The First Descendant Could Have Been The Destiny Killer If Not For These Issues

After playing the open beta for a bit, I was quite excited to jump back into The First Descendant after its launch. Many players tried to get into it as a substitute for Destiny 2; the similarities between both titles are there, after all. However, the experiences I’ve had both times have been completely different. Only rarely does it happen that an open beta of an AAA project turns out to be much smoother than the final release even after many patches. 

Additionally, it’s not just your run-of-the-mill issues that impacted my experience—like what happens with other AAA games these days. Certain decisions made by Nexon prior to the release also came back to haunt the promising RPG. In other words, the devs themselves sabotaged the chances of the RPG’s survival.

Since its release—and even after a month—The First Descendant is standing at “mixed” reviews on Steam, with 54% now being positive. Let’s explore what caused the post-launch period of the Warframe-inspired title to screw up this bad.

The Open Beta Went So Well, So What Happened?

Now, I’m not claiming that the open beta period of the RPG was completely flawless. There were problems, but you could feel that the main crux of the title was quite polished and seemed to satisfy many players. Unfortunately, as soon as I launched the title, the servers began to have issues.

Players who successfully survive logging into the servers without getting kicked are often greeted by many technical and gameplay glitches. There have been crashes, FPS drops, and other mishaps that were not present during the open beta period. And for a spoiler, having a good enough graphics card will not help the stuttering. 

Greedy Microtransactions Have Damaged The Launch The Most

Everything I’ve pointed out thus far can be fixed in the future, so even all that can be forgiven if you have a big heart. What cannot be ignored is what Nexon has done with microtransactions in The First Descendant. The beta test allowed you to craft the paints for free, but the final release requires you to pay the premium game currency. 

Worried about micro transactions
byu/D-Parks inTheFirstDescendant

That is just one of the examples of how broken the microtransactions are in The First Descendant. You have to separately purchase a skin and then pay again if you want to paint it. Okay, cosmetics could be excused by some players. But the title also feels more like a pay-to-win experience because you can upgrade your character using premium currency early on. It easily sets you apart from other players.

The greed of Nexon appears to be evident here, with the many predatory features that have been introduced since the beta. And not much has changed since the launch till now.

The Devs Are Familiar With The Plethora Of Issues

For a more detailed look into the issues, I suggest you catch up through the Reddit post below. One small good thing to come out of the botched launch is that Nexon did acknowledge the various glitches and complaints that The First Descendant players have raised so far and solved a couple of them.

[MEGATHREAD] The First Descendant Launch Technical Issues Megathread
byu/Angel_Valoel inTheFirstDescendant

The First Descendant devs on Twitter formally apologized to the whole community for the messy launch. And as a token of apology, they also awarded us with various perks to help us blitz through the RPG. The devs are also tracking all the issues that have come out of this predicament to fix them in future updates.

The Future Of The Destiny 2-Like Looter Shooter Is In Danger

All in all, we can only be hopeful and assume the best about The First Descendant’s future. While the technical and gameplay issues are slowly being fixed, it remains to be seen what Nexon will do about the predatory microtransaction elements that have been added to the game. Many players have talked about quitting the game on Steam and other forums if Nexon is unable to deal with that dilemma.