• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Death Stranding Review Thread

Eiknarf

Member
Still on the fence and waiting for you guys to report how it is. I trust you guys more than critics

I’m hoping you’re all honest

If you were one bragging about the positive reviews, and swore it would be great, and you get the game tomorrow, play it for ten hours and don’t like it, I want to hear that you were wrong.

If you were laughing that it’s gonna suck, and pointing out all the low grade reviews, and you play it, but ya like it, I want to hear that you were wrong
 

FranXico

Member
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
Well, next gen is upon us, and some people who believe to have the power to influence consumers are already choosing a side. And this goes both ways (some 10/10s are just pro-Sony).
 

GymWolf

Member
Haha, i don't think i qualify unfortunately. You need good writting skills for a position like that.
You stating facts and talking about the game in details is better than 90% of reviews to my eyes.

It's a fucking review, i don't need george r r martin.

I understand more about the game with a couple of your post compared with the 10+ review i readed...
 
Last edited:
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.

Think he was at chapter 3 from memory which from reading reviews is the slog. Looks like he didn't shoot to the finish and burned himself out. It reads like he was expecting something or looking for something that never arrived. It's a well written preview/review but not of the full game.
 

Wink

Member
You stating facts and talking about the game in details is better than 90% of reviews to my eyes.

It's a fucking review, i don't need george r r martin.

I understand more about the game with a couple of your post compared with the 10+ review i readed...
Have you ever read film criticism? They have long since understood that there's no ultimate objectivity when talking about a work that's supposed to evoke. You can argue for game reviews having to be toy reviews all day long, but it has to be ok for people to speak about games in emotional terms, metaphors, references and the whole spectrum of feelings the experience has brought to them. The fact that most of the reviewers who do that also bring up game mechanics and factual points to the review should be more than able to satisfy your argument. I honestly cannot understand what your beef is. Just accept that the things you can't work with from the reviews you've read are important to other people. Just like you said, there's tons of methods to satisfy your specific kind of curiosity about a game. Be it watching gameplay, forum impressions from users, whatever. Stop trying to limit people just cause you don't agree. The world doesn't have to revolve around one narrow perspective.
 
Last edited:

Psykodad

Banned
Think he was at chapter 3 from memory which from reading reviews is the slog. Looks like he didn't shoot to the finish and burned himself out. It reads like he was expecting something or looking for something that never arrived. It's a well written preview/review but not of the full game.
Chapter 3 out of 15?

At 40 hours when you can beat the game n 45 hours? 🤔

Anyway, I'm out. 6 more hours and I can see for myself.
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
Have you ever read film criticism? They have long since understood that there's no ultimate objectivity when talking about a work that's supposed to evoke. You can argue for game reviews having to be toy reviews all day long, but it has to be ok for people to speak about games in emotional terms, metaphors, references and the whole spectrum of feelings the experience has brought to them. The fact that most of the reviewers who do that also bring up game mechanics and factual points to the review should be more than able to satisfy your argument. I honestly cannot understand what your beef is. Just accept that the things you can't work with from the reviews you've read are important to other people. Just like you said, there's tons of methods to satisfy your specific kind of curiosity about a game. Be it watching gameplay, forum impressions from users, whatever. Stop trying to limit people just cause you don't agree. The world doesn't have to revolve around one narrow perspective.
Can you point where i said that everyone has to think like me about reviews or how they are written?

I was talking to the guy and it's a personal opinion...do i have to write imo every single time??

Fuck i even said "to my eyes" :ROFLMAO:
 
Last edited:

Wink

Member
Chapter 3 out of 15?
You can lose a lot of time in early chapters if you're completionist, apparently. This seems to be the kind of game that expects players to not be afraid to move forward. Dragon Age Inquisition was like that as well. If you would stay in the first map of that game until you've completed every map marker it's very difficult not to just shut it down. This is a problem that comes with options, sometimes it's just impossible not to ruin your own experience cause the game wants to leave all possibilities open for different types of players. But some would have been better off to move on.
Can you point where i said that everyone has to think like me about reviews or how they are written?

I was talking to the guy and it's a personal opinion...do i have to write imo every single time??

Fuck i even said "to my eyes" :ROFLMAO:
Fair enough, I was incorrect to single you out.
 
Last edited:

Psykodad

Banned
You can lose a lot of time in early chapters if you're completionist, apparently. This seems to be the kind of game that expects players to not be afraid to move forward. Dragon Age Inquisition was like that as well. If you would stay in the first map of that game until you've completed every map marker it's very difficult not to just shut it down. This is a problem that comes with options, sometimes it's just impossible not to ruin your own experience cause the game wants to leave all possibilities open for different types of players. But some would have been better off to move on.
Well, I can see how a game is boring if you spend 40 hours playing 3/15 chapters when you can beat 15/15 in 45 hours.
Assuming he isn't talking out of his ass.

