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Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | Review Thread | Words That Kill

F

farisr

Member
Metroidvania said:
Didn't early previews say there were more than Afghanistan and Africa in terms of 'big' available maps?

Could have sworn I remember reading this, but I'm apparently remembering incorrectly.
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I also remember there being mention of more locations than afghanistan and africa as well, but it looks like that's not the case anymore (unless they were counting mother base as a 3rd location).
 
O

Omnistalgic

Member
Did Kojima redeem solid a little from his asinine clueless disposition in MGS4? I still wanted one last game where Snake was the man again! Ungh...sucks this is the last Metal gear. Still gonna get it
 
C

CLEEK

Member
MAX PAYMENT said:
Putting significant chunks of story into tapes instead of cutscenes is fucking retarded.
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I7JzP.png


As someone who has played every MGS game to completion, no. It wasn't the frequency or even the length of cutscence that have been MGS's problem. It was that the writing was only ever average at its best, impenetrable, overwrought nonsense at its worst.

MGS4 was a brilliant game, wrapped around the worst film ever made. Less of an attempt to be a (bad) film director and more focus on being an (excellent) game director is a good thing.
 
Pimpbaa

Pimpbaa

Member
Baldwin_the_First said:
Damn glad they replaced the codecs for the tapes to be quite honest. Had my fill of them for a lifetime. Drebin's codecs in MGS4 were the drops of water that made the vase overflow. At least now we can play and listen simultaneously to rambling that goes on forever.
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I had my fill from MGS2. I couldn't even save the game without Rose going on and on about god knows what. Never could wrap my head around why anyone would put tons of dialog where you save your game. If I want to save the game, I usually want to quit the game, not hear more dialog! I ended up just skipping all her dialog completely. Just thinking about it still makes me angry.
 
C

Cavaliersfan767

Banned
RE4 was perfect, it was linear but it never got stale even with some backtracking. The game constantly threw new enemies/bosses, locations and weapons at you along with some minor rpg elements. No game besides mgs3 has come close in my opinion.
 
C

cerulily

Member
Vigilant Walrus said:
I don't understand why so many of you think so highly of MGS2. It's by far the weakest of the series.


1. MGS3
2. MGS4
3. MGS1
4. MGS2


I'll be happy if TPP pleases me more than MGS2 - A game which also got repetitive just running around big shell (and the short while on the tanker).
Click to expand...

MGS2's meta-narrative puts it far above all other metal gear's story. However 3 is good simply because it's a well executed, straightforward plot.
 
G

Gaz_RB

Member
Cavaliersfan767 said:
RE4 was perfect, it was linear but it never got stale even with some backtracking. The game constantly threw new enemies/bosses, locations and weapons at you along with some minor rpg elements. No game besides mgs3 has come close in my opinion.
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Haha I'm not sure why we're talking about RE4 but I agree wholeheartedly
 
I

infinityBCRT

Member
For anyone who loved Peace Walker, a lot of the story being in the audio tapes isn't a huge surprise. In Peace Walker there were barely any codec conversations, and most of what that used to be was now in the audio casettes (most are unlocked by just progressing the story). It helps make the game move quicker for the gamers who hate the long codecs, but still lets hardcore Metal Gear nerds like myself get all of the same info.
 
S

Sami+

Member
Vigilant Walrus said:
I don't understand why so many of you think so highly of MGS2. It's by far the weakest of the series.


1. MGS3
2. MGS4
3. MGS1
4. MGS2


I'll be happy if TPP pleases me more than MGS2 - A game which also got repetitive just running around big shell (and the short while on the tanker).
Click to expand...

MGS2 was imo the most thematically poignant out of all of them, and had the most engaging and memorable story. Also some of the best bosses in the series. That's what's most important to me, so eh. It's my favorite.

MGS4's story was fucking stupid after Act 2 and that killed it in my eyes.
 
Stealth_Cobra

Stealth_Cobra

Member
Blastoise said:
Dang. Even if I played on my Australian account?

