One of the best ways to end the decade was watching the Game Awards and this small clip of Untitled Goose Game.
I have yet to play it, but it is an interesting game from a design perspective. Why was this small indie game so successful? I believe the developers understood the current demographics. A lot of gamers are prolific on social media and enjoy sharing memes - this game is chop full of potential and made a very large splash.
I won't ramble about a game I haven't played (much to my dismay). Moving onto what I did in the last month.
Destiny 2: Season of Dawn
This season didn't land with the same splash of Shadowkeep and has only reached about a third of the way through it's seasonal roadmap, but there are a few points I'd like to comment on.
1. Saint-14
I need to brush up on the Destiny lore more, but this character has me invested. Great character writing! My friend and I are obsessed with this NPC. He's made the season exciting with anticipation to complete the story missions within the first three weeks. The question is what comes after?
2. The Sundial 6 player matchmade activity
Similar to previous 6 player matchmade activities in the past (Menagerie and Vex Offensive) there is no failing this activity. It can be completed relatively quickly with a team that knows what to do. There are three activities book ended by an opening sequence and a boss fight. Each activity can be analyzed for its balance but in general they require cooperation but not communication. What I find interesting is that the activity feels less challenging than Vex Offensive. There are still Champions and bosses but they are often defeated swiftly by the team. Is it because of artifact changes? Power level changes? I'd like to look into this activity further.
Looking at the larger picture, the Sundial completely replaced Vex Offensive (the previous seasonal activity). In my mind, this is smart play, but I also had the opportunity to play the Vex Offensive to the fullest before the season completed. There is an overwhelming amount of activities to do on Destiny on a weekly basis now - Strikes, Crucible, Gambit, Flashpoint, Menagerie, Nightmare Hunts, Raids and so much more not to mention the variations in certain activities. I find myself having zero time to engage in obsolete activities like Menagerie and the Forges. It's a shame. After all the time that went into designing them, I find no reason to return to them as a player. I know it would require a lot more resources, but refreshing the activities would definitely reinvigorate them. Throwing in some change, but I can't name what those changes would be at this moment. In general, I like how the Sundial replaced the Vex Offensive - I find no reason to play that activity again other than grinding for god rolls. But even then, I don't find myself grinding for god rolls in other activities like Menagerie or the Reckoning because there is too much to do already.
Lastly, this week they introduced Heroic/Legend version of the Sundial. I have mixed feelings about this because it is not matchmade and I do not have a solid fire team of six to run it. Not to mention one of the Triumphs is locked behind completing a Heroic run. Currently the modifier Extinguish discourages me from attempting a run with my usual Destiny partner since it would only be the two of us. I will update this in the future with a weekly reset to see if the modifier changes and take a moment to analyze outside of my initial reaction of frustration.
3. The Savior Seal
I learned probably a month too late that I could finally achieve my first Seal in Season of the Undying. Knowing this, my friend and I have become determined to achieve the seal for this season, and fortunately, it is as achievable as the last. Making these seals less intensive is definitely encouraging for a player like me. It keeps me on top of season updates/the roadmap and to play Destiny continually to spread out the workload instead of cramming at the very end of the season. Both my partner and I have been working on the activity quests and ritual weapons gradually with several of them already complete, a significant change from the pinnacle weapons from before Shadowkeep.
There is one caveat: the triumph for Legend version of Sundial.
4. The Exotic Weapon Quests
A very interesting subject that apparently has the community split. The Devil's Ruin quest is very short. Almost zero work to get; but it is rich in writing. A single no-combat mission that has the NPCs banter. For those a fan of Saint-14, it's very memorable, but for other players, I can understand the frustration. The exotic quest is almost obsolete in how obtainable it is.
The Time Corridor puzzle had the community in a frenzy. It was an admirable collaboration to watch (I turned on the live stream of community members piecing the maze together). Honestly, it's my first time witnessing how the Destiny community comes together to solve the puzzles the developers present to them. It is awe-inspiring how motivated the community became.
But it also generated a lot of hype - anticipation for an unannounced exotic. Many Destiny players were disappointed to be rewarded the Bastion - an exotic weapon slated on the roadmap to be available to players the following week. Those who especially slaved over the puzzle must feel especially jaded, having put in all the hours (nearly a full tireless week) to be awarded a prize promised to be available to all players. Where is the sense of achievement other than just bragging rights?
I pose a couple questions. Could Devil's Ruin have been done with a legendary weapon instead of an exotic? Or maybe an exclusive item for those that worked on the Corridor puzzle (of which the Bungie team watched the streams as well and know the members that contributed). The zero effort for Devil's Ruin - could it be equated to random exotic drops? (Little effort in the ways of purposefully chasing after an exotic.)
I can't say very much since I haven't looked too deeply into community reactions, but my personal experience was enjoyable in these short exotic quests and gaining the new lore.
The Raft
For a Christmas present, my friend and I jumped into Raft. A survival game with the player building up a raft that floats across a flooded world. It's still in development, with only the first chapter released.
She and I played on Easy and I cannot imagine the struggle of upping the difficulty. We still fought with resource management on Easy. It was a pleasant level of challenge, where she and I could get lost in the game for hours. Further investigation would need to be done to understand the difficulty balance to which I imagine the number of players playing cooperatively would also factor in.
On Easy, the main enemy - the shark - was able to dispatched. The shark proved a nuisance (especially if the player does not fend it off the raft) but not too frustrating. Perhaps because of this, the penalty for death could have been higher; on Easy, inventory is not lost when respawning. But overall, death and fighting the main enemy did not deter from the gameplay.
What I enjoyed most was discovering new things in Raft. Either story elements via islands with puzzles tailored to the location or crafting items requiring certain resource management/acquisition.
Overall, the game has potential with my friend and I looking forward to future updates to continue our adventure. We only hope that it happens soon so that we do not forget the skills we learned during our first venture.
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