Since its debut last September, with pre-release and first day orders exceeding $500 million dollars worldwide, it was clear to see that Bungie’s unique and new franchise, Destiny, was destined for success. Selling a whopping 6.3 million units in its first month of release, and with 20 million registered players as of May 2015, Destiny has become the most successful new game franchise of all time.
Capitalizing on this success, Bungie has given us amazing content in the form of two major DLC expansion packs―The Dark Below and House of Wolves. Each of these expansion packs are jam packed with new features and items such as weapons, armour, gear, competitive multiplayer maps, and campaign missions. These expansion packs further expanded the world in Destiny that many so dearly love.
It was a delight to hear at this year’s E3, during Sony’s press conference, the announcement of the next chapter in the epic Destiny saga, The Taken King. With Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition, perfect for new and experienced Guardians alike, you get the complete Destiny experience all in one amazing package. Included is the original game, both DLC expansion packs, and the all-new, keep you on the edge of your seat expansion―The Taken King.
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Developer: Bungie & High Moon Studios
Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.
Release date: September 15, 2015
Genre: Action role-playing game / First-person shooter
Modes: 1-12 players online
Rated: T (Teen)
A Destiny story refresher
As a Guardian, with the ability to wield an unknown power, referred to as “Light”, your mission is to protect and save the last safe city on Earth. Choose from one of three different character classes, Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters each with their own distinctive strengths and special abilities. The fate of mankind is in your hands.
A new and improved experience
Destiny has gone through some major changes to coincide with the launch of The Taken King, and in turn it has created a fluid and balanced ecosystem that impacts the way you play. Some of the changes to Destiny include a new quest system, Guardian leveling paths, and new ways to manage your inventory.
The new quest system now converts all “year one” activities to this new quest system. There is now a purpose and meaning to everything that previously felt like mundane tasks. For example, instead of just needing to get kills with a sword, you now have a reason for why you want to accomplish this task, with definitive rewards for completing a particular quest. You can now also track these quests via your inventory screen, making it easier to keep track of what you need to do, and where you need to go.
The leveling system in Destiny has been fine-tuned and tweaked, your Guardian’s level cap has been raised from 20 to 40, giving you the ability to now use a whole set of new weapons, armour and other gear. Additionally, the light leveling system is now separate, so you can level up your Guardian by earning experience from just about anywhere in the game.
There are new and improved ways to manage your inventory in Destiny. Quite possibly one of the biggest changes in inventory management is the amount of vault space for weapons, armour and general items. It has doubled by previous standards! Collection kiosks are now located in a variety of places around the Tower, making it easier and stress free to open up spots in your inventory.
What’s The Taken King about, and who are The Taken?
The Taken King takes everything that is great about Destiny, and makes it even better. One critique about Destiny was its lack of solid story that you could follow throughout the game, this has changed as it’s apparent that an emphasis was placed on the campaign story when developing The Taken King. The seven new story missions, offer a compelling storyline coupled with gorgeous cut scenes, a clearly identifiable villain, and storytelling by characters like Cayde-6, with his one-liners that have charm and charisma.
The story continues after The Dark Below, where the Hive Prince, Corta was killed. His father, Oryx “The Taken King” himself, is now out to avenge his son’s death with the help of his new army, The Taken. Comprised of former Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Cable, The Taken are consumed and possessed by the Darkness with new powers and abilities with only one purpose―to serve Oryx.
These cleverly designed enemies offer a distinctive attack style that will keep you on your toes. Knights hurl fire projectiles that paint the terrain with pools of fire; Goblins cast shields around other Taken protecting them temporarily from your attacks; Psions split apart and duplicate themselves with speed and ease. The Taken are an ever evolving enemy that you cannot be taken lightly, keep alert and pay attention as they employ different and new techniques with each encounter.
What’s new in The Taken King?
The Taken King is packed full of content that will keep you entertained for hours on end at a time. For starters there are four new strike missions, which are now more dynamic and offer a higher replay value than previous strike missions. Each encounter is unique in that you will face different types of enemies, and randomly placed ammo spawns. A vast improvement over previous strike missions to say the least.
Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters each have a new subclass with unique and special abilities. My personal favourite is the Sunbreaker, a Titan subclass who destroys enemies with fiery hammers from afar. Warlock players can choose the Stormcaller, who can manipulate Arc energy to blast enemies with powerful lightning strikes. Finally, Hunter players can take advantage of the Nighstalker, by binding enemies with arrows so that other members of your team can finish them off with ease. These new subclasses give each character class exactly what they needed to make them well balanced.
One of the best new features of The Taken King is the new raid called King’s Fall. You and five other friends team up to go deep within Oryx’s lair―The Dreadnaught, a massive ship filled with puzzles and riches, located off the rings of Saturn. It will take a well skilled team with coordination to defeat each boss including The Taken King himself. Just wait until you play this, its epic!
But wait there’s more! Additional new features include, a new nine player public event called The Court of Oryx, seven new Crucible multiplayer maps, three new Crucible game modes, and a massive arsenal of new weapons, armour, and gear. Now that’s a lot of new features!
The ultimate Destiny experience only on PlayStation
Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition offers PlayStation gamers a whole slew of timed exclusive content that will help you defeat Oryx and his Taken army. Heck, there is even a limited special edition Destiny: The Taken King PlayStation 4 bundle. Feast your eyes on the exclusive PlayStation content.
Final thoughts
Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition is by far the best version of Destiny to date, that offers a deeper and more engaging experience than ever before. With enough content and new features to keep the most avid gamer busy for weeks and months to come. Coupled with new enemies, game modes, multiplayer maps, a compelling storyline, and a plethora of new quests—it’s clear to see why Destiny: The Taken King Legendary Edition is one of the must own games of 2015.
+ Great value for the amount of content included
+ New and improved stream lined experience
+ Easily track all of your quests and bounties
– Lack of matchmaking tools can make it difficult to find your friends for raids
OVERALL
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Lasting Appeal/Replayability: 5/5
Overall Rating 4.5/5 (90%)
The Taken King is everything that Destiny should have been from the start. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the year one content, but both expansions left me feeling like the game was missing something. They were very short, and even the additional things they added in (eg. The raid, Prison of Elders) felt very choppy and disjointed. I was most displeased with the House of Wolves, because it was hyped up to be something that in the end, it just wasn’t.
That being said, I think Bungle learned their lesson from the crummy feedback they got from the first two expansions and used that to create the world of the Taken King. Make no mistake, this new expansion doesn’t just add to the game, it completely changed the look and feel of Destiny. I decided to delete a character and start a fresh one and the experience is so much more than what it was during year one. The quests flow together and it actually feels like the NPCs have a stake in this, because you’re interacting with them more.
It’s just too bad for year one player that it took a year of playing and $140 before we finally got the full game that we should have gotten at launch. It almost feels like those of us who played during year one were the beta testers. And don’t even get me started on the Playstation vs. Xbox argument. Still a bit bitter that we live in an age where gamers can be charged the same price and one set gets less content than the other. I don’t mind console exclusives, but the extra content for one console over another in the same game really grinds my gears.
JB
@Juice0904 my sentiments exactly! I had so much fun with The Taken King, now don’t get me wrong I loved Destiny. However, with the new patch and the addition of The Taken King it’s almost like its a brand new game. I have confidence that Bungie will continue on this road of improvements, and look forward to see what they have in store for us next.
Highly recommended. This expansion has been fantastic and is exaclty what the game needed. The raid is, by far, one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had. I went in blind with members of a Vancouver-local clan called “Sometimes Bravo Team” (shoutout, yo) and we downed Oryx just after the first reset, figuring out most of the mechanics on our own. That, for me, was the definitive Destiny experience.
Use reddit.com/r/fireteams to find people to play with for raids. reddit.com/r/flawlessraiders is for higher skilled players who are looking to blitz raids.
On PS4? Hit me up – rogerwilco – I’m always down to run a few strikes or to show Oryx what’s what.
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