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[Wind's Howling]

The focus of the game shifts drastically for those who plan on playing beyond the missions themselves in no small thanks to the patches applied. FOB and online resources are a pretty big part of post-game, for example, probably for the sake of the Disarmament event. It's not something you necessarily have to focus on, of course, but doing so opens up for more resources and more opportunities for base expansion, weapon/item development, and gameplay events such as invasions and the preset FOB Events, which award players new items (weapons, camp, base colors, emblems) as well as online resources (which allow for the development of items such as my personal favorite, Ocelot's personal Revolver) for completing these events and the mission tasks within. The patches applied after release are great, if you're into that aspect of the game.

Good to hear that the patches drastically improved that aspect. Always felt that, outside the main missions, the game is definitely the greatest when it comes down to the free-form gameplay.

 

[Ilive1up]

enjoyed it. never finished part 2.

 

[Neiteio]

I wanna tackle some of the bigger criticisms for MGSV, mainly its story, because I feel that it does a lot of great things that feel under appreciated by the majority. The Pantom Pain is paced like a TV show. It's obvious that Kojima Productions intended for this one to be a slow burn. With a steady tension that builds as the story escalates to its conclusion. Chapter 1 perfectly captures this, its paced to fluctuate at intervals until the crescendo towards the end. The previous games were of course paced like Hollywood blockbusters, so the shift in style came as a shock. But it was a necessary change, the game is no longer linear, it's open world, and its story knows that. I play a lot of open world games, and often come to a point in these games where I need to rush through the story just to enjoy the full breadth of their content. Why? Because their stories are often paced like 2 hour movies. Sometimes I just want to go a have a game of chess, yet my sister's been kidnapped, and now I feel uncomfortable doing all of this side content. But in the end it doesn't matter that my sister has been kidnapped, because it doesn't actually effect the gameplay in any meaningful way. It's more of a problem with me, I can't help but force myself through the story, I just don't feel comfortable exploring all of this side content when my main character should be in a state of distress.

So how does MGSV handle this? Quite damn exceptionally. MGSV starts with a pilot episode, Ground Zeroes. This pilot is the bridge between Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain. The conclusion for one, and a beginning for another. The Phantom Pain is at a stark contrast to what came before. It's filled with miserably serious characters, and very light on humour compared to Peace Walker. I often felt longing for the times of Peace Walker, how fun and witty it was. I missed it. But now I was in MGSV, a direct sequel, yet very different game.

The Phantom Pain opens with a very drawn out experience. You wake up from your 9 year coma, and are now bed ridden. It takes a whole hour before you escape the hospital. It's a very memorable experience, and it's also a goodbye. A goodbye to the previous Metal Gear games. They were highly scripted, and of course linear. The hospital is the perfect analogy of what came before. When you escape, and enter Afghanistan for the first time, it's supposed to be overwhelming, Ground Zeroes attempted to ready you for the experience, but it still didn't anticipate you for the complete freedom that this new world opens for you. After rescuing Kaz, you are now introduced to the real game. The story knows this. It lets you, the player, the Big Boss, play at your own pace. You're free to experiment with the side ops, explore the world, dabble in all of the games content, and the story doesn't intrude. No early story mission has a cliff hanger, or something to entice you to play more. It merely grooves at your beat, and continues when you want it to. Every early episode is self-contained, they all end with a credits sequence. You don't feel guilty for letting the story hang while you build your motherbase, because it doesn't. It accounts for your agency.

Now the brilliant thing about this is when the story does take centre, it forces you the player to pay attention to it. The Phantom Pain isn't afraid to hurt your gameplay, it will literally kill your staff you've spent hours building when a virus breaks out. You can attempt to identify the cause, and treat it. But the only way to cure it, is by continuing the story. This is great, because the things you value, you have built, are being hurt. It effects you the player, not just Big Boss the character. This idea really comes to fruition later in the game, when you have to personally execute staff members when another viral outbreak takes place. In a scene opposite of the hospital escape, in the only other linear episode in the whole game. You are now the executioner. It was one of the most intriguing things I've seen a game do in regards to connecting its mechanical world with its narrative world, and just after that mission, the game goes one step further.

