Hangout The Games Hangout Thread

[xi0]

There are going to be more exclusive titles for PS4...

yeah it's up to you really, but I don't think getting PS4 is as bad as many people imagine, I'm guessing there'd be more great titles for PS4 considering that Sony has been securing exclusive deals here and there for various games.

I'll probably get the most out of getting a new PC. I don't really like what console gaming has sort of turned into, I guess...

 

[Jammin]

Just started playing Phantom Pain a few hours ago and good lord does Kojima know how to make great videogames.

I've just been running around stealing sheep (so hilarious that you can do that)

I'm not far enough in to really understand everything but I can already tell how polished and well put together it is. It also looks amazing. 1080p 60fps makes is a huge deal when you are constantly panning the camera around and you notice there is no hitching or any kind of visual glitching at all. I'm going to be playing this one for a long time, I think.

 

[xi0]

Just started playing Phantom Pain a few hours ago and good lord does Kojima know how to make great videogames.

I've just been running around stealing sheep (so hilarious that you can do that)

I'm not far enough in to really understand everything but I can already tell how polished and well put together it is. It also looks amazing. 1080p 60fps makes is a huge deal when you are constantly panning the camera around and you notice there is no hitching or any kind of visual glitching at all. I'm going to be playing this one for a long time, I think.

Is this because you're new to the series/story or? Just curious

 

[Doraku]

Just started playing Phantom Pain a few hours ago and good lord does Kojima know how to make great videogames.

I've just been running around stealing sheep (so hilarious that you can do that)

I'm not far enough in to really understand everything but I can already tell how polished and well put together it is. It also looks amazing. 1080p 60fps makes is a huge deal when you are constantly panning the camera around and you notice there is no hitching or any kind of visual glitching at all. I'm going to be playing this one for a long time, I think.

I'm surprised by the fact that enemies are able to adapt to some situations. I have been using a lot of headshots, and the enemies started to wear helmets. I heard that the enemy also would wear a night vision if you only infiltrate at night.

 

[Jammin]

Is this because you're new to the series/story or? Just curious

No, I've played all the games so in a story sense I know what's going on (more or less). The part that I don't fully understand is how all the gadgets and elements of the game work and that's just because the game is so freakin' deep.

Like to throw out an example. There was this specialist I was trying to recruit/abduct. So I interrogated a guy at a nearby outpost who told me where he was. But it turned out that guy was driving around a cargo truck. How to get him out of the truck without killing him was something I had to figure out. So after thinking it over I got ahead of the truck with my horse and then climbed into a cardboard box in the middle of the road and waited for it to arrive. Wondering if the AI was going to stop or just run me over. Sure enough. When the truck reached me both guys climbed out to check out the box and I darted them.

To it's credit there is no handholding in Metal Gear V. It gives your problems and then you have to figure out how to solve them. So it's going to be a while before I will feel like I fully understand the game.

 

[xi0]

No, I've played all the games so in a story sense I know what's going on (more or less). The part that I don't fully understand is how all the gadgets and elements of the game work and that's just because the game is so freakin' deep.

Like to throw out an example. There was this specialist I was trying to recruit/abduct. So I interrogated a guy at a nearby outpost who told me where he was. But it turned out that guy was driving around a cargo truck. How to get him out of the truck without killing him was something I had to figure out. So after thinking it over I got ahead of the truck with my horse and then climbed into a cardboard box in the middle of the road and waited for it to arrive. Wondering if the AI was going to stop or just run me over. Sure enough. When the truck reached me both guys climbed out to check out the box and I darted them.

To it's credit there is no handholding in Metal Gear V. It gives your problems and then you have to figure out how to solve them. So it's going to be a while before I will feel like I fully understand the game.

Ah, I see. I thought you were talking about it from a story perspective, not game mechanics. I guess 5 is quite different from the other games as far as gameplay go.

 

[SharkBait]

I finished until dawn, just two trophies short of platinum and after playing all the way through four times, I need a break. Ill probably do a new story just to make getting the save everyone trophy easier (since the dumb saving system keeps first run deaths so to replay if a mistake is made later I had to keep jumping to chp4.

Matt and Jess and Chris were my deaths. 1st run.

 

[Utsune]

...

So Otojya started playing Phantom Pain and if you remembered the opening scene...

Spoiler

...it was hilarious because it felt like there were two or three Snake talking if you count Otojya's voice as well

 

[xi0]

So Apparently Guild Wars 2 went F2P recently. Sort of debating whether to take a look at it or not. Anyone have any experience with it?

