Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain | Review Thread | Words That Kill

C'mon people. This is basically Peace Walker 2. How can you doubt there is a secret ending that will be a bitch of a chore to unlock?
 
Do you have extended impressions somewhere? I saw what you posted earlier in the thread, and now this, seems like it might be insightful.
Depends on the kind of fan you are, I think.

I've liked the cinematic nature of MGS games, and I liked that it's pretty linear. MGS5 isn't for fans like me. There's a story there but it's too little in my eyes for how long this game is. And since it's open world, the pacing of it isn't tight either. What makes it worse is that there is a good amount of detail that is optional, and maybe it's because I'm older, but I cannot play and take in the audio at the same time with my full attention. It just feels like a crappy way of integrating stuff. And unfortunately, I really dislike that implementation.

The game itself plays really well, but I don't play MGS for a game that ends up being the length of an RPG and has little to do with why this became one of my favourite franchises. And even with the gameplay, there are plenty of things in terms of managing stuff, and repeating some missions which are annoying.

It's MGS but it's not MGS, and I feel the open world aspect of it is to blame for a lot of the grief I have with it.
 
Any reviews touch on any of the stuff that people were concerned about (Quiet, torture, etc), and whether or not any of it was handled well?
 
I do this with podcasts all the time, what are you even talking about?

You're just switching your focus back and forth between the podcast and whatever else you're doing. Your brain fills in the missing information the same way it fills in the space between your eyes. But in actuality you will always miss more from either activity than if you just did one or the other.

Some sources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2011/04/26/the-myth-of-multitasking/
 
Then what rock have you been sleeping under for the past decade? Many games copied Bioshock's tapes.



I guess no one needs a radio in their car, then.
And many games have been becoming way more cinematic. Open yes, but still cinematic. GTAV, the game that sold like hot cakes, has seven hours of cutscenes.

Did Gamespot really give out three 10/10s this year
Indication that this is a great year for gaming.
 
You're just switching your focus back and forth between the podcast and whatever else you're doing. Your brain fills in the missing information the same way it fills in the space between your eyes. But in actuality you will always miss more from either activity than if you just did one or the other.

That just isn't my experience, sorry.
 
Well, the destructoid reviewer implied something like that

Yeah I don't want to get into it here as we're not really allowed to discuss the final chapter, but I felt satisfied with how Phantom Pain connects the overall series. There's a lot of story there at the end that's completely optional. I fully expected some people to miss it as it is not clear how to access it. I stumbled upon it.
 
Greg Miller (Kinda Funny Games) - "This game lacks..the "Metal Gear Moment" - I don't know what that is for you, but for me that's...Hal kneeling over Sniper Wolf and her giving that awesome monologue as she dies and him crying and Snake being there and staring up at the stars and stuff where you're like holy crap that was awesome"

That's probably the most disappointing quote for me so far 1/2 way through the Kinda Funny review.
...
 
Game of the forever.

I don't think I can wait any longer.

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And many games have been becoming way more cinematic. Open yes, but still cinematic. GTAV, the game that sold like hot cakes, has seven hours of cutscenes.

...and much of the story is delivered by characters speaking during gameplay sequences. There's also a radio. That's the same process as an audio log.
 
There are some pretty glaring problems that reviewers are pointing out but still giving really, really high scores out for.
 
The true ending stuff is, as far as I can tell, speculation from Jason. I don't really think you should treat it as confirmed.
I actually just got an answer to that question from someone else. No actual spoilers here but I'm putting this in spoiler tags just in case. If you want to know whether or not a secret ending exists:

There is indeed a secret ending that some reviewers may have not seen. Sounds like it's pretty satisfying. Glad I didn't rush to review the game for today!
 
Depends on the kind of fan you are, I think.

I've liked the cinematic nature of MGS games, and I liked that it's pretty linear. MGS5 isn't for fans like me. There's a story there but it's too little in my eyes for how long this game is. And since it's open world, the pacing of it isn't tight either. What makes it worse is that there is a good amount of detail that is optional, and maybe it's because I'm older, but I cannot play and take in the audio at the same time with my full attention. It just feels like a crappy way of integrating stuff. And unfortunately, I really dislike that implementation.

The game itself plays really well, but I don't play MGS for a game that ends up being the length of an RPG and has little to do with why this became one of my favourite franchises. And even with the gameplay, there are plenty of things in terms of managing stuff, and repeating some missions which are annoying.

It's MGS but it's not MGS, and I feel the open world aspect of it is to blame for a lot of the grief I have with it.

Further confirming my fears. I'm going to miss that Heart of Darkness feel of the OG MGS games big time.
 
Why are we still here? every night I wonder why we have a week left!

I never doubted for a second this would be Kojima's greatest game. I cannot wait, but I feel that some of the hype has been deflated for me, I think it was announced too early and they trickled info for far too long. The number of perfect scores is truly amazing, but it just really sucks that this will be the last real Metal Gear and the only worthwhile use of the Fox engine.

To Big Boss!
 
