If Metal Gear Solid 4 proved anything, which I'm not sure it did, it proved that "ending" Metal Gear Solid was not as simple as telling a final story that wraps up the series' plot by blabbing on about each of its characters, and so Metal Gear Solid V decided upon the opposite.
Metal Gear Solid V is a game that refuses to explain itself. Its narrative lies in quietly humming each of the series' personal and political themes. Its grand tricks are found within how rote it feels when you're told, arbitrarily, to "eliminate" a target, how your eyes glaze over as you select every face and name that speaks Kikongo as it slips from feeling like murder to feeling like mechanics. Its soul rests in the moment you see a "Big Boss is watching you" poster and, in contemplating that you disagree with this use of your face, realize that you have become more symbol than man.
This game is "unfinished" because it never can be finished, there is no conclusion to a story about an unescapable status quo that doesn't contradict either the "unescapable" or "status quo" parts of that phrase.
MGS 1, 2, and 4 tell a story of the next generation, how maybe, just maybe, the next generation can do just a little bit better than us, and how maybe that can rub off onto the future generations. Death Stranding tells a story that implores us not to give us hope in our quest to help fix things right here and right now. But this is a story that is desperate and angry about us right here and right now, its suffering heightening Kojima's other works about healing.
Also, the way it plays totally rules. Genuinely one of the best feeling third person video games I've ever played. I enjoy the immediate sensation of hitting the w key on my keyboard in this game more than entire other games that I like, and it offers the most interesting guard AI and alert system in the series.

What do Rulers use to bring people together? It's Language.

And Ironically, like these words said by the code talker, I do wish this game stick to it's own story-telling language to communicate with us it's philosophy better unfortunately.

I don't know what can I say what hasn't been said numerous times, but anyway I will still want to convey my thoughts about this game.

When I started playing this game, I was already 1 year late so I heard all of the problems about this game. Also peace walker experience was still hot in my brain so my expectations was low as a pebble about this game. But strangely I found a game that actually had potential, even more than peace walker. Because rather than continuing the big boss's already concluded story, it "tries to do" something with other characters and villains. But decides to stop doing that and just wastes everything away.

Yet also, I love this damn game. It was a blast to go through for me from an other side. Because like I said, I really didn't had any "story expectations to begin with" after mgs4 ended everything conclusively.

(SPOILER WARNING)

Ground Zeroes

The tanker chapter of mgs2 but less impressive version of it. It does have the biggest single enemy camp in the entire mgs franchise(bigger then Groznyj Grad from mgs3). So it's fun to play inside it but unfortunately only have two objectives(if you don't care about side ops). That is: Save Chico and Paz. That's it. Because of that it doesn't have the feeling of you are part by part progressing a giant ship from mgs2 for me.

Story-wise it's a nice hype demo for the players. we learn Chico and Paz captured .Of course as a snake we want to save them because we care about them so we go to Camp Omega. But while we go there, there is an nuclear inspection going on at our mother base and ends in a cliffhanger.

It's a fine mission on it's own right. It's sets up a new villain and actually makes you wonder what the heck is going on with this new villain. It gives you hope for a potential of a new good mgs villain.

But once you learn the existence of casette tapes you learn how psycho he is. First it gives you more hope about the villain but if you think about it more than a second and think why the heck it's in a tape rather than a flashback scene and that thing is... actually a big first glance to upcoming mess that is mgsV's story telling.

MgsV-Main Game

After the events from mgsV, we open our eyes on a hospital Ocelot helps us escape? And we find ourselves on a new beginning. We set up our new motherbase, a robotic arm and then settle in afghanistan for our first mission to save Miller. After saving him we promise for VENGEANCE and with that game truly begins.

In the whole game, we save hostages, destroy camps, collect datas and try to get everything about Skull Face. Unfortunately game never goes deep in the story department and just fills you with tapes.

Then that finale mission hits. Everything ends in a rushed way and we of course get bunch of "Casette Tapes".

Wait... what?

I don't know if I manage to give you the impact of the cassette tapes, but this game botches it's own potential with relying to stupid casette tapes rather then let the cutscenes do the talking.

I watched all of them years later and yeah like I said they wasted every potential with tapes, especially in the "truth" tapes...

