#mod nimbus | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thefirstknife · 2 years

Text

I've emerged. Did the whole campaign and some side stuff, haven't had time to touch the season but I will do so shortly.

Overall, I really like it. Visually absolutely stunning. I adore Nimbus to death. Love the extent of involvement from Osiris and that we and our Ghost got to speak so much. The whole campaign feels much more Guardian-centric than any other before.

I played on normal mode because I do not want to think about difficulty and to sweat when I'm just trying to get through the story for the first time so difficulty wise, normal mode is fine to me. Didn't experience any issues with that or with new mod system or anything.

Full spoilers under (Deterministic Chaos mission as well) and because it's a long post:

Despite loving it, I feel like some stuff was rushed. One of my major issues is that we did not really have any meaningful explanation about the main point of the story, which is the Veil. I feel like we should've known exactly what it is in order to understand why we're protecting it outside of the whole "the Veil powers Neomuna so if it gets destroyed, people will die." That's understandable enough, but we have no idea what it is. I think we should've known that.

Without knowing what it is, we can't really understand what happened at the end. It's a really shocking, unbelievable and stunning ending, but also confusing. We do not know what happened. Zavala and Ikora both spoke as if the Traveler disappeared which got me confused until I read Ikora's summary in text:

And ofc, until I saw the view in destinations and from the HELM:

From Zavala's speech, I genuinely thought that the Traveler just disappeared entirely, despite us not seeing anything in the cutscene after the Witness entered it. Only this line from Ikora's summary explains that the Traveler isn't gone or destroyed or dead, just kinda... Shut down. I guess.

Which again, we simply do not understand. I love when things are mysterious and we can speculate, but in this case there is nothing to even speculate about. We simply do not know what happened or why. We have no idea what the Witness wants or what it did.

Some of it might get explained in the raid, but I believe that the main campaign plot point should be explained in the campaign. There was a brief possibility that some stuff would be explained in the exotic mission for the machine gun, Deterministic Chaos, but instead of clarifying the Veil, it just made it even more confusing.

Basically, the mission explains that the Vex tried making a copy of the Veil, but the copy was not successful entirely. The copy? The Black Heart in the Black Garden. It obviously didn't pan out for the Vex, but it's unfathomable to me why an object of Light would turn into the Black Heart, even as a failed copy. Not to mention that the Vex can't handle paracausality. Perhaps that is why they failed? There's a lot of text involved in the mission, but it does not explain anything further and it ends with us getting a core from a Vex mind that has yet to be researched.

This might possibly all make clear sense in the future, and I don't mind waiting at all. But I do feel like we could've easily gotten more substantial information during the campaign. The Veil was an entirely new thing introduced here and the whole campaign has us chasing after it, but we have no information about what it is. And the information we do have is wildly conflicting. It's tied to the Light and it's an object of the Traveler, but it's also able to be copied as the Black Heart and can be used to slice open the Traveler? Like, on one hand it's obviously Light based, but on the other it's highly dangerous and helpful to Darkness.

We'll probably find out eventually so I'm not too bothered, I just think we should've found out during the campaign. It's definitely going to be a sore point for everyone, since we literally do not know what we were doing.

On another note, we're finally fully done with Nezarec! A thing I am glad to be wrong and overly cautious about. I had huge dread over hyping myself up for something like that and only for it to not pan out so I advised caution. Luckily, it is panning out!

However, I have some issues with that as well and it mostly stems from the past year of Nezarec simply not being set up sufficiently enough. He got set up as a past disciple and then as having died ages ago and then as having several of his body parts ground into dust and also as a "traitor." Assumed traitor to the Witness since he was a disciple. Then suddenly he's still on the Witness' side. For ... reasons? I guess raid lore will clarify.

I liked the fact that he's shown as "stuck" in a prison of being in between life and death (his lines in the strike), since that fits with where he would be given that he died. And was turned into tea. But we know that he can still speak from his remains so that's cool! I also like how he sounds utterly silly evil. Like in a good way silly. He just sounds evil, which is sometimes refreshing given that all our villains get expanded to the point where I feel sorry for them. I hope he stays like this.

