Death Stranding |OT| Peace Walker

Fatoy · Nov 20, 2019

Like a lot of people, I've been taken deep into this game's embrace in Episode 3.

Having multiple delivery points open up at the same time that road pavers, exoskeletons etc. all become available is such a revelation. For 13 hours I've been thinking this was a game about solitary sadness, but it's actually a deeply social happy-time experience. I can't leave a single auto-paver unfuelled - no matter how far off my intended path it is.

Kindekuma · Nov 20, 2019

Shy said:

I wasn't ready. What a game.

tollsjo · Nov 20, 2019

I have 2 chapters left, how many hours is that? I dont want too start playing tonight if i can't finish it before bedtime :)

jaymzi · Nov 20, 2019

tollsjo said:
I have 2 chapters left, how many hours is that? I dont want too start playing tonight if i can't finish it before bedtime :)

Are you about to finish Chapter 12? If so the last 2 chapters are basically 2 hours of cutscenes with small moments of gameplay in between.

ZeroX · Nov 20, 2019

I'm so confused, last time I played the game there was no NPCs roaming the world and now there is and there's roads everywhere.

tollsjo · Nov 20, 2019

jaymzi said:
Are you about to finish Chapter 12? If so the last 2 chapters are basically 2 hours of cutscenes with small moments of gameplay in between.

I am at the beginning of chapter 13, so that's perfect! :)

5olid_5nake · Nov 20, 2019

So is the general consensus that the story and ending is good? I'm at episode 3 currently so no spoilers please. :D

Septimius · Nov 20, 2019

ZeroX said:
I'm so confused, last time I played the game there was no NPCs roaming the world and now there is and there's roads everywhere.

That's how online works. You get "teamed up" with 100 people or so, somewhat dynamically. They add to your world. I don't think it's as binary as you rebuilt this road, so it's now rebuilt in all the worlds you're connected to, but your online buddies will complete stuff in your world

Minky · Nov 20, 2019

Finished it at the weekend. Initially I was a bit dumbfounded by the direction of the story, and the overall pacing is pretty inconsistent throughout. I know this is Kojima's thing in general, but the endlessly long exposition dump cinematics during the latter chapters ended up annoying me more than actually engaging me.
But after going back to just doing Standard Orders, building and contributing to structures, engaging with the core gameplay loop for longer and exploring the world... The whole thing has totally clicked for me. The atmosphere alone is borderline addictive. Definitely a super important game that everyone should at least try, probably my GOTY.

CortexVortex · Nov 20, 2019

5olid_5nake said:
So is the general consensus that the story and ending is good? I'm at episode 3 currently so no spoilers please. :D

I absolutely loved it, yes.
Of course you have to expect some Kojimaness tho.

Deleted member 4976 · Nov 20, 2019

JayDee said:
Is there any sort of secret to building roads? I'm starting to empty out some of my prepper's materials to build these roads while my friend has had most of his built thanks to contributions from others.

Form strand contracts with folks whose structures you've used a lot. I found that helped with almost always having 50 to 70% of all auto-paver materials always accounted for.

Septimius · Nov 20, 2019

Primethius said:
Form strand contracts with folks whose structures you've used a lot. I found that helped with almost always having 50 to 70% of all auto-paver materials always accounted for.

I think the game bullshits this from time to time. Some autopavers require just WAAAAY more materials than any other. It seems sometimes to inflate its own numbers. Say it needs 300/1000/800. When you connect to the chiral network, it suddenly needs 600/2000/1600, but it's half-filled. It's at the very least not straight forward sharing with roads, but I think it's just the game trying to do its best to be balanced.

Then again, Lake Knot -> South Distro was fully paved for me basically when I got there, and very few other roads have been completed by others, so it seems very much a toss up. I'm considering remving my strand connections with others, because I think most of them have completed the game and aren't actively building, and that it's when someone you share with builds a road that you get a portion of your materials filled.

