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Death Stranding

J. Marston

New trailer released...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6goa1pI_az8

No clue what it's actually about but it looks cool and it's got Mads Mikkelsen.

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noodler

I think it'll be two years before it's on ps+ tbh!

goon_magee

Grumpypants wrote: »

It's not boring. It just doesn't blast you with non stop action and gives you time to explore. This gives the scary /action parts much more impact.

I love just wandering and having a break from it all.

Much like days gone players will love it as they aren't on a timeline to play it like reviewers are.

But it isn't for everyone. But it is original and ground breaking.

Again with the "reviewers can't appreciate something the same because they are working to a deadline excuse"...How do you explain the many games that come out requiring large time investments that get glowing reviews all round? Breath of the Wild, Metal Gear 5, Skyrim, Baldurs Gate, Persona 5; I could name more, but you see what I mean. I think it might have actually been you used the same excuse in defence of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and the general player base crapped on that game way harder than the majority of review outlets working to these deadlines you seem to think affect a critics ability to judge a game fairly.

Review copies have been in the wild for around 3 weeks now, plenty of scope there for a reviewer to take their time with the game if you ask me. Personally I can't wait to play DS, it looks amazing and like something genuinely fresh in a sea of stagnant AAA mediocrity. But at the same time the majority of less than favourable reviews I have read all sound like valid critiques, and don't suggest at all that people's issues stemmed from not having enough time to play the game naturally.

Kojima's polarising style is what is splitting opinions here, not lack of time to play it properly.

biggebruv

I was laughing at the polygon review

First 10 hours are a slog they say
Then the last 10 hours are another slog/boring lol so that’s 20 hours of game time that’s dull and work like

Would have been interesting to see what score they would have tagged onto that review if they did scores

goon_magee

It's the strangest batch of reviews I have ever encountered. Most of them have sounded quite negative, only to go on and slap an 8 or 9 at the end. The IGN one is the only major review outlet I feel awarded a score that felt reflective of the actual sentiments and opinions expressed in the review.

I'm still massively excited for the game, have even booked a few days off to get stuck in, but with some of these scores there is more than a whiff of "we didn't like it but it dares to be different so it deserves a positive score for that alone".

B.A._Baracus

goon_magee wrote: »

It's the strangest batch of reviews I have ever encountered. Most of them have sounded quite negative, only to go on and slap an 8 or 9 at the end. The IGN one is the only major review outlet I feel awarded a score that felt reflective of the actual sentiments and opinions expressed in the review.

I'm still massively excited for the game, have even booked a few days off to get stuck in, but with some of these scores there is more than a whiff of "we didn't like it but it dares to be different so it deserves a positive score for that alone".

I'd say most bigger sites are a bit afraid to award it a really low score. Don't bite the hand that feeds you etc. This is Sony and not some small indy studio.

On that subject I laugh when people say "paid reviews" :pac: Nah, it's just if the business is talking about video games then you have to be biased.

gimli2112

the line I see a lot of is "the game is not for everyone" which I interpret as being "it's not for me".

[Deleted User]

As just one example it was the same for Danny O Dywers review for Fallout 76
He made a full length documentary on Fallout 76 before it's release and and was allowed by the publisher Bethesda to speak to the DEVS
Then his review danced around the fact the game is utter garbage and one of the most buggiest releases of this generation

He's in no position to be objective and honest in this case as he's already in bed with the publishers / DEVS

His company is not in a position to be rubbing up publishers & DEVS the wrong way

*Edit* Been trying to find that review and looks like he removed it, will see if I can dig out the tweets

ERG89

biggebruv wrote: »

I was laughing at the polygon review

First 10 hours are a slog they say
Then the last 10 hours are another slog/boring lol so that’s 20 hours of game time that’s dull and work like

Would have been interesting to see what score they would have tagged onto that review if they did scores

I hope more reviews of open world games in going forward will feature the word slog as it's an issue far more prominent now than it was 10 years ago

RasTa

"President Trump right now is building a wall," Kojima tells us.

"Then you have Brexit, where the UK is trying to leave the EU, and it feels like there are lots of walls and people thinking only about themselves in the world.

"In Death Stranding we're using bridges to represent connection - there are options to use them or break them. It's about making people think about the meaning of connection."

Kojima is keen to stress that his game's message is not targeted at any one country or community: bringing people back together is a universal theme in his eyes.

"When we're connected we have a responsibility over each other. But social media doesn't seem to have that responsibility, for example.

"Caring for each other is what makes people feel good. We've always been like that in the past.

"I want people to remember that and feel it in my game."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50172917

gizmo

Deleted User wrote: »

As just one example it was the same for Danny O Dywers review for Fallout 76
He made a full length documentary on Fallout 76 before it's release and and was allowed by the publisher Bethesda to speak to the DEVS
Then his review danced around the fact the game is utter garbage and one of the most buggiest releases of this generation

He's in no position to be objective and honest in this case as he's already in bed with the publishers / DEVS

His company is not in a position to be rubbing up publishers & DEVS the wrong way

*Edit* Been trying to find that review and looks like he removed it, will see if I can dig out the tweets

Do you mean this video where he does a review of 4-6hrs of play from the Beta?

