Is it kino? Ludo? Both? Neither?

>>713981119 (OP)
Yes and no. It has a lot of QoL improvements which make it less of slog, and with "slog" I dont mean the actual walking, but more like everything being more convenient now. But it might also be too convenient, you have everything: from perks, to vehicles, to both highways and monorails, and even fast travel with cargo (not for new locations though), theres tons of tools and skills... and even if you use the bare minimum, the game is a joke even on hardest difficulty, let alone on normal. Like, I just did the last order of chapter 4 (you have to go from F1 terminal to North Observatory), and even with the fast travel disabled, the best route is going around the black beach in the west to pick up some lost cargo for the Animal Shelter, etc. The vista is cool, I had a big eartquake but it didnt affect the water levels nor had to avoid falling rocks. Near your the destination you can build an umbrella as a request from the animal shelter, and you have a Brigand camp right in front of you where you can "make your own fun", or just go around which only takes like 15 more seconds than going straight, and a few hundred meters ahead you reach the North Observatory. Using a vehicle you can finish this order while picking up everything in 15 minutes or less. Again, it depends of you wanting to make your own fun, or completisionism autism, but it feels too casualized compared to the first one, I wish he had went for a middle ground.

>>713981119 (OP)
I mean it's a walking sim so it can only be so good.

>>713982005
I think the first game had the same issue with roads/vehicles, but its also just a shorter game by a wide margin. You can' fast travel, but you get way less likes for delivering cargo therefore if you are doing suborders in the first place then you don't really gain anything by using the fast travel.

Its more to me about how the map is a bit more flat for most of it, and therefore vehicles are much stronger. Getting materials to make roads in DS1 was much more of an issue than in here, and fixing the monorail lets you move large amounts of stuff from the mines forward. Again more QOL cause honestly a sequel isn't going to be able to recreate the feeling of doing it for the first time or how it was to play DS1 trekking along.
The game works best for people who really didn't get into the first, and quicker onboarding with less front-loaded scenes and straight into the core loop with new QOL gets people involved earlier.

>>713981119 (OP)
Its good. I think like many sequels the story needing to fill in gaps or explain stuff takes away mystique but otherwise the actual gameplay and stuff is better. Feels a bit underutilized, like quakes, avalanches and flooding barely affect you. The trailer had a nice bait moment by showing a jungle, but its only in Mexico and for like a 10 minute period. I think the biomes in this are a tad disappointing.

Death Stranding 1 = Alien
Death Stranding 2 = Aliens

>>713982490
>The game works best for people who really didn't get into the first
People that played the first game to the end but also skipped everything they could are a minority. I think most people either liked/loved it, so they kinda put some time in the game, or they didnt like it and ending up dropping it early. I do feel Kojima made everything with that kind of thought in mind, but I wish some of those main orders were harder, as in making you use everything you have cause otherwise it would be impossible to complete

>>713981119 (OP)
It's a great game but it has the same issue as the first game. The vehicles and online features trivialize the gameloop even on the highest difficulty setting, which is Brutal in DS2. If one doesn't intentionally limit themselves to only playing offline and not using vehicles, the game becomes mind-numbing quickly.
Otherwise it's a fantastic game and the improvements made to combat are real nice and the soundtrack is a banger.

>>713982005
>and even fast travel with cargo
What? This seems like it kill a lot of the game, unless it cancels any delivery missions you took or something?
Though, I'll still likely end up buying it when it comes out on PC

>>713984241
It has an evaluation penalty, giving you less likes. It doesnt help much with main orders since you cant fast travel to new locations. Thats it.

>>713984856
Ah well, I was able to restrict myself to whatever tools I found fun last time (e.i. avoiding ziplines), so it should be fine. Though I will say, driving your bike down the highways to deliver stuff was quite comfy, even if easy.

>>713981119 (OP)
The general consensus is that DS2 is better than DS1 and I agree. I'm only in chapter 6 but a lot of the same game design of DS1 is objectively improved. QoL makes everything from DS1 better to play, The "Mads" bosslevels are more vertical and eloborate and vehicle physics have been improved. The inclusion of a day/night cycle and music player alone make it hard for me to go back to DS1.

The only negatives that I can think of is that the novelty of "delivery simulator" from DS1 is gone and that it had a more consistent (lonely) atmosphere and tone.

>>713981119 (OP)
I wish Kojima's "I'll make it shit on purpose" meme was more about difficulty and not about story, he casualized the game. Just keep all the qol and make the game harder, goddamit

>>713987193
dude he fucking designed DS1 for people who could not even beat Pacman
Kojima will never make challenging games

>>713987193
The first game was also piss easy. It's way too easy to accidentally optimize the fun out of the game. The worst part is that the game rewards you for doing so.

For a supposed walking simulator, there's very little walking in the game. Should be called driving simulator because that's what you're mostly doing.

Console.
Gremlins are talking about it now (You) and soon in a year PC Gods will enter and have a proper analysis of it

Stay tuned