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Metal Gear Solid 4 |OT| No Place to Hide, No Time for a Legend to FoxDie

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jaaz

Member
Shins said:
I started the series with MGS1 in 1999. It's been my favorite series since MGS2, and I enjoyed 4 immensely. However, I do feel that it contains flaws directly related to both how it tells its story and what its story contains.

I don't feel that just because something is my favorite series, its above criticism. If any of the points I don't like could be addressed, it could make for a more enjoyable experience, for me, in whatever the next game Kojima Productions develops. Its fine if you don't take any issues and see any change going forward from here as a negative, but if I can respect that for you, can you respect that others really do find some legitimate problems that affect their enjoyment of the game? I think most people would agree that their problems are subjective and grow out of their own wants and interests. I know that I do.

I think you may be confusing concept with execution. My comments are directed at those people who criticize MGS4 and call it "flawed" because it utilizes the concept of the cut scene to try and tell an engaging and mature story between the gameplay and frantic action.

That is different from the execution of the concept, or in this case story-telling through long and involved cut scenes. MGS4 is certainly not perfect in that regard, but what game or movie ever is? Take a look at the Best Picture Winner, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. That movie, in my opinion, was EASILY 20-30 minutes too long and had at least 3 endings too many. I can certainly criticize the execution of the long story-telling, but for me to criticize the movie and call it flawed and undeserving of the Best Picture simply because it wasn't an 86 minute "Cloverfield"-type movie IS being naive and immature.
 

traveler

Not Wario
tha_con said:
I think 6? One for each channel, most of them (maybe all?) are for the PMC's.

His wording is ambiguous- he's referring to the little tips that show up when you install, not the actual ads.

Edit: Err, wait. Maybe you're right. Either you or the guy that answered before you are wrong. :lol (And it's 5 ads in the opener, not 6 :p)
 
snack said:
Explanation for Liquid Ocelot's motives:
The reason why Liquid Ocelot won't tell Snake his true intentions until all is said and done, because the only way to defeat the Patriot's is to use their power and ways against them. Since the Patriot's are a series of AI, they are somewhat predictable in the way they operate. That's why a lot of the characters mention that the "cycle" will just continue unless The System is destroyed. Knowing this Liquid Ocelot was able to manipulate the situation in order to have Solid Snake and Philanthropy infect GW and take down The System. The Patriot's were unaware of Liquid's true intentions. They thought Liquid was planning to take over SOP through GW, but his plan all along was to destroy The Patriots using the indirect help of Solid Snake and Naomi. The Patriots knew that GW had to be destroyed in order to stop Liquid's supposed insurrection. That is why they guided Solid Snake all the way into Outer Haven where he ultimately plants the virus that is supposed to destroy GW, effectively stopping Liquid's insurrection. However, The Patriots did not take into account Sunny's programming skills, which created FOXALIVE that would disperse throughout the whole Patriot's Network dismantling the entire Patriots. Ocelot needed to maintain the facade that he was only in it to take over the Patriots, not to destroy it. If The Patriots get any hint of Liquid's true intentions, the whole operation would have been called off, in fear of the virus that was created compromising the entire System. The Patriots took for granted the fact that everyone thought it was impossible to destroy all the AIs through GW. It took the mind of a child, who has not grown up in the propaganda-filled world of The Patriots to destroy The System. She was unfettered by the misconceptions that the Patriots were unstoppable, which allowed her to create the virus that destroyed them. Sunny was someone that always lived on the "inside" where the propaganda created by The Patriots didn't exist. She was never subjected to the subliminal messaging of the Patriots. Sunny was able to see that they are just a system of computers, nothing more, nothing less.
I agree with all the things you said and congrats for the huge post.
I understand that Ocelot wanted to catch the Patriots/AI off-guard and that perfectly makes sense for the first 4 acts when Ocelot constantly manipulates Snake. But I still don't get why in Act 5, after achieving everything he wanted thus far, he wanted Snake himself to upload the virus and why not somebody else couldn't do it instead.
Well, as I am writing this, while still not sure I actually thought of a possible explanation: Ocelot knew from Naomi that FOXALIVE was in the hands of Snake/Otacon/Sunny and he couldn't steal it without obviously arising suspicions from the AIs. The thing is, couldn't Naomi take the virus with her before leaving the Snake crew in Act 3 or maybe Sunny did not have the virus ready on time..? So Naomi had to leave now that everybody else was gone and tell Liquid that Snake will soon have an up-and-running virus with him and they would have to manipulate him into putting it in GW. That's why he seized the SOP system right after Naomi alerted him and everything happened so that Snake would upload the virus in Act 5.
Am I correct?
 

domlolz

Banned
BruceLeeRoy said:
I haven't seen a really high res one of CG snake but Ill try and scan the cover today if I have time.


