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[Love Deterrence]

We hope you've enjoyed our March cover story on Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain and the month of exclusive content that we've been rolling out in our online hub, but we wanted to give the community a chance to ask any burning questions that we might have missed. We rounded up Metal Gear super-fan Joe Juba and the three editors that flew to Japan to speak with Hideo Kojima for the cover story Tim Turi, Dan Ryckert, and Ben Hanson to answer questions from our community about the upcoming games. We should warn you on a couple of fronts: this episode gets into some nitty-gritty details of Metal Gear lore and we do not spoil the end of Ground Zeroes.

Q&A Podcast

Summary:

[Game Informer journalists played main mission, console-exclusive missions, and one side mission. (This was mentioned about fifteen minutes in, but figured it was most important to note.)]

*Ground Zeroes works well as a starting place (according to the guys who played it). If time is available, play (or watch) Metal Gear Solid 3 and Peace Walker.

-Timeline: MGS3, MGSO, MGSW, MGSV:GZ, MGSV:TPP, MG, MG2:SS, MGS, MGS2, MGS4, MGR:R [Not in podcast, just posting for those who may not know! ]

*Information is accumulated through cassette tapes. Focusing on something gives you an option to contact Miller (hit bumper button, L1/LB) and gather intel.

*Main story mission somber, grim; game's humor is found in some of its side missions (Déjà Vu, Jamais Vu missions for example). Fans of franchise will "get a kick out of" at least one other side mission.

*From what was played, no info on how the iDroid exists during this time frame.

*Harry Gregson-Williams is back. Music is subtle (nothing memorable), but amplifies when things heat up. "He's done a great job."

*No boss battles in main story mission.

*Kiefer Sutherland "takes some getting used to" early on, but does a good job. "I like it." No shots fired at David Hayter, but they all agree that it works pretty well.

*Liquid and Solid Snake are not in Ground Zeroes, but are almost certainly going to be in The Phantom Pain. Kojima was eager to explain how Big Boss and Solid Snake's stories connect, but managed to hold back. (In the video interview, Kojima seems as though he is dying to share!)

*No idea what the piece of metal (or debris) in Big Boss' head is.

*Ground Zeroes gives new meaning to the term "rated M for mature." Shocking moment at the end of main story mission. "Jaw-dropping." (This moment is) "the darkest thing that Metal Gear has ever implied" and The Phantom Pain will be even darker with "race" being the game's core theme. No hints of The Phantom Pain's theme (race) found in Ground Zeroes. (Sounds like it will be darker than a German chocolate cake!)

*New timeline found at the end of Ground Zeroes. [With something along the lines of: an underground nuclear facility being abandoned by the South African government in 1977. (If I remember correctly!)]

*Kojima will explain Big Boss' coma in The Phantom Pain. (In Japanese version of MGS1, Big Boss is "sterile" when cloned. In English version, Big Boss is in a coma. This will be clarified in MGSV.)

*Miller is on a table, Big Boss is on a table... Who's the third guy? (No answer! Could be Ishmael... or someone else.)

*Is it open-world? Ground Zeroes is an example of one of the base areas that will be a part of a larger world. (Not in the podcast, but Kojima has explained that The Phantom Pain will be - not just the base, but areas outside of a base within the world for Snake to explore, rest, and plan his next move.) Likely multiple open worlds.

*Is Portable Ops canon? Yes, no. (It is not a main story, but it is a story in the Metal Gear universe.) Frank Jaeger's story is likely to be expanded upon in The Phantom Pain.

*About 45 minutes into the podcast, no mention of Zero or The Patriots. According to Kojima (in the video interview posted earlier), Zero and Big Boss' relationship will be portrayed, but it will not be the main focus of the game.

 

[Jubern]

Surprised no one saw this topic!

I'm listening to this right now and I love it.

 

[Altered Juice]

too lazy to listen. someone post a transcript of the juicy stuff.

 

[wanders]

so any good stuff lol

 

[Love Deterrence]

so any good stuff lol

I can't answer that. One thing they mentioned, though, was the price, and the guys who played it both plan on spending $30 (Ground Zeroes' new price tag) on it. Not sure how much that's worth to you, but I am sure that some people are at least curious as to whether or not others feel it's worth picking up.

