Can you suggest any PC games that play similarly to Phantom Pain? Open world optional.

[ninja666]

So, for the past week I've been watching the Super Best Friends' LP of Phantom Pain, and while I don't understand the story at all, the game is extremely fun to watch. Actually, it was so fun I was considering getting it numerous times. Turns out it's a terrible idea, though because it requires you to play at least three other games in the series spread across three different platforms I don't have the money for (where I live consoles are so ridiculously expensive when compared to PCs it's not even funny; even the old-gen ones). Can you suggest something more self-contained that plays similarly and is available for PC?

Basically what I'm looking for is a third person action game that lets you choose your approach - in MGSV both stealth (be it lethal or not) and "going loud" are viable gameplay styles and there are missions that cater to both those styles. Not to mention both those styles are pretty developed (the game gives you a shitload of weapons and accessories for both lethal and non-lethal playstyles), giving you even more playstyle opportunities. On top of that add very fluid movement and gun control, as well as dynamic combat that forces you to stay mobile at all times. Open world elements, base management, and the same level of over the top epicness optional (the last one mostly because I don't think there even are games in the same style that are as over the top as MGS).

Also, if it helps you in any way, the game MGS V reminded me of, to an extent, was Tomb Raider Reboot.

And here's the answer to the question that will definitely pop-up sooner or later: Why not get MGS V anyway if I find is so fun?

Well, apart from the awesome gameplay I'd also like to get invested in the story and from what I've seen so far in that LP I managed to figure out nothing. There seems to be so much stuff dependent on the previous games, I feel like I won't make any sense of the story without playing the rest of the series. Unless Kojima is the Japanese equivalent of David Cage and the storyline won't make any sense even after playing the rest of the Metal Gear Solids. In that case I'll pick up Phantom Pain and dive right in without any remorse.

Anyways, thanks in advance for helping me out one way or another.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And here's the answer to the question that will definitely pop-up sooner or later: Why not get MGS V anyway if I find is so fun?

Well, apart from the awesome gameplay I'd also like to get invested in the story and from what I've seen so far in that LP I managed to figure out nothing. There seems to be so much stuff dependent on the previous games, I feel like I won't make any sense of the story without playing the rest of the series. Unless Kojima is the Japanese equivalent of David Cage and the storyline won't make any sense even after playing the rest of the Metal Gear Solids. In that case I'll pick up Phantom Pain and dive right in without any remorse.

Well then, you're "lucky", because the story sucks whether you're a longtime fan or not. This entire game hinges on the gameplay, and the story just makes an occasional appearance every couple of hours.

 

[ninja666]

Well then, you're "lucky", because the story sucks whether you're a longtime fan or not. This entire game hinges on the gameplay, and the story just makes an occasional appearance every couple of hours.

Let's put the salt aside. Whether it sucks or not, will I be able to understand the gist of it from playing MGS V alone? I'm not talking about the deepest parts of the lore meant for the die-hard enthusiasts, just the basic "what's going on and why should I care".

 

[StatusNil]

How about the latest Splinter Cell (Blacklist)? No open world (pretty linear, mission-based) and "base" upgrades are minimal, but it is a third person action game that supports both stealthy/shooty, lethal/nonlethal playstyles, even if one or the other is required at some points. And the plot is fairly basic, so you can just get into it.

Many people of course prefer the earlier ones, for various reasons. Not least among them the fact that they replaced the great Michael Ironside with some generic dude as the voice of the protagonist. But it's a fine stealth shootin' romp anyway.

One huge caveat, though. It's by Ubisoft. And we all know what that entails on PC.

 

[ninja666]

How about the latest Splinter Cell (Blacklist)?

Seems like a decent enough game. Might be what I'm looking for. One question, though - is this bullshit "mark and execute" mechanic mandatory to use? Will I be locked out of some upgrades if I don't use it because using it accumulates some sort of XP?

 

[StatusNil]

One question, though - is this bullshit "mark and execute" mechanic mandatory to use? Will I be locked out of some upgrades if I don't use it because using it accumulates some sort of XP?

Not mandatory, no. And it's not even available on higher difficulty.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

will I be able to understand the gist of it from playing MGS V alone? I'm not talking about the deepest parts of the lore meant for the die-hard enthusiasts, just the basic "what's going on and why should I care".

I think so. MGS5 mainly ties into Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes, I've tried playing Peace Walker but the levels/areas were just so small (since it's originally a PSP game). And I still haven't played Ground Zeroes mainly because I know it's so short so I can play through it real fast so I just never got around to it, and then Phantom Pain came out and I've been playing it non-stop. The Phantom Pain takes place before MGS2 and MGS4, which is where the major convolutedness takes place. So far there is nothing I haven't gotten yet in Phantom Pain story-wise.

