So no microtransactions…

So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

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That’s silly to me.

Oh no, I had to look at a Monster Energy can, the horror! (:

It’s not something we should necessarily celebrate, but I can’t understand caring about it all that much. This is not the first time his games had product placement.

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That’s silly to me.

Oh no, I had to look at a Monster Energy can, the horror! (:

It’s not something we should necessarily celebrate, but I can’t understand caring about it all that much. This is not the first time his games had product placement.

The whole conversation around product placement is interesting. If every product in a show or a movie was a real brand we wouldn't even notice or probably care. But when it's the only thing on the screen that has a real brand you can see it sticks out in a way that annoys people.

I can only remember a couple of times it's bothered me and it was when the characters in the shows (in TWO DIFFERENT Fox TV shows) took 2-3 minutes to talk about an awesome feature of their brand new [insert car brand here]!

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The whole conversation around product placement is interesting. If every product in a show or a movie was a real brand we wouldn't even notice or probably care. But when it's the only thing on the screen that has a real brand you can see it sticks out in a way that annoys people.

Setting matters. This is not a contemporary urban setting where one might plausibly have products like this. The game takes place in a world where the very fabric of country and society has broken down. Who the hell would be manufacturing these?

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You haven’t paid enough attention. The only thing they’re manufacturing is the cans. Sam’s canteen literally turns any water into Monster Energy drink.

Don’t ask me how it works.

I can only laugh. You all asked for this. Everything me who’s ever said Kojima is a genius asked for exactly this. This is everything Kojima has ever been distilled and unfettered. Seems silly to bitch about it now.

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You haven’t paid enough attention. The only thing they’re manufacturing is the cans. Sam’s canteen literally turns any water into Monster Energy drink.

I was talking about the cans.

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You can build full bridges by slapping down a 3D printer. I don’t think cans would pose much of a problem.

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The whole conversation around product placement is interesting. If every product in a show or a movie was a real brand we wouldn't even notice or probably care. But when it's the only thing on the screen that has a real brand you can see it sticks out in a way that annoys people.

Setting matters. This is not a contemporary urban setting where one might plausibly have products like this. The game takes place in a world where the very fabric of country and society has broken down. Who the hell would be manufacturing these?

Dude, don't be silly. You can just buy them with bottle caps!

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=166639

You literally just said they inserted a monster can in a world that really shouldn't have one. That is an alteration of the game story to fit that in there.

As for microtransactions in Destiny for example, I feel absolutely no friction created. Yes, they had to alter the game, but you have to do that to add anything into a game. All microtransactions aren't created equal though. You put a blanket statement over all microtransactions as evil. I don't.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=166639

You literally just said they inserted a monster can in a world that really shouldn't have one. That is an alteration of the game story to fit that in there.

The words “story” and “game design” mean very different things.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=166639

You literally just said they inserted a monster can in a world that really shouldn't have one. That is an alteration of the game story to fit that in there.

The words “story” and “game design” mean very different things.

I personally could care less about that as a gamer/consumer. That is technical speak in the background of the user experience. If a product placement or microtransaction destroys my experience as a consumer then the developer is doing something wrong.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=166639

You literally just said they inserted a monster can in a world that really shouldn't have one. That is an alteration of the game story to fit that in there.

The words “story” and “game design” mean very different things.

I personally couldn't care less about that as a gamer/consumer. That is technical speak in the background of the user experience. If a product placement or microtransaction destroys my experience as a consumer then the developer is doing something wrong.

So this excuse is pretty played out, but it's always been a Kojima thing. Every one of his games contains real-world products, and they're never just background dressing. From a fully-featured iPod to Doritos and Playboy magazines, Kojima has always made a habit of implementing real-world brands into the games (often even giving them a dedicated identifier on screen). It's just one of those fun things that has always been a part of his games' DNA.

And you can even consider the Monster drinks as a part of the lore if you want (assuming it's not directly addressed in-game). In a ruined world, stuff like this is a luxury. If someone found a warehouse or two of these drinks, they'd be rich, or wield a lot of trading power (and they'd have to build up an army to protect their resources).
If you look at the environment, most of that high-tech facility is empty. Those multiple cans are one of the few things available to Sam on his obviously well-funded adventure.

