Death Stranding - Kojima at it again

[Keyboard Koala]

Sui generis, and I think one of the best games of the last twenty years. But not everyone would agree.

[meatbin]

I loved this game, one of my all time favourtites.   However, once I got to what I thought was the end of the gameplay, I then watched the rest on sped-up on Youtube.  It still took hours.

[MardiganX]

I just spent over an hour recovering the cargo I dropped after trying to jump a river on the bike and landing right in the middle 😦 I lost my bike in the deep bit and my shit was floating all over the place like a pirate ship had washed up on a beach. This game is ridiculous and amazing!

[Kevvy Metal]

It's one of the best games I've ever played. 
It's so, so odd and super compelling. I played through the whole thing when I had broken my leg and couldn't walk for 3 months and played this during that recovery period meaning that the game is personnally really specially to me. I pumped in over 200 hours into the PS4 version and loved it. 

[Spacehost]

I don’t think any game in recent memory, maybe ever, has captured the sensation of moving through a natural environment quite like this. Kojima is a man of singular obsessions and I wonder if he’s got hooked on Wier’s Way or something.

[Flanders]

Shouldn’t be forgotten how abysmally treated this game was in the gaming press when it came out, particularly from major US outlets. 
 

It was like people saw an opportunity to take a swing at Kojima’s historical excesses and completely missed the actual game. To the point where they actively made shit up - I remember one reviewer claimed the baby is constantly crying out of the controller speaker, which absolutely is not true. 

[Chadruharazzeb]

And done! Actually done. I think. Absolutely no idea what the hell happened or what it was all about but it wouldn't be a Kojima game if it made a lick of sense. 

 

Bloody loved it, though. So utterly original in pretty much every way. Just wish there was a "No BT" feature where it's just you versus the terrain without the horror shite. 

[MardiganX]

There are things going on here that are going to make it impossible for me to play some types of games going forward. I don’t think I will ever again be able to accept a game having a huge player inventory but then not having the management and care of that inventory being important. 
 

I don’t want to turn the thread into a checkpoint update of my play through so will come back after a good bit more play, but for now safe to say this is as good as anything I’ve ever played.

[Keyboard Koala]

3 hours ago, Flanders said:

Shouldn’t be forgotten how abysmally treated this game was in the gaming press when it came out, particularly from major US outlets. 
 

It was like people saw an opportunity to take a swing at Kojima’s historical excesses and completely missed the actual game. To the point where they actively made shit up - I remember one reviewer claimed the baby is constantly crying out of the controller speaker, which absolutely is not true. 

 

And the Edge^tm  6^tm . Another victim after Gunstar Heroes and SF III .

[PaB]

It’s in my top 5 games of all time list.

[Mystacon]

For me it’s the greatest game ever made. It isn’t even the gameplay itself that puts it up there, although it’s undoubtably great. It’s the package as a whole. The atmosphere, the music, the presentation.

 

It was a pretty ballsy move putting out a game like this, and it was a risk that paid off and then some. Now we just need the sequel.

[cubik]

Have you ever wondered if you're playing a different game to everybody else? I'm not feeling this at all and have had to force myself to get where I am which admittedly isn't far (most of the way through chapter 2).

 

I agree with the sentiment about presentation and atmosphere but by god, it's dull.

That's one issue with subscription services vs retail I guess. If I'd paid £50 for it I'd be sticking it out but as it's just one game of many on PS+ I'm tempted to accept it's not for me, skip it and move on.

 

Is it a slow starter that gets good after a few hours?

[Alex W.]

It’s a slow everything. Slow is kind of the point. If you don’t like slow it will not get better for you.

[cubik]

I’m intrigued enough by the story but not enjoying the game so might just watch the cut scenes on YouTube. Never done this before but I can’t see myself sticking with it. 
 

Sorry everyone. Will my forum access be revoked for this crime against Kojima?

