Death Stranding - PS4

[Wools]

Thanks [MENTION=680]Wools[/MENTION]! I also caved when I saw the directors cut on sale. I still have absolutely no idea about what this game is as I've intentionally steered clear of all media, reviews etc around it. I too am a massive MGS fan but for whatever reason I've not had any desire to pick this up previously.

Though I won't be booting this up anytime soon, I'm looking forward to playing it, sounds like the PS5 version is suitably impressive.

BTW not to derail the thread too much but how does the ME trilogy play on PS5? I've been eying up installing it since we got it free with PS Plus (and I too haven't played ME3 )

Nice, well done for staying away from info or spoilers for this length of time!

As the same with you, huge MGS fan but the negative press around this game and knowing some excesses Kojima is famous for (Long cut scenes, some quite clumsy and poor writing) it's been easy to stay away. But slowly, the Director Cut and massively cut price reminded me of what I love about Kojima; Strong concepts, stunning art and level design and although the writing is always poor, the story and themes are always very strong and high concepts which are brilliant. So I caved!

The Mass Effect trilogy is brilliant on PS5 and a strong game. I adored ME1 and ME2 but stayed away from the 3rd game due to critical reaction and the fan backlash. However, the Trilogy was a nice collection and reviewed well on PS4 so I thought now was the time to go through all 3. As you're like me and haven't played 3, the no spoiler review is it's brilliant and I wish I hadn't listened to the 'fans' back in the day. Yes the game has been patched and I can see where the criticism seemed from, but it's a bold way to tie up the story and it's stuck with me a lot. Also, there's a few points in 3 where I just felt all warm and fuzzy being in the BioWare designed world, where I just feel no trilogy has done it better than Mass Effect.

Although some parts of the game show their age, it's telling that I can play through all 3 Mass Effect games, go straight into Ghost of Tsushima for 50 hours to complete it and then into 20 hours of Death Stranding and the 16 year old Mass Effect + Sequels don't come off badly whatsoever. There's no question the writing is better, anyway!

Let us know how you get on with both Mass Effect Trilogy and Death Stranding, as it feels like we both have the same thoughts and even dodged ME3 and Death Stranding for the same concerns!

[Wools]

Must admit, I had one BT encounter too many and have given up.

Played for about 40 hours and upto Chapter 7. Really adore the world, art design, music and atmosphere. But have begun to hate re-use of areas, terrible writing that has made me skip all cutscenes past 10 hours and the BT encounters just don't feel well designed or implemented. I would love to know if BT's, and how they work in game, were designed that way from the off or Kojima added them later in development? It feels the world travel is 1 third of the game, enemy encounters with their bloody Pikes were the second third and BT's are a very distinct final third part of the game design. And out of those 3, the world travel is the most involving and well done, with the other 2 felling nowhere near as polished or well designed.

Eitherway, I stopped playing the game a week or so ago and talking of thirds, I think this is the 3rd and possibly final time I bounced off the game. A real shame as this has some real good bits and my god the art design and concept is going to stay with me, but the game just isn't solid enough.

[Finsbury Girl]

ok finally fired up this bad boy on PS5, widescreen quality mode and WOW this looks absolutely amazing.

No surprise at the cutscene fest at the beginning but I can categorically say I have absolutely no idea as to what the hell is going on.

I have stayed clear of spoilers etc so I am 100% blind and I am looking forward to (hopefully) understanding just what the hell this game is.

[Finsbury Girl]

OK a few hours in now and I'm in the central area I believe (maybe it is chapter 3 or 4) but now peeps have started building

->Open Spoiler<-

roads

I'm having a ball. Stole a truck some mofo mules and now just been transporting materials to the

->Open Spoiler<-

autopavers

and building bridges. Delivering stuff and ranking up. This is a very different game, who knew a postman sim would be so addictive? Now that I've started to get better gear and stuff it is getting more enjoyable, not having to constantly hit L2 and R2 is a Godsend.

Geoff Keighly as Ludens Fan is an absolute classic taking the mickey out themselves and the memes Cannot wait to see more cameos.

Combat is hit and miss so far for me, sneaking and grenades seems to work so for BTs and now I have a

->Open Spoiler<-

bolo gun

it is easier to knock out the mules.

I still really have no idea what the heck is going on and I'm reading all of the info I collect.

[Finsbury Girl]

Damn it is so easy to lose hours to this game. My last long session all I did was farm materials to upgrade roads - for some bizarre reason this is very addictive. The fun in bolo'ing Mules and kicking them cannot be overstated

Still on Chapter 3 I think.....I might have to progress the story at some point but trying to 5 star all of the settlements is too engrossing.

Oh the horror bits are very very creepy, not surprising from the team who made PT.

Absolutely loving this so far, but as I'm so early there is every chance I may burn myself out.

EDIT I have to say the online stuff is absolutely amazing.

[Finsbury Girl]

Finally finished the story, wow. It was a lot of nonsense mostly but the ending hits hard. Magnificent game, not perfect by any stretch but one that dares do something different and has compelling and fun gameplay. As I said the main story, yeah ok, but it mostly irrelevant as this is really a story of Sam and BB and it is both wonderful and beautiful.

Will try and clean up the remaining trophies, I'm slowly getting my last remaining roads built!!

[Brad]

Cracking game.