It is Lightfall blues once more right here in Future 2. The Fringe of Destiny had the unenviable duty of following The Ultimate Form, the long-awaited finale to a 10-year saga and fairly arguably one of the best growth in Future historical past. Simply as Lightfall fumbled it laborious after the excessive of The Witch Queen, The Fringe of Destiny has landed with disappointment. It is not abysmal, however I might name it fairly dangerous and I might in all probability rank it at or under the extent of Lightfall, as a result of I’ve no actual curiosity in enjoying it after ending the marketing campaign and making an attempt the (genuinely good) raid.
The large distinction this time is that this can be a medium-sized growth, the primary in a line of smaller however extra common releases for Future 2. Expectations should be adjusted. Moreover, the place Lightfall had a nasty marketing campaign and a boring vacation spot offset by cool new Strand powers, The Fringe of Destiny really has a terrific marketing campaign and a stable vacation spot, however the growth is dragged down by a stale sandbox, repetitive content material, and new gear and leveling methods which really feel like an enormous step again for the sport.
Nearer to the ultimate straw
After ending the marketing campaign and grinding out some new Exotics and quests, my non-raiding Fringe of Destiny expertise has rapidly been diminished to repeatedly operating previous content material utilizing worse variations of previous builds in pursuit of recent gear that is demonstrably worse than most of my previous weapons in addition to the entire Tier 5 gear I might finally unlock if I hadn’t already determined to leap off this hamster wheel.
There’s not a number of replayable new content material, the previous missions and playlists have by no means been creakier, and the brand new Portal exercise hub has finished actual injury to the texture and fantasy of Future 2’s world by quarantining it in sterile, synthetic menus. Bungie even admitted to purposely desaturating the previous locations web page – in essence, the complete universe – in some misguided try and make the Portal stand out, which appears like slicing off your thumb so your index finger actually pops. It is going to quickly re-saturate it, fortunately.
The second I caught myself farming the once-amazing Whisper mission from seven years in the past simply to gather throwaway gear with a barely larger Energy stage, I knew I used to be out. Yeah, I may run another stuff as a substitute, however I simply cannot microwave these leftovers once more. A lot of my previous stomping grounds and loot routes are straight-up unavailable on this new Portal period, no less than at decrease ranges. The Portal appears like an appetizer that Bungie has mistakenly positioned as a predominant course, and I’ve to say, it ain’t appetizing.
In the meantime, the sandbox would not have a enjoyable new tentpole like Lightfall’s Strand or The Ultimate Form’s Prismatic. To make issues worse, each construct in my loadout assortment is now considerably weaker because of the brand new armor setup. The gameplay sandbox is simply much less attention-grabbing than it was two weeks in the past. There may be buildcrafting potential to the brand new armor stats, and I knew getting in that there can be an adjustment interval, however I wasn’t ready for Future 2 to abruptly develop into dramatically much less enjoyable to play moment-to-moment. Peerless gunplay has all the time been Bungie’s saving grace, and that has been neutered by spongy enemies, scarce ammo, and bugs upon bugs upon much more bugs. The brand new ammo era system is properly controllable, certain, but it surely shoehorns buildcrafting by all however mandating a excessive Weapons stat, as a result of with out it the uptime in your most pleasurable weapons is dreadful.
Bungie appears to have guess on systemic modifications standing in for sandbox additions, however I might say that backfired spectacularly. It appears like Bungie has thrown our previous builds in a gap that we now have to buildcraft our method out of. Hurt discount will not be precisely a back-of-the-box blurb for a brand new growth. The ceiling for some builds is a bit larger, certain, however the ground has cratered, and the up to date Energy system has obliterated any curiosity I may need had in reaching the brand new ceiling. I believe the overall quantity crunch has been wholesome for Future 2, however the brand new Energy system is about as approachable as a mama grizzly bear close to her cubs. It is a monster assembled from the worst components of a number of different MMOs however with virtually not one of the payoff.
