I’ve seen many people on the forums and in game who have missed the core story to Destiny. Instead they say “Destiny has no story”. I find most people rushed through the game as quickly as they could. They didn’t stop and think about the things they were seeing during the missions and tuned out the loading screen dialogs. I didn’t start piecing a lot of it together until my second play through as I rushed through the main game trying to get ready for the raid.
You are supposed to be experiencing the story through the eyes of your guardian. You need to pay attention and experience them. There’s a lot going on in Destiny and it’s not all told to you in the cutscenes/loading screens either.
Here is a condensed version of the core story to Destiny. There is more to it than just what I put here but I did not detail the in between parts. This guy does a good job at detailing everything more fully if you want to go more in depth. [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/71798165/0/0[/url]
[spoiler]You are a guardian who is awoken in a time where everything is unfamiliar to them. You find out there are enemies and the traveler and are told to start fighting. Which is just what you do. We’ve been dead for a long time and know nothing of the modern state of the world or the history anything dealing with the Traveler or what has happened since it’s arrival. You are told that mankind has no hope to survive the oncoming darkness now that the traveler is dormant. You set out to see what you can do. You find a warmind is still active. This could be a valuable tool to help in the fight so you seek to find more and activate the array that gives the warmind access to reach the other planets. On the moon you find out the Hive are actively draining the light from the traveler which you put a stop to. The traveler now can begin to heal but you need to slow down the approach of the darkness and the Vex. You do this by striking at the heart of the black garden. A move that will cripple the Vex for the time being. Now the traveler has the time it needs to heal. Mankind now has hope, a chance at fighting back against the darkness. All of this is because of your actions as a guardian. The story as is today is about fighting for survival and restoring hope. [/spoiler]
Now I’ve shown this to people and they claim that this is not in the game. So I’ve compiled all of the quotes from the cutscenes/loading screens/mid mission dialog that detail everything about this story.
[spoiler]
[quote]You are a guardian who is awoken in a time where everything is unfamiliar to them. [/quote]
"Well, you've been dead a long time. So, you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand" (Dinklebot - Mission 1)
[quote]You are supposed to be experiencing the story through the eyes of your guardian. [/quote]
Embark on an epic action adventure with rich cinematic storytelling where you unravel the mysteries of our universe and reclaim what we lost at the fall of our Golden Age. ([url]http://www.destinythegame.com/game[/url] Bold new world Section)
[quote]You find out there are enemies and the traveler and are told to start fighting.[/quote]
"Its armies surround us. The Fallen are just the beginning." (Dinklebot - Speaker Intro)
"You must push back the Darkness. Guardians are fighting on Earth and beyond... join them." (Speaker Introduction)
[quote]We’ve been dead for a long time and know nothing of the modern state of the world or the history anything dealing with the Traveler or what has happened since it’s arrival.[/quote]
"Well, you've been dead a long time. So, you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand" (Dinklebot - Mission 1)
[quote]You are told that mankind has no hope to survive the oncoming darkness now that the traveler is dormant.[/quote]
"Welcome to the last safe City on Earth -- the only place the Traveler can still protect. It took centuries to build. Now... we're counting every day it stands" (Dinklebot - Mission 1 End)
"There was a time... when we were much more powerful..." (Speaker Introduction)
"The Darkness is coming back. We will not survive it this time." (Speaker Introduction)
[quote]You find a warmind is still active.[/quote]
"The legends are true. A warmind did survive the collapse. Rasputin. An AI built to defend Earth. He faced the darkness and survived." (Dinklebot - "The Warmind" Mission )
[quote]This could be a valuable tool to help in the fight so you seek to find more and activate the array that gives the warmind access to reach the other planets.[/quote]
"Guardians...had codes to a hidden array that could connect us to other colonies in the system." (Dinklebot - "Last Array" mission)
"The array it's controlled by Rasputin, the last warmind. He won't let me in. But it's connecting to defense constructs all across the system. There could be something out there." (Dinklebot - "Last Array" mission)
[quote]On the moon you find out the Hive are actively draining the light from the traveler which you put a stop to.[/quote]
"Nothing is more important now. We believe the hive are engaged in a ritual that is draining traveler of its light. Whatever power they wield must be understood and destroyed" (Speaker - "Chamber of Light" mission)
"It's a shard of the traveler. They were using it against the traveler. Devouring its light. But we freed it." (Dinklebot - "Chamber of Light" Mission)
[quote]The traveler now can begin to heal but you need to slow down the approach of the darkness and the Vex.[/quote]
"Find the Black Garden. Rip out it's heart. Only then will your traveler begin to heal." (The Stranger - "A Stranger's Call" Mission)
"If we pull this off, we can save the traveler. If not the Vex will seize our worlds." (Dinklebot - "The Black Garden" mission)
[quote]You do this by striking at the heart of the black garden. A move that will cripple the vex for the time being.[/quote]
"The shroud of darkness is lifting and light returns to the traveler." (Dinklebot - "The Black Garden" mission)
[quote]Now the traveler has the time it needs to heal. Mankind now has hope, a chance at fighting back against the darkness. All of this is because of your actions as a guardian.[/quote]
"For centuries we feared the forces of darkness massing against us. We sought to hide and cower beneath a broken god. No more. These guardians show us what we are, what we have always been, and what we will be again. We are what remains of the light and we will not be stamped out." (Speaker - End speech)
[/spoiler]
There are a lot of unanswered questions still, but this is the beginning of a larger over-arching story. Answers will come with time. Now you may not like the story detailed above or think that it could be better. Those are your opinions and you have every right to them. Destiny has a story though and I look forward to finding out more in the expansions.
Edit: This post is not about whether the story is good or bad. Your opinion on it is your opinion. If you think it could be better go and post some constructive feedback in the #Feedback section of the forums. Give examples of what Bungie could do to make it better, don't just say it sucks as that helps no one.
-
Edited by ArchonInterface: 11/12/2014 8:01:41 AMD4rkfr4g, thank you for compiling the story in as concise a manner as you did. It has made it much easier for me to visualize where we are at in the story. My first time through as a Warlock I caught everything that happened but none of it connected. I had a ton of legendary titan gear and exotic gear for both titan and Hunter so I decided to play through as a Titan upon my purchase of the Armementarium from Xur and already knowing the story I was able to pick on so many things that just didn't seem to fit right. Not in a this a huge plot hole, or this is bad storytelling, but a kind of, Oh shit man, this is hella bad, why are we not gathering an army of guardians 3 million + strong and organizing them into a warfront to fix this shit? These are heavy players that threaten our existence and the Vex are the only enemy so far that we get to touch on and we have so far only killed something that may or may not be a one per universe existence(black garden) and weve broken a single vault. I am psyched to no end to get to fight all the larger threats that were outright spelled out for us but that we've been given no clue as to their purpose goals or strengths. The Vault of Glass and the black garden are just pieces of a much larger Vex threat and I am positive the Vex are probably the second weakest of all the enemy races and there are plenty of other posts explaining how powerful the Vex are