A game I played for about 200 hours in just over the first 2 weeks, heavily impacting my sleep schedule among other things. A gameplay that, to this day, is one of the FPS formulas that offers the most satisfaction. A non-existent storyline and a disappointing campaign where on day 2 I was already grinding side activities and whatnot to level up faster. A joke of an endgame at launch, where you'd get a whopping 1 (or 3 if you cared to level up more characters) chance to gain further ground in an RNG system. An incredible raid that I still think of to this fondly as one of the most memorable online shooter experiences I've ever had, up there with my first forays into the genre with Unreal and Unreal Tournament or my first win in a battle royale game. Bungie trying to squeeze more money from dedicated fans at every turn while actively hampering their progress when they tried to level up a little bit faster than the game's stupidly limited progress system. A lovely community where I met tons of great people. The starter of the shitty trend of using cursor-based menus on console. A low effort multiplayer (imho) with horrid netcode. For better or worse, an inspiration for most shooters and online games since.
A lot of things I loved and hated about that initial product, which was probably my harshest gaming addictions (I don't think I've put that many hours in so little time into any other game). I left when I opened my eyes on the fact it's just a mindless grind without nothing going for it anymore. I went back to the game a couple months later, but I turned it off in seconds, as I was almost feeling sick from the thought of doing those motions again. I will probably play Destiny 2's campaign when it goes F2P, hoping that I don't find myself addicted again. Destiny is my favourite game to hate. I love having spent so much time on it and at the same time I hate it. To this day the game isn't what it should have been pre-launch, but in some ways it's more than that. It's one conflicting memory for me for sure, but the game's influence and importance in gaming history is undeniable. I like to think about how long I would have been addicted had the game launched with enough content, considering how much I stayed on it as is.
Such a weird ride. If they revolutionize the formula for a Destiny 3, I might be back on board. Who knows?
