If I Wanted to Read Your Game, I’d Turn on the Subtitles
Try as I might, I never could get into the story of Halo. Whenever someone says this to a massive Halo fan, the usual response is that you have to read the Halo novels to really appreciate the lore. This may be true, and it does help to create a more detailed fictional universe, but it also creates a somewhat frustrating barrier to entry. Perhaps even worse was when Halo 2 concluded without providing anything even close to an acceptable amount of closure. I may not have enjoyed the story as much as I wanted to, but I still wanted an actual ending.
Because of this, I was happy to see that Destiny developers hope to avoid this particular issue, going so far as to state their belief that they have to earn the right to make a sequel, and explaining that the conclusion to the game will have a conclusion to the story. When a publisher earmarks $500 million dollars for a new franchise, you might not expect that level humility from the developer, but here’s Bungie to prove me wrong.
When looked at from the most cynical of viewpoints, I suppose someone could come away with the impression that the developers are just telling fans what they want to hear. But even allowing for that, I think it’s still a great sign that they are self-aware enough to make the claim in the first place. I just hope that the mentality of creating a self-contained story in Destiny will extend to any potential sequels. I’d hate to find myself confused or disappointed with the story someday, only to hear some die-hard Destiny fan tell me that to really appreciate and understand everything, I should read the books.