Just not digging this :/

[Stargazer2600]

So I have always been a Metal Gear fan ever since I bought a used Playstation off a neighbor that came with MGS. After that MGS2 was the first game i got for PS2 and i got MGS3 the day it came out. MGS4 was the first game i ever played for the PS3 and i even played Acid on the psp. I bought the legacy collection and i have loved the nostalgia feeling i get and when i played Peace Walker i didnt like the style to much but gave them props for trying something new. So when PP came out i had to have it. I knew this would be the last MGS that Kojima would be part of and i watched reviews from people like angry joe who gave it perfect scores.

However (and i guess its just me) but i really dont like it :/ its honestly the worst MGS in my opinion. To me it feels like its missing the magic of the MGS series. I Miss the boss fights, the cinematic experience. Last night i wanted to play a MGS and i stared at PP for a good 5 min and just couldnt bring myself to even put it in so instead i played MGS 2 on my ps3. The missions get very repetitive to me and the side ops dont help. "go to this area and extract thos prisoner" or "go to this area and get the blueprint" and it feels like its the same missions over and over again.

I found a few youtubers who have reviewed the game the way i see it and apperantly its not a popular opinion since the dislikes are greater than the likes and the comments? well, lets say they arnt nice. Am i looking at this game wrong thats stopping me from enjoying it? am i just to fixed on what metal gear was? I know sometimes games evolve and the older fans are pushed aside for new (castlevania going from side scroller to 3D is a example) Is this what happen?

thoughts and discuss please.

[CrumpetOfDojima]

Maybe it's just as simple as you just aren't a fan of what it has changed into? It has definitely changed a lot compared to the older games (imo). So not liking this newest one is common/understandable.

I'm the opposite. I've tried out all the older MGS games, as they're highly praised. I could never get far into them or enjoy them long before I got bored and never went back to them. As for PP (granted I'm not far into it yet). I'm enjoying it more than most games I've played recently, it's an amazing experience.

[Paige-ID]

I see where you're coming from, even though I disagree with your opinion. I do fully understand why you'd dislike the game, as it makes perfect sense.

 

MGS 1-4 were very story driven movie experiences, which I absolutely loved start to finish. However, MGS 5 is much more emphasized on gameplay, which to me is a welcome change to the formula. I feel like it made the series complete. If I want a deep movie-esque story, I play MGS 1 or 3. If I want pure stealth gameplay that simply works, I play MGS 5. I feel like the series offers me something for every mood I'm in now, which I very much so appreciate. I also really appreciate it when developers try something different and don't completely make a dumpster fire out of it; something SquareEnix has yet to figure out. MGS 5 is not the MGS 1-4 continuation you might've hoped for, but as a stand-alone gameplay-driven experience it's one of the best games this generation. 

Edited June 18, 2016 by Paige-ID

[RangyRV]

However (and i guess its just me)

You are not alone there. Worst MGS for me, everything was boring (like 90% of the missions are about extracting people, wtf), terrible characters and terrible storytelling.

[spacemonkey3k]

Agree. As a game it's very good but as a MGS game I just can't get into it. To me there's nothing particularly Metal Gear about it, you could inject almost any third person action game involving guns and guards into it and it would be the same experience. Granted I've not finished it, and I do give it a lot of points just for being able to approach a situation from so many different angles, but to me it's not the masterpiece so many have declared it to be.

[LeetWolf2]

Platinum'd both the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game and I didn't like it. This is coming from an MGS fan like yourself who has played pretty much every one and has been a fan of the series since MGS1 when I was 5 (even though I probably shouldn't have been playing it at that age >.>). I really dislike this game. As a game its pretty good but feels like sort of a reboot of Peace Walker with some of the little things that made Peace Walker great taken out.

 

The main thing for me that I did not like about the game was the story, it's just a major disappointment with the way its written and presented. Then there's the repetitive mission structure, the pointless open world which just feels bland and empty. The boss battles are just poorly designed and the game lacks something that every Metal Gear game has had up to this point and that is personality. Everyone is either angry, depressed, boring or are caricatures of who they originally were with only one real defining characteristic.

