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[BocoDragon]

While this is a neat way to put it, it doesn't work perfectly, because MG2 had a better story in my opinion than this game. And Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake still exists as a pure Metal Gear game with no "Solid" moniker, and no cinematic cutscenes or hugely detailed story monologues like later games. Things just fall flat on their face in the latter parts of V for me...

I agree the gameplay is very, very good, but it isn't perfect either. It's darn close, but not quite.

I didn't so much mean that it's a good Metal Gear and not a good Metal Gear Solid... though I did mention Solid because it seemed to me that's when story started to matter. But touche, it was already pretty involved in MG2: Solid Snake.

My main point is that it's the ultimate refinement of the stealth genre which began in the first MG.

It's not perfect, no. But it is a significant gameplay/scope increase over any previous game, so it is a kind of high bar of stealth that is incomparable to any other title. How could that high bar of Metal Gear stealth gameplay be anything but a great Metal Gear? Even if it didn't try for story at all....

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

SPOILERS FOR MISSION 16!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-hV66yAsEo&list=WL&index=2

 

[crazyrabbits]

How do you identify which staff have the

Spoiler

infection

I'm starting to loose them now.

Spoiler

They all speak Kikongo. Quarantine everyone with that language.

 

[Phoenix944]

How do you identify which staff have the

Spoiler

infection

I'm starting to loose them now.

Spoiler

Look what the soldiers in quarantine have in common. Answer in the next spoiler.

Spoiler

Put in quarantine staff who speak Kikongo

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

I literally just did!

Spoiler

Go straight for the airport as soon as it begins. I left my jeep outside of the door closest to where the truck was (south west side if I'm not mistaken). Tranq'd all the soldiers surrounding the truck and prepared my active decoys and smoke grenades. Trigger the skulls and spammed the decoys on one side of the truck and as the skulls were busy fighting my decoys I went to the other side from behind a building, smoked the back of the truck, got in there and in the first try I fultoned the truck.

Then proceeded to run like a bitch and got out the airport through a locked gate (some intense 10 seconds there for unlocking), got in my jeep and out the hot zone as skulls were ganging up on me. The even managed to burn and flat two of my tires (I didn't even know you could get flat tires in this game!!!).

Got an S.

 

[NZerker12]

Spoiler

They all speak Kikongo. Quarantine everyone with that language.

Spoiler

Look what the soldiers in quarantine have in common. Answer in the next spoiler.

Spoiler

Put in quarantine staff who speak Kikongo

I thought it was that but I didn't think it would be that easy and obvious I thought it was something else.

 

[Clemurin]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

Spoiler

I went to the airport, waited until the convoy started moving, then shot the driver with tranquilizer. He didn't fall asleep but the truck stopped and the Skulls jumped out. Then I just crawled to the other side of the truck and fultoned it away. One of the easier missions!

 

[SJRB]

Late game spoiler:

The word

Spoiler

"Kikongo"

is etched into my brain for the rest of my life. Thanks Kojima.

 

[Phoenix944]

Late game spoiler:

The word

Spoiler

"Kikongo"

is etched into my brain for the rest of my life. Thanks Kojima.

For me it's the word D

Spoiler

iné

:x

 

[SomTervo]

Very minor mission-type spoilers ahead. No mission content or progression spoilers.

Last night I completed my first Subsistence mission version.

This is the first time I've truly felt like I was playing a Metal Gear game the whole game. MGSV is a masterpiece imo. Even if it has teething issues, the amount of new stuff it tries is unbelievable. I'd say these experimental aspects are the game's only real weaknesses – and the fact that they're experimental excuses the problems. This ties to the open world structure, etc.

However, it certainly hasn't felt like an MGS game at all while I've been playing it. There are maybe three missions throughout where it suddenly feels like it's matching the best bits of MGS2 or MGS3, when there's a linear/focused area and we travel through it. And up to where I am the cutscenes have been great and felt pretty Metal Gear, but are padded out a lot. I just got to Chapter 2.

The Subsistence missions though? Now they feel like Metal Gear. Weapons and equipment OSP. You always feel outmatched. You always feel outgunned. You always feel vulnerable. Just like in older MGS games, where getting spotted really felt like a risk. Reflex Mode is forced off, you start with literally nothing. In a mission where you have to blow something up, you can't just load out with your C4 and blow it with ease, oh no. You have to hunt high and low for bundles of grenades. For a guy with a rocket launcher. You have to commit to the knowledge that executing your plan will result in an alert, and you'll have to extract the instant you pull that pin.

