480°

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain - 10 Huge Problems Nobody Wants To Admit

WC: Metal Gear Solid should always stand the test of time as a bastion for free-wheeling artistic experimentation in everything from gameplay to story, and whilst I must stress MGS V is still a phenomenal game, such a coat of polish makes all the blemishes way more noticeable. Spoilers ahead!

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Pozzle3529d ago
2pacalypsenow3529d ago

yeah , its great game but def not the BEST MGS game, at times it doesn't even feel like im playing MGS

vickers5003529d ago (Edited 3529d ago )

It's definitely the best Metal Gear Solid game Ive ever played, though I only played through 3 and 4, and watched walkthroughs on the rest, I think I've played enough to be able to say it's my favorite. Even played through mgs4 a second time shortly before release. It's the best game I've played this generation, it's the best stealth game I've ever played (something finally dethroned deus ex hr for my favorite stealth game), and it's certainly the best mgs I've ever played, and I'm not even finished with it, only half way through and still having a blast.

I gather the main reason some are so dissapointed is that it doesn't have as many cutscenes as previous titles did. I remember some complaining mgs4 had too many, I wasnt one of them myself, but I'm also not complaining about the extra focus on gameplay this time around in number 5. All you folks who care more about the story already got your story heavy conclusion to the series with mgs4, and those who care more about the gameplay can get their fill with mgsv, which undoubtedly has the best gameplay of them all. You can make a claim that mgs is supposed to be about the story primarily, but I've seen longtime fans of the series be more passion about the stealth gameplay than they have about the story. Metal Gear either invented or popularized stealth games, so I'd say there's a pretty big divide amongst fans on which they prefer most.

Anyways, back to MGSV, freaking love this game.

--Onilink--3529d ago (Edited 3529d ago )

I havent beaten the game yet, but so far i dont think its about cutscenes, its the mission structure, at least for me.

I dont understand why so many reviews praise the open world in this game, when i dont even think its an open world.

You see games like witcher, fallout or gta, the games are packed with side missions and collectibles, however you unlock/complete them as you navigate through the map in a specific progression based on the story

In MGSV, you are not really moving through a map finding a doing sidequests as you move through the story, its basically just picking one from the menu, ride the chopper to the mission area, then leave. Repeat.

I think one of the biggest areas of improvement is to actually group the missions more and actually try to have several missions in a single place be doable, (i.e a heavy infantry mission that has a prisoner and one of the soldiers is a skilled soldier).

Otherwise, you only really do several missions at once just by forcing yourself to travel a huge distance without nothing to do inbetween just to save some GMP.

Finally, the other big thing missing is bases, like actual big bases, with interiors, its weird that practically the entire game(so far for me at least) is always outside, in villages and stuff like that.

Then again, im still loving the game, the mechanics, the gameplay, so far it give it about a 9.3

But i still feel that it could be better and more MGS-like

vickers5003529d ago

It could definitely be better, and I do kind of agree that treks to and from bases can be a hassle, but I still think this beats the hell out if previous metal gear games linear structure.

The stealth, controls, mechanics are light years ahead of anything previous mgs games had to offer, the staggering amount of detail in the gameplay and many ways you can approach something more than make up for the story imo.

And I'm even enjoying the story more than previous games as well, it has a darker, more serious tone than previous games. Seems to get to the point rather than overexplain jargon to me like previous games. I guess when it comes to this site, I'm in the minority in thinking mgs v is the best, but I'm fine with that, I generally see a preference amongst linear games, people who think Uncharted is the greatest thing ever while I just think it's good.

But I do see little signs here and there in the game that give me the idea Kojima was not able to do everything he wanted to do with the game because of Konami undoubtedly. Still, I think it's the best game this gen. Haven't played the witcher yet, though I plan to, I'm wary of swords and sorcery games after being massively and utterly bored to tears by dragon age inquisition.

It's a damn shame what happened at Konami, mgs v could have been the foundation for a mgs with massive gameplay depth AND massive story depth. That being said, it's still better than previous metal gears.

