Topic: Death Stranding OT

I finished off chapter 9 last night and it was one of the “shorter” but rather busy chapters so far!

And then all the story related shenanigans that follows that!

I’m currently en route back to Lake Knot City but making some deliveries and trying to get my last prepper on the network and then 5* (the veteran porter).

@Thrillho The combat / boss fights are the only bit that lets Death Stranding down as a package (no pun intended).

You've made some great progress if you've only got one more prepper to do! I must have spent way too long messing around with those zip wires

@render I did the first one I mention on hard and it was just tedious running around to find rocket launchers and using them.

I dropped the difficulty down for the second as I died once and it wasn’t difficult but just dragged on.

And yes, I have spent too much time trying to get all the preppers and all of the places to 5* already In hindsight I wouldn’t have spent so much time doing it if I knew there were going to be so many deliveries! I didn’t realise that the second area is where you’d be spending so much of the game..

As most of you will have seen, I finally got the platinum last night but completed the main story last Thursday.

Here in follows super spoilers for the end of the game and I can't be bothered having a wall of black boxes

(just in case someone else browses the thread when they come to play it)

So I was kind of surprised at how quickly the game rattles through those last chapters once you've made it all the way out East and it becomes a bit of a whirlwind finale which I'm glad I managed to get through in one go (after spending ages getting the Veteran Porter to 5* and then realising that I'd missed the musician in the first part of the map anyway...)

Finally getting to Lake Knot City saw the final battlefield scene which was pretty intense being the one in Vietnam and the sounds were incredible with the Pulse headset. The fights themselves weren't all that tricky but it was one of the harder areas with less cover than the WWI and WWII fights. And all a bit weird with Cliff at the end.

Then the crazy pure Kojima last few chapters where everything comes together with the flashbacks culminating in revealing how Cliff and Sam are linked, the whole crazy bit on the beach with Amelie and holding off on her ending everything, and the rather annoying extended part where Sam runs around on his own beach while some credits roll and Amelie drops some more plot bombs on you intermittently.

And the capped off with the presidential speech and Sam's final stroll to the incinerator..

I thought it all came together really well and the main story was some classic Kojima with the tennis links to the real life extinction events giving it some sort of base in reality before than just going batsh*t crazy and with a bonkers cast alongside it all.

Great game.

@Thrillho nice, sounds like the ending elevated something that you were merely enjoying to something great. It got so much unwarranted hate back when it released, that I'm always glad to hear about people's experiences with it when they finally give it a go. It's an experience like no other in gaming for me.

@colonelkilgore I think I’d have enjoyed it a bit more if I hadn’t spent so much time faffing with the 5* levels etc during my main play time and setting up so many roads/zip lines etc and had just kept up the momentum with the main story. But then I’d probably never have got the platinum.

Having that momentum at the end helped the story though but made the game feel very weirdly weighted/paced.

I can see why people struggle most at the beginning though as that first area involves a lot of trudging around on foot and it gets much easier in the main area with vehicles, roads, and good support skeletons. BTs also become less of an issue when you get the upgraded cuffs to take them out with.

@Thrillho Congrats, my friend! It truly is a masterpiece in my mind. Like the @colonelkilgore said, I’m a little annoyed at how the game got a lot of hate with everyone looking down their noses at it and calling it a “walking sim” and stuff like that. They clearly hadn’t given the game enough of a try. Gamers like to gripe about how there are no new gaming ideas and how Sony’s games are all too ‘samey’ or stale, but then they gripe when a game does something new and innovative like Death Stranding.

The online implementation was a fantastic addition, I thought. It was a nice balance of interactivity without being intrusive. I’m a fan of the asynchronous MP approach that I think was introduced by Dark Souls (or maybe Demon’s Souls) and this is a natural evolution of that.

I can definitely see some of the minor issues you mention with the pacing though. I took more of the approach of moving the story forward at a decent pace rather than sticking around to 5* everything, although I did do some grinding too. I spent a good amount of time strategizing my roads and ziplines too, which made the middle and latter half of the game drag a little bit. But as soon as I felt comfortable with the clearing out deliveries in an area and setting up my network, then I’d move on to the next main missions at a reasonable pace and I never got truly bored of it, despite spending about 80 hours with the game. But, as you say, it means I didn’t get the platinum as a result. Maybe one day I’ll go back.

@Kidfried Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

The first area is great as it really is beautiful but it can become a bit tedious trekking across the same areas on foot. It's much easier once you start to unlock more gear to make things easier and the game does a pretty good job at steadily opening access to them so, like I said in the other thread, you're sometimes better off pushing on with the story a little bit to get those items.

