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

That Quiet theme is just so tragic. It may be one of the best Metal Gear themes ever.

And damn, remembering that Sniper Wolf scene. I haven't played MGS1 for close to a decade (I will be replaying once I complete MGS5 along with MGS2 and MGS4 to finish the series) and I still remember that scene.
 
Man, that new launch trailer by Kojima hit right in the feels. On one hand it's saying that this is the swan song of the series. On the other I feel it's another swipe at Konami by detailing all (most of) his legacy. Didn't want to watch the second half though, I'm fully media blackout at this point.

Oh, and #fuckonami.
 
GAME UK just apparently shipped my CE, no doubt told the drivers to deliver it on Tuesday etc, but nice to know it's on its way! (Assuming they're not holding on to it and just marked it as shipped ready to go.)

Planning to completely finish GZ this weekend, which will be a challenge for me, I suck at being stealthy! Would like to extract everyone you can and get S ranks in everything before TPP arrives.


Tabris said:
That Quiet theme is just so tragic. It may be one of the best Metal Gear themes ever.
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I've found myself listening to it a couple of times in a row now.
 
SolidChamp said:
I haven't been keeping up. What's the word on Kiefer's performance as Snake?
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From the reviews I heard, he's very quiet through out the game. Almost silent protagonist level, well not that bad, but definitely a big difference from Solid Snake and Naked Snake, otherwise it's considered very good. It makes sense for where the character is at.

He's not going to talk about the recoil of blah blah pistol like Naked Snake would.

I wonder if that was by Kojima's choice to have the dialogue light for this Snake, or if it was just a matter of Kiefer's voice acting cost.
 
This is the only correct way to listen to tapes in GZ/TPP:

-Listen to mission briefings before each mission to decide what strategy to apply.
-Listen to Music tapes while you're flying or driving around
-Listen to all other tapes on the companion app during your commute, at school or any other time you're waiting around in the real world.

PC players are really missing out tbh, the companion app for GZ is amazing and I'm sure TPP's app will be even better.
 
Gun Animal said:
This is the only correct way to listen to tapes in GZ/TPP:

-Listen to mission briefings before each mission to decide what strategy to apply.
-Listen to Music tapes while you're flying or driving around
-Listen to all other tapes on the companion app during your commute, at school or any other time you're waiting around in the real world.

PC players are really missing out tbh, the companion app for GZ is amazing and I'm sure TPP's app will be even better.
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Yeah, I really don't understand why we are not getting access to it. Really feels like missing out on big qol improvement.
 
Tabris said:
From the reviews I heard, he's very quiet through out the game. Almost silent protagonist level, well not that bad, but definitely a big difference from Solid Snake and Naked Snake, otherwise it's considered very good. It makes sense for where the character is at.

He's not going to talk about the recoil of blah blah pistol like Naked Snake would.

I wonder if that was by Kojima's choice to have the dialogue light for this Snake, or if it was just a matter of Kiefer's voice acting cost.
Click to expand...

Well... Apparently in cassette tapes he talks a lot, and that's where 2/3rds of his dialogue is.

SolidChamp said:
I haven't been keeping up. What's the word on Kiefer's performance as Snake?
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I think whoever has commented on it has said that he's really good. He doesn't talk as much as old-school Snake, though.

Kojima's direction for this game was that players are mainly making their own stories in the gameplay, so he doesn't talk that much in the gameplay/cutscene context. However in cassette tapes (as I said above) he apparently talks quite a lot.

Gun Animal said:
This is the only correct way to listen to tapes in GZ/TPP:

-Listen to mission briefings before each mission to decide what strategy to apply.
-Listen to Music tapes while you're flying or driving around
-Listen to all other tapes on the companion app during your commute, at school or any other time you're waiting around in the real world.

PC players are really missing out tbh, the companion app for GZ is amazing and I'm sure TPP's app will be even better.
Click to expand...

This sounds sick af. Never used the companion app for GZ and I still love it.

giphy.gif
 
Being able to listen to tapes during the game (something that's apparently possible in GZ, but never tried) is good enough, but I would probably end up not paying attention to either the tape or the game.
Being able to listen to "podcasts" on your mobile wherever you are though ? This is THE solution.
 
eso76 said:
Being able to listen to tapes during the game (something that's apparently possible in GZ, but never tried) is good enough, but I would probably end up not paying attention to either the tape or the game.
Being able to listen to "podcasts" on your mobile wherever you are though ? This is THE solution.
Click to expand...
You can, but I ended up just getting into a dafe spot and listening to it, wasn't able to concentrate on thinking tactically and listening. But it's cool. Makes me think just go exploring while listening.
 