Deleted member 4976 · Nov 20, 2019

Septimius said:
I think the game bullshits this from time to time. Some autopavers require just WAAAAY more materials than any other. It seems sometimes to inflate its own numbers. Say it needs 300/1000/800. When you connect to the chiral network, it suddenly needs 600/2000/1600, but it's half-filled. It's at the very least not straight forward sharing with roads, but I think it's just the game trying to do its best to be balanced.

Then again, Lake Knot -> South Distro was fully paved for me basically when I got there, and very few other roads have been completed by others, so it seems very much a toss up. I'm considering remving my strand connections with others, because I think most of them have completed the game and aren't actively building, and that it's when someone you share with builds a road that you get a portion of your materials filled.

I'm not sure. I have noted messages (on the left in green) when people I've made a Strand contract with have donated materials to roads, and even completed them. So it might be a bit of both.

And there's one structure I remember that required 8000 of a material for me later on in the game that only had about 1000 filled when I connected it to the Chiral network. I assumed since I ignored it, others did as well.

Dphex · Nov 20, 2019

Dussck said:
They do some incredible tricks with scale in this game. So often I see my new objective in the distance and I'm thinking: what, all the way down there?!? That'll take half an hour to get there.
And then 5 minutes later I'm pretty much there allready (walking).

Also: I love this game. Holy shit.

After 20 hours or so in I upped the difficulty to 'hard', though. Because I never died, MULE's are not much of a thread and neither are the BT's (easily avoidable and killable). Anyone else has this experience? And how much harder is 'hard' in comparison to 'normal'?

the game has no classic "game difficulty". yes, BT´s have more health on hard and you take more damage as well as your cargo but the real difficulty in this game is that it asks for patience from the players.

in general, the game is more about an experience than about a challenge(there are a few harder sequences though, you will see when you get there)

Dussck · Nov 20, 2019

Dphex said:
the game has no classic "game difficulty". yes, BT´s have more health on hard and you take more damage as well as your cargo but the real difficulty in this game is that it asks for patience from the players.

in general, the game is more about an experience than about a challenge(there are a few harder sequences though, you will see when you get there)

Yea I see what you mean. But it's also very dynamic, in that you can suddenly have a challenge when you are taking too much cargo and take a difficult route or go somewhere you are not equiped to handle.

Deleted member 4976 · Nov 20, 2019

Dussck said:
They do some incredible tricks with scale in this game. So often I see my new objective in the distance and I'm thinking: what, all the way down there?!? That'll take half an hour to get there.
And then 5 minutes later I'm pretty much there allready (walking).

Also: I love this game. Holy shit.

After 20 hours or so in I upped the difficulty to 'hard', though. Because I never died, MULE's are not much of a thread and neither are the BT's (easily avoidable and killable). Anyone else has this experience? And how much harder is 'hard' in comparison to 'normal'?

I have the same experience with scale everytime. I look back down on a mountain and go, wait, I climbed that?

The game makes you feel so in the moment, presents such immediacy as an experience, that you don't even notice how much you've done.

Dphex · Nov 20, 2019

Primethius said:
I have the same experience with scale everytime. I look back down on a mountain and go, wait, I climbed that?

The game makes you feel so in the moment, presents such immediacy as an experience, that you don't even notice how much you've done.

this game eats hours like it was 30minutes, sometimes i was like "wtf, am i playing for this long now?"

it is like being in a timefall when playing this game

nillapuddin · Nov 20, 2019

I fuckin love this game.

Hey era,
(Central region prepper question)
is there a hidden prepper in the mountains sort of North of the weather station? Because when I see the chiral map there's a chunk missing there? [i/SPOILER]

Bucca · Nov 20, 2019

Game desperately needs a Photo Mode.