Oh and Metal Gear Online 3 is a shell of what 1 and 2 were. I have more to say but I've complained about this game enough in other threads. I've never been so disappointed in an MGS title and you can't even blame hype because I was hyped for all the others and they delivered more than my expectations.

EDIT: Oh, also the micro-transactions and the updates that make the game feel like a mobile app after you've done everything is pretty shit too. Just like people check up on their mobile games to do a bit of micromanagement then leave it for a while before going back I've found im doing the same with this now. Except I usually leave it a month, redeem my points for S++ soldiers, develop any new items/weapons added to the game then turn it back off for another month.

Edited June 18, 2016 by LeetWolf2

[Redgrave]

Yeah, I also didn't like it very much. None of it just sat right with me. Sure, the gameplay was good with exploration and being able to handle missions in a variety of ways, but it just felt way too different from the Metal Gear I'm used to. I also just found it hard to really play. The only motivation I had for really playing it was seeing how the ending goes and to see if the series ended with a bang. Instead I just wound up watching a playthrough and didn't really feel like I missed much. It just felt like a lot of things were missing that made the other MGS games great, even Peace Walker had more memorable moments. I guess I should have suspected something was off from when I played Ground Zeroes. I would have liked Phantom Pain to have a mix of MGS3 and MGS4 elements mixed in to it's gameplay, but no camo index was one of the things that really peeved me especially because I felt like it was too easy to get spotted because I couldn't switch camo on the spot. The other thing was how the story was mostly explained through tape recordings like Peace Walker, but with Peace Walker it made sense because it was originally a PSP game. 

 

Other things were the way missions were handled. It just felt like a chore doing the side missions that didn't really do anything other than get me new people for my base or some schematics. I never felt like I really accomplished anything when I did them. The Motherbase stuff also just felt underwhelming. I didn't like how I had to get further in the story and get a bunch of other personnel in order to develop the good weapons and items, since it basically meant I had to do more chores. Then to make things worse they make you do every mission again on Extreme just so you can unlock the ending. So I was glad I just went ahead and watched the ending online as I would have been pissed if I went through all that just to experience that ending.

[yellowwindow7]

I never tried it yet but same as you said, most people (hard core MGS fans) I know around the Internet in front of everyone they said the game is definitely a GOT but deep inside they actually hate it so much. other didn't hide their true feelings toward POP and they calling it stright the most disappointed game of the year and it felt been rushed, some said is an ok-is MGS game and it shouldn't had to have a multiplayer mode.

the fact the game got so repetitive and had a MP mode so ******* konami can add a micro transaction system to it.

I can't express my feelings to it since I haven't played it yet nor played the glorified demo of it ground zeros.

[Waffle-Sensei]

I haven't beat the game yet, but I like it. Is it a little repetitive? Yes. A the story less than what I would expect from an MGS game? Certainly. However, despite these things I'm still having fun with it so I consider it at least a good game. At this point I've disregarded the fact that it has the MGS title and I'm treating it more as an action/stealth game with great gameplay and some MGS character cameos instead.

I miss the old MGS formula for sure. Especially the cinematic cutscenes and the engaging boss fights. I still do love Peace Walker though, despite it lacking in the boss battle department (and crawling). If that game could magically be remade with the Fox Engine I would get it day one.

[Billy_Bonka_]

*Spoilers below*

I too was majorly disappointed with MGS5. Angry Joe's perfect score can be forgiven by the fact that he hadn't played any of the others, the same can't be said for the likes of IGN however. After finishing the game, I found it hard to believe that anyone who enjoyed the storytelling in MGS up to this point could have been satisfied with MGS5.

The worst aspect of the game is obviously the revelation that you haven't been experiencing the latest iteration of Big Boss' story at all, rather that of some random field medic he fultoned from the Nicaraguan jungle years earlier. When you think that creators like Kojima get a limited time to tell their stories, it's a shame that now two of the five main MGS games are pointless detours away from the main protagonists who drew us to the series in the first place.