XBLSkull3529d ago

I've only played 2 and 4, and Phantom Pain is much better than either of those games. My only gripes really are the first intro mission/hospital sequence was not fun at all and a chore to get through, and I'm bummed that all the guns in the game are made up. I remember real world firearms being available in 2 and 4, and I miss that authenticity.

goathouse7743528d ago

@--onilink--

I'm not trying to be a$$hole, but... you just don't get it. And you're not the only one.

The world is open ENOUGH to allow the targets to be approached from every direction. Choosing where to attempt your entry is going to set the stage for the entire infiltration. That's what this world's open structure is designed around and it serves its role with machine precision.

As far as mission groupings: if they weren't spaced out as they are, you'd lose the usage cases for, probably, 75% of the functions in the game. I have loads of fun doing map-clearing side ops runs because I get to use all the transportation options (why else would they include fast-travel platforms) and countless air drops / air support tactics as I plot my way across the map.

Now, I've pointed this out a few different in other threads here on n4g and mostly just get a chorus of crickets in response. If you're not willing to listen to reason, then you don't deserve to enjoy this game.

Rant over.

--Onilink--3528d ago

@goathouse

Im sorry, but thats not an open world, thats just a well designed level in an slightly open area. I could just as well be picking up the mission from a menu and have 95% of map locked behind an invisible wall and i wouldnt notice. Having well designed areas and stealth mechanics that allow me to approach a mission however i like is not being open world (i.e Dishonored or Splinter Cell Conviction)

As for the missions, I have done more than one side op at a time, called in D-horse, a vehicle or used the box, however it has only been because of being too annoyed of having to call the chopper and go through more loading screens. The game does not encourage you to navigate the world on foot with it´s mission structure, not in the slightest. Its designed to be constantly going, doing the mission, getting extracted, and repeat.

As i said, i dont really hate this, however i feel it could be better. And its certainly not feeling like an open world game

yojimbo_slice3528d ago

Open world is a term for video games where a player can move freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how or when to approach objectives, as opposed to other computer games that have a more linear structure.

I'm pretty sure The Phantom Pain is the definition of an open world game.

--Onilink--3528d ago

@yojimbo

the thing is, you are not really giving much freedom in regards to when to do your side missions. Unless they open up in the side ops list menu, you can navigate to the place where the mission will take place and nothing will be there. You wont trigger a mission by getting to the location, you need to wait for the game to decide to add it to the list so then you can take a chopper to the location.

The map may be open, yes, but you are still bound to a menu screen to dictate when something will happen, otherwise its just an empty world with a couple of villages.

That´s what i mean about MGSV not really being an open world game. Its a game where you choose missions on a list, take a chopper to the location of the mission ignoring pretty much 95% of the map, and then go back to the chopper so you can select another mission from the list

Arnon3528d ago (Edited 3528d ago )

I understand the goal of allowing one to enter a mission from any angle, but I'm not sure they really took into account how this would change the formula of the game.

One of the reasons every metal gear has had a challenge is because you start at a specific point in a level and have to navigate through it, thus making the difficulty easy to set. However, when you allow the person to enter the game area from any angle they choose, the most that can be done is have the AI walk around more. Unfortunately, there seems to:

A) always be a blind spot which makes every mission quite easy to deal with.
B) always be an easy way of getting out of sticky situations, since you don't have to run back through the level and hide and can instead just run "out" of the level. Also, guards almost never leave their outposts and bases, which further enforces running out of the mission area to deal with your problems (which is not hard to do).

Also, it's not an open world game. In such a kind of game, one isn't limited to looking at an open world map and being restricted to just the roads and medium-sized grassy areas. Can you imagine looking at GTAV's map and only being allowed to play on the roads? This is another area of the game where the developers force their "difficulty" on the player. By not allowing the player to climb over mountains (even though you're Big Boss...), the player is forced to deal with enemy outposts, whether directly or indirectly. You can take them all out (which isn't hard even with nothing but tranqs), or sneak around the outpost. But either way you're *forced* to deal with the outposts, which eats up your time and creates the illusion of a game being more difficult than it actually is.

