Holy Shit Death Stranding is beautiful nonsense

[Rahxephon91]

Resident Evil 2 R is a horror game with item management. The chests aren’t stupid in that game. You already have such rigid limits on what you can carry on you anyway, why make it harder on the player just trying to manage thier ladders?

Fragile can’t transfer you to every point.

Why have it that you can put cargo in your Private Locker anyway?

How is the system anyway convenient  and useful that when I need my extra ladder I bought I need to go across the entire map because I left it at a previous city? It’s busy work and extra tedious fluff.

[kingv]

This is really nothing at all like Resident Evil though.

The reason that the private boxes don’t work that way are:
- the gameplay revolves around carrying things back and forth and choosing what you want to bring with you
- a major theme is leaving things behind for other players to find and use
- most items are priced trivially low anyway

Having an item box that works like that would defeat the purpose of those first two mechanics + also doesn’t really matter that much because a ladder is like 10 metal or something.

[Rahxephon91]

Then why even have private and shared? What’s the point of private?

You still have to decide what you bring on shipments as you have rigid limitations. So it’s not like that would change that aspect of the game if private lockers were universal. Resource management would mostly be the same. Nothing would really change. I just now wouldn’t be purposely inconvenienced.

Players can’t get into your private locker anyway so other players aren’t finding them anyway.

I mean you are right in that yeah things like ladders are cheap and this so far has not really bothered me.

It just seems like a dumb choice made in the name of "theme" instead of not wasting the the player's time.

[thisismyusername]

Every mandatory fight has been boring as sin. I'd call them bosses but they dont actually do anything? Theyre just bullet sponges. Whoopee. Sam doesnt have any movement abilities, or ways to reposition himself quickly, the guns are all bland and perfunctory, and the enemies just slowly advance at you until you apply hitstun 40 times and then they die if you don't get bored and kill yourself first. At least i could count the number of times ive been forced to fight on one hand and I'm 30+ hours into the game now.

I don't know who told Kojima that his game had to have shooting, but forced or not, that's not an excuse to be a shitty shooter. Just dont include weapons.

I'm completely checked out of the "story". I only dont skip dialogue if I'm meeting another character in person.

Does the difficulty level make a different? Apparently they made a "very easy" mode for Games Journalists to where things wouldn't attack or the like?

[kingv]

Then why even have private and shared? What’s the point of private?

You still have to decide what you bring on shipments as you have rigid limitations. So it’s not like that would change that aspect of the game if private lockers were universal. Resource management would mostly be the same. Nothing would really change. I just now wouldn’t be purposely inconvenienced.

Players can’t get into your private locker anyway so other plays aren’t finding them anyway.

You put stuff in the shared locker when you want to send it out into other players worlds. You put in private if you want to make sure you can use it later.

Personally, I almost never use the private locker. The only time I do is when I get an item from a shared locker that is a higher level than I can personally craft, and thus want to make sure I will have access to it later. Other than that I can find exactly what I need from the shared lockers about 75% of the time, and craft things the few times I can’t. Like I almost never craft vehicles anymore, because there’s always 4 in the garage at ever stop.

[kingv]

I’m a bit confused what happens when you get caught by BTs.

Has anybody done this a bunch of times and understands how it works?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I went yolo on a section and just tried to drive straight through the BT area and got caught. But like, I got caught by the hands, then one of the big things came out.

I didn’t even fight it, I just ran away until I wasn’t in the black hoop any more and then... all of the BTs just disappeared?! It was really weird.

[close]

Like if that’s how it works, it’s almost more convenient to get purposefully caught.

[Rahxephon91]

I only happen to use a private locker because one of the shipments was like 120 lbs. No, it’s not a earth shattering issue.

As for the bts, yeah I kind of have been thinking it’s easier to engage with them. Like a few gernades are enough to end them or yeah just run away.

[kingv]

Cool.

If you haven’t been  checking shared lockers, I would do it. I’ve got level 2 versions of a bunch of the gear from them already.

[bluemax]

Maybe Kojima wasn't the mind behind the bosses in mgs1-3, and whoever was, left (which doesn't imply Fukushima, dev teams have dozens of people).
Or maybe his interests in design shifted, over the years.

I don't think Kojima has designed moment to moment game play in any of his games since probably the MSX or NES. He writes the scenario and story outline and  some dialogue other people handle the rest.

[Svejk]

Didn't realize how bad I needed a reverse trike in my life.

[thetylerrob]

I have a weird clicker-like level of addiction to this game. Something about the way it drip feeds new feature or unlocks at a constant rate just makes me keep playing.

[kingv]

I agree.

I understand that it’s kind of dumb, but I still enjoy it. I have accidentally gotten into a lot of tense moments as well.

