Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[Urthor]

Now all we need to do is declare it an RPG. If Prey's an RPG this game can easily be one as well

 

[Urthor]

But yeah honestly I think this has the best gameplay loop of any real time FPS/Third Person game ever released. It is just too fun to sneak up on places, console loading screens aside.

 

[Blaine]

TPP puts almost every other game to shame in terms of possible paths to achieving a given objective. Some methods are more optimal than others, but other methods are genuinely more fun or more satisfying to pull off.

Every element of the game has so many modes. Crouch and prone stances tend to be a big deal for a lot of people in these types of games (some were annoyed that they were missing from Underrail, for example). This game not only has crouch and prone, it has three speeds for prone (if you count "not moving" as a speed), extra-stealthy prone, prone leg sweep (two kinds, a normal one and a scissor kick you can do on an enemy who's knocked you prone), dive into prone, prone ACTION ROLL, enemy hold-up from prone, prone in a box, prone underneath "tunnel"-style cover including all sorts of tables, cots, and drainage pipes; and of course being prone (or crouched) affects aim stability and stealth.

I'm pretty sure it holds the all-time record for number of ways to clobber enemies, too. One time I stunned a guy in a very shallow marsh, and he fucking drowned in it because he was face-down. It took me a while to figure out why he was dead.

Hell, it even has on-the-go plant harvesting. Normally you have to stop to pick flowers in games with harvestable resource nodes, but not in TPP. You can hustle right on by with R held down grabbing some carrots on your way past.

 

[Master]

Too bad about the open world degenerate design though.

 

[Master]

Hell, it even has on-the-go plant harvesting. Normally you have to stop to pick flowers in games with harvestable resource nodes, but not in TPP. You can hustle right on by with R held down grabbing some carrots on your way past.

Too bad you can't do that with all those briefcases (or can you?)
In any case, you'd think that simply walking over these pickables would be even better. But you would be wrong. Holding down a button on my joystick constantly has never been this cool.

 

[Alienman]

The only thing I wished for in the game was bigger bases to infiltrate. The open world design was pretty good, except that all the places available for infiltration was tiny as hell, except when in story mission.

 

[Master]

The tiny bases are because of the open world. You can't have giant world and giant bases at the same time.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

The game has big camps like the Afghanistan base camp, the OKB Zero or the african airport. So no, the reason for the tiny bases to exist has nothing to do with the open world concept of the game. They decided to fill the map with a lot of different bases of different sizes. The only "issue" with MGSV map design is the lacking interiors.

 

[Master]

Yes, the interiors of bases... When I say big base I mean this big intricate base. But when half the focus goes to the outside of bases, in a game about infiltrating bases(supposedly), then the interiors of bases, aka - the bases, start sucking.
What does open world add actually except making everything else worse than it has to be. The thing is like some fucking parasite. MGSTPP bases are like a corpse sucked dry by open world design. And it's a pretty corpse sure, and you can still infiltrate it but it's just wrong somehow and you know it.

 

[Blaine]

I don't think it's as bad as you make it out to be. I believe there's just as much merit in focusing on village-sized Soviet and African mercenary outposts chokepointed by guard posts as there is in intricate indoor complexes as seen in the first third (half?) of MGS2. You can't scope, snipe, range around with your dog or walker mech, or set ambushes when you're stuck in a series of confined spaces and narrow corridors. FOB proves this amply.

That is something the game is missing, though, and I've frequently lamented its absence: elaborate interior levels. The "phantom third chapter" would have done well set in a restrictive, sprawling indoor laboratory or base complex packed with cameras and corridors in which buddies and vehicles weren't allowed. It would have been the perfect complement to the free-ranging nature of the Afghanistan and Africa maps.

Also, although the game is somewhat open-world and allows for substantial player freedom, it doesn't resemble the usual cancer of dotting lots of meaningless side activities into a massive, mostly empty space. Sure, there are empty roads and deer paths in TPP, but they're quite varied and the next side op or mission is always just a short drive away. There's stuff to do in between, mainly capturing animals and picking plants, but it's not the focus.

Shit man, MGS3 is arguably the best traditional Metal Gear game, and its levels were absolutely tiny. None were intricate in any way. They each were a series of between 2-5 very small "rooms," each essentially being a stealth puzzle you had to solve. I wouldn't call them sprawling at all; you were just jammed in with enemies and a bit of terrain.

