Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[JDR13]

That said, it has some nice story elements which connect it to the main storyline.

If it's not canon, how can it connect to the main storyline?

 

[J_C]

That said, it has some nice story elements which connect it to the main storyline.

If it's not canon, how can it connect to the main storyline?

Shrugs, I just know that Kojima declaired the story not cannon, but still there are characters and events which are reoccuring in the MGS universe.

 

[JDR13]

That said, it has some nice story elements which connect it to the main storyline.

If it's not canon, how can it connect to the main storyline?

Shrugs, I just know that Kojima declaired the story not cannon, but still there are characters and events which are reoccuring in the MGS universe.

It's probably one of those "What if?" scenarios then. Like an alternate timeline or something.

 

[Bigg Boss]

That said, it has some nice story elements which connect it to the main storyline.

If it's not canon, how can it connect to the main storyline?

Shrugs, I just know that Kojima declaired the story not cannon, but still there are characters and events which are reoccuring in the MGS universe.

It's probably one of those "What if?" scenarios then. Like an alternate timeline or something.

It's only worthwhile due to the gameplay additions to the series. All the story shit is retarded. Yeah, yeah, I know. But really retarded.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

I actually have the HD collection and MGS4 for PS3, I've just never played them.

*Edit* Also, has anyone tried the GOG version of the original Metal Gear? I'm wondering if it's the NES version or the original MSX game.

Oh, then congratulations, you have all of the games except MGS1, original MSX included

I have no idea how's GOG MG from 1987, but because you have HD Collection, after running Snake Eater, you'll have an option to play both MG1 and MG2: Solid Snake, from the main menu.

How relevant is Portable Ops if I ever decide to play the whole series? I ask because I generally don't like games made for portables. I know Peace Walker was originally a PSP game too, but at least that got an HD makeover.

None at all, it was retconned out of canon after Peace Walker, I've just read a summary on a wiki earlier today. And the PW, yeah, it's basically MGS 5 Part 1. It even has the same menu style/mechanics/Mother Base management as MGSV.

The problem with Peace Walker is, even though it's "HD", it's still the same game structure - i.e. due to original PSP limitations, it's ~10min missions divided between a couple of separate, literally bite sized areas. Even Snake Eater areas seem huge by comparison.

It would be much more preferable if they just re-released it an iPhone toilet game. Hell, even old iPhones can run games that are much bigger (i.e. San Andreas). Considering how powerful smartphones have gotten, I imagine even a couple years old Android flagship can emulate PSP easily.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

That said, it has some nice story elements which connect it to the main storyline.

If it's not canon, how can it connect to the main storyline?

Shrugs, I just know that Kojima declaired the story not cannon, but still there are characters and events which are reoccuring in the MGS universe.

It's probably one of those "What if?" scenarios then. Like an alternate timeline or something.

It's only worthwhile due to the gameplay additions to the series. All the story shit is retarded. Yeah, yeah, I know. But really retarded.

To explain in greater detail: At first it was "canon", even to a point that Kojima waited with finishing the story for MGS4 until MPO story was finished. I say "waited", because development was split into 2 teams - Kojima working on 4, and other people on MPO.

Then some time after Peace Walker, it was decided that it wasn't really "canon" anymore, partially because Kojima didn't "direct" it personally himself. But then again, neither he did personally oversee MGR: Revengeance, and that one apparently is canon.

I guess it was just disregarded for convenience, because after reading the story, MPO:

1) doesn't matter much, other then explaining why Peace Walker begins with Snake in Colombia. Whereas PW story matters a great deal for Ground Zeroes/TPP.

2) it's "unfair" to limit canon to all of five people who ever played MPO on a PSP. At least Peace Walker is infinitely more accessible, with PS3/X360 versions of it.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

So the Definitive Edition is super cheap right now, and I'm thinking about getting it.

How connected to the prior games in the series is it? Would it be confusing to someone who hasn't played a Metal Gear game since the PS1?

You don't need to know anything about any of the previous Metal Gear games. It's about as standalone as the first Metal Gear Solid game. There's stuff connected to previous games like there was with MGS, but it's not like you'll be lost or anything if you haven't played those either. I'd guess this was a pretty conscious choices, as the stuff it's most connected to (outside of MGS on PSX) are things people are likely to have not played like Peace Walker and the older Metal Gear MSX2 games. May have also been because MGS4 was the total opposite...it kind of the anti-MGS4. Although from a gameplay standpoint it's a refinement of MGS4, as well as what I've seen of Peace Walker.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

This game is the best commando simulator of all time, other than Jagged Alliance 2. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Phantom Pain is the best solo commando simulator of all time.

Snake Eater is definitely the objectively best game of the entire series, an assessment that includes its atmosphere, characterization, and story, but gameplay-wise it's much more structured and restricted. In a sense, I consider it to be more of a puzzle game (as opposed to a simulator) with a theme and story, which is no bad thing.