As Shinz Kicker said,I'd really appreciate it,I like that cover although most people despise it

I hadn't realized that you made those other covers as well-I think they should be used officially-maybe for MGS4:Sedition/Subversion?
 
Madsucktion said:
YES YES YES. Freaking thank you. I was so dissapointed at the US coverart (coughCGcough). The first and last are my favs, although I wish the lettering on the first was in red.

EDIT: Ooo, couldn't tell the lettering was blue untill I printed it out. Me Likey.

Well here is a red one if you would prefer it.

 

tha_con

Banned
traveler said:
Like you say, different strokes I suppose. (I really hated
the hallway scene, for reasons I've already elaborated on
:lol )

Really? I thought it was pretty cool :lol

The one I REALLY didn't like was
when Raiden and Vamp fight on top of Rex...WHY is that scene during a huge fight, and I can't watch any of the awesomeness going on at the top of Rex!?
 
domlolz said:
As Shinz Kicker said,I'd really appreciate it,I like that cover although most people despise it

I hadn't realized that you made those other covers as well-I think they should be used officially-maybe for MGS4:Sedition/Subversion?

Cool Ill make sure I get you guys it.
 

Ephemeris

Member
BruceLeeRoy said:
Well here is a red one if you would prefer it.

I was just going to ask if anyone wanted to trade their region of MGS4 for a US NTSC one. Just so I could have another cover o_O

Thanks Bruce!
 
Not mine, but I know there has been some interest on what the results screen for the Big Boss rank looks like.

dscf0009pq6.jpg
 

vpance

Member
Something obvious I probably missed but what does it mean when the camo % indicator turns blue? I assume it means you're like extra stealthed because the PMCs are busy against the militia? Or is it like they won't hear you because it's too loud?
 

Greg

Member
Just finished the game.

Am I the only one that would've been perfectly fine
with the suicide being real and it just ending there? Everything past that point just seemed tacked on and rushed to me...
 
tha_con said:
Really? I thought it was pretty cool :lol
Am I the only one who thinks that (spoilers about MGS4 and... Lord of the Rings)
the microwave-corridor scene is heavily influenced by the climax on Mount Doom/Gates of Mordor at the Return of the King? I thought that the directing was nearly identical, Frodo=Snake, Sam=Otacon/MK.III and everybody else approaching their limit and getting ready to die.
 

Solo

Member
Greg said:
Just finished the game.

Am I the only one that would've been perfectly fine
with the suicide being real and it just ending there?

Nope, not the only one. That should have been the one and only final scene. Cut out the
wedding cheesefest, the Raiden scene, and the Snake-and-Big-Boss-murder-a-senior-citizen scene.
 

vpance

Member
Solo said:
Nope, not the only one. That should have been the one and only final scene. Cut out the
wedding cheesefest, the Raiden scene, and the Snake-and-Big-Boss-murder-a-senior-citizen scene.

Yeah, the
Snake-and-Big-Boss-murder-a-senior-citizen scene
while cool.. did go on a bit long. And was it me or did
BigBoss' voice actor have a bit of British accent?
 
Steiner_Zi said:
I agree with all the things you said and congrats for the huge post.
I understand that Ocelot wanted to catch the Patriots/AI off-guard and that perfectly makes sense for the first 4 acts when Ocelot constantly manipulates Snake. But I still don't get why in Act 5, after achieving everything he wanted thus far, he wanted Snake himself to upload the virus and why not somebody else couldn't do it instead.
Well, as I am writing this, while still not sure I actually thought of a possible explanation: Ocelot knew from Naomi that FOXALIVE was in the hands of Snake/Otacon/Sunny and he couldn't steal it without obviously arising suspicions from the AIs. The thing is, couldn't Naomi take the virus with her before leaving the Snake crew in Act 3 or maybe Sunny did not have the virus ready on time..? So Naomi had to leave now that everybody else was gone and tell Liquid that Snake will soon have an up-and-running virus with him and they would have to manipulate him into putting it in GW. That's why he seized the SOP system right after Naomi alerted him and everything happened so that Snake would upload the virus in Act 5.
Am I correct?
You got it.
The virus was still being developed, and in order to maintain the charade that Naomi was just acting as a spy for Liquid within Philanthropy.