End of the day, you can see it as blatant product placement, and if it takes you out of the game, then that's you, but eh. Forest for the trees.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=166639

You literally just said they inserted a monster can in a world that really shouldn't have one. That is an alteration of the game story to fit that in there.

The words “story” and “game design” mean very different things.

I personally couldn't care less about that as a gamer/consumer. That is technical speak in the background of the user experience. If a product placement or microtransaction destroys my experience as a consumer then the developer is doing something wrong.

So this excuse is pretty played out, but it's always been a Kojima thing. Every one of his games contains real-world products, and they're never just background dressing. From a fully-featured iPod to Doritos and Playboy magazines, Kojima has always made a habit of implementing real-world brands into the games (often even giving them a dedicated identifier on screen). It's just one of those fun things that has always been a part of his games' DNA.

And you can even consider the Monster drinks as a part of the lore if you want (assuming it's not directly addressed in-game). In a ruined world, stuff like this is a luxury. If someone found a warehouse or two of these drinks, they'd be rich, or wield a lot of trading power (and they'd have to build up an army to protect their resources).
If you look at the environment, most of that high-tech facility is empty. Those multiple cans are one of the few things available to Sam on his obviously well-funded adventure.

End of the day, you can see it as blatant product placement, and if it takes you out of the game, then that's you, but eh. Forest for the trees.

If that is the case then I think it totally fits! It's all about the history of the game or the story in this case. If it's just random product placement for the sake of product placement that is different. If it's like you said cool. If it's like Nuka Cola in Fallout that's also cool.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placement doesn't require 'frictions' and alteration of game design to function.

https://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=166639

You literally just said they inserted a monster can in a world that really shouldn't have one. That is an alteration of the game story to fit that in there.

The words “story” and “game design” mean very different things.

Hey, aren't you that rabid, isnotcanon, guy?

codymiller.isnotcanon . net

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

Really? I think that is so much worse. Microtransactions are a choice, seeing advertisement in a video I want to watch is not.

Technically, I guess I could make the choice to not play a game with advertisements in it but that is silly.

Product placements don't exploit people with compulsive behavior issues for more money.

Now, if the game actually dispensed Monster Energy, that'd be something else...

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They put those in there to distract you from trying to figure out whatever in almighty hell that game is. ;-)

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They put those in there to distract you from trying to figure out whatever in almighty hell that game is. ;-)

Already I will say it's solved one of the biggest problems I have with open world games: traveling from place to place is now actually interesting.

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I only played for about an hour last night. I met Bridget and stopped, so I only did that first trek. But I loved it. I can really see myself enjoying a game mostly built around that, and the things I’ve ever about you interact with other players sound really cool.

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It's honestly brilliant.

I'm about 8 hours in. I've made it to Episode 3, which is where everyone says the main gameplay loop really comes into its own.

I am absolutely enthralled.

As Cody said, the mere act of navigating the world has been turned into a gameplay mechanic. Navigating the world is this game. And it's incredible. Balancing a massive pack filled to max capacity with it teetering precariously with every step while you climb rocks or repel down cliffsides. There's lots of managing balance and momentum as you move around and navigate obstacles.

There are other twists, two different enemy types to add extra challenge, but mostly, you just walk around the world delivering packages from place to place, and that core loop is incredibly satisfying in the weirdest way.

I can't comment much on story. It's pretty heavy-handed (You get a smartphone that is a literally a set of handcuffs, and lots of gameplay mechanics revolve around getting "likes.") But still, the universe has lots of cool concepts, and the presentation is cool.

