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[SCB3]

Recently I've been growing/trimming my physical collection to games, well series that I truly love (Mario, Sonic, Zelda, Fallout and MGS being the first) and so rebought pretty much most of the MGS games aside from a few so far, but tonight I decided to go through GZ on my PS5 and see how it holds up. Turns out pretty well but done with the Main Mission in less than an hour

Back in 2014 this was around the post launch period of the Xbox One and PS4 and we knew MGSV was coming, so why was GZ seemingly separated and given its own short release when it was clearly inspired by MGS2's Tanker and Plant and even on Phantom Pains release was not even part of that game as an optional mission?

 

[nominedomine]

Easy way for Konami to make money out of a game they were going crazy over it taking too long to release.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Easy way for Konami to make money out of a game they were going crazy over it taking too long to release.

Done and done.

MGS 5 wasn’t ready to release, but the audience were ready to part with their cash.

?

Profit

 

[Arkangelus0]

Kojima wanted to sell a prologue to see feedback, show the fox engine and and mitigate the expensive development cost.

He also believed at the time the future of games could be episodic, and because the fox engine was a next gen engine at the time, it was an amazing tech demo people wanted to play

MGSV is the worst mgs, but the gameplay its 1 of the Best, not only on the series, the entire industry, and was a good idea to show that on ground zeroes, maybe at the time Sony or MS should have some kind of deal with Konami and have the game like a package game of their New hardware

 

[RCU005]

I believe Ground Zeroes is the evidence of how badly things were going at Konami.

 

[Arachnid]

That suckers like me would pay $100 between it and MGSV.

They were right.

 

[saturnalian]

Edit

 

[Synless]

Whatever it was, I loved it. The actual MGS:V…. Not so much.

 

[killatopak]

Amazing demo. My friend bought it day one. I watched him play and I thought was that it?

No doubt it was great but I really don’t think it was worth the asking price.

 

[VolticArchangel]

GZ and TPP were initially planned to be released as one package, as MGSV, just like Tanker + Plant is 2, Virtuous Mission + Snake Eater is 3 etc, but the dev costs weren't low so Konami wanted some returns for pleasing shareholders and the Fiscal Year isn't the one TPP was going to be out, more like almost 2 years away.

 

[ANDS]

It was a genius move by them. MGSV was a massive departure from previous games, and this was an easy way to: make some bank and test the waters. Worked far better than even KONAMI or KP expected I'm sure.

 

[Fuz]

Free money.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Whatever it was, I loved it. The actual MGS:V…. Not so much.

Yea I don't really get the "just a demo" comments, the two games aren't even structured similarly - Ground Zeroes felt like an evolution of Peace Walker game design, whereas MGSV was............. whatever it was. I could go on and on about MGSV to say the least.

 

[Kuranghi]

I played Ground Zeroes for 29 hours according to Steam lol, so good, it was so fun to S rank everything.

Amazing demo. My friend bought it day one. I watched him play and I thought was that it?

No doubt it was great but I really don’t think it was worth the asking price.

Yeah you really had to do the other missions (and replay things) to get the value, the main mission takes like 10 minutes, then you get a bunch more afterwards, you get rewards for S ranking them so you can start with a rocket launcher and the like.

Later on you can play as Cyborg Ninja Raiden and run around solving a sort of zombie/ghost mystery story lol. Its all on the one map but there's (sometimes minor, sometimes major) different AI/event scripting for the different missions.

 

[Alexios]

Similar to selling you a random niche anime robot game you had never heard of or cared for by bundling it with a MGS2 demo back in the day I guess (it turned out to be a cool game itself but yeah, it got boosted for sure). Just exploiting the fanbase's desire for a game, without the game, lol.

 

[Caffeine]

it was incredible I could dick around in that demo for many hours.

 

[Wandering Leopard]

I'm actually playing it right now, it's obviously a demo that serves as a prologue.

I've done the main mission twice and 2 of the side ops.

I'll start the Phantom Pain when I'm less busy at work.

