Woodkid Says Hideo Kojima Changed ‘Death Stranding 2’ Because It Wasn’t ‘Polarizing’ [Rolling Stone]

The Office Reaction GIF
 
I liked aspects of DS1, like the road building and stuff but the silly story and writing, the awful bosses and basically the last part of the game made me hate it with a passion. So, good luck, Kojima. I'm sure you'll make another polarizing turd.
 
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Good last thing I want is Death Stranding 2 turning into metal gear. Sure the combat could use major improvements compared to DS 1 but the meat and bones of the game should just be delivering packages instead of infiltrating military compounds.
 
I liked DS1 but the story, especially how it was written and told, was the weakest aspect of the game. Honestly I treated cutscenes in the game as the reward for completing a quest in the game and only because the actors performed well and the graphics and mocap was on point. The writing itself left a lot to be desired.

Thankfully this article reduced my temptation to preorder before reviews.

Don't want stuff to be controversial for the sake of being controversial. Tragedy or happy endings don't make a good story, it is how well it written and how well it is conveyed that matters. Even a basic story told well, is far better than a complex story full of pretentious elements that is being told deliberately in a vague manner to appear "mature" and "deep"
 
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Danny22 said:
I have always admired this mentality. Never give the audience what they want. Always tell your own story and let them discover it. Historically, the greatest stuff is usually received with a controversial reception, atleast intially. And why I dislike the Marvel/Disney approach of focus group testing the product until everybody likes it (but few love it).

And I say this despite not liking death stranding much.
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Kojima is responsible for some of my favorite games ever and I respect Death Stranding a bunch, especially the social social aspects. The attention to detail in his games are second to none. But the narrative in Death Stranding always loses me. I've restarted that game four or five times now and the game play loop isn't strong enough to a story that I find really off-putting. My most recent attempt to play the game was a few month back and I got far enough in the story to meet Mama and get some of her background. Oddly enough I was thinking about this last night while watching a Youtube retrospective on FFXIII which I turned off when he started detailing all the lore around Fal"Cie's which is where I checked out on that game firsthand. I usually don't mind lore building and have more often than not enjoyed Kojima's Hollywood inspired bullshit, but both Death Stranding and FXIII gave me the exact same clinteastwoodgetoffmylawn.gif feeling.
 
Kojima seems to be insufferable, the guy wants the status of "cult developer" so much that he makes these ridiculous speeches.
 
Imagine saying this during the development of, I dunno, Super Mario Galaxy.

People will find anything "polarizing". But the fact that most testers find a game very good isn't a sign you should change it.
 
It's funny I had the similar feeling on the first. This game was made to be polarizing on purpose. Like adding bad mechanics just to say "this game is unique and controversial". Kojima looks too focus on making "unique" game to me.

Looks like I'll never finish DS and play the second.
 
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Geoff must have told him there was no way he could just hand him the GOTY award this year...I am sure there will be a new category though:

Outstanding Achievement in Self-Reflection
The nominees are:
Hideo Kojima

And the winner is...
 
Tbh as ridiculous as it sounds, he is right, kind of. There are tons of things I hated at first that I gave a second chance later and loved, because I wasn't ready for it at the time, or I expected something else.

The first example I thought of when I read this was Huntet x Hunter. I grew up on shonens like DBZ and YYH, so when I first watched Hunter x Hunter, which was a subversion of those tropes, I hated it, because it wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't until a few years later, when I gave it a second chance, that I ended up loving it.

That was more lightning in a bottle though, and I don't know if you can capture that the way he's attempting to do. Francis Ford Coppola already tried with Megalopolis, and we know how that turned out.
 
Good for him. Gamers tend to be snowflakes who throw a fit when anything goes slightly left field so why not push it all the way.
 
I get where he's coming from. When I first listened to The Good, The Bad & The Queen's 2007 album I liked it from the first time I listened to it. It was really good. Which unfortunately led to it being too easy to listen to so it felt like it had no really deep substance to it. In comparison I disliked "It's Never Been Like That" by Phoenix, but I kept listening because my favourite reviewer recommended it. And eventually it became one of my top favourite albums.

I think that's what Kojima's aiming for. He wants there to be more substance, more "fibre" in the game, so that even if some may dislike parts, they'll push on through and grow to love those parts later. That's creative work on quite a high level.

The question of course becomes whether he's been playing it too safe from the start or if this is just his normal process, it's fascinating nevertheless.
 
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That's dumb, like there's not a story or vision he wanted to realise but just clickbait in game form...
 
Danny22 said:
I have always admired this mentality. Never give the audience what they want. Always tell your own story and let them discover it. Historically, the greatest stuff is usually received with a controversial reception, atleast intially. And why I dislike the Marvel/Disney approach of focus group testing the product until everybody likes it (but few love it).

And I say this despite not liking death stranding much.
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Problem is He told his own story... the story tested very well .. and so he hated because they all like it and changed to be more divisive. .. it dosent get more edgy "own fart sniffing" than this.

*** IF this is true.

And people liking it dosent make it mainstream or less genius ... theres lots of very popular but still "cult" things, from classical music, classic films, books and so on.

He's just too far into his own ass. For some time now.
 
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Bernardougf said:
Problem is He told his own story... the story tested very well .. and so he hated because they all like it and changed to be more divisive. .. it dosent get more edgy "own fart sniffing" than this.

*** IF this is true.
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I dont believe a word of it. Precisely, a creator like Kojima doesn't change his vision because of a few people's feedback. The premise is stupid and said out loud is even worse. Peak edginess.
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
I dont believe a word of it. Precisely, a creator like Kojima doesn't change his vision because of a few people's feedback. The premise is stupid and said out loud is even worse. Peak edginess.
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The story sounds exactly what I would expect from Kojima. If its true or not... well

If the story was "it tested bad so he changed" than I would press X to doubt
 
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