 

[Doraku]

So Apparently Guild Wars 2 went F2P recently. Sort of debating whether to take a look at it or not. Anyone have any experience with it?

My MMO-nerd friend told me it's good enough for F2P, but it isn't that good of an MMO if you compare it to the likes of FFXIV etc.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Lol that Kojima troll with MGS5's true ending.

Spoiler: don't read it if you don't wanna get spoiled

There's two "Big Bosses". You've been playing as the medic the whole time.

 

[Jammin]

This year in videogames has been so amazingly good. First Bloodborne, then Witcher 3, then Until Dawn, and my week playing Metal Gear Solid 5 has more than convinced me that it's the best Metal Gear game.

Still not done with it but it's been a blast. The gameplay is great, the graphics look amazing, and the story is... acceptable.

Quiet's outfit is still ridiculous but at least there is some sort of logic justifying her exotic dancer motif. Underneath those tens of square centimeters of fabric is a fairly decent character so that's something. If there is a weakness in the game I'd say that it lacks compelling characters. Quiet and Ocelot are the two standouts in an otherwise so-so cast. Kaz Miller from Peacewalker turns into something of jaded exposition machine.

 

[Jammin]

Ok, so just finished all story parts of the Metal Gear Solid V.

Definitely a good game. Some of the best gameplay in any game, like ever. Story wasn't great though, no getting around that, I was hoping it would pick up toward the end but I actually thought it got worse for the most part(especially the very end) and took away from the experience a little bit. I liked it a lot and it was definitely worth playing but in the grand scheme of things I've liked other games this year considerably more.

Right now coming fresh off the game I feel like my favorite games of the year rank...

1. Witcher 3
2. Until Dawn
3. Metal Gear Solid V
4. Bloodborne.

---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------

To be specific about what I didn't like for those who have finished the game.

Spoiler: MASSIVE SPOILERS! If you haven't beat the game do not click this!

Everything was fairly conventional up until the bad guy gets it and I thought that up until that part the story was fine. After that each character kind of has their own epilogue ending. Including Snake. The whole thing was depressing but I thought parts of managed to work.

Eli's ending was kind of stupid. Emmerich's was disturbing but in an interesting way. Quiet's was tragic and pretty touching; especially since you lose her as a companion afterward and clearing the remaining content without her as a buddy just won't be as fun.

Then Snake's true end rolled around and I thought that part just plain sucked. It turned out your not really playing as Big Boss but as his clone the whole time. It effectively downplayed the significance and impact of the whole story. Since it's no longer really a continuation of the story from previous games. It just struck me as one of those things that makes a writer feel clever but makes the actual story worse.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Ok, so just finished all story parts of the Metal Gear Solid V.

Definitely a good game. Some of the best gameplay in any game, like ever. Story wasn't great though, no getting around that, I was hoping it would pick up toward the end but I actually thought it got worse for the most part(especially the very end) and took away from the experience a little bit. I liked it a lot and it was definitely worth playing but in the grand scheme of things I've liked other games this year considerably more.

Right now coming fresh off the game I feel like my favorite games of the year rank...

1. Witcher 3
2. Until Dawn
3. Metal Gear Solid V
4. Bloodborne.

---------- Post added at 09:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------

To be specific about what I didn't like for those who have finished the game.

Spoiler: MASSIVE SPOILERS! If you haven't beat the game do not click this!

Everything was fairly conventional up until the bad guy gets it and I thought that up until that part the story was fine. After that each character kind of has their own epilogue ending. Including Snake. The whole thing was depressing but I thought parts of managed to work.

Eli's ending was kind of stupid. Emmerich's was disturbing but in an interesting way. Quiet's was tragic and pretty touching; especially since you lose her as a companion afterward and clearing the remaining content without her as a buddy just won't be as fun.

Then Snake's true end rolled around and I thought that part just plain sucked. It turned out your not really playing as Big Boss but as his clone the whole time. It effectively downplayed the significance and impact of the whole story. Since it's no longer really a continuation of the story from previous games. It just struck me as one of those things that makes a writer feel clever but makes the actual story worse.

Spoiler

Yeah it sucks that you play as the medic the whole time, and that he's Big Boss's phantom. They tried to make it tie with other games by saying that Snake killed the phantom in Outer Heaven, not the actual Big boss. In the end of the game he even has a tape with the title Operation Intrude N313, which hints that Big boss has been keeping him updated about that. It's a bit far-fetched, but for the past years I always felt that MGS story was too convoluted, this just adds to it.
It would have been more interesting to get Big boss' side of the story, when he started Outer heaven.
So far I think Quiet's story is the more interesting, while it's still pretty tragic.

