RE: game extremely overrated?

[rat]

In the interests of not necroing an old thread, I'm making a new one in response to a very old one.

The thread in question:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/287700/discussions/0/492378806375255439/

Original Post:

Originally posted by sepoquro:

I can't be the only one to find this game extremely overrated?
Admittedly, this is the only MGS game I played (I wanted to check it out because of good reviews), so correct me if I got some things wrong.

First of all, the plot and characters are incredibly juvenile and cheesy, yet on the store page they claim to "explore mature themes" LMAO. Snake does not seem to have a coherent personality and instead appears to have dissociative identity and react very differently to similar situations. All the characters are incredibly one dimensional and can basically be summarized in one word: Ocelot - badass, Miller - cruel, etc. Oh and Quiet isn't even a legitimate character. The game treats her like Snake's pet or something, it is ridiculous how immature and outmoded the writing is. The story also makes zero sense. I have no idea why there are mechs or these ghost soldiers in the 1980s, and they don't do a good job making them convincing and believable. The only reason Snake seems to be doing anything is herp derp "payback for nine years ago".

In addition, I found the world very bland. Afghanistan is basically just canyon after canyon, with the occasional Soviet base. There are virtually no civilians, no towns, nothing. No random events. No secret caves that lead to side quests. No equipment or collectibles to find other than blueprints and cassettes. The game supposedly takes place during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, yet I haven't seen a single battle between muhajideens and Soviets. Hell, despite the small size of the map compared to many other titles, most of the buildings cannot even be entered and are basically just decoration. Also, they did not put any creativity into how you collect items: most of the stuff you collect are basically just a box on a table that says "fuel resources" or something similar. It is a farce of an open world game.

It seems like what people praise the game most for is the combat and stealth, yet even in that respect I found it lacking. I played some 20 missions and so far the strategy that seemed to work best is simply riding into the enemy base on a horse and headshot everyone when the game goes into slow motion from enemies detecting you. I suppose that if you wanted to you could do a stealth approach but the game does not incentivize or encourage that in any way so it just becomes time consuming and a general pain in the ass.

With all of these factors combined, I could not get myself to keep playing after 20 or so missions. The plot is almost nonexistent. The characters are bland. The world is empty. The combat is boring. I have no idea how this game got a Metacritic score of 91/100 on PC (and 95/100 on console) and received multiple nominations for GOTY. The Witcher 3 is clearly a much superior title and it only received similar scores (for consoles, even lower). Hell, even Fallout 4, which is a tier below the Witcher 3, is much better than this game. If I were the one giving ratings, I would give a 95 for the Witcher, 85-90 for Fallout, and 75 for this game. I would give the Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo, and Assassin's Creed games something around 70.

[rat]

the plot and characters are incredibly juvenile and cheesy, yet on the store page they claim to "explore mature themes" LMAO. Snake does not seem to have a coherent personality and instead appears to have dissociative identity and react very differently to similar situations. All the characters are incredibly one dimensional and can basically be summarized in one word: Ocelot - badass, Miller - cruel, etc. Oh and Quiet isn't even a legitimate character. The game treats her like Snake's pet or something, it is ridiculous how immature and outmoded the writing is. The story also makes zero sense. I have no idea why there are mechs or these ghost soldiers in the 1980s, and they don't do a good job making them convincing and believable. The only reason Snake seems to be doing anything is herp derp "payback for nine years ago"...

I totally agree with the sentiment about character one-dimensionality. I don't find any of them to have any deep characterization. Venom Snake is more of a self-insert than anything else.

In addition, I found the world very bland. Afghanistan is basically just canyon after canyon, with the occasional Soviet base. There are virtually no civilians, no towns, nothing. No random events. No secret caves that lead to side quests. No equipment or collectibles to find other than blueprints and cassettes. The game supposedly takes place during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, yet I haven't seen a single battle between muhajideens and Soviets...

There's like ONE mission with rebel soldiers. It's definitely odd that you never see mujahideen outside of prisoners. I guess that the explanation is that this is the center of Russian occupation and so all the villages are emptied out and all the fighting with rebels goes on outside of the playable game area, but frankly that's kind of a cop out. Being able to take advantage of fighting between 2 different factions and sneak in undetected would have been a fun thing to pull off.

It seems like what people praise the game most for is the combat and stealth, yet even in that respect I found it lacking. I played some 20 missions and so far the strategy that seemed to work best is simply riding into the enemy base on a horse and headshot everyone when the game goes into slow motion from enemies detecting you. I suppose that if you wanted to you could do a stealth approach but the game does not incentivize or encourage that in any way so it just becomes time consuming and a general pain in the ass...

