I have a clanmate who never played the first game, and today I streamed some Destiny 1 to him. Everyone talks about how Bungie is ruining this and ruining that, but, there is something more fundamental that has changed. One of the first things I did was fly into the Dreadnaught to show him where the revamped King's Fall we did takes place. As soon as I load in, facing the beached Cabal ship, my ghost starts talking to me, telling about the place, and rambling on about the universe. The music in this game goes so hard you not only feel spoon fed narrative, but imagine things. My friend was instantly hooked. As I show him around, the ghost keeps speaking! It feels intimate, personal, and makes the environment feel like a place, instead of a backdrop for running around gunning down enemies. Everywhere I'd load into, the ghost would be there, as a companion. It would talk to me, about the world, about what I'm doing in the game, about what we've been through together, and about what's to come. All the things I've told my friend about, from the vanilla campaign, to Dark Below and House of Wolves, to Taken King (and the Phobos mission!), and even Rise of Iron, is all there. I could show it all. Of course the quality of that content varied, but it was there, and it was a part of something bigger. After some scenery and fluff, I do a tour of the old Tower. This part is possibly a result of rose tinted nostalgia glasses, but it feels just right. It's obviously smaller and more focused due to hardware restrictions at the time, but it is filled to the brim with character and affection. Eva is selling shaders and emblems for Glimmer, or Motes of Lights (that you have to earn!) if you're after the good stuff. The speaker sells unique class items and some ghosts, Shaxx has a Crucible Quartermaster providing Guardians with gear, the hangar has a Vanguard Quartermaster selling equipment for new lights. The command room itself has the class representitives selling things for their class and guide your journey as a guardian! The bar, the courtyard, everything is just right. It serves a purpose, and it's stark contrast with the brutality of the world feels welcoming and like worth fighting for. As a PvP-focused player, there is a lot I could say about the speed of the game, both for movement and time to kill, as well as balance, gunplay vs ability spam, etc, but there's so many different kinds of people playing this game that everybody will always be unhappy. Metas come and go, things break and shift. It is what it is, and it always will be. Besides, this post is less about that and more about having fun! So, I made a private lobby and showed him SRL. It had custom HUD, music, and dialogue. The first lap my ghost would call me out on wasting time doing dumb things on a sparrow, the next he'd acknowledge the change of pace from constant murder and warfare, and the last he'd have fun. Some crucible maps had turrets, vehicles, and really fun rotations. Everything I would show, my friend would be confused about being missing in the sequel. Something I know we can never have back is meaning of looks. One of the things Bungie was so proud of back then was the concept of "if you wore something, you earned it, and there was a story behind it". Alakhul's helmet, psion capes, bone armour, you name it. Same for shaders and emblems, as well as ghosts and ships. It is unfortunate that Atheon Bundle is a thing, raid shaders are sold. I have nothing against the transmog / ornament system, but the way cosmetics work (more specifically, how they're earned) in the game feels like we are robbed of an essential aspect of loot-based games. Despite all the unorganised mess, systematic mistakes, repeat bad decisions and all, I do love Destiny. It is something I cherish, truly, which is also why it is so painful to have gotten a reminder of what was lost. I've played consistently more or less since the open beta on PS3, still have a tshirt I got at an event for winning a game of Crucible against strangers. I do it all, from Crucible to Trials to Gambit to Raids. I play alone, I play with friends, with clan, with my significant other. There is something fundamentally missing from the game now. It's the magic, which I guess in a way, objectively, can't last forever. What we have feels like an empty husk of it's former self, as old story, worldbuilding and character is gone. What we have in it's place is the seasonal timegated dialogue, that is designed to be easily removed from the game. I understand why it is this way, but it hurts. Do y'all remember how grind was about player choice, not sold content and expected activity? The soul of this game, in some ways, is dead. The first game, while shallow in some aspects, was filled to the brim with character. We had the factions that let us express our Guardians (FWC FTW!) and added a passive layer of progression with motes of light, exotic class items etc. The ghost actually spoke to us, and if you're anything like me, you felt a kinship / bond / connection. Threats were real, global and felt. Taken King added reskinned bosses to strikes with new dialogue, Rise of Iron added reskinned strikes with new dialogue and sometimes a siva turret. The world felt endless even if it objectively was the same tiny part of cosmodrome we've been exploring for years. The characters in the game were written as characters, not a dialogue players. This is not an in-depth analysis. If there's anything I wanted to say, it's that this game, with it's superior polish, feels like a lesser framework of a game. I don't have answers to any of the game's problems, but I know that there are so many misguided attempts at chasing that magic from both the developers and the players. I have accepted it years ago that Destiny no longer is what it used to be, and it never will be. As I was headed to bed, thinking about all this, I felt a sadness that I can't quite verbalise. If you have the opportunity, I'd recommend revisiting your old D1 Guardian. The game feels wonderful despite it's warts, clunkiness and the choppy framerate.