[Deleted User]

gizmo wrote: »

Do you mean this video where he does a review of 4-6hrs of play from the Beta?

No that's not it

Dohnjoe

RasTa wrote: »

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-50172917

Just read it, I thought this was the most interesting part - defining why he made the game the way he did

Kojima is keen to stress that his game's message is not targeted at any one country or community: bringing people back together is a universal theme in his eyes.

"When we're connected we have a responsibility over each other. But social media doesn't seem to have that responsibility, for example.

"Caring for each other is what makes people feel good. We've always been like that in the past.

"I want people to remember that and feel it in my game."

Kojima says that he's "very prone to loneliness" and thinks there are "similar people all around the world, especially gamers".

"So when those people play this game they realise people like them exist all over the world. Knowing that even though I'm lonely, there are other people like me makes them feel at ease. That's what I would like for them to feel when playing the game."

Stone Deaf 4evr

Deleted User wrote: »

As just one example it was the same for Danny O Dywers review for Fallout 76
He made a full length documentary on Fallout 76 before it's release and and was allowed by the publisher Bethesda to speak to the DEVS
Then his review danced around the fact the game is utter garbage and one of the most buggiest releases of this generation

He's in no position to be objective and honest in this case as he's already in bed with the publishers / DEVS

His company is not in a position to be rubbing up publishers & DEVS the wrong way

*Edit* Been trying to find that review and looks like he removed it, will see if I can dig out the tweets

That whole documentary seemed like a big misstep to me at the time, he went from a scrappy underdog making vids on projects he liked such as witcher 3 and Rocket League, and next thing he was getting behind the scenes access to Fallout 76.
If he was a regular youtuber, I'd have put it down to being Naive, but he's been involved in games journalism for long enough that he should have known how it was going to be perceived. I wonder if he regrets it now? he's a likable enough guy and i guess we'll never know if money exchanged hands or not, or if bethesda simply saw him as another 'influencer' to be exploited, but it definitely altered my perception of him anyway.

[Deleted User]

Just a side note: I actually like some of his content. The Half-Life documentary as one example is brilliant.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Deleted User wrote: »

Just a side note: I actually like some of his content. The Half-Life documentary as one example is brilliant.

yeah, I do too, I actually think its a very important thing hes doing for the most part, its very rare to get to see or hear exactly what goes into games. - for example, I dont like warframe, but his doc on how the studio turned it around is amazing.

Id love to see candid interviews with Konami / Kojima on the real story behind MGSV, it might certainly colour the story more in terms of whether hes a visionary artist, or a mad lad who has crazy ideas, but needs a firm hand from management to keep him on track.

as an aside, if you like reading, check out Jason Schriers 'Blood sweat and pixels' - goes behind the scenes on a number of different games, with varying degrees of production difficulty.

[Deleted User]

biggebruv

Deleted User wrote: »

As just one example it was the same for Danny O Dywers review for Fallout 76
He made a full length documentary on Fallout 76 before it's release and and was allowed by the publisher Bethesda to speak to the DEVS
Then his review danced around the fact the game is utter garbage and one of the most buggiest releases of this generation

He's in no position to be objective and honest in this case as he's already in bed with the publishers / DEVS

His company is not in a position to be rubbing up publishers & DEVS the wrong way

*Edit* Been trying to find that review and looks like he removed it, will see if I can dig out the tweets

If you find the original review can you post would like to see that lol what a disaster that game was

Grumpypants

The point the video above misses, is that a game can be "boring" and great at the same time.

I've put god knows how many hours into Football manager, Factorio, Fallout 3, and Sim City and other similar games. They are "boring games", I'm okay with that, i like a "boring" game to relax and play. I can see why someone wouldn't enjoy it, but you would be hard pressed to say they are bad.

I do wonder if some if those that are saying its a slog are doing the totally unnecessary side missions and not much exploring. The rambling is always amazing.

I just watched Yong yea's review pretty on the money.

https://youtu.be/OPTs4uW-zO0

noodler

I already know I'm going to persevere when I play this.

Probably not til a discount tho.

awec

gimli2112 wrote: »

the line I see a lot of is "the game is not for everyone" which I interpret as being "it's not for me".

"The game is not for everyone" basically means "most people will think it's shit".

ahnowbrowncow

Grumpypants wrote: »

The point the video above misses, is that a game can be "boring" and great at the same time.

I've put god knows how many hours into Football manager, Factorio, Fallout 3, and Sim City and other similar games. They are "boring games", I'm okay with that, i like a "boring" game to relax and play. I can see why someone wouldn't enjoy it, but you would be hard pressed to say they are bad.

I do wonder if some if those that are saying its a slog are doing the totally unnecessary side missions and not much exploring. The rambling is always amazing.

