I'm going to preface this by saying I love the MGS series. It's probably my favorite series of all time. So I might be a little more vocal about the direction the series goes than others. Also, I'd like to add that I did indeed like MGS4. It wasn't a disappointment to me, but it wasn't the best game in the series (MGS3 takes that honor).
In this thread, I want to discuss MGSV, what it is, and what it's trying to be, which, to me, has become more and more confusing over the past few months.
Potential spoilers for the series follow.
Ground Zeroes Introduction and first trailer -- Next gen MGS with Big Boss!
Initially, if you all remember correctly, the first glimpse of a new Metal Gear game came with a lovely trailer for Ground Zeroes, with a bunch of exposition and a little gameplay at the end, followed by a more extended gameplay trailer of the first mission of the game. This, of course, piqued my interest, because it looked to be a sequel to MGS3/Peace Walker. The new villain, Skull Face, also had a very cool MGS-villain vibe that I really got behind. This was the Metal Gear I wanted for next-gen. "Kept you waiting, huh?" and all that. I was very excited.
The Phantom Pain - MGS fans eat it up
Then came something even more exciting. That weird reveal for The Phantom Pain, which then, no one really knew was MGSV (but many speculated such). It looked so crazy and weird that of course being an MGS fan I was interested in it for it's uniqueness alone. Once it was revealed to be MGSV I was even more excited. I started piecing together what the whole package could be: GZ would be the first half of the game, and TPP the second , where Big Boss wakes up in a hospital many years later and we go through that portion of the game. Fans went wild analyzing and overanalyzing the story ramifications -- who was who, what meant what, when it actually took place, "wait, was that Volgin?", etc. And I was one of them. This, for me, was the high point of the hype.
At this point, the game was shaping up to be the next great Metal Gear. Looks to have everything I love about it: exciting premise, awesome stealth mechanics (as usual), a weird and complex storyline (espcially that TPP reveal trailer -- what a trailer, it was!), and some really unique characters.
Blurring the Lines
Then, somewhere along the line, they started blurring what MGSV is: Ground Zeroes is a separate game; TPP is the "real" MGSV; GZ is linear ("classic", I'll call it); TPP is...open world?; GZ has a "mission-select" structure? -- what...wait? What is going on with this game now?
With what at first started as an awesome sounding MGS game, soon turned into a very worrisome next entry in the franchise, suffering from some sort of identity crisis.
In GZ, we've only seen one mission -- and on top of that, we've seen that same mission over and over again. Does this mean they're adopting a Peace Waker style bite-site mission structure with optional mission objectives? As a MGS fan, that makes no sense to me. I'm all for progress, but this feels more like a step back then a step forward.
In TPP, what started as a surreal, bat-shit crazy MGS game (with that glorious Kojima-y initial trailer) has become MGS meets Red Dead Redemption with it's open-world structure. The open world looks so vast and boring that they had to fast-forward the gameplay trailer to get to the "good stuff". Granted, the stealth system still looks engaging and fun,and if the initial trailer is anything to go of, the story looks unique and interesting, but I really can't get past the open world structure. Open world improves many games, but I can't see how it will improve MGS, only make it more tedious and boring -- waiting long stretches of time between gameplay segments via travelling, only to spend some more time in cutscenes.
That, and lately the gameplay shown looks a lot more like Splinter Cell or a regular third-person-shooter than it does Metal Gear.
Conclusion
I could be going crazy. I could just be a deluded fanboy of the series that is worrying about stuff for no reason. But to me, I don't think MGSV really knows what it "is" anymore. Is it an MGS game still? Is it an open-world game? Is it an action game instead of a stealth game? Is it a mission-by-mission game (a la Splinter Cell)? I'm not sure, and I don't think it is either. It's even more apparent when they're releasing GZ completely stand-alone and well before MGSV. For all we know, it could play differently than TPP does (the linearity sure will).
I could be wrong, though. And I hope I am. Kojima has fooled me before. I thought MGS3 was going to be a step back when it was first announced as a prequel, and that turned out to be my favorite game in the series. It just seems like MGSV is trying to be a lot of things the series has never been before, and it could be suffering for it. As a fan, I just want the game promised in those initial couple of trailers: a Next gen Metal Gear starring Big Boss. But as a gamer, I guess I want an open world Metal Gear Solid with easier stealth gameplay and more handholding...right?
