Sacred Symbols+, Episode XVII: Death Stranding Spoilercast and Review Discussion

I just beat Death Stranding Director's Cut i wonder what the differences are.

Parangariku tirimiquaro

Man listening to chris’s cringe way of maintaining his beliefs in killing babies made me really re think my views on this guys morals

Hunter Flaherty

Just finished the game. Been looking forward to your final thoughts.

Alex LePere

I just finished (well, I'm still working through "Chapter 15," so technically I'm not "finished") the game and sought out the spoiler cast. I can't believe Colin didn't spend much time building anything. I rebuilt the 90% of the roads that others hadn't already done. It made getting around in the Central area SOOO much easier. And made the trucks far more useful. I was constantly building equipment (power gloves, boots, power skeletons, etc...) as well. It was all about making traversal easier and to avoid damaging or losing cargo. As for the vehicles, the trikes I found okay on rocky terrain and the trucks okay on less rocky terrain. Overall, I've loved this game far more than I expected. I started it twice before getting past the opening areas. It was at that point that everything clicked. And it clicked hard.

Sam Dunham

Side note not enough discussion about Bridget/Amelie which was the weakest part of the game for me.

joel osman

Glad to have found this. When Death Stranding first came out I made it to Ep3. But now on PS5 I have finished it.

joel osman

I saw a behind closed doors 20ish minute preview of it at PAX West and couldn't stop laughing at some of the dialogue, I love Kojima games, but I guess I enjoy his games a bit different because the other people in the room were not laughing and they did not like that I was laughing lol

Tyson Williams

I think this is such a beautiful game and a nearly beautifully realized concept, hurt by gameplay that legitimately makes it not worth playing again, or even speaking favourably of. The game could've been a solid 25 hours, with the same story, cutscenes and online features, if the gameplay wasn't so absurd. And that's the real shame, this game would have been phenomenal. Great discussion guys.

JusticeSoulTuna

Rolled credits this morning. I can finally get to listen when I get chance

John Bury

Some people have said he rejected her because of the job offer. But come on, just because you don't want to work with her doesn't mean you have to leave her completely.

Jeremy Miller

I'm not sure if you'll ever read this Colin but I'm surprised you didn't talk about Fragiles final scene and how Sam basically abandons her. It left such a sour taste in my mouth and felt really out of character (especially since he just hugged Dead Man!) I know he was upset about Lou but it seemed like such a slap in the face to all of the character development and made me really sad. I didn't even want them to hook up I just wanted them to be friends, as I found their growing friendship to be one of the most endearing parts of the game. Makes me really hope that he went back to her after Lou survived.

Jeremy Miller

Just finished the game, 26/01/20 abit late to the party... Amazing game

Lee Bush

An interesting find I discovered while digging through some emails in the endgame, Peter Englert (the guy that sometimes requests pizza deliveries) near lake knot was in fact Higgs all along! If you head to his prepper shelter in ch 15 his hideout is unlocked is complete with a mastermind pin board

Steve Gray

Hi! It's working for me. What problems are you having specifically? DM me!

Colin Moriarty

Hi, I finished the game last week and I'm unable to play or download the episode. Reupload please

I finally got around to listening to this episode since I finished Death Stranding about a week ago, and I got about 40 minutes into the episode before I had to close it for work, and now the episode just straight up will not play for me at all Very unfortunate, I'll have to see if it works on my laptop tonight

Watch Ergo Proxy

will the spoiler cast be on the podcast soon?

Mauricio Cuervo

I don't even remember many of the specifics anymore (which is sad, because I beat the game like a month ago).

Colin Moriarty

Hahaha. I love that channel.

Colin Moriarty

I just finished the game and finally listened to this. Enjoyed it as always! But doesn’t he call Lou, Louise, at the end? Making it just another BB and not Sam. So no time travel I assume haha. Good shit guys, moving on to fallen order! (Edit: I see other people pointing it out too. I should read haha)

DB Cooper

Sam was Unger's baby. Those visions he was having were of his own memories and not of bb (lou).

