Destiny 2: The Final Shape Campaign Review, With Spoilers

Here are my thoughts on the first batch of missions in Destiny 2's The Final Shape ahead of the raid and the final mission. I loved it.
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[@craftmaster343]

The war table is basically a quest that says "what til someone beats the raid"

[@GeldarionTFS]

I was highly impressed with the final fight. First off, I can't even touch the Witness and it one-shots me if it touches me. This is good, it raises the stakes and makes it the threat it should be. Then, Bungie subverts what they know WE know about their design style. "Do this loop of mechanics 3 times to win." You go inside and see 3 statues and can only kill one before getting jettisoned. Then they have the whole "friends on comms fighting other forces while you take on the Big Bad" thing going on. After doing the mechanics loop twice, I was inside hyping myself up being like "okay, just one more time. You've got this." And then I felt SUCH RELIEF when I teleported out and not only saw allies in the arena with me, but they had cleared all the adds! It was just up to me to do the thing I do best. Amazing way to actually capture the relief you'd feel in that moment.

[@Bholland592]

Minor point of correction/clarification about Zavala: he didn't give in to the witness's temptation. He was reckless, but the whole time he was focused on defeating the witness. He chose to trust the whispers claiming to be separate from the witness, and he was ultimately proven right.

[@TM4CHII]

I loved the way he was shown as reckless and out of his mind. He was like you said proven right in the end, but what really made the whole experience was how he still had to deal with the consequences of those decisions. Felt like very realistic writing

[@srb0501w]

Yes, correct. He was tempted/guided by the Dissenters to enter the Darkness goo, not the Witness. The Witness was there, sure, the Dissenters are part of the Witness.

[@Bishop228]

Someone must be dying for a little attention today. No correction or clarification is needed, bub. Your take on this is exactly that: YOUR take. Kinda weird to try to state your own opinion about the game as fact. Fight the urge to comment next time.

[@Bholland592]

@@Bishop228 I disagree both that it's my opinion and that correction is unneeded. To me, the distinction between Zavala surrendering to the witness versus taking a dangerous but ultimately necessary risk because he chose to trust an unexpected ally is huge. Central to the character is his loyalty and dedication, and seeing how close he came to breaking is important, but it's just as important that he ultimately didn't break. I'm not in any way trying to put Paul down, but from what I know of him, he (and anyone else who cares enough to watch, much less comment on, a video review) cares enough about the destiny story to want to get it right. The game flat out shows and tells you what happens, but it could be easy to misremember in the flurry of playing through and then trying to report on it, especially because it's not clear until he goes in whether he's being lied to or not

[@goblingoovo6508]

@@Bishop228it’s not really a take man, it’s just what happened in the story. Did you not play it?

[@JustJuan731]

Targe really was a bro with how small of a screen time he had.

[@hutch_sublime2641]

I want to start that raid final boss fight with the chip on their health bar. We earned it.

[@cameron4017]

I loved turning a corner and seeing a bunch of faces in a wall they did awesome with the looks

[@kadhirvelkichanamourthy563]

When Cayde said "You show that shape it ain't final", I lost it. Truly 10/10.

[@recommend3124]

Kieth was good, but during Zavala scenes i just kept thinking "this isn't Lance". sadge.

[@craigshelhammer5683]

Not only that but I kept thinking "this isn't zavala"..the way they wrote him this time was awful imo

[@cos0]

​@craigshelhammer5683 Glad it wasn't just me. For a time for him to lose his cool, they chose right now? He was already hurt but found closure when he saw Safia in season of the Haunted, so I don't get tracking back on that temptation especially when you just know that Zavala knows it's too good to be true; because it isn't. She's gone, and he already moved on. Then snapping at Ikorra constantly was just so weird.

[@roryy6777]

@@cos0I think you’re missing the point of Zavala’s reaction to his family being shown to him. Yes, he got over it, but imagine being him - the traveller, who you put your faith in, brings one of your friends back to life all of a sudden, with no explanation. The witness has just shown you how your life could be if your family came back. Even tho it was riven who brought cayde back, Zavala must feel an overwhelming jealousy and unease at this stage, considering how the life he always wanted is seemingly at his fingertips, and his friends are trying to drag him away from it to keep doing what he’s always done. In my opinion is very interesting to see Zavala finally crack and give into temptation, as someone in a such a desperate situation. I’m glad that he’s not just the same old stoic and near emotionless Zavala as usual.

[@Nadiki]

@@craigshelhammer5683yeah I felt like he was broken, hopeless, and taking reckless action expecting to die. That’s not the commander I know. Glad I’m not the only one that felt that way

[@cos0]

@@roryy6777 No, I got the point, and I agree with you it's good to see him under a different shade. I just felt the execution to show him that way was too on the nose and at the cost of a greater nuanced story-telling. The promises I could understand being tempted for that brief moment, and yes, he did walk away from the house. I can understand his sole mission to end the Witness. What I had trouble with was how he was treating the rest of Vanguard and Co. in the process. I agree he was hurt, questioning, and even jealous, but there had been many other times in which Zavala felt doubtful and even slighted from The Traveler. I figured at this point, of course he would be in shock seeing Cayde, of course he'd have questions and would demand answers from The Traveler, but of all the things he has been witness to in the Destiny verse (no pun intended), I was not expecting him to lose composure over command like he did. He was at the brink of pushing everyone out just to take on The Witness when everyone knew the stakes and that is that The Witness cannot be defeated alone. Personally, I could have seen him becoming distant and readying himself to leave his team in a sacrificial way kind of like Vision in Infinity War, Tony in Endgame, or how Frodo leaves the Fellowship. I just felt the decision they went to show his distress and lengths he'd go to find answers was too obvious and was out of character. And the thing is, I feel like this is done to cater to a larger audience that the game clearly has. They did it with Osiris in Lightfall. He was so obsessed and angry with stopping The Witness in that campaign, it was painfully annoying at times. But honestly, that's just my take. I think we agree for most of it, I just admittedly would have preferred a different way of telling the story.

[@seraphik_]

If your prismatic bar isn't filled, it rapid fills both sides just by shooting the prismatic barrier on the enemy. I never worry about doing both types of damage!

[@yummy_the_braix]

i actually really like how they handled the statues like it makes so much sense.

