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Death Stranding Review Thread

Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
hollowcupra said:
and thats my disagreement with the reviews. The gameplay is a core feuture of a game and if a review points it out as problematic it should cost more points.
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Of course it is, and so it should be. How many times over the years have certain games been blasted for having amazing graphics and sound, but shit gameplay, yet somehow it should be different with this game, because of 'reasons'.
 
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hollowcupra

Member
FranXico said:
Thanks.

Not sure why would you feel that anyone would question your skills, I assure you that this is not the case.
Click to expand...

I didnt mention the plats to prove my skills so i apologise if it seemed like that. I just wanted people to know that i'm not a meteor that was lucky to get to play the game early.
 
vpance

vpance

Member
TheCockatrice said:
So how would you rate out of 10? I think the collider review felt very genuine and while I did not care about reviews I've changed my mind about buying the game at full price. I really have no issue traveling from one point to another for 40 hours but why the fuck didn't he add some unique stuff to find between point A and B besides some repetitive enemy encounters? Like give us some wildlife or some secret bases with cool story bits, or anything really. Wasted potential to be honest.
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You can only do so much with a core team of 80 people. Modern AAA open world games are often made with a staff of 1000+. RDR2 was in the thousands.

I knew this game was going to be very desolate/empty world especially after the first leaked impressions. I just didn't expect it to be 40+ hrs. I was thinking maybe 20. Think I'll still enjoy it though. The graphics whore in me will take over.
 
H

hollowcupra

Member
FranXico said:
No need to apologize. :)

Is there any change to the DS gameplay loop that would make it a more pleasant ecperience?
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I don't wont to spoil anything so i'll try to be as careful as i can and please forgive my english.

There are two chapters in the whole game that are completely based on shooting with MGS style gameplay. Unfortunately these chapter are extremely short and in my opinion together with the ending chapter are the best parts of the game.

The rest of the game consists of mainly transferring stuff between locations. The orders, act as the game's quests. It heavily relies in micro managing the load of your orders, at least at the early game, later on you get vehicles (and if you are online you find them around from other players) so the micromanaging aspect is not much of a problem. The physics are a big issue because they don't actually work. They try to emulate actual vehicle behavior but in the end it works against the player and the terrain is laid out pretty bad.

The problem with the orders is that they don't actually offer anything to the player, besides increasing your relation with the order requester and the terrain on most of these locations is really bad and the vehicles behave strangely.


The maps have certain places where BT's appear and everytime there is an annoying slowdown and animation that plays out to warn you about them, which is useless and breaks the immersion. You can avoid BT's by speedrunning past them so they are not an actual problem. Then you have mules (bad guys) again in certain spots which you can just avoid unless you want to collect the collectible microchips from them.
 
Bryank75

Bryank75

Banned
hollowcupra said:
6, although i dont review games professionally, as a gamer i felt that the whole proccess was not enjoyable.

If i could describe my experience with few words those would be: The best game i've seen and at the same time the worst i've played.

The problem is that apart from the delivering stuff from point a to b there is nothing else, and the mechanics in between dont always work.
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So you don't count the various things you can build, gadgets and 'combat' as anything else....
 
H

hollowcupra

Member
Bryank75 said:
So you don't count the various things you can build, gadgets and 'combat' as anything else....
Click to expand...

I would count the gadgets and the weapons if they meant something. I like games having freedom, but they should give you reasons to use the stuff they have. Being completely open does not always works in your favor. I was just using power gloves to punch my way out, or just running past the mules when i needed to steel a collectible from them.

The building aspect is a good idea, like having generators, etc, but generators doesn't cost materials so you can just drop a PCC and have it built. Actually only bridges and shelters cost materials and they aren't really usefull, they just make you lazy, because with a vehicle you can just cross a river, although, a month after the game's release and with players having built enough stuff in the world the game will be different. The problem is the game is not like that at the moment, unless everyong that reviewed it is a fortune teller.
 
Bryank75

Bryank75

Banned
hollowcupra said:
I would count the gadgets and the weapons if they meant something. I like games having freedom, but they should give you reasons to use the stuff they have. Being completely open does not always works in your favor. I was just using power gloves to punch my way out, or just running past the mules when i needed to steel a collectible from them.

The building aspect is a good idea, like having generators, etc, but generators doesn't cost materials so you can just drop a PCC and have it built. Actually only bridges and shelters cost materials and they aren't really usefull, they just make you lazy, because with a vehicle you can just cross a river, although, a month after the game's release and with players having built enough stuff in the world the game will be different. The problem is the game is not like that at the moment, unless everyong that reviewed it is a fortune teller.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you enjoyed the shooting parts the most...