Another thing that bothers me is, again, the whole nightmare thing. It's reiterated once more that he's tied to nightmares, but Lightfall CE specifically untied nightmares from the Lunar Pyramid and Nezarec. Which falls with my issues with him not being set up properly; we should've known about his powers unambiguously when he was introduced in Plunder, or earlier. Again, this might be explained in the raid lore, but I feel like it's something that should've been explained as a part of the setup. I already made the suggestion that Nezarec may have made the nightmares and has nightmare powers and that he distributed that power to other Pyramid ships which would explain why the others have them. I hope this gets addressed or it'll bother me forever because Collector's Edition lore stuff is usually crucial to understanding the new expansion and characters so the contradiction is currently odd. Until we get an explanation ofc.

Another thing I like is how some Tormentors are named! And when they're named, they're also called "Imprints of Nezarec." Suggesting that they're either controlled by him or made by/from him. Or modelled. Not sure which word to use here but they're definitely tied to him. It's an interesting little tidbit. Would explain how they look half Rhulk and half.... something else. That something else, as I've speculated, might be Nezarec and it might explain why the Witness wanted his body parts (though this is then an issue yet again with Plunder because we prevented it from having those body parts. So if the Witness acquired some other body parts regardless, then what was the point of Plunder. I digress).

Also the first Tormentor we see is the only one with a different title:

Hoping for more info about them! Possibly through the raid!

I read all lore tabs that are available and I loved those! Some really cool stuff in some of them. These are all available for reading right away in collections! Seasonal gauntlets have really sweet lore with Saint-14, Caretaker sword actually made me cry with lore about Drifter helping the Eliksni and specifically Eliksni kids. Guardian's Angel Ghost shell killed me dead with lore about Mara being concerned for Crow and Crow accepting her help. Tech Witch Ghost shell mentions Sjur Eido!!!!

From the campaign lore stuff and little details, I really love the lore book Last Days which is about Neomuna citizens preparing for cryo. Some really sweet interactions and information. There's another gay couple in there! And a really neat concept of how the Neomuna citizens choose different appearance for themselves when they're in virtual reality which consists of choosing an avatar and gender (!) and they can change that any time.

Absolutely thrilled that Maya Sundaresh and Chioma Esi, aka Golden Age science wives, were revealed to have been among the founders of Neomuna. They even have areas named after them!

Also super excited to do some side missions like the ones in the Archive about other Cloud Striders. The leader of the Archive, a lady called Quinn sounds really cool and she's voiced in the quests and in patrols, as well as some other really cool characters. Quinn is also super neat because of the lore of the exotic ship Tropopause in which she speaks to Ikora and manages to completely stun Ikora in what interpret as Ikora's wlw impulse. This can be read immediately in collections.

Also, Calus is finally dead and gone! Good riddance bitch! Also super chilling cutscene with him pissing off the Witness. What a bad move, Calus. But I love to see the difference between Calus and Rhulk in how they treat the Witness. Super interesting.

Our Ghost... Man. My boy needs a break. If I see anyone slandering him for anything, I will personally end them. He literally cannot stop being taken over. It's super concerning (and also not fully explained why the Witness can just do that). On the upside, my Ghost shell (catboy) was super funny in those scenes:

Kitty Witness real.

Overall, I liked it and I feel like the story and the new setting and everything adjacent to it has a lot of potential and I'm excited to play more and get more information as we get through the year. I really do think that we'll get everything explained eventually, but it's definitely slightly disappointing that no questions were answered. As a matter of fact, we just got more questions. Things that we never knew existed were brought up only to not be elaborated on at all, but they were treated like the most important thing in the world and crucial aspects of the story. Even if you know that we'll find out eventually, it can feel strange to follow a self-contained expansion story and not get any clarifications as to why we're doing the things we're doing.

Looking forward to seeing more though! Exploring the world is definitely a blast and there's a lot of stuff to do. Strand is also incredibly cool to use and I can't wait to get all upgrades.