KojiPro pls

Razgriz417 · Nov 20, 2019

I'm addicted to building roads, built the majority from lake knot to south knot and 1 section away from getting north and craftsman done, with bits from north district to incinerator completed as well and I'm still in ch4 lol

MegaSackman · Nov 20, 2019

5olid_5nake said:
So is the general consensus that the story and ending is good? I'm at episode 3 currently so no spoilers please. :D

The story is phenomenal so is the ending but it also features a lot of terrible plot decisions and dialogues lol, ending included. There's a bit for everyone.

If you're having a good time you'll like it.

EatChildren · Nov 20, 2019

Wrapped up chapter six and honestly surprised people had such a hard time with it. Use your gear, nerds. Not having BB presents a challenge in not being able to see BTs at all, but hematic grenades are an easy solution to a very simple problem. Soon as you get spotted dropping a hematic grenade right on top of the BT stuns it leaving it open for a very easy cut. The huge blood cloud ensures you'll hit, and if you don't the BT is inevitably going to walk into it while coming after you. I only got stuck in tar twice during the chapter and wriggled out of it both times, dropping a hematic grenade right on top of them the moment I could. Spotted by BTs a couple more times, which again were easily dealt with using the hematic grenade.

I'm playing on hard too, so no real cheesing. Sometimes I think people are presented with unusual problems and just don't stop to think how they might be able to adapt. By the time this chapter drops you've got a pretty enormous helping of combat gear to fabricate, and a good chunk of it explicitly deals with BTs.

Javier23 · Nov 20, 2019

5olid_5nake said:
So is the general consensus that the story and ending is good? I'm at episode 3 currently so no spoilers please. :D

The story is worse than awful, but the production value is insane, so it's a fascinating and gorgeous trainwreck. Nothing like I've seen before.

Mupod · Nov 20, 2019

Part of the reason I'm still putzing around in Chapter 5 is that I'm scared I'll run into 2 hours of Kojima cutscenes and I don't have that much time during the week, lol. Doesn't explain why I spent my entire Sunday backtracking and maxing out the starting zone though. I can't put off this mountain trek for much longer but I'm about as prepared as humanly possible.

I've noticed the game has finally started to pull in other players' ziplines - not entire networks, even for the folks I've bridge linked. But I've had to delete a few of my own to free up bandwidth and to my surprise I saw other players' ziplines appear in roughly similar spots.

A few individuals I bridge contracted with early on now have upwards of 700k likes, the vast majority from other players. In contrast I'm almost even with players and NPCs. Or I was before I got a 21k dump out of nowhere last night. Must have been from roads - either that or someone broke their Dualshock in half mashing that touch pad.

Coi · Nov 20, 2019

Im starting chapter 9, story it's becoming better and better for me, I'm really intrigued. On the gameplay side, I'm making contracts with good players and just playing story missions and some side quests.

How far I'm from the end of the game? Can I continue playing after the main game for make some extra deliveries?

BossAttack · Nov 20, 2019

SunBroDave said:
Granted I'm still early, but everything in this first town with the president does not look good. I mean can you honestly tell me that any anything in this scene looks good aside from the faces? And even then the facial animations are like, not even close to the best we've seen in modern games. Everything is so stiff

You're on crazy pills. This game has the best facial animations in a game ever. And, is one of the best looking games.

MechaMarmaset · Nov 20, 2019

Well I decided to kill one of the wandering porters yesterday with a grenade. Docked me 10K likes.

It'd be cool if I could just place these guys in mule territory and wipe out an encampment, but the game just forces you into a game over if it necros. I guess craters can only appear in designated BT territories, so that's kinda disappointing. They made it seem like it was this dynamic thing, but really craters just end up in areas that they've already designated as crater areas. You can test this by getting caught by BTs twice. After the voidout if you trigger BTs again gold humanoids try to grab you and it's instant game over because they can't drag you to the designated voidout area because it's already a crater.

If you leave them around the UCA centers, DieHardman tells you that they had a corpse disposal team do it instead.

colute · Nov 20, 2019

Nominated for Game of the Year 2019 !

