Best Metal Gear poll

The days I wish I could do this!

Just disappear in a cardboard box, tailored to the building I was escaping.

Nhex? Nhex?!?

Damn Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes is AWESOME. Silky smooth control. A huge open playground to do tons of missions in. Great graphics. Can't wait for TPP.

I got my first S ranking in the main mission. I was trying to finish on hard mode for an hour or so and never made it more than 5 mins or so before getting an alert. Enemy view range seems to be drastically improved in hard mode. Anyways I was having a real tough time in hard mode and then when I decided to switch back to normal, I had my best playthrough yet.

Sometimes you will find a thread somewhere on the internet talking about this game and you will see someone say something along the lines of "Oh this game is so easy I S-ranked the first level in 15 minutes" or otherwise complaining about how easy it is. Those players are either liars or totally insane gamemasters cos if you aren't paying attention you can get spotted real easily in this.

I don't know what it is about this game but it looks really really good to me. Particularly in that very first area, right after the intro cutscene, where you are on the hill overlooking the base. The way the spotlight looks on that rain-soaked hill is just incredible. Also the intro cutscene transitioning seamlessly into gameplay is pretty rad, and it seems like they are trying to keep that style from what I've seen of The Phantom Pain. I really think Kojima has some genuine film chops (the intro cutscene from MGS1 instantly sold me on his talents) and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the full game!

Is MGS3 going to be released on PC? I read that rumor somewhere...

That closing cutscene where Miller and Big Boss are looking out the chopper at their base being destroyed was pretty amazing and feels like 80s Konami videogame box art COME TO LIFE.

Also the sound design in this game is godlike. I particularly love the attention paid to the cassette tapes, they are little found sound collages of music, dialog, tape noise, environmental sounds, etc. The attention to detail in this game is miles above any comparable AAA release.

Also, level design anyone? Most open world games I've played really have that movie set feel to them, but this feels like a real world. GZ is a big enough environment where I've already had a number of very different situations unfold depending on where it takes place. I am so hyped for The Phantom Pain, I haven't been this excited about a videogame since Mortal Kombat II.

no pS3 release i'm guessing

(for TPP, i mean)

i never replayed this, or any of the unlocked missions - i probably should! i remember thinking that it was pretty fuckin hard, and that i maybe preferred the more linear, fake-open-world steez of the classic games to this almost totally open thing. but maybe i just hate change. it's true that even on my 26" TV it looks fucking bad-ass.

yusssss

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is bound for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

I did not play MGS4 but it didn't look entirely different from 3 - levels being mostly linear areas that are all interconnected through various exits/entrances? The open world type experiments in 3 were a mixed bag: on the one hand you had that amazing fight with The End (which is something I really hope they replicate in MGSV) but on the other you had that wide-open area at the top of the mountain, or after the mountain when you end up on that base. I think the less linear approach fails when there aren't enough places to hide/take cover. For some reason the big maps at the end of 3 just felt too exposed. Maybe I need to replay 3...

An open world Metal Gear is a super exciting idea because Kojima has shown he really likes to micro-manage everything, and put massive attention to detail, making every part of the experience unique, with maybe little easter eggs or quirks or new gameplay mechanics that you don't discover until you've played through the game several times. The main reason open world games (western/ubisoft style) have gotten stale is that they emphasize quantity over quality. Kojima seems like his values are in the complete opposite direction.

OK I'm playing V again and fuck, is this a different game?

I think the first time around I was too hung up on the differences from the earlier games, particularly the "marking" system for enemies, and how much better eyesight they have. But now that I'm used to it I'm loving it. It makes it feel much more dangerous and unpredictable.

It's also NOT really very open-world. There are still set pieces, which the arrangement of villains and cameras guarantees will be approached in a certain way. So Kojima still gets to craft the experience, which is all to the good imo.

First step forward: not being afraid to interrogate and knife motherfuckers. Second step forward: not being afraid of heavier combat, running and hiding. It CAN be done. Unfortunately I lost my tranq gun in the truck I climbed into right at the beginning (I swapped it for a crazy pistol that my comms guy said he'd never seen before), so when I enter "Reflex mode" and have to shoot a fool in the head it alerts everybody, and I have to wait it out.

Right now I've got Paz, but I'm fucked if I can figure out how to thread the needle between these two security cams and their attendant guards in order to get to a helicopter drop zone. It's tempting to see if I can find that other truck, dump Paz in the back and just burn rubber, calling in the chopper as I drive.

By the way, when I jumped into that truck near the beginning, I stayedin so long that I went "out of bounds", got Mission Failed and got told off by the game - "Fine! Have it your way! Mission aborted!"

lol that I slept on this game for 8 months

So sick, all the side missions are incredible, so glad I am finally seeing things in the DAYLIGHT now

the helicopter mish is such a thing of unbridled beauty and so satsifying; after tense hours avoiding surveillance cameras and listening for the sound of footsteps you suddenly get to just blast fools with extreme prejudice

Yeah, this game has so much insane replay value it's amazing. I remember when it came out one of the big criticisms was that it was a rip-off and you could beat it in 15 minutes. All of the side missions really have their own flavor to them, you have to approach them in pretty different ways. Last night I was playing through the Renegade Threat one so I could find the cassette tape and sniper rifle (so I can have it from the start, for making future runs in this side op way easier). Big Boss starts off on a mountain side with an enemy posted looking out from a cliff, and it's easy to run/walk right up to the guard and CQC him from behind. After restarting the mission a few times I got tired of sneaking up to the guy and just ran full-force at him, hitting the dive button rather than CQC. BB just lunges into the poor guard, who flies backwards and off the cliff! It's a new approach that I thought of trying after dozens of playthroughs.

