Death Stranding

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Mechner
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Joined: December 14th, 2016, 2:17 pm

Re: 497 - Death Stranding

Post by Mechner »

I’ve one thing only to say about Death Stranding which I believe will tell you how I feel about my Platinum trophy:

Spending hundreds of hours grinding hard, racing across the world in trucks and flying up and down snow covered mountain zip lines, delivering as much as humanly possible to contribute towards building a full highway with the knowledge that I’m in some way helping others play their games via the simple online component, all while watching the entirety of South Park in the background… is one of my favourite gaming memories ever… which will stay with me for the rest of my life…

Death Stranding got hold of me with its deceptively addictive game loop and didn’t let up till I truly cane and rinsed every aspect of this game.

Kojima should be left off his leash all of the time, the man truly is original in the industry, and deeply understands the medium.

P.S. oh and that soundtrack… sweet Jesus does Kojima have an ear for good music Low Roar became one of my favourites after this game
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LudoFM
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Joined: April 26th, 2020, 10:07 pm

Re: 497 - Death Stranding

Post by LudoFM »

I have never been more excited for a game ahead of the release of Death Stranding. I took a few days off work, told all my friends I'd be busy, and sank into my first ever Kojima game. By the time the credits rolled (the final time), I was exhausted.

Death Stranding felt like when my depression flares up and becomes difficult to manage. Isolating, grey skies stretch in endless directions. Most humans are holograms. Tonally, Sam works uphill against reclusive skeptics and cynically corrupt governmental institutions. It was a lot to decompress from, despite the ostensible intention to connect people.

Then, the game dropped on PC a year-ish later. I started from scratch, wanting to dedicate myself to its systems. Whereas my first playthrough took 40-50 hours, this replay took well over 90. I fell in love with the experience the second time around -- not because of the obvious pandemic parallels, but because I think this game is at its richest when you invest in the mechanics. Building roads, interconnecting ziplines, maxing out each delivery recipient to five stars, and so on, made me care about this world when on first glance I experienced it as a nihilistic morass.
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Ben77000000
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Joined: December 3rd, 2015, 3:33 pm

Re: 489 - Death Stranding

Post by Ben77000000 »

I didn't realise how deftly Kojima had played me until a discussion with my coworker a few days after we'd both bought the game at launch. I had posited that the concept of the MULEs was absurd; a group of mysterious nuisances obsessed with stealing cargo because the act of delivering things was such a thrill. That anyone could get so much out of mindlessly distributing things seemed ridiculous to me. My colleague asked how far into the story I'd gotten. I said that my progress had ground to a halt because I'd fallen into a loop of zigzagging between outposts dropping things off. "Just the act of making drop offs is pretty fun actually", I said. "You sound like a MULE", said my coworker. The penny dropped.

Many aspects of this game's story failed to click with me in the way that the ingenious conceit behind the MULEs did, but this realisation that I had inadvertently become a member of the CDA from Monsters Inc struck a chord with me.

Death Stranding's world is testament to the quality of an aspect of Hideo Kojima's games I feel is sometimes overlooked; their meticulous audio-visual texture. Months after finishing this game, I can still recall vividly the discordant screech of being detected by MULEs, the sound of Sam's strand tightening around the limbs of an incapacitated foe, and the impeccably realised rust that would accumulate on wet cargo.
Kojima is evidently a perfectionist with regards to many facets of his projects, and while his characters and plotting are hit and miss, I can't fault the way it feels to simply inhabit the worlds he and his team think up.

When I remember my time with The Phantom Pain, its virtual tactility is the first thing that comes flooding back. From the sound of Venom Snake's helicopter seatbelt unfastening before he hops out, to the camera getting splashed as he sprints through squelchy marshland, few other games were as satisfyingly tangible. These tiny touches amount to an astonishing sense of immersion, and Death Stranding is full of them.

Death Stranding's verisimilitude is artful in a manner I found distinct from other blockbuster titles. Sunsets and cherry blossoms are staples of AAA game screenshots shared on social media but Death Stranding finds beauty in the mundane details too. Its flawless recreation of things like wet gloves, splashing tar and muddy skin does more to ground me in its setting than any amount of exposition could. The game contains reams of text that explain the history of its setting and the science behind its systems, but for me it wasn't the exhaustive lore that made this bizarre world feel believable, it was the pain-staking precision with which the minor details were rendered.
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savepoint
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Joined: November 17th, 2021, 2:52 pm

Re: Our next podcast recording (28.11.21): 497 - Death Stranding

Post by savepoint »

The imagery of the BT as it glided lonely through the landscape, as it clustered desperately clutching at that living being who walked amidst them, desperate to hold onto life, but also to bring that being into its inner darkness and turmoil. These images are so suggestive of the fear of death, grief, depression and loneliness; whilst the game is about making those connections with others which are in many ways so suggestive of life. I recall so well the cathartic experience I had trekking over the narrow mountain pass, through the fraught gauntlet of BT's and then finally reaching that point overlooking the valley and Port Knot City and the Asylum For The Feeling song plays as you slowly descend - I felt such a surge of relief and sadness mixed together - and it was then I knew that this game was a masterpiece.
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