*SPOILERS* Why is "Kingdom of the Flies" being cut such a big deal?

[Metric Guard]

It's pointless and adds absolutely nothing to the overall story. What's even crazier is that, because it was cited as "Episode 51", people think it was going to be the last mission in MGSV, which makes zero sense. In fact, datamining revealed that it was supposed to take place before Episode 43.

The conclusion to Eli's story arc is fine as it is and is consistent with Chapter 2's theme of loss. Along with the Mbele kids, Eli leaves Mother Base with Diamond Dogs' "mark" (AKA Sahelanthropus) and goes off to become a leader of a nation for soldiers, just like his dad.

"But Metal Gear Snuffleupagus is still a threat!" you may be thinking. Well, if you payed attention, you'll know that Sahelanthropus was damaged to the point of no longer being a weapon, and the only reason Big Boss kept it was to prove Diamond Dogs brought at least one crisis to it's end.

It's implied that Huey may have given instructions to the kids to help them fix it, but if he did, how could a bunch of 12-year-olds make a Metal Gear fully functional and in such a short time? If they did repair Sahelanthropus, it wouldn't be to the point where it's an actual threat. The fact that Sahelanthropus burst into the interrogation room headfirst is a pretty clear sign that it's still busted.

Even if it was able to get repaired years later, it'd still be useless because it requires Psycho Mantis (or a child who knows how to pilot such a complex machine) to even move. By the events of MGS1, Mantis' abilities he had in MGSV aren't nearly as potent as they once were, as he develops his own personality that his childhood lacked and becomes unable to be manipulated by others. At that point, his best abilities are reading Memory Cards and controller inputs.

"Why even escape with Sahelanthropus?" you may ask. Because, as stated earlier, it's a trophy to prove Diamond Dogs' accomplishments. Eli taking it away from him is basically a giant middle finger to Big Boss as he leaves Mother Base forever.

Also, to answer the question of "W-what about the English parasite?", why the hell would Eli even use it? Because his ideology is identical to Big Boss', it wouldn't really help him achieve his goal of making his own "Outer Heaven", and the usage of it in the cut episode as a means for the kids to isolate themselves is just lazy writing (the same could be said if he used it on Mother Base like Chapter 1's ending implied).

I honestly don't get why the abscence of "Epsiode 51" is constantly cited as a big reason why MGSV is unfinished; it's one of worst possible arguments I've seen for a game being incomplete. Because of how popular an argument it is, it's just another reason why the narrative of MGSV won't ever get the appreciation it deserves. The "true MGS fans" will just eternally read off the MGSV hate script from 2015 becuase it's just too different from past MGS to fairly and properly analyze, which is rather sad, but also ironic to the point of hilarity considering this kind of thing is a core theme of MGSV.

[Aki]

I think for me the reason was that there is a whole Island I could explore.

Afghanistan is just a giant sand playground.

Afrika had this really cool first mission where you got dropped off in a small jungle. And had to work your way through this muddy village with a ship wreck on the coast. You later discovered that the rest of the map is just basicly Afghanistan but with a slightly different colour to it. The only areas that were intresting to me was the Mansion and the first mission.

I really wanted to see a giant jungle or rainforest where you could easily feel lost in. Rain pouring down from the trees and hearing birds everywhere around you.

Judging by the concept art, Kingdom of Flies was exactly going to be that.

[Misa]

You cant understand unless you have played previous games of the series. More missions doesn't make the game anymore complete.

[Misa]

MGSV is full of padding and repeat missions. I dont even care for chapter 3. The entire structure and pacing of mgsv is what a game under a broken game company looks like .... Oh wait..

[Metric Guard]

Originally posted by Ika:

I think for me the reason was that there is a whole Island I could explore.

Afghanistan is just a giant sand playground.

Afrika had this really cool first mission where you got dropped off in a small jungle. And had to work your way through this muddy village with a ship wreck on the coast. You later discovered that the rest of the map is just basicly Afghanistan but with a slightly different colour to it. The only areas that were intresting to me was the Mansion and the first mission.

I really wanted to see a giant jungle or rainforest where you could easily feel lost in. Rain pouring down from the trees and hearing birds everywhere around you.

Judging by the concept art, Kingdom of Flies was exactly going to be that.

I personally found there were enough jungle areas in Africa. Besides, jungle settings have been done to death in MGS3 and Peace Walker. And in my opinion, the savannahs, swamps, and urban outposts were enough to differentiate Africa from Afghanistan's mountains, ruins, and deserts.

Originally posted by 𝒷𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓮:

MGSV is full of padding and repeat missions.

Contrary to popular belief, you aren't actually required to play any of the high-difficulty repeat missions at all to progress the story of Chapter 2.

[nimodae]

Originally posted by Knight Siegbert:

Originally posted by 𝒷𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓮:

MGSV is full of padding and repeat missions.

Contrary to popular belief, you aren't actually required to play any of the high-difficulty repeat missions at all to progress the story of Chapter 2.

That doesn't make the statement any less true.

[Aki]

Originally posted by Knight Siegbert:

Originally posted by Ika:

I think for me the reason was that there is a whole Island I could explore.

Afghanistan is just a giant sand playground.

Afrika had this really cool first mission where you got dropped off in a small jungle. And had to work your way through this muddy village with a ship wreck on the coast. You later discovered that the rest of the map is just basicly Afghanistan but with a slightly different colour to it. The only areas that were intresting to me was the Mansion and the first mission.

I really wanted to see a giant jungle or rainforest where you could easily feel lost in. Rain pouring down from the trees and hearing birds everywhere around you.