[@Mbaron623]

For prismatic, you can run arc buddy, stasis turret and solar buddy at about half way through the campaign and it’s cracked

[@hooky17]

Stick on No Time To Explain too

[@jaac811]

Try adding Buried Bloodline w/catalyst if you have it. Devour is wild with this build

[@aetherbreak8070]

Does that require Getaway Artist to work?

[@63Limar]

@@aetherbreak8070 getaway artist for arc buddy.

[@FlowChicago]

@@aetherbreak8070Yeah Getaway artist and Bleak Watcher fragment, Hellion fragment for new Solar pal.

[@SilverDuler]

I wish it was longer, but thats only cause I enjoyeds it so much

[@Dynasty1818]

Its not over yet, that was only act 1. The raid is actually 2 then we get a 12 man activity

[@gamerguru2924]

​@@Dynasty1818 😂😂😂😂 guys stop it's awful this is the end for bungie 😂

[@adamallen3365]

@@gamerguru2924what’s your favorite color? Mine is green.. if yours is any other color you are wrong! Wow.. it’s like opinions or something man 😂

[@tommyewen6344]

​@@Dynasty1818 12 man activity is unconfirmed and unlikely

[@IchibeiReal]

@@tommyewen6344nonsense, they said “the raid my not be enough to stop the witness” and also the exotic class armor is supposed to be farmable but we’ve yet to see that anywhere

[@vasRayya]

final boss on solo legendary was rough stayed up til like 5am to try and finish it and man took me like 2-3 hours and 20+ tries probably would've been easier if I slept but I was all in at that point

[@ThreeEyedWarlord2207]

I took me 4-5 tries. Whisper of the Worm to kill the subjugators and then switch to Red Death to stay alive. However, the one part I where I wanted to pull my hair apart was the Fallen cave with tripmines / three rooms where you need to kill 3 wizards and then a tormentor spawns.

[@youknowitsloglan5327]

@@ThreeEyedWarlord2207bro the fucking trip mines were a nightmare

[@roysourboy358]

@@ThreeEyedWarlord2207I landed on whisper for those subjugators too, worked super well

[@dylanholm9995]

Glad I wasn’t the only one lol

[@willalers225]

@@ThreeEyedWarlord2207that was by far the most frustrating part for me

[@levintofu]

Can’t really agree. I was in a wait-n-see mode on the DLC and after what I’ve seen I’m glad I didn’t buy it. This isn’t a critique of the network issues; this is Bungie so you should know what you are signing up for going in. Overall: Bungie alluded to a Dante's inferno type scenario where the guardians would travel the circles of hell to get to the Witness. The environments didn’t really vary enough to make you feel you were in a new circle of hell. IMHO the campaign was only a slightly better Lightfall. Act 1- Pale Heart looks great and interesting, however it’s just a reskinned Throne World This should have been the first 3 circles of hell with district, very exotic, environment’s training you in the ways of prismatic and dragging you into the center of the Traveler. Think Prophecy dungeon Act 2 - There was no real twist in the story or modified lore dump blowing the player’s mind. The Zavala side quest was just odd with little or no stakes involved. I don’t count killing a ghost as ‘high stakes. A twisted Zavala may have been interesting but I doubt it could have saved the campaign. I felt, Cayde didn’t really do anything or contribute to the story in any meaningful way. This would have been an opportunity time for a major shift in tone to desperation and how the guardians will probably lose to the witness. Act 3 - Act 3 seems intense and challenging but I don’t think “intense and challenging” is a proper substitute for proper story telling. Nothing felt earned. There was no full circle journey to tie it all together. There are still no stakes. And I feel “It’s the friends we made along the way” is a copout. I feel they placed too much emphases on the “final” mission.

[@Zan0_oX]

Thank you!! Finally someone being honest and not bungie D riding! It’s easily a 20 dollar dlc! Definitely not 50!!

[@Maverick0420]

Ikora barely experienced any sort of level of hell. Neither did Cayde.

[@BrightPage174]

I was getting a lot of Control vibes from the level design near the end. Almost felt like I was walking through the oldest house

[@0uttaS1TE]

Yeah, the almost monochromatic colours at times, the brutalist architecture. Some of the vision sequences even remind me of that one clock room from Control

[@Wildcat442]

the campaign was so good i loved it, server issues annoyed my friends and i but it was a blast

[@Dynasty1818]

I had zero server issues and fee like I'm the only one

[@dylanholm9995]

@@Dynasty1818 when did you start playing? They were fixed by last night

[@ethanshackleton]

@@Dynasty1818Yeah I didn’t encounter any server issues after getting in like 2 hours after launch

[@Studski23]

Several hours of problems on my end and no way to get back into Mission 1!!! Awful. I have currently gotten my refund and deciding whether to buy it again. Also, streamers getting favoritism before others doesn't help.

[@seb5542]

​​@@Studski23 many streamers were having the exact same issues as the rest of us. They don't get favouritism. Many were waiting for hours to get in, and some had server issues that persisted after being able to log in. This was exactly the same for everyone else, some people had persistent server issues, some people took a few hours to get in and some people got in straight away. Regardless of whether they stream or not. It's confirmation bias. Servers were back up and working by yesterday morning (UK time). I've had absolutely no issues aside from when I was trying to log in a few hours after launch. I've enjoyed it a lot actually.

[@ikon8275]

I'm going to play it this weekend, but I heard the art team really went off. When I watched Aztec and frost run through it, it looked incredible.

[@doctorfunk7959]

Cayde was easily the highlight of the campaign, a real scene stealer. Really wish they gave us the Halo 3 finale I was hoping that would happen, but yeah, it was the same gameplay model it always was. Glad you enjoyed it though.

[@Deathslayer296]

I feel like Destiny campaigns are BEST when we go to exotic locations and break up the scenery with big, bombastic set pieces. This is why i liked thic campaign, but i think Witch Queen is still the best. Witch Queen had us going to Mars, a Throne World, a dilapidated Swamp, an underground castle, Europa, etc. Fighting an ahamkara was tight. I still say this campaign was fine, but I DO really like how we're not finished with the PLOT just yet. I kind of called it, we'd either make the Witness vulnerable during the campaign, or at least find its weakness, and then we finish it in the Raid.