So you think despite the messaging of the game about bringing people together it is actually 'the stick' that is the most entertaining.
It is also ironic that the game has divided people more than brought them together.... perhaps gaming isn't ready to be something more than a combat / violence simulator, what do you think?

Do you think his next game will be more mainstream or he will just go more down the rabbit-hole?
 
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hollowcupra

Member
Bryank75 said:
It sounds like you enjoyed the shooting parts the most...

So you think despite the messaging of the game about bringing people together it is actually 'the stick' that is the most entertaining.
It is also ironic that the game has divided people more than brought them together.... perhaps gaming isn't ready to be something more than a combat / violence simulator, what do you think?
Click to expand...

The premise of the game is good. The problem is the delivery. Trying to be ultra realistic is a bit of a thin line. In my opinion games needs to be fun, and that's my issue with Death Stranding, that the core gameplay is not fun, it's actually tedious, repetive and doesn't reward you.

I point out the shooting parts as the best parts, not because i applaud violence, but because in this game, those parts work the best and offer some fun.

Having a vehicle getting stuck in invisible stones, or the game requiring you to have both of your hands at the controller 100% of the time to balance your cargo when you are on foot, or having a repetive animation that stops the gameplay everytime you encounter a BT is not fun.


Even the game knows this weakness. During the story, DIE-Hardman keeps telling you to be patient, and that you soon won't have more of this repetive stuff to do, a big lie.

The bringing people together part is something that we can't see in the review period. The game actually allows players to build as a community the world with sharing materials. For example a bridge needs 800 metals. Everyone in the server you are can add metals to that bridge and help build it. As you can understand reviewers are only doing the basic stuff and the world is empty, so i hope when the game is released people will treat it like the developer intended. As of now i can't see that, so i judge it by that metric.
 
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TyphoonStruggle

TyphoonStruggle

Member
hollowcupra said:
6, although i dont review games professionally, as a gamer i felt that the whole proccess was not enjoyable.

If i could describe my experience with few words those would be: The best game i've seen and at the same time the worst i've played.

The problem is that apart from the delivering stuff from point a to b there is nothing else, and the mechanics in between dont always work.
Click to expand...
You just don’t “get” it. How dare you expect to have some “fun” in your video game.
😂
 
B

Breakage

Member
I've watched several video reviews and all mention how the combat encounters have little variety and aren't very challenging. It seems as the “game” aspect of DS was an afterthought.
 
MiyazakiHatesKojima

MiyazakiHatesKojima

Banned
lwyfi9hq3cw31.png
 
DynamiteCop!

DynamiteCop!

Banned
hollowcupra said:
and thats my disagreement with the reviews. The gameplay is a core feuture of a game and if a review points it out as problematic it should cost more points.
Click to expand...
It's a video game, the gameplay should be the most important part. I can't take anyone seriously who drones on about how conceptually amazing it is, the way it looks, the questions it asks, how it's philosophical and then they give it like a 9/10 while complaining how dull and tedious the gameplay is.

Like wtf, if it's dull, tedious and cramming exposition down your throat then it's not a good game...

martin.png
 
Psykodad

Psykodad

Banned
hollowcupra said:
I would count the gadgets and the weapons if they meant something. I like games having freedom, but they should give you reasons to use the stuff they have. Being completely open does not always works in your favor. I was just using power gloves to punch my way out, or just running past the mules when i needed to steel a collectible from them.

The building aspect is a good idea, like having generators, etc, but generators doesn't cost materials so you can just drop a PCC and have it built. Actually only bridges and shelters cost materials and they aren't really usefull, they just make you lazy, because with a vehicle you can just cross a river, although, a month after the game's release and with players having built enough stuff in the world the game will be different. The problem is the game is not like that at the moment, unless everyong that reviewed it is a fortune teller.
Click to expand...
Isn't that kind of a genius concept?
Once the game is out and possibly millions of people will play it, wouldn't that change the entire experience?

Edit:

Lol at certain people still crusading against DS on page 22.
 
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New Yorks Finest

New Yorks Finest

Banned
Stuart360 said:
The amount of verbal gymnastics trying to turn this Fedex simulator into some kind of trencending high brow work of art, well its fascinating to see. Kojima is too pretentious, and like all so called 'geniuses', he needs to be brought down a peg or two. And if this is the game to do it, he will be all the better for it in the long run.
Click to expand...

I thought this was more of a UPS simulator as they tend on running late sometimes.
 