Like you say, I think Kojima and the team did a great job making the game make "sense" even if it is absolutely bonkers when you step back from it. And I loved those times when the music kicks in during certain moments of the game too.

Do you think you'll go for the platinum on it?

@Kidfried It can be quite an organic one to get but mostly if you're preparing to go for it (especially with bumping up the difficulty like I said before).

Getting top ranking for each site takes time but is very achievable. Getting all the collectibles took me some time after completing the game though.

It's one hell of a game though whether you decide to go for it or not and I look forward to hearing how you get on

@Kidfried Totally agree with your first impressions. I remember saying something similar, especially about Die-Hardman. I recall that he likes to explain things to you, then explain them again, and then remind you about what he said. 😂
But it’s a minor annoyance, like you allude to, and it’s not a deal breaker for an otherwise stellar experience.

Started this last night and only up to Episode 2. My goodness, there are a lot of gameplay mechanics to learn and I know that's only going to increase. It really makes me miss instruction manuals. Hopefully, I can remember everything and don't accidentally make the game harder for myself.

I loved what I've seen though! I only play a couple hours a week so this might be my game for the next 6 months or so.

@ScarletSpidey Enjoy! The game does throw a lot at you but you’ll figure most of it yourself anyway. I think it teaches you about plotting routes but I never really used that feature.

That first main area is gorgeous though.

@Keith_Zissou Are you carrying an order or just trying to sneak into the camp to retrieve something? If you go in not carrying anything at all, they shouldn't pay you any attention. So you could build a locker or something just on the outskirts of their base to put all your stuff in.

If you're carrying an order, I do everything I can to go around their perimeter ha!

It's a weird game, I'm REALLY enjoying it, but anything to do with the BTs and Mules, I'll do anything I can to avoid conflict. I just like walking and figuring out the terrain. If it wasn't aiming for the plat I'd just stick it on Very Easy. Normally, I need something to keep me interested in a game but this has got me loving just wandering around.

I'm about halfway through Chapter 3. It's not a game to play on Remote Play (where I do most of my gaming) so it'll probably last me months and months. Where are you up to?

@Keith_Zissou For the mule camps I did originally start sneaking in and taking my time but then got to the point where I was just going in full bore with a truck, knocking down as many as I could that way and then taking others out using a non-lethal weapon. I'm not sure what you've got access to though as I had everything unlocked from my PS4 save.

@Keith_Zissou This might be a spoiler for some so I'll mark it but personally go for the non-lethal assault rifle with blue rubber bullets which I think you get from 5 staring the Distribution Center North of Mountain Knot City. If I know I've got to go to a mule camp then I fab a few of those at a depo and go with the truck method, using the rifle to clean up afterwards. Using the blue rubber bullets means you've got 300 of them between the 2 rifles, so usually enough to take out all of the mules on their own, and also means that you don't have to transport any bodies to the incinerator which is a bonus 😀

@Keith_Zissou They should ignore you completely BUT the second you pick up the retrieved item, they'll be interested in you again so have an exit planned out in advance (which could just be run!). You still need to stealth in but they shouldn't pick you on the scan until you've got the item.

Saying all this, you're way ahead of me, so the Mules might be smarter now.

@ScarletSpidey Just go as slow as possible and avoid BTs. You plenty of items to make it easier to take them out, one in particular is great! As far as I'm aware, the difficulty only really affects combat which is mostly avoidable.

You can also unlock more stuff that makes taking down Mules easier too and the Director's Cut gives you a non-lethal weapon early on which is quite handy. Taking down one or two and you should be able to sneak into a base fairly easily.

@Keith_Zissou I really wouldn't worry about trying to get 5* for places from the start. You'll end up going back and forward between most places loads through the game and you'll be able to do more and bigger deliveries as you progress. It's the one thing I wish I'd known about beforehand!

@Keith_Zissou I think I know the camp you are talking about. Glad to hear you’ve cracked it. I don’t think I’ve ever used the terrorist boots but that’s quite funny 😄

@Keith_Zissou nice dude, it really was such an awesome experience. It still disappoints me that so many people are put off giving it a proper go due to the fetch-quest/DHL-man narrative amongst some media outlets and gamers. Deserves to be played!

@Keith_Zissou According to my profile I’ve got 253 hours on the PS4 game and 18 on the DC. I played way beyond the platinum though and it’s been one of my favourite games of the last few years.

@colonelkilgore I’ve seen a load of comments from people saying similar because they played for an hour or two and then jacked due to the slow pace. They didn’t give this game a chance as, like we all know here, you need to be a good number of hours in to really get it. Shame as it’s something quite radical in a world of very similar games.