Also of course let's not forget about the cut finale 51. mission... no... "Missions" as well. Maybe I am gonna say something controversial but... I don't believe a sudden dlc for cut missions will fix this game. It's reliance on casette tapes hurts the story so much that not even a big witcher 3 level of dlc can save this game's story in my opinion. It's problematic in it's roots. It's impossible to save this story without redoing everything from scratch.

Btw when it comes to twist, tbh I don't feel anything about it. I know why everyone pissed about the "truth" twist but in my opinion it changes nothing. Story is already feels botched anyway because of the casette tapes. The twist itself is just a cream on the already badly cooked cake.

Unfortunately and ironically mgsv is a failure when it comes to communicating it's story to the players and because of that sends it's every potential to hell. But was it really that important story to get pushed to it's potential?

Not Really, Actually.

While truth tapes are really important, in the end of the day, mgsV is a phantom game. A story that doesn't need to exist in the bigger picture. It can just be in a lore file somehwere. I still consider everything ended with 4 and this game nor peace walker won't change that for me.

Gameplay

I said this game was a blast tho isn't it? Because it does one thing expertly, even better then every game I had ever played. What it does expertly is the freedom on stealth. I have never played a game where you can infiltrate in every way you want with the gadgets that feels almost endless, also with the buddy system that makes you feel like a commander, also with the shocking clever and defensive ai as well. Fixes all of my issues with peace walker for me.

Combine this with a more open soldier collecting system that gives you more choices to collect wherever you want that scales with you unlike peace walker's linear forced way of collect system. This makes the game 10 times more interesting when it comes to progressing.

I had so much fun with the gameplay that I stopped doing main missions and went with side ops all the way. After all who cares with that botched casette taped filled story right? Not me.

Only thing I can say bad about the gameplay is, open world feels unnecessary. We always go back to chopper anyway so.... I am not sure what is the point of this big of an open world I don't know. It just forces you to waste time with running to the chopper for hundreds of meters after every mission.

Also I heard some people pissed about there is no big base as big as camp omega in mgsv, I kinda get them but main game itself have lots of variety in it's missions when you combine them so I still left satisfied.

So yeah this is mgsV. A mess of a story but a brilliance when it comes to gameplay. You can consider this one the worst mgs story because of the botched telling but in my eyes...

It's the best stealth game I had ever played.

Ground Zeroes is one of the greatest prologue chapters in gaming history, it's an absolutely perfect introduction to The Phantom Pain.
Speaking about TPP, its gameplay is one of the most fun experiences I've had in a game in a very long time, probably the best in the MGS series. The story is obviously the weak part of the game but unlike many others I think it has its good moments and also I didn't really mind the concept of listening to the audio tapes, some were actually really good (especially the ones you get after beating the game).
Overall despite the lack of KoTF (the infamous mission 51) I have a very positive opinion of this game, I still play it from time to time

Se tem um Metal Gear que pode se vangloriar de ter uma gameplay deliciosa e democrática, esse Metal Gear sem dúvida é o MGS V (Ground Zeroes e The Phantom Pain), um jogo que premia todo o tipo de jogador, do pacifista ao mais ávido por promover uma carnificina, sempre valorizando os métodos escolhidos com uma quantidade absurda de equipamentos e possibilidades tanto em um método, quanto em outro.

Na minha análise de Peace Walker, eu apontei que a maioria das mecânicas deste jogo seriam herdadas pelo MGS V, afirmação que ratifico. É fato que MGS V é a demonstração definitiva das ideias de Kojima, e transforma Peace Walker em um mero protótipo, quando posto ao lado de MGS V.

E a quantidade de mecânicas disponível é tão vasta (já que aqui devemos considerar coisas que só podem ser feitas com determinados equipamentos), que mesmo com dezenas de horas, ainda será possível que você não tenha vislumbrado todas as possibilidades - e verdade seja dita: nem precisa! Pois o grande número de mecânicas não existe para serem dominadas, mas para possibilitar a perfeição na abordagem escolhida pelo jogador, seja sendo um fantasma, ou a encarnação do próprio Rambo; e é isso o que faz MGS V ser tão especial.

