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Metal Gear Solid V Spoiler Free Impressions Thread

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D

dc89

Member
This thread is for MGS V The Phantom Pain spoiler free impressions, please do not post spoilers of any kind in this thread.

For those who are lucky enough to receive the game early, this is your place to put down your opinion on aspects of the game such as graphics, audio, gameplay and systems and your opinion on what is great and what is not (if that's possible). But again, please do not post spoilers!

Please feel free to suggest how I can flesh this out a bit more! Not very good at this kinda stuff.
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
  • Opening is one of the best openings in any MGS game, for comparison my favorite was the MGS2 opening. Be sure that you're free for like 2 or so hours so you could experience it with no interruptions.
  • Harry Gregson-Williams score is phenominal. Has the feeling of triumph, sadness, anger and some synth mixed in.
  • Exploring the open world is kind of empty but traversing + collecting things for MB is fun because the game is such a joy to control. As you progress through the game you'll want to revisit previous missions because you're slowly gaining new shit to experiment with.
  • I cannot stress this enough, THE TAPES ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Big Boss talks there alot and even though he talks in cutscenes as well he's much more of a silent person but make no mistake, the facial performance is great and you can feel what he's feeling without saying it(I'm the guy who prefers if he talks but I also welcome this take as well)
  • Game is overwhelming at first but after a few hours, everything will become second nature to the player.
  • Didn't find many Easter Eggs but for those who have the game, go to your MotherBase and tranquilize Ocelot. See what happens.
  • The game looks much better than GZ on Xbox One and the pop-in is reduced significantly.
  • The animations and overall control feels on point and fine tuned much better than GZ ever was.

EDIT: No dips in FPS as well in the Xbox One version, at all. However, the game crashed on me once in a 4-5 hour session. Luckily, it autosaves alot.
 
T

The1Ski

Member
This is the thread I've been waiting for! I would just add, if you think something might be a spoiler, please black it out anyway. At this point, can't be too careful!
 
T

T-Rex.

Banned
That prologue is something else. It really is. It's a shame I don't have more time to play through it since my brother's back tomorrow and this is his copy :p
 
T

TerryLee81

Member
If I play Ground Zeroes, which is free at the moment on X1, will this give a good impression on what TPP will be like?

I'm still on the fence, never really played a MGS game for more than a few minutes or hours.
 
T

Tcab96

Member
Death Metalist said:
  • Opening is one of the best openings in any MGS game, for comparison my favorite was the MGS2 opening. Be sure that you're free for like 2 or so hours so you could experience it with no interruptions.
  • Harry Gregson-Williams score is phenominal. Has the feeling of triumph, sadness, anger and some synth mixed in.
  • Exploring the open world is kind of empty but traversing + collecting things for MB is fun because the game is such a joy to control. As you progress through the game you'll want to revisit previous missions because you're slowly gaining new shit to experiment with.
  • I cannot stress this enough, THE TAPES ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Big Boss talks there alot and even though he talks in cutscenes as well he's much more of a silent person but make no mistake, the facial performance is great and you can feel what he's feeling without saying it(I'm the guy who prefers if he talks but I also welcome this take as well)
  • Game is overwhelming at first but after a few hours, everything will become second nature to the player.
  • Didn't find many Easter Eggs but for those who have the game, go to your MotherBase and tranquilize Ocelot. See what happens.
  • The game looks much better than GZ on Xbox One and the pop-in is reduced significantly.
  • The animations and overall control feels on point and fine tuned much better than GZ ever was.

EDIT: No dips in FPS as well in the Xbox One version, at all. However, the game crashed on me once in a 4-5 hour session. Luckily, it autosaves alot.
Click to expand...

Awesome impression. Appreciate it, bro.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Thanks for actually talking about the score instead of the licensed music which is all reviewers and others seem to care about.
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
TerryLee81 said:
If I play Ground Zeroes, which is free at the moment on X1, will this give a good impression on what TPP will be like?

I'm still on the fence, never really played a MGS game for more than a few minutes or hours.
Click to expand...
Yes, but TTP will have even more!
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
TerryLee81 said:
If I play Ground Zeroes, which is free at the moment on X1, will this give a good impression on what TPP will be like?

I'm still on the fence, never really played a MGS game for more than a few minutes or hours.
Click to expand...

