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Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.


Destiny was released in September 2014 as Bungie's debut on the new console generation with their new decade-long partners, Activision. It released on the PS4 and the Xbox One--as well as their predecessors--to decent reviews. Most early reviews cited the lack of real endgame content on release as a reason why they weren't completely thrilled with it, but Destiny is ever-evolving. Patches for the game were being pushed for both balance and content until Destiny 2's release in 2017, and Bungie constantly monitored both the community and data collected by their servers in order to better serve their players.

Our tale begins with the finding of the satellite called the Traveler during an expedition on the surface of Mars. Over time, it bestowed humanity with gifts of technology and longevity. But, with these gifts came an ancient "Darkness" that aims to hunt and destroy the Traveler and those touched by its benevolence. Thus rose the Guardians, exceptional beings sworn to protect humanity from the Traveler's myriad enemies. We are one such Guardian, recently returned from the dead in the Traveler's time of greatest need to push back the encroaching armies and strike at the heart of the Darkness.


This LP will consist of two sets of videos per update: cut- and uncut audio, as always. Some updates may come with supplementary videos if necessary, and other additional material will be posted alongside the video portions.

But that's enough about that. Let's become legend.



































(For the Vault of Glass, regular logo is Grayfawks and I. Inverted is with the fireteam)


(Click the banner to go to The Dark Below)


(Click the banner to go to House of Wolves)


(Click the banner to go to The Taken King)


(Click the banner to go to TTK postgame)


(Click the banner to go to Rise of Iron)


(Click the banner to go to Rise of Iron postgame)

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Jul 9, 2019

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Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.

Destiny is not a game that likes to give you everything up-front. Being a modern game, there is no real game manual that tells you what the backstory is, or what kind of enemy you'll be facing during gameplay. No, Bungie hid a lot of their plot fluff that isn't directly important to the game's story in a system called the Grimoire, and hid that Grimoire on the game's website. Every so often during gameplay, when you finish certain levels or reach milestones in your murderous rampage of the Darkness' armies, you will unlock Grimoire cards. These cards serve as both trophies and small libraries of knowledge. Some even improve certain functions within the game; for example, kill enough of a certain type of enemy, and you earn more cash for each high-ranked member of that enemy you kill.

Within every update I'll include a small selection of the cards we've unlocked for those that are interested in learning more about the universe, the Guardians that protect it, and those who would see them fall.

Playable Races
Humans, Awoken, and Exos

Enemy Races
The Fallen, Part 1
The Hive, Part 1
The Vex, Part 1
The Cabal, Part 1

The Vault of Glass
The Last City
The Dark Below
The House of Wolves
The Taken King, Part 1
The Taken King, Part 2

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Jul 9, 2019

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.











Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jan 31, 2019

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Hi everyone! Sorry for our extended absense, but things are more or less okay now, and it's time to get back into the swing of things here. For those of you who may have forgotten what's gone on so far, here's a handy reference to get you back up to speed!



And as a bonus, an actual update! This update was recorded and ready a long, long time ago, and was never posted for whatever reason. Either way, we're back to Destiny, and actually new updates will start after next video.

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Aug 27, 2017

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Happy Labor Day! This update marks the last of the video recordings from a year ago!



As an added bonus, some of you may already know that the Destiny 2 beta took place across August (early August for consoles, and last week for PC -- YES, THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID PC). I decided I'd give y'all a look-see for things we may yet see in the future!



Starting next update, we'll have an entirely new set of fresh videos. This being said, it's time for a couple of things. First off, our next subclass vote-off!

Sunsinger Warlock
Powerful solo class, can fight out of dangerous areas with powerful grenade abilities and a melee overshield. Can self-res using Radiance, which also reduces grenade cooldown significantly.

Defender Titan
Tankiest class in the game. Has a melee overshield which buffs reload/weapon speed, allowing for constant motion and fighting. Ward of Dawn exists and is a little broken.

Gunslinger Hunter
Fast and loose, huge damage if accurate. Can gain buffs to weaponry with constant precision kills, and Golden Gun can oneshot just about all non-boss enemies.

Bladedancer Hunter
The ultimate in damage. Very mobile and melee-focused. Arc Blade is probably the least-balanced super in the entire game.

Secondly, this is your official casting call for Venus' TWO strikes, The Nexus and Winter's Run. Here's what you'll need:
  • A PS4 and a copy of the game.
  • A character between the levels of 15-40.
  • A PC/laptop with Discord installed.
  • Audacity.
  • 1-2 hours of free time.
If you meet the requirements, send me a friend request on Discord at Pythonicus#1670. Recording details will be ironed out soonish.

Sel Nar
Dec 19, 2013

Considering your habit of using compass headings to aim, I kinda want to see you try to wrangle your way through the Gunslinger Hunter spec.

Mr. Highway
Feb 25, 2007

I'm a very lonely man, doing what I can.
I know in the last thread, I said I probably wouldn't play the game due to tediousness. However, when the Rise of Iron happened, my brothers pestered me into buying it. I mainly played hunter so I want to see Defender Titan.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.

Pythonicus posted:

Sunsinger Warlock
Powerful solo class, can fight out of dangerous areas with powerful grenade abilities and a melee overshield. Can self-res using Radiance, which also reduces grenade cooldown significantly.

Defender Titan
Tankiest class in the game. Has a melee overshield which buffs reload/weapon speed, allowing for constant motion and fighting. Ward of Dawn exists and is a little broken.

