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Post by Xeogred on Nov 29, 2019 21:08:31 GMT -5
59. Death Stranding (PS4)
Finished up Death Stranding last night. Clocked in 48 hours on this one. And I can happily report I pretty much loved all of it. AMA, otherwise I'll just ramble on a bit here. First off, the game is obviously more in the Peace Walker + era wheelhouse for Kojima. Lots of systems and massive game ground to cover to get to those huge story dumps. We will never know the real story about what happened with MGS5 between Konami and Kojima, along with the odd release of Ground Zeroes itself. But MGS5 clearly felt unfinished in ways and with some leaked cut content/storyboards floating out there, yet what more really needed to be spelled out in the MGS timeline at that point? And I think it was clear Kojima was truly done with MGS, that interpretation and performance for Ocelot in particular really rubbed me wrong. Outside of Miller, the parasite/virus outbreak mission, and the little suggestive twists at the very end... story and context wise MGS5 was utterly barren. The gameplay was phenomenal but rather disjointed in a strange way, as it was never truly open world. You always get dropped off into zones. And nothing about the world design in general was ever exciting. It was just the brown badlands we've seen in hundreds of games by this point.
I like Death Stranding a lot more than MGS5 in basically every department. The story is fully there again, there's a bunch of excellent characters, there's humor that was severely lacking in MGS5 as well, and exploring this world felt like the closest thing to Breath of the Wild that I've played. People have made some Team Ico game comparisons as well that I can see too. There's a lot of systems like the modern Kojima games but when you're ready to gear up with you equipment, cargo, and maybe a vehicle or whatnot, the game just lets you be free and do your thing... exploring this vast and beautiful landscape that frequently changes in structure, climate, visuals and color, it was breathtaking. I continue to notice a trend in that, when Japanese developers do open world, they strip things down keeping it simpler and more focused. The games easily benefit from that. Like Breath of the Wild, while I'm literally carrying cargo around in this game, it didn't feel like I had any baggage on me and I could just slowly take in the sights and enjoy being in this world. Contrary to how a lot of other open world games operate and tax the player with lists of endless quests and menus, waypoints and countless clutter, taking you out of it.
There's still combat and funny enough this was the weakest part of the game to me in some sections. There are these enemy camps with people called MULE's who are obsessed with stealing cargo. You can't take them out lethally and the game starts feeling a bit like MGS5 around them. Thankfully, in these 48 hours I played I think there were only ~2 main story missions where I had to sneak into a camp to steal something. Otherwise it really wasn't that big of a deal to get through the camps, especially when you start rocking vehicles. The second part to combat are the BT's, the creatures from the "other side" when the game turns a bit into a stealth horror game. Sometimes these moments prop up in annoying sections but you soon learn ways to get around them, or how to deal with the mid boss BT's quite easily. There's story related equipment later on that makes these encounters easier to get through as well. Never my favorite part of the game, but not a real road block either. Beyond these two elements, there were a lot of big boss battles that I really enjoyed personally. Delivering cargo while exploring this world and integrating mission bases into the "chiral network" is the meat of the game and what I loved the most. Once you get to Chapter 3 and the main map, you're frequently tasked with going through zones that are off the network and can only go in them with your own equipment. But once you bring that zone into the network, the online parts of the game come into play and it's all very much in the vein of how the Dark Souls games have done it with their message system, only here it's taken much further. You will see structures that other players have built or jointly upgraded, roads, shared vehicles, and whatnot spread throughout the world. Helping you and others traverse the land better than before. Giving some players enough "likes" makes you join some kind of pact behind the scenes with that specific player, so you'll see more of their stuff throughout it. Nobody still really knows all the tech and magic that went into it behind the curtain, but it's definitely awesome. Nor does it ever feel like cheating or anything weird like that. You can see the point of the "strand" and connections here. Technically, the game was extremely impressive. This is on the Decima engine that powered Guerilla's own Horizon Zero Dawn and while Death Stranding might get some extra points here for simply being newer, I truly thought this game straight up felt and played better than Horizon in every way. You will see these characters tear up a lot too and the tear tech is amazing. Overall, this game really blew me away on the PS4, even compared to high end stuff you get on PC's right now. It's mesmerizing what they cooked up here in three years worth of time. Aesthetically it's top level work as well with Yoji Shinkawa doing his thing as usual, if you like the look of the architecture and general art direction in Kojima's past games you'll appreciate that here again. Musically I think it's got some composers from MGS5, the usual 80's tint and some synths which I'm always up for, maybe Kojima's been rocking to a lot of Depache Mode thesedays. Huge thumbs up to the art and sound work.