Like the time I was carrying a person by truck, and accidentally got stuck in a terrorist camp, and then had to book it because I also had left all of my weapons except one stun grenade in the truck. Luckily old girl ate most of the bullets for me, but she almost died lol.

Had dead eyes anyway when she’s on your back but her little shroud thing was just straight up covered in blood when I delivered her to where she needed to go.

And then got treated to like 10 mins of gay shower bear erotica.

[TVC15]

Maybe Kojima wasn't the mind behind the bosses in mgs1-3, and whoever was, left (which doesn't imply Fukushima, dev teams have dozens of people).
Or maybe his interests in design shifted, over the years.

I don't think Kojima has designed moment to moment game play in any of his games since probably the MSX or NES. He writes the scenario and story outline and  some dialogue other people handle the rest.

Isn't it likely he had a lot of gameplay input in MGS? He wasn't a superstar vidya director yet back then.

[thisismyusername]

Maybe Kojima wasn't the mind behind the bosses in mgs1-3, and whoever was, left (which doesn't imply Fukushima, dev teams have dozens of people).
Or maybe his interests in design shifted, over the years.

I don't think Kojima has designed moment to moment game play in any of his games since probably the MSX or NES. He writes the scenario and story outline and  some dialogue other people handle the rest.

Isn't it likely he had a lot of gameplay input in MGS? He wasn't a superstar vidya director yet back then.

No, he just prototyped his ideas before doing:

[BIONIC]

[toku]

[kingv]

Lockne and Maligne. Just two traditional American names.

[thetylerrob]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Their parents worked for NASA! 

[close]

[Coffee Dog]

The Maligne and Lockne plot was peak who gives a shit kojima melotrash. I love the resolution to it so much. 

[kingv]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Definitely, the dynamics between how they were different and stuff was just too damn much. One has earrings in one ear, the other the other ear. “We’re twins.” “Actually were conjoined twins and I got the uterus and she got the ovaries. I wear glasses and she doesn’t. Please cry.”

And Sam Porter Bridges doing his best Solid Snake “huuuurrrmmm” look was 

I will say that the teeth on “lockne” are really distracting in that model though, and her face moves like she is full of silicone fillers.

 also we got the implied lesbian incest and comics about her titties be spraying milk for her ghost baby.

I am genuinely surprised that kojima had the restraint not to show milk leaking through her shirt.

Also the whole Sam in the shower with Deadman, was lol. Like he accurately modeled water spraying off the fat fucks lips, but didn’t catch on that the whole scene looks like some weird gay bear porn.

[close]

[chronovore]

https://twitter.com/anlmearts/status/1196529104666988545

[HardcoreRetro]

So far the thing I liked the most was the Japanese girl side-character phonetically reading her script without any emotions. Really sold me on the human connections.

It's also the part where I realised that the people are actually in the fucking bunkers and they just can't be arsed to get the fucking packages from upstairs. Human connections.

I fucking hate this game. Kojima is a hack.

[thisismyusername]

5 hours for a like 20-40 hour title isn't too bad for a Speedrun.

I'm sure with glitches/etc (and probably not patching the game) you can go lower, folks might just do that.

[benjipwns]

This kind of thing is why cutscenes should not be skippable. Ever. For any kind of cutscene. Especially ones where you drink energy drinks and take showers.

[Transhuman]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

implied lesbian incest and comics about her titties be spraying milk

[close]

Comics?

[kingv]

I’m pretty sure that was a typo and supposed to be “comments”

[Transhuman]

Oh

[kingv]

I’m working through the area with the mountains and when this game gets it right, it’s awesome.

Trekking to one of the places was a chore, and then boom, once I connect to the chiral  network a whole mess of ziplines come in and I’m able to drop a few in between and make a 25 minute trip take about 90 seconds.

Nothing better than just zip lining over some BTs.

[HardcoreRetro]

So, it got fun when you didn't have to play the game anymore?

[Let's Cyber]

Finished it a few days ago.

Dumb trash but I enjoyed parts of it.

[Himu]

Kojima without a filter

So glad others beta tested it for me

*she says as she plays Shitmoo 3*

[thisismyusername]

That your fav will NEVER get the Kojimbo "fuck you"-ola money, honey.

<3

[Himu]

Yu is no longer a fave lol

kojima is also a fave but I know he's jack without someone breathing down his neck.

[bluemax]

Judging by the trophies the drop off on this game is between chapter 2 and 3. 60% of users finished chapter 2 but only 33% have finished chapter 3. Those that finished chapter 3 seem to stick it out to Chapter 4 (32%) but then falls off again in Chapters 5 (23%).

