Support NeoGAF

[Mrbob]

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?p=661466

Don't mind me, I'm just bitter I've just started Operation Snake Eater and can't join in the end game discussion right now.

 

[Mrbob]

KCEJ-West's gift for presentation is unrivaled. No game looks this good, this polished, this sophisticated. It was obviously a labor of love by all involved, and I seriously doubt we'll see them topped until they do it themselves.

Perhaps. The presentation is top notch, I agree. But one recent release rivals this game in presentation and mood and that is Half Life 2. Realize I'm early in MGS3 though (Just started Operation Snake Eater), so I know the finest points are ahead.

BTW, having just started Operation Snake Eater I'm very early into the game and I like to check this thread periodically so if you could keep any game spoilers hidden in their proper tags I would appreciate it!

 

[demi]

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?p=661466

I DID BEAT THE GAME AND I STILL THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE POSTED IN THAT THREAD

:thumbsup:

 

[Lakitu]

Spoiler

Eva is the sexiest character to ever grace a video game

 

[Socreges]

btw, for those who are fighting The End in normal mode, don't waste your time hidden in the bushes. Run a lot and use your D.Mic. At one point, he's gonna bleed and you'll be able to follow his footsteps and finish him off. Anyone tried doing a "Freeze" on him?

Spoiler

I just used my Thermal Goggles. Easy.

Btw, can someone spoil this "Freeze" business for me? Or is it something I'll eventually figure out for myself?

I don't recall a snowy mountain

That's such a disappointment, but at least now I won't be expecting one.

I mean, they have the appropriate camo and the game takes place in Russia. There must be snow at some point, if not a mountain?

But I'd just like to mention again how much better MGS3 is than MGS2. Though this is coming from someone who didn't think the world of it, besides seeing so much potential in the fundamental gameplay (which has been realized to a great extent, imo, in MGS3).

 

[EekTheKat]

I think part of the charm of this game is that at a lot of points it's absolutely drop dead HILARIOUS.

for those that might have missed it :

Spoiler

there's a hilarious scene between Snake + Eva where they "wrestle" in the cave at the waterfall. It's funny enough just seeing it and hearing the Bond-esque dialogue, but at the beginning of the scene there's a bell that rings that signals the start of the match that just pushes it over the top.

 

[Goreomedy]

I think part of the charm of this game is that at a lot of points it's absolutely drop dead HILARIOUS.

for those that might have missed it :

Spoiler

there's a hilarious scene between Snake + Eva where they "wrestle" in the cave at the waterfall. It's funny enough just seeing it and hearing the Bond-esque dialogue, but at the beginning of the scene there's a bell that rings that signals the start of the match that just pushes it over the top.

Yeah, the shadow play on the wall was so outlandish I laughed out loud.

Spoiler

For those still scratching their heads, the point of the scene was that Eva had to dig a transmiter out of, what I can only assume to be, Snake's ass.

 

[dark10x]

Perhaps. The presentation is top notch, I agree. But one recent release rivals this game in presentation and mood and that is Half Life 2. Realize I'm early in MGS3 though (Just started Operation Snake Eater), so I know the finest points are ahead.

Yeah, but HL2 does it in a very different fashion...

 

[Wario64]

Yeah, the shadow play on the wall was so outlandish I laughed out loud.

Spoiler

For those still scratching their heads, the point of the scene was that Eva had to dig a transmiter out of, what I can only assume to be, Snake's ass.

Spoiler

Doh, I took out the transmitter myself before getting to that cutscene

 

[Goreomedy]

Yeah, but HL2 does it in a very different fashion...

Right. Not sure they compare.

Half Life 2 is more about the user creating their own presentation through how they view scripted events. This does, perhaps, create more of an immersive atmosphere. But that's not what I was referring to.

Snake Eater does share that first-person immersion element with the very cool R1 moments, but it also contains cinema-quality "polygon demos" that have become a signature(love it or hate it) of the series. No one does them better.

 

[Kuro Madoushi]

Hmm...finished the game and I loved it but...

Spoiler

If Ocelot is really ADAM then why the whole battle on the plane while Snake and EVA are taking off? Why is he chasing them so hard if he was supposed to be helping them out from the beginning? I've read that he didn't help Snake in the beginning of the Snake Eater mission because he didn't want his men to find out...so what about the motorcycle chase near the end then?