 

[keisuke999]

Man, Kojima REALLY wants this to sell well lol

 

[ZeroMaverick]

I'm guessing it's just more PR stuff, nothing new or significant?

 

[Love Deterrence]

Summary:

[Game Informer journalists played main mission, console-exclusive missions, and one side mission. (This was mentioned about fifteen minutes in, but figured it was most important to note.)]

*Ground Zeroes works well as a starting place (according to the guys who played it). If time is available, play (or watch) Metal Gear Solid 3 and Peace Walker.

-Timeline: MGS3, MGSO, MGSW, MGSV:GZ, MGSV:TPP, MG, MG2:SS, MGS, MGS2, MGS4

*Information is accumulated through cassette tapes. Focusing on something gives you an option to contact Miller (hit bumper button, L1/LB) and gather intel.

*Main story mission somber, grim; game's humor is found in some of its side missions (Déjà Vu, Jamais Vu missions for example). Fans of franchise will "get a kick out of" at least one other side mission.

*From what was played, no info on how the iDroid exists during this time frame.

*Harry Gregson-Williams is back. Music is subtle (nothing memorable), but amplifies when things heat up. "He's done a great job."

*No boss battles in main story mission.

*Kiefer Sutherland "takes some getting used to" early on, but does a good job. "I like it." No shots fired at David Hayter, but they all agree that it works pretty well.

*Liquid and Solid Snake are not in Ground Zeroes, but are almost certainly going to be in The Phantom Pain. Kojima was eager to explain how Big Boss and Solid Snake's stories connect, but managed to hold back. (In the video interview, Kojima seems as though he is dying to share!)

*No idea what the piece of metal (or debris) in Big Boss' head is.

*Ground Zeroes gives new meaning to the term "rated M for mature." Shocking moment at the end of main story mission. "Jaw-dropping." (This moment is) "the darkest thing that Metal Gear has ever implied" and The Phantom Pain will be even darker with "race" being the game's core theme. No hints of The Phantom Pain's theme (race) found in Ground Zeroes. (Sounds like it will be darker than a German chocolate cake!)

*New timeline found at the end of Ground Zeroes. [With something along the lines of: an underground nuclear facility being abandoned by the South African government in 1977. (If I remember correctly!)]

*Kojima will explain Big Boss' coma in The Phantom Pain. (In Japanese version of MGS1, Big Boss is "sterile" when cloned. In English version, Big Boss is in a coma. This will be clarified in MGSV.)

*Miller is on a table, Big Boss is on a table... Who's the third guy? (No answer! Could be Ishmael... or someone else.)

*Is it open-world? Ground Zeroes is an example of one of the base areas that will be a part of a larger world. (Not in the podcast, but Kojima has explained that The Phantom Pain will be - not just the base, but areas outside of a base within the world for Snake to explore, rest, and plan his next move.) Likely multiple open worlds.

*Is Portable Ops canon? Yes, no. (It is not a main story, but it is a story in the Metal Gear universe.) Frank Jaeger's story is likely to be expanded upon in The Phantom Pain.

*About 45 minutes into the podcast, no mention of Zero or The Patriots. According to Kojima (in the video interview posted earlier), Zero and Big Boss' relationship will be portrayed, but it will not be the main focus of the game.

 

[Nags]

Hmm, maybe I should play portable ops.

 

[biosnake20]

Oh wow, Liquid and Solid confirmed for Phantom Pain. Pretty cool.

Love Deterrence, you should put that summary in the first post.

 

[Love Deterrence]

Hmm, maybe I should play portable ops.

I would recommend watching it, at the very least! I loved the story. The game was very hard to play (for me), but it is really well-done.

Oh wow, Liquid and Solid confirmed for Phantom Pain. Pretty cool.

Love Deterrence, you should put that summary in the first post.

It's likely that Eli (MGSV E3 trailer) is Liquid... Almost a guarantee.

Good point, I will!

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

Appreciate the summary.

 

[Love Deterrence]

Appreciate the summary.

No problem!

Spoiler

*problem*

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Not a single Boss in GZ story mission?
They couldn't throw a tank or chopper at us at least?