[Sarlaccfood]

2 hours ago, cubik said:

I’m intrigued enough by the story but not enjoying the game so might just watch the cut scenes on YouTube. Never done this before but I can’t see myself sticking with it. 
 

Sorry everyone. Will my forum access be revoked for this crime against Kojima?

Hey man it’s not for everyone. A game like this can’t always hit so hard for some people without leaving others cold. 

[MardiganX]

Gamers have been conditioned in recent years to look for and almost need instant gratification. The more I play DS (not Dark / Demon Souls) the more I realise that its actually re-defined a lot of gaming and open world tropes for me. I bounced of Far Cry 6 a couple weeks ago after feeling utterly bored a few hours in and DS has just buried that approach to open world gaming for me. I'm actually really glad I didnt play DS closer to its release as I'm not sure I would have appreciated some other games as much as I did at the time had I played DS. 

 

@cubik I had a similar issue at the start of the first real 'order' where I said to myself 'they've got to be fucking kidding'. I mentioned earlier about this game taking the most basic, established actions that have become almost unnecessary or useless in modern games and making it the core of everything you do. Once I realised that and actually settled into it I was gone. Like totally lost and not thinking about playing any other game kinda gone. Its been that way since and I hope it never stops. That might not happen for you, like a lot of other players but hopefully it does

[Nathan Wind]

I’d never have bought this, but thanks to the new PS Plus Extra tier I gave the director’s cut a bash yesterday and the first few hours are sensational. I don’t know what I thought Death Stranding was, but it wasn’t this. Rarely will I sit and play a game for a few hours solidly these days but it had me totally gripped from the opening scene. It’s much more Lovecraftian than I expected, and the world they’ve built is incredible. A believable landscape for the first time ever in a game. It makes me want to go out for a massive stomp in the hills.

 

The Dragon’s Dogma team should license this engine.

[MardiganX]

This fucking game! Episode 3 related chat...

 

Spoiler

So was given a priority main plot order to infiltrate a MULE camp and retrieve something they had stolen. Had recently acquired the Bola gun so thought why not. Tried to stealthily enter the camp only to get pinged by a beacon and lit up like a Christmas tree. The next 20 minutes was a brilliant and also hilarious encounter as I realised the Bola gun, while extremely efficient, has a fairly short stun time  I eventually cleared the entire camp and then to my delight and surprise discovered I could use one of the massive MULE trucks to basically empty the camp of its entire stock and head back to Lake Knot City. I now have that truck available to me (although I cant store it in the garage for repairs) and am just about to take it out on a few orders absolutely stacked with goods  I'm so happy. 

 

The more I play DS the more it feels like several gaming tropes have been redefined, never to feel the same for me. Before this I always thought open world traversal was fairly boring, even in very recent games like Horizon Forbidden West but if DS can make it feel as fun, rewarding and at times exhilarating as this then all games of that type should be striving for what it does.

[meatbin]

Has anyone replayed this yet?  Is it as rewarding as the first playthrough?

 

I'm thinking about doing it, seeing all these recent impressions has got me keen to play, although this time I think I'll skip most cut-scenes.

[Billy Brown]

4 hours ago, MardiganX said:

This fucking game! Episode 3 related chat...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So was given a priority main plot order to infiltrate a MULE camp and retrieve something they had stolen. Had recently acquired the Bola gun so thought why not. Tried to stealthily enter the camp only to get pinged by a beacon and lit up like a Christmas tree. The next 20 minutes was a brilliant and also hilarious encounter as I realised the Bola gun, while extremely efficient, has a fairly short stun time  I eventually cleared the entire camp and then to my delight and surprise discovered I could use one of the massive MULE trucks to basically empty the camp of its entire stock and head back to Lake Knot City. I now have that truck available to me (although I cant store it in the garage for repairs) and am just about to take it out on a few orders absolutely stacked with goods  I'm so happy. 

 

The more I play DS the more it feels like several gaming tropes have been redefined, never to feel the same for me. Before this I always thought open world traversal was fairly boring, even in very recent games like Horizon Forbidden West but if DS can make it feel as fun, rewarding and at times exhilarating as this then all games of that type should be striving for what it does.