Judging by the concept art, Kingdom of Flies was exactly going to be that.

I personally found there were enough jungle areas in Africa. Besides, jungle settings have been done to death in MGS3 and Peace Walker. And in my opinion, the savannahs, swamps, and urban outposts were enough to differentiate Africa from Afghanistan's mountains, ruins, and deserts.

Originally posted by 𝒷𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓮:

MGSV is full of padding and repeat missions.

Contrary to popular belief, you aren't actually required to play any of the high-difficulty repeat missions at all to progress the story of Chapter 2.

Mhm yeah Afrika isn't that bad actually. I really liked that swamp mission where you had to extract the viscount or something. At night it felt really cool just crawling through the water while there was a searchlight above it.

[DxSpark]

"It's pointless and adds absolutely nothing to the overall story."

--> Yeah, really pointless to know where the hell did Liquid and the child soldiers escaped, where and what happenend to Shelantropus and where is the third strain of the vocal cord parasite ?

All questions teased in the game and never answered just because mission 51 never was a thing. Moreover, mission 51 would have involved a brand new area with a lot of traps and tropical environnement but it's totally pointless according to you.

[Exarch_Alpha]

Pointless, move on.

[SHARK1501]

I don't know. Seeing some kids escaping with a bipedal nuclear tank seems like a pretty big loose end.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by Knight Brolaire:

Well, if you payed attention...

Originally posted by Knight Brolaire:

It's pointless and adds absolutely nothing to the overall story. What's even crazier is that, because it was cited as "Episode 51", people think it was going to be the last mission in MGSV, which makes zero sense...

Originally posted by Knight Brolaire:

The conclusion to Eli's story arc is fine as it is and is consistent with Chapter 2's theme of loss.

Originally posted by Knight Brolaire:

...The abscence of "Epsiode 51" is one of worst possible arguments I've seen for a game being incomplete....Because of how popular an argument it is, it's just another reason why the narrative of MGSV won't ever get the appreciation it deserves..

I agree.
Most people forget that The Phantom Pain is Venom's story.
The other characters play secondary roles.

Kojima's camera & direction shows this to be true:

1. The whole game is a single camera shot from Venom's perspective.

2. There is nothing outside of the single camera tracking shot and there is nothing outside of Venom's perspective.

At some level, Venom's story is of a man being crushed and consumed by his legend. It is about the pain of loss, in other words, a Phantom Pain.

More story on Eli wouldn't make sense since IT IS NOT ELI'S STORY.

[abcd]

I'm not sure there's any evidence as to whether that's Liquid or Solidus though, or if they ever met up doing similar things in Africa, and that seems like a thematic hole that went unexplored: the 'perfect' double or the 'perfect' clone, and what does that mean to Liquid? Then all of that reflecting on Venom, the protagonist.

All on its own though, yeah, it was a pointless mission.

It's just evidence that there was supposed to be more of something, whatever it was, if it were given an extra year of development time. I think that's really, really common in games development though, to the point where simply by addressing the concept of Phantom Pain the entire narrative got tied up in its creation process.

However, many still think it was denied that extra year for political reasons. And people don't always make the best arguments when discussing politics.

[Metric Guard]

Originally posted by Holografix:

1. The whole game is a single camera shot from Venom's perspective.

2. There is nothing outside of the single camera tracking shot and there is nothing outside of Venom's perspective.

This is something I've strongly appreciated about the storytelling and cinematography of MGSV. Speaking of which, another thing I don't understand is the want for the truth tapes (specifically the ones with Zero) to be cutscenes. Not only would visuals add almost nothing, it would contradict how literally every cutscene up to that point has been from the perspective of the protagonist.

[Mutant1988]

I'm more annoyed that the return to Camp Omega from Ground Zeroes wasn't ever featured in the game.

It's a much better designed environment than anywhere in MGS V proper and re-visiting it with all the new toys of MGS V would have been great. Even if ultimately all you ended up doing was just repeat the same beats as Ground Zeroes.

And the reason why people are upset about Episode 51 is because it would have provided finality and catharsis to the MGS V story arc as opposed to a stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ plot twist. You're Big Boss! Or rather, a hyper competent body double patsy to explain away the inexplicable fall to villainy of the real Big Boss to fit his characterization in the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2.

[Holografix]

Originally posted by Knight Siegbert:

Originally posted by Holografix:

1. The whole game is a single camera shot from Venom's perspective.

2. There is nothing outside of the single camera tracking shot and there is nothing outside of Venom's perspective.

This is something I've strongly appreciated about the storytelling and cinematography of MGSV. Speaking of which, another thing I don't understand is the want for the truth tapes (specifically the ones with Zero) to be cutscenes. Not only would visuals add almost nothing, it would contradict how literally every cutscene up to that point has been from the perspective of the protagonist.

Exactly. And having the Truth tapes as 'cassettes' plays into the whole hypnogogia part of Venom's training. Since Venom didn't experience those events, the tapes could be part of the hypnogogia and not necessarily true as they happened, but only true as far as it is needed to brainwash Venom. A subtle touch that changes the scope of certain characters from the previous games, Zero, Paz, Ocelot...etc.

[revswindler]

Originally posted by Holografix:

1. The whole game is a single camera shot from Venom's perspective.

2. There is nothing outside of the single camera tracking shot and there is nothing outside of Venom's perspective.

Except it is not a single tracking shot. You can say that every scene involves Venom, and there are many long tracking shots, but the game is not a single tracking shot. God of War 2018 is a single tracking shot. MGSV: TPP is not; there are multiple hard cuts to a different camera angle.

Yes, that might seem pedantic, but terms actually do matter.