Quiet is a very controversial character, I personally find her appearance distracting, and that is the best word I can use to describe it. It doesn't offend me, but it feels as though her sexual titillation is an attempt to make her more likeable. As if they felt her actual character wasn't enough to make her arc have impact. It's a shame, because it means she often gets overlooked. If one ignores her ridiculous appearance, and looks at how she fits into the bigger picture, then it's another example of MGSV's clever combination of narrative and mechanics. You bond with her not through cut scenes, but through gameplay. As a female character she surprisingly has actual agency, she is her own person, and bonds with you. She starts out being difficult to play with, going from the obedient D-dog to an actual person with freewill definitely has some growing pains. But the more you take her on missions, the more you work with her, the more useful she becomes. You become to rely on her, she becomes an asset to you, and then you lose her. Because the story loses her, because Big Boss loses her. Depending on how you play the game, this can be incredibly shocking. She becomes so overpowered mechanically, that taking her away can cause a huge reversion in how you play the game. It'd quite literally be like taking away the Red 9 handgun from Resident Evil 4 if for some reason the narrative dictated it. It'd hurt Leon, and it'd hurt you.

That's the thing that makes The Phantom Pain one of the best games I have ever played. It truly shows off Hideo growing as an excellent creative designer. MGSV is the closest he has came to capturing this idea he has envisioned ever since Metal Gears creation 20+ years ago. MGSV is the first time he has truly let the mechanics and narrative gel together, to let you the player dictate it, and to be imprisoned by it. MGSV is one of the most consistently designed games I have ever seen, everything mechanically is relevant to the narrative, and the narrative is mechanically relevant to the player. Hell, even the ending that everyone likes to take so literally, is tying its mechanical and narrative theme together. You get Big Boss' identity, and Big Boss gets yours. He thanks you the player for always being there, you deny your identity, you aren't you when play this game. You are Punished "Venom" Snake, a phantom of Big Boss. You quite literally live his identity through everything you do mechanically. There's so much beauty in its notion, so many ways that it speaks to you the player.

Everyone gets upset over Venom's limited dialogue, yet if he were too rounded out as a character, than it would hurt the games theme. If we are to be Big Boss mechanically, than our actions can't be ruined by his characterisation narratively. Venom's characterisation is dictated by how we play the game, he has to accommodate our agency, he is our avatar for how we interact with this virtual world. One of the rewards we get for finishing the Phantom Pain is being able to unmask ourselves, to genuinely play as our created avatar. It's our reward for this games design coming to fruition within its conclusion.

The Phantom Pain is probably the most ambitious game I have ever played. We can all get hooked on what was cut, what didn't work, or what was poorly implemented. But in the end, the game is still an incredibly polished, content filled adventure. It stands on its own at all fronts.

I can't express how much this game has impacted my creative thinking. I've manage to take so much from its ambitions, and I haven't even talked about the amazingly directed cut scenes, all in one shot with very few cuts, all to further tie the mechanical and narrative world together. Or the inspiring yet sadly poorly implemented FOB multiplayer end game of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. The game is littered with issues, but when looking at everything it did manage to accomplish, and respecting its ambitions, the game is a behemoth of creative ideas all directed towards one theme. That of playing as Big Boss in an open ended game of tactical infiltration. An idea Hideo has been trying to master since the franchises foundation.

Incredible, incredible writeup. Will bookmark this to share with others in the future. Thanks for posting.

 

[Dremark]

I'd also bring up his initial recruitment of Chico. Up till then I kind of saw Big Boss as a more charismatic Snake, morally. But I think it's when he tells Chico to give his life for BB to serve a cause that I realized this guy had shifted priorities and was now more concerned with ideals than people. That's not to say, obviously, that he doesn't care about people, but that his obsession with The Boss's legacy had transformed the manner in which he views them.

It really depends how you want to look at it. That never really hit my radar because (IIRC) he was already involved in the conflict and the tone of the game at that point didn't really have me take that seriously. Obviously that changed dramatically in regards to him with GZ and it's aftermath in TTP but at the time I didn't really give it too much thought.

Although to be fair he went AWOL and ended up getting himself killed, so even though Boss was kind of questionable morally I can't really blame him for what happened to Chico.

 

[Melkezadek]

I wanna tackle some of the bigger criticisms for MGSV, mainly its story, because I feel that it does a lot of great things that feel under appreciated by the majority. The Pantom Pain is paced like a TV show. It's obvious that Kojima Productions intended for this one to be a slow burn. With a steady tension that builds as the story escalates to its conclusion. Chapter 1 perfectly captures this, its paced to fluctuate at intervals until the crescendo towards the end. The previous games were of course paced like Hollywood blockbusters, so the shift in style came as a shock. But it was a necessary change, the game is no longer linear, it's open world, and its story knows that. I play a lot of open world games, and often come to a point in these games where I need to rush through the story just to enjoy the full breadth of their content. Why? Because their stories are often paced like 2 hour movies. Sometimes I just want to go a have a game of chess, yet my sister's been kidnapped, and now I feel uncomfortable doing all of this side content. But in the end it doesn't matter that my sister has been kidnapped, because it doesn't actually effect the gameplay in any meaningful way. It's more of a problem with me, I can't help but force myself through the story, I just don't feel comfortable exploring all of this side content when my main character should be in a state of distress.