It's amazing. Enjoying it so much more than almost all of the 'normal mode' missions I've played.

What is exactly harder on EXTREME?

I want to know this. I just unlocked these on my playthrough last night. Did my first Subsistence mission and now I want to try the Extreme Backup, Back Down one.

It's gonna be... Insane. Thank god I just 3-star upgraded my excellent rocket launcher.

Why isn't there an option to have your Heli take you to another part of the field maps? Why do I have to go back to the ACC? >=(

It's barely an excuse, but the only reason I can think of is that the AI is so good they'd see the chopper every time you fly between points. So you'd be constantly raising the region's alert level every time you flew around, making things harder for yourself.

Of course, they could always just make the chopper 'invisible' so that this was doable... It's really stupid.

My reasoning behind that idea is that on Mother Base it's fine to fly from point to point (press Square/X when you board the chopper). The only difference between MB and the AOs is that MB has no hostiles on it.

 

[Screaming Meat]

I just want to reiterate Meat's quick capsule review of Episode 12

Spoiler

Hellbound

:

wow

 

[SomTervo]

I had no idea but this is what i did

Spoiler

I just completed a couple of missions i had no idea either

How do you identify which staff have the

Spoiler

infection

I'm starting to loose them now.

Look at the Quarantine section of Staff Management.

Look at all the guys who were put in there to begin with.

Work out what one thing they all have in common.

Failing that, just proceed with the story.

 

[Gr1mLock]

SPOILERS FOR MISSION 16!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-hV66yAsEo&list=WL&index=2

I literally just did!

Spoiler

Go straight for the airport as soon as it begins. I left my jeep outside of the door closest to where the truck was (south west side if I'm not mistaken). Tranq'd all the soldiers surrounding the truck and prepared my active decoys and smoke grenades. Trigger the skulls and spammed the decoys on one side of the truck and as the skulls were busy fighting my decoys I went to the other side from behind a building, smoked the back of the truck, got in there and in the first try I fultoned the truck.

Then proceeded to run like a bitch and got out the airport through a locked gate (some intense 10 seconds there for unlocking), got in my jeep and out the hot zone as skulls were ganging up on me. The even managed to burn and flat two of my tires (I didn't even know you could get flat tires in this game!!!).

Got an S.

Spoiler

I went to the airport, waited until the convoy started moving, then shot the driver with tranquilizer. He didn't fall asleep but the truck stopped and the Skulls jumped out. Then I just crawled to the other side of the truck and fultoned it away. One of the easier missions!

Well hell. I basically did that but

Spoiler

not at the airport and it took me a hot minute to shake the skulls.

Got a B. My life is ruined.

 

[Phoenix944]

I want to know this. I just unlocked these on my playthrough last night. Did my first Subsistence mission and now I want to try the Extreme Backup, Back Down one.

It's gonna be... Insane. Thank god I just 3-star upgraded my excellent rocket launcher.

It's not that hard, when you know what to do.

Spoiler

You have to block the road north of the map and wait for the vehicles to come, then you can extract them when they are not moving. Don't even need a rocket launcher ^^

 

[Tabris]

But sure, if Metal Gear Solid needs an involved story, this is not the ultimate realization of that.

This game is 100% an involved story. It has the same amount of codecs and cutscenes as MGS1 or MGS2. Kojima just made over half of it optional. You put the cassette tapes into a codec screen during missions, and bam, it's super convoluted and long. Has the same equivalent of nano machines. Not sure how that isn't MGS.

So the question is whether making it optional was a mistake. Half of you used to complain about those forced codec calls in previous games. It turned off a lot of people. Now we're getting the opposite.

I personally think it should have been forced just so I wouldn't have to hear these complaints about it being a light simple story. But I forced them myself by listening to the cassette tapes before I did anything else (except maybe go take out an outpost while listening).

The complaints about the story should be about whether the ending was satisfactory (especially when you consider what was cut), whether you thought the characters were good (most of the character flavour is conveyed in the cassette tapes again, which is same as codec calls), and whether the optional and disjointed element from an open world mission system was a good thing.

