Are Death Stranding "Part 3'ers" the Flat Earthers of Videogames?

[dope_danny]

So E3's rolling around and i rewatched the old Death Stranding trailers before the new one Kojimas been teasing all week on twitter. After doing so my Youtube recommendations were flooded with what i can only describe as "crackpot conspiracy theories" about the game and its relation to Kojima, Konami, Silent Hills and Metal Gear Solid V.

Now we all know MGSV was literally unfinished. The game doesnt' resolve its story and thats because of the whole behind the scenes blow up and Konami losing so much money producing it they finally rushed it out the door and wanted to be done with it. Kojima left, he now is making a game for Sony. Thats the end right? a fun game thats sadly flawed but overall people had a good time with it. You move on. Right?
Well not everybody did. Here we are like 2 years later and people STILL are making videos about some variation of: "Kojima never really left Konami, this is all [T H E M A E S T R O] doing his usual rusemaster work. Death Stranding is Silent Hills AND the final third of Metal Gear Solid V and hes just playing the smartest long con ever, dont you see?!" and they are militant in their staunch belief of this. Question it and irrational outrage and threats start to fly.

example:



Not taking into account of course:
1: Thats fucking stupid
2: Why would Konami ruin their reputation for one game already turned into a money hole?
3: If all they can say is 'b-but things in PT line up with DS' perhaps its because an artist doesnt let ideas from a cancelled project die with it?
4: They are expecting people to whoop and cheer that the final third of a retail release is a sony exclusive thats also a paid retail release itself?

and the closer to E3 the worse they are getting. Look at any Death Stranding video for comments threads worse than religious fundamenalists on the Symphony of Science videos about particle physics and evolution. Would it be the most amazing twist reveal ever? yeah sure. We would talk about it forever. Is it likely and making any business sense in a sane world? fuck no.

which honestly made me wonder, are these the biggest conspiracy crackpots in videogames? Theres always been rumours and theories about games, you might even say Game Theorys, but thats just a theory mind you. Never have i seen one this die hard that it has its own 'community' of close minded, zealous people that seem half totally bananas and half completely unable to deal with the fact mommy and daddy got a divorce and arent getting back together.

Think about it, can you name a bigger conspiracy theory melting pot for games? at least in recent gens i've got nothing that comes to mind even close.

[RobertoCarlos]

Sounds like people with too much time on their hands, heard of the saying "dont throw the baby out with the bath water" ?

Good ideas are good ideas, not surprising developers might use ideas from past projects that were scrapped or didnt have the technology at the time to flesh them out correctly

Also kojima products seem to attract weirdo's because of the nature of his games where you can get all types of subject matter

[Video Games]

Clickbait for clues.

[mvaliz]

I'll tell you what I feel like in regards to Death Stranding: I feel like the only person on the planet who's asking "so... can we see the actual GAMEPLAY of this game? Why is nobody asking about the gameplay? Why are people saying "OMG, Death Stranding looks awesome!" when all we've seen are cinematics?"

[Ladyoftheforest]

I'll tell you what I feel like in regards to Death Stranding: I feel like the only person on the planet who's asking "so... can we see the actual GAMEPLAY of this game? Why is nobody asking about the gameplay? Why are people saying "OMG, Death Stranding looks awesome!" when all we've seen are cinematics?"

Because it's Kojima. His last work may not have been a finished product, but gameplay wise he delivers, like always. I rather kept in the dark now then already know what I can expect, it's part of the attraction. Still, it's good to know the concept of the game in it's core: an open world game with no 'deathpenalty' as we know it and in the (rough) mold of Uncharted/The Division.

[Gallahadd]

Why are people saying "OMG, Death Stranding looks awesome!" when all we've seen are cinematics?"

Agreed. I have a few friends who are going OUT of their fucking minds about this game... And we have 0 actual evidence that the game will be anything more than an interactive movie at this point. No gameplay, no descriptions other that the wierd shit they've released so far... do we even know what the genre will be? do we have ANY clues as to how the game will actually play?

As for the OP's claim: I don't think they're QUITE as bad as Flat Earthers, simply because this IS a Kojima title and he does love doing weird shit, so there is always a chance, no matter how small, that they MAY have some kind of connection there.

Meanwhile, flat earthers are just delusional crackpots.

[Ladyoftheforest]

Agreed. I have a few friends who are going OUT of their fucking minds about this game... And we have 0 actual evidence that the game will be anything more than an interactive movie at this point. No gameplay, no descriptions other that the wierd shit they've released so far... do we even know what the genre will be? do we have ANY clues as to how the game will actually play?

