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Death Stranding - November 8-2019

MiguelItUp

Member
Do I know what's going on? Not really. Do I care? Most definitely! Still preordered the Collector's Edition and have no ragerts. Can't wait! :messenger_peace:
 

Saruhashi

Banned
I cannot comprehend for the life of me why anyone is excited for this game...

The acting in the trailer is absolutely terrible. The gameplay in the trailer looks extremely dumb, and doesn't even flow properly. The moves he's doing with that thing on his back look completely ridiculous. The writing is an subtle as a brick to the face. It wants to be "cryptic", but it's literally beating you over the head with its ideas. The graphics are nice I guess? But even the faces look wrong. Lifeless, dead eyes. Expressionless outside of very specific moments. It's uncanny valley at its most extreme.

...why does this interest people?

Seriously, I genuinely want to understand.

OK, so there's this series of games called "Metal Gear Solid". Maybe you've heard of them?

Anyway, those games are pretty popular among both critics (each mainline entry has 90+ on Metacritic, I believe) and fans.

So all of those massively popular and well reviewed games are written, designed and directed by a guy called Hideo Kojima.

Now, you're going to have to pay attention to this next bit.

It turns out that when the creator of several popular and well reviewed games announces that he is releasing a brand new game people think to themselves "hey, that guy whose games I really like is making a new game" and so they get excited about the possibility of another awesome game from the same director.

You still with me?

Now, what's this? A trailer that looks similar enough to his previous games to imply that level of competence is still there but also different enough to promise something new and different this time? Yeah, I just can't figure out why anyone would be interested or excited about that.

Of course some dude who watches an 8 minute trailer and apparently doesn't understand how past successes can build goodwill and expectation around future projects knows better. Right?

You have a favorite restaurant or something, right? Maybe you like the food or the atmosphere or the beers they serve (if you are even old enough to drink). So imagine your buddy says "hey we're gonna go to The Restaurant on Friday night", OK?

Then you are like remembering how good that restaurant is and you're all like "well that's something to look forward to on Friday, it's gonna be awesome".

OK? It's the same thing here.

"Seriously, I genuinely want to understand."

Happy to help.
 
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Moses85

Member
Crazy, Sick and confusing. I don’t understand anything...

From technical point absolutely stunning.

I whished I can understand this hype..but I can’t.
 
OK, so there's this series of games called "Metal Gear Solid". Maybe you've heard of them?

Anyway, those games are pretty popular among both critics (each mainline entry has 90+ on Metacritic, I believe) and fans.

So all of those massively popular and well reviewed games are written, designed and directed by a guy called Hideo Kojima.

Now, you're going to have to pay attention to this next bit.

It turns out that when the creator of several popular and well reviewed games announces that he is releasing a brand new game people think to themselves "hey, that guy whose games I really like is making a new game" and so they get excited about the possibility of another awesome game from the same director.

What's this a trailer that looks similar enough to his previous games to imply that level of competence is still there but also different enough to promise something new and different this time? Yeah, I just can't figure out why anyone would be interested or excited about that.

Of course some dude who watches an 8 minute trailer and apparently doesn't understand how past successes can build goodwill and expectation around future projects knows better. Right?

You have a favorite restaurant or something, right? Maybe you like the food or the atmosphere or the beers they serve (if you are even old enough to drink). So imagine your buddy says "hey we're gonna go to The Restaurant on Friday night", OK?

Then you are like remembering how good that restaurant is and you're all like "well that's something to look forward to on Friday, it's gonna be awesome".

OK? It's the same thing here.

"Seriously, I genuinely want to understand."

Happy to help.
Thanks for the insight.

Yes, I am aware of the Metal Gear Series. I have completed all of them up to 3 to 100% completion. 1 was fun. 2 was nonsense. 3 was the best in the series.

What I cannot comprehend is this logic specifically:

"It turns out that when the creator of several popular and well reviewed games announces that he is releasing a brand new game people think to themselves "hey, that guy whose games I really like is making a new game" and so they get excited about the possibility of another awesome game from the new director."

I had a feeling that "Well, other people liked it so it must be good therefore people are excited for it" would be the immediate go-to argument that someone would make. I was not disappointed in that regard.

From where I'm standing, Kojima hasn't made a game even bordering on "decent" in over 15 years. Almost every single problem with his work - and they are fundamental problems that fail to grasp even the most basic rules of good storytelling - is apparent in this trailer. I outlined specifically what those problems were, and your statement fails to address any of them.

I know that people like it... why? Why do they think it looks good?
 