Gunslinger Hunter
Fast and loose, huge damage if accurate. Can gain buffs to weaponry with constant precision kills, and Golden Gun can oneshot just about all non-boss enemies.

Bladedancer Hunter
The ultimate in damage. Very mobile and melee-focused. Arc Blade is probably the least-balanced super in the entire game.

Secondly, this is your official casting call for Venus' TWO strikes, The Nexus and Winter's Run. Here's what you'll need:
  • A PS4 and a copy of the game.
  • A character between the levels of 15-40.
  • A PC/laptop with Discord installed.
  • Audacity.
  • 1-2 hours of free time.
If you meet the requirements, send me a friend request on Discord at Pythonicus#1670. Recording details will be ironed out soonish.

Quick update on deadlines for these. I'll be closing down votes and recording the strikes on Friday, September 8th at 8:30 pm EDT. Be sure to have your votes in, and by god, break this tie, please, someone. :v:

racerabbit
Sep 8, 2011

"HI, I WANT TO HUG PINS NUTS."
:frolf:
Gunslinger Hunter

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Well, poo poo. We just get things back off the ground here and Mother Nature says "this can't stand." I'm in Florida right now and it's looking like a pretty decent storm is headed our way for the weekend. I hope that things work out and that we don't collectively as a state get flung into the atmosphere, but it's fairly safe to say that you probably shouldn't expect LP updates for this upcoming week and for maybe a couple weeks beyond. I'll do my best to keep everyone posted as things here develop.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Quick update: power's still out round my neighborhood but we've made it out unscathed. Updates to resume whenever we're back up and running.

In other news, one of my friends went temporarily insane and bought me Rise of Iron before the storm rolled through, so I guess we're able to go through the entire first game! :toot:

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009
Looking forward to it once you get things going again.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
We've had power back for a little bit now, but I've been running around like crazy trying to tie a few things up. Regardless, now that all this mess has passed, I'm hoping to be at least SLIGHTLY more regular about my update frequency. In this update, we're trying something a little different.

When last we saw our good friend Ugg, he was just tasked with obtaining the head of a Vex Gate Lord in order to gain entry into something we only know as the "Black Garden", simply having been told it's the heart of the Darkness and that our destiny, as it were, lay there. After a long while searching, Ugg and his Ghost have finally found one, and it's time for them to move closer to the Black Garden. Meanwhile, the Vanguard have found a Vex facility deep under the surface of Venus, and a Mind entity that needs to be brought down before the Vex further sweep across the solar system. In order to stop this threat, they've sent a team of Guardians to investigate the facility, including a fairly rookie Gunslinger looking to further her control over the Golden Gun.



Let me know how y'all find the video. If it's too hard to follow along with everything going on, or if I edited it poorly, just say the word.

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Sep 22, 2017

Soup Inspector
Jun 5, 2013
It took me a little bit to wrap my head around the perspective swapping, but I quickly managed to follow what was going on.

By the by, are you still intending to upload Grimoire cards?

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.

Soup Inspector posted:

By the by, are you still intending to upload Grimoire cards?

I do still want to get everything I've got unlocked out there, but I've been looking for a way to better disseminate the info. I'm not entirely sure there IS a better way, so I might just go and do it how I was doing it.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Hey, nice to stumble across this happening again since I'm almost certainly never going to play any of the Destiny's myself. First person shooters, controllers, and me don't mix well.

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009
I didn't find the perspective switching too confusing but I'm not sure there's an advantage over just presenting them sequentially.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
With the Awoken's blessing and their gift, Ugg is finally able to make his way to Mars, one step closer to getting into the Black Garden. Before he can do that, however, he needs to recharge the Gate Lord's eye. In today's update, Ugg searches for a way to do just that, while blasting his way through the Cabal's exclusion zone. Meanwhile, thanks to Ugg's efforts, the Tower has been able to rekindle relations with the Reef Awoken. Thusly, the Queen has informed the Vanguard of a break in at the Prison of Elders, a super-max complex built to confine some of the Darkness's worst. The Fallen house of Winter has recaptured an Archon Priest from the prison, and Cayde-6 sends the Gunslinger -- having recently proved herself a capable Guardian in dealing with the Nexus -- to take down this powerful Fallen leader.




malkav11 posted:

I didn't find the perspective switching too confusing but I'm not sure there's an advantage over just presenting them sequentially.

Mostly it's just so that we can get through the base game a little bit faster. Once we get into the expansions, I'll probably be separating things back out again. At this point we've seen most of what Destiny 1.0 has to offer. That and this project is getting quite long in the tooth and I'm ready to see it finally done.

Kibayasu posted:

Hey, nice to stumble across this happening again since I'm almost certainly never going to play any of the Destiny's myself. First person shooters, controllers, and me don't mix well.

Honestly, I have to say that Destiny feels like the best FPS that I've played on controller, and this is after having played entirely too many Call of Duty titles as a console pleb. That being said, when we eventually get around to doing Destiny 2 -- which by the way, we will not be doing immediately -- we'll be playing on PC, and I promise to try and not kill anyone through motion sickness.

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Oct 3, 2017

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Now that the Cabal's exclusion zone is broken, the Tower is able to send Guardians to disrupt further Cabal operations on the surface on Mars. The Cryptarchs of the Tower are interested in one thing in particular; the buried city of Freehold had once been a bastion of Humanity's best and brightest scholars and scientists, and many of their findings were unfortunately lost to the ages once the Darkness spread across the system. However, something of interest to the Cabal remains in the city, and Master Rahool wants the Gunslinger to investigate why exactly they haven't destroyed it yet. On the other side of the Meridian Bay, Ugg's Ghost has found a way to charge the Gate Lord's eye that will serve as their key into the Black Garden, only that particular avenue lies straight through a Cabal warbase, and they won't be particularly pleased with his intrusion.



