Death Stranding 2

Penn · 14-07-2025 12:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123633309#Comment_123633309

I was put off too, especially when the order was to clear BTs in the area. I approached them very softly, lots of blood grenades and ammo not knowing what was going to happen, escape route planned out, no unnecessary cargo that might get ruined…

It's literally just shooting a few floating jellyfish that barely move, and they drop a good few chiral crystals. Couldn't have been any easier.

OptimusTractor · 14-07-2025 09:53PM

The whole Neil Vana arc is needlessly dragged out, it really could have been done in 1 fight/cut scene.

Underground · 14-07-2025 09:53PM

Finished it over the weekend. I won’t get into spoilers but have to say I really enjoyed it. There’s so much mad Kojima stuff in this that just wouldn’t work if it was anyone else behind the wheel but him.

Is the game an all time classic? No. I’ll tell you what though, it at least made me sit up and feel something, which is more than I can say for the FF7 remakes that critics and YouTubers alike were hailing as masterpieces on release.

Special mention for Higgs who just absolutely steals the show here. Troy Baker’s performance is exceptional. I love how Higgs is extremely aware at all times that he’s in a video game, he’s got this almost Deadpool quality to him.

Strongly enjoyed this one, 8/10 for me.

brady12 · 15-07-2025 06:41AM

Ya was very easy , thanks .

I am fairly sure I have two sections road left to build and 1 or 2 monorails to build and I can actually concentrate on playing the game .

I was passing by this hill in game for about 10 hours and I was like jesus I better drive up and make sure nothing there. Went up and there was goldmine of crystals I was over joyed 😂

Penn · 17-07-2025 08:27AM

Went from Chapter 11 to Chapter 14 last night. The run to Terminal Fort Knot was crazy. Kinda cool, but also kinda annoying.

The controls for traversal often conflict with the controls for combat, such as stumbling when you have a weapon out, holding L2 to steady yourself but it puts you in aiming mode, you let go of L2 and you're stumbling again and need to hold L2, which puts you in aiming... Only way out is unequip weapon, then hold L2 to steady yourself, then take out weapon again. Then trying to reload and ending up punching the air because you technically have to use all the original ammo in the gun for Sam to take new extra ammo from the backpack accessory. And then the time it takes to run out of ammo, drop the weapon and equip a new one. It's all pretty cumbersome. The mission was fun enough, but during heavy combat like this and some boss fights, you're fighting the controls as much as enemies.

Penn · 17-07-2025 09:14PM

And finished. As expected, the ending chapters were awesome, and completely batsh*t self-indulgent nonsense at the same time, but mostly in a good way.

Not sure how much I'll continue. There does seem to be a few interesting side-orders that might be fun to complete, but I don't know if I'll go for the platinum. I've a good few of the places at 5 stars and nearly all the roads and monorails done, but I'd say some of the places (especially the mountain ones) will end up being torturous to max out.

Zero-Cool · 17-07-2025 09:30PM

I think I'm on chapter 7 or 8, had a slow down this week, and just got to motherhood. Was wondering why the gameplay recording stopped message was showing up for the door code, surely it's not that precious. Turns out it is, ha. I'm loving the bits of story that pop up after a delivery, it's making me want to just get through the main orders, same thing happened to me playing the first game.

Grumpypants · 18-07-2025 05:17PM

I've struggled to get time on the PS5 with work, kids, holidays etc but finally got back to this over the last two days. Painfully early days. Just landed in the second location.

I didn't think I'd like the puppet but I actually did right from the first meeting.

What's in Kojima's head. What I think this game needs is a puppet side kick.

Team: okay we'll get right on it.

Kojima: Make it move at 12 frames per second.

Team: done 👍

RoyalCelt · 18-07-2025 05:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123648873#Comment_123648873

I believe he used an old television animation technique for it. I loved the Mimir reference "really Sam, your buttocks?".

brady12 · 19-07-2025 12:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123643881#Comment_123643881

You articulated well what I was thinking going to bed last night thinking about a boss fight I just had . Good thing they are not that hard because if they were the clumsiness / chunkiness would be very frustrating .

