The Final Shape - Bungie’s Best Comeback

We sit once more on the other side of a dark situation. As we ventured into The Final Shape, the entire community, myself included, was uncertain if Bungie could deliver. Following a series of poor internal decisions and the disastrous launch of Lightfall, the company's reputation had taken a significant hit. Yet, as any Destiny fan will tell you, Bungie often produces their best content when they're on the brink. When the first glimpse of The Final Shape appeared in their ViDoc, many of us became cautiously optimistic. As the months passed and the final set of ViDocs were released, anticipation grew. We all looked at each other and said ‘Bungie cooked’.

Despite this growing excitement, we approached launch day with tempered expectations. Fortunately, Bungie brought the intensity and creativity needed to conclude a 10-year saga on a high note.

How Good Is The Final Shape?

The short version, near perfect, but not fully flaw free. The majority of the problems surfaced on day one. For those unfamiliar with Bungie's history, the company has a reputation for launching expansions with significant server issues and instability. This is understandable, considering the hundreds of thousands of login requests that overwhelm the servers, leading to crashes and error codes. It's not as simple as "buy more servers," despite what some uninformed forum posters might suggest.

Does it suck? Absolutely. Is it easy to fix completely? No. The launch of The Final Shape, however, was the worst day one experience ever. Many servers were non-functional, and unlike previous launches where you could at least load into a queue, this time even that was impossible. I was one of the lucky ones who managed to get in and play through the first few missions before the servers went down again. Overall, the server downtime was the worst and longest for any expansion launch. This scared many players and dampened some of the hope for a comeback.

Overall Experience - Campaign

The first thing every DLC offers is its main story content, and the campaign is the centerpiece at launch. "The Final Shape" delivered some of the most enjoyable story content I've experienced since "Witch Queen." Bungie adopted a linear approach to this campaign, and it paid off in spades. You start by the portal you enter from and quest across the Pale Heart to the Witness’s stronghold. As you progress, you can see where you started becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. This approach also aids in storytelling, providing a more structured way to unfold the story beats. The environment gradually changes the closer you get to the Witness, becoming more demented and unsettling. The environmental storytelling in "The Final Shape" is unparalleled, no question. Overall, the story leading up to the after-campaign content is very strong. Some argue that the beginning of the DLC, where most time is spent reuniting the fireteam, is lacking, but I believe the entire journey from start to end is well-paced and thoroughly engaging.

Overall Experience - Post Campaign

Once the main story is complete, we find ourselves in a unique position compared to past expansions. Typically, raids are the next major story beat or content drop, but in "The Final Shape," the raid is the ultimate determinant of our fate. All post-campaign content revolves around preparing for this final battle. Missions involve saving ghosts with Micah-10, each opening with the ominous message, "The final shape looms, allied assault in 3 days." Additionally, a huge timer on everyone’s quest log counted down to the big day, adding to the tension and anticipation. It was truly nerve-wracking. The exotic quests on offer in "The Final Shape" are quite strong. One of the highlights was witnessing the long-awaited passing of the torch for the Hunter Vanguard from Cayde-6 to Crow (FINALLY), with the reward being a sniper rifle that literally transforms into a Golden Gun.

The Microcosm quest is decent but not exceptional, as it requires you to tackle harder versions of story missions with added mechanics that necessitate teamwork. Unfortunately, coordinating with others often proved more challenging than anticipated.

Finally, the Khvostov quest stands out as problematic due to its length and reliance on collecting items.

PS: Collecting the prismatic fragments is not really ‘content’ in the normal sense, but some of them require special challenges which are neat.

Overall Experience - Raid

I have yet to do it, but from what I watched from the day one raid race and hear from those who have played it, its the best raid we have ever gotten. And it’s hard. So yay. Really looking forward to encounter 4 (send help).

Conclusion

Overall, "The Final Shape" was exactly what was needed to save Bungie and the game from a potentially disappointing end. A lot of confidence has been restored, and players are eagerly looking forward to what’s next. Bungie has shown they can deliver exceptional content, but do we really need to wait until things are dire for them to bring their A-game? They have laid the groundwork for success, and now they just need to continue following it into 2025 and beyond, into whatever new saga awaits us.

Thank you, Bungie, for an amazing 10 years and a satisfying conclusion to the Light and Dark story.