Phantom Pain is gameplay-heavy, which is fine, since the MGS story never made a damn bit of sense anyway. And yet it's all done so stylishly that you develop a sense of legendry surrounding the characters you saw in an earlier MGS ages ago, despite not having any real idea of what the fuck they were doing or saying at the time.

I'd say specifically it's the best Rambo First Blood Part 2 simulator there is. Which makes the lack of helicopters you can pilot yourself so disappointing. This game is basically a series of infiltration missions that lets you recreate Rambo. It's like Rambo First Blood Part 2 crossed with G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero...or the Tiberian side of Command & Conquer.

The biggest downside in V though is the lack of Metal Gear Solid bosses. Especially given the new found gameplay focus. It's weird too, because they could have so easily have had all the targets in those dead or alive, capture or kill target missions you go on be cool boss encounters with memorable characters instead of them all being fairly generic soilders. That's maybe the weirdest of all the choices V makes.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

So the Definitive Edition is super cheap right now, and I'm thinking about getting it.

How connected to the prior games in the series is it? Would it be confusing to someone who hasn't played a Metal Gear game since the PS1?

You don't need to know anything about any of the previous Metal Gear games. It's about as standalone as the first Metal Gear Solid game. There's stuff connected to previous games like there was with MGS, but it's not like you'll be lost or anything if you haven't played those either. I'd guess this was a pretty conscious choices, as the stuff it's most connected to (outside of MGS on PSX) are things people are likely to have not played like Peace Walker and the older Metal Gear MSX2 games. May have also been because MGS4 was the total opposite...it kind of the anti-MGS4. Although from a gameplay standpoint it's a refinement of MGS4, as well as what I've seen of Peace Walker.

Hell, we can basically list everything what little needs to be known about it, as some kind of "sticky":

- Big Boss is OG Snake and every game has some kind of Snake as a main character, Solid Snake is one of his clones
- Revolver Ocelot appears in every game, playing a different role every time, is essentially a double triple reverse quadruple agent, here he's trivia talk
- Master Miller is Solid Snake's contact from MSX Metal Gear 2, and was referenced in like 2 calls in MGS1
- "Cipher" is the big bad Deep State/Globalist NWO/Swamp that Trump wants to drain
- that annoying little shit Eli is Liquid Snake, antagonist of MGS1 and another of Big Boss' clones, that's all
- if you play Ground Zeroes, Chico and Paz are from Peace Walker
- that floating kid is Psycho Mantis from MGS1. He was a very famous boss in PS1 era, a psychic reading your memory card saves about which games you like, and your playstyle in the game
- Quiet is a shoutout to MGS most famous boss battle, "The End", a sniper battle of attrition, as well as a "love interest" every Snake in every MGS has

 

[Bigg Boss]

This is all you need to know.

 

[JDR13]

Bigg Boss, so is this where you got your username from?

 

[Bigg Boss]

Bigg Boss, so is this where you got your username from?

I'm just a big fan of R O L E P L A Y I N G.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

The biggest downside in V though is the lack of Metal Gear Solid bosses. Especially given the new found gameplay focus. It's weird too, because they could have so easily have had all the targets in those dead or alive, capture or kill target missions you go on be cool boss encounters with memorable characters instead of them all being fairly generic soilders. That's maybe the weirdest of all the choices V makes.

I don't know, I still think it fared better than MGS 2.

Of course, TPP muddles things a bit, since a definition of an MGS boss is "has his own HP bar below Snake's HP bar", but since Venom Snake doesn't have any HP bar here, well...

The "bosses" in TPP, you can say, were:

Spoiler

1. "Honey Bee" ambush (basically a frantic escape sequence)
2. Quiet
3. Metal Gear (escape sequence)
4. Caravan
5. Man on Fire/Psycho Mantis
6. White Mamba (later in Mother Base as well)
7. Sniper squad in Code Talker
8. Skulls in Nova Braga
9. Metal Gear/Psycho Mantis
9... bosses on Extreme

Whereas in MGS 2 it was:

0. Fortune - escape sequence
1. Fatman, the only memorable boss
2. harrier
3. Vamp
3. Uhhh... Vamp again?
4. 25 Metal Gears, ok that was amusing
5. ??? teleport to katana boss #3 because 9/11

Maybe I'm harsh, but for me it's obvious half of the bosses (Chinaman/Oldboy) and apparently half of game (Shell 2) was axed. At least Oldboy became The End.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The biggest downside in V though is the lack of Metal Gear Solid bosses. Especially given the new found gameplay focus. It's weird too, because they could have so easily have had all the targets in those dead or alive, capture or kill target missions you go on be cool boss encounters with memorable characters instead of them all being fairly generic soilders. That's maybe the weirdest of all the choices V makes.

