Games Happy

Again when the Final Want raid arrived, gamers dove into it in quest of the various hidden needs it contained. These needs might be enter onto the Wall of Needs, granting gamers sure issues like fast entry to bosses, distinctive voice strains, and extra. However quickly, gamers found {that a} want was lacking.

Want 15 would possibly go down as one of many longest standing searches in Future historical past. Its significance to the group was not misplaced on Bungie. To that finish, the workforce had lengthy been occupied with methods to revisit the concept of Want 15 and methods to tie it into the story in a significant method.

Enter Season of the Want, the return to the Dreaming Metropolis and the séance with the mighty wish-giving dragon, Riven. It was the proper second and one the narrative workforce gripped tightly. I not too long ago had the pleasure of talking with the narrative workforce in a Q&A roundtable the place they supplied extra perception into how they labored to grant gamers their want.

Very similar to Oryx’s physique post-King’s Fall raid, the fifteenth want was one thing burning at the back of Bungie builders’ minds. “It’s one thing that has been at the back of our minds for a very long time,” Nikko Stevens, Senior Narrative Designer stated. “We have been simply ready for the very best alternative to convey that ahead.”

The difficulty with tackling a narrative beat like Want 15 is how a lot gamers have constructed it up of their minds. It’s been this thriller for eight years. Gamers have devoted untold hours into taking part in Future 2, looking out via the raid, and even datamining content material in an try to see if it’s even actual. The one proof of its existence is an unlisted Triumph with the flavour textual content:

Fifteenth Want

“This one you shall cherish.” – Riven of a Thousand Voices

I’m certain Bungie had gotten to the purpose the place it was a authentic concern whether or not or not they may do Want 15 justice. “There was numerous warning there about what it might imply to revisit [Wish 15] and type of how excessive the stakes have been and methods to pay that off for the gamers,” Brian Frank stated. A part of why Bungie was so cautious about utilizing the fifteenth want is because of the reverence it had acquired locally.

This concept of the gamers discovering one thing fascinating and Bungie revisiting it in a significant method is nothing new. One of many oldest examples of Bungie taking the community-driven curiosity and weaving it again into the story is the loot cave.

Method again within the first Future recreation, gamers found a cave within the Cosmodrome the place, in the event you stood again far sufficient, enemies would constantly spawn. This resulted in teams of gamers standing there, taking pictures right into a collapse hopes {that a} foe would drop a robust bit of drugs, sufficient to extend their Gentle degree.

Not solely did Bungie tip its hat to the player-led motion by placing just a little pile of bones there for gamers to see, however they introduced it again with the Grasp of Avarice dungeon. For Brian Frank, weaving these player-created moments again into the story of Future 2 is vital, as he believes it permits gamers to really feel like they’re part of the in-lore narrative.

However when it comes to Want 15, the mythology surrounding it virtually made it untouchable. And but, via the end result of occasions main as much as Season of the Want, the narrative workforce had all these story threads that wanted to be tied collectively neatly. The return to the Dreaming Metropolis, the involvement of Riven, and the necessity to pursue the Witness – all of them coalesced into this excellent second. “It was a great alternative to pitch the fifteenth want to management sort of as our technique of getting access to the Witness and the Pale Coronary heart,” Jonathan To, Narrative Lead, stated.

I requested them if the 15^th want was one of many sticky notes on Robert Brookes’ wall. “I am certain Robert has thought in regards to the subject, however on this explicit case a lead author named Raphael Ahad made this pitch,” To stated.

It’s ones of these moments in a narrative the place an early plot level or thriller comes again and has this main payoff. What higher approach to honor the dedication of gamers than to offer Want 15 the last word accountability of permitting us to pursue the Witness and halt its universe-destroying actions?

This concept of planting seeds with a purpose to reap the narrative rewards later is nothing new for Bungie. It’s a method the workforce has spoken about beforehand, and the payoff is all the time so delightfully price it. Even now, the workforce is leaving some doorways locked and a few horizons simply out of attain in order that they could faucet into it sooner or later. However for now, the truth that gamers have been so obsessive about Want 15 led Bungie to put it to use as a story machine. The gamers have given it life, mainly wishing it into existence.