#destiny 2 #destiny 2 spoilers #lightfall #lightfall spoilers #long post #i have some complaints but also i try to keep positive until everything is wrapped up #we'll 100% get more information as things go on but i understand and agree with being frustrated that some of it wasn't shown right away #especially with how little time we have going forward until final shape #unless they don't really have much to show and we'll be in this limbo until final shape #no clue. still too early to tell. we'll make the full judgement later #for now i am enjoying it despite the little issues since those can be fixed in the future

62 notes · View notes

godtiers-for-real-justice · 6 months

Text

S o r r y I h a v e n ’ t b e e n o n l i n e , t h e s t o r m s g o t w o r s e a n d I n e e d e d t o f i n d s h e l t e r. I s e v e r y o n e o k a y ?

#mod nimbus

13 notes · View notes

kirby-n-co · 1 year

Photo

Read from Right to Left!

While Nimbus was out enjoying the cool nightly air, a sudden disturbance prompts him to check out the commotion, only to find a particular Waddle Dee nearby! Luckily he seems to be okay.

Start || << Prev || Next >>

#thanks for the ask!#mod cosmic #mod mod #nimbus #levin knight #cookie waddle dee #kirby #kirby askblog #kirby ocs #kirby original character #waddle dee #kirby nintendo

260 notes · View notes

prismaticstarshch · 6 months

Text

random compilation of some of the many OST songs I like from various video games (or that are associated with video games I like):

Stained, Brutal Calamity (Terraria Calamity)

Roar of the Jungle Dragon (Calamity)

Universal Collapse (Devourer of Gods Nonstop Mix ver.) (Calamity)

Unholy Insurgency (Calamity)

Guardian of the Former Seas (Calamity)

Engineer's Sanctum (Calamity)

Interstellar Isolation (Terraria Mod of Redemption)

Hypernova (Redemption)

Fated Insurrection (Terraria Vanilla Calamity Mod Music)

A Legend's Strife (Midday) (Vanilla Calamity Mod Music)

The Memory of a Cruel World (Vanilla Calamity Mod Music)

Zenith Fabrications (Terraria Infernum Mod)

Their Fabricator (Infernum)

Inferior Fabrications (Infernum & current Exo Mechs placeholder theme in Calamity)

Radiant Ascension (Garamond Research Facility: Remastered & soon to be in Zands! Codename Lemnis)

Algorithmic Initiation V2 (ZCL)

Core Startup (Revamp) (Innovation Inc. Thermal Power Plant)

Heat Affinity (IITPP)

Risky Closure (ZCL)

Desolation V4 (ZCL)

The Price of Failure (ZCL)

See You On (Phighting!)

The Flipside (Phighting!)

Grain of Pain (Phighting!)

Pandemonium Coda (Phighting!)

Solar Eclipse (Phighting!)

The Most Wanted (Phighting! - Scythe reveal trailer)

Prosper with Science (IITPP)

Heat Affinity Encore (IITPP)

Crystallized Intelligence Encore (IITPP)

Enter the Flames Encore (IITPP)

Safeguard Failure (Remastered) (IITPP)

Shutdown Failure (IITPP)

4000 Degrees Kelvin (IITPP remix ver.)

Watch the World Burn (IITPP)

Ultramassive (IITPP)

Our Malignancy (IITPP)

Fleeing Darkness (IITPP)

Reminiscence (IITPP)

Terminus (IITPP)

Full Core Startup (IITPP; not featured in-game)

Inauguration (GRF:R)

Rise of the Downfall (GRF:R)

Fission Fallout (GRF:R & soon to be in ZCL)

Bronze Grasslands theme/Ravenna wilderness theme (World of Magic/Arcane Odyssey)

The Call of Adventure (AO - Early Access trailer theme & Nimbus Sea Update pt. 1 title screen song)

GBM Selection 3 (GRF:R; was formerly going to be implemented in ZCL at some point as well but that got scrapped)

Menu Song (ZCL)

Catastrophic Overture (ZCL)

Unknown Innovation Blacksite startup song (Innovation Blacksite)

Secondhand Knowledge (Innovation Blacksite)

Unknown Innovation Blacksite meltdown phase 2 song (Innovation Blacksite)

yeah, I like a lot of songs (this is only some of the video game songs I like)

#music #roblox #terraria #modded terraria #ramble post #i'm perfectly sane

3 notes · View notes

sovpologist · 2 years

Text

Lightfall Review: TLDR

Read my full review here!

