Can anyone explain Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Menace to me?

[BloatedGuppy]

Okay so here's what I know...

1. The protagonist looks like a snarly, bearded personality void
2. The plot line is apparently wildly incomprehensible, and this is maybe good? UNCLEAR.
3. The new game might or might not require knowledge of previous games to understand/enjoy.
4. There is stealth action of some kind.
5. Everything looks INCREDIBLY brown.
6. The creator of the game is a cracked-out auteur who is either magical or pretentious or magically pretentious and he's gone now.

Here's what I want to know...

1. What on earth is the game play like?
2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?
3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?
4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?
5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?

I am disturbed by my inability to garner any sense of what this game is about either by reading about it or witnessing it in action, so I'm relying on series veterans to translate for me. I am intrigued by the gushing, effervescent praise the fans heap upon it, but I want to know if it's the kind of "classic game" that smashes through genre barriers and appeals to all, or the kind of "classic game" that has an intense appeal to its specific weird niche and is gibberish to everyone else.

 

[josemlopes]

First you might want to invest some time researching about the game in any way if "4. There is stealth action of some kind." is part of your "What I know" list. (Also the title is wrong)

It really isnt hard to get what it is from videos. Its a stealth game where story has a big part in it, the setting is basicly a paralel version of reality where there are freaky characters and paranormal situations, with that meaning that technology also has plenty of left field stuff. So yeah, for the most part its realistic but weird stuff is common.

In this game action is viable if you bring the right gear, gameplay is mostly Splinter Cell Chaos Theory with better shooting mechanics and open world (the bases are all fun to invade so far, plenty of paths to take and explore).

Then you also have the "Mother Base" part, its your base of operations and the better you get it going the more stuff you get to use and money to spend, kind of like Xcom.


The writting is obviously by someone that english isnt his first language since some sentence structure may seem odd, also every character seems to speak in speeches, something the other games also had.

Its brown because it takes place in locales surrounded by sand and dirt.

The story, even for fans, is mostly something that you take for what it is untill told otherwise. Right away they say the character can experience hallucinations so there really isnt an easy way to know what is real or isnt (havent finished the story yet, in the other games all the weird stuff gets explained in one way or the other).

Its a very good stealth game, and most good stealth games are available on consoles too, where PC doesnt have some like Tenchu so I dont get why a "console palate" would be needed.

 

[Arkliem]

1. What on earth is the game play like?
2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?
3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?
4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?
5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?

I am disturbed by my inability to garner any sense of what this game is about either by reading about it or witnessing it in action, so I'm relying on series veterans to translate for me. I am intrigued by the gushing, effervescent praise the fans heap upon it, but I want to know if it's the kind of "classic game" that smashes through genre barriers and appeals to all, or the kind of "classic game" that has an intense appeal to its specific weird niche and is gibberish to everyone else.

1. Third person stealth/action and open worldish. You're given an objective and can go about achieving it in any way you want. Stealth is well developed. Crouching or lying in long grass/brush/etc actually works to conceal you. Enemies have several alert states. They can get a brief glimpse of you but dismiss it as their eyes playing tricks on you. If they see you long enough to think they saw something, they'll investigate it but eventually return to their patrol/post. If they're certain they saw a person but couldn't fully identify them, they'll radio it in and the base will go into alert status(Not alarmed), which results in some of the staff relocating to that area for a while and searching for you(This can be used to good effect to get into an area that was heavily guarded by drawing soldiers away from it to another area). And then there's when they fully spot you and know you're a combatant. They radio in and the base is alarmed. Soldiers will mobilize to cut you off and attack vehicles may also be brought in to take you down. Enemies are quite good at flanking and even using grenades to flush out the area they think you're at.

Unlike most stealth games, stealth takedowns are not a permanent disabled enemy. They will recover from the stun eventually, so if you're going pacifist, you can't just try to KO everyone at the base. And with the time changing in the game, they'll even leave and be replaced by a new shift of soldiers. Combat is still a viable method, but is more difficult and much more visible. It will also lower your mission score for alerting the enemy. The enemy also starts to learn your tactics. Going around bases and silently headshotting soldiers? You better believe they'll be developing helmets that can protect against it. Enemies that you manage to subdue without knocking out can be interrogated for more info about the surrounding area or your current mission.