 

[ReBurn]

I thought $30 was too expensive so I waited and ultimately it came to games with gold. It was ok but it was also the point where I accepted I was done with MGS. I loved the first 3 but I didn't care as much from 4 onward.

 

[Kuranghi]

Similar to selling you a random niche anime robot game you had never heard of or cared for by bundling it with a MGS2 demo back in the day I guess (it turned out to be a cool game itself but yeah, it got boosted for sure). Just exploiting the fanbase's desire for a game, without the game, lol.

I bought ZoE just for the MGS 2 demo and with the first copy I got someone had just bought it and removed the demo, then returned it. The bastard! I had to explain to the woman behind the counter why I was returning a game just to get another copy of the same game, she was so confused.

 

[Roni]

I liked the game so much I would've payed for quality DLC. But Konami was moving out of gaming at the time and they just wanted to squeeze the fan base for every last drop of blood. Since it was the last and the best one of the saga, I didn't mind. But plenty of people disagreed...

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

I mean in a way I'm glad they did. It was basically the only PS4 game I had for awhile and I bought that system just for V even if I could play it on the PS3 as well.

 

[Caffeine]

is all that needs to be said the demo is masterclass it lasted longer then most games. I might jump back into it now.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I dunno but it was great. I liked V too, too bad they couldnt finish it

 

[Kev Kev]

I loved ground zeros. I still go back and play through it sometimes. There is a ton of challenges and shit to do. And it plays so well.

Shame how V turned out, but that game felt amazing too. As a lot of said it’s some of the best feeling gameplay ever. The controls, movement, stealth, and just how efficiently and organically everything worked was a perfect blend. But the story and weird cut scenes and unfinished final chapter just couldn’t get it together and the game feels a little bit like a failure.

It’ll never happen but I’m still waiting for one final MGS as big boss and everything leading right up to to Metal Gear. Phantom Pain feels like spin off with how Kojima played it.

I wouldn’t mind small episodes like GZ, for something like that. It doesn’t need to be a bazillion hour massive game.

 

[Yoboman]

I agree it was a bit of a money grab

But also provided a bit of a testing ground for the new type of game they were making with MGS5

I imagine they pretty much made a feature complete vertical slice with all the new gameplay, graphical etc elements they were building and figured they might as well release it

 

[Icymanipulator]

Money. Kojima knows his bread and butter fans will buy anything with his name on it

 

[JimmyRustler]

Actually enjoyed GZ more than MGS5. Latter should have been more like it. Meaning, the whole game confined to a smaller base or two instead of the bloated mess we got in the end.

 

[Roni]

Money. Kojima knows his bread and butter fans will buy anything with his name on it

game design is king, until we start putting money on that, we'll keep getting same old smoke and mirrors bullshit

 

[Apocryphon]

I put more hours into GZ than I did MGS5.

 

[solidus12]

MgsV the definitive edition is the only version where Ground Zeroes is Pro enhanced (1440p)

 

[Jaybe]

The real question is, what was the deal with Metal Gear Survive.

 

[radewagon]

I love how comments go back and forth between "it was a money grab" to "it was awesome." Clearly a money grab that was so impeccably done that most people don't mind. I absolutely loved it. It was such a great proof of concept. There were so many different approaches one could take to accomplish their goal that it offered a ton of replay value. I know a lot of people don't like how V turned out (and I don't begrudge them), but GZ shows how the core gameplay loop of V was sound. Snake, here's you objective, the enemy is smart but predictable, and your options are many. Have fun.

It also had a reversible cover. Class act, all the way.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I preferred Phantom Pain over GZ. The base was all architecture to look at. Everything looked good up to a point and then I was begging for a different map to explore. There was so much more to explore and do in The Phantom Pain. All those air strikes, bases to take over, and boss fights. GZ was not Shadow Moses, but it let us play the new MGS. It was decent game, but it wasn’t as satisfying as the full game. I think we were all looking forward to TPP and the PS4 was just getting by at the time. It was one of the first PS4 games I played next to Resogun. Not to mention Destiny and MGSV were being hyped all around the same time. I remember using my smart phone or my Vita with it too. I’ve just forgotten what it was used for. I think one of them was a map.

