Author Topic: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense  (Read 102729 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

chronovore

  • relapsed dev
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1020 on: November 23, 2022, 02:37:51 AM »
So this game is finally US$20 on PSN. Should I get it?

I like open-world-games and learning ways to use terrain to cleverly gain advantage in missions. However, I don't think Kojima is a genius, and don't like janky controls.

Should I buy it?

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1021 on: November 23, 2022, 02:52:52 AM »
So this game is finally US$20 on PSN. Should I get it?

I like open-world-games and learning ways to use terrain to cleverly gain advantage in missions. However, I don't think Kojima is a genius, and don't like janky controls.

Should I buy it?

Game is an amazing experience. Worth every penny. Has nothing to do with how much you like Kojima outside being able to sit through the first few hours of cutscenes/tutorials in the intro chapter.

Game is all about using terrain to gain an advantage in non-combat situations. It's about building roads and ziplines and optimized routes to speedrun from one spot to another. Very satisfying when you build your own transportation system and level up from it.

The controls aren't janky at all. Some reviewers were dumb and didn't realize you're supposed to hold L2+R2 to balance when running around with heavy loads.

It's mostly gameplay/exploration focused. There is a good amount of story, most of it is enjoyable nonsense. There are some good bits to the story and some bad ones. Your level of Kojima tolerance will determine if you can sit through the cutscenes or you go make a sandwich.

The gameplay is excellent however. The art is also great and the soundtrack is very, very good and will likely introduce you to some new artists.

But yeah, expect a long intro. I enjoyed it because I had no idea what the game was going to be like and the intro slowly introduces it piece by piece which I found fun. But it's like a 5 hour intro until you get to the real open-ended meat of the gameplay.

Himu

  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1022 on: November 23, 2022, 03:04:13 AM »
Sounds great.
IYKYK

Svejk

  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1023 on: November 23, 2022, 07:29:29 AM »
I agree that it's definitely worth it.  There really is no other game like it.  Yeah, it has it's flaws and ridiculousness, but the bread and butter of traveling is like nothing else.  Never felt so grounded on how to traverse a virtual landscape.  Getting prepped for a trip/mission/deliveries stoked the same feelings of packing up before heading out on a road trip... Sounds weird, but the excitement is there.  And on top of that, the feeling of contribution to building a more efficiently traveled landscape is addicting. 

Kurt Russell

  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1024 on: November 23, 2022, 12:41:51 PM »
I fucking loved this game. I'd pay $60 to play it all over again in VR without thinking twice.

If you're happy to spend the time working on the side quests and sitting through the exposition, you'll have a blast.

woke

Pissy F Benny

  • Is down with the sickness
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1025 on: November 23, 2022, 01:43:49 PM »
I'd love a sequel that was more sandboxy and did away with the god awful combat all together :tocry
(ice)

chronovore

  • relapsed dev
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1026 on: November 28, 2022, 01:09:48 AM »
Thanks, peeps. I have purchased my first Kojima game since MGS1 on PS1.

Raist

  • Winner of the Baited Award 2018
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1027 on: November 28, 2022, 12:40:24 PM »
You... you've not played MGS2?

chronovore

  • relapsed dev
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1028 on: November 28, 2022, 07:59:42 PM »
I think I owned it, never played it.

When MGS 3 won Tokyo Game Show's BEST GAME award for showing a cinematic running on PS3 hardware, I signed off on ever being interested in it.

chronovore

  • relapsed dev
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1029 on: January 31, 2023, 07:37:27 PM »
Against my better judgment, I went back to death stranding.

I immediately remembered why I closed the game out last time. Sam is sitting in his room, and the game won’t let me leave until I have highlighted every interactive item in it, and sent through the exposition associated with it. I sat through that.

When I attempted to leave the room, I started skipping cutscenes. I had to consecutively skip five or six times just to get to the point where I was allowed to interact with my character again.

And I tackled the mission where we build the first part of the CHIRAL Network by visiting an outpost. That wasn’t too bad. They let me navigate the terrain without getting jumped, and they let me overload my pack to show me how it affects my movement and navigation.

Cool.

The next mission goal was on the othe side of a mountain. It was raining. Was I supposed to seek shelter, like the introductory scene implied? Is waiting… gameplay? I pressed on in the rain, and encountered BEs which I can’t remember what it stands for, but are meant to be threatening. After stealthing for 5 minutes, they find me anyway and transform the landscape into an oil drenched hell. I fled, then lost my first package trying to cross a river.

I found a camp. It was raining. Clearly this was meant as respite. I entered, and there were a half dozen techwear bandits inside, all aware and attacking me at once. I fled up the mountainside, escape, but can’t find a path to my destination. The rain finally began damaging my packages. There was no path forward.

Out of curiosity, I reloaded from last Save data, and it is before the BE encounter. I will probably try again, but despite the immersion I am not finding this /fun/. 
« Last Edit: February 01, 2023, 12:08:33 AM by chronovore »

Bebpo

  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1030 on: January 31, 2023, 10:43:18 PM »
Yeah, BTs you avoid using your sensor baby. Takes a bit to get the hang of it, but it's supposed to be tense and exciting. They don't come for you if you don't fuck up. So just walk normal, crouch walk when sensor starts going beep boop bop and when sensor starts going nuts hold your breath and crouch walk away from them. It just takes some getting used to, but the game gives you really good visual and audio signalling to avoid them.

You are not supposed to go into raider camps unless you are looking for a fight or to steal shit. Camps are not your friends. Outposts are. If you run into bandits, do some fighting and grab a car and run for it.

Don't worry about the rain. There's no waiting around gameplay for weather changes. They are positional and cover a certain amount of ground, not time based iirc. If it rains it's just supposed to be an obstacle on your path. Also rain = BTs, so where there are BTs on your path there is rain.

All this just sounds like early hurdles. The gameplay is pretty organic but moderately complex like past Kojima games. If you stick with it you'll get good at it and the game will keep giving you more tools to make things easier and more fun.

chronovore

  • relapsed dev
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1031 on: February 01, 2023, 12:10:56 AM »
Skipping cutscenes also requires an “are you sure?” Dialog Box which default highlights “cancel.”

Fucking hell, you just KNOW that Kojima pushed for unskippable, and only begrudgingly allowed it with these caveats.

Thanks for the tips, bebsy. I will give it one more go.

Raist

  • Winner of the Baited Award 2018
  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1032 on: February 01, 2023, 03:45:11 AM »
Skipping cutscenes in a Kojima game?

 :jeanluc

Kurt Russell

  • Senior Member
Re: Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense
« Reply #1033 on: February 01, 2023, 05:58:08 AM »
Don't worry about the rain. There's no waiting around gameplay for weather changes. They are positional and cover a certain amount of ground, not time based iirc. If it rains it's just supposed to be an obstacle on your path. Also rain = BTs, so where there are BTs on your path there is rain.

Also worth pointing out that later in the game
spoiler (click to show/hide)
you will develop the ability to build timeshelters, which not only protect you from the effects of the rain, but also repair damaged packages and allow you to skip time to wait for the rain to pass.
[close]
woke