[@beeman4266]

It sounds like you're describing Halo lol. But honestly it surprises me that it took them until Witch Queen to make a campaign with 8-10 solid missions considering they're the same company that made Halo, which was praised for its mission structure and storytelling. Destiny is more expansive ansld grand in some ways but I was shocked when I went back and played shadowkeep and beyond light. I didn't remember them at all and I couldn't believe they were basically just.. missions. No cutscenes interconnecting them, nothing. Then Witch Queen came out and they finally had a good campaign structure.

[@Andrew-ry9be]

@@beeman4266yeah, those two (Forsaken included) have really bad pacing due to that structure. Hell, in the WQ reveal presentation, Bungie backhandedly admitted that they didn’t put that much effort into a campaign in a while. The WQ campaign fixed that and it was apparent from the first mission of boarding Savathun’s ship.

[@ankari5257]

I give the campaign a 7/10 it didn’t blow me away or do anything particularly different but it was still good

[@JDxxxxxx]

Whaaaaaaaaaat best campaign by far.

[@paledrake]

It's really similar to the Red War campaign which is ironic because everyone hated that campaign, but loved this one. The only difference is that it moved the ending into the raid, otherwise the story-beats are very similar. You gather your allies, there are some inner conflicts and then you find some weird mcguffin or clue that enables you to finish off the big bad guy.

[@JDxxxxxx]

@@paledrake the ending is in the 12 player mission after the raid

[@paledrake]

@@JDxxxxxx That too. Honestly would've been cool if Red War had something like that as everyone stormed into the last city to reclaim it.

[@PixelleHearts]

The game expansion already has Taken King levels of hidden secrets and exploration and at least more content that Forsaken... now if that content is good or not obviously thats on the player, but so far, I think I am actually satisfied with how much I can actually do right off the bat. Secret exotics, infinite exotic sword farming, collectibles, iterated dialog and lore, and this is all before the raid (unlike Forsaken and Taken King).

[@JDxxxxxx]

I enjoyed final shape campaign awesome. Pale heart amazing. More content than Forsaken??? Not even remotely close. Final shape has one new destination. Forsaken had two. Final shape one strike Forsaken like 4. Forsaken had a dungeon. Like 5 PvP maps a ton of exotics. Gambit and way more. Final shape only has the destination raid and campaign and 1 strike. It is awesome though.

[@marvenp]

Really?! This is the best story ever?! I thought it was asinine! You’ve got Guardians wondering off by themselves and somehow making it through entire sections of the Pale Heart without their ghosts, whereas we struggle to get through them with all our powers (including some new ones), yet they are just fine. The stupidity of that alone makes this one of the dumbest stories ever IMO! Most of our trouble in the Pale Heart is caused by us having to go find Guardians who act like lost toddlers. Make it make sense.

[@MisterChubz]

yeah the character actions of zavala specifically are really dumb. Gameplay/environment/missions are cool tho

[@Brannon1009]

I was able to do legendary solo up to the witness. There was just too many things shooting at you. Having a fireteam to pull some aggro was very helpful even with the scaling.

[@Carlos-gb9mf]

kinda seems like the point , the witness knows what our guardian is capable of so it’s gonna send every enemy it can to stop us before reaching the top

[@TimelostInTheSauce]

I didn’t have that much trouble during the Witness fight on Legendary, especially with all the cover given to you during solo.

[@63Limar]

@@TimelostInTheSauce cover doesnt help you against subjugator ice crystals that he spawns through cover combined with stasis grenades from trash mobs.

[@IchibeiReal]

the entire final mission felt like a raid ngl

[@IchibeiReal]

@@63Limaryou have to hide in the back and alternate depending on where the witness is, stick to the back and pay attention to the witness if you see him, run in the opposite direction of the witness to find cover, never go towards him

[@marvenp]

Also I hate the typical Destiny game loop where they lock you in a room with a boss, give him powers that limit your movement and legions of adds to help him, yet you’re supposed to jump around like a maniac until you somehow get lucky enough to kill him. Not to mention many of the game mechanics require us to stand in one spot and pray the enemy misses us, (like the Prismatic light pools), while they can freely move around and get into any position they want to destroy us. Just plain stupid IMO.

[@steveschweitzer4181]

Stasis

[@underscore_5450]

For now, I really appreciate how the campaign ends and how it ties into the raid. Wounding the Witness only to have to retreat and rebuild our forces for a final assault is badass, I just wonder how it'll hold up when that cutscene and the raid clear cutscene are played back to back. This is the most diegetic a raid race has felt and I love that for the big finale. Excited to tune in today and cheer on the brave few that face down the Witness.

[@VermontJones]

Good campaign overall. Not as hard as WQ but a good second. Gjally + Rocket Sidearm made a lot of encounters trivial.

[@Bruvboi]

The Final Shape was definitely made for fans. It makes me sad that other people will not experience the Destiny saga as I did, with all of its seasonal and DLC stories, back to back like I did, which made The Final Shape just hit harder. Especially with the Zavala stuff. So much of his character arc has been in lore tabs and seasonal stories. Which are not able to be played anymore

[@DRB13]

I love the crazy stairs and the body horror themes. Anyone spot the human centipede yet?

[@Dietghostscp2107]

The vanguards interactions and spicy banter with eachother held the campaign down because the witness just said a bunch of stuff we already knew. The only real difference was the vision of the actual ritual and the site itself. Nothing felt final. I thought the witness had alot of potential when first revealed but as time carried on the wind fell out of that sail for me starting with the Asa cutscene. They just fall flat imo theres too much infinite tsukoyomi in its grand plan and i hated that in naruto too lol. It didnt have to be the exact Gardener vs winnower thing for me to care. But years of destiny felt like it would have built up to something more than what this chrachter ultimately is. The witness has the same problem the villian from the harry potter had...its an angry fanboy. Thats what this was oretty much all about in the end. Yes some of the post lore is greay and if youve seen the first knife ship lore oage then you knoe there still yet may be a greater force but the witness by itself was a dud for me. Cayde and everyone else held it down and savathun stood on her own in witch queen comparison wise. Just my opinion dont crucify me for it. Hope you all have an awesome day.

[@evxan]

I was actually underwhelmed by the campaign gameplay. Was super easy on legend and every mission was just a bunch of shields and immunity phases on similar enemies. How many times do I need to get a slightly larger enemy to half health and then go find more symbols so I can kill it. IMO there were no real campaign bosses until the witness and we don't even get to fight it. I know we are supposed to finish things in the raid but playing a single player campaign and doing a raid are very different experiences. Wish the single player portion of the finale would have been more epic and satisfying.