I tried playing MGS3 last night and it was really hard to go back to those controls!

Looooool

I will admit to having quite gleefully thrown many, many dead dudes off those same cliffs

I am looking forward to coming back to these missions and doing them better, I have a tendency to jump in the heaviest vehicle I can and just gunning it to about 100 feet of where I need to be, jumping out and hiding til the coast is clear

This sounds dramatic, but it's difficult to convey the feeling of liberation once I decided that it was OK to fire on some motherfuckers once in awhile. (The game itself doesn't seem to agree with me; I've gotten "E" on every mission aside from the chopper mission)

is IV worth playing at all?

4 has some real moments iirc. they have lost steam with every iteration imo but MGS is still the most compelling (if often deeply flawed) vg series of the last 20 years... so play 4.

i bought a used copy WITH my PS4 about four or five years ago and never got around to playing it!

I never played it because it seemed too complicated.

4 is fun but man those cutscenes are no joke

you want to know shame? a few years ago, i bought a used PS2 and the MGS trilogy to play Snake Eater... didn't touch it.
years later, got a PS3, bought the MGS trilogy again. still haven't played Snake Eater, but now I have Peace Walker, MGS4, and this new stuff on the docket

I think the raw gameplay in V is the best so far but yeah Snake Eater is a classic and really must be played

In the new one they need to work on the radio stuff a little, like when you're in a fire fight, diving for cover, popping off a couple of rounds, a jeep explodes behind you, and the guy on the radio is saying "find the cassette tape after making contact with the agent"

Do you mean that you should have a button that makes Snake say, "Piss off Otacon, I'm busy rn"?

He seems to know everything else that you do, not sure why he's so dim about actual live fire situations

I hope TPP has MGS's trademark weird humor and homoerotic tendencies, this edition is great but super-grim

Every now and again I have to remind myself that I'm playing a game where American soldiers are the baddies and I'm rescuing abused detainees from Guantanamo Bay

started ground zeroes last night, looks amazing and the stealth is great. the a.i. is very good but only up to a point. i got spotted and it became an all-out firefight until some guy at the base suddenly calls it off, like "yeah that guy who killed a bunch of us? i think he's gone! return to your posts."

Heh well yeah it's a videogame :/

I mean, logically, the second you've been spotted by anyone, the guards should be searching for you indefinitely, until they've either killed you or you've managed to finish the mission

i just figured they'd keep rushing until i was dead, like stealth was required for the mission. there was one great moment of a guy searching for me and i hid inside a little guard building. the guard poked his head in and shined the flashlight but missed the corner i was in. very tense

Love those moments!!

They usually do keep on unless you manage to run some distance away.

i think i had just killed the last guy in the vicinity so the threat level immediately changed, just seemed funny. the heal animation made me lol. also "iDroid"

ok i think i wanna play Ground Zeroes now

think it was $7 in that holiday sale when i grabbed it, well worth it

I played MGS4 for the first time about a year ago and was pretty disappointed. The cutscenes were longer than they've ever been and the actual gameplay portions felt relatively meager. The control scheme and basic mechanics were really starting to show their age too.

On the other hand, I played and beat Ground Zeroes for the first time last night (thx to this thread) and had a pretty good time with it! They've done a great job of streamlining just about everything. Made the experience much more immersive and less gamey. Kojima's saying the cutscenes are getting pared down too which I'm grateful for. Definitely looking forward to The Phantom Pain now.

Anyone ever mess with Metal Gear Online? It's no longer playable, but we're getting a fresh iteration with MGSV.

Yeah the incredible irony that this Metal Gear game has an insane amount of play value vs. cutscenes is wonderful.

I got to the point where I can finally play through the main mission without being spotted for at least 10-15 minutes if I'm working my way across the map sneakily taking out guards and stuff. I've been trying to S rank these but they are tough and all the side ops take different strategies to beat. For instance you can S rank Classified Intel easily on normal by just staying in the truck, jumping out once you get inside the gate, climbing up the ladder to the tower, shooting out the camera, snatching the tape, then rushing back to the truck and letting it take you outside the mission. I tried doing this in hard and found out I didn't have any guns, and thus wasn't able to down the camera, and thus got spotted once I snatched the tape. Cue a couple frantic minutes racing to ground level and CQC'ing a few guards while trying to hide in back of the truck. Eventually things calmed down and a soldier came over and started to drive away. However, rather than driving right out of the mission, he stopped the truck right near the exit, with a guard tower and a few guards standing around. I had to throw some magazines to distract them and then jumped out and ran for the exit. A rank! It looks like you have to avoid being spotted altogether...

One thing I tried for taking out that camera was throwing magazines, and I wasn't able to do it. This guy seems to have no trouble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0OIpdcQB2w

Note the hilarious "ping" sound.

That video is incredible.

holy shit. i didn't even know you could throw those

dying @ 00:59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMsQbk5tXhM

amazing

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9m473uWalA

okay sure

AMAZING that they got the arms flapping animation it's like watching a dream.

I love all the self-referencing they do in Ground Zeroes to Kojima and his other stuff. The snatcher mission has some amazing remixed chiptune music cues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t60WHzQGm7w

That song "Creeping Silence", wow that is cool. Nice vibraphone samples in there!