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Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of The Patriots 2.0 |OT| Kept you waiting, huh?

finally got MGS2 plat earlier.

what do you guys think, is MGS4 plat harder, or easier?

Metal Gear Solid 2's platinum is harder. Extreme mode on Metal Gear Solid 2 alone, even without going for the Big Boss rank, I would argue, is more difficult than what is required for Metal Gear Solid 4's. Even on a standard playthrough the Harrier, Tengu Soldiers, Ray fight and Solidus Torture can all be very challenging. The MGS1 Snake VR missions are also very challenging (and those hold up ones, where there is a tiny difference between raising your weapon and unloading all of your bullets into an enemy, are quite frustrating).

Both games are time consuming but in terms of sheer difficulty I would say Metal Gear Solid 2 is far more difficult than Metal Gear Solid 4. Others may think differently however but to me, the choice between the two is clear.

Heh, going for no alerts is a completely different game than just playing to get through. I had a few close calls, even one enemy call out ! "IT'S THE ENEM-Zzzz..." But most of them I just snuck past. I can see a few being really tough to get by on The Boss Extreme, but that's a headache for another day.

Well, so far, so good. Got to Drebin without being spotted. Or needing to reload the game. That's a new record. FaceCamo really helps. 99% Camo is useful.

Can the barrel be used for any stupid tricks? I'd think a "What the-?" is better than an alert, but maybe not.

Just to be sure, the alert sign didn't appear when the enemy said "It's the enemy!", did it? Because even if it disappears immediately when you shoot them I believe that counts as an alert unfortunately. However, it's very good that you're progressing what seems to be smoothly.

And personally I wouldn't recommend the barrel outside of (and even then I personally wouldn't use it) Act 3 or Act 4, mainly because the disguise is much easier to use undetected in Act 3 and Act 4 can more or less be ran through with sufficient Chaff Grenades. However, the enemies inquiring about you without actually discovering you is a very good sign as that's something that you'll regularly run into on Extreme and encourages you to move on a head quicker than normal.
 

McNum

Member
Just to be sure, the alert sign didn't appear when the enemy said "It's the enemy!", did it? Because even if it disappears immediately when you shoot them I believe that counts as an alert unfortunately. However, it's very good that you're progressing what seems to be smoothly.

And personally I wouldn't recommend the barrel outside of (and even then I personally wouldn't use it) Act 3 or Act 4, mainly because the disguise is much easier to use undetected in Act 3 and Act 4 can more or less be ran through with sufficient Chaff Grenades. However, the enemies inquiring about you without actually discovering you is a very good sign as that's something that you'll regularly run into on Extreme and encourages you to move on a head quicker than normal.
Just loaded that save into the Act 2 briefing to check stats. Alert Phases: 0. That would normally be 5-10 for me at this point. I am so going to get a stupid alert really soon.

I never got through the safehouse unseen. This time, I did. the trick was to stay low, stay camouflaged, and most importantly, only tranq those that it was really needed to tranq because they got too close. Then when I got the disguise, I was just casual. "Oh, it's you!" Yup, it's me.

My main use for the barrel is in Act 4 to regain Psyche during the Crying Wolf fight. Portable shelter from the blizzard. Then a Frog calls out that mysterious barrel on the top floor of that tower over there (how she saw that through the blizzard when even Wolf couldn't find me is beyond me...) and things deteriorate quite fast. Which, in retrospect, is a little stupid when I have the Syringe.

Does using the Syringe count as using a recovery item, by the way?

I'm still pretty much sneaking by ear. I should probably buy some emotion ammo and grenades now that i got Drebin access. I assume a Rage Grenade has its uses, it doesn't count as kills if they murder each other, but I think a Cry Grenade might be better...
 
Just loaded that save into the Act 2 briefing to check stats. Alert Phases: 0. That would normally be 5-10 for me at this point. I am so going to get a stupid alert really soon.

