Destiny 2 (PS5)
#207
Traveler's Chosen
Time to Platinum: 569 hours | Difficulty: 7/10 | Enjoyment: 10/10
Okay before I begin to say anything about this game. Let me explain the "Time to Platinum" part. I started playing this game back in March of 2020. I spent a lot of my time starting the trophy list by scratch. I spent the majority of this time doing mainly the DLC. For the seal back when Wayfarer was available. I spent the majority of my time doing this. I had access to the DLC for a long while and I basically had every other trophy unlocked almost instantly besides the trophies for the raids. I literally have had this list left with the two raid trophies on my list until about September 2020. I could of done it then but I'm usually a solo player when I play this game and the thought of joining a fire time to set up a raid etc. Kind of just put me off. So back in September @Mayellie and I decided we'd knock out this platinum for each other but we'd wait until the major DLC was being released. Since we realised the trophy would be changed. (Bungie are pretty good at changing the trophies rather than make them not gettable) We decided we'd wait for the big DLC to come out so see what it changed to. It made it basically worse in the fact we had to grind a lot more than we would of needed to do the Raid. When you start a big expansion. Destiny usually ups their light and you get dragged. So everyone starts at 1050. You then spend the next few months grinding to 1260. We had a pretty slow start figuring stuff out on how to get the best gear possible. Then all we did was just grind the same activities over and over again to get high enough gear to help us through. The time spent on this game has been astronomical and it will continue to rise. The platinum could of been done months ago but I decided to brave it out with my Destiny buddy and help each other out.
There's a lot of variation to this game that makes me want to play it whenever they release stuff. I used to main a Titan character which is a powerhouse character built to tank damage and cause a lot of damage to. That's what I was at the start. Then I decided to go the Warlock route. Very good all round characters that are helpful for every activity. Then while I was doing my seal. I'm pretty sure I changed to a Hunter which is your agile, supportive class. Then I decided to go back to Warlock as that what I was most comfortable with. You tend to mess around with a lot of the characters so that takes a lot of time to go through them. So on my part I've spent a lot of time messing around on the game bc that is the type of game that it is. You get hooked and sink a ton of hours into it.
They developers get a lot of things right with this game but at the same time they don't cater to solo players all that well. It was a little better this DLC giving you exotic rewards for doing certain tasks on your own. So things can get pretty stale if you don't have a team to get through anything and that's the case with me. I gave up playing it for a while because I didn't fancy going through the activities on my own. So I was dragged to do the rest by @Mayellie and honestly it's been a long grind. We've been trying to keep our sanity playing through it and towards the end, we got worried we weren't going to make it in time. Finding a third person for the strike was an issue but luckily we did and he was a great help. It took us 17 attempts to get through it.😂😰 We did it in the end. The grind was such a payoff in the end. The issue I have with the grind though is the lack of pinnacle rewards you need to level up your gear. It got to the end of the September and we both bought the Season Pass that is on offer. It's always worth the money with the stuff that you get. The issue with it is. They hide pinnacle rewards behind the season pass. 2 of them infact. The issue with that is without them, you probably wouldn't get all the pinnacles done in time. You could if you did nothing but sit on the game the whole time but the fact we found that out after worrying. Kinda annoyed us because it essentially makes buy it. We're probably above average players. So someone who's average would have a hard time levelling without it and we did to. The only people who wouldn't are the hardcore people. There is a way to maximise your pinnacles each week and it involves all 3 of your characters but I'll save that method for another time. It would take a hell of a lot to write so maybe I'll write a guide that helps the newer players out or something. Keep a look out. The season pass content was great as well for sure, the rewards are worth it but the fact you get more pinnacles to level up behind that paywall is frustrating.
The reason it's frustrating is the requirements to even enter the Grandmaster strike. The max equipment light level this season is 1260. Your 3 guns can't go higher and neither can any of your armour pieces. The requirement to enter the Grandmaster is 1275 light. This means you need to level up somehow right? Each season there's a artefact that you get from doing a quick mission at the start of each season. This is something that is essential. This is how you make the difference to even enter the Grandmaster. I'm not going to go much into it but Grandmaster strikes are essentially normal strikes with a whole lot of modifiers to make the game a ridiculous challenge. Modifiers like if your whole team dies you go back to orbit and have to start again. Ton of enemies that can only be damaged with certain mods. Mods you can only get from levelling up your artefact. For the most part it's not too bad levelling it up because every piece of XP you get from the game goes towards it. So essentially everything you do goes towards it. I think after all our grinding. She had an artefact at level 21 and I had a level 20 one. So you can imagine how close it was. We both went into the strike at 1280 light. The extra light from the artefact. The average player if they don't play it constantly are going to struggle getting the whole thing done.