 

[yoshifumi]

i've got a question:

Spoiler

did i need to hold up The End to get his camo? i tried it once, but he didn't give anything to me, and then i accidentally shot him in the back with the shotgun...i ended up tranquilizing him but in the most ridiculous possible way - i just followed him around, and if he saw me i'd just charge him, roll at him to knock him down, then shoot him when he was on the ground. i also captured and ate his parrot. so now i've got his rifle but i didn't get his camo...is it any good?

just finished the battle with the end...it took me probably an hour and a half. that was an awesome boss fight...probably the best i've played in ages. plus it had a hilarious ending

Spoiler

i laughed my ass off for like 5 minutes after his eyes bulge, his dentures pop out, and then he explodes...i knew he was going to explode, judging by the last 2 boss fights, but the fact that his dentures blew out as his eyes bulged right before it happened made it sooo much funnier. :lol:lol

 

[Piecake]

Hmm...finished the game and I loved it but...

Spoiler

If Ocelot is really ADAM then why the whole battle on the plane while Snake and EVA are taking off? Why is he chasing them so hard if he was supposed to be helping them out from the beginning? I've read that he didn't help Snake in the beginning of the Snake Eater mission because he didn't want his men to find out...so what about the motorcycle chase near the end then?

Spoiler

It wasnt apart of his mission, It was a rivalry thing. He respected snake. After being defeated and then having his live spared by snake on countless occasions, he wanted to show snake how much he improved. I believe he just wanted to beat snake 1 on 1, not kill him. Tats why he used a blank, and jumped off the plane in time to save their lifes

i've got a question:

Spoiler

did i need to hold up The End to get his camo? i tried it once, but he didn't give anything to me, and then i accidentally shot him in the back with the shotgun...i ended up tranquilizing him but in the most ridiculous possible way - i just followed him around, and if he saw me i'd just charge him, roll at him to knock him down, then shoot him when he was on the ground. i also captured and ate his parrot. so now i've got his rifle but i didn't get his camo...is it any good?

Yes

Spoiler

you needed to hold The End up to get his camo

 

[NotMSRP]

Spoiler

You need to hold him up several times before he gives you his moss camo. The easy way is to hold him up once then move your gun away and point it back at him so that it registers as another hold up.

I really loved The End fight. It has the most replayability of any boss fights in the history of video games. I replayed that battle several times already.

 

[Piecake]

Spoiler

It's also possible that the fight on the plane is the point where Ocelot replaces the real Philosopher's Legacy with the fake one that is eventually stolen by the Chinese. The only other times I can think of that he would have been able to get his hands on it are if it was given to him by The Boss or he stole it before EVA was caught with it. It would be a good explanation for his relentless pursuit (besides the rivalry) if this is so.

that makes a lot of sense

 

[SolidSnakex]

Spoiler

It's also possible that the fight on the plane is the point where Ocelot replaces the real Philosopher's Legacy with the fake one that is eventually stolen by the Chinese. The only other times I can think of that he would have been able to get his hands on it are if it was given to him by The Boss or he stole it before EVA was caught with it. It would be a good explanation for his relentless pursuit (besides the rivalry) if this is so.

Spoiler

Ocelot got it by fooling everyone as always. He knew he couldn't get it from either The Boss or Volgin. So he basically helped Snake get it so he could steal if off him. If you notice as The Boss and Eva are walking out the hanger she looks toward Ocelot and gives him a nod which seems to be the go ahead to help Snake beat Volgin. He knew that Snake would kill the Boss and she'd give him the Legacy so all he'd have to do then is just go and steal it from him. Snake is really too soft with Ocelot, while its obvious that if Ocelot tried to pull anything with Volgin or The Boss they'd both killed him.

 

[Dez]

Just started playing, didn't read through the entire thread for fear of spoilers.. The first hour shows some technical flaws in the game - graphically, the game isn't very clean looking - a lot of shimmering when the camera moves. 30 FPS makes it look less impressive than MGS2's tanker imo - but then again I haven't played much. The game could really benefit from progressive scan (any chance it supports it?). I'm also getting audio dropouts during the codecs. Is that a common problem?

 

[Goreomedy]

The audio flaws during the radio transmissions show up throughout the game. I don't know what the hell happened there. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed they fix it in a future "Substance" release.(as much as I love the game, it's for this reason I'm glad I rented it).

As for the graphics overall, I was blown away by them. The swamp is where I began to take notice.

 

[evil ways]

The sound clipping seems to be more of an issue with the PS2's streaming than the game itself. The first time I played and finished MGS3 I never had a single problem with the voices and codec.