I just watched Yong yea's review pretty on the money.

https://youtu.be/OPTs4uW-zO0

I wouldn't call any of those games you mentioned boring though. I think you're conflating slower paced, more tactical games with boring games. Death Stranding certainly appears to be the latter.

johnny_ultimate

It's good and healthy that some games are 'not for everyone'. Hell, it's good and healthy if a game is 'not for pretty much everyone'. Whether that's an arthouse oddity or insanely specific + detailed simulator, there are many great games that aim solely for a particular audience. I'm always fascinated when developers try that on a large scale.

I have no idea how Death Stranding will work for me - I've heard things about it that I'm extremely excited about, and I've heard things I'm deeply apprehensive about. I think Kojima games tend to be a mix of outrageously awful and genuinely genius, with some coming down on one or the other side. Even if I ultimately hate this one, I'm actually glad there's a AAA game that's so divisive because we get so few of them. 90% of them these days are so focus-grouped and smoothed down to avoid anything resembling divisiveness that they become an interminable mush in my eyes. I wish there were more games on this scale that invited everything from passionate defences to furious takedowns.

As for 'boring'? Well, I'm definitely of the belief that games can be boring and frustrating in interesting ways. Pathologic 2 is a game I find immensely tedious and infuriating, but it's such a particular, unusual vision that it needs to feel like that to achieve what it's trying to do. Whereas I find RDR2 tedious and infuriating in a deeply unsatisfying way, because I don't think what emerges from that frustration and boredom is enough to justify it. I'm sure other people have different perspectives and tolerances when it comes to that - but I think that feeds back into the point I made above :P

Anyway, I look forward to discovering how tolerable the boredom of Death Stranding is for myself in a few days.

OptimusTractor

As an experienced Football Manager manager I love setting up tactics & training, revamping the staff, searching for wonderkids in Outer Mongolia. Thinking of the squad you'll have in 5 years when all your 4 Star+ regens are ready for the 1st team. The joy of taking a small team up through the leagues to promised land and the despair of losing to 95th minute goal when only 2 minutes of time were added. Yes it's tedious and can be incredibly frustrating but it's also..... relaxing with the sense of accomplishment.

So if players of DS have the same experience I get with the Bosnian Premier League then I say go forth Kojima Kouriers and enjoy yourselves.

J Mysterio

Jerichoholic wrote: »

So it's...

"You are over encumbered"

For 70 hours?

Haha, Brilliant.

[Deleted User]

Only heard about it very recently, and watched an hour and a half review today with 30 minutes of coverage. Won't be for me.

When I first read about it, I thought it would have a more Lone Dark feel to the actual traversal of the world. Instead, I see him ramping ravines on motorbikes. It looked like it took far too much effort to get around as well. Lots of bumps and obstacles.
I also don't like that a key gameplay element is stacking your gear, and the cumbersome menu it took to do it. The video I watched had a pizza delivery and it took a good while to make sure the pizza was perfectly flat as per mission rules.. But once you start moving, it leans forward 45degrees and it doesn't matter. If stacking was done by eye, instead of a huge list, it might work better.
Controlling lean left and right all the time is weird. I don't consciously do that. My brain does that. That sort of manual control works if it's for crossing a log on a river where in real life, you'd be actively thinking about lean.
The entire game being fetch quests is no bueno. The story sounds so bizarre and badly explained that the apparently great cut scenes won't be enough to keep my interested for the two or three dozen hours in apparently takes to get what's going on properly.
Don't like the monsters and lack of explanation for them.

Coming from absolutely zero hype, and not caring one bit about the creator, it's easy for me to give this a pass based on the gameplay videos alone. I'm not an arty person and this would go entirely unappreciated.

B.A._Baracus

After all this split talk I kinda want to just play the thing for myself now and make up my own mind.
That said not sure I wanna pay 60 euro to "find out" - especially knowing if it does flop it will go quickly down in price.

[Deleted User]

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

After all this split talk I kinda want to just play the thing for myself now and make up my own mind.
That said not sure I wanna pay 60 euro to "find out" - especially knowing if it does flop it will go quickly down in price.

I'd wait for split talk amongst the player base first.

corcaigh07

Looks like a dreadful “game” to me, graphics are stunning though in fairness.

B.A._Baracus

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd wait for split talk amongst the player base first.

True.

corcaigh07 wrote: »

Looks like a dreadful “game” to me, graphics are stunning though in fairness.

I love the mgs games. So there for I guess I have to say Kojima is great at making video games... or should I say was

He really has gone up his own arse with the stories he tells and is pretentious now.

[Deleted User]

Critics seem to be rating this as if it's a movie, as opposed to you know an actual game.
If the core game-play is **** then rate it accordingly.
Some of the synopsis I am reading is mind boggling

Just one of many reviews;

"Death Stranding is a very weird game that amazes us with its narrative, complex lore and atmosphere, but falls short of expectations with it's wacky rhythm and it's dull gameplay."

Score - 90/100