The most disappointing thing about MGS5 though was that we were led to believe we were going to get something far more engrossing than what was actually delivered. During the last four or so years of development, it's was eluded to by the trailers and Kojima that the story was going to revolve around Big Boss' decent into villainy. The thought of being able to watch a revered heroes gradual transformation from stoic protagonist to nihilistic antagonist sounded like the coolest story ever told in a video game.

What we actually got was a cop out. Any developer or storyteller in the world can do the " you, the gamer are the real hero " thing. It requires no creativity or imagination whatsoever. No need to develop and nurture the subtle aspects of a persons character that makes us love them in the first place. Also as it turns out, no need to even bother with dialogue at all from the protagonist for most of the game. Just have them sit in silence while the people around you deliver dozens of hours of story exposition. Not to mention the fact that in order to give us such a contrived story, they destroyed one of the most interesting threads established in previous games. The idea that genetic variation might produce someone who's instincts and natural ability were so far ahead of everyone else's that you could even clone them to guarantee success on the battlefield. Apparently that was all bullshit, all you have to do to get a super soldier is put someone in an induced coma and play them mission briefing audio tapes while they are unconscious.

I'm not denying that the idea of someone assuming the persona of an internationally recognised individual, via facial reconstruction surgery and extensive combat training to protect them is potentially an interesting idea. It just wasn't as interesting as the story that was baited in the trailers. The thing about 'bait and switch' storytelling is that the thing you're switching in HAS to be cooler than the bait itself, otherwise you're destined to disappoint people.

Imagine if we actually got to watch Big Boss become so obsessed with murder and revenge that he became an even bigger threat to world peace and stability than everyone he had fought up to that point combined. Then in the epilogue you take control of a young Solid Snake, who is given the mission to infiltrate Big Boss's South African base and kill him ( think along the lines of what happens at the end of Red Dead Redemption). The epilogue at that point would basically have become a re-make of the original Metal Gear, which would have near enough taken us full circle up to where Snake is recruited to infiltrate Shadow Moses as the legendary hero who 'killed' Big Boss. It would have been a fitting way to end the series for Kojima but I appreciate this paragraph has nothing to do what was actually in MGS5, I just thought I would share the story I imagined in my head while I played the game.

There is a lot more wrong with the game than just the story as has been pointed out already. Although the gameplay and controls were undoubtedly better than ever, Africa and Afghanistan are both soul-less and empty. Attacking base's and outposts to halt the advancement of the various mercenary groups quickly becomes a chore, especially since you never actually get to meet the local innocent inhabitants of both countries ( apart from the children you Fulton). Stripping both countries of all visible signs of native heritage for the purpose of turning them into giant military playgrounds might have incurred accusations of racism or cultural insensitivity if the game had been made by a western developer.

Then you have to consider that MGS5 is clearly an unfinished game. There's no point of a story being told in the form chapters, if there is only two chapters, and chapter two is half that of chapter one, and chapter two mostly only contains repeated playthroughs of chapter one story missions, inexplicably interspersed between new missions attempting to bring some sort of resolution to the already underwhelming story. If you haven't already you should watch some of the cutscenes on YouTube which were removed from the game. The one showing Big Boss hunting down Eli on the island. Even if that was to be chapter three, I think I would still have been disappointed with the overall story.

The one major saving grace as far as characterisation goes is Quiet. However they even manage to fuck that up by looking at her through the lens of a creepy misogynist who cant possibly imagine a woman in a video game who doesn't provide them with sexual gratification throughout. Which is a shame as watching her single-handedly take out an entire base attests to the fact that she is the most bad-ass character in the game, and we really didn't have to watch her shower or strip to her underwear to appreciate her inclusion.

The brilliantly made controls and stealth mechanics probably make this a game which is still worth getting, but people just shouldn't expect a story that you will want to re-live ten years later like we do with other MGS games.

[djGLCKR]

I preordered a day one copy when it was announced (tried to grab a collector's edition, sold out in seconds), and got it 2 weeks after launch due to international shipping. IMHO, I have mixed feelings, coming from a fan of the franchise. I don't usually 100% MGS games (other than MGS3 back in the PS2), but I forced myself to 100% Ground Zeroes (which I preordered as well) for the transfer bonuses and to get an idea of the new controls and gameplay. 