[@FailureToReport]

Agreed. It's also annoying how every Lost Sector boss has a damn three part immunity phase now too. I don't even want to bother doing them on Legendary now because it's going to be annoying not being able to just burn the boss if I have the damage, nope sorry, go do some silly crap so you can go back to damage.

[@vighneshkoalapunani8851]

seems like this expansion is following the taken king act structure. act 1, act 2 & act 3.

[@feeoh_]

Not to be a downer, but I’m surprised to see it seems like I’m one of the few that was very disappointed with the campaign (mainly the story itself). I thought the level design was good, environment design was amazing as you mentioned, and pretty much all the good you had to say about it I agreed with. My gripe is just with the story. My thing is, what was satisfying about the story itself? We go through yet another expansion where The Witness does absolutely nothing. He *almost* did a lot of bad stuff, but ultimately still achieved nothing except drawing a triangle in a golf ball. No major character deaths, no impactful NPC deaths… that opening cutscene with the kid in the tower getting sliced up would’ve been INCREDIBLE… if it actually happened. Which it didn’t. Nothing happened! There were no stakes. We hear throughout the campaign that the Traveler is hurting… screaming out in pain. *What* is screaming out in pain? And why? The traveler apparently doesn’t speak, so how is it “screaming”? What exactly does it mean that The Witness is “digging around in its guts” as Cayde says. What effect does this actually have on the Traveler. Because throughout the campaign, it sure seems perfectly fine. It’s helping us, guiding us with the bird, giving us new powers. So again what really are the stakes? How does the story make us believe in these stakes? The only interesting story beats to me were Zavala’s impending corruption, and the Desenters of The Witness. Zavala’s corruption ends up mostly being a very obvious red herring as the story continues, and again nothing meaningful happens. Targe dies, who we just met, so why would we really care about this? Oh no, Zavala lost his ghost. Just like Osiris did, just like Cayde did. and what meaningful impact has that had? Besides the guardians being sad their ghost is now gone? They clearly are not in any actual danger of truly dying, since there are no real stakes! This feeling really capped off with (in my opinion) a super lackluster final boss fight. The Witness, the most crazy powerful super alien in all the universe, only has 1 attack……? He very slowly launches some death triangles at us which is almost copy and paste a Lucent Hive Hunter super attack, THATS IT??? Sure it one shots (on Legend at least, but it’s slow and very easy to avoid). Oh and he makes the air toxic, which is really just a simple environmental effect not a direct attack. He just does nothing, that was the lamest final boss ever given the reputation of The Witness. I soloed the entire campaign on Legend, and was shocked the final boss only took me 4-5 tries and only takes about 6-10 minutes in total to run through it correctly. So disappointing. (and this is not meant to be a “i’m good it was easy for me” type point, the fight itself was just lackluster). The real boss fight was with the damn subjugators! They are by far the most threatening thing in the arena and really the only thing that makes the encounter challenging. The Witness himself is like the 4th most dangerous thing… in his OWN boss fight. It’s crazy. I know they gotta save the best stuff for the raid, but come on. Overall, there was tons of good but just very disappointed with this being the end of the 10 year journey. They never got The Witness where he needed to be given his reputation in the universe. Lightfall’s big issue was the lack of stakes given the lack of any meaningful explanation of the Veil. Where with Final Shape, the stakes are “hey if we don’t stop the witness we and everything we know will turn into sliced cube stillness people things” - which is fine! But those stakes are just implied, they don’t feel “real” or “meaningful”. Nothing happens for them to be so. Why does the witness not slice us up at any time like he did with the guardians and the ghost in lightfall? I would argue he accomplished/did more in Lightfall (which was awful and he barely did anything meaningful), than he did in the final expansion entirely about him. Just imagine if The Witness, when getting angry at Zavala/Targe for resisting temptation, just sliced them up and murdered them. Wouldn’t that have been meaningful? Wouldn’t that have made him menacing? Wouldn’t that have made him scary? Wouldn’t that have made him everything he is *supposed* to be? The most powerful dangerous intimidating threatening being in the universe? Instead, he’s just a dude with a unibrow that yells at us sometimes and has some backstabbing friends who are also veiled statues. I guess maybe I just had too high of expectations, but I really thought Bungie would knock this out of the park given Lightfall’s disappointiment, especially story wise. And it just fell way short for me personally.

[@3Nightbreeze]

unfortunately what you described boils down to the main problem with destiny' story so far: not following the principle of "show not tell".

[@paledrake]

Yeah the story seems pretty basic, actually it shares a lot of pacing and story beats with Red War which I'd argue did it better. I don't get why people are so satisfied with the story in particular. I think it's just the "final episode" honeymoon period where people are just full on hype and basically anything would satisfy them. It will eventually wear off and people will slowly come to realize how the story was nothing special and a disappointment. Though let's be real, Destiny never really had any great campaigns to begin with, the bar is just too damn low.

[@Kingkillwatts]

@@paledrakeI thought Forsaken was a genuinely good story, Witch Queen as well. However this story SUCKEDD dude. Essentially a rehash of season of the haunted, it was a weird vibe of reminiscing at the same time trying to pull off the biggest villain we’ve ever had and they did not land that imposing threat.

[@t.j.hunter1149]

I really hope since our ghost said cayde is filled with light like a ghost, that he can be Zavalas technically ghost.

[@GunRnr556]

Easily the best expansion. Beautiful art, great/interesting gameplay, transcendence is cool (albeit weird to spec out initially), music is great, new weapons/exotics are fun, and the setup of campaign-exotic missions-raid-campaign to progress the full story is perfect!

[@JDxxxxxx]

This is the best campaign and destination Bungie has ever made imo. Saying that, the overall expansion is very small. New destination new campaign one new strike and a raid and that’s it.

[@jeffreymccambridge9012]

One thing that doesn't come up in the video is how well Bungie used nostalgia in this campaign. We get a ton of callbacks (and I'm sure I missed plenty) but they aren't the focus or are rarely the focus. Reaching the old Tower isn't an objective, it's a thing along the way and that allows it to have more impact. I'd fully expected nostalgia to be the campaign or for the nostalgia to be in your face, but it's often subtle. This means that a brand new player can play the campaign without feeling like they're 10 years behind or they missed out on a reference because it's vaulted content. For a while now my problem with storytelling in Destiny is that expansions accomplish very little. A lot of key story content happens in seasons, and seasons disappear. This means playing Beyond Light or Witch Queen feels jarring because you're thrown into the middle of things with minimal explanation. In the case of Beyond Light or Lightfall, far too much of the story is discovering and training in a new subclass and not actual story content (hence the "strand tutorial" meme). But Final shape, while it also has narrative issues, plays like an actual story expansion and not a subclass tutorial with quests.