Best parts of the story:

Zavala immediately squashing the "The Traveler tried to abandon us" hot take by explaining that it went to confront the Witness at the end of Seraph. Like I felt like this was obvious but some people want the Traveler to secretly be evil so badly they'll use anything as proof

Osiris launching himself in a Cabal drop pod

Nimbus and Osiris bickering

Caiatl coming to help us and Nimbus thinking she's hot

Calling down orbital strikes

Neomuna being an Ishtar Collective colony (science wives Maya Sundaresh and Chioma Esi were alive! And thriving!)

Osiris' theory that Light = material/physical and Dark = mental/immaterial

And how this would build/add onto Ikora's theories about pain, forgiveness, and memory and why the Light forgets but the Dark remembers

The Witness taking control of Ghost to get to the Veil

There's precedent for this in the Vow raid lore; plus the Witness/Darkness has influenced/taken control of Ghost before. It also always seemed too good to be true that Ghost and the guardian could spy on the Witness with no issue but that connection didn't go the other way around

Worst parts of the story:

Amanda being on the front lines of the battle despite being a civilian non guardian??? and later in defiant battlegrounds devrim even has a line about how he and amanda cant be on the front lines bc they dont have lives to space so why was she there in the first place?

Osiris seeing the Witness touch the Traveler, leave, and immediately guessing that the Witness 1) saw the Veil 2) is going to get it right now

The Veil and the Radial Mast in general

Rohan's death being obvious from a mile away and him not getting enough screentime that wasn't draped in "I'm definitely going to die soon" red flags to actually be able to get attached to him

"Let's stand perfectly still in the dark!" -Mara, Zavala, Elsie, Ikora

Overall:

Story: 4/10

Pros:

Lots of mystery going into "Final Shape"

Strong aesthetics + vibe

Post-campaign content is largely better written and more engaging

Cons:

Breakneck pacing

Poor motivations

Lack of setup

Overutilization of MacGuffins

Rapid, jarring tonal shifts

Obvious, guessable deaths

Stakes are supposed to be high but feel low

No payoff

Bungie telling people who are confused or unsatisfied to buy the year's seasons and play them to get answers… Expansions should be mandatory to understand seasons. Seasons should not be mandatory to understand expansions.

Characters: 6/10

Pros:

Fun new characters

Interesting character interactions

Cons:

Underutilized existing characters

Gameplay: 8/10

Pros:

Difficult but not oppressive content

Strand is massively fun and engaging

Interesting, well-designed missions

Lots of opportunities to use/experiment with Strand during main campaign, meaning putting together a build post-campaign is easier

Strand is much easier to unlock than Stasis, which was a huge pain

Replayable activities in Neomuna

Cons:

Some of the "secrets" on Neomuna are not really secrets (Vex disruption, Cabal ammunition, disrupting transmission)

Post campaign content with great lore (yay) is largely patrol based (nay...)

Will need to see the longevity of Neomuna + how it shakes up in the long run; Savathun's throne world had some things to do for leveling/unique replayable missions right after the campaign but a season or two later they were essentially worthless, meaning there was no reason to go back

QOL Changes: 9/10

Pros:

Simplified mod system

Ada-1 sells shaders now!

Loadouts!!!

Mod building screen!!!!

