As always, TeKnoVKG23 for the epic win and great video. He's among the few well trusted Youtubers out there who give honest, unbiased opinions that you can trust. For anyone interested in scoping him out here is a link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo0a1yFaXSGQ8Lq4hacY57g (There needs to be more Youtubers like him) I added his video in this because I know there is no way in hell I'm going to be able to fit EVERYTHING I want to cover in this post. So I'm just going to be hitting the highlights and trying to condense as much as possible. So right off the bat, I'm sure the Activision Brood of Destiny Fanboys will be immediately jumping on me saying I'm not allowed to give a review for TTK because I haven't played it. (Not like that should matter regardless since you don't NEED to own something to draw a reasonable opinion about it) Well guess what, bucko? Eat it. Cause as it just so happens I got a [b]"FREE"[/b] Legendary Edition for the PS4. [i]"B-But you cheated! How did you get it!?"[/i] I'm just that awesome. Nevermind the fact that I had people offering to donate it to me JUST for the sake of me writing a review on it or because they swore up and down that playing it would change my opinions, though I turned down their offers. Original plan was to just borrow a friend's copy of it for a day and play that, but as luck would have it the universe, or perhaps Satan for whatever reason...bestowed it to me for free with no strings attached. So yeah, now that I've sufficiently crammed a sock in the mouths of the various haters. ON WITH THE REVIEW! Now, first and foremost. I said this was for PS4 which means I didn't have access to ANY of my stuff. As you can see for yourself, checking my profile you'll still see all my characters are at the level 34 cap. And because its PS instead of Xbox, couldn't transfer anything. So I literally did all of this from scratch with an entirely new account. Before touching the TTK Content, I played through all the missions and strikes for Year 1. I even made a Titan which is by far my worst Class in the game, giving myself an added handicap. I wanted to see if anything was different for the base game what with the new expansion being released. Vanilla Destiny + Dark Below + House of Wolves Total Playtime = [b]7 HOURS[/b] Terrible. I actually broke my old record of 8 hours. Literally no changes were made, let me just clarify that right now for everyone. Year 1 Content saw no updates or differences at all. So I'm thinking to myself maybe TTK is just that good that it won't matter, right? The Taken King Total Playtime = [b]4 HOURS[/b] (Playing Solo the entire time WHILE taking my time with it) Now, I would normally just chalk this up to me being just that good, but there are people out there who have beaten the new content in 2-3 hours... So at this point WITH the expansion, Destiny is essentially [b]10 HOURS[/b] collectively. I started playing when my wife went to work a few days ago, and by the time she got back she was shocked to find out I had already pretty much beaten the vast majority of the game. After you beat all the new missions, the game completely switches gears and you end up knee deep in yet [b]ANOTHER ENDLESS GRIND[/b] that they somehow managed to make [b]FIVE TIMES MORE RIDICULOUS[/b] than the grind fest from Year 1. Basically, [b]a new paint job that looks good on the outside but everything under the hood is still the same old, rusted parts that the mechanic promised he would fix.[/b] Now, I didn't touch the Raid because I refuse to allow myself to get sucked into even more pointless grinding. You could not PAY me to relive that experience a second time in my life. Anyone who played in Year 1, who lived through that grind the first time and is actually willing to REDO it all over again...they must really have an unhealthy addiction to this game. Like seriously. Personally? I wouldn't care about it if all of the time invested doing it in Year 1 actually MEANT something. But considering the fact that right after the first half hour of playing you'll find GREENS that outclass your old LEGENDARY or EXOTIC gear in terms of Attack/Defense (Dark Below 2.0), its made abundantly clear that Year 1 Destiny was a MASSIVE waste of life. No joke. If you're a Year 1 Veteran, you just basically had this game take a giant shit on you with TTK. So its safe to assume that come Year 3 any amount of grinding or time you spend in Year 2 will likewise be rendered totally pointless as well. There's no reason to invest hours upon hours in this game anymore. And if you do? God save ya, cause I sure as hell won't. [b]Story:[/b] I give it a rating of Nathan Fillion who has now become the Robert Downy Jr. of Destiny. I mean, lets face it, he pretty much carried TTK. Playing this made me want to re-watch [i]Firefly[/i] again. But the real question is, does TTK provide a better story? Yes and No. While the characters seemed to have more life in them this time around, the story itself is just riddled with flaws. I mean... [spoiler]right out of the gate before you even start playing TTK, Bungie kills off the Awoken Queen and her brother. Their "fate" is left unknown afterwards but suffice to say that for the rest of the game they are gone.