I don't remember anyone praising MGSV for its combat all the way back in 2015, but maybe this was some B.S. that a gaming magazine cooked up for hype.

The stealth is the big draw, and the game DOES incentivize and encourage it, but in typical Japanese style, the most noticable incentivization amounts to more points instead of anything really tangible lol.

However, you do become better and better at the stealth, which is its own reward. You can take on more and more guards without going into combat alert, and even avoid "soft alerts". Being able to run around and own the battlefield is a great feeling that makes you feel unstoppable. Honestly, the combat doesn't hold a candle to the stealth imo.

[Death Approaches]

This is like Rush fans talking about Rush. Most know every single note of every instrument on every song, burned into memory... know every band-told allegory, canadian poutine joke, even the dark depressing stuff like every time Neil dropped a stick or missed a hit because the fscker would play in constant pain for years, years on end, the consummate professional who literally killed himself for his craft.

We know why the game is the way it is, why it's devoid of content but the engine and UX are near perfect, the Hideo becoming western-ized timeline, the internal drama at Konami HQ, the Fox team spies... I mean HK fans set up PC-XT emulators to play Penguin Adventure (or got lazy and just watched videos of the gameplay), know most/all the politics, the turmoil, the staff rebellion, the changing japanese "salaryman" culture with respect to creative projects...

The fact it made it to this 2015 stage when they pinched their noses and pushed it out the door, is not a miracle, it not some triumph of the human spirit, nor the pinnacle of games development... it's a company that has many employees that have bills in a quickly-changing landscape, and that's that.

It's a shell of what it was supposed to be, and of course people will land anywhere on the spectrum of "it's trash" to "it's a great game anyway, all those things considered."

it's been a decade now, and we're STILL talking about it. And it'll be talked about for another decade, probably longer assuming humanity survives. Having my doubts lately.

But if it does? Some will still be playing this. Because they love what it IS, as it is.

[player7112]

In my honest opinion, MGSV is one of the best military-comedy game I have ever played, their jokes were priceless.

Playing as a female soldier wearing nothing but a bikini and doing missions to save the world? one of my best gaming experience.

The game is so immersive that someone started to mistake the reality with the video game.
"Why it makes no sense?" - they asked.
"Because it's a fiction, as the game stated at the intro" - Me.

[rat]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

probably longer assuming humanity survives. Having my doubts lately.

Yeah. It's disheartening realizing that people are watching a genocide being committed right in front of their eyes and they don't even care or know the actual extent of it despite the fact their tax money is literally funding it.

My trust in humanity dwindles.

[green.nifta]

I love this game so much. For me at least, it it definitely not overrated. One of my all-time favourites.

[rat]

Originally posted by green.nifta:

I love this game so much. For me at least, it it definitely not overrated. One of my all-time favourites.

It's a very fun game for sure.

[Roler42]

To call the most divisive entry in the franchise since 4 "extremely overrated" is a serious joke, even back when this game first launched, so that old OP was really reaching, lol.

I love the game, but tbh, it is the weaker entry in terms of story, at least to a degree, a lot of the fun convoluted Kojima writing is there, but it's all so subtle and nuanced, I don't blame anyone for thinking characters felt one-dimensional.

Gameplay wise, I think this is one of the better sandboxes in a game, pretty close to MGS3's, game is leaning more towards Hitman than just Metal Gear, there's a wealth of both stealth and combat if you know where to look, also a special goldmine for players who like getting creative with how they tackle each mission.

[En.Ki]

a blind man can not see colours

[Captain Boreale]

Originally posted by Roler42:

To call the most divisive entry in the franchise since 4 "extremely overrated" is a serious joke, even back when this game first launched, so that old OP was really reaching, lol.

I love the game, but tbh, it is the weaker entry in terms of story, at least to a degree, a lot of the fun convoluted Kojima writing is there, but it's all so subtle and nuanced, I don't blame anyone for thinking characters felt one-dimensional.

Gameplay wise, I think this is one of the better sandboxes in a game, pretty close to MGS3's, game is leaning more towards Hitman than just Metal Gear, there's a wealth of both stealth and combat if you know where to look, also a special goldmine for players who like getting creative with how they tackle each mission.

That's an excellent explanation. The gameplay is stunning and immersive, allowing you to execute in different ways to complete missions. When you dive into the FOB, that's an entirely different story. It requires skill and time and is absolutely an extraordinary game mode.