Commendations are fun

Artifact mods are intrinsic

Artifact is free to reset

Power system less relevant

More ways to stun champions

Cons:

Guardian ranks system is underwhelming, just another list of tasks to check off

Lore being moved to triumphs is a bad design choice IMO; I much preferred being able to read it on the same screen I unlocked it

#long post #chatter #lightfall spoilers

7 notes · View notes

thefangirlthatwaited · 1 year

Text

Encounter (Chapter 111) A Destiny 2 Story

Crow x Female Guaridan

I trudge back into the Hall of Heroes, feeling completely drained and disheartened. I fucked up big time. If I hadn’t been sucked into the idea of Strand, I could have had the Radial Mast in pieces.

“Ruby,”

“Stell, I’m not in the mood. Right now, I want to sleep this whole ordeal away.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yes, it was... I knew what Strand did to my body, yet I used it anyway.”

“It was necessary at that moment. The amount of Taken...”

“Please don’t justify my actions.” Our conversation ended when I heard another argument from the Hall of Heroes.

“Empress Caiatl’s forces will help push back Calus’s advances,” Saint explained over Holoprojection. So, Osiris got the communication up and running.

“We’ve done nothing but waste time!” Osiris yelled.

“I understand... but I cannot lose you again in your eagerness to fight. It is not the same as before.” Osiris’s body tensed, and he ended his call with Saint. I opened my mouth to speak, but when Osiris turned to me, his eyes burned with the Solar Light he no longer had. I knew I was in for a lashing of a lifetime.

I am contemplating your most recent... outburst with Strand to see if there are opportunities for improvement.” I looked down at the ground, unable to form an argument.

“It was out of control; we did the best we could,” Stell explained. She flew in front of me, protecting me from Osiris’s wrath.

“We need to do better!” Stell flew behind me at Osiris’s raised tone, and even I took a step back in fear. Osiris noticed our reaction and took a breath before speaking again, this time in a lowered voice. “We don’t know what Calus and the Witness want, but if it will have an effect on us all... I — I can’t allow that to happen.”

“Osiris. I am sorry-” He held out his hand, stopping my apology.

“I must ponder more on these “strands”. You should consult with the Cloud Striders to consider what our next steps could be.”

“Osiris...”

“I’m fine, Stell. I’ll be fine. Go on.” I hesitated as I watched Osiris slink away.

“Ruby,”

“Something else is bugging him.”

“It might be this.” She said, pointing to a nearby radio communication.

“From the Tower?” I asked, and Stell hit play.

“Hey, uh, I have a message here from your Vanguard’s “Commander Zavala” asking about you.” Nimbus said.

“He’s probably attempting to “check in” on my “physical and psychological status.” Osiris scoffed.

“He do that kind of thing often?”

“He and Saint and Ikora are... concerned for my safety. As if no longer carrying the Light as I did has transformed me instantly into a fragile elder.”

“Sounds like they care about ya, old bird. It’s sure rough to be stuck with supportive friends, huh?”

“I imagine, from your perspective, I must seem terribly ungrateful.”

“You know, when I first got the full set of mods, I was making friends with the ground every five minutes. Takes a second to find your balance sometimes.”

“So it does. I... appreciate the reminder.”

“So Zavala wanted an update too.”

I sighed. “If communications with the Tower online...” I headed to the corner that held my things and dug out my data pad. “Yep. Four messages from Crow.” I fell to my bed with a large thump, quickly reading what he sent.

“So what’s the verdict?”

“He’s worried about me.”

“Anything else?”

“He wants to know what’s wrong, and before I say nothing, he notes I left without a goodbye and my engagement ring.”

“You going to tell him?” I shrugged my shoulders and coughed. Looking down at my hand, I saw blood.

“I need to rest first. My body took too much damage.”

“That might be a good-” Stell got cut off as my data pad rang.

“Let me guess...”

“Crow.”

“Some much for resting first,” I grumbled. I let the data pad ring a few more times as I composed myself, preparing for the onslaught on the other end. “Hi,” I said, forcing a smile.

“Oh, thank the Traveler. Zavala told me Osiris got the communications lines running with Neptune, but you didn’t message back.”