Quick tip in case you haven't realised it yet (as I didn't for ages):
 

Spoiler

If you take down MULEs with the Bola, they will more often than not have a handcuff symbol over their head. You can walk up to them and kick them while they're in this state, which changes the symbol to stars. My understanding is that they're conscious and actively trying to free themselves when they have the handcuff symbol, whereas they're temporarily knocked out if they have the star symbol, so they'll stay down for longer that way.

 

I've also been playing this over the past few weeks and am utterly obsessed. I won't go into detail as I'm in Chapter 6 and I'm aware that there are a bunch of people playing fresh thanks to this being on PS+. But yes, really quite an incredible game.

[Billy Brown]

Double post.

[Kevvy Metal]

On 29/06/2022 at 17:49, Keyboard Koala said:

 

And the Edge^tm  6^tm . Another victim after Gunstar Heroes and SF III .

 

Edge are so frequently off the mark - for me at least - it's ridiculous. As a result, I just don't read their reviews as they do nothing for me and don't come close to aligning with my tastes. 

[Sarlaccfood]

Wasn’t there some controversy around it like they refused to review it at the time because they didn’t get review code in a timely manner?

[Spacehost]

21 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

Wasn’t there some controversy around it like they refused to review it at the time because they didn’t get review code in a timely manner?

Not really, they just said they got the code in advance but they didn't feel comfortable trying to rush through it to get a review out in time for the game's release window, on account of it being so absurdly expansive.

 

I'm glad they did, many of the early reviews seemed to be from people who tried to breathlessly charge through the main storyline.

 

I think a six or maybe a seven is fine for DS. I love it to bits but it's also at turns obtuse and bloated.

[Sarlaccfood]

19 minutes ago, Spacehost said:

Not really, they just said they got the code in advance but they didn't feel comfortable trying to rush through it to get a review out in time for the game's release window, on account of it being so absurdly expansive.

 

I'm glad they did, many of the early reviews seemed to be from people who tried to breathlessly charge through the main storyline.

 

I think a six or maybe a seven is fine for DS. I love it to bits but it's also at turns obtuse and bloated.

I see to remember people being pissed off about it though as they were saying they might skip the review altogether? Maybe I’m mid-remembering.

[Spacehost]

17 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

I see to remember people being pissed off about it though as they were saying they might skip the review altogether? Maybe I’m mid-remembering.

I don't recall that myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone misinterpreted what they were saying.

[Sarlaccfood]

5 minutes ago, Spacehost said:

I don't recall that myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone misinterpreted what they were saying.

 

Yeah here we go. Some of the people in the replies are pretty put-out and there was topics on Reddit and resetera about it. 

 

[Alex W.]

Reminds me of that one web site that couldn’t review MGS4 for launch because you had to be transported to a special Konami-run compound to play it and they refused.

[Triple A]

Fair enough to insist on completing the game imo, as then you get the full experience and as such are fairly positioned to comment on it.  You wanna spit the dummy and complain?  No great loss.

[MardiganX]

2 hours ago, Billy Brown said:

Quick tip in case you haven't realised it yet (as I didn't for ages):
 

  Reveal hidden contents

If you take down MULEs with the Bola, they will more often than not have a handcuff symbol over their head. You can walk up to them and kick them while they're in this state, which changes the symbol to stars. My understanding is that they're conscious and actively trying to free themselves when they have the handcuff symbol, whereas they're temporarily knocked out if they have the star symbol, so they'll stay down for longer that way.

 

I've also been playing this over the past few weeks and am utterly obsessed. I won't go into detail as I'm in Chapter 6 and I'm aware that there are a bunch of people playing fresh thanks to this being on PS+. But yes, really quite an incredible game.

I only realised this AFTER that camp adventure when visiting the firing range where it covered very well how you should actually use the weapon to good effect