Mas apesar das similaridades com Peace Walker, MGS V tem suas novidades, sendo a mais evidente os Buddies - aliados que você pode levar para as missões, e que são muito úteis. No início do jogo você tem um cavalo, o que faz sentido em um mundo aberto, depois você tem o D-Dog (seu lobo de estimação), que basicamente marca tudo para você no mapa com seu nariz mágico, e depois temos a Quiet... e bem... é a Quiet!

A Quiet é uma personagem que merece um parágrafo ou dois só para ela. Por mais que ela seja construída de forma até sexista, já que ela é uma sniper que vai para o campo de batalha com um biquini fio dental, e não pode falar (coisa de japonês tarado), ela também é a personagem mais apaixonante e profunda de MGS V, e eu nem sei explicar como o Kojima conseguiu isso com uma personagem tão estereotipada.

E como Buddie, Quiet cria até um problema ao inutilizar os demais companheiros (fazer o quê se a mulher bonita consegue prevalecer até sobre um pet leal?). E isso não acontece à toa; Quiet marca todos os inimigos e pontos de interesse, nos salva nos momentos mais imprevisíveis, e ainda pode distrair seus inimigos ou simplesmente matá-los como moscas, e os sussurros delas são gostosos de ouvir... enfim! É simplesmente o melhor recurso que o jogo pode te dar.

E quantas as abordagens, o jogo ainda premia mais o stealth e o pacifismo, o que é justo, já que essa é a proposta; mas não se iluda, é possível promover um verdadeiro caos aqui. Uma coisa que gosto muito é que o jogo não tem suas mecânicas dificultadas para obrigar à abordagem furtiva. Controlar Snake é facílimo; o desafio aqui fica por conta da inteligência artificial dos inimigos, e da letalidade dos hits que você pega. Quer brigar? Briga! mas se prepare para lidar com inimigos que vão te acertar, te cercar, chamar reforços das bases vizinhas etc. etc. etc. É uma inteligência artificial muito bem aplicada, e é o jeito certo de incentivar qualquer jogador a não ser descoberto.

O jogo é de mundo aberto, o que pessoalmente é algo que não me incomoda aqui, já que essa construção de mundo permite uma certa variedade de possibilidades nas realizações das missões, mas acredito que o jogo não ficaria prejudicado, e talvez até se beneficiasse, da construção de fases mesmo, como foi proposto em jogos como Hitman, ou até mesmo em MGS 4. Mas é uma mera divagação, já que MGS V é bom com seus três mapas (um de Ground, dois de The Phantom).

Mas para falar em problemas reais, vamos às consequências da guerra Kojima e Konami.

A bem da verdade, essa Definitive Experience é o jogo que deveria ter sido vendido desde o início. Ground Zeroes não passa de uma primeira fase; é a abertura da história de The Phantom Pain, e isso é percebido quando só leva 1 hora para zerar a história principal desse capítulo. The Phantom Pain, por sua vez, começa imediatamente após o final de Ground, e ambos os jogos têm a mesma jogabilidade, gráficos etc. etc. etc. Logo, essa divisão é o primeiro sintoma da guerra corporativa entre o vaidoso Kojima e a corporação do mal Konami.

O segundo, e talvez maior problema dessa história, é o jogo estar incompleto!

MGS V apresenta inúmeros plots no Chapter II (que cobre da missão 32 até 50 da lista principal), mas não resolve esses plots, que sequer são mencionados em outros jogos. Ou seja, não dá nem para alegar que eles são fruto da semente para jogos futuras, já que teoricamente MGS V encerra a franquia. É nítido que o jogo tinha que ter um Chapter III (ou um Chapter II estendido), para fechar algumas pontas deixadas pela campanha; o que acaba não ocorrendo, e coisas importantes da narrativa não são resolvidas.

Outra questão que incomoda é a segunda metade de Phantom Pain ser muito inferior a primeira metade, já que se inicia um ciclo de missões repetidas nas quais 13 das 19 missões principais já foram jogadas no início do jogo, alterando-se apenas a dificuldade da missão (sendo Total Stealth, ou Extreme).

