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Crikey! I don't have a PS4. It's not that nothing compelling has come out. There's definitely a few games I look forward to playing on it. I have plenty on my backlog though and I can wait to play them. This game... I've been following it since Silent Hills fell apart. It may just be the push that I need. I'm really excited for it.

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Yeah, I've been following this for years and read a lot of different theories. I'm going to assume it's inspired by people living in isolation despite the world being so well connected technology wise. I'm definitely a bit of a recluse, so I'm interested in what has to be said. I am glad Kojima isn't revealing too much. I think this is one of those games I'm just going to buy without reading anything going in or read any guides. I'm very happy this is getting released this year. After the tragedy of Silent Hills, I hope this helps and it's looking very interesting. I also really like the music that's been used in every trailer so far. I'm hoping a full vinyl release will happen.

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I just saw the collector's edition is up for pre-order. At $199.99 it's a bit too much for me. The extra stuff looks cool, but I have no idea what the quality or size of the stuff will be like. I kinda wish they'd start bringing back how they used to do collector's editions for under $100.

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Pros:

  • Open world, cool.
  • Stealth-ish? Nice.
  • Great cast of actors

Mixed:

  • Kojima. His games are solid (pun intended), but damn confusing, story-wise. This looks very Kojima.
  • But is it open world? It almost looks like a movie, ala Naughty Dog's stuff. Tough to do a strong story-based open-world game. That said, I still like railroady narrative games if the narrative is strong.

Cons:

  • What the hell is going on? Is it a game? A movie? Will the story make any sense? While I appreciate the quality of the Metal Gear games, they weren't really my cup of tea. I have a funny feeling this may be the case here, too.
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There is no question that the story is going to be weird, and probably difficult to follow. But one thing we know from past experience is that you don't have to follow the story to enjoy most Kojima games. The gameplay usually stands on its own.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

Anyone else playing this? It's definitely not for everyone. I'm only like 4 or 5 hours in and like it so far. It's supposed to ramp up, which I'm looking forward to and finding out WTF is going on. I don't think this would be classified as a "fun" game. It reminds me a lot of Alien Isolation in the way that it's more of an experience, and they both ooze atmosphere. I don't have home internet, so I can't experience the online experience but I think it would really add a lot to the exploration factor and overall experience. This is one of the few games I've kept myself in the dark about and it's that much more exciting when it comes to exploring and discovering the game mechanics for myself. I'm playing it on a regular PS4 and it looks amazing, so having the pro model isn't required.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've played the game at a friend's place for a bit, got some mixed feelings out of it.. love the art direction and the unfolding mystery as a whole, but gameplay wise maybe my expectations are a bit skewed.. MGS5 is easily one of my favorite games of the last gen, it has such amazing sandbox gameplay that I feel there are some missed opportunities with Death Stranding.. or maybe its too early in the game for me to make any judgement.

I probably need to sit down with it on my own to get a better understanding.

 

Anyway, whats up with the product placement. The blatant Monster energy drink promotion is just cringe.. really killed some immersion for me.

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The game can be definitely tedious at times. The majority of the game is traversing the landscape while combating/avoiding enemies and delivering packages and setting up a network at the same time. My playthrough was around 40 hours ignoring most of the optional stuff, and most of it felt padded. Especially the part towards the end where I verbally cursed out loud. I haven't experienced online play, but it would make it a heck of a lot easier. There were times where I could have used a bridge, ladder, or rope left by another player.

 

The story was mixed with me. I personally felt there was a lot of wasted potential. In short, it didn't get weird or Lovecraftian enough for me, but what twists and themes were present I liked. The first few trailers released that showcased those environments are criminally not in the game enough. That was probably the biggest disappointment.

 

Personally, I think Kojima should go back to a more linear experience with multiple endings. The world would be livelier and the experience would be more focused. I'm kind of getting burned out on open world games because developers tend to focus more on the graphics instead of what you can do in them. 

 

Unfortunately, this is one of those games where I don't see any reason of playing again after I beat it. Unless there's a massive update that changes how you interact with players or adds new areas, another dimension would be cool, I don't see myself replaying it despite how pretty it looks and the heartfelt message it contains. We definitely should have gotten Silent Hills instead.

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I don't have the game, but I am very interested in this concept. However, I don't have any current gen console (PS2 was my last home console) or an HD television and I'm afraid Death Stranding will not be the game that makes me want to invest in all that.

 

What I like about the game is the walking simulation part, the graphics, the music, the art design. As a retro gamer, the only that interests me about modern games is the graphics and the possibility to simulate huge natural environments that you can explore. I wish there was some sort of simulation like this, similar to this game or Shadow of the Colossus, with barely any enemy or no enemies at all. I don't like 3D combat in modern games, I rather play Doom (1993), Tomb Raider (1996) or some 2D game such as Abe's Oddysee. Another interesting simulation would be escaping from natural disasters or spectacular terrorist attacks such as 9/11. Sadly, I don't think any company will even try to release this kind of games. The combat and stealth elements in Death Stranding don't appear bad, but many people say they are more of the same.

 

I haven't tried the game, so I can't judge the online system. Again, I'm not a fan of online gaming, but Death Stranding's approach looks interesting and it's great that it tries to teach the players the importance of helping each other.

 

However, I am leaving the worst for the last part of my message: the story. As great as the actors are, as realistic as their 3D representation is, I found the actual story to be terrible. I watched the whole thing in Youtube, 11 hours (with only a couple of emails included). I think Kojima should go back to paying homage to Escape from New York. He's a great video game creator, a genius, but he's terrible when he tries to tell "deep" stories. None of the characters in Death Stranding make sense, the dialogs are tedious and some scenes are actually cringe-worthy. The worst part is the ending, 2 hours of terrible dialog between characters with stupid names that you don't care about.

 

I'm not 100% sure that Kojima is unaware of this, but, when you compare his life with the game, it looks like he was actually being serious and not parodying himself with the story. Just like one of the characters in the game, Hideo's father died when he was a child. Also, he spent much time alone as a child and this caused him a trauma: he has to turn on the TV when he enters an empty room. This is also very present in the main idea behind the plot.

 

I hope the game sells very well and earns many awards and recognition for the gameplay. We've had enough games with similar mechanics and Death Stranding is a breath of fresh air. However, I find it amazing and almost hilarious that so many people are actually fans of the story. If you are going to play the game for the gameplay and not for the story, I recommend you skip every single sequence... it would be funny-bad if it was 2 hours long, but after 11 hours it gets infuriating.

Edited by IntelliMission
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I've watched a couple of hours of a streamer I like play it... and I dunno. It doesn't look like something I would be into. Maybe it's more fun when you play yourself, and I'd imagine there's some satisfacion to be had when you successfully connect a "Strand," but... it looked kinda tedious to me overall. 

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