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augmental

Member
Does anyone have issues with Newegg and preorders? I preordered through them but I am not sure what they are like. BB and GameStop are already sold out of preorders on the Collector's and Special editions I guess :/
 

Saruhashi

Banned
Gaming truly has lost any sense of self awareness if people are saying this without any sense of irony.

Dude, have you never been to a movie on opening night?

Or booked a vacation? Or bought tickets for a concert?

The collectors edition is only 200 bucks and if the game is garbage then I guess it's garbage.

You could book a nice holiday and the weather is shite. You could buy tickets to a concert but you don't get near the stage and have a shitty view.

How the fuck can you not understand how someone sees the collectors box and thinks "I want to get in on that"?
 
Dude, have you never been to a movie on opening night?

Or booked a vacation? Or bought tickets for a concert?

The collectors edition is only 200 bucks and if the game is garbage then I guess it's garbage.

You could book a nice holiday and the weather is shite. You could buy tickets to a concert but you don't get near the stage and have a shitty view.

How the fuck can you not understand how someone sees the collectors box and thinks "I want to get in on that"?
False equivalence.

But to humour this point... Dubai may be popular, but it's also incredibly dangerous. I wouldn't book a holiday to Dubai because I don't want to end up in jail for absolutely no reason.

I'm not arguing against its popularity. I'm arguing against its quality.
 
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bigedole

Member
Man this Apocalyptica - PATH song is a fuckin jam. No clue what to expect from the game, but it's pretty awesome to see a bunch of people get collectively excited about a shared experience from my favorite hobby. I'll definitely be following the fan reception to the game, hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.
 

Saruhashi

Banned
From where I'm standing, Kojima hasn't made a game even bordering on "decent" in over 15 years.

I know that people like it... why? Why do they think it looks good?

Well there's your problem right there.

From where other people are standing they think Kojima is a genius.

Since the game clearly looks like a Kojima game, there's your answer.

I'm not even sure how, in the context of videogames, anything in the trailer is such that you wouldn't be able to understand how people who like videogames, and specifically Kojima-led games, would also like this?

Maybe if it was some super weird game that you needed a special fishing rod controller and the graphics looked like an old Atari game and people were still like "hell, yeah KOJIMA" then I'd understand.

The looks like 100% a AAA, current gen game, with Kojima's style in the design and presentation.

I could see the point if you just said "I don't think it looks good" but to be incredulous that other people think it looks good is like... what?
 

Saruhashi

Banned
False equivalence.

But to humour this point... Dubai may be popular, but it's also incredibly dangerous. I wouldn't book a holiday to Dubai because I don't want to end up in jail for absolutely no reason.

I'm not arguing against its popularity. I'm arguing against its quality.

Right but you understand the concept that people will book a vacation or a concert ticket or go to watch a movie without previously knowing with 100% certainty that they will have a great time?

Anyone dropping 200 bucks on a collectors edition is running the risk that the game will suck, sure, but it's hardly some crazy concept. Certainly the negative consequences are not going to be as bad as ending up in jail.

Also, if the game ends up being popular and there aren't many of those collectors editions to go round then the poster will be glad that they pre-ordered.

Fucksakes.
 
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Airbus Jr

Banned
Right but you understand the concept that people will book a vacation or a concert ticket or go to watch a movie without previously knowing with 100% certainty that they will have a great time?

Anyone dropping 200 bucks on a collectors edition is running the risk that the game will suck, sure, but it's hardly some crazy concept. Certainly the negative consequences are not going to be as bad as ending up in jail.

Also, if the game ends up being popular and there aren't many of those collectors editions to go round then the poster will be glad that they pre-ordered.

Fucksakes.

King Kojima is the greatest

The haters need to sit down and enjoy the show
 
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AlexxKidd

Member
I cannot comprehend for the life of me why anyone is excited for this game...

The acting in the trailer is absolutely terrible. The gameplay in the trailer looks extremely dumb, and doesn't even flow properly. The moves he's doing with that thing on his back look completely ridiculous. The writing is an subtle as a brick to the face. It wants to be "cryptic", but it's literally beating you over the head with its ideas. The graphics are nice I guess? But even the faces look wrong. Lifeless, dead eyes. Expressionless outside of very specific moments. It's uncanny valley at its most extreme.

...why does this interest people?

Seriously, I genuinely want to understand.

71XbLFYlW9L._SL1500_.jpg
 

Roni

Gold Member
I cannot comprehend for the life of me why anyone is excited for this game...