Yes, just imagine it as a lite TPP. If you liked it then you're going to love TPP because of the freedom and amount of options it gives you to do things. However, if you haven't been a long time fan, the story will confuse the fuck out of you. To be honest though, even as a long time fan, I am having more questions than answers at the moment but it's very intriguing overall.
 
D

dc89

Member
So I'm like 2 hours in, which is nothing considering how long the game is. I will probably fill this in a bit more shortly. It's just all a bit too much for me now, I've waited so long for this.

- the opening is probably the most cinematic and intense I have ever experienced in a game. This is just next level stuff and there is more detail and range of emotion than most complete games.

- the game controls better than Ground Zeroes, the controls feel tighter and more responsive. I've not had any hairy moments where Snake is not doing what I want, almost getting me spotted and ruining the immersion.

- D Horse controls really nicely, he doesn't feel fiddly at all, it's all very smooth and natural

- The Cassette Tapes are going to play a huge part in this game. As soon as I could, I listened to the first batch and it's already fleshing out the narrative and answering some of the questions you immediately have. And Big Boss actually speaks in them, and quite a bit too! My impression is that you are not going to be spoon fed the narrative, you're going to have to listen to dem tapes!

- The graphics are superb, really impressive considering it's running at 60fps.

- The open world feels pretty damn big, a little empty would be my only complaint. But the immersion it offers is fantastic. It forces you to be completely on your guard because you do not know where the enemy may come from. For example a truck came from behind which forced me to quickly get off the side of the road and into cover.

- This being said it's filled with lots of neat things! Point at stuff and call Ocelot, some of the replies are really good. I pointed a bird and his intel/commentary made me smile.

- The enemy AI is good, the enemies can spot you from a fair distance if you are giving them chance to.
 
G

Geg

Member
Death Metalist said:
  • Opening is one of the best openings in any MGS game, for comparison my favorite was the MGS2 opening. Be sure that you're free for like 2 or so hours so you could experience it with no interruptions.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I wanted to hear, the opening is one of the things in this game I'm the most curious about
 
T

TerryLee81

Member
Death Metalist said:
Yes, just imagine it as a lite TPP. If you liked it then you're going to love TPP because of the freedom and amount of options it gives you to do things. However, if you haven't been a long time fan, the story will confuse the fuck out of you. To be honest though, even as a long time fan, I am having more questions than answers at the moment but it's very intriguing overall.
Click to expand...

Yeah I heard about the story being confusing for people new to the series, but maybe I'll still give it a go just for the gameplay.
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
Geg said:
This is exactly what I wanted to hear, the opening is one of the things in this game I'm the most curious about
Click to expand...

VT7XQ.gif


You're in for a wild ride.
 
R

RustyNails

Member
For those who played: GZ was amazing, but I guess this is just me: I was constantly being caught by the guards because I didn't spot them despite the sense. I guess I sort of struggled with the camera a bit, as I wanted to zoom out a bit more in places. Is this something of an issue in Phantom? Do you get spotted by guards easily?
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
imo the opening is really weird and horror-esque, it's tonally very different to the rest of the game I've played so far. Also there are quite a few "WTF" moments in the opening which I hope will be explained later.

The game feels absolutely huge so far, I've spent about 6-7 hours playing today and I've only done 5 story missions and about 5 side ops (there's one that I'm stuck on :p). I've also been listening to every tape, however, and already I've received around 30. Each tape is about 1min-3min long.

One thing I really like is that if you hear music playing out of a stereo at a base you can nip in and steal the tape, then you can listen to music while you're doing your thing. It's nice for the non-story based missions as it gives you something to listen to while you're working.

D-Dog is super cute.
 
S

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
RustyNails said:
For those who played: GZ was amazing, but I guess this is just me: I was constantly being caught by the guards because I didn't spot them despite the sense. I guess I sort of struggled with the camera a bit, as I wanted to zoom out a bit more in places. Is this something of an issue in Phantom? Do you get spotted by guards easily?
Click to expand...

So your complain is basically that the AI is too smart? :p
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
RustyNails said:
For those who played: GZ was amazing, but I guess this is just me: I was constantly being caught by the guards because I didn't spot them despite the sense. I guess I sort of struggled with the camera a bit, as I wanted to zoom out a bit more in places. Is this something of an issue in Phantom? Do you get spotted by guards easily?
Click to expand...

