Metal gear solid v! Tpp & gz

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Just finished season 1. I liked it. A lot of 90s cheesiness and corny lines, but I don't mind. It's part of the charm, in a way. The story really got convoluted, and that after-credits twist with Ocelot had me all "whaaaat".

Starting season 2. Nice to see the graphics slowly improving.
 
Just finished season 1. I liked it. A lot of 90s cheesiness and corny lines, but I don't mind. It's part of the charm, in a way. The story really got convoluted, and that after-credits twist with Ocelot had me all "whaaaat".

Starting season 2. Nice to see the graphics slowly improving.


Season 2 is quite mad, and I mean mad, just endure it :p
 
I got confused for a moment there and thought they'd surprise-released episodic MGS, like the Telltale Games. D: (I wouldn't put it past Kojima and half of that series is delicious soapy drama anyway...)

Everyone who is comparing it to CoD is wroooong. The storyline is good, but it gets really tangled during 2 and 3. MGS4 has almost no 'optional' Codec conversations, so it's easier to follow.

I'd also like to point out it's one series that is worth playing - the gameplay is where the series truly shines, and it's been like that since MGS1. Some parts would not have a big impact in the movies because you weren't the one making certain decisions. (I understand not having the time or platform to play all of the games on, but it's still worth mentioning.)
 
I don't think playing in chronological order is a good idea for your first play through. The series isn't done fully and switching from MGS3/Peace walker/GZ/MGSV mechanics to MGS1/2 is going to make them a chore for some people I think. Plus, it's cool to see the evolution of the series gameplay and stuff. Though, if you want to just play ONE game in the series then MGS3 is probably the best one.

Playing in release order I think is the way to go.

Absolutely agree, but if someone really just doesn't know if they want to play the series (and given Rep's personality from what I've seen on here), he might be better to start with 3 (to see if it can hook him) and then if he likes it, then go back and play them in release order.
 
Yeah, most likely won't be getting into this franchise, not into stealth/action games all that much. Unless it's Batman, which actually has a good story :)


Everyone who is comparing it to CoD is wroooong.

Yeah, I know, Black Ops 2 had a pretty decent plot, all things considered, comparing it to MGS doesn't really do it justice. Sorry.
 
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@Dona what sort of decisions? From the videos of cutscenes I'm watching, it doesn't seem to me as if there's any player input. Or was that just edited out?
 
Yeah, most likely won't be getting into this franchise, not into stealth/action games all that much. Unless it's Batman, which actually has a good story :)

Batman as a character personally annoys me as much as Ciri does, but I agree, Arkham Origins had a damn good story and writing and Arkham City's ending was excellent.

You will miss out, but I will say this (fanboyism not included), that if Batman and Big Boss ever met, when Big Boss tells Brucie to jump, Brucie will say "How high, sir?" :p


Yeah, I know, Black Ops 2 had a pretty decent plot, all things considered, comparing it to MGS doesn't really do it justice. Sorry.


If it's half as good as Spec Ops the Line's story, I will give it a shot.
 
@Dona what sort of decisions? From the videos of cutscenes I'm watching, it doesn't seem to me as if there's any player input. Or was that just edited out?

I was mainly thinking of one in MGS3 - major spoiler for a boss fight (Sorrow):

You end up walking down a river, and ghosts of everyone you killed in the game will walk through you, attacking you, damaging you. So this section is much easier if you don't kill anyone, since their ghosts will not appear. Ending this sequence is also interesting.

Another one (The End):

This is a bit of a 'hidden' option, but you can kill him long before you have to fight him normally. It's tricky but doable.

The legit fight is one of the most interesting ones, because he is a sniper and super hard to find. You can spend hours looking for him and it's all very tense. Alternatively, you can turn the game off for 2 weeks (or cheat with the clock, but that's not fun) and when you load the game, he dies of old age.

And there's the infamous MGS1 section with Psycho Mantis where you have to use the 2nd player controller to beat him (since he "reads" your mind). Of course, they made sure this can be beaten without using the 2nd controller, but the greatness of the idea still stands. There's probably a lot more I'm not remembering right now, it's been a while since I played MGS.

The story itself doesn't change based on your decisions, it's linear. But gameplay really enhances the experience because it's closely tied to the story.
 
Alright, I'm done. I've completed my mission. Watched all the seasons, including Portable Ops (well, skipping the one hour in the middle) and Peace Walker. I read wikis and articles, watched independent videos that cover the series in chronological, alphabetical, instrumental and digital order and even accidentally spoiled the main events of GZ in the process - but I'll play it anyway before TPP. Even read about Metal Gear 1 and 2. I'm exhausted, but God damn it, I'm ready. For the game. Not for the test I have Sunday.

