The Ultimate Playthrough, Metal Gears!?

[syntheticgerbil]

Can't you soft reset in MGS2 in the HD collection? Or is that what you meant by exiting the game?

That was my goto pre MG3 when it was really hard to get yourself hidden again.

[Smart Jason]

Soft resetting in Metal Gear is called equipping cigarettes and standing in front of the makeshift firing squad.

[Griddlelol]

I'll try fighting my way out. That just doesn't feel satisfying in a stealth game though.

I'm looking for C4. I've found 2 but I can't remember where I found them and where I haven't explored. It might be more bearable if I approach the game differently. I just find the camera is almost actively working against me maintaining stealth.

The resets I can do are either 1) suicide by guard or 2) close the program completely then go through the lengthy start up.

I remember MGS4 being awfully fun. I was bad at the stealth because I played a lot of splinter cell before it, and they have very different ideas about what makes you visible/invisible. It was still super fun though. I have just finished Ground Zeroes too, and that feels almost perfect in terms of control.

[syntheticgerbil]

Soft resetting in Metal Gear is called equipping cigarettes and standing in front of the makeshift firing squad.

Well in Ghost Babel it's the fogger! ;rimshot;

 

Looks like soft reset is still in the HD version. Press left and right buttons and triggers plus back and start all at the same time. It boots you to the title screen and you have to reload, so it's not a modern restart checkpoint but it should only take about 30 seconds or so to get back if you saved in the room you failed on.

 

I remember I did a lot of soft resets in Twin Snakes and MGS2, something about those interiors and lack of camo just made MGS3 much easier to get away in comparison while the basic MGS2 engine is just kind of an out of control spiral to your doom.

 

MGS4 stealth feels broken in most of the early parts of the game because it has more to do with you having made sure you didn't forget to grab the right rebel disguise and later to do the same thing with a face mask in London. Besides early in the game and late in the games, MGS4 makes very little use of octocamo and instead the incredibly easy costumes. Not even sure why it wasn't octocamo only, but MGS4 is a big fucking mess anyway so I'm sure it was just another thing they felt they needed to add in without actually designing a game around it.

[Smart Jason]

I'll try fighting my way out. That just doesn't feel satisfying in a stealth game though.

I'm looking for C4. I've found 2 but I can't remember where I found them and where I haven't explored. It might be more bearable if I approach the game differently. I just find the camera is almost actively working against me maintaining stealth.

 

You can check the map on the pause screen to see which struts still have bombs. They're marked with icons of the letter B.

[Thrik]

Well in Ghost Babel it's the fogger! ;rimshot;

 

Looks like soft reset is still in the HD version. Press left and right buttons and triggers plus back and start all at the same time. It boots you to the title screen and you have to reload, so it's not a modern restart checkpoint but it should only take about 30 seconds or so to get back if you saved in the room you failed on.

 

I remember I did a lot of soft resets in Twin Snakes and MGS2, something about those interiors and lack of camo just made MGS3 much easier to get away in comparison while the basic MGS2 engine is just kind of an out of control spiral to your doom.

 

MGS4 stealth feels broken in most of the early parts of the game because it has more to do with you having made sure you didn't forget to grab the right rebel disguise and later to do the same thing with a face mask in London. Besides early in the game and late in the games, MGS4 makes very little use of octocamo and instead the incredibly easy costumes. Not even sure why it wasn't octocamo only, but MGS4 is a big fucking mess anyway so I'm sure it was just another thing they felt they needed to add in without actually designing a game around it.

 

Jesus, I had no idea about the soft reset. Not sure if it's much faster than just committing suicide when playing on harder difficulties because you get wasted so quickly, but that's good to know of.

 

MGS4 definitely makes you work harder to keep the game challenging. Ever since my first playthrough, I now make sure that I always make enemies of both sides during the sections where you can win their favour, which makes getting through various parts of the game much more difficult. I also don't use outfits or masks at any point, including during Europe. On top of that, I play on at least hard difficulty, ideally extreme, and as if that wasn't enough I always tranquilise both regular enemies and bosses rather than kill.

 

Yes that's a lot of self-imposed stuff, but I find that to be one of the beauties of this series: you can tailor it to your own satisfactory level of difficulty. Now that I've replayed all of the games, I've managed to come up with my ideal blend of restrictions to make each game as fun as possible — and it looks like The Phantom Pain will have more opportunities than ever to do this.  I'm not exactly looking forward to playing it with no enemy indicators or slow-motion alerts, but I know that I will be at some point.

