Destiny 2 Lore - A narrative critique of the Season of the Plunder. Higher high. Lower lows.

Destiny 2's Lore and Story in the season of the Plunder undoubtedly had highs and lows, but there's a lot to unpack if we're going to critique the season. In this video I do just that and talk about how whilst the narrative is still excellent, with new characters like Eido and Mithrax being a high point, the structure upon which it is based still leaves a lot to be desired and has become a bigger problem than before.

[Lady_Amelia-Eloise]

The biggest thing I’m disappointed with in this season is how it feels like they wasted nezarecs potential

[Zeryphon]

for me drifter and eido's writers and voice acters carried this season together with the mystery around the relics

[dexterthielhelm]

What I was really hoping for was an assault by erimis on the helm in a final attempt to retrieve the relics of nezerac. Now that we had all the relics, erimis would take her final gamble and attack the helm. It would have been a good little mission that could have added to the pirate theme, while also adding suspense since the relics aren’t the only thing of powerful darkness in the helm at the time…

[igniskitsune]

The awaking of Osiris just comes out of nowhere with no hints at all leading to this conclusion. It felt like we went from point A to point C in the final cutscene. Just nothing narratively in this season lead up to this conclusion which I thought was going to be next season’s conclusion.

[Arclite]

I just still can't quite wrap my head around BREWING TEA OUT OF NEZAREC'S CORPSE CHUNKS... And then FEEDING THE CORPSE-JUICE TEA TO OSIRIS?!?!?

How the hell did THAT jump out of nowhere???

[jaredtherock]

We could have had a filler mission to rescue or find a fellow eliksni that COULD HAVE BEEN NAMED RANDAL, have a minor shake up with a minor character with a funny reference, and this season was the perfect time to do something like that.
I just realized this and have never been more upset.

[bobisconsumed]

Story was ok until low climax Eramis duel and the infamous tea. Tea part required everyone, characters and writers alike to ignore a good amount of higher cognitive abilities. Only way for tea scene to make sense was if Osiris was dying and needed an immediate remedy/cure and Nezarc's power (Darkness being consciousness) could save Osiris. Saint, Mitrax, and others would have to live with potential ramification of the Curse if it means Osiris will live. I mean the Curse wasn't even mentioned in cutscene and Mithrax who spent the season warning of the reliquaries cursed powers just casually channeled it into a source for another to consume. If Osiris doesn't come back as a reincarnation of Nezarc or corrupted, I am going to be o so disappointed.

[ihbupontyne]

Still on awe of the ending of the season. It’s like they didn’t know how to end it so they just let Mithrax do whatever. I thought nezarec would be prevalent for the next couple seasons but I guess not

[_hll]

Very well said, Byf. Hopefully this critique won't get swept under the rug.

[ibetonme]

The problem is Bungie does not have teams in place to take care of each part of the game just like any big gaming studio. The game is not just in a bad place in pvp, it's the whole game.

bungie is so focused on the future that they are not focusing on the present gameplay experience. Thats not good

[icicle_ai]

While this was a nice Palette cleanser from Haunted, this felt like a filler arc in comparison to haunted. Did we find out more about mithrax's past? Yeah, but it wasn't anything as moving (at least how I felt) then season of the haunted, and the stuff that came at the end... what? I think it could have 100% been handled better. What they did to Nezarec was.... bad and they could have integrated the lucent hive much better then just saying "they invaded these hideouts".

Edit: something else I would have liked to see? A final/emergency mission. Hunting the High Celebrant, Proving grounds, override: the last city, Mara's Ritual. There was nothing really special about the final pirate lord's lair in the story, other then the cutscene of mithrax and eramis's duel, especially since we had fought the lucent hive before. I wished we had gotten some form of emergency mission/ketchcrash where spider's ketch is actually boarded, and we have to fight off the pirates

[xachisonfire]

“I don’t wanna assign blame…”
“It’s the PVP Communities’ fault”

[vesperizm]

to me the absolute biggest opportunity was not even that we didnt get the ship as a social space for the season, its that we didnt have a ketchcrash where we had to DEFEND our ship from being attacked. Have the fallen/cabal be the ones launched from the cannons to OUR ship and attack us there. Then Spider tells us that there were some enemies not aimed at our deck and made into the lower levels of the ship and are trying to break it or something. Then you go into your ship, clear out some enemies and repair a part of the ship, do that 2-3 times, get to the like reactor or core of the ship where the final boss is trying to destroy it, kill them, hooray ketchcrash done. I feel like that was such a missed opportunity.

[jebblottin]

Martin. That edit was beautiful. 10/10

[mosisusasu]

8:06 is when Byf stops repeating himself about PvP negativity seeping out into the rest of the community for anyone else that's heard it the first two times and is feeling like they're stuck in a timeloop.

[robdog]

This is probably some of the only criticism from the destiny community I can genuinely agree with, the commentary is controlled & constructive points that detail what would of been better for the experience & not just saying "tHis Is wrOnG, bUnGIe fIx". Highly appreciate the work byf & team

[urazz]

I think the big problem is that the seasonal model has affected all aspects of the game, from PVE to PVP especially. Big problem is that I'm worried that Bungie will keep on doing this to their detriment because the seasonal model makes them the most money and that is what Bungie is entirely focused on.

On the narrative of this season, I felt like it was entirely too short and ended in a poor manner. It felt like the season was half done and the seasonal model Bungie is running really hampers that. I.E. I expected to see Mithrax, Eido, or Eramis dying about halfway into the season, and getting revived by the Traveler and becomes the first Eliksni Guardian at the end of the season. The community event at the end of the season was garbage and changed very little in the Eliksni quarter.

I think Bungie needs to stop putting only a little bit of story in the same formulaic fashion each week in a season.

Gameplaywise, things also need to be a bit less grindy and Bungie needs to stop doing a seasonal game mode for each specific season. I rather just have more story missions for PVE than crappy seasonal PVE modes that only last a single season. If you are going to make a new activity, make sure it's part of the expansion itself and so it remains permanently and save all the work on seasonal PVE modes for actual story and PVP stuff.

[shadowfang]

I honestly could see Eramis possibly betraying the Witness. Not for the Traveler not for the city and humanity but for the Eliksni. This season almost feels like she’s coming to accept that the Witness is just as bad as the Traveler when it comes to its methods. Eramis blames the Traveler for Riis but she should in turn blame the Witness. The moment she realizes that I think we may see a redemption arc for her. She wouldn’t be an ally by any means but it would be a good way to bring her character to a close. (But that’s just my opinion) she certainly seems tired of her current path but she in her own eyes is past the point of no return but not redemption.

[LimySilver]

the one season that I feel nailed the weekly story thing where you go off and do an activity to progress the story was season of the lost, where through upgrading the compass, you actually unlocked more to do in the rotating Ley Lines. That, to me was peak, I would spend upwards of half an hour to see if there was anything else that could be done. Sucks that that season went on as long as it did especially since it had several filler weeks where information from previous weeks was simply repeated but it is what it is I suppose.

[MyCupOfTea]

The final cutscene, I think did the greatest disservice to Eido and Drifter (and Eramis) who has been with The Guardian the most this season. There was this great potential for Eido. We saw more of her character and it is like she was then grounded for the rest of the seasonal story. Little talk from her at the end. Interacting with Drifter more would have been nice. He begun to open up to us more (and to Eris). Then we got Eramis, I think you covered her well with saying that it should have been 3 or 4 pirate lords instead of the forgettable many we had. Osiris awakening needs its own separate cutscene, which would have been hype material for season 19.