Why empty barren lands are important in MGSV.

[76561198000973506]

Many are annoyed by the lack of interactable elements in the wilderness. Before I get scholded on the meaning of the Phantom Pain unleashed by Kojima on his fanbase by selling them an empty game, I would like to make the analogy of barren lands to saferooms in survival horror. We like them because they reduce tension and take edge off. Saferooms are small areas located inside larger danger zones. In mgsv, the enemy outposts are the dangerous smaller areas located throughout otherwise peaceful wildlands. The threat of a single outpost, however, is greater than singular enemy elements from survival horror, mostly because being spotted leads to alert phases with the enemy surrounding the intruder. So by analogy, the size and emptiness of the barren lands can be considered relevant from a pacing perspective, given the threat enemy outposts represent.

There are two instances of dialogue which undirectly prompt the player not to get high on stress caused by clandestine operations. Firstly, there are two Diamond Dogs arguying about the animals conservation platform, agreeing that it helps take the edge off after missions. Secondly, Code Talker suggests Venom to become one with the forest during "Cursed Legacy". Code Talker means that someone immersed in the peaceful wildlife will sense the enemy more easily than someone who bumps in with a killing intent.

Long story short, if you sneak inside an outpost after spending enough time fooling around in the empty wilderness, you are more likely to sneak around seamlessly without arousing suspicion.

[brawler]

The barren lands are there for you to drive c4 rigged trucks around listening to 80s hits.

[Duke Mills]

If you guys want to get around the barren lands stuff get SnakeBite and install Infinite Heaven. Makes story mode 1000x better

[76561198000973506]

Originally posted by dprog1995:

Don't know why some of you people just want to explain a bad game design(Which here is the empty world) instead of accepting it as the flaw of this game.

And I don't know why you still try to settle the game being bad as a matter of common sense instead of discussing pacing and immersion. I made this thread to read interesting replies and debates.

[76561198000973506]

Originally posted by Deathscare:

Damn, I forgot that mgsv is not only a game, but an experience, and a simulation (it's one of those games). Only problem with something trying to be an experience is that an experience doesnt need to have a fun factor and the same goes for a simulation (the order 1886 is a good exanple). TPP clearly has win and loss events and great mechanics to make it a game but is also being those other two things I mentioned. With that said, I find it fun enough as a game despite it not being nonstop action.

For most action games, you are constantly put in fast paced environments with a lot of interaction. The main character of these games is typically an invincible hero with a four digit kill count but acts like this is nothing. This kind of pacing makes the gamer desensitized of the killing and creates a gap between him and the game, which makes you lose immersion. You are required to turn the game off and go back to your life, with slower pacing, to build up more gaming incentive all over again.

In mgs, the main character is human and fragile and the environment can be really unforgiving. There are mechanics made specifically to sabotage the player, including ear-rape landmines, ear-rape detection marker, full lit white screen when you put on goggles at night, sliding off rocks, item select mishap. Killing soldiers is no delight either. You gotta see them bleed their guts out in agony or finish them off which is even more cruel. All of this tension is in contrast with the peacefulness of the empty wilderness. Instead of turning the game off to wash away the tension, you can take a break inside of it by avoiding outposts and enjoying the mundane empty wildlands, just hanging about. You feel more connected to the player because instead of just saving the world and such, you and him are also getting bored together and this bond gamer-Venom can be especially high in mgsv.

[brawler]

Originally posted by dreadnawght_:

Killing soldiers is no delight either. You gotta see them bleed their guts out in agony or finish them off which is even more cruel.

I feel like i'm used to seeing much worse gore, so I've become desensitized to whatever mgsv's gore is. I feel worse about killing soldiers when they're talking to each other, especially about Big Boss and how they don't wanna fight him. It makes them feel more human rather than just filler.

[76561198000973506]

Originally posted by Brawler:

Originally posted by dreadnawght_:

Killing soldiers is no delight either. You gotta see them bleed their guts out in agony or finish them off which is even more cruel.

I feel like i'm used to seeing much worse gore, so I've become desensitized to whatever mgsv's gore is. I feel worse about killing soldiers when they're talking to each other, especially about Big Boss and how they don't wanna fight him. It makes them feel more human rather than just filler.

One of them was talking in a dialogue that he'd almost finished duty and he'd finally go home to see his new born baby daughter. These are the type of people you kill when you go nuts in mgsv. That's why you must take your time enjoying landscapes, extracting animals, or otherwise exploring empty wildlands, so you could feel soldiers as humans, not as a means to use your weapons.

[abcd]

Console limitations. PS3 uses a processor from 2008. Game typically has same number of soldiers and intensity of combat as 4 did, just with better-developed AI software and slicker graphical processing techniques like FXAA. In terms of 'making it work' mgs5 is to mgs4 what mgs3 was to mgs2.

The game takes place in a Patriot-controlled environment with very few terrain limitations populated almost exclusively by potential recruits and one-off actors, so there is a plausible story background for the emptiness of the world and it does hook into the themes of loss, emptiness, and phantom pain.

But if it weren't for the limitations of making the game run on PS3 hardware it would have been more populated. Infinite Heaven proves that it was completely possible to do so on more modern systems. So any explanation for the particular degree of emptiness as an intentional artistic choice, rather than a compromise made primarily for the sake of business, seems a little bit apologistic to me.

I mean, they could have still done the same level of emptiness. Maybe some kind of refugee narrative where the conflict gradually reduces the area to a barren wasteland. But in its current state I just don't see anything but the business decision which made its current state unavoidable.

[Deathscare]

Originally posted by tausoldier:

Console limitations. PS3 uses a processor from 2008. Game typically has same number of soldiers and intensity of combat as 4 did, just with better-developed AI software and slicker graphical processing techniques like FXAA. In terms of 'making it work' mgs5 is to mgs4 what mgs3 was to mgs2.

The game takes place in a Patriot-controlled environment with very few terrain limitations populated almost exclusively by potential recruits and one-off actors, so there is a plausible story background for the emptiness of the world and it does hook into the themes of loss, emptiness, and phantom pain.

But if it weren't for the limitations of making the game run on PS3 hardware it would have been more populated. Infinite Heaven proves that it was completely possible to do so on more modern systems. So any explanation for the particular degree of emptiness as an intentional artistic choice, rather than a compromise made primarily for the sake of business, seems a little bit apologistic to me.

I mean, they could have still done the same level of emptiness. Maybe some kind of refugee narrative where the conflict gradually reduces the area to a barren wasteland. But in its current state I just don't see anything but the business decision which made its current state unavoidable.

lmao you really called fxaa slick graphical detail?

[Godmaster]

Originally posted by Deathscare:

lmao you really called fxaa slick graphical detail?

Slick like slapping some vaseline all over your screen.

[Deathscare]

Originally posted by Godmaster:

Originally posted by Deathscare:

lmao you really called fxaa slick graphical detail?

Slick like slapping some vaseline all over your screen.

Fxaa, the vaseline pretend aa

[abcd]

Yup, 20% more efficient than 1xAA when it was released in 2009. Bet it would've improved MGS3 significantly.