Board 8 > What do people generally think of Metal Gear Solid V?

(+) Yeah! (+)

From what I can tell it seems to be very divisive but generally considered good to great.
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the gameplay loop is satisfying as fuck, and the metal gear moments are very metal gear.

but it is the least interesting in the series as far as story goes and fails the hardest when it comes to storytelling. also has the most boring snake due to the high cost of keifer's voice acting.

there is some seriously kojima things that are dumb, quiet could have been way better and instead she's just a pair of tits and that's it. great graphics, great sound design, and far and away the best gameplay in the series that for some slightly wears out its welcome

me, i'm looking forward to replaying it on PC soon
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It's not very good
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I think digi summed it up quite perfectly
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It has the best and most fluid gameplay of probably any game out there.

Story is not as great as the prior ones.
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Gameplay is sensational

Story is unsatisfying
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What Digi said.


I think Breath of the Wild is the only game in recent memory that had me like, itching to come home and play it coz of the gameplay alone.
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Great game! It has some severe problems with the pacing however. I do not think the story is bad, it's certainly leagues better than 4's silliness but it does have some major problems. The villain's plan is absurd even by series standards, and he's a pretty bad character in his own right. The first half of the game delicately gives you tiny breadcrumbs of story, then the second half just dumps a ton on you. The second half also has substantially worse gameplay than the first even though the story is more interesting. The story is structured interestingly, effectively into different strands for each major character (except Ocelot who is massively under-utilised). The problem here is the game spends a huge amount of time on one strand, then rushes through the remaining three or four.

With that said while it is flawed I like it a lot, it's one of the better Metal Gear Solid games. I would say it's third of he six main ones, behind 3 and 1.
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@foolm0r0n
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Open world is the devil! Rawr!

-foolmo's response
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It's empty and unfinished, especially narrative-wise but also gameplay-wise. The gameplay loop can be enjoyable but it's super shallow. If you've played Far Cry 3 or any of its clones then it won't amaze you. Absolutely no good level design like in mainline MGS games. Which I guess is okay since it's not a mainline MGS, but even Ground Zeroes had a brilliant level so I dunno.

Basically do not expect a game full of Ground Zeroes. Expect a Peace Walker sequel without the story.
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GotY 2015
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I've reviewed it, read it. In short, it's great, but the story could've been told better. But Konami's treatment of Kojima at the time explans it.
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I'll probably never play it again.
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Terrific game with phenomenal gameplay

Could have been more story stuff but I liked the cutscenes and the way they were shot (though maybe a bit too much stuff on the landing pad).

Would have liked more stuff to do at Mother Base and it was sad how much was unfinished.

But the overall experience was terrific and the bits of real MGS lore, especially once you get the truth tapes, were satisfying because they were so rare. Worthy addition to the series. Not the experience of 1-4 but still better than most stuff on the market.

Also that intro level.
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Extremely disappointing in every way except gameplay
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Gameplay wasn't even all that great. Amazing mechanically, but I lacked enjoyment in the field after the first ten or so hours. It needed more boss fights, too.
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Jeff Zero posted...

Gameplay wasn't even all that great. Amazing mechanically, but I lacked enjoyment in the field after the first ten or so hours. It needed more boss fights, too.

The game would have benefited a lot from having a group of wacky bosses with offensive accents, silly weapons, and nonsensical motives. I'm not even joking about that.
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Anagram posted...

Jeff Zero posted...

Gameplay wasn't even all that great. Amazing mechanically, but I lacked enjoyment in the field after the first ten or so hours. It needed more boss fights, too.

The game would have benefited a lot from having a group of wacky bosses with offensive accents, silly weapons, and nonsensical motives. I'm not even joking about that.

Me neither.

The MGS enemy units got progressively worse with each installment.
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So this is raven territory.

That's a Soviet soldier.
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Jeff Zero posted...

Anagram posted...

Jeff Zero posted...

Gameplay wasn't even all that great. Amazing mechanically, but I lacked enjoyment in the field after the first ten or so hours. It needed more boss fights, too.

The game would have benefited a lot from having a group of wacky bosses with offensive accents, silly weapons, and nonsensical motives. I'm not even joking about that.

Me neither.

The MGS enemy units got progressively worse with each installment.

No way

FOXHOUND > Cobras > Dead Cell > B&B
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Granted, the Cobras over Dead Cell is understandable. The Joy takes thanks very far all on her own. But overall, I'll take Dead Cell. They had definable arcs, every one of them.

Watch this magic unfold:

FOXHOUND > Dead Cell > The Cobras > B&B Corps > A buncha robots > Parasyte or whatever
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Dead Cell had definable arcs but they're all bottom tier characters for the series except for Solidus and even he's kinda overrated.
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Why am I the only one who can't die?
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Jeff Zero posted...

Why am I the only one who can't die?

believe me I asked this question about Fortune many times
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Still tickin', huh?
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Honestly every villain squad outside of FOXHOUND is lackluster. Dead Cell isn't likable, Cobras are flat, B&B aren't integrated well into the story. I might actually prefer B&B the most out of the three just because of how nuts they were, complete with ridiculous post-fight backstory.
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I really dislike B&B whenever I think about them, but come replay time I wind up remembering I only kinda dislike them. They're better than their legacy, if that makes sense. But still very subpar.
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KamikazePotato posted...

