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[DragoonKain]

I held off on playing it for the longest time because I didn't think it would be for me based on everything I've seen and heard, but I hit a lull in gaming at the moment and I decided to finally give it a shot. No guarantee I stick with it though. I'm only a couple hours in(PS4 version).

So far, I'm semi enjoying it, though I feel this is a game that could wear on me quickly depending on how it progresses. I started off enjoying traveling around and finding ways to deliver the packages. But last night I have to admit I found myself sighing several times during one of my treks hauling a ton of cargo. Having to hold LR and R2 the entire time to keep balance(which was cramping my fingers). And I was starting to get bored already, honestly. Now I'm not very far in at all. I know they introduce more mechanics and elements and such, so I'm hoping those will keep the gameplay fresh for me.

On my first couple deliveries the game reminded me a little of Tears of the Kingdom's build system in that the trek in itself is a bit of a puzzle and a challenge. Figuring out what to bring and how to get through difficult areas. But that novelty wore off pretty quickly for me, since so far it's pretty much just been ladders and ropes and finding out the best place to cross rivers and streams. I'm also not sure how I feel about having to constantly mind so many things. The weather, your balance, your stamina, making sure to eat now and again, etc. So it's still up in the air for me. I'd call my feelings on it "solid" for now with the potential for me to end up liking it much more, but also hating it.

Still trying to figure out how to approach deliveries. Should I only pick up cargo that is on the way to the route I'm going? So far I've been really OCD about picking everything up and as I started to head west, I realized that you can't drop them off anywhere, they have to go to specific places, so I had to go all the way back to the very first depot and drop the stuff back there then go all the way back. That was quite tedious to say the least. So I'm thinking if maybe the best approach is to only pick up stuff off the ground if it's on the way to where I'm going.

Also, is I find the menu system in it terrible. So confusing. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Maybe I'm not doing things correctly, but on the order prep page, instead of just selecting how much of each you want to bring, you have to manually choose offload for things you don't want and it drops it on the ground.

Lastly, should I upgrade to the PS5 Director's Cut? If that would give me the best chance at enjoying it, then I probably will, it's only $10. I read you lose your stored cargo, which isn't a big deal for me since I'm very early in the game.

 

[mayham2199]

I held off on playing it for the longest time because I didn't think it would be for me based on everything I've seen and heard, but I hit a lull in gaming at the moment and I decided to finally give it a shot. No guarantee I stick with it though. I'm only a couple hours in(PS4 version).

So far, I'm semi enjoying it, though I feel this is a game that could wear on me quickly depending on how it progresses. I started off enjoying traveling around and finding ways to deliver the packages. But last night I have to admit I found myself sighing several times during one of my treks hauling a ton of cargo. Having to hold LR and R2 the entire time to keep balance(which was cramping my fingers). And I was starting to get bored already, honestly. Now I'm not very far in at all. I know they introduce more mechanics and elements and such, so I'm hoping those will keep the gameplay fresh for me.

On my first couple deliveries the game reminded me a little of Tears of the Kingdom's build system in that the trek in itself is a bit of a puzzle and a challenge. Figuring out what to bring and how to get through difficult areas. But that novelty wore off pretty quickly for me, since so far it's pretty much just been ladders and ropes and finding out the best place to cross rivers and streams. I'm also not sure how I feel about having to constantly mind so many things. The weather, your balance, your stamina, making sure to eat now and again, etc. So it's still up in the air for me. I'd call my feelings on it "solid" for now with the potential for me to end up liking it much more, but also hating it.

Still trying to figure out how to approach deliveries. Should I only pick up cargo that is on the way to the route I'm going? So far I've been really OCD about picking everything up and as I started to head west, I realized that you can't drop them off anywhere, they have to go to specific places, so I had to go all the way back to the very first depot and drop the stuff back there then go all the way back. That was quite tedious to say the least. So I'm thinking if maybe the best approach is to only pick up stuff off the ground if it's on the way to where I'm going.

Also, is I find the menu system in it terrible. So confusing. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Maybe I'm not doing things correctly, but on the order prep page, instead of just selecting how much of each you want to bring, you have to manually choose offload for things you don't want and it drops it on the ground.

Lastly, should I upgrade to the PS5 Director's Cut? If that would give me the best chance at enjoying it, then I probably will, it's only $10. I read you lose your stored cargo, which isn't a big deal for me since I'm very early in the game.