Penn · 19-07-2025 07:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123646584#Comment_123646584

Yeah I think I'm done. Got all the roads and monorails completed, and connected the last prepper to the network. Have a lot of the places at 5 stars, pretty much everyone up to the F5 Distribution centre. Getting some of the rest of them though, not sure I can be bothered. Can't just rely on zip lines as a lot of the orders have big weight requirements so you need the pickup. And one of the last places you connect to the network, you can only 5 star them by doing their orders which reading online, they seem tricky enough. Possible, but just not going to be worth the effort.

So think that's me done, with near 80 hours on the clock. Fantastic game overall. Still not overly sold on the BT stuff in general, never really enjoyed it from the first game either, but overall combat is a hell of a lot better, and it felt a little easier to get roads up and running in this game which was great.

Zero-Cool · 19-07-2025 08:04PM

Any tips on roads? I'm in red desert area after finding the motherhood. Coming across pavers that require 2000 of each resource, are you just claiming everything you can and losing into the pickup to add to pavers you find along the way?

Penn · 19-07-2025 08:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651819#Comment_123651819

Once they started getting to that value, I'd prioritise the monorails, then use mines for the materials, then just claim from places to make up small amounts where needed. There's a metal mine to the north of the Motherhood area, and a Ceramics mine up the hill behind the North Distribution centre. Then just pack out the pickup and do a few runs, doing some small orders and lost cargo on the way. Can also use the Magellan for fast travelling some of materials, but I usually just drove myself.

The main resource you need to be concerned with at that stage is chiral, so I'd stop and pick up any big chunks on the ground along the way too.

Sometimes they were dirt cheap, sometimes really expensive. I'm assuming there's some correlation between how long the paver has been on the chiral network. I just tended to belt ahead regardless.

Spooch · 22-07-2025 12:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651819#Comment_123651819

Also make sure you connect as many facilities to the network as possible, the cost comes down if more of the surrounding areas are connected I think

brady12 · 24-07-2025 04:07PM

Chapters 13 & 14 cut scenes kinda lost me . I was like ok Koijma you really have went too far this time . I don't care anymore . I was 98 hours into KD2 story still had me hooked . 80 hours into this & I just want finish it . Higgs is unreal though he is electric on screen .

brady12 · 24-07-2025 07:54PM

Ok Chapters 15-17 were….incredible.

OptimusTractor · 25-07-2025 09:27AM

The duality of gaming 😂😂

OptimusTractor · 31-07-2025 09:55AM

I knew the county was an illegal settlement.

Zero-Cool · 01-08-2025 10:25AM

Right…. so I haven't been playing this much. I jump on, take an order, load the truck, beeline it to the delivery point and job done. I go to take another order but end up just playing something else. I'm not getting the same enjoyment and satisfaction I got from DS 1 and it's because it's way too easy with the truck.

I watched this vid this morning where this guy was feeling the same so made the challenge of not using any vehicles and only the carrier for big hauls. He said he got back the enjoyment he found from the first game so I'm gonna give it a go as well. Gonna dump my truck in the nearest tar pit and head out on foot…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdqIMZLZstw

Penn · 01-08-2025 10:32AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123688789#Comment_123688789

I did partly feel that way too; the truck just made things so much easier. Even with the snowy mountains, you eventually unlock snow tires for the vehicles which mean you can belt up and down the mountains in your truck too (though it's still dicey with some of the peaks/terrain). When you complete the story, you get an overview of your stats including how far you travelled by different means, and truck was just way out in front for me.

For me though, it helped negate one of the things I hated about the first game, which was trying to get through BT areas. With the truck, they're far easier to avoid or just speed though around the edges, and if you do end up in a BT area it's easier to jump out and fight rather than having carriers with cargo tugging behind you.

Overall I enjoyed just driving the roads, tunes playing, carrying as much as I could (usually upgrade materials for roads/monorails), sticky cannon picking things up rather than having to go over to them. But I can definitely see what it can take away from the game too.

Death Stranding 2

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