Something simillar happened when I purchased TLoU season pass from US PSN. So I guess it will be the same thing.
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Games in different regions have different software codes (SCUSXXXX vs SLUSXXXX vs whatever that's called in australia). Basically, a north american game can detect and install north american DLC and saves, but not DLC and saves from other countries. As such, if you mismatch versions (American Ground Zeroes and Australian T.P.P).

As a rule of thumb, you should always buy DLC from the store of the region you bought the game from. Like if you bought the game from japan, make a Japanease PSN account and purchase the DLC from there using paypalm otherwise it will not be compatible. Afterwards, you can play the Japanease game with the Japanease DLC on your main PSN account with no problems.

That said, regions does not necessarily mean countries. European countries share the same version number and as such, buying a DLC pack from france, uk or germany should in theory get you DLC compatible with your european game. Same with Canadian/US games. I'm not that familiar with australian games and their version numbers, but I'm pretty sure they get their own product code.
 
C

Cave Johnson

Member
IGN said:
There have certainly been sandbox action games that have given me a bigger world to roam, or more little icons to chase on my minimap, but none have pushed me to plan, adapt, and improvise the way this one does. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain doesn’t just respect my intelligence as a player, it expects it of me, putting it in league that few others occupy.
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So, the sandbox era from Thief to Deus Ex makes a comeback in a Metal Gear Game? Well I'll be damned.
 
N

NetMapel

Guilty White Male Mods Gave Me This Tag
In terms of "story", I just need to know how it compares to the first Metal Gear Solid 1 on PS1. That one has a relatively simple story compared to all the future MGS games. I know we all love double and triple plot twists, but nothing still beat MGS1's story in my mind. If MGSV got that sort of storytelling down combined with its excellent gameplay, then this would be the game of the forever :O
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
EatChildren said:
A Metal Gear game where kitchy cutscenes are more like rewarding bookends to long stretches of great gameplay rather that lengthy interruptions every time I walk five meters *drools*
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After watching the marathon stream of MGS4 yeah I think I'm good. It's still going to have a story but more spread out and not told through hours of drowning cutscenes.
 
MAX PAYMENT

MAX PAYMENT

Member
SPE said:
I7JzP.png


As someone who has played every MGS game to completion, no. It wasn't the frequency or even the length of cutscence that have been MGS's problem. It was that the writing was only ever average at its best, impenetrable, overwrought nonsense at its worst.

MGS4 was a brilliant game, wrapped around the worst film ever made. Less of an attempt to be a (bad) film director and more focus on being an (excellent) game director is a good thing.
Click to expand...

I seriously disagree. If I listen to a tape as I play, I could get distracted and not dully pay attention to the tape. To fully give it my attention, I'd probably have to stop and listen to it. If Im going to stop and listen, I'd rather watch it.

If kojima would accept some western style localization in editing and rewriting dialogue, your issues would be non-existant.
 
B

bananafactory

Banned
MAX PAYMENT said:
I seriously disagree. If I listen to a tape as I play, I could get distracted and not dully pay attention to the tape. To fully give it my attention, I'd probably have to stop and listen to it. If Im going to stop and listen, I'd rather watch it.

If kojima would accept some western style localization in editing and rewriting dialogue, your issues would be non-existant.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I can't focus on listening to something and doing something else. It's why I can't listen to music and podcasts while I work.

I will be sitting still to listen to each tape
 
M

MiamiWesker

Member
So are there any reviewers that approach gaming the way I do. I want someone who is going to put in 100 hours, get 100%, fully embrace the FOB invasions. I will replay missions tons of time, the harder the mode the better. I welcome people invading me in the middle of a mission, the thrill of never knowing when you are safe. Also the ability to invade countless unique bases.

So many reviews seem to shrug off FOB as something they don't want to do. Some complain about replaying missions (forcing replays is not good I agree). And I don't think one review has even gotten close to 100%, obviously due to time. But if a reviewer is out there that thinks like me I want to know so I can read your review.

I know the game is fantastic but I still feel a lot of these reviews feel incomplete.
 
A

Alienous

Member
The thing about the tapes is, if you know you have a story too large for the game and cutscenes to accommodate, that's an issue you should have designed around.

The tapes should strictly provide background information. It shouldn't fill in the gaps of a narrative. I'll have to experience how it's handled, but I hope that I'm not expected to listen to tapes to make sense of the plot.
 