After that:
6 (19%)
7 (18%)
8 (14%)
9 (14%)
10 (13%)
11 (12%)
12 (12%)
13 (11.5%)
14 (10.9%)

Either people are taking their time or they are just giving up.

[bluemax]

For comparison 33% of players finished the story in Day's Gone, 54% in Spider-Man and 53% in God of War.

[Svejk]

4 hours flew by last night and felt like I accomplished so little.  My progress is slow AF, but I'm not trying to take my time tbh.  Still on Chapter 3.  So far, I'm still really enjoying it's odd tediousness.

[thisismyusername]

For comparison 33% of players finished the story in Day's Gone, 54% in Spider-Man and 53% in God of War.

A lot of folks don't finish their games. 

Could be worse: Could buy them and then never play them, like Steam achievements show with stuff like "start the game".

[Rahxephon91]

Well chapter 3 is pretty long and it throws a lot of the side quests at you for the first time. So I can see a lot of people getting bogged down and then just saying whatever. Not knowing that chapter 4 is something that changes up the game.

Honestly, I don't think Kojima is good at making open world games. Good ideas, but he can't seem to help but cram them with lots of tedious shit.

[benjipwns]

Somebody of some relevance (Brad maybe?) said that if you can make it to chapter 7, you basically want to finish. But could see people totally noping out around that chapter 3 grind.

[Don Rumata]

Judging by the trophies the drop off on this game is between chapter 2 and 3. 60% of users finished chapter 2 but only 33% have finished chapter 3. Those that finished chapter 3 seem to stick it out to Chapter 4 (32%) but then falls off again in Chapters 5 (23%).

After that:
6 (19%)
7 (18%)
8 (14%)
9 (14%)
10 (13%)
11 (12%)
12 (12%)
13 (11.5%)
14 (10.9%)

Either people are taking their time or they are just giving up.

I remember a news item from years back, about R* being depressed that most people didn't even get to Mexico in RDR1.
Most people just don't finish single-player games, so it's not that telling.
Especially now that everything is turning into a 40 hours "metroidvania" like NuTomb Raider, NuGod of War, Star Wars, Control, etc.

[BIONIC]

This post really deserves at least a couple of likes

[Raist]

2016 dufus, stop it. Give bionic his account back.

[TVC15]

Yu is no longer a fave lol

He’s been all downhill since Sword of Vermilion

[Let's Cyber]

Somebody of some relevance (Brad maybe?) said that if you can make it to chapter 7, you basically want to finish. But could see people totally noping out around that chapter 3 grind.

That's about right. Things speed up a lot after chapter 6.

[kingv]

Heart man, lol.

[bluemax]

For comparison 33% of players finished the story in Day's Gone, 54% in Spider-Man and 53% in God of War.

A lot of folks don't finish their games. 

Could be worse: Could buy them and then never play them, like Steam achievements show with stuff like "start the game".

You have to boot a title once on PS4 for it to install the trophy file and start counting.

Somebody of some relevance (Brad maybe?) said that if you can make it to chapter 7, you basically want to finish. But could see people totally noping out around that chapter 3 grind.

That's about right. Things speed up a lot after chapter 6.

Good to know, I just started chapter 3 and am being inundated with cutscenes.

[Svejk]

I think I'm near the end of Chapter 3 based off the map coverage.  Still enjoying this.... I wish I understood why exactly tbh, but I am. 

[kingv]

I’m about 35 hours in at Ch. 8. Episode 3 was the longest by far and it feels like the rest of the game is going to rush to a conclusion fairly quickly from here.

I kind of get the complaints about the game, but not really.

The story is stupid, but no stupider than any other kojima game

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I love the umbilical core images from Heartman. It’s like every creature on earth has an umbilical cord attached to the beach, and basically the same thing as this happened to the dinosaurs or something... :kiss

[close]

I don’t know, it’s still easier to follow than every MGS >= 2 and probably more memorable. Imo it’s still better than average for a vidya story and better than average for a kojima story.

For the game play, my biggest complaint really is that it doesn’t lean into the logistics part enough. The worst parts of the game are the BT/terrorists and mules and the best part is traversal and route planning. Harder to navigate environments with more fancy tools would have been better, imo.

That said, I sometimes like the madcap Mr. Bean way you can complete missions too.

Like, I had a mission where I chose to drive a truck through mountains instead of take a foot route like they seemed to have intended. I tried to skirt around a BT area by being cautious, but misjudged where the would be, so when they found me I gunned it and basically cannon balled down the mountain.