Energy fantasies
Steam tells me I’ve performed 1,769 hours of Future 2, although my whole play time is larger when you rely consoles and Battle.web. Most of these hours had been logged years in the past. For some time now, I have been what I might name a hardcore informal Future 2 participant. I do not play loads, however after I do play, I typically solely do tough and endgame content material like raids, dungeons, and Grandmaster Nightfalls. That is the place the sport actually shines, and I haven’t got the urge for food to farm seasonal content material a zillion occasions anymore, although I did love me some Onslaught (an exercise which, in any sane universe, would’ve develop into the brand new Name of Responsibility Zombies-style cornerstone of Future PvE, however I digress). Bungie has supported that play type, which I think about one of the best burnout treatment, by making that content material accessible and rewarding, and it did that partly by more and more deemphasizing Energy stage with every growth.
It felt like we would all realized that Energy serves no actual goal aside from extending an unenjoyable grind and it may simply be eliminated by means of systemic modifications that as a substitute prioritize sport really feel and tangible rewards. As a substitute, The Fringe of Destiny has swung again 180 levels, making Energy extra vital, and extra annoying, than ever. It’s much less complicated than I might as soon as feared, and it is much less fragmented and time-gated than Future 2’s previous Pinnacle system, but it surely’s additionally much less pleasurable than I might ever imagined.
As your Energy goes up, you get entry to higher-tier gear and higher-difficulty actions. You improve your Energy by operating the toughest stuff you feasibly can, utilizing customized problem modifiers to bump up your rewards to make sure related and plentiful drops. When you hit the comfortable cap of 200, you get into short-term seasonal Energy which is able to reset with future content material rotations. Seasonal energy is primarily gained by means of Portal actions or higher-difficulty marketing campaign missions. To this point, so MMO.
I like that “actually simply play the online game” is a viable path to Energy now, and it is cool to see the brand new scoring system reward proficient play, however that is about the one optimistic stuff I can say about this method. A few of the selections listed here are baffling. Your rewards are actually tied to your outfitted Energy, not the best Energy throughout your assortment, undoing years of quality-of-life. Gear tier rewards really feel inconsistent, with even the raid itself, the premier endgame exercise, dropping pitiful Tier 1 gear as a baseline. The highway to the great things simply feels too lengthy.
Throughout the group, high-Energy gamers have reported a rain of low-tier gear that feels improper for his or her funding stage, and the very fact is, most individuals is not going to get to Tier 5 as a result of they do not have the abdomen for it. I have been enjoying this sport for practically 11 years and even I haven’t got the abdomen for it, and practically all of my clanmates and raid buddies have expressed related issues. It appears like lots of people will dip out nicely earlier than they hit even 400 Energy.
To high all of it off, rising your Energy would not really feel good or satisfying as a result of a lot of the significant actions are Energy-locked anyway, which means you are capped at a sure Energy deficit that determines the problem stage. You aren’t getting stronger; you’re unlocking more durable variations of the identical content material. That content material was launched years in the past usually, but the Portal pool additionally inexplicably excludes among the finest actions within the sport. Future 2 would not really feel recent. I’ve finished all of these items earlier than. Now it is simply extra cumbersome, and tied to a quantity that does not really imply something. You possibly can’t have your cake and eat it, and you’ll’t make Energy concurrently necessary and nugatory for laborious content material.
The Fringe of Destiny feels precision-engineered to show off gamers like me, who very particularly preferred Future 2 as a result of it did not have the identical humdrum stage grind as many different MMOs. Energy is now slowly gained by means of repetitive content material, simply misplaced with seasonal resets, and utterly immaterial in apply, plus all of the gear you get on the way in which to Tier 5 is completely outclassed. It appears like an issue for an MMO to have all of those bugbears without delay. I nonetheless have a number of love for Future 2 and I will come operating again if Bungie improves the grind, however for now there are too many good video games on the market for me to spend time spinning this wheel.
