Okay so for a long time I've been wondering this one thing, and now that I've read enough material I am pretty sure I can firmly say this.
Why is the item lore team not used more?
As we all know the main story of Destiny 2 is a cookie cutter action film, but that's in the past.
When I started going through Forsaken the story started in high action, with wonderful flavor while rampaging through the Prison of Elders. There was humor, there was action, there were stakes and there was loss.
But right after the Prison sequence the story fell flat on it's face and shot itself in the foot.
Why was Cayde-6 killed again? For the commercials? There's literally no reason for that.
Uldren's plan was obvious from the first cutscene with him, he became an uninteresting thrall.
I though I had lost the magnificent storytelling from the start of the expansion, but no, I found it again.
Hidden deep in the exotics.
How many of you even know that every exotic has a lore tab? Even some cosmetic exotics like Sparrows. (Haven't changed from Warrior's Steed just because it's lore is so good)
Well let me tell you, I want to play the Destiny that those exotics tell, a gritty, grimdark version of Destiny with black humor attached.
Some of my favorite lore tabs that I recommend going through are:
Gunslinger
Defender & Striker
[ These three subclass lore tabs tell Destiny in such a way, that our do goodie Guardians actually feel alive, like they have emotion and how they handle life in a different way ]
Insurmountable Skullfort
Heart of Inmost Light
[ As someone who has gone through some really hardcore stuff in my life, I can relate to the Titan, and this tab makes me feel proud and at home when I use Heart in game ]
Actium War Rig
[ Lord Shaxx is actually the best written guardian and I don't know why, but I love it ]
Polaris Lance
The Colony
[ This one tab tells so much about Veist as a company, I already enjoy using their products, but the grim background makes it even better ]
Ursa Furiosa
[ She is a beast, this tab has more character than Zavala and Ikora combined from two games ]
One-Eyed Mask
Eye of Another World
Lunafaction Boots
Knucklehead Radar
Foetracer
Fighting Lion
Lucky Pants
[ Cayde-6 was a well written comedic relief, kinda bummed to see him go for no reason ]
Cerberus +1
[ Gives good reason for the weapon to exist and an emotional bond to it ]
Crimson
Riskrunner
Two Tailed Fox
[ This lore tab is just an opening to an anime, like seriously I have a couple of friends who want TTF just for the meme of it being an "Anime Opening RPG" ]
I have not even read all the lore in the game, but seriously, use these writers, let them tell a story.
And if the rumors are true, that Destiny 3 is all about the Darkness, with all the hints to in in D2, these people have more than shown the possibility of a grimdark and compelling Destiny universe.
P.S: Here's who my guardian was based on the item and class lore after I finished Forsaken, totally not the person I thought he was, but it was a dark and delightful surprise
(Insurmountable, Striker, Warrior's Steed, Crooked Fang etc)
[spoiler]Who knew, that the one man who saved the world from a Cabal Warlord ascended to a guardian, a Hive Worm God, a Vex infestation in a grand simulation, and from a Taken plot involving Awoken regals was actually a psychopath.
You don't believe me?
Well let me tell you he was brutal, he didn't care as long as he got his hands on his enemies, he crushed heads with glee, went in without thinking and just slaughtered anything in his way. Mute, but once the words came out he said something simple, that one idea running in his mind was just another target.
Would you even believe he a had a poisonous killer animal as his pet, but implanted in his weapon? Absolute madman I tell you.
You'd wonder how his Ghost could bear what he raised into the world again and again.
And I don't think he did, I think his Ghost just got traumatized like a child when he saw his own "Guardian" silently slaughter innocent Fallen, but it knew the man only thought about how much fun he had ripping those heads off.
His Ghost must have felt like the victim of physical defilement, chained onto it's "best friend", feeling like he could be helped, feeling insignificant by his side, but fearing how the world would lash out if he ever said anything about his own thoughts. After all he was a Ghost, his job was to bring back the one who protected the world.
But at what cost, his own sanity.
The new world hailed the Titan as a hero.
But in the Golden Age he would've been a criminal of the worst sort.[/spoiler]
-
Not gonna lie, whichever group of people conceptualized and wrote the Ghost Stories deserve a raise
-
Edited by Ryan Gosling: 12/13/2018 7:31:51 PMMaking the item lore write the story is like watching the Avengers but without all the action and them just talking. It’s cool to have guardian legends like Shin Malphur but then they turn out to be a bit boring, like Osiris, we were hyped about him but he turned out to be some old dude screaming about the end of the world. Although, I do agree, the story could be a bit better
-
I thought the lore for thunderlord was beautiful, but that's just me. I dont even have the gun yet, but when I do....