 

[Tabris]

I want people to think of MGS1 and MGS2 without codec calls, and tell me what that story looks like.

Look at this, here is one of the big twists of MGS1. How long is the actual cutscene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzfZ60rekqo

 

[SomTervo]

It's not that hard, when you know what to do.

Spoiler

You have to block the road north of the map and wait for the vehicles to come, then you can extract them when they are not moving. Don't even need a rocket launcher ^^

Oh, yeah, baby. Thanks for the tip.

I actually pre-empted you slightly already, too.

Spoiler

I already remembered that I have those anti-vehicle EMP mines, so I can freeze them on the spot. If I just make sure to bring a few of those and get to the right choke point (eg North road), I can freeze them all on the spot and capture them

Edit: but don't vehicles come from the north and south? Or wait... They leave through the north, too, don't they? Winner.

This game is 100% an involved story. It has the same amount of codecs and cutscenes as MGS1 or MGS2. Kojima just made over half of it optional. You put the cassette tapes into a codec screen during missions, and bam, it's super convoluted and long. Has the same equivalent of nano machines. Not sure how that isn't MGS.

So the question is whether making it optional was a mistake. Half of you used to complain about those forced codec calls in previous games. It turned off a lot of people. Now we're getting the opposite.

I personally think it should have been forced just so I wouldn't have to hear these complaints about it being a light simple story. But I forced them myself by listening to the cassette tapes before I did anything else (except maybe go take out an outpost while listening).

The complaints about the story should be about whether the ending was satisfactory (especially when you consider what was cut), whether you thought the characters were good (most of the character flavour is conveyed in the cassette tapes again, which is same as codec calls), and whether the optional and disjointed element from an open world mission system was a good thing.

Word.

Total word.

I'm a giant MGS fan and I think MGSV's story structure is almost perfect so far – just started Chapter 2. I haven't reached the apparently 'cut' content yet, although there have been a couple of minor oddities.

 

[Valkyri von Thanatos]

My problem was that I never really accepted that Ocelot was actually Ocelot. I'm not talking spoilers here, or a theory, I just mean that the guy we see in MGSV is nothing like the young kid from MGS3 or the old villain from MGS1 onward. He's a totally different character - different voice, different personality, different motivations etc - and thus one I had no nostalgic affection for. I can't reconcile the different Ocelots at all, how he went from one stage to the next, especially when his personality was so strongly defined in MGS3. I mean, he barely has a character in MGSV beyond being 'the voice of reason', the angel on Big Boss's shoulder. He has no other role, as far as I can tell.

And while I'm thinking that, I've got to say I never really accepted Big Boss as the guy from MGS3 either. Losing Hayter was only a tiny part of that. A much bigger part was that Big Boss really isn't there 99% of the time. He's a ghost in his own game, an odd kind of ghost who apparently only speaks when the fucking tape recorder is rolling and likes spending 90% of his free time hovering in a helicopter above his home base so he can ignore all of his comrades and spend hours looking at Quiet's tits.

Played for 4 hours tonight and made no progress in the story at all. Wondering when I'll just decide to youtube it. I don't play narrative games to get stuck in a grind. I want to start talking about the story in totality and can't do that until I see the end, have had the whole experience and am free from spoilers.

Yup. Agree with this for the most part.

I'm not really spoiling anything in detail, but I beat the game and thought I'd put most of my thoughts in spoiler just incase since people are super sensitive:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Well, I finished the game at mission

Spoiler

46

and I am disappointed. i can write more, about the voice acting (and why a certain character does a good job at one point in the game but then basically disappears and does mediocre job the entire rest of the game), or how it does't make sense cannon-wise, or whatever.

This was, without a doubt, the best Metal Gear game to play, but the story, voice acting, writing, and whatever narrative things you wish to add, are worse than any other Metal Gear Solid game, bar none. I loved sneaking into bases, adapting my play, calling in support helicopters, relying on my buddy, which was always...

Spoiler

Quiet

and having fun. Rarely did the game break its mechanics and ruin the experience. Sure, there are some absolutely terrible and unforgiving missions, especially those that result in the game preventing a certain play-style, but for the most part, things hold up remarkably well mechanically.

