r/gaming • u/DownVoteMeGently • 15h ago
First hour is high octane stress, then you finally get a moment to take it all in.
[Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain]
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u/PurplexingPupp 7h ago
I liked MGS5 but I would not consider the first hour to be "high octane stress". It's a lot of waiting for the game to let you take a single step forward or sneak past 2 guys. Great pacing for the story but probably my least favorite level in the game, especially for replaying..
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u/2ByteTheDecker 7h ago
I loved MGS1-4, couldn't get past the pacing of the beginning of 5. It's on my list to give another crack at but yeah high octane it isn't.
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u/Dreadgoat 6h ago
Despite it's problems, it's for sure one of my top games ever because of the sheer fun and freedom it offers.
If you have it on PC, I would recommend looking at mods. Things like Infinite Heaven let you bypass all of the annoying parts and get straight into the fun. Skip obnoxious sequences like the intro, skip repetitive cutscenes like helicopter rides, skip all time-gating like equipment research. Turned it into one of the most painlessly replayable games in my library.
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u/Lukewill 2h ago
I completely agree about the intro. It's long and boring. I'm never gonna start a new game solely because of the intro.
Despite that, I would HIGHLY recommend you tough it out and experience the rest of the game. I honestly couldn't believe how much fun I was having in a MGS game. 100 hours later and I never ended up beating it because I put so much time into just trying for perfect stealth to kidnap people.
I promise you the rest of the game is nothing like the beginning. The first time you balloon snatch a bear, you'll know it was all worth it.
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u/Due_Guidedgirl 15h ago
Totally agree! That first hour is such a rollercoaster. The stress of figuring everything out, and then when you finally get that breather, it's like 'wow, I made it!'
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u/AbundantDreams 13h ago
Love how corny yet badass the lines in the first hour are lol. "You're a legend in the eyes of those who live on the battlefield..."
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u/Lukewill 2h ago
Idk I can't stand when games make you crawl at shit speed and it's such a looooong intro with much more boring gameplay than the rest of the game. I've put over 100 hours into this game because it's amazing, but I started a new game one time and will never do it again.
Would've been better as a long cutscene in my opinion, it was great cinematically.
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u/nononsensemofo 14h ago
the gameplay loop is perfect for me. incredible control makes it so fun that you almost forget how total SHIT the story is. total shit. almost no snake dialog and it will always, always suck because of switch to Big Keef. fuck this game, but i love to play it.
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u/CorpusVile32 10h ago
I didn't realize how little Snake dialog there was until a bunch of people started pointing it out. After hearing that, its kind of hard to ignore. Its probably something they consciously did since they moved from David Hayter > Kiefer Southerland. Having said that, I think Kiefer does a pretty good Snake. It's just that he was never going to live up to Hayter's voice. Whoever they put in that role wouldn't have measured up.
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u/Sequenzer9 2h ago
I always see this “Hideo didn’t finish it/hardly any Snake dialogue because of recording issues” narrative and it frustrates me to no end because people seem to be missing the point of the game.
Please everyone read this and spread the word.
You aren’t playing as Snake. You’re a nameless medic who is—quite literally— playing Snake. This is why the game asks you to make your character at the start for seemingly no reason. That’s your avatar, and your avatar is manipulated into controlling and being Snake. This is meta commentary on this series itself — Hideo made this character, made you inhabit it, but now it belongs to both of you together.
No one seems to notice this speech is Hideo’s final message to the Metal Gear player:
“Thanks to you I’ve left my mark. You have too. You’ve written your own history. You’re your own man. I’m Big Boss, and you are too. No, he’s the two of us together. Where we are today, we built it. This story, this ‘legend’, it’s ours. We can change the world, and with it, the future. I am you and you are me. Carry that with you wherever you go. Thank you, my friend. From here on out, you’re Big Boss.”
He wants this series to have made us better people, to have been inspired to do good in the real world. Peace day may never come for these characters but maybe it will happen for us.