I don't know, I still think it fared better than MGS 2.

Of course, TPP muddles things a bit, since a definition of an MGS boss is "has his own HP bar below Snake's HP bar", but since Venom Snake doesn't have any HP bar here, well...

The "bosses" in TPP, you can say, were:

Spoiler

1. "Honey Bee" ambush (basically a frantic escape sequence)
2. Quiet
3. Metal Gear (escape sequence)
4. Caravan
5. Man on Fire/Psycho Mantis
6. White Mamba (later in Mother Base as well)
7. Sniper squad in Code Talker
8. Skulls in Nova Braga
9. Metal Gear/Psycho Mantis
9... bosses on Extreme

Whereas in MGS 2 it was:

0. Fortune - escape sequence
1. Fatman, the only memorable boss
2. harrier
3. Vamp
3. Uhhh... Vamp again?
4. 25 Metal Gears, ok that was amusing
5. ??? teleport to katana boss #3 because 9/11

Maybe I'm harsh, but for me it's obvious half of the bosses (Chinaman/Oldboy) and apparently half of game (Shell 2) was axed. At least Oldboy became The End.

By that coin you could include the skulls in Phantom Limbs too.

 

[Bigg Boss]

NIGGERS FORGOT OLGA.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

The biggest downside in V though is the lack of Metal Gear Solid bosses. Especially given the new found gameplay focus. It's weird too, because they could have so easily have had all the targets in those dead or alive, capture or kill target missions you go on be cool boss encounters with memorable characters instead of them all being fairly generic soilders. That's maybe the weirdest of all the choices V makes.

I don't know, I still think it fared better than MGS 2.

Of course, TPP muddles things a bit, since a definition of an MGS boss is "has his own HP bar below Snake's HP bar", but since Venom Snake doesn't have any HP bar here, well...

The "bosses" in TPP, you can say, were:

Spoiler

1. "Honey Bee" ambush (basically a frantic escape sequence)
2. Quiet
3. Metal Gear (escape sequence)
4. Caravan
5. Man on Fire/Psycho Mantis
6. White Mamba (later in Mother Base as well)
7. Sniper squad in Code Talker
8. Skulls in Nova Braga
9. Metal Gear/Psycho Mantis
9... bosses on Extreme

Whereas in MGS 2 it was:

0. Fortune - escape sequence
1. Fatman, the only memorable boss
2. harrier
3. Vamp
3. Uhhh... Vamp again?
4. 25 Metal Gears, ok that was amusing
5. ??? teleport to katana boss #3 because 9/11

Maybe I'm harsh, but for me it's obvious half of the bosses (Chinaman/Oldboy) and apparently half of game (Shell 2) was axed. At least Oldboy became The End.

I wouldn't call the escape from Sahelanthropusm a boss fight. It's just a first encounter like when the zombie guys first show up and you run from them.

In MGSV there's like, fictionally, four or five boss encounters in the game.

- There's Quite and the Skull snipers. These are the best ones since the sniper battles feel so good in this game.
- Man on Fire
- White Mamba
- And the actual final encounter with Sahelanthropus where you really get to fight the giant robot

Stuff like the Caravan and the Skulls on the airbase feel less like boss encounters and more like normal encounters with a new stronger type of generic solider. Same with the tank fleet battle, which has you fighting a fleet of normal tanks without any kind of special character or unique tank to that fight; although that feels more like a boss fight than when you're dealing with normal Parasite Units. If tanks weren't a normal thing you deal with in the game, the tank fleet would definitely feel like a boss encounters however.

I think in MGS2 you've got something like seven bosses, and that's a much smaller game than MGSV. In MGSV you've got a game that's like quadruple the length of MGS2, with less unique boss characters and encounters. V is still the better game, but it's boss situation is seriously lacking. While playing V, after a while I just couldn't help but think how weird it was so many of your targets that could have been cool boss characters were just generic soldiers.

 

[J_C]

MGSV is the best in the series from a gameplay standpoint, and one of the best on the market in its genre. But as a huge MGS fan, for me this is the weakest MGS. The characters are out of place, the story is even more of a mess and it is not presented well. All those radio talks are a hundred times worse than the CG cutscenes. The episodic fly-ins between missions is a waste of time, and as people pointed out, the bosses are severally lacking. The series went for a downhill regarding the bosses since MGS3. Even 4 had very samey bosses, Peace Walker detto, and now 5 with its Skulls unit is pretty bad.