It's also time for this whole song and dance again:

Pythonicus posted:

This next vote decides which subclass will be showcased for the entirety of The Dark Below expansion, including its Strikes and Raid.

Sunsinger Warlock
Powerful solo class, can fight out of dangerous areas with powerful grenade abilities and a melee overshield. Can self-res using Radiance, which also reduces grenade cooldown significantly.

Defender Titan
Tankiest class in the game. Has a melee overshield which buffs reload/weapon speed, allowing for constant motion and fighting. Ward of Dawn exists and is a little broken.

Bladedancer Hunter
The ultimate in damage. Very mobile and melee-focused. Arc Blade is probably the least-balanced super in the entire game.

This is also your official casting call for Mars' strikes, Cerberus Vae III and the Dust Palace. Here's what you'll need:
A PS4 and a copy of the game.
A character between the levels of 17-40.
A PC/laptop with Discord installed.
Audacity.
1-2 hours of free time.

And, if that wasn't enough for you, this is also the casting call for Destiny's first RAID, The Vault of Glass! The requirements list is more or less the same as above, but there are FIVE slots that can be filled instead of just two. I don't need five volunteers, but the more the merrier. I do, however, need at least one or two to make it possible. This will be recorded on Sunday, October 15 at 8pm EDT. It doesn't matter if you're a seasoned veteran or just seeing the raid for the first time, as I'll be able to more or less guide you through no matter what your level of experience in the game.

If you meet the requirements, send me a PM on the forums, or a friend request on Discord at Pythonicus#1670. Recordings for the Strikes will take Place on Saturday, October 14 at 8pm EDT.



In preparations for today's update, I went looking for the Grimoire on Bungie's website, only to find that it's gone thanks to the release of Destiny 2. Fear not, however, since some lovely people were able to back up the information on a separate page! Keep on the lookout, and we'll get back into exploring some of the deeper layers of the game's story.

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Oct 11, 2017

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009
Wow. So, they put all of their game's lore on a website...and then they killed the website the second the sequel came out. That's...something.

radintorov
Feb 18, 2011
I'll vote we see the Bladedancer Hunter next: I'm curious to see how it plays in this game.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Melee seems like a neat change of pace.

malkav11
Aug 7, 2009
Yeah, melee sounds fun.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.


Hey, everyone! It's been a long time since we've delved deeply into the grimoire cards, so we've got a lot of information to get through. This being said, I'm going to dedicate some updates specifically to the Grimoire. As I said, the original cards on the website are gone now, and I've been able to track them down elsewhere, but that also means that I can't do the side-by-sides I was doing before.

Anyway, Let's start with learning some more about the friendly races we've seen across the game.


Grimoire Card: Human posted:

"This was our world, our solar system. We were here first. And no matter what the darkness brings, we will be here at the dawn."

Humans are survivors, tough and resilient, descended from those who built a Golden Age only to see it ripped away. Now, after an age of retreat and desperate struggle, they fight to take back their solar system and claim a new future.

There are those who believe the Traveler chose Earth for a reason. Now it is humanity's obligation to prove itself worthy of the Traveler's faith.


Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Human 1-4 posted:

From the diaries of Commander Jacob Hardy, pilot, Ares One

The mission is a go. Crew of three: Mihaylova, Qiao, myself. Immediate departure at the next Hohmann window to Mars. The MREs and return ships will chase us out.

How do I feel? I said at the press conference I felt privileged. Historians will read this diary, but it won't take their insight to tell the world that I'm terrified. It's the human reaction.

What I wish I could convey is the - is the exhilaration. That's the biggest thing. I'm not a spiritual man, but I've always believed there's something transcendent about spaceflight. Something pure. We go out there because we can. Because it's who we are.

Now we go because we have to. Because the unknown came to us. In fourteen months we'll be face to face with it, and by the time we arrive, it should be active again - just like it was active on Jupiter, and Mercury, and Venus.

I wonder what happens if it doesn't stop at Mars. I wonder if it'll leave us there in the sand, and come to Earth, and do here what it's done everywhere else.

I hate that we're carrying weapons. I understand the necessity... but I hold to my belief: there's something beautiful out there.

It's up to us to reach it.

--

Everybody asks about the words.

The truth is, I'm not much of a poet. Ares One didn't leave us with bandwidth for anything except blunt competence. We came in perilously hot, trying to select a landing site through the chaos of thickening atmosphere and turbulence that bloomed off the target. A twenty-minute round-trip lightspeed delay to Earth meant we could only count on ourselves.

When the number three engine went diagnostic during the second course correction, I thought we might go catastrophic.

But Qiao brought us in. Mihaylova brought us in. I just flew the ship.

The Ares One excursion vehicle was built for thin winds and icy dust. We came down into a storm: the breath of God, a ripple of change rolling down off the artifact. We aborted on three sites and finally I took us into powered hover and brought us down on reflexes and instinct.

Then we ran the checklists, suited up, and left the vehicle.

There was a script, and it's true, I botched it. I got my boots down and I made the most famous gaffe in human history. Said the first thing that came to mind: a warning to the others.

"We're walking into a rising wind."

I didn't mean to say anything immortal. I just thought it'd be useful to know.

