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[zaliachimera]

Me: *Playing my fun immortal space wizard looter shooter*
Eris Morn: Buckle up bitches, we're going to therapy!

So, this season of Destiny is really fucking good.

I don't generally expect (Triple A) video games to acknowledge trauma and mental health issues, or if they do, it's usually to go 'yeah, this character is traumatised' and then never really develop it or mention it again, and the character will probably be miraculously fine.

Destiny has acknowledged it before in the lore (bits of stories and text which you find on various weapons and pieces of armour, and lore books you can collect through doing various story quests) and I was already impressed with that! Lord Shaxx, the relentlessly encouraging Brian-blessed-esque Guardian who runs the PvP area, the Crucible? There's lore from the most recent expansion (Witch Queen) where he talks to another character about getting therapy and taking anti-depressants.

Crow's actions last season were massively informed by his trauma and he was borderline suicidal.

And I kind of expected that to be it. Hey, we've acknowledged there is trauma, let's go back to punching aliens.

And then this season started.



nasa employee: oh hey u guys are back early
astronaut: moon's haunted
nasa employee: what?
astronaut: *loading a pistol and getting back on the rocket-ship* moon's haunted.


This season is basically the Season of 'Oh god the immortal undead space wizards are so traumatised please for the love of the Traveller get therapy'.

Admittedly, this happens by exploring an evil haunted spaceship orbiting the moon. Which is also haunted.

Basically, an evil emperor who has merged with his ship is using the ghosts as a weapon. It manifests your fears and doubts and regrets and self-hatred into a 'ghost' to torture you. To weaken this, and defeat the evil emperor, your companions (currently Crow and Zavala, and I'm expecting Caiatl after that) go through a seance and then have to face these ghosts and come to terms with them.

And it's hard. It doesn't just go 'yeah, there's the ghost, I have shot it and am now fine'. They both fail in their first attempt because facing that shit is difficult! Eris coaches Crow through it to help him.

Crow faces the Nightmare of Uldren Sov (his pre-resurrection life, who was an asshole who killed a major and beloved character, but who was also manipulated in terrible ways, first by his sister, and then a reality warping space dragon) and eventually is able to... not defeat it, but accept it. Accept that these are his fears and doubts, and they're part of him. Accept that ignoring them is more damaging in the long run. And he does. He accepts that the emotions are real, and his, but also that he can learn from them. They're a part of him, but they don't control him.

Zavala faces the ghost of his wife, Safiya, and the fears and regrets and grief over their son dying, and how he doesn't think he can ever be forgiven (even though it wasn't his fault, and Safiya never blamed him or thought forgiveness was necessary. (I should say, while Safiya is dead, it isn't a fridging situation - after their adopted son was killed, they parted ways, Safiya eventually fell in love again and had a daughter and presumably died of old age. It was a few centuries ago and Zavala is immortal so...).

I'm really excited to see how Zavala accepts this and comes to terms with it!

And it doesn't just fix everything either. Crow has accepted his pain, and that he can learn from it, but the story doesn't go 'welp, everything's fine now'. It's pretty clear that this is a first step.

It's just some bloody good writing! The writers have really found their footing with the most recent seasons and expansion. I'm doing some older stuff atm to catch up, some of which involves the haunted moon, and the difference is incredible!

Only problem is I have to play the story missions with a friend because they're survival-horror-esque and I am a wimp XD

Also, the evil emperor has merged himself with the ship and this fungus hive mind, and is really fucking horny. Like, the latest mission involved him telling us how good it felt to have us running around inside his body (the ship) and how he couldn't wait for us to join him. It was just... my comment to my friend I was playing with was 'Is- is he coming onto us?'

He absolutely was.

Also, loving that they definitely seem to be pushing the romance between very large Titan Zavala, and even larger rhino-alien Empress of space Roman Empire Caiatl. Their voice lines together are *chefs kiss*

Comments

[breyzyyin]

I'd been holding off on playing Destiny because I suck at any games really with shooting mechanics and my social anxiety kicks in even when playing online (I actually have to play FFXIV jointly with my sister because of this! XD), but wowza...that does sound like some incredible writing for a major video game. I might just have to try the game out myself one of these days now! I am so glad you are enjoying the current story so much, it's always awesome when that is the case! ♥

[zaliachimera]

I honestly did not expect to enjoy Destiny as much as I have done! I mainly started playing because a couple of friends streamed it and had community nights for viewers.

I had assumed that I would also be terrible at shooting games because the ones I've tried previously I've really struggled with aim. But it really has been practice makes perfect (or like... not garbage at least XD And I am still terrible in the PvP stuff). But the actually shooting gameplay feels really good, and there are so many weapons of so many different types and effects that it's fairly easy to find something you like and that you find effective (I'm currently very fond of combat bows!).

But yeah, online play can be a bit terrifying. I have found that no-one in Destiny seems to use the in-game chat or voice chat unless you are actively in a team made up of people you have specifically invited to play with you (so, I use voice chat with friends I'm playing with, but not with random people I'm matchmade with for some activities).

I've been so impressed with the story the last couple of seasons! They have really hit their stride with it!

The downside with getting into it is there is a lot of backstory you cannot play anymore - it has to be read up on, or watch videos because the seasonal storylines are not around forever sadly.

LMK if you do try it out! I'm around a lot and happy to help!