So how does MGSV handle this? Quite damn exceptionally. MGSV starts with a pilot episode, Ground Zeroes. This pilot is the bridge between Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain. The conclusion for one, and a beginning for another. The Phantom Pain is at a stark contrast to what came before. It's filled with miserably serious characters, and very light on humour compared to Peace Walker. I often felt longing for the times of Peace Walker, how fun and witty it was. I missed it. But now I was in MGSV, a direct sequel, yet very different game.

The Phantom Pain opens with a very drawn out experience. You wake up from your 9 year coma, and are now bed ridden. It takes a whole hour before you escape the hospital. It's a very memorable experience, and it's also a goodbye. A goodbye to the previous Metal Gear games. They were highly scripted, and of course linear. The hospital is the perfect analogy of what came before. When you escape, and enter Afghanistan for the first time, it's supposed to be overwhelming, Ground Zeroes attempted to ready you for the experience, but it still didn't anticipate you for the complete freedom that this new world opens for you. After rescuing Kaz, you are now introduced to the real game. The story knows this. It lets you, the player, the Big Boss, play at your own pace. You're free to experiment with the side ops, explore the world, dabble in all of the games content, and the story doesn't intrude. No early story mission has a cliff hanger, or something to entice you to play more. It merely grooves at your beat, and continues when you want it to. Every early episode is self-contained, they all end with a credits sequence. You don't feel guilty for letting the story hang while you build your motherbase, because it doesn't. It accounts for your agency.

Now the brilliant thing about this is when the story does take centre, it forces you the player to pay attention to it. The Phantom Pain isn't afraid to hurt your gameplay, it will literally kill your staff you've spent hours building when a virus breaks out. You can attempt to identify the cause, and treat it. But the only way to cure it, is by continuing the story. This is great, because the things you value, you have built, are being hurt. It effects you the player, not just Big Boss the character. This idea really comes to fruition later in the game, when you have to personally execute staff members when another viral outbreak takes place. In a scene opposite of the hospital escape, in the only other linear episode in the whole game. You are now the executioner. It was one of the most intriguing things I've seen a game do in regards to connecting its mechanical world with its narrative world, and just after that mission, the game goes one step further.

Quiet is a very controversial character, I personally find her appearance distracting, and that is the best word I can use to describe it. It doesn't offend me, but it feels as though her sexual titillation is an attempt to make her more likeable. As if they felt her actual character wasn't enough to make her arc have impact. It's a shame, because it means she often gets overlooked. If one ignores her ridiculous appearance, and looks at how she fits into the bigger picture, then it's another example of MGSV's clever combination of narrative and mechanics. You bond with her not through cut scenes, but through gameplay. As a female character she surprisingly has actual agency, she is her own person, and bonds with you. She starts out being difficult to play with, going from the obedient D-dog to an actual person with freewill definitely has some growing pains. But the more you take her on missions, the more you work with her, the more useful she becomes. You become to rely on her, she becomes an asset to you, and then you lose her. Because the story loses her, because Big Boss loses her. Depending on how you play the game, this can be incredibly shocking. She becomes so overpowered mechanically, that taking her away can cause a huge reversion in how you play the game. It'd quite literally be like taking away the Red 9 handgun from Resident Evil 4 if for some reason the narrative dictated it. It'd hurt Leon, and it'd hurt you.

That's the thing that makes The Phantom Pain one of the best games I have ever played. It truly shows off Hideo growing as an excellent creative designer. MGSV is the closest he has came to capturing this idea he has envisioned ever since Metal Gears creation 20+ years ago. MGSV is the first time he has truly let the mechanics and narrative gel together, to let you the player dictate it, and to be imprisoned by it. MGSV is one of the most consistently designed games I have ever seen, everything mechanically is relevant to the narrative, and the narrative is mechanically relevant to the player. Hell, even the ending that everyone likes to take so literally, is tying its mechanical and narrative theme together. You get Big Boss' identity, and Big Boss gets yours. He thanks you the player for always being there, you deny your identity, you aren't you when play this game. You are Punished "Venom" Snake, a phantom of Big Boss. You quite literally live his identity through everything you do mechanically. There's so much beauty in its notion, so many ways that it speaks to you the player.

Everyone gets upset over Venom's limited dialogue, yet if he were too rounded out as a character, than it would hurt the games theme. If we are to be Big Boss mechanically, than our actions can't be ruined by his characterisation narratively. Venom's characterisation is dictated by how we play the game, he has to accommodate our agency, he is our avatar for how we interact with this virtual world. One of the rewards we get for finishing the Phantom Pain is being able to unmask ourselves, to genuinely play as our created avatar. It's our reward for this games design coming to fruition within its conclusion.