Keikaku · Nov 20, 2019

MechaMarmaset said:
Well I decided to kill one of the wandering porters yesterday with a grenade. Docked me 10K likes.

It'd be cool if I could just place these guys in mule territory and wipe out an encampment, but the game just forces you into a game over if it necros. I guess craters can only appear in designated BT territories, so that's kinda disappointing. They made it seem like it was this dynamic thing, but really craters just end up in areas that they've already designated as crater areas. You can test this by getting caught by BTs twice. After the voidout if you trigger BTs again gold humanoids try to grab you and it's instant game over because they can't drag you to the designated voidout area because it's already a crater.

If you leave them around the UCA centers, DieHardman tells you that they had a corpse disposal team do it instead.

You get a game over if corpses go necro? I left a camp full of Mule bodies lying there, not sure if I can even get the bodies to an incinerator.

Eien1no1Yami · Nov 20, 2019

Lol....wtf is that?How can you do that xD??

Mirage · Nov 20, 2019

BossAttack said:
You're on crazy pills. This game has the best facial animations in a game ever. And, is one of the best looking games.

Agree the game is very realistic facial animation wise.

TransEuropaExpress · Nov 20, 2019

Dphex said:
this game eats hours like it was 30minutes, sometimes i was like "wtf, am i playing for this long now?"

it is like being in a timefall when playing this game

This is a serious fucking problem for me haha! I only have an hour or two per night to play during the week and every time I end up making my own fun for the session by getting totally sidetracked and voila, it's 12:30 and I have to get up in 6 hours to go to work...

Last night I just wanted to "pop in" for an hour to finish some of the roads and steal another MULE truck. More than two hours later I'm on the motorcycle completely loaded and cargo on my back piled sky-high making a massive run of to all three preppers.

I'm tired...

This game is so engaging, it always feels like I'm completely paying attention to every rock and tiny aspect. I didn't really realize it at first but that's the game's substitute for traditional "game over screen"/dying difficulty. Seeing Sam actually die would be a catastrophic even in context to me somehow, seeing him exhausted and stranded in the middle of nowhere without a generator to power your exoskeleton back up and a huge cargo load is stress inducing enough.

Eien1no1Yami said:
Lol....wtf is that?How can you do that xD??

I keep being so pleasantly surprised by the amount of tools, toys and cool shit you can do in this game and how it all interacts well. I've had some great MGSV-style crazy scenarios play out that made me smile with how creative I was able to get with the right tools. A lot of reviews gave me the exact opposite impression.

MechaMarmaset · Nov 20, 2019

Keikaku said:
You get a game over if corpses go necro? I left a camp full of Mule bodies lying there, not sure if I can even get the bodies to an incinerator.

It happens if they necro and the BT that spawns eats a human. It all happens off screen. And you can leave bodies for a pretty long time from what I hear. I've seen videos where you can throw bodies in the tar lake and it causes you to swim in the seam but with no game over. I don't know. It's kinda random. It might just be game over if it's near a story element for all I know.

Keikaku · Nov 20, 2019

MechaMarmaset said:
It happens if they necro and the BT that spawns eats a human. It all happens off screen. And you can leave bodies for a pretty long time from what I hear. I've seen videos where you can throw bodies in the tar lake and it causes you to swim in the seam but with no game over. I don't know. It's kinda random. It might just be game over if it's near a story element for all I know.

Okay thanks. They're pretty near the tar lake so I'll just dump them there.

Ananasas · Nov 20, 2019

I finally built the road from Lake Knot City to South Knot City, took me some time, did it for the second pizza delivery 😊

Old Luke · Nov 20, 2019

So, I just shot a Mule with the Bola Gun and he fell on a river. Do I have to worry? Did he died drowned?

VanDoughnut · Nov 20, 2019

This has probably been asked a bunch but how does entrusting cargo exactly work?

