Death Stranding (A Hideo Kojima Game)

Assuming you were talking to me

Metacritic has user reviews so I don't get it.

Ohhh. I looked in the wrong section. I see now. My bad.

Well, well, well. 6,681 green and positive. 4,486 in the red.

Speaking as someone who doesn't usually follow all of this - I assume this 4,000+ negative reviews sprang up over night. And that's why we think it was bombed by Konami loyalists, mis-aimed Kojima loyalists, or haters.

I do recall some being excited on the prospect that Death Stranding would hypothetically be the ultimate Creator Killer for Kojima, so I guess it's not surprising.

This one is just too funny though

Can't even write a plausible lie.

Edited by UltraWanker on Nov 16th 2019 at 6:27:15 AM

I really don't think there's such a thing as a Konami loyalist in this day and age, at least not to any significant number.

I mean... I didn't write that but I don't see why that's implausible. Metal Gear is what Kojima was known for. He trolled about leaving the franchise after 3 and 4, but he was there for entries 1a, 2a, 1b, 2b, 3, 4, and 5, and some spin-offs.

I'm not sure but Death Stranding seems to use the same engine as Phantom Pain. It has the same "military/political" narrative set-up that Metal Gear does, and probably similar themes. Stealth, supernatural phenomenon, and quirky elements like using your own waste as ammunition.are in abundance.

And anyone who wasn't here, or reading every interview they could find on the game, probably wouldn't know about the fallout between Kojima and Konami, or anything from him indicating that this was "not Metal Gear."

The last time he did something that "wasn't Metal Gear" he was trolling us with Big Boss crawling around in a hospital. Prior to that, with Guns of the Patriots earliest trailers, the first few minutes looked like the next Call of Duty.

Overall point being it's not difficult to think of Death Stranding like a spiritual successor. Pretty sure it was claimed to be a spiritual successor to Silent Hills what with the creepy BT's and Norman Reedus being the protagonist.

It's just a matter of accepting that while the visual and narrative elements are similar it's not Metal Gear, nor is it fair to condemn the game for not being Metal Gear.

Edited by Soble on Nov 16th 2019 at 6:42:53 AM

MGSV was built on the Fox engine, DS was built on the Decima engine.

Holy crap! Peter Englert was Higgs the whole time! That is both brilliant and hilarious!

It caught me off guard when I first found out about it.

Finished the game this morning and man was it a wild ride. I honestly can say though that as much as I would enjoy a sequel or follow up to the game, if this remained a purely standalone story I would also be satisfied with how it ended.

EDIT: Also I never figured out what the EX grenades specifically did. I just googled and saw my last guess ended up being the correct one, but almost 50 hours of gameplay and a few dozen of those grenades thrown and I still didn't know what I was doing.

Edited by Shaoken on Nov 16th 2019 at 5:37:46 AM

@Shaoken Grats on completing the game haha!

Way, way, WAYYYYYY super late response to M84, my comparison was actually to Duke Nukem 3D and NOT to Duke Nukem Forever. Duke Nukem 3D was a good comparison since that was the more revolutionary and popular game compared to anything that came before or after it in the series.

About people being dissapointed that the game isn't like Metal Gear Solid, I'd say that's a bit more excusable when you take the context of when the game was released into account.

These past few years the in-vogue thing for classic game developers has been to go off and make spiritual successors to their beloved franchises. Mighty No. 9, Yooka-L Aylee, Bloodstained. It's not like expecting a M Etal Gear Solid-esque game from an unshackled Kojima is coming out of nowhere. They just underestimated Kojima's willingness to march to the beat of his own drum.

Edited by GNinja on Nov 16th 2019 at 5:59:36 PM

There's also how he's been trying to make a non-Metal Gear game for over a decade.

Gotta say, one of my best moments playing the game was going back and forth bewteen the Mountaineer and the Doctor. When I previously met the doctor, I set up a zipline system between his base and Mountain Knot so I could use the hot spring whenever I wanted. When I later had to visit the mountaineer, I saw that I had to go right through BT territory. However, another player had already placed a zipline anchor at the cliff leading up to my destination, so I found a good spot, dropped my own anchor, and zipped across the gap, completely bypassing the BTs. Then when I was given the mission to go to the doctor and back, I saw an opportunity! All I needed to do was set up one more anchor near Mountain Knot, and it was able to perfectly connect between the anchor I set up for the Mountaineer and the previous system I had set up for the Doctor. So not only was I able to reach the doctor in a flash, but this also meant that during the return trip, I was able to zip from the Doctor all the way back to the Mountaineer without having to even touch the ground except for the very last stretch. In the end, I was able to complete the urgent mission with a time limit of one hour in less than ten minutes. Thank you to whatever player put that anchor at the top; with your help I was able to give those BTs the middle finger three times and completely trivialize a mission that would have been a massive pain otherwise!

In my time playing so far I have really mixed feelings towards the shared user experience the game is going for.

It perfectly fits the theme of the game to a T, but the problem is that in general other players are far smarter than me, so it always feels like they've already set up whatever item I need to make any mission I'm on a cake walk. So I feel like I'm cheating. When I was taskled to go and get chiral crystals for the first time, I left the base and immediately noticed that other players had placed crystals right outside the base. I didn't even need to go anywhere close to where the mission was directing me.

But then, deliberately not using the items left behind harms the immersion as well because why the hell WOULDN'T you use items if they're there?

Edited by GNinja on Nov 17th 2019 at 8:35:13 PM

Welp, I finished the game (tried to get the main story done as quick as I humanly could to make sure I would freely roam the Internet). At first, I honestly expected to just ignore the boring gameplay and focus on the story. Apparently, that was not the case. Delivering is very fun (albeit B Ts are just starting to get annoying than scary, especially in snowy areas) and there is a sense of accomplishment when structure you built is appreciated by many. Story can be uneven and hectic, but it ultimately moved me. To be honest, I can't help but mostly agree with notion that those probably a significant portion of people who hate this game either did not give this game a fair chance or have some biases. But I am aware that it may not simply their cup of tea for some.

Still, I think I can safely say this, along with Nie R Automata, is a game I will never forget.

Planning to focus on getting 5 stars out of everyone and building structures so others will have easier time (especially roads).

Building the roads is such a satisfying thing to do.

Except when they end up cutting off your ziplone system.

So, apparently the games legs are pretty weak, at least in the Uk, sales wise.

While I'm sure it will still do great, the mixed reception from reviewers and gamers seems like it will hurt the games long run sales some.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Nov 19th 2019 at 9:52:43 AM

I'm still going pretty slowly. I'm pretty fresh to the second area. I'm really enjoying the game, though. Its weirdly satisfying.

I guess it was inevitable, due to the niche nature of the game. I'd be more surprised if it turned out to be a mega hit like God of War PS 4. I've heard it sold very well in Japan, tho.

I did feel bad when I was rushing things instead of enjoying it in a more lesiure-y way. Can't wait to find out how it feels when you play it in a more relaxed manner.

Wonder if Geoff Kiegley feels dumb for putting himself in the game as a blatant grab at trying to make the game a Game of the Year contender for The Game Awards, even if its not likely to be nominated anymore.

Unfortunately I had to rush the game, as I'm a participant of the Complete Monster discussion thread, and I wanted to finish it in time for the discussion. Now that I'm done, (and confident there are no CM qualifiers), I can take a break from the game and come back to it later to fully enjoy it.

I say in ignorance, who’s that?

runs away

Anyways, heard that the game sold pretty eh...Yea, hopefully it at least doing decently and I agree that the game is kind of...Niche to some people.