Maf

Also it can be hard to do better than most people have already done in most cases. I saw one bridge that had 139,000+ likes. And it got that for a reason, because it was super useful and in the perfect place. And because of the places I was trying to get to at the time there was absolutely no reason to not take the bridge. Also

Walking is for suckers

Apparently everyone is getting Sword so I’ve just ordered Shield.

Yeah, as soon as they were introduced I knew they are going to be key. Especially when I had a few orders and the items were on either side of the river. That’s how I knew to build one earlier because that was the plan to then make it to the other side and then have easy trek back. I’m going to try upgrade the centre and maybe they’ll give me even better ones that go further than 300m What do you think of my “Punch them in the face until they die” fighting style. I’m black belt karaoke

*had to double post because I can’t get past the last quote box I just don’t think Kojima can make a game like this because he can’t let go of what he wants the player to do. He really can’t seem to make an “open world” game and be an author at the same time. When you do side missions you have more ways to use what is given to you, but then all the other players have already built stuff so you don’t have to do it or once you’ve figured out a straight line back and forth centres by bike why would you ever even try to think of finding another way to go? The path of least resistance and all that. The closest this game ever gets to working for me are those moments when you roll over a hill and see your destination and the music kicks in. There are times when the game wants you to feel both the relief and melancholy of making a hard earned travel alone. Except even then it doesn’t really work because the journey is never hard and the only times it really has challenge is again when that challenge is forced upon the player in the most obvious of unnatural ways. So I don’t feel like I’ve reached the end of another epic, arduous adventure, I feel like endured some really trite game design. I do honestly like this game, and I really like what it could have been, but despite the tiny design choices that do work overall the game gets too in the way of itself and can’t make the landing on it’s bigger, grander intentions.

I really like what this game could of been but think the systems are just too intentionally obnoxious. It’s like what Kojima wanted to make was a cross between Journey and RDR2. A game that is about travelling and connecting, but it is also very deep and involved. Which is a great intention, and sometimes it kind of works, but then Kojima gets in the way of that. Examples. I don’t understand the point of having so much at the player’s disposal but also giving the player no agency in using items or going in a direction than you absolutely must go Or making really contrived missions that make no logical sense but are designed to ensure the player can’t use any advantages you really should have because of items you have earned and after how long you have played the game.

Holy shit that boss fight

That water was not that deep where I entered, but then one wheel got stuck and it sucked me down and I couldn’t get out. That’s actually the 3rd time that has happened to me (But not always with a truck) where I get stuck in water. You see I had seen it before because of how quick I went looking in the menus as previously I got out of it with reloading my save, but because Sam was never on the ground I couldn’t so that there I had to close the app and relaunch. I’m also not avoiding mechanics, I just don’t have any that are particularly useful. I just got level 2 floating carrier trays, but haven’t had to use them yet because the bikes and trucks are better. Also, I know it sounds like I hate the game, but I don’t. It’s just one of those things when it all falls apart it falls apart hard and it’s very annoying. But most of the time there is no trouble and I just go from point to point. I also can’t pull my self away from side quests. I’m constantly trying to get my shelters (Except for a couple of annoying ones) up to level 5.

Sam the living legend C’mon Star Wars. I’m getting real tired of this game.

They kind of fixed Sonic? Why is he scared and/or running away, though? Eh, a couple of little chuckles but looking extremely bland

For fun I just thought I would highlight some examples of where the MCU films took great inspiration from the comics Captain America Elevator/SHIELD turns on Cap + (Cap doesn’t like swearing joke from Age of Ultron) Clip Comic Iron Man vs Hulk The movie ends the fight way differently but still lots of similarities Clip Comic Spider-Man/Final Chapter Clip Comic People try to take Thor’s hammer from the desert/Brings Asgard to Earth Clip Comic Clip Comic

I see 0 interests in any kind of conflicts here Death Stranding contains a collection of cameos from creator Hideo Kojima's celebrity friends. Poke around and you'll find comedian Conan O'Brien, director Edgar Wright, and Remedy boss Sam Lake. You'll also find Hirokazu Hamamura and Necky the Fox - names, perhaps, you're less familiar with. But in Japan, Kotaku reports, their inclusion is stirring up debate. Hamamura is the high profile former editor-in-chief of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu and now president of its publisher Enterbrain. Necky the Fox is Famitsu magazine's mascot. But while Conan O'Brien might feature Death Stranding on his TV show and Geoff Keighley might feature Kojima wherever possible, neither have written reviews of the game. Famitsu has, however, and its inclusion in Death Stranding - a game it awarded a rare 40/40 top score to - has prompted unease among some Japanese gamers https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-11-11-death-strandings-famitsu-cameos-spark-questions-in-japan

The Elder is really easy to reach? Go down from the Engineer and two nicely placed ladders and I’m up and down, up and down. I saw the email where he starts to talk about the Death Stranding but I just find it really hard to care and skimmed through it. They should absolutely not put critical story details in random emails. That is always a massive story telling mistake to me when games keep lots of pivotal information in walls of text. He’s email will be the 43rd email I’ve received 😕 I haven’t even tried experimenting with any of the new stuff the game has provided in the past two hours. Equipment spoilers in case you care but The only cool bit of player agency I’ve had since chapter 3 has started is I stole a truck and loaded it up with cargo and left it on the edge of a Mule camp, and just waited for them to all run at me before knocking them all out. It isn’t that smart or cool because eventually they all turned up at the same time and it became a button bashing fest (They are SO. EASY. TO BEAT.) but one if the few times in the game I almost felt like I did something myself. Even inventory management like you said I haven’t even messed around with. There are a few level 2 bridges and roads I could probably help get to level 3 if I wanted to drive back and forth all the bases getting the materials but there’s just no reason to reinforce a road I’m already using perfectly fine. Everything so far in this game from the gameplay to the story is overly complicated and underwhelming at the same time. I honestly don’t know why I like this game. I think it is just the numbers going higher and people telling me I‘m doing a good job, which I know I’m being tricked because I’m not, but it is just enough satisfaction to keep chasing those likes and S ranks. Because I feel no pull towards an end goal (Because the game doesn’t do a good job at making me care about the story) but there’s also no push towards any short term objectives either because the moment to moment gameplay is very drawl. And yet, it’s still captivating and every time I put it on I get tired and want to turn it off and every time I turn it off 5 minutes later I want to put it back on again. I can’t explain it. I kind of hate that I like it because it is so stupid and makes me feel stupid for continuing.

Must be nice. I’m in chapter 3 now and it’s about to give me a mission to build a road for the first time, but I don’t know what the fucking point is because as soon as I hooked up the area to the network the place is littered with roads, bridges and power stations. I feel like there’s literally nothing for me to do. I’ve just been going back and forth the 3 preppers doing all their missions with th no threat or challenge whatsoever because I just ride the roads back and forth. Sigh. It is funny how the like thing is supposed to be this factor of positive reinforcement and I’ve tried leaving and donating and helping build shit everywhere and don’t get any. I don’t even care about the game or the story anymore I just want to build or do one thing that actually feels meaningful. But instead it’s just making me wonder why I’m playing this game because it’s not fun, interesting and now with nothing to contribute not even rewarding This like stuff is meant to make you feel good but it leaves me feeling really down EDIT: I’m finding this game to share a similarity with MGS5 where you have all of this stuff at your disposal but you don’t really need any of it. But the motivation to actually explore the systems in this game is even less effective because everyone else has already done it all for you

Oh, Bendis. Ruin Superman’s origin? Check. Ruin Superman’s marriage? Check. Ruin Superman’s kid? Check. Next on the list.

