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JeuxVideo MGSV 5-day preview - translated impressions

DieH@rd

Banned
Make clones of me against my will if old...



I think this translated impressions from big JeuxVideo preview article deserves its own thread.
2015-08-0321_42_37-jedyrbu.jpg


https://youtu.be/ZInpN4yx3K4

French journalist Arnaud De Keyser played the MGSV over the period of 5 days, finishing 30 missions... but even then he found himself in a situation that he did not manage to form a complete opinion on this game. He found it impressive, incredibly large, filled with many gameplay systems/content, with motherbase playing surprisingly big role as the campaign unfolded [and surprisingly non-useful for stealth players in the early campaign].

Preview lists not only many positive observations but also many doubts about certain sections of the gameplay/storytelling. Many of those doubts require finishing the game to be certain about if they are as impactfull as they could be.
 

HORRORSHØW

Member
i can understand being cautious about the storytelling, but what exactly about the gameplay does keyser have qualms with?
 

liquidtmd

Banned
Preview lists not only many positive observations but also many doubts about certain sections of the gameplay/storytelling, but many of those doubts require finishing the game to be certain about if they are as impactfull as they could be.

tumblr_inline_mzo8ygI2wN1qbygev.gif
 

hal9001

Banned
So basically the same as Peace Walker in terms of levelling up mechanics for certain missions.

I'm fine wth that.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
Grimløck;173985051 said:
i can understand being cautious about the storytelling, but what exactly about the gameplay does keyser have qualms with?

Most notably, he managed to craft his first stealth weapon [not counting the starting silenced pistol] only after he finished mission 15. He believes that in early game motherbase rewards only players who want to kill enemies. Stealth gadgets cannot be crafted early on, which is a problem because motherbase is most easily staffed with manpower by using stealth techniques [being able to fulton soldiers].

Please use a different imagehost, this one always gives me malware warnings.

done
 
Most notably, he managed to craft his first stealth weapon [not counting the starting silenced pistol] only after he finished mission 15. He believes that in early game motherbase rewards only players who want to kill enemies. Stealth gadgets cannot be crafted early on, which is a problem because motherbase is most easily staffed with manpower by using stealth techniques [being able to fulton soldiers].
done
HA! yeah that could be a problem :O
 
Most notably, he managed to craft his first stealth weapon [not counting the starting silenced pistol] only after he finished mission 15. He believes that in early game motherbase rewards only players who want to kill enemies. Stealth gadgets cannot be crafted early on, which is a problem because motherbase is most easily staffed with manpower by using stealth techniques [being able to fulton soldiers].
That you wouldn't access many stealth weapons early on doesn't necessarily bother me as OP stealth/non-lethal weapons tend to break the game easily.
Not having any kind of Fulton would be bullshit though.

I feel PW nailed that economy in that your hard earned research made things like capture easier and less grindy but you had to earn it first.
 

Arklite

Member
Having only a tranq gun and CQC for non lethal play isn't anything out of the ordinary at all, but I can see the confusion of working towards building mother base with little in the way of stealth rewards. I'm liking how similar this is sounding to Peace Walker, and it seems Kojima really wanted to distance his newer work from MGS4s ultra thick narrative
 

DieH@rd

Banned
IMO, stealth pistol is the only weapon I will need. :)

But decoys and boxes and other helpfull items are things that I can appreciate for creating fun scenarios. At least now I know I will not be able to use them in early game.
 

Alienous

Member
I can't imagine playing through the game and limiting myself to a fraction of the available weapons.

I'll probably avoid killing where possible but I won't hesitate to carry a rifle if I need to put a couple of lethal rounds in kneecaps and Fulton people that way.
 

Boke1879

Member
A tranq gun is all you really need in MGS. If you are armed with that from the start nothing should be an issue.
 

Wagram

Member
I'm concerned that it's going to suffer from open world syndrome, and that the main story will degrade as a result.
 

cackhyena

Member
I can't imagine playing through the game and limiting myself to a fraction of the available weapons.

