I thought about how to make the BTs into a fun mechanic and i reach a conclusion regarding exactly why they fail.
They are predictable. It's their fatal flaw, it kills them on the spot.
When seeing some timefall a player will skirt around the zone which effectively removes the BTs contained in this area from the game, the gameplay and the map are reduced. If the coast is clear then a player is inclined to go through the area and that's when the BTs "could be there any second" their presence is being felt more than if they had spawned. The BTs must be less present in order to be more present, they must engage less with the player to increase the player's engagement with them. This counter intuitive subtlety was lost on Death Stranding's developers. For the game otherwise so creative elsewhere in its gameplay, to fall back on what reminds me of MMO mob design.

they were fun when they were invisible
now they're stupid
just walk past them and laugh
they don't do anything

>>716318025 (OP)
There's few annoying spots to have BTs so I just got caught on purpose and died so that the crater would delete the BT encounter entirely and I could deliver in peace.
Yes I think the mechanic isn't fully thought out and that the game is overall way too friendly.

>>716318025 (OP)
If i need Chyral Crystals real quick i just let myself get caught and kill the squid, easy 500+ crystals.

>>716318447 It wouldn't be that hard to make them not stupid.

Their detection range is lower than all of Sam's weapons meaning they compound defects: tanky, numerous sitting ducks. Unless a player ludonaratively discordantly wants to get caught so he can shoot at a huge HP sandbag. The monster design is cool once, twice,

>>716318798 Look at what an unfortunate mechanic can do to a bright eyed player. Turn him into a homo? Demens?

BT's and MULES would be infinitely more fun if their positions were randomized. But I guess Kojima didn't want to fuck up the player's delivery routes, or make them outright impossible to accomplish.

>>716318798
that's even worse
you beat the thing
and it drops so little chireliam that it isn't worth fighting, the stupid snails are worth like 4x as much

Death Stranding thread by the way, i actually like the games a lot. Thank you for posting.

>>716319562
I think human enemies having static camps is alright, it makes sense. I saw anons having ideas about seeing them patrol outwards in order to attack porters but it's already what they're supposed to be doing with their truck patrols.

They work just fine for the length of the playthrough. I don't know for how long people are playing the game to memorize BT positions but I don't think that was intended.
I say that with 120 hours between ds1 and ds2

>>716320170
In my scenario then the BTS would retain their static zones, just their spawn timers would be tweaked to make them spawn less often and no need to manually clear them to make them disappear either because that's a false good idea. It seems like gameplay but look that the gameplay in question. Players online are supposed to clear them out for other players, but evidently that's already happening less and less because players catch on that it's not a fun activity.

>>716318025 (OP)
The first cutscene (also used as a trailer for the game) where we see the BTs in Death Stranding 1 is amazing, and it shows everything that BTs are not in the actual game.

https://youtu.be/mLqVMF9s1Qc?t=210

In this cutscene the BTs are pro-active and actively search for humans and move around, they are for the most part invisible and only partially visible sometimes, showing a silhouette in the darkness, and they certainly don't feel predictable.

In the game though, you enter a BT section and they are almost inmobile or they follow a very set pattern, they never wander around so quickly and actively as long as you don't alert them, and if you do, they will stop after some time if you just don't move.

>>716320795
I think you're right, for the length of a playthrough. It seems to me too like that's how Kojima intended the game to be played. He's probably horrified at how may hours some of us have clocked in this shit. Doesn't want to be a purveyor of drugs.
You know what i'm getting sick of these old japanese men telling me not to enjoy the things they create too much.

I disagree. Yeah, the BTs start off as genuinely terrifying at first and progressively get less and less scary as the game progresses but I wouldn’t call them outright annoyance or unnecessary. BT territories design wise are more like a mountain or otherwise rough terrain, you pick a route and you can either go around the known BT area or you can hike through it. You plan your routes according to what you’re prepared and in the mood to deal with.
For example, early on I was doing a delivery from the Chiral Artist to South Knot, and my dumb ass hopped in a carrier up in the mountain and slid down into the BT zone and ran right into a BT, and I was underequipped and couldn’t escape the Hunters so they dragged me into what was my first Catcher encounter. Never ran faster in a videogame. I fucked around and found out. BT zones are like rough terrain you have to hike through carefully as if you were crossing a river or scaling through a mountain. Sure, they lose the horror aspect once you free a couple of them with the cuff blade, but I wouldn’t say they’re annoying or pointless. If you do get caught and can’t escape the Hunters then that’s entirely on you, you should always have some hematic grenades to ward them off. It’s part of what makes the game fun, you pick a delivery, pick a route, and equip yourself for it. Just like if you were going for a hike in real life. You wouldn’t climb Mount Everest in a tank top and shorts.
>>716318798
I don’t like this “Death Stranding is too easy” complaint. Yes, I know the game is easy, but it’s not supposed to be difficult. Challenging and stressful yes but not difficult, those are different things. The game is supposed to be comfy 90% of the time to then occasionally throw you a curveball that pushes you down to the end of your rope but leaves you just enough to climb back up and pull through whatever situation you didn’t plan properly for. It’s not meant to be Halo 2 LASO type of difficult

>>716321973
This fucking cutscene really put me on edge. The way the guy pinned under the truck tries to keep himself silent even as the timefall rusts him away, and the way the other guy tries to stab himself to death as he’s being dragged upwards. Fuck, Kojima really needs to make a horror movie, it’s so obvious he desperately wants to

>>716321973
This cutscene happened to me in the game when i took a nap inside of what i didn't know was a BT zone. A great moment of gaming. It can happen, they can be spooky.

>>716322883
I think he was well aware of how long people would play these games for. There’s like 500 standard deliveries to LoL. And MGSV also had a fucking ridiculous amount of grinding to “max out” Mother Base. Japanese devs know what they’re doing, even if they pretend to regret it. For all this talk about how MGSV and especially Death Stranding are “movie games”, you do spend a lot of time actually playing them

>>716318025 (OP)
I really like the game, but if BTs were truly random it would probably ruin it for me.
I have 4 giant deliveries on my truck with most destinations on very uneven terrain, random mud ghosts that sink everything instantly would be too much

>>716323562
If he knew then he should have made this game world into a place which supports delivering gameplay forever without running dry, for the player to exist in. Or only just GOD DAMN FIX THE BTs.

Is it possible to drive through BT territories in a truck?

>>716324770
Yes I've done it multiple times. They're not really a threat if you're in a vehicle.

>>716323008
Your fun BT encounter seems to have happened by accident when you were not prepared. What if that were to happen more often, wouldn't that be good?
All the more reasons to stay prepared with weapons. If you know when you're going into the BTs or not then you are not always prepared.
They lose their horror but it is replaced by what feeling? For me it's not a feeling of triumph, climbing over rough terrain involves the traversal mechanics and it doesn't take 10minutes but clearing out BTs involves shooting helpless targets like i'm farming mobs.
It's how i view the situation and it's been called a retarded worldview before. If i plan to walk around the BTs then the area doesn't exist anymore, this section of map disappears from the game and it's a shame. I am not going to trudge through the BTs voluntarily, it's not an obstacle i will ever choose to challenge it's too boring. I can't believe you when you write that you do that on the regular.

>>716326538
Still a threat though, gotta go fast.

>>716327631
You should be prepared or not then. Wordy void.