Among the complaints leveled at Destiny were those involving the uncharismatic performance of Ghost, your robotic companion. Better dialogue could have helped, and as it turns out, Bungie did solicit two well-known comedians for that purpose, though their work apparently went unused.
Speaking with IGN, David Cross–best known as Tobias Funke from Arrested Development and for his work on Mr. Show with Bob Odenkirk–revealed that he spent a brief time working on dialogue for Ghost. He said he did this along with fellow comedian (and Mr. Show alum) Brian Posehn, both of which were flown to Bungie HQ for a few days prior to Destiny’s release.
“Brian Posehn and I got asked and jumped at the chance,” Cross said in a new podcast. “We were flown up to Bellevue, Washington to do a punch-up on the Ghost character in Destiny about a year ago. We were both very excited about it. They did not use a single, solitary thing that we wrote, which is a shame because we wrote some stuff that–you know, we’re gamers, and they… I would imagine somebody somewhere said, ‘We can’t inject this levity or humor into it.'”
Cross went on to say he’s played Destiny and–like so many others–found Ghost to be somewhat lacking.
“[W]hen you’re at an hour 20 of that thing, it’s like the Ghost is kind of monotone saying this thing, ‘We must get over the ridge. That’s the Cabal–we’ve got to defeat him.’ Whatever, it’s boring as s***, and I speak for myself and Brian, and I know thousands if not millions of other gamers would be like, ‘It would be nice to have a joke or something in there.’ You think we’re going to f*ck with the tone? But it was very exciting to go up there and get paid to play a video game a year before it came out.”
He couldn’t remember any specifics of what he or Posehn had written, but described some of it as “self-reverential,” while other things were “winking to gamers.”
Cross has done some work in games before, voicing characters in Halo 2 (which Bungie developed prior to Destiny) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Posehn, too, did some voicework for Halo 2.
Destiny is set to get another major expansion later this year in The Taken King. Bungie this week revealed a full rundown on what you can expect from the DLC, which is set to cost $40.