The story is weak, but the gameplay is prolly the best in the series, so it's worth it.

 

[Doraku]

Kind of surprised that you put Until Dawn above MGSV, but those four games are indeed the best PS4 games of this year (outside some FGs). I gotta say Witcher 3 is my most favorite, followed by MGS V, Bloodborne, and Until Dawn. Hopefully Fallout 4 doesn't bomb.

I haven't finished the game, because I play the game rather slowly for the past few weeks; I've been trying to use different strategies, routes, and alternating between Rambo and stealth infiltration. I've been trying to finish all the main missions in S-rank, because I feel like that Raiden suit looks so rad.

---

Anyone can give me suggestion about Destiny Taken King and Uncharted Collection - should I buy them? I don't have any experience in playing Destiny, and I am not really familiar wth Uncharted series apart from 2 games.. but I am tempted because I see people sing praises about those two games.

 

[xi0]

I'm not really sure why fans are taken aback by mindfucks or convoluted storylines when it comes to MGS honestly. Granted I haven't played it yet to experience the "authenticity" of such a thing...but

Spoiler

It's not that surprising of a development and I distinctly remembered many articles speculating on this sort of thing back when we barely knew The Phantom Pain was a MGS game. The timeline regarding the storyline didn't match up or something like that. Maybe the experience is totally ham-fisted since I haven't played it myself, but I don't see how the real identity of Venom Snake is all that shocking. Well, not necessarily who he is, but who he isn't. It makes a lot more sense given what we know about the rest of Big Boss' storyline.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

I'm not really sure why fans are taken aback by mindfucks or convoluted storylines when it comes to MGS honestly. Granted I haven't played it yet to experience the "authenticity" of such a thing...but

Spoiler

It's not that surprising of a development and I distinctly remembered many articles speculating on this sort of thing back when we barely knew The Phantom Pain was a MGS game. The timeline regarding the storyline didn't match up or something like that. Maybe the experience is totally ham-fisted since I haven't played it myself, but I don't see how the real identity of Venom Snake is all that shocking. Well, not necessarily who he is, but who he isn't. It makes a lot more sense given what we know about the rest of Big Boss' storyline.

Spoiler

It was a bit predictable, even before the game was released. The most obvious point is Venom Snake's appearance which didn't quite fit with that of Big Boss. The fake arm but mostly the shrapnel. And before the game was released fans would compare various screenshots of the game where he has the shrapnel, then he didn't. And while playing the game there's a part where Eli(Liquid Snake) attacks Big Boss and they later do a DNA test, and it comes negative.So that was the biggest hint in the game that it's not the real Big Boss.
But overall it's the fact that some might have found the story lacking a bit, and of course the fact that it's not the real boss. Even in terms of character Venom Snake didn't really convince and he doesn't talk a lot lol. But like you mentioned the story in MGS is pretty convoluted so it doesn't affect me that much.
Some think that Kojima did this so the players can experience the phantom pain, of having something being taken from them, which seems to be the main theme of the game. Even the main villain doesn't get a real boss fight.So maybe playing as the medic instead of Big Boss is like that.

 

[Jammin]

Spoiler

Yeah it sucks that you play as the medic the whole time, and that he's Big Boss's phantom. They tried to make it tie with other games by saying that Snake killed the phantom in Outer Heaven, not the actual Big boss. In the end of the game he even has a tape with the title Operation Intrude N313, which hints that Big boss has been keeping him updated about that. It's a bit far-fetched, but for the past years I always felt that MGS story was too convulsed, this just adds to it.
It would have been more interesting to get Big boss' side of the story, when he started Outer heaven.
So far I think Quiet's story is the more interesting, while it's still pretty tragic.

The story is weak, but the gameplay is prolly the best in the series, so it's worth it.

Totally agree.

Spoiler

I did not expect to like Quiet's story as much as I did but I definitely came away thinking that she was the best character.

Kind of surprised that you put Until Dawn above MGSV, but those four games are indeed the best PS4 games of this year (outside some FGs). I gotta say Witcher 3 is my most favorite, followed by MGS V, Bloodborne, and Until Dawn. Hopefully Fallout 4 doesn't bomb.

I haven't finished the game, because I play the game rather slowly for the past few weeks; I've been trying to use different strategies, routes, and alternating between Rambo and stealth infiltration. I've been trying to finish all the main missions in S-rank, because I feel like that Raiden suit looks so rad.

It probably comes down to how Until Dawn was really pitching perfectly in my strike zone. It delivered exactly the experience I wanted and so it gets bonus points for that.