Then I restarted the game and during a gunfight with several enemies, I went to the codec to save just in case I died, and when Para-Medic started her usual movie ramble about "James Bond", then the Major gets into the conversation, his codec image took a while to load and the voice skipped a few times but then continued normally once his pic showed up.

 

[Goreomedy]

The sound clipping seems to be more of an issue with the PS2's streaming than the game itself.

I've got a brand new PSTwo. If the system is having difficulty streaming from the disc, it is a problem with the software.

Since I was feeding the audio through my Dolby Pro Logic II receiver, I could also see by way of indicator icon that it was briefly dropping the signal during particular radio transmissions. And when I would replay areas, they flaws would show up in the exact same places.

It didn't happen enough that it took me out of the game, but I would like the issue resolved.

 

[u_neek]

Damn, I just beat The Fear - awesome bossfight! How far am I from completing?

 

[Wario64]

I guess the game has loading problems since they're using 2D images for the codecs, as crazy as it may sound. Seems like it's easier on the PS2 when they're using real time polygons like in MGS2.

If you can, play this game on HDloader, it's flawless with no loading problems at all

 

[Doc Holliday]

What the hell was Gamespot thinking? This is the best game on the ps2...period! Im almost at the end and i feel dizzy from all the cool shit ive seen. The guys are konami are gods, nobody and i mean nobody can match them.

 

[SpokkX]

is it just me that is completely underwhelmed by this game?

sure the gameplay is better than the two last metal gears. Gfx is really nice, as is the music. But thats about it

however

- the controls still STINK. Compared to for example Splinter Cell this is a joke

- and whats with the overhead perspective. It worked in the old games but in large areas stealth gameplay becomes really hindred by the awful camera. Who wants to stop every few metres and look in first person?¨

- the ACTING! How could they screw this up after the amazing acting in the first MGS? A lot of the characters sound REALLY out of place and scripted. There are also resident-evil style "wierd pauses" in the middle of the dialogue.

- the dialogue in general. Sounds like something out of a Capcom game.. that is awful

 

[Dujour]

I think I'm going to return it for a new copy in a couple of months, they might've fixed the loading issue by then, by yeah, I can't think of how anyone can hate this game, but I don't care if they do. I'm glad no one wanted to be Kojima's successor on the series, forcing him out of "retirement" just like Snake. I think I'm near then end (of the game, not the character ). I love that no one's bitching much about the game, not that it matters, but I'm happy that it's not just fans that are praising the game. I think I'm about to finish it, so I'm going to do so now so I can read all these damned spoilers

Oh, and:

- the controls still STINK. Compared to for example Splinter Cell this is a joke

:lol

 

[Wario64]

Uh oh, Splinter Cell mentioned...bail out

 

[evil ways]

 

[AssMan]

I swear to god some of the music in MGS2/MGS2 reminds me of a Joel Scumacher film, i.e., The Rock.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I swear to god some of the music in MGS2/MGS2 reminds me of a Joel Scumacher film, i.e., The Rock.

It should, Harry Gregson Williams worked on that film.

 

[AssMan]

It should, Harry Gregson Williams worked on that film.

Boy I feel like an idiot.

 

[NotMSRP]

Anyone got any pics of what the Japanese corporate stockholder bond version of MGS3 looks like?

 

[Lord Error]

Just started playing, didn't read through the entire thread for fear of spoilers.. The first hour shows some technical flaws in the game - graphically, the game isn't very clean looking - a lot of shimmering when the camera moves. 30 FPS makes it look less impressive than MGS2's tanker imo - but then again I haven't played much. The game could really benefit from progressive scan (any chance it supports it?). I'm also getting audio dropouts during the codecs. Is that a common problem?

I have played it for several hours and I think it's the best looking PS2 game there is. Despite some of the technical problems, the game does so many things right and just looks beautiful. As for the progressive scan, the only way you'll see it in the progressive mode is if you use the Blaze VGA adapter. The game runs in the full frame buffer mode, and will work with that adapter, much like other Konami's games do.

Audio dropouts seem to be something many people are experiencing. I'm playing the game off the HDD so I have not seen any loading problems, and everything loads pretty fast, but aside from recommending everyone doing the same, I don't think there's much help. I have not even tried playing the game off the DVD disc yet.

 

[u_neek]

Damn the story

Spoiler

gets confusing now... I'm fighing The Sorrow - is Snake dead or what?

And fuck, the torture scene is one of the coolest i've seen in an videogame.. EVER!
Followed by the beautiful sewer/waterfall scene.

