Having gotten fed up with trying to find an appropriate group to run with from Destinylfg.net, it was time to turn to the new feature that seemed like it would deliver better results: the new Guided Games. Guided Games makes players jump through some hoops with good reason trying to create the most toxic free environment for play that it can, it sort-of works. First, Guardians will spend a token to get into GG, then players agree to the Guardian Oath stating they will be friendly, helpful and dedicate the time. Then if you’re a seeker, which I was, it gives an extra-long waiting time to make sure that the player is in it to win it. My first group I ended up waiting over an hour for. After some general party chat confusion and actually doing the banner part without talking in the fireteam I had grouped with, we finally figured it out and we could talk. This did not help either.
While not able to pull a fireteam together that initial first day, something I’ve managed to do with all other raids in the past, I was content to watch others attempt this beast of a raid. It was exciting to see the first fireteam complete it in just six hours and reassuring. Then talks began to crop up and not the good kind. Here were the best of the best saying that it would take everything in a fireteam's power to pull off this raid. And why? Apparently because it was the most demanding raid out of all Destiny raids. They aren’t wrong.
Dead Space 3’s compromises were a bit more subtle , but they still resulted in a not-so-minor departure for the series. Where the first two games were horror games first and shooters second, Dead Space 3 was the opposite. It traded careful resource management and situational weapons for resource crafting and all-purpose creations. Rather than a tense experience that required its players to think on the fly, players got an occasionally startling but overall leisurely romp through an undead ice planet. Once players acquired enough resources to craft a gun with both long and short range firing modes, any semblance of genuine scares and vulnerability went right out the airlock. Supposedly, Isaac isn’t even alone for most of the game thanks to his partner, Carver, appearing out of the ether during every other cutscene. Just like with Fallout 4 and Destiny 2, Dead Space 3 represented a shift in genre for the sake of more mainstream appeal. The semblance of the game its fans loved was still there, but that’s all it was: a semblance. The traits that made it unique, that attracted a fanbase in the first place, those were either severely watered down or cut out entirely in the name of attracting more casual players.
Getting back to the main story, though, you kill one version of Oryx in his chambers, but that’s not good enough, so you need to track him down once more in the Ascendant Realm and put the final nail in his coffin. This come in the form of the lengthy and well organize raid.
(Mild spoilers for the first mission of the game ahead) The Beta begins by throwing you into the first mission of the game, called Homecoming. A short cinematic shows your character and his or her ghost flying towards a massive cloud. They look at one another confused, mutually deciding to fly through the smoke to see what's going on on the other side. When they emerge, the City is being bombarded by the Red Legion of the Cabal, led by Ghaul, the main baddie of Destiny 2's campaign. When you drop into gameplay for the first time, it's on the edge of the Tower and you fight your way to the top. You're equipped with a good amount of weapons, including assault rifles, sub machine guns, hand cannons and a few Power weapons, as well as your new class abilities, which we'll talk about later.
Destiny released in September of 2013 and with it came an avid fan base, not necessarily for the game itself, but for developer Bungie as a whole. Unfortunately, Destiny wasn’t the most well-received game and its history is marked by scars of mistakes past. Nonetheless it pushed ever onward and a healthy fan following remained to keep it alive-and-well. There’s even a Guardiancon now and the game is still in its child years if breaking it down. It can think, play and be socially engaging; it just needs to grow a bit more. Thankfully, Destiny is giving the ultimate gift in its last few months before Destiny 2 DLC 2 comes out.
It was the third week which meant the Gauntlet room was up first; a room I hadn’t encountered yet. The mechanics were explained and I felt good with the ease at which this seemed like it could be done. The Gauntlet room only echoed what the world-firsters had stated; those seeking to guide others through the raid were going to have a hell of a time. A certain party member who also was a seeker wasn’t talking much throughout the two hours spent trying to get coordination down. They kept wandering off, not listening and generally being unhelpful. It ended with them dropping out of the fireteam never to return even with party invites thrown their way. It was time to call it quits. Defeated the third seeker and myself thanked the Clan that had been the guides for their time and parted ways.