I never got through the safehouse unseen. This time, I did. the trick was to stay low, stay camouflaged, and most importantly, only tranq those that it was really needed to tranq because they got too close. Then when I got the disguise, I was just casual. "Oh, it's you!" Yup, it's me.

My main use for the barrel is in Act 4 to regain Psyche during the Crying Wolf fight. Portable shelter from the blizzard. Then a Frog calls out that mysterious barrel on the top floor of that tower over there (how she saw that through the blizzard when even Wolf couldn't find me is beyond me...) and things deteriorate quite fast. Which, in retrospect, is a little stupid when I have the Syringe.

Does using the Syringe count as using a recovery item, by the way?

I'm still pretty much sneaking by ear. I should probably buy some emotion ammo and grenades now that i got Drebin access. I assume a Rage Grenade has its uses, it doesn't count as kills if they murder each other, but I think a Cry Grenade might be better...

I'd advise not to use Drebin when possible because on Extreme you won't be able to access him at all and you can only carry fifty tranquilisers so it's probably best to not become too reliant on him, just for the practice. The fact that it didn't count is very good too, you're going pretty well then.

Also, if you don't tranquilise the Militia you don't need to sneak past them at all. Provided you never damage them they'll let you just run past if you are friendly with them (by giving them rations, three I think, so that they change to friendly) or by stopping when the guards catch you and bribing them with a ration (although the disguise as you've pointed out is much easier and more efficient).

I hadn't thought of using the barrel that way (although you should defintiely take BeautifulMemory's advice with regard to the Beauty's and Frogs, that's a very good tip) but to be honest, when you're going through with no kills or alerts it won't be necessary. I'm a little hazy in terms of what generates stress but from what I gather it's to do with being spotted (and thus, an alert status) and engaging in combat but of course you won't be trying to do either so it really isn't necessary. In fact, in most areas your Psyche will probably be full so it's not too much of a problem to manage it.

And nope! The Syringe isn't a recovery item simply because you have to use it in Act 5's Beast boss fight. I don't think most other Psyche recovery item's count either but I'd still suggest not using them, both out of caution and because it's not really necessary.
 

McNum

Member
What causes stress in the Crying Wolf fight is the blizzard itself. The barrel blocks it. It even gets covered in snow on the side the wind is blowing. I suppose the truck strategy works like this, too.

Anyway, Frog Fight done. 0 alerts, 0 kills, 1 recovery item used. 1:33. I think that's a good breakpoint for today. I have to be faster and take less damage if I go for Big Boss, I know, but that isn't the goal this time. I'm not sure what the recovery item used is, really. Maybe be an auto-ration, but I've had the Solid Eye equipped most of the time, and I barely took any hits from crossfire. Unless equipping the Metal Camo counts, but why would it?

Someone remind me next time: There are no enemies in the hotel and i don't need to crawl everywhere in there. I think I've earned the Inchworm emblem already... But I already have that. Also, the Frog Doll appeared again. Um, I already have that, or at least i got it in the previous playthrough. I thought they were cumulative? Or do they just appear no matter if I have them or not?
 
Anyone worried about getting through the beginning of Act 5 with no alerts really should listen to the MGS Integral Podcast episode on it. It goes into detail about a fairly quick and incredibly easy pathway from the beginning to the Mantis area.
 

iLLmAtlc

Member
Not sure, but I think the dolls keep appearing.

Using the Mk.II (as in the robot) really helps for the Advent Palace fight. I used it to take out the balcony without breaking sweat.

Continued to use it for those Frogs that come piling down from the stairs on the next floor. When the rat patrol engages the Frogs in the dining area circle around and CQC them.

Top 2 floors done without breaking a sweat!

E: Also thanks to RyanardoDaVinci for the Gear camo tip. Awesome!
 

jimi_dini

Member
I'd advise not to use Drebin when possible because on Extreme you won't be able to access him at all and you can only carry fifty tranquilisers so it's probably best to not become too reliant on him

You can access him like before. The only things that he doesn't sell on extreme are anesthetic rounds and emotion ammo including stun grenades etc. For regular ammo it's perfectly fine to go into the shop.
 
finally got MGS2 plat earlier.

what do you guys think, is MGS4 plat harder, or easier?

