Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

[Twig]

I've been online the entire time I've played and never been raided even once. In my experience, there's literally no reason not to be online. You get more stuff faster and your chances of getting raided are zero!!!!

[Nappi]

I have never been raided either, but I'm suspecting this might be because I lost connection during the FOB tutorial and never finished it.

[Griddlelol]

I've found 2 reasons to never be online:

1) I get invaded all the time. 

2) Loading screens are faster when you're offline. I hate that it takes an extra couple of seconds to open the map when you're online. 

[Twig]

Are you playing on PC? Maybe it's different from PS4.

 

Because like I said I haven't been invaded even once. And I have invaded other people.

 

Loading times are slightly longer for everything BUT the map, I find. The map loading times are the same.

 

Anyway I finished the game. I had a long post written up last night but my browser hates me so I lost it. Good game. Bad parts. Whatever.

[Griddlelol]

I'm on PS4. The loading times when connected are painful. Just opening the little hand held computer thing takes what feels like forever. Especially as I open and close it a lot.

[miffy495]

Been online the whole time, never been invaded. I don't know what makes you a target, but now I'm kind of curious.

[Twig]

I dunno either. I definitely have a beefy base and I also had a nuke for a while and and and.

 

No invasion.

 

Guess I got lucky, 'cause I have no loading problems and no invasions. I'm king of the world. :3

[Gaizokubanou]

I got invaded by 3 hackers and bunch of other people closer to release.

 

Not sure why, I guess I smell different or something.

[Nappi]

I just finished mission 43 and I think I'm done with the main story because (mission 45 and 46 spoilers)

I don't want to lose Quiet in case I came back for the side mission, and I don't like the idea of hoarding resources just to build up my mother base*.

 

*Edit: Apparently having every platform is not necessary, but it is unclear what triggers this mission.

 

I watched mission 46 cutscenes

"The twist" seems completely unnecessary, but whatever, Metal Gear I guess.

 

and the draft for mission 51 which was cut from the game.

I guess this was this cut because of time or budget constraints or something? I find it pretty funny that they show Eli escaping with the Shamalamadingdong and then just leave that thread hanging.

 

I'm yet to check out mission 45 cutscenes but I'm looking forward to finding out

what is the explanation for brutally torturing Quiet (who, they have established, will not talk) instead of simply giving her a pen and some paper. I bet it's really satisfying!

 

 

I have probably said this multiple times already, but while the story is a bit of a mess, on a technical level, this game is fucking fantastic. The gameplay is so fluid and satisfying, and I have hardly encountered any bugs or even glitches during the 60+ hours of playing.

[Twig]

The twist is absolutely the best part of the story!

[Griddlelol]

Yeah, I loved the twist. So much fun. The whole story is just a bunch of fun, although Code Talker saying:

 

Vocal chord parasites

over and over in the tapes started to grate on me. He really annunciates every syllable. 

[Twig]

The story is a ton of fun, but it's so fucking unfinished in so many ways that no other MGS has achieved before, and it makes me really sad because we'll probably never see more. ):

[Griddlelol]

It doesn't really bother me that it's not finished. I don't know why, I just feel like I've gotten a lot of satisfaction out of it, and a ton of mini-emergent narratives along the way.

 

Even though I'm a late comer to MGS, I'd rather see such an amazing series go out with a bang, than a whimper. MGSV feels like a bang to me. It's truly Tactical Espionage Action.

[Twig]

I suppose it went out on a bang, gameplay-wise (although I think I might actually prefer the simplicity of the earlier games, in some ways?).

 

But it absolutely went out on a whimper, story-wise.

[Griddlelol]

Funny you say simplistic. I found them incredibly complicated. I played the whole of MGS1 and 2 without really knowing how to do anything. 3 I got the hang of, although the CQC stuff was still pretty complex. Don't remember 4. V seems to be pretty basic in terms of actual game play, it's just done perfectly.

 

I dunno, who cares? It's crazy fun. I've not enjoyed an open world game so much in a long time.

[Twig]

I never CQC'd in MGS3, and I played it for the first time after you played it!

 

There's a very simple design conceit to the earlier games. Especially the first game. Alerting guards is very clearly caused by you being seen. There are like twenty different levels of alerts now! But in the original, there's "I see you!" and "I know you're around here..." and "There's nobody here". You always know exactly when those alerts are going to end because it's right there on your screen. You also have that handy radar that shows you everyone's vision range (in MGSV, I never knew if someone was going to see me or not, because even with camo they took away the camo meter that was present in the most recent MGS games...). It's also almost all completely 2D, gameplay-wise, as opposed to the incredible verticality in MGSV, etc.

 

MGSV is like let's take all of that previous stuff and add tons of layers and options and helpers and and and. And. I never said I didn't like it. But I also appreciate the cohesiveness of earlier games. MGSV is off-the-walls bonkers. MGS1 is very tight and straightforward.

 

I'd argue that when you use the word "complicated" to describe MGS1, you probably actually mean "unfamiliar", because it is old and people don't make games like that, anymore. It takes some getting used to. MGSV absolutely inherits from and learns from a lot of other modern games. It just also has that MGS twist on top.

 

I care, or I wouldn't have said anything...

[elmuerte]

Seriously, the hamburger tapes were the only worthwhile story part of the game

[Griddlelol]

I'd argue that when you use the word "complicated" to describe MGS1, you probably actually mean "unfamiliar", because it is old and people don't make games like that, anymore. It takes some getting used to. MGSV absolutely inherits from and learns from a lot of other modern games. It just also has that MGS twist on top.

 

You're probably right there, but I disagree about there being 20 different alert levels. There's what, 4? Unaware, on guard, shooting at you, searching for you. 

[Twig]

Yes man I was exaggerating

[Griddlelol]

Well yes...but 3 alert statues to 4 hardly seems like a huge step up to require the exaggeration.

[Twig]

;_;

 

my point was mgsv is way more complicated than previous games i just picked one aspect and comically exaggerated i could listen dozens and dozens of concrete examples if you really want me to but... i don't think it's worth it

 

do you?

[Gaizokubanou]

I do if you want to.  I love pedantry given that everyone involved isn't annoyed by it.

[osmosisch]

;_;

 

my point was mgsv is way more complicated than previous games i just picked one aspect and comically exaggerated i could listen dozens and dozens of concrete examples if you really want me to but... i don't think it's worth it

 

do you?

I would much rather read a post without exaggerations.

[Twig]

Well...

 

I don't want to right now! I might have some energy for it over the weekend?

 

 

I would much rather read a post without exaggerations.

 

Well my advice would then be don't read my posts. I dunno. I exaggerate!

 

That's not going to change.

[Griddlelol]

I don't think you need to. I'm not meaning to dispute it's more complex, just my point is that it's streamlined in such a way I find it easier to play than the older titles.