Has anyone seen good visual comparisons between Death Stranding 1 and Death Stranding 2 based on the footage? What stood out to me were things like draw distance of the rocks and how detailed they looked. The landscape looked like a step up. Just from cursory viewing it looks like geometric complexity has taken a big step up and it doesn't look faked (normal mapped etc). Also the simulation of the rock slide and the flooding looked very good. I don't believe they had moving flood like that in the first game, but I could be wrong. I know they had some flooded areas, but I don't remember seeing any simulation of the flooding spreading. The modelling, lighting and materials looked very nice. I know the first game did a very nice job with that too. Would be nice to have some really high quality screens to inspect things closer. Direct comparisons to the first game would make spotting improvements easier.
Death Stranding 2 (working title) [PS5, PC]
- Thread starter chris1515
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I'm betting though, that Tarantino would love it.
I could go on a rant about Nolan, but I don't really want to derail this thread.
The reason I did like the trailer (besides the pretty graphics), was the silliness and over the top elements that I felt were missing from the previous game.
After all, at least for me, those elements are part of the Kojima experience.
Terrain Geometry complexity its draw distance and overall scale definitely got huge upgrade, even if in last gen games that was relatively strong point
No flowing water simulation in former decima games. First DS and HFB had some pretty cool animated textures.
Looks like Decima got upgraded in indirect/global illumination department, maybe its even some RTGI solution.
Former Decima games had baked setups with probes changing only few times a day. Whatever it is now it looks much more dynamic now.
The negative I see in Kojima's latest games is how characters over explain everything to you. It's full of chatter that makes the player feel like their character is the dumb one, where everyone knows, you dont know shit and everyone needs to over explain to you this nonsensical world that someone came up with to the smallest possible detail, in Kojima's attempt to make you understand what he was thinking.
On the other hand there is something about Death Stranding 's silliness that I feel some cringe but instantly recovered by the game's atmosphere.
The world of Death Stranding isnt supposed to be identified with the world we are living in. Nothing makes sense and cannot be explained in that sense. It's world is like living inside a dream with its own physical rules.
Whoever came up with the universe of DS he is the Salvador Dali of futuristic surrealism turned into game.
The setting is outright weird and it is breaking the rules even of science fiction in a manner that has not been attempted before and gives huge freedom to go nuts and play with cinematography and the settings.
A villain looking like a high tech heavy metal rock star is weird? We have disposable babies in tanks that can tell you were dead people who crossed from the underworld are located. Rain that can speed up time. You can make grenades out of your poop and piss. Dead bodies that create craters. Whales coming out of tars. The list of nonsensical elements is huge.
It is ridiculous by the standards of the real world, even by science fiction standards. But everything is logical in it's surreal dreamy universe.
On the other hand there is something about Death Stranding 's silliness that I feel some cringe but instantly recovered by the game's atmosphere.
The world of Death Stranding isnt supposed to be identified with the world we are living in. Nothing makes sense and cannot be explained in that sense. It's world is like living inside a dream with its own physical rules.
Whoever came up with the universe of DS he is the Salvador Dali of futuristic surrealism turned into game.
The setting is outright weird and it is breaking the rules even of science fiction in a manner that has not been attempted before and gives huge freedom to go nuts and play with cinematography and the settings.
A villain looking like a high tech heavy metal rock star is weird? We have disposable babies in tanks that can tell you were dead people who crossed from the underworld are located. Rain that can speed up time. You can make grenades out of your poop and piss. Dead bodies that create craters. Whales coming out of tars. The list of nonsensical elements is huge.
It is ridiculous by the standards of the real world, even by science fiction standards. But everything is logical in it's surreal dreamy universe.
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Cynicalking
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The thing is, weird can be cool, but they are not always cool. Yes, his universes are surreal, there's a lot of weird shit going on in them, and there are things that are super cool about them, but there are too a lot of elements in them super cringe and crappy.
In general, though, I agree with you. Specially with his tendency to overexplain things.
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It's why metal gear rising is ones of the best in term of storytelling.
It felt like a Kojima game where Kojima was hands off (and according to the interviews, he was hands off).
Sure some parts still overexplain things, but they balanced it with NANOMACHINES SON! and just swing with it.
Btw the problem of overexplaining stuff feels epidemic in Japan and Korean media, not just games but also their TV series.
In western media, there's a lot of emphasis of show, don't tell. But in JP and KR media they show AND tell and then TELL again, on top of that SHOW it again.
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Anyway, ds2 looks like Kojima's baby so I expect the game will have long cutscenes that overexplain stuff.
Or maybe they will tone it down, and it'll be more like MGSV.