H

hollowcupra

Member
Psykodad said:
No worries, this topic got hostile real quick. Lol

It's just that the concept is what's intriguing to me, although I try to go in as blind as possible.
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The concept of the game is indeed really good. I just don't find it actually fun or at least rewarding, short term or long term.

In the end of the day though it's just my opinion and i would like to see what people will think when they get to play it.
 
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W

Wink

Member
hollowcupra said:
I would count the gadgets and the weapons if they meant something. I like games having freedom, but they should give you reasons to use the stuff they have. Being completely open does not always works in your favor. I was just using power gloves to punch my way out, or just running past the mules when i needed to steel a collectible from them.
Click to expand...
I one hundred percent respect your experience and opinion. I have not played the game, but I fundamentally disagree on that particular point, outside of the discussion of quality of DS. If a game is open and gives you gadgets to try the designer still has to make sure that it is possible to not use them, because if a player for whatever reason decides to use the openness to restrict himself or simply does not have other options the game designer still wants to make sure you are able to complete a task some way. That would be different in a linear, guided experience. So in a game that has sandbox elements experimenting and trying the gadgets the game provides will always be in the hands of the player to a certain extent. Experimenting was the biggest draw of MGSV and in my experience the deciding factor if people came out enthralled or hating the open gameplay experience. I appreciate you coming in and answering questions, giving insights, thank you.
 
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H

hollowcupra

Member
Wink said:
I one hundred percent respect your experience and opinion. I have not played the game, but I fundamentally disagree on that particular point, outside of the discussion of quality of DS. If a game is open and gives you gadgets to try the designer still has to make sure that it is possible to not use them, because if a player for whatever reason decides to use the openness to restrict himself or simply does not have other options the game designer still wants to make sure you are able to complete a task some way. That would be different in a linear, guided experience. So in a game that has sandbox elements experimenting and trying the gadgets the game provides will always be in the hands of the player to a certain extent. Experimenting was the biggest draw of MGSV and in my experience the deciding factor if people came out enthralled or hating the open gameplay experience. I appreciate you coming in and answering questions, giving insights though, thank you.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right about that. The problem is that DS doesn't really open itself as a sandbox game and the few enemy encounters together with the limiting carry factor don't allow experimenting or at least encourage it.
 
W

Wink

Member
hollowcupra said:
You are absolutely right about that. The problem is that DS doesn't really open itself as a sandbox game and the few enemy encounters together with the limiting carry factor don't allow experimenting or at least encourage it.
Click to expand...
Noted. I can see that would be working against it, really too bad.
Sorry if you've already answered this, are there difficulty settings? I heard the combat is too simple. If there are difficulty settings would I just make those scenarios more tedious or do you think more boss health and less room for mistakes could make them more exciting?
 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Gold Member
hollowcupra said:
I don't wont to spoil anything so i'll try to be as careful as i can and please forgive my english.

There are two chapters in the whole game that are completely based on shooting with MGS style gameplay. Unfortunately these chapter are extremely short and in my opinion together with the ending chapter are the best parts of the game.

The rest of the game consists of mainly transferring stuff between locations. The orders, act as the game's quests. It heavily relies in micro managing the load of your orders, at least at the early game, later on you get vehicles (and if you are online you find them around from other players) so the micromanaging aspect is not much of a problem. The physics are a big issue because they don't actually work. They try to emulate actual vehicle behavior but in the end it works against the player and the terrain is laid out pretty bad.

The problem with the orders is that they don't actually offer anything to the player, besides increasing your relation with the order requester and the terrain on most of these locations is really bad and the vehicles behave strangely.


The maps have certain places where BT's appear and everytime there is an annoying slowdown and animation that plays out to warn you about them, which is useless and breaks the immersion. You can avoid BT's by speedrunning past them so they are not an actual problem. Then you have mules (bad guys) again in certain spots which you can just avoid unless you want to collect the collectible microchips from them.
Click to expand...
is beating the shit out of the mules and stealing their microchips usefull to upgrade things? like there is some sort of gratification for clearing an enemy camp? or is like zelda where after 20 hours you avoid the combat completely because you have nothing in return?
 
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H

hollowcupra

Member
Wink said:
Noted. I can see that would be working against it, really too bad.
Sorry if you've already answered this, are there difficulty settings? I heard the combat is too simple. If there are difficulty settings would I just make those scenarios more tedious or do you think more boss health and less room for mistakes could make them more exciting?
Click to expand...

