@Bread_or_Decide said:
@Jag85 said:
@locopatho said:
Gaming, like any art, can be enjoyable for many reasons. Often, seemingly "negative" aspects can actually be what makes the game fun!
A shooter where a single bullet kills you might be considered more frustrating than one where you can take many hits... but that might lend the first game a super intense atmosphere that the second one lacks.
A racer where adjusting your engine setup, tires, etc is necessary to progress might be considered boring compared to the simple bright fun of Mario Kart... but the sim racer might boast more complexity and challenge for those willing to put in the effort.
A survival game with food, water, sleep, etc, meters to keep topped up might be considered dull busywork... but some gamers could consider it an interestingly accurate simulation of the difficulty and stress of surviving in a harsh land.
Or, if you prefer a non-game example, there are thousands of books, films and songs that focus on evoking negative emotions (boredom, fear, horror, sadness, anxiety, jealously, hatred, regret) in the person experiencing them. That is their point. Not all art exists to make us feel joyful fun.
I haven't played Death Stranding yet but am very excited to. Whether good, bad or in between, it's a weirdly unique work that nobody else in the industry (barring perhaps some poorly funded indies) would or could make. We need more strange, divisive games, not less.
This. Best post in this thread so far.
We're talking about a medium where gamers willingly choose the hardest difficult, where having the worst time is how they have the most fun.
But Death Stranding reviewers are lying because a frustrating game is still an amazing experience.
As general rule of thumb, a work should be reviewed according to the standards of its own genre, not by the standards of other genres. On one end of the spectrum, you have action games, which should be judged mainly on their action gameplay. On the other end of the spectrum, you have visual novels, which should be judged mainly on their writing. Then you have genres like adventure games, RPGs, strategy games, sports games, simulators, action-adventures, etc. When reviewing different genres, reviewers judge them according to different sets of criteria.
In the case of Death Stranding, reviewers are presented with a game that doesn't fit neatly into any particular genre. It's not clear what the game's genre is, whether it's a delivery management simulator, survival game, adventure game, cinematic movie game, parcel delivery simulator, fetch-quest simulator, open-world game, bridge-building game, etc. Whatever it is, it seems apparent that DS is not an action-oriented game. So it wouldn't make sense to judge it according to action game standards. It doesn't make sense to criticize a game for a lack of action when it's not even trying to be an action-oriented game.
Much of the gameplay appears to be about things like delivery management, survival mechanics, building bridges, online communication, virtual social media, and yes, fetch quests. Many reviews praised the delivery management system and survival mechanics, and found them surprisingly engaging. They also praised the story, cinematics and world-building. At the same time, a number of reviewers expressed disappointment and/or frustration at the lack of action, which is what they've come to expect from a Kojima game, but many of them logically determined that it shouldn't be a deal-breaker because it's not trying to be an action-oriented game in the first place. And most ended up finding the overall experience enjoyable.
In other words, there is no conspiracy. Reviewers are simply doing their jobs. They praised what the game does well (e.g. delivery management, survival mechanics, story, cinematics, world-building) and mentioned what it lacks (i.e. lack of action), with most focusing on what the game is actually about (not the action) and finding the overall experience enjoyable. Some folks need to get over themselves and stop peddling conspiracy theories, over a game that hasn't even come out yet. Conspiracy theories are just getting tired and boring now.
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