-
D1 had better lore than D2 In the grimiore cards we got a glimpse of the game that could have been if Bungie had been interested in building a world in their game
-
They killed Cayde because Nathan Fillion got too busy to keep up the role. I don’t have forsaken, but I have heard that it’s Nolan North doing his voice in it. You are right, the grimoire moved to the exotic lore tabs. Best story so far in Destiny is Dredgen Yor, and that was all grimoire.
-
I actually like what we have, but they need to fire whomever writes stuff for Ada and like characters. Terrible.
-
[quote]Why was Cayde-6 killed again? For the commercials? There's literally no reason for that.[/quote] I believe you forgot the fact that he is working on a TV show now. I don't think they would give up a great character for no reason. Usually if something doesn't make sense, it's because there is an alternative explanation. Nathan probably wanted to focus on his new roll as the protagonist in a TV show, so they found a way cut him out in a blaze of glory and humor. It gives a motivation to play Forsaken and to ultimately kill Uldren.
-
I agree with you 90 percent and think this team will do much better than the person currently in charge, but there is a difference between deep lore shorts meant to give you chills and get you thinking and an impactful story narrative. A lore story doesn't quite have a obvious plot or climax or any true climactic experiences, which is what a story needs, but still think the lore team would do better with the story, my question is where did the people that wrote halo 1-3 go?
-
When Joe Staten left prior to the release of D1 his writing team was repurposed from writing the Destiny story to writing the lore ‘tabs’. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re still doing that now.
-
Another great story hidden in the items is the Luna’s Howl, it’s about how a Guardian named Josef is going through the stages of grief and how Lord Shaxx is trying to cheer him up and get him back to competing in the crucible. Turns out Shaxx gifts him the Howl to avenge the one he lost. And the Not Forgotten ties into it as well.
-
honestly, i like the idea of your items and exotic choice to explain your guardian and i honestly think its one of the best ideas for writing, i think i might come back to this later and see what i can write, the exotics and sparrow i use are sealed ahamkara grasps, grey hornet and malfeasance [spoiler] Not all guardians fight for freedom or the darkness some study it, and find its secrets some covet it and wonder of its power and some... some of them harness that power and use it The guardian in particular is one you wouldnt expect, a hunter, a warrior of light that killed the heart of the black forest, slayed the demon riven, conquered oryx and has killed god after god. to think they would turn to the darkness and harness that power... shes supposed to be a warrior and wielder of the light, but this weapon she uses, its fused with dark, and ever since she forged this dark weapon, its hasnt come out of her hand, in fact, if shes not holding it ready, it means shes looking for ammunition, because shes killed everything she can with every possible bullet. shes relentless, a monster, a murderer... she would kill other guardians because she was out of bullets and needed more, she would kill them for ammunition they would have happily given, she was once a guardian, and now... she is far from it she may wield the light, she may bear its gift, but she is a servant of a darker power, her heart is tinged with the taken energy, she is driven to kill all, dark or light, both alike i was with her in her raiding party, when we killed oryx... after the bullets stopped, she had 3 bullet holes in her arm, and she was murdering thrall after thrall with her bear hands, not just that... she was [i]laughing[/i] while she did it... she died of blood loss 7 times before we had to pull her out because of all the bites... she just kept killing... and laughing... she takes pride in her invasions... im proud of her... little demon thing wont let any one else in the invasion portal... everyone else uses guns and light, but [i]her...[/i] she would sneak up on you and drive a knife through your throat and get your whole fireteam killed... thats what i made the gambit arena for... thats the kind of guardian i want on my fireteam... im just afraid ill get killed by her... did i ever tell you about the time we cleared a fallen nest together? long story, but we ended up finding a couple of my old loot caches and yada yada yada... the point is, near the end, she ran our of bullet, so she hopped on her sparrow, and she took that heavy son of a gun and ended up ramming dreg after dreg after dreg into the cavern walls... it was blood bath... shes important to us... shes strong and she can wield light well... but shes dangerous when shes told to team with people... when she was tasked to take out an ahamkara, she peeled the bones from its body and wore them as Armour... what kind of guardian does that? none of them... because she... shes no guardian, shes not taken...shes not dark or light... shes something else entirely... and im to scared to find out what she is... -many unknown guardians [/spoiler]
-
A homesickness for places you’ve never been
-
i also feel that they could have done something with cayde, there could have been a different way he died, then sobody saw him for a long time, so they assumed him dead, then when you go to kill aldron, cayde pops out and murder that mother -blam-er
-
It's easier to write a two paragraph self-contained short story than it is to write a multi-hour story that meant to give the player agency while they move through it.
