Metal Gear Solid V: Why I Do Not Regret Spending $130 on the Experience

So The Phantom Pain is out (have you heard?) and has done exceptionally well with most reviewing outlets. Not that I enjoy consulting Metacritic, but there is not one single mixed or negative review for the game. Needless to say, the game is incredible.

It is no secret that I am a huge Metal Gear Solid fan with a pretty long rap sheet of things I have done. I managed to earn the Big Boss/Fox ranking for every game in the series (except Peace Walker and every mission in Ground Zeroes where I got a tad lazy), collected all of the Dog Tags in MGS2, cleared Snake Eater on PS2 over 30 times, and bought just about every re-release, including The Twin Snakes, the PSN version of Metal Gear Solid, Substance, Subsistence, HD collection on PS3 and HD collection on Vita. The most sickening part? On every play through, I never skip the cutscenes. If it needs to be said, it is my favorite video game series, hands down. It's a bit sad to see it come to an end, but now there is closure. Somewhere in my life, I could have died before seeing it through to the end. I can't say enough how glad I am to witness the end of an era. Frankly, I could probably quit heavy gaming after this generation easily without a new Kojima Metal Gear.

That, however, does not explain why I spent $130 on Metal Gear Solid V. I bought Ground Zeroes at launch and The Phantom Pain Collector's Edition which came out to the aforementioned price. I regret nothing for a couple of reasons. For starters, Ground Zeroes, despite having some great controls and fluid gameplay, was slammed for its length. The Phantom Pain however may have OVER-delivered in justifying its $60 entry fee. I get consumers wanting more bang for their buck, but there's a degree of mercy that should be had on developers and publishers behind titles like this. I might wince at a much steeper price, but you can practically feel the love and care coming from The Phantom Pain. All of the minute details and vast landscape. The fact that the game looks fantastic and still embarrasses every other open world game this generation in terms of balancing visual fidelity, mechanics,and frame rate. Frankly, I do not believe The Phantom Pain would be what it is without Ground Zeroes. I'm sure that money went right back into its development and fine-tuning the FOX Engine, and everything. It turned out to be pretty incredible and feels like the first truly next generation game I have played so far. So, in that sense, we who bought Ground Zeroes helped to create The Phantom Pain. It was sort of a physical form of crowdfunding that gave you a prologue. I know I sound crazy, but I believe The Phantom Pain is worth the $90-$130 cost. Sure, no one asked Kojima to be so intricate, but it just reeks of thought, scale, and even throwbacks to other Metal Gear Solid titles (Ocelot training the troops and the lad with revolver-style shooting got a pretty big grin out of me when I listened to their exchange). I do believe The Phantom Pain sets an unprecedented standard and I do believe both games are worth it, especially if it meant (a) getting to experience Metal Gear Solid on the current generation consoles early at a reduced cost and (b) aid in funding The Phantom Pain. The best part in my opinion was having Ground Zeroes spaced out so far from The Phantom Pain. After the events of Ground Zeroes, it was just a great point to let it all set in and incubate. Cue over a year later when The Phantom Pain drops (nine years in game), Venom awakens. It felt a lot like a TV series or movie where the events at the end of the movie/season set up for a later release of something sincerely intense and the wait becomes that much more explosive. But let's be honest: the money made from Ground Zeroes going back into The Phantom Pain was money well spent. Everything since then has improved tremendously. And the game is so deep, I cannot at all fault Kojima for worrying that people would not finish this game. So much to do, so much to see.

While I do believe it is Konami's loss for losing Kojima, I really have to thank them for footing the bill on this game. It really is a masterpiece and I cannot say enough that the money went towards great ends.

Is it worth it? That much, I probably should not say, but at the very least, I can say that I do not regret it.

[freshslicepizza]

it's your money, you can spend it how you wish and if you feel you got your money's worth who i am to tell you otherwise? still haven't played it but i will. won't be spending $130 though.

[DarXyde]

I really enjoy this game. I regret nothing. I wanted to write this because, you know, the typical comments how Ground Zeroes was a ripoff and this that and a third.

Personally, I feel it's worth it because Ground Zeroes helped to fund The Phantom Pain and, though the experience may not be worth $30 to most, I firmly believe The Phantom Pain is worth more than $60, especially when compared to other games out today.

It's definitely a matter of choice, but games like this, The Witcher III and Fallout really go above and beyond the call.

[freshslicepizza]

i don't really buy the argument that you pay $30 for a game you don't think is worth it just in order to help fund the new one. i haven't played that either so i cannot comment on if i think it was worth $30. consumers will decide the value and i think that game's price was dropped before it even came out because of the controversy to it's short length.

it's never in the consumers interest to gouge them because of the brand recognition.

[Tzuno]

Well you are a big fan that's why you spend 130$.

[DarXyde]

That's a big part of it, but that's not all of it. I think we're all aware that the $60 model is pretty forgiving on all of us, but not the developers. Plenty of companies went under this past generation, hence fewer exclusives, rush deadlines,

That said, feeling how much work went into Metal Gear Solid V as a whole, in my opinion, deserves plenty of reward. Developers are still people and I'm sure they'd like to be rewarded for doing great work, like us. Paying a premium is one way to do that, sty Kat that's how I feel.

@moldybread,

I've actually gotten more out of Ground Zeroes than other full games released at standard price. You're right in that consumer gouging is wrong, but I think many would agree that, for $60, the full game is an absolute steal. I'm a parsimonious gamer and even I feel The Phantom Pain is an incredible value at full price.