I've heard this is a decently long game (like 50-60 hours or even more), so who knows if the gameplay loop I've seen so far will remain compelling, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

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I've heard this is a decently long game (like 50-60 hours or even more), so who knows if the gameplay loop I've seen so far will remain compelling, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

I’ve put seventeen hours into my current run, and I’m still on chapter 3. I’ve spent so much time just building paths, bridges, and resources for other players, as well as finishing their shipments to and fro. I’ve done very little in the way of pushing the story forward, but I make sure to do so periodically, to keep Sammy engrossed. Somehow she hasn’t complained about the tedium of watching little more than traversal and construction, which is surprising. The little details keep her entertained, and the BT encounters are tense, if a bit too easy (and I’m playing on Hard).

Also, pay attention to the little inconsistencies during Beach scenes. The game doesn’t draw attention to them at all, but I noticed some shortly before I restarted the game, and it hit me how often I was missing them during the second viewing. Exciting stuff.

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I meant to mention the difficulty. I’m also playing on hard, and so far it’s been pretty easy. I got knocked out by a MULE once, but it was an armored one, and the game hadn’t taught me how to deal with them yet.

There’s a BT section at the end of episode 2 that’s pretty tense. You have to climb a fairly narrow path that’s all cliffs and boulders. So it’s lots of climbing over big obstacles while trying to avoid them. I used a ladder, but when I got to the top, it hadn’t quite reached safety yet. It looked like I’d be able to climb the rest of the way, but I fell and tumbled back down the hill and all my shit got scattered everywhere. So I had to sneak around all the BTs and gather up my mission critical deliveries and reclimb the hill. It was really cool, and something I hope I see more of. The traversal is cool, but I hope to see some more challenge from it.

I guess I haven’t paid enough attention to the Beach scenes.

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I’ve spent so much time just building paths, bridges, and resources for other players, as well as finishing their shipments to and fro.

Dude, thank you. Stuff like online bridges, ladders, generators, and postboxes have been mega helpful for me. It's really refreshing to see people actually help each other rather than troll :-p

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I haven't done much more than place ropes and ladders, but even that stuff is really cool.

I wanted to get into Episode 3 before I really spent a bunch of time doing that. Apparently that's where the world really opens up and you spend time just wandering around in a much bigger area.

I wish there was a better way to filter which stuff you see, or at least make it prioritize stuff from people on my friends list. I haven't seen anything from any of my friends that are playing. You can find a list of people you've interacted with and strengthen your connection and prioritize their stuff, but there's no way to do it if you haven't interacted with someone previously.

Also, the shouting mechanic is neat. It's awesome to call out and get a reply, or to reply to another person. I laughed out loud last night, I called out and Sam yelled "I live for this shit!" and got a "Hell yeah!" from the distance.

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"A road you rebuilt was used by someone else"

Pretty satisfying.

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"A road you rebuilt was used by someone else"

Yup. If you want to gets tons of likes really fast, make roads lol.

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"A road you rebuilt was used by someone else"

Pretty satisfying.

You want satisfying? Early on, I was riding my overloaded bike back to Central, and got a low battery alert as I was approaching BT territory. I turn a corner, and lo and behold, a randomly-placed generator that SonofAtari built there, just where and when I needed it most, letting me boost through the BTs undisturbed.
A few minutes ago, I looked at the request deliveries, and saw that SonofAtari was requesting an advanced Bola on the edge of MULE territory. Crafted one then and there and ran over a few MULEs to send him that gun ASAP. I hope he recognizes the gift from the guy who spammed his generator with Likes.

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if you can answer without spoilers. Is this a game that benefits from being an early adopter? Does this stuff you're making persist? I don't want to get on in a few months and it's all roads and no wilderness and generators littering the ground.

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if you can answer without spoilers. Is this a game that benefits from being an early adopter? Does this stuff you're making persist? I don't want to get on in a few months and it's all roads and no wilderness and generators littering the ground.

No, I think you'll be fine, for a few reasons.

1. You can't see things people place until you connect that area to the network. Sam's mission is to travel across the country and connect areas to what amounts to the internet. Once you do that, you can see the things other people have built, but your first trek across a space will almost always be when it's not connected yet, and so you have to navigate it unaided.

2. There is a deterioration mechanic. Things will not stick around forever without feeding more resources into them to keep them around.

