Destiny 2 Thoughts on the Future

Welcome ladies and gentlefolk, to the View from the Sun, I'm your host Eros Helios, the Filthy Casual. Today I'm going to be talking a little bit about Destiny 2, and some light criticisms that I have going forward. I hope you enjoy it. 

I’ve been a fan of Destiny the game since its announcement. I was in absolute awe that the developer that brought us Halo was finally bringing something to other consoles (I know, at the time it was just the Playstation). I never owned an Xbox or an Xbox 360, so I missed out on the excitement that others felt when they played Halo for the first time. I missed the hype that was Halo 2 and then inevitably Halo 3. So, when Bungie announced Destiny, I was over the moon. I couldn’t wait to tear into the content. When they released the alpha, I spent the entire time it was active playing, leveling all three characters to the alpha max, and getting my friends hyped for the game. Now, I don’t know how much changed between the Alpha and Beta, but I know I still enjoyed the beta. I got my friends into it as well. We had a great time running the strike, and the opening mission. Boy, those were the days. There’s something to be said about the launch, and it wasn’t as good as expected. It felt like the game had been stripped somehow. Considering the story was quite convoluted at times. There was an in-game story, but the story was only half-told if you wanted the rest you had to go online to Bungie.net and follow the grimoire cards, dead ghosts, and any other lore that ended up there. When an in-game action would happen and there was no explanation for it, you could probably find it online. That in my opinion was a problem. Not everyone wanted to do extra steps to go online to follow the story. I know I didn’t. Nowadays, I rely on folks like My Name Is Byf to dispense the lore that I miss, or fail to earn due to not playing, or not completing particular lore books(that are thankfully in-game now) and he does a wonderful job at doing it. Just look him up on YouTube if you’re interested in learning the complete story of Destiny.

As much as a fan as I was, I was also a critic, and I got a little too addicted to playing and I burned myself out. I played diligently from launch all the way through October of 2014, and I had a blast, but the repetition got to be too much, so I’d take a break until Crota’s End launched. Hell, I never even completed the Vault of Glass until the game had been out for six or eight months. I still, to this day, have content in Destiny 1 that I never got to complete for one reason or another. I think the lack of friends interested in Destiny after a while contributed to my lack of completing raids and weekly nightfall strikes after a while. I’m shy in person, and even more so back then than I am now, so it was tough to meet new people that were into Destiny, and that extends to online connections too. Now, all that being said, I’ve never given up on Destiny/Destiny 2, I’ve loved and loathed it at times. For a company that says they want us to play how we want, they seem to break anything that makes a “god killer” you know, too effective. But I still love the game. It’s a fun jaunt into a world that we’ll never know. It’s nice to get lost in an ever-expanding world, well, until September that is, because in September Bungie will be removing content that “doesn’t get played as much” anymore. I don’t like that. I don’t like losing content that I’ve paid for, in an effort to shrink a file size. It serves, in my opinion, as a stark reminder that I don’t own anything that I buy when it comes to video games.

I don’t know if I’m in the minority here, but I don’t think that they need to remove anything. I for one like the freedom to go anywhere in the system whether it’s from vanilla Destiny 2, or from the most recent content. I don’t like that a game like Call of Duty is over 170GB on the PlayStation, and Destiny is currently just over 101GB and it offers so much in terms of gameplay. Call of Duty has plenty of modes/maps, but 170GB? Come on. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy these games. Not all games are this large, but in a game where there are strikes, dungeons, whole worlds, PVP maps, Gambit mode, raids, and seasonal content I think that it’s fine. I don’t want to lose my content, and to me, losing content even if there’s a chance that it might come back in the future, seems unfair, especially considering that it may end up being in a paid way. If they were to take say the Tangled Shore away, content that I’ve already paid for once, and in the future offered it as a season content update but only if you pay for it, I think then I’d be done with Destiny. I don’t want that to happen, and neither should anyone else. If anything, the game should continue to be expanded upon. From now, until the day that Destiny has overstayed its welcome.