---

Like another poster mentioned, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a really solid stealth game. The game provides like mini-sandboxes to find your path through the level. I only played the very 1st Splinter Cell before that and I wasn't too much of a fan of that as it was you pretty much just hid in the dark and waited.

Watch Dogs is a really solid experience especially in the gameplay department as you can mix and match on-the-fly between stealth, hacking, and shooting. The controls and shooting are easily the best I've ever experienced in a open world TPS, the smoothness just blows away anything Rockstar has done. The story and characters are super bland and generic but the missions themselves really allow for many options to complete them from stealth to run-and-gun, you can even complete missions just standing still and hacking through the cameras, it's kinda like Batman in the sense you jump from camera to camera like Batman does gargoyles. Watch Dogs is basically 3rd-person Farcry set in a city with hacking. Here's a clip of a mission I did in Watch Dogs:

Spoiler

I'll throw out Mercenaries as another game, it's not on PC but I'm guessing there's ways of playing it now on PC. This is still my favorite sandbox game. You have a bunch of factions you have to do missions for so one mission you'll be hired by the US to do something bad against the Chinese, then next mission you're hired by the Chinese to do something bad to the US. You want to complete missions without the other faction knowing it was you so they don't get mad at you. The game is more of a puzzle game in the sense that there's always a way to do a mission without the faction knowing it was you. Yeah, you can take the easy route and just pay them off to forgive you, but it was a blast trying to find a way to complete missions without them knowing. The key features that make Mercenaries unique were the airstrikes (which can be used very strategically) and vehicle disguise system (get in a Chinese vehicle and you're disguised as the Chinese). The basic stealth is pretty weak but overall doable once you learn the ins and outs of the AI.

The Hitman games offer a wealth of different options (anything before Absolution, which plays like a basic linear stealth game).

I know Dishonored is 1st-person but, much like Hitman, offers lots of different options to complete your hits, even more options than Hitman. You can get NPCs to take care of your targets for example. With the powers, you just have so many different options like you can stop time to pull an enemy's bullet out of the air to use in your own gun and shoot him with his own bullet. There's tons of Dishonored videos on Youtube showing montages of ridiculously creative ways of killing enemies. You are so overpowered so the game isn't hard at all and the fun isn't just completing missions, it's all about being creative about how you go about each mission.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

As others in this thread have mentioned...

Splinter Cell: Blacklist - fantastic action/stealth game. Very similar to The Phantom Pain in some ways. Not open world, though. Fantastic PC port if you care about PC port quality. Also, I thought the story was great.

Watch_Dogs - Yes, it sold millions. But Watch_Dogs is really an underrated open world action/stealth game. Aiden isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I find it weird how everyone loved Reese from Person of Interest for doing the same mopey whisper talking schtick.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

If you really want to play MGSV but want to understand the story I recommend getting Ground Zeros. You can get it on steam sale for like $7.50 or something (I actually got it for free on PSN), it ties directly into the beginning of MGS5, and it has a brief synopsis of Peace Walker so that you understand who the characters are and what's going on for the most part. You'll miss out on some fan nods and easter eggs but probably nothing major.

Hell, getting Ground Zeros might scratch your stealth itch enough to not even want MGSV afterward (or will let you wait til it starts going on sale around christmas).

Other than that, and what's been recommended you could try Hitman Absolution. You can run and gun all the way through the game or you can ghost your way through without ever getting spotted (except for a few story parts that REQUIRE you to be seen and chased). The game rewards you for planning your attack, thinking ahead, and setting things up, but when things go wrong you can just as easily shoot everyone in the head and continue on your merry way.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well then, you're "lucky", because the story sucks whether you're a longtime fan or not. This entire game hinges on the gameplay, and the story just makes an occasional appearance every couple of hours.

Let's put the salt aside. Whether it sucks or not, will I be able to understand the gist of it from playing MGS V alone? I'm not talking about the deepest parts of the lore meant for the die-hard enthusiasts, just the basic "what's going on and why should I care".

Yes.

The plot consists of revenge and averting somekind of *spoiler*. And the cutscenes/exposition tapes have a habit of just sorta repeating themselves. It's quite bare bones plotwise, since you're really not doing very much compared to the previous games. So yeah, you'll get the gist of it fine.

 

[Objectable]

I just realized something weird.
Normally we complain about Metal Gear games having too many story and not enough gameplay.
Now we complain about Phantom Pain having too much gameplay and not enough story

 

[Ronald Nand]

Haven't got around to playing MGSV, but based on Angry Joe's review of the game, I'll second Blacklist, and also recommend the Deus Ex series and Dishonored, it may not be third person but definitely fits the play the game any style you want praise MGSV is getting. Human Revolution had a lot of cuts to third person during gameplay, so that should help you adjust if 1st person is an issue.