There is also a base building aspect. You have your own R&D team as well as support, combat, and translation teams. You can gain currency from missions and ops, as well as find materials/money in the world. You also gain new personnel by extracting prisoners or even enemy soldiers(If they aren't open to joining your base, they'll get stuck in the brig until Ocelot convinces/tortures/brainwashes them into hailing big boss as savior of mankind)

2. Without knowing what you're talking about, not sure. The game can be extremely serious, but at times can also be as over the top as a Tarantino movie.

3. No. The early parts of the game take place in Afghanistan, but you also travel to some areas which are a little less brown. Your base is located on an abandoned oil drilling platform in the ocean.

4. There is a story and it probably is a mess if you're coming in to V as your first game. This video about MGS3 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zndcY57Tijo] explains backstory of the main character in V(Warning it's about 4 hours long). You can also check out Peacewalker [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cy7E76mBL0] for additional info on what's happening in Phantom Pain. GZ has some info, but it's also shown in V so it's not necessary, but does go a little more into detail.

5. Should be fine. M&KB doesn't control as well as Controller in my opinion for this game, but it's still serviceable. As a fan of DX and Thief, it's really quite good.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

1. Third person stealth/action and open worldish. You're given an objective and can go about achieving it in any way you want. Stealth is well developed. Crouching or lying in long grass/brush/etc actually works to conceal you. Enemies have several alert states. They can get a brief glimpse of you but dismiss it as their eyes playing tricks on you. If they see you long enough to think they saw something, they'll investigate it but eventually return to their patrol/post. If they're certain they saw a person but couldn't fully identify them, they'll radio it in and the base will go into alert status(Not alarmed), which results in some of the staff relocating to that area for a while and searching for you(This can be used to good effect to get into an area that was heavily guarded by drawing soldiers away from it to another area). And then there's when they fully spot you and know you're a combatant. They radio in and the base is alarmed. Soldiers will mobilize to cut you off and attack vehicles may also be brought in to take you down. Enemies are quite good at flanking and even using grenades to flush out the area they think you're at.

That does sound enticing. How "fair" is the AI? Do you feel like, once stealth is broken, you have a reasonable opportunity to re-assume it if you play correctly? Or is it all or nothing?

Does the AI ever all magically know where you are because you've been spotted by a single scout?

How essential is the story and investment in previous games in the series to enjoyment of the game? Could it hypothetically be enjoyed as just a stealth title?

(Also the title is wrong)

It's POSSIBLE I was aware of that when I wrote it. Will not confirm or deny.

PS - Thanks for your input as well.

 

[Arkliem]

That does sound enticing. How "fair" is the AI? Do you feel like, once stealth is broken, you have a reasonable opportunity to re-assume it if you play correctly? Or is it all or nothing?

Does the AI ever all magically know where you are because you've been spotted by a single scout?

How essential is the story and investment in previous games in the series to enjoyment of the game? Could it hypothetically be enjoyed as just a stealth title?

AI seems really fair to me. They're pretty good at flushing you out, but if you manage to get out(Or KO one of the flankers and sneak out that way) or hide without getting seen, they won't know where to look. They tend to lay down suppressing fire where they think you were at until they can get more soldiers over to help attack from all angles(You'll hear one yell "Cease fire!" when they feel confident enough to rush into the area and look for you) But they definitely do not have ESP like some games. Alarm states will eventually die down into search states, which become alert states, and eventually they will assume you've fled the area and resume normal operations.

Once you've been spotted, The AI will know the position you were spotted in. Whoever reports you radios into the local Command Post, and the Command Post notifies nearby soldiers of the position and tells them what's going on. When I played GZ I actually used this to sneak into an area. I got spotted and managed to hide, and when the nearby soldiers came to find me, they went past my hiding spot and I used the hole in security they left behind to sneak past a mostly open area(Which normally had some patrols in it, who were now busy looking for me) into a building.