 

[dark10x]

- the controls still STINK. Compared to for example Splinter Cell this is a joke

Splinter Cell controls very well, but the actual gameplay design is TERRIBLE. The levels are as linear as you can get, rely entirely on trial and error, and are filled with terrible AI and limited interaction. While the controls in MGS3 are akward at times, the game itself is far more rich and rewarding.

I must admit, it took a while to warm up to MGS3. I expected to jump right in and love it, but that didn't happen. Something felt "off" about the game for a while...but suddenly, something clicked. I've replayed all of the areas up until The End (which is one of the most incredible boss fights ever) and I'm finding my second run through them to be much more rewarding. My main save has me placed directly after The End, though, so I still have plenty to see...

 

[Fifty]

I love the game, but I'll second dark's complaint


"- and whats with the overhead perspective. It worked in the old games but in large areas stealth gameplay becomes really hindred by the awful camera. Who wants to stop every few metres and look in first person?¨

In the other games I didn't mind it, but having to press R1 and look around is annoying...Plus I don't like the fact you can't turn off the infiltration view when you're crawling in the bushes. I want to see who's around me, not just the bushes. Maybe that's Konami trying to be "realistic" but to me, so far, it hurts the gameplay.

 

[Miguel]

This was a while back since I started playing, but :lol @ Snake unable to control his male instincts. R1 ROX.

Spoiler

Ocelot is getting punked left and right, by Snake (thrice) by the Boss, and now he's trying to take it out on EVA

...:lol.

Spoiler

I just beat The Pain, man, all these battles are kicking my ass, I'm usually a sliver away from death when I finally beat them. I'm thinking "OH GOD PLEASE DON'T COME BACK TO LIFE AND KICK MY ASS".

Mreaaooow.

 

[evil ways]

Something that struck me as funny and I missed the first time I finished it, was the part during the torture scene when

Spoiler

Snake gets electrocuted to hell, Star Wars Emperor style, and he pees himself, then Volgin goes "That's it, let yourself go, that's what I want to see".

:lol poor guy, reminds me of the Chappelle Show "Law & Order" skit.

 

[Azrael]

Yes, I love how you can't move in first person most of the time, but then they force you to do so in one instance where a third person view is vastly preferable (crawling through bushes). I'm enjoying the game a lot so far, but I'm not a fan of the camera, or the use of pressure sensitive buttons (there's a reason pretty much every other developer but Kojima has ignored this feature altogether - it sucks).

 

[Socreges]

Before 'The End'...

Spoiler

After exiting the warehouse, the section where you move through the forest (eventually coming to The End) is wonderful. It's so organic and unrefined, but carefully designed. Definitely my favourite part of the game so far.

I'm just going to run over what happened, because it truly was the series' shining moment for me. So much intention was realized, I think

After coming out of the warehouse, before seeing any enemies, I came to a fork and took the right path. I went up a hill and took out the mic. I moved it around and could hear footsteps. I didn't know where from, though, and didn't feel comfortable going forward. I went back to the fork and took the left route. I came to a tree, crawled up it, and onto a small platform where the trunk ends. I took out the scope and couldn't see anything. So I used the mic again and waved it around, finally finding the source. I again took out the scope and focused on one particular area. Eventually the guard revealed himself (a lot of my vision was obscured by foliage). Just his head. I took out my Mk22 and picked him off. I jumped down and moved forward. To my left I then saw another guard coming up a path. I quickly hid behind a tree and waited a few moments for him to come to the side of it. I went around the tree, dropping down a short cliff, approached the guard from behind (using the d-pad), and captured him. Interrogated, choked, pilfered, and then moved on.

I moved cautiously forward, aware that there could be more guards at any point, in any number. I couldn't hear any footsteps with the mic, so I was able to go several feet without worrying. I broke out the mic again moments later and could hear footseps. Yet they sounded really awkward and quick. Turned out that there were two guards who were crossing paths. I moved down into some grass, took out the scope, and managed to locate both guards. One came up right alongside me. Confident that the other guard was far enough away at this point, I tranq'ed the one guard and then carried him away. Slowly then I moved towards the other guard and captured him. I interrogated and he told me that there are traps everywhere. Sure enough I then observed the environment a little more closely and noticed several different traps that I hadn't seen before. One of which I narrowly missed.