In this thread, I want to discuss MGSV, what it is, and what it's trying to be, which, to me, has become more and more confusing over the past few months.
Potential spoilers for the series follow.
Ground Zeroes Introduction and first trailer -- Next gen MGS with Big Boss!
Initially, if you all remember correctly, the first glimpse of a new Metal Gear game came with a lovely trailer for Ground Zeroes, with a bunch of exposition and a little gameplay at the end, followed by a more extended gameplay trailer of the first mission of the game. This, of course, piqued my interest, because it looked to be a sequel to MGS3/Peace Walker. The new villain, Skull Face, also had a very cool MGS-villain vibe that I really got behind. This was the Metal Gear I wanted for next-gen. "Kept you waiting, huh?" and all that. I was very excited.
The Phantom Pain - MGS fans eat it up
Then came something even more exciting. That weird reveal for The Phantom Pain, which then, no one really knew was MGSV (but many speculated such). It looked so crazy and weird that of course being an MGS fan I was interested in it for it's uniqueness alone. Once it was revealed to be MGSV I was even more excited. I started piecing together what the whole package could be: GZ would be the first half of the game, and TPP the second , where Big Boss wakes up in a hospital many years later and we go through that portion of the game. Fans went wild analyzing and overanalyzing the story ramifications -- who was who, what meant what, when it actually took place, "wait, was that Volgin?", etc. And I was one of them. This, for me, was the high point of the hype.
At this point, the game was shaping up to be the next great Metal Gear. Looks to have everything I love about it: exciting premise, awesome stealth mechanics (as usual), a weird and complex storyline (espcially that TPP reveal trailer -- what a trailer, it was!), and some really unique characters.
Blurring the Lines
Then, somewhere along the line, they started blurring what MGSV is: Ground Zeroes is a separate game; TPP is the "real" MGSV; GZ is linear ("classic", I'll call it); TPP is...open world?; GZ has a "mission-select" structure? -- what...wait? What is going on with this game now?
With what at first started as an awesome sounding MGS game, soon turned into a very worrisome next entry in the franchise, suffering from some sort of identity crisis.
In GZ, we've only seen one mission -- and on top of that, we've seen that same mission over and over again. Does this mean they're adopting a Peace Waker style bite-site mission structure with optional mission objectives? As a MGS fan, that makes no sense to me. I'm all for progress, but this feels more like a step back then a step forward.
In TPP, what started as a surreal, bat-shit crazy MGS game (with that glorious Kojima-y initial trailer) has become MGS meets Red Dead Redemption with it's open-world structure. The open world looks so vast and boring that they had to fast-forward the gameplay trailer to get to the "good stuff". Granted, the stealth system still looks engaging and fun,and if the initial trailer is anything to go of, the story looks unique and interesting, but I really can't get past the open world structure. Open world improves many games, but I can't see how it will improve MGS, only make it more tedious and boring -- waiting long stretches of time between gameplay segments via travelling, only to spend some more time in cutscenes.
That, and lately the gameplay shown looks a lot more like Splinter Cell or a regular third-person-shooter than it does Metal Gear.
Conclusion
I could be going crazy. I could just be a deluded fanboy of the series that is worrying about stuff for no reason. But to me, I don't think MGSV really knows what it "is" anymore. Is it an MGS game still? Is it an open-world game? Is it an action game instead of a stealth game? Is it a mission-by-mission game (a la Splinter Cell)? I'm not sure, and I don't think it is either. It's even more apparent when they're releasing GZ completely stand-alone and well before MGSV. For all we know, it could play differently than TPP does (the linearity sure will).
I could be wrong, though. And I hope I am. Kojima has fooled me before. I thought MGS3 was going to be a step back when it was first announced as a prequel, and that turned out to be my favorite game in the series. It just seems like MGSV is trying to be a lot of things the series has never been before, and it could be suffering for it. As a fan, I just want the game promised in those initial couple of trailers: a Next gen Metal Gear starring Big Boss. But as a gamer, I guess I want an open world Metal Gear Solid with easier stealth gameplay and more handholding...right?