 

[Moses85]

 

[DevilHunterX0]

"Tanker" mission sold separately?

 

[TheKratos]

Wait GZ was 30 bux!? I remember playing it but don't remember paying anything for it.

 

[BabyYoda]

I much preferred GZ to MGSV, how I wish the whole had game had been at that quality and level structure.

Admittedly I did get GZ at a huge discount.

 

[It's all in the wrist]

They pulled the same shit with Zone of the Enders and the MGS2 demo. Easy money.

I was happy to pay for them, because the MGS2 demo, ground zeroes, and MGSV are all amazing. The MGS2 demo and GZ we're both interesting because they don't reveal anything about what comes next--both MGS2 and MGSV had huge changes post demo.

 

[Spaceman292]

I played Ground Zeroes for 29 hours according to Steam lol, so good, it was so fun to S rank everything.



Yeah you really had to do the other missions (and replay things) to get the value, the main mission takes like 10 minutes, then you get a bunch more afterwards, you get rewards for S ranking them so you can start with a rocket launcher and the like.

Later on you can play as Cyborg Ninja Raiden and run around solving a sort of zombie/ghost mystery story lol. Its all on the one map but there's (sometimes minor, sometimes major) different AI/event scripting for the different missions.

The main mission only takes ten minutes if you know exactly what to do. The first time I played it I was running around that base for a couple of hours.

 

[The Cockatrice]

GZ was better than 5. See you losers. Also fuck Konami.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Kuranghi]

The main mission only takes ten minutes if you know exactly what to do. The first time I played it I was running around that base for a couple of hours.

Totally mate, me too, but most people just brute force games, in that case you can madly run to the jail in like 15-20 mins, maybe 10 was optimistic lol

 

[Shifty]

So we could have something to look back on in the wake of MGSV's structure and be like "it was good, but man, i'd have taken three of these instead".

 

[EverydayBeast]

There’s something about the gameplay that makes it a better metal gear solid game than 1-4.

 

[Belthazar]

Their audience were willing to pay $30 for a 2 hour demo, that's all.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I remember the backlash of a $40 price tag so they dropped it to $30.

 

[Spaceman292]

Totally mate, me too, but most people just brute force games, in that case you can madly run to the jail in like 15-20 mins, maybe 10 was optimistic lol

You still have to figure out where the jail is and follow clues and stuff. Remember you had to listen to audio clues in a tap recording to trace the route of a truck?

 

[SCB3]

You still have to figure out where the jail is and follow clues and stuff. Remember you had to listen to audio clues in a tap recording to trace the route of a truck?

Yep just replaying it, I remembered where to go but you rescue Chico and he gives you a tape to to identify where to find Paz from a Truck ride like a Helicopter, a flag waving in the wind etc (its aa mall enough area that you can brute force it and its fairly obvious whereabouts to go as well)

 

[SkylineRKR]

GZ was better than V, thats for sure. V mainly had barren lands and barely any story.

GZ had indoors, and it was a rather fun base to conquer in general. More dialogue from Snake before they ran out of budget to pay Kiefer I suppose, and Skullface was still menacing. The shit he did with Chico and Paz, as suggested in the tapes etc and with the bombs, it was nasty. Turns out he was sort of a joke character in Phantom Pain. But the same goes for Snake.

GZ went into a direction I immensely liked and then V burned it down.

 

[Spaceman292]

GZ was better than V, thats for sure. V mainly had barren lands and barely any story.

GZ had indoors, and it was a rather fun base to conquer in general. More dialogue from Snake before they ran out of budget to pay Kiefer I suppose, and Skullface was still menacing. The shit he did with Chico and Paz, as suggested in the tapes etc and with the bombs, it was nasty. Turns out he was sort of a joke character in Phantom Pain. But the same goes for Snake.

GZ went into a direction I immensely liked and then V burned it down.

MGSV actually had quite a lot of story and carefully designed zones. The problem was that there was just hours and hours of sprinting across desert between it all. It all should have just been a dozen Ground Zeroes stitched together with cutscenes between them