If I was as tenth committed to my Law studies as I am to games, I would end up a much richer person.

The first two movies required mostly listening because the cutscenes don't really hold well (as well as the PSP games). Snake Eater was getting it, but wasn't quite there. Guns of the Patriots finally glued me to the screen. It was an amazing experience and it's shocking to think about its age. I really hope that TW3's fighting cutscenes will be as good as the ones between Raiden and Vamp. They'll need to be adjusted, of course, because some of the extravagant stuff don't fit TW's style, but the quality is just unparalleled. GoTP justifies watching all the previous movies for its sake alone, regardless of TPP, because it was a really intense emotional ride.

The series isn't without its faults, of course. Sid was right in saying that the story and the writing aren't equal to one another in quality. The writing is... bad. Drebin's stories about the B&B Corps were terrible, but that's just the most obvious example. The dialogue throughout the series is usually dull. I want Samuel L. Jackson to double dare Raiden to say a certain word again in MGS2, holy dung. It wasn't just him, though. Even BB and SS had this nagging habit of echoing things said to them as a question, that made them seem not as quick-witted as you would have hoped super soldiers would be. It was more acceptable in late 90s, early 2000s, and like I wrote in my summary of the first movie - the cheesiness had its charm. Had. I really hope this will change at 2015.

Also, I realize that I'm coming from a very different place than long-time fans in that I don't have any nostalgia factor, but I'm glad Hayter isn't reprising the role (considering the ruse-theory is off mark). He kept sounding to me as if he was trying too hard, to the point where the gruffness was almost growling. It was more jarring to me than those guttural sounds Christian Bale was making by the end of The Dark Knight Rises. That said, I did read that the way Hayter was informed was really unworthy, considering his many years with the franchise. I hope that isn't the case.

There's another thing that bothers me, and this one is more essential. The amount of twists and turns and double-crosses and triple-crosses and quadruple spies... when most of the games have so many "unexpected" developments, they become expected, then ordinary, then boring and then, worst of all, almost a parody. By Peace Walker, I was already so numb to these things that Zadornov's and Paz's reveals were completely without impact anymore. It's kind of similar to a trap I hope TW3 will avoid - if you insist on keeping a twist to everything and have actions of good intent bear bad consequences, then the unexpected becomes expected and yawn-worthy. So I hope that TPP won't, again, try to blow minds away in this way, and go for more simple developments - but make them memorable in their own way.

Those are the main things that come to mind. I'm burned out after my marathon, time to rest from this (and maybe do something productive tomorrow morning). I wanted to address where I stand about all the silly stuff, but I'm too tired. Despite the negative things, the positives outweigh them, and I finally have another title that I'm seriously looking forward to alongside TW3. Going over the gameplay videos again, and how much Kojima improves from title to title, I really think that MGSV is in a position to steal the year. The attention to detail is outstanding (that part with BB climbing the wall like an actual climber would is still stuck in my mind) and the gameplay looks amazingly fun. Now that I'm approaching it with all the emotional package as well and an understanding of the characters, it significantly closed the gap to TW3 in my personal "most anticipated" list.
 
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He kept sounding to me as if he was trying too hard, to the point where the gruffness was almost growling.

The reason why David Hayter tried to sound so badass in his snake performances is because the character Solid Snake, and even Big Boss are heavily inspired by Snake Plissken from the Escape from L.A movies.

[video=youtube;M--bD_xmVb0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M--bD_xmVb0[/video]


If I was as tenth committed to my Law studies as I am to games, I would end up a much richer person.

Same for everyone here :p

the cheesiness had its charm. Had. I really hope this will change at 2015.

Metal Gear always had its own style going on, you have sometimes really serious moments in the story while cardboard boxes are the #1 best goddamn stealth equipment in the world :p



There's another thing that bothers me, and this one is more essential. The amount of twists and turns and double-crosses and triple-crosses and quadruple spies...

I agree, these gave me so many headaches until I finally understood who was actually working for whom, etc.

it significantly closed the gap to TW3 in my personal "most anticipated" list.

Let's hope both games will deliver on their hype, but Witcher 3 has all my hype currently :p
 
Metal Gear always had its own style going on, you have sometimes really serious moments in the story while cardboard boxes are the #1 best goddamn stealth equipment in the world :p
The cheesiness I was talking about is in dialogue. Funnily enough, I don't mind the silly mechanics. Futoning a sheep, crashing a jeep with horse shit, distracting a guard with a poster of a model on your cardboard box, I don't have a problem with these things. Not in this series. But I do want the dialogue to have some more depth and content to it this time around. I get the feeling that TPP is going to be a darker game than the rest in the series, so I also suspect the dialogue will be accordingly different.
 