I’ve not even touched on the “sunsetting” of weapons and gear. I know you want us to use new gear, but if we choose to use old gear and weapons, that is how we want to play. Not everyone will continue to keep using older weapons, and forcing people off of them seems annoying and unnecessary to me. While I’m speaking of weapons here, Bungie, you gotta let us pull a curated roll out of our collection. My vault is full because there are weapons and armor that I am not guaranteed to get dropped due to them being from past seasons/expansions, and I don’t want to lose access to them. I know my voice is small, but I can’t be the only one who feels this way.

 

Destiny’s developer Bungie has assured us that they are listening to feedback that we in the community are giving them. My problem with this is as some folks have pointed out, is that they say this. There is a history here, where they are “listening to what we are saying” and then continue as they see fit, only to end up needing to walk back the implementation either during the season or at the next fall expansion. Armor 2.0 is a huge example. Weapons with random rolls are another. How many times must Bungie make a mistake that their audience explicitly tells them that they are making, only to finally admit to their mistake, and change things back? Armor 2.0 and random rolls were a huge improvement that should have never been needed.

I love the universe of Destiny. I wish that they would take a World of Warcraft approach to content updates and world-building. They call themselves an “Action RPG” but I don’t think they realize that removing content that your consumer base has paid for is the opposite of a living world. In my opinion, Bungie should not be splitting up their focus on this new IP that they announced a while back, but focus on Destiny, where they honestly could make a butt-ton of money if only they would work on making the world worth grinding and an actual coherent story that doesn’t need to be searched out to learn or experience.

I’m overall optimistic that the fall expansion will be good. There’s plenty of content to get us through between now and then. We have the season of arrivals, and the annual Solstice of Heroes in August, and I’m fairly certain that there are some other mystery quests that will be revealed in due time. Destiny is a great game, but I think sometimes Bungie wants us to play their way when it’s been shown that people will play when they have good things to chase. I hope that Bungie works through this funk of a mistake and we get the game we paid for, and they achieve the success that they so deserve. They brought us Halo, and Destiny was their next big thing, let’s hope it finally becomes properly big.

Thanks for reading and as always, eyes up, guardians. This is the Filthy Casual signing off. 

Riding Shotgun

I stare out the window as the breeze flows through, hitting my face. The air is cool and refreshing. I feel calm. At peace. I don't know how, but I am happy. I look to my left, and see the driver of this vehicle and flinch in shock, as a hooded creature, familiar and foreign all at once. He peers over in my direction, two icy blue orbs stare unblinking at me, and with a low, soothing voice I hear him say "Do you fear me?" "No" I reply, "But I didn't think I was ready" I continued. A low chuckle was his only retort. We drive for what seems like hours until I realize we aren't really going anywhere, so I ask "What's the deal here?" He waits a moment until he finally replies "I'm glad that you are not fearful of me, but you're right, it's not yet your time". He slows the vehicle and continues "throughout life, I am taken for granted. The people that I take never realize that they have so much living to do. I have taken you, on this night, to remind you of that. Live while you can, because eventually, we all will be riding shotgun with the reaper."

Sometime Between Now and Eternity

 *A quick blurb about the Playstation 5 and Nintendo Directs*

Between now, and eternity, there will be some news on a thing you are interested in. Yes, folks, I’m here to tell you that sometime between now and the end of eternity, you will have news on that thing you are interested in. More specifically if you are interested in Nintendo directs or anything Sony PS5 related, there will be news at some point. Some sources have been noted as saying soon, or in the future. Folks, you’ve heard it here first. Soon.

Modern Warfare is good?

What's up, ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I am Eros Helios, and I am here to talk about games today. More specifically, one game; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare(2019 edition). Now make no mistake, Call of Duty was not the only game that happened to launch this past week, but it is the one that I actually got to play a fair bit of, and I really enjoyed it.

