And remember, if Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then Yakuza 0, K1, K2, and Gaiden are Christmas games. So I will be celebrating the season by punching Ryuji repeatedly while drunk on Muscle Soda

But I have gotten my DnD party christmas gifts too....

The promise of character changing trauma, as is tradition!!! Casting Dominate Person in a language only one character can hear is completely normal and in tune with the season right?!

I think TLDR: I've never liked Star Wars, it was far too much of that not enough of Destiny, story was rushed and underbaked and abandoned concepts way too soon to be interesting or cohesive.

Bungie, please do better.

I know Destiny stories for a while have had a part where its 'do a "mission" thats actually the strike/post campaign activity" but this was Curse of Osiris levels of that, and not in a good or memorable way

Also the flow of the campaign, it was mission - borderlands 3 talk to Lilith - cutscene - glorified Lawless Frontier tutorial - borderlands 3 talk to Lilith - mission - repeat. I just don't understand the people who said this felt better than Edge of Fate, I really don't I'm sorry

This felt like 'how can we cram a destiny-esque story into star wars' more than 'how can we use star wars to inspire the story further', and I really really hope this is the only time they do a collab like this, because it just didn't fit whatsoever

Jabba's Sand Barge, the Sarlac Pit, Tattooine, Lightsabres, Death Star explosion, Trench Run, AT-ATs, the Cantina, literal fucking Jizz (look it up), the 'lawless frontier', Stormtroopers, the design of the cabal ships and interiors, the music, the guns and sound design...i could go on...

Allison in interviews and the ViDoc said 'we had to start with how does the bad version of this look'.... I'm sorry but it felt like they left it at that, I felt like I was watching a Star Wars fan film more often that I felt like I was playing a Destiny 2 story

What I'm trying to get at here is this campaign had so many spinning plates, it felt like instead of concentrating on keeping one spinning, they tried with all of them and they all fell off their spikes the moment somebody put Star Wars on the TV...which is another thing....

And the nine continue to be a concept that on paper is amazing, but in execution feel too disconnected from a tangible universe that they feel cryptic even in their explanation. Without knowing the lore behing VI, it wanting to flee to the Ascendent Plane feels so far out of left field it's a foul..

Zavala's inclusion exists to give him so many death flags he's selling them at a car boot sale. Eido is a needed non-lightbearer's perspective on things, but she felt too included for what she served. Bael's arc was put on fast forward after Nightfall and feels completely out of place and sudden

But whereas Destiny stories revolve around a small cast, this uses, technically, 14, not including the young wolf, and it feels needlessly bloated. Lume is the biggest nothingburger in the franchise - a Caiatl defectee Emperor Zurg looking ass who for some reason is the campaign final boss?

I'll give credit, Drifter and Eris was brilliantly written as they always were under Hazel, and whoever's taken her mantle has done a fine job. No direct spoilers here but IT FINALLY HAPPENED AHHHHH. Lodi and Brian Villalobos were fantastic as in EoF, and it was great hearing Keith David again

Don't get me started on her design, or her being whitewashed when she's described as brown skinned and of indian descent in the lore. Fire and Ice was a really good exotic mission, but it's connection to the lightsabre was tentative at best, we didn't need another 'balance light and dark' beat...

Aunor felt like such a wasted inclusion. She exists as the Jedi to Bael's Sith, and for the lightsabre cutscene, that's it. The story assassinates the point of the Praxics, retcons and overwrites established timelines of guardian activity, and makes them look like idiots when they're an 'elite'

Like, Blue and Drifter's hatred for one another was well documented in lore, hinted at in the missives over the last two 'seasons', and after a mission Blue fucks off angry at Drifter's plan, and doesn't come back until two missions left and all the animoscity is just gone... and she's fine with him