Tá certo que a experiência de jogar as fases em níveis mais difíceis de fato tira o jogador da zona de conforto, e obriga a novas estratégias, dando uma cara nova a essas missões; mas veja que essas missões não são secundárias, e pelo menos uma parte delas deve ser cumprida para ver os finais do Chapter 2; e só três dessas missões se prestam a avançar a história, o que é inaceitável!, já que a história está incompleta, com o desfecho de alguns personagens simplesmente não ocorrendo dentro do jogo. A sensação de encheção de linguiça é real aqui.

E daí vem que o jogo é narrativamente o mais fraco entre os títulos principais, tendo um enredo inferior inclusive em relação ao Peace Walker.

Não que a história não seja boa (isso ainda é Metal Gear), mas além do problema de história incompleta, a própria forma de contar sua narrativa não ajuda. E sim, estou falando das malditas fitas cassetes!

Essa forma de contar sua história é herdada de Peace Walker, mas se neste último ainda tínhamos uma história pessoal de superação e aceitação de Big Boss mostrada em tela, contada em missões e cutscenes, The Phantom Pain deixa seguimentos inteiros da narrativa, e explicações basilares do que está acontecendo por conta das fitas cassetes. O jogo até indica quais fitas devem ser ouvidas, já presumindo o tédio de ouvir todas as fitas com exposições infinitas.

Outro problema, também herdado de MGS Peace Walker, é o fato de se ter muitas missões que não significam nada; você é um mercenário no fim das contas, e muito do que você faz é contratos de guerra, que pouco vão contribuir na narrativa de forma geral. Não é que isso prejudique o jogo, mas como o jogo tem uma lista de missões secundárias extensas, parece um equívoco que as missões principais, muitas vezes, não signifiquem nada, sendo a diferença de uma missão principal para secundário, muitas vezes, o escopo e a complexidade da missão proposta, e nada mais.

Não nego que MGS V, apesar de ser um dos jogos mais viciantes que já joguei na vida, e que me prendeu por 80 horas, também é um pouco decepcionante para um fã da franquia. Já que jogar um MGS com uma narrativa tão largada, justamente nessa franquia, que sempre buscou se aperfeiçoar na arte de criar gameplays únicos em narrativas cinematográficas, só pode ser definido como decepcionante.

Mas em que pese a narrativa mais fraca e incompleta, o gameplay de um jogo perdoa muitos pecados, e a depender da qualidade e diversão proposta, até dispensa qualquer história (Super Mario e Doom não me deixam mentir). Por isso, ainda que eu tenha me decepcionado com a história de MGS V, considero esse jogo obrigatório, sendo seu maior defeito ele está incompleto (ainda que isso não mude o fato de ser um jogo que demanda ao menos 50 horas para ter um zeramento apenas das missões principais). Enfim, uma obra inestimável, ainda que inacabada.

Metal Gear Solid 5 önceki MGS oyunlarının aksine açık dünya bir yapıya bürünmüş ve bu açık dünyayı tanımlamak için doğru söz şey olacaktır "Açık dünya boş" evet MGS 5in açık dünyası tamamiyle bomboş ancak oyunun yönetmeni olan Hideo Kojima'nın zaten canlı bir açık dünya yapma derdi olmadığını oynarken anlayabiliyorsunuz. MGS 5in açık dünyası sizin isterseniz gizlilik isterseniz one-man army olarak strateji kuracağınız bir yapıya sahip ve siz bir bölgeye girecekken nasıl bir strateji uygulamak istiyorsanız MGS 5 onu sonuna kadar destekliyor. Kısaca açık dünya az önce de söylediğim gibi strateji kuracağınız bir yapıya sahip.

MGS 5te toplamda 50 tane ana görev var ancak oyun hikayesel olarak tam bir şekilde bitmiyor. Maalesef kendi için başlattığı hikayeyi sonlandıramadan oyun son buluyor. Oyunda gördüğümüz karakterlerin neredeyse hiçbirin hikayesi tamamlanamadan oyun bitiyor. Normalde MGS serisi her zaman bir final bossa sahip olmasına rağmen MGS 5te bir final boss dahi yok. MGS'in önceki oyunları daima boss çeşitliliğine sahip olurdu ancak MGS 5 bu konuda da maalesef sınıfta kalıyor. MGS 5'ten kısaca önceki oyunların aksine hikayesel bir şey beklememeniz lazım. Böyle olunca da oyunu yukarıda bahsettiğim şekilde uzun uzun sıkılmayacağınız şekilde oynarsanız aslında hikayeye gerek olmayan bir cevher olduğunu anlayacaksınız MGS 5'in.