So ds1 is mgs4, and ds2 is MGSV.
It felt like a Kojima game where Kojima was hands off (and according to the interviews, he was hands off).
Sure some parts still overexplain things, but they balanced it with NANOMACHINES SON! and just swing with it.
Btw the problem of overexplaining stuff feels epidemic in Japan and Korean media, not just games but also their TV series.
In western media, there's a lot of emphasis of show, don't tell. But in JP and KR media they show AND tell and then TELL again, on top of that SHOW it again.
---
Anyway, ds2 looks like Kojima's baby so I expect the game will have long cutscenes that overexplain stuff.
Or maybe they will tone it down, and it'll be more like MGSV.
So ds1 is mgs4, and ds2 is MGSV.
I agree with you but I wouldn't call what you describe as Metal Gear Rising being great at Story Telling.
It was great at telling us that story telling here is not the point.
I think it was pure awesomeness at making fun of itself, deliberately going over the top and making it clear that there is no reason to explain how all this craze works. Only that there is a reason. Nanomachines! F*ck the rest! The whole game is a meme, a self parody of the late MGS game universe. Hence why MGS Rising is silly, disconnected from the MGS universe and kind of ruins it if taken literally.
For me MGS1 and MGS2 were pure awesomeness in writing and they succeeded by not having to explain a lot of things. Relationships were suggested. Things happening in the backstage were suggested.
The power of MGS1 and MGS2 is what the Ancient Greeks called Tragic Irony in theater, where the audience knew things the characters didn't. In the case of these games, we were the tragic character character that didn't know and we realized that we didn't know and that there is a "virtual audience" that knows more.
For example the Patriots were representing something more eerie, something intangible, something that was automatically given birth through society. It didn't need any explanation. It is why the ending of MGS2 was so powerful. We as the tragic character were helpless to what was going on in the back stage and we could never have control or full knowledge of the powers controlling the events.
It went bad when Kojima in his next games tried to explain the Patriots as something tangible, something that could be explained with technology and physically. MGS4 was the worst written MGS in my book for this reason. MGS V spoiled the other MGS games by using parasites as the new nanomachines that tried to logically explain the Cobra Unit's superpowers in MGS3. It didn't have to explain anything and it was silly how MGSV had these super biological, mechanical and computing technologies surpassing anything we ve seen in MGS1 and MGS2.
It's as if the audience is trying to explain to the character who plays the story, why the director put that chair there, why that scenery here and looks the way it is, what's going on in the story, who is who and what is what, what was his intention and the philosophy behind it etc. It breaks the immersion
I think the Japanese did have the tendency to leave some things unexplained in the past.
The Japanese The Ring Trilogy didn't explain almost anything. It gave you hints and rumors. Half of the horror was suggested. The US version though emphasized on the visual effects in the sequels and less on atmosphere.
The Silent Hill series from Team Silent created a huge cult following because 90% of the things going on were never explained, only suggested and hinted at, some just were there with no need of explanation. The forums were filled with theories and detective work to connect the dots and found huge Easter eggs and suggestions throughout it's world.
Once the west took over to make the movie, it lost the bread and butter of the original. The Western team that took over the games also failed miserably, losing the abnormalities and suggestions of the original. They also tried to explain the world literally. They tried to mimic the movie. Pyramid Head for example became just a monster in a possessed satanic world. The Pyramid Head on the other hand in SH2 had a hinted very sacred dark role in James subconscious and torment.
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Trailer was as incomprehensible as ever. At this point I'll just go with it and enjoy the game, even though for the life of me I have no recollection of what happened in the first one. If someone asked me what the story of DS is, I'd just stare at them in total confusion. But I did love the game and I'll probably love this one too.
Mmmm not sure about 'logical', but it sure is interesting and intriguing to try to understand WTF Kojima was snorting while writing this.
I can see the improvements in DS2 but they don't warrant to play it at 30fps instead of 60fps. But that's just me. I am hoping they'll include a 60fps mode in this one.
Did DS ever get a PS5 update/release at 60? I played it on PS4.
Yes. It was rereleased for PS5
Yes. It was a technical marvel on PS5. Native 4K at 60fps + visual improvements. About 8 times more performance than the PS4 version. If you only played on PS4 you need to try the glorious PS5 version!
Wow. Not sure I want to dive into the game again, it was a LOT. Def a one time playthrough for me.
if you didnt play the directors cut they released, there is quite a lot of new content but the overall game is pretty much the same
i only played the directors cut on pc
hopefully it comes out on pc soon after console
Johnny Awesome
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I'm trying very hard not to post what I think about Kojima games, in the interest of peace and civility on these reactivated forums. 
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