It's such a shame the narrative is such garbage, disjointed, and arbitrary. I got cutscenes out of order for some reason, and without any guidance. Something major happens to a character, and it isn't telegraphed, and it is irreversible. It's a goddamn mess narratively, and anyone who justifies or excuses is pandering, like Kojima and the character...

Spoiler

Quiet

.

I loved plaything this game, with its elasticity to game mechanics, but I'll never play it again like other Metal Gear games because of its garbage characters, bad and inconsistent voice acting, stupid story, and whatnot. And, it's a shame. I've played MGS2 the most, followed by MGS3 and MGS1, and I've gone through MGS4 a couple of times and admiring moments in it... but this game? As an MGS fan? It's bad... It's something else. It's...

I don't know. It's a fucking mess. There's no way any sane person can excuse the story progression, the cutscene unlocking, or anything relating to the story. This is the best playing game I've played this year with the worst narrative and all the trappings.

Questions I have after finishing the game which may contain MAJOR SPOILERS:

Spoiler

So, Quiet left the base with ZERO fanfare, got captured by Soviets, and... for what? Was that her plan? And, really, did she almost need to be raped. What garbage for her character at the end. Not that she had a character at all... I'm of the opinion that anyone who liked her just liked her for her looks; she has no character and is dull and lifeless.

Big Boss leaves... because... what? Why? The end makes no sense. ZERO.

Eli, or Liquid as listed in the credits, is gone, with a Metal Gear prototype, but why, and why did the DNA tests come back negative? Why was he in this game? Where was Jack? He's listed in this game as well. Did I miss him because of the fucking stupid story progression cutscenes?

Why was Skull Face's plan so stupid? What's up with PAZ? Is she dead? Did I miss when Chico died?

Is there a reason why Big Boss became the enemy of MGS more than the end of MGS3? Did we get any character progression from him in this game? If not, what was the fucking point?

Why is Miller so bipolar in his voice acting and character? NANO MACHINES/PARASITES?!?!?!?!?!?

Why does Ocelot sound like garbage? Why did Troy Baker give such a bad performance?

Will people ever get over Keifer Sutherland being a star in a bad drama and realize he isn't a good actor?!??!

Anyway, I'm done. Best playing Metal Gear Solid game, but at the same time it is the worst "Metal Gear Solid" game.

I hope Kojima does something outside of this universe instead of running it into the ground.

TRULY MAJOR SPOILERS:

Spoiler

Why is Psycho Mantis in this game? Why is he mad, or in the state of "revenge" or "phantom pain" against Big Boss? Why

.

Why?

WHY?

.....

Whatever. Best/Worst Metal Gear Solid game.

I wouldn't say it is completely awful since it is pretty good for a while, basically until the game reaches the quarter or halfway mark it loses everything IMO. It had an excellent seed to sow, with GZ and TPP's start being both incredibly strong, but the tree just produced too many disparate and fruitless branches, with no common trunk to bind anything together.

Yep, I thought it was easily one of the best missions I've done so far.

Yup, don't get the complaints mission 28 was more satisfying for me than mission 30 or 31.

Is it true you can play through the entire game as one of your soldiers and they even have their own voice recordings for the dialogue in the cutscenes?

Sorry, no cutscene recordings. Major scenes feature Big Boss exclusively.

BIG FAT SPOILERS

Spoiler

Funny how Skullface's grand speech counts as one such "unimportant scenes though" appropriately enough. That scene fell so flat I could hardly believe they used Sins of the Father so badly...

SIDE STORY SPOILER

Spoiler

Paz's new scene

is the only scene in the entire game so far that's affected me emotionally, I haven't really even gotten "pumped up" by anything in V, but even discounting that "easy emotion", most MGS games delivered very well on emotional investment. Really only Rising relies only on hot blooded action emotions.

Anyways, the

Spoiler

Paz

scene actually hit me hard surprisingly, especially because of its implications on certain things...[/spoiler]

 

[Rawr Its Ry]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

I used D walker with the mini gun and wearing the battle dress.

Spoiler

When you fight the skulls that took me less than a min, mini gun fucked them up

 

[Greddleok]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

Spoiler

Fucked up the skulls with grenades and a recoilless rifle. Was over fast.