 

[sullynathan]

repetition of levels is the big problem from the 20 hours I played. Clearing an outpost just so you find out that you have a main mission at the same outpost later on sucks. Plus a lot of these areas look the same any way and have the same lay out.

 

[Blaine]

The layouts are remarkably different between outposts and geographical areas. That is complete and utter bullshit. They're so unique that I can remember them effortlessly.

• Da Smasei Laman: Forked canyons leading into a large encamped "sinkhole" area, bordered at the rear by a sprawling multi-level cave complex of mixed open atriums, columns, carved-out rooms, walkways, a large cavern, and various niches.
• Mountain Relay Camp: An immense, multi-level bridge spanning a gulch, bookended by a small depot on one side and Soviet fortifications on the other. In the gulch is some impromptu storage and a small shooting range.
• Wakh Sindh Barracks: Essentially a large mesa or steep hill, well fortified with a walled encampment at the top; accessible only by climbing a single winding road dotted with turret emplacements, or scrambling up or over rocks to find one of several surreptitious routes. The actual barracks are a bunch of campers and a rundown building, partly underground.
• Qarya Sakhra Ee: I hate this outpost. It has four or five sprawling and uneven tiers of buildings hanging off the fairly steep side of a mountain, a nightmare to navigate properly without alerting enemies, especially with a specific objective in mind (e.g. No Traces).
  
• Nova Braga Airport: It's an airport. It has a fence, a large terminal building and several outbuildings, various hangars, a runway, derelict aircraft here and there, lights, power station, etc.
• Mfinda Oilfield: A cramped and surprisingly vertical maze of catwalks, sunken walkways, stairwells, tanks, and oil industry-related equipment.

Not a surprising opinion though coming from the guy who thinks that Dark Souls 3 is a good game. Hey! I neutralized all the guys at this outpost one time, why should I ever come back? It's not like there are a dozen ways to approach this, or that circumstances in the outpost change dramatically based on the mission or side op in progress... oh wait, yes they do.

Man, I played Deus Ex one time, but it has no replay value, am I right folks? There is literally no way to replay it any differently and enjoy it all over again. Plus all the locations are concrete and it's perpetually dark, so they look exactly the same.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Blaine, you’re starting to like me. Don’t fuck it. Leave DS3 be you moron. Nuff said.

 

[Blaine]

Blaine, you’re starting to like me.

Am not.

 

[sullynathan]

why should I ever come back?

More like I came back a dozen times so why should I keep coming back? Why is the same outpost constantly open for repetitive side quests?
I completed one outpost by exploring. Then I did the same outpost for a side op and then afterwards found I have a main mission there too. Main mission revived all enemies, what bullshit

Mission 12 is an example of this

 

[Master]

Far Cry 2 all over again

 

[sullynathan]

Far Cry 2 all over again

It's better than Far Cry 2 in nearly every way because it managed to make me keep playing it

 

[Master]

I wasn't serious. But that's open world for ya. Gotta recycle them checkpoints.

 

[sexbad?]

I mean in Far Cry 2 you could tackle outposts in as many ways as there were roads leading to those outposts. Totally fun and not a chore to come back to a small checkpoint five minutes after killing everyone there and find it totally restocked and restaffed. It didn't get old then and it sure didn't get old with exponentially more approaches in MGS5. Nothing like going to the same spot over and over again, especially in mandatory (I think???) missions later on that are just repeats of previous missions with a couple extra modifications. Doesn't get stale at all. All hail Kojima, all hail Ubisoft.

 

[Blaine]

The reason some of you mongoloids get butthurt when I factually describe DS3 as a bad game is simply because you live in denial of your love for objectively bad games. "If I like a game, why then, it must be good!" you think, indignantly. "I couldn't possibly like a shit game. No, not me."

Refer back to TheHeroOfTime a few posts up, heavily implying that he appreciates my insights much of the time, except when I trash-talk DS3.

Your confused feelings result from your inability to come to terms with the fact that some of the games you like are complete garbage. You'll enjoy a far more stress-free existence when you learn to admit this. I've played plenty of games that are complete and total garbage—Warframe, for example, or Saint's Row 4, which was fun but also was heavily declined popamole. In fact, I'd say that living in denial of one's own shit- and popamole-wallowing is the #1 biggest mental issue among all Codexers.

Some of the games you like are bad. That doesn't mean you're a bad person, unless you're too stubborn and dimwitted to make peace with the reality that you aren't always right and that your tastes can sometimes be poor.