Then another fork. The left one ended up leading towards the boss, so I went back and took the right one. This is where the cabin was. I'm not going to bother going into detail because it took me about 45 minutes to clear the area (by my own choice - I was extremely careful and tactical) and get the items. Awesome fun, though. I love the optional stuff like that.

What made the run all the better was that I wasn't seen once. It was such a raw, pure experience. I really hope there are more jungle sections like that.

From this, I'm going to insist again that no one play the game on Normal. Hard focuses you to play an entirely different game. And just the thought of playing this game on Extreme gives me a stiffy.

 

[VNZ]

I guess the game has loading problems since they're using 2D images for the codecs, as crazy as it may sound. Seems like it's easier on the PS2 when they're using real time polygons like in MGS2.

That could have made sense if the 2D images were animating during the conversations. Since they're stills, loaded prior to the conversation (except the odd "context" images loaded during conversation now and then), that is definitely not the problem. The problem seems to be that the engine tries to stream both the background loop and the next conversation clip simultaneously, obviously failing to keep both buffers satisfied at all times. Gotta equip my PS2 with HDD before my next run, if there's really no streaming problem when running off HDD...

I also think that the first few hours of the game fails to make the same ultra-polished impression of the Tanker episode in MGS2. 60fps, crazy detail everywhere, the rain effects, loads of physics-based destructibles, awesome stylized modelling and color etc... The first passages of MGS3 actually felt sloppy in comparison (need I mention the swamp area with 10fps at best during FPS view?).

The game really start to shine then, though. For me, "it" happened

Spoiler

at the river section after the cave. The searchlights through the water, the first "unrealistic" mechanics designs, the music, awesome water effects at a steady framerate. Everything just clicked.

. From there on, the game totally got me in the zone and I knew I had to finish it in one go to maximize the experience. It turned out a longer than expected session, with the credits rolling before my fatigued eyes at 09:30 in the morning...

Another technical observation: Anyone else noticed that some cutscenes late in the game run in 60fps, much like cutscenes in MGS2 sometimes switched from the usual 30 to 60 for certain cuts? Perhaps they aimed at 60fps for the whole game early on (or maybe for in-door areas) but had to give it up when realizing they couldn't pull of the larger areas at anywhere near the 60 fps mark.

Another thing that contributed to the lesser polish was the heavy color-banding in some areas. I don't know if it's due to some sort of rounding-error or if it actually runs in 16 bit color at places (it certainly looked like 24 bit color at other times).

Gameplay-wise I really think the survival-managent options shouldn't have been available at all times. The fact that you can switch uniforms, feast on a raw goat-sized mammal, chit-chat on the radio (or listen to some Chunk Raspberry!) and treating a couple of gunshot wounds in the middle of combat made the survival aspect more abstract than necessary. It would've greatly increased theimmersion if those menues only were available in safe moments/locations.

 

[Bizarro Sun Yat-sen]

I don't see how pressure-sensitive buttons could be a bad idea. Controller design is basically similar to musical instrument design: the aim is to provide expressive capability to the player/musician. Dynamic range, i.e. the ability to play each note more loudly or softly, is a very important element of musical expression, and electronic keyboard instruments provide for this with velocity sensors that detect how hard you've hit the key.

Rather than pressure-sensitive buttons being a bad feature, it's more likely that software developers just haven't figured out how to use them properly. They're the ones to blame, not the hardware designers.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

I don't see how pressure-sensitive buttons could be a bad idea. Controller design is basically similar to musical instrument design: the aim is to provide expressive capability to the player/musician. Dynamic range, i.e. the ability to play each note more loudly or softly, is a very important element of musical expression, and electronic keyboard instruments provide for this with velocity sensors that detect how hard you've hit the key.

Rather than pressure-sensitive buttons being a bad feature, it's more likely that software developers just haven't figured out how to use them properly. They're the ones to blame, not the hardware designers.

The pressure sensitive controls take some getting used to. It took me about 20 mins to get used to CQC (without fucking up), after that I was happy with its implementation. It's kind like how I disliked the pressure sensitve shooting in MGS2, once I got used to it I loved it.

 

[Truelize]

I love the game, but I'll second dark's complaint


"- and whats with the overhead perspective. It worked in the old games but in large areas stealth gameplay becomes really hindred by the awful camera. Who wants to stop every few metres and look in first person?¨

In the other games I didn't mind it, but having to press R1 and look around is annoying...Plus I don't like the fact you can't turn off the infiltration view when you're crawling in the bushes. I want to see who's around me, not just the bushes. Maybe that's Konami trying to be "realistic" but to me, so far, it hurts the gameplay.

