Hello again! My last post I talked of projects that I’d like to experiment with and follow up on in a few days or weeks. I’m still doing that! Give me some time! So, what do I cover now? Whatever I feel like, just like before. Here’s my thoughts on some stuff I’ve been spending my time on as of late.
Project Hail Mary (Currently on Chapter 13)
I’ve been reading Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary, and it’s an incredible novel, so I’d like to comment a little on what I think so far. To start, Weir’s writing style is amazing. He manages to focus upon scientific accuracy, allowing the reader to “see” a character’s worldview, and doses of comedy and drama all at once into what I found so far to be an addicting read. In all of my sessions so far, I sat down to read one or two chapters before bed, and kept reading. It’s hard to put the book down, and that is a great thing.
Helping this addictive nature is the plot of the book. Grace having to save the Earth from Astrophage while slowly gaining back his memories is such a fun hook, and the novel takes it in such creative ways, especially as he finds Eridian life with Rocky. This is pretty much where I am in the novel.
I would end this segment with predictions of what I think will happen next, but I really don’t know. That’s another strength of the novel: it keeps you guessing, but what does end up occurring makes sense. I highly recommend reading this one! After finishing, I’ll probably take a look at the film adaptation, though I’ve heard that one is great too.
Destiny 2
Destiny has always been a franchise I’ve had an interest in. Hearing of the “next masterpiece” that was an experience with friends from Bungie, the guys who made Halo, sounded fantastic when I was younger. Despite this, it took a good few years for me to really try the game out for more than an hour or two. I tried it a little at the launch of free-to-play during the Shadowkeep expansion as well as when the DLC was free on Xbox Game Pass during Beyond Light, but it just didn’t click.
In 2023, right before the launch of the Lightfall expansion, I bought The Witch Queen, mostly for its legendary campaign, which I hoped would be like Halo. Once I started to play, I realized I liked this game. Then, a few months later (I can’t remember what detracted me), I got more into the game. From this point, which was Lightfall’s Season of the Witch, until the launch of The Final Shape, Destiny was my “ol’ reliable” game; in other words, I’d come back to it when I just didn’t know what to play.
At the launch of The Final Shape, I played through and beat the legendary campaign. And maybe it was because it was the conclusion to the decade-long saga to that point, but that was when I entered a “retirement” from the game. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked it and occasionally played a dungeon or raid with some friends, but I was out of the loop of the new content to which I was in just months before.
What broke this retirement was The Edge of Fate. That expansion did to the game exactly what I didn’t want. It turned the space adventure into what felt like and partially was an utter grindfest just to get your basic power level up. I just didn’t want to play a game where I’d go through that much just to get to the “fun part,” when during Lightfall and The Final Shape, the opposite was true, that meaning everything felt significant rather than slowly chipping away to get to things being interesting, and I loved the game for it.
That was a common opinion among the Destiny community to my knowledge, which makes what comes next both shocking and expected. Sony and Bungie announced the end of new content for Destiny 2. This was expected. The player base was decreasing, and nothing was helping. How much of this was a self-inflicted wound, with the disliked expansion and subsequent content drought, I’m not 100% sure, although knowing Bungie, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was pretty much the sole reason. What was shocking was how Bungie handled the end: Monument of Triumph, the final update, seemed good.
A partial rollback to the more controversial aspects of “new” D2 as I’ll call it, along with a fair balance of gameplay and stuff to grind for in such a way that every piece of content felt meaningful. This is what I loved the game for, and while it was maybe only true from my perspective in the past, it is almost a definite fact now.
Part of me still had my doubts, but I reinstalled the game to try Destiny 2 one last time. I really wanted to like it! I didn’t want one of my old favorite games to die a painful death as nothing I recognized. And luckily, I got my wish! The game is in a fantastic state. It’s almost a shame, because the game is in such a good state but there’s no updates for it to expand even further. This is not to say that current D2 lacks depth at all! It has plenty! I’ll just always be curious where the game could’ve gone from here, that’s all.
But to wrap up, I’m very happy that Destiny 2 is in a good state again. It’s just nice to see. It’s also nice to see a rise in playerbase with this update, even if it is something of a pyrrhic victory. But with the game as is, it’s a state where I can play casually and still have fun for years to come, and to me, this is all that matters.
That’s what I have for today. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I also hope you enjoy it as much as enjoy writing. Have a fantastic rest of your day.
