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[Nintendoga]

Obvious spoilers for those who haven't played TPP.

Let's be honest, back in September there were a lot of heads rolling over the story of Metal Gear Solid V. The truth to Mission 46. The cut conclusion to Eli and Pyscho Mantis. What looked to be a missing Chapter 3. The "lack" of the downfall of Big Boss. Not going "Nuclear" as the trailers had seemed to imply. Expectations were thrown out the window and majority of players were either angry or disappointed. Weeks went by interpreting the story and message behind the game and yeah, while everyone calmed down and began to post their unbiased feelings towards the game, the emotions from the revelation of the truth was still fresh in our minds.

So, it's been 6 months. We've all had time to digest the story and the meaning behind it. What are your thoughts?

Me personally, I've come to accept it. It's not a bad story, just the presentation of it was disappointing to me for awhile. Albeit intentional, it's jarring to suddenly have a Metal Gear game have its story take place more so in the background than in your face. I've actually been replaying MGSV recently and came across an article of a fan's interpretation of the game that really made me see in a new light what I think is one of the best aspects of TPP's story, Venom Snake.

I highly recommend people to read this if interested about Venom. It addressed a lot of problems I had about both Venom and Big Boss and it made me look at TPP in a different way. Here are some quotes I really liked in particular.

Big Boss was once the hero but not anymore. He manipulates you, the player, into becoming his decoy. In a brilliant way, it is a form of violation and betrayal. The man that you admired took everything away from you. Nothing will be left. Not even a memory. You were consumed in Big Boss’s legacy. You, the player, were sacrificed for his goals. You are a victim of his plans. Big Boss took something very precious to you and will never give it back. Many are not grasping the ramifications of this conclusion.

Big Boss plays it as a good thing, that you wanted this, that the legend is something you “both” build. The assumption of “he would want to play as Big Boss anyway!”, but if the opportunity were to arise—if the opportunity of a choice were to arise—of willingly allow Venom’s memories almost completely washed out, no doubt there would be hesitation. The idea of having your very mind erased and taken over by another personality…how would one enjoy the experience if they weren’t aware of it? There is no “enjoyment”, there is only deception and betrayal. Erasing yourself to allow another to absorb you would make anyone hesitate. It’s only natural. Imagine all of your memories and experiences snuffed out without hesitation. Unfortunately, your own actions as you live through this phantom will never be remembered. The accomplishments you achieve with your own hands will only be remembered from the person you portray. “You” never existed.

Venom Snake remembers the bad things “he” has done. He remembers when “he” killed The Boss and feels guilty because of it. He refers himself as a demon for the actions he never committed. This would also explain his pacifist nature; he wants to avoid becoming that demon he sees himself as.

He may share the memories and experiences of Big Boss, but clearly his attitude is different. His responses to these memories is what is substantial to him as a character. One can change the memories and experiences of an individual but their consciousness—your awareness of these memories/experiences—can reflect differently. The attitude of Big Boss and Venom are two entirely different personalities.

To quote one of the tapes: “It is just a dream. It is all a dream. I am in it, and you are in it too. I am the dreamer, but you are having my dream. Do you get it now? You do, don’t you? Peace Day never came … Our wishes do not come true. We just cling on to our dreams, our phantoms. Mine and yours.” – Paz

This heavily implies that Venom Snake wants peace, but knows that will never come true. The ‘fragment’ of Paz focuses on peace and is excited for it. That wish correlates with his behavior; how passive and non-confronting he is when the time comes. He avoids conflict whenever possible and wants as few sacrifices as possible. His consistency has never stopped since the beginning of the game. Venom is a pacifist at heart.

But that's just me. Story used to be near the bottom on my MGS list, but now I'd probably rank it around MGS3 or 1. Personal feelings aside, what are your thoughts on Metal Gear Solid V's story?

 

[Ishida]

What story?

 

[Surfninja]

unfinished

 

[Aureon]

Inexcusably barren.
Fundamentally, it could've been nice. But wasn't developed NEARLY enough.

MGS5 is a nearly-100%-gameplay title.

 

[Smooth Operator]

So, it's been 6 months. We've all had time to digest the story and the meaning behind it. What are your thoughts?