I'm guessing the more times a piece of cargo changes hands with people online the more likes it's worth once it reaches the destination. Instead of taking lost cargo in shared lockers straight to the destination I've been leaving it at stations on the way hoping someone else picks it up and takes it to the destination or leaves it for another person at a station on the way, to build the "likes" of the cargo.

The most likes I've seen on lost cargo a little over 200. On chapter 3 rn.

Hoping I'm doing this right lol

astro · Nov 20, 2019

5olid_5nake said:
So is the general consensus that the story and ending is good? I'm at episode 3 currently so no spoilers please. :D

Story is incredible. It has some clunky moments, and the first part of the ending is just frustrating to play through... but the final hour or so is one of the biggest payoffs I've experienced in gaming and elevates the story to greatness.

Septimius · Nov 20, 2019

VanDoughnut said:
This has probably been asked a bunch but how does entrusting cargo exactly work?

I'm guessing the more times a piece of cargo changes hands with people online the more likes it's worth once it reaches the destination. Instead of taking lost cargo in shared lockers straight to the destination I've been leaving it at stations on the way hoping someone else picks it up and takes it to the destination or leaves it for another person at a station on the way, to build the "likes" of the cargo.

The most likes I've seen on lost cargo a little over 200. On chapter 3 rn.

Hoping I'm doing this right lol

It's rather the fact that you get SOME likes for helping the cargo get closer to its destination. So if I find a piece of cargo that I entrust at the nearest facility, at least I've helped it a bit closer and so it can be more easily taken to its final destination. So you get some likes. And that's kind of it, really!

TransEuropaExpress · Nov 20, 2019

VanDoughnut said:
This has probably been asked a bunch but how does entrusting cargo exactly work?

I'm guessing the more times a piece of cargo changes hands with people online the more likes it's worth once it reaches the destination. Instead of taking lost cargo in shared lockers straight to the destination I've been leaving it at stations on the way hoping someone else picks it up and takes it to the destination or leaves it for another person at a station on the way, to build the "likes" of the cargo.

The most likes I've seen on lost cargo a little over 200. On chapter 3 rn.

Hoping I'm doing this right lol

I've found that this game makes me want to be...nice and be a team player and some systems I feel like I barely even understand but do it because it somehow feels good in context of this game's overall positive-reinforcement vibe.

Sorry, I know that's not an answer!

Flipyap · Nov 20, 2019

5olid_5nake said:
So is the general consensus that the story and ending is good? I'm at episode 3 currently so no spoilers please. :D

It's about on par with Tommy W.'s masterpiece The Room, just with a bit sloppier writing, less cohesive characterization and worse pacing.

Wispmetas · Nov 20, 2019

Ugh bought the game only to find out my controller's D-PAD is busted, only the down arrow works for some reason.... To bad since the d-pad is essential to the gameplay.

Well but I really liked the beginning, the first encounter with thr BTs was incredible, managed to escape it but had a couple close calls.

Now I need a new controller.

TransEuropaExpress · Nov 20, 2019

I'll ask again for a new page since I still am not really 100% sure on these:

What exactly does each EX Grenade do? #0, #1, #2? I kind of think I know but I'd like confirmation.

Deleted member 4976 · Nov 20, 2019

EatChildren said:
Wrapped up chapter six and honestly surprised people had such a hard time with it. Use your gear, nerds. Not having BB presents a challenge in not being able to see BTs at all, but hematic grenades are an easy solution to a very simple problem. Soon as you get spotted dropping a hematic grenade right on top of the BT stuns it leaving it open for a very easy cut. The huge blood cloud ensures you'll hit, and if you don't the BT is inevitably going to walk into it while coming after you. I only got stuck in tar twice during the chapter and wriggled out of it both times, dropping a hematic grenade right on top of them the moment I could. Spotted by BTs a couple more times, which again were easily dealt with using the hematic grenade.

