Death Stranding

[KSubzero1000]

Has everybody given up on this already?

Finally had the time to sit down and begin playing the first few chapters. Really liking so far. The gameplay is obviously rather unusual, but I'm curious to see how it develops and what surprises the game might have in store later on. Especially looking forward to all the cooperative elements.

Story... I'm not really sure what to make of it? Love the cutscenes so far, I'm just a bit puzzled as to where a lot of the plot points are leading to and what their payoffs might look like. If nothing else, it's certainly nice to see one of my favorite directors finally freed from his decade-old baggage and being able to explore a completely different avenue. This game just oozes purpose, for lack of a better word.

I choose to remain optimistic.


PS: Glad that I kept away from spoilers as much as possible, as confusing as the story might be at the moment, I'd rather experience it all now for the first time rather than after years of speculation and theory-crafting. And I've already been surprised by elements that I'm sure have been spoiled to hell and back in all of the promotional material.

[DomsBeard]

Ha no I've been holding off putting my thoughts on everything till a few more people have got over the line. My final playtime was 45 hours and that was with doing hardy any side quests past chapter 3.

It's my game of the year. I think I got what Kojima was going for early doors

[Alex79]

Awesome, that's good to hear. Nobody is quite like Kojima, I'm definitely getting on this after Xmas.

[Simonsloth]

I’m at 80 hours and I’m on chapter 7. It’s not the sort of thing I stick on for a few mins so if i put it on I’m up until the early hours which I can’t do every night (I wish!).

[JaySevenZero]

Has everybody given up on this already?

Far from it, I want to see where it all leads to before trying to formulate a proper opinion about it, although, suffice to say I bloody love it so far.

My final playtime was 45 hours and that was with doing hardy any side quests past chapter 3.

Wow, you must've been gunning through the game, I'm on chapter 6 and 100 hours in so far and it's all about the side missions for me, along with building roads, getting 5 stars from everybody and unlocking the higher level gear.

[James]

I'm in the midst of Chapter 3. Not sure how long I've been playing, but I've definitely been taking my time, and doing a bunch of Standard Orders. I have multiple stations at 5 stars now; don't know if I'll try to get all of them there, but I'm enjoying ferrying packages as much as seeing the story unfold.

[DomsBeard]

Has everybody given up on this already?

Far from it, I want to see where it all leads to before trying to formulate a proper opinion about it, although, suffice to say I bloody love it so far.

My final playtime was 45 hours and that was with doing hardy any side quests past chapter 3.

Wow, you must've been gunning through the game, I'm on chapter 6 and 100 hours in so far and it's all about the side missions for me, along with building roads, getting 5 stars from everybody and unlocking the higher level gear.

Yep I was going on holiday for a week so wanted to get it done by then, I imagine it is a hard game to come back to.

[Simonsloth]

My final playtime was 45 hours and that was with doing hardy any side quests past chapter 3.

Wow, you must've been gunning through the game, I'm on chapter 6 and 100 hours in so far and it's all about the side missions for me, along with building roads, getting 5 stars from everybody and unlocking the higher level gear.

We must be playing at the same pace as I’m on 105 hours just starting chapter 7.

My transport network is now a thing of beauty!

[James]

I'm now 46 hours in and have recently made it into Chapter 6. I'm happily doing a bit of building and delivering as I go, but I can't see myself dedicating the time it'd take to get everything to 5 stars, collect all the Memory Chips, etc. It's exactly the sort of game I would do that for, but I still have about 20 games from this year that I really want to get to.

[Simonsloth]

Just finished it. A masterpiece. For me this is probably the most perfect experience I have ever been presented with. I don’t think it’ll be repeated.

[KSubzero1000]

Oh my God, that's amazing to hear!

I really need to get on with it. It's just hard to find the time for it because it doesn't seem well-suited at all to short playing sessions.

[Simonsloth]

Oh my God, that's amazing to hear!

I really need to get on with it. It's just hard to find the time for it because it doesn't seem well-suited at all to short playing sessions.

Yeah. It’s not something you can play in short bursts especially towards the end.

[Chopper]

If it’s not a stupid question, what would people say is the optimal play-session length for this? Don’t sit down with it for less than two hours or whatever?

I’m wary of getting caught in 30 min cutscenes, between save points etc. Can you save anywhere or only at a delivery’s end?

Ta.

[Simonsloth]

You can save anywhere providing your not in immediate danger with danger well signposted and avoidable. You just have to press circle and take a rest. I think at least an hour is ok as any less you will not get much done. All cutscenes can be paused thankfully!

[Stanshall]

I'd say as someone who's played probably twenty hours fannying around and still only in Chapter 3, you need to give it a bit of time or you can become disheartened with how little you achieve. I have completely lost any momentum with it, whereas I was very intrigued by the opening hours which were very cutscene heavy and linear. The wild excitement from Si and DB definitely sticks with me though and I will defo go back and give it the time it deserves.

[Chopper]

Thanks guys. Decided not to start it last night as I have a touch of the Christmas Lurgy and I feel the game could go either way for me. Best be in good form for it.

[Electric Crocosaurus]

I finally started Death Stranding a couple of weeks ago as my 'long play' game and despite everything on paper being anathema to me (fetch quests, Kojima's 6th form philosophies, celebrity casting) it has really drawn me in. I'm around 12 hours in and on Chapter 3, but the atmosphere created by the environment is perfect for this time of year in the UK. I feel like the threat posed by MULEs and BTs has already been neutralised but the encounters with them are still eerie and enough of a nuisance to be effective.

Like others have commented I doubt I'll put the time in to 5 star every settlement, but at the moment I'm enjoying the ebb and flow of mixing up story missions and the standard orders. And while the dialogue and narrative remain as ham-fisted as ever there is some astonishing imagery within the cutscenes (along with the general beauty of the regular gameplay). And generating those likes is oh so compulsive.

[KSubzero1000]

Kojima's 6th form philosophies

I'd like to push back on this a little, if that's okay.

I would argue that philosophy is being unfairly singled out when it comes to media criticism.

There are plenty of movies and other pieces of media that repeatedly get some basic scientific facts wrong, sometimes even as one of their core plot points. And the entire genre of historical fiction suffers from oversimplification and outright revisionism. And yet, none of it seems to generate much negative attention aside from a mention in passing or a quick bit of trivia. Certainly not to the point of reducing entire authors to their shortcomings in these fields.

But on the other hand, every piece of popular media I can think of that tries to deal with simple philosophical themes instantly gets dismissed and mocked because of it. It happened to Watchmen. It happened to The Matrix. It happened to Metal Gear. As far as I can tell, it's just a self-perpetuating trope that people repeat at every opportunity without ever elaborating on which elements they thought were badly handled or should have been expanded upon. Sometimes it feels as if that entire category of human knowledge was considered to be inherently beyond the purview of mainstream entertainment and automatically deserving of ridicule.

If you go the Terence Malick route, you're being accused of being pretentious. But if you go the Kojima route and try to deconstruct some of the tropes of genre fiction and give the audience something to think about in-between all the action scenes, you're also being accused of being pretentious. Which I don't think is a terribly fair premise, personally.

[Flabyo]

For me it’s not so much what Kojima is trying to say, but that he’s not very good at saying it.

[KSubzero1000]

For me it’s not so much what Kojima is trying to say, but that he’s not very good at saying it.

That's perfectly fair, I just think there's a wider cultural issue and some questionable double standards at play here.