As someone that's platinumed it twice (yeah, I'm going to show off about that, fuck the way they handled the Vita version), I'll go with MGS2. MGS4 is pretty easy, while MGS2 has a few spots that are actually difficult.

Worst part about both though, is how long and tedious they get. MGS4 because 8 playthroughs is ridiculous, especially since you have to watch most of the cutscenes in one of them and there are a few long, unskippable parts. MGS2 because you have to finish it 5 times and even then, you still have to slog your way through the mountain of boring and repetitive VR Missions.

Peace Walker's the best platinum in the series so far.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
So, do the enemies in the power station respawn infinitely after meeting Drebin there or do I have to go to another area? I'm trying to get the 500 kills before going to save Naomi...
 
So, do the enemies in the power station respawn infinitely after meeting Drebin there or do I have to go to another area? I'm trying to get the 500 kills before going to save Naomi...

Well, they respawn indefinitely in the sense that when you leave the area and return they'll all have reappeared but the Confinement Facility and on the turret on Vista Mansion's roof are the easiest places to get kills.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
I guess I'll try the turret later then... I've got like 150 kills so I've gotta get 350 more basically.
 

iLLmAtlc

Member
JOE3L.jpg

Just completed. Still wish I got a trophy for that, oh well.

Only missing the flashback and iPod trophies but I think I'm gonna shelve MGS4 for a while because I can't stomach doing a 35 hour run, spamming the X button in all cut scenes and/or 8 more playthroughs right now. I'll probably go back and get those somewhere down the line, if at all.

Was fun, all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6X3WypKJIQ
 
Extreme really took me by surprise at first. It's an instant alert if you walk uncamouflaged into an enemy's line of sight, no matter how far away they are, and they can hear your footsteps from a mile off. It took a good half hour of frustrated reloading before I even reached the Mark 2. The best advice I can give is to always have your Facecamo equipped and don't be above crawling. A lot of the time you can get a good 90% camo meter going even while moving. You're not going to win any points for style, but if you have as little patience as I do for constantly restarting it's a great way to retain your sanity.

I'm sure it's been posted in this thread before, but there's an amazing new game BBE speedrun on Youtube by a guy named MosaicJ. A lot of the stuff he does is insane frame perfect exploitation, but it's nice to have an idea of alternative routes to the walkthrough in the OP. I did a lot of anxious crawling and managed to get a time of 35:12 for Act 1 by shamelessly relying on those walkthroughs, but five hours is so generous you almost don't need to worry about the time limit.
 
Extreme really took me by surprise at first. It's an instant alert if you walk uncamouflaged into an enemy's line of sight, no matter how far away they are, and they can hear your footsteps from a mile off. It took a good half hour of frustrated reloading before I even reached the Mark 2. The best advice I can give is to always have your Facecamo equipped and don't be above crawling. A lot of the time you can get a good 90% camo meter going even while moving. You're not going to win any points for style, but if you have as little patience as I do for constantly restarting it's a great way to retain your sanity.

I'm sure it's been posted in this thread before, but there's an amazing new game BBE speedrun on Youtube by a guy named MosaicJ. A lot of the stuff he does is insane frame perfect exploitation, but it's nice to have an idea of alternative routes to the walkthrough in the OP. I did a lot of anxious crawling and managed to get a time of 35:12 for Act 1 by shamelessly relying on those walkthroughs, but five hours is so generous you almost don't need to worry about the time limit.

Yep. I crawled my way to victory in a lot of areas, lol. I still got a completion time of 3:40
I've never watched or read any walkthroughs on the BBE run in MGS4. Both times I did it it was all my ideas. Really, though, the only really difficult areas are like... the two before Mark 2, and the N sector in Eastern Europe got kinda tricky for me, too. Every other area is easy
 
Ok gentlemen 7 motherfucking play throughs finished. 99% of the trophies completed. About 60 hours worth of playing. All that's left is the damn BBE. It seems like the 5 hour limit is the least of the problem with all the tricks, for me its getting 0 alerts and not using any rations. Wish me luck!
 