I didn’t plan for any terrorists so had no weapons, and when I ran into them, I ran over a bunch with my truck... then they stun bombed my truck so I fought a bunch with my bare hands, then got back in my truck and try to gun it over some rocks, and then some churches song or whatever started blaring once I got away in the messiest possible way => S Rank!

Those moments are super hilarious and still kind of tense, even though they are not incredibly difficult.

[Coffee Dog]

Beat it at a little over 50 hours. This isn't the worst game Kojima has made, but it's easily the worst script. He's the only credited writer. I would describe all plot elements and characters as completely nonfunctional, with the only redeeming elements being the visuals.

Moving boxes was great fun, though it needed a lot more variety/wacky package types. Things you need to keep cool/hot, shit with magnets on it, I dunno. Pizza deliveries were my favorite parts of the game but theres only a few. I enjoyed moving corpses or anything with weird dimensions.

Everything with the combat is ass. The enemies all do the same thing all 50 hours and your guns are functionally similar. Sam cant do anything cool in combat other than throw luggage. The game railroading you into combat almosy made me quit at multiple points due to boredom.

I went in expecting this to be the last Kojimbo game I'd ever play, and i find myself more confused coming out the other side. Every type of noninteractive cinematic element is The Room tier, but the game concept was novel and you had a lot of engaging options if you were down with the idea of making deliveries. He bought himself more goodwill than I thought possible with the concept. I just hope that next time he just makes a trashy anime or something instead of wasting money on actors.

[kingv]

It’s kind of weird, I felt like many of the negative reviews were complaining about it being a FedEx simulator, but that part is really it’s biggest strength. The logistics is fun when you get into it, but he could have leaned further into building that out.

I could completely forego the BTs and Mules. Terrorists  particularly are irritating and I’d go the longest possible way to avoid them completely. The shooting feels very much like MGS5 to me, but it’s just not the point of the game so it’s unnecessary

[OnlyRegret]

How is this game doing saleswise? Is it intended to be a big seller or more hipster.

[thisismyusername]

https://twitter.com/anlmearts/status/1196529104666988545

Kojima finally retweeted this... in Russian:

https://twitter.com/Deutschl4nd/status/1199110501734768640

HIDEO_KOJIMA Retweeted
Людвиг
@Deutschl4nd
·
3h
Просто посмотрите. Это гениально.
#DeathStranding
#TomorrowIsInYourHands

by David Müller (
@KOPF_STOFF
) https://pic.twitter.com/hv94mxQPpq



Artist weighs in!:

https://twitter.com/ryuu_hai/status/1199125478419787776

[TVC15]

were the fake passports viral marketing? 

[bluemax]

How is this game doing saleswise? Is it intended to be a big seller or more hipster.

It's Sony's flagship game for the holiday season. It was in development for 3+ years. They saved some money by using existing technology (Decima) and they obviously got some money with all the ridiculous product placement. I'd ballpark close to $60 million for production and who knows how much for marketing (and they've been advertising it during big sporting events).

I don't think it will hit normal blockbuster numbers by any stretch.

[kingv]

I wonder if it will have divisive sales by region.

I was reading something that it was the biggest new IP launch in Japan since Dark Souls.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see it do 3-5 million on reputation and weirdness factor alone.

Another thing I was thinking about was... how can Kojima get the sole writing credit in this? It doesn’t really make sense as all the dialogue is in English, and some of it is clearly localized.

Like I don’t think some of the jokes (princess beach) would make sense in Japanese because it relies on English wordplay.

[Rahxephon91]

Do games, anime, movies, books, and manga ever really give the localizer a writing credit? I don't think thats the norm despite millions of circumstances where they had to change things to get the meaning/feel across to non-Japanese speakers.

[benjipwns]

That's basically just how credits work, I don't know if they used Writers Guild rules or not, but someone writing one or two lines of dialogue in a full screenplay would not receive writing credit. You have to have written a specific amount of the screenplay/script/story/etc. for these credits.

In gaming, and Japan, this could get murky, but then again with so many actual actors involved I'd think it'd adhere closer to their common standards.

Localization/translations are usually credited as just that.

[BIONIC]

But Kojima is not getting the sole writing credit for this game

In fact, the “written by“ credit is some other dude I never heard of listed alone.

Kojima did credit himself for everything else though

[Raist]

How is this game doing saleswise? Is it intended to be a big seller or more hipster.

Doing OK in Japan; all things considered, the PS4 (or any other home console in recent times for that matter) hasn't exactly lit hardware sales up.
I think it's well over 200k.

Seems to be doing all right in the EU.

When it's all said and done I don't think it'll reach MGS4 levels - let alone numbers seen for Sony's most recent new IPs like Horizon, or Spiderman.

[benjipwns]

Kojima did credit himself for everything else though

Checks out: