Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

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Most critically acclaimed game of the year. 9/10 and 10/10s across the board. Just released on Tuesday; all I can assume is the reason a thread does not yet exist on here is because we're all a bunch of hipsters? =P

Anyone playing through it as we speak? Opinions? I've only touched the surface of it as of yet. Finding it difficult to get into it, but that's probably just my current inability to be engrossed in very much at the moment in life. I'm not sure why, but I'm having difficulty in finding interest in Big Boss, whilst I found Solid Snake to be one of the most engrossing characters I've had the pleasure of controlling in a video game. Or maybe I just liked Hayter's voice, and I'm struggling to adjust to 'that guy from that 24 tv show'. Haha.

I've followed the reviews closely and am astonished that the fifth game in a series where the creator left the company prior to its release has gotten such widespread acclaim. Think about that. It's unheard of. In fact, many reviewers call this their favorite in the series.

I've definitely heard all I need to hear and will play this eventually. I'm looking forward to it a lot. I just don't have the time. I still need to beat Arkham Knight!

I'm sure this will be at the top of many GotY lists.

The opening is the most brutal and surreal sequence in a game I've ever played, and that's in a year where we've gotten Hotline Miami 2. We've already seen the whole thing though, if you saw that extended Moby Dick trailer. Kojima just gives away way too much in the trailers. It was also a little overly scripted but it gets a pass because of how much freedom the rest of the game has.

You're right that Big Boss does not steal the show the way Solid Snake does but that's kind of par for the course in the prequels. The plot is more about Big Boss and Miller trying to hold on to a world that's radically changing around them, of which they're also somehow paradoxically at the center of. The storytelling and tone is a radical departure from the series, though, no question. It really feels like Kojima gave in to his detractors and showed them what a Metal Gear would look like, if it was made with Western sensibilities.

And the results are stunning. It nails the secret sauce of open world game design, the feedback loop of engaging with the world to unlock more unique and inventive ways to engage with the world, a never-ending incentive to go off the beaten path and find out what's that over there. Essentially you 1) extract soldiers and materials to 2) expand your base and unlock weapons, items and helicopter/horse equipment that you then 3) try out in the field to unlock more content and begin the cycle anew. It's a ridiculously addictive time sink and I've spent over an hour on each of the five missions I've played so far. And while Northern Kabul probably isn't the largest seamless game space I've played in, it feels like it is, with the endless options, approaches, and escapes available to complete any given mission and its hidden side objectives. There's been quite a few notable open world games in the last year and there's going to be more this Fall, but I already doubt any of them will play anywhere near as freely or dynamically as The Phantom Pain.

At its core, it's still Metal Gear, just without segmented zones or loading screens. You can still crawl on the ground, tranquing guys in the head, although the enemy inevitably adapts to your playstyle (wearing helmets in that case), further reinforcing the need and reward to experiment, explore, and genuinely think outside the cardboard box. The story side of things might not be the same but this is definitely the game the series has been converging towards, arguably Kojima's magnum opus and unquestionably 2015's GOTY frontrunner.

I caved and bought it, the sneaky-sneaky looks too good for me to miss it, even given my bugbears with Ground Zeroes, the lack of David Hayter, and other things. The main thing I know is going to wind me up from what I've already seen of the game is how little Big Boss talks these days. When you have another character talking at you for five minutes, it's good for the main character to respond sometimes. MGS:3 and Peace Walker Big Boss would always talk back, always have an opinion, always have an anecdote. Looks like that side of things is going to be largely missing and I am going to miss the hell out of it.

Despite that though, everyone seems to be in love with the actual 'game' bit of that game, so I am looking forward to my copy showing up hopefully in time for the weekend. I hate the Fulton Recovery System in the way they did it in Peace Walker and here, so I'm going to play the game whilst using it as little as possible. For me, MGS is at its most satisfying when you get in and out without killing or knocking anyone unconscious, and without anyone seeing you. However good the gunplay may be these days, that's always what Metal Gear is to me.