I don't think the story is essential if all you're looking for is a fun stealth game. I will warn you that some parts will seem completely insane and nonsensical though(The intro mission alone is off the walls crazy at points).

 

[Casual Shinji]

Here's what I want to know...

1. What on earth is the game play like?

This is really hard to explain if you've never played an MGS game before. There are so many little details to the stealth action it's mindboggling, which is a staple of the franchise. Just to name a few...

- You have a horse companion, and you can hang on either side of it to avoid detection while riding past a camp. And you horse can poop... just because.
- You have a cardboardbox to hide under, and as you traverse the game you come across posters of either centerfolds or saluting soldiers which you can tear down and then put on your box for distraction.
- Any soldier you knock out you can fulton airlift out of the field to add to your main base of operations. You can do the same to animals, too. Seriously, you can fulton a bear.

And then there's the whole managing your base portion.

2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?

Yes it is.

It has the veneer of a serious military setting, but all the while there's fulton bear recovery, soldiers thanking you for saving a cute puppy, and skimpily clad sniper ladies humming to themselves. Oh and also giant robots.

3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?

No it isn't, but the first part of the game takes place in a desert region. It can get a bit tiring -I've been playing the game since yesterday and I'm still in Afghanistan.

4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?

Probably, I haven't gotten that far in it yet. But most MGS stories are an incomprehensible mess. You just need to try and enjoy the lunacy of it all. And this entry is the first that doesn't bombard you with cutscenes. There's a heavy story intro, but after that the game just dumps you in an open world, and you pretty much free to do what you want.

Does the AI ever all magically know where you are because you've been spotted by a single scout?

Yes, but the time it takes for that scout to warn his buddies is wide enough for you clock him. You can literally sprint up to an enemy soldier and press the CQC button, and eventhough you'll hear the ALERT sound cue you won't cause an actual alert as long as the guy didn't fire off a shot (and nobody else is close enough to hear the scuffle). This window is even further increased if you use REFLEX mode which slows down time.

Unlike most stealth games, stealth takedowns are not a permanent disabled enemy.

You actually can, by doing a hold-up and telling the guy to lie down on his chest. He'll just keep lying there indefinately until another guy finds him or an alert sounds.

 

[Zhukov]

Disclaimer: I've only dappled in the series (never finished a game) and I've only played the demo of Phantom Pain and bits and pieces of the main game on my housemate's console.

1. The protagonist looks like a snarly, bearded personality void.

Not quite. I'd actually compare him to Joel from The Last of Us. In that, yeah, at first glance he's a surly badass without much to distinguish him apart from an extra gravelly voice and glorious facial hair. But the game does at the very least try to do interesting things with its protagonist. Although of course the writing style is completely different.

2. The plot line is apparently wildly incomprehensible, and this is maybe good? UNCLEAR.

If it's anything like previous games in the series then it will be comprehensible, but fucking bananas, in serious need of an entire road crew worth of editors and hampered by the auteur's habit of straddling the line between fan-service and self indulgence. Imagine playing Mass Effect 3: Citadel with bad dialogue, infantile humour and no previous experience of the series.

1. What on earth is the game play like?

Think Dues Ex without the RPG stuff and lots of gimmicks.

However, the gimmicks tend to be detailed and actually well implemented and this time around the base gameplay is actually solid. Something along the lines of the good Splinter Cell games, if you've ever played those.

The mouse-and-keyboard controls are a little off. Not bad, but it's one of those games where you can tell it was designed first and foremost for a controller.

2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?

Yeeeaaaah. Everyone talks like they're recording an audio diary.

If you've ever watched poorly translated anime then you'll have some idea of what it's like.

I find it almost unbearable, but if you're the kind of person who can enjoy B-movies while sober then you can probably overlook it.

3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?

There are other environments. However, all the one's I've seen do trend toward the drab end of the scale.

4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?

Well, there's definitely a story. Can't answer the second part though.

5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?

If you can get past the above mentioned hurdles then yes, I think you could well enjoy it.