--

The hike from Ares One.

You've watched it. Everything was recorded. I think you can get it in full immersionm, now, and fly around like a hummingbird. I'll add what I can.

The route was planned. We all went together - the CEV and Ares One itself had enough automation to go home alone in the event of crew loss. Whatever we'd find at the artifact, it needed the human element.

We carried rifles. They made us heavier and slower and probably less safe. I think the argument about the rifles can be left for another time. What's important is -

It turned out well. Look at me. Look at us! You're talking to a ninety-year-old man. A ninety-year-old who's never been sharper. I'm miles ahead of every cognitive benchmark.

What's happened to me is good. What's happened to all of us is good. When we crested that rise and made visual contact with the artifact, I don't think any one of us dared dream that it would end this well.

We went to Mars at the cutting edge of human civilization. And it wasn't out weapons that won the day.

It was our ship. Our training. Our camaraderie. Our belief that if we just reached out to the universe, not to grasp for profit or security, but with an open hand, we would be elevated.

We were right. That makes me so happy. To this day.

--

Three human beings stood on a high ridge and saw the shape of the future. Saw rain strike a millennia-old desert. Felt the air sweeten with oxygen and warm water and the beginnings of life.

I am sometimes asked if I felt something die. The end of the era of human self-sufficency.

I don't know how to answer that question. I do know that I was changed. Nobody could experience that kind of wonder and remain unchanged. The decades since have proven that to me.

I knew I'd never fly another mission like that. I recognized the need for a new love. That's why I threw my fresh cognitive skills into understanding the Traveler. How can one entity so quickly and utterly remake an entire world? Fiftyy years later, I'm conversant in high mathematics, particularly topological thoughts and the slippery irreality of Light. I'm involved in a project to study the Traveler's terraforming actions right now.

But I still enjoy the interviews. I like going back to that mission.

It makes me unspeakably happy to see how well it all turned out. And it makes me happy to remember I was there.

So that's a lot of interesting insight into where we begin the game. If you remember the intro to the game, we actually see what Commander Hardy talks about in the latter two cards; the trek from their craft toward where the Traveler parked itself over Mars.

But that's enough about us boring Humans. Let's take a peek at the space elves Awoken.


Grimoire Card: Awoken posted:

The others sing this song of Light and Dark. We, together, have transcended such unimaginative limitations."

It is said the the Awoken were born in the Collapse, descended from those who tried to flee its wrath. Something happened to them out on the edge of the deep black, and they were forever changed.

Today many Awoken live in the distant Reef, aloof and mysterious. But others returned to Earth, where their descendants now fight for the City.

Earthborn Awoken who venture out to the Reef, hoping to learn its secrets, find no special welcome from the reclusive Queen.


Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Awoken 1 posted:

Reports from a derelict vessel boarded in the first known voyage to the Reef

Eleven hundred meter length.
Active gravity generation.
Residual heat. Fast neutron scatter.
Designation code: CORRUPTED
Date of commissioning: Unknown
Origin point: Unknown

Presumed to have collided/merged with one-kilometer comet: assessment based on depth of hydrocarbon crust covering the hull, water content of soil, atmosphere of oxygen and carbon dioxide with isotopic ratios placing the comet in the Oort population.

Low-light foliage grown from terrestrial stocks, mirrors focusing starlight into growth chambers...resident fauna...five insect species, plus rats descended from uncertain ancestors.

Surface heavily wooded until recently, unknown event triggering firestorm...seventy percent of world forest consumed, atmosphere laced with smoke and particulates...free oxygen in short supply.

No distress calls noted. No evidence of crew or passengers on exterior.

Interior scans inconclusive.

Cleared to attempt approach.

Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Awoken 2 posted:

I was nothingness. If I existed before, I existed as possibility, as potential, stretched thin across the aether. And maybe there was a body that looked like my body, complete with a soul that could be confused for someone rather like me. What I am now was not yet real. And then I was born, and the universe was free to begin.

Others were present at my birth.

A great ceremony had just begun. Because newborns are selfish beasts, I assumed I was the object of attention.

I didn't notice the singing until the singers fell silent. And then She appeared.

She was above me. Ethereal and handsome and elegant. I assumed my face was like her face and that odd idea gave me strength enough to smile.

"Secrets," she said. "Creation is built on secrets and the encryptions that keep those secrets safe."

I made my first sound. It meant nothing but she understood it as a question.

"We are a beautiful creation," she said, "and we must keep ourselves very safe."

From the first Ghost fragment card, we can assume that some sort of great calamity happened to one of the escaping ships fleeing from the Collapse, wherein it collided with some sort of free-floating comet that somehow had life-sustaining characteristics and atmosphere enough to breathe. I suppose this is why when we're in the Reef, our Guardian's helmet is off.

That second card leads to some more questions, though. I'm guessing here that the mysterious "She" is actually the Queen herself, and that she personally oversaw the birth of a new child into their society. It isn't clear whether or not she oversees every birth or if this one in particular was special in some way. Open to speculation, I s'pose.

Moving on, let's check out the Exo.


Grimoire Card: Exo posted:

"Ask yourself: what threatened your Golden Age ancestors so much that they constructed the Exos to defend themselves?"

Built for a long-forgotten struggle, Exos are self-aware war machines so advanced that nothing short of a Ghost can understand their inner functions. They remain ciphers, even to themselves: their origins and purpose lost to time.