The acting in the trailer is absolutely terrible. The gameplay in the trailer looks extremely dumb, and doesn't even flow properly. The moves he's doing with that thing on his back look completely ridiculous. The writing is an subtle as a brick to the face. It wants to be "cryptic", but it's literally beating you over the head with its ideas. The graphics are nice I guess? But even the faces look wrong. Lifeless, dead eyes. Expressionless outside of very specific moments. It's uncanny valley at its most extreme.

...why does this interest people?

Seriously, I genuinely want to understand.

I'm really interested in your TOP 10 favorite games
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Gaming truly has lost any sense of self awareness if people are saying this without any sense of irony.

It's both pretty harsh and unfortunate to have that mindset when people get hyped about things, let them be hyped. Personally I've been a big fan of the setting and vibe Death Stranding has had since we first saw it, and I'm by no means a Kojima fanboy. But I'll admit that God of War and Death Stranding were two exclusives that pushed me into re-buying a PS4, and here we are.

Honestly I haven't preordered a game in awhile, especially a Collector's Edition. Is it a gamble? Sure. But I already told myself it was happening with Death Stranding, DOOM Eternal, and Cyberpunk 2077. :messenger_sunglasses:
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Looking each trailer the story kind of gives me same vibe as Evangelion.

I remember pervious trailer talking about how each big bang effect the earth, this could be similar to 1st and 2nd impact in Evangelion. This just the feeling I’m getting from the trailers so far.
 
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Eiknarf

Member
I cannot comprehend for the life of me why anyone is excited for this game...

The acting in the trailer is absolutely terrible. The gameplay in the trailer looks extremely dumb, and doesn't even flow properly. The moves he's doing with that thing on his back look completely ridiculous. The writing is an subtle as a brick to the face. It wants to be "cryptic", but it's literally beating you over the head with its ideas. The graphics are nice I guess? But even the faces look wrong. Lifeless, dead eyes. Expressionless outside of very specific moments. It's uncanny valley at its most extreme.

...why does this interest people?

Seriously, I genuinely want to understand.

Just in general, it’s never great to get overly excited for any game or movie. That just makes it easier to be let down. Stay interested, and then if it’s great, that’s when ya get excited

“Holy crap! That was frikkin awesome!”
 

Silvawuff

Member
Kojima is a mad genius. He really knows how to hook an audience.

Game reminds me of a darker-spun Horizon Zero Dawn, which is a very good thing. Really digging the "no game over" mechanic.
 

Elenchus

Banned
When folks say stuff like this do they mean it's a "hard pass" on pre-ordering or what?

Just, seeing a lot of comments about "boring gameplay" or "the combat looks bad" but how much can you really take away from a 8 minute trailer?

Same with the story tbh. The premise looks intriguing but honestly I wouldn't expect, or even WANT, to begin to understand the story until I've played through a decent chunk of the game.

The game has just over 5 months until release and as far as gameplay is concerned we have seen very little.

Are you telling me that once more gameplay is revealed and reviews and let's plays drop in November you'll be saying "nah, I saw 30 seconds of gameplay 5 months ago and thought it looked boring"?

Maybe the game is boring. Maybe the story will be a total uninteresting mess.

Surely, it's too early to say at this point?

Imagine deciding "I am never going to buy this" after an 8 minute trailer, that gives away very little, 5 months from release. Fucksakes.

Are you asking me will I change my mind later if I see something compelling? Sure I guess but for now it’s a hard pass.

The decision to use only 20-30 seconds of an 8 minute trailer on gameplay and to use the rest on cinematics was unwise in my opinion and suggests a lack of confidence.

More gameplay could have easily been shown without spoiling the story or mystery desired. And if what was shown are the gameplay highlights (which is what one would expect to be shown when so little gameplay is featured), my interest dwindles to quantum realm territory.

I respect what Kojima has done in the distant past but I did not enjoy MGV and to the extent this is more of that my expectations are not particularly high. Sorry but I’m just not feeling it.
 

Nfactor_AF

Neo Member
The storyline with all the wars of our past and the baby, an alternate world with spirits from a future America that's being destroyed. It's very obvious this is a origin story to what the powerful supernatural elements were in Metal Gear Solid has a series. This has to be what the Cobra Unit or more specifically the Philosophers were given to rise to power, it was from this alternate demension hopping courier system (Bridges is the most obvious symbolism ever). Kojima is giving us a basis for this crossover into a familiar space with alot of the same philosophical messages from the MGS series. It's pretty ingenious actually. That one dude that speculated about it over a year ago on YouTube was right.

I even think the whole purpose of Metal Gear Survive's existence from Konami, must have been some game theory on the general idea that is now Death Stranding, leftover from prelim design and ideas from Kojima before he left to goto Sony , but with the new developers of that series take on it.
 