[pyeixe]

Do these peace walker extra ops missions ever end?

[Smart Jason]

Do these peace walker extra ops missions ever end?

 

They do! I think they get pretty interesting, and many have rewards for S ranking them.

[Griddlelol]

I just beat

Vamp

Aside from the movement which is the worst part of this game and feels like it's actively trying to make things more difficult, I'm deep in now. Absolutely loving it.

[syntheticgerbil]

Do these peace walker extra ops missions ever end?

I think I have like 30 god damn tank missions to S Rank still, plus S ranking the robot battles and Monster Hunter missions.

 

I'm really sick of stalking vehicles. I have no idea why they felt it was a good idea to have you do a tedious thing 30 times over. I've already beaten all Outer Ops long ago, so really there's no gameplay reason to S-rank them all outside of unlocking all of the other weapons and missions. At least with the helicopter ones my friend and I can do that rail gun charge and capture them within minutes and S Rank. Would have been nice if they had traded a lot of the tank/APC missions with more goofy hold ups, ghost photography, or Pooyan target practice.

[pyeixe]

They do! I think they get pretty interesting, and many have rewards for S ranking them.

There are some quirky ones that I am enjoying, the pooyan mission was some light relief, but like below, there are so many monotonous vehicle capture missions.

I think I have like 30 god damn tank missions to S Rank still, plus S ranking the robot battles and Monster Hunter missions.

I'm really sick of stalking vehicles. I have no idea why they felt it was a good idea to have you do a tedious thing 30 times over. I've already beaten all Outer Ops long ago, so really there's no gameplay reason to S-rank them all outside of unlocking all of the other weapons and missions. At least with the helicopter ones my friend and I can do that rail gun charge and capture them within minutes and S Rank. Would have been nice if they had traded a lot of the tank/APC missions with more goofy hold ups, ghost photography, or Pooyan target practice.

I don't think I am going to S rank them all, but I am at least going to keep going until my patience gives up. I have been fighting the AI weapons to build my own, I think that's the last thing I'll be doing for now in the game. I feel like I am grinding for no benefit capturing everything. I hope it doesn't sap my will for ground zeros...

[syntheticgerbil]

Oh okay, yeah you should definitely build your own Metal Gear and capture Zardonav 6 times, since that will get you the "true" ending" but after that not much happens.

[pyeixe]

I plugged away, didn't actually have to do too much more. It was a pretty cool ending, final boss was easier than I expected compared to all the type 2 missions and vehicle captures.

Ah well, ground zeros next

[Griddlelol]

Well, I finished MGS2. Unlike 1, which had me going from loving to hating by the end, I went from hating to loving. It's a damn good game, and I think it's significantly better than the original. Fuck y'all!

 

My issues: control. It controls like shit. Even when you get used to it, it still controls like shit. I ran into a hole in a certain boss fight way too many times. Shooting people is hard! That might be because I was playing on a vita though. Not the best control method for FPS stuff, still jumping between third and first person very quickly in some sections was incredibly jarring. I don't think it works well. 

 

I'll use spoilers even though it's a 10 year old game...

 

The ladder, the sniping, that was great.

All the bosses. They were great. Vamp was a bitch because I kept jumping in the pool, but it was a good boss, with fun mechanics.

The switch to Raiden was amazing. I love Raiden. After playing Revengeance, playing as baby Raiden made it feel like there was some super awesome foreshadowing going on.

The plant was well designed. I felt like I knew my way around quickly. Unlike Shadow Moses where I was constantly lost.

My favourite part: Ocelot says "There's no such thing a magic etc, only technology" then proceeds to anime jump into a 3+ story high cockpit of a mech. 

The story is bonkers and by that I mean good. Aside from the dumb biochemistry and genetics, which I'm sure sounds impressive to a teenager who doesn't know much about it.

The ending is great.

I love that the Metal Gear Rey models look like giant dinosaurs. It makes no sense.

 

Yeah I loved it. If it played better, I'd start another play through immediately. Unfortunately I don't want to put myself through the pain of the controls again.

 

Next up MGS3. 

[Smart Jason]

Well, I finished MGS2. Unlike 1, which had me going from loving to hating by the end, I went from hating to loving. It's a damn good game, and I think it's significantly better than the original. Fuck y'all!

