Lightfall is such a disappointing expansion in terms of story, and it makes me concerned for The Final Shape. As we near the end of a story that so many have followed, for 9 years now, many have had high hopes. The Witch Queen's campaign was fantastic, and the best Destiny has ever been. Expectations were high, but when Lightfall released, those expectations were shattered. Do you remember how incoherent and nonsensical the base game story of Destiny 1 was? Yup, we reached those levels of storytelling again.
The entire story of Lightfall revolves around characters we don't care about, a new location that we don't care about, finding a Mcguffin that the story REFUSES to explain (even the biggest lore fans have no clue what it is), a villain that's motivations are unclear, so we don't really feel any stakes, and the campaign just feels like a tutorial for the new subclass, Strand. I won't go into spoilers, but if you are playing the Lightfall campaign, and have questions, don't expect a SINGLE one to be answered. Instead, the writers expect you to care for the new race, Cloudstriders, and they base the entire story around THEIR home. Why should we care? Why does the story expect us to want to protect these people that we don't know about? You have to stop Calus and the Witness from reaching "The Veil." When the Veil was first mentioned, I just thought it was something I don't know about, because I took a break from the game. Nope! The entire story is based around defending the Veil and yet we have no clue what it is or what it is capable of! But guess what? If you walk around the new location, Neomuna, there is a chance that you will be able to hear Neomuna news, and it explains what the Veil is! Amazing. Just explain quite possibly one of the most important plot points, in a news coverage that is meant for comedic relief, and you might NEVER hear this if you don't explore the new location.
Strand, on the other hand, is incredibly fun, and is great. The new location is amazing visually, but feels so empty and bland, especially because it is meant to be a thriving city. We get 1 new strike, which is really fun, but no new crucible maps or gambit maps. It's baffling. The QOL additions are great though. If the internal leaks are true, and Lightfall was an expansion that was never planned, but had to be made because Bungie couldn't finish The Final Shape. The story feels rushed and made with ZERO care, and the writing is just bad. I really hope the Final Shape is good or the Destiny story is going to end, with not a bang, and not even a whimper, but a frail little sob.
(EDIT) I upped the score to a 6 because, despite how bad the story was, the gameplay was really good, despite some terrible encounters. The cutscenes were also spectacular, and Bungie's visual direction never ceases to amaze me.