 

[Ezekiel]

MGSV is the best in the series from a gameplay standpoint, and one of the best on the market in its genre. But as a huge MGS fan, for me this is the weakest MGS. The characters are out of place, the story is even more of a mess and it is not presented well. All those radio talks are a hundred times worse than the CG cutscenes. The episodic fly-ins between missions is a waste of time, and as people pointed out, the bosses are severally lacking. The series went for a downhill regarding the bosses since MGS3. Even 4 had very samey bosses, Peace Walker detto, and now 5 with its Skulls unit is pretty bad.

I don't think it has the best gameplay. The open world design hurts stealth somewhat. MGS2 and 3 had more intricate areas and more concentrated soldiers. In V, the soldiers are pretty spaced out and maybe more myopic, so that the player doesn't have to treat every yard with as much caution in the bigger map. The mechanics are inferior to MGS4's. I dislike the automatic cover system, how it alters the camera slightly and changes Snake's position with a slow animation every time you go near an object. Weapon customization is reduced from MGS4. There are fewer CQC options. You can't equip a knife anymore, which would allow you to kill unconscious enemies when extracting them is not an option. Instead, you have to wake them again or waste a bullet and degrade your suppressor. Also, ever since MGS3, it has too often been easier to shoot everybody from afar than to sneak into the hostile area, where they can surround you and do more damage after your stealth is compromised. Their bullets aren't dangerous enough. Not that I want Splinter Cell levels of alerted danger in an MGS game.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

The mechanics are vastly superior to MGS4. MGS4 is like the trial run to what they'd do in V, where they don't quite have the language of what they're going for down yet. V is a mechanically stronger game with both better level layouts and better use of the area it's putting you in.

It does suck that you don't have as many guns to fuck around with as 4, especially given the action aspect of the game feels so much better, but this isn't a mechanics problem either. It's just an extra little touch it doesn't have. MGS4 was very good with going the extra mile with little touches, but it wasn't a better game because of it either.

What is there, like one fewer CQC option? The ground chock. It's basically the exact same thing with the pat down being switched out for getting information out of enemies instead. And what the pat down gives you has now been given over to the supply drop, which is better since it gives you more, it cost you something, and it can be used as a way to take out an enemy.

The knife thing seems like kind of a pointless complaint. Letting the player be able to knife a downed enemy seems like a pretty easy give, so my guess would be they want you to spend that bullet to shot him, (this may or may not be safe for you) which could bring you closer to needing to call a supply drop; and they want the safe knife kill to only come from being able to restrain an enemy that's up and about. Seems like a pretty simple risk reward decision, and not really a bad one. Honestly, as is, the later game Fulton and tranquilizer guns make things too easy already. Tranquilizer gun shouldn't even be there just to force the close quarters stealth.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

As far as boss fights go, I'm mildly disappointed at the lack of a proper slugger boss whom you face in a full on fist fight. Eli doesn't count.

 

[Caim]

As far as boss fights go, I'm mildly disappointed at the lack of a proper slugger boss whom you face in a full on fist fight. Eli doesn't count.

Eli is pretty funny to cheese. Sneak up on him from behind prior to triggering the cutscenes, tranq him and call in the chopper.

 

[JDR13]

How do Metal Gear Rising and Metal Gear Survive fit into the series?

 

[eXalted]

How do Metal Gear Rising and Metal Gear Survive fit into the series?

They don't.

 

[Young_Hollow]

How connected to the prior games in the series is it? Would it be confusing to someone who hasn't played a Metal Gear game since the PS1?

The question is nuncupatory.

Don't use big words like that. It makes my brain hurt.

Your brain will hurt more trying to understand the plot, and even more if you play the others for the plot.

Just watch a summary of Ground Zeroes (playing it would take about the same time anyway) and 90% of the game's story references will be clear to you. Then watch cutscene movies of the others starting with either Metal Gear(the old pixel-ey one, the first in the series) or MGS3. MGS5 stands alone plot wise because it doesn't tie up the loose ends between the two successive protagonists (ie Naked Snake / Big Boss and Solid Snake, Raiden doesn't count) like it was meant to do. Instead MGS5 is more about its own self-contained story ( which is also retarded, but its in the span of one game so its fun).

If you're playing it, play it for the gameplay which is that of the best third person stealth game ever made (dead competitor: Splinter Cell). Its highly customisable and moddable and you can make it harder for yourself if you want to or even play it like an action game without stealth. Play vanilla first though to get a hang of stuff and that might be enough for you (it was for me).

Also the last missions are sad placeholders that will never be changed, don't let it ruin the experience.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Honestly not sure what is so brain-busting about the plot. Ocelot can MKULTRA the best of them. Everyone you know is a liar. Everything you believe in is bullshit. Start your own country and try to nuke the world then get retconned as a kinda good guy. Oh then in Peacewalker some anime bitch steals a Metal Gear. Your son kills you but not you then kills you but doesn't. End.

I mean it is made by some jap autist. It has weird japanese anime fetish stuff. Try not to think too hard.