"Kojima doesn't want you to suffer, he wants you to reduce the suffering of others." - Girlfriend Reviews

Dylan Yan

I loled when i heard them say time traveling baby. Sam is Ungers child. The BB that hes looking for which was saved by "Amelie". Sams BB however may in fact be his child that was supposedly killed in the voidout of his mother with that whole Lou... Louise scene. No time travel, just the perception of it with revisiting memories and being to interact with them.

Time travelling baby? 😂 The BB with Sam isn't Ungers BB, it's a totally different baby. Sam was seeing his own memories, not BB-28 When I got sent back East, I had a zip line network, it took about 15 minutes lol. I loved hearing your thoughts on the game, I loved it, game of the year for me. The story really fell into place in the end, especially the pay off with Clifford. One thing I wasn't sure of, when Amelie killed Sam as a baby, then on the beach she fixed him, and that's what made him a repatriate, is that what also caused the Death Stranding? She changed the balance of life and death. I think that's what was suggested?

Liam Mcnulty

I can never imagine wanting to play the story again, but I may go clean up the Trophies. We'll see.

Colin Moriarty

If I go back for the Platty, I need to do this.

Colin Moriarty

But what is the point?!

Colin Moriarty

I had such a blast with this game! Especially everything after Ep.3 Although I feel I'm the only one that loved the combat and felt rewarding after so much pacifism especially the Higgs water fight. Also felt the trike was a life saver and relied heavily on it as it helped me race through BT territory and encouraged me to help build bridges and roads. Which was very effective in the late game moments. I also crafted just about everything just to try it. Only used the carts once. It's weird to imagine a playthrough having not build anything especially the weapons to get rid of the Mules especially the late game ones that are armed. My favorite character is definitely Higgs with Cliff a close second. They were so fascinating and stole every scene. Also shout out to the oscar worthy acting from everyone. It definitely set the height for video game performances. This was such a unique game that leaves me with so many questions and mind boggling realizations. Definitely gonna play again.

Marcus Brown

Yeah I built zip lines all over the mountains so I could just zip between every shelter and avoid BTs

Orion88

You can kill Mules and Terrorist. When you do so you have to dispose of their bodies at an incinerator or throw them into a tar lake or I believe your game stops and goes to your last save. I also built weapons a lot but stuck to the non-lethal options and would never leave a hub without one, I probably used hundreds of PCCs as well to build zip lines through the mountains. Also for anyone who finished the game make sure to finish delivering pizzas!

Robert Byers

Thanks ma!

Colin Moriarty

I think speed was also hindered by geometry. QA probably showed how easy it was to get the vehicle stuck. Plus, they don't want people moving through the game too quickly!

Colin Moriarty

I enjoyed this. Having a small knowledge of the game, it was fun to hear that we had the same ‘take’ on various parts of the game. I found the game to be intriguing and beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with me, bud and for your input, of course, Chris. Well done. 😉💕

BettyAnn Moriarty

I'm loved DS, even if the ending felt kind of sloppy. I'm enjoying the episode discussion. About the vehicles, I always felt like the bike should be faster on roads than it was, but I had the suspicion that they they set the speed low enough to be able to load the beautiful terrain and online structures. As I learned with Spiderman and Infamous, the asset load time is the limit for the traversal for characters, unless you want a lot of popping graphics.

Arquimedes Quintero II

Hey! It's available at the $1/month level now. Happy to refund you if you'd like. Just DM me. <3

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, game length is getting out of control. It's annoying.

Colin Moriarty

It's certainly not a game for everyone, that's for sure.

Colin Moriarty

Just completed the game and wanted to listen to this spoiler cast. Wasn’t showing in the $1 tier on Monday morning so I upped to $5 to get it ASAP for a car journey. Did not disappoint

Daniel short

hearing you all talk about DS has made me want to get back to it. i dropped it. i didn't like it, but it sounds like there might be some interesting things. i'm just so.... tired of long games. remember when only rpgs were this long? now like every genre seems to be reaching 30 plus hrs

B00ch

I would have only listened to your guys podcast about this game. It has never appealed to me, I know as soon as I come across the menus ect Ill crumble. Sounds like yous enoyed it in the end so all ends well.