I am intrigued by the gushing, effervescent praise the fans heap upon it, but I want to know if it's the kind of "classic game" that smashes through genre barriers and appeals to all, or the kind of "classic game" that has an intense appeal to its specific weird niche and is gibberish to everyone else.

That's a good question.

I am inclined to say it's the latter, however it's way too popular to be called "niche" with a straight face.

It was a series once way ahead of its time which now really isn't, but survives through personality, for better of for worse, and an undeniably charming attention to detail that often borders on the rabid.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The best explanation I have is take a copy of any Warhammer 40k novel, preferably involving the Imperial Fists or one of their successors, tear all the pages out, take a copy of Dante's Inferno, tear half the pages out, take a copy of any Silent Hill novel or guide(preferably one involving cheerleaders) and tear exactly 61 pages out, put all the pages into a bowl with water and flower, sculpt the paper mache into a gigantic hammer, bake the paper mache at low heat, wait three hours to cool, smoke three and a half joints of pot, and then smack your mother with the paper mache hammer while screaming the lyrics to MeatLoaf's The Monster's Loose.

Then when you get down off you're high, play Arkham Asylum.

That is as closed to a Kojima game as I can get.

 

[MatParker116]

Snake fights Darth Maul.

 

[asdfen]

1. What on earth is the game play like?
plays like a really bad stealth game or mediocre third person shooterdepending on a mission

2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?
some people like it we call them mgs fans. personally I find the story in all mgs games to be garbage

3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?
the game is mostly brown

4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?
I skiped all cutscenes after unskipable hour long prologue. I cant stomach Japanese nonsense

5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?
Its a mediocre more third person shooty game than stealth. I loved thief/deus ex/... this mgs I find mostly ifuriating with horid AI that always knows where player is. The whole bases worth of oponents that magicaly all circle around you. As a shooter it has trrible balancing and a lot of cheap 1 hit ko situations. Its not bad, its not good, its just meh. Nothing new or intersing here. Open world does not work to this games advantage.

 

[RJ 17]

Here's what I want to know...

Here's all you need to know...at least as far as the story is concerned:

"Because Nanomachines"

Anything in the story that doesn't make any sense whatsoever - which is to say, at the very least, 80% of the story - can be answered with "Because Nanomachines."

Just to help you translate that phrase, "Because Nanomachines" is the same as saying "Because Wizards"...which, of course, is ultimately just the same as saying "Because Reasons."

 

[gigastar]

1. The protagonist looks like a snarly, bearded personality void

This would only appear to be true because he doesnt usually talk during gameplay.

2. The plot line is apparently wildly incomprehensible, and this is maybe good? UNCLEAR.

The imcomprehensibility of the series only got as bad as it was during MGS2 where several things happened very quickly with little to no context, and in MGS4 where Kojima got too bogged down in tying up his plot threads instead of not making it look like a contrived mess.

MGSV though, none of that nonsense, no AI overlords, no nanomachines, and only one guy with inexplicable powers.

3. The new game might or might not require knowledge of previous games to understand/enjoy.

Knowledge of events in Snake Eater and Peace Walker is all thats really needed, having knowledge of the chronologically later games does bring bring about some revelations for the overarching story though.

4. There is stealth action of some kind.

The gameplay focus is on stealth and theres plenty of action anyway.

5. Everything looks INCREDIBLY brown.

If you would like to consult some images of Afghanistan and Africa, you would find that brown is indeed the dominant colour in those areas.

6. The creator of the game is a cracked-out auteur who is either magical or pretentious or magically pretentious and he's gone now.

'Gone' as in hes left Konami. Definitely pretentious, reports of magical are believed to have been exaggerated.

1. What on earth is the game play like?

Primarily its a third person shooter, but unlike most TPS's the emphasis is on avoiding detection by enemies and eliminating them without raising the alarm.

Thats not to say the game becomes impossible if you do raise the alarm, but enemies are generally competent at gunning you down if they find you.

2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?

Youll have to be a bit more specific there. Unlike most Japanese creators, Kojima is fluent in English and all the characters are motion captured.

3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?