The Phantom Pain is probably the most ambitious game I have ever played. We can all get hooked on what was cut, what didn't work, or what was poorly implemented. But in the end, the game is still an incredibly polished, content filled adventure. It stands on its own at all fronts.

I can't express how much this game has impacted my creative thinking. I've manage to take so much from its ambitions, and I haven't even talked about the amazingly directed cut scenes, all in one shot with very few cuts, all to further tie the mechanical and narrative world together. Or the inspiring yet sadly poorly implemented FOB multiplayer end game of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. The game is littered with issues, but when looking at everything it did manage to accomplish, and respecting its ambitions, the game is a behemoth of creative ideas all directed towards one theme. That of playing as Big Boss in an open ended game of tactical infiltration. An idea Hideo has been trying to master since the franchises foundation.

Damn good read.

 

[Adam_Vania]

doctor doctor

just found even more foreshadowing of the Truth ending in Chapter 2. in the first Truth tape "Doublethink", Ocelot is setting up the scheme with Big Boss. he says "Remember, he was a doctor", referring to Venom's former life as the medic. of course there is another doctor in MGSV.

Huey's Exile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLURZh8IysY

Huey's Exile contains a lot of thematic foreshadowing and I believe Ocelot (or his subconscious) is saying things that help to de-program Venom. as Huey is leaving on his life raft Ocelot looks out and makes a speech while the camera pans across Diamond Dogs, eventually landing on Venom. He says this:

"You can't discard your phantoms forever, Doctor."

this is crazy cos Ocelot is inadvertently referring to the medic here, who is also a doctor. in fact in many ways Huey's entire trial is a shadow trial of Snake but i'll leave that for another time to not get off track. anway Kaz interrupts to complain about Huey defaming Diamond Dogs. Ocelot answers back:

"One day he'll see through the lies he's built up. Realize what kind of man he really is.

"What goes around comes around."

"You can't run from yourself forever."

after you watch the cutscene Kaz brings up the hospital out of nowhere. it's insanely clever how this stuff is weaved through the game. this is why i think the pacing of MGSV is fine, if not masterfully pulled off. there are themes and juxtapositions of things from throughout the MGS series, combined and portrayed in interesting new ways.

 

[III-V]

Just picked this up for $15, gonna start next week.

 

[sikkinixx]

I started over today and played about 5 hours. Man that intro is still awesome and intense (and stupidly anime at the same time). But wow the online stuff is kinda overpowering. It said "HEY YOU HAVE REWARDS!" after a bit so I accepted and got shit (maybe from the last file??) including a half dozen S+ guys so I rocketed up to level 15 in a bunch of Mother Base areas right away.

Still plays amazingly well and looks outstanding. Dat 60fps is so so great. Also funny that I'm reading Moby-Dick at the moment and totally forgot about the whole Ishmael/Ahab stuff.

 

[TissueBox]

It had good game.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Haha, oh boy Javin.

Not everyone gets fun out of visiting the same location over and over again, but oh this time I can tackle it in an ever so slightly different way! It shouldn't need to be on me to make the game feel fun for myself, the developers absolutely do play a large part in that. I'm not lacking creativity, the locations in the game are.

The relation to Shadow Moses and the Big Shell is the point that a MGS game doesn't need to be open-world. And when they are, you get the trash in TPP.

Yea I can see your opinion on locations but you sell the level design short when you say "slightly different". Sending down a helicopter to blow shit up while I come in on a sliding robot cleaning up any last messes is vastly different then tip toeing around with a tranq gun. If you think that's "slight", then you do have no imagination.

 

[Adam_Vania]

Yea I can see your opinion on locations but you sell the level design short when you say "slightly different". Sending down a helicopter to blow shit up while I come in on a sliding robot cleaning up any last messes is vastly different then tip toeing around with a tranq gun. If you think that's "slight", then you do have no imagination.

also kind of rich to gripe about returning to the same locations, MGS and MGS2 are full of backtracking, in fact you spend most of MGS2 running around the same half-dozen rooms in The Big Shell.

level design in MGSV is insanely deep. i am still finding new approaches after hundreds of hours.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Mechanically and technically, one of the most immaculate games ever created. Level design was good in points. Overall world design was awful, mission design had ups and downs. Story was just WTF. As a Metal Gear Solid game, very, very disappointing.

 

[KOMANI]

also kind of rich to gripe about returning to the same locations, MGS and MGS2 are full of backtracking, in fact you spend most of MGS2 running around the same half-dozen rooms in The Big Shell.

level design in MGSV is insanely deep. i am still finding new approaches after hundreds of hours.