Scott MacLure

Just like the combat, the vehicles are a sign of the short dev time.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for joining-up! We hope you enjoy.

Colin Moriarty

Let's not get carried away.

Colin Moriarty

Giant wall of text. =)

Colin Moriarty

That's called timing.

Colin Moriarty

I didn't fight a single thing the game didn't make me fight. =)

Colin Moriarty

This is where you can see the short dev cycle shining through brightly.

Colin Moriarty

I'll look into it if and when I ever go back to the game. =)

Colin Moriarty

Please enjoy!

Colin Moriarty

Same here. 👍🏼

NeO JD

Same, bumbling over rocks in the trike was a blast

The vehicles are extremely poorly designed in my opinion. You would think decades since you've been dealing with the death stranding, that you would make a vehicle that could go over small rocks? Other than that, I liked the game though I didn't care about delivering, I never even looked at what I was delivering. I would hope for a prequel too instead of a sequel to explain some loose threads in the story for me.

Alan Ortega-Lopez

I just become a Patreon/Patron(?) for this spoiler cast, what a fantastic, weird and unique game. For me it's not the best Kojima gane (my favorite game of all time is MGS1) but it's a "game of the generation", I never cared about likes and interactions but this made me care about that finished the game with 300K likes because I was obsessed building ALL the roads what a weird and cool game.. Finished the game in 104 hours and adding 32 hours for all the trophies. My favorite part was all the Clifford´s Arc including Lou´s little mislead history (in purpose). The least favorite thing was Amelie´s ARC not the bonkers thing but you interact so little with her during the game that it felt more exciting Higgs than her. The codec SFX audio was FANTASTIC. It is my game of the year. (I still need to play control and outer worlds)

Roberto Córdova

Dammit you didn’t read the part about babies bt being being the sacrifice babies lol. Great/quality content C&C. Made my week