Also, I just noticed that I haven't seen the Act 1 Mission Briefing yet. I'm watching it now. They should have this play in the beginning.
 

tha_con

Banned
Greg said:
Just finished the game.

Am I the only one that would've been perfectly fine
with the suicide being real and it just ending there? Everything past that point just seemed tacked on and rushed to me...

Yea, it certainly had that sense, but without it
you don't know who the Patriots were, or about Ocelot
.
 
vpance said:
Yeah, the
Snake-and-Big-Boss-murder-a-senior-citizen scene
while cool.. did go on a bit long. And was it me or did
BigBoss' voice actor have a bit of British accent?
You're crazy. That scene was the entire payoff for me.
 

Owensboro

Member
BruceLeeRoy said:
Well here is a red one if you would prefer it.


Awesome, by special request. Thanks alot duder. I appreciate it.



Vyse The Legend said:
Not mine, but I know there has been some interest on what the results screen for the Big Boss rank looks like.

*pic of 3:46 finish time*

Sweet gawd, How could anyone beat it in 3-4 hours with all those stipulations. (I assume 3-4 hours because that last cutscene is 30-40 mins long and unskippable (I think)). Man, is it sad that i'm actualy looking FORWARD to trying to do this? I'm such a masochist sometimes.
 
After playing through the game for the second time, I am going to write up a bit of a critique of this game and the entire series in general. I'm on Act Four right now.
 

Returners

Member
Steiner_Zi said:
I agree with all the things you said and congrats for the huge post.
I understand that Ocelot wanted to catch the Patriots/AI off-guard and that perfectly makes sense for the first 4 acts when Ocelot constantly manipulates Snake. But I still don't get why in Act 5, after achieving everything he wanted thus far, he wanted Snake himself to upload the virus and why not somebody else couldn't do it instead.
Well, as I am writing this, while still not sure I actually thought of a possible explanation: Ocelot knew from Naomi that FOXALIVE was in the hands of Snake/Otacon/Sunny and he couldn't steal it without obviously arising suspicions from the AIs. The thing is, couldn't Naomi take the virus with her before leaving the Snake crew in Act 3 or maybe Sunny did not have the virus ready on time..? So Naomi had to leave now that everybody else was gone and tell Liquid that Snake will soon have an up-and-running virus with him and they would have to manipulate him into putting it in GW. That's why he seized the SOP system right after Naomi alerted him and everything happened so that Snake would upload the virus in Act 5.
Am I correct?

Remember when Raiden told Naomi that Sunny said "She finally cooked them right." I think that was the code to Naomi that the virus is done. And also for her to die
 

tha_con

Banned
snack said:
You're crazy. That scene was the entire payoff for me.

I felt the same, without that (and all of the other end scenes, minus
the wedding scene
) You are left with out any closure. So much is revealed in the last few scenes, it's almost overwhelming.
 

Greg

Member
Solo said:
Nope, not the only one. That should have been the one and only final scene. Cut out the
wedding cheesefest, the Raiden scene, and the Snake-and-Big-Boss-murder-a-senior-citizen scene.
I can kind of understand the Raiden scene just because in case a spin-off does come from his character, at least some of that shit is explained, but fuck... let the man kill himself and end the fucking game. Everything up to that point would've justified the pulling of the trigger.

tha_con said:
Yea, it certainly had that sense, but without it
you don't know who the Patriots were, or about Ocelot
.
I appreciate the tying of the loose ends, but there were just too many "...but wait!" moments near the end that I just couldn't take seriously. Maybe I just need more time to digest the entire thing and maybe another playthrough, but it's not even like MGS3 where you could look at things a different way on the 2nd time through - it's just a ton of shit at once.
 

dk_

Member
darkressurection said:
YES! Finally got the Altair Camo :D
Probably won't really use it much though, it is fairly useless, just cool looking.
Is there another way besides the 50 CQC/Stun Knife kills?
 

TheWolf

Banned
Steroyd said:
How many adverts are there when you start a new game I havn't come across the same one twice.

you can change channels during the intro...

vpance said:
Yeah, the
Snake-and-Big-Boss-murder-a-senior-citizen scene
while cool.. did go on a bit long. And was it me or did
BigBoss' voice actor have a bit of British accent?

it's the same guy that voiced The Fury.
 

tha_con

Banned
Greg said:
I can kind of understand the Raiden scene just because in case a spin-off does come from his character, at least some of that shit is explained, but fuck... let the man kill himself and end the fucking game. Everything up to that point would've justified the pulling of the trigger.