First things first, it's not perfect. Some things could have been done better, but I think, for the most part, it is a really good Call of Duty game. The in-game engine is phenomenal. The graphics on the PS4 Pro are some of the best, and the story, while not the most detailed was adequate, especially after the loss of a campaign mode in Black Ops 4. The story is a standard multi-locale narrative, pitting Marines, Freedom fighters, and of course, British SAS against a terrorist organization that is a not so subtle stand-in for Al-Queda. When a warehouse for chemical weapons is attacked, whilst being attacked by our Marine, Alex, the mystery of who is attacking and stealing the chemical weapons is what we are left to begin to unravel. I played through in a couple of days, needing to take a little time to recoup after getting hit with a migraine(those things suck), but I finished the story mode today, and I was content with the ending. There were many reports that the game included some controversial aspects such as child soldiers and suicide bombers. While there were indeed a  few instances of suicide bombers, there were no "Child soldier" missions, but missions in which a child defends themselves from some evil men, with evil intentions. The scene is jarring, but given the setting, and remembering that things like this DO take place in the real world, I didn't see them as controversial. To me, it was much less controversial than something like the "No Russian" mission from Modern Warfare 2.

With the ending and MCU like post-credits cutscene, Infinity Ward isn't just making this a one-game reboot, but with at least a years worth of content on the way, we shall see what is announced and what happens after support ends.

Speaking of, according to Infinity Ward, there will be no post-launch cost for maps in Modern Warfare. We believe that there will be some sort of monetization since this is Activision publishing the game after all. There are daily missions to unlock skins and other alterations for weapons. There are also ways to unlock weapon charms, and weapon camos, but that's nothing new.

The multi-player mode is where the "end-game" exists. Unlike a game like Destiny, or Borderlands, the campaign or side story is really a small part of the whole. PVP is the end all, be all of Call of Duty games and as such, it has to be a rich environment of choice. There are so many options this year that I was quite shocked really. You have basic core PVP, where you can filter out what game modes you'd rather play. In that filter, there is Team Deathmatch, Cyber Attack, Domination, Search and Destroy, Headquarters, 20 person Team Deathmatch and 20 person Domination. After that, there's Ground War, Gunfight, Free-for-All, Realism(Which I believe is the new Hardcore mode) and a private match. I haven't even gotten to touch the Spec-Ops mode, which is a co-op mode that is apparently only on Playstation until October 2020. I don't know how true that is since it is downloadable on the Xbox one.

The bottom line is this, in my opinion, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 is the Call of Duty that fans have wanted for the last few years. It's a helluva return to form, and it's great to see an old character like Price return. This is so far, my favorite Call of Duty since Black ops 2, and I give it 4.5 Helios flares out of 5

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available now on Playstation 4, XBOX One, PC, and of course from Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop if you prefer physical editions.

Not Enough, or The lack of Effort in Trying

What's up, ladies and gentlemen? I am your blogger, Erik, and I'm back with another helping of this lovely view and the thoughts that pour out of my mind. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the fall weather. As a gamer, I'm excited for a few games that are coming out or are already out. I've played the first couple of missions of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot, and my goodness, it is a beautiful piece of art. There's a few more that I can't wait for, but then again, I can. The Avengers game coming out in 2020 looks really good, along with DragonBall Z: Kakarot, which I hope will be similar to the old Budokai series, where we play the story of Dragonball Z. I'd kinda like a game that follows from the original Dragonball, all the way through DragonBall Super(which is the most recent story of the Z warriors). Coming this holiday season, though, is Pokemon: Sword and Shield. Two separate games that will follow the same sales strategy that Gamefreak/Nintendo has used since the inception of Pokemon. I doubt that they will make a third game in the vein of Pokemon Crystal, and Sapphire, but here's to hoping. There's a few more that I am excited for, and I'm hoping that game developers and publishers are finally starting to realize that gamers, whether they are adult gamers like me, or children whose parents have to fund the countless DLC, microtransactions, and all the extra purchases that have become commonplace, are no longer welcome. I don't hate DLC as a bonus for preordering, but I do mind paying 50% of the main purchase price for extra characters, or a very short story addition.

Recently, I had to go to the doctors to give/get a little bit of an update on certain things, and I found out that over the last couple of months, I've lost ten pounds. I'm not exactly sad about it, but I also kinda feel like I could have done much better. I know ten pounds doesn't sound like a lot to me. But I also know that when I pick up a ten-pound weight, I know that I've picked up a ten-pound weight. I'm glad that I'm finally losing something. I'm glad that I'm finally going down, not up, but I really thought I could have done better. I'm working on myself in more ways than one. I'm trying to go to bed earlier, eat better(I've failed this weekend) and I'm trying to make responsible decisions with my finances(again, not doing the best this week, but not as bad as I once was).