I'll probably avoid killing where possible but I won't hesitate to carry a rifle if I need to put a couple of lethal rounds in kneecaps and Fulton people that way.

For my first go? Absolutely, use what you have to. For my second? Nothing but empty clips. Empty clip dudes, bosses, tanks, and metal gears all the way to victory.
 

Arklite

Member
Peace Walker disagrees.

Some of Peace Walker's main missions forced you to take out APCs or helicopter gunships along with several squads of troops. If this is true of Phantom Pain, then the complaint that the myriad of unlockable lethal weapons are useless would not be true as you would need them on occasion. After 30 missions the previewer notes his guns were collecting dust, so it seems these mission requirements aren't as strict in MGSV.
 
I'm thinking it's probably an intentional design choice for narrative. Big Boss is fucking angry and, as such, has to take his revengeance against everyone, so you'll be shooting everyone for no just cause, no greater good. Then, when he's calmed down, then he'll remember the basics of CQC and let the legend come back to life.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Sounds like a bit of OCD involved. If you feel you absolutely must recruit every soldier you encounter, you may be frustrated by the lack of immediate unlocks of powerful non-lethal options like tranquilizer sniper rifles? Okay, well, having a fully non-lethal kit equivalent to a lethal kit kind of makes all the lethal options pointless and doesn't provide for meaningful trade-offs, but lethal options aren't going to actually be useless at all for completing missions and advancing in the game. If TPP is as vast as he's suggesting, he should be willing to mix up his play styles and use lethal solutions when appropriate, and will get the potent non-lethal stuff eventually.
 

Boke1879

Member
Yeah seems weird that there's basically no evidence outside of trailers that there's any kind of meaty story, much less crazy MGS story and boss fights.

This game seems to follow the formula of PW. It'll have a story, but the nitty gritty of the plot and exposition will be presented in the cassette tapes.

Just think about about GZ's. After you collect all the Chico tapes and you have a much larger understanding of what actually happened.
 

Sendero

Member
from a previous thread:
Side note:
Kind of surprised that no one opened a thread regarding the pre-review of the game by Jeux Video Magazine. There are a couple of noticeable complains there:

-Players need to focus on Mother Base building from early on, to avoid getting stuck on missions later, that require specialized items.

Which also means, you shouldn't use any weapon aside of the Tranquilizer gun until you have collected enough personnel for R&D. And apparently that takes a lot of missions.

-There isn't a lot of story exposition, at least during the first 30 missions. Few cutscenes (although well done, apparently).

Will be interesting to see if that turns out true.
I'm not sure at what point you get D-Dog, but I guess it would be worthwhile to sweep the areas with him, to find all those diamonds and hidden stuff.

Well, at least if you are on the completionist side.
 
Sounds like a bit of OCD involved. If you feel you absolutely must recruit every soldier you encounter, you may be frustrated by the lack of immediate unlocks of powerful non-lethal options like tranquilizer sniper rifles? Okay, well, having a fully non-lethal kit equivalent to a lethal kit kind of makes all the lethal options pointless and doesn't provide for meaningful trade-offs, but lethal options aren't going to actually be useless at all for completing missions and advancing in the game. If TPP is as vast as he's suggesting, he should be willing to mix up his play styles and use lethal solutions when appropriate, and will get the potent non-lethal stuff eventually.

Yeah, it sounds like he just didn't play with all of the tools available to him, with the sheer amount of variety Kojima is giving the player, it sounds insane how many ways players will be able to play it. Looking forward to playing through both non-lethal and lethally.
 

Roussow

Member
Just thinking about it now, all we've seen of the game so far is the two open worlds (desert and forest), motherbase stuff, and only cutscene snippets from trailers have showed other locations, primarily interiors.