Afghanistan is primarily desert, though theres a fair amount of rocky steppes thrown in and a few villages.

Africa is the typical svanna its known for peppered with some heavily biult up areas and a couple of jungle areas.

4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?

Yes theres a story, no its not incomprehensible though knowing what happened in Snake Eater, Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes will help you to understand the full extent of whats going on better.

5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?

Compared to (the original) Thief and Deus Ex: HR , MGSV has far more options for stealth beyond just silent weapons and traps.

Also the PC port is near flawless. Only real problems being some keys cant be rebound and a 60fps lock if thats a problem for you.

I am disturbed by my inability to garner any sense of what this game is about either by reading about it or witnessing it in action, so I'm relying on series veterans to translate for me. I am intrigued by the gushing, effervescent praise the fans heap upon it, but I want to know if it's the kind of "classic game" that smashes through genre barriers and appeals to all, or the kind of "classic game" that has an intense appeal to its specific weird niche and is gibberish to everyone else.

I dont think this game will end up simply being a niche appeal, though for me (a Metal Gear veteran) this was definitely worth the wait.

 

[omega 616]

I'm an MGS fanboy, so take this with a pinch of salt

The game takes place in Afghanistan ... It's sandy brown, with brown mountains and brown buildings but with that said, the bits of grass that do exist, look nice and healthy green. Much like the beloved Journey, sand is brown and there is a lot of sand!

The AI is kind of "of one mind" as in if one knows where you are, they all do BUT the enemy has to see you, the reflex period to be over AND then to shout or use his walkie talkie to alert the others, so you have PLENTY of time to fix mistakes. When you are caught with your pants down and an alert kicks in, getting away is so simple and quick! Lay in a bush, away from last known location and in a minute or two, back to normal.

Yesterday I triggered the alarm, then had to dodge mortar fire but they knew where I was after every shot. So, I had to snipe, move, snipe, move etc they have like echo location but only during alert. You can get away with one unsuppressed shot and the base will report it, be sent to investigate the area and after a short "caution" phase, the base will return to normal if they don't find you.

The story so far, doesn't really exist ... Which is weird as fuck for an mgs game. I have played all but peace walker (which I played for 2 hours) to completion and I have zero fucking clue what is going and I am 4+ hours into the game. Usually story is force fed to you in an MGS game, in huge exposition dumps but the only story so far has been waking up and escaping a hospital (with some freaky pyro guys), setting up the new mother base, then meeting the big bad of the game that's it!

In MGS 4 the first cutscene is 30 mins-ish, I don't think I've had 30 mins of cutscene 4 hours in ... it's near unheard of!

I think it suffers from open world freedom, in terms of the story. The other games are linear and so can be more story focused but with open world, it has to be diluted ... though I probably don't need to tell you that.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I'm an MGS fanboy, so take this with a pinch of salt

The game takes place in Afghanistan ... It's sandy brown, with brown mountains and brown buildings but with that said, the bits of grass that do exist, look nice and healthy green. Much like the beloved Journey, sand is brown and there is a lot of sand!

The AI is kind of "of one mind" as in if one knows where you are, they all do BUT the enemy has to see you, the reflex period to be over AND then to shout or use his walkie talkie to alert the others, so you have PLENTY of time to fix mistakes. When you are caught with your pants down and an alert kicks in, getting away is so simple and quick! Lay in a bush, away from last known location and in a minute or two, back to normal.

Yesterday I triggered the alarm, then had to dodge mortar fire but they knew where I was after every shot. So, I had to snipe, move, snipe, move etc they have like echo location but only during alert. You can get away with one unsuppressed shot and the base will report it, be sent to investigate the area and after a short "caution" phase, the base will return to normal if they don't find you.

The story so far, doesn't really exist ... Which is weird as fuck for an mgs game. I have played all but peace walker (which I played for 2 hours) to completion and I have zero fucking clue what is going and I am 4+ hours into the game. Usually story is force fed to you in an MGS game, in huge exposition dumps but the only story so far has been waking up and escaping a hospital (with some freaky pyro guys), setting up the new mother base, then meeting the big bad of the game that's it!

