Recent reviews by DreadForged

The full expansion experience isn't out yet, so possible revisions might be needed after the raid and other content come out. However, currently the easiest breakdown for this expansion is as follows:

The bad: The writing and story took a backseat in this one, with a feeling more along the lines of the expansions prior to Witch Queen. Bungie writing often comes across as though they are entitled to big emotional responses rather than earning them through story writing. Which is fine if you haven't experienced a live service game that actually does write to earn them, but if you have it comes across very obvious. The expansion felt like a filler arc despite having very serious tie ins to the main story, which isn't great. Character preference is a more subjective topic, personally I felt the new characters are pretty empty and disappointing.

The seasonal story line in Season of Defiance has potential, however, and I feel more interested in seeing how that plays out.

The good: The game play is smooth, engaging and fun. If you like Destiny 2 for the way it plays and feels, then you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of this as it expands on this very nicely. Strand is very fun and with the full kit unlocked, feels pretty strong in the right builds. Is it enough to warrant the price point? That is not going to be easy to answer without experiencing it for yourself.

Overall I do recommend it, but kind of a lukewarm recommendation. That could change if the raid and other content after improve on the story aspect, and I do see some signs in the post-campaign content that there might be some life still in this. It is just a let down that the lessons learned in Witch Queen's writing appear to have just vanished in the main arc of this expansion. Thankfully making thrall explode in a green cloud that suspends everything around them helplessly in the air is a blast.

Having now put in much more time, I cannot suggest playing through this game enough. It's a fantastic story experience with a very positive and helpful community of players. The depth, detail and obvious care that went into crafting almost every aspect of the game is a bit surreal. And if you're a fan of the Final Fantasy series in general, this game is basically a living love letter to every title in the series.

Anyone that has been a gamer in the last 10 years will immediately recognize the mechanics from some of the more popular franchises in this title. It has feelings of Dark Souls, Assassin's Creed, even Uncharted. And those are not bad games to copy from. Tack onto it an actual enjoyable Star Wars story and a pretty viscerally satisfying combat system and a SW'd music cameo from the The Hu. As Star Wars properties go in recent times, this is one of my favorite new additions. It can be frustrating, and there are things the sequels will need to include as quality of life upgrades, but overall I really really enjoyed my time here and am going for a third playthrough at another ratchet up in difficulty soon.

While the game ebbs and flows over time, changes happen and make aspects of it better and worse, the dedication to the material and to the game by Bungie is absolutely incredible. This is my favorite game to spend time in with clan mates or solo. The community around this game is second to none. A mix of incredibly generous, amazing people. Absolutely fantastic. Cannot say enough, it's such an awesome experience.