I appreciate the tying of the loose ends, but there were just too many "...but wait!" moments near the end that I just couldn't take seriously. Maybe I just need more time to digest the entire thing and maybe another playthrough, but it's not even like MGS3 where you could look at things a different way on the 2nd time through - it's just a ton of shit at once.

I don't think there were that many but wait moments, just that last one.

It's Kojima style though man. He's HUGE on the bait and switch. I mean, I'm sure nearly eveyrone on GAF had expected Snake to die. That's what we ALL thought was going to happen. If you kept spoiler free, the last scene with Big Boss was COMPLETELY unexpected, and NO ONE saw it coming. I thought Snake WAS dead. Then I get hit with the big reveal. Still, he IS going to die in another 6 months, after all.

In retrospect, I think the 2 things that could have been altered were the killing of Zero, and the Wedding scene. I would have been fine with BB dying, and Snake moving on. Honestly, it was better when I thought Zero was dead. His 'murder' scene was just...awkward.

That said, the pacing of it all was slow enough to digest, it's not like boss just started dropping bombs and then died. If you play it a second time and watch the cutscenes, you pick up on a lot more, with the only big "wtf' being Eva jumping in a fire for no reason.
 
Shinz Kicker said:
your custom boxart looks good but i kinda want one of the official one like the black european one would be awesome if someone has a scan of it.

The one with snake screaming and his body disintegrating?
 

vpance

Member
Greg said:
I can kind of understand the Raiden scene just because in case a spin-off does come from his character, at least some of that shit is explained, but fuck... let the man kill himself and end the fucking game. Everything up to that point would've justified the pulling of the trigger.

They really could've made the ending work out pretty well if
they stopped at the first credits, but maybe added a cutscene or two with Snake talking with his comrades for the last time. Any bog-standard non-happy ending Hollywood film would've ended it that way. The ending as it is now just cateres to the fans more. Not a bad thing really, par for the series anyways.
 
LaneDS said:
Can anyone help settle a stupid argument I'm having at work? My buddy says the guy in Act 3 is humming the MGS main theme. I say it's the thing Sunny is humming in cutscenes often. Are either of us right?
You are right. It's the theme of Paradise Lost. (
Eva's resistance movement.
)
 

jett

D-Member
I just got this game...played for around 3 hours...oh man now I can see why Konami wanted reviewers to hide the running times of cut-scenes. HOLY CRAP. So far this is easily the most cut-scene heavy MGS game yet...and so far it seems unnecessarily so. Game's pretty cool so far, the intro was really weird though, I feel like I missed out on a lot, although I did see David Hayter dressed up as Snake, that was teh lulz.

And am I crazy or did the game skip the first mission briefing? Had to select it from the main menu to watch it..
 

Solo

Member
jett said:
I just got this game...played for around 3 hours...oh man now I can see why Konami wanted reviewers to hide the running times of cut-scenes. HOLY CRAP. So far this is easily the most cut-scene heavy MGS game yet...and so far it seems unnecessarily so. Game's pretty cool so far, the intro was really weird though, I feel like I missed out on a lot, although I did see David Hayter dressed up as Snake, that was teh lulz.

And am I crazy or did the game skip the first mission briefing? Had to select it from the main menu to watch it..

The Act 1 briefing does get skipped. MGS4 also is the most cutscene-heavy in the series. However, its also probably the LEAST codec-heavy in the series, so it really balances out.
 
WOOHOO I just finished my second playthru. I used the second play for the very annoying chicken run so I could get it out of the way. I got 20 emblems in one run and I actually screwed 2 of them up and will have to try again later. That makes 23 total; still a lone way to go for the ultimate prize -
Snake Eater Theme
I beat it the first time on Solid normal, so I turned it down to liquid easy so I could just blast away and have fun. I got all the way to the end of the game without continuing and it wasn't even close; Liquid mode is WAY too easy. I had to purposefully die tons of times near the end to meet part of a requirement. I got enough DP to buy that Matchlock rifle; its hilarious to watch snake manually reload it.
Next I go up to BB hard and start building money and skill for my perfect runs.
 
Beat Act 4 last night, totally fuckin' epic. I've almost clocked 20 hours on my first run :lol

Not really rushing obviously, my next playthrough will be stealth but it's fun to take out as many enemies as possible.