Lastly, enemy positions are almost always the same for each outpost no matter which mission you undertake, which makes each mission very predictable. I've literally been like "Oh, great. That place! Now I have to deal with like 20 dudes, even though it's not hard."

Game's super fun, but it's not a very graceful sequel to the MGS series.

goathouse7743528d ago

Sounds like you guys just can't appreciate it for what it is.

Go on epic side ops runs across the map without calling the chopper.

Go for higher ranks in missions for more challenge.

Remember, there are awesome time trial challenges for when you know the game inside out and tons of unlockables to hunt for.

Experiment with different loadouts and tactics.

Don't attack the enemy supply lines for a bit more challenge and variety to your foes.

Have fun, for Christ's sake.

--Onilink--3528d ago

@goathouse

i am definitely enjoying the game for what it is, i wouldnt say i´d give it a 9.3 or have already 50 hours and just on mission 18 so far.

We are simply discussing some of the areas that it could do better and that have taken a bit some of the Metal Gear feel to it, but again, its not like im not enjoying what the game is trying.

If you look at the things you mention, you arent really listing anything that makes it a compelling open world, just some very compelling gameplay that gives you plenty of replayability from its mission approach, which is indeed quite fun, im very much looking forward to replaying old missions with new loadouts to get all the objetives and S rank them

Arnon3527d ago (Edited 3527d ago )

@goathouse

I know this might shock you, but developers don't make games *entirely* for your enjoyment. And pointing out these flaws is not an indication that one isn't having fun. Rather, making note of such things makes more gamers aware of certain tricks implemented in games that either make you play them longer or make it seem like a justified purchase, which in turn leads to gamers being more careful with their wallets, and forcing such tricks out of the market (if that's what people want).

Just because a game is long and has a large variety of load outs doesn't mean that it's going to be anymore fun. If the story is slow and the overall gameplay mechanics are easy to master (seriously, I have the second upgrade to my tranq pistol and I'm snagging headshots 90+ meters away) as opposed to hard to master, then what am I doing other than experiencing something analogous to a tour? If I can play the game in such a way that I know I will win without any penalty to my score, then why *wouldnt* I do that? A game should provide difficulty in its own way depending on the situation for every situation.

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gta_manic3529d ago

Its a great open world game and pretty good metal gear solid game if that makes any sense.

assdan3529d ago

This game is my favorite MGS game and I'm a little saddened by it as well. On one hand, this one has my favorite gameplay of any of them, but the story is not as good. I still enjoy the story, but it is missing those long cutscenes I've come to love in the series.

tuglu_pati3529d ago (Edited 3529d ago )

Im like 50% in and so far im a little underwhelm, i find the game missions a little repetitive and the story a bit slow. Its a great game, but not the best this year. I guess i bar set to high.

Vegamyster3529d ago (Edited 3529d ago )

I wouldn't say your bar was set high, i was expecting larger bases similar to the one in Ground Zero to explore since the previous games always had like that. This one is like 90% of the missions take place in small/med sized villages with generic "Find Prisoner/Blueprint/Enemy/vehic le" ect, the ones that are larger have low enemy density and lots of cover so they're not really challenging. Definitely not a bad game but 18 hours in i do feel underwhelmed/burnt out.

Muadiib3529d ago

I agree, I actually had more fun in GZ than in all the 55 hours I've played TPP.

dimasok3529d ago

The repetitiveness of the side-ops is what really gets to me. Extract identical prisoner 1,2,3,.., kill identical tank crew 1,2,3..., find identical wandering crew member 1,2,3,..

Its like the game is laughing in my face.

WitWolfy3529d ago

The sad this is I lost bubbles for saying this exact same thing 2 days after the game launched. It felt like Kojima wanted to do more with the open world sections but never implemented it...

I should've known better...