I get the feeling that TPP is going to be a darker game than the rest in the series, so I also suspect the dialogue will be accordingly different

Especially that final scene in GZ, an omen of what it is to come in MGSV.

But if Quiet is Chico, I will lose my shit :p
 
If Quiet is Chico, I will lose my shit just because I found out about it several months before release. :rant:

Well their faces do look similar ... It is kind of obvious :p

If it is indeed the same person ..... Fucking hell ... This is why I mostly hate anime in general :p
 
Well their faces do look similar ... It is kind of obvious :p
Yeah, I saw the video. I totally agree that it's a plausible theory. But it would suck because it means I learned the big twist 6 months before the game is even out, lol.

Just imagine the reaction of all those teenage boys though.
*fap* *fap* *fap* *fap* *f-- "THE FUCK?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."
 
Kojima said it is entirely possible to not meet Quiet in the game at all. I wonder how that's going to pan out, especially considering for how long they've been marketing her/her VA.

@eliharel
I can't let you go before you read Dreaming in an Empty Room! It's a (decade+ old) essay on MGS2 that describes the essence of that game. And a pretty good explanation of why I'm still utterly disappointed with Raiden's development in MGS4, and also why I consider MGS2 one of the most important videogames ever made. The series became a bit more movie-like since then.

The silly stuff is to be expected, it's just what MGS is. I don't know if the videos you watch showed it, but in MGS3 you can wear Oyama make-up camo or an aligator cap, while hunting cutesy little frog toys. MGS4 bosses can be beaten by putting a j-pop track on your in-game iPod, which makes the Beauties dance and eventually keel over (that song would do it to anyone, really). No matter how serious and bloody MGS5 will get... you can freely expect a lot of randomness. MGS makes it work every time, somehow.

I agree with your expectations of more serious story and dialogue. Campiness fit the previous games well, but this one looks extra gritty, and Kojima could use some practice before diving into Silent Hills (assuming he will be the one writing it).
 
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@Dona thanks for the link. I read it, but couldn't relate :) I'm a cynical guy by nature, so when I read deep analyses about the messages in books, movies or games, I can't shake off the feeling that the person writing is seeing too much into things that maybe even the author\director\developer didn't plan. Eh, maybe I'm just shallow, I dunno. In the same way I don't enjoy the dialogues in TW books about destiny, or some of the boss' monologues in MGS after they're defeated (boss fights, that is). I guess metaphysical concepts aren't my thing. Or maybe it's just in this case. Anyway,

About the silly stuff - I like the dissonance. It's part of the series' trademark. I just accept it. A fat guy rolling on skates while dishing out bombs... sure, why not. Meryl's Rats posing for Snake with Johnny rushing in late with some comical gesture - fine by me. I just want the writing to improve. To tone down a bit on the melodramatics. I guess that it's a trademark along the silliness, so I don't expect some radical change overnight (or, well, overgame). But at least a slight change (an improvement, in my view) to make the characters more believable as people. I think the person I'm most hoping to see receive extra care in dialogue is Big Boss. Maybe it's just me, but I expect the best soldier in the 20th century to excel not just at fighting, but also in comprehending things. He always felt a bit slow on the uptake, to me. No more than any other characters, but he should stand-out in a positive way.

@Finnway , I read a few pages back that you're also coming up to date about the story and using wikis. I just wanted to butt in and say that it's a far-cry from the movies. You get the raw information of what happened, but seeing it happening, seeing the characters change through time, the tones, the nuances, the slow build-up, it creates a much deeper emotional attachment. It's a very long investment, hours-wise, so obviously people who live a balanced life won't have the time to do it. Just offering my point of view, in case you were considering it.
 
@Finnway , I read a few pages back that you're also coming up to date about the story and using wikis. I just wanted to butt in and say that it's a far-cry from the movies. You get the raw information of what happened, but seeing it happening, seeing the characters change through time, the tones, the nuances, the slow build-up, it creates a much deeper emotional attachment. It's a very long investment, hours-wise, so obviously people who live a balanced life won't have the time to do it. Just offering my point of view, in case you were considering it.
Thanks for the advice. I did get a sense of that watching the cutscenes from GZ. Maybe I will try to watch the cutscenes from the other game too when it gets closer to the release of TPP.
 
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