Phantom Pain - Second Playthrough

[fgdj2000]

Yeah pretty much the same here. I also still get daily bonus from my first playthrough and have all the money from that somehow. Feels almost like cheating.
I also developed a greande launcher and brought it on the Honey Bee mission. Pretty fun. Especially at night. Managed to complete 5 of the 6 mission tasks without knowing what they are. I like Skull Face more as a villain now, since I know what to expect. Great mission, thought the long road to the area drags on a bit.

[A.G.]

So one of the main issues I have with MPW and MGS5 is how the story is presented. With each game it got worse because the important/relevant story is hidden. Tapes replaced codecs. And that's a problem. In most cases the story in the tapes is far more compelling and relevant than what we get in the games. In older games you can get a lot of good additional info in calls, but the main story is presented clearly. It's not hidden. The more important codecs are triggered automatically. In MPW and MGS5 you have to dig for the story. This kills the any hope for pacing and disconnects you from the events of the actual gameplay.

[fgdj2000]

Yeah, I can definitely see that. However, I think PW handled it pretty well and a lot of the stuff on the cassette tapes were things that would have been in the codec in earlier games.
However with MGSV, I think Kojima was going for the open world - player freedom approach and wanted each player to decide for themselves when and how much they wanted to experience of the story. Ultimately, it didn't work out that well.
I appreciate how Kojima changed the setup of the game to be more like Episodes to fit the open world structure. MGSV is more an MGS TV-Series and each mission is a mini-MGS game. It works sometimes, but the filler missions do get tedious if you don't want to play them. For me, the action focused missions like destroying tanks or convoys are missions that I don't really enjoy. However, missions were I have to extract someone are a lot of fun to me and I also enjoy what little actual boss fights there is in the game.

As I said before numerous times, I like that Kojima was trying to reinvent the series with each game and (wass trying) to keep things fresh, rather than releasing anual sequels that become more and more redundant with each game (Assassin's Creed for instance was a series that I liked almost as much as Metal Gear, but that I'm not really interested in anymore). I'd rather have an imperfect game that has the heart at the right place, than a boring by-the-book sequel that takes no risks and is about nothing.

[fgdj2000]

So, it's been a while. I've just finished the one with the Viscount and it went quite differently from my last time. I actually saved all the other prisoners and played it at nighttime as opposed to daytime. I actually enjoy the game even more than the first time around. A lot of the things I said before remain true.
1. I like the switch to open world. Don't get me wrong, that switch wasn't needed at all. Everything is so dynamic that each mission can play out completely different with each playthrough. Also, no more awkward tracking missions like the one in MGS4. If you accidentally kill your tracking-target, there is usually another way to get to your mission objective. Or you can just go straight to where you are supposed to go if you remember from previous playthroughs. Admittedly between bases there isn't much to do. I think, the empty space is mostly there for listening to cassette tapes while travelling to your next objective. I also think, the game wouldn't have benefitted a ton of mini-games, but some more fun side missions similar to PEace Walker's Pooya, Monster Hunter and Dating Missions would have been nice. Motherbase is still a wasted opportunity. You can't really interact with a your staff and all the important characters vanish until the next cutscene. Interacting with motherbase could have given Mission 43 much more impact.
The filler missions could be a chore, but the gameplay keeps me engaged and every 3 missions or so you have a relevant story scenario, so it's fine by me - not ideal, but fine.
Still like Venom Snake as a character, Bonding with Quiet via gameplay rather than story cutscenes is also great (reminds me of the Team Ico games) even though I am a bit annoyed at her shoving her boobs or butthole into my face every few minutes (I'm not 15 anymore). Cassette tapes are also not an ideal form of story presentation, but overall there is a lot of story here.
Overall I feel, if Kojima had had a little more time to implement some features better or if this game would even have been a completely new IP, it would have benefitted it greatly. I can see a sequel to that game where Kojima could iron out the flaws, be a great game. I really hope we see some actual gameplay of Death Stranding this year.

[fgdj2000]

Another small little update. I've finished Chapter 1 in December. Still only on my second play through. It's a bit too big for me. It feels also much slower. I liked Missions 28-31. Great climax. I also like that you don't get to fight Skull Face 1-on-1, that that Catharsis is not granted to you. The Jeep ride is unintentionally hilarious. It's so awkward and really a shame because this is where a good presentation could have given everything Skull Face says so much weight. If that Jeep ride would have been an actual cutscene, maybe even an imprisonment or torture sequence, it could have been more powerful and Skull Face could have been more powerful. But as it stands it single-handedly ruins the game's main villain. The fight against Sahelanthropus I found much more enjoyable this time around because I had much better weapons. A shame we didn't have more true boss fights in the game. I enjoyed all the fights against the Skulls and Quiet and Sahelanthropus, but they were all underdeveloped in the story.
It took me a year to finish the first Chapter. I've only played Nier: Automata in the meantime. Also I've replayed Uncharted 1-3. But I don't really blame MGSV. I'm a bit tired of these long 40-hour games in general tbh. Uncharted and older Metal Gear games take me about a week to complete (roughly 10-20 hours). It's got a beginning, middle and end. Big open world games feel like 12-season TV-shows by comparison. A true commitment for weeks and months to come. I just find spending time with my girlfriend or family or reading a decent book or watching a decent film or TV-series more worthwhile these days.
Though I still have some games on my shelf: Yakuza series (still), Withcher 3 (not finished yet, even after 2 1/2 years), the original Nier. Just have more important work to do right now.

[A.G.]

I load up MGS5 from time to time to shoot things. Or just run around causing havoc. I never play the story chapters. The game does allow me to jump in, mess around for maybe 40 min and stop. But I must say I dont feel like I’m playing Metal Gear. Kinda more like a fighting game where you load it up for a few matches and that’s it.