To me, people who have no clue how gameplay works or no skill at fob always tend to criticize the game instead of seeking the guilt on themselves. Such as claiming "the game is extremely overrated" or even saying "This game is a "disaster" etc, will be spoken by these people.

[Ap2000]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

It's a shell of what it was supposed to be, and of course people will land anywhere on the spectrum of "it's trash" to "it's a great game anyway, all those things considered."

This is, unfortunately, pretty much all one can say about it
Any discourse about MGS V was rather pointless the moment OG Kojima Productions got dissolved.
The game, while having some really great mechanics, is clearly lacking a ton of actual content that was replaced with easily put together repetitive side ops.
MGS V is very clearly not the game the developers initially hoped it was going to be.
And these are just objective statements based on everything we actually know by now, Konami being disgusting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ e.g.

Originally posted by Don Snaek:

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

probably longer assuming humanity survives. Having my doubts lately.

Yeah. It's disheartening realizing that people are watching a genocide being committed right in front of their eyes and they don't even care or know the actual extent of it despite the fact their tax money is literally funding it.

Nobody asked for your layman interpretation.

[rat]

Originally posted by Ap2000:

Nobody asked for your layman interpretation.

Don't care, didn't ask. It's a genocide.

[Ap2000]

Originally posted by Don Snaek:

Originally posted by Ap2000:

Nobody asked for your layman interpretation.

Don't care, didn't ask. It's a genocide.

Just like you didn't care and didn't ask about the other genocides.
But as soon as it's Israel, you care.

[rat]

Originally posted by Ap2000:

Originally posted by Don Snaek:

Don't care, didn't ask. It's a genocide.

Just like you didn't care and didn't ask about the other genocides.
But as soon as it's Israel, you care.

You have no basis to assume that I "didn't ask about the other genocides" besides your preconceived notions about what someone who cares about the genocide in Gaza would believe.

And no, I don't believe that anyone should be killed because of their nationality, ethnicity, race or religious group. So I would indeed be asking about other genocides.

I'm especially asking about the genocide in Gaza because my country (the US) is helping to fund it and veto UN resolutions calling for ceasefires to provide humanitarian aid.

But feel free to go on believing everyone on the internet you don't agree with is an X. That will get you far in online discourse.

[Roscuro]

Lol I played this game so much on my PS4. What I really liked was the sense of progression, since you start with barely anything, and when you start researching and buying better gear you begin to take different approaches to the missions. But even if you didn't upgrade anything at all, you can still finishing each and every mission with the gear given to you by the game at the start.
Now, my only gripe with the game was the clash between the extreme and the attempt to make it immersive and realistic. The helicopter rides looked cool the first few couple times, but they got really old after that... and you can't argue that it's for the sake of realism and immersion when you have Jason Voorhees from Hell, Psychic floating Lolita, and Ninja phase-shifting Zombie Corps in the same universe.

[[Unintelligible]]

Originally posted by Roscuro:

Now, my only gripe with the game was the clash between the extreme and the attempt to make it immersive and realistic. The helicopter rides looked cool the first few couple times, but they got really old after that... and you can't argue that it's for the sake of realism and immersion when you have Jason Voorhees from Hell, Psychic floating Lolita, and Ninja phase-shifting Zombie Corps in the same universe.

That's the entire METAL GEAR SOLID identity since the original METAL GEAR though.

There's a very intelligent word which I completely forgot how to spell that describes the sheer attention to detail in the depiction of military action blended with sci-fi elements. MGSV aims to be immersive within its own universe.

Our universe does not have burning Hulk Hogan and the Z-Corps, no, but that's because we live in reality, not a fiction. Whoever told you the universe of MGS is supposed to be realistic is probably an idiotic american whose entire knowledge relies on vaguely reading Wikipedia.

MGSV delivers on representational realism. The weapons and vehicles are meant to be represented as close to reality as Kojipro could (even though they are legally distinct versions of their IRL counterparts). Although the MRS-4 is not a real weapon, it is very clearly based on real rifles and operates like a real firearm would.

Then on top of that, it adds sci-fi. Because that's what METAL GEAR SOLID is. Sci-fi military/spy fiction. Don't know how you missed that part. Yes, Foxdie isn't real, Fulton extraction doesn't work like that, people don't float and shoot burning whales in real life. That's why fiction exists. To tell stories not bound to a reality where there's not even a METARU GYA to name the games after.

I hope you have played or will play the rest of the MGS series because it's excellent. Hopefully you'll understand the genius behind Genious Kojumbo's "the vampire's name is Vamp not because he looks and behaves and sounds and is a vampire but because he's bisexual". THEN you can tell me it's tacky as hell (always has been)