Mgs2's backtracking is done on purpose to simulate the backtracking in mgs1. I don't think it should qualify since the backtracking is used to tell a story than lack of set pieces (mgs1).

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

This game is a landmark. An achievement. You have never seen a sandbox game, or being able to interacte with the AI in the meaningful and varied creative ways like this game.


In other stealth games like Splinter Cell and Assassins Creed, you can kill and manipulate in many ways but it mostly come across as redundant and pointless. it is just another way to press a context sensitive button. press x here, or use item 21249124 there. you end up with the same result on the dumb AI.

But MGS5 is absolutely insane in how you can tackle the objectives.

So MGS5 is the best stealth play ground I have ever seen. It took the hitman approach of rewarding stealth and sneak, but also allows the game to turn into an action game once discovered. the game works on several levels where many stealth games go into trial and error. Trial error gameplay meaning if you do not complete the objective through the narrow lens the developers intended it is "GAME OVER".
MGS5 does a few moments like this, but they are rare.

MGS5 achieves being this incredible sandbox even if the sandbox itself is also just a barren desert landscape. beautiful, but also lacks personality. running around for many hours seeing the same airport in the background. Something went wrong with this world.




The animation system, throwing a magazine, high up in the air and having it hit an enemy with increased velocity due to the physics system of weight being heavier when dropped from a far. Killing the sniper boss by dropping supply drops on top of them, airstrikes, all the tactics with D-Horse and the dog and the chopper support. using your propelled flying air to take out targets. hiding in trucks, rigging trucks with C4 and blowing up buildings from far away. taking out com stations.

I mean.. the list goes on and on and on. MGS5 is the best game kojima has ever made, but the story is the worst of any metal gear. MGS5 is both a crowning achievement and an enormous success and a massive disappointment. There is indeed a lingering phantom pain.
I don't want to revisit Metal Gear ever again. I want to move on, and want Kojima and Konami to move on. This IP is over. There is nothing left here that needs to be said.

 

[potatohead]

This game is a landmark. An achievement. You have never seen a sandbox game, or being able to interacte with the AI in the meaningful and varied creative ways like this game.


In other stealth games like Splinter Cell and Assassins Creed, you can kill and manipulate in many ways but it mostly come across as redundant and pointless. it is just another way to press a context sensitive button. press x here, or use item 21249124 there. you end up with the same result on the dumb AI.

But MGS5 is absolutely insane in how you can tackle the objectives.

So MGS5 is the best stealth play ground I have ever seen. It took the hitman approach of rewarding stealth and sneak, but also allows the game to turn into an action game once discovered. the game works on several levels where many stealth games go into trial and error. Trial error gameplay meaning if you do not complete the objective through the narrow lens the developers intended it is "GAME OVER".
MGS5 does a few moments like this, but they are rare.

MGS5 achieves being this incredible sandbox even if the sandbox itself is also just a barren desert landscape. beautiful, but also lacks personality. running around for many hours seeing the same airport in the background. Something went wrong with this world.




The animation system, throwing a magazine, high up in the air and having it hit an enemy with increased velocity due to the physics system of weight being heavier when dropped from a far. Killing the sniper boss by dropping supply drops on top of them, airstrikes, all the tactics with D-Horse and the dog and the chopper support. using your propelled flying air to take out targets. hiding in trucks, rigging trucks with C4 and blowing up buildings from far away. taking out com stations.

I mean.. the list goes on and on and on. MGS5 is the best game kojima has ever made, but the story is the worst of any metal gear. MGS5 is both a crowning achievement and an enormous success and a massive disappointment. There is indeed a lingering phantom pain.
I don't want to revisit Metal Gear ever again. I want to move on, and want Kojima and Konami to move on. This IP is over. There is nothing left here that needs to be said.

+1

 

[george_us]

Still haven't finished it. Core gameplay is great but the missions were super repetitive and got old quickly. Never mind the fact that the story doesn't have the same flair.

 

[Servbot24]

This game is a landmark. An achievement. You have never seen a sandbox game, or being able to interacte with the AI in the meaningful and varied creative ways like this game.


In other stealth games like Splinter Cell and Assassins Creed, you can kill and manipulate in many ways but it mostly come across as redundant and pointless. it is just another way to press a context sensitive button. press x here, or use item 21249124 there. you end up with the same result on the dumb AI.

But MGS5 is absolutely insane in how you can tackle the objectives.

So MGS5 is the best stealth play ground I have ever seen. It took the hitman approach of rewarding stealth and sneak, but also allows the game to turn into an action game once discovered. the game works on several levels where many stealth games go into trial and error. Trial error gameplay meaning if you do not complete the objective through the narrow lens the developers intended it is "GAME OVER".
MGS5 does a few moments like this, but they are rare.

