Ishmael error?!

[Cerberus_0408]

Clearly he's had some hair regeneration medication between 2am and 5am.

[A.G.]

Hahaha! It was nanomachines!

Still, I don’t get it. His face is bandaged up as he escapes the hospital where they perform facial surgery only to reveal that his face didn’t change and that it doesn’t match his new passport? Stupid! It’s not like he can just go anywhere to get that done now. They barely managed in that hidden hospital. How will anyone work on Big Boss anywhere else? Dumb!

[Cerberus_0408]

Well the passport forger must've been pretty damn stupid. And yeah, that's rather silly.

[A.G.]

If you think about it, how did they get that photo? I guess they could’ve taken a picture of the medic’s face before he was made to look like Big Boss. But then what? Big Boss clearly didn’t have the surgery to change his face. And now he is stuck with documents that don’t match him.

This was an example of Kojima dicking around to a point where he actually confused himself. That ending scene should’ve had our Avatar model on the motorcycle. And maybe he glances into a mirror to see the Big Boss face. Big f...ck up on a “dramatic” angle.

[Cerberus_0408]

It really makes you laugh your arse off, but... he must've somehow forgotten to apply for a passport or whatever that actually MATCHES his current description.

Still, though...given how Kojima ran the series into the ground beyond MGS4, this shouldn't be surprising. At least to me. Instead of doing stuff that ACTUALLY makes sense, he takes the series on a complete tangent as you mentioned SO MANY TIMES about MPW, MPO etc. Yeah the franchise has degenerated in story but that's how games keep racking up the big bucks isn't it?

It's sad that Kojima has essentially rendered MGS into a pile of total bullsh*t but that's just the way game companies work. I mean, how do you expect CoD to be so damn successful if they keep pumping out game after game every year? Yeah, the gameplay is mostly the same except for distinctions that each game adds on but that doesn't change the fact that MILLIONS buy them across the globe. I think that sadly, the same can be said of MGS. The entire series has been going downhill in story; but nonetheless, fans always purchase the game anyway without fail.

[fgdj2000]

Seriously? The medic's photograph is not an issue at all. At all. He used to have a passport, they made photographs of the staff at Motherbase, he had a passport picture taken years ago, they copied that photo where he is on with Miller and Big Boss and enhanced the section of his face.... pick any of these. A passport picture of a guy is one of the most common things in the Western world.

Big Boss in bandages: He was still in hiding. Would have been dumb to remove his bandages while lieing next to his doppelganger.

Though I agree on the surgery. What good is that passport to Big Boss if he looks nothing like the guy. However, that's nitpicking for me. It's not that big of a deal. The true problems of Phantom Pain lie elsewhere.

[Cerberus_0408]

Jan 3, 2018 7:27:57 GMT -5 fgdj2000 said:

Seriously? The medic's photograph is not an issue at all. At all. He used to have a passport, they made photographs of the staff at Motherbase, he had a passport picture taken years ago, they copied that photo where he is on with Miller and Big Boss and enhanced the section of his face.... pick any of these. A passport picture of a guy is one of the most common things in the Western world.

Forgive me, but I don't understand (or seem to understand) the last sentence.

Though I agree on the surgery. What good is that passport to Big Boss if he looks nothing like the guy. However, that's nitpicking for me. It's not that big of a deal. The true problems of Phantom Pain lie elsewhere.

Maybe he has to actively change his appearance to resemble the passport lmfao. And by the way, this again involved those thrice-damned 'nanomachines'

[A.G.]

Jan 3, 2018 7:27:57 GMT -5 fgdj2000 said:

Seriously? The medic's photograph is not an issue at all. At all. He used to have a passport, they made photographs of the staff at Motherbase, he had a passport picture taken years ago, they copied that photo where he is on with Miller and Big Boss and enhanced the section of his face.... pick any of these. A passport picture of a guy is one of the most common things in the Western world.

Big Boss in bandages: He was still in hiding. Would have been dumb to remove his bandages while lieing next to his doppelganger.

Though I agree on the surgery. What good is that passport to Big Boss if he looks nothing like the guy. However, that's nitpicking for me. It's not that big of a deal. The true problems of Phantom Pain lie elsewhere.

It is an issue though. The wit of the series was always in the details.

[fgdj2000]

MGSV was too big of a game for the resources Kojima had. Plus all the issues at Konami also played their part. I'm hoping he doesn't get too ambitious with his next game.

[A.G.]

Was it though? What was so big about it? Most of the game is very basic and repetitive. It pales next to other big open world games.

[Cerberus_0408]

I feel that open-world in general indeed took things really far. Consider Skyrim for example. Possibly one of the most largest maps ever created.

[fgdj2000]

Jan 5, 2018 23:34:46 GMT -5 A.G. said:

Was it though? What was so big about it? Most of the game is very basic and repetitive. It pales next to other big open world games.