Whoever built the Exos fashioned them in humanity's image, gifting them with diversity of mind and body. Many of the City's Exo citizens live and work alongside their organic brethren. But others fight again, reforged in the Light of the Traveler to serve as Guardians.

This one seems a little bit :effort: to me. "Yeah, they're robots. They can't remember poo poo, so hey, you can be this robot".


Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Exo 1 posted:


-which in the end is just a matter of substrate chauvinism. It doesn't matter if the system thinks with flesh or superconductor or topological braids in doped metallic hydrogen, as long as the logic is the same. And our logic is the same, yours and mine.

If I am a machine, then so are you. If you are not a machine, then neither am I. Exo minds are human. It is incontrovertible.

You understand? I'm going to take that slack-jawed stare as understanding.

Now here's the real question: why are Exo minds human? What's the design imperative? Why does a war machine - yes, absolutely, I am a war machine, built by human hands; and you are a survival machine built by the engine of evolution. Don't interrupt me.

Why does a war machine have emotions? Why should a war machine have awareness? These are not useful traits on the battlefield. Don't flatter yourself. They are not useful. So why should the Exo mind mimic the human architecture so closely?

You know what I smell on you? I smell the stink of anthropocentrism. I think you think that there's only one way to think. That's why the Exo mind is so human, you presum. Because all higher thought converges.

My friend, you should meet the Vex. There is nothing human in them.

Now. This is what I believe happened, back in the time before any Exo can remember. It explains everything.

I think someone wanted to live forever.

This gives the Exo more personality; trying to understand why they are the way they are. It's also incredibly human in nature. After all, we're never satisfied with the thought of 'well I guess it's just the way it was meant to be'. We yearn to understand, to learn, to think. Apparently those wants were transferred to the Exo when they were created, as well.

Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Exo 2 posted:

Hi. Thanks for your interest. I'm recording this for posterity.

Warlock thanatonauts die and come back with insight. I'm going to attempt the same process to get at buried memories. Specifically, I'm going to fire a charged particle beam into my head and see what comes out. We Exos have been around a very long time. I want to know what's in there.

My Ghost is standing by to repair me.

Okay. Three, two, one.

STAG echo six SWORD sierra nine SERPENT

We are falling into the world. Everyone is on fire. There's a ship above us, but it's coming apart just like a flower, alloy and fusion flash, pierced through and through -

The voice says, "Atmospheric interface. Trajectory nominal. Rabid two three you are outside the window." (I think I am the voice)

I can see the whole earth below me and the sky we are falling out of is black without stars.

Ghost, shoot me again.

RAPID four RAMPART four RATCHET tango eight zero

We are on the ice. This is elsewhere and elsewhen. There is a mighty aurora and it is reflected in the ice so I walk between two fires although the one below is cracked and full of corpses. I have and am a weapon.

Up in the sky there is a hole in Jupiter and it tears at me when I look at it. It tears at me. It is hungry. Maybe the hole is not in Jupiter but in me.

CROWN castle candor cobalt coral

Ghost bring me back.

serrate sulfur ANATHEMA amber actual aspen

Ghost bring me back now.

:catdrugs:

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Oct 13, 2017

racerabbit
Sep 8, 2011

"HI, I WANT TO HUG PINS NUTS."
:frolf:
Thank you for doing the Grimoire cards as I could never be arsed enough to try and track down every Ghost shell, or get XYZ kills to get them all.


The Grimoire was a design misstep so egregious that it bothers me to this day. Why force your players to an outside source to read up on the things they unlock, when you already have a hub world where they can access various kiosks?

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
We're closing in on the end of the base game now, and after this update, it's all up to Ugg to storm the Black Garden. For the time being, the Vex are surging across the surface of Mars, and the Gunslinger goes to investigate the cause down in the bowels of a Martian transit system.



Edit: I was recently a guest on a video in nine-gear crow's Ace Combat 6 LP, so if you like planes, or (God help you) my commentary, you should definitely go check it out if you haven't already!

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Oct 15, 2017

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
So I have a little bit of grinding to do to prepare the Bladedancer for its time in the spotlight, and I've really got nothing better to do with my time aside from listen to the RLCS cast, so I figure, why not stream it! Drop by and say hi while I try not to fail too hard at a class/subclass I generally haven't played!

https://www.twitch.tv/pythonicus


All done for right now. More grinding is in my future.

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Oct 15, 2017

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.


Another mid-week update, another Grimoire foray. Last time we saw what we could see from the friendly playable races. Now let's turn our attention to some of our foes. Some of these cards have already been shared from the last thread, but for the sake of consistency and ease of access, I'm going to repeat them here. So, let's get started. First up, the Fallen.


Grimoire Card: The Fallen posted:

"We have butchers at our gates - four-armed and eager for slaughter."

The Fallen are ruthless scavengers. Brutal and uncaring, they arrived on their massive Ketches in the wake of the Collapse to loot and pillage our devastated worlds.

There are hints of ancient nobility to the Fallen - the scars of lost grandeur. The Kells of their scattered Houses still claim to be royalty. But they leave only grief and wreckage in their wake.


Grimoire Card: Dreg posted:

"Don't underestimate a cutthroat, or you'll get your throat cut."

Dregs cling to the lowest rung of Fallen society. Docked of their lower arms in a ritual of humiliation and obediance, Dregs seek to prove their worth. Only a few will survive to gain promotion and regrow their limbs. Their suicidal bravery is fueled by ambition and shame.


Grimoire Card: Shank posted:

"Death flies on tarnished wings."

