One of my greatest sins as a Professional Gamer is that…I don’t really enjoy Metal Gear Solid. Despite 2 and 3 being two of the most acclaimed video games of all time, I had to tough through the games on Easy mode just to wrangle them out of my backlog. I found the control scheme unintuitive, and I absolutely suck at stealth. I just don’t have the patience, it's not really a fault of the games themselves, just how I am as a person.
On the other hand, MGSV is a game that I enjoy so much that I'll only put it down because of how big my backlog is. I found it very hard in the beginning, but as I got better at aiming, stealth, creative solutions, and had more resources available, the game kept getting better and better.
The great thing about the creative options with this game is how readily available they are. Weapons development and supply drops are so cheap in the grand scheme of things that it really encourages you to use any item/weapon/buddy whenever you want. I was pretty boring with other open worlds like other games such as Tears Of The Kingdom and RDR2. In the former, I felt discouraged from using Zonai resources because of how slow it was to get batteries and materials, so I mostly just stuck to regular weapons. In the latter, the game has pretty rigid level design, so you just go through the linear, intended route. However, the ease of developments and Fulton deliveries meant I approached The Phantom Pain in the way normal people approach games like Botw/Totk when they make their funny moments compilations.
Interrogating guards for objective or stash info. Rigging comms and anti-air with C4 to make a safer getaway. Should I kill, stun, tranq, avoid this enemy? The amount of options makes what an essentially 2 minute gameplay loop sustain itself for dozens and dozens of missions.
At first, checkpoint's seemed pretty cruel. And yeah, it sucks when you lose 20 minutes of sneaking progress because you were careless at the last possible second. Sometimes, it's not all bad though. Enemies will remain marked and you will know where exactly your objective is, so a lot of the time you can try again and take way less time.
The element of this game I personally wish was more developed was activities on Mother Base. You have target practice and suplexing your cult of soldiers and that's about it. I love returning the work you put into the open world into a constantly developing hub world, but it's mostly just visual. I guess when it comes to FOBs it affects gameplay a bit more since you or someone else will be exploring a custom built fortress.
The OST/score is great, as always with Metal Gear, with the new addition of licensed 80's music. A lot of it I avoid since I've heard it on the radio a million times in my life, but there are standouts like Midge Are of course. Wouldn't be the same game if my helicopter didn't play Rebel Yell every single time it picked me up. Wish they had Here's To You from Ground Zeroes though.
When it comes to story, I can see the main issues people have. Kojima doesn't have the most traditional storytelling methods, opting to do 20 minute exposition dumps in the middle of a gameplay mission (with the odd action scene here and there). However, it's kept interesting by just how many plot twists and reveals and stuff packed into each game. Phantom Pain, on the other hand, has a very hands-off story. Most of it is explained in hours worth of audio logs, and a lot of what you're told in normal cutscenes is a lie. Half of the missions in this game are just oddjobs with the overall narrative goal of "restoring mother base". Chapter 1 also has "we need revenge on Cipher/XOF/Skull Face" which end up being directly involved in a few missions.
Once Chapter 2 happens the narrative completely collapses. any remaining loose threads are continued in cutscenes that are triggered after doing random shit like side-ops, and as many know already, aren't even resolved. Yes, the game is unfinished, but this only really becomes a problem in Chapter 2. Chapter 1 is a quite solid (if slow and dull by Metal Gear standards) story that resolves the major conflict. It's a real shame that there isn't a true conclusion though. Chapter 2 suffers the most gameplay wise, as well. There are like 3 missions that forward the narrative, the rest are repeat missions but with additional difficulty. Harder missions aren't an issue on their own, the problem is them being muddled along with the content you need to complete to reach missions 43/45/46, the closest this game comes to a true ending.
This game also has pretty annoying bossfights ngl. Missions 29/42, 40, 45 and 31/50 are some of the most unenjoyable experiences I have ever had. You either cheese them or try to fight normally and get one shot 10 minutes after your most recent checkpoint.
Overall, I think my actual biggest issue with the game is the discourse surrounding it. It seems to be almost exclusively extremes; people either go "this game is unfinished and broken and ruined my life" or "this game is supposed to be unfinished and its actually a flawless masterpiece that I will spend 3 hours hyping up". The truth is somewhere in the middle, I lean towards "flawed but some great stuff".
To me, this will probably be the most important Metal Gear Solid I'll ever play, because it's definitely encouraged me to replay all the others with a more open mind so that I can see what others love in them so much. It was certainly a conflicting experience of a game. When you’re watching a cutscene, it’s a 5. When you get bad checkpoints, it's a 4. When everything falls perfectly into place and you creatively and stealthily execute a mission, it’s a 10. This game would probably be a 9 minimum if they actually finished it (common Konami L). The Jeep scene is unironically an 11/10. Overall, it's like an 8.