T

tryagainlater

Member
I am a bit worried about the lack of story focus but I'm happy to listen to tapes. More cutscenes would be better in my eyes even if that's what people usually complain about with MGS4 but I enjoyed Peace Walker's tapes. Cranking them out while actually playing the game sounds great as well.

It will bother people that you have to go out of your way to find them as collectibles. I'm someone who likes collectibles because they give you an excuse to run around and explore yet I rarely find that the reward is worth it. The tapes will probably be great so I'm glad we have a good reason to track the collectibles down. Sucks for those who just want to get to the meat of the story though but I should enjoy it.
 
Pimpbaa

Pimpbaa

Member
Discoid said:
MGS2 was imo the most thematically poignant out of all of them, and had the most engaging and memorable story. Also some of the best bosses in the series. That's what's most important to me, so eh. It's my favorite.
Click to expand...

It also had some of the most insufferable dialog to ever come out of a Japanese game.
 
B

bananafactory

Banned
MiamiWesker said:
So are there any reviewers that approach gaming the way I do. I want someone who is going to put in 100 hours, get 100%, fully embrace the FOB invasions. I will replay missions tons of time, the harder the mode the better. I welcome people invading me in the middle of a mission, the thrill of never knowing when you are safe. Also the ability to invade countless unique bases.

So many reviews seem to shrug off FOB as something they don't want to do. Some complain about replaying missions (forcing replays is not good I agree). And I don't think one review has even gotten close to 100%, obviously due to time. But if a reviewer is out there that thinks like me I want to know so I can read your review.

I know the game is fantastic but I still feel a lot of these reviews feel incomplete.
Click to expand...

Well they only had a week to play the game and they only have so much time with it. Very reviews complete 100% of any game, they play enough to be confident in their opinion
 
D

Death Metalist

Member
MAX PAYMENT said:
I seriously disagree. If I listen to a tape as I play, I could get distracted and not dully pay attention to the tape. To fully give it my attention, I'd probably have to stop and listen to it. If Im going to stop and listen, I'd rather watch it.

If kojima would accept some western style localization in editing and rewriting dialogue, your issues would be non-existant.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I lol at all the I'll listen while playing comments, the only playing you'll be doing while listening is driving. Other then that it's impossible to focus on what's being said while trying to sneak and headshot a guy. Another problem would be is that when you had codecs and such, it happens at that particular revelation then is never mentioned again. I have a feelings with tapes you're just going to have a massive dump of information at your disposal about something that happened 30 minutes to a few days ago.
 
H

Hibiki Kurosawa

Member
Reviews are what I expected, mostly. Got mine pre-ordered from amazon. Now I just have to finish up 3 and play through 4, pw, and gz. I won't be getting to tpp for some time, will I?

EatChildren said:
A Metal Gear game where kitchy cutscenes are more like rewarding bookends to long stretches of great gameplay rather that lengthy interruptions every time I walk five meters *drools*
Click to expand...
Yeah, this has me excited. The numerous interruptions is one of the worst things about mgs.
 
2

213372bu

Banned
MiamiWesker said:
So are there any reviewers that approach gaming the way I do. I want someone who is going to put in 100 hours, get 100%, fully embrace the FOB invasions. I will replay missions tons of time, the harder the mode the better. I welcome people invading me in the middle of a mission, the thrill of never knowing when you are safe. Also the ability to invade countless unique bases.

So many reviews seem to shrug off FOB as something they don't want to do. Some complain about replaying missions (forcing replays is not good I agree). And I don't think one review has even gotten close to 100%, obviously due to time. But if a reviewer is out there that thinks like me I want to know so I can read your review.

I know the game is fantastic but I still feel a lot of these reviews feel incomplete.
Click to expand...

Greg Miller's Kinda Funny review is just that.

He has the spoiler-free review now and will have more when the game releases proper and can talk about some things that goes against the embargo.
 
G

Gaz_RB

Member
Cavaliersfan767 said:
Just tryin to say i prefer a more straight forward linear game opposed to an open world in most cases. I do love my rockstar and bethesda though.
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Yeah for me, my greatest games of all time are all linear, but I still get a huge amount of enjoyment from open world games. It's just that they're so big people tend to get burnt out, and when they look back, their memories of the game are colored by the burn out rather than the first 20-30 hours they spent having an absolute blast.


