Zero Punctuation: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[omega 616]

I want some fucking story!

Jesus, it's gone from the movie-game of four, where it was a near 50/50 split to "why the fuck am I doing this and what the fox is going on!"

I have a flame guy, a psychomantis with orange hair, twitchy fuckers called skulls, a girl who is a lil incorporeal and a frenemy in the form of Ocelot! The only driving force is, get an army back, stop cipher/skull face ... but I seem to do is kidnap or eliminate peoples!

Secondly, like the video says, I have a billion and one guns to kill BUT only one gun to tranq and one gun to stun! (so far) and since, also mentioned in the video, the game requires you to fill up seats on the bus ... killing them isn't really an option. Stunning means you have a short time to fulton them but doing so in a stunned state is a lil noisy, so tranq them it is!

The problem then lies in a very low amount of ammo and a suppressor made from potato! So every 10 minutes I am calling ammo in just for my one gun and few extra balloons.

I wanted MGS4 part 2, shove exposition and story in my face

Spoiler: like this

I just enjoy the story so much but in this game, it has been stripped away. I suppose it is to appease the masses, as MGS is famous for it's contrived story and wanted this game to be more accessible.

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Watch Video

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

As the Metal Gear franchise is one of my favorites in all of gaming, perhaps #3 if not #2, I have to agree with Yahtzee - this game sort of wears you down with all of the base management. The base management is sort of at the center of the gameplay, since you're at a huge, almost insurmountable disadvantage if you don't choose to upgrade it, which periodically forces you into the field for long periods of time to tediously gather resources, and it's almost enough to make me want to stop playing it. Especially since some of those soldiers I recruit have the goddamn Troublemaker 'skill', which forces you to put diplomats in the same unit, lest fighting break out.

I wouldn't really be able to suggest anything better, it's fairly simple for the most part, it's just annoying how much tedium there is between managing the base, visiting the base, and a lack of cut-scenes don't help me feel less bored. I love the core gameplay, but the story moves entirely too slow and having to take a time-out to scout out soldiers to fill up your ranks makes me think an awful lot of Pokemon.

Not to mention I'm also sure I've had a pretty big plot twist figured out from the beginning... which is something that makes me very sad. Like the plot was almost of secondary importance in a goddamned Metal game, the series known for it's 45 minute long cut-scenes. Excise that and I feel like something is missing from this game. It's still good but I'm not loving it the way I'd hoped I would, which is sad considering that there is a very real possibility that this is the end for the franchise.

 

[Spartan448]

I want some fucking story!

Jesus, it's gone from the movie-game of four, where it was a near 50/50 split to "why the fuck am I doing this and what the fox is going on!"

I have a flame guy, a psychomantis with orange hair, twitchy fuckers called skulls, a girl who is a lil incorporeal and a frenemy in the form of Ocelot! The only driving force is, get an army back, stop cipher/skull face ... but I seem to do is kidnap or eliminate peoples!

Secondly, like the video says, I have a billion and one guns to kill BUT only one gun to tranq and one gun to stun! (so far) and since, also mentioned in the video, the game requires you to fill up seats on the bus ... killing them isn't really an option. Stunning means you have a short time to fulton them but doing so in a stunned state is a lil noisy, so tranq them it is!

The problem then lies in a very low amount of ammo and a suppressor made from potato! So every 10 minutes I am calling ammo in just for my one gun and few extra balloons.

I wanted MGS4 part 2, shove exposition and story in my face

Spoiler: like this

I just enjoy the story so much but in this game, it has been stripped away. I suppose it is to appease the masses, as MGS is famous for it's contrived story and wanted this game to be more accessible.

Aaaand this is quite possibly the mindset that resulted in MGSV being a bit of a hot mess as far as Metal Gear games go. On the one side we have people like you who wanted an incredibly story based game and are happy as long as Psycho Mantis fucks with your mind, Ocelot twirls a revolver, a Metal Gear shows up, and you get to control punching someone in the face at some point. On the other side, you have also a significant part of the fanbase and not to mention almost every major reviewer universally panning MGS4 for being way too much cutscene, way too little gameplay. And those two factions were about equal in size. Which is why I think that Kojima went with the episodic/audiolog style of delivering story - executed right, it really would have been the best way to cater to both parties. And given more time, MGSV could have been the greatest game of this generation.

Unfortunately, before that could happen, Konami's CEO decided to go batshit insane and fire the project manager halfway through the project.

 

[Kaamos]

I've never understood fanservice characters like Quiet in the MGS games. I haven't played any MGS game besides 3 and I honestly can't tell if the fanservice scenes I've seen from 4 and 5 are supposed to be creepy and unsettling and people just find them arousing anyway or they're actually supposed to be titillating and just end up being creepy.

Somebody posted the shower scene with all the dudes watching her on another website I frequent and all the comments were about how hot it was, but it seemed super creepy and made me really uncomfortable I couldn't even watch the whole video. I actually don't mind fanservice in other games, but the ones in MGS just weird me the fuck out.