I'm not sure exactly how the game determines what to pull in. There's obviously some sort of limit on it, otherwise you'd just see shit everywhere. And I still haven't seen anything from Korny or Cody (and I do wish the game would prioritize friends).

I'm still very early in chapter three, but I will say that so far the game is a little too quick to connect areas to the grid. I wish it let you stew in the unconnected wilderness a bit more. I suspect that is probably coming, though, it just wants to show of it's mechanics and make a case for why connecting is so worthy before it makes you really work for it. At least I hope that's the case.

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You can also just play offline. I think the game will auto-generate some stuff to give you the illusion of connectivity still, but I've heard there aren't as many structures littered about that way.

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if you can answer without spoilers. Is this a game that benefits from being an early adopter? Does this stuff you're making persist? I don't want to get on in a few months and it's all roads and no wilderness and generators littering the ground.

No, I think you'll be fine, for a few reasons.

You can also dismantle / pick up things people leave. So if you really really want that climbing anchor you can just take it. I think the world will constantly be in flux, also because of what you said in your post.

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"A road you rebuilt was used by someone else"

Pretty satisfying.

You want satisfying? Early on, I was riding my overloaded bike back to Central, and got a low battery alert as I was approaching BT territory. I turn a corner, and lo and behold, a randomly-placed generator that SonofAtari built there, just where and when I needed it most, letting me boost through the BTs undisturbed.
A few minutes ago, I looked at the request deliveries, and saw that SonofAtari was requesting an advanced Bola on the edge of MULE territory. Crafted one then and there and ran over a few MULEs to send him that gun ASAP. I hope he recognizes the gift from the guy who spammed his generator with Likes.

All this is pretty cool. I randomly decided to check out a "great view" sign someone left… only to find a giant cliffside with a huge waterfall, overlooking a ravine with a road half built across it. Stunning. Maybe soon that road can make it all the way across…

This is how a 'live' game should be.

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That was fuckin' brutal.

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No, I walked. That’s the pass where I fell and scattered shit everywhere while surrounded by BTs.

I sort of wish the game was more difficult. The game gives you a bunch of awesome toys, but it does it too quickly, I think. You have to really be screwing around to fall and lose your cargo. I had one sort of harrowing journey down a mountain where I got greedy stealing shit from a MULE camp, but so far the game just doesn’t really expect you to do anything all that difficult. The treks aren’t really long enough for any of the endurance mechanics to come into play, and the stuff like boots last forever.

I’m not really sure how to fix it or even what I’m asking for, but the game sets up all these things you have to manage, and then it turns out you barely have to pay any attention to them.

I’m still loving the game. I just feel like it needs a difficulty level above hard that tweaks the endurance and wear rates of equipment or something.

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I’m still loving the game. I just feel like it needs a difficulty level above hard that tweaks the endurance and wear rates of equipment or something.

I think vehicles are too good over rough terrain. It seems like only hard impacts like driving off cliffs and timefall damage them. If each time you hit a rock or something chipped away at the durability, it's encourage you to go on foot. Also, it's kind of ridiculous you can have a huge stack 15 feet high and still maneuver around on the trike :-p

I had a tough time going to the junkyard though. Finding a way across the series of cliffs while avoiding the mules before I was on the network was pretty tough.

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I fell in that canyon with the trike. I did not make the jump I thought I could.

You can just skirt the edges of MULE areas and be completely fine.

It’s not just that vehicles are too good, it’s that walking isn’t as challenging as it seemed like at first. Especially with the exoskeletons you get. There’s like no reason to ever take them off. The batteries feel like they last forever.

I’ve taken to not using them and walking everywhere and instead of using vehicles just because I enjoy it, but it’s still not super challenging. The only exception is using stolen MULE trucks to steal everything from their camps.

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I’ve taken to not using them and walking everywhere and instead of using vehicles just because I enjoy it

DUDE.

So I had to (Ch. 5 spoilers) deliver Mama to Mountain Knot City from her lab. So like, there's a giant mountain and river / cliff between right? They want you to go all the way around north, then back south. I wondered… could you just go the direct way over the giant ass mountain?

