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Metal Gear Solid 5 – What The Hell Happened?

How did one of the most legendary franchises of all time end on such a divisive note?

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gamingbolt.com
2pacalypsenow2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Open world.

MGS is made for linear gameplay, how are you gonna run into a boss and then go do another mission that nothing to do with it and then come back.

It throws everything off.

Plus it was unfinished.

ArchangelMike2671d ago

The open world worked well, the only real problem was that Konami pulled the plug on Kojima mid-production.

Jon_Targaryen2671d ago

You are aware this game has been in development for more than 3 years before Konami pulled the plug, right? Stop being a Kojima defender, this game had flop writtwn all over it since it was announced.

Tech52671d ago

"Metal Gear Solid 5 – What The Hell Happened?"

not enough bases to explore. GZ set a great bar for base exploration and dark mood for story.
TPP was also great. was expecting it though to have more bases like GZ.

-Foxtrot2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Oh please lets not blame Konami here for that...they are to blame for a lot of things, they are arseholes but Kojima just made an average Metal Gear Solid game, that's the hard truth to swallow. Even if he had another year on that game it still would have roughly the same problems

The world was lifeless

It was repetitive, enemy camps just respawned like you had never been there

The loading screens was awful

Fast travel was a god damn pain

The epic boss fights were not present

The story was lacklustre

Snake as a character went backward (yes I know about the twist but that's another issue)

The twist was boring and felt shoe horned in

Sutherland playing Snake was terrible, he sounded bored.

I just can't believe people gave this a free pass and acts like it's perfect or amazing when it's the least MGS game in the main series. It was so average, especially compared to other open world games, it was reviewed on being a MGS game and being a game made for "Godjima" sorry I mean Kojima.

This game would have been better if Ground Zeroes was kept for the main game, that was the opening mission and the real game was actually a huge expanded remake of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake

Palitera2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Most things worked VERY well.

The game is awesome. 9.3 Metacritic.

Knushwood Butt2671d ago

I remember the first section in the hospital being a chore to play.

After that, it just never really grabbed me.

Final nail was failing a mission, then getting respawned right infront of 2 wolves that proceeded to rip me to shreds when there was nothing I could have done to avoid it.

Never played it since.

Name Last Name2671d ago

The story happened... Or, actually, it didn't.

Psychonaut2671d ago

The story "twist" included as the game was from the jump planned to be the game before Metal Gear was going to be made and end it all. Kojima said awhile back he wanted to do the NES Metal Gear Games into next gen titles. and this game was meant to be the bridge title for the first next gen game featuring Young Snake going after Real Big Boss. But, well we all know the story. -shrugs-

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 2671d ago
MrVux0002671d ago

If anything people almost universally praised it being the game with best open-world/third-person gameplay this gen.
What people had the most divisiveness was the story and the game ending (along with he controversy with Konami likely ruining the development and forcing the game to be developed for last gen consoles aswell).

Teflon022671d ago

My only problem was the story, but honestly every open world that's this free has had this kind of issue for me but a rare few like GTA, Horizon and so on. When it becomes too free it just throws the story for a loop. It's what ruined Zelda's story for me as well. I thought the old structure was alot better

rainslacker2671d ago

I don't think the cross gen aspect was really an issue for the game. It didn't do anything more than what you saw with other open world games from last gen, and nothing suggests that it was supposed to be more grand to require more powerful hardware.

I agree that the story was probably the most divisive part of the game. It had potential, but was extremely poorly implemented, and incomplete. Just watching the mocked up ending that was eventually released changed a lot of thing, and tied up a pretty major loose end that was left by where it ended.

@Teflon

I didn't mind the open world, but it wasn't as much fun to play as some others. It was kind of barren, and sometimes repetitive.

pietro12122671d ago

The open world worked well that wasn't the problem. It's method of storytelling was the issue as well as Konami.

2pacalypsenow2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Open world doesn't fit with the Story line aspect.

There's no continuity in the story, you just drop in and out and the whole story is all over the place.

It's prob the worst main entry in the series. Great game. terrible Metal Gear Solid game.

pietro12122671d ago

They could of made it worked.

EazyC2671d ago

Surprised by the downvotes, I thought many people felt this. I will take tight, varied and intricate linear levels over this any day.

rainslacker2671d ago

I felt the story of the linear games tended to have more drama and impact. Story here was much more broad, and meant more to define a point of time in the plot, than really advance or heighten the overarching plot of the series.

HeisenbergX2671d ago

Lol what ? u serious xDDD

This game was a master of gameplay and open world.

pietro12122671d ago

As many said the gameplay was great, but it was lacking those MGS elements that the franchise is known for.

2pacalypsenow2671d ago

Like I said.

"Great game. terrible Metal Gear Solid game."

rainslacker2671d ago

Dunno about the open world, but the game play itself was fantastic. Certainly the best in the series. Outside of not being able to move over knee high rise in the environment after jumping over a 5 foot wall.

