Is the game finished?

[Cadillac]

please No spoilers, but does the game have an ending and does it end well? Or is it unfinished? I read that due to the problems between Mr. Kojimon and Konami the game was left unfinished and you needed a DLC with the ending or something like that.

[Original Cast Recording]

Yes and no. MGSV is both a sequel and a prequel of sorts, so the overall story can't really end within the confines of the game.

Also, dataminers found elements suggesting there was going to be another major story mission. But it's not uncommon for a big game to have such extraneous stuff buried in the code.

[mdesaleah]

Mostly.

It ends clearly. But there is one subplot that does not unless you look up a video of the cutscene they released (partially unfinished animation with lip synch, but you’ll get the story)

Why it got cut is Konami being Konami

[Bubbas Gumbo]

i finished this game a few years back on xbox and yes it has a definite ending but what i recall i was a llittle confused at one point because i had to do some missions again, or a specific mission with a higher rating

[Metric Guard]

The script leaked years ago, and surprisingly, a game called The Phantom Pain that was explicitly inspired by works such as Moby ♥♥♥♥ and Nineteen Eighty-Four was actually intended to end the way it does.

Long story short, a certain story arc was going to end differently, but that was scrapped early in development due to conflicting with the themes and pacing. Rest assured, contrary to popular belief, it was NOT the ending of the main narrative. Like it or not, the game is finished.

Originally posted by Bubbas Gumbo:

i was a llittle confused at one point because i had to do some missions again, or a specific mission with a higher rating

You never need to replay any mission in order to progress the story. The high-difficulty versions of some missions are also entirely optional.

[98.7]

Why are we still here?

[Cadillac]

Originally posted by 98.7:

Why are we still here?

because we can

[LSD]

In terms of story: the clusterflupp-anime-fever-dream pretty much goes nowhere. The big bad meets his end. That's the story.
In terms of gameplay -- is the game finished: not really. 95% of missions are just filler, and "Act 2" takes it to the extreme (or the [EXTREME]?), with lots of repeated "Act 1" missions with added difficulty, and then a handful of rehashed missions with arbitrary mission objectives attached ("Boss, there's a guy at the place, and we need to get him to make sure he's not selling guns again!"). They have nothing to do with anything.

It's great fun, and you'll be missing out by not playing it in the search for something narratively-pleasing. But it's just so much wasted potential and wasted development time in places that just went nowhere and exist for no reason.

[mdesaleah]

^Act 1 missions do all have importance. But they’re stories are hidden in mission briefings and soldier conversations as well as tapes. But it’s interesting to learn about if you pay a lot of attention.

Act 2 being more empty is clearly intentional though. Even with more dev time, it’s a part of the story to have the revenge end in Act 1, and the unsatisfying aftermath to follow as everything falls apart. The missions are supposed to blend together as you have nothing to strive for, but you’re stuck doing missions at this point without caring why

The game even ends with Venom Snake having the horn that appears if you’ve been too violent. Which signifies that at some point YOU, I mean he, stops caring about non-lethal

It’s a closed loop to MG1 on MSX, but it’s inherently not a satisfying ending cause it’s not meant to be.

[KeyC0de]

The game is finished. If you're on the fence about playing it I highly recommend.