StanLee3528d ago

Honestly, I'm enjoying it but it's not a 10 game. Reviews are terribly misleading and inflated. The game doesn't raise the bar in any way or change how we play open world games. I think reviews set expectations high. I'm not saying the reviewers intended to mislead but some developers have reached such acclaim that anticipation for their new project and the way games are reviewed after quick, sustained playthroughs, I don't think many reviewers have a chance to be objective. There's a bit of emotional high, especially if you're a fan. Many of the reviews I've read are just fanservice to be honest.

nowitzki20043528d ago

I agree. Its amazing but Witcher 3 is GOTY still so far for me. Witcher 3 just has so much more variety in the story and world.

tuglu_pati3528d ago

Agree, Whitcher 3 its my GOTY so far

VJGenova3529d ago

Most of these "huge problems" can be summed up as, "the story is lacking." There, i agree, though i also don't really remember the story from the previous titles so it's hard for me to see why i'm so lost.

Love the gameplay though. I like that there are different loadouts available but i do usually stick to one main build. I don't think that's a major issue though.

LordMaim3528d ago

I think the article is more like "Here are 10 ads that I'd like you to click through". A lot of these points are a reach, at best.

Ristul3529d ago

Yeah, the game doesn't feel like MGS, that's what I liked with past games in the series, the strong focus on characters/story.

sullynathan3529d ago

Man, why wasn't the list all on one page? This is annoying.

Prototype_79L3529d ago

Use this, just copy the link of the page and click deslide. I hate this too.

http://deslide.clusterfake....

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70°

CoPilot: Gaming Chat is an amazing revelation - A true gamer friend at your side

CG writes: In this video, we take Microsoft's Copilot for a spin and talk about gaming and AI influences, and the implications of that. We talked about a possible Metal Gear Solid V remaster, Deus Ex remaster, Hitman Blood-Money mission, and more. Imagine trying to talk gaming with non-gaming friends in real-life and after 5 seconds, they switch off and possibly yawn. Well, CoPilot isn't like that, instead it's like talking to a like-minded gaming fan who is totally on your level. The public version of CoPilot released in Feb 2023 and already it's become almost indistinguishable from a real person.

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210°

Metal Gear Solid 5, Nearly After A Decade, Is Still A Timeless Classic

The Metal Gear series, led by Kojima, pioneered the stealth genre, creating a masterclass in storytelling and gameplay.

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SimpleSlave341d ago (Edited 341d ago )

No. But MGS5: Ground Zeroes might actually be one of the greatest Game Demo ever, if not the best.

xHeavYx341d ago

I know a lot of people didn't, but I actually liked that story twist at the end. The game was fun and all, but I wouldn't call it a timeless classic.

Cacabunga340d ago

Metal Gear legend stopped with number 4.
MGS5 needed a year or 2 more of development to be maybe among the classics.. it was clearly rushed, especially at the end. The story teaches us absolutely nothing new.

just_looken341d ago

A demo is free that was a $40 cry for help as later we would know konami did not want to fun hideo and his team anymore that is why we got the unfinished phantom pain.

-Foxtrot341d ago (Edited 341d ago )

Meh

Great stealth gameplay but the game was just average.

Bland open world that felt lifeless, the story felt shoehorned in, unfinished story etc. The whole thing was just average to me compared to the other main titled games.

I would have rather preferred it if they kept Ground Zeroes for the main game as the opening and the rest of the game turns into a Metal Gear 1 & 2 remake to bring things full circle.

just_looken341d ago

If you dig around they had old behind trhe scenes of phantom pain vids and books wrote around the time.

Before funding was puled the main idea was to keep peace walker coop it was in the games early builds and that end game were your building your base that was suppose to be metal gear one.

You as the fake big boss was going to make your own metal gear one map aka your base (outer heaven) then me as sold snake use the mode that is in the game invade/defeat the base even fight your current version of metal gear that was in the game but not finished.

So your idea was on the table bit got canned.

CrimsonWing69341d ago (Edited 341d ago )

Like hell it is. That was the first time I became aware of being sold an unfinished game and was blown away about blind fanboys saying it was some perfect game.

Yea, the first few chapters were great until they do that thing halfway and make you replay all the missions again. Then little things like capturing animals but only seeing a JPEG unlike 3 where everything was modeled out. Areas were massive, desolate, and boring to look at.