Dipnot: MGS 5 en iyi açık dünyalardan birine sahip bir başyapıttır

"Big Boss can go to Hell... I'll make the phantom and his sons stronger to send him there. For that, I'll keep playing my role."

Probably the most theory heavy game out there and, sure, you could say "Well, fans make up the theories to cope for the incomplete story line!! 🤓" But, we're talking about A Hideo Kojima Game here, they are almost made specifically for the fan theories and heavy speculation, given how complex and cryptic this series and Kojima is as a person, half of the fan theories I wouldn't even be surprised if they were actually real, but I digress.

Why I bring up theories is because I feel like they are what complete the game for me, not Konami or Kojima, but the blank spaces that are hinted towards, even in Ground Zeroes, that really makes you think about not just Venom Snake as a character, but the course of events throughout the whole game. There are so many subtle innuendos through the story that if you blink, you almost miss it, in classic Kojima fashion too. But, yeah, sure, Chapter 3 would have been nice, where did Sahelanthropus go? What happened to Eli? To be fair, at least one of these questions can be answered if you have a history with the franchise and where in fact you know that Eli is literally Liquid Snake, I guess you can really make the rest up and come to your own conclusions? Maybe I'm reaching a bit here in an attempt to defend this game for some of it's flaws, but to me, the missing chapter isn't that huge of a deal when you see what it's about, everything else felt like it was somewhat wrapped up and left up for interpretation, so...

But that's what I loved about this game, interpretation and the aforementioned theories, it just makes the game that much more eerie and interesting. For example, I've seen a lot of complaints towards the game's ending twist, people either felt betrayed or thought it was just shock value, where in both cases I can see where those people are coming from, but personally, I think it's one of Kojima's most ambitious twists, up there with Metal Gear Solid 2, and probably one of the most ambitious twists in gaming and to say that it... comes out of nowhere? I really don't understand that take, did we play the same game? Did we not see The Boss' AI pod literally refer to Venom as not Jack??? Why did Volgin back off??? There are SO many subtle references leading up to the twists that any other fan would kind of question themselves about these strange, unexplained occurances, it's like Kojima is almost feeding you the spoilers before you get to them, hiding in plain sight.

In any case, there is one glaring flaw this game does admittely have... where the fuck are the codec calls? Is half of this game's story really told through casette tapes? You will miss out on a lot of things if you don't listen to them, such as Venom literally being responsible for having a village wiped off the face of the map, that's never even mentioned by the characters outside of those tapes, it leads a lot of room for exposition that was needed tremendously, because otherwise, most people wouldn't even understand what the fuck is going on. And, look, I get the reasoning for removing codecs, it does sort of interrupt the flow of gameplay in the older games and to be fair, this game itself has a lot of content already, the story is pretty long, just imagine how much longer it would have been with all those codecs and extended plot exposition? But, it still would have been nice to have a few of the very, very important ones and honestly I see their exclusion more of a "we don't have the budget for this" than "think of the gameplay", very much one of the aspects I agree is incomplete due to either time constraints or Kojima blowing the game's budget on other things.

Gameplay wise, though, this is probably the best in the series. Perfecty blending stealth with action, there is no correct way to go about things (unless absolutely required), you can tackle your objectives with different approaches. Take the classic Metal Gear route or take Venom Snake to his full potential and put that rocket or stun bionic arm to work and fuck their shit up. FOX Engine really was a godsend and it is a shame how hard it is to work with and even moreso that it had to be abandoned, but all these years later, it's aged so well and I'm intrigued to see what they come up with next for the MGS3 Delta remake.

A pretty choppy review, but a revised one in retrospect to how I feel about the game now having played the whole series months later, a new found appreciation for this game and what it's trying to do that just makes it much better.

The height of the series for me in terms of gameplay. As much as I enjoy MGS 1-4, adjusting to the controls in these games was always a bit of a struggle to me. In this game I had zero trouble adjusting on the fly and doing what I wanted. It makes me really, REALLY want to see the previous games remade with the Fox Engine.