 

[matrix-cat]

After roughly 30 hours of MGSVing, I will now intimate my hottest, pro-est strat to you guys:
A: Always
B: Be
C: Belly-sliding

Is someone about to spot you? Belly-slide. Do you need to get into cover? Belly-slide. Going downhill? Belly-slide in a cardboard box. Want to crawl under something? Belly-slide. Gotta get up close to DD? Belly-slide. Jumping off something? Belly-slide. "The enemy sniper, Boss get down"? Belly-slide. "Those guns could cut a man in half"? Belly-slide. Tanks shooting at you? BELLY. SLIDE.

Always be belly-sliding.

 

[BocoDragon]

This game is 100% an involved story. It has the same amount of codecs and cutscenes as MGS1 or MGS2. Kojima just made over half of it optional. You put the cassette tapes into a codec screen during missions, and bam, it's super convoluted and long. Has the same equivalent of nano machines. Not sure how that isn't MGS.

So the question is whether making it optional was a mistake. Half of you used to complain about those forced codec calls in previous games. It turned off a lot of people. Now we're getting the opposite.

I personally think it should have been forced just so I wouldn't have to hear these complaints about it being a light simple story. But I forced them myself by listening to the cassette tapes before I did anything else (except maybe go take out an outpost while listening).

The complaints about the story should be about whether the ending was satisfactory (especially when you consider what was cut), whether you thought the characters were good (most of the character flavour is conveyed in the cassette tapes again), and whether the optional and disjointed element from an open world mission system was a good thing.

I personally like this experiment in offloading gameplay to tapes. I've listened to all of them as I've gotten them. My view does not come from non-engagement with that storytelling tool at all.

But even considering that, I don't think it's nearly as involved a story.

There is nothing in those tapes that suggests the rapid-fire story beats of all previous MGS games. It's not as if Venom Snake is having an involved adventure to the same degree as previous tales, which the tapes reveal. The tapes are a replacement for codec-delivered world building, at best. They suggest very little action. It's all "themes" and behind the scenes backstory.

Even considering the offloaded-to-tapes story delivery, this MGS story is very sparse. Less happens.

 

[Sub Zero]

I want people to think of MGS1 and MGS2 without codec calls, and tell me what that story looks like.

I barely paid attention to codec calls in the first 3 games and skipped all the optional ones and still loved their stories. Obviously I missed out on a lot of important plot and background information but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story of these games

 

[dreamlock]

I actually did mission 29 last night with Quiet and only heard about the bug afterwards. I never tried restarting the game(PC), but I'm terrified that my savefile will be gone when I get home tonight.

Around 55 hours of playtime with lots of S-ranked missions and unlocks so yeah...thumbs crossed.

 

[Rawr Its Ry]

Do I have to visit each platform to raise morale in mb? It's getting tedious even with using an arm upgrade to sonar ping everyone

 

[Tabris]

Less happens? Compare the story beats of MGS1 and MGS5. Tell me which has more. Remember you are viewing the story contained in a 5hr game to the story contained in a 50hr game.

Less doesn't happen, it's just disjointed due to the open world mission structure and optional "codecs". Some of the big twist story beat items are included in those cassette tapes. It has the equivalent Master Miller = Liquid Snake moments, especially the Truth cassette tapes.

Your story conflict is between the cons of an open world mission structure to the pros of linear self-contained structure. The amount of story is the same, if not more with MGS5. It's the pacing that's different due to the structure. Then you have to consider, are the gameplay benefits of open world worth this sacrifice? As there's no way to have the best of both worlds.

 

[Gr1mLock]

I used D walker with the mini gun and wearing the battle dress.

Spoiler

When you fight the skulls that took me less than a min, mini gun fucked them up

Spoiler

Fucked up the skulls with grenades and a recoilless rifle. Was over fast.

I don't believe in murder. Unless it happens in a cutscene.

 

[Orcastar]

I think it's 1 part translation, and 1 part his style.

Even in Japanese, for non-English speakers, Metal Gear is still a series of knowingly Flamboyant Nouns.

No way do I think Kojima calls something "Diamond Dogs" without a hint of understanding that it's an odd flourish. I've heard a lot of talk, from Blaustein; from Mark McDonald, about how "silly" it is to leave those kinds of things in without localizing them for a local audience.

