I still need to play through this. I only played a small part of it, but I did everything you could do in ground zeroes. Gameplay is fantastic, but what I've played and heard makes me think a little more could be done with the story. I don't mind the idea of listening to the tapes, but I feel like I'll agree with you on certain ones should be cutscenes. MGS4 did overdo it with lengthy cutscenes and such, but I thought the other games struck a better balance and wouldn't have minded something a little more similar to them in terms of storytelling. Not sure if that would be more difficult to do with the more open world nature of Phantom Pain, but yeah. Gameplay wise, it's practically perfect; but I don't think it will beat out MGS1 for me.