Yes you do if you're not careful. What you want to do is take things slowly and because it puts you in a much bigger playground you can find a high vantage point to get up to, take your binoculars out and start marking enemies before entering an area so you know where they are. Furthermore, at night, they don't see you as easily as the day but it's a double edged sword because it's kind of tough for you to see as well.

Enemy placement is random as they will be doing their own things and things are way different in the morning than night. For example, you could have 5 guards in the morning and 15 at night or vice versa. Binoculars are also important if you want some intel on a specific thing, it also picks up on music tapes that are being played on the radio for you to collect. Haven't found an important story related tape so far.
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
RustyNails said:
For those who played: GZ was amazing, but I guess this is just me: I was constantly being caught by the guards because I didn't spot them despite the sense. I guess I sort of struggled with the camera a bit, as I wanted to zoom out a bit more in places. Is this something of an issue in Phantom? Do you get spotted by guards easily?
Click to expand...
From watching a stream yesterday, the guards are no joke. They can see a good distance, especially if you are moving erratically.
 
S

sheepishlord

Member
I thought the rain looked amazing in GZ, such a difficult thing to get right in games. Has it improved any in TPP? Still look good?
 
H

hitoshi

Member
RustyNails said:
For those who played: GZ was amazing, but I guess this is just me: I was constantly being caught by the guards because I didn't spot them despite the sense. I guess I sort of struggled with the camera a bit, as I wanted to zoom out a bit more in places. Is this something of an issue in Phantom? Do you get spotted by guards easily?
Click to expand...

No, you can get away MUCH easily than in GZ. I've played 30 hours of MGS V last week, came home from the review trip, played GZ all weekend, and I've REALLY struggled the first 2-3 hours because of the things I have picked up in MGS V. It's much more forgiving, especially if you take into account fultoning away guards that you have knocked out that would be otherwise discovered in GZ when the guard pattern changes.
 
O

Ostinatto

Member
10 hours in.

- the gameplay is flawless, the best thing in the game by far.
- I hate tape recordings, and one of the most important chunks of the story are in those tapes, i wish i had a cut-scene for some of those, they are too important story wise.

These are my non spoiler impressions xD i agree with Death Metalist impressions too.
 
M

MidianGTX

Neo Member
I really enjoyed the prologue, but don't think it revealed much we hadn't already worked out from the trailers and gameplay videos. Either way, it was awesome having it all tied together and the atmosphere was really engaging. It's a prime example of Kojima's directing skills.

Somehow I feel less skilled than I was in GZ. It's not that the controls are worse (they aren't) or because I'm in a new environment, but because it's easy to let the situation overwhelm you. When you've got so many options of where to go, how to deal with enemies, what items to use and you're also working with sharper and less predictable AI, it can leave you flustered and result in mistakes. It highlights the importance of going in with a plan.

6 hours in and 2% complete, if anyone's wondering. Even if we assume a big portion is side-ops, S-ranks and item collecting, that's impressive.
 
Z

zdenko1

Member
TerryLee81 said:
Yeah I heard about the story being confusing for people new to the series, but maybe I'll still give it a go just for the gameplay.
Click to expand...

You really don't want to ignore story. If you have time watch story on youtube from user Kefka Productions (https://www.youtube.com/user/KefkaProduction). If not, read this summary here https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2050xm/metal_gear_the_complete_story/ (missing Ground Zeroes) or this handy Metal Gear timeline (http://www.metalgeartimeline.com/) from GAFfer SnakeEater.
 
E

Error1355

Member
The best news I've heard is mentioning of there being a lot of detail from the tapes. I was worried from some of the reviews who said that the story was light.

:D
 
T

TheLegendOfMart

Banned
What happens with the suppressor situation?

In MGS4 you could stock up on them, in GZ once they are gone they are gone.

Do I have to call in more supply airdrops every time I use up a suppressor?
 
P

Profanity

Member
Death Metalist said:
Yes you do if you're not careful. What you want to do is take things slowly and because it puts you in a much bigger playground you can find a high vantage point to get up to, take your binoculars out and start marking enemies before entering an area so you know where they are. Furthermore, at night, they don't see you as easily as the day but it's a double edged sword because it's kind of tough for you to see as well.

