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Death Stranding Review Thread

diffusionx

Gold Member
Can someone explain to me what is wrong with the IGN review? People are freaking out about it. I read it, and the guy laid out his issues with the game clearly. Either we want game writers to be honest or we don't. If we just want them to slap 9.5s on every AAA game we should just say so, and not complain when every AAA game gets a 9.5.
 
It is pretty much what I was expecting, unfortunately far from its amazing setting, its mostly a walking sim. However, it will work extremelly well for some people, even being a walking sim.

Its just a shame, it seems Kojima kinda lost its way during development, the game didnt need to be as big as it is, I would much prefer a more linear story.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
This is one of the weird things about gaming — if something has high expectations then reviewers tend to apply a lot more scrutiny to it.

I noticed myself when reading the reviews of DS this morning that they're covering certain things that they wouldn't ordinarily ask about games. It's good because that's what criticism should be about (being critical!) but it really doesn't happen very often.

Hipster reviewing?

Considering the location of many of these outlets...
 
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Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
This just goes to show how hard it is these days to get 90+ metacritic.

And now the Sony exclusive superiority is beginning to end.
Things are started to be more:

98fdc7205a7209d34d95cdd5bce345c5.gif

Not that I give reviews much credit these days.

God of war has a 94 meta, its a good game, but so far nothing about it is that special, Im enjoying it about the same as gears 4.
 
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CyberPanda

Banned
Gears 5 = "Great scores for a great game."

Some of the very same people a month or so later...

DS = "Haha, told you, look at the scores, hack, overrated, boring, cinematic BS, walking sim, etc.."

I see you. :messenger_weary: :messenger_ok:

It is all so fucking tiring.

Just goes to show you that Sony first party is held at a higher standard; to fanatics of every circle. Ironic, eh?
84 is a good average! I don’t know why people are trolling!
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
im going on blackout at this point. people are already being jackasses about this game and it doesn't come out for a week. no doubt someone with Kojima issues who gets pissed off at the game or just wants to get attention will spoil it or bait people in the crassest way possible. i'd rather not give them attention in the first place, i'd rather deny them that currency.

honestly i'd rather experience it for myself. i didn't watch the last trailer and i am not reading any reviews.

i don't need to know another person who i will never meet's opinion on it. furthermore there is nothing to be gained from even discussing opinions, aside from salt and flame wars and the usual internet bullshit.
 
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R600

Banned
Seems like gameplay is absolutely worst part of this game and I havent read one that said it was great, even 9s and 10s. Like giving movie with bad actors and screenplay great score duo to music and special effects.

Dont see that shit in a lot of movie reviews, but game reviews are still under impression games HAVE to be artistic to be considered art. Nah, fuck that. For me Mass Effect 1-2 where pure fucking art and entertainement, and had 0 artsy bullshit.

Kojima just got too far up his own ass, was visible from miles away, for years now. All those hollywood injection into games is making it worse and worse.
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
Can someone explain to me what is wrong with the IGN review? People are freaking out about it. I read it, and the guy laid out his issues with the game clearly. Either we want game writers to be honest or we don't. If we just want them to slap 9.5s on every AAA game we should just say so, and not complain when every AAA game gets a 9.5.

You know why lol it's all about being an exclusive. If it was multiplatform no one would care. You are correct of course. A well laid out fair review is better than getting something from the publisher and posting it.
 

Psykodad

Banned
Just wondering and maybe I misunderstood something as I'm basically on blackout, but is the game designed in such a way that your progress affects that of others that are connected to the internet?

Because if so, it might have a significant effect on the gameplay if the game has been officially released and everybody gets to play it.
 

Jtibh

Banned
Lmao what.

ACG hasn't even reviewed it yet :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Some of the trolling on show in this thread is peak.
Little boy dont what me.

I said i will wait for the ACG review and see if i buy or not.
But for from what i see this will be a deep deep sale for me.

Edit: to be clear i do NOT say this game is bad in any way. If its a 100 hour walking simulator i am ok with it. I am an old fart my reflexes are of stone head so i enjoy slow games.
But if its not that great that i say fuck i need to play it now i will wait for a sale cuz otherwise it will sit in my backlog and by the time i get to it it will cost 20 bucks.
God knows i made that mistake too many times.
Red dead 2 is still untouched and i paid full price.
 
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GHG

Member
Little boy dont what me.

I said i will wait for the ACG review and see if i buy or not.
But for from what i see this will be a deep deep sale for me.

You will do whatever one reviewer says but yet call me a "little boy"? Funny that.

What if he tells you to buy it? Will you suddenly take matters into your own hands, become a man and make a decision for yourself?

That's not what you said either for what it's worth.
 
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Phase

Member
Just wondering and maybe I misunderstood something as I'm basically on blackout, but is the game designed in such a way that your progress affects that of others that are connected to the internet?

Because if so, it might have a significant effect on the gameplay if the game has been officially released and everybody gets to play it.
It only connects after you connect the neural network of the area you're in, so you have to traverse it yourself first.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I knew this definitely was not going to be my type of game, even tho I usually like games with weird vibe and story (biggest reason I like Yoko Taro games) but with this game I always felt they trying sell me on the actors rather than the actual character and the world.
 

