That's pretty fair assessment. I enjoyed it quite a bit for an Alpha. It looked great.

I did like the concept of an interconnected world where you and your friends can go do your own mission, can randomly run into others doing theirs, help each other out and go your separate way seamlessly. Enjoyed playing some with K&A Jones last night - being on my Friends list, he just easily popped into my game - couldn't be easier to start playing with Friends. Thank God he did, because I probably would still be fighting that stupid wizard if he hadn't joined up with me.
I hope there's more story and nuance to missions in the actual game -- assume there has to be

I thought the challenge felt pretty good, but I did think it was funny that Devil's Lair gets easier as you go. I thought the initial horde mode was pretty brutal and the first boss was tougher than the second. If you measure difficulty by "deaths", hardly anybody I played with died on the last boss, lots of deaths on the first boss, and tons of deaths in the horde.

I hope you're right, but I wouldn't call it poor planning. I think the timing was for Sony, who stealthily won E3 between this alpha and the Battlefield beta IMO. The weekend of E3, everybody is on PS4, and if they don't have one, they wish they did for the Destiny alpha. It's shrewd, and you should see my friend's list. Probably 2/3 Destiny.

But damn, I hope you're right about them extending it, because it's freaking awesome.

Good games K.

The highlight of the night for me was our first spider tank "event" with all of the randoms. That was really really fun.

The other highlight was when we wandered off down those empty tunnels and found the area similar to the E3 demo from last year with the rusted out cars. I'm not sure whether we were meant to go to that area since there were no enemies, but I really thought that was a striking setting. I think I remember how we got there...want to see if I can go back there when it's daylight.

I think the game could learn a little bit from Borderlands about loot and special abilities, and I think it could learn a lot from Warframe about variety of powers and character/weapon customization.

I'll be interested in seeing what purpose going into "orbit" serves, because I thought it was kind of dumb to have to load into orbit just so I can load into where I actually wanted to go.

And the menu UI seems perfect for either the touchpad or the motion control in the DS4. Hope they do something with that.

So this has something I haven't seen in an FPS since Halo and the first Metroid Prime: Atmosphere. The music, visuals and design make this one of the few games that I actually want to explore, everything about it feels right. In many ways it feels more like Fallout 1/2 than Fallout 3 ever did.

This "alpha" *cough* horseshit *cough* just sold me on Destiny. Perfect mix of Halo, Tribes, Borderlands and I dunno, Everquest.

I never died during that Wizard battle but it took no less than 20 minutes. I also ran out of ammo for both of my weapons and had to rely on my regenerating grenades to finish him off.

I hid in the stair well just outside of the room he was in and would pick him off as he'd come by the doorway or windows and toss a grenade at him as soon as they'd replenish. Took less than 5 minutes.

Wow...great minds.

I was just telling K&A that the setting and music reminded me a lot of Metroid Prime, and I was commenting that the broken freeway overpass reminded me of Fallout 3.

Like you, I'm pretty much sold. I just hope there's as much to explore as it seems like there might be.

I also played some PVP. Too twitchy for my tastes, but it's solid. Crashed on me though.

Does anyone know how many environments/levels the final game will have?

I'm hoping that they have at least 5 planets to visit and that they continue to expand the world for an eventual second one.

Something I left out of my "Likes" which to me is actually important is how the games "Night & Day" cycle but even more amazing is the weather; the clouds moving, sun in, sun out, overcast, etc...you can stand still for awhile and see how it changes and moves. It really gives it a extra feeling in the game. Between it, the landscape, terrain, buildings, lighting, music...all really help set the foundation of the game. Seriously...this Alpha can stand on its own against most finished games. Well done...

Only 5? If this alpha has one planet, I hope the full game will have way more than just 4 more. Just 5 would be a total gyp.

Well, it depends on just how fleshed out and different each of those planets are. Also, I don't want fast travel points like Borderlands where you take a mysterious door and travel to a completely different looking area of the planet. I want fast travel but I also want the exploration of each location to be seamless and not rely on gimmicks like a magical barrier and boom you are in a completely different place. After playing the Alpha it does seem like things will be seamless and not have a loading screen to take us into buildings.

So you'd rather spend an hour walking between areas?

Sorry but fast travel on large maps is a must. Hell even some areas of Borderlands are tedious and it's a game with fast travel.

Well, if I had to choose between having two distinct lands connected by magic portals or flying to get to different areas or planets then I choose the second option.

One of the reasons I never got in to MMO's like World of Warcraft was how boring travelling to new zones was. They added an auto run option (and mounts for faster travel at higher levels, and specific large cities that you could travel faster by zepplin), but even then it was point my guy in the right direction, and alt-tab out to do something else and just make sure I don't run into any trees.

Flying how though? A generic loading screen with a pre-render ship flying through space? Borderlands had vehicles and was still tedious in parts when you're trying to get to some land a million miles away for a single mission.

Between overtime at work and fighting a head cold, I wish I could've gotten some time to spend playing the alpha. I am okay with waiting for the alpha, but ...
I agree with this statement 100%. Not only on the first two Borderlands game, but even portions of Grand Theft Auto V come to mind. I don't have the patience to drive for 30 minutes to complete a fucking mission.

