See you on the beach - the thread for Hideo Kojima's DEATH STRANDING

*rocks BB way too quickly*

Death Stranding (2019) @giantbomb @jeffgerstmann @taswell #DeathStranding pic.twitter.com/CIsjHTgE47

— Jacob! (@JacobGehnert) November 9, 2019

18 hours deep, still in chapter 3. happily building roads.

the design and aesthetic are top notch. i love that HD means you can really read all the dumbass slogans kojima slathers over every surface. even the corny music works, when it swells up and the camera pulls back crossing a giant open space. the upward-floating debris, the weird tendrils hanging from the hovering overpasses, the porter bots wearing little shoes and singing to themselves.

trudging slowly over wet sand with an enormous stack of high-performance underwear crates is fun. putting ladders in stupid places is fun. getting and sending thousands of likes is fun. rocking the baby is reasonably fun (and i spend most of my day entertaining an irl toddler). feel like most reviews don't mention that the game is actually fun and satisfying to play. when you do something stupid and drop every fucking thing you are carrying (a rare occurrence unless you are not paying any attention), mashing triangle to pick stuff up is hilarious. it's got a similar feel to snake picking stuff up in mgs, it's a really fast animation and when you mash it norman reedus goes fucking nuts throwing shit back on his cargo stack. feels good.

love the bananas story and setting.

the walking simulator is my favorite game genre and this sounds fucking awful to me

it's too bad everyone established "walking sim" as a flippant term for narrative adventure games because now that there's an actual walking sim we don't have a term for it that won't cause confusion

how does the online element of this game work? online players can affect the landscape based on things they leave out for each other... but does that mean that technically you might be able to bump into each other and if enough people play it there could be thousnads of Reedus's walking around? I take it that's not the case?

i've already floated 'stumbling simulator' tbf xp

“Drudgery sim”?

xp it's asynchronous, it'll load some amount of other players' constructions into your game, prioritizing people on your PS friends list, but you're not actually in the same instance of the game world as anyone else

'Slow Gaming'

other people can contribute to your constructions and vice versa so the resource accumulation/distribution is less onerous. i like upgrading ppl's stuff when i don't feel like hauling a zillion kg of metal back to whatever knot city.

i think the cutscenes' emphasis on connections and logistics are telling but what really gives it away is calling the bandits MULEs. i feel like kojima is in direct dialogue with M.U.L.E., advancing a vision of radical generosity over that game's free market ruthlessness.

so let's go with "post apocalyptic socialism sim"

aw shit, i think by mentioning MULE you just made me buy this goddammit

it rules forks just do it

damn u

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Box4XDvBSgE

I am kind of disappointed because it seemed like I was going to finally meet Mads' character and you.. kind of encounter him? not really. I'm sure it'll come later.

This is the first game where I've gotten something that seems like it could cause lethal damage after having some random incapacitating items and I feel really hesitant about the idea of shooting people. Those MULE guys seem like assholes, but do I really need to injure them that badly?

“Drudgery sim”?

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses)

that's sort of what i like about gaming, ultimately at a certain point they all boil down to tedious drudgery. commit this otherwise useless sequence of button presses to muscle memory. this vision of gaming has been around for at least as long as pac-man - i remember as a child reading books on how to get good at pac-man and it was all rote execution of patterns. we pay money for the chance to do routine things.

This thread is the manifestation of the game I was most looking forward to, please update with tales of dystopian banality

the irony of the fact that this will take until Wednesday to deliver is not lost on me

I think the banality aspect has been oversold, to an extent. There have been a number of games with interesting landscapes, but I can't remember many details of them past rote pathfinding. Might have to jump over some rocks, may encounter an impassable area. In this game, not only is the world very beautiful, but the obstacles seem meaningful. Do I set up a ladder to make it past, or do I go around and use my tools later?

When I connect a new area, will I discover that the other way up a hill that seemed insurmountable on the map already has a series of ropes and ladders placed by someone online, making my journey that much shorter? There's a joy of discovery to it

yeah, the game isn't boring at all. in its insistence on paying attention to your surroundings and to your movements it's not at all unlike metal gear solid, just without the trappings of Tactical Espionage Action. that absence is the engine of Gamer Backlash, plus i think there's a (faulty) collective assumption of rebuke in that absence.

So it's actually fun?

what if I told you in 2019, that a video game would not only get the idea of "likes" from strangers giving that kick of dopamine, but did so in a way that made it a constructive gameplay dynamic?

there are some abuses of it, like spamming of a bunch of signs that a player has to pass through near home locations, but overall it's a well-balanced mechanic

Still looking for clarity: if you play offline, that whole aspect of the game is nullified?

