In my narrative restructuring of Destiny’s Vanilla campaign there were several plot elements that I cut to focus the main narrative. These elements being the “Shrine of Oryx” Mission from the Moon, the Fallen presence on Venus, and the Cabal’s movement on Mars. While I cut these plot points from my streamlined version of the campaign. Reutilizing these plot points as strikes would allow vanilla Destiny to keep these story threads and expand on the lore of the game’s universe without taking away from the main narrative.
Strikes are a cooperative mode built for teams of three that sit between story missions and raid activities in terms of length and difficulty. Narratively, strikes in the Destiny universe exist as in three different forms of what I call Response Strikes, Expansion Strikes and Neutral Strikes. Response Strikes are where the mission is in direct response of the events of the main plotline; Expansion Strikes are missions that develop new plot concepts broadening the lore and universe of the Destiny Franchise, allowing for future narrative design points; and Neutral Strikes are missions that act as their own plot thread independent of the main campaign and future narratives.
For example, “The Undying Mind” strike is a Response Strike, as the mission is driven by the Vex responding to the destruction of the Darkness in Destiny’s vanilla campaign. The Vex are trying to revive the Darkness and a fireteam of guardians is sent to stop them. The “Winter’s Run” strike is an Expansion Strike, as its content relates to plot elements addressed in later downloadable content and story threads. The “Archon Priest” that acts as the end boss escaped from the “Prison of Elders” a destination and endgame activity introduced in the “House of Wolves” expansion. The “Devils’ Lair” mission is a Neutral Story Strike. A fireteam is sent to destroy the Servitor, of the Fallen House of Devils. This large floating mechanical orb was not discovered by the player in the main campaign, and the call for its destruction is not a result of player actions. It simply exists in the world of destiny and is a potential threat to the city. Most of the strikes in the base game do not tie directly to the main narrative, while continuing to expand the lore of Destiny, which is where my cut plot lines can be best implemented.
The “Shrine of Oryx” story mission is the first of my emended campaign plot threads, having elements of both Response and Expansion Strikes. Instead of learning about the Shrine from another character that the player doesn’t interact with (Osiris), information on the Shrine could have been recovered from the player’s heist on the World’s Grave in an earlier mission creating direct continuity. Bungie could still incorporate Osiris’ dialogue, potentially as a cross reference for info form the World’s Grave or even as alternative dialogue lines. This would add depth to the narrative and incorporate a changing variable for increased replay value. The critical path of the activity would remain the same including the colossal final boss, “Sardok, Eye of Oryx”. The strike would retain the action of concluding the mission with destroying the shrine, allowing the animation to remain, providing the player the opportunity to interact with the world and actively shape it. This idea was similarly executed by Bungie in the form of the “Blighted Chalice” strike released in the April update. This activity uses this space very similarly to my description, proving its legitimacy as a co-operative play area.
Incorporating this type of repayable activity in this section of the play space gives the Shrine the attention it so justly deserves as the Shrine itself is beautifully crafted and is prominently featured in Destiny’s concept art. Turning the “Shrine of Oryx” mission into a strike makes the plot thread and character of Oryx more significant and intriguing. It’s not tucked away to be forgotten by the player, it’s an omen for the future of the game. While we may have cut off contact with whatever was communicating through the Shrine, there is an immensely powerful threat still present in the universe that could be heading our way. Additionally, this activity provides continuity for when Oryx is used as the main antagonist of “The Taken King” expansion.
Another Response/Expansion Strike can be created through “The Archive” and “The Scourge of Winter” story missions. These activities could have been combined into one strike to address the Fallen presence on Venus without distracting the player and storyline from the more immediate threat of the Vex. The main plot points of “The Archive” mission is to stop the Fallen from breaking into the physical archive, for which the mission is named, and stealing the information inside. The main plot of the “Scourge of Winter” is that the leader of the Fallen forces on Venus, “Draksis” has been located and needs to be taken out as he is significant menace to the safety of the last city and its people. Destiny desperately wants the player to believe that the Fallen are this cunning race of dangerous space pirates, but beyond being told about their ability to cobble together ships and weapons, we are never made to be weary of them aside from being shot at. By slightly altering the assets of these missions into one strike, we can give the player a better understanding of exactly what they are up against.
Imagine, instead of being told to check out the archive because the Fallen have the potential to break in, the fireteam was called to the archive because it is actively under attack. Suspiciously, on arrival no Fallen are present, unless a watchful player notices movement on the levels above them, and eyes watching from the shadows. Additionally, despite the Archive doors being sealed shut, Fallen signals are coming from inside. The fireteam opens the doors and moves to confront the Fallen but curiously there are none to be found. This was all a ruse meant to trick the player into opening the door so that the Fallen could get inside. Led by Draksis and his personal guards, enemies start pouring in from all angles,. This initiates a fight with Draksis who, unbeknownst to the player, is only acting as a distraction so that his guard can steal information uninterrupted. After successfully stealing the data, Draksis retreats to his ship where the fireteam chases him down resulting in the death of Draksis and his guards. The mission concludes with the fireteam’s discovery that the stolen information was related to an ancient golden age technology called SIVA, replicating nanobots designed by humans.
Retooling the assets from “The Archive” and “The Scourge of Winter” in this way shows the player how intelligent and dangerous the Fallen are, and why Draksis has been such a threat. The player isn’t fed exposition about the Fallen, they experience firsthand that the Fallen are a hazard, and smart enough to trick an unobservant fireteam. This also shows that the Fallen weren’t randomly attacking the Archive, they were looking for something, regardless of whether information on SIVA, was that item. Furthermore, combing these narrative assets builds a nice connecting point for plot elements of the “Rise of Iron” Expansion that released towards the end of the game.
By merging the Neutral Strike, “The Dust Palace” with plot points for the “Buried City” story mission, we can create another Expansion/Response Strike. The main plot of “The Buried City” is tracking the Cabal to the top of a building and discovering the Warmind Rasputin, an ancient supercomputer, protecting the AI Cortex of the Warmind of Mars. The main plot of the “Dust Palace” is to defeat the Cabal tampering with the AI Cortex at the top of the same building. Instead of having a story mission about taking a building from the Cabal and literally retreading old ground in a Strike about retaking that same building from the Cabal, it can just be one activity. Granted, I’m sure this strike was slapped together at the last moment to make some PlayStation Exclusive content to drive console sales. Disappointing business practices aside, the new strike could focus on investigating heavy cabal activity based in the building with the fireteam discovering the Cabal threat is at the top. After failing to reach the top in time to prevent the Cabal from entering the Cortex, the fireteam works alongside Rasputin, who was trying to defend the cortex, to force the Cabal out into the open and take them down. This furthers player interaction with the world and its characters, improving player immersion and connection with the game world.
By reshaping the elements of the “Shrine of Oryx” Mission, the Fallen presence on Venus, and the Cabal’s movement on Mars into strikes, these plot threads don’t have to take away from a focused narrative and can still serve to enrich the game’s universe. Oryx is now a shapeless threat looming on the horizon. Draksis and the Fallen are manipulative and searching for an advantage against the player. The brutish Cabal have the means to tangle with the mind of a supercomputer of who we are unsure is an ally. Strikes are the perfect vessel to develop the world of Destiny without impairing the main narrative. Utilizing strikes in this way, vanilla destiny could have been a more fulfilling and compelling experience.
Channel Cousin 