• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Death Stranding |OT| Keep Walking, Nothing To See Here

Neoclash

Banned
choose your own adventure, my baby

LMAO
image.jpg
 

Psykodad

Banned
At chapter 3 atm and seeing how the social aspect blossoms and riding someone else's trike over a highway that I helped complete has turned this game into my personal GOTY.

No idea what the overly negative reviewers were smoking. Lol

Also, Fragile is <3
 
Last edited:

Fuz

Banned
I'm not interested in the game, I even never liked Kojima, his stardom, his fascination with Hollywood and I think he has his head too far up his ass. Also the way how he's so reliant on cutscenes.

But I'm grateful that a top tier developer has the balls to try new things, don't conform, go with his vision, take risks. We need people like Hideo. I'm starting to like him.
 
Have you reached the end of chapter 2 yet?

If not, ignore all the side stuff and do what will get you there quickest.

There are some 4th wall breaking moments coming up that might make you reflect differently on a few things.
Yeah there is that classic kojima touch but I cant help but feel Konami May of been the one keeping him in check all these years as this game is brilliant and clever mixed in with boring and repetitive shit

People may call this a journey or gruelling story but it’s fucking lazy game design...u play games for entertainment.....not to spend 35 minutes walking and avoiding the same sort of bt encounters

The pc version I’m actually looking forward to due to mods...maybe they can patch all the boring shit out
 

Rien

Jelly Belly
But I'm grateful that a top tier developer has the balls to try new things, don't conform, go with his vision, take risks. We need people like Hideo. I'm starting to like him.

Also credits to Sony for making this possible. Very much agreed with what you said.

Showtime did the same with Twin Peaks S3. Just Lynch without restrictions. It gave us episode 8!
 

Iceternal

Member
Could setting the difficulty to easy/very easy make the game less tedious if I just want to enjoy the atmosphere/story ? I know I won’t enjoy the gameplay anyways.
 

Terenty

Member
Yeah, unfortunately holding L1 + R2 all the time literally breaks gameplay. You just cant fall, slip, trip etc that way even with a huge load. I have boxes worth of 100kg out of 120 and i can run up and down hills without a care in the world. The speed is exactly the same, no trade off, nothing.

It compromises any traversal mechanics and nuances and voids any challenge

How Kojima tested the game and didnt notice that is beyond me.

This bullshit just kills any desire to play tbh
 
Last edited:

ethomaz

Banned
Game has some real glimpses of great stuff in it but it's full of filler

I would love to see someone take this game and give it the donner cut or something as I get the feeling when kojima hit walls in the creativity.....we got these long ass treks with music thrown in until the next plot point is hit

I'm about 6 hours in now and enjoying it but I'm gonna be honest....I'm probably gonna play it in spurts from now on as the boredom drowns out the enthusiasm

I can see a great game here but it's covered in this repetitive shit
The game shows exactly the opposite... Kojima has never run out of creativity.
Other guys should fail and destroy this game.
 

ethomaz

Banned
So i am on chapter 2. Doing a whole bunch of stuff.

I read a lot of bad stuff about this game.
I think kojima released this game either too soon or too late.
It just shows gaming is still in its infancy.
And by that i mean a lot of people are still treating gaming as .....a game. And not art.
Not an interactive media plattform.
There is just soo much originality here from the characters to equipment and tech and science etc.
And people dont care for that. Is gaming really just about shooting killing stuff? Just constant action? Is gaming ADD?
On top of all that shouldnt gaming be expanded? New genres new type of entertainment?

Its not fun its boring they say.
To me call of duty is not fun. Constant action till my fingers and brain are exhausted is not fun.
Gaming will never evolve till we let creators be creative. If we constantly bash on every new effort and work they come up with no matter if its good or bad we will never get ridd off ea ubisoft bethesda etc who always play it safe.
It blew my mind that even games like prey failed commercialy. And what a great game that was.
I am affraid this game will bomb and we will play the same tiresome run of the mill shit for years to come.
This is a game... not art... Kojima didn't even try to made it as art.
The gameplay alone is more complex then 90% of games released today.
 
Last edited:

Virex

Banned
Could setting the difficulty to easy/very easy make the game less tedious if I just want to enjoy the atmosphere/story ? I know I won’t enjoy the gameplay anyways.
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Death Stranding. The gameplay is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the gameplay and Kojima will go over a typical gamer's head. There's also Kojima's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from very deep movies and literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these Kojima games, to realise that they're not just amazing- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Death Stranding truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the writing in Kojima's existential catchphrase "you rike it," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Hideo Kojima's wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them.