I have no real means to play it at the moment as my PS3 is dead and I'm still debating about just plunging into next gen and picking this game up for it instead. So for now, I have to avoid spoilers.

I'm a huge MGS fan, played through the series multiple times and MGS3 is easily in my top 5 games of all time.

So of course I picked this up on release day, so far I'm only up to story mission 10. (Way too distracted fultoning people and building Motherbase)

My impression so far is they have NAILED the gameplay, it is arguably the best open world action game ever made (makes the Assassins Creed games look so shallow). It is completely addictive, even when I'm at work I'm thinking about what I'm going to strive for the next time I play.

I was never really a fan of the MGS series for its gameplay before this so it is a major improvement. That leads me to MGS5's biggest weakness however.

Story. The best thing about the MGS series was the cutscenes and CODEC conversations, they did such an amazing job developing the world and characters. I loved PARA MEDIC talking to you about how influential the original Godzilla movie was when it was released hahaha. It broke the tention and the back and forth between Snake and everyone in the Codec calls was amazing.

They really stripped all this away in MGS5, cutscenes are very minimal, Snake is a mute and codec calls are pretty much gone and replaced by briefings (where snake also barely says anything) I imagine this was in response to the backlash of MGS4 being basically a movie. It really hurts the game and makes the lack of Haytor even more noticable however.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a solid 9/10 from what Ive played so far.

It's weird. I've heard tons of things about it I don't like the sound of. Metal Gear Solid 3 is one of my favorite games of all time. It had so many great moments, and the characters and story really made the game fantastic.

Everyone says this game is basically the opposite of that. Snake is a silent avatar, none of the characters are important, and there's little to no plot until the very end.

I'm so torn on whether to buy it or not.

I actually picked this up, but I'm not very far because of lack of time and the fact that I quickly played through Ground Zeroes first since I didn't do that yet. Anyway, while I miss what other people said in this thread (lack of the usual MGS cutscene and character flair), I am very much enjoying the gameplay itself. Really reminds of me of Peace Walker on crack.

Still getting acclimated to how different it is compared to past MGS games, but I can tell that I am slowly but surely falling for this one.

I picked it up but haven't had time to try it out yet.

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Originally Posted by Sephex

I actually picked this up, but I'm not very far because of lack of time and the fact that I quickly played through Ground Zeroes first since I didn't do that yet. Anyway, while I miss what other people said in this thread (lack of the usual MGS cutscene and character flair), I am very much enjoying the gameplay itself. Really reminds of me of Peace Walker on crack.

Still getting acclimated to how different it is compared to past MGS games, but I can tell that I am slowly but surely falling for this one.

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Quick tip: play the Intel Operative Rescue mission in Ground Zeroes. It's mostly a scripted action set piece so it doesn't take too long to beat. You get high level Mother Base personnel for extracting Ground Zeroes POW's and even base soldiers but you get someone for finishing that mission that you won't want to miss.

Agree on the story front. I loved the stealth gameplay of the previous games don't get me wrong, but I was in it for the plot. MGS4 was already very, very weak in the way it toned down the CODEC conversations, to go even further with TPP is very disappointing. I can understand not wanting to keep the player sat motionless with 20 minute conversations, but if it were me I would have just made it a live in-gameplay thing, like the audio logs in Bioshock.

It's so jarring to have Snake being so damn quiet. Snake always has an opinion on EVERYTHING.
"Snake, what're you doing?"
"I'm... in a box."
"Come again?"
"I saw this box and I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to get in. I feel like I belong here... in the box."

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Originally Posted by Fox

I can understand not wanting to keep the player sat motionless with 20 minute conversations, but if it were me I would have just made it a live in-gameplay thing, like the audio logs in Bioshock.

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I think that's actually what they did - you can listen to conversation tapes of the main characters on the iDroid while managing your base, planning your next mission, or just playing the game. The same goes for music, as you can usually swipe cassettes with 80s music out of the stereos the soldiers often have playing at their outposts. You can also equip a speaker on your helicopter and have it playing David Bowie as it comes over the horizon to pick you up.

