Metal Gear Solid V is having an identity crisis

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My 8 year old self was very pleased with this.
 
Perhaps he wants us underwhelmed (hype-wise) so that he can overwhelm our underwhelmed expectations which would teach us about how we should not expect anything that we love or
enjoy to persist beyond the moment that we are actually experiencing said love or joy: to appreciate what we have now, right in front of us in our lives, and to be content with our environment the way that it is and not try to over-control it!

Our collective "Phantom Pain" is our anguish in not being content with what we have; always wanting more and better "things".

!
 
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.

MGS has always been about accomplishing goals in different ways. In that sense, open world is a good fit for the game provided Kojima gets the A.I. right. If not, I think it'd be a disaster but BELIEVE. Also what makes you think the other parts of the game won't be surreal?

That, and lately the gameplay shown looks a lot more like Splinter Cell or a regular third-person-shooter than it does Metal Gear.

The gameplay demo showed was a rushed play through to fit it within time limit. Normal people would be more careful during their play through. Besides, MGS series could be played like a third-person shooter since a long time ago. It's what makes the series great (play with your own style).

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?

New MGS is always different from past entries unlike those 'make a new sequel every year' titles. I think you're just worried that MGS5 will be different from the past games. We'll never know how good the new edition to the game will be until we play it though. It can be a hit or miss (I consider mgs3's camo and hunting to be a hit while mgs4's sneak through a middle of battlefield taking side thing to be a miss).

All in all, charging for GZ is a mistake but it will be forgiven if TPP is great.
 
Metal Gear games have always had an identity crisis as far as I'm concerned. Snake is a fantasy super-soldier capable of single-handedly taking out nuclear-equipped walking death tanks but needs to sneak around because he can't handle a handful of men. The emphasis on stealth has always felt at odds with Snake's super-human feats imo.

Kojima brings on military advisers to instruct them on realistic military tactics, terminology, and procedure. Then he turns around and introduces super powered enemies straight out of an anime. I suppose some military units could have roller-skating explosives experts, vampires, or photosynthetic old men.Then of course there is the whole does it want to be a movie or a game aspect.

I have a love-hate relationship with this series. Despite its weird inconsistencies I've loved some of the games. I loved MGS1 when I first played it but didn't really like MGS2 that much. Then I loved Snake-Eater but wasn't really feeling MGS4. Its weird.

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".

Yeah this sort of thing is making me think that maybe this one won't be for me. Metal Gears are some of the most memorable games out there and when they get "it" right they are awesome. But I'm not even sure what "it" is really.
 
How is she a slut? The explanation given makes some sense, she's in a desert environment, so she wears little clothing, granted she could wear shorts or something. But if dressing like that makes her a slut, then I guess every girl in a bathing suit is also a slut.

I wonder if you genuinely believe that a) this is appropriate desert military gear and b) there is nothing slutty about that outfit.
 
It's crazy how ambitious the KojiPro team is. This is definitely the biggest MGS by scale (as the team and tech have grown), and the amount of detail and polish on everything is really starting to show.

Anyone who's played a MGS knows that there is always more in the game that what we show in promotional footage unlocked behind codex conversations, small signs and images in the background and the creative use of equipment. GZ and TPP are no different in these regards, there is a ton of content, both scripted and unscripted, to explore.

But yeah, this whole FOX Engine, Open World approach is new, and new is scary. I would be remiss to say that at times I've seen the game in production and got nervous, but it's looking really strong right now and I haven't even seen the multiplayer content, yet.

That's what getting me excited.Stepping into completely new grounds is exciting regardless of the changes this entails.I was blown by everything I've seen so far.

I also appreciate GZ's release.This gives the team more time and experience to refine everything while giving fans a cool sneak peak.
 
I wonder if you genuinely believe that a) this is appropriate desert military gear and b) there is nothing slutty about that outfit.

It's a very hot country and she's lived under the rules of strict Afghan society for her whole life, no sexuality allowed and hot and heavy garments, so now she's broken free she can enjoy wearing cooler and sexier attire. The reason she is Quiet is that as a female in that society she never really had a voice, but the scope of the sniper rifle gives her one. Also ironically with her Sniper she is the one that is hidden and it is her targets that are naked.
 
In Kojima I trust. Been trolled by him too any damn times.

It's a very hot country and she's lived under the rules of strict Afghan society for her whole life, no sexuality allowed and hot and heavy garments, so now she's broken free she can enjoy wearing cooler and sexier attire. The reason she is Quiet is that as a female in that society she never really had a voice, but the scope of the sniper rifle gives her one. Also ironically with her Sniper she is the one that is hidden and it is her targets that are naked.

Damn that's deep. R u Kojima?
 
* The lack of Yoji Shinkawa - What kind of tool decided to place a god awful picture of Boss as the box art, when you have Shinkawa. His art is truly unique, and makes up for a big part in the appeal of the franchise.

This is what's getting me. I can't say I've even seen any concept art for Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain, which upsets me greatly. I loved Shinkawa's work and I want the option to replace that generic box art with Shinkawa's art, like the old games.
 
I love conspiracy theories.

