The Average Gamer

So This is Destiny’s Story?

The Black Garden

The Black Garden


I’ve played my Destiny Titan up to level 20 now, almost exclusively through finishing the PvE story campaign. Sure, I’ve done a bunch of the patrol missions which are mostly variations on “kill ten rats” but I’ve also spent quite a lot of time on story missions. Bungie have included a bunch of ways to ensure that the early zones are replayable, so there’s plenty of incentive to help out your level 4 friends when you’re a level 20+. Bounties will give you an XP boost if you kill 10 major enemies that are only found in the earlier zones and your damage is capped to still provide a challenge against these weaker bad guys. Even better, the loot drops will be around your current level, so there’s barely a penalty at all for whizzing about the beginner areas.

Still, you have to sit through all the story cutscenes and dialogue again and again. I’ve done a bunch of missions multiple times now and this is my understanding of Destiny’s story, as experienced through the game. Spoilers, obviously.

  • The Traveller is a big spherical machine-entity that came to Earth and brought space travel.
  • Bad things followed it and have taken over much of the solar system and Earth. The only safe place for humans is The City. The Traveller hovers over The City.
  • I’m dead. You’re dead. We’re all dead and have been resurrected by floating machines called ghosts. Now we’re Guardians.
  • Destiny_20140911014741

  • Guardians hang out in The Tower, have dance parties and sometimes toss a beach ball around. We never visit The City.
  • The Fallen are a factions of bad guys that like to hang out in the ruins of Earth.
  • Something called Rasputin did something communicatey in the ruins of Earth.
  • The Hive are a faction of bad guys that like to hang out in an underground temple on the Moon.
  • The Fallen and The Hive hate each other for reasons unknown and sometimes battle it out on Earth or the Moon.
  • An Exo with carefully-constructed underboob support for her machine-boobs sent me a message from Venus.
  • I destroyed The Sword of Crota by killing three Hive/Swarm Princes hanging out in the underground temple. Apparently that was meaningful.
  • I then went to Venus to find the Underboob Exo. It’s overrun by The Vex, who are humanoid machine things that hate Guardians and get very aggressive when you shoot their massive heads off.
  • I met Underboob Exo who didn’t have time to explain that she didn’t have time to explain but did it anyway and then stopped to talk to her imaginary friend.
  • Carefully constructed machine boobs.

    Carefully constructed machine boobs.

  • She then explained that The Vex are “Evil so dark it despises other evil.” So The Vex hate everyone, because EVIL.
  • She’s not a Guardian but told me find The Black Garden to destroy its heart to heal The Traveller.
  • I went to The Reef to talk to The Awoken’s sexy queen and her volatile brother who feels the need to explain things she’s already said. She keeps some of The Fallen as her guards. Neither of The Awoken seemed to notice that I’m also an Awoken and kept referring to me as “it”. I guess that’s part of being dead (but also alive).
  • At their behest, I slaughtered a Vex Gate Lord so they could make me a key. They told me that I broke it and sent me to Mars, where The Black Gate was.
  • I went to Mars and met The Cabal, yet another species who hate Guardians and Vex for no discernible reason. Well, apart from The Vex being EVIL. The Cabal either have tiny heads or huge, cumbersome body armour. Probably the latter.
  • I killed a bunch of dudes and apparently my broken component was a key all along? It let me pass through the gate into The Black Garden.
  • In The Black Garden, I admired a flat mountain, killed a bunch of dudes and saved the day.
  • Except not because Underboobs Exo who is definitely not a Guardian was hanging around The Tower. She told me that the real fight takes place out by The Traveller, gave me her gun and then vanished.
  • Uh… thanks?