Shanks are the bulldogs of the Fallen. Small and tough enough to go where Dregs won't fit, they scout, keep watch, and patrol. Fallen Walkers deploy Shanks from internal bays for tactical support and field repairs.


Grimoire Card: Vandal posted:

"You could drown the City in the blood they've spilt."

Soldiers, brawlers, assassins, and scouts, Vandals are the seasoned regulars who fill out the skilled roles within a Fallen crew. Whether from distance or up close and personal, they are seasoned, efficient killers, with an arsenal of weaponry and tech to match their bloodlust.


Grimoire Card: Captain posted:

"Waves of them smashed against our walls, hissing and wailing. But it was the one who stood beyond them, silent and scenting the air, that froze the blood in our veins."

Having clawed and knifed his way to the top, scattering bodies and limbs in his wake, the Captain is the strongest and most ferocious member of the crew he musters around himself. His ration of Ether is the largest, his blades the sharpest, his guns the finest. Upon his shoulders hangs the flag of his House, if he swears loyalty to any. For his crew, the slightest hesitation to comply earns a slash from his sword. Defiance results in immediate amputation, if he is in a good mood, or death, if he is not.


Grimoire Card: Servitor posted:

"A floating light, a sleepless eye. Their hope, their faith, their sustenance."

Servitors are living relics of the once-mighty Fallen civilization. Packed with ultrasophisticated machinery, they process matter and energy into the Ether that the Fallen depend on for life. In battle they support the Fallen with defensive systems and their own powerful energy weapons. Outside, they anchor Fallen comms and provide vital technological acumen.

Servitors have complex relationships with each other and with their Fallen crews. Servitors are attached to a Prime, a massive Servitor which exists in unclear symbiosis with a Fallen Archon. The Archon conveys the Kell's wishes to the Prime Servitor, and exerts some measure of control. Recent developments suggest that Prime Servitors are more than a focus of worship and logistical activity. They may play a key role in Fallen star flight.


Grimoire Card: House of Devils posted:

"The Devils take whatever nature has yet to claim."

These are the scourge of the City, the shadow below our walls. This is the House that led the battle at the Twilight Gap, the House we tell our children about to frighten them into behaving.

The House of Devils have now devoted great strength to pillaging the Cosmodrome in Old Russia, hunting for something buried below. If they are not held in check, whatever they find might prove the City's undoing.


Grimoire Card: House of Exile posted:

"They live among the Hive. Of course they're crazy."

There is more than a whiff of desolation about these Fallen. Their ranks are swollen with Dregs; their rags threadbare. Perhaps this is a new House, gathered from the outcast malcontents and disgraced castaways of the others, galvanized by pride or hate or the desire for freedom.

Be watchful. If this is true, they will surely be hungry to secure their position and that may drive them to bold action.


Grimoire Card: House of Winter posted:

"Their greed is as much a threat as their blades."

The Fallen House of Winter, led by the ruthless Kell Draksis, have been found operating in and around the Ishtar Sink on Venus. Their interests there seem directed at the ruins of the Academy along the Shattered Coast, but there are concerns that their focus may, in actuality, be directed elsewhere -- toward the ominous Citadel that rises like a warning above the Waking Ruins.


"Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Fallen 1 posted:

Cayde-6 Reminisces

Okay, okay, I'll tell the story about that one Fallen.

It didn't happen like that. We didn't, you know, do anything actively -- no handshake, no icy stare of
grudging mutual respect. I don't even know which hand you would shake. Do they shake hands? It must be complicated.

Anyway, it was like this. I was on the Moon. I cracked a Hive structure near Mare Imbrium, looking for a Shrine, and they just swarmed. Ranks and ranks and ranks of Thrall, pouring out between the columns, but the columns were Knights, and all the shadows behind them rose up hissing sorcery.

Of course I ran.

I had a line of egress and while yes it was full of Thrall I had a backup too. I went upslope. Took cover in the shadow of a crashed Phaeton. Emptied my machine gun, ducked down to reload, and saw her at the other end of the hull, killing Thrall: a Fallen in Exile colors, bannered in the marks of a Baron, though the flags were clawtorn
and stained with Hive ash. She was alone. I think she must have lost her crew.

I didn't really have time to shoot her and she didn't really have time to shoot me so we just went back to killing Hive. Knights pushed me out into the open and back up the range to a high stone saddle in the shadow of an old interferometry array. It was good ground so she came up there too.

For a while we just killed things which is hard to make interesting in a story so I'll pass it over.

At the end the Wizards came. I climbed the array to get an angle on them and she fell back to the base of the antennae where she broke her swords off in a Knight. I saw that happen and I don't know if I can tell you how I felt. She was another living thing with a mind I could understand and she hadn't howled at me or tried to eat my Ghost. I cheered when the Knight went down.

When I came down, empty on all guns, she was slumped against a bulkhead staring at me with all her tiny black eyes. Ether leaking out of her like smoke. The Knight hadn't died easily. Downslope, the last Wizard moved like fire behind another line of Thrall.

I looked at her and wondered how many innocent human lives she'd ended on those broken blades.

She did the strangest thing then. Took the last shock pistol from her bandolier and threw it between us, as if to offer it. When I went to pick it up she tried to knife me, but she was slow, and when I broke her arms and opened her throat she didn't seem surprised.

To this day I wonder if she hated me, or wanted to make me kill her, or just felt she should spare me the choice.

I did kill a few Thrall with that pistol.

