Death Stranding 2
Right before I got on a plane to Seattle to be absolutely surrounded in friends, my glasses shattered. I had just finally put lenses in my Death Stranding Cliff Unger glasses. That’s the glasses Mads Mikkelsen wears!
I had foolishly never adjusted the ear and nose pieces when I got the lenses in. I had also left the house for the airport a little too early. I walked into an old-style more money-than-sense glasses shop in Jyuugaoka. They told me it would be 4000 yen to adjust the fit.
I walked out.
Luckily that station has a few other high-end glasses shops. I walked into Hakusan, as worn by John Lennon if you can believe it. They would happily reset my glasses. The staff member delicately took my frames. We both watched as she lightly touched and the nose piece shattered. It would be sabotage had I not seen it myself.
I looked up where the Death Stranding glasses were made. It would be a brisk 25 minute walk. I still somehow, had plenty of time to kill. I started jogging to J F Rey’s new location in Daikanyama. They helpfully replaced both nose pieces within minutes for free. I got to try on all of Hideo Kojima’s collab glasses while I waited, and the weird white ones he actually wears.
Same’s big plastic glasses are big and plasticy and I can’t imagine anyone ever actually wearing them, and I’ve worn them.
Four days later in the forests of Seattle I’d be talking with my good friend Kali and we’d be spoiling the hell out of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach to anyone listening. It was 2am and I was definitely sober, jetlagged, and not sleeping. I’d forget to tell my 30 friends I was wearing Cliff Unger’s glasses (with a 15% purple tint on the lenses.)
Asside: you know why asshole wear sunglasses and tinted lenses? Because they are fantastic. Your eyes are so much more relaxed. I wish I hadn’t gotten purple lenses. It cuts purple light and thus the color purple from my life. Anyone looking at me gets the purple sheen, but not me. Anyways Bono had one right idea.
But back to me and Kali across from a Super Famicom playing Dragon Quest V. We were screaming and yelling. We were frustrated as heck at Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Other people in the room would go “wait are you joking?” We were sadly not.
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has Character Betrayal and a lot of it. Which is what I couldn’t figure out to say in the other essay.
That conversation about Death Stranding 2: On The Beach with Kali was Video Game Conversation Of The Year. We attacked that game from opposite sides. Myself from a Father’s view. Him from a Feminine ideal. We feeding frenzied on all of Sam Porter Bridges and Fragile.
At the end we declared “We Have To Sleep.” We then looked at each other and went, “I guess I really like Death Stranding 2.” mutually.
I liked it enough to give it two essays, despite being mad at it the whole time.
Hinge Problems 
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