Game made me tear up in the end during a few parts, was blown away by some of the performances. The story is very Kojima and not subtle but you know what? I think that fits a lot with a ton of anime and other Japanese games I've played and love. There's just something about their way of storytelling that I actually dig a lot. I am also a big Kojima fan as well but I don't want to sound like I give him an instant pass, as I've clearly expressed here above with my take on MGS5. I was plenty worried about Death Stranding and pleasantly surprised by what I got, far surpassing my expectations. Death Stranding is abrasively strange but I'm also not going to give it a pass just because it's weird for the sake of being weird at times, it's actually a simple and straightforward experience in a lot of ways. Death Stranding is one of the coolest games I've played this gen and will leave a huge impression on me.
This is a game I think everyone who plays things this gen or will someday, has to check out at some point. And it won't be for everyone, but give it a shot. Don't over think it and just have fun.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 29, 2019 21:54:30 GMT -5
Surprising! Especially the comparison to H:ZD, because I thought that game played swimmingly. I know I'll pick this up at some point, but probably not until it hits around $20.
It definitely sounds like peak Kojima, though, at least in terms of just mind-blowing weirdness.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 29, 2019 22:18:58 GMT -5
Plus some of you guys here might know I was hitting up so many long games this year, Death Stranding was so fresh and unique that those 48 hours blew by. I've played 8 hour games that felt longer. If there's one thing I loved about MGS5, it's the Fox engine. In a funny way they made Death Stranding and the Decima engine "feel" very similar in a way, so I think that's why I preferred this to Horizon control wise. I thought of Sarge when I made the BoTW comparison and I think you were a bit mixed on MGS5 as well? It'll be really interesting to see what you think of this one someday. I wanted to mention that, I can't predict anyone's reaction to this and I could even imagine it appealing to non-Kojima/MGS fans. I can't even pinpoint what I want to say but yeah. That's why I think just about everyone should give it a shot, if it seems interesting at all. Kojima fan or not, open world fan or not, etc. I'm still surprised by how much I liked all the actors too, outside of one (who wasn't a big deal in the end anyways). Del Toro's character is one of the best and a big role haha. Before the game launched, I was turned off by how obsessed Kojima was coming off with the Hollywood stuff. But credit is due where credit is due and most of them rocked, plus he put out a tweet a week ago or so that I can't find at the moment, but he basically said "I hope fans of X's movies/shows give this a shot and see what games can offer!" ... so maybe his slant on this was pro-gaming the whole time and he just wanted to try and reel in some new players. Mads Mikkelsen seems the most into it and was selling it a lot on social media. I'd love if he'd be the next lead. I'm crossing my fingers Kojima gets back to linear and finally does a horror game someday, since PT was just a tease for the potential he could bring in that genre. I'm guessing despite the mixed reviews, Death Stranding will probably sell very well with the marketing and huge PS4 install base (seemed to be the case with Days Gone earlier this year too).
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Post by Sarge on Nov 29, 2019 22:44:00 GMT -5
I thought the moment-to-moment gameplay in MGSV was good, I just think there was too much of it, and not enough cool setpieces like the older games. It was very much a rinse-and-repeat game throughout, effectively playing a version of Pokemon with soldiers. I think if it had wrapped up in 20-30 hours, I'd have been better with that game overall... but I still gave it an 8.5 if memory serves, so it's not like I hated it or anything.
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Post by Ex on Nov 30, 2019 0:46:49 GMT -5
Congrats on finishing Death Stranding Xeogred, glad to see it was a winner for you. Very divisive game. I've got Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on 360. Still haven't played either yet, due to having not played Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots yet. I have at least finished Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker though, and enjoyed it.
