But it isn't open world done right, not at all. There is almost nothing this game benefits from being open world. GZ wasn't open world and it used the same mechanics, the reason camp omega is fondly remembered is because it was one super well designed area that was a sandbox. MGSV just has a SHIT TON of nothing between it's fun sandboxes.
In the 130+ hours of play time I loaded specifically into free roam mode twice.
Once to pick flowers, and another time to get resources before I realized it was easier to just queue up for a story mission to get them.
You really notice it when you have mission areas that are confined to basically one area like the airport. Sure you're given a big sandbox to play with but very little of it actually has toys.
I'd rather the areas have been scaled down and made more interesting.
Also the fact that you can't call in a chopper and have to fly you to another drop zone is ridiculous since you can do it in mother base but you cant in the actual maps.
I think people are putting too much stock in nitpicking optional modes. Free Mode should be available in these sorts of games. It would be glaring if it didn't. And I'm sure a lot of people have fun wandering with D-Walker from point-to-point and finish off side op mission (I sure did).
The real reason GZ was fondly remembered was because people paid 40 bucks for a tiny map. So they played it, and played it. We learned a lot of the game mechanics for the first time there. It's not particularly designed better than something like Lapis Lake or the Wakh Sind Barracks (which has a lot of verticality).
I particularly love the airport. I also like the swamp areas in Africa, the central base camp in Afghanistan, and the old temple ruins. There are tons of places with nooks and crannies and secret paths. There's a lot of attention to detail to the larger maps. I love how you can climb to the rooftops of almost every building in the game. Yes, there is a no man's land in between these areas, but for me it adds to the realism, and secondly, when you enter a mission that needs you to follow multiple convoys, covering that ground can be fun.
This type of open world is much more appreciated than something like MGS4, where you can miss out on a lot of details and alternate routes. Even though the maps are large, there is just the right degree of intimacy. It's a lot better than GTAV which also suffers from large stretches of nothingness.
I hear you on being dropped off another point on the map. But I also completely agree with the design choice as well. There is no other option to make people have a break, listen to the tapes, get invested in their custom weapons and emblems. Kojima even said: "During MGSV adjustment phase in the development, I tested various types of setting & play style over and over. But my favourable way is to take a break, set up MB, listen to the tape in the chopper after mission/SIDEOPS. So that you get used to the rhythm of play."
I'm absolutely in love with the meta game in MGSV. It's the best implementation of grinding I have seen. In a sense, it's an open form way of levelling up whatever you, the player, wants. So many things to choose from, and so many things to make a priority. I absolutely deplore the concept of using a shitty weapon to unlock five forms of that shitty weapon, to eventually unlock the shotgun you really, really just wanted in the first place.
MGSV does so much right, that it's my first 10/10 of the year.
Edit: And I don't know why people are hating on the fulton. The magic of this game is that you can make it as challenging as possible for yourself. Unequip it, record your mission and share it with the world. We're living in an age where people seek out this type of content. Almost everyone I know fultons the shit out of everything. If there were any less than 48, then they'd be pissed. It's fun. And there's a handful of people I know who don't use fultons, and only equip three things. They're enthralling to watch. The game should be played to what suits you, not with some arbitrary limitations that forces everyone to play the same and with the same difficulty. I've never, ever been able to wrap my head around people who complain about accessibilities. It's the equivalent of someone choosing "easy mode" and wondering why there's no challenge. The game is long enough for you to experiment in almost any shape or form. And it speaks more on how you're playing than the developers desire to provide "options."
