finished eps 3 and 4. super loving this. it's weird. all of my criticisms are the ones echoed in other reviews, but they mostly vanish completely midway through ep3.

i wonder if the metacritic score would be higher if they got to experience the strand system with thousands instead of hundreds.


-Vader

Vader182 wrote: ↑

November 11th, 2019, 3:36 pm

finished eps 3 and 4. super loving this. it's weird. all of my criticisms are the ones echoed in other reviews, but they mostly vanish completely midway through ep3.

i wonder if the metacritic score would be higher if they got to experience the strand system with thousands instead of hundreds.


-Vader

I feel like a solid bit of people who quit into it and didn't continue playing (Jim Sterling, one specific review company, etc.) stopped in Chapter 2 while trying to slog through every side op possible before progressing the main story.

So far through playing it, I'm happy to be enjoying it so thoroughly. Certain reviews had me doubting it.

I feel like this is Kojima's Interstellar tbh

Also:
https://www.cnet.com/news/death-strandi ... following/

interstellar isn't a bad comparison. they're heady and cerebral yet sappy and engage in melodrama. it's a weird combination for people. one side may work for someone but the other side may not, or they may rule eachother out.

it's a wavelength that works for me.


-Vader

He's also making headlines for making a statement acknowledging the mixed criticism, but he does so in a backhanded attack on how westerners seem inclined to only care about shooters (which I actually agree with) and are more hesitant to new experiences. He goes on to say that the same goes for cinema which is why international outlets have been more clear in their acclaim.

Read more here (if you want): https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a35p ... f-shooters

I think what he says is more right than people want to believe, but I've already seen headlines generalizing and stating he doesn't take criticism well.

i enjoy this trend of masters dropping truth bombs on the general public

I mean its a game where you gotta "stop and look around" to even see the monsters

Just did the junk guy quest with the girl and the hourglass

Bbbboi did that stand out

Its pure Kojima when the thing is banal and forced as fuck but you cry anyway

prince0gotham wrote: ↑

November 11th, 2019, 6:45 pm

I mean its a game where you gotta "stop and look around" to even see the monsters

Just did the junk guy quest with the girl and the hourglass

Bbbboi did that stand out

Its pure Kojima when the thing is banal and forced as fuck but you cry anyway

it's also why 99% of people you meet are limited to indoors, dehumanizing them into glitch art portraits.

kojima withheld these emotional connections to supercharge the cathartic release when he stops the withholding.

it's, to an extent, the same reason quiet's dance in the rain makes me emotional when it too is totally 'banal and forced as fuck.'


-Vader

He used to do this purely with switching between grounded hyper-seriousness and occasional poop/pee jokes, the barrel gag in MGS4, etc. Now negative space is the main source of that same tension build up -> release cycle

I’m in episode 3 and yeah this game is a masterpiece

Deep into chapter 3 and I'm loving how weird it is.

I do have some gripes, which include how you hardly interact with any character outside of cutscenes. Most of the story is through typically long Kojimaesque cutscenes, or more often, holograms.

It feels like a Fallout game in that way, in that the story is told to you instead of always making you an engaged participant. It makes the world feel incredibly empty, and perhaps that's intentional, but it also seems like a product of the post-Konami Kojima, where he doesn't have the backing of a big studio and budget.

It puts some distance between me and actually connecting with the game's story and characters, because I can see how the daily grind can devolve into the "another settlement needs your help" monotony of Fallout 4.

It takes about 5 minutes and 20 button presses to do one simple action. There's a maddening tedium to this game that forces me to play it in short bursts. I remember feeling the same way during Phantom Pain. Like why? Why do you have to watch Sam put every single package on the belt and then sit through a "mission accomplished" review screen? Why do you have to confirm every little thing and then watch a 2 second hologram of a character thanking you?

I know there's supposed to be this like meta-narrative and 4th wall breaking (Higgs: "Aren't you getting tired of the grind ... isn't this what you been waiting for"), but I don't think that excuses it. I've only ever played this, Phantom Pain, and Ground Zeroes by Kojima, but it feels like his games use the self-awareness and self-commentary as a license to make it grindy and tedious.

Having said that, I'm having a blast now that you have all these cool upgrades and vehicles. Echoing Vader's words, it does make chapter 2 seem unnecessarily punishing. Like, I almost cannot blame reviewers for quitting at that point. The alienation doesn't seem to serve any purpose (at least not yet).

I also appreciate how the "grind" of the game kind of connects you to the environment, as RDR2 does in many ways. The landscape and nature isn't just something you walk over, it's an actual character.

I also like the apparent influences from Kubrick. Maybe some Interstellar, maybe some Blade Runner too.