I'm not so sure in some cases... I think localizers might be just as blind to this, as it's their job to systematically reinterpret all odd-sounding dialogue into natural English. But sometimes fiction has odd uses of language that are fully intended as part of the reality of the world. Imagine if Mission Impossible were a foreign product and you came across the name "Impossible Mission Force". Would a localizer not try to sand off that edge into something more natural and plausible?

As always, localization is an art, not a science...

I'm not suggesting that lack of localisation is the sole reason for the general weirdness of the series, just that it's a contributing factor, and that being aware of it may help explain some of the seemingly odd and alienating ways in which the story is delivered.

And yes, localisation is an art, and the more literal translation style used in the rest of the games is ultimately a conscious choice by Kojima; if this is the way he wants his story to be presented, then so be it. I just think it's a choice made without proper understanding of localisation and how alienating the presentation can be for western audiences.

 

[BocoDragon]

I want people to think of MGS1 and MGS2 without codec calls, and tell me what that story looks like.

Look at this, here is one of the big twists of MGS1. How long is the actual cutscene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzfZ60rekqo

That's exactly what I have done: related classic MGS codecs to MGSV tapes.

And there's still a scene of Snake arriving at a new area and taking cover. A scene of Snake scoping the environment. A scene of Snake confronting the enemies.

Take out codec and classic MGS is still cutscene after cutscene....

And I would argue that the tape's constant existence in the past tense removes a lot of the story beats that were made possible by codec calls in the present moment.

 

[Kai]

Need some help having just completed mission

Spoiler

41

.

Spoiler

The only missions I have left to choose from are the harder repeat missions. I've brought back all 10 photos to Paz and she isn't reacting to anything. I just got the cinematic with Eli leaving the base with the kids and listened to Huey's Tape 4. All side ops are white (children side ops done). How can I get more story missions/required side ops/Paz's next steps - without doing the harder older missions. What am I missing?

 

[Roussow]

I'm a giant MGS fan and I think MGSV's story structure is almost perfect so far – just started Chapter 2. I haven't reached the apparently 'cut' content yet, although there have been a couple of minor oddities.

Come back after the ending proper, I was on board at this point to, but I think wraps up really unsatisfactorily -- that doesn't mean that everything great before that was invalidated, but it sours the experience.

 

[SomTervo]

That's exactly what I have done: related classic MGS codecs to MGSV tapes.

And there's still a scene of Snake arriving at a new area and taking cover. A scene of Snake scoping the environment. A scene of Snake confronting the enemies.

Take out codec and classic MGS is still cutscene after cutscene....

And I would argue that the tape's constant existence in the past tense removes a lot of the story beats that were made possible by codec calls in the present moment.

They've turned the highlighted into gameplay moments though. Which is a giant improvement and what Kojima would have always done, if he could.

Nothing meaningful is happening in those moments. They should have been gameplay in the first place. They're not "story beats". They're just arbitrary cutscenes.

I actually did mission 29 last night with Quiet and only heard about the bug afterwards. I never tried restarting the game(PC), but I'm terrified that my savefile will be gone when I get home tonight.

Around 55 hours of playtime with lots of S-ranked missions and unlocks so yeah...thumbs crossed.

I did this two days ago, immediately before they announced the bug, and nothing happened.

Come back after the ending proper, I was on board at this point to, but I think wraps up really unsatisfactorily -- that doesn't mean that everything great before that was invalidated, but it sours the experience.

That's a bummer. Thanks for the feedback. I'll report back when I've finished – probably next week.

 

[raven777]

I saw the ending. While some of the story aspect is disappointing, this is still my favorite game.

 

[darkwing-buck]

OMG I didn't know your decoy disc can knock down enemies!

 

[shiba5]

Are you fucking kidding me with these little idiots in the diamond mine? I get them to the chopper and wait for them to catch up because they are slow as shit even after I clear the way they're still hiding and shit so I wait for them and the goddamn gunship comes and kills my chopper before they can even be bothered to get there. So then I do it again from the fucking beginning and get into the chopper to kill the gunship with the minigun and my chopper pilot fucking leaves. What the actual fuck.

Spoiler

Call in a vehicle drop at the entrance to the mine. Tranq kids. Load kids into vehicle. Fulton out. There are 5 kids so you need to do it twice to get them all.

