Alright, folks. It’s been a long time coming. I wanted to post this before. Didn’t get around to it. You all have seen and voted on my MGS poll by now. I simply wanted to see where and how far the MGS audience lays here.
So, i don’t usually say i was wrong about a video game. As a matter of fact i never do. But as you MGS fans know, Hideo Kojima really has a way of toying with the player. But i can now safely say i was wrong about MGSV. Kojima pulled another Sons of Liberty. I hated Raiden. Hated the fact that we didn’t play as Solid Snake. And then when the ending came. Watching that character development. Like a Phoenix rising from ashes. It was incredible. And it was impactful when i was 10 years old when the game came out and i beat it. I think that speaks for itself. MGSV is no different. Now as much as i would love to rip apart the game - repeat, the GAME - i will only focus on the story here and the impact it had on me. Perhaps we can save that for later posts. But for now, it’s just the meaning i want to focus on.
So the biggest gripe i had with the game initially in Sons of Liberty fashion was that we weren’t playing as Big Boss. Well… the ACTUAL Big Boss. “It devalues the character!” i said. “It completely detracts from the game’s canon and history!” i also ranted. But if there’s one game whos subtitle speaks a thousand words it’s MGSV’s. After learning the truth (especially after getting the secret Paz tapes AFTER the Truth tapes) the true meaning of the game hit me like a ton of bricks. Kojima rationalized Venom Snake as “blah blah the player is Snake”… Whatever. After all, “There are no facts, only interpretations”? Who is this person who inherited the persona of Big Boss? His likeness; his legacy, in a sense? We’ll never know. His name. Where he came from. Who he actually is.We’ll never know. And i believe that’s where “The Phantom Pain” hits hardest. That subtitle plays in from all directions and in so many ways. But i believe that this affected me most. Not to mention the fact that it actually does put the real Big Boss in the evil spotlight. The only difference is it was very indirect. Venom was robbed of his identity. His own face for fuck’s sake. The title of the game itself truly is brilliant. The ‘Phantom Pain’ I was experiencing was the pain of playing as this soldier who was robbed of his own identity and mind in order to fulfill a role. Venom Snake’s own Phantom Pain in the form of Paz. The events of Ground Zeroes (which actually had an impact on Big Boss); an inherited Phantom Pain? Just playing the role of Big Boss is a Phantom Pain by itself.
“We’re both slowly being eaten away by the karma of others.”
Fuck this game. It was an unfinished product. Literally a whole third act is missing and the second act are just the same missions from the first act only more difficult. And the whole motherbase thing and collecting resources that you spend during missions was an obvious attempt to build the game around microtransactions. It’s a fuckin’ abomination. Core gameplay, when you’re sneaking around - that part is fine. Everything else isn’t. And don’t even get me started on the story and Kojima’s decision to make us play as a brainwashed medic. Fuck Kojima. He might be a brilliant coder, but he’s an idiotic writer.
Oh. So, um… I take it you’re gonna just go ahead with shitting on the game side of things from the get-go? I guess that’s ok. Yeah… the game was painfully obviously unfinished. Why? I believe all of the problems with the game were because he wanted it to be a big “fuck you” to Konami. Something happened between them. But yeah… i know. The game could have been so much more. Could have taken the best from Snake Eater and 4. And add open world gameplay to create something amazing. Surival from Snake Eater and customization from 4 would have been neat. And more purpose to just about everything. And for the first time, i actually wanted MORE cutscenes. No Skull Face boss fight was a huge letdown. I was expecting a badass CQC fight in the rain.
Actually, you might want to read up on what happend between Kojima himself, and Kojima productions during that time with Konami. Also the story alone isn’t just down to Kojima alone, there is a whole host of writers that work with him to turn the idea into reality, in the art sense. It seems like the team had to pull a Destiny, basicly taking what they already had and make some sort of sense out of it as the game itself wasn’t complete. I do agree, though that an unfinished product is unacceptable, because after all they are taking our money.
While it could be exploited by micro transactions I really liked the base building and material gathering mechanics
I for one like the jagged direction they took with peace Walker with base and army building
I wish there was a heavily expanded version of the base building but like a civ or city skylines type game
My opinion for survive is that it either is a success in bringing the series in yet another different yet enjoyable direction. I’d like to think its going to be left for dead meets the division meets metal gear
One thing metal gear has always been about is tactics
On the other hand if its half added then I hope it fails so hard konami will be forced to sell the IP to the rightful owner to make up the losses
So he cared more about sticking it to Konami than making a good game? I don’t really care about the problems that Kojima had with Konami. I’m just a consumer. I expect a finished product. And I expect that a $60 single player game isn’t built around microtransactions. If that’s too much to ask these days, I’ll just save myself some money.
Teehee… It’s funny, because i’m one of those “i’ll wait for the GotY edition” types. And i just got the Definitive Experience while it was on sale.
But yeah… You look at Lake Lapis and you can’t even go there? I think that’s severely fucked. It’s beautiful. And the depth with animal gathering could have been a lot better. Capture cages are basically an excuse to not show all animals out and about, doing their thing. You can capture a snake. But you can’t actually see one out in the field. And come to think of it, these shortcomings are far worse considering there are only two areas of operations.
Idk… if Kojima really wants to liken himself to a movie Director, if there’s EVER a chance to do a “Director’s Cut” version of any of his games. It’s MGSV.
One more AO. One more chapter. Fill in the blanks. But… it’s probably not going to happen. But maybe… who knows? He’ll pull a Doom 3: BFG Edition? Idk…