I don't know if there's anything as quirky as the Sigint box convo but I did just find a recording of a Russian soldier having diarrhea in a porta-potty.

manually selecting tapes to listen to is far from the same as dialogues happening automatically while you play

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Originally Posted by Mirage

manually selecting tapes to listen to is far from the same as dialogues happening automatically while you play

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Sorry, I've never played Bioshock, I just assumed its audio logs were similar, given how Fox described them.

Yeah, the cassettes are... OK. Not as good as a proper Codec, the trouble with the tapes is they feel more like the optional 'mission briefings' in MGS1 where you saw Snake on the CCTV getting his nanomachine shot and so on. Which is OK, but a) they're not as interesting without the visuals and b) they're also not as good as the old CODEC chats because they don't feel live in the mission. Also Snake doesn't talk enough in them.

What I DO like is the 'tap L1 for intel' stuff when you're looking through the scope. That kind of live interaction with your radio as you play is great, I just wish they made more of it and got a bit of a two way conversation going in these situations. The scope in general is very cool, marking things is very intuitive and I love finding high ground to recon and observe, finding holes in the defences and then executing on that plan. Very satisfying, and while guards patrol like they always have they feel less predictable than in earlier games. So I've placed unconscious bodies in what I thought was a safe area for example, only for someone to decide 'Ah, let's trek through the grass for a bit' and stumble over him. That's cool; forces you to adapt.

The cover system is a bit weird, I haven't got a feel for it yet. I'm not sure if I prefer it to the 'Press Triangle To Stick To Wall' system of MGS4, but I keep accidentally leaving cover when I just want to peek.

I'll probably get this at some point when I finally get a PS4 or decent PC. It won't be full price tho, that's for sure.

I have quickly had to ditch my 'no kills' attempts at various missions because it is just so darn tough. I can usually do the primary stuff OK but then I'll climb onto a roof to plant some C4 on a comms dish and they'll spot me there. So now I'm trying to remain stealthy... but I don't mind doing some murdering.

There was a great moment earlier when I had to neutralize a particular person who was driving from one point on the map to another point. I cut across the hills on my trusty steed just beyond an enemy guard post he was going to drive through, took out a few guys, and then I heard the car approaching in the distance. Set some C4 on the road, drop to the floor, roll out the way and detonate just as the car goes past for a perfect hit. So cool, so much fun.

Still think this game feels more like Far Cry than Metal Gear Solid... but it is quite a good Far Cry game at least.

I paid £45 on Steam for the game. I remember back in 1996/1997 paying £44.99 for most Playstation 1 games. If you contrast that price against the rate of inflation; that price is £75. Seventy-Five Great British Pounds to play Discworld The Adventure Game!

So, to be honest, I'm probably getting a computer game cheaper when it is levied relatively against today's actual economic situation.

I've been playing this a bit here and there when I have free time (which is almost never, but I've had some extra free time since this came out luckily). I will say that it is extremely fun to play, but I already knew that would be the case after Ground Zeroes. I've been caught up in the side ops and just exploring the map that I just haven't really progressed the story at all. I could see myself getting bored of it all pretty soon though. The areas and soldiers have started to feel a bit too samey. I dunno. I think I'd rather have something like the old games, something cinematic with a convoluted story and lengthy cutscenes that feel like they should be a lot shorter. I just kind of like that aspect of the series. I haven't gotten to the story in this game, but I've heard that it's pretty bare bones and the focus is all on the gameplay. I don't know how much of that is just it feeling that way due to it being an open world game where you can get sidetracked for hours on end capturing goats and bears and doing nothing that has to do with the actual story though. The fact that gameplay is such a huge focus is great, but it's just not the thing I care as much about in a Metal Gear game. I think I'd rather the mechanics be somehow mixed with a more closed structure like Shadow Moses or just a generally more linear style like the older games. I dunno.

