Three years after its release, "Destiny II II" is finally officially coming to PS5.
I'm sure most of you who are still following the series have already tried the PC version of this classic open-world martial arts game. But you'll still have some reasons to buy a motherboard. For example, the smooth 4K picture quality on the PS5, the more calming gameplay atmosphere, and the collectible PS5 physical version.
So, whether you have never been exposed to this excellent work, or you have not been able to clear the game before for various reasons, maybe this is an opportunity for you to reacquaint yourself with "Destiny of Heaven II". After all, in recent years, it may be considered one of the best martial arts games.
Gameplay differences between the PS5 version and PC
Frankly speaking, I didn't think about using a controller to play Destiny II before.
This is because both its interaction logic and combat system are almost always tailored for keyboard and mouse.
Therefore, when operating with the DualSense controller, the five moves in the original combat routine are forced to split into two sets of operation modes: the four buttons when holding R2, and the triangle button when not pressing R2, which is not as good as the keyboard and mouse in terms of the fluency of combos. The precise interaction that used to be achieved by clicking on an item can now be selected by being close to the alignment, and when multiple items are in close proximity, it can also cause some trouble when selecting a target.
However, although the operation has become a little more complicated, the PS5 version of Destiny II is relatively easy to pick up.
As long as you stand still for about two seconds, the side of the screen will display key reminders for all kinds of complex commands, so that when you need them, you don't have to open the main menu to find them page by page. In fact, the DualSense controller may be a little more convenient to use than a keyboard and mouse when it comes to quick archiving or opening the building interface.
Of course, the most important thing is that compared with keyboard and mouse, controller play gives people a much more leisurely and comfortable feeling, especially in RPG games like "Destiny of Destiny", where the plot, running the map, and doing tasks occupy most of the process. When using the DualSense controller, I was able to lean back in the chair without the restraint of the sight cable, and with the PS5's crisp 4K resolution, I didn't have to worry about the details being blurred when I was farther away from the screen.
The PS5 version of "Destiny Wonder II" is also divided into two types: "Performance Mode" and "Picture Quality Mode". The former runs smoothly at 60 fps stably, while the latter drops to around 30 fps. But to be honest, the difference in picture quality between the two modes is not big for "Destiny II" in terms of perception, so most of the time the experience of performance mode is better.
Unfortunately, Destiny II doesn't include any PS5-specific features like haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and no commands for the trackpad to match the direction of sliding. During my play, there were very few occasions when the controller vibrated on a very small occasion. This also has to be a pity - if it can be better adapted, then the immersion that "Destiny II II" brings to players is bound to reach a higher level.
It is worth mentioning that since the content of "Destiny of Heaven II" is subject to the latest version of PC, the standing paintings of some female characters are also used in the version that was replaced after the release of the game. It's just a pity that in the PS5 environment, players can't customize and change the characters' standing paintings according to their preferences.
It still deserves to be recommended
So if you re-examine "Destiny II" by today's standards, is it still as good as it was back then? The answer is yes.
If the generation of "Destiny of Heaven" is still steadily fighting in the traditional open world of martial arts, then "Destiny of Heaven II" is undoubtedly a work of the sword. It not only adds a lot of detective reasoning parts to the game, turning it into a "Reverse Referee" in a martial arts game, but also uses a brain-opening scene interaction method to bring players an experience similar to CRPGs such as "Baldur's Gate 3".
This kind of innovation is undoubtedly risky. A large number of reasoning parts make the game more text and the pace slows down, while the combat content that can bring players a more intuitive and refreshing feeling is relatively diluted. There's no denying that this approach will be detrimental to players who are bored with puzzle solving, don't like to read large chunks of text, and just want to kill—especially if Destiny is a generation that differentiates itself from traditional turn-based martial arts with its simple and crisp real-time combat.
But it turns out that a game made with a lot of heart will always get a wide acceptance from players and a fair evaluation that it deserves. The richness of the content and the amount of material in "Destiny of Heaven II" are extremely rare among all martial arts games. Although the main story is not very long, you will always be intrigued by many side plots, rumors, and interesting stories and mysteries along the way, and before you know it, you will have spent dozens of hours in the game.
Therefore, even in the face of such a "somewhat provocative" tome, many players still decided to give their own praise. Because the rivers and lakes created by "Destiny of Heaven II" are vivid and interesting, allowing you to put all kinds of strange ideas and bad ideas into practice, no matter how short or long your stay here is, there will always be a time that impresses you.
The four interactive operations of showing, igniting, destroying, and luck are applied to almost everything in "Destiny of Heaven II", and they will get appropriate feedback. You may have an attitude of trying and accidentally burn your father's tribute table clean; It may also be because he is not used to seeing the trouble-making goose, and he will beat it to his knees and get the lesson it deserves.
This process of thinking-trying-succeeding is also the most simple but incomparably tempting fun that many puzzle games give players, and in the open world of "Destiny II" with a high degree of freedom, you can be an arsonist and push the king of people recklessly and as you like, because most of the time, there will always be other ways to get the items you missed, and a task can also be completed in many ways.
Among the many ways to complete it, there is no shortage of direct battles with others. And when I replayed "Destiny of Heaven II", my most intuitive feeling is the degree of freedom of martial arts genres.
You don't need to reach the threshold of attribute points such as "Sword, Sword", etc., in order to learn the corresponding martial arts, but you can directly eat all martial arts unconditionally, and each time you learn a complete set of martial arts, the five moves contained in it can be mixed and matched with other martial arts. In battle, you can also switch between several types of swords, sticks, and fists at will, so that you can really use whatever move you want.
This may also be a trend in the development of martial arts games in recent years. Rather than carefully planning the martial arts grid and only mastering one type of martial arts for the rest of their lives, players may prefer to "I want them all" and try out as many different martial arts as possible to achieve their effects and actual combat performance. Although the combat system of "Destiny II" may still lack in feel and depth, it is at least satisfactory in terms of matching flexibility - and because of this advantage, the combat system of this game has even been extracted separately and used in the gaiden work "Destiny of Destiny: Homecoming".
Looking back at the martial arts works released in recent years, it is not difficult to find that the original success of "Destiny of Heaven II" is not unrelated to its concept of attaching importance to players' demands. "Harem Ending" has become the standard when it was released, and when the female character in the game is not good-looking, the official is also actively modified, and the player is given the final decision - you can change the character's standing art according to your own aesthetic preferences.
Of course, this does not mean that it will be rotten, because in the follow-up "Destiny: Homecoming", the level of vertical painting of the characters has obviously improved to a certain extent. Perhaps, at least in terms of the aesthetics of vertical painting, we may not need to worry about the problems that may exist in the follow-up works in the future.
General comments
Evaluating the PS5 version of "Destiny of Heaven II", I believe that the words "no merit and no fault" are the most appropriate. Because it itself is one of the best martial arts games in recent years, and the experience of the PS5 version is not much different from that of PC. Compared with dozens of hours of game content, the price of 149 Hong Kong dollars also seems to be very cost-effective.
Of course, I'm sure most players are like me, and what they're looking forward to more than this PS5 version is "When will Destiny III come?" ”。