Support NeoGAF

[Yoshi]

People complain that the game is easy?
How come he has been struggling for 40 hours and not be able to finish the game?

A game can be easy and long. I can make you a terrible game on one weekend that takes more than 40 hours to complete without you ever failing in any way whatsoever.

 

[Psykodad]

A game can be easy and long. I can make you a terrible game on one weekend that takes more than 40 hours to complete without you ever failing in any way whatsoever.

I can't imagine that you won't be near the ending of DS after 40 hours and rushing through the story.

 

[kurisu_1974]

Ah but after playing a game for forty hours that he did not like, he might have changed his mind after a clever ending or plot twist , this is of course ludicrous as with many games/movies, you don't need to experience them to their conclusion to realize their quality good or bad, I still feel this issue is far more down to the embargo placed on the reviewer than anything else.

Then they could have easily postponed it for a month. Instead of manufacturing drama. I thought Edge was better than that. A bad Edge score won't make me angry you know? I'll still decide for myself.

 

[hollowcupra]

That doesn't explain why he didn't beat the game after 40 hours.

If it's easy even on hard and you're being paid to review the game, the most logical thing to do is rush through it.
Best of all, he had two weeks to do so.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

Because if he didn't like it, his 40hours (if the statement is true) might were spent doing nothing. I'm just speculating, i don't excuse him, but the fault in my opinion goes to his employee. If i pay someone to do a job and he isn't doing it, it's my responcibility to put some sense to him.

If we see his trophies (are open since today) we will know where he left it.

 

[Psykodad]

Actually he had 3 weeks like every other reviewers.

Even worse. Lol

This isn't even about DS, but Edges credibility and the guy's incompetence.

 

[hollowcupra]

I can't imagine that you won't be near the ending of DS after 40 hours and rushing through the story.

My playthrough for main story and doing some side stuff took 55 hours on hard.

I have it platinumed as of know at 115 hours.

 

[ethomaz]

You guys are making me crazy.
I can't wait tomorrow... I need to play this game ASAP.
My hype meter is not like that since I don't even remember (GTS launch perhaps).

 

[FMXVII]

Even worse. Lol

This isn't even about DS, but Edges credibility and the guy's incompetence.

Sure it is.

It is precisely about that.

ALL it is about is "shaming" and attempting to discredit a journalist for simply despising a game to the point where he didn't feel compelled to endure the whole slog in order to come up with a review assigning Death Stranding a numerical value of "AIDS and trichinosis infested pig shit left rotting in a hot summer breeze."

 

[ethomaz]

Sure it is.

It is precisely about that.

ALL it is about is "shaming" and attempting to discredit a journalist for simply despising a game to the point where he didn't feel compelled to endure the whole slog in order to come up with a review assigning Death Stranding a numerical value of "AIDS and trichinosis infested pig shit left rotting in a hot summer breeze."

He did discredit himself... his actions tell for him.
I won't ever call him a "journalist" after what he did lol

 

[Psykodad]

My playthrough for main story and doing some side stuff took 55 hours on hard.

I have it platinumed as of know at 115 hours.

You seem like someone who does take his time to fully explore your games, so I assume I'm not far off with my guess about the guy's progress.

 

[Endless Fluff]

A game can be easy and long. I can make you a terrible game on one weekend that takes more than 40 hours to complete without you ever failing in any way whatsoever.

It's not really long, though. You can apparently power through the tedious stuff, like one of the Laymen Gaming guys did, he needed only 25 hours to finish the game and he loved it. He would have liked to take his time, but he couldn't because only his brother got a review code of the game, so he only had like a week to get through it after his brother was done.

I would really love to know what the Edge guy did, were he was in the story and how he played it.

 

[Psykodad]

Sure it is.

It is precisely about that.

ALL it is about is "shaming" and attempting to discredit a journalist for simply despising a game to the point where he didn't feel compelled to endure the whole slog in order to come up with a review assigning Death Stranding a numerical value of "AIDS and trichinosis infested pig shit left rotting in a hot summer breeze."

Dude, Idc about the scores or reviews.

I think The Order 1886 is one of this gens best games and we all know how that went.

It just so happens that DS has my interest and the Edge guy messed up with his review for this game.