The ambition was there, definitely. Just the execution was lackluster.
A big open world where you could infiltrate any base using any means you have? check. Only that aside from the bases there was nothing in the open world and probably due to technical limitations some aspects of the missions are pretty limiting (only 1-2 helicopter landing points, arbitrary map borders during missions, restrictive travel systems, no NPCs aside from soldiers and prisoners).

A deep story with many characters about revenge, language, child soldiers and loss of identity. check. Only that the story wanted way too much, lacks focus and ends up only scratching on the surface of each topic and not coming together as a cohesive whole.
Not too mention wanting to tell a new surprising story and still fitting neatly between decades of existing story material.

Keep in mind that Kojima spent a lot of time and resources on the FOX Engine, which was planned to be used in all kinds of games, but ended up not being used at all since Konami retired from the gaming business (aside from PES and MGSurvive - cheaply produced titles).

[fgdj2000]

Jan 6, 2018 7:27:59 GMT -5 Cerberus_0408 said:

I feel that open-world in general indeed took things really far. Consider Skyrim for example. Possibly one of the most largest maps ever created.

I think there have been bigger maps since then. GTAV and The Witcher 3 come to mind. However, Skyrim was and still is great because it gives players the tools to truly play anyway they want.

[A.G.]

Jan 6, 2018 13:40:29 GMT -5 fgdj2000 said:

Jan 5, 2018 23:34:46 GMT -5 A.G. said:

Was it though? What was so big about it? Most of the game is very basic and repetitive. It pales next to other big open world games.

The ambition was there, definitely. Just the execution was lackluster.
A big open world where you could infiltrate any base using any means you have? check. Only that aside from the bases there was nothing in the open world and probably due to technical limitations some aspects of the missions are pretty limiting (only 1-2 helicopter landing points, arbitrary map borders during missions, restrictive travel systems, no NPCs aside from soldiers and prisoners).

A deep story with many characters about revenge, language, child soldiers and loss of identity. check. Only that the story wanted way too much, lacks focus and ends up only scratching on the surface of each topic and not coming together as a cohesive whole.
Not too mention wanting to tell a new surprising story and still fitting neatly between decades of existing story material.

Keep in mind that Kojima spent a lot of time and resources on the FOX Engine, which was planned to be used in all kinds of games, but ended up not being used at all since Konami retired from the gaming business (aside from PES and MGSurvive - cheaply produced titles).

Your praise the strangest things. Big EMPTY world where you can infiltrate for relatively no reason! Check! You can blame technical limitations but it doesn’t matter, if you can’t make it work, don’t do it. And he couldn’t. So it’s a fail. Plain and simple. Deep story? Check? Are you insane? The plot is an utter mess! And the presentation is sh*t with most of the story delivered on tapes! How in the hell is that a check?

Look dude, if you liked it that’s fine. That’s your opinion. But it doesn’t make it good. The game fails on all the basic requirements on both game design and storytelling. That’s a fact. You can still like it, but it doesn’t make it a good product. I like Chuck Norris movies but at no point would I make an argument that they are quality films. MGS5 was poorly made across all channels - design, story and characters.

[fgdj2000]

I was trying to demonstrate that Kojima had big ideas for the game but for whatever reason couldn't get it done properly. E.g. the complex story with many themes that didn't come together.

Look dude, if you liked it that’s fine. That’s your opinion. But it doesn’t make it good. The game fails on all the basic requirements on both game design and storytelling. That’s a fact. You can still like it, but it doesn’t make it a good product. I like Chuck Norris movies but at no point would I make an argument that they are quality films. MGS5 was poorly made across all channels - design, story and characters.

All I'm saying is that at its heart there is a great game, but Kojima didn't manage his resources properly. Sure, characters, story and story-presentation are a mess. However, the gameplay, despite some problems (fast-travel, only two major environments, nothing to do outside of missions) is far from being terrible. It's a more competent game than Uncharted or Assassin's Creed. The implementation of mother base as a meta-component and how basically anything you do in the game connects to that one way or another, is just good design. Granted, the side-missions can get really repetitive and are a far cry from some of the crazy stuff seen in MGS1 and MGS2's VR Missions and Peace Walker's side-ops, but at least they contribute to the Motherbase Metagame, which is more than some of the repetitive side missions in GTA or Assassin's Creed can say.Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean it was poorly designed.
As for the empty open world: I'm not so sure an open world littered with tons of meaningless stuff to do like your typical Ubisoft game, would have improved MGSV.

I'd compare The Phantom Pain to the original Blade Runner, which had great vision, but still has some serious issues that keep it from feeling like a satisfying film with fully fleshed out characters and a complete story unlike, say, Alien, Star Wars or even Blade Runner 2049. I liked that film despite its problems, but not everyone can see past them.