As for the OP's claim: I don't think they're QUITE as bad as Flat Earthers, simply because this IS a Kojima title and he does love doing weird shit, so there is always a chance, no matter how small, that they MAY have some kind of connection there.

Meanwhile, flat earthers are just delusional crackpots.

Keeping yourself up to date about published info helps. Go ahead, try it.

[Gallahadd]

Keeping yourself up to date about published info helps. Go ahead, try it.

Eh, I find it so much easier just to bother people on the internet.

[Ladyoftheforest]

Eh, I find it so much easier just to bother people on the internet.

Fair enough. Carry on I guess!

[valax]

I'll tell you what I feel like in regards to Death Stranding: I feel like the only person on the planet who's asking "so... can we see the actual GAMEPLAY of this game? Why is nobody asking about the gameplay? Why are people saying "OMG, Death Stranding looks awesome!" when all we've seen are cinematics?"

Kojima games always featured real time cutscenes , so it's safe to assume they transition in and off seamlessly and the game will be gorgeous.
Sure it would be interesting to know how will we actually move around in the game or to know what the objective is but he wants to keep the interest high and not disclosing much before launch is the best strategy for the first game of his own company. Also helps in the development phase , right now they could remodel gameplay from the start , after you disclose people will expect to find what you showed them and you will face critics since you gave people something to compare the final product to.

[Gallahadd]

Fair enough. Carry on I guess!

Also, to be a bit less of a troll.

It's been described as "An open world Action game" Which means basically nothing in modern gaming. Add in that Kojima has said that he calls this an action game in the same way that Metal Gear was originally called an action game, because at the time the "stealth game" genre didn't exist. Implying that this is only called an action game, because we lack a better description and the confusion is compounded further.

Then, all of that is dialed up to 11 by him saying weird shit like "Punching, Shooting and kicking are like sticks, the first tools man invented. In this game I want people to use ropes."

What the shit does that even mean? You spooky bastard...

[Ladyoftheforest]

Also, to be a bit less of a troll.

It's been described as "An open world Action game" Which means basically nothing in modern gaming. Add in that Kojima has said that he calls this an action game in the same way that Metal Gear was originally called an action game, because at the time the "stealth game" genre didn't exist. Implying that this is only called an action game, because we lack a better description and the confusion is compounded further.

Then, all of that is dialed up to 11 by him saying weird shit like "Punching, Shooting and kicking are like sticks, the first tools man invented. In this game I want people to use ropes."

What the shit does that even mean? You spooky bastard...

Open world action game says much to some, little to others. To me it's a direction that sates my curiosity on the genre level. Open world and action game ticks the boxes, especially since MGSV can fall in the same category and I thoroughly enjoyed that game. But I can understand the need for details in your case. MGS was always known as an 'espionage tactical game', but we all knew it was a stealth game that gradually developed into a more action game. Normally it's easier to label the genre, but with this new concept of 'stick' and 'rope' while also being able to have a playable purgatory state may transcend an existing genre. So I understand your point.

The stick and rope was borrowed from a book he read. Simply put it gives the player the option to use lethal and non lethal (rope>story/game connection>multiplayer?) means to finish an objective while cooperating with others, npc's or maybe things. (Multiplayer will definately be a thing, as will death)

[mvaliz]

Kojima games always featured real time cutscenes , so it's safe to assume they transition in and off seamlessly and the game will be gorgeous.

Uh-huh... and by that logic the Star Wars Prequels and Indiana Jones Crystal Skull sequel were absolute gems because it was "Safe to assume" George Lucas made great movies before.

Don't get me wrong, I'm interested and want it to be good - but it very VERY much scares me when somebody is only showing fancy cutscenes and NO gameplay for several decades! FFS, even the Final Fantasy VII remake has actual gameplay footage - and that game is being debated on possibly not even coming out until 2023 or even delayed until the PS5!

Every MGS game that Kojima developed did NOT go this long without actually showing SOME gameplay clips. (emphasis on did not go THIS LONG without - so don't link me any announcement trailers as evidence. That applies to any game really.)

Trust me, I hope you're right and I'm wrong - but I don't assume anymore, and I've seen too many creative geniuses to go full mental when given carte blanche, especially when people like you tell them "he can do no wrong" and thus tries to one-up his game. Yes, they can go wrong! Terribly wrong! Just ask John Kirkfalusi when he was given carte blanche to make new episodes of his previous creation, Ren n' Stimpy, for Spike TV! (which is why I call it "Krikfalusi Syndrome!" :P

Seriously, I'm more than happy to see gameplay and am REALLY hoping we're going to get some this E3 - which seems likely since Sony's making a big point of it being on display this year, which I'm hoping isn't only for hype reasons...