-
I took delivery of my Grimoire Anthology book yesterday and yes it’s the books of sorrow an many other snippets along the way. And yes I’ve paid for something I’ve already read in game and given bungie more money. But one it’s beautifully presented and an absolute joy to have in my hands and read. It makes me want to start a fresh d1 character again. It credits the creators behind the stories and I 100% agree these guys should be in charge of the destiny story arcs full time. Little ps The book is gorgeous and a must have for those interested bungie did that right!
-
Edited by RPColten: 12/11/2018 10:31:50 PMThere is a difference between short stories that require minimal build up and contextual relevance, and a screenplay that juggles both in-universe relevance and moments that promote player agency. Not to mention that the entire writing department is almost 100% working together, it's just that there is more freedom when it comes to writing short story style narratives that don't need to mesh perfectly with the existing narrative so long as they just take context of in-universe expectations into consideration. Edit: Also, a lot of the people who were the writers during Taken King and Rise of Iron are still the writers for Forsaken. Heck, Michael Zenke the narrative lead was a senior writer during Taken King. I think they're okay. (This actually makes a lot of sense considering the context of the Dreaming City and Oryx.)
-
How dare you put grimdark as a tag you Xeno sympathisizer. May the God Emperor have mercy on your soul
-
If the item lore team takes over the next expansion should be called Shaxx the Dodgeball playing Booty call extrodinare
-
Edited by Corrick II: 12/11/2018 7:18:47 PMWell written lore does not a great campaign make unfortunately. The whole reason for the lore is to flesh out the game [i]beyond[/i] what we play in the missions. And sometimes it’s worse when it’s shoehorned into the game (I will never forgive Bungie for that Praedyth mission). That being said, holy shit the narrative team needs some help. The missions are so damn [i]dull[/i], and I don’t think it’s just the story itself (although it doesn’t help when I really either don’t care or don’t have any idea what’s going on, and still don’t care). The narrative team needs to start adopting the “how can we push this one step further” approach. Write the narrative, get the beats down, take a step back and see what can be done better, or more clever, or with a twist. Everything up to this point has just been so cookie cutter and [i]lazy[/i]. Every time I have a hard time finishing each new “campaign” because it’s the same lame story, same awful dialogue, same arena gunfights. And if you’re going to kill off a main character, make sure we give a shit about them in the first place. Speaker who? Campaigns and main story aside, I think the real effort they need to make is how to make the day to day stuff more interesting. Public events, high value targets, Lost Sectors. Give me a reason to care about this stuff. If Destiny is all about the grind, they can at least put a little more effort into making the grind more interesting.
-
Edited by Tilman G: 12/12/2018 1:45:00 AMYou asked why Cayde was killed. FORSAKEN STORY SPOILERS[spoiler] he barons hated Cayde more than anything since he locked them up. Also Uldren probably knew that if Cayde lives he would die, he may have also guessed that the vanguard wouldn’t allow for a retaliation. He just didn’t plan for Lord guardian, Ghaul takeouter, traveler waker(Hawthorne needs a second line) to come after him. Note: Petra probably couldn’t have gotten to Uldren alone when he was in the watch tower[/spoiler] Also I may note that it is easier to create the most awesome 2 minute story, but to make it longer is hard,
-
Skull of dire arhamkara or the sentinel one it’s boss
-
My favorite lore tab is Thin Line. Legitimately gave me goosebumps.
-
If they wrote the lore into the game, we'd have more to do, and they could keep this thing going for the next 50 years and we'd love it. I suppose everybody at Bungie is trying to cram the story in hard and fast before Activision's favorite son CoD gets jelly and Activision has to crush Bungie. Hopefully, Blizzard will buy the franchise when that day comes and Destiny will realize its true potential.
-
Best story in this universe is related to TLW/Thorn - Shin Malphur/Dredgen Yor. Still the greatest story in the destiny universe.
-
Lord Shaxx is so well written. He’s an intellectual, a rebel, a badass and for some reason has spent ‘time’ with Mara Sov. He’s basically my favourite character.
-
Ikora? Who is that? Is she hiding behind that random Warlock in the tower whose personality is well described by "brooding do nothing?" What's that person's name? They're boring.