 

My issues: control. It controls like shit. Even when you get used to it, it still controls like shit. I ran into a hole in a certain boss fight way too many times. Shooting people is hard! That might be because I was playing on a vita though. Not the best control method for FPS stuff, still jumping between third and first person very quickly in some sections was incredibly jarring. I don't think it works well. 

 

I'll use spoilers even though it's a 10 year old game...

 

The ladder, the sniping, that was great.

All the bosses. They were great. Vamp was a bitch because I kept jumping in the pool, but it was a good boss, with fun mechanics.

The switch to Raiden was amazing. I love Raiden. After playing Revengeance, playing as baby Raiden made it feel like there was some super awesome foreshadowing going on.

The plant was well designed. I felt like I knew my way around quickly. Unlike Shadow Moses where I was constantly lost.

My favourite part: Ocelot says "There's no such thing a magic etc, only technology" then proceeds to anime jump into a 3+ story high cockpit of a mech. 

The story is bonkers and by that I mean good. Aside from the dumb biochemistry and genetics, which I'm sure sounds impressive to a teenager who doesn't know much about it.

The ending is great.

I love that the Metal Gear Rey models look like giant dinosaurs. It makes no sense.

 

Yeah I loved it. If it played better, I'd start another play through immediately. Unfortunately I don't want to put myself through the pain of the controls again.

 

Next up MGS3. 

 

Snake Eater plays very much the same in terms of controls, but one thing I had to learn the hard way is that enemies are now much more perceptive to your footsteps (no high tech sneaking suit, natch), so to sneak up on them and hold them up MGS2 style or make use of the new advanced CQC, you have to use the d-pad to walk silently once you're in close proximity.

[pyeixe]

MGS 3 is the best one so far I think, although the initial transition from a slick sneaking machine walking through corridors to a slick (ish) sneaking machine making your way through a jungle is initially quite jarring.

Looking back on 2 I think I was initially too negative on it, it really rubbed me up the wrong way, but now that I have forgotten about the awful controls and whatever, the story seems to be a real gem.

[Griddlelol]

the story seems to be a real gem.

 

It's full of the worst best anime bullshit there is. There's so much genetics jargon that makes no sense 

 

Unlike an intron of history, I will be remembered as an exon. 

Did you know the human genome really has 100,000 genes?

 

The Metal Gears screech like giant dinosaurs. Wtf?! WHY?! IT'S SO AWESOME.

 

I'm so happy something as crazy as MGS2 exists and it's a mainstream game. 

[Twig]

I thought I was the only person in the world who actually liked MGS2.

 

Anyway I played through MGS1 over the past few days. That game is really good until it becomes frustratingly fucked up in the last three sequences. Rex, Liquid, Liquid-in-a-car. Especially Liquid. Fuck. I do not remember the game being that ridiculously difficult.

[Griddlelol]

That's exactly where I started hating the game. MGS2 ends on a high. I really want to play MGS4 again, knowing more of the story, but that'll never happen until it comes to PS Now, in the UK. So like 20 years.

[Twig]

I've never played beyond MGS2, but I bought the legacy collection for my new PS3, so I'm-a do 'em all. I also have Ground Zeroes from PS Plus. I'm sure I'll buy MGS5 at some point (well, assuming I actually like 3, 4, and 5-prologue). This is good times.

[Griddlelol]

I really liked Ground Zeroes. There's no story (well unless you pay attention to it, but it's a bit weird, so I didn't) but the gameplay is top notch. The missions are also in nice little bite sized chunks, so you don't have to worry about investing a load of time in something that you might not like. 

 

I remember liking 4, but I don't remember caring about the narrative because I hadn't played any of the others. MGS2 has made me care, which I didn't think would happen after 1. Hell, I even skipped the ending cutscene of 1 because it was boring me to tears. 

 

The ending of MGS2 has a weird Matrix vibe going on. It's a good video game. 

[Salacious Snake]

2 is a masterpiece, to use a horribly overused term. I have a lot more I want to say about it when I'm not posting from a phone.

[Griddlelol]

I'd love to hear more. I'm kind of shocked to hear that MGS2 is considered one of the worst of the series. I guess that gives me high hopes for 3.

[Twig]

I think the most common complaint is that MGS2 is went off the rails compared to MGS1. But I think it'd just been so long since most people played MGS1 that they forgot. Because man does that game do some crazy shit.

[Bjorn]

I thought the initial hate MGS2 got was because of the bait and switch with Raiden, which of course gaming babies threw a fit about, but in hindsight it's actually an incredible decision.