In any case, I am enjoying it immensely. It has some of my favorite gameplay in the series. It just might be the one Metal Gear game I never beat though because I'm not good at beating open world games like this and there's just nothing drawing me in to wanting to know what happens in the story. We'll see what happens though.

This probably isn't the appropriate place for this but I'll go ahead and it anyway.

I have a code for this game via GeForce (redeemable through Steam) and a complete lack of desire to redeem said code. If anyone wants to trade this code for another Steam game, I'd be willing to go through with the trade. It might not be redeemable until the 15th but I'd be willing to try anyway.

I still think I enjoy MSG3 more but so far so good with this one. The first 15-20 minutes of the game desecrates any other game I've played. Seriously very good opening. I can only think of a few other games that gave me chills with its opening and they're all in the Final Fantasy series.

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Originally Posted by Bunny

This probably isn't the appropriate place for this but I'll go ahead and it anyway.

I have a code for this game via GeForce (redeemable through Steam) and a complete lack of desire to redeem said code. If anyone wants to trade this code for another Steam game, I'd be willing to go through with the trade. It might not be redeemable until the 15th but I'd be willing to try anyway.

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Would you be amenable to trading it for nothing in return at all?

i just played thru ground zeros in an hour or two and im not sure where the controls are best for this type of game, pc or ps4? any suggestions?

There are no more heroes

Spoiler Free Review

Welp I finally beat the game, took me a good 2 weeks of playing it almost every day. It technically has 3 ''endings" and I can't help but wonder if any of the reviewers actually saw the last one before submitting their reviews (i doubt it) as you have to put around 50+ hours into the game.

It is an amazing game. That being said it is also surprisingly incomplete. Which sounds crazy for a game you can put 50 hours into but it's true. It just kind of cuts out storywise, I actually had to head to google afterwards and double check that was it. Almost like watching half a season of a tv show.

That being said I enjoyed the second chapter of the games story more-so then the first (which sucks because it's far shorter) It feels far more like a Metal Gear game towards the end and stuff that actually matters in the continuity of the series starts happening (the first 30 hours or so are basically a side story)

My final review would be

Music: 10/10 It's Metal Gear so the music is of course amazing, Still listening to Quiet's Theme on loop.
Gameplay: 10/10 Goes without saying, all stealth/action games will be measured up to this from now on.
Graphics: 10/10 The open world and attention to detail still blows me away.
Characters 9/10 They're all great!...except Snake who they turned into a silent protagonist.
Story 7/10 It is by no means bad, just kinda pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Which averages out to about a 9/10. I'm still craving more, but I doubt there will be any DLC with the way things are at Konami unfortunately. This game could really use it.

TAAAAAAAAAAAAKE OOOOOOOOOON MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

It doesn't feel like a Metal Gear Solid game. They're very tight, narrative-driven experiences that felt like you were on a journey/adventure/story/mission. Solid, cohesive and with tight pacing. This isn't that, there's very little story and it all feels the same. It doesn't really feel like an experience, I guess, I can't quite describe it. That said, the gameplay is absolutely smurfing 10 out of 10 knocked it out of the park.

I was a little late to the party getting a decent smartphone. I had a company-issued/company-paid Blackberry until around the end of 2011 and couldn't justify paying a phone bill just to have a cooler phone. When the iPhone 4S came out I coerced the CTO into swapping out my Blackberry in favor of it and got my first opportunity to play some modern mobile games. One of the hot games at the time was Tiny Tower, which was the one that really hooked me. I played it for months and eventually built every floor that was available in the game at the time, including perfectly staffing each one of them with 9-proficiency dream jobbers and thematically dressing them for their role. Here is my favorite highlight from January of 2012. I played a lot of Tiny Tower; probably too much. I didn't really have anything left to do in Tiny Tower when I made the decision to delete it from my phone and never play it again. I never thought I would be required to do so in order to progress in a Metal Gear game.