There are some things that I'm not comfortable sharing right now, but just know that I am working on myself in more ways than one. I'm doing my best to get to the next best version of myself. I'm doing my best to shoot up from the bottom, and really find exactly who I'm meant to be.

Ya'll, it's time for me to go, and I can't wait to keep up on this journey, and I hope that you keep on keepin' on with me. Thanks for reading and hanging out and checking out this view, and I hope you have a bright day.

Forgotten moments

Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the View from the Sun. At first, I had literally forgotten what I was going to write about, but after a quick nap, and a mid-sleep wake up from my cats, I remembered exactly what I was going to say.

Sometimes to finish your dreams, you have to start over. I know, it sounds antithetical, but a good restart is something that can really spur your mind, body, and soul or heart or whatever you want to call it. Not long ago, I wrote about trying new things, and working towards a goal. A few goals, actually. But what I didn't mention was that I had kinda given up at one point. I felt destined to just be a failure, completing menial tasks and eventually just dying, never having lived a life worth living. Just, existing. Nothing more, nothing less. I haven't been to the gym to workout in months because I had this mindset. I hide my emotions well, because I have to. But, I'm resetting. I'm looking at life from a different perspective, because I am no longer satisfied with just existing. I'm no longer happy keeping the status quo. I want my life to mean something, and since I have no legacy to raise, I'll create my own legacy.

I'm not sure what life will hold in the end for me, but I hope that if I don't find success, it isn't because I didn't work as hard as I could, to become the best version of me that is possible. Thanks for reading hanging out, and remember, the View is always sunny here.

Something I Never Wanted to Become

What's up, ladies and gentlemen, I am the eternal Heart of the Sun, and we are here for the View from the Sun. I've been trying to branch out in my creative areas because, well, as much as I love my job(sorta) I don't think I want to drive forever and ever. I've been trying my hand at streaming over on Twitch.tv/FilthyCasualXL, but I've also been working on learning some new skills for Youtube content. It's tough, especially since the market is saturated, but I'm also working on some other irons in that fire. Slowly but surely, I'm learning.

Today, I'd like to talk about something that I never thought that I'd become, or wanted to become. I've always been heavy. I've always had more fat than most. I've had times in the past where I worked some off, but never sustained. I've never been as consistent as I should be. I had always fallen off my wagon and I've been disappointed, saddened, destroyed, and downtrodden due to my lack of drive to keep going. I used to see people who were obese, and I mean bigger than I was, and I vowed, I swore to myself that I would control it. I wouldn't let myself become that large. I have failed myself. I don't have any reasons why at least not discernable reasons. I never wanted to look in the mirror and be completely ashamed of what I'd see. I don't know what exactly drove me to the point where I weigh more than 550lbs. I don't expect sympathy, but what I'd like is some assistance in any way you can. Cheer me, send me tips, tricks, healthy recipes, healthy meal plans, workout regimens that have worked for you. I'm at my wits end at times, and I have some workout plans, but you can never have too many options so if one doesn't seem to work, there's another that you can use.

In addition to some gaming and nerdy content, I want to chronicle my journey. I don't want to fail, because I feel like I only have a few more tries left before I run out. I want to chronicle my weight loss, healthy change, both the good and the bad. When I have bad days, I know my Casual Loungers will have my back, but that doesn't mean that I don't want you to let me know when I'm effin' up. I know the internet can be cruel, and dark, but the armor that I have acquired recently will help me through it all. And of course, any and all of my supporters.

Thank you for reading my little corner of the internet. I hope to see you over in my casual lounge on twitch, and of course when I get those Youtube videos up and running consistently, right there on Youtube. I appreciate you taking this time to check me out, and I hope you have a bright, sunny day. Unless you're not into that sort of thing, then I hope you have a bright, moonlit night.

Casually yours,
The FilthyCasualXL - ErosHelios - Erik