Topic: Metal Gear Solid V OT

I own this game, but I'm not terribly eager to start another 100+ hour home console game. I only put up with it from Persona 5 because Atlus.

Still looks good, though. Maybe I'll just start playing it sometime and quit when I get sick of it, considering they apparently botched the ending anyway.

@Ralizah its not 100 hours unless you really need to collect everything. You can probably manage it in 40 comfortably with a few side ops. Tbf with the knowledge from my first run I wouldnt go crazy fultoning people if I ever play it again, I would batter the story primarily. Also later in the game you open more drop pads and can upgrade your speed so places and missions are easier and faster to reach, 10 hours at least of my first play through was running around from camp to camp.

@Ralizah Once you're about three missions in, if the gameplay hasn't gripped you just abandon ship. The game is basically the same thing over and over and over again, forever, which is ace if all you want to do is grind for better gear and sellotape balloons to enemy combatants bums, but it never radically changes across the one million hours it takes to finish.

I loved Peace Walker but can't for the life of me get into this one. As pretty as it looks it's just so samey and there's nothing really driving me on. MGS3 forever.

@themcnoisy @johncalmc Sounds good. If I'm not enjoying it in the first 10 hours or so, then drop it. If I am enjoying it, then stick mostly to the story missions so that I can finish the game in a manageable amount of time.

The game looks fun, and Ground Zeroes was a blast, but I'd rather it not wear out its welcome, so we'll see.

I guess the original trilogy will never be topped. I'm not a big as fan of 3, with its jungle theme and obsession with camo, but it was still a great game, and the first two are total classics.

@Ralizah Phantom Pain is very much a more fleshed out Ground Zeros, as far as gameplay, in a more open world. So you should like it quite a bit. The setting is different and there a quite a few new gameplay mechanics with the buddies to help you among other new skills and weapons and the base building. But some of the extras can be ignored to save time if you want to power through for the story. And personally I liked the story a lot. From a story standpoint, the ending was great. Even though it becomes clear the game had another chapter that was planned, I still think it stands well on its own with a very satisfying ending in the Metal Gear Universe, imho.

@Th3solution That's good to hear! Because I was a bit concerned about the story. Thematically it's great, dealing with revenge and the pain of loss, but there's not happening a lot in between missions so far.

@ApostateMage I'm a big MGS3 fan too, but I really had a hard time playing Peace Walker. The boss fights (normally one of the highlights of MGS games), were so frustrating and uninspired.

@themcnoisy I'm really interested in some tips on how to approach the game. Not fulton everyone, you said? Can you explain? And are there some other things you recommend for playing the game?

@Kidfried absolutely, power through the story. You will understand why fultoning everyone in chapter 1 is daft at some point in chapter 2, which I cant describe as its a major spoiler. The levels of the recruits goes up later in the game too so all the people you fulton at the start dont cut the mustard.

As for the side ops, do the bare minimum and dont try to clear every area. You are more agile, speedy, have considerable more variety in your arsenal and your helicopter can land in more places later in the game which makes that process easier.

Use the cigar to bring night time around before attempting to hijack a settlement as its easier to stay hidden, less so when the gaurds get night vision goggles admittedly.

Ddog is a powerhouse in finding additional resources so when hes old enough get rid of the horse.

Dont worry about blotting your way through the game, levels can be replayed. I was far too cautious early game. After marking enough targets get the flock in there.

@themcnoisy Thanks! This is just the advice I needed (I think!).

I love having freedom in a game and not knowing everything on forehand. Making mistakes can be part of the fun as well. I don't mind that, but what I despise is not knowing if I'm doing the right thing for hours on end.

So, thanks again!

@themcnoisy @Kidfried Interestingly the guards adapt depending on your tactics, so if you only invade bases at night, the guards will get night vision goggles. If you always take guards out with head shots, they'll start wearing helmets. And so on. You can destroy the enemy supply caches to temporarily limit the equipment they'll have available, though.

Here's a full list:

https://segmentnext.com/2015/09/05/mgsv-phantom-pain-enemies-...

The problem with this game is it is easy to fall into certain habits, and then get bored. My mistake was over reliance on silenced sniper rifles. Best to keep mixing up your tactics and challenging yourself, that's how it'll stay fun.

@kyleforrester87 My problem with it was that the previous games in the series forced your hand into changing up the gameplay, whereas The Phantom Pain was so open that what wound up happening was I relied on what was easiest for me to progress. So where in previous games it was like here's the stealth section, boss, here's the shootout, boss, here's the sniper section, boss etc. The Phantom Pain because here's where you strap a balloon to a guy, repeat, forever.

@johncalmc Yup me to, unfortunately that says more about us and our lack of creativity than it does the game haha

@kyleforrester87 Yes, I fear it does.

It's just really not my type of game, and really not what I want from my Metal Gear.