Make of that what you will.

 

[hollowcupra]

You seem like someone who does take his time to fully explore your games, so I assume I'm not far off with my guess about the guy's progress.

To be honest yes, i like to explore the games i play. I always go for the platinum, but on my first run i go for a normal run and try to explore everything i can, just to see the game world.

Speaking to several friends that got the game for reviews the average time is about 45 hours. But this game is a bit weird or unique that it can't be rushed in the normal way we are used to. Unless you go completely straight for the story which a reviewer shouldn't do it if he wants to see all the games mechanisms.

 

[Yoshi]

It's not really long, though. You can apparently power through the tedious stuff, like one of the Laymen Gaming guys did, he needed only 25 hours to finish the game and he loved it. He would have liked to take his time, but he couldn't because only his brother got a review code of the game, so he only had like a week to get through it after his brother was done.

I would really love to know what the Edge guy did, were he was in the story and how he played it.

He could power through it in 25 hours, but then he would need to play in a specific way. If he just played regularly, by what I read here, he would not be expected to be finished after 40 hours, but should have seen the majority of the game.

 

[ethomaz]

To be honest yes, i like to explore the games i play. I always go for the platinum, but on my first run i go for a normal run and try to explore everything i can, just to see the game world.

Speaking to several friends that got the game for reviews the average time is about 45 hours. But this game is a bit weird or unique that it can't be rushed in the normal way we are used to. Unless you go completely straight for the story which a reviewer shouldn't do it if he wants to see all the games mechanisms.

I will be very happy if you take the Edge's guy position to review games

 

[Psykodad]

He could power through it in 25 hours, but then he would need to play in a specific way. If he just played regularly, by what I read here, he would not be expected to be finished after 40 hours, but should have seen the majority of the game.

Apperently, the average completion time is about 45 hours.

And the guys couldn't do his job in 3 weeks and had to quit at 40 hours?

 

[Yoshi]

Apperently, the average completion time is about 45 hours.

And the guys couldn't do his job in 3 weeks and had to quit at 40 hours?

His job is not "playing Death Stranding to completion".

 

[FMXVII]

He could power through it in 25 hours, but then he would need to play in a specific way. If he just played regularly, by what I read here, he would not be expected to be finished after 40 hours, but should have seen the majority of the game.

Nah, brah!

He has to grind EVERY SINGLE UNIQUE INSTANT OR ELSE HE IS A HAXXOR!!!

I swear - kids/Hitler Youth these days.

 

[Psykodad]

His job is not "playing Death Stranding to completion".

His job is reviewing the game, which required him to complete it.
He quit right at the end. Makes no sense at all.

I'm done though.

 

[LuvOfThaGame]

People attacking the Edge reviewer and ignoring the fact that the publisher demanded completion before review. Always great to demand things from independent review sources so you can basically threaten to pull future review copies of other games if their opinion or method of review of the game does not suit the PR push.
I dont blame him for being frustrated.
But NOBODY wants to piss off Sony or PS fans when foaming at the mouth, so review incoming. Dont be surprised if his opinion lightens up a bit.

 

[FMXVII]

His job is reviewing the game, which required him to complete it.
He quit right at the end. Makes no sense at all.

I'm done though.

And so was he.

Funny, how that works.

His review was infinitely more succinct than yours, though.

But he had actual copy.

 

[Endless Fluff]

His job is not "playing Death Stranding to completion".

Of course,, but he probably knew after 15ish hours that he doesn't want to play anymore and he could've rushed the game to completion from there? The point is that he could've finished the game in 40 hours and he could've written his negative review instead of whining on Twitter.

 

[GymWolf]

Won't give them a click, but let me guess.... Not emo enough, no meth heads so Alex couldn't relate to the story. No dream daddy dicks. Abby didn't think it was very very very good. There's was an android ass.

If that obnoxious chick doesn't like the game it's a plus for me tbh.

 

[Yoshi]

His job is reviewing the game, which required him to complete it.
He quit right at the end. Makes no sense at all.

I'm done though.

I agree with his job here, except for the bolded. It is not necessary to complete a game to review it. The embargo requires it , but then the embargo is unreasonable.