“That’s because I just sat down and opened the messages. I haven’t even had the chance to process them yet.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“How were you supposed to know.” I sighed and coughed again. I hurried to wipe the blood before Crow could see it, but I heard him gasp. I knew I had failed.

“Ruby!”

“I’m fine. Or at least I will be once I’ve had some time to rest.”

“What’s happening?”

“It’s a long story, and I don’t have the energy to tell it right now.”

“Do you have the energy to answer some questions?”

I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I could say no...”

“Ruby,”

“But that would be putting off what I know I can’t avoid. So what questions do you have, Crow?”

“Why did you leave your ring?”

“Getting to the point,”

“Ruby. Please be serious. If it was an honest mistake...”

“It wasn’t.”

“You left it on purpose?”

“Yes.” Crow stayed silent at the revelation, and I wanted to end the call and hide. I wanted more time to process what I saw back on the Tower. The two days weren’t enough.

“Ruby... Why?”

“How do you feel right now?”

“Hurt. Confused. Angry.”

“That’s how I feel,” I explained.

“Why!” How could I answer this without sounding like a bitch? Without being seen as an overreaction.

“Lightbarrer, Caiatl is here to speak to you,” Rohan called from another room.

“Ruby, you didn’t answer my question.” Crow hissed.

“Amanda,” I replied before ending the call and rushing to the Empress.

Full Chapter on Ao3

#destiny 2 #crow destiny #archive of our own #d2 the crow #ao3 #destiny the crow #crow x guardian #destiny 2 crow

3 notes · View notes

actualaster · 2 years

Text

Alright, so, Thoughts on Lightfall.

Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it's not without issues. On the whole I feel it did more right than wrong, and I can very much admit that several of the things I find to be flaws may very well just be down to personal taste in writing choices rather than objective problems.

So, in general, it's mostly positive with some discussion of areas that I think might have been better handled.

Naturally spoilers abound below.

Also discussions of new/revamped gameplay mechanics in addition to the storyline stuff.

Going to be a bit disjointed and achronological because my brain does not vibe with the concept of time in general.

So, first of all, NIMBUS. I love them. They're a great character. I want to see more of them in the future. Canon on-screen nonbinary rep in a character who is great, who has speaking lines AND is a major character in the expansion, AND doesn't just get killed off? YES. It seems like a previous Cloud Strider, Stargazer, may also have been they/them? There's definitely another they/them as an average citizen in the lorebook AND somebody who seems genderfluid.

So Neomuna just casually embraces being nonbinary and it's NOT just a Cloud Strider thing it's just a normal part of their culture. Love that~

Alright, now for everything else.

I really enjoyed the new aesthetics of Neomuna! Very pretty~ I especially love the sparkly, glittery stone (or whatever) ground and caves, that's just such a pretty thing and it's always a top tier design choice. Also really love how they made the Cloud Striders so dang tall! Makes sense with their augments and whatnot, but still, great choice~

Still haven't poked around all the Lost Sectors but I loved the arcade (and the Goblin just... scanning a game cabinet lol. Absolute favorite Vex right there, a shame I had to kill it)

Haven't messed around too much with the new weapons and such, so I can't speak to how I enjoy the new perks or anything yet thought I like the aesthetics of them again.

The re-worked mod system is pretty solid, IMO. It streamlines a lot of stuff. Could use more tweaks, I miss some of the older mods and such, but the team will absolutely be monitoring things and adding new mods and tweaking existing ones and such as we go. It's a massive overhaul so it'll take time for things to fully settle, and I'll probably tweak things around further in the future.

I do prefer the perk system for the seasonal artifact as well, by the way, less of a pain than trying to slot mods into your gear and sacrificing stuff. Still struggling with stunning Champions but that's mostly because I'm still getting used to the new setup and fiddling with weapons and such.

Loudout system is great, no more needing to change up mods or appearances when you swap classes lol.

I do wish they'd maybe increase the slots we have for weapons, or something. It's getting hard to juggle and energy slots between what i need to complete bounties, what I need to stun champions, and what I run for everything else, especially if I've got an exotic catalyst or two I'm trying to work on...