MGS5 achieves being this incredible sandbox even if the sandbox itself is also just a barren desert landscape. beautiful, but also lacks personality. running around for many hours seeing the same airport in the background. Something went wrong with this world.




The animation system, throwing a magazine, high up in the air and having it hit an enemy with increased velocity due to the physics system of weight being heavier when dropped from a far. Killing the sniper boss by dropping supply drops on top of them, airstrikes, all the tactics with D-Horse and the dog and the chopper support. using your propelled flying air to take out targets. hiding in trucks, rigging trucks with C4 and blowing up buildings from far away. taking out com stations.

I mean.. the list goes on and on and on. MGS5 is the best game kojima has ever made, but the story is the worst of any metal gear. MGS5 is both a crowning achievement and an enormous success and a massive disappointment. There is indeed a lingering phantom pain.
I don't want to revisit Metal Gear ever again. I want to move on, and want Kojima and Konami to move on. This IP is over. There is nothing left here that needs to be said.

Absolutely.

MGSV is the greatest achievement in gameplay since Mario 64.

 

[Spinluck]

Amazing game, can't remember a single player campaign that me and my buddies got so engrossed in.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Absolutely.

MGSV is the greatest achievement in gameplay since Mario 64.

Replaying now and it does play beautifully. Is it me or is the game a little too easy? Just beat mission 6 and I could kind of just go around areas instead of through them for stealth and I never really got intense situations. I kind of wish there was some more narrow stealth situations. Does it get different later. I can't remember... A year is too long for my slow memory.

 

[Mung]

For me, it was one of the greatest games ever.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

Replaying now and it does play beautifully. Is it me or is the game a little too easy? Just beat mission 6 and I could kind of just go around areas instead of through them for stealth and I never really got intense situations. I kind of wish there was some more narrow stealth situations. Does it get different later. I can't remember... A year is too long for my slow memory.

Yeah, the difficulty balance is legitimately my main complaint with the game. I would consider turning reflex mode off if you think the game is too simple. That mechanic is really awesome, but it does make the stealth pitifully easy.

Also, maybe consider playing the game in just offline mode. You can delete your save and start the game over, but your online resources from your first save still carry over (stupid Konami). The game itself feels more balanced for offline play anyway. The online resources and such feel more appropriate for just the FOB stuff instead of the main campaign.

If you're still not satisfied, and you have the PC version, They're mods that bump up the difficulty quite a bit. Stuff like Infinite Heaven and TPP Hardcore Mod add some new excitement to past replays.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Yeah, the difficulty balance is legitimately my main complaint with the game. I would consider turning reflex mode off if you think the game is too simple. That mechanic is really awesome, but it does make the stealth pitifully easy.

Also, maybe consider playing the game in just offline mode. You can delete your save and start the game over, but your online resources from your first save still carry over (stupid Konami). The game itself feels more balanced for offline play anyway. The online resources and such feel more appropriate for just the FOB stuff instead of the main campaign.

If you're still not satisfied, and you have the PC version, They're mods that bump up the difficulty quite a bit. Stuff like Infinite Heaven and TPP Hardcore Mod add some new excitement to past replays.

Cool. Online is awful to. It's taking me forever to load crap. I think I'll try reflex mode off and no markings although I do like having things marked on occasion, I wish there was an in between mode. Still wander about sticking to sides and avoiding any trouble areas. I could choose to go tough route, but I wish they would crowd the sides a bit more.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

With Markers turned Off, things are still marked on your iDroid map... so that's a nice halfway point. It still rewards scouting and Marking, but makes it a bit more of an action to check up on.

Also, there's a pill you can develop later that let's you artificially enter Reflex Mode at any time. It's a lot of fun actually, and a nice option because Reflex Mode is pretty fun to have trigger but it also makes the game a bit easy -- so having a pill for it let's you use it just for fun but avoid it during challeng scenarios. Or, conversely, use it because you're suddenly getting your butt kicked by a handful of shotgun-wielding S rank guards lol.

 

[Neiteio]

Yeah, the difficulty balance is legitimately my main complaint with the game. I would consider turning reflex mode off if you think the game is too simple. That mechanic is really awesome, but it does make the stealth pitifully easy.

Also, maybe consider playing the game in just offline mode. You can delete your save and start the game over, but your online resources from your first save still carry over (stupid Konami). The game itself feels more balanced for offline play anyway. The online resources and such feel more appropriate for just the FOB stuff instead of the main campaign.