A let down. It's almost like i'm still waiting for the "real" MGSV to come out... And i feel kinda depressed when i think about it.

 

[hotpocket]

Its clear still that Kojima didnt get to tell the whole story he wanted to tell. What we got was a disapointing finale to MGS

 

[gugeifer]

Such a lust for conclusion...

 

[Blackquill]

There were some great ideas (like the problematic with the "Lingua Franca") but it's still completely messed up and Quiet is probably the worst character in the series.

 

[Betty]

I like it a lot.

BUT

I don't feel it was enough for the size of the game, there could have been lots more drama, lots more bosses, lots more epic moments.

Each chapter should have been about 10 missions long and filled with story moments instead of what we got.

But I do like it.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

If anything, it made me hate Big Boss. He was nothing more than a coward who stole a legacy.

Venom was great. I loved him and he got such a shit end of the deal. Would have liked to see more of him.

 

[ShadowKhaN]

A shitty mobile game is all it ends up as in the end, ruined by konami.

 

[Ishida]

A let down. I still can't believe i played MGSV.

I don't regret playing it, but it is the most disappointing game I've ever played in my life.

 

[hwy_61]

That first act is tremendous.

Everything after...not so much.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

I had no issues with it. It brought the game along while introducing by far the most complex, deep and varied gameplay mechanics to the player one by one. Pretty awesome.-

 

[GavinUK86]

Forgotten it.

 

[VeryGooster]

Overwrought yet empty. But I've never found Kojima to be a good storyteller, so...

 

[jabberwocker]

"Videogame making has changed."

 

[DNAbro]

It's bad bad.

 

[kai3345]

I don't regret playing it, but it is the most disappointing game I've ever played in my life.

this. it somehow ended up being both the best and most disappointing game of last year

 

[Danis Saur]

Mediocre when compared to the other MGS games directed by Kojima.

That game play is still amazing though.

 

[ginger ninja]

Like 6 months ago, its nowhere as perfect as the gameplay and that's fine.

 

[Soulflarz]

What story?

 

[Sn4ke_911]

I will never fully recover.

Thanks Konami.

 

[Chanser]

Played us like a damn fiddle!

 

[brau]

Meh...

The game believes that its smart and deep because it can say its just like Moby Dick. With all the layers that Kojima added all we got was a convoluted, confusing and disappointing story. A heck of a game that pushes the bar forward. But a terrible MGS. Not that MGS stories were any good for a while.

But this is not the MGS2 it will get recognition after people understand it. haha

The best way to describe the game is the jeep ride. Its confusing... weird.. out of place... ending in embarrassing.

Spoiler

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

 

[TatteredHat]

Completely unfinished, but atleast the gameplay was good.

 

[Drencrom]

Yeah... I rather not talk about it

I will never fully recover.

Thanks Konami.

lol

 

[Anung]

Still buttmad about the whole thing to this day. This might the most disappointed I've ever been about anything.

 

[Wagram]

It's unfinished and the lite presentation still frustrates me. If MGS4 was too much then MGSV was too little.

 

[snake_eater_raiden]

6 months. still feeling the Phantom Pain.

By far the worst story in the series.

 

[CastorTroy]

One of the biggest monumental let downs in recent memory for me.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Its clear still that Kojima didnt get to tell the whole story he wanted to tell. What we got was a disapointing finale to MGS

I don't know man. Most of the cutscenes were already in very early trailers. And shallow characters like Quiet were so too. I think it was set in stone honestly, but there were some obvious constraints and issues during development probably forcing them to just randomize the whole thing. Cutscenes appear without much context, progression makes little sense as most missions feel sort of user generated.

But its always been an open world game, thats the goal. And narrative and mission design usually suffer from this direction. Its just that this is MGS and it went from ridiculously long story telling to a total mute.

 

[AuthenticM]

Extremely disappointing on so many aspects.

 

[sibarraz]

I think that it served his purpose to explain all the things happening in the mother base, and the final mission was a great explanation on some of the thing happening in the first 2 metal gear, but at the same time, I was expecting more things that would have connected all the games in one final wrap.

I think that the structure of the game made the narative to be badly told, this is specially notorious in the act 2 where the events were triggered by doing things that you already did but in harder difficulties, or do secondary missions that felt super irrelevant and lackluster.

