The Shrine

Sooo did any of you get it?

The whole home base meta kind of turned me off. Also I've never really connected with this series. Maybe when it goes on sale sub $30.

Casting Kiefer Sutherland to play Snake was a terrible decision, not only do I prefer Hayter, but as a result Snake is a mute most of the game it seems.

The gameplay is the best in the series, so there is that.

Got the Collector Edition, waiting for my cousin to get some free time

I've got it, just haven't had time to play it yet.

Got it used, finished, loved.

The actual combat and stealth mechanics absolutely murder everything that came before it in the series, and never (or super rarely anyway) are you ever forced to stealth -- but you can, and it's advantageous to do so since knocking out targets and extracting them helps with base building.

The massive amount of customization between buidling up Mother Base and developing weapons and equipment, along with the open world-ish nature of the game does create pacing problems however, in a game whose story is kind of shitty to begin with. There are two major villains in the game, one being prominent but whose motivation and methods are baffling, and the other whose story isn't even completed (it is however, wrapped up in a deleted chapter that was available in an unfinished cutscene in the collector's edition). Also worth mentioning that there aren't any

I never formed a connection with any of the secondary characters in the game either, with the exception of Quiet (the sniper you can take on missions with you) and that was really only because of the bond formed through the actual gameplay, since she never actually speaks to you. I think had I played Peace Walker and Ground Zeros, I would have had more of an attachment to characters like Ocelot, Miller, and Paz... but I didn't. Ocelot is also just a flat-ass character who comes across throughout like a kindly grandpa, which doesn't match up with either his MGS3 persona or afterwards.

Anyway, it seems like a lot of huge MGS fans felt betrayed with the story, and specifically the unsatisfying ending, whether because of the cut content or the end twist, or both. There are already fan theories revolving around whether or not the game's lack of resolution was intentional by Kojima to simulate the feeling of a phantom pain within the player, much like characters throughout the game lament. It's possible that analysis of the game's plot and themes could yield an appreciation of them ala MGS2, but I doubt it; a lot of what's been proposed by fans in that sense is admittedly retreading ground that Kojima allegedly has done in past games already (specifically MGS2).

So having said all that, I'm not a lore whore so I don't feel betrayed, and even though the story was on the unsatisfying side and I never fell in love with any of the characters in the game, it was FUN. And as usual, the presentation is without parallel as the MGS series is typically known for. After coming off Witcher 3 (still my GOTY), everything seems so streamlined and fast and responsive, most notably how quick and easy it is to bring up the iDroid and navigate through its numerous menus in seconds with minimal delay.

That's probably enough. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but this game is not "The Missing Link in the MGS Saga" or "The Ultimate Story" as advertised in trailers. It is however, an excellent stealth-or-not-stealth-if-you-don't-wanna sandbox action game that I'd recommend to anyone.

I'm still plugging away through this freaking game.

I've put a lot of hours into it. I'm Obsessive Compulsive about finishing the side missions, while extracting everyone and their dog while I do it.

When I first started the game, I just plugged anyone who was inconvenient to extract. Once I became permanently bathed in blood, however, I decided to change tactics, which involved researching a whole new batch of weapons that either stunned or tranquilized. Then I got way too focused on base building, never being able to find enough fuel resources to satisfy my base building hunger. I've now washed away the blood (as I'm almost afraid to kill anyone now).

So the game says I'm about 37% complete. I think I need to just sit down and plow through the story missions and be finished with this game.

And about Quiet and the other companions - I very rarely use anything but D-Dog. The way he is able to just point out enemies on missions, I find, is too valuable to go without. Saves a bunch of time, too, but considering how much time I've simply wasted running around in this game, I guess that isn't too much of a boon.

I also have a gripe about moving around Home Base - I'm probably missing a bunch of content on Home Base, I've found a couple interactions (like on the medical platform), but other than that, I'm WAY too lazy to drive around that monstrosity or call a helicopter every time I want to go somewhere else - I've mostly ignored the place.

Oracle wrote:I also have a gripe about moving around Home Base - I'm probably missing a bunch of content on Home Base, I've found a couple interactions (like on the medical platform), but other than that, I'm WAY too lazy to drive around that monstrosity or call a helicopter every time I want to go somewhere else - I've mostly ignored the place.

You're not missing anything. Aside from the Paz stuff (which I didn't even do), I think all you really do is target practice missions, find hidden diamonds, or beat up your staff.

Try using Quiet more. I used her almost exclusively once I got her since she can scout locations ahead of you (not as accurate as D-Dog, but hey, upgraded binoculars are good) and tranq whole outposts while you sneak toward your objective using the 'cover me' function. You may have to get her bond up for that and the tranq gun, but it's worth it if you're trying to keep your hands clean.

I watched a decent amount of the original games on Twitch this summer and Paz was the only character I actually kind of liked. From what I heard they really kind of shit the bed with her character.

Shrinweck wrote:I watched a decent amount of the original games on Twitch this summer and Paz was the only character I actually kind of liked. From what I heard they really kind of shit the bed with her character.

This one is much more about the gameplay than the story, which is completely the opposite from #4 (even though that had the best gameplay easily up to this point). They did sacrifice quite a bit of story depth to get you this love child of Peace Walker and MGS4. I personally always saw them as more interactive movies and still consider #4 the best game of last gen. But the gameplay is an enormous step forward for sure

I ended up buying this at $45 so I guess I failed at waiting a year or so for it to be $10. I enjoy it thoroughly but I have a lot of trouble playing it more than 1-2 hours at a time. That might pick up as I slowly research weapons that aren't garbage. I'm not really sure what I'm doing so I've mostly been doing the side ops to learn the game. I was having a lot of trouble for the first hour or two I played with the stealth system but now I have a decent idea of how the AI can be dumb in certain situations that I can take advantage of.

Relevant. =/