 

[SweetShark]

Don't worry about the story of Metal Gear. with the debut of Metal Gear Solid 4, the story get bat-sh*t crazy in many ways.
BUT I suggest you at least to play Metal Gear Solid 3. You don't need a deep knowledge of the lore cause it is the first game chronologically. For stand-alone story is satisfying and it is very enjoyable as a survival-stealth-action game. Also one of the best endings in Videogame History in my opinion. 10/10 score from me yo!!!

Anyway similar like MGS5 eh? Sorry, the only game I can think of is Far Cry 3. It is just so much fun watching a Tiger alone kill all the people from an enemy Guard Post.

 

[SweetShark]

I just realized something weird.
Normally we complain about Metal Gear games having too many story and not enough gameplay.
Now we complain about Phantom Pain having too much gameplay and not enough story

Not always. Metal Gear Solid 3 had a big amount of gameplay and story [nearly] equally.
I enjoyed the illusion of the game give you that you wanted to threat your wounds and hunger with extra care.

 

[ninja666]

All right, I've read through your posts and there are some really good recommendations you gave me. Some of them, like Watch Dogs for example, I wouldn't think of playing because I wouldn't expect them to be anything I'd be looking for in any way, so thanks for recommending them. I think I'll give either Splinter Cell Blacklist or Hitman Absolution a go, then consider getting Watch Dogs. As for Phantom Pain, I think I'll wait till it goes on an aggressive sale or something. Once again, thanks for helping me out. You're great, guys.

 

[Zontar]

Don't worry about the story of Metal Gear. with the debut of Metal Gear Solid 4, the story get bat-sh*t crazy in many ways.

Debuting with Metal Gear Solid 4? Are you forgetting the three Solids before that? I can't speak for the non-solid MG games before that period, but MGS 1, 2 and 3 where all batshit crazy to the point where it may as well be a more gritty version of Marvel.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Trust me, as a rabid fan of the series I think it's better that you didn't play previous games. You don't need to know a god damn thing about the series to enjoy it. In fact, you'll enjoy it more because of that. You'll get the full enjoyment of the gameplay without being disappointed with the story. Lucky bastard.

How about the latest Splinter Cell (Blacklist)?

Seems like a decent enough game. Might be what I'm looking for. One question, though - is this bullshit "mark and execute" mechanic mandatory to use? Will I be locked out of some upgrades if I don't use it because using it accumulates some sort of XP?

Blacklist is a very good game. It has most of the things that you're asking for aside from the open world. And it's cheap now. I definitely recommend it. And no, you don't have to use mark and execute. It's a noobish thing anyway. It's just there to make things easier for you should you need it. And I think it's actually disabled on the highest difficulty. The game rewards any style of gameplay that you choose so the reward system may as well not even be there. The unlocks are very cool and you'll have a lot of fun devising various tactics with some of the stuff you get to play with.

 

[Cowabungaa]

The Hitman games sort of work like that. I can really recommend Hitman: Blood Money and Absolution. The upcoming one is shaping up to be real good too, you might want to keep an eye on that.

They're sort of half open world, as in there isn't one huge area but the levels in which you do your hits are open and have plenty of ways you can kill your target. You can go in guns blazing (good luck with that though), get all stealthy and just spend one bullet in total or even make your kills look like accidents. Absolution a little less so than Blood Money, but they really kept the spirit in for the most part, if you ask me.

Of course, they won't be as over-the-top as MGS. That series is pretty unique in what it does. Hitman is not without its silliness though:

 

[Amaror]

Well Splinter Cell is also a Stealth game, but the gameplay isn't THAT similar to MGS 5. Your approach is very linear and not always as stealthy.
Watch Dogs isn't anything like MGS 5, not at all. I haven't played Absolution. That being said, i also didn't play any Metal Gear game every and i had no problem with the story of MGS 5. There are plenty of videos on youtube explaining what happens before the start of MGS 5, so just watch one of those and get MGS 5. It's better than Blacklist of Watchdogs or, at least from what i hear, Absolution.

 

[Joseph Harrison]

The first game that came to mind was The Last of Us. Not quite as shooty shooty as MGSV but the stealth mechanics, melee, and crafting are all fun and satisfying. I'll also second the recommendation for Deus Ex as that game is fun as balls.

I think that a lot of the plot reveals will hold less weight for you if you haven't played the other games, but you won't be confused if you just listen to the audio tapes and dialogue.