That huge mountain and everything is actual geometry you can traverse (if you can see it, you CAN go there). The river and cliff were easy enough (just a few zip lines). But from the weather station across the mountains? Could it be done?

Yes.

So damn cool. Of course when all the roads are built this will be super easy :-p

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I didn’t watch the video, but that sounds awesome. I’ve been side-eyeing that mountain since I first saw it, hoping I’d get a chance to climb it.

I just delivered the package to Fragile and watched her cutscene, so I‘m guessing I’ll be in Episode 4 shortly.

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I didn’t watch the video, but that sounds awesome. I’ve been side-eyeing that mountain since I first saw it, hoping I’d get a chance to climb it.

I just delivered the package to Fragile and watched her cutscene, so I‘m guessing I’ll be in Episode 4 shortly.

It seems like from 5 on you're more on your own when it comes to deliveries. Vehicles are actually more dangerous and there are many areas I don't know how you'd even do it with one… at least not until people build tons of stuff and the roads get finished.

So yeah go through the mountain if you want. Or go around. It's totally up to you which is rad.

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I didn’t watch the video, but that sounds awesome. I’ve been side-eyeing that mountain since I first saw it, hoping I’d get a chance to climb it.

I just delivered the package to Fragile and watched her cutscene, so I‘m guessing I’ll be in Episode 4 shortly.

It seems like from 5 on you're more on your own when it comes to deliveries. Vehicles are actually more dangerous and there are many areas I don't know how you'd even do it with one… at least not until people build tons of stuff and the roads get finished.

So yeah go through the mountain if you want. Or go around. It's totally up to you which is rad.

Some of the required timed deliveries are… impossible unless you've built or placed things to help you navigate the mountains. Plan ahead.

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How long are you spending in an area before you move on?

I’ve been try to 5 star all my connections. The Craftsman (or Engineer maybe?) gives you Level 3 Power Legs when you do. They all seem to give you cool shit for leveling up their connections.

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How long are you spending in an area before you move on?

I’ve been try to 5 star all my connections. The Craftsman (or Engineer maybe?) gives you Level 3 Power Legs when you do. They all seem to give you cool shit for leveling up their connections.

A fair bit. I've only 5 starred a few. Been building roads and zipline networks through the mountains mostly.

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I’ve taken to not using them and walking everywhere and instead of using vehicles just because I enjoy it, but it’s still not super challenging. The only exception is using stolen MULE trucks to steal everything from their camps.

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if you read the idents and history of the items in MULE camps, you’ll see that they’re filled with stuff stolen from other players. I wish there was a way to send them the stuff back directly. As it stands I mostly just recycle it. :P

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I’ve taken to not using them and walking everywhere and instead of using vehicles just because I enjoy it, but it’s still not super challenging. The only exception is using stolen MULE trucks to steal everything from their camps.

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if you read the idents and history of the items in MULE camps, you’ll see that they’re filled with stuff stolen from other players. I wish there was a way to send them the stuff back directly. As it stands I mostly just recycle it. :P

Use it to upgrade structures or build roads. Give back that way :-p

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Yeah, that’s the thing too.

All the gear is so easy to come by. If I lose a ladder or grenades or something, it just feels like it doesn’t matter.

I understand why it is how it is. If the game worked the way I imagine, I’m sure most people would end up really frustrated. I just feel like the stakes aren’t high enough. There’s still enough really cool stuff going on, but I just wanted the whole game to feel like Episode 2 and early Episode 3 did.

All they toys to play with are really neat, I just hope the difficult raises again to compensate for having all those toys.

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That was fuckin' brutal.

I took the right-middle side. Carefully mapped a path that would go under the archway at the peak...
Bad move. The BTs own that path.
It suuuuucked. But it made seeing Port Knot so dang satisfying. It being mostly clear and downhill all the way meant I floored it hard.

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That was fuckin' brutal.

I took the right-middle side. Carefully mapped a path that would go under the archway at the peak...
Bad move. The BTs own that path.
It suuuuucked. But it made seeing Port Knot so dang satisfying. It being mostly clear and downhill all the way meant I floored it hard.

