricks being done around the galaxy.
While you were sleeping Bungie snuck out the latest patch for Destiny last night. This is the patch they were referring to when the servers were brought down for maintenance last week. It’s about 2.44GB in size (at least on the PS4) and has a few handy new features, including more bounty slots, previewing shaders and emblems, and the new opt-in voice chat feature.
For all this and a list of fixes see the patch notes below.
http://www.bungie.net/7_Destiny-Update–11172014/en/News/News?aid=12398
1.0.3 : The one about Iron Banner and Voice.
This is the first in a series of updates that will deliver new content in the lead up to The Dark Below. Update 1.0.3 provides new social features, revisions to activities, alterations to competitive spaces, adjustments to the player overall experience, as well as a sizable download of new content and geometry to support the first expansion of the world of Destiny. The Iron Banner special event is also being updated with new rules and features prior to its second run.
Voice
Classes
Weapons
General
Perks
Activities
Missions
Strikes
Heroics
Event: Iron Banner
Cinematics
Destinations
Combatants
Events
Vendors
PVP
General
Medals
Maps
First Light
Blind Watch
Firebase Delphi
Rusted Lands
Shores of Time
Exodus Blue
Twilight Gap
HUD
Orbit
Menus
General
Roster
Inventory
Audio
Technical
In order to facilitate future updates Bungie will bringing down the servers for maintenance. There won’t be a patch but the servers will be ready for The Dark Below when it comes down the internet wires in a few weeks. Expect the servers to be down from 2am tomorrow morning (8am PST).
For info on what future content is coming look no further than notes from Deej’s weekly update post from last weekend below.
We’re inbound with several bundles of joy in our hold. They’ll land in the weeks to come. Some of them will give everyone new things to do and earn. Some of them will prepare the world you’ve conquered for some new arrivals, and push the boundaries. Your level of engagement will be up to you. Each of us finds our own level in Destiny.
Here are some things we’ve mentioned:
Here are some things we’ve kept secret, until now:
Those are the broad strokes. More detail is on the way. There will be Dev Notes and Patch Notes and love notes on our forum to explain what we mean, why we’re doing this, how it will all go
Last night, as I was crawling in to bed, I checked Facebook really quickly on my phone and was surprised to see the announcement of Destiny’s first expansion. At first I thought about crawling my ass out of bed and punching out something for you guys to read today, but that seemed like too much effort. And I was tired. And I couldn’t think of any good puns. Still can’t think of any that aren’t poop related.
Anyway let’s look at what we will be getting. Here is the description from the Playstation AU site.
Destiny Expansion I: The Dark Below will feature the following:
New weapons, armour and gear to earn, including Legendary and Exotic items
Light Level cap raised to 32 and five additional Bounty slots added
New story quests and missions – after years hiding amongst the Hive shadows, a new character, Eris, has come forth bearing an ominous warning: The Hive seek to summon a god, Crota, to destroy the Earth. Find Eris in the Tower to take on special quests that include three new missions where you will increase your Light and earn new rewards
New cooperative Strike, The Will of Crota, pits you and your Fireteam against Omnigul as she works to expand the Hive army at the command of her master, Crota
Three new competitive multiplayer arenas:
Pantheon – set deep within the Black Garden in an ancient Vex temple that features Vex-designed landscapes and tight corridors
Skyshock – an old interplanetary defence array that offers both vehicle and infantry engagements
The Cauldron – an abandoned Hive ritual site that offers close-quarter combat
New six-player Raid, Crota’s End, set deep within the depths of the Hellmouth
Exclusive to the PS4 and PS3 versions is access to an exclusive cooperative Strike, The Undying Mind, and more (timed exclusive until at least Fall 2015)
Destiny Expansion I: The Dark Below will be available for download in Australia on 11th December 2014 for PS4™ and PS3™.
Obviously the big difference between Xbox and Playstation versions is the additional Strike. And considering the expansion pass is going for AU$39.95 on the Xbox it seems pretty easy to say Xbox players are getting the short end of the stick. I haven’t seen a single expansion price for Australia yet but have seen US$20 floating around the web today.
A short and sharp press release we received from EA Australia ought to have some Pax attendees a bit excited:
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