[@Reksrat]

Keith as Zavala did an amazing job but I can only imagine how hard some of these scenes would’ve hit with Lance’s voice

[@juliannedavis7480]

I am only on mission 3 still…looking forward to seeing how Friday goes . Thanks for all your thoughts and feedback here Paul

[@hithere5553]

My only problem is the MASSIVE difficulty spike on the final boss compared to the rest of the campaign. Nothing feels worse than cruising through legendary in one sitting, and having to put the game down after spending over an hour at the finish line.

[@macho8240]

It's the freaking subjugators that delete 70% of your health in one shot 😭

[@EmperorOfMan]

My Friend Peppa Pig is on sale

[@scott-richardson]

I’m only on mission 4 but we were two-manning it and ended up going to bed because we kept dying at the damn boss for that level. I almost feel like 2 man fireteam is harder than solo.

[@JustAFishBeingAFish]

took me 4 tries it wasn't that bad

[@QSxDaRkSCoPe]

I mean it makes sense. It’s the witness we go to fight lmao

[@DaddyWolf702]

Crow confronted what Uldren did, not who he was. And the Witness was promising him rule of the awoken and the reef, the love of his sister and admoration from his allies. Zavala was forced to relive the death of Hakim and his wife. Yes he confronted it in Haunted but it's a whole new thing to reexperience all that as if its the first time.

[@mmay1633]

I miss Lance a ton, and given the choice between him and Keith David I would obviously still choose Lance. But I think that Keith’s performance given the circumstances of not just limited time, but also a ton of pressure, expectations, and emotional weight behind it all was pretty sensational. I don’t think he’ll ever be my Zavala, but if Zavala’s character sticks around for a long time then I can’t think of anyone better to pick up Lance’s torch and carry it to the finish line

[@friendsetter1816]

I thought it was fantastic story-wise. Zavala reaction to tempting was so intense that it had me thinking for a moment that he would turn and he would either be a boss in campaign, or even more than that would the witness turn the whole fireteam and you fight through all of them as bosses in the raid? I just enjoyed that it was difficult to know what the outcome would be

[@synth_pulse3098]

This is the new standard that we should all EXPECT from bungie with each and every expansion moving forward. If they don’t meet it hold their feet to the fire.

[@V-vision]

I think the story was solid in its own right, but I felt like trailers told me almost everything I needed to know up until like mission 5 or 6, so I never got really into it. Edit: Needed a second spoiler warning for post campaign stuff later in the video. I didn't hear anything major before ducking out, but given the title, I didn't think post-campaign would be mentioned in any detail

[@ndwknss]

Having to use a mismatched build for the entirety of the first campaign run was absolutely ridiculous. A terrible decision by Bungie. All they had to have done was let players choose options from all the abilities from a limited number of choices. Simple solution. I found it difficult to enjoy the campaign because of being forced to use a bunch of abilities I didn't want.

[@Raphell28]

I always run the whole campaign solo starting out on legendary. This was a great storyline throughout leading up to the raid.

[@laggers54]

The post campaign stuff is the best they’ve ever done.

[@dannop8795]

Agree with your assessment thus far. Really enjoyed/enjoying the campaign! CONGRATS BUNGIE!

[@zeroblade9800]

Its wild how this game goes from The Witch Queen to Lightfall then back to Final Shape. Its great and makes me look back harder what the hell happened with Lightfall. Bungie's feet was dangling near the fire and boy did they go all out to ship this and the Into the Light update.

[@finalfantasy1201]

As a solo player the only thing I hated was the ridiculous amount of no respawn zones. It was fucking absurd

[@craigshelhammer5683]

It really is

[@IchibeiReal]

felt like a raid ngl

[@craigshelhammer5683]

@lysander7578 yea,you're not wrong..especially with how mechanics heavy the campaign is

[@IchibeiReal]

@@craigshelhammer5683 it was fun tho, i had 2 friends on with comms tho so yea we spent like 20-30 minutes on the tormentor, then 20-40 minutes on the next boss- and 50 minute on the final encounter and only 10 minutes on the second to last boss which wasn’t really a boss imo it was pretty easy

[@craigshelhammer5683]

@lysander7578 it will be fun for me once my friends are on lol,right now this last fight is a pain solo fr

[@TrevorWilliams117]

It's amazing what Bungie Devs can do when leadership actually listens to them. I think this was what everyone wanted and so much more. 11/10

[@xbotLife]

I might be the only one who doesn’t care for the prismatic subclass and am playing the campaign with my favorite solar build.

[@63Limar]

Wait, and how do you deal with prismatic enemies that are immune unless you transcend? They don't spawn if you do a default build?

[@jonathanyork597]

@@63Limarthey spawn pools of transcendence that you can fill up on any subclass

[@63Limar]

@@jonathanyork597 you have that bar even as a nontranscendent subclass and can activate it?

[@SALEENS7GTR5]

@@63Limar It builds in the background if you use light and dark weapons but only sticks around if you get to the pool of Trans fast enough. Otherwise, you have to sit in them for a few seconds before trans is ready. Kinda slowed the combat down more than anything, but at least they didn't force you to use it like in LF.

[@63Limar]

@@SALEENS7GTR5 tbf it feels like transcendence itself isn't that fun (the activation), at least on a warlock, the grenade is boring, and spamming melee is just spamming melee, it's like a diet version of the "song of the flame" super, but rather the combination of subclasses is a fun thing. Maybe it will be better with exotics like the new exotic swords buffed a lot during transcendence.