It can actually be advantageous to encounter BTs. Purposefully get pulled under, and start the fight with the boss. When you kill it, not only will the area clear up and be BT free for a long time, but it will drop well over 1000 crystals.

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That was fuckin' brutal.

I took the right-middle side. Carefully mapped a path that would go under the archway at the peak...
Bad move. The BTs own that path.
It suuuuucked. But it made seeing Port Knot so dang satisfying. It being mostly clear and downhill all the way meant I floored it hard.

It can actually be advantageous to encounter BTs. Purposefully get pulled under, and start the fight with the boss. When you kill it, not only will the area clear up and be BT free for a long time, but it will drop well over 1000 crystals.

When I took that path, I wasn't packing a whole lot of grenades, since I wanted to be light (Drove straight from Central). Slammed right into a group and had to fight the Dolphin near the peak with only a couple of stacks and my full bladder at my disposal. That climb is the absolute worst terrain to fight a BT. Every time I almost got my footing, it slammed near me, sending me stumbling down the rocky slope again. Rinse and repeat until I managed to put some distance between us to fight back.

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When I took that path, I wasn't packing a whole lot of grenades, since I wanted to be light (Drove straight from Central).

Grenade pouch upgrades for your backpack are really useful you know :-p

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…when you can just zip around in style.

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I've heard this is a decently long game (like 50-60 hours or even more)

If you don't mess around or do anything cool it's shorter than that, but it's a good estimate for someone who is actually going to explore the world. I messed around a lot and I finished the story in about 70. Yes, I played it a lot in the past 11 days…

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Yeah that’s sort of what I figured. I’ll be diving back in soon. I think I’m nearly done with Fallen Order.

Did you play any Goragoa? I’m interested to hear what you think of it.

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Did you play any Goragoa? I’m interested to hear what you think of it.

No, but I might as well. Thanks.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

I'm convinced this entire game is Kojima trolling the world.

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

I'm convinced this entire game is Kojima trolling the world.

Apparently he's known to do product placement in his games. It's something he likes doing, I suppose?

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So Death Stranding has no Microtransactions…

But it has fucking product placement. Which is only a little bit less bad. >:-(

I'm convinced this entire game is Kojima trolling the world.

I mean, the fetus in the game can give out 'likes' so maybe the world is ending after all.

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I’ve been sticking Watcher holograms on all structures that I upgrade, and Aloy shows up as a greeting hologram with the Craftsman (a scan of Hermen Hulst). Now to find out what the random objects were important for in HZD. :P

Speaking of which, HZD was an amazing-looking game when it came out, but the upgrades to the Décima Engine in Death Stranding are pretty insane. HZD 2 is going to be visually mindblowing.

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The water in HZD look like absolute garbage. I wouldn't say it's the best in Death Stranding, but it's a significant step up.

Lots of things still look better in HZD, I think (the grasses and foliage for instance), but Death Stranding comes really close to Red Dead Redemption 2 in making a real looking environment. Some of the ground textures are pretty bad, but that's mostly where the paths get worn from people walking, and I'm not sure there's a great solution for that that would allow it to look amazing.

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Sometimes I feel like I can sneak right by them, other times it doesn't seem to matter what I do, they fire off.

What's the deal? I know they ping cargo, but that hasn't seemed to matter for my ability to sneak by them--I've walked by plenty of them while fully loaded.

P.S. Cody is right about making roads. I spent almost two hours single-handedly building the road from Lake Port City to the Engineer, and I shot up from something like 6,000 likes to 20,000 likes in about half an hour. They just start pouring in.

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Sometimes I feel like I can sneak right by them, other times it doesn't seem to matter what I do, they fire off.

What's the deal? I know they ping cargo, but that hasn't seemed to matter for my ability to sneak by them--I've walked by plenty of them while fully loaded.

I don't think I've noticed any inconsistency if it's actually a delivery or lost item they will ping the item on the way in, once you're in they don't ping (at least they never have for me). They are a little inconsistent about skirting along outside them. Sometimes I get pinged for being 10 feet away from them, other times it won't ping me until I pass them.

