Destiny has definitely improved ever since its disastrous launch two years ago, in terms of its gameplay, in terms of its structure, and in terms of the story and lore framing the game itself. However, the one thing that has not improved is the actual storytelling- the game’s reliance on using Grimoire Cards, which require the player to dig into reams of text outside of the game itself, as well as its tendency to deliver exposition blandly, without any weight or gravitas to the proceedings, has been roundly mocked and criticized.
However, that is one thing that Bungie are looking at changing with the upcoming Rise of Iron expansion pack. Speaking in an interview with PlayStation Lifestyle, director Scott Taylor said that Bungie are emphasizing cinematic storytelling with the new DLC.
“That’s another thing we didn’t have in House of Wolves,” he said. “We had the starmap and the CG piece. In this we have all new in game cinematics, we’re telling a story that we think is really going to help expand the world of Destiny for players and tell them about the Iron Lords and what happened to them and why we’re doing the Iron Banner. Saladin’s been in the game since the beta, standing there, training guardians for something, and now we’re going to kind of pay that off and see what we’ve been training for.
“We’re really focused on that narrative and that story telling those things, and you’re going to learn a lot about Saladin and find out why he is the way he is, where he came from, what his mission is, and how that affects the player in the world. We’re also really focused on doing something like (points to Rise of Iron poster) you can see the wall has been torn down, so time has passed. We’re going to be playing with the fact that this space has changed and how does that feel, and we want to use all those things to tell an amazing story. We’re really excited about that aspect of it and continuing to evolve our storytelling.”
In a lot of ways, the improvements that Bungie are promising for Rise of Iron almost make it sound like a proto, plot run for the inevitable Destiny 2. I hope that they do manage to deliver on their promises- and I hope that if they do, they carry over into the sequel, as well.