Tipton32

Member
I’m going to wait to week or two after the game is out to see what the consensus is with user impressions. The easy allies review sounded like the game should’ve been scored 6, max a 7 imo. I will say the discussion and meltdowns for the reviews of DS has been very entertaining, maybe even more so than the actual game! 🌝🌚
 

bilderberg

Member
Which was a return to form according the xbox fans, but for a Sony game it equals colossal failure.

Then again, sony has VR exclusives that score higher than Microsoft's best.
Gears 5 a return to form? Are those people out of their god damn minds? I'm struggling to play it for more than 10 minute intervals because it's so boring. And the original Gears is my favorite tps ever.
 

Phase

Member
I'm a little annoyed seeing so many 100's from critics. So you're saying this game has zero faults and executes everything perfectly from gameplay mechanics to presentation to functionality to fun. Fuck outta here.
 
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What's funny/sad is that if you read the reviews of the high scores, there's little in those reviews to justify the high score.

In fact, in most of the reviews, it sounds like they're talking about a very mediocre (read: 5 or 6 out of 10 range) game instead of a good (7/8) or great (8-10) game (and yes, I'm painting with a broad brush here). This game is being damned with such faint praise, it would take the entirety of the Catholic church to pray it out of hell, and even then, it would only ascend to Purgatory.

And this is more an indictment on games journalism and how lacking in Ethos the industry has become more than anything else. Fanboys are gonna fanboy--you can use logic and reason with them, but they're still going to believe the Emperor's clothes are fantastic while the rest of us see that Kojima is a grower instead of a shower.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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JimiNutz

Banned
ALL THESE MOTHERFUCKERS COMPLAINING THAT DEATH STRANDING IS MOSTLY EXPLORATION BUT SAID NOTHING WHEN 90% OF BREATH OF THE WILD WAS THE SAME FUCKING THING.

HopefulNervousCoqui-size_restricted.gif

I def see your point.
A subtle difference could be that the exploration and traversal in DS is 'arduous' (ign review said this).

If exploration and traversal are a main selling point of your game then those mechanics should be fun? The problem seems to be that, for some, traversal in DS plays like a chore and is not fun.
 

mortal

Banned
Death stranding being a boring convoluted disjointed mess of a game.
Most of the reviews don't seem to share this opinion. The weakest part for some of them seems to stem from the boss encounters, but I don't understand how that translates to "convoluted disjointed mess of a game"

But congrats to the team on the average reviews I guess...
Last time I checked, 50-60% is indicative of average. 80%+ is average now? When did this happen? Was there a board meeting I missed?
 

bilderberg

Member
I'm a little annoyed seeing so many 100's from critics. So you're saying this game has zero faults and executes everything perfectly from gameplay mechanics to presentation to functionality. Fuck outta here.
If I make a tic-tac--toe game does that equal a 100? "oh look, no flaws. 10/10"
 
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Jtibh

Banned
84 is a good average! I don’t know why people are trolling!
84 is good very good.
I enjoyed much lower rated games. Days gone prime example.
Hell i even had a blast with the solus project and welcome to hanwell.

We have to look at games for what they are in their own category.
Kojima said this is a new type of game a new genre so of course a lot of people wont like it. Doesnt mean its a bad game.
I will buy it play it even if its 50 out of hundred cuz i want to experience this new type of game.
 

Vawn

Banned
I'm a little annoyed seeing so many 100's from critics. So you're saying this game has zero faults and executes everything perfectly from gameplay mechanics to presentation to functionality to fun. Fuck outta here.

That has never been what a 10/10 means.
 

ROMhack

Member
Hipster reviewing?

Considering the location of many of these outlets...

Nah but I hear you, what we find now is basically hipster reviewing. 1000 words of whether a Bay Area type had fun for a few hours or not.

Being properly critical is expanding on the text, enlarging the reader's perspective, and getting people to appreciate qualities about a game they might otherwise overlook (and no that doesn't just mean talking about the political stuff). That's often the virtue of YouTubers who do indeed get into the nitty gritty.
 
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Jtibh

Banned
You will do whatever one reviewer says but yet call me a "little boy"? Funny that.

What if he tells you to buy it? Will you suddenly take matters into your own hands, become a man and make a decision for yourself?

That's not what you said either for what it's worth.
Little boy read my edit.

For what its worth yes i didnt express myself properly.
And for what its worth we are all friends here so little boy comment is ment with respect.
 
ALL THESE MOTHERFUCKERS COMPLAINING THAT DEATH STRANDING IS MOSTLY EXPLORATION BUT SAID NOTHING WHEN 90% OF BREATH OF THE WILD WAS THE SAME FUCKING THING.

