Topic: Games you've recently beat

@Thrillho i know, that really was a such a cool ‘encore’ moment.

It is so hard to end something in a satisfactory way… particularly something as monumental as Metal Gear. Well as someone who has obviously come to the series late, I think Metal Gear Solid 4 definitely did that.

@Keith_Zissou cheers buddy… but sadly not, I didn’t get a kiss. There’s always the next playthru eh 😉

@colonelkilgore It definitely did. The length of the ending is nuts and something I doubt we'll ever see again, but I had 0 problems with that as it was so well done I didn't mind sitting there for over an hour. I still remember getting a phone call during it and telling them to call back later because I was watching the ending to MGS4.

Honestly, MGS4 was one of my all-time greatest gaming experiences. It was a big reason why I bought a PS3 shortly after the bundle came out, which in many ways ended up changing gaming for me. The only negative I can think of is that the game raised the bar so high for me that MGS5 ended up being somewhat of a disappointment for me.

@Keith_Zissou yeah it’s a real difficult series to rank… and I have a feeling that the order in which they were played (as well as ‘when’ they were played) has a big baring on where each person would place them. Glad it got you back into gaming… I had a similar experience with GTA3 back in my early twenties.

@RogerRoger yeah it definitely sounds like we feel similarly about 4… I’ve been thinking about it all last night and Kojima has pretty much made the perfect sequel to all three games that came before it. It almost feels more like a companion piece to 1, 2 & 3 if that is even possible. The Eva, Raiden & Shadow Moses stuff all acted as such touchstones to my experiences with 3, 2 & 1 respectively. I wish that a number of other entertainment series had such a capstone!

I was planning on playing Metal Gear Rising in December actually… but on finishing 4’s story last night p, I’ve changed my mind. I’m gonna give it a year maybe, so I miss the world and characters etc. I’m also gonna brush up on my character-action skills before I try for it’s plat as it’s so notoriously difficult. Planning on playing at least the first three Devil May Cry games next year, so they should be decent prep.

@KilloWertz ahh that’s gutting that you were so let down by MGSV dude… you’ll always have 4 though… and it holds up really well tbh, maybe dust it off sometime if you’re struggling for something to play.

Out of interest MGSV was my first Metal Gear Solid experience… and as a result is very special to me at least. It’s firmly entrenched in my top 3 games of all time alongside God of War 2018 and Bloodborne.

@colonelkilgore I think if you're going to leave some time between playing MGS4 and Rising then a year is probably not enough and you'll appreciate it more if you leave infinity

@RogerRoger will do, cheers Rog... oh and to your first point, Kojima had to have written (or at least conceived the treatment of) 2 & 3 together right?

@johncalmc well with my backlog John, infinity is more than doable 😉.

To the subject at hand though, are you not a fan of Metal Gear Rising?

@colonelkilgore It's got good combat but the story is offensively bad.

@johncalmc ahh you may have missed my being anointed Mr Gameplay-King around here 🤣. Long story short, that is no 'major' issue for me... I mean, sure I love a good story but the minute-to-minute gameplay is where I weight most priority.

@colonelkilgore see when it comes to a series like Metal Gear I'd be okay with it playing like garbage as long as the story stacks up so we're at opposite ends there. If you're gameplay first I think MGR is pretty okay.

Edit: Apart from the last boss which is absolutely terrible on every level.

Finally started Returnal after the update. Couldn't put it down. A masterpiece in my opinion.

Harkens back to when games were were both difficult and yet extremely fun to play. Rather than just on rails, narrative driven, hand holding/oversimplified drivel.

Genuinely wanted to play and see all three endings and was bummed to see it over. I do think more challenge modes beyond the one daily challenge would have been a nice addition.

Aside from that it's incredible to see the end product of such a drastic transition from what the developer had focused on to this point evolved into a new genre yet still keeping some of those previous game play elements.

Game of the year for sure. In a game industry focused on repetitive uninspired sequels, live service trash, and profit driven remasters, more new and interesting works like Returnal are desperately needed.

@johncalmc I do get you, Metal Gear Solid's narrative is so rich and layered that it would be a black-hole without it... I absolutely loved MGSV though... and it's story tbh regardless if the hate it received in that department.

I'll look forward to finding out how Rising lives up to the name.