I actually liked the story of quiet, but some of the things that she did felt really stupid (sometimes acting like a dumb character that didn't know anything instead of a silent badass, and let's not talk about the rain scene)

 

[Staf]

I've played MGS2,3,4 and 5. I've finished 2,3 and 4 twice. Feel zero urge to finish 5 again. Don't hate it or anything but the story, unlike previous titles, have no elemets i want to experience a second time.

 

[Disaster Nebraska]

I like it just fine, same as I always did.

I think as time goes on, people will come to appreciate this game a lot more. Setting aside the online freemium bullcrap, MGS5 was a solid game.

 

[tuxfool]

No different than when I finished the game. Meaning... bad.

 

[Mexen]

The game's "story" left me with a phantom pain in my non-heart. That is either the best fourth wall break ever or just really terrible delivery. I have not even finished the game yet.

 

[pahamrick]

I feel the presentation is one of the larger overall issues, especially with the way chapter two was handled.

I don't remember if I've posted this before, but I think if these changes had been made it wouldn't have rubbed so many people the wrong way:

• Cut the recycled missions from chapter two
• Make the recycled missions options a toggle for all missions, available upon game completion
• Remove the unneeded Prologue / Chapter One / Chapter Two labeling. It only added expectations to the length of the game, especially chapter two

Finally, restructure the presentation, maybe even the order of some of the final missions, and I think it would have worked out better. There's too much 'filler' masquerading as content which hurts it, imo.

With some time to process, I don't think the story is supremely terrible, but I feel it was delivered in a terrible fashion. The game play is solid, and that ranks it among one of my favorite in the series for that reason alone.

 

[Dawnbuster]

Its clear still that Kojima didnt get to tell the whole story he wanted to tell. What we got was a disapointing finale to MGS

At what point does the blame fall on Kojima? He had years of (apparent) budget overruns and still didn't ship a coherent story. When it's clear you won't hit all the milestones you want to hit, that's when you rewrite and make the best of it.

Same as George R.R. Martin ... he has had years to release his latest novel and is now behind the tv show.

Unfortunate, and a bummer, but both creators bear some blame there. I don't blame Martin's publisher and I don't entirely blame Kojima's publisher Konami for finally pulling the ripcord on what is clearly a wandering mess in MGS. Can only imagine what execs thought when they tried to check in on MGSV milestones that were way way behind.

 

[Grisby]

Not great. Second act was woeful in that department and I really missed the focus on unique bosses. A shame, because they could have done a lot given the map size.

Gameplay was still top notch, but story wise it falls on the more bottom of the pole.

1 and 3 reign supreme.

 

[Sevket-Erhat]

Forgotten it.

What was it ??? I can't seem to remember much

 

[dc89]

I think TPP has some really interesting concepts. Revenge, race & language. But I don't think any of them are really maximised to their potential. And I put a lot down to Kojima not having the time and money to make the game he wanted to make.
The trailers, especially the e3 2015 had me so hyped for the story. All the talk of 'words that kill' and Zero's little speech had me plain excited. And I too almost went Nuclear with the whole 'in Outer Heaven men become demons'.

Personally, the games story is passable, but it has some unforgivable moments - Quiet in the rain for example. It's just so unnecessary. I think phantom Skull Face was under used, he should literally be haunting you.
It also suffers from some horrendous pacing issues, you literally go from Dying Lights to the final mission.

 

[Henkka]

There's not a lot of it, and what's there isn't great.

 

[Ishida]

What was it ??? I can't seem to remember much

Parasites.
Male to female.
Copulation.
Dineh.

 

[brau]

Last week i re watched Unforgiven.

Spoiler

A story that shows how a likable character is a monster.

Game should have approached this, even if you are not BB. This just showed how BB is good delegator and playing hide

Spoiler

o

and seek.

 

[TemplaerDude]

I've only played a couple hours.

I'm really confused.

 

[Grisby]

Also, it's a crime that Sins of the Father was used for that stupid car ride.

Dammit, that's the offender here.

 

[SOR5]

something about burgers and casette tapes

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

Still disappointed. Its basically left a huge mark on the metal gear solid story for me that unless they somehow magically fixed it, has kinda ruined it for me.