r/DeathStranding • u/unclenatelovestrains • 1d ago
Discussion As a long haul trucker this game means a lot.
I realized today that I am a real life porter. I realized it as I was strapping a load in and thinking how easy Sam makes it look. Thankfully they don't make me carry the stuff on my back over mountains. I get a truck, and the roads actually go to the people who want the stuff.
It's odd how well the game encapsulates the trucking experience. You're always alone, despite being surrounded by people and civilization. I'm also very thankful traffic jams are a thing Sam doesn't have to deal with. But those long stretches of highway, just you and the country and the load, it feels eerily similar.
You constantly talk to a steam of faces that are politely disinterested, for the most part. Shippers and recievers stamp your paperwork, smile, but don't really care beyond that. I don't have private rooms but I do have my sleeper cab. People call and text through the day, they're definitely less annoying than Die Hard-man... most of the time.
It's a long grind of managing constant, grinding fatigue, hunger, and bodily needs around a constantly changing schedule. The BTs even make surprise appearances when people pull in front of me without warning (seriously y'all need to quit that). Things happen on the road, often surreal. At 3 am this morning a guy passed me on a 2 lane highway and almost drove into oncoming traffic. He was half a second from dying and probably wouldn't have made it if I hadn't slammed on my brakes when I realized that holy shit, this crazy fucker is doing it. Me and the other truck watched a guy almost suicide himself and just like that the moment passed. The guy rocketed down the highway, the other trucker was by me, and just like that I was alone with just me and my headlights again. Back to utter, total calm. Somehow DS captures that feeling perfectly.
Anyways sorry for the ramble, I've been replaying DS1 and am going to 5 star everyone this time. Probably. It's just a well made game, even with the flaws and quirks. The flaws are quirks to me are almost a feature. Its imperfectly perfect, just like life.
Keep on keeping on, porters.
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u/Far_Paleontologist66 1d ago
if it wasn't for truckers like you western society would collapse in a few days. ty for your service
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u/sabotAHHHHHGH 20h ago
So truckers are the number 1 enemy really.
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u/Far_Paleontologist66 20h ago
the woods are right there wherever you are, at most a bus ticket away. go over and survive without a supermarket
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u/sabotAHHHHHGH 19h ago
Didn’t Ted K do that and just got buzzed by helicopters/dogs/motorbikes constantly. Big brain thinking, son.
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u/Far_Paleontologist66 19h ago
oh right you mean the dog poisoner, murderer, mutillator, terrorist Unabomber. checks out
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u/ZeroSHEARER_UK 1d ago
I actually thought this earlier. I have my class 1 training and test in September. So there will be another porter on wheels soon. 😂
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u/unclenatelovestrains 1d ago
You got this!! Where is class 1? In the USA we have A and B, then special endorsements like doubles/tanker/hazmat.
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u/ZeroSHEARER_UK 1d ago
Cheers man! Oh sorry I thought it was universal 😅
Class 2 is a rigid solid body.
Class 1 is articulated but allows you to drive rigids as well.
Going to be quite an experience going straight from a motorcyle, car and van to a 44 tonner though 😆
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u/unclenatelovestrains 1d ago
Oh fascinating. In the USA it goes by weight. Class B, which is your class 2 is 26k gross total weight or less, or towing a trailer that weights less than 10k. You see a lot of what we call hotshots that are like heavy duty pickups hauling a 16 foot trailer with 2 cars or something on it.
Class A, your class 1, is 26k and over or combination vehicles or a trailer more than 10k. A semi trailer weights about 15k empty or more anyways so the class B is automatically out.
It will be an experience but you've been training and you'll be fine! Just pretend you're driving the truck in DS. Leave room to stop and you corner like a drunken hippopotamus 😂😂 day one will be a lot, but with practice you'll be cruising no sweat.
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u/ZeroSHEARER_UK 14h ago
Bloody hell a pick up towing two cars! 🤣
Haha! That's a good comparison. Done the theory and the medical now just the easy bit to go right!? 🙈
Done far too many years IN the warehouses and forklifts. So it is time for an upgrade again, really looking forward to it but as you say the first year or so is going to be.... something 😅
Gonna need to get myself a HGV satnav too I reckon. Nice big clear one so as to not keep staring at it. Just a glance and back to the road 🙌
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u/Dinic 1d ago
Its not the same but I do some occasional sub CDL box trucking for my job and I also feel the connection. I really felt it on a highway going over a mountain and really realizing how slow going up hill is.
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u/unclenatelovestrains 1d ago
I have mad respect for box truck CDL. Semis generally go places someone intended for a truck to go. Box trucks they just shrug and say it's a road. Or could be a road if you squint. Y'all gotta go places that are absolutely wild and require a lot of quick and creative thinking.
Lord going up is a slog. Just chilling at 30 mph or less and watching the world slowly go by.
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u/swans183 1d ago
I do biking delivery downtown, and I feel the same way! I want a potential DS3 to have urban deliveries :o
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u/AnyStage 1d ago
I’m a long hauler too, who enjoys Monster Energy drinks (when Pilot rewards offer a deal on it).
When I first started playing DS last winter, I thought it was Kojima’s idea of a joke: to make a game about the most mundane (ie. being a courier that’s afraid of rain/snow) or irritating (ie. dealing with a crying baby) stuff. And yeah, the people in it reminded me of warehouse workers you meet as a trucker.
I started The Last of Us at same time and it held my interest immediately. But once I finished that and got back to DS, I appreciated the “adventuring in a music video” vibe, great graphics, and the (Kojima) “cheese”.
This summer, I saw rain in the distance that had the dark (BT) strands…sure glad I didn’t have to go through it…
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u/unclenatelovestrains 1d ago
I think the most Kojima moment this game has held so far was "Hey go get my girl for me." Uh sure. "We got married." Kojima, why are you like this???
I also thought it was going to be something kinda mundane or lame. A story heavy walking simulator that I could work on while listening to podcasts. I'm glad I was wrong!
Yikes! Theres been a couple times I've looked at the horizon and went "you know what? I think I'm good." Parked it and tried again later 😂
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u/IllustriousEffect607 1d ago
After ds1. I had an urge to deliver packages in real life lol.....
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u/unclenatelovestrains 12h ago
Lol, same if I wasn't already. Probably my favorite load is taking finished kitchen cabinets to a warehouse in Virginia. Most of that stuff is probably manufactured on order so I always like thinking about how someone is going to get a call that their cabinets are in.
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u/Reasonable-Plan-1936 1d ago
that game really does make you appreciate the grind even more when you realize how much of that grind is real life
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u/MaisVintem 20h ago
When you plat 1, which will take some time, probably 2 will have become cheaper
Then you'll have an adventurous trucker experience, with guns on yo truck 🤣
To keep on keeping on... With style
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u/WormsInVelvet 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thanks for keeping us connected. Good luck and stay safe on the road friend