I watched Max half dunk on this game for 3 hours “You think I should read more?! Have you see how much shit there is to read in this game, chat?! I need an audio book to tell me how to fucking play it!” 🤣 EDIT: Spoiler/speculation

Not to continuously compare the story to MGS, but I think another key difference with Kojima getting it right and Kojima getting it wrong is that in MGS there are lots of plot twists and big reveals but they come mostly naturally and at the right times and it makes sense why and when they happen and Snake doesn’t know them. Death Stranding is super confusing and doesn’t make a lot of sense, but unless there’s a reason revealed later, anyone could sit you down and just explain most of this shit any time. But instead they just throw craziness after craziness at you and it’s so obvious it’s trying too hard to keep you guessing. In MGS, for the most part you didn’t even know you were guessing. You thought you knew what was going on and then BAM Foxdie or something. But here it’s just like “Check this out, weird, right? What does it all mean?” And as an audience member I’m like, well yeah it is weird but it doesn’t mean anything because you don’t give any foundational context. It’s the equivalent of some crazy guy just getting up in your face and being like “Camels and apples plug the hole in the pancake!”. I have the same reaction to the story in this game. Whatever, dude. Maybe it’s trying to just tee it all up and blow your mind at the end, but as of right now I find it very tedious listening to characters talk but don’t really understand what they’re saying. But I do keep continuing to play it, so there is something to it on the gameplay end of it, I guess

Must be nice. Highest liked thing I’ve built was a ladder that got 7 likes. I really find that aspect of the game disappointing. Funny, I watched that BBC video today and in it Kojima said the game only gives you positive feedback because nothing you do can be disliked only liked. Yeah but you can also leave shit everywhere and it just gets ignored. Or stuff is already there so there’s no point in doing anything. Makes me not want to bother and just use and claim everyone else’s stuff instead

Yeah, Dragon Age 2 was a step backwards but it was a step backwards from brilliance so still good. Dragon Age 3 however was some mega level horse shit

Finally got to Port Knot. Still no BT encounter or even a weapon used. I know I’m going to jinx myself saying this but, the BT’s are really scary but really quite easy to avoid. Now I know next time I put the game on I will get murdered by them like 5005 times but so far that has proven to be true. This game is exhausting, though. Every time you see Sam collapse on the bed I get jealous because I just want to go do the same. EDIT: Maybe it’s just because I still kind of feel like I’m in the tutorial section, but I’m getting quite annoyed with the game that it won’t let me outsmart it (I know what that sounds like). But there are times when you enter a BT zone and I’ve totally managed to just stay on the outskirts and avoid all the trouble. But like the mission I did basically the only way to get there is through a valley which they just smother in BT’s. You can still get through them like I did. But my first plan was to go to the left of the valley and scale all the rocks and stuff. And that just didn’t seem doable at all. And obviously the game knows where I’m going to so the fact there are BT’s there as well is clearly on purpose. But considering it is an “open world” it so directed and funnelling and, it seems from what I’ve seen, that the game will absolutely not have you think for yourself at all. In story missions you must do exactly what it wants you to and no nonsense. Maybe that changes later, and maybe there was an option to circumnavigate that situation I just went through. But I don’t know. It kind of seems like bullshit that you have this big open world but I feel entirely chained and not free to do things how I want too

I think it’s just an open world game with a different focus. It’s much closer to BotW than it is Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture or Vanishing of Ethan Carter or something. Like a walking sim is a type of game where you just walk from point to point, and maybe you solve some light puzzles, but it’s a thing where you go from point to point and have a story told to you as you travel. Almost like an interactive slideshow. But this isn’t that. It has way to many things and way too much challenge going on. EDIT: I spent another hour and a half hauling packages between Central Knot and the Wind Farm. Man, I hate going to the Wind Farm. It’s just difficult. For some reason there are no more BT’s in this area anymore so I don’t have to worry about that at all. It’s literally just trying to do the trek. But Central Knot and West Waypoint are now at 5 stars, West Distribution is almost at 5 stars, and Wind Farm is at 3. I have nearly 10,000 likes and am level 70 something. I didn’t mean to do all this it just kind of happened. But I think now I really need to abandon these extra missions and deliveries and just go west to Port Knot. Really don’t want to have to deal with BT areas, though. They are so scary.

Most people seem to like these games but Mario Kart Wii was sort of Ok but I didn’t really like it, and then Mario Kart 7 was so bad that when I finally was done with it I swore off ever playing Mario Kart again. Thankfully I did end up playing Mario Kart 8 and I think it’s the best the series has ever been and one of my favourite racing games of all time (100% it twice both in Wii U and Switch) But those ones that came before it really almost turned me off the series forever.