Tabris said:
I wonder if that was by Kojima's choice to have the dialogue light for this Snake, or if it was just a matter of Kiefer's voice acting cost.
Click to expand...

From what I read, I think it's definitely a design choice and supposedly ties in to the theme of the game. One of the last few trailers was Skull Face talking about his language being taken and that the most powerful weapon was linguistics, or something to that effect.
 
the_milkybar_kid said:
Tabris said:
I wonder if that was by Kojima's choice to have the dialogue light for this Snake, or if it was just a matter of Kiefer's voice acting cost.
Click to expand...

From what I read, I think it's definitely a design choice and supposedly ties in to the theme of the game. One of the last few trailers was Skull Face talking about his language being taken and that the most powerful weapon was linguistics, or something to that effect.
Click to expand...

We've just been discussing this in the last page.

It's a design decision. Kojima is on-record saying that he wants players to tell their own stories through Phantom Pain's gameplay. So in-gameplay and in gameplay-linked cutscenes (ie almost all cutscenes in the game), Snake doesn't speak very much/at all.

But in the cassette tapes? He talks a lot.
 
the_milkybar_kid said:
From what I read, I think it's definitely a design choice and supposedly ties in to the theme of the game. One of the last few trailers was Skull Face talking about his language being taken and that the most powerful weapon was linguistics, or something to that effect.
Click to expand...
Yeah, no way did he base such a design choice on the cost of the actor.
 
Tabris said:
That Quiet theme is just so tragic. It may be one of the best Metal Gear themes ever.
Click to expand...

Definitely. Its a lovely piece of music by itself, really well balanced between sentiment and James Bondian' bombast. Very Metal Gear, in short!

I'm also very impressed by Stephabie Joosten's vocal performance, its got a sweetness and fragility about it that does an amazing job of distracting from the (truthfully) cliche lyrics.
 
SomTervo said:
We've just been discussing this in the last page.

It's a design decision. Kojima is on-record saying that he wants players to tell their own stories through Phantom Pain's gameplay. So in-gameplay and in gameplay-linked cutscenes (ie almost all cutscenes in the game), Snake doesn't speak very much/at all.

But in the cassette tapes? He talks a lot.
Click to expand...

Excellent, I'm looking forward to hearing Kiefer in the role. Had no problem with him taking the reigns and it kind of made sense for his voice to evolve a bit more and to what would eventually become Richard Doyle's VO.

Was on board after hearing him in GZ, but was disappointed with the little he had to say, so I'm very happy he's got a great deal in TPP.
 
Yen said:
I agree though one of the designers on the FOX Engine (Julian…?) said in a stealth game Q&A with Mike Bithell on Eurogamer that Kiefer's cost was a factor.
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Of course it was. He wasn't free.

Design or cost?

I'm sure the answer is somewhere in the middle.
 
A couple reviews mention all characters are rather silent in cutscenes, with most coming up to deliver their line and then "just stand there dramatically". IIRC, but i skimmed through most reviews in fear of spoilers.
 
Vanguard said:
GAME UK just apparently shipped my CE, no doubt told the drivers to deliver it on Tuesday etc, but nice to know it's on its way! (Assuming they're not holding on to it and just marked it as shipped ready to go.)

Planning to completely finish GZ this weekend, which will be a challenge for me, I suck at being stealthy! Would like to extract everyone you can and get S ranks in everything before TPP arrives.




I've found myself listening to it a couple of times in a row now.
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Mine too but it says it's being delivered first class? Hopefully there's no drivers at all.
 
Roufianos said:
Mine too but it says it's being delivered first class? Hopefully there's no drivers at all.
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GAME always, always tell the carrier be it a courier or Royal Mail to hold games like this until the release day, it's very rare that GAME actually get anything to you before release day these days. :(
 
Roufianos said:
Mine too but it says it's being delivered first class? Hopefully there's no drivers at all.
Click to expand...

As above what Bennehmaru said, but with the more expensive items I think it's always been delivered via myhermes or DPD, but tbh it's been a really long time since I pre-ordered anything from them so this may have changed.