Also, while Strand is fun, it feels... Slower for abilities to recharge, somehow? Might just be because most of my other sub-classes have ways to recharge themselves in PvE faster and all. Especially the loading time on the grapple grenade. I very much get why it's like that but also since it doubles as a movement mechanic and not just a combat mechanic it's a little... Tedious. But there's not really a good way to adjust that, I think, because it's not like destiny has a dedicated "extra movement method" button or anything.

Anyway that might feel a little less clunky as I unlock aspects and try to put together a decent Strand build. Need to find a decent high-stat Exotic to pair it with, tbh, the one I'm running now is just kinda.. Meh, it's what I've got on hand lol. So that might very well be coloring my opinions on it, I can fully admit that's a strong possibility. (But, also, I fully expect Bungie to tweak Strand going forwards as more and more players get their hands on it and they can see on a large scale how it's working and where it's struggling).

ANYWAY enough about that! ON TO OTHER STUFF.

So, overall, I liked the story they told. I do wish we'd delved more into the what the Veil is, however. It's obvious by the time you're doing some of the post-campaign stuff that not even the people of Neomuna have a solid grasp on what it is, and I would have liked to see that explored more... I know they're probably going to drip feed us some of that info over the seasons but I feel like that's extremely relevant to THIS expansion and I feel that expansions should balance being self-contained and setting up the next part of the story (unless it's a standalone expansion in which case it should be entirely self-contained).

Lightfall... Felt like it leaned a little too heavily on the "setting up for the next part" side of things. It wasn't bad, but I feel like we could have explored a bit more in the expansion itself. Maybe not part of the main campaign, but as a post-campaign quest or something to learn a little more about the Veil, and such.

I don't want to describe it as "filler", because it's not, but it did... Hrm... How to explain it... Like, obviously it's the link between Witch Queen and The Final Shape, that's just kind of what the expansions are--continuing the story and linking the entries that came before with those that came after. But Lightfall... It felt a little more like it was meant to just be a bridge and less like it was taking itself seriously as a full story in it's own right.

It's not bad, exactly, but it felt a little... Off. Like it wasn't quite able to come into it's own as an expansion outside of it's role linking WQ and TFS. An excellent effort was made, and that is a fine line to walk so I don't want to give the devs too much grief over it! But it does feel like it managed to fall a bit short on that.

Some of it was the pacing. The pacing felt a little... Inconsistent? Like some areas, such as Rohan's death, felt kind of rushed--we barely had time to get to know or care about these characters before he's sacrificing himself for us! And others felt like they dragged a little--Strand mastery, mostly. That somehow manage to feel like it both took up too much time and too little time.

I think that part is more... It felt like it took forever to get to the serious training to master it, and once we hit that it came very rapidly. I think that maybe if it had been a focus for one more or one less mission it would have felt better paced.

But also part of that might be less to do with the actual Strand and more to do with the content of the missions themselves. I did notice several of them had extended "no respawn" segments which were... Grueling, if you weren't very well-prepared and that can absolutely be coloring my perception of the pacing. It's hard to pull them apart, really.

Battles in segments did seem to drag on a bit, and some of the new stuff you do in Neomuna (the "terminal override" activity) seem to drag on, becoming more of a test of endurance than anything else.

Now, some of this is undoubtedly because we're all still adjusting to the new mod system and we all started out at low light compared to the recommended stuff with the new expansion and all. As we all start to get up there in light level, get better gear, get a handle on the new system, etc. I suspect these will start going faster.

So I don't want to be too hard on that aspect because, y'know, we just came off a "we've got YEARS of experience mastering the system and we're at the top of our game" in terms of gameplay so there's gonna be a learning curve for many of us again and I don't want to ding the devs on that too badly if it really just feels tedious due to needing to get familiar with things and better gear and such.

Plus, like. I know I'm not as big a fan of the battlegrounds style stuff because they take longer and I prefer quick, intense bursts of combat rather than extended firefights, so that's likely also my personal taste coloring how I feel there.