[/spoiler] Fact is, I didn't really care about them to begin with. And why should I? The truth of the matter is that TTK has a failed story because the previous narrative of Year 1, which sets the foundation for everything else, was a total bust. They did [b]NOTHING[/b] to fix the horrible plot holes and novice storytelling from the base game and because of that, it hurts the overall experience. Sure, the Grimoire has extensive information about the game, except [b]NONE OF THAT IS IN THE -blam!-ING GAME![/b] Very basic aspects are still missing. Who are you? What does it ACTUALLY mean to be a Guardian? WHY were you dead and HOW did the Ghost revive you? How long ago was the Collapse? What in the hell happened to the Traveler that the Speaker COULD tell us about but clearly refuses to do so? Literally nothing of actual importance is ever explained to you in the game itself. And both Year 1 and thus far for Year 2, YOUR character is still a friggen robot. Lets compare your "Guardian" to Commander Shepard. Which one is better? These are the things to consider, people. These are the REAL aspects that determine a game's value. Master Chief from Halo expressed more emotion and did more talking than your Guardian does. And that one developer really says that your Guardian is "way cooler" than him? O_o??? (Dude must have been high during that interview) [b]Gameplay:[/b] So after playing through all the new missions and getting to experience them for myself, I can definitely say that it really felt more like an actual BUNGIE game. From the first mission on Phobos right up to the end, it had a strong Halo vibe going for it minus the lack of vehicles. The Taken enemies are a mixed bag. For the most part, I enjoyed them but they are really...REALLY easy to me, to be totally honest. Also, I enjoyed the scanning. For a year I was advocating being able to interact with various things in the environment to get some actual in-game lore going on, so I like that they're doing this with the Ghost but I feel they could have gone a LOT further with it. Prime opportunity to implement the Grimoire INTO the game itself which I feel was just rather disregarded. [b]Infusion is beyond stupid.[/b] Once again, this would have been waaaaay better off being implemented as a system for players to continue ascending older Legendary and Exotic gear. Total wasted potential here and a large part of the reason why I see no point in doing anything else with the game that relates to grinding. (Which is 90% of the Destiny experience) The new Legendary Weapons and Armor sold by Vendors are total garbage. I had no real desire to get any of them, nothing stood out to me. The Court of Oryx really is Prison of Elders 2.0 like everyone is saying. Light Level still dictates everything. Nothing has really changed about it from Year 1. All they really did was separate it from your Character Level which is more like your "Equip Level" since it really only serves the purpose of restricting you from being able to equip the new endgame gear right off the bat. Swords are badass but given the track record you can expect them to be nerfed into oblivion eventually. The Dreadnought is so NOT as big as they say it is. Honestly, its either the same size or even SMALLER than the Cosmodrome. [b]FINAL VERDICT:[/b] Is The Taken King Expansion worth it to buy? The answer is still [b]NO.[/b] I'm sorry, Bungie. Its just not good enough. You had a great opportunity to really redeem the whole Year 1 Beta fiasco. To overhaul the ENTIRE experience. For $40 this DLC is just not worth it. The value isn't there. The only people who would actually spend HOURS playing this are the people who either really have NOTHING else better to do/play or the Grinders who don't care how much of their lives are actually wasted doing repetitive activities that in the long run won't actually mean anything because once Year 3 rolls around it will all just be rendered useless anyways. For the Year 1 Veterans? No. Too many mistakes that simply cannot be easily forgiven. We're already $100 invested and the content for that previous price tag has yet to reflect the value of the cost. Meanwhile, TTK is basically just a $40 new paint job. Do some actual work under the hood and then we'll talk. But until then, everyone is better off waiting and spending their money elsewhere. Check out some other dealerships. MAYBE we'll remember to stop by again. Maybe.