Verdanth
Member
With Death Stranding launch right around the corner, I decided to give another go at MGSV: The Phantom Pain. Didn't want to dive in to Kojima's new game without having finished his previous game
I had bought the game back in 2015, but didn't advanced very much into it. So it was time to finishing it.
Let me get this right out of the way: MGSV has one of my favourite gameplays this generation. Stealth-action wise the game is simply phenomenal. From buddies, to gadgets, the way you can tackle things, this is the one aspect Kojima and his team nailed it.
But everything else besides the soundtrack, which is god-tier, completely falls apart, and it's a huge shame because this game could have been one of the GOAT.
I know the game's development near it's end was convoluted, but for me that doesn't excuse some game decisions that where made.
1 ) Story wise the game is a mess.
Whoever had the idea of trying to tell the story through tapes should get his ass kicked. Bad, bad idea!
And I had the patience to listen to every unlocked tape. This decision alone not only doesn't make sense for me, but it is so "non-Metal Gear", because for those who follow the series for quite sometime, we are used to amazing long ass cutscenes telling the game's narrative. Which takes me to lack of interaction between Snake and the cast. We could argue this is because of MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD the "truth" told at the end of the game, with Ahab being Big Boss's doppelganger aka Venom Snake, but since he went through hypnosis to believe he really was Big Boss, not only that but also that memory therapy mambo jambo, it doesn't really make much sense to make Venom Snake pretty much mute all the game. There is one particular epic moment the game manages to build, that is completely ruined by the lack of Big Boss's interaction: I'm talking about when Big Boss faces Skull Face and drives with him in the car, only so Skull Face can have a monologue. Really? And the history behind mission 51...lol, I'm not even going to comment on that. The way Eli vanishes from the narrative and the game doesn't even care to explain you. What the hell were they thinking?
The icing on the cake comes after ending chapter one, where you need to replay the same missions at a higher difficult to proceed in the story. Lol, complete meltdown at Kojima Productions.
2) Bad open world design.
Ground Zeroes managed to deliver a big but more condensed open-area to tackle, while maintaining that Metal Gear Solid / Tactical Espionage vibe that the franchise is very well known for. It really worked and was a fantastic prequel to MGSV if you ask me. However this game's open world is so fucking empty. Like really, why did they made it this huge? It wasn't necessary at all. Small, more condensed areas would benefit the game by a mile.
4) On-foot traversal done wrong.
It's simply bad, which makes me believe that's the main reason why Death Stranding's traversal looks so good.
3) Development cycles.
Really, I have to wait 2 days for an upgrade to finish?
4) Which takes me to my final point:
It almost seems that Kojima's idea was to make the player also having Phantom Pain, in a way that the player expects things that Metal Gear Solid is so well known for to be in the game, but they weren't, which is pretty damn ironic.
TLDR: Fantastic gameplay, but a bad Metal Gear Solid if you ask me. Konami may have it's share of guilty on this one, but Kojima also has.
I had bought the game back in 2015, but didn't advanced very much into it. So it was time to finishing it.
Let me get this right out of the way: MGSV has one of my favourite gameplays this generation. Stealth-action wise the game is simply phenomenal. From buddies, to gadgets, the way you can tackle things, this is the one aspect Kojima and his team nailed it.
But everything else besides the soundtrack, which is god-tier, completely falls apart, and it's a huge shame because this game could have been one of the GOAT.
I know the game's development near it's end was convoluted, but for me that doesn't excuse some game decisions that where made.
1 ) Story wise the game is a mess.
Whoever had the idea of trying to tell the story through tapes should get his ass kicked. Bad, bad idea!
And I had the patience to listen to every unlocked tape. This decision alone not only doesn't make sense for me, but it is so "non-Metal Gear", because for those who follow the series for quite sometime, we are used to amazing long ass cutscenes telling the game's narrative. Which takes me to lack of interaction between Snake and the cast. We could argue this is because of MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD the "truth" told at the end of the game, with Ahab being Big Boss's doppelganger aka Venom Snake, but since he went through hypnosis to believe he really was Big Boss, not only that but also that memory therapy mambo jambo, it doesn't really make much sense to make Venom Snake pretty much mute all the game. There is one particular epic moment the game manages to build, that is completely ruined by the lack of Big Boss's interaction: I'm talking about when Big Boss faces Skull Face and drives with him in the car, only so Skull Face can have a monologue. Really? And the history behind mission 51...lol, I'm not even going to comment on that. The way Eli vanishes from the narrative and the game doesn't even care to explain you. What the hell were they thinking?
The icing on the cake comes after ending chapter one, where you need to replay the same missions at a higher difficult to proceed in the story. Lol, complete meltdown at Kojima Productions.
2) Bad open world design.
Ground Zeroes managed to deliver a big but more condensed open-area to tackle, while maintaining that Metal Gear Solid / Tactical Espionage vibe that the franchise is very well known for. It really worked and was a fantastic prequel to MGSV if you ask me. However this game's open world is so fucking empty. Like really, why did they made it this huge? It wasn't necessary at all. Small, more condensed areas would benefit the game by a mile.
4) On-foot traversal done wrong.
It's simply bad, which makes me believe that's the main reason why Death Stranding's traversal looks so good.
3) Development cycles.
Really, I have to wait 2 days for an upgrade to finish?
4) Which takes me to my final point:
It almost seems that Kojima's idea was to make the player also having Phantom Pain, in a way that the player expects things that Metal Gear Solid is so well known for to be in the game, but they weren't, which is pretty damn ironic.
TLDR: Fantastic gameplay, but a bad Metal Gear Solid if you ask me. Konami may have it's share of guilty on this one, but Kojima also has.
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