I can't decide if Kojima is putting the acid industry out of business, because his games are enough of a trip already, or singlehandedly propping the industry up because he's obviously consuming it all himself.
this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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I personally don't care a lot about Kojima's games but I still think it's absolutely great he gets to make whatever he makes because he is a unique voice in gaming! In a sea of games as a service, mindless franchise milking and countless copycats someone like him is needed to make outlandish stuff, whether I like the games or not. Tons of people do and that's great!
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Somehow they managed to make the game look even stranger than the first one, which I didn’t think was possible. I remember trying to watch a playthrough of the first game and it was a bit too out there for my tastes already.
I think it's a textbook Your Mileage May Vary game (pun mildly intended if you've played it). You have to have the tolerance for Kojima running wild and doing his thing, and it only works if you are engaged in the core gameplay loop, but if both are true, it's easily a 70+ hour game. The Director's Cut was the second game I ever took the time to Platinum.
I don't think this trailer will sell many new players on the experience if they weren't down for the first one, but I'm excited to play the sequel. Seems like it's going to land some real gut punches.
Really? I I couldn't make sense of it till I played it myself. It's pretty grounded for the most part. There's a lot of exposition that explains everything.
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I’m going to get downvoted to hell but I don’t get the hype Kojima carries.
His stories are mostly over the top nonsense, but sometimes that's fun. Also, for a "AAA" studio director, he's willing to take some VERY big experimental swings when it comes to gameplay. Death Stranding has it's problems, but it's very unique. That's worth some points.
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He's a completely insane horny man that loves action movies. His games tend to be high quality and even when they aren't good they are at least entertaining and try something new.
He may have gone full George Lucas at this point though where he's so overhyped that no one second guesses him at all. Death Stranding had some weird shit even for Kojima. I wonder what he could make if his personality wasn't so dominant in a game and it had some input from other creative visions to reign in his weirder ideas.
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I know the first game wasn't everyone's cup of tea but I loved it to bits! Seeing the little snippet of actual gameplay when the bridge was destroyed makes me think this will be just the first game but better, which is my favourite type of sequel, and I can't wait! With MH Wilds and this 2025 is looking stacked already!
Someone sell me on the appeal of Death Stranding. I own it but never got into it.
It’s like Euro Truck Simulator, but with a weird story involving ghosts and babies.
Ultimately it’s a logistics simulator, like Euro/ American truck simulator or Snowrunner, but instead of hauling things around in trucks, you do it on foot, via motorcycle, and even sometimes trucks. In the beginning you grab a couple packages and hoof it in foot from A to B. The further you get, the more you can transport at once, and the more complicated the routes get, more difficult the terrain gets, and the more you have to strategize your overall route. A big portion of the game is exploring alternate routes and laying down tools to assist yourself in future deliveries or even other players like ladders, bridges, ropes, rain shelters, ziplines, canons, and more. It’s post apocalyptic, and so in addition to harsh weather and unforgiving terrain, you also frequently have to haul your goods through hostile enemy zones who will attack you and steal your cargo, or areas where you must sneak by the games primary antagonists, the ghosts/monsters known as BTs. A secondary focus of the game is the Dark Souls-esque “multiplayer” where the things you put down in the world can be used by other players or vice versa. You can make an entire side game out of DS by simply finding other players lost cargo in the world and recovering it/ delivering it for them, leaving helpful and informative messages and motivations, or even using stealth combat to sneak into enemy encampments and liberating other players stolen cargo for them.
If I had to distill it down into a single distinct vibe, think about post apocalyptic/ zombie type movies, I am Legend for example, where a lonely survivor/ wanderer has become accustomed to their new world and despite the hostile conditions is able to move around freely via the use of various tools and structures they’ve built up around the area to cleverly outwit the elements and whatever monster ended the world. Thats who you play in the game. You’re Will Smith in I am Legend but instead of being a lonely drunk locked away in a compound, you’re the neighborhood mail man.