Help with BBE Act 2!

I know this is very general, but this keeps happening where I always end up with 2 or 3 (the exact number) by the end of the act. I cannot figure out where I might have accidentally killed. During the turret section, I even use Nightvision to make sure I don't accidentally shoot a PMC

What am I missing guys? :( Is not the Laughing Octopus fight, is it? Where she sends explosives after you and you have to shoot (and when they explode near the Frog soliders' bodies, they flame up)
 
Help with BBE Act 2!

I know this is very general, but this keeps happening where I always end up with 2 or 3 (the exact number) by the end of the act. I cannot figure out where I might have accidentally killed. During the turret section, I even use Nightvision to make sure I don't accidentally shoot a PMC

What am I missing guys? :( Is not the Laughing Octopus fight, is it? Where she sends explosives after you and you have to shoot (and when they explode near the Frog soliders' bodies, they flame up)

It might be because you made the soldiers in the super-suits explode during the turret section.

And yes, you can still kill Frogs during the Octopus fight. You should watch where you're shooting.
 
Help with BBE Act 2!

I know this is very general, but this keeps happening where I always end up with 2 or 3 (the exact number) by the end of the act. I cannot figure out where I might have accidentally killed. During the turret section, I even use Nightvision to make sure I don't accidentally shoot a PMC

What am I missing guys? :( Is not the Laughing Octopus fight, is it? Where she sends explosives after you and you have to shoot (and when they explode near the Frog soliders' bodies, they flame up)
Its the power armor guys. They count as kills. Use solar gun, saiga with v-rings or wait it out.
 
Don't shoot anyone. Lie down behind the turret to shield you from their missiles and when a soldier climbs on top of the vehicle, get up and CQC them. Eventually Drebin will just continue driving.

K trying this...I just tried again and still ended up with 2 kills :( I really can't remember anywhere else I would've possibly killed a person. I channeled my inner Batman when I played Act 2
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Blah blah blah blah blah... emo story for the sake of feeling compassion for the Beauty that just falls on the face of itself because it's utterly ridiculous and the whole two-part fight of the B&B corps is just bad and Kojima should feel bad.

"And I'm supposed to care?"
"No, I suppose not."

Right on Snake.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
THAT VAMP! HE'S GOTTA BE IMMORTAL!

The whole escape with Naomi bit is just ridiculous. Some of it in a good way (Vamp vs Raiden even if that's just bonkers and looks kinda bad due to the cuts they make and BREAKIN '2: ELECTRIC IMMORTALOO), some of it just plain bad (tracking Naomi, the marketplace for nothing more than MOO COWs by the dozens)

Also put the FaceCamo/Gimp Mask on Snake and few the cutscenes. You can't tell how he's reacting outside of his tone of voice at times. Cracks me up. I kinda want to go through Act 1 with it.
 

rataplein

Member
i really like the tracking aspect in act 2. it's different and, at least the first time you play it, it's compelling!

i also loved the market place. so much chaos...
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
The marketplace is so short that you really have to wonder what Kojima Productions was wanting to do with it "hey, we haven't featured Gecko's in a while. Maybe we should make a short area for them!"

"And show off our smashed up Watermelon tech! YEAH!"

Me: *runs through the area in two minutes and wonder why it's even in the game*
 
Well, I'm gonna be stuck on the fight with Liquid trying to get the Centipede Emblem. I came in with 0 continues and forgot to kill Meryl for 26 of them. Saved after that fight. Well, this is gonna take a while since its on easy. Only 19 more continues to go!!!
 

NeoUltima

Member
K trying this...I just tried again and still ended up with 2 kills :( I really can't remember anywhere else I would've possibly killed a person. I channeled my inner Batman when I played Act 2

Might have accidentally killed some of the knocked out Frogs during the fight with Octopus. I've done that before.
 