Do we know of any smaller instanced locations for specific missions? Or anything about any boss fights, any individual set-pieces? (I vaguely remember seeing BB on the back of a motorcycle at night, but I forgot where I saw that)
 
Yeah seems weird that there's basically no evidence outside of trailers that there's any kind of meaty story, much less crazy MGS story and boss fights.

If MGSV lacks these things I won't know what to do with my life anymore. I'm also not sure how excited I am about the Mother Base aspect. I remember when MGS was this straightforward, story-driven espionage thriller fueled by pure batshit insanity. I'm not saying that progression or evolution is bad, but after Peace Walker and even aspects of MGS4, I'm not convinced that I love it.
 

Edzi

Member
If MGSV lacks these things I won't know what to do with my life anymore.

It honestly might be for the best. The story looks to be picking up where PW left off, and I'm okay with less garbage PW story after what they did to Big Boss and The Boss.
 

Loakum

Banned
The only part that kind of concerns me is the lack of cut scenes. Call me crazy, but I just so happen to love all the cut scenes in the entire Metal Gear Solid series! That's how I immerse myself in the story. I really hope all the belly aching about long cut scenes in MGS4 didn't cause MGSV TPP to have very little of them. I know it's just a preview, but this concerns me.
 

Tc91

Member
Sounds like a bit of OCD involved. If you feel you absolutely must recruit every soldier you encounter, you may be frustrated by the lack of immediate unlocks of powerful non-lethal options like tranquilizer sniper rifles? Okay, well, having a fully non-lethal kit equivalent to a lethal kit kind of makes all the lethal options pointless and doesn't provide for meaningful trade-offs, but lethal options aren't going to actually be useless at all for completing missions and advancing in the game. If TPP is as vast as he's suggesting, he should be willing to mix up his play styles and use lethal solutions when appropriate, and will get the potent non-lethal stuff eventually.

I agree. And besides, haven't you always had more lethal options than non-lethal options in MGS games.
 
I don't think anyone* knows.

*well ofc people know but I don't think it's public knowledge yet.

Not sure how many main missions exactly, but from the Ground Zeroes PC files it looks like there's at least
150
missions including side ops.

PW had 33.

TPP who knows? But I remember kojima saying that certain missions can hours to finish if I'm not mistaken... Include GZ while you at since it's part of TPP.
Thank you!
 
Yeah, it's not like we had three 5+ minute E3 trailers which consisted almost solely of cutscene footage or anything.

Dude... he specifically said...

Yeah seems weird that there's basically no evidence outside of trailers that there's any kind of meaty story, much less crazy MGS story and boss fights.

This seems like a reasonable concern at this point, and it's one I share. An MGS game without a lengthy, focused narrative is not an MGS game.
 

Boke1879

Member
It honestly might be for the best. The story looks to be picking up where PW left off, and I'm okay with less garbage PW story after what they did to Big Boss and The Boss.

I HIGHLY disagree with your opinion of the PW story but I do think in this case less is better.

Of course there will be cutscenes and things to keep the story moving. What is going to expand the story are the tapes. I saw a few posts mentioning Kiefer not talking. Well Greg Miller stated while he doesn't do much talking in the cutscenes from what he's played. In the tapes he mentioned Big Boss is talking all over the place.

So the people who want more story have the option of listening to it through the tapes.

It's kinda funny really. People are worried an MGS game won't have enough cutscenes after they complained about them in MGS2 and 4 lol.
 

Sendero

Member
Yeah seems weird that there's basically no evidence outside of trailers that there's any kind of meaty story, much less crazy MGS story and boss fights.
I don't think the impressions points to that, though.

Rather, than the cutscenes/story related missions are a bit too spread, at least initially.
Because again, the context is that the Magazine only tried the first 30 missions.

It's safe to assume there will be more exposition as we get closer to the end.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
It's worth mentioning that Ground Zeroes players will immediately get some staff and resources after starting MGSV.

I did not rescue a lot of POWs and soldiers in GZ, so I guess I will fix that over the next few weeks. :D
 

Boke1879

Member
It's worth mentioning that Ground Zeroes players will immediately get some staff and resources after starting MGSV.