Octocamo is fucking ace!
 

Doel

Member
Someone on the IGN PS3 General Board just got the Big Boss rating. Pretty damn insane:

Date Posted: 12:42pm Subject: After hours upon hours of frustration, and madness, I managed to get the Big Boss title! (PICS!) - Date Edited: 12:43pm (1 edits total) Edited By: stinky90

I would like to say this. Omfg that was the most annoying, frustrating thing ever. It's so fuggen hard I could cry right now thinking about it. However with a lot of determination, I managed to snag the title of "Big Boss", and you wanna know how much time I had left!?!!?!? Look down

Also look at all the goodies I received for my effort :D

MGS4-01.jpg


Other pics of unlockables and such (I don't want to image tag all the pics as there is a lot of them):
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-02.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-04.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-07.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-09.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-10.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-11.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/stinky90/MGS4-12.jpg


One more thing. Crying Wolf is SUCH a bish when trying to get this. I don't know how many times I had to reload from that fight...

And Act 3...The WHOLE ACT is horrible hard...REALLY GL to that...I cried on that act [face_cry] [face_tongue]

Goodluck to those who want to try it :D [face_worried] . It REALLY does suck, but once you see "Big Boss" at the end the feeling is amazing.
 

Defcon

Banned
Can anyone summarize the story for me after Act 2? I'd really like to watch the cutscenes, but I'm dreadfully bored with the game and don't feel like running through it to see what happens.
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
So is MGS1 really coming to PSN tomorrow?

Defcon said:
Can anyone summarize the story for me after Act 2? I'd really like to watch the cutscenes, but I'm dreadfully bored with the game and don't feel like running through it to see what happens.
:(
 
snack said:
You got it.
The virus was still being developed, and in order to maintain the charade that Naomi was just acting as a spy for Liquid within Philanthropy.
Oh yeah, I didn't get that! So I can finally say that the whole
Ocelot-actually-being-a-good-guy thing actually makes perfect sense and is THE total twist regarding the entire MGS universe: Ocelot is the villain, working for the Patriots.

You're crazy. That scene was the entire payoff for me.
+1
And here's why:

When the first credits started to roll, I felt unsatisfied from the end, simply because nothing totally unexpected had happened until that point. Ironically, I felt the EXACT same thing when Naked Snake was banging Eva in MGS3, only to be blown away minutes later.:lol

The scene with Big Boss serves as a) the big plot twist of the game and of everything that had happened until this point, b) further explaining the motives of the Patriots and the people who founded the organisation, c) the death of Zero -the man who started it all- and d) the final peacemaking between the two protagonists of the series, Big Boss and Snake, father and son, and between Big Boss and his dead mentor, the Boss; giving each character the peace he deserves. If the game ended with the cliche "happy end when the main hero dies" would be a massive dissappointment for me. This is the easiest way to envoke emotion but it has been used so many times in films and anime nowadays that I've grown to dislike it. The way Kojima ended the game, Snake finally escapes from being a prisoner of fate (both from the Patriots and the Foxdie), receives recognition from his father and achieves peace until he dies.

Essentially, the final scene not only does not downgrade everything that happened in the MGS series, but on the contrary serves as the catharsis of the saga.

IMHO, of course.
 
Defcon said:
Can anyone summarize the story for me after Act 2? I'd really like to watch the cutscenes, but I'm dreadfully bored with the game and don't feel like running through it to see what happens.

Why are you so bored?
 

burgerdog

Member
Madsucktion said:
Awesome, by special request. Thanks alot duder. I appreciate it.





Sweet gawd, How could anyone beat it in 3-4 hours with all those stipulations. (I assume 3-4 hours because that last cutscene is 30-40 mins long and unskippable (I think)). Man, is it sad that i'm actualy looking FORWARD to trying to do this? I'm such a masochist sometimes.

Only thing you can't skip is the credits. The entire ending can be skipped ;o
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
About Laughing Octopus,
just thinking about what "changed" her makes me sick... I do not understand how someone could want that description come together with video or images and not just from a common codec dialogue between Snake and Drebin... no offense meant to the poster who complained about the Beauties' back-stories really
... :(.
 
dallow_bg said:
So is MGS1 really coming to PSN tomorrow?

:(
Is IT?!?! Great, my old copy doesn't play anymore. Ignore him, the story is covered and spoiled everywhere, he is just asking here so people can see him say he doesn't like it.
 
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