I only played the DC and apparently it makes combat easier is the main thing. I enjoyed the game but I didn't think they did a good enough job at rewarding you for doing more deliveries something the sequel improves upon big time. So for DS1 I actually just played straight through the story and avoided as much extra content as I could. I would grab stuff on my way and things like that but I never went out of my way to deliver stuff. Something that has completely changed in the sequel.

Overall I liked DS1 but DS2 I love.

 

[FatallyYours]

I held off on playing it for the longest time because I didn't think it would be for me based on everything I've seen and heard, but I hit a lull in gaming at the moment and I decided to finally give it a shot. No guarantee I stick with it though. I'm only a couple hours in(PS4 version).

So far, I'm semi enjoying it, though I feel this is a game that could wear on me quickly depending on how it progresses. I started off enjoying traveling around and finding ways to deliver the packages. But last night I have to admit I found myself sighing several times during one of my treks hauling a ton of cargo. Having to hold LR and R2 the entire time to keep balance(which was cramping my fingers). And I was starting to get bored already, honestly. Now I'm not very far in at all. I know they introduce more mechanics and elements and such, so I'm hoping those will keep the gameplay fresh for me.

On my first couple deliveries the game reminded me a little of Tears of the Kingdom's build system in that the trek in itself is a bit of a puzzle and a challenge. Figuring out what to bring and how to get through difficult areas. But that novelty wore off pretty quickly for me, since so far it's pretty much just been ladders and ropes and finding out the best place to cross rivers and streams. I'm also not sure how I feel about having to constantly mind so many things. The weather, your balance, your stamina, making sure to eat now and again, etc. So it's still up in the air for me. I'd call my feelings on it "solid" for now with the potential for me to end up liking it much more, but also hating it.

Still trying to figure out how to approach deliveries. Should I only pick up cargo that is on the way to the route I'm going? So far I've been really OCD about picking everything up and as I started to head west, I realized that you can't drop them off anywhere, they have to go to specific places, so I had to go all the way back to the very first depot and drop the stuff back there then go all the way back. That was quite tedious to say the least. So I'm thinking if maybe the best approach is to only pick up stuff off the ground if it's on the way to where I'm going.

Also, is I find the menu system in it terrible. So confusing. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Maybe I'm not doing things correctly, but on the order prep page, instead of just selecting how much of each you want to bring, you have to manually choose offload for things you don't want and it drops it on the ground.

Lastly, should I upgrade to the PS5 Director's Cut? If that would give me the best chance at enjoying it, then I probably will, it's only $10. I read you lose your stored cargo, which isn't a big deal for me since I'm very early in the game.

Ill try to be vague so i dont give too much away, or i can outright tell you if you're not bothered (let me know and I'll edit the post with full info). There's nothing spoiler-y in these spoilers, it's just a lot of text

Spoiler: Stamina/Stabalizing

Youll get exoskeleton suits very soon that'll help with stabalizing you, and increase amount of gear you can carry (at the same time), so your stamina shouldn't be as big an issue and holding the trigger buttons wont be needed near as much of the time

But you realise you can top up your stamina at any time by drinking from your flask? Press left on the dpad then right with the stick to top up!

If you're having to manage your balance constantly, you are over packed, should only be an issue if you're traveling downhill fast on foot in a rocky environment

When you get to a river, scan. Look for blue areas to cross, or if you have too, use yellow areas in a pinch. You can stop to rest in the middle of a stream to get your stamina back, or climb a rock

Ladders are a good early bridge to cross some rivers, but very quickly get taken over with bridges or trikes. Other than specific missions that make you fabricate ladders or bridges, i dont think i made any more, i just used other people's in the world, or took them out of general storage at centers

Spoiler: Deliveries & Routes

Are you playing "online"? Check on top right corner of the map. Make sure you are! (It's in the settings to turn it on and off)

You see green lines on the map? Those are the routes that other people are using, it's a good bet that they are the best routes to take, so go follow those footsteps (literally! Scan occasionally and you'll see Green footprints on the ground showing the trails of others, blue are your previous steps in the area). The brighter the line on the map, the more you are using a route, eventually your blue and the online green lines should come together naturally as you figure out the best/quickest routes

Regarding the approach to deliveries, treat the "main" cities/distro centres as just that, distribution centres - like a postal depot - dump packages into your private locker, let them accumulate there until you go to one specific place and then take the whole damn lot in one go (this includes actual orders too, if you're not going a specific way, dump it, and come back to it). The distro centres are brilliant for this as they are usualy in the middle of the area, so pick up any and all orders, move the gear to the distro/city areas and then deliver from there once you have hundreds of kg's to deliver