Yulian Santana

I beat the main story after 80 hours of play time which included plenty of meandering to level up certain NPCs for Level 3 Exoskeletons as well as building huge sections of roadway and later connecting zip lines in the mountain regions. And my conclusion is that the game is absolutely brilliant. Now that doesn't mean it was perfect - there was some questionable dialogue and vehicle handling on slopes could have been smoother and a few other annoyances BUT my gosh, the way the story twists and turns in mind-blowing ways to eventually reach a (in my opinion) satisfying conclusion is worthy of praise. Kojima was able to juggle super abstract high concept science fiction and archetype philosophy with genuine character writing and emotional beats. The story, the themes it touches and messages it conveys will stay with me for a long time I reckon. The loneliness and melancholic journey of one individual doing a thank less job of delivering goods, his fear of intimate social connection in a world where everyone is connected but simultaneously isolated, the ashes to ashes motif of cosmic entropy returning all chaos (life) to order (nothingness), the unique take on Beaches as analogous to Purgatory and how consciousness and dreams led to creation of one's own unique Beach as influenced by their beliefs - so many interesting concepts and ideas coming together in this game is what makes it so special. A few things I want to clarify in regard to the story: **HEAVY SPOILERS BELOW** 1) The last scene with Sam and BB in the rain definitely implies that Timefall is no more. This is further supported by the rainbow returning to it's normal right side up orientation and the blue spectrum reappearing. In essence the BT's and DOOMS abilities have also gone away. And the living and dead world separation has returned to normal. In the interviews and Amelie's explanations, we find out that Timefall along with the other super natural phenomena were all controlled by and sourced from Amelie's Beach. She was the reason humans started acquiring DOOMS abilities and her act of saving Sam as baby went against her role as an Extinction Entity", hastening the pace of the inevitable Last Stranding and causing BT's to cross over from the "otherside" to our world via her Beach. 2) Sam was the original Bridge Baby. His father Clifford was a former soldier and his mother, Lisa Bridges became brain dead before he was born. She became a "stillmother" and Bridget Strand decided to turn Sam into the first Bridge Baby but, as the last scene showed, both Sam and Cliff ended up dying in our world. Bridget became so distraught by her mistake that Amelie, who is "her soul" counterpart decided to use her E.E powers and closed the gunshot wound on Sam's belly and sent him back to the world of the living. Bridget then decided to raise him as her own son. 3) Halfway through the story we discover that Sam wanted to name his unborn child Lou, but both the baby and his wife died in a voidout years before the game's story starts. Now the game wanted us to think that every time Sam connected to BB and experienced a memory of Cliff, it meant that we were looking at BB's memories. This was also supported by the fact that Cliff was searching for BB in the battlefield Beaches. But, it was revealed at the end that Sam was actually the BB that Cliff died to protect in the hospital and the whole time he was searching for Sam in the battlefields even if he didn't know it and mistook the BB that Sam was carrying as his lost son. The truth was that evertime time Sam connected to BB, it was the BB looking at Sam's memories. This is supported by the fact that these visions continued even after BB's memories were erased by Deadman performing the re calibration surgery. Also note that when Deadman had BB with him and connected to it, Cliff was still "asleep" and ignored him completely. The BB-28 that Sam received from Igor early on and grew attached to, is most likely a random BB (model number 28). Remember that his real baby and wife died years ago in a voidout. Sam named this random BB, Lou, in memory of his dead baby as he grew to love it and when he took it out of the pod to resuscitate the baby, he discovered that the baby was, in fact, a girl. Which is why he called her Louise at the very end after credits. 4) While I do agree that Higgs could have used more screen time and explanation about his past etc. we discover in the interviews that there is an entire Journal section about an orphaned child who was adopted by his uncle who kept him in their isolated bunker and was physically abusive towards the kid, forbidding him to leave the bunker and see the outside world, until one day he snapped and killed his uncle in retaliation and discovered the existence of BTs and his DOOMs abilities as his uncle's body necrotized. It is revealed that this child was Higgs all along. Another twist was that Peter Eglebert, a pizza lover who had a shelter not too far from Lake Knot City and who kept asking for pizza deliveries was actually Higgs who at the end sends us a (post-dated) message inviting us to go visit his bunker. ** END OF SPOILERS** The entire experience was meditative and the deceptively complex game play that wasn't reliant on combat was quite refreshing. I didn't know what I was getting into when I started to play Death Stranding besides Kojima doing Kojima things, but it definitely left a lasting impression on me and I was glad to have experienced it.

JD

Suggestion for future spoilercasts: I would love to hear you guys get further in depth and more spoilery with the actual plot points of the game and talk about specific cut scenes or major moments. Keep up the great work!

Sumojoe118

Just finished this last night, first time I've been able to listen to a spoiler cast when it's been posted hehe

It has to have my favorite art design in a video game! The first time you throw a hermetic grenade at a B.T, and watching it squirm, and scream in this huge mist of blood was so epic! Also the tension you feel when B.T's dissapear, and reappear right in front of you is truly horrific.

Paul Sabo

I dont mind the fact that the game has combat I was just disspointed at how poorly executed all of it was. The visuals in the world war 1 and 2 scenes are incredible but the boss fight was the same formula each time and just not fun. I also found everything to be very clunky when battling the large BT creatures. Other than this I think the game is excellent.

Sumojoe118

Hey colin as for Higgs, you can actually find his home in the game during the endgame. Provides some further insight into his character and is fascinating totally worth checking out.

Ryan Harvey

Great episode gents. Unlike Chris I enjoyed the Trike because I would break the games physics by hitting the boost, popping a wheelie, and hitting the jump. I would send Sam flying through the air over rocks. I even managed to scale snowy mountains with the Trike. Shit was awesome.

Kenneth Oms

BB likes this Completely unsure as to when I'll be able to listen. But I'm enjoying the methodical way of playing this game. Looking forward to C&C breaking it down.

Thane Goldberg

Chapter 4 is quick, I'm on chapter 5 so can't listen also

Lee Bush

Man, I'm not gonna be able to listen to this episode for a WHILE. I'm 70 hours into the game and just got to chapter 4 last night.

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