I actually just got an answer to that question from someone else. No actual spoilers here but I'm putting this in spoiler tags just in case. If you want to know whether or not a secret ending exists:

There is indeed a secret ending that some reviewers may have not seen. Sounds like it's pretty satisfying. Glad I didn't rush to review the game for today!

Basically what I wrote up top if people were wondering.
 
...and much of the story is delivered by characters speaking during gameplay sequences. There's also a radio. That's the same process as an audio log.
Yes, but the radio is how the story is told, the radio is fluff, while the main story is told via characters having conversations directly during gameplay(audio logs are pre-recorded), and like in many other games, the cutscenes. The audio tapes are a natural evolution of game storytelling thing is basically ignoring the trends of last gen, (and mostly this one) entirely.
 
I actually just got an answer to that question from someone else. No actual spoilers here but I'm putting this in spoiler tags just in case. If you want to know whether or not a secret ending exists:

There is indeed a secret ending that some reviewers may have not seen. Sounds like it's pretty satisfying. Glad I didn't rush to review the game for today!

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Lifeless? Have you listened to all the tapes in GZ? That stuff is intense.

Also, in Peace Walker there are several hours of tapes to listen to. There's a lot of good stuff in there. I'd expect the same from Phantom Pain.

the difference is
codec calls were "live". it was something actually happening as you listened.

the tapes are just lore dumps of things that happened in the past. you dont see how that would be less engaging than the classic codec "cutscenes"?
 
I actually just got an answer to that question from someone else. No actual spoilers here but I'm putting this in spoiler tags just in case. If you want to know whether or not a secret ending exists:

There is indeed a secret ending that some reviewers may have not seen. Sounds like it's pretty satisfying. Glad I didn't rush to review the game for today!

You have any clues on what do we need to do to get this secret ending?
 
I don't like open world games at all. I really want the over the top cinematic moments of past Metal Gear.

Even so, I can't unhype myself. So ready.
 
Yeah I don't want to get into it here as we're not really allowed to discuss the final chapter, but I felt satisfied with how Phantom Pain connects the overall series. There's a lot of story there at the end that's completely optional. I fully expected some people to miss it as it is not clear how to access it. I stumbled upon it.

That fucking blows. How abstruse are the things you need to do to unlock it?
 
the difference is
codec calls were "live". it was something actually happening as you listened.

the tapes are just lore dumps of things that happened in the past. you dont see how that would be less engaging than the classic codec "cutscenes"?

But the player is merely sitting there listening to people talk while time stops in-game. Listening to a recording as you're playing is actually less passive than a codec conversation.
 
the difference is
codec calls were "live". it was something actually happening as you listened.

the tapes are just lore dumps of things that happened in the past. you dont see how that would be less engaging than the classic codec "cutscenes"?

In codec calls you just sat there and listened. There is nothing stopping you from doing the same with tapes, or do you really need talking head images to make it interesting?
 
That just isn't my experience, sorry.

Really? Well you must save a lot of time then. Personally I always get more out of music when I'm just listening to it and not doing anything else. Especially with stuff like classical, metal, and prog rock where there's not a lot of repetition. With podcasts I don't care if I miss stuff because it's just conversation, and the mind is good at filling in the blanks in that area.
 
Unfortunately the quality of the writing doesn't always properly support these grand sentiments. There are moments when dialogue sounds forced, or things are hurriedly explained away. There are times when the script leaps too quickly making it difficult to relate to, or enjoy.

Sooo...just like every other MGS game? Except for maybe things are usually explained in a long drawn out way. Dialog was never the series strong point. Dialog being mostly in tapes is one of the reasons why I loved Peace Walker so much (so I'm not forced to watch so much pointless cutscenes). That and the other stuff borrowed from PW means that this is probably going to be my favorite MGS.
 
the difference is
codec calls were "live". it was something actually happening as you listened.

the tapes are just lore dumps of things that happened in the past. you dont see how that would be less engaging than the classic codec "cutscenes"?

So if all tapes were disposable one-time listen only audio tapes that were forcefully activated at point of unlocking, would that make it better?

I get why Codec feels better, but the difference is not as staggering as what some people think it is.
 
Yeah I don't want to get into it here as we're not really allowed to discuss the final chapter, but I felt satisfied with how Phantom Pain connects the overall series. There's a lot of story there at the end that's completely optional. I fully expected some people to miss it as it is not clear how to access it. I stumbled upon it.

Are the conditions as ridiculous as Peace Walker's true end?
 
He's doing his Jack Bauer voice, which is pretty much just his normal voice. It's far too recognizable to not be immersion breaking.

I'm surprised it doesn't bother me too much in GZ. I think it might be since Snake's (Hayter's) voice is so different and at times ridiculous with his enunciation in Peace Walker compared to previous MGS games, that it some how seems fine.
 
Yeah I don't want to get into it here as we're not really allowed to discuss the final chapter, but I felt satisfied with how Phantom Pain connects the overall series. There's a lot of story there at the end that's completely optional. I fully expected some people to miss it as it is not clear how to access it. I stumbled upon it.

Is it more or less difficult to discover than the true Peace Walker ending? If people didn't tell me what to do I never would have found out where to walk up to and discover Zadornov to start those missions
 
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