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Yeah, that’s the thing I was missing when I asked. I didn’t realize they were in a perimeter around the MULE camps and that breaking the perimeter line is what seems to activate them. The ones I thought I managed to sneak by were ones I always just stayed outside the perimeter of.

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P.S. Cody is right about making roads. I spent almost two hours single-handedly building the road from Lake Port City to the Engineer, and I shot up from something like 6,000 likes to 20,000 likes in about half an hour. They just start pouring in.

Ohhh man I just finished building all the roads. It ain't cheap building them in the wetlands by Mountain Knot City. But even better is the zipline network I've strewn through the mountains. You can get anywhere from anywhere.

It's so cool getting to know the world and finding better ways through it. The Weather Station was a huge pain to get to the first time. But with a road and one bridge it's ezpz.

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I'm an idiot.

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That’s fantastic. Watching all your shit float down the river is just the worst.

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So funny and so frustrating.

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I'm an idiot.

I’ve been super paranoid about these bridges ever since the first bollard popped up. Who’s idea was it to stick those in the middle of the narrowing portion? And on both ends, too!

Then again, I once tried to take a ladder bridge with a MULE truck, sending it flying off into the distance as my truck plummeted into the waters below. Sammy did not appreciate my logic about the intended physics...

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Anybody know what's up with this guy?

He lives just west of Lake Knot City. He doesn't have a hologram, and communicates by email and asks you to deliver… pizza. And in the most trollish way possible. One delivery was from the timefall farm. So that's pretty much the whole map top to bottom. But the conditions were ridiculous. It had to be flat, so you couldn't stack it vertically in the back. You've got to fill up your metal brace with stuff and then put the pizza on top. Then there's the champagne it was paired with. It's fragile, so you can only cary it by hand. That means no vehicles or ziplines. Yup. You have to go on foot all the way from the top to the bottom of the map. And it's timed.

I managed to do it with a speed exoskeleton, and going along the road for a while. But man. Is this guy a troll or what? He's also stingy with likes. Getting him to 5 stars is gonna be really tedious.

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I saw an article about this guy. Barely skimmed it because I didn't want to know much but apparently its worth it?

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Do them. It's so great when you find it what the deal is :-p

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I just have to mention, because it feels increasingly rare these days:

After nearly 20 hours, I have not encountered a single bug. Literally nothing. The game has not hiccuped a single time as far as I can tell. For a game with a lot of systems (not too mention the online aspect), it feels remarkable.

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I just have to mention, because it feels increasingly rare these days:

After nearly 20 hours, I have not encountered a single bug. Literally nothing. The game has not hiccuped a single time as far as I can tell. For a game with a lot of systems (not too mention the online aspect), it feels remarkable.

You mentioned before you were spending time getting 5 star connections. I hope you aren’t doing that prematurely, because as you go on you get really cool toys that make the deliveries go way more efficiently if you utilize them well.

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I only did the first area in Episode 3. I think I did the Craftsman, the Engineer, and the Elder.

I just started Episode 5 the other night. I’m going to play Jedi Fallen Order over the next week then go back to Death Stranding.

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The systems in this game are pretty deep. Case and point:

If you toss a blood grenade at a BT boss, then switch to a normal gun and start shooting through the mist, the bullets will get coated in your blood and do damage to the boss. Like, you can wreck if you use a shotgun this way.

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Can a mod move it to the "So No microtransactions…" thread.

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Regarding the memory chips:

I was actually able to find all of these on my own. Unlike most games where collectables are about aimlessly wandering around looking for them, in Death Stranding you have ways to find them:

1. Scanning reveals them if you are close by
2. Watchtowers reveal them if you are not close by
3. Other players leave signs so check your map. 'Memory chip', 'X Marks the Spot', or 'Here!' signs usually mean a chip is there
4. Emails give you clues about where some are. Some are really specific, and others not so much.