I really need to stop auto-replying. 😶
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
You can lose a lot of time in early chapters if you're completionist, apparently. This seems to be the kind of game that expects players to not be afraid to move forward. Dragon Age Inquisition was like that as well. If you would stay in the first map of that game until you've completed every map marker it's very difficult not to just shut it down. This is a problem that comes with options, sometimes it's just impossible not to ruin your own experience cause the game wants to leave all possibilities open for different types of players. But some would have been better off to move on.

Fair enough, I was incorrect to single you out.
No problem mate.
 

Wink

Member
It got 3 more 90's since the Giant Bomb score dropped and it still hasn't gone up..... the weighting on Metacritic is screwed up.

How is any game meant to get 90+ when even one heavily weighted bad score can tear you down completely.?
They're not supposed to get 90+, because it means universally liked, which is not the case when you have strong opinions against it.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
That BBC doc was good shit. Had no idea Ludvig Forssell was behind the OST. Fuckin A. He also did the music for MGSV which was fantastic.

Dude looks young as hell too. Imagine being in your 20s or whatever and being Kojima’s music man. Goddamn.
 

Bodatan

Banned
It got 3 more 90's since the Giant Bomb score dropped and it still hasn't gone up..... the weighting on Metacritic is screwed up.

How is any game meant to get 90+ when even one heavily weighted bad score can tear you down completely.?
Learn from rdr2, SMO, and BOTW.
 

Ivellios

Member
“Hey can someone else spoil something story related for themselves so I don’t have to and then get back to me?”

Nah man I’m good
I asked those who already read the review before, i did not ask anyone to read spoilers for me...

Yes it spoilers. I tried to read the reviews because I often hear giant bomb is for cool kids and I was interested what bothered him so much.

I made it in 3 paragraphs and he did not stop spoiling hard so I stopped reading.

It also didn't help that his style of writing feels to target fans of the game in an aggressive and condescending way. Like he tries to provoke you how shit the game is and how dumb you have to be to like it. He doesn't said it but it was not a good read. Don't know a better way to say it.

Also the fact that he has no regard for spoilers shows he has no respect for the game and his readers...
Damn, definetely wont waste my time reading it then.

Those are the people who refused to cover Kingdom Come (for obvious reasons), in spite of requests from their fans.
They don't respect gamers at all, this is known.

I never heard of this, honestly never cared to know what giant bomb is. So they refused to review Kingdom Come because Daniel Vavra is alt right evil man?
 

FranXico

Member
I never heard of this, honestly never cared to know what giant bomb is. So they refused to review Kingdom Come because Daniel Vavra is alt right evil man?
Not just review it, they would not even so much as discuss it in their podcast. They effectively blacklisted Vavra (if there is such a thing) LOL.
I recall at the time EG did something similar?
That's how high up their own arse those guys are.
 
Last edited:

joe_zazen

Member
It got 3 more 90's since the Giant Bomb score dropped and it still hasn't gone up..... the weighting on Metacritic is screwed up.

How is any game meant to get 90+ when even one heavily weighted bad score can tear you down completely.?

for a new ip, it is really hard. It is much easier for an established one. Take Zelda, every game site is going to have a zelda enthusiast on staff, and that is who gets assigned the zelda game. Nobody has a Strand fan on staff, so there is a good chance some of the DS reviewers are going to have a gut dislike of the core gameplay. That would not happen with Zelda because the reviewers self select. You wont get someone who has a gut dislike of Zelda reviewing a Zelda game. So, if there is a death stranding 2, it should review better as the people who hated ds1 wont be volunteering to review it.
 

Bodatan

Banned
for a new ip, it is really hard. It is much easier for an established one. Take Zelda, every game site is going to have a zelda enthusiast on staff, and that is who gets assigned the zelda game. Nobody has a Strand fan on staff, so there is a good chance some of the DS reviewers are going to have a gut dislike of the core gameplay. That would not happen with Zelda because the reviewers self select. You wont get someone who has a gut dislike of Zelda reviewing a Zelda game. So, if there is a death stranding 2, it should review better as the people who hated ds1 wont be volunteering to review it.
DS has a bad gameplay design stop making excuses.

Astral chain is a new IP as well but scored better than DS

Sekiro too.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
Five more hours brehs

8C24285A-26C5-4240-9F27-339358BC4B63.gif
 

joe_zazen

Member
DS has a bad gameplay design stop making excuses.