Footos22

Member
Platinum get.

It irritates me that I won't be able to plat the one MGS game that I want (MGS2). I'm not going to do MGS1 Snake's later missions again.

Why?

Im all frankly awful at MGS games and the VR missions were no problem at all.
The only one that caused me trouble was the survival missions for mgs1 snake.
But when you realise you can stun tengus with coolant spray.
Piece of piss
 
Well, I'm gonna be stuck on the fight with Liquid trying to get the Centipede Emblem. I came in with 0 continues and forgot to kill Meryl for 26 of them. Saved after that fight. Well, this is gonna take a while since its on easy. Only 19 more continues to go!!!

I'm so sorry for you. I made the same mistake and (on the same emblem too) and it took about four hours in total.
 
I'm so sorry for you. I made the same mistake and (on the same emblem too) and it took about four hours in total.
Yep. That added about 3 hours to my time. I went afk and let Liquid beat me to a pulp. Very, very, very slowly. Occasionally, I would give him a beatdown, but won't kill him. I should have made another save file at the beginning of each chapter. Well, gonna do that from now on instead of just one save.
 

Steroyd

Member
Help with BBE Act 2!

I know this is very general, but this keeps happening where I always end up with 2 or 3 (the exact number) by the end of the act. I cannot figure out where I might have accidentally killed. During the turret section, I even use Nightvision to make sure I don't accidentally shoot a PMC

What am I missing guys? :( Is not the Laughing Octopus fight, is it? Where she sends explosives after you and you have to shoot (and when they explode near the Frog soliders' bodies, they flame up)

That sounds like your problem right there, when you shoot those explosives and it burns the Frog soldiers they count as a kill, but if you leave them to explode on their own it doesn't.
 
Chicken Run done. Wasn't so bad. It kinda was like how I explored in my first playthrough back then, messing with the guards etc. I had something like 22 hours, but not many alarms or kills.
My own MGS play-style is to get through an area with no alarms and hardly using any firearms, while still taking out many of the enemies by e.g. slitting their throat and collecting all items (e.g. it took ages for me to free the militia in Act 2 or get through the start of Act 5).
No installs between the acts was quite pleasant. Also, I was actually enjoying watching all the cutscenes again, had been some time and some of them are just awesome...

Some comments to the 22 emblems you can get in that run:
Hopefully helpful and to compare stats.


Chicken/Pig/Cow/Crocodile/Giant Panda/Puma:

[150x] Alert phases: 183 (never needed to grind those, had open firefights with the enemies during Act1&2 while farming for the kills)

[500x] Kills: 938 (finished the 500 in the Power Plant in Act 2, but anyway killed all following enemies I came across to explore the stages and farm DP/weapons. I used the "you enjoy killing" flashback thing to count whenever I killed 50 of the infinitely respawning guys)

[50x] Continues: 61 (grinded those with Meryl in Act 5 as explained in the guide, for some reason still very tedious)

[35hours] Play time: 37 hours (only left the console on by itself for 5 hours in Act 4. Lots of time spent exploring, playing with the enemies, grinding emblems, listening to all the podcasts, reading GAF and watching all cutscenes/codecs etc.)

[50] Healing items used: 64 (a lot of searching dead militia bodies etc., was very easy to get 75+ rations/noodles/Regains during Act1&2)



Bear - [100x] Enemies in chokeholds: ca. 132 (I can confirm that you only need to grab&hold the same enemy 100 times to get this emblem. No kills, no actual choking, just hold him for a second, let go & repeat. You can even roughly check progress via the number of CQCs performed if you don't do other CQC moves often)

Eagle - [150x] Headshots: 436 (on easy you don't get a nice feedback as enemies will anyway die after one shot :p )

Hog - [10x] Combat highs: 30 (My game still had all the passwords entered so I used the Patriot gun with unlimited ammo for the kills once I had enough headshots, naturally I got the Combat highs as well with this)