How does the multiplayer aspect work? If I play the game now, will I find the entire world already filled of bridges, ladders and roads?
It’s still very active seemingly, after making this comment I started a new play through lol.
Basically each sub region starts off as “disconnected from the network”, so your first expedition to a new area you’ll have no help from other players, only what you bring with you. Once you connect the region to the network, that’s when other players items can start appearing in your world and vice versa. Now it’s instanced so you won’t see everything every single player has placed, just a subset. Now there’s also a concept of “bandwidth”. When you first connect an area to the network, the bandwidth is low so only smaller, lower level things will show up in your game. You’ll start to see some conveniently placed ladders and ropes mostly. So you go from being 100% on your own, to having a little help here and there. Which each new completed delivery though, you increase the bandwidth available, and you’ll see more / bigger objects enter your game world. Bridges can that span a river, timefall unbrellas that let you wait out a storm with some music, watchtowers that can give you a Birds Eye view, things of that nature. When you get the bandwidth really high, you’ll start to see bigger structures like sections of floating highways allowing truck travel, and even underground bunkers that function just like private rooms do in the big locations. So the more time you spend in one area completing bigger deliveries that need to be delivered faster, the game very gradually adds more player support to the game. So the game retains its challenge when you’re first entering an unexplored area, but makes it less tedious to deliver follow up deliveries as time goes on. It’s really brilliant in my opinion. Because while it’s fun to man vs wild your way to new places, it wouldn’t be as fun to keep treading the same route the same way over and over. The way they’ve implemented this system keeps things relatively fresh.
Another factor is that the timefall rain will degrade both your and other players structures over time. So without maintenance, things placed down will eventually be destroyed. You can haul resources to both your own structures as well as other players to keep them repaired. Bigger structures require more resources and collaboration to maintain. You can also favorite certain players and then their stuff specifically might show up in your game more so than random players, so you can almost have an asynchronous “friendship” with someone you never see.
What really sold me was the building part. Building roads and maxing out all contacts was the caveat that really made me stick with it. After all that was done I found the game to be very relaxing, just taking a nice walk in nature. It might have been due to covid but walking and driving is what made me finish the game.
I've been told it's a game that's horribly boring to spectate but much better when played
I played it and couldn't get into it. It was just walking around carrying stuff over and over.
I was I. The same position and dropped it. Then a friend told me to play through the first area and then judge the game. It took a long time to get there but eventually the game really comes together. But this was in a COVID game drought so I was willing to put the time in. That may not be everyone’s idea of fun which I totally get. However I still think about the gameplay and wanna pull it up to run some deliveries and fight some bt’s even years later.
I started Death Stranding but didn't enjoy it. Then I looked up the story on Wikipedia and what the fuck?
Believe me it wasn't any less jarring playing through it
To this day it is the game that I'm the least sure about whether I enjoyed it or not
I did play it to completion so that's gotta count for something... right...?
It hides the best part behind the trailers. Trailers - walking simulator.
Real game. Hiking, offloading, mountain climbing, base building, rocket launches powered by human blood, sci fi/fantasy global events
Dude, there's no way Death Stranding is real. I refuse to believe it. There is no way a AAA game has a "Mario and Princess Beach" line. 0% chance
George Miller? Kojima gets the most fucking random people, I swear.
Léa Seydoux seems better this time around, somehow? I wasn't thrilled with her performance in the original game. Something always a little bit off.
I have ~140 hours on the first game, but I’m not particularly interested in most of the content shown in this trailer. I find Kojima’s writing to be eye-rolling horrendous and cringe-worthy (I still remember this quote from the first game: “I’m fragile but not that fragile” HUH). That being said, I’m looking forward to this sequel because of the possibility of new gameplay mechanics (like that flood that wrecked the ramp). I'm excited about new weapons, vehicles, enemies and mechs! I wish the trailer has more of that instead.
edit: clarity
Not really sure how you can roll your eyes at the dialogue from the trailer, but not from Death Stranding 1 or the Metal Gear games. This isn't any more ridiculous than any other game he's made.