Enemy placement is random as they will be doing their own things and things are way different in the morning than night. For example, you could have 5 guards in the morning and 15 at night or vice versa. Binoculars are also important if you want some intel on a specific thing, it also picks up on music tapes that are being played on the radio for you to collect. Haven't found an important story related tape so far.
Click to expand...

Do the guards seem to follow set patrol routes, or do they move more unpredictably? Do they do anything that keeps you on your toes, like unexpectedly looking around or behind themselves?
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
TheLegendOfMart said:
What happens with the suppressor situation?

In MGS4 you could stock up on them, in GZ once they are gone they are gone.

Do I have to call in more supply airdrops every time I use up a suppressor?
Click to expand...
I haven't tried calling in a new one, I'll check in a moment. I tend to run out of them quite quickly as I have an itchy tranq finger. :p
Profanity said:
Do the guards seem to follow set patrol routes, or do they move more unpredictably? Do they do anything that keeps you on your toes, like unexpectedly looking around or behind themselves?
Click to expand...
Patrol routes but they can be quite large. For example in one town, there were 3 or 4 guards who would only walk ~10m away, then back, but there'd be one or two guards who would patrol the entire perimeter as well as going in between buildings and stuff. Also guards will tend to come over and investigate a lot.
 
zkorejo

zkorejo

Member
Garrett Hawke said:
imo the opening is really weird and horror-esque, it's tonally very different to the rest of the game I've played so far. Also there are quite a few "WTF" moments in the opening which I hope will be explained later.
Click to expand...

I am sure all those WTF moments will be explained. They have to be... if not then that would be the biggest WTF for me.
 
R

Ricky_R

Member
Sucks that listening to tapes seems to be vital to better understand the story. It is what it is though, so I'll have to listen to as much as I can.

Great impressions otherwise.
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
Ricky_R said:
Sucks that listening to tapes seems to be vital to better understand the story. It is what it is though, so I'll have to listen to as much as I can.

Great impressions otherwise.
Click to expand...
You can listen while you play, so it isn't like you are stuck on the screen a la Batman: AK
 
C

CouchMaster

Member
RustyNails said:
For those who played: GZ was amazing, but I guess this is just me: I was constantly being caught by the guards because I didn't spot them despite the sense. I guess I sort of struggled with the camera a bit, as I wanted to zoom out a bit more in places. Is this something of an issue in Phantom? Do you get spotted by guards easily?
Click to expand...

Use your thermals and NVGs, its like Batvision during night missions.
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
zkorejo said:
I am sure all those WTF moments will be explained. They have to be... if not then that would be the biggest WTF for me.
Click to expand...
I hope so too :) I'm a little worried about resolution as even though Kojima said it was the last Metal Gear game (which he often does) he might've been expecting to possibly return before the Konami situation. I guess we'll see.
xxracerxx said:
You can listen while you play, so it isn't like you are stuck on the screen a la Batman: AK
Click to expand...
True, but the game doesn't pause the tapes whenever someone radios you so if someone is trying to talk to you while you're listening to a tape they just talk over it. Kind of irritating.
 
R

Ricky_R

Member
xxracerxx said:
You can listen while you play, so it isn't like you are stuck on the screen a la Batman: AK
Click to expand...

It's not really about how/when I listen to them, but more about not enjoying audio logs in general.

I can listen to a few here and there, but they end up annoying me pretty quickly.
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
Ricky_R said:
It's not really about how/when I listen to them, but more about not enjoying audio logs in general.

I can listen to a few here and there, but they end up annoying me pretty quickly.
Click to expand...
There are a lot of them in this and they do contain quite a bit of critical information. As someone else said, Big Boss doesn't really speak all that much in cutscenes, he's much more vocal on the tapes.

Edit: also, for those interested, there isn't a day one patch available yet (not sure if there will be one) and you also can't import GZ save data yet.
 
S

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
More impressions from the review thread

Punished_Snake said:
first impression of the game:

1. The intro is fucking fantastic.

2. This is the best looking open world game and it's running at 60 FPS. Textures looks amazing (hugely improved over Ground Zeroes), the draw distance is great, the lighting is gorgeous , animation is top notch, and characters models are finely detailed. Really impressed by how good the game looks.