[@aarkwrite7240]

I think I only died once or twice at the last mission because I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice the font of light that will charge the aegis shield continuously and protect us from the storm so I ran out of block and died. Otherwise it was a natural fit for my skill set of running away and hiding

[@Oryx1014]

I feel like the grim and husk definitely stood out for me, the husk seem more aggressive than most enemies so far, the grim make a really good distraction and can definitely pose a problem if not dealt with in game

[@frankharper3512]

I beat the campaign and tbh the final boss was a let down, and yes i did it solo and on legend. It was cool to get the sword but having the subjugators be pretty much the main part of the fight was kinda lame. And yes i get the fact the final fight is in the raid but common dude that fight could have been so much better. The overall story was 'okay' but still wasn't better than witch queen

[@nooux1966]

I bet my 4k hours on Destiny the final fight won't be in the raid

[@owenobrien904]

I’m absolutely shocked by the lack of answers to the big questions of this saga. We still don’t know what the traveler even is or where it came from.

[@Ostrava6572]

There is still the raid and the final mission AT LEAST. I heard more stuff unlocks after the final mission as well. Let’s just wait and see

[@nooux1966]

@@Ostrava6572 We've been waiting a decade, you really think anything will change now?

[@isaacdiogenes3382]

sundance was about to give some, but yeah.

[@QSxDaRkSCoPe]

We know a ton about the traveler since it got confirmed to be the Gardener in this campaign lmao.

[@okeoke4697]

​@@QSxDaRkSCoPeit's not a ton my boy, learn the meaning of words

[@samaron8970]

I only have three complaints about the campaign, I used my strand build because base prismatic was not gonna cut it, and transcendance takes way too long to charge on a mon-prismatic subclass, standing still for ten seconds every time an enemy has a prismatic sheild is not fun. And the second to last boss: that ogre is really annoying. And I feel the strike felt a bit shoved in, yes, the revilation in the strike was important, but there was nothing to make the actual stakes of the strike matter. But in the grand scheme of things, those are some very small complaints, I loved the length of the missions, the fact each one had a new mechanic, the story, the pale heart, the final boss, just all of it, even the four wyvens that appeared in the campaign were about as innoffensive as Wyverns get, though they were still devils.

[@slashthe2nd]

Still can't finish the witness off on normal *Edit : did it with 2, bit more easier

[@kcisthe1st]

I just finished the story 8.5 out of 10 I can't wait to replay it on my other characters. My only gripe is I thought zavala was too emotional I mean The vanguard fire team is hundreds of years old But their mannerism wasn't that of a veteran

[@caleborman9329]

Environment is the best it has ever been for Bungie, Halo days included There was a part about half way in that made me stop for a couple minutes and admire the attention to detail. Theres a part with a frozen river, if you look into the ice you can notice silhouettes of enemies and npcs making it look like they were frozen in time. Really cool 🤟

[@logan_sunday]

Art team: We made some Bob Ross or MC Escher zones, which would you like? Art director: Yes (runs away making guardian super sounds)

[@ThatFalloutGod]

The campaign was painfully average, it gets blown out of the water by WQ, TTK, and even Forsaken. Hell, I had more fun playing the missions of Lightfall than TFS'. The writing was abysmal with them reverting Zavala back to his Season of The Haunted plot, Ikora is just there, Crow's dialogue during missions is obnoxious, Cayde is good ol' Cayde, and constantly being told it's the end of reality as we know it, but we can sit around crying about our feelings. The mission design was boring and uninteresting, sometimes feeling tedious instead of difficult, which I don't recall from WQ or even Lightfall. And even the aesthetic isn't that appealing to me. They delayed this expansion a year by splitting it into two. Then they delayed TFS four months because the internal reviews were "good, not great." In that time, we got Prismatic, which is fine (and I appreciate not being forced to use it in the campaign), but I constantly have this feeling that if you're combining all the subclasses, then just do it instead of half-assing it. The delay wasn't worth it if this is what we got, because the actually campaign was, again, painfully average.

[@TheMassgames]

Forerunner made quick work of the new miniboss enemies, plus a bait and switch GL. Getaway artist with void + stasis aspects made the legendary campaign extremely easy, because you have devour, a stasis turret and an arc soul.

[@Space_Dandy3]

My only complaint is how long those strand subjacators suspend you for!

[@CarySmith87]

Thissssss!!!

[@JDxxxxxx]

Lol

[@zackphy]

The Wartable just has you turn in 1 engram and then says finish the Witness so nothing really there until next week.

[@BigHasdog]

It sucks because i really did enjoy keith davids portrayal of zavala but im so accustomed to lance after 10 years of destiny that it didnt quite hit the same. It actually made me want to listen to old dialogue from zavala

[@beeslikesteve]

problem is i didnt want to be spoiled with the story so i had to go thru normal just to get it done so as not to accidentally run into spoilers.

[@kyejohnson55]

I think my only complaint is I really think legendary campaigns could do with adding some more mechanics, even if its just with bosses, because as cool of a spectacle the last boss was, its mechanics came down to kill add to get a thing to break a shield, repeat twice

[@goronhead]

The environmental designers really did kick off with this one. I've got a pretty good selection of screenshots I've been collecting, too.

[@rj-sn7rq]

I think destiny fans easily conflate level design and environment with plot and actual story telling. This is definitely one of the best designed campaign experiences for destiny, but the story itself is incredibly middle of the road.

[@63Limar]

Character arcs were pretty strong. The way the story about Zavala and the statues turned out was much better than what I expected. Idk, I think story itself is also good because they gave shitton of answers to unanswered questions and they didn't felt wrong.

[@gytrplr]

The hunter grenade is not to bad once you learn to use it

[@PYRESATVARANASI]

The only thing was that we still do not know who built the Traveler/Veil and why.

[@calus_bath_water]

I think thats better off being unknown

[@benjaminhobbs6208]

Sounds like a D3 problem

[@roryy6777]

I think they are more manifestations than creations

[@beeman4266]

​@@calus_bath_water Surely they expand on the nine at some point.. which could easily open the door to something bigger. I've always kinda thought that in a universe with whatever the hell the traveler is and everything else, it feels kinda odd that some amalgamation of a former race is the ultimate threat. Apparently he can remake the universe which is.. pretty powerful. But there's gotta be something more, at the very least the nine will play a role in the future.

[@giancarlo5945]

The gardener and the winnower

[@mvrk4044]

Lance Reddick's passing was a terrible loss for entertainment in general but Destiny 2's final stab at legacy in particular but the sweep of the narrative made the change in VA work: Zavala *shouldn't* sound like himself right now, where we're at in things, and Kieth David's performance sounds in character and tone as close to exactly perfect as one can expect without pulling AI into the mix -- the differences in cadence, rhythm, and tonal expression that can't be masked even with some Team America weaponized acting chops directly feed into the experience of the commander losing his light and his mind as everything crumbles around him. I couldnt have asked for more from The Final Shape in this regard.