You get "likes" from doing certain tasks in the game, but the abundance of physical objects in the landscape won't appear

so there's no benefit to the likes if you're offline?

my understanding is that the online components don't require playstation plus

(if that is the issue)

I'm perversely avoiding any actual reviews or gameplay videos atm because every anecdotal comment somehow confuses me further re: what this game even is/is about. Which I find fascinating.

it's possible some of the structures are put up by the NPC porters (your job) in the game, as a few appear, but I don't know that anyone reviewing or even playing the game has done it completely offline

the "likes" are what levels up one of your five metrics

i've gotten likes from NPC porters for shit i've left lying around

OL, there's a backstory that at the core establishes this post-apocalyptic world, what the precursor event was, and some of the basics that differentiate this world from our own. The story starts to answer a lot of the unknowns, but a lot of it is "we discovered this technology, it did amazing things, and something horrible happened" with some additional elements related to the fact knowledge was lost in the chaos and your NPC peers are discovering the history as you are.

fwiw the thread (strand?) title here is a reference that becomes clear not far into the game

finally a game that can breach the high watermark set by bioshock for creepiest cosplay

oh man there's gonna be a thousand norman reeduses at comicon
fat reedus, skinny reedus, buff reedus, black reedus, ups delivery uniform reedus, amazon delivery uniform reedus, DHL delivery uniform reedus, asia reedus, sexy reedus, mecha reedus, dog reedus...

I'm wondering what point in the game unlocks the Chvrches song!

The non-score musical parts so far are ok, but I feel like Kojima has found a band that's halfway between Imagine Dragons and Coldplay

I guess I should say vibe-wise, since there's not just one band

This is actually pretty fun and addictive. I don’t think the gameplay footage really sells it. There is a kind of tactile satisfaction in hauling yourself over the landscape that doesn’t really translate well to someone not holding the controller.

Not without its problems. The MULE and BT enemy encounters seem really simplistic and half-baked. I’m down with de-emphasizing combat, but I wish those systems were a little more sophisticated.

There are certain elements that seem to be deliberately irritating. Trudging through BT morass, mashing buttons as monster arms tear cargo off your back while a baby is crying in your face via the controller speaker is a good example. But that stuff is relatively minor/brief.

I've only had one BT battle encounter so far! And it was right at the beginning, before I really got the dynamic. If you're cautious and well-stocked with grenades or some of the later weapons, you can knock those suckers back to the afterlife.

I kind of want to trigger a battle because apparently if you take out one of the larger enemies that appear, they drop a ton of crystals

gameplay in the looks a bit like a walking version of spintires, would that be accurate?

THE HEART-SHAPED BUBBLE

the president's henchman is 'die hardman' who wears a leather suit, cravat and METAL SKULL MASK 24/7 i can't

i ended up just running the fuck away from the annoying BTs at the incinerator, suddenly found myself at the edge of a cliff, and somebody named igor had left.... a rope for me! at the edge! i liked the shit out of it and rappelled away, thanks igor.

thomas i think spintires is more frustrating and lets you screw yourself over. here a modicum of attention will keep you upright.

love this game. just got the "speed skeleton" and i am booking it across this rock strewn ghost-scape. also i am getting the rhythm of infiltrating BT areas so it's less of a drag. stupid MULEs not so much. i'll figure them out.

I’ve gotten pretty good at shooting MULES in the face with my bolo gun. Drops em.

Game really starts opening up in chapter 3. Trucking my stolen MULE mobile down the highway, wind in my hair. Feels good.

just got the BRIDGES truck, really adds to the UPS vibe. loading that motherfucker up with claimed metals and ceramics all the way to south knot city.

Tracer, Igor was the guy in the truck with the corpse at the very beginning!

Ahhhh!

I've been trying to put a certain feeling into words and I think this is how one says this these days.. This game has big Tomb Raider 1 energy

I never played the first one of this but remain intrigued. Not least cos my brother got very, very irate when I even mentioned this game.

I read something about the team having unusual access to the game engine code or something like that and in turn working magic with that code? I still haven't touched the first game, but I do like these sort of big swing auteur titles getting full, unfettered resources to just go wild.

It’s collaborative — it’s the same Decima engine as the Horizon games, but with DS1 they made enough changes that they nicknamed it “Dejima.” I think it’s a two-way agreement.
So it’s more collaborative than someone paying a license for the Unreal Engine or Unity, which are more out of the box.