 

[DeepEnigma]

People attacking the Edge reviewer and ignoring the fact that the publisher demanded completion before review. Always great to demand things from independent review sources so you can basically threaten to pull future review copies of other games if their opinion or method of review of the game does not suit the PR push.
I dont blame him for being frustrated.
But NOBODY wants to piss off Sony or PS fans when foaming at the mouth, so review incoming. Dont be surprised if his opinion lightens up a bit.

It didn't impact every other reviewer. This dude wanted his attention. Edgy and all that jazz.

 

[hollowcupra]

I will be very happy if you take the Edge's guy position to review games

Haha, i don't think i qualify unfortunately. You need good writting skills for a position like that.

 

[GymWolf]

Isn't it obvious though? At least in RDR2 you could shovel shit and hammer fences in True 4K on an Xbox One X...

Untile they discover that real 4k on pc looks like 8k compared to the xone x 4k

 

[Psykodad]

I agree with his job here, except for the bolded. It is not necessary to complete a game to review it. The embargo requires it , but then the embargo is unreasonable.

Imo all singleplayer games should have that as a requirement, at least for the story.
But that's another discussion.

And so was he.

Funny, how that works.

His review was infinitely more succinct than yours, though.

But he had actual copy.

 

[hollowcupra]

Regarding the Edge reviewer, i just read the NDA document we signed and i can't see any mention about finishing the game (although every reviewer should finish a game in my opinion). Also the same paper forbits any reveal of information.

 

[Psykodad]

Regarding the Edge reviewer, i just read the NDA document we signed and i can't see any mention about finishing the game (although every reviewer should finish a game in my opinion). Also the same paper forbits any reveal of information.

If true, that would be even more funny.

 

[ethomaz]

Regarding the Edge reviewer, i just read the NDA document we signed and i can't see any mention about finishing the game (although every reviewer should finish a game in my opinion). Also the same paper forbits any reveal of information.

Let's hope he signed a different NDA why if he create story just to get attention...

 

[GymWolf]

Cut through the melodramatic language of the 9/10 Gamespot review and the same criticisms that exist in the low-scoring reviews are present:

“The first few hours of the game are the slowest, and a large part of that is because you don't have access to the online component right away. It's an incredibly lonely stretch of time during which you mostly just walk; the work you do early on is especially laborious in the absence of advanced gear, and it serves to give you an appreciation for other players and better gear as you move forward.”

“Even as the gameplay opens up, you continue to get a lot of story exposition with almost no explanation. It can all seem kind of goofy at first, and you can get lost in the metaphors; every city you need to add to the chiral network has "knot" in its name, for example, and they are all referred to as "knots" on a strand that connects the country. There's bizarre and unwarranted product placement in the form of Monster Energy drinks and the show Ride with Norman Reedus. Guillermo del Toro's likeness is used for a kind of dorky character called Deadman, and there's a woman named Fragile in a game about delivering packages.”

"The combat is mechanically simple--you mostly have to move around a bit and hit them before they hit you--but the sequences are visually and aurally arresting."

"The most cartoonish enemy is Troy Baker's Higgs, a terrorist whose depravity seems to know no bounds. Of all the characters, Higgs is the weakest, with far less nuance to him than anyone else in the cast"

"Death Stranding is a hard game to absorb. There are many intertwining threads to its plot, and silly names, corny moments, and heavy exposition belie an otherwise very simple message."

After delsin and nate' brother, troy baker continue in his string of shitty characters, not the first time i read about higgs being a weak villain, not his fault of course.
(I hope it's not the case in this one, his design is very cool)

 

[FMXVII]

It didn't impact every other reviewer. This dude wanted his attention. Edgy and all that jazz.

I'll bet you that most of the reviewers didn't finish the game, either.

They just took Kojima Studio's press release estimate of completion time, and ran with it, possibly modifying it by 5-10 for the Fallen Snowflake, Hidden Compliance effect.

 

[hollowcupra]

If true, that would be even more funny.

Well i could post the document but it clearly says don't leak any information xD

 

[DeepEnigma]

I'll bet you that most of the reviewers didn't finish the game, either.

They just took Kojima Studio's press release estimate of completion time, and ran with it, possibly modifying it by 5-10 for the Fallen Snowflake, Hidden Compliance effect.