 

[MickeyKnox]

After roughly 30 hours of MGSVing, I will now intimate my hottest, pro-est strat to you guys:
A: Always
B: Be
C: Belly-sliding

Is someone about to spot you? Belly-slide. Do you need to get into cover? Belly-slide. Going downhill? Belly-slide in a cardboard box. Want to crawl under something? Belly-slide. Gotta get up close to DD? Belly-slide. Jumping off something? Belly-slide. "The enemy sniper, Boss get down"? Belly-slide. "Those guns could cut a man in half"? Belly-slide. Tanks shooting at you? BELLY. SLIDE.

Always be belly-sliding.

It's also fantastic for late game holdups when every other enemy tries to pull a knife on you or is wearing riot gear. Run and dive into them to knock their ass to the ground and from your prone position aim at them.

 

[BocoDragon]

I'm not suggesting that lack of localisation is the sole reason for the general weirdness of the series, just that it's a contributing factor, and that being aware of it may help explain some of the seemingly odd and alienating ways in which the story is delivered.

It is a contributing factor. No doubt.

And yes, localisation is an art, and the more literal translation style used in the rest of the games is ultimately a conscious choice by Kojima; if this is the way he wants his story to be presented, then so be it. I just think it's a choice made without proper understanding of localisation and how alienating the presentation can be for western audiences.

It can be alienating.

But it's often seen as off kilter and charming.

The question is whether the off kilter nature of it was intended, or whether it actually is a localization fail. And I believe it partially is intended to be off kilter. A localization which would change these names would therefore be overstepping a mere translation of the experience into something that actively aims to change the tone of the story.

I think it's fair to say that smart localizers would have heated debates about either path.

 

[shiba5]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

Use the horse. Hop the fence behind the building the truck is parked in front of. Walk up to the truck and trigger the cutscene. Fulton the truck. Run to the right, call the horse and run right out the front gate.

 

[Roussow]

That's a bummer. Thanks for the feedback. I'll report back when I've finished – probably next week.

My favorite part of the game is probably mission

Spoiler

43

(that's just the number of the mission in the spoiler tags) -- I'm surprised to see not many people talking about that part -- so you've still got some good stuff to come, but Chapter 2 isn't a dense as 1 in story content, although the Subsistence missions are fucking great, they strip you of all equipment and have you go it with basic camo an everything is OSP except for the fulton, it's the toughest stuff in the game there's no new story, but the gameplay truly shines here.

 

[sciencerob]

The lack of timed codec calls prevents pacing. There are many times when codec calls add suspense, adds tension, provides valuable exposition that help provide a more fulfilling story. Nothing similar at all to cassettes. They are an after thought, something that you can listen to provide more information.

A good example is code talker. If provided appropriate cutscenes and codecs or communication links (whatever you desire to call it) his exposition and history might have been quite interesting and engaging. The information contained was interesting and if presented properly it would be, perhaps, memorable. Instead we have these cassettes that segment the story (even more than it already is). The problem is you can't really do anything while listening to them if you really want to take in what they are saying (or you will most likely drown it out since there is so many of them. Why not make that into several cutscenes or communication calls so the player could focus on them and make it more integral to the story.

Sadly Kojima decided the story took second place to the game mechanics and open world design.

 

[SomTervo]

My favorite part of the game is probably mission

Spoiler

43

(that's just the number of the mission in the spoiler tags) -- I'm surprised to see not many people talking about that part -- so you've still got some good stuff to come, but Chapter 2 isn't a dense as 1 in story content, although the Subsistence missions are fucking great, they strip you of all equipment and have you go it with basic camo an everything is OSP except for the fulton, it's the toughest stuff in the game there's no new story, but the gameplay truly shines here.

Yes – I just did my first Subsistence mission last night (posted about it on this page or the last one) and it was fucking glorious.

The Subsistence missions feel like the truest MGS gameplay in the whole game.

It's also fantastic for late game holdups when every other enemy tries to pull a knife on you or is wearing riot gear. Run and dive into them to knock their ass to the ground and from your prone position aim at them.

Holy nuts. I never thought of that! I've reached the stage where every enemy is now either elite and won't "get down" or they're wearing heavy gear.

Brilliant solution re divebombing them.

Sadly Kojima decided the story took second place to the game mechanics and open world design.

Yes, he made a conscious decision to do that, because the cutscene:gameplay ratio was one of the few things that huge numbers of people complained about in his earlier games.

He made the right decision imo, for better or worse.