3. Atmosphere is great and the music really is on point.

4. Gameplay is intense and you really feel like a ninja, the open areas really keeps you on the edge of your seat .

I have only completed the intro and progressing in the first mission, still didn't see mother base stuff. This game is delivering all I have wanted from a next gen MGS game so far.
Click to expand...

Liquidsnake said:
My impression after 4 hours last night:

1) Best looking game I have ever seen on a console. I literally was talking to myself. First game to make me feel yeah this is what next gen was supposed to be.

2) The intro is a masterpiece.

The music is good. The atmosphere is second to none.
Click to expand...
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
TheLegendOfMart said:
What happens with the suppressor situation?

In MGS4 you could stock up on them, in GZ once they are gone they are gone.

Do I have to call in more supply airdrops every time I use up a suppressor?
Click to expand...

They compare more to a health bar rather than something that adds up. You'll also find some while traversing so either that or calling a supply drop.

Profanity said:
Do the guards seem to follow set patrol routes, or do they move more unpredictably? Do they do anything that keeps you on your toes, like unexpectedly looking around or behind themselves?
Click to expand...

They are unpredictable in the sense that you never know if these are ALL the guards in this area or not and you don't have the time to scout them all because by the time you do, it'll be night time. So, you're always on the move and infiltrating from the side you feel safest in doing so.
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
Ok, just checked and if your suppressor runs out you can call for a new load out and it will have a fresh suppressor but it costs a reasonable amount.
 
G

Gaz_RB

Member
This thread just makes the wait worse... I need to take some drugs or something for the next few days.


Thanks for the impressions.
 
D

DeathPeak

Member
When you say to have 2 hours free for the opening, are we talking gameplay mixed with cutscenes or just a really long cutscene?
 
G

Geg

Member
The tapes are basically a substitute for the codec conversations like they were in Peace Walker, right? It makes sense that they'd have some important conversations in them
 
zkorejo

zkorejo

Member
Garrett Hawke said:
There are a lot of them in this and they do contain quite a bit of critical information. As someone else said, Big Boss doesn't really speak all that much in cutscenes, he's much more vocal on the tapes.

Edit: also, for those interested, there isn't a day one patch available yet (not sure if there will be one) and you also can't import GZ save data yet.
Click to expand...

This may be a dumb question but do you know how to access pause menu to restart mission and or quit to the main menu. Options and touchpad both open the iDroid and I dont see any options there either.
 
N

Nzyme32

Member
Good stuff OP. This is a thread I want to see!

Death Metalist said:
  • Opening is one of the best openings in any MGS game, for comparison my favorite was the MGS2 opening. Be sure that you're free for like 2 or so hours so you could experience it with no interruptions.
  • Harry Gregson-Williams score is phenominal. Has the feeling of triumph, sadness, anger and some synth mixed in.
  • Exploring the open world is kind of empty but traversing + collecting things for MB is fun because the game is such a joy to control. As you progress through the game you'll want to revisit previous missions because you're slowly gaining new shit to experiment with.
  • I cannot stress this enough, THE TAPES ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Big Boss talks there alot and even though he talks in cutscenes as well he's much more of a silent person but make no mistake, the facial performance is great and you can feel what he's feeling without saying it(I'm the guy who prefers if he talks but I also welcome this take as well)
  • Game is overwhelming at first but after a few hours, everything will become second nature to the player.
  • Didn't find many Easter Eggs but for those who have the game, go to your MotherBase and tranquilize Ocelot. See what happens.
  • The game looks much better than GZ on Xbox One and the pop-in is reduced significantly.
  • The animations and overall control feels on point and fine tuned much better than GZ ever was.

EDIT: No dips in FPS as well in the Xbox One version, at all. However, the game crashed on me once in a 4-5 hour session. Luckily, it autosaves alot.
Click to expand...

Awesome stuff. Makes me a bit annoyed that the companion app will not work for PC, since I am definitely someone that would prefer to listen to the tapes outside of playing, perhaps while I'm running.

Definitely a fan of the direction they have gone with, moving the exposition and fluff to tapes and having a more silent protagonist for the most part so you can just experience everything your own way. Particularly with the open world and freedom to do as you please, moving the exposition out of its jarring codec and cutscene melodrama, and more towards a seamless transitioning experience that demands a bit of investigation and exploration to dig out backstories - all sounds great, as well as the facial performances for a more nuanced character performance than the usual grunting and sighing.
 
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