I'm not really sure why fans are taken aback by mindfucks or convoluted storylines when it comes to MGS honestly. Granted I haven't played it yet to experience the "authenticity" of such a thing...but

Spoiler

It's not that surprising of a development and I distinctly remembered many articles speculating on this sort of thing back when we barely knew The Phantom Pain was a MGS game. The timeline regarding the storyline didn't match up or something like that. Maybe the experience is totally ham-fisted since I haven't played it myself, but I don't see how the real identity of Venom Snake is all that shocking. Well, not necessarily who he is, but who he isn't. It makes a lot more sense given what we know about the rest of Big Boss' storyline.

It's not that it's convoluted or anything like that. I mean, this is Metal Gear that comes with the territory. It's about how the narrative connects together or in this case doesn't.

Spoiler

The issue for me is that the ending basically severs the connection between this game and the previous ones. Because they were about the life of Big Boss and this one ultimately wasn't. It's like in Metal Gear Solid 2 when, all of a sudden we were playing as Raiden. Some might not have an issue with that but I do. Which is a shame because the gameplay is so insanely good but, after finishing the story, I'm not sure I want to play anymore. And that's not good.

I find it interesting that the one part of this game storywise that I think really did go well was Quiet who is the one element not connected to anything outside of this game. And extra ironically that the resolution of that storyline is the only bit that undercut the gameplay in any way.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Totally agree.

Spoiler

I did not expect to like Quiet's story as much as I did but I definitely came away thinking that she was the best character.

It probably comes down to how Until Dawn was really pitching perfectly in my strike zone. It delivered exactly the experience I wanted and so it gets bonus points for that.

It's not that it's convoluted or anything like that. I mean, this is Metal Gear that comes with the territory. It's about how the narrative connects together or in this case doesn't.

Spoiler

The issue for me is that the ending basically severs the connection between this game and the previous ones. Because they were about the life of Big Boss and this one ultimately wasn't. Some might not have an issue with that but I do. Which is a shame because the gameplay is so insanely good but, after finishing the story, I'm not sure I want to play anymore. And that's not good.

I find it interesting that the one part of this game storywise that I think really did go well was Quiet who is the one element not connected to anything outside of this game. And extra ironically that the resolution of that storyline is the only bit that undercut the gameplay in any way.

Spoiler

Yeah Quiet seems to be the best character, by far. She's an interesting addition to the game, as much as I didn't like her concept at first, because of how she dresses but there's a convincing reason for her to do so.So in the end her character was well written.
I think that's kinda reminiscent of MGS 2 and how many expected to play the whole game as Snake, only to be forced to play most of the game as Raiden(and he wasn't even a badass ninja back then ). But here the idea is that Venom Snake becomes Big Boss, that we become BB in a way. But of course I think it could have been done better.
Because of this I think we need another game to cover the event from Big Boss' s perspective, or just right before the events in MG. In a way I guess that I understand how since it is supposed to be the last game in the series, it should be about BB himself, but we clearly didn't get that. So it leaves the impression that it was unfinished.

 

[Jammin]

Spoiler

Yeah Quiet seems to be the best character, by far. She's an interesting addition to the game, as much as I didn't like her concept at first, because of how she dresses.
I think that's kinda reminiscent of MGS 2 and how many expected to play the whole game as Snake, only to be forced to play most of the game as Raiden(and he wasn't even a badass ninja back then ). But here the idea is that Venom Snake becomes Big Boss, that we become BB in a way. But of course I think it could have been done better.
Because of this I think we need another game to cover the event from Big Boss' s perspective, or just right before the events in MG. In a way I guess that I understand how since it is supposed to be the last game in the MGS franchise, it should be about BB himself, but we clearly didn't get that. So it leaves the impression that it was unfinished.

Spoiler

It seemed like it was stuck between one thing and the other. Due the overall story it had to be about Big Boss and his gang having their breaking bad moments. Since they are bad guys later on.

But instead this game was like you said, transforming the player character into Big Boss. But it can't really succeed at that since the player has no control or influence on the story arcs so the player leaves no mark on the story. I actually thought it was doing pretty well near the end taking the approach of "this is guy who lost everything and it's going to break him" but then the very end was like "Nope, it's about the Boss's Phantom you the player".

Which just leaves me annoyed because it definitely wasn't about me. I know that because I would have murdered Miller for being mean to Quiet and totally shot Eli because D-Bags of that magnitude should not be wielding magic powers. I've seen the movie The Omen, I know what's going on here. Then ask why Quiet needs to be naked for her parasites to work and yet the old Indian guy does not; while rolling my eyes.