Fake

Member
I don’t understand the point of this post? You can’t really accept people are excited about a game that you personally are not excited for?
'Gamers'. People on twitter are trashing Death Strafing hype tweets... well, until the kotaku article confirm a PC port in future.
Funny how things change.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
This looks wonderful.
As someone who hasn't really been excited about many exclusives for either gen this side.
This feels like the new IP that I've been waiting for.

Seriously!

This trailer made me go from, "I will keep an eye on it, but not really too interested", to, "okay, I want to dive right into this, now (tomorrow)".
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
maybe instead of "seriously trying to understand" why people like a thing you don't you could just let them enjoy a thing and not be a judgey asshole about it
 

O-N-E

Member
I cannot comprehend for the life of me why anyone is excited for this game...

The acting in the trailer is absolutely terrible. The gameplay in the trailer looks extremely dumb, and doesn't even flow properly. The moves he's doing with that thing on his back look completely ridiculous. The writing is an subtle as a brick to the face. It wants to be "cryptic", but it's literally beating you over the head with its ideas. The graphics are nice I guess? But even the faces look wrong. Lifeless, dead eyes. Expressionless outside of very specific moments. It's uncanny valley at its most extreme.

...why does this interest people?

Seriously, I genuinely want to understand.
745660.jpg
 
I'm really interested in your TOP 10 favorite games
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Bayonetta
Okami
Final Fantasy XII
Transistor
Vanquish
Celeste
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Zelda: Wind Waker

Huh?

maybe instead of "seriously trying to understand" why people like a thing you don't you could just let them enjoy a thing and not be a judgey asshole about it

I...never said they couldn't?

I haven't criticised any people in any form in any of my comments. Only the game as I'm seeing it.

Is this really what discussion online has deteriorated to? Having a critical opinion is "judgey" and ad hominems are the only arguments that people have to make?

Yeeesh.
 
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Ar¢tos

Member
Having a pc version releasing long after the ps4 version is a bit pointless for this game. By the time the pc version is out the game will have been entirely spoiled, and it's the unknown that is really alluring in a game like this.
 
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vpance

Member
So the person everyone thought was Stefanie Joosten is actually Margaret Q, it seems. They look sorta similar too which is strange. Maybe she's still in the game? Or maybe Kojima just decided to cast her instead.
 
Must not be so clear since that's not what I'm doing. You like gameplay-centric games. It's no wonder Death Stranding isn't appealing to you.
...I mean... it's kind of in the name... video game.

I wouldn't really consider Ico to be a "gameplay centric" game. But even outside of my top ten, there are countless "experience" based games that I'm a huge fan of. Half of Telltale's games, adventures games such as Monkey Island, Journey, Flower, etc... I don't really have any genre or style preferences when it comes to the games I play. I just care about a game's quality.

...which is still an odd point for you to focus on in regards to this discussion, since the new trailer for Death Stranding clearly shows Sam involved in gameplay heavy content, including stealth and straight up physical combat. So the game is clearly interested in
 

Roni

Gold Member
...I mean... it's kind of in the name... video game.

I wouldn't really consider Ico to be a "gameplay centric" game. But even outside of my top ten, there are countless "experience" based games that I'm a huge fan of. Half of Telltale's games, adventures games such as Monkey Island, Journey, Flower, etc... I don't really have any genre or style preferences when it comes to the games I play. I just care about a game's quality.

...which is still an odd point for you to focus on in regards to this discussion, since the new trailer for Death Stranding clearly shows Sam involved in gameplay heavy content, including stealth and straight up physical combat. So the game is clearly interested in

Nothing odd about pinpointing the cause of your confusion: you can't understand why anyone would like this because you don't. Simple as that.

Not a very good reason for not understanding it, since adults do usually develop enough empathy to understand most other people enjoy things they don't.

Also, pretty rich of you to complain about bad acting, dumb gameplay and bad writing with Vanquish and Bayonetta on your Top 10 list.
 
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...adults do usually develop enough empathy to understand most other people enjoy things they don't.
But I do enjoy those kinds of games. So the statement makes zero sense.

I never said people can't enjoy the game. I don't think any less of anyone who does. Nobody has actually answered my original question yet though. Why are they excited for this game? It looks absolutely terrible.

Also, pretty rich of you to complain about bad acting, dumb gameplay and bad writing with Vanquish and Bayonetta on your Top 10 list.
Vanquish and Bayonetta don't think they're high concept art.

Death Stranding isn't intentionally trying to be camp. It completely lacks in self awareness.
 
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