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Hideo Kojima and Death Stranding tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid
 

imsosleepy

Member
Imagine not playing the game because of medicore or negagive reviews. I usully truated giantbomb but for about 2 years they are shit. I even unsubbed 2 montha ago after 10 years....
I would've missed one one of best games ever if I listened to their 2 star review.
I am far in episode 3 and the game is still 10/10. When does is get terrible lol ? No game hard me hooked up to 2am 2 days in a row and I cant wait to play today
i also dont get the pacing issues in the first hours? Constantly new things are added, new parts of the story get unlocked and told. I get to learn more. Things become easier, get more things to do. I just passed the windfarm part and my god nothing has been the same. Kojima nailed the pacing in my opnion.. But dam to bad we live in a world now days where people need everything to happen fast and quick and if not, they cant appreciate it. This game is just different and it should be viewed that way, but certain people who play it and cant handle this type of game just instantly give it a bad review.. Such a shame

But im really suprised that there were so many reviewers who had such a negative feeling from it, cant imagine that from them to be honest after being nearly 6 hours in
 

SLB1904

Banned
Just got to the end of chapter 2 beginning of chapter 3!!!!!! Oh my God! Higgs is amazing. Fragile is Amazing. You're all amazing! I'm hoping the game doesn't change up too much though. I really loved the first 7 hours.

20 hours in and let me tell you i love everything. stoping buy a bridge with soundtrack playing. good lorde
 

Wink

Member
Yeah, unfortunately holding L1 + R2 all the time literally breaks gameplay. You just cant fall, slip, trip etc that way even with a huge load. I have boxes worth of 100kg out of 120 and i can run up and down hills without a care in the world. The speed is exactly the same, no trade off, nothing.

It compromises any traversal mechanics and nuances and voids any challenge

How Kojima tested the game and didnt notice that is beyond me.

This bullshit just kills any desire to play tbh
It's curious to me that yout think that is an oversight. The balance mechanic is not there to make walking in a straight line difficult. It's to make the player avoid terrain that makes him stumble and thus think about what path to take. You're very early on and upgrades make it even clearer that balance is a minor component of a far larger picture. Reviews have needlessly overblown the annoyance of walking, probably because they were too stupid to hold both triggers and actually test the gameplay. I am sure that the developer is fully aware how their mechanic functions. If you can only see the gameplay through your expectations of what it should be, you'll miss what it's actually designed to be.
 

imsosleepy

Member
It's curious to me that yout think that is an oversight. The balance mechanic is not there to make walking in a straight line difficult. It's to make the player avoid terrain that makes him stumble and thus think about what path to take. You're very early on and upgrades make it even clearer that balance is a minor component of a far larger picture. Reviews have needlessly overblown the annoyance of walking, probably because they were too stupid to hold both triggers and actually test the gameplay. I am sure that the developer is fully aware how their mechanic functions. If you can only see the gameplay through your expectations of what it should be, you'll miss what it's actually designed to be.
lmao i saw a lets play yesterday and they never understood u could also hold both the triggers to be perfectly balanced for a while
 

Kagero

Member
i also dont get the pacing issues in the first hours? Constantly new things are added, new parts of the story get unlocked and told. I get to learn more. Things become easier, get more things to do. I just passed the windfarm part and my god nothing has been the same. Kojima nailed the pacing in my opnion.. But dam to bad we live in a world now days where people need everything to happen fast and quick and if not, they cant appreciate it. This game is just different and it should be viewed that way, but certain people who play it and cant handle this type of game just instantly give it a bad review.. Such a shame

But im really suprised that there were so many reviewers who had such a negative feeling from it, cant imagine that from them to be honest after being nearly 6 hours in
People expected to be challenged by NPS's that are clearly defined. They wanted giant robots to shoot lol. Imagine if this was a game where you had to fight off waves of enemies constantly? That would break the entire mechanic of the game. The world and terrain is the enemy. Kojima had a vision and built everything with purpose and intent. I'm so happy this game came along. I recon we will see a lot of other games in the future influenced by it.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Yeah, unfortunately holding L1 + R2 all the time literally breaks gameplay. You just cant fall, slip, trip etc that way even with a huge load. I have boxes worth of 100kg out of 120 and i can run up and down hills without a care in the world. The speed is exactly the same, no trade off, nothing.

It compromises any traversal mechanics and nuances and voids any challenge

How Kojima tested the game and didnt notice that is beyond me.