@Keith_Zissou I got a kiss this time 😉

So, first time I heard this during my first playthru of MGS3 it caused me to smile at the sheer 60’s James Bondy-ness of it. Didn’t necessarily think it was a great song or anything… but the more I heard it, it started to grow on me until this week when it turned up out of the blue and rocked my world for 3 minutes.

@ Ralizah

Kind of. The game has this Persona-lite system where you can spend time with your classmates, and then near the end of the game you can choose who to go on a "date" with. The character I picked had the strongest connection with Rean, and I like to think they were madly in love. It certainly seemed like they were into each other, anyway. More so than the busty ladies swooning over him!

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I think if I'd attempted ToCS 2 right after I would have completely burnt out and never finished it, but I reckon enough time has now passed to get back into the series. I've been enjoying lots of Ys this year (and oddly haven't burnt out on them), so that's been my Falcom fix.

@RogerRoger no need to apologise bud, it was a real interesting read… actually I should be the one to apologise as I originallyintended to write:

“… oh and to your first point, Kojima had to have written (or at least conceived the treatment of) 3 & 4 together right?”

… rather than what I actually wrote (2 & 3)… but I’ve watched a couple of videos on it since and it doesn’t seem like they were conceived together after all.

What I would say in terms of the info you provided… I felt that Raiden becoming Cyborg Ninja was a very natural progression for him given that he was passed the katana at the end of 2. I’d be surprised if him becoming the next Cyborg Ninja wasn’t part of the plan all along… but I am a relative noob to the subject and you seem to have done a fair bit of research on it over the years to be fair 🤖🥷.

@colonelkilgore It's not that I didn't like MGSV. It's just that 4 was so good that the bar was incredibly high, so it was almost inevitable unless it somehow was equal. I might enjoy it more if I played it today without much in the way of expectations.

MGS4 was my first. I did play one of the earlier ones back in the day, but I never finished it, so 4 was my first true experience in my opinion. It's at worst one of my top 3 games, if not my #1, so I guess it's partially a timing thing for the both of us.

I stupidly sold my PS3, so that's not an option right now. I regret selling it obviously as I kept several games, and even a couple of them were unfinished (Final Fantasy 13 and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions). I've gotten the urge to play MGS4 again on multiple occasions though, so I may end up picking one up on eBay someday (carefully shopping to make sure I get a good one of course). I never did replay it once they added trophies for it, so there's that too.

@KilloWertz mate if you enjoyed it that much I’d definitely suggest you pick up a PS3 and play the whole series. I can’t tell you how many times I thought to myself while playing 4 that ‘I am so glad I decided to play the preceding games first before playing this…” there are just so many pay-offs.

I dusted off my old PS3 a couple of years ago and it’s gotten a fair bit of use since tbh… and while my PS3 backlog is still bigger than my PS5 one, that is only going to continue (at least for the next year or so).

I just wrapped up Quantum Break and it was such an excellent game! I think in terms of gameplay, it definitely surpassed Alan Wake. Being able to use time powers along with standard shooting was so much fun, the powers actually reminded me a lot of the ones you have in the inFAMOUS games. The story was great as I just love the concept of time travel after having played the phenomenal Steins;Gate. Moreover, I found the characters to be incredibly likeable and memorable. Like I barely remember any of the side characters from Alan Wake, but I remember the majority of them in Quantum Break simply because they were so well-written and unique. Could also be because of the great cast of actors they had as well! I genuinely loved seeing the actors who played Charlie from Lost and Littlefinger from Game of Thrones. They certainly nailed that part when going for the TV show experience, of which it is important to have many memorable characters. I also enjoyed watching the TV show-like episode at the end of each act as it broke up the action and gave you something enjoyable and high-quality to watch before the next act. The production value for these episodes are just insane considering they were only made for the game. I would love to watch an actual TV show based on this IP.

So all in all, this was an excellent game and it surpassed Alan Wake in almost every way. I just feel like AW is more iconic compared to QB, but other than that this was another fantastic game from Remedy. Would definitely love to see a sequel to this game in the future considering that minor cliffhanger at the end.

@LtSarge I've not played Quantum Break but recently finished Alan Wake Remastered and was quite underwhelmed. The gameplay was the underwhelming part rather than the story though but I agree that most of the characters were definitely not that memorable. There was an attempt to break AW up like a TV show as well which worked quite well, but the recaps seemed a little unnecessary as, if like me, you were playing it straight through then you were already up to speed