To Hideo or not to Hideo? That is the Kojima. [Death Stranding disscussion]

[KBG29]

John2290 said:

KBG29 said:
I'm taking the day off to give myself 3 full days with the game. I will chime in from time to time.

As far as Kojima games from the past go. I have played all the way through MGS2 - 4 and Grounds Zero. Never finished MGS1 and skipped the PSP games and MGS5.

Looking forward to everyone elses impressions. I will check back from time to time through the weekend as I take breaks from the game.

You never chimed in...? Were those 3 days worth it? 

...did Death Stranding kill you? 

Sorry for the delay. I was pulled to the Beach, and I could not return until I completed the experience.

So I had planned for 15 hours a day starting the Friday I requested off. This is something I have done for countless other titles in the past. Sometimes I end up playing,  sometimes I don't get hooked, and I end up doing something else with my extended weekend. Death Stranding hooked me on par with the most hooked I have ever been. 

I ended up at 47 hours by the end of the day Sunday, and I was not even close to finishing, and even further from loosing enjoyment with the experience before me. I debated in my head what to do next, and after much thought, I did something I have never done for a game, I called in sick, because the experience had to continue. At the end of the day I was sitting at 61 hours, and still far from the finsh, and just as far from loosing excitement for every moment played.

Since the decision to commit was already made, I  decided to call in again Tuesday, at this point I had to push to the end. We are only allowed 2 sick days in a row without a doctors notice where I work, so this was the day, I had to finish. I work a late shift, so I played Monday until 20:00. I knew I had to call in at 22:00, so the alarm was set for then. Just over an hour after heading to bed I woke up. The clock was just past 21:30, there are explosions happening all around my house. It is Veterans Day, and the Local Football team just won, pushing the community into a fireworks frenzy. Well, I'm up, I think damn, an hour and a half is not enough sleep, but I had to push on. I called in, and returned to the journey.

Finally, at 19:30, Tuesday, November 11th 2019, I finished an adventure that has already claimed a spot in my top 3 favorite games of all time list. Where it lands in that list over time is still yet to be determined, but I am already certain that I will be doing a fresh start come this holiday season, to get a better idea of just where it ends up.

My previous top three where:

1. The Last of Us 

2. Horizon Zero Dawn

3. God of War (2019)

Death Stranding will now be knocking last years God of War down a notch. Still a great game, but not in the elite category of the other three. 

Keys to why I feel this way:

-Incredible Conrtols across all forms of traversal. 

-Rewarding loop of collecting and delivering, backed by a desire to reconnect the Map, and build relationships with every character encountered.

-Even more rewarding network of interacting with other players, all working together to build a better world, and seeing it all unfold.

-Boss battles, that deliver on scale, combat, and story.

-Top notch characters at all levels, that actually make you care, and deliver emotional impact. 

-The relationship between Sam and his BB.

Those things, amoung others, wrapped in the best Graphics, Animation, and Voice work of any game to date (and by a long ways), all add up to a Masterful experience. 

The thing that really shocks me, is this is the only game out of TLOU, HZD, GOW(2019), and itself, that I went into feeling very disinterested. I went back and forth over whether I was even going to take Friday off in the weeks leading to release. My full expectation going in, was that this would probably be a game I would end up walking away from after 15 or 20 hours, similar to stuff like Witcher 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2 (which are actually two titles I was extremely hype about). Instead Death Stranding grabbed me, and didn't let go until I completed the experience it presented me.

For me, Death Stranding is truly a Masterpiece.