AHA-Lambda said:
Yeah anything said?
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30-40 hrs iirc

And that's not doing everything.
 
C

Crimsonclaw111

Member
213372bu said:
It is honestly best you watch it yourself, as his way of explaining it is really in-depth and discusses lots of particular points that click, but in general:

1. Greg felt that GZ was a shoebox. He says TPP gets rid of this completely. Each segment for infiltration is a "concept". You are given a scenario with many "real" points of entry with many valid ways to approach it. This MG does a great job of making the concepts of GZ something totally different in this way. He goes more in-depth on this in the video.

2. The game felt like it "was with you" no matter the decisions you make. No longer is the game like GZ in this regard, according to him. Stealth is still recc. for that easier S rank, but with the addition of 'bonus conditions' you can still get that S in lethal mode. This stops the game from being repetitive. No longer will you feel like you have to get that tranq the whole way through in order to "win". Lethal options are very valid means of winning the mission, and using lethal weapons and paths are some times necessary in order to do a mission without getting frustrated. And once again, the game doesn't make you feel guilty or that you lost by choosing a lethal way, though it does not give you as many points as possible.

3. There are mechanics in the game that you can potentially get to in 20-25 hours of playing the game. All these new mechanics are steadily introduced in the game and will keep you entertained.

4. Besides playing missions over for the "s" rank, which you might be doing later on in the game, there are still well over 100 side ops that are all their own thing.

5. Re-iterated that weapon customization really makes the game a lot more fun.

6. Though there is two large maps, don't worry. There are still variety in that open world including some pretty interesting infrastructures.
etc.

I really liked his points. It takes watching the whole video to just understand where he is coming from.
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Welp time to get lost in VR missions or their equivalent again.
 
TheStruggler

TheStruggler

Report me for trolling ND/TLoU2 threads
honestly maybe there will be more than 2 environments, maybe reviewers had to sign a NDA to not mention anything like that in their reviews.
 
AHA-Lambda

AHA-Lambda

Member
Vigilant Walrus said:
I just read the IGN review, and well- In their damming conclusion about the story;





The Polygon, Gamespot and Gametrailers reviews all heavily emphasis that these audiotapes are important. I wonder if it possible that the IGN reviewer skipped on some / quite a few of these, and lost some of it?

The Gametrailers review commented on that they thought it was weird that the story was told this way, but later reflected on it saying that it made sense.


For those of us who liked MGS-Long ass cinematics, it seems it would be best to listen to every audiotape in detail. And in my case, put on subtitles so I don't miss anything.


All reviews I've read however talk of pacing issues, and that this feels like a new beginning for MGS. They all say, that the game stumbles on some of the subject matters- The writing can't support what it wants to say about child soldiers, diamond trade and so on. Fair enough. I'm glad I know this, before digging in.


But you know what's most amazing about the whole thing? Most of these reviews say it's undoubtedly the best Metal Gear thanks to its gameplay. That's worth something. And it's not like MG has never polarized people.

I don't understand why so many of you think so highly of MGS2. It's by far the weakest of the series.


1. MGS3
2. MGS4
3. MGS1
4. MGS2


I'll be happy if TPP pleases me more than MGS2 - A game which also got repetitive just running around big shell (and the short while on the tanker).
Click to expand...

I expect it to be like missing audio tapes on Bioshock Infinite, you'll miss out on plot minutiae without them, or in Destiny's case with Grimoire, the whole plot.

Audio tapes are a lazy form of storytelling, this has me worried. Rest sounds great though.
 
T

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
MAX PAYMENT said:
I seriously disagree. If I listen to a tape as I play, I could get distracted and not dully pay attention to the tape. To fully give it my attention, I'd probably have to stop and listen to it. If Im going to stop and listen, I'd rather watch it.

If kojima would accept some western style localization in editing and rewriting dialogue, your issues would be non-existant.
Click to expand...

editing wouldn't make the ending of mgs4 any less awful
 
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