IAWTP

I had no problem with the camera angles when I had a radar that told me what direction the enemy was facing. But now I'm constantly using R1 to see where I'm going.
This game would be gold if you could swing the camera to an over the shoulder view like in Resident Evil 4.
And that inversion view is annoying sometimes. But I've found that you can have just your feet in the grass and still be at 95% covered so it hasnt really bothered me much lately.

 

[Kuroyume]

Like dark I too was a bit confused without the radar and being able to know what's around me but I quickly became used to it and I think the gameplay benefited 100x more now that you can't tell what's around you, and instead you have to really survive rather than depend on looking at the radar.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

For people that hate the infiltration view in bushes:

Crawl to the edge of a bush, you should be able to get the top down view and still have your camo index number at the same number, gotta do it slowly, or else you'll exit the bush. There seems to be an 'overlay' between the bush and the regular ground in each bush, once you hit that sweet spot you'll get a top down view, while still being covered like if you were totally in the bush. A bit of an exploit, but it works almost everytime for me...

Edit: Oh and I actually think the camera is pretty decent, I like the fact that you can move the camera slightly and 'lock' it into place...not as good as the splinter cell camera, but it makes things a lot easier for me.

 

[Dead]

For people that hate the infiltration view in bushes:

Crawl to the edge of a bush, you should be able to get the top down view and still have your camo index number at the same number, gotta do it slowly, or else you'll exit the bush. There seems to be an 'overlay' between the bush and the regular ground in each bush, once you hit that sweet spot you'll get a top down view, while still being covered like if you were totally in the bush. A bit of an exploit, but it works almost everytime for me...

Edit: Oh and I actually think the camera is pretty decent, I like the fact that you can move the camera slightly and 'lock' it into place...not as good as the splinter cell camera, but it makes things a lot easier for me.

or just press R1 + R2 and L2 to look up over the grass

 

[Pedigree Chum]

or just press R1 + R2 and L2 to look up over the grass

That too. Lately, I've started to just do that, it's cool to do headshots in that view

 

[Dead]

Hehe theres so many moves and crap I didnt figure out til later in the game, I really need to play it again

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Hehe theres so many moves and crap I didnt figure out til later in the game, I really need to play it again

I read the manual early on, and dicked around for hours in the Virtuous Mission part. Got the controls down pat, then moved on. It's making the ehole experience a lot less frustrating, and a lot more enjoyable.

 

[Lord Error]

Am I missing something, or is there absolutely no chance of using the sonar or motion detector on hard difficulty level? I don't have either of those two devices yet... Not that I've needed them so far, but Sonar could prove to be useful.

I've made it to the end of the cave now, and to the beginning of the aquaduct. What an incredibly beautiful and serene scene. I got a chance to see those little, hmmm, vehicles from the trailers for the first time here

Fight with Ocelot was incredibly fun. I loved the whole wild west themed setup, just perfect. Unfortunatelly, I run into that fight escaping from soldiers from the base before that, and then there was no going back - I completely missed the chance to see what's in the base

Fight with Pain was interesting, but not as much as with Ocelot. I also beat him on my first try (with very little energy left though), while I died couple of times on Ocelot. I thought it was interesting that Pain didn't have a story of his life to tell while dying I guess I could have got that by calling on the radio, but much like with Ocelot, I forgot to do that at the time.

The problem seems to be that the engine tries to stream both the background loop and the next conversation clip simultaneously, obviously failing to keep both buffers satisfied at all times. Gotta equip my PS2 with HDD before my next run, if there's really no streaming problem when running off HDD...

Yeah, do that, you won't regret, if for MGS3 alone

I also think that the first few hours of the game fails to make the same ultra-polished impression of the Tanker episode in MGS2. 60fps, crazy detail everywhere, the rain effects, loads of physics-based destructibles, awesome stylized modelling and color etc... The first passages of MGS3 actually felt sloppy in comparison (need I mention the swamp area with 10fps at best during FPS view?).

I have to disagree. The game grabbed me in from the first scene like nothing did recently. Hell, I think I spent five minutes just walking and crawling through the grass and looking how it perfectly sways back and forth. I couldn't stop adoring how every little detail was put together nicely, to make for the most well crafted forest scenes I've ever seen. Not to mention character models and their faces and animation. I honestly think this game is the most sublime looking, next to Ico, of everything I've played in a long while - from the beginning, to the location I'm at now - and judging by what everyone's saying, it's only going to get better.