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

[colafitte]

Finished the game yesterday at almost 60h of playtime. What a ride....

After finish it, i can now confidently say that this game has way better gameplay than story/writing which is my ultimate surprise about this game. The story concept/theme is fascinating, and the characters are interesting, but Kojima's writing has got worse with the years and Death Stranding is probably the worst in this case. His writing is basically based in saying a LOT but telling almost nothing. It's very expositive or too much vague. Too much cringe or too much messy. The only scenes where i didn't find any problems where with Mads Mikkelsen's character, which i found by far being the best ones. Kojima's "moments" or "experiences" work better when they're interactive, when they make you do something. When you sit and just listen to dialogue they mostly end in a feeling of...."ugh, was that necessary??". I barely understood the motivations of some characters either because i was lost between so much dialogue that i did not understand, and i am guy who understood the ending of Evangelion when i was 15 yeras old, so i know one thing or two about complicated themes and stories.... I guess i'll need a rewatch and some help from the internet to understand exactly what happened. In conclusion, the writing is a 5/10 at best.

It's a shame because the rest of the game is a 9-10/10 easily. The gaming loop is addicting, the setting is awesome and is a pleasure to explore it and find ways to move on. Giving deliveries to progress the world is really awarded, and the items they give to you in the game are always useful and fun to use. Even some boss battles can be spectacular and tense too.

Audiovisually this game is awesome, and the use of the music is very emotional. There's a moment in the last chapter where the use of one the main songs is used perfecly. It was one of those magic moments i mentioned earlier. That made the last scene very good at the end, so you really finish the game satisfactorily.

With a better writing this game could have competed for GOTG for me. Despite that, this game is still a 9/10 for me, and a top 5 PS4 game overall. Just behind the level of God of War, The Witcher III, Horizon Zero Dawn, on par with games like Uncharted 4, Nier Automata, Spider-Man, Metal Gear Solid V and ahead of games like Resident Evil 2, Red Dead Redemption II, Bloodborne.

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