Attacking TPP, an objectively good game, just because I'm here discussing it won't heal the wound I caused by trash-talking your precious but objectively bad game two weeks ago.

 

[sullynathan]

The reason some of you mongoloids get butthurt when I factually describe DS3 as a bad game is simply because you live in denial of your love for objectively bad games. "If I like a game, why then, it must be good!" you think, indignantly. "I couldn't possibly like a shit game. No, not me."

Refer back to TheHeroOfTime a few posts up, heavily implying that he appreciates my insights much of the time, except when I trash-talk DS3.

Your confused feelings result from your inability to come to terms with the fact that some of the games you like are complete garbage. You'll enjoy a far more stress-free existence when you learn to admit this. I've played plenty of games that are complete and total garbage—Warframe, for example, or Saint's Row 4, which was fun but also was heavily declined popamole. In fact, I'd say that living in denial of one's own shit- and popamole-wallowing is the #1 biggest mental issue among all Codexers.

Some of the games you like are bad. That doesn't mean you're a bad person, unless you're too stubborn and dimwitted to make peace with the reality that you aren't always right and that your tastes can sometimes be poor.

Attacking TPP, an objectively good game, just because I'm here discussing it won't heal the wound I caused by trash-talking your precious but objectively bad game two weeks ago.

Trash talk DS3 all you want, it won't make MGSV's weak parts better.

 

[Sam Ecorners]

While I'm enjoying MGSV well enough, this project of playing through all of them has proven once and for all that MGS2 is my favorite game in the series. I just like the puzzle nature of its smaller maps, or maybe i'm just getting burned out by MGS. Regardless, the franchise is worse off without Fukushima.

 

[Blaine]

Trash talk DS3 all you want, it won't make MGSV's weak parts better.

Better weak points than weak the entire thing, you lying fuck.

Generally I don't get too personal, but saying that all of TPP's locations "look the same" is an actual lie. It's not even a matter of opinion; it's a flat-out lie.

Meanwhile, you refuse to acknowledge documented, objective FACTS about DS3, such as the absurdly huge number of fast-travel bonfires—some of which are so close together that you can see one from the other or sprint there in 10-30 seconds. My record is 10 seconds; I timed it. That's a fact recorded by a chronometer, not one of your stupid lies.

I've always maintained a policy of only placing someone on my ignore list reciprocally (that is, if they ignore me first), but people like you who stalk me from one thread to another spewing moronic gibberish really test my resolve from time to time.

 

[sullynathan]

Trash talk DS3 all you want, it won't make MGSV's weak parts better.

Better weak points than weak the entire thing, you lying fuck.

Generally I don't get too personal, but saying that all of TPP's locations "look the same" is an actual lie. It's not even a matter of opinion; it's a flat-out lie.

Meanwhile, you refuse to acknowledge documented, objective FACTS about DS3, such as the absurdly huge number of fast-travel bonfires—some of which are so close together that you can see one from the other or sprint there in 10-30 seconds. My record is 10 seconds; I timed it. That's a fact recorded by a chronometer, not one of your stupid lies.

I've always maintained a policy of only placing someone on my ignore list reciprocally (that is, if they ignore me first), but people like you who stalk me from one thread to another spewing moronic gibberish really test my resolve from time to time.

Calm down you dumbass no one is stalking you. Once you comment on a thread, you automatically watch the thread and get notifications.
. I didn't say all of the areas in the game just that a lot of them are you're butthurt because I said one aspect of a game you played for almost 500 hours isn't very good

If you want the rest of my DS3 opinions, you can scroll back to the DS3 page and read my opinions on it when I played it.

 

[Bigg Boss]

While I'm enjoying MGSV well enough, this project of playing through all of them has proven once and for all that MGS2 is my favorite game in the series. I just like the puzzle nature of its smaller maps, or maybe i'm just getting burned out by MGS. Regardless, the franchise is worse off without Fukushima.

Gameplay in MGS3 is some of the best in the series (until MGSV) and the story is so much different than the previous two games it stands out as my favorite, but MGS2 has the story twists I really crave in the franchise. I find it hard to pick a favorite out of the first three games. Going back to MGS on the PSX the controls are a little quirky, so that holds back some of the fun factor on that one. If they stopped at MGS3 it would have been legendary. It is a shame Fukushima gets almost no credit aside from the hardcore fanbase.