[@srb0501w]

Zavala wasn't tempted by the Witness when he entered the darkness goo, he was tempted/guided by the Dissenters.

[@Maverick0420]

Its definitely better story wise than Lightfall but I still don't think its better than Witch Queen. The final boss fight of the campaign wasn't all that riveting or exciting. Just tankier enemies. The Zavala story line is what really sticks out as lazy writing. We've been down the path of his family's death in Season of the Haunted and he got over it and resolved it. Re-visiting it to push a narrative forward seems rushed and lazy to me. I would have rather seen Ikora explored more and seen her ghost also sacrifice itself so the entire Vanguard comes together through the loss of their Ghosts. Overall though its really good and hopefully the ending is really well done and not a Deus-Ex Machina or Paracausal cop out. It is great to have Cayde back though. I missed his humor in missions.

[@GeremyG]

I still think Savathun is a much more compelling villain than the Witness.

[@thetankgarage]

Not really sure where this is coming from. Being frozen by every single new enemy sucked balls, having to sit back and play like a bitch as a titan is not my idea of a good time. This was even worse than Beyond Light when it comes to gameplay. The story wasn't anything special either, again on par with Beyond Light or Lightfall with its lack of depth, there' was like four of us the entire campaign, very boring. I think out of Beyond Light, Lightfall and this I'd say this comes last. The witness was one of the easiest fights in the whole campaign as well, think it took 3 tries, had two other bosses take me more tries on legendary to beat. I actually had more fun with the story in the Ergo Sum quest than I did at any point in the campaign. PS. I just watched a reaction to Logan. Made me think of TFS story and this comment again. That's a story about an ending. Comparing TFS to something like Logan is insulting to be completely honest. Short of a new area equal to the Dreaming City opening up after the raid tonight, TFS is just another failure.

[@Zetpherious]

I really enjoyed the campaign, but felt the wind taken out of my wings having to wait for Streamers or whoever to finish the raid in order to finish the story...

[@adversary22]

It will always be that way. Once they started getting free advertising in that form they're were always going to suck them off one way or another.

[@Zetpherious]

@@adversary22 But it hasn't been that way lol

[@willhardy9731]

@@Zetpheriousthere have always been major story beats released after the raid but this time it’s bigger because it would be weird if we just killed the witness in the campaign given it’s the most powerful being in the universe

[@superior_nobody07]

​@@Zetpheriousit was with kings fall, beyond light, witch queen, and lightfall.

[@JDxxxxxx]

It’s all part of the story man. Always like that.

[@jakarreh]

Server issues lasts a day, a shitty campaingn lasts forever

[@babablacksheep506]

And fortunately FS campaign was really fun imo

[@Maverick0420]

@@babablacksheep506 Fun but not the best still

[@babablacksheep506]

@@Maverick0420 I feel its too early to fully judge the campaign as its not done yet- the main campaign was part 1. Still very fun :)

[@lumina6123]

Final Shape was okay. Not great, not bad, but okay. Let’s all be real here. Prismatic carried. Zavala was basically Lightfall Osiris levels of annoying. Every mission felt so samey and I didn’t even know we were actually at the end of the campaign because it was just so “welp, let’s go kill the Witness now 😃”. The many, MANY mini bosses within each mission made them feel like more of a slog than something enjoyable. Dialogue was cringe in some places. Revealing that the Witness is scared of the light was lame (can we please just let bad guys be bad guys and be threatening please for the love of god). Last but not least, my worst fears were confirmed. Song of Flame is straight dog water and I regret playing as a warlock. All of that said, Pale Heart is beautiful. Prismatic is fun. Most of the story beats were okay, except for the rushed end. It was okay. Visuals and new subclass carried most of the enjoyment for me. Everyone has their own opinion, I’d love it if y’all would share yours with me. Maybe you’ll make me see or realize something else that makes me enjoy it better.

[@aaronyautli978]

I agree. The campaign itself was meh. If this wasn't the culmination of the story then I'd say it was good. But this is the grand finale of 10 years. It just didn't feel like it had weight to it. Very forgettable. It had some potential, but it wasn't quite what is expected for the final shape.

[@FlashesSoccer011]

Song of Flame is awesome. Hunters are the only class that has a gripe about their new super or prismatic.

[@rj-sn7rq]

This campaign is well designed but very bland, honestly I feel like the story just can't support the vision the developers have. Zavala Ikora and Cayde are played out to be this tight OG firetesm group but they just have not had the plot IN GAME to make those moments hit the way they should.

[@Zooster21]

Thank you. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I agree, especially, Zavala, none of it felt earned and somehow came off as annoying and somewhat disrespectful to the character we had known in the past. And the bad guy's thing. The witnesses shouldn't be scared of anything, that conversation and the ones between characters felt extremely forced, rushed, and at times, downright cringe. The absolute need to be vague for the sake of it should've died at Witch Queen. I just believe that the bar was set so low with lightfall that anything would be seen as better than whatever that was. Pure mid, beat for beat, a good artspace, but, ultimately, a game try desperately to drag itself across the finish line...a shame.

[@Maverick0420]

Using left over Season of the Haunted story plot to push the narrative of TFS was lazy writing.

[@derrickolejownik7600]

I like how the pale heart weapons can actually drop from killing enemies. I have the auto crafted already because I got lucky so many times

[@luninariate]

I think the reason why they retread the story about the witness tempting Zavala and Crow is to 1) make it clear that even people who have processed these emotions can given enough temptation potentially relapse and 2) that the witness doesn’t actually give anyone what they want but rather what it thinks they want but it doesn’t understand other people because it’s too arrogant and selfish meaning they are an unreliable narrator when it comes to their motivations and the final shape being some truly omnipotent and all knowing being akin to a god. I think that part of the campaign made it clear that even if their end goal were a good idea the witness is not the right being to achieve it/attempt to, which to me is a good method of approaching the different beliefs about existence (absurdism, existentialism, etc) by not necessarily invalidating them and rather showing how flawed people’s understanding/treatment of them can be especially since the guardian is supposed to be tolerant of other beliefs while the witness isn’t. Tl:Dr I think the story retreading ground is actually good and completes a lot of the narrative arcs set out as far back as WQ while telling a compelling character drama