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Post by Chainsaw Bilqis on Dec 16, 2019 2:40:50 GMT -5
Finished my first play through in SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions on the Switch a few days ago at around 49 hours on normal mode. (Taking screenshots on Switch is so easy I got carried away with it)But of course that was not doing all the side content, optional battles, etc. There are so many things to do in this game. I could have went after the main boss earlier or later, I was just curious to see if I could handle it at the point I was at. I think the game does a great job at being a "modern" SaGa game, with the various tips and explanations for how to play. Also since there is so much stuff to do there is no "aimless" wandering, even if you are not finding the resolution to one quest immediately you will likely stumble upon something else to get into or resolve, etc. I think this one would be a fine entry point for people coming new to the series. There are various ways you can play out all sorts of scenarios. There are also a lot of recruitable characters. Obviously with so many to choose from they won't all be "fleshed out", but each one does have their own unique traits in the form of "Roles" which help out in battle, and they have personalities and voice quotes (similar to Unlimited SaGa, you can sometimes hear rarer voice clips based on things that happen in battle or if two characters who have a relationship are in the battle), etc. Every character also has their own "ending screen" as the credits roll, so they do not feel as generic as say, your recruits in Romancing SaGa 2. It is a nice compromise between quantity and quality to give the world a sense of scale. Gameplay retains many things from previous SaGa titles (plus The Last Remnant), stat ups after battle, sparking/glimmering moves during moments of inspiration in battle, The Minstrel to supply background songs/stories of myth, familiar move names and magic, skill rank-ups based on usage, learning new formations that recruiting characters brings you, and so on. Characters you get later in the game can catch up to your others relatively quickly thanks to the stat up system and the very important armor/equipment system. One way to have a smooth experience during battles is to pay attention to the bonus rewards that are being offered if you complete various tasks in combat, because you can get some rarer forging materials that way to try to stay ahead of the curve. A completely optional but enjoyable thing to do is is the Production/Goods Development portion of the game. It is a great way to learn about the cultures of the various places in the game and also opens up some nice rewards down the road. Combat shines brightly, just a really fluid, captivating battle system. You get a grasp on it early on, but can still get punished if you get lazy with your commands or try short cuts sometimes haha. Eventually you'll be "interrupting an interrupt that interrupted your previous interrupt" and quelling opponents counters with ranged attacks, or sometimes even passing a turn when the situation calls for it or allowing a party member to go down so you can regroup with a devastating united attack, or attempting to get the favor of the gods when certain battle conditions are met. One thing I appreciated was the Roles system. Each character starts with one unique Role, but as you battle with that character you will be able to increase their amount of Roles by teaching them different skills/spells to gain non-unique Roles that you can tailor for your own battle strategies (some Roles also help you gain favor with certain gods/celestials). On normal mode at least, I think you could do without knowledge of Roles usage, it is just another cool thing to give your characters an edge in battle and specialize them, but I feel they would be quite helpful on Hard difficulty when the line between victory and defeat is thinner. Same thing with formations and magic. Well, all in all I would say It was a delightful experience and I look forward to New Game + a bit down the road.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 16, 2019 9:48:12 GMT -5
That game looks DENSE! I couldn't get into some of the older SaGa's I've tried so far, but I definitely might have to give this one a shot down the road. Being more user friendly sounds appealing. I saw people joking they wish Romancing SaGa 3 had all that haha.
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Post by Ex on Dec 16, 2019 10:29:06 GMT -5
Chainsaw BilqisThanks for the review. Scarlet Grace looks like the kind of JRPG that I'd really enjoy. As Xeogred said, there seems to be a lot of subsystems to play with. The localization looks to be above average as well from the screenshots. Currently it looks like the only way to get this game physically is via the Japanese PS4 release - so I think I'll still go PC for this one. Very interesting stuff, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
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Post by Chainsaw Bilqis on Dec 18, 2019 3:51:51 GMT -5
Since the Romancing SaGa 3 remaster is getting an Asian physical Switch release with English options, I think there may be a decent chance Scarlet Grace eventually gets the same treatment. Hopefully anyway.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 18, 2019 8:18:00 GMT -5
Chainsaw Bilqis: So is the combat in SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions similar to Last Remnant? Some of those screens definitely gave me familiar vibes and I just looked a video up and yes, it definitely looks similar to me. Which is a big plus.
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