So find all the ones other players mark, and build watchtowers to find the ones that aren't. And please leave signs when you find one :-)

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Nice.
Believe it or not, I’m STILL on chapter 3, but I think I have more hours in it than IGN’s reviewer put into the entire game. I’m in no rush to unlock the things that will remove the challenge and planning that goes into each long-range delivery. I haven’t even used the Anti-BT gun.

Maybe I’ll get to chapter 4 before the year is through. :P

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Nice.
Believe it or not, I’m STILL on chapter 3, but I think I have more hours in it than IGN’s reviewer put into the entire game. I’m in no rush to unlock the things that will remove the challenge and planning that goes into each long-range delivery. I haven’t even used the Anti-BT gun.

Maybe I’ll get to chapter 4 before the year is through. :P

Well, to get the highest ranking (Legend of legends) in the deliveries (particularly time focused and recovery ones) you absolutely need all the tools at your disposal. If you wanna go for those trophies you’ll never get there without all the toys. Mules later on get guns, and top time rankings are very tight.

Pro tip: if you shoot the Bola around a mule’s head or neck they will be knocked out rather than just restrained.

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Nice.
Believe it or not, I’m STILL on chapter 3, but I think I have more hours in it than IGN’s reviewer put into the entire game. I’m in no rush to unlock the things that will remove the challenge and planning that goes into each long-range delivery. I haven’t even used the Anti-BT gun.

Maybe I’ll get to chapter 4 before the year is through. :P

Well, to get the highest ranking (Legend of legends) in the deliveries (particularly time focused and recovery ones) you absolutely need all the tools at your disposal. If you wanna go for those trophies you’ll never get there without all the toys. Mules later on get guns, and top time rankings are very tight.

I've gotten dozens of LoL rankings, I pretty much exclusively run Premium deliveries.
That said, I've never been a chaser of things on my first playthrough; I finished NieR: Automata two years ago, and I'm barely now going for the bonus endings so that I can sacrifice my save file to help another player (how's that for Strand-type cooperation, Kojima?). I hear good things about the game's tools and gear later on, but eh, I'm having a ton of relaxing stress (I guess you could call it fun?) just playing the game with the bare minimum and my wits.

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Nice.
Believe it or not, I’m STILL on chapter 3, but I think I have more hours in it than IGN’s reviewer put into the entire game. I’m in no rush to unlock the things that will remove the challenge and planning that goes into each long-range delivery. I haven’t even used the Anti-BT gun.

Maybe I’ll get to chapter 4 before the year is through. :P

Well, to get the highest ranking (Legend of legends) in the deliveries (particularly time focused and recovery ones) you absolutely need all the tools at your disposal. If you wanna go for those trophies you’ll never get there without all the toys. Mules later on get guns, and top time rankings are very tight.

I've gotten dozens of LoL rankings, I pretty much exclusively run Premium deliveries.
That said, I've never been a chaser of things on my first playthrough; I finished NieR: Automata two years ago, and I'm barely now going for the bonus endings so that I can sacrifice my save file to help another player (how's that for Strand-type cooperation, Kojima?). I hear good things about the game's tools and gear later on, but eh, I'm having a ton of relaxing stress (I guess you could call it fun?) just playing the game with the bare minimum and my wits.

Then keep doing what you do. I’m the kind of guy who would rather use the sticky gun to reel in packages than plunge the depths of a hole with toxic gas :-p

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I went back to the incinerator after reading the email about a spooky light that had been seen there. Finding out it was just a memory chip was a massive disappointment.

I need to get back to that game. I’m still at the start of episode 5.

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I've been skimming everything while squinting because I don't want to be spoiled, but this says more than any review. I know what a stickler you are. Also, there's this (which I listened to and didn't watch):

I look forward to playing, probably over the holiday break.

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It's definitely thematically dense. For all the exposition and non subtlety of Kojima, there's a lot that's beautiful and understated. Like, it doesn't outright say it, but a world in which the afterlife is scientifically proven and somewhat understood really throws a wrench into spiritualism and religion when it comes to finding meaning in life. So how do you?

Well the game has its answer.

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So no microtransactions… (Gaming)