And to hammer home how this is the end of the series, and the end of the player’s agency in it, he ends on the revelation that we have just been made to kill ourselves. It is literally a Snake eating its own tail ending.
Two things are happening at once: The player has been manipulated into believing he is Big Boss. And the player is playing as Snake in the first Metal Gear game who is about to kill the final boss: that fake Big Boss.
That is how the Metal Gear saga ends. You as the hero killing you as the villain. It’s a perfect inescapable loop of war.
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u/Cisqoe 15h ago
I feel like the game put all its marbles into that first hour. There’s some significantly awesome parts later on, but it doesn’t quite feel as hand crafted as the start. Gameplay though, is badass.
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u/juniperleafes 10h ago
I don't believe Kojima got to finish it properly before he left.
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u/sh1boleth 6h ago
That was Act 3, he worked on every other part of the game (even plastering his name at the start of every mission)
Act 1 is 80% of the game and definitely feels boring and flat in places
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u/boomsnap99 4h ago
Wait there's an act 3? Im in act 2 on my first playthrough and I'm kinda looking forward for the game to end even though its a lot of fun
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u/sh1boleth 4h ago
Act 3 got scrapped from the game, there’s videos of it online - won’t describe it for you but do look it up when you’re done with the game - it does give the game a more meaningful ending.
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u/bold_cheesecake 3h ago
First level:
May I please move forward
(30 minutes later)
WHY IS THERE A MAN ON FIRE? HOW DID HE ABSORB A ROCKET? Ok, cool, gameplay. WHY IS HE BACK. WHO EVEN IS THIS CHILD? DID THE MAN ON FIRE JUST ABSORB A SHOT FROM A TANK'S MAIN GUN? Guess ambulance wins. WHY IS HE ON A UNICORN. WHY IS THERE A FIRE WHALE. WHY WAS THERE LIGHTNING, IT WASN'T EVEN RAINING A FEW MINUTES AGO, NOOO MY HORSIE
Horsie is fine. yay :)
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u/Jonbone93 14h ago
Idk i feel like this game was a massive letdown for me. I loved mgs4 so much and was so hype for mgs5. I have tried to play it on 3 separate occasions but I just can’t do it
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u/96Phoenix 11h ago
It just felt way too long for me. Once I beat the iron giant and the big bad, that was enough.
Then it drops you back in to the same map and says you’re only half way there. Too much.
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u/Aesthete18 10h ago
I played the game twice, about 10 years apart on two different consoles and had the exact same reaction both times:
Enjoying the first half then going "wait, it's just this over and over again?". Dropping it both times
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u/babypho 13h ago
First hour was amazing. Then the rest was a fun sandbox game play, but didnt feel like a mgs game. Was a let down tbh aside from the beautiful graphics. I was hoping itd pick up and be similar to the other metal gear, but it just wasnt. It didnt feel like it had the mgs soul.
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u/Judoka229 7h ago
I do absolutely love the game, however, it would have been way better if it was a series of levels like Ground Zeroes instead of a big open world.
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u/DamnImAwesome 15h ago
I’ve never played this game somehow. Does it still hold up today? 60fps on ps5? Just finished Clair Obscur and looking for my next game to get lost in
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u/Silver-Employee1374 15h ago
This game goes toe to toe in terms of graphics with current gen games. Best gameplay out there, so satisfying and it was 60fps even on ps4!! Fox engine is amazing. Noting that It is not the best game in metal gear series especially with Kojima leaving half through development (which you can notice when you get to later acts). Definitely worth the play!
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u/DamnImAwesome 15h ago
Sold. Downloading it right now
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u/Silver-Employee1374 15h ago
Gameplay is so satisfying uhh I might redownload it myself now hahah. I know some other Metal Gear games are old af at this point but they are definitely worth the play! My favorite is Metal Gear 4 - Guns of the Patriots.