Game was a massive let down for me and the potential was so high for it. Honestly, this was one of the most disappointing games I ever played. What’s worse is it starts off brilliant. You literally play through until you get to the point where you could tell they just stopped developing and then quickly used glue and construction paper to “finish” it and then sold it. Quite frankly, that’s insulting to consumers and fans.

Inverno341d ago

People have selective memory. This game had huge drama attached to it, what Konami did to Kojima and this game was horrible. Now they praise Konami cause they revived Silent Hill, even though SH looks half arsed too.

CrimsonWing69341d ago

I dunno if they’re getting much praise after the Silent Hill 2 debacle. Makes me scared sh*tless for the MGS 3 Remake…

Michiel1989340d ago

I don't wanna defend konami, but Kojima had 7 years to make the game, it's not that weird for a publisher to expect a game to be finished in that amount of time.

Also no one is praising konami from what I've seen, they're just excited that a Silent Hill game is releasing

CrimsonWing69340d ago (Edited 340d ago )

@Michiel1989

You’re absolutely correct. Look, the dude is a visionary and has brought us some incredible games, but he constantly would go over budget and could never stick to a deadline. I don’t know if people remember the MGS 4 trailers but it became a joke when you’d see a release date and then they crossed it out in the next trailer to give another.

What a lot of people don’t know is there’s a certain amount of money given for development and marketing. When you go over the budget and add additional marketing over the deadline it isn’t cheap. MGS GZ and V were laughable to me for the amount of time he had to develop them and he spent even more time on the engine that wasn’t anything revolutionary to me. I mean, GZ was nothing more than a demo and they released that art like $40 I think, probably to further help fund V. He then spent money for Kiefer Sutherland who did nothing for the character, which I think Kojima just wanted because he’s a fan.

Konami just had enough and said this is the deadline and you’re done after this. It’s business, but fans took it personal. I mean look at this Overdose game he’s been doing.,, like when is that ever coming out?

Michiel1989339d ago

I kind of forgot about overdose but yeah exactly my thoughts. He has made some of the best games out there and definitely deserves time to create his new masterpiece, but it's not a bottomless well.

This is pure speculation but I imagine he got around 4 years to make the game excluding pre-production. If after those 4 years the game is nowhere near being done, the relationship will be strained between them one way or another.

about the konami being praised thing, if let's say blizzard announces world of warcraft 2 today I'll be excited as hell for the game, but that doesn't mean my opinion of blizzard changes only a tiny bit cause they're still trash.

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Yui_Suzumiya340d ago

Yeah, it was the only MGS I didn't play and this is coming from someone who got back into gaming after skipping a generation due to MGS4 back in 2008. It just seems to be the complete opposite of the MGS I always knew and loved (1-4).

JEECE341d ago

Yes and no. In many ways in was a great game; there's a very strong argument that it has the best gameplay of any MGS game, and that it is one of the more interesting open world "playgrounds" we have gotten, in terms of how the world operates. But as an MGS narrative, it is pretty far down the list, for many reasons.

Storm23341d ago

I don't think there is any argument. The gameplay was incredible. But yeah...disappointed in the rest. Could have been incredible but...well...we all know what happened...

JEECE339d ago

I don't think there is much of one either but apparently some people found the world very boring compared to the more linear structures of other entries so I didn't make a definitive statement in order to acknowledge the outliers.

DarXyde340d ago

The thing about Metal Gear Solid is that the narrative is what determines which is your favorite because the gameplay had ALWAYS improved with every mainline entry. It's amazing.

If it was gameplay, we'd all say The Phantom Pain, but the story is what truly sets them apart.

For me, that's Snake Eater, which is also my favorite game of all time.

JEECE339d ago

That's my favorite too, particularly if we are talking about the subsistence version with camera control.

Fishy Fingers341d ago

For me, best gameplay, worst, everything else.

Storm23341d ago

Yeah...gameplay was so damn good.

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80°

15 Video Games With Realistic Injury Mechanics

Whether it's showcasing damage realistically or simulating fractures and conditions, these games are worth checking out.

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