That said, not all the battle segments seemed to drag on--and several of those that were longer absolutely made sense and it really added to the emotional feelings of the mission with how they lasted longer.

Like, the run-up to fighting Calus?

When Caitatl shows up to fight alongside you with her troops through wave after wave of enemy? It felt like that fight took forever--but that worked great because it really fed the sense of "shit, fuck, NO, we have to hurry, we don't have time for this!" and that sense of "can we make it? No, we have to! We have to endure!" desperation that really, really fit the "the enemy is about to fucking win we HAVE to stop them!" that was being built up.

Actually, honestly, the more I think about it... The more I think that may have been the point all along with the combat segments that felt like took longer? To build that "we don't have time to be wasting here" sense of impatience to hurry and try to stop the Witness from getting the Veil.

But, also, again, they may have just taken longer and feel too long because I'm not totally used to the new system and still building myself up again--and I would imagine that the same could be true for others who also felt they were lengthy.

Calus' death, though, that was great. The battle was annoying because I was still trying to get a hang of swinging around with Strand and kept getting knocked off, but that was a skill issue not a game design issue lol.

I liked how in the end he became desperate, and his death just... Felt fitting. He met the end he was always destined for. Honestly a of the imagery around Calus was great, they did a great job of showing that while he gives service to the Witness he's still not actually satisfied and that his "gains" are just... Hollow. Empty. Just like him, really. All superficial opulence with no substantial filling.

His Chalice, a beautiful thing that was never filled, was a fantastic metaphor for Calus himself.

Speaking of interesting things, though.

The Cloud Striders vs the Guardians. One that chooses a life cut drastically short, not as a tragedy, but as a joyful sacrifice to protect and serve their people, a heavy mantle but one taken up willingly by those who are passionate about the cause. And one that has immortality thrust upon them without warning, without consent, and without any sort of purpose innate to the lifespan change.

They're a fun little twisted reflection of each other, and something I hope gets explored further even if only in the lore--that's a really, really neat concept that has a lot of fun potential for compare/contrast, you know?

AND, ON TOP OF THAT, the Guardian hesitates to cut their own existence short--the choice to shoot their Ghost, to save everything? (Or at least delay the Witness' plan)? And they hesitate, they can't quite do it in time (and once it's over there's no point). It's understandable, Ghost is your friend, somebody you care about and I think it makes perfect sense that we'd hesitate. I mean even outside of the narrative of "they can't have us kill Ghost because then we wouldn't be immortal anymore and that would really kind of screw with the whole 'players are immortal beings who come back over and over and over and just Get Better from grievous wounds on the fly'" thing. It just makes sense in general.

But there's also, there, that moment of hesitation in the face of sacrificing their immortality--when Rohan chose to cut his already truncated life short without hesitation to the same end.

It's not that I think we were wrong for our choice, or that his sacrifice was better or anything.

I just thing they're fascinating inversions of each other--parallel lines traveling in opposite direction.

And I think that was really well-done.

Also, speaking of well-done, the cutscene at the end of the new exotic quest for Deterministic Chaos, where the remains of Sagira's shell are enshrined in the Hall of Heroes right behind Rohan's monument/server. That was such a good touch, it was so perfect. It just feels right.

I just.

Yeah, the expansion had it's issues (what doesn't?) and things I would have changed up a bit but overall it was very enjoyable and did some amazing stuff with imagery, metaphor, and implied parallels for players to take note of. My biggest gripes are with gameplay, and those will very likely be lessened as the new mod system and subclass get tweaked and we all start getting more experience with them and such.

A fun time that deserves some criticism but really doesn't seem to deserve the more vitriolic hate I've seen.

So, on the whole, I'd give it a very solid 8/10.

#kage plays games #kage plays destiny #destiny 2 #lightfall #lightfall spoilers #anyway i hope this is at least semi-coherent lol #i have Feelings and Thoughts but Words Are Hard so #lengthy post

6 notes · View notes