If you ever go for the D2 platinum you're going to have to make the game a priority and barely play anything else. We've barely played anything since November and the countless late nights just to do what we can has essentially been worth it. We managed to tackle the beast. I'm sure some godlike D2 players will probably think we're exaggerating but unless you play this game religiously you probably will struggle making the cut. Not only that you need the right Exotics weapons to help do some high damage. They are a different grind in itself. Not entirely needed but some work better than others. Then aside from the grinding you need to play the strike you want to do over and over. Learn the enemies points, see what champions spawn etc. Not only that Grandmaster is only available at the end of the season. So it's on a timer. It's not something you can tackle when you want. Grandmaster and Master DO NOT STACK. If you complete a strike on Grandmaster and get the trophy. You will have to do the current nightfall on Master again for the other trophy. When they were the raids. They would stack but not anymore.
Overall, I'm very glad @Mayellie dragged me back into the game. Thank you so much for holding me up and keeping me sane these last couple of months. We didn't realise the grind would be this long. Don't get it wrong. The grind to qualify isn't hard necessarily but more time worthy. The pinnacles you need are behind actitives that will need a co-ordinated team like Prophecy. We grinded that each week for the pinnacle and the badass armour. It took a lot our sanity. We literally had to hold each other up because of the grinding and wanting to just quit and move on but if we did we would have to start all over again. We can finally rest now. So the grind isn't difficult. Then you have the activity which is difficult. So it's just an all-around grindy game even if the trophy list doesn't suggest so. Don't let the PS5 rarity fool you. The majority of that is PS4 auto pops but don't let the PS4 % fool you either. The trophy has changed from a basic nightfall on prestige. (Easy) Then to a raid (Co-ordination rather than difficult) to Grandmaster (You need all your skill and sanity) So I know if the GM was the base list. It would probably be UR or VR.
The gameplay overall is one of my favourite games. I do really enjoy this game so I'm not done playing it yet. There's a ton more to say on it but I've probably gone on for long enough. There is a stack for PS4 and PS5. We're both saving the other versions we haven't done as Milestones. The trophies for the most part are so simple. You could probably get all trophies bar the Grandmaster and Master trophy in one sitting probably. It's rather simple. The DLC list is a whole different ballgame. I haven't completed it yet and I don't really have anything to say on it. I think I may write up a guide for the game soon and try to fill it with as much information as possible.
I just want to point out as well, the way we've worded out posts to make it seem like it's a ridiculously hard game. One of the hardest out there. It's not with the right preparations. The issue is in comparison to other games. You're on a seasonal limit. Most games you grind 100+ hours for will always have the progress there. You can pick it up any time. Finish it any time. Online games and SP games a like. Pick it up whenever you want. The issue with this game is you're on a timer and a pretty strict one if you don't play it properly. You may think a few months isn't that a big deal and sure we could of handled the game differently. We would know we know what we know. You just can't afford to slip up. You don't hit that threshold. You don't have the right mods, you don't have strong weapons. You will struggle and you're being pushed by a clock. If the light wasn't reset each month to a higher threshold making it a grind again and the fact GM are basically THE end game activity and on a timer. Not to mention some of them are DLC which not everyone has. It just adds to the grind, commitment and difficulty and the relief when you get it done.
Anyways, I'll stop rambling. I'm probably going to play the next season so if you need help with something or have questions then don't be afraid to ask. I can try to help as best as I can. Hell, maybe we could even team up sometime if you're really struggling.
Close to my next milestone now. I should be done with Resident Evil 7 tonight. So maybe I'll be back tonight to write something for it. Since it's a great return to form. My 10k trophy is going to be Cat Quest 2 platinum trophy since I have the 1st as my 150th. Milestones don't always have to be hard ass games you know. They can be chill to.
Soundtrack: 10/10
Updated PS5 Graphics: 10/10