MoshA2671d ago

Death Stranding is exclusive so it will have better graphics and gameplay. It won't be held back by Xbox/PC like multiplats. Also Sony gave Kojima the biggest budget he's ever had and creative freedom.

pietro12122671d ago

Death Stranding will amazing, but that's not how it works and that wasn't the issue.

cooperdnizzle2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Pietro1212, That is how it works. If Kojima comes back with another master class game like people are saying, we will soon know where the problem blossomed from [Corprate greed] You have to look at it hestitcly, if death stranding is rough we will know that the magic is fading. It happens to every creative master mind.

I however believe that we’re not there yet with Kojima. He has still got the magic. How much longer? That is a good question. I feel he’s at least got one more in him.

DarXyde2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Disagree.

The gameplay mechanics are fantastic and worked quite well in an open world. Easily the best in the series in my opinion. I think Snake Eater as an open world game running on FOX would've been the game to end all games.

I think there are a number of problems...

1. The game was made 1-2 generations too early. Had they waited, the world could've been more densely populated and alive. It was a pretty ambitious undertaking

2. Normally, story is not why I play games. I play because a game is fun. However, Metal Gear Solid has always emphasized story with top notch gameplay mechanics. They only delivered on half this time. It's especially disheartening when this was supposed to help the story come full circle.

3. Kiefer Sutherland. I'm guessing he was too expensive, but it was ridiculous that he didn't talk much. Maybe it was for the sake of the twist, but the exposition using characters around Snake didn't help.

4. The particular lack of memorable boss battles. Sahelanthropus was cool, but there was no big showdown in between. There no squad of supernatural badasses (no, I don't count the Skulls Unit). There was nothing like Dead Cell, the new FOXHOUND, COBRA Unit, or B&Bs.

5. Skullface was talked up, and seriously overwhelmed. I thought it was kinda cool to have a conversation that was not particularly amazing in combat and just very ruthless and methodical, but the lack of a powerful unit to supplement his brilliance was seriously disappointing.

6. No Solid Snake. At all. Seemed strange to have Eli, but no David.

neutralgamer19922671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Kojima happened because he spent way too much time on the fix engine. Not enough cutscenes, weak bosses and barren open world

Konami gave him 80 million and 5 years so yes the popular thing is to hate on Konami but Kojima is the reason Konami don't want to fund big games. Took way too long and wasted time on new voice actors who weren't needed. That's why with Sony he got a engine and his game will be out within next 12-15 months

DarXyde2671d ago

"Too much time" on the FOX Engine? Konami has developed, what, 7 or 8 titles from it?

Hardly a wasted effort.

rainslacker2671d ago

Konami also assigned him to direct or produce three other games in the time he was creating MGSV. Zone of Enders HD, Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, which he came in to fix, and they made Ground Zero. And he began work on Silent Hill, which the PT demo came from.

The production time for MGSV wasn't outlandish for the kind of game it was.

Kojima stated he has never missed a deadline. Do you think he lied? Man is one of the hardest working developers in the industry, and it seems like most people have no clue about the production schedule of this game, or what is considered normal.

How'd he waste time on voice actors? the actual recording and mocap probably happened in a 4-5 weeks time halfway through production. It would have been required regardless of if they had new voice actors or not.

rainslacker2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

I think the open world could have worked for the series, it's just in this game, the open world wasn't that interesting. Some of the side missions were better than any of the story missions though. Ironically, despite the heat that came from the quiet controversies about her clothing, the missions involving her part of the story were often some of the better ones.

I don't think the open world would work for every story in the series though, but in this one, given that it was how Big Boss came to power....sort of...it worked good for side content.

I agree the structure itself was like most open world games, where the sense of urgency doesn't apply outside of main missions, but I don't really know any way that kind of thing could be countered, and it's really the players decision on if they want to play straight through.

Dunno if you ever saw the overview of the actual ending of the game, but it would have made the story so much better in the end.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 2671d ago
ArchangelMike2671d ago

Konami was the problem with MGS5.

TL;DR they didn't allow the game to be completed.

Araragifeels 2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

Konami was part of the problem but also Kojima too. He waisted more money Hiring Kiefer and making an open world game, making Fox Engine (but it not bad investment for a new engine). They couldn't afford to bring a lot of original voice actor back, they couldn't make cutscenes so they replaced it with cassette tapes, missing boss fight, final chapter was never finished, couldn't add Cuba island to the main game and lied about, cutscenes that appear in trailer was cut out, Adult Chico idea was abandoned, somehow ruin Ocelot character.

Araragifeels 2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

*Edit comment*

Konami was part of the problem but also Kojima too. He waisted more money Hiring Kiefer and making an open world game, creating the Fox Engine ( it not bad investment for a new engine).

They couldn't afford to bring a lot of original voice actor back, they couldn't make cutscenes so they replaced it with cassette tapes, missing boss fight, final chapter was never finished, couldn't add Cuba island to the main game and lied about it, cutscenes that appear in trailer was cut out, Adult Chico idea was abandoned, somehow Ocelot character changed in this game, Big Boss and Punished Snake had only few lines through the entire game compare to Ocelot, broken promises about side missions (repetitive and nothing like Ground Zerous side missions).