B&B aren't integrated well into the story

I watched a video by a guy insisting this was genius because of course a world with really disconnected machine-run war would have soldiers with no personality or motives.
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The B&B Unit are all really good boss fights (except for Raging Raven), so I tend to give them a pass for their lack of otherwise discernible quality traits. Pretty good designs, too.
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Anagram posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

B&B aren't integrated well into the story

I watched a video by a guy insisting this was genius because of course a world with really disconnected machine-run war would have soldiers with no personality or motives.

this is the most "trust me guise, Kojima is secretly a closet super genius" thing I've read all week
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Anagram posted...

KamikazePotato posted...

B&B aren't integrated well into the story

I watched a video by a guy insisting this was genius because of course a world with really disconnected machine-run war would have soldiers with no personality or motives.

It's a good concept. Just not executed super well.
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I feel like the tacked-on backstories thing was Kojima's troll response to people complaining that most of the Cobras didn't have someone on your crew tell you all about them, so he just had Drebin tell a story that may or may not be true just to mess with you.
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Jeff Zero posted...

this is the most "trust me guise, Kojima is secretly a closet super genius" thing I've read all week

'All week'

LeonhartFour posted...

I feel like the tacked-on backstories thing was Kojima's troll response to people complaining that most of the Cobras didn't have someone on your crew tell you all about them, so he just had Drebin tell a story that may or may not be true just to mess with you.

In fairness, I'm still not clear on what the Fury was so mad about during WWII, since he couldn't have been an astronaut yet. Was he just dressed like a normal soldier?
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He saw the world on fire, dude. Duh.
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Maybe he was just The Kinda Miffed in WWII but became full-blown The Fury after he came back from space
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kevwaffles posted...

He saw the world on fire, dude. Duh.

just like the man on fire
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LeonhartFour posted...

Maybe he was just The Kinda Miffed in WWII but became full-blown The Fury after he came back from space

"Argh, I'm slightly annoyed by all these damn Nazis!"
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Sure, the B&B had like, no characters, but who cares? None of the units in the other games really had characters that were selling points either. I'm the last guy to defend MGS4 as a whole but the bosses were good-- I'll take Drebin's random ass backstory dumps laid over good boss fights over most of the bads from the other games. Cobra Unit is the only one that can compete really.
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but who cares?

me
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I'll take a good design over complex character concepts like "uses bees as weapons" and "bomber on rollerskates" myself.
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The Pain is probably the least complex character in the series actually

even less than any of the B&B people or the Parasytes
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Hey man, don't insult Fatman.

He used to hang around depawtmint stoa clock countas.
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I mean really if we're talking character simplicity I'd say over half of the bosses in MGS1-3 are about on par with the B&B. And then of the remaining characters you've got less still that are actually good characters.

There just isn't really a lot to MGS baddies. I personally don't mind this but if you're gonna hate on the B&B because they lacked dialogue, you should.
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My issue with the B&B is that they're randomly dumped on you at various points in the game and...that's it. Cobras have this problem too - to an even greater degree really because you learn virtually nothing about them. I'll take Drebin's monologues over nothing (they were actually pretty fun).

Dead Cell had good plot integration, but they also suffered from the fact that they were a small group and one of their members was a fat dude on rollerskates.
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It's more the way it's packaged than the contents.

B&B "backstory" feels completely tacked-on and feels like Kojima didn't actually care about it. I don't mind most of the Cobras having zero substantial character but at least Kojima made them as campy as possible to compensate.
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FOXHOUND are so far above the rest

I like the others for various different reasons, but they carefully structured MGS1 in such a way that even the three FOXHOUND members we care least about (apart from Octopus, though that was a good twist) have several encounters with you before you kill them, or they have some cutscene time. Wolf has a huge impact on the story, Raven has the tank fight and at least some buildup before you fight him, and Mantis was memorable and his presence was felt throughout the game. And most importantly, we see the less important members of FOXHOUND interact with Liquid and Ocelot on occasion, giving them a bigger sense of their place and importance.

Dead Cell did this with Fortune but she doesn't count (no climactic boss fight). Vamp and Fatman could be examples of that I suppose, but Fatman is dealt with very quickly.

Edit: this basically comes back to what KP was saying about integration. FOXHOUND was integrated into the plot so much more tightly than the others. Cobra and Dead Cell would be second and third but it's not close

FOXHOUND were just way more rounded. More time was sunk into them outside of their actual boss battles and they feel more memorable as characters and as fights as a result. A massive cut above.

That said, 3 has the two best "vs. Member of a villainous team" boss fights what with The End and The Boss. B and Bs are good to great fights with totally forgettable characters.

I like the idea PW had to make the villainous team essentially mini Metal Gears. I mean it's worse than the original 4 but the idea was a cool twist on the formula which I appreciated and enjoyed at least
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KamikazePotato posted...

one of their members was a fat dude on rollerskates.

Problem?
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B&B were awesome because they were all just references to MGS1/2/3 bosses. It perfectly fit the theme of coming full circle with the series and finally ending it. And yeah they were plenty unique on their own.
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meh gameplay, bad story
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