Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain - The Bear and Badger

JonB

Vela wrote:

No one would remember that after 150 hours of checklisting menial repetitive tasks. Amazing controls, poorly designed missions, with a map that is deceptively closed off from truly accessible open play. Easily the biggest disappointment for me since halo 3.

Poorly designed missions? Well.

I mean, I don't remember any other game giving so many different and interesting ways of approaching missions, allowing so much room for improvisation, or layering up objectives in a way that makes you consider tactics, but sure, OK.

Now I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say D-dog was a prick for the full WTF experience.

Paul the sparky

I think the missions involving those warping invincible dickheads are poorly designed. The normal stuff without any bosses etc. are great though.

Vela

Warping invisible dickheads. Disarm the landmines 1 through 17. Take out the tank 1 through 47. So much repetition.

Tempy

Always vaguely bemused by people who didn’t like the side-ops yet did them anyway. Sort of like complaining you don’t like one of the dishes at a buffet but piling your plate high with it.

Vela

theyre not entirely optional when they gatekeep the story missions.

Tempy

I did one or two, sure, but not nearly enough to get bored of them

JonB

Yeah, those aren't the missions.

I certainly didn't do them all either, but had a lot of fun with them for a good while. There's so much room for experimenting with tools and tactics, just the simple act of dealing with a patrol or taking out a tank is a test of imagination as much as anything.

Verecocha

I had to complete a couple to unlock the final mission last night, and whilst they’re completely not for me, I just completed them as quickly as possible and they were extremely short and easy, I do agree that if you wanted you could make much more of them. I’m just not really a fan of open world games and turning an MGS entry into a quasi OWG just wasn’t for me.

digi

Vela wrote:

Warping invisible dickheads. Disarm the landmines 1 through 17. Take out the tank 1 through 47. So much repetition.

You only had to do side quests that had the yellow writing rather than white.
(that's explained in game too)
As they were story based.

Spoiler:

Facewon

Restart on pc.

That intro is still as mental as ever.

Tempy

I am not sure i could sit through it for a fourth time

Facewon

This only my second time, with a big gap.

Controls are already coming back quickly, so I think I'll be able to streamline pretty well.

Wookienopants

Being one of the biggest MGS fans I’m amazed by how hard I bounced off this.
Hated the open world design and thought the mission structure was not what I wanted from a MGS game.

Such a disappointment

Time_on_my_hands

I'm with Wookie on this - the intro was absolutely amazing, but the game gave me no motivation. The gameplay was interesting, but the almost utter lack of dialogue from Snake - the audiologs didn't work as well as codec - stopped me getting involved in what felt like a really weak story.

Wookienopants

I still think the original MGS was the best. A tightly scripted straightforward playable action movie. Loved it.

MGSV was a sprawling, meandering mess

Facewon

How the hell are we ever calling a kojima game "tightly scripted?"

Wookienopants

Well, the first was when compared to the rest!

Wookienopants

Before the nonsense with The Patriots etc

Wookienopants

And the talking hand taking over Ocelot

Syph79

MGS3 is probably the tightest in my view. There’s so much to love about 5, but it really could’ve done with being finished.

Roujin

Ground Zeroes doesn't get nuff respec imo. Such sandbox, many tactical espionage, wow.

Wookienopants

Now it’s odd because I actually liked Ground Zeros. Loved the single small area with lots of ways to deal with it.
It’s just that the size of the main game put me right off

retroking1981

Wookienopants wrote:

I still think the original MGS was the best. A tightly scripted straightforward playable action movie. Loved it.

Definitely.

I wish they took a James Bond approach instead of a deep sprawling story arc.

Much like X-Files monster of the week>mythology episodes.

JonB

Well I'm certainly glad none of you got what you wanted.

Tempy

I don’t like open world stuff but I have no issue with MGSV cos it’s all sleight of hand anyway - tightly designed areas dotted around a largely barren map, missions designed to take advantage of how each area is built. Smart stuff.

Verecocha

I hated it. But I finished it recently. Thank god. Was destroying my soul not having an MGS finished. Original MGS closely followed by MGS-Twin Snakes the winner for me, then 3.

mistercrayon

It does raise a question about what the heck a “series” is [btw fuck the word franchise].

Clearly there are hallmarks that go through the solid series - characters, codecs, nonsense plot. But in terms of the game you go from
1 avoiding cones behind cubes
2 avoiding cones behind cubes
3 hoping to avoid sightlines basically anywhere through planned camo
4 avoiding sightlines and hiding by sitting still for a second.
5 Avoid detection by ballooning people away.

On the other hand if it was just the levels structure that people wanted why is mgs 2 hated mostly for its plot and loved mostly for its plot! But that game did at least keep a lot of MgS1 gameplay. If people can see past plot as irrelevant.

Very confusing!!

Facewon

I enjoyed, but never completed, everything after 1.

Wanted to be knee deep in them all, but it was always a weird mix of rules and structure.

Like please play with all these toys, but there's pretty harsh fail states, and this next bit will be a different camera angle and there'll be 20 cut scenes and and and.

Never felt I had enough time to actually come to grips with just being snake.

5 allows a lot of time to - yes - meander, and just be snake. And try stuff out at check points, and then be a bit more trad mgs in specific areas.

I'll still be annoyed by some of the missions I know are coming, but at least now I know how to skip through them and what BS there is in spots. (looking forward to rescuing invisible kids again, lol)

But the absolute glorious kojima silliness and options once you start diving into some of the mid size bases with a bunch of cool gear is absolutely top tier.

This game and gz are just magnificent.

Facewon

Cracking along easily with the replay. Everything has come back to me. Very early days, but I'll be caught up soon enough.

Good times. Some early base clear outs have been so fun.

Time_on_my_hands

I thought I'd completed this and it comes up with 'Chapter 2'. Without too many spoilers, am I only half way through?

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