After roughly 30 hours of MGSVing, I will now intimate my hottest, pro-est strat to you guys:
A: Always
B: Be
C: Belly-sliding

Is someone about to spot you? Belly-slide. Do you need to get into cover? Belly-slide. Going downhill? Belly-slide in a cardboard box. Want to crawl under something? Belly-slide. Gotta get up close to DD? Belly-slide. Jumping off something? Belly-slide. "The enemy sniper, Boss get down"? Belly-slide. "Those guns could cut a man in half"? Belly-slide. Tanks shooting at you? BELLY. SLIDE.

Always be belly-sliding.

Meant to reply to this, it's so true

Does someone happen to have a gif of Alec Baldwin on his belly for whatever reason/in whatever show? Would be too perfect.

 

[ginger ninja]

1) how do we pet DD on motherbase ? I was trying to do it through action button but bitch slapped him instead

2) I don't see any options for FOB so far ?

3) are we eventually allowed to carry more than two primary guns ?

4) how do I get the transportation specialist

5) how do I make more potent tranqulizers

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Has anyone gotten an S on Mission 16? If yes tell me please how?

Probably the easiest mission to S.

Spoiler

Run straight to the right hand side of the airport, hop the wall, fulton the turck and D Horse the hell out of there through the main gate. Keep running and eventually you leave the hot zone. Mission done. S rank.

 

[Phoenix944]

Oh, yeah, baby. Thanks for the tip.

I actually pre-empted you slightly already, too.

Spoiler

I already remembered that I have those anti-vehicle EMP mines, so I can freeze them on the spot. If I just make sure to bring a few of those and get to the right choke point (eg North road), I can freeze them all on the spot and capture them

Edit: but don't vehicles come from the north and south? Or wait... They leave through the north, too, don't they? Winner.

The best way to block the road is too take a tank with you before you start the mission.

And there are no tank coming from the north only a jeep with a prisoner and a truck (with the rocket launcher). You can extract both the jeep and the truck the same way as the other vehicles. It feels good to extract the jeep with 2 soldiers and a prisoner lol

 

[Lanrutcon]

I like attaching balloons to things.

I think more games need this mechanic.

 

[BocoDragon]

They've turned the highlighted into gameplay moments though. Which is a giant improvement and what Kojima would have always done, if he could.

Nothing meaningful is happening in those moments. They should have been gameplay in the first place. They're not "story beats". They're just arbitrary cutscenes.

I'm totally fine with this approach, in a more real time open world experience.

I'm not sure that I would say "Kojima would have always" done it this way. I rather think he used to have a particularly heightened fetish for scripted sequencing, and made many structured scenes that would have been gameplay, even in its particular era (there were plenty of times I entered an area in MGS2 with a big cinematic flourish that I thought... really? Just let me play). But it seems to me that he's had a change of values with V.

But those smaller moments were story beats. "I've reached the helipad and I see a Hind D" is part of additional story content if Snake comments on it in a scripted sequence in a way that it's not if it's just an emergent helicopter experience in a sandbox.

If you're saying the player gets to play and discover their own story exeriences through emergent gameplay, that's fine, but that's exactly what I'd call a more sparse storyline. That's all I've tried to say: that MGSV substitutes scripted sequences for open-ended, player-directed fun in the sandbox.

 

[DieH@rd]

AT LAST my press copy has arrived. As a big MGS fan, this long wait was very cruel.

And even more cruel thing is... I can start playing it tommorow morning. I'm off to work now. T_T

 

[Kuldar]

4) how do I get the transportation specialist

You can find one in Mission 10. It's one of the

Spoiler

prisoner you can rescue

.

 

[SomTervo]

The best way to block the road is too take a tank with you before you start the mission.

And there are no tank coming from the north only a jeep with a prisoner and a truck (with the rocket launcher). You can extract both the jeep and the truck the same way as the other vehicles. It feels good to extract the jeep with 2 soldiers and a prisoner lol

Omgicantwait.gif

Home in six hours...

 

[wesleyshark]

Thanks for this,

Spoiler

how do you open up side ops 143, is it tied to main story progression? I'm on mission 31 and need that bandanna in my life

I think 143 became available after I did some episodes and side ops after Episode 31. I'm not entirely sure when it actually showed up, though, other than it being after 31.