Destiny has been my favorite game since I got my first Xbox One. This game is the reason why I got my first gaming console and I have never regretted it since. But there is competition. Destiny 2 just came out in September and I am trying to figure out which game is better in the franchise.

Destiny is a first person shooter game that takes place in the future and the main objective of the game is to wipe out the Darkness from existence. You are a Guardian, who is supposed to protect the last safe city on Earth from the Darkness. The Darkness is trying to steal the Traveler’s light to take over the universe. You have to use the Traveler’s light to help you fend off the Darkness. The Traveler basically created the light which is a power that is used to stop the Darkness. The Traveler created artificial intelligences called Ghosts. They are assigned to a certain Guardian to be a companion. Your Ghost has been looking for you for an extraordinary long time after finally finding and reviving you to end up being the most influential Guardian throughout the game’s history.
There are three classes you can choose from; Hunter, Warlock, and Titan. There are three subclasses that vary per class and per game. In Destiny 1 there is Bladedancer, Gunslinger, and Nightstalker for Hunters. Striker, Defender, and Hammer of Sol for Titans. And Sunsinger, Stormcaller, and Voidwalker for Warlocks. In Destiny 2 the subclasses are; Arcstrider, Gunslinger, and Nightstalker for Hunters. Striker, Sentinel, and Hammer of Sol for Titans. And Stormcaller, Voidwalker, and Dawnblade for Warlocks. There are two different aspects of the game; Pve and Pvp. Pvp is player vs. player and pve is player vs. environment. Pvp includes the Crucible where you have to verse other players in an objective based game. Pve includles raids, where you have to kill certain alien races then you eventually have to kill a boss at the end, and there are strikes in Pve where you and two other players have to kill some aliens and beat an easy boss.

I’ll be basing this review on rewards, Pve, Pvp, microtransactions, and the story of the game, so that the reviews are fair for each game.

Let’s start with Destiny 1, the original. The story consisted basically just running around and shooting aliens on different planets and meeting this person called the Exo Stranger which I’ll talk about more later. And your guardian only speaks once during the entire game making the story even more awful. Your ghost, which revived you, is a useless additive to the game because all it does is open doors and talk and I’m sure, if a guardian can wipe out alien races, it can probably open doors and talk. Bungie, the company that made the game, tired reviving the game’s story through their four expansions to the game, which they technically did, but you can’t completely revive something that is already buried deep in the ground.
Secondly, there is the microtransactions, this in-game store can completely destroy a game. Eververse, the holder of the in-game store, sells purely cosmetic items that have no effect on the game, but they do make you spend your entire wallet and every last penny in your savings account so that their sure you have no money left for college. They try to suck you into their gimmicks so that the company gets more money. Microtransactions are completely useless and it should have never been brought into the game.

Now for the more positive aspects of the game, the loot/rewards. Rewards are what help you get better gear so that you are more powerful. There are different tiers of rewards: common, uncommon, rare, legendary, and exotic. These rewards, or engrams, would drop during an activity or after an activity. They were distinguished by their different colors: common is white, uncommon is green, rare is blue, legendary is purple, and exotic is yellow. What made these rewards even better are random rolls, which are different perks on gear that could alter that piece of gear. Instead of just getting the same gun with the same perks over and over which make the game not fun. Random rolls make the game fun because they keep you grinding the game for that one gun with the perfect perks on it to make it over powered. And there‘s a chance you won‘t get that desired gun you‘ve always wanted. Rewards in my opinion are one of the best parts of the game.

Next is Pve, which was a super entertaining part of the game. The raids, the best part of the game in my opinion, included you and five other people, having to complete different activities through coordination and communication, and getting rewarded with exclusive gear, eventually having to fight the end boss which is hard. Raids were a fun time to have tons of fun in the game and they were a good experience. Strikes are basically a downgrade of raids, they have the same aspects, but they are just shorter, you got less rewards, they are easy, and there are three people instead of six. Pve is solid, and it never felt like it was getting boring.
Lastly, is Pvp, which included the Crucible, which were objective based games that have verse other players to fight for victory. There is Iron Banner, a limited time activity which is the Crucible, but you have to complete challenges to rank up to earn limited time rewards. And there is Trials of Osiris, a 3v3 gamemode that is highly competitive. It is only playable on the weekends and you and your other friends have to get a passage to enter the game and you have to go flawless to earn exclusive rewards which is nine wins and zero losses. I never really liked Trials of Osiris because it is too competitive, but other people like it a lot. The Crucible and Iron Banner were really fun too and I again never got bored playing these game modes.

Now for the Destiny 2 part of the review. The story for Destiny 2 is only a slight bit better and I felt like I could follow it a little more. Now they have just released the second expansion for Destiny 2 and the story for that expansion is a complete downgrade and I feel like it doesn’t really follow with the story before the expansion.There really wasn’t much explaining in the second expansion so I couldn’t follow it as well as the base game of Destiny 2. Bungie was dumb enough to discontinue the Exo Stranger from the game even though we have no idea who she is and what her intentions were. The Exo Stranger was also the fan favorite character of Destiny, I have no idea why they would discontinue her. The expansion just felt like a side story and the story didn‘t really make sense.

The microtransactions have gotten way worse as of Destiny 2. Bungie has added too much stuff in the store that is completely useless in the game. They added more engrams to Destiny 2, but you have to level up in the game, or if you want more you could just waste your money on things that are just completely dumb.

Next, the rewards in Destiny 2. Bungie took out random rolls in Destiny 2 which means that there are only one set of perks per gun. Set rolls takes away the whole game because you don’t get that feeling of accomplishment that you would get in Destiny 1 when you got a gun with perks that fit you and you don’t really feel that the gun is truly yours.

The new raid for Destiny 2 was not well put together in my opinion. The rewards have been a downgrade and they don’t feel as exclusive as they did in Destiny 1. It is more confusing than the Destiny 1 raids and I think that the raid has gotten harder which is bad because you end up getting bad rewards for a hard raid. In the new expansion for Destiny 2 they added a raid lair which is a shorter version of a normal raid. I’m fine with it, it’s basically just a shorter raid. They took out strike specific rewards which is rewards that you can only earn doing a certain strike and I thought that Bungie shouldn’t have taken it out from Destiny 2.

Bungie added a system where you earn rewards through tokens that you receive in the game and turn them in at the vendors in the game and they will give rewards based on how many tokens you turned in, which also takes away from the grind of the game, so there is not a huge pride of accomplishment for a getting your most prised possession. This ties into the Crucible because they took out the challenge system for Iron Banner which makes it easier to earn the rewards for Iron Banner. You could keep getting the same gun every package you open, which makes it even more boring. They kept Trials of Osiris but changed the name to Trials of the Nine. They added a new activity in the Crucible called Faction Rally. It is also a weekly event where you get to choose from three factions- Dead Orbit, Future War Cult, and New Monarchy -and you recieve certain rewards based on what faction you chose, and you receive those rewards by doing activities in the game. I like Faction Rally and I think it was a good addition to the game in my opinion, but the rest of the crucible in Destiny 2 is not that fun.

My final opinion of the game is that Destiny 1 is better than Destiny 2 in every way. The grind is what keeps me hooked onto the game and those random rolls are also amazing and Bungie should have never taken those concepts out of the game. Destiny 2 is just a major downgrade from Destiny 1 in every way except for the story and the addition of Faction Rally.