I like this one; anything that features Cayde is pretty good in my book. I also enjoy the fact that in the face of a mutual enemy (at least in this particular story), the Fallen was more interested in beating back the Hive. It's a pretty cool thing to see, even if it was outside of the game. Anyway, one last card for this update. There are two more Fallen cards beside, but they're for things we haven't quite seen yet.

Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Fallen 2 posted:

A ROUTINE SUMMATION OF DARLINGS WON AND HEROICALLY HELD DURING THIS PROFITABLE CYCLE, AS COMPILED BY A DREG

ammunition of rich makes, quantity adequate to incinerate 6X6 foe
11 operational weapons, alien design, suitable for salvage
3 explosive charges of obvious design, suitable for salvage
1 cabal fusion reactor, disabled but perhaps repairable
61 machines, alien, inoperable, unknown significances
13 alien machines, inoperable, known significances
3 glints
7 herealways
1103 twists of essence
15 human body parts, kept for study, scorn
55 human adornments, full of glory and warm memory, worth the cost of their acquisition and more so
some ether, quantity negligible
considerable experience in battle
4 dregs dead, rendering House of Winter weaker
1 dreg honoring self and House, leading to consideration of fabricated arms
1 disabled Fallen skiff, scrubbed of House identity and stories
1 Fallen story found beside the disabled skiff, unknown House, partly corrupted, rendered as follows:

what others call dark which is not I know what it is but no time room calm given for an appropriate telling so I say only that what is not shadow is an ally and a wonder and I respect what I cannot steal from and you cannot take from the dark you can claim only pain from the dark and that is why the dark is worthy of love beyond all other love that astonishing ability to evade being robbed I love what I will not name

1 story, Fallen and found beneath the skiff, unknown House, story uncorrupted

subsequently the second recording has been washed away

operator error

I know what no one else knows and now I am a marvel with ten thousand arms

Again with the :catdrugs:. :wtc:

That last line is of some significance, even so. On the surface it looks like quite a bit of word soup, but in knowing what the rest of the cards state, arms are the Fallen's defacto status symbol. Whatever this particular Dreg found made him feel as though he had become elevated from the rank and file. What he found is fairly ambiguous, but an exotic added in a later expansion might be some sort of clue:



Not much, but maybe y'all can make something of it!

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Oct 19, 2017

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Is there anything in particular that makes an exotic better than another? Most of the ones you've shown seem to all do pretty good in the raids or otherwise. Is it a PVP thing?

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.

Kibayasu posted:

Is there anything in particular that makes an exotic better than another? Most of the ones you've shown seem to all do pretty good in the raids or otherwise. Is it a PVP thing?

The exotic weaponry more or less comes down to personal preference. There are some that were head and shoulders above the rest in terms of performance due to their exotic abilities--like say the Ice Breaker--but you could honestly make do with whatever you had, or whatever was your favorite. That being said, exotics (or, rather, I should say, current exotics, not years-ago ones) are themselves an entire class above legendary (purple-colored) weaponry or armor. More defense, more damage, that sort of thing.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
It's time. Ugg and the Guardians have traveled incredible lengths through the solar system, cut down the armies of the Darkness by the drove, and finally, he stands at the gates of the Black Garden. It's time to become Legend.

racerabbit
Sep 8, 2011

"HI, I WANT TO HUG PINS NUTS."
:frolf:
Whatever became of the Exo Stranger? AFIK, she just up and disappears, never to be seen or heard from again.

Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

Ghosts of Mars not only features Ice Cube but Jason Statham too! It is indeed an amazingly bad trashy movie.

Boss fights where you don't actually fight the boss are my favorite :effort:

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.

AltaBrown posted:

Whatever became of the Exo Stranger? AFIK, she just up and disappears, never to be seen or heard from again.

You're absolutely correct. This is her last appearance in Destiny 1, and I haven't played or watched anything about Destiny 2, so I can't say if she's done for the series or not.

In other news, I've done a boatload of grinding and managed to come out of it with a number of new and actually current-level exotics to show off for you fine folk, including a showcase on what sort of thing goes into finding/making one. We've also got the Vault completely recorded and edited, so I can finally say that I'm completely finished with Destiny 1.0! Three updates left and we'll finally be into The Dark Below.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Sorry I didn't have a midweek Grimoire update for this week. As you might have guessed, I've been deeply mired in playing Destiny 2 over the last five days or so, and haven't managed my time particularly well. I'll make it up with two Grimoire updates this week, but before then, let's have an actual video update.

Our Gunslinger is getting sent to the Dust Palace, a region of Freehold that once housed Mars' Warmind. The Cabal have unleashed their Psion Flayers in order to try and break into the Warmind's firewalls, and it's up to us to stop them. This update was recorded live, and I kind of did things a little out of order. I have the other Strike recorded, and I had fully intended to have that one up first, but it required slightly more editing than usual. Cerberus Vae III will be the next video, not the Vault of Glass. Another thing I didn't mention in the video was that Dust Palace was at first a Playstation timed-exclusive Strike. Interesting stuff.

racerabbit
Sep 8, 2011

"HI, I WANT TO HUG PINS NUTS."
:frolf:
I can pop in my Destiny 1 disk if you need people in the future. Just don't expect voice chat, my internet is garbage.

Pythonicus
Apr 1, 2011

I just wanted to say...
I love you.
Happy belated Halloween! In today's Grimoire update, we're going to focus on learning about Destiny's resident nightmare creatures, the Hive. As with the Fallen cards, there are more, but those will be saved for another time.




Grimoire Card: The Hive posted:

"There are nightmares rising from the shadows, and they hunger for our dying hope."