Edit: for the record, I very much enjoy kojima games. I liked MGS games and Death Stranding 1. But there is no denying that his games are all weird as absolute fuck.
You're that ninja!
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Since this entire thread is just people shitting on the first game i figured id be a little different and say something good about the game. I very much liked the first one. Super weird but intriguing story super well acted awesome visuals and stunning graphics. If you like weird unique sifi stories you'll enjoy it. Its a slow relaxing game with some pretty intense stealth. I can't wait for the second one. Tho i do wish kojima would move on and make something more akin to metal gear plus death standing. His recent announcement the other day seems to confirm he will be doing that game after ds 2.
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Honestly I never finished the first game due to life and busyness but loved the 50 hrs in it. So excited to see this one.
For me at least, the first part was an absolute work of art. Apart from the crazy, not always entirely comprehensible story, it was simply beautiful. I'll never forget the moment when I climbed through the vast landscapes for the first time and suddenly heard this phenomenal soundtrack. The amount of multiplayer influence was also just right; you got the impression that someone had been here before, but you never met anyone. Wonderful.
Didn't expect a second part to be released, what a pleasant surprise!
Kojima is the JJ Abrams equivalent in the game industry. Great visual execution, but absolutely horrendous story-telling that will make you wish were dumb as a piece of loaf so as to not notice it.
When Kojima made a comment that he didn't fully understand the story himself... It sort of all made sense. It's just connotations mashed together, beach, strand, hair, cord... A big pile of nothing to create intrigue with no payout, no mystery to reveal, just more layers of confusion. Sort of like Lost. I'm sure JJ and Kojima would get along great.
But oh boy are some of those moment exceptionally beautiful and spectacular in all its illogical absurdity. Mads Mikkelsen's acting. Got goosebumps. But then it falls apart by revealing flaws through the fourth wall. Like did... part of this mystery hinge on the double meaning of words? Whatever the fuck was going on, it's a little bit silly for synonyms to play an important part.
Kojima has a lot of other great tastes. Using music to create moments of excellent cinematography. Motion capture and character designs have always been fantastic. There are moments in Death Stranding that made me have to put down the controller and just. Enjoy. The same goes with Metal Gear games I grew up with. The flower field in MGS3, and forcing you to pull the trigger... The attention to detail on so many gameplay mechanics. It's just brilliant. But, the illogical and meaningless complexity for the story and world building? That part has always been the weakest part and left a bad taste. In MGS it was confusing enough, but it had a certain charm. In DS, puuh, it's rough.
JJ and Kojima should have nothing to do with writing storylines and plots. Imagine how much brilliant stuff we would be left with? And I never understood why. In JJs case, I suspect it's simply decent return on investment for those who fund the movies. But from a craftsmanship perspective, it's weird. The culmantion of work from hundreds of artists, all masters in their respective fields, and it shows, yet, it comes together to tell a story, surrounding a plot that a 14-year old might put together.
Kojima isn’t JJ Abrams.
Abrams writes mystery box stories where everything hinges on resolving the box and ends up with an ultimately lackluster resolution.
Kojima stories are confusing webs within webs throughout. They exist on theme and vibe, while being simultaneously incredibly well researched, intentionally absurd, and with ill advised choices that surely mean something when they were made.
Kojima is the Richard Kelly of video games.
Hope they actually have interiors this time.
I thought nothing could possibly be too over the top or too out there for my tastes but... This might be that
Looks great! I really liked the first game!
I hope it also comes to PC. I suspect I will come out after 6-12 months after the PS5 version, maybe even at the same time if I'm lucky. Unfortunately I'm never lucky.
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I'm looking forward to this the most! It's going to be a long year.
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