Been having a blast with it so far. Trying my best not to spoil the story for myself online which is a bitch... The opening was great and the main game so far has been pretty solid. It basically feels like Peace Walker and Assassin's Creed had a child. I wish there was fast travel on the base though because trying to improve everyone's morale can be a chore. As others had mentioned the plot is very sparse for a MGS game which is one of the main issues I have so far but the game itself has been a blast. I'm like 10% completion and I already feel like I've put in over twenty hours into the game. Been awhile since I played something that made me want to play it more, I mean I look forward to time off so I can play it.

Also...
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I hear you on really wanting to play it, but lacking the time. I am still at 6% or 7% completion because I keep doing all the side stuff, and I can't play it every day or anything. AND NOW MARIO MAKER IS OUT AND I AM HAVING FUN WITH THAT TOO ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

But hey, life could be worse.

A heavily armed man smashed into a Soviet outpost with a tank, supported by a sniper and copious airstrikes and ended up killing over twenty men. Why? Because they had a copy of The Final Countdown on cassette and he smurfing wanted it.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

A heavily armed man smashed into a Soviet outpost with a tank, supported by a sniper and copious airstrikes and ended up killing over twenty men. Why? Because they had a copy of The Final Countdown on cassette and he smurfing wanted it.

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Any mission that involves me destroying vehicles stealth goes out the window. You task me to destroy all this stuff in a few minutes? Yeah, I don't care who sees me. Give me a bad rank all you want, but my rocket launcher and I won the day.

I actually use a lot of C4 and mines for vehicle destruction missions

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I actually use a lot of C4 and mines for vehicle destruction missions

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I could do that, but the idea of a lone man firing rockets while all these soldiers are freaking out cracks me up.

Just finished the story missions (up to 46) and clocked in over 100 hours. Very enjoyable, made my ps4 worth buying since I heard you cant play offline or disable FOBs on the steam version and people steal your stuff while your out.

I was skeptical with the whole GZ and no David Hayter thing but I ended up having a lot of fun and most of my niggling doubts throughout the game were satisfied by the end.

Amazing gameplay but I dont like the bulltrout they start throwing at players with non-optional FOB's and what happens in the late missions

I strongly suggest everyone make a backup save file before completing mission 41. Then when the trout hits the fan you can load your save and google how to prevent it (the trout doesnt happen in mission 41 thats just the easiest point to prevent it.)

I mostly use mines and C4 for tank missions too and then I fulton them out

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Originally Posted by Sephex

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I actually use a lot of C4 and mines for vehicle destruction missions

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I could do that, but the idea of a lone man firing rockets while all these soldiers are freaking out cracks me up.

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That's what they always do though :p. One single man taking out an entire base while they desperately try to call for backup with their blown up radio equipment

I really don't understand how to get S rank when I have to blow trout up. If anyone figures that out, please let me know.

Don't you just have to avoid alert mode? If they can't tell where the explosions are coming from or whatever, it should be fine. Time has a bigger impact on ranking than most other things i think.

You get bonuses for time, it is only alerts and taking hits that will kill your score. Also relying on some of the support item/abilities will also lower your ranking. Tactical Takedowns, high accuracy, headshots, and rescuing prisoners will raise your score for each time it's done. If you don't get spotted or using reflex mode will garner bonuses as well.

The animal rank, for those who care, is not based on your score but based on how you did the mission. If you use a lot of CQC, you get Bear, if you Snipe your enemies from afar you get Wolf (get it? ;) ) and using non-leathal weapons will get you octopus for example.

I demand a game based on the never ending adventures of Eli and Psycho Mantis. No, not MGS1 :p before then!

I guess you get chick if you run away a lot, then.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/9/17/934...armor-and-more

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Please tell me that, as much as you guys love the game and the series, you are not going to give Konami anything for this nonsense. Please.

I would be willing to fork out maybe $5 DLC for re-recordings of the iDroid voice for some variety, if possible using some classic voices like Mei Ling or Cyborg Ninja. I didnt find anything in that link appealing though

I will buy DLC that replaces Snake's horn with a phallus.

