When did Death Stranding finally click for you (if it did)?

saintjules said:
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"Every path is a different journey. It's just sublime"

Now that's a right load of wankery right there 😂
 
In my 2nd attempt to like it, when the 2nd area opens up.

The tutorial area does feel a tad obtuse (for this game) and slow. It does give a good example of the vibe the game is going for, but not a particularly engaging one (at least for me). It was after the I managed to push through to the 2nd area and saw the sights it's when this game turned into sort of an enjoyable "hike" for me. Then I took my sweet time, as with every game, I platinumed it and here I am playing DS2 and I'll will likely platinum it too. I'm glad I didn't give up on it.

If it's not for you, it's understandable. I wouldn't say this game has a mainstream concept of "fun". To me it's more like contemplative engagement or something of the sort.
 
I went into it fully expecting to hate what it had to offer: dumb story, fetch quests, wandering around a big empty world, etc but actually found everything to be oddly sublime instead. It's a game that really is greater than the sum of it's parts that while not perfect just felt so fucking good to play. That's what made me stick with it. Getting upgrades to make it easier to make deliveries is satisfying. Sound design is top notch. UI is soooo damn good to. Even though the story was dumb I really do appreciate the level of bat shit crazy they delivered with a straight face. In a time where people bitch about the sameness of games this one really stood out.
 
The moment when the first Low Roar song came on when I was getting to Port Knot City.

I understood the game at that point. I said, "I get it now."

The gameplay loop in Chapter 3 got me addicted with the bridge building and all.
 
Clear said:
By adding these individuals to our "network", we enrich our shared culture and community. Kojima wants to share these treasures with us
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What treasures? Treasures in this context are pieces of art: paintings, books, music, movies and games too. In the game we have scanned model of Lea Seydoux.

Clear said:
Building roads or zipline networks involves some initial effort
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Usually, it's called grind.
 
For it to click, there must be a button or a switch, and it's simply not there. Walking in empty environment and building bridges is not gameplay.

These games will never click with me.
 
I was something like three hours into the game and what felt like 30 minutes into the nth endless cutscenes when I finally clicked.
On the quit button, that is.
 
Critical Hit said:
What treasures? Treasures in this context are pieces of art: paintings, books, music, movies and games too. In the game we have scanned model of Lea Seydoux.
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Yeah, you are typically rewarded with pieces of music, references to movies and culture etc. And usually some new gadget or ability upgrade to enhance the playing experience.

A perfect example is the Pizza Atami sub-plot. Where a standard delivery leads to a wonderfully choreographed Jackie Chan inspired fight sequence, which in turn leads to themed weapons, outfits, and additions to the melee combat system. Also the character uses the likeness of Mamoru Oshii. None of these elements are connected in any way thematically to the plot and scenario, but is nonetheless a fun and charming tip-of-the-hat to cultural totems that Kojima likes.

The second game approaches this referential stuff much more elegantly then the first game did with its simple collection list of "inspiring things", but its function is mostly the same.

As to the issue of "grind". Yes, there is grind but its mostly optional. Like I wrote earlier I'm north of 160 hours in, and still haven't seen everything despite finishing the story part 100 hours ago. Its very RPG-like in that respect.
 
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Half menu simulator, half fed ex simulator, with the dumbest story breaking up moments in between. The fucking trench part with mads constantly whispering bb in my ear was when I dropped. I was fine with the mailman parts, there is an appeal there, indie shit music not withstanding.
I could not stand the story, the characters, and the baby.
 
For me, the crack set in around Chapter 3 of the first game. I believe that's the one where you're introduced to building roads, you can get a truck, and then just start making the rounds dropping stuff off and getting upgrades and new toys on a regular basis. It becomes addicting real fuckin quick.
 
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John Bilbo said:
For me the narrative was whatever but I was in the mood for a planning / trecking game so it clicked in maybe the first or second mission.

Of course I looked into the game extensively before purchasing it so I knew what to expect from the gameplay or the way the narrative was presented.
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mdkirby said:
As soon as the first bit of music kicked in when wandering the wilderness 🤣
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MidGenRefresh said:
It clicked for me when I stopped paying attention to the plot and just focused on building my package delivery empire.
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Pretty much this.

The narrative was peak Kojima, which is probably a little bit too much Kojima for me, but the gameplay - minus the occasional goop monster fighting - was really relaxing and weirdly fun, for some reason. Few games actually capture what it feels like to be out walking in the middle of nowhere by yourself. Death Stranding nailed it. At some point when I'm in the right mindset, I will sit down and zone out with DS2.
 
I really tried, I liked the great visuals, the cool intro with fancy actors, the baby creepiness etc. but after 6 hours or so I realised I was so bored and had no desire to keep playing.
Obviously the usual cringeworthy dialogue didn't help.
 
Second playthrough of the first game. I genuinely hated my first playthrough lmao

Eventually it clicks if you approach the right way. Still, can't say I ever want Kojima to make another Death Stranding game.
 
The first one kinda did due to how weird and unique it was.

The second one, yeah, no. That game is solid 7. The whole thing is a slog. The way the story is told is irritating. The story beats are unearned. And the initial creepiness of the first game lost its creep factor as we have all been there done that...and nothing happened kinda thing. It was sniffing its own farts.

Time to move on.
 
Sentenza said:
I was something like three hours into the game and what felt like 30 minutes into the nth endless cutscenes when I finally clicked.
On the quit button, that is.
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Everything little action having a fucking cutscene is what eventually got me to uninstall. Game should have had an option to skip all of that automatically and let you just press x to do a delivery/shower/drink etc without having to mash buttons to skip them for the nth time. So much wasted time.

Ironically there's a mod for MGS5 that strips out all that cutscene nonsense and makes that game literally 20 times better because of it.
 