This can be applied to every game, ever.

 

[Psykodad]

Well i could post the document but it clearly says don't leak any information xD

I believe you. Lol

But you do realize that it would take away what little credibility was left, right?

 

[hollowcupra]

I believe you. Lol

But you do realize that it would take away what little credibility was left, right?

I know and it's sad. In the end, a journalist's job is to offer non biased information to the consumer.

 

[GymWolf]

I do feel for the people who are baffled by the love for Death Stranding, because I had a similar reaction to FFXV that somehow made it over 80 average and some people loved it? And literally every aspect of that game except graphics was the worst execution of it in any AAA game ever, I'd have given that shit a 3 at most... only difference is I acquired that bafflement after I played through the whole fucking mess.

That shitty uncomplete broken mess of a game being a fucking 85 on mc is one of the many many reason why modern reviews are only usefull as a laxative or if you finish toilette paper and you have a printer at home (or both)

 

[Sander Cohen]

So, objectively, this is by far worst game of Kojima’s career, at least that shouldn’t be disputable.

83/100 and it could go down.

 

[FMXVII]

This can be applied to every game, ever.

Most assuredly.

But the argument can be readily made that O.G. reviewers e.g. EGM's Sushi-X, GameFan's Nick [Purple Shadows] Rox and Miss Demeanor, were actual hardcore gamers who genuinely enjoyed their jobs. Further, back then there were multiple reviews from people of varied taste in genres, so even if the average score didn't gel with your own Hope's and expectations, you could fall back on "that one" reviewer whose tastes and genre preference most closely matched your own, to ultimately make up your mind.

Single POV review sites suck, statistically.

But, back to the topic, not completing the game doesn't make his opinion/review invalid.

It simply means the game sucked too much monkey cock for him to flagellate himself playing I mean "experiencing" it any longer.

 

[GymWolf]

But Alex Navarro was great in Poltergeist 2.

So this is how he looks before becoming a zombie

 

[DeepEnigma]

Most assuredly.

But the argument can be readily made that O.G. reviewers e.g. EGM's Sushi-X, GameFan's Nick [Purple Shadows] Rox and Miss Demeanor, were actual hardcore gamers who genuinely enjoyed their jobs. Further, back then there were multiple reviews from people of varied taste in genres, so even if the average score didn't gel with your own Hope's and expectations, you could fall back on "that one" reviewer whose tastes and genre preference most closely matched your own, to ultimately make up your mind.

Single POV review sites suck, statistically.

But, back to the topic, not completing the game doesn't make his opinion/review invalid.

It simply means the game sucked too much monkey cock for him to flagellate himself playing I mean "experiencing" it any longer.

I can definitely agree with the OG comment. Greg Kasavin being another that oozed passion.

Now we have slacktivists.

 

[Mozza]

That doesn't explain why he didn't beat the game after 40 hours.

If it's easy even on hard and you're being paid to review the game, the most logical thing to do is rush through it.
Best of all, he had two weeks to do so.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

I don't think he meant his struggle was anything to do with the games difficulty, more he was struggling to find the motivation to finish a game he found tedious.

 

[Statue of Limitation]

Compiled a collection of Death Stranding related Dreams and a general hype check and discussion for this crazy game:

 

[Yoshi]

Imo all singleplayer games should have that as a requirement, at least for the story.
But that's another discussion.

But does this not unfairly put a stronger condition on games that are story-oriented over ones that are, for instance, more arcady? You can reach the ending of Sonic Unleashed in less than 10 hours, without ever attempting to get an S-Rank (or a good rank at all) in any Sonic levels, but that means that you have no idea of knowing how well a fundamental aspect of such an arcady game is made: The flow of the levels for higher-performance play. Mind you, I am not really arguing a reviewer should be forced to try to get S-Ranks in a Sonic game, but the story requirement has very different ramification for different singleplayer games. In a game like Life is Strange, completing the story means to really experience everything the game has to offer and covers 100% of a completionist's gameplay, in a game like Death Stranding, it means to play through 50 hours of mission content and playing the majority of the overall content and covers about half of the time a completionist would spend with it, in Sonic Unleashed, it means going through each level once in some way and covers about 10% (or even less) of the time a completionist would spend with the game. That's hardly a fair condition.