The only DLC I would buy is story DLC.

That's kind of been my rule forever haha. Can't think of any DLC I've ever paid for that wasn't story related.

Not the type of DLC I care for, though I'm sad the Tuxedo is no longer a regular unlockable like previous installments. Honestly, I would prefer more licensed 80s tracks to rock out to.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

I will buy DLC that replaces Snake's horn with a phallus.

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The Phantom Peg.

Anyone get bored of this game as quickly as I did? I haven't even got to mission 11 yet.

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Originally Posted by Leigh

Anyone get bored of this game as quickly as I did? I haven't even got to mission 11 yet.

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I'm further than that but I have been struggling for a while. So repetitive, so grindy, so unfocussed. You know that criticism of Ubisoft open worlds where there's tons of 'stuff' to do but almost nothing you care about? MGSV is like that except you have to sit through a lot more helicopter insertions. Here's a fun game: from one platform of Mother Base, tell your helicopter to take you to a different platform. Time how long it takes you to get there. My record so far is 'a cup of tea and a half'.

i'm at mission 15 but it's not because i am bored of it. It's because I have so much fun with side ops. I've played for like 70 hours now.

Is it true that the game really has no ending, that it just abruptly ends?

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Originally Posted by DMKA

Is it true that the game really has no ending, that it just abruptly ends?

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That's what I've heard.

I've also heard rumors of a third chapter which was either: hidden behind some incredibly complicated unlock requirements (that no one has figured out yet, including data miners), pulled due to not being finished, or pulled to be sold as DLC.

Never played a Metal Gear before, and I still don't really see the allure of MGSV. I don't reside under a rock, I'm well aware of the acclaim that it is receiving, but there is still nothing about it that does much for me. I'll probably get it when it's cheap in a year or so, and we'll see then, but I'm not really much of a stealthy gamer. It's completely possible I'll feel like a total idiot and fall for the game once I sink my teeth into it. But right now I just feel like there are more interesting games out there for me.

I'd get Mad Max before I would get MGSV.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

I've followed the reviews closely and am astonished that the fifth game in a series where the creator left the company prior to its release has gotten such widespread acclaim. Think about that. It's unheard of. In fact, many reviewers call this their favorite in the series.

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Pretty sure Konami releasing him has a little to do with it as a way to stick it to the company for getting rid of their main money maker. That, and it's a Kojima game. It was pretty much guaranteed critical acclaim.

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Originally Posted by Sephex

Any mission that involves me destroying vehicles stealth goes out the window. You task me to destroy all this stuff in a few minutes? Yeah, I don't care who sees me. Give me a bad rank all you want, but my rocket launcher and I won the day.

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Back in my day if you tried to pull that trout you'd be surrounded by guards in no time flat and get your ass beat! Games were so much better when I was younger and less cynical.

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Originally Posted by Ayen

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Originally Posted by Sephex

Any mission that involves me destroying vehicles stealth goes out the window. You task me to destroy all this stuff in a few minutes? Yeah, I don't care who sees me. Give me a bad rank all you want, but my rocket launcher and I won the day.

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Back in my day if you tried to pull that trout you'd be surrounded by guards in no time flat and get your ass beat! Games were so much better when I was younger and less cynical.

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Actually that still happens in this game and in that particular mission. The "Destroy Five Armored Vehicles" mission is a bitch, especially since halfway through it, they drop a rescue mission and a retrieve a secret weapon side op on you as well.

My favorite thing to do in the mission is to block the road with a truck and then sneak behind the vehicles and Fulton them out of the mission zone. Absolutely hilarious. :wcanoe:

So... it's not as bad as MGS4 where you could run around like Rambo and it wouldn't do jack trout to you?

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Originally Posted by Ayen

So... it's not as bad as MGS4 where you could run around like Rambo and it wouldn't do jack trout to you?