It never did. I played Ds1 for the 3rd time and got to chapter 9 and still didn't enjoy it.

I'm not going to continue or try a 4th time.
 
I really loved that feeling of setting up my first complete route with the zipper thing, that's when it clicked to me. Then in end game, setting up the entire road for some easy traversal, only thing I remember disliking, even when on the highway and you come close to the black ghost and the game would slow down and do the animations and stuff.
 
Death stranding is the game that, I just want to test, and suppose to be I would not like. But, wow, I did not notice that Im already playing the game for 9 straight hours. Minimum of 2 hours after work. The story is interesting because there is so much mystery and its very bizarre with allot of lore in it. DS1 and now DS2, are so addictive especially the world building concept, like roads, monorails or putting up structures that can also help others online and see it get appreciated. And I cannot believe how much fun deliveries and to reach 5 star connection. Ds1 and Ds2 are so beautiful, cerebral and very catharsis.
 
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I bought the DC version when it has it's first major sale. It may have been in 2023. Played until mid Chapter 3. Stopped playing it because I wasn't feeling the menu system and all the micromanagement involved.

Then I saw the trailer for Part 2 earlier this year and started to play again last month thinking there were only 5 chapters instead of 15! I skipped all the sidequests and just played the main mission and started to enjoy it somehow.

I picked up Part 2 and stopped after chapter 3 again.......
 
For me as soon as I saw celebrities as characters, it completely turn me off......I hate that shit.
 
I think it was like the third area where they just starting giving you the cool tools and the social elements begin to take off.
 
Related, sort of:

Fallout 3. I bought it back when it came out in 2008 after watching the trailer, it looked right the fuck up my alley. Popped the game in, played it for a couple of hours before getting absolutely wrecked by a mutant. I was like "what the fuck?!!! This game is impossible". Put it down for like a year and tried again, before I figured out it wasn't a 3rd person shooter, I know, I was an idiot (22 at the time). Since then I've pumped in well over a thousand hours.
 
I enjoyed the intro sequence a lot, though felt the parts immediately after were overwhelming and confusing. The gameplay did NOT click until I ventured a bit further into the central region. Episode 3 and 5 are where it started feeling more manageable and finally it clicked where I was enjoying basically everything I was doing except for combat with BTs, which the game lets you mostly avoid. By the end the only thing I really hate about the game is the boss battles.
 
I'd say the trek up to the incinerator with Bridget's body. I was digging it from the start, but I settled into my seat around then. I love them for just playing a postie.
 
I'm in the same boat as the OP. Bought Death Stranding when it came out, I'd been a total Kojima fanboy since MGS1 and while I was skeptical of Death Stranding I was still really looking forward to a new insane cast of freaky Kojima characters. I've tried multiple times over the years, but I can just never get over that Ch 3 hump. IMO the gameplay is just egregiously un-fun.
 
.. when I clicked uninstall after about 5 hours.

I got it free on Epic and it honestly seems too high a price for KojimaCrud
 
Around the Rockies area of the original and crossing back into the heartlands. The loop started to click and I was beginning to feel the euphoria of a mission accomplished when the Low Roar song would wind up as I approached the destination.

And I cursed Kojima's name for turning me into a believer of his genius.
 
I love Kojima's games. The attention to detail found within is second to none. I respect the hell out of Death Stranding. It has some of the most innovative online functionality since Demon Souls. I want to love Death Stranding, but I just don't. I usually love quirk and batshit crazy narrative in games, but the characters and exposition dumps filled with nonsensical acronyms and argon was just a bridge (free pun) too far for me. And as interesting and deep as the traversal mechanics are, the core conceit of the game (deliveries) just isn't all that interesting to me. It's one of those games that is the opposite of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
 
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I think the tutorial region kinda sucks and the ghosts totally suck until you get the blood grenades. Main region is good, especially around the mountains.

The real evaluations come after - 10 or 20 years from now.
 
See it as a package delivery management simulator.
Everything is about finding the best paths and building upon them to make things easier.
 
It clicked for me twice.

First time when I built a power generator to recharge the first bike. It put all the slow walking in context and I could really see what the game was encouraging the player to do.

Secondly in the main area I slowly painstakingly built the first set of roads. There's an early mission where you have to rob a supply truck. Suddenly those roads made getting the truck back to base much easier.

It was one of the coolest emergent/non linear gameplay moments I had ever experienced. When building the roads I had no idea they would be that useful immediately. What was amazing was realising that players that didn't build anything would have had a completely different experience getting that truck back to base.

The whole game is like this. Structures initially built to overcome one obstacle end up being part of a vast network to traverse the entire map.

Death Stranding is set up like every other game accept traversal is the core mechanic not combat.

Nearly every game starts you basic weapons and combat mechanics to not overwhelme the player but also to make new stuff exciting. The shotgun wouldn't be exciting if the pistol killed everything in one shot.

Death stranding is the same. You start off slow walking so you appreciate all the cool toys you get later.
 
Loved it from the moment Don't Be So Serious started playing right at the beginning.
I knew it would be a special game.
 
Immediately. First, because of the beauty of the scenery and the art in general, and then because of the originality of the walking mechanics with the boxes on your back and the sci-fi world. I like the concept of planning your journey and especially the challenges of the first game, something that was unfortunately discarded completely on DS2.
 
I tried the original probably like 4 times and at most got like 2 hours in and I never really went back to it.

Then Death Stranding 2 was coming out and everybody was talking about it non stop saying how it improved everything from the original and gets started much quicker and I got caught up in the hype so I bought it (physical alongside a disc drive).

Still not clicking with me but I'm only like 2 hours or so in so I need to play some more.
 
It is one of those game that either click or it doesn't. No in between

As for me, it clicked when I saw what I can do by delivering, connecting and building
 
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