@kyleforrester87 I mean, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Ground Zeroes offers a highly concentrated hit of everything The Phantom Pain does, but it comes pretty darn close, close enough to make me wonder whether it could, and when free time is a factor, yeah, I reckon it could.
@colonelkilgore I'd recommend Ground Zeroes without hesitation, especially since I know how much you enjoyed The Phantom Pain. It'd make for the perfect break between big platinum hunts, even though it doesn't come with one of its own. Its size makes it a very compelling, "just one more go" experience. I'd imagine it goes for pennies in various sales, digital or otherwise.
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@belmont That final scene between Huey and Skull Face gets debated a lot.
I always thought that Huey shoots Skull Face to try and ingratiate himself with the Diamond Dogs, in a desperate panic to cover up the extent of his treachery (which Skull Face knew all about). Indeed, the takeaway is supposed to be about Huey's descent into diabolical madness, but it also reinforces Skull Face's ideology, as well. Huey's actions prove that panicked idiots will always succumb to humanity's base instincts, and the flip of that is that the Diamond Dogs end up trusting him less, not more.
I like Skull Face a lot, but that's mainly thanks to his design and voice actor, James Horan. I do agree that he was a little underbaked, but I enjoy what we got, and think his story is a good one.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger appreciated, I’ll deffo give it some consideration. I already have it physically (& maybe even digitally I think), so it’s always there when I fancy delving in 👍
As much as I love MGS4 (and I really do) it has aged so poorly in so many ways, to the point where I've gone and downgraded my user score in this site's directory.
I don't think it holds up to multiple replays. I was engrossed first time through, coming fresh from the previous games, and a second playthrough shortly thereafter was still a lot of fun, allowing me to soak up the extra details I missed with foreknowledge of where it was all headed. Returning to it now, though, and knowing it as well as I do, I was kinda bored for the entire first half of the game. The story is plodding, lots of cutscenes (both exposition and action) are lacking music, and its bursts of gameplay feel like a bizarre mix of being too brief and yet simultaneously too long. It's really weird.
But I'm deep into the second half now, which is where all the good stuff is kept, and I've just defeated the last of the B.B. Corps (thank goodness; Kojima at his most perverted, they're way worse than Quiet) so after a couple more hours tomorrow (containing a couple more minutes of gameplay) I'll be done, and ready to move on. I think I was expecting to be more enamoured with the experience, especially after MGS2 (a game I know better than this one) recently blew me away all over again. Oh well.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
MGS4 is bad in a lot of respects, the gameplay is for the most part lacklustre, lots of the cutscenes are way too long and don’t get me started on the boring bosses. But it puts a nice bow on everything and offers plenty of closure, and some of the cutscenes are really, really good and man, that ending!* I’ve played it twice and overall enjoyed it a lot but it really is the kind of game you can just watch on YouTube I think.
*Plus there’s a bunch of awesome Triumph Speed Triples in the game!
@kyleforrester87 Oh, heck yeah, the way it ties up every single loose thread in a cohesive crescendo is beyond impressive. I should clarify that when I said about going to downgrade my user score, it was to turn a perfect ten into a near-perfect nine, that's all. It's still a triumph (with a Triumph)!
Since I was done earlier than I expected to be, I did what we mentioned the other day, and booted up MGSV: Ground Zeroes for a couple spare hours. As great as MGS4 still looks, going from it on PS3 to the FOX Engine in all its glory on PS4 was quite jarring. Ground Zeroes is one heck of a beautiful game, even when you're mucking about with PSone character models in its 'Déjà Vu' mission. It's also infinitely more playable, showing how far universal control schemes had come in such a short time.
Served as a suitable prologue before starting Metal Gear Survive, as well.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
When I got my PS3 and MGS4 was the first game I played in the console. I got the console for this game since Final Fantasy 13 was not out yet.
To say that I was very impressed would be an understatement. I know that some aspects have not aged well but fans got what they wanted. I loved the ending, the cast gave very good performances. Raiden got closure too. Still some of the Patriots stuff don't make much sense if you overanalyze them and the retcons from the next games don't help but Snakes' story had a very good emotional ending. The bosses were meh... The way you got their backstory was boring.
The FOX engine is somewhat impressive, especially in Camp Omega. Makes you wonder why the only other game they used it was Pro Evolution Soccer...
Apparently, it was abandoned due to the move to the PS5 generation and, since except MGS and PES Konami did not make anything else in house, it was underused in the PS4 generation.
@belmont Hmm. I wonder if it could make a comeback, upgraded and enhanced for the current generation, to power any Metal Gear remakes? I see that PES has switched to the Unreal Engine, but there's something uniquely impressive about the FOX Engine. I hope it doesn't get forgotten.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Its quite funny that this discussion have come up here because I have thinking quite lot and feeling quite sorry about the Fox engine. I mean all the time and engineering talent that must have been spent to build the engine.. Can just imagine what cool environments and games could have been built with it. So far we got like two military games and a football game..