In MGS 4 the first cutscene is 30 mins-ish, I don't think I've had 30 mins of cutscene 4 hours in ... it's near unheard of!

I think it suffers from open world freedom, in terms of the story. The other games are linear and so can be more story focused but with open world, it has to be diluted ... though I probably don't need to tell you that.

I'm only 6% in but a lot of the story bits is told via cassette tapes you can listen to. I suppose it was a compromise to those people who ***** about Kojima's long cutscenes that really are just a Kevin Smith movie (two people talking to each other).

I'm not sure if it's good or not, I suppose the idea was not to waste resources making a codec. The story presentation kinda suffers for it, but the gameplay is really good. I spent like 20 minutes yesterday going full Fumbles The Sniper on a base of enemies. (It's Fumbles. It was always Fumbles.)

 

[omega 616]

I'm only 6% in but a lot of the story bits is told via cassette tapes you can listen to. I suppose it was a compromise to those people who ***** about Kojima's long cutscenes that really are just a Kevin Smith movie (two people talking to each other).

I'm not sure if it's good or not, I suppose the idea was not to waste resources making a codec. The story presentation kinda suffers for it, but the gameplay is really good. I spent like 20 minutes yesterday going full Fumbles The Sniper on a base of enemies. (It's Fumbles. It was always Fumbles.)

Oh, so that's where the story is! I am genuinely surprised!

I HATE that form of story telling, I loved the spectacle of the cutscenes ... they always seemed very cinematic, just watch the opening scene of MGS1, being shot out of the sub, swimming through the water and climbing up to the mission start. The introduction of the beauty and beast unit terrorising the rebels with the tractor. Snake jumping onto the tanker in 2 and fortune deflecting the bullets on the bridge. The vamp and raiden fight with the geko ... amazing scenes and now I get to listen to a voice actor drearily drone into a mic!

Have to say, this game is disappointing me ...

I'm sure others are loving it and I can see why but I loved this series for it's movie nature, as well as it's gameplay. This dropped the story that made MGS, MGS 'cos people who aren't fans said they don't like the story. They appealed to the masses.

 

[shrekfan246]

There's a young boy who's part of some prophecy to grow up and save the world, but little did they know that he was being influenced by corrupt government officials the entire time and he actually goes on to become the central villain of Metal Gear Solid: A New Hope.

Fortunately, he's actually just part of a family of clones who are subject to rapid aging and bred for war, and one of his brothers happens to be on the side of "good".

Also, there's a guy with a funny name who plays every side of the political conflict, sometimes at the same time.

And something about MIDI chlorine, dunno what that's all about.

Spoiler

Now the game is figuring out which plot points are from Metal Gear, which are from Star Wars, and which are from both. Or, in other words, I haven't actually played MGSV yet because I'm poor. I mostly just wanted to make a "midichlorians" joke.

 

[Amaror]

1. What on earth is the game play like?
2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?
3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?
4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?
5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?