Very much enjoying this. If you liked the first one, can’t imagine being disappointing it. And unless you outright hated the first one, possibility you might actually groove on this too. Much smoother and dynamic experience with more trad Kojima MGS combat stuff thrown in there.

do you still deliver stuff

you bet your ass you do

the intro act, which I'm still on, has been:
- walk a long ways across some rocky hills with your child back home
- catch up w/yr lady friend and get recruited for a job
- do a job, which leads to a job, and then a job (all plotting routes, carrying packages, and avoiding/fighting bandits)
- maybe do a little VR training after the first/second jobs (lots of easy power-up points, good refresher on the game basics, short)
- after that last job, a touching reunion with a character from the first game followed by BOSS FIGHT

in case you're wondering, you'r still techwear swagged out in this one
https://acrnm.com/J91-WSDB_NA

So I picked up PS+ to try the first game out, the director's cut on a PS5, and wow! the graphics are amazing, really beautiful and enjoyable game. However, the story is kinda weird and annoying - not really vibing with the "you must save AMERICA" and the whole dynastic "Presidency". Does the rest of the game focus on this jingoistic, post-apocalyptic nationalism? And are all the cut scenes like 20 minutes long? Because all I want to do is play the actual walking simulator, and watch my stats go up at the end of the missions (super satisfying).

Definitely making me happy I didn't just jump on buying the sequel.

Does the rest of the game focus on this jingoistic, post-apocalyptic nationalism
It's meant to come off like that for a reason, and nope

And are all the cut scenes like 20 minutes long
you can skip a lot of them but the ones with Mads are worth it, imo

okay, cool - the intro was starting to rub off on me the wrong way. I'm pretty picky with dedicating a lot of time to a game

uhh DS2 seems to have a Yarvin-esque US management structure given some exposition dump. watching out for all the backstabbings. Kojima is insanely skeptical of government privatization, huh

It’s definitely not blindly nationalistic, no. And in the second one the U.S. (so far) is an afterthought. You’re dealing with getting Mexico and Australia online.

Cut scenes are much more brief thus far in the 2nd one too. Even as a fan of the first (and most other Kojima games) he can certainly push it with that stuff.

If you’re giving the 1st one a spin, I’d definitely keep going with it if you’re at least having somewhat of a good time or it has your interest. It absolutely gets better as it goes along. 1st act can be somewhat of a trial for most. Feel like there’s kind of a point to that, but it really opens up at a certain point and becomes incredibly addictive.

xp to Octo obv

Just kicked this off last night. My first thought is that the gameplay looks absolutely fucking stunning.

This shit is so fucking good. What I don’t think gets mentioned enough is how dopamine zapping the UI and basic controls and operations are once you get used to them. Like I hijacked a bandit truck a while back and damn does the 1.5 second animation for jumping in and out of that thing always feel good. Haptics, controller speaker shit, sound effects in general. Just the right speed and timing for all of it. Those *cajunk* sounds. Masterful.

I get excited seeing a package along my path. Jump outta the truck, grab it with my left or right hand holding L2 or R2, run it back to the truck, let go of the button to toss it in the back. And *cajunk* back into the cockpit of my ride and continue on.

The joys of this game sound totally ludicrous written out for sure. But the details in this seem to be so deeply considered and it adds up to a lot.

Nicholson Baker would appreciate

It’s definitely not blindly nationalistic, no. And in the second one the U.S. (so far) is an afterthought

Yeah the beginning feels like it was trying to appeal to some kind of patriotism for an America that never existed. When they talked about the isolated city on the West Coast I kept thinking they are probably the good guys here lol. Gameplay is fun af, so willing to keep at it. Was looking for this style of game but I'm fairly picky with acting and writing when it's so prominent. I had issues with the gameplay of Horizon: Forbidden West but enjoyed the story and setting enough to see it through

50 hours in on DS2. Gets better and better. GOTY. Don’t sleep on this, motherfuckers.

No carpal tunnel on your index fingers yet huh

I don’t know what that means. Index fingers probably my least used major digits in this game?

If it keeps it up, this might be Kojima’s Elden Ring. It is really great.

Any recs for a good video game message board, discord, whatever? Anything?

Love a lot of your contributions, but ILG is mostly a dead bummer these days.

I do thank Calstars for reminding me of my weird cousin who would put the NES controller on the floor and play it like a keyboard.

Sorry, was grouchy.

But no, you’re not doing a ton of running this time around and working your balancing fingers. It’s a much less punishing game. You get the fun DS stuff almost immediately as opposed to 10 hours in. 80% of the time you’re gonna be in a vehicle.

Combat stuff is great. Fairly easy on default difficulty, but very satisfying. Love how much Metal Gear Solid 5 stuff he folded into this one.

Game’s just super fun, dudes. Can’t emphasize that enough. If you got a PS5, you should get this.

80%?

You must have something better to do. I hope you do.

Had some time off work last week and I broke my plan to play DS2 for only a couple hours per day. I did, at least, stick to a couple hours per session.

I'm going to keep connecting up shelters, but I have all but perhaps one connected, finished maybe 70% of the roads and 80% of the monorail, and finished the main story. Fifty-ish hours?

Some of the main strokes of the plot are pretty obvious, but of those, several of the twists are delivered with completely absurd (in a good way) cut scenes. Kojima's thrown the entire kitchen sink in on this one. Some of the more cinematic cutscenes are going to stick with me for a while.