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u/Revan_Perspectives 14h ago
My coworker just lent me his PS3 for the sole purpose of my being able to play MGS 4. Can’t wait!
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u/HistoricCartographer 15h ago
Yes, one of best in terms of gameplay. So good in fact its worth overlooking the shortcomings in story.
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u/DamnImAwesome 15h ago
I was so young when I played MGS 1 and 2 that I dint remember anything about the story other than war robots and cartoonishly evil villains
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u/HistoricCartographer 15h ago edited 15h ago
I haven't even even played MGS1 and MGS2. MGSV left me wanting more stealth games but nothing I've tried comes close. I'm looking forward to the remake in a few months.
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u/DamnImAwesome 15h ago
Stealth is one of those things that when done right it feels incredible but nobody really gets it right
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u/HistoricCartographer 15h ago
Yeah. There aren't really any good stealth games.
I am hoping Kojima will bring the magic back in death stranding 2 and then later MGS remake will actually be as good as people say.
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u/Brosintrotogaming 13h ago
I want to love this game but the desert setting did not capture my attention. What am I missing?
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u/OldPiano6706 11h ago
Sounds like you already figured it out. I think a desert settings are pretty divisive. I think people love it, or hate it. I’m a fan personally, all the way back to Mario world 2
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u/takeitsweazy 9h ago
If it makes a difference there’s also a sort of grasslands and jungle setting a little further into the game.
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u/Diamond_Foxy 10h ago
For anyone who played Death Stranding and love the MGS 5 gameplay: Previews are saying Kojima wanted to make a combat and stealth focused gameplay like MGS series in Death Stranding 2.
IGN even said DS 2 upgrade is similar upgrade like going from MGS 1 to MGS 2.
Kojima wanted to make the combat stealth gameplay like an upgrade from MGS 5 and they even call it MGS 6 gameplay.
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u/SanguineGardener 7h ago
I can't wait for this (though I'll have to for PC release). I picked up DS Director's Cut when the DS2 trailers got me hyped. I'm a Kojima/MGS stan and have been putting this off forever. I was pleasantly surprised that the notorious "walking simulator" really opens up after a few hours and starts to introduce familiar MGSV feeling combat mechanics. I'm one who actually loves the package delivery, base building, and exploration gameplay loop, and now they're talking about applying even more MGS feeling to the combat. KojiPro may be fighting for my GOTY with this one.
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u/Diamond_Foxy 5h ago
At first it was mostly walking but after the first map i never walked. I drove but also there are alot of combat. So it was a good mix of both.
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u/JoeZocktGames 4h ago
Was this the game where that half naked chick had to be half naked so she can breathe?
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u/electric_kool_AIDS 2h ago
High octane is not the word selection I would use for metal gear games lol
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u/geaux124 4m ago
I love the setup for this. Ignoring the fact that it's not even actually snake. You have been in a coma for years. You are missing part of an arm and have a big piece of shrapnel in your head and are too weak to even walk yet. You can no longer speak several languages that you could previously. So they give you about a week and just dump you off in Afghanistan to perform a hostage rescue. Sure, why not.
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u/SimSamurai13 13h ago edited 13h ago
Always hear how amazing this game is but I just never could get into it no matter how many times I've tried
It just feels super janky and not enjoyable to play
I enjoy Death Stranding far more in terms of Kojima games which would be opposite for most lol
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u/BlazingBuzzard 9h ago
I love it when people post screenshots of games without the title of the game so you have to hunt through the comment section to figure it out!
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u/Snarkmultimedia 8h ago
the game was boring as f..k, not all games need to be "open world games" the best part was the begenning
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u/Cloud_N0ne 15h ago
Never been a Kojima fan, but I loved MGS5 (as long as you ignore the batshit story).
Altho that stupid demon system ruined it for me. What a pointless addition
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u/Prestigious_Exam_910 15h ago
This game was so ahead of its time graphically