HopefulNervousCoqui-size_restricted.gif

EXCEPT THAT IT'S NOT BECAUSE NINTENDO REMEMBERED TO PUT GAMEPLAY FIRST AND ACTUALLY PROVIDES PLAYERS WITH INSTRUCTION AND AGENCY IN THE FIRST HOUR OF GAMEPLAY, AND NOT TEN MOTHERF*****G HOURS LATER AS A GOD D**M AFTERTHOUGHT.

But hey, you keep making outlandish and completely incongruent comparisons to games that define this era to help justify your irrationality--you do you. (y)






its not reviewing weird. people are afraid to call out kojima for being a hack, thats the problem. if some random japanese guy made the same game it would have a 6.2 on metacritic.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. The "games as art" crowd is especially reluctant to admit this is garbage because Kojima is (was) seen as one of their best advocates for that argument.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Nah and in all honesty, what we find now is basically hipster reviewing. 1000 words of whether a Bay Area type had fun for a few hours or not.

Being properly critical is expanding on the text, enlarging the reader's perspective, and getting people to appreciate qualities about a game they might otherwise overlook (and no that doesn't just mean talking about the political stuff).

That is what I mean, now...
 

KOMANI

KOMANI
If only he were allowed to.

Konami, sigh.
Konami, what? Konami that was in negotiations with Reedus at the time they asked Kojima not to showcase his project yet until contracts were signed? The same Kojima that didn’t listen and showed the game which consequently ended the negotiations with Reedus’s people asking for more money?


3lygGXJ.png


Source
 

Phase

Member
That has never been what a 10/10 means.
As much as I would love to get into semantics, a 10/10 means perfect. This better give me a transcendent experience.

Look at this from "Digitally Downloaded"

"As I sit here to write this, I am fully convinced that there are going to be plenty of reviews from my peers that veer to the other extreme as far as their scores go. And fair enough, because as a “game” Death Stranding doesn’t do much. But as a work of art, Death Stranding is something mesmerising, intelligent, and powerful, and we never see this kind of work within the big budget, blockbuster space."

...Gives it 100.

Shit, I'd only give heroin a 95 cause it makes bright lights too bright and gives me dry mouth.
 

ROMhack

Member
I knew this definitely was not going to be my type of game, even tho I usually like games with weird vibe and story (biggest reason I like Yoko Taro games) but with this game I always felt they trying sell me on the actors rather than the actual character and the world.

You raise a good point... I always assumed the game would be utilising ideas, getting us to think about stuff, making us feel, much like Yoko Taro does.

None of the reviews I've read so far have discussed that aspect of it.
 
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Gavin Stevens

Formerly 'o'dium'
its not reviewing weird. people are afraid to call out kojima for being a hack, thats the problem. if some random japanese guy made the same game it would have a 6.2 on metacritic.

Hey, don't come at me with that, I'm with you. I think Kojima is quite over rated. Nothing to do with formats, because I thought MGS5 was a bore fest as well as 4. He hasn't done anything worth it for me in a while. The guy just makes complicated plots that make no sense and people all praise him like some visionary. Like I've said before, this game is a looker, its gorgeous. But looks don't make a game, and there are plenty of really good exclusives on PS that have good gameplay. This? You couldn't even PAY ME to tell you what you do in this game. Everything I've seen has been a confusing mess. There's something about a baby and you put ladders about the place. Oh and Norman Reedus is in it... That's as much as I can tell you.

I knew this game would be shit but review weird, because I knew there would be people who would review it for what it was, an average "movie". But I also knew that some outlets, the obvious ones, would be giving this 9s and 10s without ever actually explaining WHY in their review.
 

Otterz4Life

Member
Which was a return to form according the xbox fans, but for a Sony game it equals colossal failure.

Then again, sony has VR exclusives that score higher than Microsoft's best.
You guys just cant help yourselves.

And, yes, a Sony game with this much hype behind it is a colossal failure. They get the benefit of every doubt, just like Nintendo and unlike anything related to Xbox. Imagine if a Zelda or mainline Mario game scored an 84. It would absolutely be a failure. Halo 5 is an 84 and the narrative around that game is far from positive.

Its also more than just a number. 85 doesn’t take into account what reviews are saying, which is that it’s generally a slog to play. Encumbrance systems in games aren’t fun at all. DS goes full ham on encumbrance.
 
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mortal

Banned
lmfao when someone can't bring themselves to finish it for review then that says a lot.

hard pass for me now.

gg kojima.
Dude, you likely weren't ever planning on getting it. Who are you even fooling? lol
So one reviewer couldn't finish the game in time for the review embargo deadline, and your impression is immediately a damning one? That says more about you than it does about the game in all honesty.
 

MilkyJoe

Member
Dude, you likely weren't ever planning on getting it. Who are you even fooling? lol
So one reviewer couldn't finish the game in time for the review embargo deadline, and your impression is immediately a damning one? That says more about you than it does about the game in all honesty.
How did anyone finish it?

 

Vawn

Banned
As much as I would love to get into semantics, a 10/10 means perfect.

Except it doesn't. All these sites flat out say that is not what a 10/10 means.

I got 100s on essays I wrote in college. Nobody's brain exploded from reading "perfection" that should not be possible.
 
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