 

[Rojo]

They said main missions no boss nothing about side ops right?

 

[Rhaxas]

I love how Kojima talks about how you will be able to visit friends bases in the interview, I honestly can't wait for TPP. It's so far away though.

 

[Love Deterrence]

They said main missions no boss nothing about side ops right?

Right. My guess is that Ground Zeroes will feature enemies (tanks, for example) that serve as boss-figures. The Phantom Pain seems to have quite a cast of characters, however, so we'll have something to look forward to in that regard.

 

[Alienous]

Fuck yes.

I want Jaeger as a playable character in MGO3. I want to CQC people like Sam Fisher on maximum lethal mode.

 

[co1onel]

I wish people would stop hyping up the twist at the end. I know I'm going to be disappointed by it like this

 

[Mr. RHC]

This actually gets my hyped for TPP instead of GZ.

 

[Jindrax]

19 days away.... So long

 

[biosnake20]

This actually gets my hyped for TPP instead of GZ.

Yeah it's sort of underplaying GZ lol.

 

[Graphics Horse]

*Harry Gregson-Williams is back. Music is subtle (nothing memorable), but amplifies when things heat up. "He's done a great job.".

Sounds like they're giving him credit for the gameplay music which he never writes? Wouldn't be the first time :/

 

[Whompa]

Looks like Rising is not Canon.

Also, I cannot fucking wait for this game oh my GOD..

 

[Fancy Clown]

Bummed that there won't be a boss fight in GZ, they are always highlights in MGS

 

[Buckethead]

Timeline cements this as "extremely uninteresting".

I'm sad I'll never get that true MGS2 sequel I wanted so desperately in 2001.

 

[Whompa]

Timeline cements this as "extremely uninteresting".

I'm sad I'll never get that true MGS2 sequel I wanted so desperately in 2001.

Never count that out. You never know. MGS3 was a pretty huge twist when people expected a sequel after 2.

 

[The Silver]

Looks like Rising is not Canon.

Also, I cannot fucking wait for this game oh my GOD..

Pretty sure they didn't mention Rising at all(and why would they, it has no relevance to the Big Boss games)

 

[SolidSnakex]

Pretty sure they didn't mention Rising at all

And Rising should be canon. They just had it take place a bit in the future to avoid any hard connections to previous entries. I still hope for Rising 2 that they'll go back to the original concept for it (the rescue of Sunny).

 

[ShadeGlacier]

I guess I can understand the uneasiness most people have with GZ. Most of the things I was worried about, have been addressed so I can't wait for it.

 

[Gbraga]

Everything about The Phantom Pain gets me super hyped, this game will be amazing.

And yet I just can't get excited for Ground Zeroes. Not even about the price or anything, if I got it for free I'd play it, but I wouldn't be excited about it at all, it would wait for a while on my backlog, The Phantom Pain in the other hand is a game to make me buy a PS4.

 

[thesuperfunk]

This will probably be the first thing I pick up along with a PS4.

 

[-Deimos]

Yes, more Frank Jaeger

 

[Pop On Arrival]

Anything Kojima says during an interview is nothing to be fucking excited about. He was saying a bunch of ridiculously exciting shit years before MGS4 came out and we all know how that turned out.

 

[SolidSnake305]

I heard the Podcast yesterday, all it did was hype me more for TPP but is seems like we have to wait much more. I had my hopes last year we would get TPP by this summer but I leaning toward next year unless Kojima releases toward the end of the year.

 

[Buckethead]

Never count that out. You never know. MGS3 was a pretty huge twist when people expected a sequel after 2.

To be honest, after playing MGS4, it doesn't interest me.

Knowing that it will all end with

Spoiler

Sunny being an obnoxious chatterbox and Meryl marrying Johnny shitshow

kills my MGS boner every time.

 

[rvy]

Harry Gregson-Williams is back.

Fucking yes!

 

[TwoDurans]

*Is it open-world? Ground Zeroes is an example of one of the base areas that will be a part of a larger world. (Not in the podcast, but Kojima has explained that The Phantom Pain will be - not just the base, but areas outside of a base within the world for Snake to explore, rest, and plan his next move.) Likely multiple open worlds.


