Topic: Games you've recently beat

@colonelkilgore That was the real trick, as MGS3 came out of nowhere as a prequel, and a lot of folks were confused as to why it was going back and filling in so much backstory. Then along comes MGS4 and boom, suddenly it all becomes clear. Whether it was planned to unfold like that, or whether it all just worked out nicely, doesn't really matter. It's still one heck of a saga.

Sounds like a good idea, regarding Revengeance. I played the whole series in anticipation of its release back in the day, but luckily I consumed the previous games so quickly, I ended up leaving a gap of a couple of months, and I think it was definitely for the best. Live with that ending for a while.

And yeah, Devil May Cry should definitely help with the switch in gameplay! Have fun!

@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.

Geneuinely 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 whatvthebdevelooerbhad focused on to this point evolved into a new genre yet still keeping someone 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.

@colonelkilgore No, from what I recall, the whole point of MGS3 was to "rescue" the franchise after MGS2 generated significant backlash from fans. There was even talk of Hideo Kojima leaving the series, as indicated by the earliest trailer for MGS3 famously teasing "No Place for Hideo?!"

MGS2 was an early, inverse example of today's divergence between professional critics and the general public, as the media embraced its subversive traits and artistic merits whilst gamers felt cheated into playing through "a copy-paste story" as "some blonde ladyboy" (actual quote from a letter printed in a PlayStation magazine, if I recall correctly... it was a different time). It's why the series stopped progressing chronologically, as Kojima felt that going back forty years and setting the game in a jungle would distance itself from any knee-jerk comparative criticism. MGS4 should've been MGS3, if that makes sense, although it obviously would've been a very, very different game without those Cold War callbacks.

The MGS3 aesthetic and continuity was continued in MGS: Portable Ops, a game Kojima wasn't interested in writing or directing, because he was focused on MGS4. It was only after Portable Ops launched to average reviews that he stepped in to protect the brand, and agreed to make its sequel, Peace Walker (a game which literally opens with a dismissive line urging players to "forget that crap" when referencing the events of Portable Ops). It illustrates how a lot of the series is reactionary.

It's hard to overstate how strongly gamers loathed Raiden, and Kojima knew. It didn't help that the marketing for MGS2 had swapped out his character model for Solid Snake, in order to capture screenshots and trailer footage from the Big Shell. Fans felt cheated. People referred to him as the Jar Jar Binks of the Metal Gear series, and it's why Kojima created, and subsequently humiliated, the character of Major Raikov in MGS3. It's also why Raiden ended up becoming the latest iteration of the Cyborg Ninja in MGS4, because it was the only role badass enough for him to fill without causing further controversy. Thankfully, all these tricks worked to rehabilitate Raiden in the public's eye, and time has given MGS2 room to breathe and be more widely understood.

You'll still occasionally see angry, dismissive YouTube comments scrawled by folks who felt "betrayed" by MGS2, folks who abandoned the series back in 2002 and have therefore managed to preserve such sentiment for posterity, unaware of Raiden's redemption.

Sorry for the essay, but this subject is one of my all-time favourite gaming case studies!

@ 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).

@colonelkilgore Ah, no worries! I can totally see how strong the connections are between MGS3 and MGS4 and yes, despite those videos you mention, there's no doubt that Kojima at least kept MGS4 (the game he'd initially wanted to make next) in mind whilst was writing and directing MGS3.

You're probably right about the plan to make Raiden a cyborg ninja, in all honesty, as it makes sense given what you've just said. If there was any reactionary change made, it might've applied to Raiden's role in MGS4, and how he suddenly became almost too badass. A lot of what I know about the development of the Metal Gear series comes from old documentaries I watched many years ago, and some translated interviews (which is never reliable; three people translate the same interview and come away with three different stories). In other words, please don't think of me as any kind of authority on the subject! Just because I waffle doesn't mean I'm right!

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 Have you played Control?

@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