I enjoyed building and expanding Mother Base - in general I'm a big sucker for any game that has a base building system. Mission objectives are varied well and can be accomplished in enough different ways that it's unlikely that any two players will have the exact experience.

The story was coming along quite well until its sudden 'conclusion', though there was some definite padding in chapter 2. And in a series with some truly amazing boss battles, there is definitely a lack of them here, in both quantity and quality.

On a final note, D-Dog is just too adorable.

I loved the gameplay of this game and it could have totally worked without the Metal Gear Solid brand. To me it felt like a great action based game with the Metal Gear Solid name slapped over the top of it. It just did not feel like an MGS game. The fact the story did not play out like a typical MGS game, cutscenes could be several missions apart making keeping me engaged with the story hard. I don't like how Ocelot looks and sounds different in every MGS game. The fact they got Kiefer Sutherland to replace David Hayter as Big Boss but he barely speaks anyway.

What i'm still frustrated to hell about is much this game overstayed it's welcome, yeah make it a long game with all the extras for those who want to stay late at the party but I got really frustrated when it gave the "End of Chapter 1" cutscene after 30+ hours in. To get the "True" ending and to complete Chapter 2 you need to repeat missions on a higher difficulty including the slow as hell first mission. This felt like the game was only going to let the player experience the whole game if they proved themselves worthy of it which I think is a massive insult for gamers like me who like to experience the game and not have to master it.

So i finished this game yesterday and i gotta say that i fucking loved it.My expectations weren't very high and it exceeded those expectations.First of all the gameplay is really good you can get a large variety of weapons and most missions can play out in different ways.The story in this game isn't always there.Most boss fights were decent i guess,Sahelantrophus was great the last skulls encounter was good and others are just decent or fine but still pretty enjoyable.The antagonist was meh he was cool looking but other than that he wasn't special or anything.I really liked the buddies in this game they all felt unique except maybe the horse.My biggest complaint about this game are the repeated missions which are basically the same missions but more difficult,the dead open world and also having to wait when developing something like it's fucking clash of clans.But overall great game.Final rating:9

A Kojima masterclass that's considered incomplete and it still manages to wrap up this series to its end perfectly in my opinion.

This game serves to explain a lot of stuff in the metal gear solid series and fill in some gaps of knowledge we did not know before and also to pad onto metal gear and metal gear 2. MGS V also helps expand more on Big Boss legacy as a character as he is one of the most influential aspiring characters in this series. This games gameplay is also the peak of the metal gear solid series, absolute peak.

"Now do you remember? Who you are? What you were meant to do? I cheated death, thanks to you. And thanks to you I’ve left my mark."

"I'm Big Boss, and you are too. This story, this Legend, its ours... Carry that with you wherever you go. Thank you my friend."

knotty, novelistic, sprawling and more than a little exhausting in its sometimes repetitive and always bordering on non-linear structure...if i could give a score to the first like 30ish missions i would probably give this another 5/5, but i have to admit the extremely long time it took me to finish is to the game's detriment, and that's 50% life events but 50% a near-constant gamer fatigue!!

it's all actually encapsulated nicely in the first and final mission; almost exact mirrors with minor differences and of course a new perspective the second go round...the issue is that this novelty applies to the cutscenes and not so much to going up against all the same obstacles...it felt tedious in a way that's surely intended but comes off flat-out unenjoyable rather than reflective or even meditative, as Death Stranding would achieve across my entire playtime

i think a lot of that comes down to the incongruity between incentives and aesthetics; we feel compelled to keep the story moving in the same sense as the prior games, complete the missions and move forward, and yet the open world formatting invites us to linger, challenge ourselves, breath in the environment...but when one does that you start to notice how quickly the novelty of these environments, these copy/paste setups...it lacks that Death Stranding mirage, the way it feels like you're lingering as you're still pushing things forward, that clear distinction between what's optional and what's core to the experience

as much as i want to engage with this directly as is, i can't help but see in its feverish ambition yet numerous failures to reconcile incentive and aesthetic nothing more than a really pretty dry-run for Death Stranding...it makes me appreciate that even more for what it manages to do without ever showing its hand, the tightrope it manages to walk between linearity and open-world sandbox