After a handful of hours you be able to move hundreds of KG's just on your body & hundreds more using trikes/trucks - early game, use othe peoples trikes in the world or in the garage, or steal the mule trucks. The battery sucks on them and you can't keep them, but they move a lot of weight in the early game, are free and move quicker than general walking

Once you've got a location to 5 stars, you can stop picking up cargo/orders for them, unless they give decent reoccurring rewards afterwards - there is nothing (to my knowledge) that is worth grinding for 5 stars in the 1st area, at least right away. Get the basic versions of things and move on, 3 stars in the first area should be more than enough for your needs. Get to the second map, and then start going for 5 stars, for better versions of gear and transport

Pick up the lost blue packages (for extra likes from actual locations - raising thier star value quicker - which unlocks more things)

Forget the lost green packages to begin with, they give you likes from real people, which does help with other things, but at the beginning, you want to be unlocking gear and transport that'll help you move faster/bigger loads, so it's wasted space on your back - the sam orders/standard orders and lost blue packages are what you should prioritise. Once you have the space on your back, or your vehicle, feel free to start picking up green packages and again, dump them into your locker until you are ready to travel to that location

In my opinion the directors cut is worth it for the early game weapon that helps with humans for the first third of the game, the new transport options are better than the standard versions, there is specific "helpers" that I use constantly that are DC only. There are crossover missions from Half Life and Cyberpunk too in the DC that give you cosmetics and actual gear/transport options

 

[Kenneth Haight]

I love the game, so many people fell off it far too early. You really need to get to chapter 3 or 4 at the BARE minimum where you start getting exoskeletons and deliveries feel better and faster. I was hooked within a few hours but it is a slow starter.

Game opens up like crazy in the later stages and once you get the zip lines it's basically flying about the map, the initial cost of building then takes some time but it's absolutely worth it.

It's a marmite game for sure, it's one that I'm so glad exists though. I want a pure hiking game that is built in the Decima engine that just involves climbing, would be so cool.

 

[Muffdraul]

I've started multiple new game files over the years, I always stop in the middle of chapter 3, it's just more of a slog than I can bear. And of course I've heard many times, "If you can just get past chapter 3, the rest of the game is great." Well, I can't get past chapter 3, sucks to be me.

 

[The_hunter]

The director's cut adds guns much earlier, new sidequests, a couple of new buildings. Although I think haptic feedback and 60 fps are the best additions.

I personally really liked the game from the start. It's weirdly zen, and I enjoy just the act of traversing the world.

 

[mèx]

After playing for 35 hours trying to upgrade roads and build things around, I'm giving up on doing all the side stuff. I'm going to beeline the main quest and wrap it up. I just started chapter 6 by the way.

The cost associated with upgrading stuff means you must grind, either MULE camps or some specific standard orders. And that's not how I like to play this game, I think the game strength is in how some of the things happen naturally. There is a MULE camp with tons of metal/ceramic and a road nearby needs upgrading? Well, let's raid the camp and get those resources. I'm going in a certain direction and there is some lost cargo deposited by other players? Let's pick it up and deliver it to get some bonuses. This is actually fun.

But then the game starts to throw you so many things to build and upgrade, the costs keep increasing and it's difficult to keep up. So to upgrade buildings/roads you have to start grinding, which removes the fun from that natural flow I described above.

So yeah, it will be main quest only for me until I finish it most likely. Maybe I will bother with the optional orders for Sam.

 

[The Cockatrice]

The delivery gameplay loops improves a bit as you gain access to building highways and whatnot, but it remains the same, you still carry stuff from point a to point b back and forth multiple times and watch some cool cinematics. The story is great, at least the Mads Mikkelsen parts. The second one is pretty much the same with slight improvements, despite what Kojima ballfondling fanboys will tell you except you have access to a ship that can fast travel which makes the experience more casual if you choose to and perhpas an increase in combat/bosses/stealth, though nothing radical. The story is still good, but I havent finished it so can't really comment on that. Both games are niches and you should not feel bad if you dont like them. They're generally relaxing games, nothing challenging, nothing groundbreaking, just delivery man with good acting, except Norman Reedus. He just grunts or doesnt say a thing.