The Hive are an ancient, festering evil. Their antipathy to the Light transcends hatred. To the Hive, the eternal struggle between Light and Dark is not only a war, it is a crusade - all Light must be devoured so Darkness can reclaim the universe.


Grimoire Card: Thrall posted:

"The shadows have claws."

Feral and fearless, Thrall are a plague upon the battlefield. Their swarming, twisted frames are driven by unfettered rage. Of all the terrors born of the Hive's vile will, they are the basest.


Grimoire Card: Acolyte" posted:

"Belief is a powerful weapon."

It would be a mistake to view the Hive's Acolytes as foot soldiers, because the Hive is not merely an army, it is a dark force rising. It is belief and horror, and its Acolytes are its instruments, hungry to commit the atrocities that will drive their own ascension.


Grimoire Card: Knight posted:

"It put up a hand and swallowed the rocket with a wall of shadow."

A roaring, striding fortress, the Knight is the Hive's foremost and most zealous defender. Centuries of battle have toughened the bony protrusions on its body into an armor as hard as relic iron - a defense only strengthened by the Hive magic that Knights use to summon shields of burning force.


Grimoire Card: Ogre posted:

"Its gaze shattered the rock, and then it smashed the rock to powder."

Charged with Hive sorcery, Ogres are abominations of flesh and rage, unleashed from the deepest Hive tunnels as engines of destruction. Apocryphal lore suggests that Ogres undergo terrible transformations as they grow - agonizing rituals that gift them with might and cunning.


Grimoire Card: Wizard posted:

"The only word for what we saw is sorcery"

The Wizard is the scalpel with which the Hive vivisect the universe. A nightmare of rag and bone, the Wizard conceals herself within darkness and fire, dissecting and experimenting on anything that falls into her clutches.

This is the card that explicitly states that Wizards are, in fact, female. I'm not entirely sure why that's particularly significant, but perhaps Wizards are how the Hive breed, beyond just raising Thrall out of corpses?


Grimoire Card: The Hidden Swarm posted:

"Mind the cracks and crevices of the Moon. There is an army in their shadows."

Boiling from the wounded surface of the Moon, the Hidden Swarm is the Hive's outermost line of defense - a numberless legion that repels intruders before they breach the temples and shrines of the vast Hive fortress.


Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Hive posted:

We were overwhelmed. I could not save mine, so I have hidden myself where I might be found by the others, if they even survive. There is most likely no possibility of my return to the City. I prepare here in summary the knowledge so painfully won by my Guardian and our fireteam.

The Moon has been geoengineered into an impregnable fortress, designed to support a vast number of - creatures - if any mind could be evil enough to create them. Are they alive? They move, they shriek, they fall upon us in ravenous waves. But I see death, decay, and corruption, not life. We discovered, to our sorrow, one massive set of gates. There are likely more.

We met a towering monster, wielding a sword of utter darkness. The Light only made it hungry. We tried to fight, and we fell. Too many times to remember.

We were all brave, I assure you. May the Light find Guardians capable of facing this monstrosity, or I fear the Moon may be lost to us forever.

I believe this card is actually unlocked at the end of the first mission on the Moon, The Dark Beyond. With this in mind, we can reasonably assume that this and the next Ghost fragment card tell the story of the Guardian we found at the gates of the Temple of Crota.

Grimoire Card: Ghost Fragment - Hive 2 posted:

At the doors to the Temple he fell for the last time. He fell, and I could not reach him.

My own Light flickers.

They took me down into the dark, past tiers of massed Hive, more than we believed could exist. Past grisly nurseries hung with pupae. Past writhing worms that they swallow whole. I saw the armaments of war.

I am weak, so weak.

They have clamped me to this spire while a black foulness eats my Light. The Wizard comes now and then to probe with her scaly claws into my systems, to inquire about my making, the City, what I have seen. I erase and dump as quickly as I can - they will learn little from me - but I am studying them, I know - pain.

Always pain.

I have seen chasms beneath the surface, falling away to green nothingness. I have seen black seeders prepared for invasion.

Their strength is not their own. They draw from another force, something that corrupts, that distorts, that eats and will not be satisfied.

The Wizard is near. I feel her presence as a rip and a knot in the world. She tells me things that I immediately forget. I am too small to hold the vastness of them, or the terror.

I am fading. I have no more that it can take.

With my last light I say to the City: War comes again from the Moon. This time they want Earth. Prepare.

Nothing quite like Ghost stories to wrap up Halloween, eh?

Pythonicus fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Nov 3, 2017

senrath
Nov 4, 2009

Look Professor, a destruct switch!


The longest running LP I'm aware of was Planescape: Torment by Shadow Catboy. It started Dec 03, 2006 and ended on Feb 07, 2011, according to the Let's Play Archive. So you've got a ways to go to becoming the longest running LP :v:

cbx
Dec 4, 2007

Smasher Dynamo's assistant of the Super-League.

senrath posted:

The longest running LP I'm aware of was Planescape: Torment by Shadow Catboy. It started Dec 03, 2006 and ended on Feb 07, 2011, according to the Let's Play Archive. So you've got a ways to go to becoming the longest running LP :v:

Smasher Dynamo's LP of Baseball Mogul started in early 2011 and is still going to this day. Almost 7 years... Man, where has the time gone?

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Kibayasu
Mar 28, 2010

That raid at least breaks up the typical pattern of "big guy at the end surrounded by smaller guys" with... small guys surrounded by small guys.

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