Astral chain is a new IP as well but scored better than DS

Sekiro too.

the question though was about getting past the 90 MC. It is much harder for a new ip, especially one with non traditional gameplay, to get past that because reviewers self select. Although i suppose there might be some big kojima fans on staff, so this might not apply to DS.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Cant wait for DSP's playthrough. His reaction to the gameplay is going to be priceless lol.
I honestly don't understand how anyone gives that dude views. It's always so painful to me.

DS has a bad gameplay design stop making excuses.

Astral chain is a new IP as well but scored better than DS

Sekiro too.
I mean, have you played it? Lol, sounds like an opinion. 🤷‍♂️

People have said it's great, people have said it's strange but still enjoyable, people have said they don't like it. It's all over the place. Scores honestly don't really matter, and I don't understand why people swear by the increments. Especially SO much.

I also don't understand how comparing a game like DS to a hack & slash-esque title like Astral Chain has any merit. Okay, it's a new IP as well, but they're also wildly different. Platinum Games and Kojima have a bunch of hardcore fans. Though I will say I've seen more random hate towards Kojima than I ever have with Platinum Games. So it being a new IP doesn't really mean much here. But one does have a much higher budget than the other, and is also attempting to do something different apparently. That's one thing that's been made abundantly clear across many reviews.

Sekiro was basically a Souls game with changes. Nothing really new, per se. It's that majestic print money template for FromSoftware. 🤷‍♂️
 
Last edited:
It got 3 more 90's since the Giant Bomb score dropped and it still hasn't gone up..... the weighting on Metacritic is screwed up.

How is any game meant to get 90+ when even one heavily weighted bad score can tear you down completely.?

That's why I prefer Opencritic, as there is no weird weighting of scores, just the actual number average, it's way more honest than Meta.

I find it weird that Meta is still more popular than Open, when scores aren't equal, depending on where it's from, especially when many people have strong opinions on review scores.
 
the question though was about getting past the 90 MC. It is much harder for a new ip, especially one with non traditional gameplay, to get past that because reviewers self select. Although i suppose there might be some big kojima fans on staff, so this might not apply to DS.

Reading the reviews it's amazing that this game is even past 80 honestly. Seriously, a LOT of the quotes read like "well this game is fucking boring and I didn't enjoy my time with it, but there's something here". Yes there is, it's a Kojima game.
 

urmie

Member
It got 3 more 90's since the Giant Bomb score dropped and it still hasn't gone up..... the weighting on Metacritic is screwed up.

How is any game meant to get 90+ when even one heavily weighted bad score can tear you down completely.?

Giantbomb has more weight than some of the other websites. The same could be said of those 100 scores, how much do they weigh? If not for those, the meta would be lower.
 
Last edited:

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
It should be remembered that the embargo was very strict about a gag on stuff happening after chapter 3, so if a lot of the best moments are in the second half, noone's gonna be talking about them.

Tomorrow and after I'd expect the spoilers to come thick and fast though...
 

imsosleepy

Member
It got 3 more 90's since the Giant Bomb score dropped and it still hasn't gone up..... the weighting on Metacritic is screwed up.

How is any game meant to get 90+ when even one heavily weighted bad score can tear you down completely.?
its just sad that this game got a fucking 3.5 with a ridiculously written review...
 

MiguelItUp

Member
lol I just watched the ending... an hour and a half ... wow that's some stupid drawn out convoluted 💩
Lmao, I mean, it's bad enough to skip an entire game's cutscenes and only watch the ending. But this one of all the other ones I'm sure is even more of a mind fuck, especially without anything from before the final cutscene. Lol.
 

zeioIIDX

Member
I wonder if the main character's name is Sam because of the whole Uncle Sam thing in America. Wikipedia says "Uncle Sam is a common national personification of the U.S. federal government or the country in general". Sam Bridges isn't trying to recruit anyone though...just trying to unite the country I suppose.
 

Bryank75

Banned
DS has a bad gameplay design stop making excuses.

Astral chain is a new IP as well but scored better than DS

Sekiro too.
Nobodies gonna score a From game badly cause they are scared of the backlash.
The gameplay is a matter of taste... it's not like it suffers from some lag or gameplay flaw!?
I mean, they are very similar animations and elements to MGSV which was unanimously praised for its gameplay. This narrative of 'bad gameplay' is just a narrative created by haters who have not played the game. Or worse, it is a euphemism for not killing enough NPC's, which is really a condemnation of all gaming.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
I wonder if the main character's name is Sam because of the whole Uncle Sam thing in America. Wikipedia says "Uncle Sam is a common national personification of the U.S. federal government or the country in general". Sam Bridges isn't trying to recruit anyone though...just trying to unite the country I suppose.

For sure it’s connected to the whole Uncle Sam thing, but I think it’s also an acronym.
 
Top Bottom