Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[Surf Solar]

I'm thoroughly disappointed. It's not a good MGS game and really not a good open world game. Kojima went full prequel George Lucas when he desperately needed someone to scream no in his face.

Like I said before I irrationally love these games... but as is this one is a monumental let down in pretty much every way.

So much metagame bullshit that isn't even well-developed at the cost of fucking everything.

Whatever. Ugh.

Are you disappointed about the story and how it unfolds?

 

[Malpercio]

God, Skullface has to be one of the worst chara in recent years. Even recent Bioware games had better villains.

 

[Bigg Boss]

I would say the game needs about 30% more to feel complete, at least up to MGS standards. All they had to do was throw in a couple more 15 to 30 minute long cutscenes. The Chapter format is weird as fuck. It felt like they were leading up to 3 chapters (which appears to be the case at some point in the development process according to extracted assets from the disc) then halted development all at once.

I have 90 hours on the game right now so I have had ample time to think about the game. I think this is a Metal Gear game that non-fans can enjoy. Many were turned off by the excessive cutscenes in the older game (I never had a problem with them. Perfect time for a smoke break.) then you have a Metal Gear game that barely feels like Metal Gear. It seems intentional.

I liked the ending but felt it should have been wrapped up with the Truth tapes as actual cutscenes. Then it wouldn't feel like such an abrupt stop. Venom gets an important revelation and then BAM! Game over. Even 3 or 4 more story focused missions would have been better than the 3 split endings we got. I know a lot of people disliked MGS4, but I preferred it in a lot of ways. Aside from the gameplay the newest Metal Gear is a letdown. Metal Gear games are primarily about story as far as I am concerned. That heavy handed philosophical exposition that we normally get was reserved for scenes like the one with Venom Snake riding in the truck looking around like he doesn't give a shit while SkullFace drones on.

 

[Jick Magger]

God, Skullface has to be one of the worst chara in recent years. Even recent Bioware games had better villains.

He's bad, but I still think he's leaps and bounds ahead of Corypheus from DA:I. I mean, you literally begin the latter by irreversibly fucking up his plan for world domination, you could not make a villain more ineffectual than that.

The problem with Skull-Face is that he had so much build-up in Ground Zeries, with all the tapes you find foreshadowing him as this weird and mysterious, fucked up dude, who nevertheless essentially shares the same goal of bringing down Cipher as Big Boss does, so when all these trailers come out that make it look like he's gonna actually team up with Diamond Dogs come out, the intrigue grew further, but then you see him in the game and he's a fucking cartoon villain, with a plan that's both retarded and essentially retreads the plot of Peace Walker, just replacing an AI with him for nuclear deterrence and with MAGIC NANOMACHINES thrown in on top. And the best part about it is that the scene where he explains his plan; the jeep ride on the way to his secret base, is probably the most poorly executed scene in the entire game. It's just so awkwardly done, with Skull-Face constantly pausing for no reason and getting uncomfortably close to Snake's face when he does talk, and Snake just sitting there silently and looking as though he's awkwardly trying to avoid eye-contact with him, it's just surreal.

 

[Talby]

Anyone know a way to prevent mediocre volunteers from joining Diamond Dogs, other than just dismissing them when they do? Like, I appreciated your enthusiasm, Mr. soldier whose highest grade is a C, but you're just not cut out for this army.

 

[Caim]

Anyone know a way to prevent mediocre volunteers from joining Diamond Dogs, other than just dismissing them when they do? Like, I appreciated your enthusiasm, Mr. soldier whose highest grade is a C, but you're just not cut out for this army.

Nope, no idea.

Pro tip though: if you hold Square (or whatever button is used for this on the Xbox and PC) when in your staff menu you can scroll up and down to quickly select a whole mass of people at the same time. It's a lot faster than selecting them one by one. Use this when you want to clear out the shitty members of your staff.

Oh, and make sure to mark certain staff members as fixed to their divisions so you don't lose guys like Malik because his stats are not up to snuff with the rest of your crew, but he's required since he knows a unique skill.

 

[Alienman]

Anyone know a way to prevent mediocre volunteers from joining Diamond Dogs, other than just dismissing them when they do? Like, I appreciated your enthusiasm, Mr. soldier whose highest grade is a C, but you're just not cut out for this army.

The game automatically dismiss people when you reach the max. So you don't have to worry about "low-class" soldiers.

 

[Menckenstein]

Are you disappointed about the story and how it unfolds?

Yes, especially given that we know chapter(s) were cut and Kojima randomly cut out most of Snake's dialogue.

Executing the story via tape was horrible.

Colossally bad decision making all around.

 

[Mr. Pink]

How much of it was Konami's fault?

Spoiler

all of it. kojima can do no wrong

 

[KK1001]

Barring extreme circumstances like Konami pulling development 2 years ago, it is all Kojima's fault.

 

[J_C]

Yes, especially given that we know chapter(s) were cut and Kojima randomly cut out most of Snake's dialogue.

Executing the story via tape was horrible.

Colossally bad decision making all around.

Thanks for the mainstream media (again), who had been whining about cutscenes since MGS2. Fuck, Kojima, why did you listen to them?

 

[Menckenstein]

Thanks for the mainstream media (again), who had been whining about cutscenes since MGS2. Fuck, Kojima, why did you listen to them?

Mainstream media? He listened to teenage girls whining about how Solid Snake was old and not animu so he gave us Raiden in MGS2. MGS was enjoyable in spite of Kojima, not because of him.

 

[Somberlain]

Pretty funny how this game is 10 times longer than MGS1, 2, 3 and 4 but still feels like it has less substance than them.

Still, it's fairly addictive and fun game to play. Took me about 110 hours to complete all side ops, main ops with S ranking, all mission tasks, dispatch missions and fully develop Mother Base. I still have some R&D stuff to finish but I probably won't be playing anymore until some DLC is out. I got an overdose.

