Tag: Destiny 2

I Am Forsaken

Izlain

It’s been a minute since I reported on my Destiny 2 progress, and well, there hasn’t been much. It’s actually been almost a month since I completed Expansion II: Warmind and almost immediately I dove into Forsaken. I had a good session, and then I got sick, and didn’t play much of anything for a couple of weeks. Then I went ahead and got distracted by a new release, World War Z and I just finally got back to playing Destiny 2 again last night. Anyhow, Forsaken picks up where we left off, and now Cayde wants you to meet up with him for some mission in the Tangled Shore. First though, we’re treated to a video of Cayde presumably being killed by a mysterious figure (pictured above) and then it flashes back to you going to meet him. Foreshadowing is tricky, especially if he isn’t actually dead, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

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Flashing back to the current time frame, we meet up with Cayde and wade through some enemies before being more formally introduced to this new villain who leads some rather potent looking Fallen Generals. It appears that eliminating them will be the first hurdle before getting revenge for Cayde, though at this point it’s still unclear if he’s actually dead.

After a couple of missions in this new quest chain, we’re given a new class quest that is supposed to allow us to unlock some new powers. We’re supposed to follow a signal to IO, wherein the planet is “speaking” to us and leading us on a new journey. We’ll see pulsations like this a few times while on this moon, culminating with a fight with the Taken to unlock a new portion to our skill tree for all three sub-classes. However, you only get one seed at this time with which to unlock said branches, but I assume there will be ways to get more seeds later.

I’m still the most partial to the Gunslinger sub-class, so I went ahead and opened the “Way of a Thousand Cuts” which allows you to throw a volley of explosive knives in front of you. Not as long range as our normal golden gun routine, but seems like it kills groups much more effectively. There are additional tiers to this new branch, but you have to earn experience with the ability before those unlock.

Eventually we meet Spider, who is a fence of sorts in the Tangled Shore. He’s not a very trusting guy though, so before giving us the information that we’re looking for, he sends me out to do a bunch of bounties for him. I managed to completed both the class quest and these bounties last night, and am now set to go on the offensive, with the new mission given to me sending us to go at attack those generals head on. It’s not a lot of progress, but it is progress nonetheless. Hoping to get some more time in over my days off and I’ll report back once I have something more substantial.

Warmind Complete (Destiny 2)

Izlain

It took a little more time to get through Expansion II: Warmind mainly because the light levels required to complete the content jumped a bit between missions. I’m not sure exactly where I left off after finishing The Curse of Osiris, but I know that I had to get to light level 310 before I could move onto the new territory. As such, I took my time going through some adventures that I hadn’t cleared, some public quests that opened up after gaining access to some new planets, and I even played some Crucible and Gambit. I found that this time around I did pretty decently in pvp matches, but this time I chose to do a free-for-all mode so I was able to kill anything that crossed my path. Gambit is a new mode that was introduced with Forsaken, and it’s a PvPvE game type. You’ll be on a team and there is an enemy team, but you are in separate instances of the same level. You’ll kill enemies at certain points on the map in order to summon a boss monster that you need to kill before the other team. So it is competitive, but it’s most a PvE thing. However, portals will open and allow you to invade the enemy team’s instance, and if you get kills their boss monster will be healed. This play pattern continues in a best of 3 fashion. If you happen to get to that third round, you’ll no longer need to summon the boss, it is instantly spawned and you must race the other team in taking it down. Overall it was a pretty fun experience and I’ll do it again.

Once I met the light requirements, I started on this next campaign. Long story short, you are pointed in the direction of the “Warmind” which is a huge A.I. on Mercury. Or was it Mars? One of those places. Zavala fears that this machine would bring about more destruction that it’s worth, but it seems that the Hive are also trying to end the universe by summoning a worm god thing. It’s up to you to go through the tedium of getting pieces necessary to help get the Warmind back online and allow it to help you defeat the Hive. That boss battle was a bit of a chore, but overall I kept up in light level well enough between the missions that I didn’t have to try over and over again. Once completed, the Warmind tells you that he’s going to guard the universe from any and all threats. Zavala still seems nervous about having awoken this machine, and then you all go about your business as if nothing had happened at all.

I didn’t mind the story parts or the inclusion of these expansions on my way into the new expansion, but they weren’t as epic feeling as “The Red War.” I have a feeling that Forsaken will make up for that, and I can finally get caught up on the current storyline. As I finished Warmind I found that I was at nearly 340 light and just rolled over level 34. The cap is 50, so there’s still a ways to go, and I have no idea what sort of light levels 50’s have. Whatever the case, I’m still enjoying my journey through the game and I can’t wait to dive into Forsaken. I’ll check back in when I have more to share!

The Curse of Osiris Cleared

Izlain

Similar to the cycle from the original Destiny, Destiny 2 had two smaller expansions that came out before a meatier content update. These are basically DLC questlines that will give some gear and experience on your way up. In conjunction with the base game, you’ll easily be able to hit level 30 in order to enter the proper expansion, Forsaken (or The Taken King, in the case of the last game). We already know there is a season pass for Forsaken, so I’d assume that means more smaller DLC packs like this one during that time, and perhaps we’ll get one more big expansion before the developers move onto something new (unless they actually take this game more seriously than the original, and plan to keep it alive for years like a proper MMO. None of these Looter Shooters have done this so far, as evidenced by the sequels coming out as of late. I’d like to see one actually raise the level cap further, give us more ways to spend skill points, and have more persistent bits of the world. We’ll see if that comes to fruition or not.