This bullshit just kills any desire to play tbh
Easy mode.
But it become slow (it not the same speed) as fuck and use stamina too fast
I like to user L2 + R2 just when really needed... most time I correct the balance without need it making the walk faster.

I believe he tested and designed it like that.
 
Last edited:

imsosleepy

Member
Uhm just watched jim sterling review. Did he even play it?? He keeps repeating its just walking but I was able to do alot of quest on bike in chapter 2.. build bridges on ceetain spots, pick up new quest and rush true the area with the sidequests. The bike is fun. Gotta think how u traverse. Neeed materials to build bridges. Place the energy things to get the power. Lots of management to i notice more and more.

Btw the ign review is stupid.. he whines about the cutscenes when u go private room. 3 cutscenes. He complains how he skips them and then there is another and another. But.. they are SUPER SHORT WTF
He makes it look superannoying long
 

Arachnid

Member
I’ve given up. Its hopelessly boring gameplay finally did me in during Chapter 2.
Damn, don't spend too much time in chapter 2. If you can bring yourself to give it another try, get through chapter 3 first. Straight up sprint through 2's main missions. The less time you spend there, the better. This guy does a pretty good job of explaining it in the first 5 minutes of his video.



The amount of people playing this game wrong bleed my mind. Some of them don't even know there is kg unit on the packages.
kg? Pssh, may as well be in newtons for me. Kojima needs to come out with the "lbs" update for this game to be a true American 10/10.
 
Last edited:

Terenty

Member
Uhm just watched jim sterling review. Did he even play it?? He keeps repeating its just walking but I was able to do alot of quest on bike in chapter 2.. build bridges on ceetain spots, pick up new quest and rush true the area with the sidequests. The bike is fun. Gotta think how u traverse. Neeed materials to build bridges. Place the energy things to get the power. Lots of management to i notice more and more.

Btw the ign review is stupid.. he whines about the cutscenes when u go private room. 3 cutscenes. He complains how he skips them and then there is another and another. But.. they are SUPER SHORT WTF
He makes it look superannoying long

Everything is fucking backwards in gaming media. They will shit on anything original, but praise literall checklist design at the same time. They are incompetent, cant play games if they require any modicum of though and attention,etc.

This giant bomb reviewer gave Mafia 3 4/5 and Assasins Creed Syndicate 4/5.

Facepalm if you ask me
 

Bryank75

Banned
Yeah, unfortunately holding L1 + R2 all the time literally breaks gameplay. You just cant fall, slip, trip etc that way even with a huge load. I have boxes worth of 100kg out of 120 and i can run up and down hills without a care in the world. The speed is exactly the same, no trade off, nothing.

It compromises any traversal mechanics and nuances and voids any challenge

How Kojima tested the game and didnt notice that is beyond me.

This bullshit just kills any desire to play tbh
Really doesn't matter that much dude, you soon have gear that makes you kinda forget about that.... I've been on my bike a lot of the time and other gear that might be a spoiler.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
11 hours or so in now and just got to Episode 3. This game just keeps getting better in my book.

The music (and the timing for when it plays) has just been perfect so far, too.

kg? Pssh, may as well be in newtons for me. Kojima needs to come out with the "lbs" update for this game to be a true American 10/10.

The funny thing is that Sam's gear does display weight limits in pounds!
 

Bryank75

Banned
11 hours or so in now and just got to Episode 3. This game just keeps getting better in my book.

The music (and the timing for when it plays) has just been perfect so far, too.



The funny thing is that Sam's gear does display weight limits in pounds!
By the end of that chapter, you'll have a nice bag of tricks....
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
My progress is slow going. I made it to Chapter 5 last night, but I could easily be further than that.

My problem?

Every time I notice that MULE camps have respawned, I can't help myself but raid them for that sweet sweet metal and ceramics. I BUILDING HIGHWAYS HERE PEOPLE!

Seriously, I think I built 5 sections of highway yesterday by myself. I need help.

I was extremely wary of this game before release, but it may be my favorite game this year. There's something about it that has clicked extremely well with me.
 

draliko

Member
Got to the wind farm and got more hours in it that I'd like to admit :) everytime the ost give me chills, and if I'm not mistaken now the fun should really start. Those first hours are better and more worth than some of the games I played lately :) money well spent for me
 
Last edited:

ethomaz

Banned
Played more 4 hours yesterday.
I can't go ahead in episode 3 because it just so fun to the delivery I found in the map... I keep going back between the two cities without go open the third one.

Every time I boot up the game I set a goal... follow ahead the story and open the 3rd city but I failed twice already.