I screwed up by not trying out each individual piece of equipment as I acquired them. You can absolutely just blast through the game on Normal difficulty by using whatever the most powerful thing you can craft is at the moment, but there are some really novel things you miss out on that way.

That’s kinda how MGS5 was. Just an absurd amount of toys that can be really fun to use if you take the time to learn them and not just stick with the most easily effective ones. Hope harder difficulties, or ones to come, encourage using a bit of everything. A “Director’s Cut” v1.5 version of this like they did for DS1 could really be something.

Some of the tentpole cinematic cutscenes are legitimately stunning. Like “best you’ll see in a video game” stunning.

So far on track to be my favorite thing Kojima’s done.

So many stupidly fun gadgets, like the sticky gun, where you can sniper rifle a package from a distance and it’ll launch the package towards you and you have have to snatch it out of the air with your free hand just in time or it’ll get all bonked up as it flies by you and lands on the ground.

All sorts of melee combat tools/weapons/techniques that I’ve played with in the VR combat testing zone that are surprisingly involved and cool. Just might never use them once you get silenced guns.

Life has been getting in the way of this.. finally set off for my first proper mission, and damn if those guys don't have good eyesight. I did all the intro VR training levels - this is where I'm a viking, honestly, could just play training levels forever - so I felt pretty good about myself but fuck me these guys have good eyesight. One sees me and then I'm swarmed. I mean I did end up cold-cocking them all, but by that time the rain had starting taking its effect and I only A-ranked the level. I assume I need to be a lot sneakier?

You need to keep holding down the buttons

Goddamn this game is good. I just did the first mission into the jungle. The way the lighting changes when the sun goes down (or comes up) is fucking excellent.

I was much better at sneaking around this time. Garrotted a couple of them boys. But fuck if they aren't on alert at the drop of a hat. Can't imagine what hard mode is like. I wound up having to thump the last couple.

I like their voices when they get all consternated - they sound like the AI in Mission Impossible, like some sort of squiggly alien squid tech.

I so want the delivery points to start breaking down, and the weapons ban enforcement breaks, and you have to go back into the package area recesses behind the access terminal to track somebody down, jumping up on a conveyor belt, shooting at somebody, grabbing a container as it slides by, throwing it at somebody else... Also I want Sam to realise that he's working for the bad guys, and join forces with the bandits. None of this will ever happen. Kojima likes his systems.

don't worry, in the storyline in most Kojima games you get to the "are we actually the baddies?!" twist

Holding your breath (R1) while crouching makes you a good bit stealthier.

Game does look goddamn good with the changing of day/night/weather. I took a trip around my monorail system last night before bed just to chill out mess with the photo mode (which is pretty involved!)

Love seeing a thunderstorm off in the distance at the right time of evening. Can get very Miami Vice ‘06 looking.

Baby care simulator lol

Someone PayPal me $600 so I can play this shit

lol cal I know you’re trolling and having your kicks, but I would like to emphasize for anyone reading this thread that balancing while walking and having to constantly soothe a crying baby are barely a thing in DS2. Know a few people who bounced off the 1st who are having a great time with this one.

Lovely game that his been a salve for a depression wave I’ve been dealing with. Nice to have people tell you “Hey, great job/what would we do without you/we can get through this together” all the time.

Also just fun shooting an electrified bolo stun gun at a bad guy and hear them go “BRWWWLLWLWLWWL” and presumably shit their pants as they fall to the ground.

Revolver Ocelot

Psycho Mantis

Threads been quiet for a minute
Did bros finish it or abandon it

I’m still playing it. On vacation, made a trip out the other day to pick up a PS Portal to keep playing it, but haven’t had much time.

About 3/4 through I think. Still rules, GOTY thus far.

I haven't had any time 😭

I got to the first boss fight and got all the way back home. I find myself accidentally switching shoulders during pew pew pew parts and I'm finding the (lack of?) cover mechanic kind of offputting; honestly idk how to shoot dudes effectively

Just rolled credits. This game is beautiful.

I have put my console away for the summer, so not playing this yet. I am so excited to though. But seeing as how the first game was so tied up with the lockdown era, I really think this will be better suited to long nights and cold days

see, if you live somewhere with an unbearably hot season, you get two parts of the year for gaming

hah, not to compare but the UK has been pretty unbearable these last few weeks. i get what you mean though

yeah, what you're getting we typically get, or worse, for about 2 - 3 summer weeks every year

I gotta say i'm SUPER not into whatever gender shit is rattling around in Kojima's head (luckily this only affects the cut scenes)

Care to spoiler text what you’re referring to specifically? Don’t recall anything eyebrow raising, but I did mainline the hell out of this for stretches so things might’ve gotten lost in the tunnel vision.