I did not rescue a lot of POWs and soldiers in GZ, so I guess I will fix that over the next few weeks. :D

WAIT?! Where is that confirmed?
 
It honestly might be for the best. The story looks to be picking up where PW left off, and I'm okay with less garbage PW story after what they did to Big Boss and The Boss.

I know what you mean, but Peace Walker itself just didn't have a good story. What I'm talking about, obviously, are the stories from say the first three games (even 4, but I know what kind of lid it would open if I tried to debate that). Say what you will about the writing or cutscene length, but for me the crazy ass stories, bosses, etc. were a charming factor to me and they were just as important as the actual gameplay. Not having those elements in an MGS game is like Twin Peaks without David Lynch.
 

Arklite

Member
from a previous thread:

Side note:
Kind of surprised that no one opened a thread regarding the pre-review of the game by Jeux Video Magazine. There are a couple of noticeable complains there:

-Players need to focus on Mother Base building from early on, to avoid getting stuck on missions later, that require specialized items.

Which also means, you can't use any weapon aside of the Tranquilizer gun until you have collected enough personnel for R&D. And apparently that takes a lot of missions.

I seriously doubt they fucked up the balance hard enough to require grinding for mission specific Mother base tech. That's one I'd need to see before believing.
 

bernardobri

Steve, the dog with no powers that we let hang out with us all for some reason
It's worth mentioning that Ground Zeroes players will immediately get some staff and resources after starting MGSV.

I did not rescue a lot of POWs and soldiers in GZ, so I guess I will fix that over the next few weeks. :D

I have been wondering about this lately.

Let's say that you save a lot of POWs on GZ (say, dozens or even hundreds by repeating missions over and over).... Do you really get to transfer every single POW into TPP right from the beginning? Wouldn't that basically break the game?

TBH, I'd bet my farm that there's a limit number for that transferring aspect of the game (aside from the PW/GZ Sneaking Suit and other goodies)
 
Sounds like a bit of OCD involved. If you feel you absolutely must recruit every soldier you encounter, you may be frustrated by the lack of immediate unlocks of powerful non-lethal options like tranquilizer sniper rifles? Okay, well, having a fully non-lethal kit equivalent to a lethal kit kind of makes all the lethal options pointless and doesn't provide for meaningful trade-offs, but lethal options aren't going to actually be useless at all for completing missions and advancing in the game. If TPP is as vast as he's suggesting, he should be willing to mix up his play styles and use lethal solutions when appropriate, and will get the potent non-lethal stuff eventually.

Yeah. TPP isnt just a sneaking mission like previous games. It an open world. It sounds like the writer wanted to just do sneaking whilst missing the point that its not just about that anymore. Hell theres a 3rd option you can do shown to us-fultoning everyone without their knowledge. Now thats a runthrough I wanna do
 
Just thinking about it now, all we've seen of the game so far is the two open worlds (desert and forest), motherbase stuff, and only cutscene snippets from trailers have showed other locations, primarily interiors.

Do we know of any smaller instanced locations for specific missions? Or anything about any boss fights, any individual set-pieces? (I vaguely remember seeing BB on the back of a motorcycle at night, but I forgot where I saw that)

That motorcycle scene could be part of Afghanistan or Africa for all we know. So far the locations shown if you take into consideration GZ you have the following:

Cuba
Afghanistan
Africa
Motherbase
Hospital ? Unknown location

Expecting another country at this point seems like a no go. We also have to keep in mind there's bases to infiltrate in these maps. So in a way we haven't seen a lot. Plus if you think about it previous mgs games had few locations at the most for instance:

MG1: South Africa
MG2: Zanzibar island
MGS1: Shadow Moses
MGS2: tanker and big shell
MGS3: Russian jungle and one huge base
MGS4: multiple locations but linear
PW: Costa Rica if I'm not mistaken
 
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