I think the much better condition is to play a substantial amount of the game, to make sure you have a good understanding of all the strengths and weaknesses of the game and can give a qualified statement on the game. In almost every game, 40 hours of gameplay are sufficient for that.

 

[hollowcupra]

But does this not unfairly put a stronger condition on games that are story-oriented over ones that are, for instance, more arcady? You can reach the ending of Sonic Unleashed in less than 10 hours, without ever attempting to get an S-Rank (or a good rank at all) in any Sonic levels, but that means that you have no idea of knowing how well a fundamental aspect of such an arcady game is made: The flow of the levels for higher-performance play. Mind you, I am not really arguing a reviewer should be forced to try to get S-Ranks in a Sonic game, but the story requirement has very different ramification for different singleplayer games. In a game like Life is Strange, completing the story means to really experience everything the game has to offer and covers 100% of a completionist's gameplay, in a game like Death Stranding, it means to play through 50 hours of mission content and playing the majority of the overall content and covers about half of the time a completionist would spend with it, in Sonic Unleashed, it means going through each level once in some way and covers about 10% (or even less) of the time a completionist would spend with the game. That's hardly a fair condition.

I think the much better condition is to play a substantial amount of the game, to make sure you have a good understanding of all the strengths and weaknesses of the game and can give a qualified statement on the game. In almost every game, 40 hours of gameplay are sufficient for that.

The problem though is that you don't know what it might open after you finish the game, if it has a bug, or in general something that's worth mentioning.

 

[Psykodad]

But does this not unfairly put a stronger condition on games that are story-oriented over ones that are, for instance, more arcady? You can reach the ending of Sonic Unleashed in less than 10 hours, without ever attempting to get an S-Rank (or a good rank at all) in any Sonic levels, but that means that you have no idea of knowing how well a fundamental aspect of such an arcady game is made: The flow of the levels for higher-performance play. Mind you, I am not really arguing a reviewer should be forced to try to get S-Ranks in a Sonic game, but the story requirement has very different ramification for different singleplayer games. In a game like Life is Strange, completing the story means to really experience everything the game has to offer and covers 100% of a completionist's gameplay, in a game like Death Stranding, it means to play through 50 hours of mission content and playing the majority of the overall content and covers about half of the time a completionist would spend with it, in Sonic Unleashed, it means going through each level once in some way and covers about 10% (or even less) of the time a completionist would spend with the game. That's hardly a fair condition.

I think the much better condition is to play a substantial amount of the game, to make sure you have a good understanding of all the strengths and weaknesses of the game and can give a qualified statement on the game. In almost every game, 40 hours of gameplay are sufficient for that.

Well, read a bit back, there might not even have been a requirement to complete the game, which if true would make his story even more bogus.

Also, what hollowcupra said.

 

[Mozza]

Totally agree with this, it's not like the guy played the game for only ten hours or so, he played more than enough to give the game a fair review, but because the silly embargo forbade him from doing it he wanted to make a point how stupid the restriction was i the first place.

Edit : If of course there was any such review embargo in the first place.

 

[Yoshi]

The problem though is that you don't know what it might open after you finish the game, if it has a bug, or in general something that's worth mentioning.

This is only really relevant if the first 40 hours are not trash. So say you give a glowing review, then yes, make sure that the game does not turn sour at one point. But if the first 40 hours are garbage, nothing can save the game anymore after that point. No one is going to pay 70€ to wade through 40 hours of a dreadful experience just to be able to play some more fun scenes.

 

[imsosleepy]

Then they could have easily postponed it for a month. Instead of manufacturing drama. I thought Edge was better than that. A bad Edge score won't make me angry you know? I'll still decide for myself.

its just ridiculous. its a good fucking game. its not a mess like fallout. its a triple a sony first party production. Sony gave a fucking review code 3 WEEKS in advance. They could have put someone else on it even. Its a story driven game with alot of cinematic cutscenes and it has a build up.
Its not just 1 gameplay loop, alot of things change the more you progress. you get more guns, traveling gets easier, more things happen in the world. its fair of sony to ask to finish the game and for that they gave review copies 3 weeks in advance.. And then they do this..
I cant fucking believe how stupid this is from Edge