Destiny's story is so weird, like so insanely sparse and strange it's something that's still being analysed by everyone online and in-game, with every detail big or small contributing to theories around such things as The Golden Age, The Traveller, The Speaker, Light vs. The Darkness and so on. The main thing that's turning people away in droves is the fact that the actual meat of it - the exposition and backstory around everything from who you are to who you're fighting and everything in between - is tucked away inside unlockable 'Grimoire Cards'. Not only that, but these cards are only accessible through Bungie's official site or the mobile companion app. Now on the face of it this is absolute madness, especially when you factor in the lengthy load times between missions which would've been the perfect time to pull a Skyrim and throw something from the game with a few lines of description underneath, not to mention Mass Effect handled the exact same idea of a full codex of information as an option on their pause menu. However consider something like World of Warcraft's early days or the method of storytelling from the Dark/Demon's Souls games; both were/are fairly nonexistent until you scratch away at a pretty thick surface layer - yet it made the resulting information all the more rewarding. It's obviously not for everyone, but for each enemy defeated and mile traversed in-game, you'll get another Grimoire card to peruse in between your play-sessions, making for two key theories on what Bungie's intention with this method of storytelling is going forward: 1. The All Hope Is Lost Theory - For budgetary reasons a full story was initially conceived with explanations for every little tidbit, trinket and plot element, only for it to be gutted into many different parts with the intention being to sell it back to us piece-by-piece, à la Mass Effect 3. Look to the much-touted 'Expansion Pack' already on the horizon that contains more story missions for a hint that this is exactly what's going to happen. 2. The Close Your Eyes And Hope Theory - Bungie have every intent of filling in the substantial gaps in the narrative, and have deliberately withheld information to force online communication and forum-debate - plus articles like this - for people to come together and discuss every aspect of the world, like what the now-flourishing 'Souls series has become. Being this is the first instalment for their self-described '10 year plan' we're only going to get given plot details at key intervals - although it remains to be seen just how much information is locked away inside the original Destiny disc, as if we're paying for essential plot points through DLC, that's a huge problem regardless. But hey, glass half full for now, right? Let us know what you think Bungie's long-term plan is in the comments.