 

[ah4o0o]

All I'm really left wondering now is as follows: Is it possible to play play this game and understand what's going on if this is one's (read: "my") first venture into the MGS-games (disregarding Revengence) and would it be worth the pricetag?

It is a god damn game, why is it important if you understand the story? It is important to play good. And fuck, I have been playing for over 70 hours and am barely with 32% completion. You can fuck around and have fun all you want. As far the story goes, it has only confused everyone that has played the previous games even more. There is not much of it to begin with in this game.

 

[visiblenoise]

I haven't played it yet, but based on some of the things I'm hearing, I think I would have preferred an animated movie.

 

[ah4o0o]

I've never understood fanservice characters like Quiet in the MGS games. I haven't played any MGS game besides 3 and I honestly can't tell if the fanservice scenes I've seen from 4 and 5 are supposed to be creepy and unsettling and people just find them arousing anyway or they're actually supposed to be titillating and just end up being creepy.

Somebody posted the shower scene with all the dudes watching her on another website I frequent and all the comments were about how hot it was, but it seemed super creepy and made me really uncomfortable I couldn't even watch the whole video. I actually don't mind fanservice in other games, but the ones in MGS just weird me the fuck out.

Some smartasses might wanna tell you how Kojima is trying to make you feel ashamed for getting a boner of her, because she basically

Spoiler

needs to be clothed like that or will die

, but let's face the reality. Most of it is there for entertaining reasons and that is not evil. Human sexuality is not evil. And actually the Mother Base personnel are afraid of her, because she easily kicks everyone's ass and is to begin with introduced

Spoiler

as an enemy.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've never been able to get over the stupidity of Metal Gear. Even if the gameplay is awesome it's just so unbearably stupid I can't really enjoy it.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

The thing is I can't help but feel the further into his career he got the more Kojima was trying to FORCE eccentricity instead of just being eccentric. The character Quiet is especially egregious as she just comes off as Kojima going "Pay attention to me!" Of course I also can't help that this is compounded by his recent insecurities and constant gushing of Western tech thus he tries to reconcile that by trying to also make them grim and gritty which just results in tonal shifts not by design but by incompetence. Overall, Kojima wasn't doing his best work anymore and the Phantom Pain really is just pointless.

 

[EternallyBored]

I've never understood fanservice characters like Quiet in the MGS games. I haven't played any MGS game besides 3 and I honestly can't tell if the fanservice scenes I've seen from 4 and 5 are supposed to be creepy and unsettling and people just find them arousing anyway or they're actually supposed to be titillating and just end up being creepy.

Somebody posted the shower scene with all the dudes watching her on another website I frequent and all the comments were about how hot it was, but it seemed super creepy and made me really uncomfortable I couldn't even watch the whole video. I actually don't mind fanservice in other games, but the ones in MGS just weird me the fuck out.

Some smartasses might wanna tell you how Kojima is trying to make you feel ashamed for getting a boner of her, because she basically

Spoiler

needs to be clothed like that or will die

,

The game doesn't even stay consistent with its explanation as you can unlock a uniform to put on her later. At least her intro with the base and the jet set her up as an awesome sniper, the game's sparse story pretty much ruins that potential though with wasting a number of its sparse cutscenes on little more than cheesecake scenarios.

She gets some stuff late game, but overall she kind of detracts from any serious cutscene she's in as she isn't involved with the zany stuff really, so 90% of her appearances are paired with the much more down to earth Mother Base personnel, Ocelot, and Kaz. She would have fit in with the Mantis scenes, skullface and his overpowered metal gear, or the parasite unit, but on motherbase she just seems to make any scene she's in look sillier than it should be.

but let's face the reality. Most of it is there for entertaining reasons and that is not evil. Human sexuality is not evil. And actually the Mother Base personnel are afraid of her, because she easily kicks everyone's ass and is to begin with introduced

Spoiler

as an enemy.

Honestly, after maxing out her bond meter I never bothered to use her again for story missions, she breaks the game more than D-Dog's mark enemies through walls ability. Once she gets a silenced sniper rifle she can easily solo entire bases, while amusing to have Snake sit behind a wall while Quiet eliminates everything around you without even raising an alarm, it kind of makes any mission that isn't in an enclosed area a snorefest. Even if you keep her passive, she will basically eliminate any enemy that spots you and puts you in reflex mode, the only time I ever use her anymore is when I'm trying to amass staff and resources I just send her ahead to an outpost and by the time I get there all the guards are either marked for me or already on the ground asleep.

As for her sexuality, it's not evil, it just comes across as largely dumb and unnecessary, it doesn't ruin the game, or even make me hate the character, but in an MGS with so few cutscenes and a story that feels disjointed and unfinished; I feel like her cheesecake scenes could have been better used to give her some more character, really, most of the main characters needed some more character building in general, Ocelot, Boss, and Kaz barely feel like the characters from all the other MGS games, especially Ocelot, one of the most persistent antagonists of the entire series should be more interesting than he is in this game.

