Destiny's Original Story "Too Linear"
While Destiny may be a major hit now, it didn’t always start out that away, as a detailed report via Kotaku reveals, a LOT of the games original story was scrapped by Bungie, fearing it was “too linear”.
Apparently, according to the report, “Bungie ditched everything” that had been written by former cinematic director Joe Staten and his team. That meant everything needed to be reworked, as Bungie “scrapped plot threads, overhauled characters, and rewrote most of the dialogue” for the game.
Oh wait, it gets better…
The game’s original story, and plot, was condensed into a “super cut,” which was then shown to Bungie leadership once completed. In this version, the plot focused on the Alien Hive kidnapping Rasputin and taking him to their Dreadnaught spaceship. If this sounds familiar, it’s becuase this was moved to The Taken King, which is out now, over a year after the original game was released.
“Originally, this Hive ship would have been part of the main story,” the report states, saying the last third of the game took place entirely on the Dreadnaught. A vast departure from where Destiny ends now.
So, why was this scrapped for the main game? Well, studio leaders felt the story was “too campy and linear,” and scrapped it, starting again from scratch.