If only this game was linear then we wouldn't have an unfinished game. Konami is obviously at fault but Kojima desire too much for his game that the story was sacrifice for it.

generic-user-name2670d ago

First of all, nobody knows how much money was 'wasted'. Kojima claims he never goes over budget when developing his games and nobody has proved otherwise. FOX Engine would have made them money if Konami had stuck to the original plan of licensing the engine to other devs like was originally intended. What original voice actors could they not afford to bring back? If you're talking about Zero, he had like one conversation, the original VA turned his nose up at their offer but we don't know what was offered to him. The cassette tapes were a direct result of people whining about there being too many cutscenes in MGS4, with cassette tapes you can listen and play at the same time. I agree boss fights were poor apart from Quiet and Sahelanthropus. Final chapter and Camp Omega, very likely to be Konami's fault more than Kojima's.

Kojima was not allowed to talk to his team for the final 6 months of development (crunch time, when tons of work is done), of course there was going to be things missing when you do something like that. MGS1-4 with Kojima being left alone were great, MGS V with Kojima being held back by Konami, not so great.

rainslacker2671d ago

You're TL:DR is longer than your first sentence.....

PS4Gamer19842671d ago

As a huge, I mean HUGE MGS fan who thinks MGS3 Snake Eater is the best video game ever made period. MGSV was a GIGANTIC let down. The story was non existent, the interesting boss battles with amazing back stories was non existent, it certainly didn’t have that emotional wow factor like the previous installments.

It was just awful and so disappointing the greatest gaming franchise ever ended on this note

pietro12122671d ago

That's exactly how I felt. Gameplay was great, but it was lacking in every other aspect that that the franchise great.

Jon_Targaryen2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

I had this fantasy of how MGS V would be when I first saw the hospital scene with that awesome "were all beautiful people trailer". Little did we veteran die hard fans know that this was going to be the biggest middle finger to the hardcore fans, seeing this game was made for casual new comers who never even followed the series anyways. Its them who usually say this game is great, seeing they dont kbow the lore anyways.

I headcanoned the whole mgs v just to make sense of everything.

Dreamcatcher452671d ago

I'm a huge MGS fan as well, and I loved the beginning of it when u were saving McDonell Miller, but as the hours went pass it just felt less and less like MGS and more like you were some random guy doing rescue missions.

The mission when you had to rescue two CIA agents is when I turned off the game and never went back, and I concider MGS 1 the best game ever made.

salmonade2671d ago

Well I thought MGSV was awesome. I rated it a 10/10. I put in around 200 hours into it. Also, I NEVER played any of the other Metal Gear Sold games except Ground Zeroes (single mission game). So that was what I thought about it being a newcomer into the franchise.

generic-user-name2670d ago

I'm in the same boat as you, I still think MGSV has the best stealth gameplay of any game out there, but boy was it disappointing as a long time MGS fan. Quiet was ok, at least she got a full arc, but Chico getting cut, Liquid, Skull Face, Miller's weird end, the awful twist...so much felt unfinished and rushed. Ground Zeroes showed such promise too.

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2671d ago Replies(2)
DethWish2671d ago

I bet there were plans for alot more cutscenes and Sutherland but I think that was cut as well

Jon_Targaryen2671d ago (Edited 2671d ago )

I remember reading BS back in the day where Kojima or someone at Kojima productions said they got Sutherland for mocap purposes and for the cutscenes, I recall the word "experienced" was thrown out there. That turned out to be a lie too. Troy Baker said the mocap was already done wehn they did the voice acting. Fudging liars

DethWish2671d ago

I dont think it was a lie, I think they had the plans but Konami forced them to throw it away

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40°

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Brutal Backlog

Over ten years after its release, does Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain still impress? Jump Dash Roll returns to Snake's world for this Brutal Backlog.

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CrimsonWing6974d ago

I don’t think I’ve ever quite experienced an unfinished game that was slapped together with duct tape and construction paper to be sold as a finished product, basically making you replay the same missions and include a story that clearly was missing so much of the plot, like I did with this game.

I’m actually shocked that it doesn’t get calls out for this more.

franwex74d ago

It did. But the gameplay loop is still pretty good.

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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cramgaming.com
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.

SimpleSlave705d ago (Edited 705d ago )

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

xHeavYx705d 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.

Cacabunga705d 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_looken705d 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.

-Foxtrot705d ago (Edited 705d 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_looken705d 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.

CrimsonWing69705d ago (Edited 705d 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.

Inverno705d 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.

CrimsonWing69705d 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…

Michiel1989704d 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

CrimsonWing69704d ago (Edited 704d 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?

Michiel1989704d 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_Suzumiya704d 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).

JEECE705d 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.

Storm23705d 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...

JEECE703d 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.

DarXyde705d 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.

JEECE703d ago

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

Fishy Fingers705d ago

For me, best gameplay, worst, everything else.

Storm23705d ago

Yeah...gameplay was so damn good.

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