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[Death Stranding] The Reviews are Ambiguous and Confusing! (much like the game)
Lucid_Seraph
TealDeerMarylandRegistered User regular
TealDeerMarylandRegistered User regular
This game is itching at my brain so I decided to start a discussion thread because reasons.
What the fuck is Death Stranding?
The short version is, "It's what happens when you throw a ton of money at Hideo Kojima and tell him to do whatever the fuck he wants."
The longer version:
ONCE UPON A TIME Hideo Kojima, the guy most well known for the Metal Gear games, said to his friend Guillermo del Toro (well known for Hellboy, Pacific Rim, and Pan's Labyrinth), "hey dude do you want to make the new Silent Hill game" and del Toro was like FUCK YES and they made a little thing called PT which was an amazing, critically acclaimed demo for their concept for a game called Silent Hills. And there was much rejoicing.
Then Konami was like, "You know what, we personally hate you, Kojima, and in truth we really just want to make pachinko games, because fuck video games." Now normally, most people agree, "Fuck videogames" but in this case it was like, "dude this tiny demo was one of the best horror games in the past decade by itself, wtf." and Konami went "PACHINKO GAIZ."
To quote del Toro:
Thus Kojima went "You know what? Fuck you guys. I'm out. I'm starting my own studio, with a shirtless Norman Reedus, and dead sea life, and weird babies that dissolve into oil. Sony, give me a fuckton of money to do whatever the hell I want."
Presumably Sony looked at the reaction to PT and went, "Yeah shirtless Norman Reedus with dead sea life and bizarre oil babies sounds like a bestseller, have all the money ever."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2nuHEGhwiwThen he went back to del Toro and was like, "hey dude you wanna be in my game" and del Toro was like FUCK YES and Kojima was like, "Also do you know Mads Mikkelsen I really like how he stares ominously at things and Hannibal was pretty great" and del Toro was like "Sure I'll see what I can do."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6goa1pI_az8... Okay but, do we actually know anything about the game besides this?
... kiiiinda?
A few key quotes from Kojima...
“Metal Gear was an action game,” Kojima tells IGN, “but it was an action game where you happened to be hiding. There was no genre for that back then, and now it’s classified as a stealth game. In that regard, Death Stranding will also be an action game, but I want to make something new, something different.”
"[...]the idea of life and death being connected to each other,” according to Kojima.
“Animals are connected with each other, people are connected to each other, so many things are connected."
“In this short story, Abe states that the first tool mankind created is a stick,” Kojima tells IGN. “He states that the stick is the first tool that mankind created to put distance between himself and bad things — to protect himself. He states that the second tool mankind created is a rope. A rope is a tool used to secure things that are important to you.”
Kojima points to the umbilical cord in the trailer, and the rope-like “umbilical cords” hanging from the actual title of the game.
[...]
“Most of your tools in action games are sticks,” Kojima continues. “You punch or you shoot or you kick. The communication is always through these ‘sticks.’ In [Death Stranding], I want people to be connected not through sticks, but through what would be the equivalent of ropes… But of course you will be able to use the sticks too.”
Source
The title isn't just engrish, by the way, there's actually a lot of thought put into it:
On the title. "Death Stranding" apparently refers to when whales or dolphins wash up dead on the shore (live stranding being when the creatures can be saved and returned to the sea), and the strange phenomenon of mass strandings.
"This title refers to something from another world stranded in our world", Kojima said.
The meaning of the word 'strand' as a fibre connecting objects also factors in, with Kojima adding that "in Death Stranding, there is story, game, and world view, all connected by strands." The theme of the game is "to connect".
source
Ummmmmm....
Yeah I know.
Personally, I am intrigued by the aesthetics of the game, but it remains to be seen if it'll actually be compelling or just a walking simulator with a lot of navel-gazing, and if it'll come out any time in the next 10 years, if ever.
Lucid_Seraph on
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I have no fucking clue what is going on there.
This does not bother me, as both del Toro and Kojima are involved. I'd only be worried if I did know what was going on.
PlayStation want sales at the end of the day, so it's going to be interesting to see how much artistic freedom they given to Kojima and budget over time.
Also cast wise it, if the actors are used to their full potential and given plenty of lines with a good script, it will be solid.
The cross-post missed a little context: someone figured out that both videos played at the same time show the moment where GDT connects the umbilical is the exact moment Reedus "loses" his baby. It's a pretty awesome detail!
And I would be on that train.