[@FailureToReport]

You're legit on drugs if you think this campaign and expansion were "the best we've seen." The story was absolute trash writing, Zavala's behavior was comically horrible and straight up weird, and the Cayde stuff is just laughable, like "hey guys, our franchise hasn't been so hot, let's bring back the ol Nathan just for the campaign to carry some hype, then we'll let him go again cause , idk, money or something." The witness is an absolute cartoon meme, we've had so many spooky and serious looking enemies over the years and then you inject Mega Mind and expect players to take literally any of his "Ominous Witness Moment" seriously? I couldn't even pay attention to his arm mechanics during the 12-Man mission because I spent the entire time looking at his absurd head and face model. I mean I could go on and on with how horrible this expansion is. I'm glad I finished it and I can call Destiny "done" so I can never get baited into playing this game again by old raid buddies, cause I am so over the minimal effort from Bungie while content creators stroke them left and right over how "creative and bold" they are every terrible expansion pack. Any big names calling out Bungie for how ABSOLUTELY DUMPSTER FIRE the new player experience is after they gutted all the content we paid for over the years so that console kids could install the game? Because every single new person I've tried to get into Destiny over the years quits before finishing "Trash Light", versus the Red War that had actual emotion and story, it's embarassing that Bungie keeps trying to find scenarios to plug "Eyes up Guardian" into every dialogue possible when none of them hit even close to the time you find the travelers shard on Earth. Just shame. Shame shame shame to be sitting here stroking this expansion. But hey, every content creator gotta keep in good with developers so they can keep on getting head pats.

[@hithere5553]

Can I just say Targe was the best character? He was an absolute Chad. Never showed an ounce of fear, gave good counsel to Zavala, and gave his life to save Zavala without hesitation. His voice acting was on point too.

[@Brannon1009]

I really enjoyed it. It felt short though and I played it on legendary.

[@IchibeiReal]

the final mission felt like a raid for my fireteam 😭😭😭

[@Maverick0420]

@@IchibeiReal Was like the easiest final mission of the last 3 releases...

[@IchibeiReal]

@@Maverick0420 on legendary, with 3 ppl everything is a bullet sponge

[@AvengingN00b]

Targe dude...it's a type of shield, I'm not from the middle ages but play enough games and you'll pick it up. You get stuck on weird ez things sometimes it's weird lol. Also...what is that Sunshot skin?? Looks sick, I don't think i've seen it before

[@TheForgottenStag]

I really enjoyed the campaign a lot way better then last dlc

[@Maverick0420]

THat's not saying much with how bad LF was.. WQ is still much better than TFS tho

[@limitedgamer3742]

i felt like i was playing through an MC escher nightmare

[@JDxxxxxx]

Zavala - “you think you can teach me stasis” lol he sounded so sad

[@DontEatCream]

I just wanna give a shout out to The Call, one of the top tier best PvE weapons in the game. Bungie recognized its greatness and just gives it to you in the campaign, knowing that every player will fall in love with it. That thing saved me at least 50 times during the legendary campaign

[@AnasAfizuddin]

Yeah man. I got the third one with golden tricorn and stats for all. It does save my ass during legendary campaign lmao

[@WaterGates1]

The roll that dropped for me as a campaign reward has demo and O4A. I'd only be happier if it were Lead From Gold in the 3rd column. Lol. But that's just splitting hairs. I'm very happy with my roll, until I can get the patterns to craft it.

[@itsRobbie_]

story wise 5/10, 6/10 with the after campaign quests. overall expansion 9/10. Best one we've gotten for sure. The story was empty... We rounded up the vanguard for 4 missions and then the last 3 missions had story progression but even that wasn't much. They could have combined the first 4 missions into one big mission where we find all the vanguard all in one mission and then they could have spent the rest of the 6 missions actually closing loose ends and building up more of story. The witness and the stakes carried the story, but if you told me this was the finale of a 10 year saga I wouldn't have known because there weren't any big story moments outside of just a few in the last 3 missions. From mission 5 onwards, it was amazing. The cutscenes were incredible too. But classic bungie making the last few missions awesome and making it feel like that's where the story should be starting but instead it's where it's ending. All in all, fantastic expansion so far but suffers from a mostly empty story that was supposed to be a close to a saga that we didn't really get answers to and still have loose ends.

[@Forcer69]

My favorite part was when Shiro-4 showed up and said “I’m here to rise my Iron one last time,” truly a Final Shape moment.

[@undecillion25]

This has to be like the only funny thing that I’ve seen from you that somehow made me chuckle.

[@dominikjachimczuk8397]

It’s Shiro-in time

[@aaronhiggs]

Still don’t know what the traveler really is and who created it.

[@Dietghostscp2107]

Sums up my comment in a way. We basically learned nothing. Again. Everything about the witness we either already knew or wasn't exactly eye opening when we learned it.

[@TheAtomoh]

After the raid maybe? who knows

[@Dietghostscp2107]

@@TheAtomoh I can tell you from the leaks I saw...nah we don't find out.

[@adversary22]

Careful what you wish for. We wanted to know the Darkness and Bungie decided it was an emo kid who was pissed off that it had a nice life where god didn't boss it around. Who knows how they'd fuck up the Traveler.

[@Dietghostscp2107]

@@adversary22 Oh god...he's right...

[@dankerbell]

bruh how is doing light and dark awkward, they fill really really quickly, plus lore relevancy too

[@DensinMeiko]

I am enjoying hunter. Try Mothkeeper's Wraps with Gunpowder gamble. You pretty much always have one and have grenades up fast.

[@dominiclane8538]

I honestly got bored of chasing zavala around and also going over his lost family thing again .we went through that not so long back with them darkness nightmares ..and wish their was more characters involved but it was ok , ( edit i wrote this before watching the whole video and im glad you had the same feeling i did about zavala ,it honestly got on my nerves because i thought we solved that issue lol)

[@iunnor]

Hearing Keith David over comms gives me Halo 3 flashbacks.

[@steveschweitzer4181]

Dragons Breath solves the tanky Subs.

[@LinedanceChristchurch]

4 out of 10 from me. Absolutely guttered

[@sciji3118]

I guess free to play players cant directly access tye pale heart destination for exploration etc... U can join on friends in the location though so there's that at least.