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I am almost certain quiet is related to The End from snake eater. He also had some black spots fading in and out on top of his head right before you fought him. She is probably his grandaughter.


@ OP

I am not a fan of milking any game for additional money but in this case I will let it slide because I am a big fan of the series and there hasn't been a MGS game released solely for consoles in almost 6 years. People are okay with spending $60 every year to play COD I think loyal MGS fans should be okay with it. Heck I spent something like $500 just to play guns of the patriots because of that ridiculously high PS3 price. I don't regret that decision one bit and don't even own that PS3 anymore. MGS4 was great and left me satisfied just like all the other MGS games.

I don't know how I feel about open world mechanics just yet.I would need to see a lot more than what has been shown. It could be great for something like MGO3 if they do it correctly. As for the singleplayer, all I care for is that the game has great stealth, boss fights, and story.
 
I wonder if you genuinely believe that a) this is appropriate desert military gear and b) there is nothing slutty about that outfit.

Didn't say it was "appropriate desert military gear", don't see why it has to be. She's not part of any military outfit as far as we know. A t-shirt and pants aren't "appropriate desert military gear" either, but you see people in war-torn areas engaged in combat in such clothing all the time, because they are not trained soldiers who are part of a proper military outfit.

And again, she's more covered up than girls at the beach or girls who walk around in a bikini top and short shorts and flip flops on hot summer days. Didn't say there's nothing sexually appealing, maybe even, provocative about the outfit, but that doesn't make her a slut.

I don't get why all of a sudden, people expect realism (and in attire of all things) from the series.
 
I'm not surprised it looks like it's having what looks like an identity crisis. Working with the FOX engine on a big scale for the first time, going open world in the series for the first time, letting GZ determine how TPP will turn out, the tone of the story that will probably take a drastic turn, probably after the Mother Base attack and BB wakes from the coma.

Personally I think it knows what it wants to be, and is ambitiously trying to go for it. From the start, Kojima and probably Konami have wanted to keep some things very secret, things that could get leaked a lot easier today than during pre-MGS2-PW days. All the presentation stuff Kojima's been doing feels like "rolling with the punches" now. I'm honestly not sure whether when Gaffers found went into detective mode to decipher what TPP really was, that KojiPro were surprised at how it got discovered.
 
This is what's getting me. I can't say I've even seen any concept art for Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain, which upsets me greatly. I loved Shinkawa's work and I want the option to replace that generic box art with Shinkawa's art, like the old games.

There is some concept art. You just need to look for it. Shame that it's not on the covers.
 
As someone who loved every MGS, including MGS4, I have enough faith in Kojima that I don't worry about things even when they seem weird now. Some of this reminds me of Dark Souls 2, and how anytime the smallest change came up, someone would freak out, apparently not knowing the dozen major changes between Demon's to Dark's. While this isn't quite the same, I learned to wait for shit to come out or at least see more from a game instead of speculating.

I think people are thinking too much about the separation of GZ and TPP. It's most likely Konami wanting some more money now, and Kojima placing the introduction separately, you can wait and buy them both at the same time. If you think its too much, wait for a sale. Life has options thankfully.
 
Sorry about bumping this, but I had a weird semi-lucid dream, and I came to an utterly baseless conclusion about who the bosses of The Phantom Pain might be, and this thread seemed the most appropriate. And like most dreams, it seemed really cool when it occurred to be, but it's becoming less and less sound by the minute as I type. Anyway ...

What if CIPHER is trying to re-build the Cobra Unit with child soldiers? So that they can train them to eventually match the skill of the Cobra Unit.

So ...

The End -> Sniper Wolf
The Sorrow -> Psycho Mantis
The Fear (Stealth Expert) -> Decoy Octopus (Y'know, blending in and shit)
The Pain -> Vulcan Raven ( ... pain resistant?) and Code Talkers grand-son.
The Fury -. (Ok, this is where my dream didn't fill the gap) ... Fire Trooper (from MG1)
The Boss -> Eli (You know who's own genetically superior son)

And thus forming MGS1's FOXHOUND ... and Fire Trooper.

The interesting thing is that Vulcan Raven, Liquid Snake, Sniper Wolf and ... Fire Trooper, all have history with Big Boss prior to MGS1. Decoy Octopus has no history. Psycho Mantis has no history with Big Boss ... yet.

Whew, I'm glad to get that off of my mind before it was lost to the ether.
 
I was thinking the "identity crisis" in question was that of being an action game or a stealth game, which is mainly why I don't expect anything good.

Regenerating health is such a major blow to deemphasizing and flat out disencouraging stealth gameplay. Why go stealth if there's no consequences for playing differently?
 
I actually have no clue why all of you people are so obsessed with the Duality of GZ and PP. GZ is an expensive demo, fine, whatever, who the hell cares? Don't buy it if it bothers you so much, believe it or don't Phantom Pain will continue to exist, and you can buy that!
My problem with this game, apart from 24 man, is it has recharging health... and I have no idea how that's going to work with boss fights. There's a reason western games have terrible boss fights almost without exception, it's because they have recharging health systems, and boss fight don't work so good with that.
I don't know how they are going to make that work.
 
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