The Curse of Osiris expansion is all about one of the oldest Guardians, Osiris. His goal seems to be to conquer the Vex, a mechanical race that has created a place called “The Infinite Forest” which is a reality-creation engine. Sounds wacky, and also sounds waaaay more advanced that the stuff we saw in Terminator or The Matrix. Apparently Osiris figured out a way to create copies of himself to explore the various pathways in The Infinite Forest, and has been searching for an alternate reality where the Vex are defeated. You get sucked into the fray when Ikora turns up with the shell of Osiris’ Ghost.

Throughout the quest chain, you’ll fight the Vex on different planets and within The Infinite Forest. The quest starter is on Mercury, but soon you’ll be back on Earth, fighting on moons and ultimately you’ll find out that you need to destroy Panoptes, the creator of the algorithm that controls the reality engine. Fights along the way net much better gear than we’ve seen to this point, and it was nice to get new vehicles and trinkets.

Eventually the solution to the Vex problem is found, and you’ll go head to head with Panoptes. Overall the expansion’s difficulty was in line with my light level so it wasn’t too difficult, but I enjoyed the story and blowing stuff up as usual.

Osiris appears to have aged a bit through his Infinite Forest travels. Poor guy looks a little run down. I’m not sure if he ties into more of the story later on, but if not he was still memorable enough. I’m now moving on to Expansion II: Warmind, and it already looks like it’s going to be on par. I’m really looking forward to Forsaken though, and hope to be there by next weekend. I’ll check back in soon!

Destiny 2: Moving Towards Forsaken

Izlain

After my last couple of posts about Looter Shooters, I mentioned that I decided I was going with purchasing the Destiny 2 expansion, Forsaken. I have since picked the game back up where I left off on my hunter. I had been playing exclusively with my best friend, but we have differing schedules at this point (I’m on a sort of early morning/graveyard schedule, and he works days) so I decided I would just move on without him. During our first few sessions, we had completed about 75% of “The Red War” which is the main campaign of the base game, along with leveling up to about 14.

Our next quest in the main campaign required a level of 15 to proceed, so I participated in a few public quests and hit that level in order to get going. Buying a copy of Forsaken came with a level 30 boost, which will allow you to play through the expansion’s campaign, but I decided that I wanted to see the rest of the story from start to finish. I did use the boost on a Warlock that I created, and I guess at some point I should probably also level a Titan, but one thing at a time. For now, I wanted to finish up The Red War along with the first two expansions before getting to Forsaken, and playing my already partially leveled character would allow me to get through everything at a decent clip.

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My first session saw playing through the remainder of The Red War, along with doing a bunch of public quests in order to complete the final sub-class quest. Opening up all of the sub-classes allows for some choice when it comes to builds for my character, but was otherwise a pretty easy thing to accomplish. Finishing the main campaign rolls the credits, but immediately afterwards you are back at the Tower which veterans will remember as being the main base of operations from the original game. The Farm is still available for socializing, but it appears that you’ll spend most of your time here. You’ll talk with most of the main characters and unlock new ships, your little speeder for use on missions, along with your first exotic engram. Next up: Expansion I: The Curse of Osiris.

I was having trouble with the director, in that there weren’t any new destinations to visit until after doing the above conversation train. Afterwards, Mars and Mercury became available to explore, and the Forsaken expansion’s nebula appeared as well, but won’t be accessible until I’m level 30. That’s okay though, as there is more to do before getting there!

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The Curse of Osiris has already started out well. Intriguing, to say the least. I’ve completed the first couple of missions, have met a copy of Osiris himself, and revived his very own Ghost as well. I’ve been to the Infinite Forest, and came back alive! I look forward to completing this expansion along with the second, Warmind. Forsaken will be explored soon, to say the least.

I’m currently a hair away from level 24, and I’m sure by the time I’ve completed the first two expansions I’ll be level 30 and ready to head into Forsaken. So far the game has felt just as good as the original and I’m enjoying myself thoroughly. Here’s hoping they keep the game going longer this time around, as I wouldn’t mind having new stuff trickle in over time and have a reason to come back to this gem of a game. There are still other Looter Shooters that I’m interested (September means Borderlands 3, after all) but for now this one is ticking all of the boxes.

RE: Looter Shooters

Izlain

So a few days ago I ran a poll to see what game in the so-called “Looter Shooter” genre people might think I’d enjoy. It turns out that following my logic, some people recommended Warframe even, a game I’ve already spent some time in but still look at all of the content available as a little daunting. I was surprised to see more people vote for Anthem than anything else, but we are talking about a very small sample size. In the end, my decision was made with my wallet’s welfare in mind: I picked up Forsaken for $20. I should be able to blow through what’s between where I am and the new content fairly quick.

I appreciate the feedback though. Haven’t seen that many comments on a post in a long time!

Ironically enough, we were treated to the announcement of Borderlands 3, a game that I had included in the poll (only got a single vote though) as more of a joke than anything. It does look pretty good though… here’s the trailer in case you missed it:

In a way it does look like more of the same, but it did look it had some pretty slick stuff going on at the same time. I hope there is enough variance to the world, classes/mechanics and storyline that it feels like a proper sequel and not just another pre-sequel. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one for sure, and make a decision about its purchase depending on the details. In the meantime, I’m in for more Destiny 2.