 

[DirtInUrEye]

It's the exact same thing with all those masochistic icon clearers who constantly harmonise the praises of stuff like Days Gone, Assassin's Creed and Ghost of Tsushima. It's like some giant masturbatory collective that must relentlessly tell everyone how transcendentally brilliant these sprawling map checklist experiences are. Meanwhile I'm over here, trying them all, and losing all interest after the same old turgid vista gape once again takes its toll around a quarter of my way through the game.

Certain sorts of players are definitely more susceptible to these open world grinds than others.

Me? I yearn for something thematically weird like Death Stranding to come along, but that is a refreshingly linear and focused affair.

 

[Wimbledon]

There isn't a middle ground for me its either you love it or you don't. I think it's a mid game...well 4 or 5 /10. I think the story is very convoluted/boring i think it comes across incredibly pretentious. They're rare moment where you have your stuff and you have to preserve your things, for example climbing down a moutain after seeing your destination in the distance, and then trying cross a river and then BAM you lose everything and your flowing down a river after losing everything and thinking you were really careful , then battling to get your things back and you finally do....then you come across a hot spring that heals your wounds stamina and you make it too your destination. That happened its very rare and does make the experience interesting.

But those moments are far and few between. The game-play is boring , the enemies are not interesting, i have yet to be dragged by those the black ink things in the time i played. Normal enemies that try to steal from you not a threat to you in anyway. The climbing up and down aspect is fun but its like once you do that majority of the time it just gets boring. Travel bring stuff to these people, and then avoid black ink things, go to new destination and do it all over again. I can't count how many times i've dropped the game...and came back to it, and the only reason is i just want to complete it i dont care about the side mission i just want to do B line to the end.

It's weird cause I love open sandbox type games but it just isn't interesting to me, but it was initially. i can play games like Inscryption , Disco Elysium, Kingdom come 1 and 2, Baldurs gate, and be completely enthralled.
Inscryption - with how the antagonist cheats against you and then you still have to find a way to win even though your oppoenent is actively cheating against you.
Disco Elysium - for it's incredible story, fun gamplay, awesome narrator
Kingdom come 1 & 2 - how you build yourself from nothing to be a decent warrior BUT realistic enough where you can still get your ass handed to you, knowing when to pick your battles
Baldurs gate......the choices

Like Death stranding 1 could've been alot better. That being said 2 does look interesting knowing Kojima though, i'm just not a fan of heavily cinematic games. That long cut scenes that hes known for i just end up skipping them , cause i just want to get to the game.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Didn't care for the cargo system either, escaping the beach things is so fun though

 

[ReBurn]

I bought the Director's Cut for PC this weekend. I'm not usually a Kojima fan but I've been curios about this game. I figured 14 bucks for a Steam key from CDKeys was inexpensive enough to satisfy the curiosity. I'll probably start it this weekend.

 

[DragoonKain]

I'm in chapter 3. Everyone says you gotta get through chapter 3, so I'm going to play into chapter 4. If it doesn't pick up significantly after in chapter 4, I'm not going to finish it. I'm bored out of my mind and I find deliveries incredibly tedious. I don't even like the BT encounters, which a lot of people do. Even some people who are meh on the game love them. I don't, because they always happen in the middle of me delivering a bunch of cargo and I gotta sneak around and I end up getting caught every single time somehow even though I'm moving away from where the censor is pointing, so then I have to end up booking it out of there and I always get caught and then my cargo gets dropped and I gotta pick it up while fighting off the sludge enemies trying to drag you down and just... ugh. I hate it. I just want to get from point A to point B, I don't want to have to fucking stop on a mountain and slooooowly creeeeep arooooound and break up the pace I was on.

And I'm really not even into the story all that much. I loved the Metal Gear games, I thought they had such great stories, but the goofy Kojima-isms were what I liked least about those stories and this game has Kojima-isms ratcheted up 10 fold. And it's not doing much for me. The quirkiness or the story. I couldn't care less about Sam he feels soulless to me.

But the boss fight was semi ok I guess? Anyway, yeah, if it doesn't drastically change once I get into chapter 4 then I'm out. I will have given it a fair shake by then.