I'm playing on hard too, so no real cheesing. Sometimes I think people are presented with unusual problems and just don't stop to think how they might be able to adapt. By the time this chapter drops you've got a pretty enormous helping of combat gear to fabricate, and a good chunk of it explicitly deals with BTs.

Agreed. I actually got caught in that section once and got dragged. But I feel like BT sections are a test of patience and the ability to not panic at the thought of losing cargo. If you just slow yourself down, and calmly progress forward, you can get through it with maybe some cargo damage.

After getting dragged, I just sort of stood still for a moment, took in my surroundings, and almost like a platformer, hopped and jumped away from danger.

I appreciated it too. It was pushback from the game, a challenge, but not one that meant a gameover.

Septimius · Nov 20, 2019

TransEuropaExpress said:
I'll ask again for a new page since I still am not really 100% sure on these:

What exactly does each EX Grenade do? #0, #1, #2? I kind of think I know but I'd like confirmation.

Tried looking up on them. I think they distract/stun/lure/mark BTs. #2 lures, and can apparently be thrown at MULEs. I've also seen MULEs slide around on like #0 and #1. But apparently they all stun the encounter-monsters. Haven't used it myself, but'll definitely try it. Some allege it removes the tar so you can better hurt them, but IDK.

Also, remember that you can shoot through the blood cloud left from a hematic grenade, and use normal bullets on BTs that way.

Chaos2Frozen · Nov 20, 2019

Question, I might have stored quest necessary items in some private locker how do I find out which one?

VanDoughnut · Nov 20, 2019

Septimius said:
It's rather the fact that you get SOME likes for helping the cargo get closer to its destination. So if I find a piece of cargo that I entrust at the nearest facility, at least I've helped it a bit closer and so it can be more easily taken to its final destination. So you get some likes. And that's kind of it, really!

Yeah I'm hoping it builds the likes the more people get their hands on the same lost cargo. It would really exemplify the stand system, and connections.

I've been doing it a lot. It just feels nice.
I wish the game told you when cargo you entrusted to others has finally reached its destination. It'd be nice to know it made it there! I need closure lol

TransEuropaExpress said:
I've found that this game makes me want to be...nice and be a team player and some systems I feel like I barely even understand but do it because it somehow feels good in context of this game's overall positive-reinforcement vibe.

Sorry, I know that's not an answer!

Yeah it's feels great to just help out, addictive even. The likes are a big part of it, and the notifications of people using roads you built and stuff, knowing that you did something to help someone else is rewarding.

I always am curious to see what lost cargo people online have left around in shared lockers. And if I bring something a little closer, it feels like I did my part. It's strangely satisfying lol

Gotta credit Kojima and the team for fostering such positivity and cooperation between players online. I'm still early in but the social strand system isn't all talk.

What a great game.

Deleted member 37928 · Nov 20, 2019

Does the difficulty have any effect on the trophies in this game?

THANKS · Nov 20, 2019

On the final mission of Chapter 6. At first I was dreading the mountainous environment but after getting my zip lines set up I can go from Mountain Knot City to the Mountaineer in less than 2 minutes. It is so satisfying setting up a place that initially takes 15-20 mins to traverse.

I'm a bit stuck with my roads though. I feel like I have to deliver about 75% of the materials to get them built.

takoyaki · Nov 20, 2019

Is there an in-game checklist to see which orders I've completed and which ones are currently available at each location? I think I've missed one of the Orders for Sam, the final credits said I'd completed 67 of them. I then went back and delivered two pizzas (including the final pizza), so I should have completed 69 now. There's 70 in total, right?

If there's no such checklist, does anyone have an idea which order I might have missed? Is there one that's easy to miss if you focus on the story? I've checked at all the main warp locations and didn't find an outstanding order for Sam so it must be from one of the preppers.

Death Stranding |OT| Peace Walker

It's Pronounced "Aerith"

Wonder from Down Under

Prophet of Regret