If you're still not satisfied, and you have the PC version, They're mods that bump up the difficulty quite a bit. Stuff like Infinite Heaven and TPP Hardcore Mod add some new excitement to past replays.

With Markers turned Off, things are still marked on your iDroid map... so that's a nice halfway point. It still rewards scouting and Marking, but makes it a bit more of an action to check up on.

Also, there's a pill you can develop later that let's you artificially enter Reflex Mode at any time. It's a lot of fun actually, and a nice option because Reflex Mode is pretty fun to have trigger but it also makes the game a bit easy -- so having a pill for it let's you use it just for fun but avoid it during challeng scenarios. Or, conversely, use it because you're suddenly getting your butt kicked by a handful of shotgun-wielding S rank guards lol.

In addition to all this, you can dial down the strength of your upgraded weapons. At the mission prep screen, press left to dial down the number of stars, returning them to their less upgraded states. Of course, if you really want to challenge yourself, you can go in "naked" and rely entirely on onsite procurement.

 

[Sub_Level]

Replaying now and it does play beautifully. Is it me or is the game a little too easy? Just beat mission 6 and I could kind of just go around areas instead of through them for stealth and I never really got intense situations. I kind of wish there was some more narrow stealth situations. Does it get different later. I can't remember... A year is too long for my slow memory.

Little is being generous.

You can steamroll through MGSV no problem. No difficulty selector means you have to artificially limit yourself to raise the challenge.

 

[Darren_z33]

Loved all MGS games. I enjoyed what I played of V, got to a few missions into Africa. Then a patch brought in some resource penalty for playing offline. Sold the game shortly after. I'll give it another go if it goes free on plus/live.

 

[Riposte]

Piece by piece, I think MGSV does everything very well, but for a few aspects, there simply isn't enough of it to be satisfying in itself (for example: the cutscenes are actually quite good, some even outstanding, but they are few and far between and too much is left to the tapes, which are also great, but a lot of stuff that would resonate well clearly fall in the gaps), and for the things it did enough of, I can't help but want more since it's so good. It's one of the best games of all time, but fails to be the best game of all time, and it feels like more so than almost any game I've played recently, it had the best shot.

Too bad they are not just releasing a bunch of expansion content for it, because this is the type of game you could just keep building on more and more. Wish they'd at least let the fans do it with broad modding tools. A simple level editor would itself be amazing and unexpected, but something on the scale of Elder Scrolls game would be a revelation.

As an aside I don't think I've dreamt up content for a singleplayer game this much since Far Cry 2, which is probably not a coincidence. I admit some of it has been dorky stuff, like, what if you walked into an inconspicuous door and suddenly you are playing P.T. What if you could install an arcade at MB and play 1970s-1984 Konami games, maybe eventually developing the tech to make them portable on your iDroid, or, hell, have game development of a MG1 clone be a project. This is probably more off the deep end as examples go, but it goes back to the idea that it's too easy to imagine MGSV: The Perfect Game, so it's a little painful when you compare it to what we got - which is still one of the best games of all time and the best of the current generation.

P.S. Chapter 2 is the "Epilogue" (or post-game), or maybe Chapter 1 is actually 3-4 chapters about the size of the amount of unique content you get in Chapter 2. I don't think a few misleading words and a stupid trailer should really be held against the game, unless, again, we treat MGSV as a game beyond all expectations that it would really come with two full (20-30 hour?) campaigns.

EDIT: Oh and I'm glad people are coming around on the OST. It's legitimately very good, but people simply ignored it because it wasn't as straightforward as previous MGS games'.

 

[Kevin Shields]

With Markers turned Off, things are still marked on your iDroid map... so that's a nice halfway point. It still rewards scouting and Marking, but makes it a bit more of an action to check up on.

Also, there's a pill you can develop later that let's you artificially enter Reflex Mode at any time. It's a lot of fun actually, and a nice option because Reflex Mode is pretty fun to have trigger but it also makes the game a bit easy -- so having a pill for it let's you use it just for fun but avoid it during challeng scenarios. Or, conversely, use it because you're suddenly getting your butt kicked by a handful of shotgun-wielding S rank guards lol.

Can you make I droid map a mini map that is on while you sneak?

 

[Kindekuma]

Can you make I droid map a mini map that is on while you sneak?

Sorta, but it locks you into first person. You can walk, crouch, and crawl in first person with the mini-map on the bottom corner. But no, you can't actively have the map on while playing normally.

 

[SoundPulse]

Replaying now and it does play beautifully. Is it me or is the game a little too easy? Just beat mission 6 and I could kind of just go around areas instead of through them for stealth and I never really got intense situations. I kind of wish there was some more narrow stealth situations. Does it get different later. I can't remember... A year is too long for my slow memory.

