Six Things MGSV: The Phantom Pain Could Do Better

RPS:

"Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain may be the best stealth-action game ever made, but it’s not flawless. The game’s massive scope, and the surprising amount of detail in each interaction within that massive playpen, is impressive – however, that scope is precisely why certain aspects feel like they have something missing. Consider the following, then, as an exploration of The Phantom Pain’s own phantom pains – without plot spoilers."

[Hold_It]

Story
Character Development
Different Locations
Make the game linear instead of fake open world
Answer questions that needed to be answered
Remove self-insert character
Release a finished game

[Timesplitter14]

Seriously the "attack enemy camps from any angle at any time" aspect is awesome, but the world surrounding those enemy camps feels empty and useless. A simple series of well-crafted missions similar to Ground Zeroes, with a relatively small open terrain surrounding it just so you can choose where to land, would've been better.

Another thing I would've changed is the easy access to any weapon at any time. I think being limited in your arsenal and having to conserve your ammo is better for stealth games. This is something I didn't like in MGS4 too. If all missions were all equipment OSP, that'd be great

I still love this game though

[hkgamer]

only played act 1 so cant comment on story.

character development was lacking, probably no codec conversations and not enough cutscenes.

different locations would have been cool, but was there really a difference between africa and afghanistan? just seemed like one had sandstorms the other had rainstorms that lasted longer. Indoor locations would have been pretty cool.

Didn't mind the "fake" open world. but I get your point.

[goathouse774]

Here we go again.

You people do understand that the meat of the game is largely in the open world aspect?

If you didn't have to navigate the open world areas between objectives, especially on side ops runs, MOST of the gameplay mechanics would barely ever need to be messed with.

[Timesplitter14]

What you're saying is true. Many of the gameplay mechanics rely on the open world. But what I'm saying is that it would be a better game if it got rid of its open-world mechanics.

While helicopter extraction (and heli music) are some of the best game ideas in recent memory, we see it way too often. Missions are too short and meaningless, and helicopter travel becomes long and tedious. It would be better if there were fewer, bigger missions. Every mission should last at least 1 hour. That way you'd be happy to see your heli when it arrives.

I also actually very rarely end up traveling in the world on the ground, because it's often pointless. There was never a point in the game where I thought the open-world actually really contributed to my experience.

Access to heavy weapons, supply drops, bombardments, etc... at any time breaks the sense of danger. And fulton makes it too easy to hide knocked out guards

[goathouse774]

At least we can debate this. You're the first commenter I've seen that can comprehend how integrated the open world aspect is.

I will concede that there's some missed potential in the open world here, but the problems are often exaggerated or misunderstood.

To focus on what you mentioned: I seldom call the chopper. I stay in the field as long as possible, at least during side ops. It's a lot of fun and a healthy challenge to come up with expedient travel methods. There's a lot of room for ingenuity in how you move across the map, if you don't mind a reasonable amount of actual on-the-ground navigation.

EDIT:

And if feel the availability of different destructive methods and beneficial gadgets is too high, go for S Ranks or other conditional challenges. Those issues are addressed in that context.

[jb227]

"You people do understand that the meat of the game is largely in the open world aspect?"

That statement is kinda disappointing. Why even have a campaign if the meat of the game is all about traversing & messing around in an open world setting? Shouldn't all of the gameplay mechanics be featured in the actual campaign? Otherwise what's the point beyond messing around in a virtual (and literal) sandbox for hours on end? I dunno, I get that a lot of people dig that kind of thing but it's not for me personally. Open worlds can be interesting but I feel we have hit market saturation and its a time where devs need to either work to make something compelling for gamers who enjoy some kind of narrative thrust and objective, or work on some kind of interesting new hooks that revitalize the idea of an open world, or start easing back on making every game in existence an open world.

[hkgamer]

The main thing I hated about this was loading and wasted times waiting for helicopter.

I went back MB after every main mission, so calling for helicopter and waiting and then jumping on helicopter to meet a load screen and then navigate to MB and meet another load screen was a pain in the ass.

why couldnt i jump on helicopter and let it float around or whatever so I can either pick another landing spot or have an option to go to mother base.

Also never really had the time to use fast travel via box but im guessing that is also very tedious.

[goathouse774]

a) you can "warp" to the ACC from the pause menu.

b) you can hitch quick ride to Mother Base by riding large Fultoned objects.

c) box travel is not tedious, as long as you understand how phantom cigar works.

[dimasok]

MGS:PP is a great game but I guess we will keep bumping into the same discussions every time.

The open-world here is barren and empty, the helicopter loading screens are annoying as hell (and no, you can't justify it with silly rhetoric), the story is a mess, the episodic vignettes are bothersome (do we really need "to be continued" screen after certain scenes and then be back at the helicopter where we can tackle yet another "rescue prisoner x" side-op? talk about anti-climactic...) and the AI incredibly fucking limited in all it can do (you don't even need to be a native-language speaker to realize how it takes you one to two missions top to hear and see EVERYTHING the AI can do). The AI in other MGS seemed to me way better, mainly because you didn't have that endless open-world repetition of infiltrating the same outposts over and over and hear the same scripted AI over and over since you were led through LINEAR and CINEMATIC experiences where your focus was on other things.

This open-world design is probably the least inspiring thing about the game.

Also, the tapes run contrary to how MGS game's supposed to be structured. Codec encounters transported you into an intimate sort of environment in line with the game and totally cool in that Snake talked a LOT with everyone else and you could randomly call them and could see their 2D/3D representations (MGS 1 was my favourite in that respect) whereas now not only does BB not talk at all (and by now we should really call him a mute) but its so impersonal and anti-climactic that the whole experience seems dry and contrary to all past MGS games.

The whole game could have been so much better. Its a great stealth game with a poorly executed open-world and the worst MGS I played by far.

[goathouse774]

I'll leave the "good game, bad metal gear" stuff alone, but the helicopter complaints need perspective.

Outside of missions, they're almost entirely avoidable. Firstly, you should be staying in field as long as possible and use fast travel to cover large distances. Beyond that, you can warp to the ACC any time from the pause menu. You can also Fulton yourself back to Mother Base, again bypassing the chopper.

[Detox024]

Great game but some terrible design choices. My biggest issue is redoing the exact same mission on extreme or stealth only. Like how the fuck does that make sense oh you want me to go take out quiet again after I have been playing with her for ten hours. Really takes you out of the story. Since I'm venting, being in a helicopter that is going down only for the game to go to be continued and than you're back in a perfectly fine chopper. Like what the fuck were they thinking. Still a good send off.