I'm very much "going through the motions" with MGS: Peace Walker. I like it, but I'm also starting to remember why I only played it the once. Will still try and see it through, though.
I just find it quite damning that my favourite thing about it is its results screen jingle.
Seriously, it feels like the only reason I look forward to completing missions!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I really enjoyed Peace Walker when I played it back in the day on my PSP (one of only a few games I actually had) and always wondered how well it translated to console.
It was obviously designed to be played in short bursts so I can imagine it getting annoying on console but it laid the groundwork for how MGS5 played as well, as well as introducing the Mother Base and Fulton system too obviously!
I seem to remember you could actually recruit Kojima too
I don't like Peace Walker at all except for two things. One, the villain is called Hot Coldman, which is so ridiculous that it deserves recognition. Two, the theme music is absolutely radical.
@Thrillho Yeah, its bitesize gameplay is great for being on-the-go, but the flipside is that the story's pacing is a disaster, which becomes a bigger deal when you're sat in front of the telly. You just wanna immerse yourself in some sneaking, not a bunch of spreadsheets. It's oddly hilarious when you reach a boss battle, and Snake is shown staring down a helicopter or tank, and then boop! You're back at Mother Base, sorting recruits and commissioning blueprints, and going on silly Side Ops. When you then return to said boss battle, you're wearing a new outfit and carrying new weapons. It makes no sense!
There's also been little effort made to re-balance its obvious co-op design elements, like the massive boss health meters that're clearly meant to challenge more than one Snake.
It's cool as an MGSV prototype, though, and its story can be engaging at times. When I played it before, it was shortly after my first ever playthrough of MGS3 as well, and so it works well when you're still carrying some of the emotional weight from that game. Alas, having skipped MGS3 this time around, it's all feeling a little hollow. It's just homework for MGSV now.
And yes, I did recruit Mr. Kojima earlier! Wonder what he was doing in the back of that truck...?
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@johncalmc Are you referring to the theme that also plays during the MGSV loadout screen? Because that's an absolute belter, and I love that you get to hear it so often!
My second-favourite recognisable theme from the whole series, after the obvious.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I guess part of that gap pre-boss fight was that the game encouraged multiple attempts at them as I seem to remember you got items from boss fights to build/upgrade your own Metal Gear mechs that you could send out on missions.
@Thrillho Yeah, that's true. I guess ultimately, Peace Walker was designed to be a handheld game first and foremost, and being a Metal Gear story was secondary. Which feels like an odd shift in priorities, given how cinematic its predecessors felt (particularly MGS4, a.k.a. "that movie with brief bits of gameplay in it") but it's cool. Like you said before, it just lands a little different on PS3.
I do recall Mr. Kojima admitting that the reason for porting Peace Walker to PS3 was because nobody played it on PSP and that, given the significance of its story as a lead-in to MGSV, he wanted everybody to see the bigger picture. So it's not like it was done 'cause it was a natural fit or anything!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Wow the piace on Metal Gear Rising was in my opinion a very well written article. Thanks for sharing your thougths with us. I can state that after reading a few posts in this thread that I get an urge to pick up a copy of the Metal Gear HD Collection to play and beat Peace Walker which is something I likely would do if I was not so deep into the Resident Evil franchise for the moment… That said might try to get an copy of the game at some point anyway.
@johncalmc The most bizarre thing with Coldman is that he was casually revealed in a cutscene as the top CIA strategist that planed operation Snake Eater. I always assumed that it was the guy Snake refused to handshake in the end of MGS3 and was killed by Ocelot in PO but it was Hot Coldman...
@RogerRoger The grinding and the unbalancing of boss battles are the worst parts of Peace Walker. I thought that they would give you an easier option in the PS3 port but nope!
In more positive things the game looks and played great on a PSP, this theme song is very good, the monologue of Big Boss in the end when he sounds like a madman is excellent, even though Paz spitted nonsense in the previous scene and spoiled the other games. The main theme liked above is excellent!
The story semi-connected with me. Snake still has some sort of obsession with the Boss, even though he doesn't in PO making the games feel not connected. Also, it was way obvious that Paz was a spy and nobody thought to check her, even though Snake and Kaz have their suspicions. Meh, I guess putting a 16 year old girl (even though she is 21 pretending to be 16) in a love box with Snake is enough... You literally can't make this stuff up.
Edit: If I am not mistaken the linked Big Boss speech is that last time we heard Hayter in the series? A good sent off since in some dialogue in PW both Snake and Kaz sound kind of bored?
@belmont To be honest, I still just assume it's that guy, and I pretty much just ignore Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain. They're both totally unnecessary and actually just make the story worse, I think.
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