1. There are several aspects to the gameplay and i personally enjoy them very much. What you will be doing the most is stealth-action. You sneak around trying to fullfill various objectives, from freeing prisoners over the elimination of certain people to destruction of infrastructure. You have various gadgets to your disposal, which you unlock over the course of the game. This includes various conventional weapons, but also some rather silly gadgets, like a carboard box in which to sneak around in and a bionic arm. The list of possible loadouts is pretty large as there are lots of different things to unlock. Additionally you can have Companions at your side which also have various abilities. Like the gadgets these can be straigthforward, like your sniper-woman shooting people or your dog attacking soldiers, or they can be a bit more silly, like your sniper-woman shooting a grenate in the air to propell it in a certain direction or you horse bringin down a car on the road by making it slip on it's poop. Yes.
The large amount of abilities at your disposal makes the stealth very enjoyable, personally i find it a lot better than Thief or the newer splinter cell games, which gets improved even more by a pretty great enemy AI. Enemies have rather expansive patrolling routes, which are difficult to predict. When discovered they act pretty smart, searching a large area around the point were you have been last seen and even using a special mortar to light large areas at night.
It can make the game pretty challenging and makes it definetly more fun.
Additionally to the stealth-action part of the game you are also controlling a mercenary company. That means you have to aquire money and ressources for your equipment, free prisoners or kidnap stunned enemies to recruit for your company, build up your base, send your combat units on missions, develop new weapons and gadgets and various other activities. There's certainly a lot to do.
2. I haven't had any understanding problems with the English version so far. And while the story can be a bit silly and confusing at times, the acting itself is pretty damn great.
3. The brown desert it the open-world map of Afghanistan. There's another large map, though i haven't been to it yet. It looked a lot greener in videos though.
4. Yes there is a story. MGS games tend to be rather heavy on the story side. While there are tons of MGS games that are part of the same storyline, there are only 2 and a half (Ground Zeroes is about 2 hours long) which are chronologically before this game. I think there should be plenty of summaries of these two games on youtube. Though if you play Ground Zeroes, which was free with MGS 5 at least in the preorder (Don't know if it's still the case), there was a summarie in there before the game started, though it was only in text form. If you speak German this video summed it up pretty well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJyFhKwcDI8
5. I enjoyed it greatly and i played and enjoyed the old thief games, the old and new deus ex games and the older Splinter Cell games. Personally i think the AI in this is the best i have seen in any Stealth game yet.

And as someone whos playing his first MGS game with this there's something i feel i need to warn you about. This game is weird, as in really weird in some scenes. It changes from serious War-Scenario to fighting Ultra-fast Zombies in Gas masks. It's just weird. But once you accept that, it works actually pretty well in the game. It's silly but in a fun way.

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Yesterday I triggered the alarm, then had to dodge mortar fire but they knew where I was after every shot. So, I had to snipe, move, snipe, move etc they have like echo location but only during alert. You can get away with one unsuppressed shot and the base will report it, be sent to investigate the area and after a short "caution" phase, the base will return to normal if they don't find you.

How odd, I laid down in some grass and shot like 20 guys with a sniper without them properly finding me. They knew my location and 10 of the kills were from shooting the people that ran one by one to a mortar to flush me out. And even when one of them got to the mortar after I'd escaped, they just bombed the area and called in to HQ that they had killed the sniper.
Apart from them running one by one to the mortar, I was impressed with the way the AI handled the situation.

OT:
I've never played a MGS game before and I'm having a blast. The story doesn't make a lick of sense, It's very brown and going loud is rarely a good idea, but still It's the most fun I've had in a game in a long time.

I thought I'd die when I did this perfect stealth run through a base until I Fultoned a dude and a guy called in to HQ that he saw a guy get sent into the air in a balloon.

I'd recommend it, it's a lot of fun.

 

[GrumbleGrump]

Here's what I want to know...

1. What on earth is the game play like?
2. The little bits I've watched look like oddly translated, weirdly acted wonk. Is this meant to be part of the charm?
3. Is it all that same brown desert that I see in literally every game play video/screenshot?
4. Is there a story? Is it an incomprehensible mess?
5. Would someone who loved Thief/Deus Ex/etc approve of the stealth and the general game play? Or is it something you need a console palate to enjoy?

1.- It's pretty fun, sort of like Far Cry 3 with everything geared towards stealth. Which means direct combat is kinda clunky.
2.- Considering this game started with phrases as "This is a sneaking mission" instead of "This is an inflitration/stealth mission", it's part of the charm.
3.- As far as I have played, yes, but the game has made flirtacious nods towards Africa and other locales.
4.- Yes there is, it's about revenge, to the point that at the beginning they tell you that your name is Ahab, because subtlety. It's not that incomprehensible, though it does have some fantastical elements thrown in.
5.- You do have to hide bodies and watch the noise you make, take into account the state of your supressors, and maneuver so that you don't make the guards suspicious. Still, guards don't think that a lone gun laying on the ground where his comrade was is something weird, so... It's kinda Mid to Hard stealth?

Overall, it is pretty fun, although the keyboard controls are kinda funky. Kinda like a slightly moldy cheese, it does have something unusual, but it's not unedible.