Yep...just checked Dual Shockers and they have a post 2hrs ago saying the same thing and players haven't been locked out. I'm going to get on just to see. I did get get all three up to Level 8 though so not sure what else I can do except play with different guns. I just got on without any issue, went to the Tower and saw several others there.....it's 7:40 central my time.

yeah this is one of the big reasons I get really get hooked to WoW. I have limited gaming time and it just takes too long to get the things. Blah, I hate doing quests in Stormwind. I will be on one side of the city and the quest will be on the other side and I have to navigate the long walk through city getting lost along the way

For those who wasn't able to play the Alpha and curious to actual gameplay this YouTube video is pretty close but even with the settings set at 1080HD it still doesn't do it justice to what you actually see. It's the first part but gives an idea of the combat and menus....hads up on the user using the Bi#*h word a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bPIjFogx9I#t=537

By the way a excellent review (an long) of the PS4 Alpha over at Pushsquare. they pretty much hit it on the head and safe to say what many think of the game.

First Impressions: Testing the Hype in Destiny's Exclusive PS4 Alpha

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/...sive_ps4_alpha

Does this even count as a planet in the alpha? It's like one part of Russia, not an entire planet, or continent, or country.

And in case everyone is wondering if Bungie is "taking notes on the Alpha"....

http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/destin...lpha_data.html

Bungie is already making use of Destiny Alpha data


Just one weekend of alpha testing has proven to be of great value to Bungie.


"We're already making adjustments now – in a lot of ways visually but we're also balancing things out a little bit. It's a great way for us to interpret all of the data that goes into our systems."

And early tests like this aren't just for ironing out networking issues, but offering an insight into player behaviour too.

"We're not only monitoring our networking systems to see how we can handle so many players in the game but we're also monitoring what players use, where they like to go and what people like to do in the crucible.

looks like at least 8 locations confirmed so far as places you can land on or have missions on (though I would guess Jupiter and Saturn it has to be a space station or a moon)



http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Catego...nets_and_Moons

Yea!...I'll add this to give it even more of a perspective which to say the least ought to raise some eyebows to those who played the Alpha...

Destiny PS4 Alpha Extended, Alpha Content Less Than 10% of Final Build, "Never Say Never" For PC Port says Bungie

Destiny's Designer, Evan Nikolich, has shared some more details on percentage content Destiny Alpha represented, as compared to the final build. Whether or not there will be a PC port and many more things.

Evan stated that Destiny's Alpha Content is less than 10% of the final build content, "The Destiny Alpha is less than 10% of the game's content, and it amazes me people just keep on playing it." tweeted Evan

He further clarified that the content which Destiny offers is huge, "It's huge. Think about it. You haven't even touched the surface of the Moon, Mars, or Venus yet "

"More strikes, more planets, more pvp maps and modes, more gear, a full campgain, and THE RAID"


http://www.gamepur.com/news/15122-de...-say-neve.html


....and this just came out....

Destiny’s PlayStation-Exclusive Content Revealed

http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/...tent-revealed/

Destiny’s PlayStation-Exclusive Content Detailed
+ Posted by Sid Shuman on Jun 16, 2014 // Senior Manager, Social Media

During last week’s PlayStation E3 2014 Press Conference, you might remember the illustrious Adam Boyes noting that PlayStation owners were set to receive a ton of exclusive Destiny content — literally too much to detail in the show itself. Now that the E3 hubbub has died down, I asked Bungie and the PlayStation elders to share those details right here on PlayStation.Blog for the first time.

At launch, PS4 and PS3 owners will get exclusive access to a unique co-op Strike located on Mars, an exclusive competitive map, and a slew of exclusive guns, gear, and ships. Read on for the full details below. Oh, and if you tried out Destiny’s PS4-exclusive First Look Alpha over the weekend, let us know what you think in the comments below!



The Dust Palace Strike: An exclusive three-player cooperative Strike that can be played with friends or match made. You’ll track a Cabal extraction team through the husks of an ancient human skyscraper, the Dust Palace, buried in the shifting dunes of Mars and face a new enemy, the Psion Flayers.

The Exodus Blue Competitive Multiplayer Map: A mid-sized Crucible arena that pairs perfectly with Control and Skirmish game modes. The Exodus Blue, a long-dead vessel, once brought hope and humanity to worlds beyond Earth. Here, Guardians challenge one another, forging a new hope and future in the fires of the Crucible.







Gear

For the Warlock class, Manifold Seeker armor that was built to help Warlocks survive the secret realms of the Vex.
For the Titan class, Vanir, a battle-tested armor set forged to protect Titans against the heavy firepower of the Cabal.
For the Hunter class, Argus, a durable all-environment wire-weave for those out to scout the frontier.



The Monte Carlo, an exotic assault rifle, is a handcrafted showpiece with a sleek look that masks the cruel reality of its function — the efficient elegant delivery of war against any who would tarnish its legacy. Upgrades increase the weapon’s “hip fire” effectiveness and boost melee cool down, providing a firm grounding for close range domination.

The Hawkmoon, an exotic hand cannon, is a true gunslinger’s weapon — a smooth sidearm that makes every bullet count with intricate “hawk feather” etchings carved into the weapon’s silvered barrel. Damage boosts increase the combat effectiveness, making it a formidable weapon.






Ships
“Aurora Wake”

A hull lined with arcane instruments, crafted by a circle of Warlocks – gifting the ship with a preternatural sense for the strange.

“Crypt Hammer”

A deep-strike insertion variant, built to carry Guardians safely through contested space. Carries hardpoints once used to hold Suros TL-SEAD anti-radiation missiles.

“Outrageous Fortune”

A rugged, versatile explorer for those ready to gamble everything in search of ancient secrets and alien power.