 

[FatallyYours]

I'd say you've given it a fair shot by then

If it's not for you, don't hate play it

 

[Judge Magister]

I'm in chapter 3. Everyone says you gotta get through chapter 3, so I'm going to play into chapter 4. If it doesn't pick up significantly after in chapter 4, I'm not going to finish it. I'm bored out of my mind and I find deliveries incredibly tedious. I don't even like the BT encounters, which a lot of people do. Even some people who are meh on the game love them. I don't, because they always happen in the middle of me delivering a bunch of cargo and I gotta sneak around and I end up getting caught every single time somehow even though I'm moving away from where the censor is pointing, so then I have to end up booking it out of there and I always get caught and then my cargo gets dropped and I gotta pick it up while fighting off the sludge enemies trying to drag you down and just... ugh. I hate it. I just want to get from point A to point B, I don't want to have to fucking stop on a mountain and slooooowly creeeeep arooooound and break up the pace I was on.

And I'm really not even into the story all that much. I loved the Metal Gear games, I thought they had such great stories, but the goofy Kojima-isms were what I liked least about those stories and this game has Kojima-isms ratcheted up 10 fold. And it's not doing much for me. The quirkiness or the story. I couldn't care less about Sam he feels soulless to me.

But the boss fight was semi ok I guess? Anyway, yeah, if it doesn't drastically change once I get into chapter 4 then I'm out. I will have given it a fair shake by then.

You're not alone.
Soundtrack is stellar and fits the vibe / world perfectly. Everything else is either boring or annoying. Pretty meh story / characters, repeating the same f* thing over and over and those BT encounters annoyed me so much.

I too used to love every Kojima game but honestly i'm a hater now.

 

[DragoonKain]

Update: I couldn't get through chapter 3. I tried, I really did. But when I find myself checking my phone for YouTube more than I'm actually playing the game while playing, I'm clearly not enjoying it. And why force myself to keep going on a game I clearly don't like. If I miss out on some amazing transformation that starts in chapter 4, so be it. But I don't like the core gameplay anyway, so I don't think I will.

Death Stranding experience: concluded without a finish.

 

[The_hunter]

Update: I couldn't get through chapter 3. I tried, I really did. But when I find myself checking my phone for YouTube more than I'm actually playing the game while playing, I'm clearly not enjoying it. And why force myself to keep going on a game I clearly don't like. If I miss out on some amazing transformation that starts in chapter 4, so be it. But I don't like the core gameplay anyway, so I don't think I will.

Death Stranding experience: concluded without a finish.

The game doesn't change much after chapter 4. It's the same core.

 

[mèx]

I finished it, it took me around 50 hours.

I enjoyed it much more when I started to play it as a linear story driven game. Upgrading and building stuff is fun only at the beginning when the cost of doing so is still manageable, but as you progress through the game you realize it's all just a big grind, I almost burnt out due to that.

I found the story interesting enough for me to keep pushing forward. There is tons of exposition, which I didn't mind but I get why people might get annoyed by it. It's really logorrheic at times.

Trekking around and coming up with different routes was fun, at least if you stick to the story missions, since that way you are always making progress towards Edge Knot City. There is some wonkiness when it comes to the handling of vehicles on rough terrain, but it was OK for the most part.

In the end it was worth a playthrough, I will be back for Death Stranding 2 when it comes out on PC.

 

[DragoonKain]

I finished it, it took me around 50 hours.

I enjoyed it much more when I started to play it as a linear story driven game. Upgrading and building stuff is fun only at the beginning when the cost of doing so is still manageable, but as you progress through the game you realize it's all just a big grind, I almost burnt out due to that.

I found the story interesting enough for me to keep pushing forward. There is tons of exposition, which I didn't mind but I get why people might get annoyed by it. It's really logorrheic at times.

Trekking around and coming up with different routes was fun, at least if you stick to the story missions, since that way you are always making progress towards Edge Knot City. There is some wonkiness when it comes to the handling of vehicles on rough terrain, but it was OK for the most part.

In the end it was worth a playthrough, I will be back for Death Stranding 2 when it comes out on PC.

I might have finished just doing the main story if not for the BTs and the Time Fall. Traveling and having rain fucking EVERYWHERE and it constantly eroding your cargo and having to repair it, and building those things that keep you covered from the rain. The last delivery I did before I quit I accidentally used a PCC on something else, so I had to make it to the location before my cargo was destroyed. And of course halfway there, BTs again. And now I have to slow down and sneak while the rain is just coming down on my cargo, eating away at it. So it put me in a really difficult spot. I decided to just take a very long detour and repair spray the stuff. Which is annoying, having to drop it and spray it.

It all got so tedious. Everything was so such a micromanaging chore.