@johncalmc The same really. Despite it being basically a long film MGS4 was a great sendoff for the series. I like a lot of what MGS5 did, and the existence of MGS4 makes it easier to forgive its many issues (poor narrative not least).

I'm often jealous of people who can play games like Mine Craft for months and years on end and not get bored.

@johncalmc @kyleforrester87 I didn’t have a problem with the gameplay or combat of MGSV and quite liked the options available with each mission to take a stealth approach or just run in guns blazing or plant explosives everywhere or call in the helicopter to just make the place a parking lot, etc. I tended to take the stealth approach mostly so I could Fulton soldiers and build find high ranked ones for my base, but the game could certainly be played more aggressively (with the neat feature of watching the physical appearance of Snake evolve along with the tactics to be more bloody and his shrapnel horns grow)
MGSV is probably one of my top 10 games this gen, but my main criticism was more with the time spent waiting for a helicopter and in the helicopter waiting to get from point A to point B. I mean, I realize it’s a fine line between trying to be realistic and immersive vs. making gameplay mechanics that are more convenient for the player; and there is a certain suspension of disbelief required in most open world games when you “fast travel” magically from place to place that some players complain ruins the immersion (I think I read someone on these forums talking about that in HZD with the campfires) but sitting in the helicopter for several minutes waiting to get from one end of Mother Base to the other or waiting as you fly to the starting point of the mission, just staring and doing nothing while you travel to where you’re going was, to me, more interruptive to the flow, despite it being more realistic. Sometimes I would just avoid going to Mother Base just becaue I knew it was going to take 30-45 minutes of game time to run around and fly to and fro and do what I needed to do and I would rather be using my time to take part in the action in the field. I guess it’s another topic all together but MGSV:TPP to me is a good example of why fast travel is sometimes needed in these big open world games.

@kyleforrester87 Yeah, I just ignore it now. Like Die Hard 5 or Indiana Jones 4. I played the series through earlier in the year and I just ignored Peace Walker and V. I like the series better that way.

@themcnoisy & rest: I don't have a lot of time to game unfortunately, but whatever time I have I try to spend on this game. Now, the advice I got here so far was really helpful, but one thing still bothers me: how important are the 'heroism points'?

Do I need to be careful of them? I really like playing very stealthy during the missions, but during the more 'open world parts' I often lose some, because I just want to get to the next location quickly. Will this get me into trouble eventually or should I not care about them at all too much?

The game really does a terrible job of making its mechanics clear. I quite often feel lost during this game, in a way I never experienced in an MGS game before.

Higher heroism gets you better quality volunteer recruits. Do bad stuff and you'll lose this and your horn gets bigger and covered in blood instead No major consequence either way.

@Kidfried It’s been a while since i played the game (which I really liked) and I don’t remember paying too much attention to the points, kind of played like you are it sounds like - mostly stealth and fultoning everyone, but occasionally went nuts and did some slaughtering. I think once I even noticed a little growing of my horn and more bloodied so I made sure to play more non-lethal and it reverted and I eventually got the “Hero” trophy for obtaining the codename Hero. Just whatever you do, don’t develop a nuclear weapon if you’re trying for Hero. I don’t remember it actually being that hard or problematic to mess up a little along to the way, as long as you go back to fultoning people and going non-lethal as much as possible. I got “Hero” way before I finished the last missions of the story, but I also played every single mission, including the optional ones (A Quiet Exit, etc) and spent a lot of time just building my base before I did the final mission.

Does this update offer the option to turn off camera motion blur or does MGS5 not have camera motion blur on the Pro? Uncharted 4 eventually updated with an off option for camera blur, and for me then became playable. I have no idea why any technique that causes a blurry image would be used in a video other than object blur. Object blur that may be observed naturally. The constant camera blur only provides me with distraction and eye discomfort.

The blur is not because of my tv. With the same tv Gta 5 has no blur on my PS3 where there is mild but noticeable blur on my PS4. Goat Sim none on PS3 while heavy blur on my PS4. RE Revaltions 2 has no blur on PS3 and has no blur on PS4. However on the PS4 that game uses dynamic dof like in MGS5. So when i aim a gun my character gets all blurry like Snake does. I find dynamic dof in video games to be plain weird and sometimes very distracting.

Maxing the de- judder and de-blur settings on my LG tv reduces mild camera blur like in Gta 5 and Fallout 4, but not the heavy blur of Uncharted 4, MGS5, and PS4 Goat Sim. Gta 5, like Skyrim on PS4, thankfully does offer an off option for dynamic dof.

Y axis inversion is now a standard option and so should disabling camera motion blur and dynamic dof be standard. Lacking any old or recent brain trauma my vision does not blur when looking right, left, up, and down. Only through my camera lenses do i noticeably observe depth of field changes that provides the bokeh viewed in the images produced. I also flex my neck to look down and not up.