 

I've yet to progress through Episode 2, I'm right on the children search extra quests (the yellow ones tied to plot stuff), but I just can't seem to bring myself to do so. And yes, I know the Ep. 2 plot thanks to some arseholes from the MGS Wikia site. Nowadays I just log in to get free resources, develop new weapons that most likely I won't use (the same issue I have with Peace Walker), check a few FOBs, get S++ staff from the passive leagues, check how empty MGO3 is on PS3, then log out for the week/month. In my head, I just say "welp, Sahelanthropus is out of commission, Skull Face is dead, Huey is a dumb ass. Guess I'll just continue with the EXTRA stuff". And what I believe is the cherry on top, is knowing there are two extra cutscenes that most likely we will never get the chance to see (in a legit way) because of the community and how the game mechanics work. There'll always be a nuke hidden somewhere blocking the Nuclear Disarmament cutscene, and there'll be people stealing and dismantling nukes blocking the Nuclear Armament cutscene. Plus, Konami stopped reporting on nuke progress since January.

[Komrade_Konrad]

While I enjoyed the game, and I think the gameplay is fantastic, the narrative really did lose the MGS vibe as a consequence of too much filler.  Where other MGS games were really tight and well paced, TPP was just weighed down with too many things that had little to nothing to do with the plot.  I am personally of the opinion that Ground Zeroes is actually a much better MGS game than TPP because it puts the gameplay of TPP in a tight, cohesive package and has enough plot and intrigue to drive it.  I thought the end also sets up TPP perfectly.

 

Potential spoilers below:

 

The plot that was there was fine enough, but I was really hoping for the story of a hero's fall from greatness motivated by revenge. At the end of the game though, you're still the hero doing (mostly) the right thing, not the charismatic anti-hero that was described in earlier games (perhaps my own interpretation). For me it was like watching the Star Wars prequels expecting to see a compelling story about the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader, and getting... well... the prequels and the reasons/motivation we got.

Nothing really feels like it changed from before GZ except for some outward appearances, and I think that's the most damning thing about it.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Komrade_Konrad

[Stardroid]

The problem for me is that for most of the game, I felt emotionally detached up until the moment where I end the Paz saga. That was the burst of emotion I so craved in this game. Quiet getting the Child Soldier's Necklace was a minor moment in that regard. The Paz saga ending is by far the best part of MGSV in my opinion.
The issue I think with the game is that the continuity is just totally off. Do mission, get in chopper, repeat. You spend a lot of time in that chopper, manager mother base, doing Side Ops that are just so boring after a while, it hurts ... It limps on for so long that all else kind of falls over, which is a shame.

I am currently getting the Platinum Trophy for this, and it'll be all MGS platinums done (including MGR).

[snacklepuss]

The problem for me is that for most of the game, I felt emotionally detached up until the moment where I end the Paz saga. That was the burst of emotion I so craved in this game. Quiet getting the Child Soldier's Necklace was a minor moment in that regard. The Paz saga ending is by far the best part of MGSV in my opinion.

The issue I think with the game is that the continuity is just totally off. Do mission, get in chopper, repeat. You spend a lot of time in that chopper, manager mother base, doing Side Ops that are just so boring after a while, it hurts ... It limps on for so long that all else kind of falls over, which is a shame.

I am currently getting the Platinum Trophy for this, and it'll be all MGS platinums done (including MGR).

 Yip...Thats the games main problem. Youre detached from it most of the entire game. The Interrogations pissed me off. Same Sentence spoke every time. "Where Are Your Friends". or "Tell Me What You Know" and that was snaes only real words. Some thing like that. Also the chopper should have been more mobile like at the MotherBase, you get in and you can select where to go on the Motherbase.

Konami should have put this in Side Ops at least. NOPE all loading or Cardboard boxing it (when they werent on alert).

 

Then a sudden spate of Paz...(Say No More)

Edited August 27, 2016 by snacklepuss