What Destiny could learn from Borderlands

Destiny has been out in the wild for over a week now reportedly selling over $325 million just in its first five days. Even though many players are enjoying it, there are some players who are completely frustrated Bungie didn’t create the first-person shooter, role-playing game hybrid of their dreams.

You know what similar game we barely heard anyone complaining about when it released? Borderlands 2. That’s why I decided to take a look at how exactly Destiny could learn from Borderlands 2’s example in regards to how to do a FPS / RPG hybrid the right way.

Loot makes the world go round

Loot is something everyone wants to receive in RPGs. If I dedicate my time to a game, I want to feel like I’m being rewarded beyond simply progressing through the story to learn what sort of evil deeds the villain is planning to do and how my character can attempt to stop them. I want a new shiny sword, armor that will have my enemies quaking in their boots and a cute little pet that I can nuzzle after a long day of slaughtering trolls.

Destiny’s loot makes players work hard for their gear, especially if you find yourself a level 20 where it feels nearly impossible to find loot droppings good enough to get you past the soft level cap. There haven’t been many games that use a loot-based leveling system, and that’s with good reason: it rewards those who play the game an insane amount of time over casual or those who can only dedicate a 1 or 2 hours per night.

Borderlands 2, at times, completely throws loot in your direction with nearly every Psycho you kill, every chest you open and every boss you defeat. This is an aspect of the game I thoroughly enjoy as I feel rewarded the majority of time I’m playing. And that’s what keeps me coming back for more. Instant versus delayed gratification. And in a time where we can’t be bothered with video clips that are longer than 15 seconds, instant gratification is something we all want.

You can’t beat a good story with memorable characters

Vault hunters vs Guardians of The City. Searching for the ultimate loot drop vs space mysticism. Claptrap vs Ghost. Borderlands has a more memorable storyline and cast than Destiny does as you really don’t interact with as many characters as you’d expect traveling across numerous planets in the Milky Way. Both games have you fighting across desolate lands filled with unique creatures and insurmountable odds, but Borderlands does it in such a way that every enemy you interacted with not only offered a suitable challenge, but they also were way more memorable. I mean - who could forget their first time coming face to face with a Psycho Midget? The enemies you face aren’t the only characters you’ll remember as Borderlands has quite the cast of unique and memorable NPCs and quest givers that you’d eventually come across through your travels. Angel, Dr. Zed, Mad Moxxi, Tiny Tina and more keep the momentum of the game going as each of them offer a fresh and unique look at the world of Pandora in their attempts to guide you on to the next challenge.

Class variety is the spice of life

At its launch, Destiny delivered a total of three core classes: Titan, Hunter and Warlock. Each class has their own subclass allowing players to branch out to experience additional powers and abilities. At their launch, Borderlands and Borderlands 2 offered four classes attached to a unique character, some of them not falling into what we consider “the norm” of character classes. I mean - how many games have you seen that have the option to play a “Gunzerker”? And yet after playing as Salvador, I fully understood what exactly Gearbox meant by defining him as a Gunzerker.

Even with the basic classes in Borderlands, each branched out into three subclasses. Sticking with the Gunzerker class example, Salvador could spend experience points into his Gunlust, Rampage or Brawn subclasses to give players either a mix of each subclass, or dedicate themselves solely to one. This variety helped extend Borderlands and Borderlands 2 replayability as players could come up with a ton of class combinations to either fit their play style or they could branch out and experiment, if they wish to do so.

Bungie is in it for the long run

These are just my immediate observations of the differences between what’s available at launch for Destiny, Borderlands and Borderlands 2. I understand Bungie is looking at the long term for Destiny’s success as they have already held some public events in the game and presumably will continue to do so in the coming months.

I’m also aware Bungie will be releasing additional downloadable content that may offer additional character classes, subclasses, weapons, locations, etc. That’s why I was careful in comparing what Bungie and Gearbox Software have delivered in their titles at their launch, although I certainly could have gotten into the staggering amount of post-launch content Borderlands and Borderlands 2 received.

Destiny’s future depends on its post-launch content, end-game raids and public events. End-game raids is certainly new territory for Bungie, but when it comes to post-launch content and public events, their previous experience with the Halo franchise should speak volumes as to what they could potentially deliver in Destiny. But if Bungie took notes from what made Borderlands and Borderlands 2 so successful, maybe Destiny’s review scores wouldn’t have been lower than we all expected.