:D

BTW with the online shared highways the game will become way better without the take too much time to do the deliveries that reviewers complained.
 
Last edited:
So Ive been hoping the game would click, i got 28 hours game time since ive been playing like a mad man since thursday night.

Admitted Kojima ssuper fan and I been defending the game like mad pre-launch

But now that Im almost done with it?

Disappointed is an understatement

Graphics and Sound Design are god level. The soundtracks amazing.

But the gameplay?...any struggles with traversal are kind of conquered by just holding l2 and r2. Once you get the skeleton legs, grenades, and gun all of the difficulty goes out the window(im playing on hard) and while I love the idea of us contributing to each others games I just dont feel like it was executed well here......the game feels like a lot of great ideas that just dont come together well. I keep seeing people with this ol "its a game for deep thinkers" stuff and im like.....man I like Kojima too...but I think some of us are giving him a major pass here.

Im going to force myself to finish it at this point with hopes the last parts of it are different than the rest of the game. But i dont have much hope.
I'd give the graphics and sound design a 10/10.

Gameplay is a 5/10 for me

And the lazy stuff with the deliveries...like all of the holograms just tell me thanks, compliment me for doing it on my own, and inspect the item.....like seriously all of these great voice actors and this is the best they could do.
 

nowhat

Gold Member
I'm still not entirely sure where I stand with this game, but one thing I'm absolutely enjoying is the "co-op" component. As a disclaimer, I really don't do multiplayer (unless couch co-op/-vs) and I didn't think I'd care for the online component at all. Yet what people have done before has really been helpful, and it's great to help others too. I just spent 15 minutes gathering materials to finish a road - it's an area of heavy timefall, so by the time I got the road built my truck had broke down, making the road quite useless for myself. And still I think it was worth it, someone else will get to drive on it.
 

nowhat

Gold Member
Oh, one more thing. There are all these celebrity cameos - don't spoil it for me whether it exists or not, but if there's not a cameo of Jeff Bridges it's a huge missed opportunity.
 

Kagero

Member
I hope Kojima reads this forum. It must be hard hearing all the garbage coming from many reviewers saying the game is bad or just ok. I know it would have bothered me for sure. Knowing I created something spectacular and seeing a lot of people not enjoying it. It will go down as one of his best games I’m positive. I think he knows it too. He’s clearly really proud of it.
 

Wink

Member
I hope Kojima reads this forum. It must be hard hearing all the garbage coming from many reviewers saying the game is bad or just ok. I know it would have bothered me for sure. Knowing I created something spectacular and seeing a lot of people not enjoying it. It will go down as one of his best games I’m positive. I think he knows it too. He’s clearly really proud of it.
He definitely knew it wouldn't be universally accepted. He talked about that in interviews. Of course it will sting a little when some people are hateful towards it, but there has been lots of praise from people known to engage with artful media on a deeper level. Not to mention the praise his actors and other creators heap on him. So don't worry, the dude predicted the impact of social media on the spread of misinformation when he was conceptualising Metal Gear Solid 2 before 2001, he knows not to take kneejerk reactions too seriously.
 

Jtibh

Banned
This is a game... not art... Kojima didn't even try to made it as art.
The gameplay alone is more complex then 90% of games released today.
Its a form of art.
Its an experience.
I read people say the world is depressing . Creating that is
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Death Stranding. The gameplay is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the gameplay and Kojima will go over a typical gamer's head. There's also Kojima's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from very deep movies and literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these Kojima games, to realise that they're not just amazing- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Death Stranding truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the writing in Kojima's existential catchphrase "you rike it," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Hideo Kojima's wit unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools.. how I pity them.

And yes, by the way, i DO have a Hideo Kojima and Death Stranding tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid
Like what? You erect a ladder out of your dick or its soo long they can use it as a rope?
I dont know man ladies might just stomp on it and run away
 
Last edited:

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Clocked 36 hours and I can’t stop at all. Since launch I wake up and face the TV. What an amazing experience

Right there with ya bro. I've barely been stopping to sleep since the midnight it released. On episode 7 now, and the game keeps getting better as it goes. The long distance traversal sends me into a pleasant, determined trance to the point the clock no longer matters, and suffice to say the visuals, the audio, and the story scenes are all brilliant. Even rudimentary standard missions can be adventures. Spent an evening building the highway from LK to SK and it's been coming in very handy since, and built ziplines everywhere today (which are awesome). The connected world comes together around me at just the right pace.
 
Top Bottom