Spoiler: seriously spoilery

and yes, I know there's a reason Boss acts like he does, the character you play as during the game should still have felt more like Snake from Peace Walker and MGS3 than he did here.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

All I'm really left wondering now is as follows: Is it possible to play play this game and understand what's going on if this is one's (read: "my") first venture into the MGS-games (disregarding Revengence) and would it be worth the pricetag?

It is a god damn game, why is it important if you understand the story? It is important to play good. And fuck, I have been playing for over 70 hours and am barely with 32% completion. You can fuck around and have fun all you want. As far the story goes, it has only confused everyone that has played the previous games even more. There is not much of it to begin with in this game.

You do realize that some people play games for the story, right? Especially in a series renown for having an intense focus on story. Games should be experienced and not watched, true, but I don't think it's unreasonable for someone to want to know if they'll be able to understand the story.

And the story in this game only confuses long-time fans because Kojima took liberties with the time-line and even admitted that he would.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

I'm so glad Yahtzee reviewed this game. I was almost convinced to buy this from the universally glowing reviews. The simple fact is that I don't like the basic gameplay mechanics and story of the Metal Gear series and I never have. That it is an open world game (probably my favorite genre) can't change that. However, it is a potent reminder to go back and catch up on the Splinter Cell games I missed (chiefly Chaos Theory and Blacklist), seeing as that is a stealth military series I actually liked.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Huh. Yahtzee likes the base building part as well as the stealth action, bloated as it may be. I remember him disliking Assassin's Creed II having you upgrade Monteriggioni and Villa Auditore, and AC III's Homestead missions. Sounds like the story's gone WAY off the rails this time around. How are we supposed to know that Snake/Big Boss is hallucinating some of the weirdos he encounters? But I gotta respect Kojima for saying "Screw realism! You wanna go nuts? Let's get NUTS!"

 

[thanatos388]

Huh. Yahtzee likes the base building part as well as the stealth action, bloated as it may be. I remember him disliking Assassin's Creed II having you upgrade Monteriggioni and Villa Auditore, and AC III's Homestead missions. Sounds like the story's gone WAY off the rails this time around. How are we supposed to know that Snake/Big Boss is hallucinating some of the weirdos he encounters? But I gotta respect Kojima for saying "Screw realism! You wanna go nuts? Let's get NUTS!"

The difference here is that upgrading your base and fiddling with the menus actually improved you as the main character. You got better guns, helicopters, equipment for you and your buddies. In Assassins Creed the building of things just gave you more money than you can spend. In Phantom Pain you never ever have enough money for everything. It's actually important and necessary and not some useless timesink that can easily be ignored.



Oh, except for the rescuing animals thing. I still have no idea what good that is.

And the story is like the C focus of this game. The infiltrations and base management are the forefront and the story is so sparse and every needed detail from Snake Eater and Peace Walker are filled in multiple times from the soldiers on Mother Base so its really not a problem. The story is less about building on whats come before and showing how it connects to MGS1 and 2 and more about realizing just what the hell is actually going on. Hell, this might be the first time where not knowing the story first could make you less confused than the veterans.

 

[thanatos388]

I'm so glad Yahtzee reviewed this game. I was almost convinced to buy this from the universally glowing reviews. The simple fact is that I don't like the basic gameplay mechanics and story of the Metal Gear series and I never have. That it is an open world game (probably my favorite genre) can't change that. However, it is a potent reminder to go back and catch up on the Splinter Cell games I missed (chiefly Chaos Theory and Blacklist), seeing as that is a stealth military series I actually liked.

This game basically plays much like a Splinter Cell game now. No more hold square to draw gun, let go to fire.

 

[BrotherSurplice]

Yes....and no. On it's own merits the game is excellent and worth playing. It has a stealth system which should set the bar for any stealth games to come. The game uses audio logs to give you the preceding story of Big Boss (Snake) but only /very/ lightly. On the one hand, the game has considerably less and smaller cut scenes than any other games in the series to the point of the same length of cut scenes as you'd have in an FPS game so the story isn't at the forefront this time.

However, you will miss out on a lot of the nitty gritty and reference material. Most characters know each other, will act accordingly and although the story is more or less self contained, reasons for doing things would seem unclear to someone who hasn't played the series before now and some things will just mean nothing. You will understand the story that is presented within the game, but it is part of a much larger story, which you wont.

I'd recommend picking up a copy of the MGS HD collection which will get you up to speed on Big Boss story (Snake Eater and Peace Walker which are excellent games). Its bound to be quite cheap now.

But I will say, it's the final and 7th entry in a series(Or 4th entry in Big Bosses part). Much like books or films, I question why you'd even attempt to jump onto something at the 7th installation, much less the final one.

This helps, thanks.