I remember a long time ago where you'd ask for second class post with Game as they'd post it much earlier due to the slower delivery, but it'd come earlier than first class as they'd post that day before release, so you would get it before release! No doubt this has been changed now.
 
eso76 said:
A couple reviews mention all characters are rather silent in cutscenes, with most coming up to deliver their line and then "just stand there dramatically". IIRC, but i skimmed through most reviews in fear of spoilers.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've heard some mention of awkward pauses of no dialogue in cutscenes.

It makes sense regarding Kiefer, especially seeing how the dialogue was recorded. It seemed like they started recording lines before the script was finalized, leading to people like Robin Atkin Downes having a lot of recording sessions.

When it comes to Kiefer, though I'm sure he was willing to oblige, I'm sure that it's more difficult to organize a booth session and motion capture his face, which would be needed for cutscenes, whereas he could probably do the tape dialogue with relative ease.
 
Yen said:
I agree though one of the designers on the FOX Engine (Julian…?) said in a stealth game Q&A with Mike Bithell on Eurogamer that Kiefer's cost was a factor.
Click to expand...

Vital Tundra said:
Yeah, no way did he base such a design choice on the cost of the actor.
Click to expand...

David Hayter is also on record, though, saying that he was pushing the boundaries of how much a game VA can be paid. Remember all the super-high-budget adverts at the beginning of MGS4?

It might not have been as much of a stretch as we suspect, to pay for Kiefer. Especially with the game as a whole being the highest budget one in the whole series.

the_milkybar_kid said:
Excellent, I'm looking forward to hearing Kiefer in the role. Had no problem with him taking the reigns and it kind of made sense for his voice to evolve a bit more and to what would eventually become Richard Doyle's VO.

Was on board after hearing him in GZ, but was disappointed with the little he had to say, so I'm very happy he's got a great deal in TPP.
Click to expand...

Exactly how I feel.

I actually prefer how he says 'Get down', and 'Speak' etc to Hayter. When he's going aggressive/angry, he sounds more Snake than Snake.
 
Vanguard said:
As above what Bennehmaru said, but with the more expensive items I think it's always been delivered via myhermes or DPD, but tbh it's been a really long time since I pre-ordered anything from them so this may have changed.

I remember a long time ago where you'd ask for second class post with Game as they'd post it much earlier due to the slower delivery, but it'd come earlier than first class as they'd post that day before release, so you would get it before release! No doubt this has been changed now.
Click to expand...

Ah that sucks! I was hoping it would be here tomorrow.

Yea I never order with them either so I have no idea. I always use Shopto who've never failed to get the game to me a day early.
 
Game have dispatched my CE. Not going to open that though as I managed to get the standard edition from Tesco for £20, but Tesco don't deliver until release date. Hngh.
 
No UK collectors edition for me, not enough money in bank, didn't realise, could've been sorted if Game said there was a problem but they just outright cancelled. Fuck :/
 
M.D said:
Is it worth playing Metal Gear 1 & 2 before playing the rest of the series?
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I'd say yes. Due to the constant jumps in gameplay, I'd recommend playing them in release order rather than chronologically. Once you've gone through one game to go on to an older game, I'd find it quite jarring given the missing features. That said, as far as the story goes, you won't miss anything from V. But you owe it to yourself as a gamer to play them.

I'm flicking between Ground Zeroes and the original MGS (still with the DS4 but through an emulator), and it's quite difficult at times.

Edit- ah, you meant Metal Gear, not MGS, apologies!

@Slair, what a shitty practice, then again this is Game we're talking about. I begrudge paying anything to them, but when they're the only seller of certain collectors editions...
 
So I was looking around, still wondering if I want to buy this or not. Decided to check physical, €75 for the standard edition. Jesus christ. It's €60 digital. Crazy prices.
 
M.D said:
Is it worth playing Metal Gear 1 & 2 before playing the rest of the series?
Click to expand...

Only if you have the patience and taste to enjoy 8-bit video games.

Most of the MGS fanbase hasn't played them, I'm sure.
 
UK retailers are already shipping copies? God I hope OzGameShop sends my PS4 steelbook soon. I've already resigned myself to a few days of agony waiting for it to get to Australia, but the sooner it gets here the better. I even sprang for express shipping for the first time in my life :P
 
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