FOBs The Tumor of MGS V

Recently I got back into Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain after spending a couple weeks on Fallout 4, I'd like to keep this blog centered around the FOB feature of the game and not have this spiral out into MGS V bashing in the comments section due to the other aspects of the game. With that out of the way let's start.

As I said I recently got back into TPP with one of the first things the game greats me with is a notification that during my absence several players invaded my FOB and killed several of my men and did some serious damage to my base. Obviously I was pissed the fuck off about this but what I got really pissed about wasn't just that I got attacked but that the whole mode was just a piece of shit feature that seriously needs to revised.

Starting off the fact that you don't even need to be playing the game for people to attack you is already a load of bull and a terrible design choice by Kojima Productions. This feature prevents you from having a fighting chance during invasions when the invaders messes up and gets spotted, because you aren't on when it's happening it means you have no way in preventing him from doing further damage. Not only but the simple fact that you are never safe is just a horrible choice and one made simply off greed just so the publisher can then charge you real money so you can have fake insurance. Plus the worst aspect of the system is that you can't even play offline without losing a huge majority off all the resources you've acquired because for some arbitrary reason the game decided to take most of your stuff will be walled off to you turning the game itself into a forced always online game.

Another point of issue for me when it comes to FOBs comes from when you are the invader, when you play the campaign there is a good sense of balance between what you are carrying, what the enemy is carrying and how the environment is set up . This however does not carry over to FOBs, when setting up security there is nothing that prevents you from maxing out each security measure at your disposal, you can have 10 soldiers with heavy duty armor on, carrying the best damage inducing weapons plus have the whole place riddled with mines, cameras and drones.

All of which makes stealth a near impossible feat since the soldiers are so heavily armored that tranq & stun weapons are all but useless as you have no body parts to shoot. Not only that but even gaining entree is difficult do to their being only 3 spots to enter from and each one leaves you exposed to the enemies that getting caught is extremely high. Add the large number of soldiers rooming around and close to one another that going in guns blazing might be the only option left for you.

The problem with the security is just that there is simply no balance to it, what would have served as a good way to balance it all out is to have make wise strategic choices in what you pick. For example you can pick to either have the security drones that fly around or picking the surveillance cameras instead, another one would be if you want to fill your base with large quantities of soldiers you lose the chance to equip them with the best gear. Stuff like that would have made the FOBs more balanced for players who want to take part in this mode.

Sadly however it seems that with each update FOB is getting progressively worse as with the next updates they will allow for players placing the security measures themselves which could lead to them rigging it so invaders won't stand a chance, new security measures like the SKULLS unit which if you remember where some of the harder enemies to fight in the game and the worst feature off all that reflex mode will be reduced depending on that person's medical staff level.

Seeing all those extra features being brought in makes it clear that a mode I already feel less inclined to take part in due to the afford mention features will soon turn to a feature I won't ever want to use.

FOB is a tumor that is damaging to the game, from having resources walled off to you through an online wall, an unbalanced security system and shoddy design choices. It is a feature that if keeps going the way it is could end up being the death of the game as people will just find this feature to ruin the experience for them and each new update seems to do more & more damage to it.