PSN: ShinyRedKnight Xbox Live: ShinyRedKnight
Honestly, Sony probably has the highest tolerance for non-standard weirdness than any other AAA developer. They're backing a new Shenmue, they let The Last Guardian gestate for a decade, and they're doing a Knack 2 fer chrissake. I'm guessing they're not giving Kojima too many restraints, especially since he's got a much better track record than any of the projects I mentioned.
This is probably the best case scenario for Kojima to go completely apeshit with a moneybin of cash.
Like, I want Kojima's spin on things, but with del Toro to go "seriously, dude, nobody is going to get it with that mountain of dialogue, but we can do this thing over here and it will actually communicate something".
Because if Kojima needs anything, it's somebody to help him figure out that massive piles of exposition does not mean good exposition. And Kojima definitely has some good stuff to say, he just always gets in his own way when taking twenty minutes to say it.
So this is what totally unfiltered Kojima looks like.
I have no idea if this is going to be any good but Hideo has the track record to warrant hype ahead of time.
I'm not 100% that del Toro is the guy to do that, but I'm with you on this all the same.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
If anyone wants to give it a listen and has Amazon Prime, it's on Prime Music.
edit: also i'm getting serious Final Fantasy: Spirits Within vibes from it
You can even watch it in 4k!
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
because it seems like everyone else is a guy
Would have been nice to see some gameplay but I guess we have to wait a little longer.
Damnit Kojima
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It's fascinating and I love it and I can't wait for more.
Definitely don't want it to be like "well all the extradimensional horrors are female"
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
This is the logo from the door as well as patches on a their suits, equipment etc:
It say's "BRIDGES" at the top (also seen on Madds' suit), and "United Cities of America" under the logo. The logo itself has a spider pattern inside the outline of the US that originates somewhere on the eastern seaboard. Someone smarter than me could probably figure out where that is exactly. As far as the "BRIDGES" part that could either be his name or the "city" that he's from.
Norman Reedus has "PORTER" written on the side and back of his suit and the numbers " 0914-137 " written on the front. There are also numbers written below it but I can't quite make them out. Knowing Kojima this is probably important. There's also something written on the box sitting on his left shoulder but I can't make out what it is.
This body-thing has something written on the strap that is wrapped around it. The first part says "DANGER" and the second word starts out with a B but I can't make out the rest of it. (edit: I think it says "BRIDGES" as well, which is kinda weird)
Also the guy with the gas mask who floats down also has a baby incubation thingy and at one point madds incubation thingy is covered in black goo, only to be completely clean moments later. That's all I got so far.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Porters carry things and well, carrying a thing seems to be important to these guys.
Or his name could just be Porter cause porters carry things. Get it?!
The first one I'd be fine with. The second is kinda, urgh. Either way I am pretty interested to see how this turns out.
It's probably gonna be about how all men wish to return to the womb, like Dark Souls. . . I've been watching a lot of Wisecrack.
also, i'm going to revise my guess and say it's three women and two guys
porter/reedus has six tags and there're five floaty folks, which probably means something - is the sixth Mads, Reedus, or the baby?
also, it seems pretty clear that there're two worlds, the living and otherworld, and obviously they're interacting with each other in wacky ways
the black things (they look like water bears?) that porter/reedus vomits up, for example, can be seen in their regular colors when porter/reedus is underwater
also, the guy that gets picked up and starts floating away tried to kill himself, but i think he was too late before getting caught by the thing? he seems to keep stabbing himself on the way up
2. I am also hoping that the absence of women is more a commentary on man's hubris or something, but Kojima's track record with female characters is... not great, and the dev team is a biiiit of a sausage fest
3. interestingly, the invisible... whatevers... seem to have hands as feet
4. I am reminded less of the Final Fantasy Spirits Within movie, and more of SCP-093.
Thanks for taking me down the black hole of SCP again, you monster!
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
The walkman-like thing Sam has reads M2047 R4. No clue.
I've seen speculation the 0914-137 is a reference to Psalm 137...
Also the floaty gas mask guy makes the same gesture at the same exact timestamp as Madds in the previous trailer:
https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/8/16752560/death-stranding-new-trailer-2017-theory
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Resident 8bitdo expert.
Resident hybrid/flap cover expert.
Maybe that's their storyboarding.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
He's gone beyond Lynch. They'll have to invent a new scale to describe Full Kojima.
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@TaramoorPlays
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I suggest the mili-Kojima as a relative unit of measurement.