 

[Caim]

For some reason certain side ops mission are white instead of grayed out in my side ops list, despite the fact that I already finished them. Is there a reason for this? They're mostly Extract Target X and Destroy Armor Y missions. Is it because I no longer have the people I recruit during those missions on my staff?

 

[Somberlain]

It just means that those side ops can be completed multiple times.

 

[CyberWhale]

He's bad, but I still think he's leaps and bounds ahead of Corypheus from DA:I. I mean, you literally begin the latter by irreversibly fucking up his plan for world domination, you could not make a villain more ineffectual than that.

The problem with Skull-Face is that he had so much build-up in Ground Zeries, with all the tapes you find foreshadowing him as this weird and mysterious, fucked up dude, who nevertheless essentially shares the same goal of bringing down Cipher as Big Boss does, so when all these trailers come out that make it look like he's gonna actually team up with Diamond Dogs come out, the intrigue grew further, but then you see him in the game and he's a fucking cartoon villain, with a plan that's both retarded and essentially retreads the plot of Peace Walker, just replacing an AI with him for nuclear deterrence and with MAGIC NANOMACHINES thrown in on top. And the best part about it is that the scene where he explains his plan; the jeep ride on the way to his secret base, is probably the most poorly executed scene in the entire game. It's just so awkwardly done, with Skull-Face constantly pausing for no reason and getting uncomfortably close to Snake's face when he does talk, and Snake just sitting there silently and looking as though he's awkwardly trying to avoid eye-contact with him, it's just surreal.

TL;DR

 

[J_C]

MGS was enjoyable in spite of Kojima, not because of him.

This is ridiculous.

 

[Adon]

He's bad, but I still think he's leaps and bounds ahead of Corypheus from DA:I. I mean, you literally begin the latter by irreversibly fucking up his plan for world domination, you could not make a villain more ineffectual than that.

The problem with Skull-Face is that he had so much build-up in Ground Zeries, with all the tapes you find foreshadowing him as this weird and mysterious, fucked up dude, who nevertheless essentially shares the same goal of bringing down Cipher as Big Boss does, so when all these trailers come out that make it look like he's gonna actually team up with Diamond Dogs come out, the intrigue grew further, but then you see him in the game and he's a fucking cartoon villain, with a plan that's both retarded and essentially retreads the plot of Peace Walker, just replacing an AI with him for nuclear deterrence and with MAGIC NANOMACHINES thrown in on top. And the best part about it is that the scene where he explains his plan; the jeep ride on the way to his secret base, is probably the most poorly executed scene in the entire game. It's just so awkwardly done, with Skull-Face constantly pausing for no reason and getting uncomfortably close to Snake's face when he does talk, and Snake just sitting there silently and looking as though he's awkwardly trying to avoid eye-contact with him, it's just surreal.

Speaking of, what was his reason for attacking BB? Maybe in GZ we can assume that he's doing it to get at Zero (idk if this is ever explained in GZ, never got the game) but what about after when he's in the hospital? What was the point in TPP when Zero had already been left comatose and he had left BB in a coma? Was he really that butthurt about having to clean up after him? Talk about some weak motivation.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Long time needs to pass until the people start to appreciate what Kojimbo did in this game.

 

[KK1001]

Kojima and Tomokazu Fukushima were a great team, and I suspect the latter was responsible for much of what was great about the first three Metal Gear Solids.

Kojima to me comes in and sort of adds flair and icing to what is already a fairly solid experience. He is great at doing the little quirks, the funny gameplay moments. MGS4 and MGSV demonstrate that he isn't really good at writing overarching plot narratives, and the clowns he brought with him to do much of the filler aren't that great either. He did a fantastic job making a trailer, and there are a few good scenes. But ultimately he mismanaged the fuck out of his time. Cutting a ton of (very expensive) voice acting from Sutherland is an utterly idiotic decision, all because he saw Mad Max and thought it would be "cool" when it is just asinine and retarded. The Skull Face jeep ride is one of the most awkward moments in video game history.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

https://twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/643992057858551808

Kojimbo pls

 

[Adon]

Kojima and Tomokazu Fukushima were a great team, and I suspect the latter was responsible for much of what was great about the first three Metal Gear Solids.

Kojima to me comes in and sort of adds flair and icing to what is already a fairly solid experience. He is great at doing the little quirks, the funny gameplay moments. MGS4 and MGSV demonstrate that he isn't really good at writing overarching plot narratives, and the clowns he brought with him to do much of the filler aren't that great either. He did a fantastic job making a trailer, and there are a few good scenes. But ultimately he mismanaged the fuck out of his time. Cutting a ton of (very expensive) voice acting from Sutherland is an utterly idiotic decision, all because he saw Mad Max and thought it would be "cool" when it is just asinine and retarded. The Skull Face jeep ride is one of the most awkward moments in video game history.

I think it's a mixture of Fukushima leaving and Kojima's focus shifting. With MGS1-3 you could tell Kojima's prime focus was the story, and it's something he seemed enthusiastic about, and a large part of it probably was because he working with Fukushima. Play Ghost Babel and I think you can see the type of influence that dude had on the series. Not to completely discredit Kojima as I think the themes in each game were a big contribution that came from him given that he still likes to harp on about them with the newer games.

But with MGSV, it seems like Kojima was focused on the gameplay first and foremost. Granted I agree that he isn't a good writer, and MGS4 shows that, but even that game felt like there was some effort put into it, no matter how shit it ended up being. Something salvageable could've been made out of it in comparison to MGSV.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Behead those who insult MGS4 and MGS2.

 

[Somberlain]

MGS4 deserves insults.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

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