Yes, they range from very easy to hard. The biggest difference hard makes is that timefall damage is greater and enemies hit harder. But it's not as hard as usual Kojima's games. Also you need hard to get the best rating for your orders.
 
H

hollowcupra

Member
GymWolf said:
is beating the shit out of the mules and stealing their microchips usefull to upgrade things? like there is some sort of gratification for clearing an enemy camp? or is like zelda where after 20 hours you avoid the combat completely because you have nothing in return?
Click to expand...

No nothing usefull happens. The area gets cleared for a while, you get a few likes from other porters and the area gets populated again.
 
JareBear: Remastered

JareBear: Remastered

Banned
The "fun" debate is something I find somewhat interesting.

I remember when I was teenager, my best friend and I debated this movie called "The English Patient." I think it won or was nominated for numerous awards, or something like that.

We both agreed that we didn't find the film to be especially entertaining, or "fun" for lack of a better word, but we disagreed as far as the quality of the film. He just said "that was boring, that movie sucked," and I said "well I didn't really enjoy it but it was well made, I would call it a good film overall." Basically

I feel like it definitely starts getting into pretentious territory when one has to fall back on "you just don't get it" type rebuttals. I don't want to sound pretentious. Of course fun factor is a huge component of video games, but it is also so subjective and there are the other components to consider as well, more objective analysis tech performance and whatnot.

I played the crap out of Day's Gone and we know how that game reviewed.

I am fairly confident that I will enjoy Death Stranding. I have wavered a little as the reviews dropped but I still feel pretty great about it. I have grown to like slow burner films, I have grown to really like grindy games, not saying this game is grindy but just pointing out that my tastes have changed in my 30s and I think this is a game right up my alley
 
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MiyazakiHatesKojima

MiyazakiHatesKojima

Banned
ROMhack said:
He's right in saying that. It's mainly a trait of casual gamers to play them only because they're 'fun'.

Truly we are the enlightened ones.
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Chunk Loves Sloth said:
The "fun" debate is something I find somewhat interesting.

I remember when I was teenager, my best friend and I debated this movie called "The English Patient." I think it won or was nominated for numerous awards, or something like that.

We both agreed that we didn't find the film to be especially entertaining, or "fun" for lack of a better word, but we disagreed as far as the quality of the film. He just said "that was boring, that movie sucked," and I said "well I didn't really enjoy it but it was well made, I would call it a good film overall." Basically

I feel like it definitely starts getting into pretentious territory when one has to fall back on "you just don't get it" type rebuttals. I don't want to sound pretentious. Of course fun factor is a huge component of video games, but it is also so subjective and there are the other components to consider as well, more objective analysis tech performance and whatnot.

I played the crap out of Day's Gone and we know how that game reviewed.

I am fairly confident that I will enjoy Death Stranding
Click to expand...
Kojima would be so proud of you if he was reading this right now.

:)
 
W

Wink

Member
Psykodad said:
Isn't that kind of a genius concept?
Once the game is out and possibly millions of people will play it, wouldn't that change the entire experience?

Edit:

Lol at certain people still crusading against DS on page 22.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's necessarily true? They are putting you into a session when you play anyways, so you'll see stuff from a certain number of people, however many are on the server. It's not like everyone is building in the same world, if they were you would trip over 8 million ladders the whole way instead of rocks.
 
H

hollowcupra

Member
Wink said:
I don't think that's necessarily true? They are putting you into a session when you play anyways, so you'll see stuff from a certain number of people, however many are on the server. It's not like everyone is building in the same world, if they were you would trip over 8 million ladders the whole way instead of rocks.
Click to expand...

The limitation of how much you can build comes from the chiral network bandwidth. The main objective is to add locations in the UCA network. adding them expands the network and the bandwidth. A generator for example eats 300 out of a x number of bandwidth depending on how many locations you connected and your relation with them (mesuared in stars, five is the max).

Buildings also decay if you dont repair them.
 
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Phase

Phase

Member
We need more meaningful and though provoking experiences in games. I hope this game makes the industry reconsider things we normally take for granted and creates a philosophical incision into their overly complacent asses.
 
vpance

vpance

Member
Bryank75 said:
Also some interesting facts about the IGN reviewer Tristan Ogilvie... he has reviewed 50 games and never once given a game over 85.
Most of his reviews are scathing and he was probably given the review to stir up controversy.
Click to expand...

His Opencritic stats:

32 games reviewed
72.7 average score
75 median score
40.6% of games recommended

His top 3 games are Disney Infinity, Yakuza 0, and Metro Exodus.

Seems to play a lot of shitty golf games too. Must be some sort of masochist.
 
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