Does that mean that the GZ mission will be in TPP?

 

[cackhyena]

Anything Kojima says during an interview is nothing to be fucking excited about. He was saying a bunch of ridiculously exciting shit years before MGS4 came out and we all know how that turned out.

I've already seen enough footage for what TPP looks like to be excited, not to mention how good it looks to play judging by GZ. I'm excited.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Fucking yes!

Where have you been? this is known for quite some time.

 

[rvy]

*Is it open-world? Ground Zeroes is an example of one of the base areas that will be a part of a larger world. (Not in the podcast, but Kojima has explained that The Phantom Pain will be - not just the base, but areas outside of a base within the world for Snake to explore, rest, and plan his next move.) Likely multiple open worlds.


Does that mean that the GZ mission will be in TPP?

I think he means that the GZ base itself is an example of bases around TPP, not that the GZ main mission is in TPP.

Where have you been? this is known for quite some time.

I missed it then, because I had no idea.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Anything Kojima says during an interview is nothing to be fucking excited about. He was saying a bunch of ridiculously exciting shit years before MGS4 came out and we all know how that turned out.

A lot of his initial vision for MGS4 was compromised when the PS3's specs didn't turn out to be what he (and other developers) were expecting.

 

[Ridley327]

Mentioning that Frank Jaeger having a role in TPP makes me think that Kojima is going to more or less have a do-over of his origin, similar to how Peace Walker is a re-do of the Outer Heaven origins that Portable Ops had going on.

 

[MiamiWesker]

Anything Kojima says during an interview is nothing to be fucking excited about. He was saying a bunch of ridiculously exciting shit years before MGS4 came out and we all know how that turned out.

Turned out to be the best game of the generation!

So yeah I am super excited.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Mentioning that Frank Jaeger having a role in TPP makes me think that Kojima is going to more or less have a do-over of his origin, similar to how Peace Walker is a re-do of the Outer Heaven origins that Portable Ops had going on.

Portable Ops is a dream in Big Boss's Coma.

 

[Love Deterrence]

And Rising should be canon. They just had it take place a bit in the future to avoid any hard connections to previous entries. I still hope for Rising 2 that they'll go back to the original concept for it (the rescue of Sunny).

Yes, I should mention that the timeline in my summary was simply me forgetting to add Rising. But I believe it is canon (just like Portable Ops, another story in the Metal Gear universe).

Spoiler

I would love for them to expand on Sunny's rescue!

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

*About 45 minutes into the podcast, no mention of Zero or The Patriots. According to Kojima (in the video interview posted earlier), Zero and Big Boss' relationship will be portrayed, but it will not be the main focus of the game.

Couldn't think of a worse way to destroy this game than trying to shoe horn in the Patriots into the plot in a major way.

If I ever hear, "But Big Boss isn't evil, he was just fighting the Patriots all along!" again I will fucking explode.

Anything Kojima says during an interview is nothing to be fucking excited about. He was saying a bunch of ridiculously exciting shit years before MGS4 came out and we all know how that turned out.

To be fair, his original ending got vetoed by his crew. If they kept that original story of Snake and Otocon being put to death I'm sure MGS4 would have been a much better game.

I'm sad I'll never get that true MGS2 sequel I wanted so desperately in 2001.

What do you mean by that?

Turned out to be the best game of the generation!

So yeah I am super excited.

 

[Ridley327]

Portable Ops is a dream in Big Boss's Coma.

Portable Ops has got to have the record on the most protracted retcon at this point. A bit in this game, a bit in that game, so on and so forth. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if there was something left that Kojima gets around to reconning in a radio drama.

 

[legacyzero]

I bet David Hayter is in MGSV, but as SOLID Snake. It explains why he's not voicing Boss right now.

Kiefer Sutherland "takes some getting used to" early on, but does a good job. "I like it." No shots fired at David Hayter, but they all agree that it works pretty well.

Also: "No boss battles in main story mission." What the hell??

 

[Ridley327]

I bet David Hayter is in MGSV, but as SOLID Snake. It explains why he's not voicing Boss right now.

Also: "No boss battles in main story mission." What the hell??

I think that might be referring to GZ in this case.