Hawk - [25x] Praise received from allies: 30+ (as mentioned before, when I tranquilized the enemies I got praised every time)

Inch Worm - [60x] Minutes spent crawling: 111 min (Whenever I read GAF I put Snake in prone position or pressed against a wall etc. so I didn't had to dedicate an extra waiting perioid just for this. Btw. playing dead doesn't count to this)

Gekko - [60x] Minutes spent against a wall: 152 min (see Inch Worm, also did this while listening to some of the ingame podcasts)

Tortoise - [60x] Minutes spent in cardboard box/drum: 70 min (see Inch Worm. Was also easy to track as you can check your stats once you are in Act 2. Btw. I think this also counts for crouching)

Lobster - [150x] Minutes spent crouching: 330 min (Never needed to wait for that as I was crouch-walking most of the time anyway)

Gibbon - [50x] Enemies held up: 55+ (Did this with the same single enemy in Act 1. Hold him up, run in front of him once so that he can see you not pointing the gun at him, he will then go back to normal. Hold up again and repeat. I wasn't sure at which point it counts as a new hold up but Snake only says "Freeze" etc. once the enemy was completely out of the hold-up animation, so I counted those)

Ant - [50x] Enemies body searched: 60+ (Again done with just one enemy. Pick one that is crouching so that he will lay down once you hold him up. Now you can just do the full body search 50 times without the "danger" of knocking him out ;) . But honestly I think you don't even need to press the triangle prompts in between for this to count.)

Bee - [50x] Enemies injected with syringe/s.plug: 60+ (I only had to inject the same enemy 50 times in a row with the s.plug for this to count)

Hyena - [400x] Items picked up: 1812 (obviously just pick up weapons from all your kills etc., had this after Act 1 already)

Blue Bird - [50x] Items given to allies: 55 (I mentioned this before, but in the first militia fighting spot they die constantly if you leave the enemies alone. So you can just search their dead bodies for rations/noodles and give the items to their arriving replacements ;) Can be done without leaving the area and is relatively fast)

Rabbit - [100x] Playboy pages turned: 105+ (they should have added more pictures!)

Frog - [100x] Forward rolls: 474 (At least I do them so often that there was no need for grinding)

Scarab - [200x] Sideways rolls: 223 (Had to grind them but that's very fast to do)


"+" = that's how many I counted as there are no visible stats for it.




I did not get the flashback trophy with 262 flashbacks. But I think I'm missing something in Act 2 Briefing/Act 2.
At least I have the theory that you can already see in the Act reward screens if you missed something. Have to report back about that.

All the other possible trophies I got, thanks again for the guide to follow!

Oh and I collected 64 weapon types (+ solar, + race gun). I'm glad the guide reminded me that I should buy all the stuff in Act 5 ;)
 
Fuck yeah, only 38 min for act 1. Saving after every checkpoint is a hassle but worth it.
Despite a good time I fucked up royally on the Advent Palace. Used all my stun grenades and only 1 sleep mine left. =[
 

Steroyd

Member
Oh yeah I got the flashback trophy with a grand total of 270 flashbacks, the flashback where you go to the camera in Act 4 doesn't count because that's the only one I cocked up during my chicken run.
 

SmithnCo

Member
Man the chicken run is boring as shit, almost done with it. Really the only tough part is going to be the BBE run.


Do the audio flashbacks count towards the flashback trophy? I dont know what one i am missing. :/

Just cutscene flashbacks where you tap X. Including the hidden ones like when Raiden falls in the water in act 4 and the Psycho Mantis ones.
 
Man the chicken run is boring as shit, almost done with it. Really the only tough part is going to be the BBE run.




Just cutscene flashbacks where you tap X. Including the hidden ones like when Raiden falls in the water in act 4 and the Psycho Mantis ones.

Ok, thanks. I played through two times so far and Im sure I got all of them but no trophy. I got to be missing one of them somewhere.
 
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