Well, I guess there’s nothing more to add other than……”Major….I’M BURNING UUUUUUUP!!!!”
On the other hand, MGSV is a game that I enjoy so much that I'll only put it down because of how big my backlog is. I found it very hard in the beginning, but as I got better at aiming, stealth, creative solutions, and had more resources available, the game kept getting better and better.
The great thing about the creative options with this game is how readily available they are. Weapons development and supply drops are so cheap in the grand scheme of things that it really encourages you to use any item/weapon/buddy whenever you want. I was pretty boring with other open worlds like other games such as Tears Of The Kingdom and RDR2. In the former, I felt discouraged from using Zonai resources because of how slow it was to get batteries and materials, so I mostly just stuck to regular weapons. In the latter, the game has pretty rigid level design, so you just go through the linear, intended route. However, the ease of developments and Fulton deliveries meant I approached The Phantom Pain in the way normal people approach games like Botw/Totk when they make their funny moments compilations.
Interrogating guards for objective or stash info. Rigging comms and anti-air with C4 to make a safer getaway. Should I kill, stun, tranq, avoid this enemy? The amount of options makes what an essentially 2 minute gameplay loop sustain itself for dozens and dozens of missions.
At first, checkpoint's seemed pretty cruel. And yeah, it sucks when you lose 20 minutes of sneaking progress because you were careless at the last possible second. Sometimes, it's not all bad though. Enemies will remain marked and you will know where exactly your objective is, so a lot of the time you can try again and take way less time.
The element of this game I personally wish was more developed was activities on Mother Base. You have target practice and suplexing your cult of soldiers and that's about it. I love returning the work you put into the open world into a constantly developing hub world, but it's mostly just visual. I guess when it comes to FOBs it affects gameplay a bit more since you or someone else will be exploring a custom built fortress.
The OST/score is great, as always with Metal Gear, with the new addition of licensed 80's music. A lot of it I avoid since I've heard it on the radio a million times in my life, but there are standouts like Midge Are of course. Wouldn't be the same game if my helicopter didn't play Rebel Yell every single time it picked me up. Wish they had Here's To You from Ground Zeroes though.
When it comes to story, I can see the main issues people have. Kojima doesn't have the most traditional storytelling methods, opting to do 20 minute exposition dumps in the middle of a gameplay mission (with the odd action scene here and there). However, it's kept interesting by just how many plot twists and reveals and stuff packed into each game. Phantom Pain, on the other hand, has a very hands-off story. Most of it is explained in hours worth of audio logs, and a lot of what you're told in normal cutscenes is a lie. Half of the missions in this game are just oddjobs with the overall narrative goal of "restoring mother base". Chapter 1 also has "we need revenge on Cipher/XOF/Skull Face" which end up being directly involved in a few missions.
Once Chapter 2 happens the narrative completely collapses. any remaining loose threads are continued in cutscenes that are triggered after doing random shit like side-ops, and as many know already, aren't even resolved. Yes, the game is unfinished, but this only really becomes a problem in Chapter 2. Chapter 1 is a quite solid (if slow and dull by Metal Gear standards) story that resolves the major conflict. It's a real shame that there isn't a true conclusion though. Chapter 2 suffers the most gameplay wise, as well. There are like 3 missions that forward the narrative, the rest are repeat missions but with additional difficulty. Harder missions aren't an issue on their own, the problem is them being muddled along with the content you need to complete to reach missions 43/45/46, the closest this game comes to a true ending.
This game also has pretty annoying bossfights ngl. Missions 29/42, 40, 45 and 31/50 are some of the most unenjoyable experiences I have ever had. You either cheese them or try to fight normally and get one shot 10 minutes after your most recent checkpoint.
Overall, I think my actual biggest issue with the game is the discourse surrounding it. It seems to be almost exclusively extremes; people either go "this game is unfinished and broken and ruined my life" or "this game is supposed to be unfinished and its actually a flawless masterpiece that I will spend 3 hours hyping up". The truth is somewhere in the middle, I lean towards "flawed but some great stuff".
To me, this will probably be the most important Metal Gear Solid I'll ever play, because it's definitely encouraged me to replay all the others with a more open mind so that I can see what others love in them so much. It was certainly a conflicting experience of a game. When you’re watching a cutscene, it’s a 5. When you get bad checkpoints, it's a 4. When everything falls perfectly into place and you creatively and stealthily execute a mission, it’s a 10. This game would probably be a 9 minimum if they actually finished it (common Konami L). The Jeep scene is unironically an 11/10. Overall, it's like an 8.
Well, I guess there’s nothing more to add other than……”Major….I’M BURNING UUUUUUUP!!!!”