Death Stranding

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Simonsloth
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Re: Death Stranding

Post by Simonsloth »

On the whole i’d agree with opening few hours being quite linear but the thing that struck me the most is how nothing is dumbed down. It throws information and concepts at you in a way which would alienate anyone not used to playing games. It’s fine by me but the narrative and setting is interesting enough that this might be off putting to those who were drawn in by that.

It is to an extent a walking simulator but the walking is interesting, challenging and nuanced. I’m really enjoying the licensed music and it reminds me of red dead in that sense.

The control scheme is complicated but suits the game well again similar to Red Dead 2. To me previous metal gear solid games had options which weren’t immediately obvious so again it’s not a surprise . The ripple crawl in MGS4, the cardboard box techniques in MGS5 and even being able to run and shoot simultaneously in MGS1 required a bit of dexterity and experimentation with the controls.

All very exciting and for me exactly what I was hoping for.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Death Stranding

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Really enjoying these bits of spoiler-free positive feedback, gentlemen.

I'm perfectly fine with a walking simulator as long as "the walking is interesting, challenging and nuanced". Just hope the story is up to par.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Death Stranding

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6 hours in so far and enjoying it.

No idea what is going on in a good way, I've been bombarded with systems but it hasn't got overwhelming as yet.

I 100% think you need to be in the mood for this game to play it. I can imagine as many people ditching it early on as carrying on.

I've got vibes from Control and Lost so far.

Only negatives have been the silly character names
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Alex79
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Re: Death Stranding

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DomsBeard wrote: November 10th, 2019, 12:22 am Only negatives have been the silly character names
Can't be any worse than Hot Coldman :lol:
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Stanshall
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Re: Death Stranding

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DomsBeard wrote: November 10th, 2019, 12:22 am I 100% think you need to be in the mood for this game to play it. I can imagine as many people ditching it early on as carrying on.
Yeah, definitely going to be the case. I expect I'll drop it and pick it back up several times before I finish it due to not feeling like watching half an hour of cutscene when I get an hour to play. You never know what you're going to get.

It's getting better and better, though, in every respect. It's not fun necessarily but it's affecting, occasionally frightening and sometimes thought provoking. Fortunately, it's also sometimes funny. Plenty of people will find this very boring and frustrating but I'm prepared to take it for what it is since I'm neither a massive Kojima fan nor do I have any great expectations of the game. I just fancy something different. If it gets boring, I'll drop it for a while.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Death Stranding

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I've been wanting to play it with every free minute I have which is a good sign.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: Death Stranding

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Although I am unlikely to play it for a while what with everything else I've got lined up to get stuck into, I have been enjoying the takes and discussion around DS more than I have for most games recently.

I've enjoyed the streams I have caught, my brother has been sending me some sublime screen caps (sadly there is apparently no photo mode, however) and the game's approach to terrain which I saw described as "the environment is not there to please you" is fascinating.
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chase210
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Re: Death Stranding

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This is a very strange game.
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Flabyo
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Re: Death Stranding

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How is the product placement? I’ve seen screenshots that seem to imply it’s a bit invasive...
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Flabyo
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Re: Death Stranding

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I guess Kojima really likes Monster Energy.
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Stanshall
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Re: Death Stranding

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It seems to be satire, but I can't tell where it's directed. I feel that a lot about Kojima which is partly why I find his stuff interesting, even if not necessarily satisfying.

I'd say the same with the social interaction/Demon's Souls stuff. There's a paradoxical irony to it. It's obviously taking the piss and yet on another level, it is useful if not almost essential.

It is very much one dude's voice and sense of humour. He likes to have his cake and eat it, I feel.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Death Stranding

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Flabyo wrote: November 11th, 2019, 1:56 pm I guess Kojima really likes Monster Energy.
I did buy my first can out of curiosity whilst playing the other night so it must work. Outside of my "home" I haven't noticed it so far anywhere else.

I don't think you can describe this game you have to experience it yourself.

It's a travelling/resource management with a little sprinkle or survival horror and combat here and there (though I suspect the latter two may be ramped up soon).
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Suits
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Re: Death Stranding

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I was into this.

Then hearing a lot of the Giant Bomb crew kind of destroy it and build it up really confused me.

Now all you lot saying all this good stuff about it has got me interested again.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Death Stranding

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Suits wrote: November 11th, 2019, 7:20 pm I was into this.

Then hearing a lot of the Giant Bomb crew kind of destroy it and build it up really confused me.

Now all you lot saying all this good stuff about it has got me interested again.
Giant Bomb are an oddity to me. I used to love their game of the year marathons but the team sometimes have unwavering binary views towards certain games. It’s almost as if they think you can only ever love or hate a game not be somewhere in between. So often number 9 or 10 on their list would be a game no one played or liked but one person shouted loudly about and forced it on. I tend not to pay too much attention to them these days for that reason.
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DomsBeard
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Re: Death Stranding

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Spent just over one hour doing one delivery tonight.

Stupidly I picked up 80kg of stuff from a depot at the opposite end of the map to where I was going walking past another two depots that were closer and I could've taken an order on there and done it in half the time. Especially when one had
Spoiler: show
A bike outside
Got to where I was going and it looked like I was approaching a big cut scene so saved it and called it a night. I'm presuming I'm at the end of Episode 2
Spoiler: show
About to board fragiles boat
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DomsBeard
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Re: Death Stranding

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Level 55 and 8.5 hours played by the way
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Flabyo
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Re: Death Stranding

Post by Flabyo »

I think the only problem I’ve ever had with Kojima is that he tends to push his work as being *important*, and that really gets up my nose because his stuff is almost as heavy handed as David Cages.
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chase210
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Re: Death Stranding

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It's weird, it's not a good game, or a game I can accurately put any positive qualities onto right now. But I'm also really compelled to keep playing it, I'm playing it right now.
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Stanshall
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Re: Death Stranding

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clippa wrote: November 12th, 2019, 3:37 pm]
Kojima totally passed me by. It's weird when that happens, feels like I've been living in a parallel universe.
Pretty sure I had one of the modern metal gears at one point on the ps2 or something and didn't much care for it so didn't play much, I never got to see anything absurd, it was always just some gruff guy creeping about.
On very superficial level, yeah, lot of military boner looking stuff but that is the very very beginning. And yet, again, he does seem to enjoy that stuff in a way. He's clearly very anti-war, anti-military, anti-economic war machine and so on but he also thinks guns and gadgets and stuff are cool. Then you've got his totally incongruous and scatalogical humour and all the fourth wall breaking and the weirdness and his crowbarring musical references and tastes and the UI/menu management fetishism. He's interesting, simple as that. A lot of bollocks and a lot of genuinely ground breaking ideas and often some mechanically spectacular systems.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Death Stranding

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I’m addicted to the gameplay loop. I also really really like the social/asynchronous multiplayer elements.
Spoiler: show
I’ve started building bridges and postboxes at the end of them then lugging heavy items slowly between each one making incremental progress
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