Destiny: The Taken King proves to be more than just another expansion

@to_bycastillo

This review is based off of the Xbox One version.

Destiny launched back on September 9, 2014 as a first-person shooter with borrowed elements of massively multiplayer online and role-playing games. While the launch was a massive success, most purchasers felt cheated by the thin story Destiny offered. Although many kept playing, they still remained optimistic on the next DLCs. Crota’s End (released December 9, 2014) and House of Wolves (released May 19, 2015) offered some fresh ideas, but unfortunately only offered a few weeks’ worth of content, ultimately leaving many fans disappointed. Bungie, taking the woes of the community into great consideration, swore to correct their errors with the release of The Taken King and Destiny 2.0.

Story


Bungie listened to the criticisms that surrounded Destiny since release and took them to heart. Many players complained about the lack of story that the launch game contained. Bungie took a step in the right direction with the inclusion of more in-depth cut scenes, involvement of the three Vanguard mentors, and more voice-over guidance/narration from the mission leader. Instead of keeping these three characters as blank, emotionless merchants that occasionally mutter a few sentences, Bungie decided to give them each their own personality that really shines in the cut scenes. These characters actually came to life and this helped facilitate the story that many players were eager for in year one.

The DLC introduces us to the father of Crota, Oryx the Taken King. You slayed his son and now he is coming to Earth seeking revenge on those who killed him. He sets up his ship, the Dreadnaught, in Saturn’s rings and begins to raise an army of corrupted Fallen, Hive, Vex and Cabal enemies aka the Taken. The introduction of the Taken is both awesome and terrifying. Their jittery movements and colorless palettes really exemplify that they are truly dark forces. Guardians now face these interdimensional, reincarnated, tortured souls of previous enemies, armed with new abilities and weapons. For example, my favorite enemies are the Taken Vandals and Phalanx Centurions. The Vandals can now summon a bubble shield similar to the Titan Void ability that blocks projectiles and lets them regenerate health. The Phalanxes now use their shields to fire concussive blasts to push Guardians back.

Overall, Bungie did improve the storytelling aspect tremendously. The cut scenes were phenomenal and it is something that really helps drive the player through the story mode. My only complaint is that these cut scenes felt short and I really want Bungie to go more in depth with the lore they introduced. This is definitely a step in the right direction, but I need more details and story to flow from the cut scenes.

Quest System


Although the quest system came with Destiny 2.0, I feel that Bungie really applied this system to The Taken King DLC. This “questification” made finding and tracking missions easier. The player used to talk to the respected vendor, finish the task and then return back and get your rewards for your hard work. The Quest System instead has implemented steps into each mission. Each mission now has multiple steps that give rewards and give more details about what you are doing and why you are doing said task. This can be seen more in the DLC missions than if you were to start a new character and play through the old missions and that is the only downfall of this “questification,” you can see it more in The Taken King quests. The surprise that many players will experience is the sheer amount of side quests that one can obtain. At times, all the unfinished quests can be a little daunting, but you have to start somewhere to get through pages and pages of quests. Just when you complete one, another one pops up and replaces it.

Updates


With the release of Destiny 2.0, some changes occurred within determine a character’s level. Bungie raised the level cap to 40, which doesn’t rely on the players armor/light anymore. You level up strictly from experience now and the player gains experience from completing bounties, completing quests and killing enemies. This isn’t too difficult to reach while doing the main storyline, which can be completed within 4-5 hours. Since Bungie decided to split player level and light level, it becomes somewhat difficult to make out your character. Light Level is determined by combining the overall strength and power of your gear, both weapons and armor. The downfall to this is that this game turns into a grind when you are trying to reach the appropriate Light Level to do certain missions, especially the raid which recommends a Light Level of 290.

The Dreadnaught


 

Image from Gamerant

The DLC also includes a brand new destination/patrol area, the Dreadnaught. This Hive ship is filled with secret chests, rooms and events that can only be accessed through uncovering secrets and solving certain puzzles through the different areas within the ship. Each area within the ship has its own secrets and puzzles. My favorite being the Crashed Cabal ship that you can trigger certain events to get some pretty nice loot.

The Dreadnaught also contains a certain area called the Court of Oryx, which lets you summon bosses for a chance of obtaining good loot. You can only summon these bosses by sacrificing runes that you can find by doing patrols, killing enemies and complete quests. There are 3 types of runes; reciprocal runes, stolen runes and antiquated runes. These enemies rise with difficulty depending on the rune, with reciprocal being the easiest and antiquated being the most difficult. So assemble your friends and form a fire team in order to obtain some of the good loot that comes from these bosses.

Bungie has also added the new Taken enemies into some of the old strikes and areas from Year One. It makes these missions more challenging and gives the players more of a reason to actually revisit the old strikes. This revitalizes much of the year one content, and makes running and gunning through familiar territories that much more difficult.

TL;DR


Bungie has really stepped up their storytelling abilities by creating some gorgeous cut scenes starring the Vanguard mentors who actually bloom into colorful characters. The new Taken enemies are creative and Oryx himself is badass. Along with a better story, Destiny introduced a new quest system, revamping the boring year one mission system that gives each quest multiple steps in order to complete. The Dreadnaught offers multiple puzzles and loot chests, and the implementation of the Court of Oryx gives players a reason to visit the ship. The Taken King also included a handful of unexpected content that makes it difficult to maintain three characters.

+ Story actually exists

+ Taken King Raid offers new mechanics

+ Characters are entertaining

+ New quest system makes progress more clear

+ Wealth of new content

- Light Level can become a grind

- Too much content to efficiently maintain three top-tier characters

- Story still needs more lore

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