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You will die quite a bit in this game, in fact you get a "pity gift" if you die too often in a mission. You can still Rambo it, but you have to be smart about it because guards will swarm you quickly. You're not so much hiding around the hot zone as fleeing it if you get spotted or caught. There is also no radar except for Marking and that's only useful if you're good about researching the areas you're infiltrating; or if you have D.D., who is a tad bit too convenient and can be a crutch character, along with Quiet, if you let them.

Another element not mentioned too often unless you watched all the Game Conference trailers is that enemies will evolve to counter your tactics. Do most of your missions at night? Suddenly they all start using Night-vision goggles. Like doing head shots with the tranq gun? They'll start wearing helmets that deflect tranq rounds and alert them. Rambo a lot? Riot Shields and full body armor with upgraded machine guns that will tear you apart. You really have to mix it up sometimes to keep the enemies on their toes or they will do it to you. Also Rocket Launcers, sniper rifles, and armored vehicles become common not too long into the game. The enemy A.I. is much smarter and work well as units, so getting spotted can mean certain death since they'll use suppressing fire to keep you pinned down so they can either send heavily armored guards to put you out of your misery or have their snipers move to a better position to pick you off. You don't have much health either, so yeah... death comes pretty quickly if you play stupid. The game's strength really isn't so much that it's a sandbox MGS game, it's the fact the enemy A.I. really does evolve with you.

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Originally Posted by Fox

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Originally Posted by Leigh

Anyone get bored of this game as quickly as I did? I haven't even got to mission 11 yet.

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I'm further than that but I have been struggling for a while. So repetitive, so grindy, so unfocussed. You know that criticism of Ubisoft open worlds where there's tons of 'stuff' to do but almost nothing you care about? MGSV is like that except you have to sit through a lot more helicopter insertions. Here's a fun game: from one platform of Mother Base, tell your helicopter to take you to a different platform. Time how long it takes you to get there. My record so far is 'a cup of tea and a half'.

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If you want to get from platform to platform quickly use the cardboard box on the cargo things with traingular signs. The helicopter is very much the scenic route

John Rambo actually only killed one person in the first movie.

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Originally Posted by DMKA

Is it true that the game really has no ending, that it just abruptly ends?

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No. There's actually two endings aside from the third one that got cut. There is a plot point that remained unresolved though.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

I've also heard rumors of a third chapter which was either: hidden behind some incredibly complicated unlock requirements (that no one has figured out yet, including data miners), pulled due to not being finished, or pulled to be sold as DLC.

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It's real, but it got pulled, presumably due to the Kojima issue. They finished some of it and you can see it on YouTube. It also resolved that missing plot point.

Also, can confirm that my love of headshots and shooting people was punished with every soldier being equipped with helmets and riot shields. Not that I stopped doing either of those things, mind you.

Just gotta wait till they turn around so you can shoot them in the face

Or do the Combat Deployments with the helmet symbol to lower the number of helmets in the area. (I didnt find this out until after I finished and thought it was odd that I never saw a surveilance camera)

yeah, surveillance cameras seem very rare. It's too bad about the high casuality rate on those missions.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Just gotta wait till they turn around so you can shoot them in the face

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At close quarters, sure. I kind of developed a fetish for calling in air strikes on every last little thing that moved though. A more expensive habit than smoking, but it's actually beneficial to my health.

What's close quarters? :p

I have more sniper rifle kills than all other weapons combined...

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

Another element not mentioned too often unless you watched all the Game Conference trailers is that enemies will evolve to counter your tactics. Do most of your missions at night? Suddenly they all start using Night-vision goggles. Like doing head shots with the tranq gun? They'll start wearing helmets that deflect tranq rounds and alert them. Rambo a lot? Riot Shields and full body armor with upgraded machine guns that will tear you apart. You really have to mix it up sometimes to keep the enemies on their toes or they will do it to you. Also Rocket Launcers, sniper rifles, and armored vehicles become common not too long into the game. The enemy A.I. is much smarter and work well as units, so getting spotted can mean certain death since they'll use suppressing fire to keep you pinned down so they can either send heavily armored guards to put you out of your misery or have their snipers move to a better position to pick you off. You don't have much health either, so yeah... death comes pretty quickly if you play stupid. The game's strength really isn't so much that it's a sandbox MGS game, it's the fact the enemy A.I. really does evolve with you.