[fgdj2000]

Still playing the game... Didn't load up Chapter 2 until recently, in part because I had other things to do, but in part also, because the sheer volume of missions do get tedious after a while. Played a couple of the hard mode missions (Quiet did all the work for me in Traitor's Caravan Extreme) and agree with Hamish Black (Writing on Games), that they make things actually interesting again from a gameplay standpoint. The most fun I honestly have, is outside the story when I'm just cruising around the open world and ridding the bases and outposts of soldiers and extracting everyone. I even managed to develop a Bikini, took a higher rank female soldier and formed with Quiet what I called the Bikini Squad. If you dive deep and want to mess around with the game world, the game is actually a lot of fun. However, so much in the story feels awkwardly handled. There is a potentially interesting story buried underneath this mess (particularly, how Venom Snake is this gentle guy who is consumed by the Big Boss persona and constantly at odds with it), but it is just so poorly executed. making non-essential missions becomes a chore once you are getting used to the gameplay and you have to get out of your own way to make things interesting again (I for one always chose the option ASAP at mission launch, essentially foregoing control of time of day and risking myself getting caught at daylight). Enemy A.I. works well on first glance, but it's far too easy to abuse reflex mode and you tend to be almost invisible once you wear a sneaking suit and are crouching. The map is beautiful and the FOX engine has magnificent lighting effects, but on the other hand, the land is so barren and lifeless. A few NPCs could have helped and battles between the different factions (Like a PF engaging with the Russians and you caught in the middle. And where are these Mujahideen who are mentioned a few times in the game? This is supposed to be a war zone after all, and it wouldn't be the first time in the series). Boss Battles are actually very annoying, mostly because of the lack of consumable health items. Also, your success rate greatly depends on you developed weapons. First time a fought Sahelanthropus, it took me probably 40-60 minutes (including several of deaths). This time I had a powerful rocket launcher and after one death (I missed the flying boy in that cheap one-shot-kill maneuver), I beat him in 7 Minutes!!!
So much of the disappointment is also going down to the marketing: everything was spoiled! All the buddies, all the gameplay features, even Sahelanthropus and his erect walking! Quiet becoming a buddy should have been this huge surprise for players who did not pull the trigger at the end of Mission 11 (or better yet, defeated her using non-lethal means). And "Chapter 2" shouldn't have been teased at all. It should have been treated like Chapter 5 in Peace Walker: seemingly a bit of post-game content, that ultimately reveals the true ending.
Anyway, I still admire the game, because it is one of the few games out there that encourages lateral thinking. Once you're in the open world and on missions and just go crazy it can actually be a lot of fun. The story has potential, but A. it didn't need to be told (especially since MGS4 closed off the series so nicely) and B. is poorly paced and executed. I don't think it's all on Kojima, since the work environment had probably become pretty terrible, but part of the problem is, that he needs an editor and people who give him contra and tell him their honest opinion. Hate on Yuji Korekado as much as you want, but at least, he is one of the few people on the MGS4 development team who told him "No! I think you are making a mistake!".
Anyway, that's my final verdict on the game. I have defended it a lot in the past. And I still don't hate it, I actually still like it and have a lot of fun with it. I admire it for its ambition, but it's deeply flawed.

[A.G.]

I look at Metal Gear like Indiana Jones... with Indie there are technically 4 movies. But to me only 3 are the real deal. Same with Star Wars. These franchises have things that are brilliant and things that are sh*tty. The good thing is that fans can pick and choose what they like. It all means something else to different people. There are those who love MPW and hate MGS4. There are those who thing MGS2 was brilliant and others think it’s a mess. You pick what works for you.

I actually played some Ground Zeroes last night. It’s been a while. But I didn’t watch cutscenes. I just kept setting off the alarm to kill all 80+ soldiers in a fire fight. It was fun! In fact I only rescued Chico and Paz to prompt more soldiers to shoot. Again, fun... but that’s not Metal Gear. It’s just not.

[Cerberus_0408]

It is true about IJ only having 3 TRUE movies...Crystal Skull was non-canon to most people.

[fgdj2000]

May 13, 2018 10:40:54 GMT -5 A.G. said:

I look at Metal Gear like Indiana Jones... with Indie there are technically 4 movies. But to me only 3 are the real deal. Same with Star Wars. These franchises have things that are brilliant and things that are sh*tty. The good thing is that fans can pick and choose what they like. It all means something else to different people. There are those who love MPW and hate MGS4. There are those who thing MGS2 was brilliant and others think it’s a mess. You pick what works for you.

I actually played some Ground Zeroes last night. It’s been a while. But I didn’t watch cutscenes. I just kept setting off the alarm to kill all 80+ soldiers in a fire fight. It was fun! In fact I only rescued Chico and Paz to prompt more soldiers to shoot. Again, fun... but that’s not Metal Gear. It’s just not.

Yeah, to each his own. I don't hate MGSV, and for a game you can play whenever and feel like you accomplish something and mess around in it's really great, amazing even. I take a flawed messed up MGS over a polished Assassin's Creed any day.

Recently replayed The Witcher 3. Now, that is a game. I don't know if any of you guys played this, but let me tell you, I'm not a western RPG/ Skyrim/ Badlur's Gate/ Dragon Age type of Gamer, but this game is really just amazing. Easily up there with Games like MGS3. Some of the best writing in a game, supported by a combat system that has more to offen than it first let's on, and an open world that is both massive yet feels very personal with a lot of thought out into and the developers managed to do the impossible in filling this world with a lot of stuff to do that is not just copy-pasted BS. Even the smallest stuff has memorable characters and sometimes surprisingly heartfelt stories (not to mention, the main story is just as great).