i don't think MGSV pulls that off anywhere near as well, in fact, i think it could have been better served by a less is more approach, sharing the same density of storytelling as an MGS4 but with its evolved, silky smooth gameplay...it's not that the decision to scatter narrative to the wind bothers me so much as the incongruity between form and function

still, i have been and will be chewing on it for a long time to come...and i do not regret even a second of the year+ i've spent finishing out the Metal Gear series///i feel like it was a great way to clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of this medium i'm still only sorta familiar with, and i look forward to comparing every single subsequent game i play to its exemplary invention, it certainly casts a wide fucking shadow...the series already takes up more room in my daily thoughts than maybe any body of work period!!

This game honestly had the potential to be one of the greatest games of all time, on one hand it has one of the best stealth action gameplay I've played, the cinematography is fucking god tier, great atmosphere, and ost.

On the other hand however while i actually like the story, i hate the way it was told. Like 80% of the game's story is told through audio tapes rather than long cutscenes the series was known for. Now less cutscenes and more gameplay is fine by me, but the thing that made these audio tapes such a slog to listen to is because whenever i listen to the important tapes while playing I'm always constantly interrupted by either Kaz or Ocelot which muffles any info on the tape. Now if i really want to listen to the tapes without interruptions i'd just listen to it on the helicopter but that shits lame to me personally.

I hate how chapter 2 is just repeat missions and other main missions that are just set up to an arc we never got

honestly even though we never really get eli's arc in the game it never really bothered me because we all know its gonna end with the big reveal anyways

Phantom Pain é um jogo que eu não consigo separar do o que estava acontecendo comigo na época que eu joguei ele. Foi uma época muito boa, em que eu estava muito feliz. Isso provavelmente fez com que eu gostasse mais do jogo. Por mais que eu reconheça o quão bem feito ele é, essa era já a minha quinta ou sexta vez tentando jogar ele. Mas sobre o jogo em si, a gameplay é bem livre, te deixando experimentar bastante. Já a história não me pegou muito, não gosto do jeito como o Kojima conta histórias, focando muito em aspectos técnicos de como tudo funciona, assim deixando toda a narrativa muito inflada e trancada. Agora sobre o Ground Zeroes, ele é basicamente uma excelente missão do Phantom Pain, mas separado como um jogo solo. Eu demorei a gostar do jogo, mas quando isso aconteceu foi uma das minhas experiências favoritas que já tive ao jogar algo.

This game is very technically impressive but it barely feels like MGS.
It's very fun for a while, but the open world means bloat and the base manegment has fucking Farmville timers. No.

There are few character interactions after the opening act or any characters at all for that matter. Snake is basically a mute, Sutherland is giving a good performance for his seven lines but for half the budget you could get Hayter to actually be there and give his heart and soul to this hammy character in this hammy game. Hiring a Hollywood big shot doesn't make your game more sophisticated or highbrow - maybe start with not shoving a bomb up a woman's vegina?

Kojima was never great with women but the absolute fucking on screen and off screen torture he puts Paz through is sickening.

I may get back to it every now and then but I don't think I'll ever bother to finish it. Big Boss' story came full circle with MGS3 anyways.

Ground Zeroes was an interesting self contained sampler for the big game to come. I'd never played it until recently so it was nice to finally experience it.

The Phantom Pain however... I guess it's no coincidence that I got pretty much to the same point as I did before calling time on the first time I played it. I think the biggest roadblock for me was how many seemingly inconsequential missions there are coupled with the bland open world. Setting it in an arid, brown landscape with little variety soon wore me down. I had been enjoying it for the most part, and I enjoyed the side bit of expanding your base, gathering intel etc, but it was far too repetitive and took way too long. There felt like very little progress in the grand scheme of things, for the amount of time I'd spent with it.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of what I played, but it I felt like the time and effort going into this could easily have gone on something I enjoy a bit more. And playing Breath of the Wild again recently showed me just how much of chore this game can be. I know it's a lazy comparison, but both are open world games with stealth elements, but one of them utilises that world, the other doesn't.

Every time I almost went to play this again, I decided I would prefer to play anything else. I cannot muster up any further enthusiasm. At least we'll always have Snake Eater.