Fate 2
In these early weeks, there was a fair amount of skepticism about Destiny 2’s move to an episodic, act-based model that replaces periods. There are three in a year instead of four, although currently…they are similar to the seasons, but with the added obstacles of a time gate.
Destiny 2 Assistant Game Director Robbie Stevens has now spoken to GamesRadar in an interesting interview that seems to offer some reassurance about what’s coming and what the plan is from here. Read the whole thing here, but some highlights and highlights:
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- Act 3 of Episode 1 will produce one of the biggest exotic missions Destiny has ever done, and Stevens said that wouldn’t have been possible without the new episode format. This wouldn’t be that long after one of the best exotic missions Destiny has done, Dual Destiny.
- Act 2 of Episode 1 will bring a “new set” of activities, meaning something will tie in with Breach Executable and Enigma Protocol, rather than just being new maps for them. This makes sense, given that both are a single map (Breach has three boss rooms), which is significantly less than we usually see from seasonal activities. So adding more full-fledged activities seems like a good choice. However, I wouldn’t expect the more activity thing to continue until Act 3, given that by then it would be pretty late to farm for a whole new activity.
- There are some interesting lines about Nessus “expanding and changing” over time, although this has confused some players, as in some missions we see converted versions of the old spaces in Nessus, but nothing has really changed in the larger patrol area. Will this happen in the future? Will we see new, permanent areas accessible in Nessus if it really “expands”?
Fate 2
- Stevens has a general feeling that the current series of episodes is meant to tie up loose ends of stories that could not be resolved in The Final Shape itself. I’ve said before that last season was mostly about setting up those episodes, rather than Final Shape itself (this makes more sense when you consider the idea that Lightfall and the following year may not have been planned in the first place).
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In that case, the main plots that are being addressed and/or resolved seem to be:
- Maya Sundaresh and her apparent control over the Vex (and exos?).
- Crow confronts his past in a different way by hunting the seemingly immortal Fikrul with the help of the Fallen.
- It’s likely that Savathun and Xivu Arath facing off will finally “shake up” the Hive pantheon, as they say, and perhaps end this sisterly conflict once and for all.
Although Stevens also says that these endings will create a new future for the races in question, leading up to the infamous, mysterious Year 11, Destiny 2: Frontiers, which he is also working on.
“We want to get back to expanding our worlds and world building, expanding the Destiny universe in general… And I think that’s about as much as I should probably say about that.”
This fits with the theory that at the end of the year, Destiny 2 will leave its current solar system and expand to new horizons, although we still don’t know what format it will take. New expansions with three episodes indefinitely, or something else? It just hasn’t been confirmed yet.
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I appreciate the reassurance, though I’ll probably wait until Act 2 before declaring the episodes a completely good change from the seasons. More to come.
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