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Intelligent A.I.? Oh, dear God, the machines are taking over!

I always thought the helmets were to counter headshots, not tranq gun usage. There are some soviet soldiers talking about "the headhunter", and that "we really need some helmets".

I like all the partners so far, but I kind of feel like D-Walker is the biggest novelty unit among the four. D-Horse is fast, can travel a good chunk of terrain and you can actually stealth a little better with him because enemies don't think twice about seeing a horse as they do the Walker units. D-D is all kinds of awesome and the best scouting unit of the four. Quiet is awesome for having a practical backup and is a decent scout in her own right. I haven't quite found D-Walker's niche among the three besides maybe assault, which is not a play style I use too often in these games.

D-Walker isn't really much of an assault unit either if you have vehicles, as then you can use one of those and another partner. I did find it useful a couple of times in battling the Skulls though, its gatling gun ripped right through them.

I don't even bring vehicles into missions. I guess I should try to use a tank once in awhile. Still trying to figure out if you can actually capture helicopters like in Peace Walker. I feel like Pequod is lonely... :(

I'm more of a fan of the APCs with heavy machine guns than the tank cannons myself. Either way though, it's a really different and satisfying playstyle to do every once in a while. Bonus points if your vehicle has zebra print camo and you play Ride of the Valkyries on the cassette player while you do it.

Ignoring most of what has been said in this thread because I don't want spoilers and haven't touched the game yet, but I got it for free with my new graphics card. Thing is, I haven't played the previous MGS games. Well, I played one but can't remember anything about it, I was too focused on gameplay and zero on story (I was basically playing a friend's save because they wanted me to try it).

So uhm. Okay to jump straight in, or...? I've heard people saying you should play some prequel or something but honestly I have zero interest in paying money to play a prequel so I can play a game I haven't paid for. I looked for a MGS in a nutshell kind of video on YouTube but just got a whole lot of random videos that didn't serve the purpose.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Ignoring most of what has been said in this thread because I don't want spoilers and haven't touched the game yet, but I got it for free with my new graphics card. Thing is, I haven't played the previous MGS games. Well, I played one but can't remember anything about it, I was too focused on gameplay and zero on story (I was basically playing a friend's save because they wanted me to try it).

So uhm. Okay to jump straight in, or...? I've heard people saying you should play some prequel or something but honestly I have zero interest in paying money to play a prequel so I can play a game I haven't paid for. I looked for a MGS in a nutshell kind of video on YouTube but just got a whole lot of random videos that didn't serve the purpose.

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Coming from a Metal Gear fan, this game is literally made for you. It has very little to do with the other games in the series and any story stuff that is related is in optional cassette tapes you listen to in the menu.

MGSV is the best entry point you're going to get into the series (i imagine that was Konami's intention). I think they learned their lesson with MGS4 basically being impossible to understand unless you'd played every game before it.

Story wise, it's not the worst entry to jump into everything and it's pretty good about filling in the pieces of what happened before, though some fan references will be lost.

Gameplay on the other hand is a bit tricky. The game itself is pretty easy to learn and fun, and I would agree it's pretty noob friendly especially coming from a series that sometimes didn't have the best control setups but as a jumping point into the series, it's a radical departure and loving MGSV's gameplay may leave you feeling a bit disappointed if you decided to check out the rest of the franchise. It's to earlier MGS games what RE4 was to it's predecessors.

I am so happy to acquire Snake Eater as a music track and it's now my Helicopter's new theme song. My favorite Easter egg so far was listening to a random radio in one of the story missions only to recognize it as a distorted version of the radio message from the P.T. Demo. So far Quiet and D.D. get the most work out of all the buddies. I almost wish Pequod counted as a Buddy as well.