Earlier this month, Bungie staff member David “DeeJ” Dague spoke to IGN and explained that the character data from the current Destiny video game will be transferable to the upcoming Destiny 2. Bungie later confirmed that all progress from the first game will “100% carry over to the sequel.” It is very interesting news. Previously, Bungie and Activision talked about a 10 year plan for Destiny. In that sense, it seemed odd that Activision was already discussing the follow-up to the first Destiny when the first game was barely a month past its initial launch. Destiny still had to work out so many flaws. In fact, there are still flaws that must be addressed moving forward. In that sense, talk of Destiny 2 came off rather premature. However, it is interesting to discuss the news about the carrying over of player progress to the new Destiny games.
According to Dague and Bungie, players will be able to carry over their Guardian characters and progress from Destiny over to the next game, which for now, I will call Destiny 2. I am happy to hear that any future iteration of the franchise will allow for players to carry over their established Guardians. I understand what Dague refers to when he speaks about the “relationship” players have with their characters. That was partially one of the reasons why I wished for my Titan from the beta version of Destiny to carry over to the game at launch. The recognition of a player’s previous accomplishments in the game’s universe definitely adds something to a sequel. The point where video games allow players to transfer the data of a created character from one game to its sequel is very impressive.
My concern involves the inevitable release of the sequel and how soon Bungie plans to roll it out. Despite Destiny’s overwhelming financial success, I was not expecting sequel talk to happen this soon. I figured that Destiny would exist in a state similar to World of Warcraft, which was first released 10 years ago in 2004. Destiny would be the game, and Bungie would continue to expand the world and story through new, updated expansion packs. While Destiny is a decent game, it failed to live up to its astronomical hype. It did not quite turn out as the revolutionary and groundbreaking title that was promised. In that case, I really hope Bungie and Activision are not going to rush into a sequel.
Basically, I hope Destiny 2 is not out less than two years after the first game. If Bungie and Activision rush out a quick, cash-in mediocre sequel, fans will angrily let the companies know how they feel. I would rather see future expansions address the plot and story issues for Destiny, as well as the more burning questions and flaws, before a sequel is made for the world. Until that time, it is somewhat comforting to know that my Guardians will transfer over to whatever comes next.
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