There are some bosses that are difficult for all the wrong reasons, but otherwise, MGSV is quite an easy game. The situation is improved somewhat by giving yourself handicaps (Turn off Reflex, Markers, crosshairs; force yourself to rely on OSP), but it's very clear that it's balanced around all that and your ability to just bring in heavy artillery. GMP and resource requirements really aren't strict enough to dissuade you either.

It would have been great if I could play through the missions with the OSP modifier, but I guess that's what mods are for.

 

[xamidoxhua]

Such a polarising MGS title, but personally I loved it. It was a natural extension of the series evolution for anyone who played Peace Walker, and I loved Peace Walker. Yeah I was slightly disappointed by the seemingly unfinished ending, and the 'reveal' at the end (although I predicted it from the beginning), the gameplay was spot on and feels amazing.

 

[Kevin Shields]

Sorta, but it locks you into first person. You can walk, crouch, and crawl in first person with the mini-map on the bottom corner. But no, you can't actively have the map on while playing normally.

I'm torn... I played mission 7 with no reflex, and no markers and I died quite a bit. More than first 6 missions combined, easily. However, I kind of liked having targets marked and also helicopter marked. Im probably gonna stay with no markers but its kinda frustrating bringing my map up all teh time to see who I marked (Don't know if I'll use d-dog as much this playthrough).

 

[Jangowuzhere]

I'm torn... I played mission 7 with no reflex, and no markers and I died quite a bit. More than first 6 missions combined, easily. However, I kind of liked having targets marked and also helicopter marked. Im probably gonna stay with no markers but its kinda frustrating bringing my map up all teh time to see who I marked (Don't know if I'll use d-dog as much this playthrough).

I honestly don't recommend turning off markers. You don't get any score benefit from turning them off. They're a pretty useful mechanic, almost essential I would say to avoid frustration.

The markers are basically your mini map in MGSV. If you're going to bringing up the idroid constantly, then you should just leave the markers on. The cool thing about MGSV's design is not having a bunch of hud clutter on all the time. It integrates all the information you need in the most minimal way possible.

If you do get spotted, don't be afraid to play MGSV as an action game. It works just as well in that regard. Just remember to fire your automatic weapons in slow bursts so you don't spray bullets everywhere. Also keep in mind that health regeneration doesn't kick in when you're sprinting or shooting.

 

[Kindekuma]

If you do get spotted, don't be afraid to play MGSV as an action game. It works just as well in that regard. Just remember to fire your automatic weapons in slow bursts so you don't spray bullets everywhere. Also keep in mind that health regeneration doesn't kick in when you're sprinting or shooting.

This. Honestly the best thing about the game is the spontaneous nature of things. Just roll with whatever is happening in the situation.

 

[Kevin Shields]

I honestly don't recommend turning off markers. You don't get any score benefit from turning them off. They're a pretty useful mechanic, almost essential I would say to avoid frustration.

The markers are basically your mini map in MGSV. If you're going to bringing up the idroid constantly, then you should just leave the markers on. The cool thing about MGSV's design is not having a bunch of hud clutter on all the time. It integrates all the information you need in the most minimal way possible.

If you do get spotted, don't be afraid to play MGSV as an action game. It works just as well in that regard. Just remember to fire your automatic weapons in slow bursts so you don't spray bullets everywhere. Also keep in mind that health regeneration doesn't kick in when you're sprinting or shooting.

Yea, maybe no reflex alone will add enough challenge. I do love how the game looks without markers but is frustrating to not have them for targets and helicopters

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

It's a challenge at times and it slows things down a lot.

I like the added tension to infiltration missions though and the added challenge to firefights, and the improvement to the aesthetic is pretty big for me, too.

I made it to about Mission 5 or so, and I was free roaming and about to investigate the palace, and I had just finished Marking the place and by screen was littered with them.... and I felt like I was staring at the red triangles more than the actual world... Sort of like a minimap, take it away and you really begin to pay attention to the rest of the world more in a visual sense.

It made it easier, too -- sort of like playing pacman with red triangles. But a big part was just the visual element of it.

 

[pizzacat]

This really should have been the best game ever made.

 

[Carlius]

this game really shows how much i suck at stealth games..i cant go one mission without being seen

 

[Kevin Shields]

this game really shows how much i suck at stealth games..i cant go one mission without being seen

Ha, I didn't realize how big of a crutch reflex was until I get seen and then I get shot to hell in like 10 seconds. I love it.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

Even after playing it weekly for the last year, I still get torn to shreds on occasion if I get caught out in the open or flanked by a couple guys and one has a shotgun. Worse yet when they're ranked high... S rank guards are surgical with their AKs and mortars.