So Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain are indeed separate games.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/27/ground-zeroes-is-the-prologue-portion-of-metal-gear-solid-5/

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/27/david-hayter-says-he-wasnt-asked-to-voice-metal-gear-solid-5/

I'm callin' it right now (along with thousands of other people). No David Hayter means that the "Snake" we're seeing isn't the old Snake. That, or David Hayter's doing the voice work sneaky-sheaky like.

I'm not that big of a metal gear fan but the original trailer, the lead up mystery to this trailer and most importantly this goddamn trailer just blew me away. I need to catch up on some metal gear.

I doubt we've really seen anything of this game yet.

All we saw of MGS4 in terms of trailers and screenshots was the from the first 20 minutes of the game right up until release!

@trueenglishgent said:

@crosstheatlantic said:

Oh, also, so why does Snake look like he has a horn (or probably a metal plate or something) in his head?

Doesn't that dude have a mechanical hand at the start of Peace Walker? The chap who flicks his finger to reveal a lighter and lights Boss's cigar. Might be no connection but I recall that.

That's the same hand too, the plot thickens...

Want to speculate some more? I apologize if it's been posted already, but watching that gameplay video, Ishmael uses a syringe of digoxin on Big Boss to get him up and moving. Digoxin is used to fight heart problems such as rhythm irregularities and heart failure. Kojima and co tend to do their research on these sorts of things so I don't think it is a mistake, so why would Big Boss need something for his heart? The more I see, the more I am inclined to believe this is all some weird coma dream or something with Big Boss injecting all sorts of things from what is going on around him or things from his memory to create this artificial world. I wonder if it actually takes place during Big Boss' coma after Solid lights his ass on fire and the Patriots intentionally suppress him and replace his body with artificial parts? It would explain the missing arm, the coma, the general craziness, The Boss' horse, older Revolver Ocelot out of nowhere, Galvez' hand...

but doesnt this still take place a waysss before metal gear for the nes? so i dont really think solid snake is a factor yet. plus when he meets solid snake in classic metal gear nes, he looks more like big boss from mgs4. and the big boss in this game doesnt look like that yet.

so im not too sure it takes place after solid lights his ass on fire, probably takes place during his coma though.

I've beaten all the Metal Gear games bar Peace Walker, which I've somehow managed to avoid entirely. All I know about that game is that it takes place in 1974 in Costa Rica or something. But, besides that minor caveat, I'm the Metal Gear expert, and I have some interesting theories. If I was tasked with writing MGS5, I would center it on the founding of Outer Heaven in the 70's and the chain of events leading up to Big Boss' decision to defect. That is the most interesting story thread that hasn't yet been thoroughly addressed in any Metal Gear game yet. MGS5 will put us in Big Boss' shoes during his most important transition. I predict ground zeroes will be the mission (which will take place before 1972) where Big Boss is exposed to the tip of the ice berg and is gravely wounded at the end. The Phantom Pain will pick up in Big Boss' subsequent coma where I believe about 3/5 of that game will take place, the game will end with Big Boss' creation of Outer Heaven in the 70's. This is exciting because it will clarify a lot of the first Metal Gear Solid by filling in this major narrative gap.

Interview with Kojima

So it is two games. But what the hell, that's not cool. They showed us how Ground Zeroes ends in the trailer! Are they really that stupid? Ground Zeroes was supposed to be this giant open world game where you can sneak around in real time and infiltrate bases, and then recruit soldiers to build your own base and expand your army, like Peace Walker, but on steroids. This isn't cool at all.

Now we're supposed to buy Ground Zeroes just to get an idea what the gameplay will be like in an open world, of which we will then have to buy again? What!?

That's gotta be some sort of case of false advertising. They said one thing and are going to give us something else.

Solid and Liquid were cloned in 1972, Phantom Pain Zeroes takes place in the early 80s. But again, if this takes place AFTER he is burnt to shit in Metal Gear 2 and all of it is just him creating this fictional world to keep himself comfortable for the twenty year coma the Patriots kept him in to turn him into a Snatcher... it would explain why fire is such a recurring threat in all of the trailers, his inability to use his limbs at first(he's unable to in real life cause he's sleepin'), all of these things from previous events in his life showing up... If that child in the gas mask IS Psycho Mantis, Big Boss DID recruit all of the members of Foxhound personally, and it is possible that he met Psycho Mantis when he was young, shortly after the whole "torched my village and my abusive dad' incident he makes such a big deal out of in the first game.

My theory is complete bullshit BUT IT HOLDS WATER GOSH DARNIT

Oh, okay, now I know why we were having confusion when talking in the trailer comments. Peace Walker is actually want you're kind of looking for. It deals with Outer Heaven stuff, and also starts talking more about Big Boss turning a bit. It all takes place after LET, and him turning his back on the Patriots. It's a pretty great game, and seems to be very important to MGSV.

@artemesia Huh, that's an interesting theory. I'm sure that regardless of what happens, some things are probably not as they seem, and something important is going to happen. I figure that if they play it straighter and don't go for something super crazy like that, however, I'm thinking this could lead to him retaking his role as head of FOXHOUND, to put him in place for MG1. It's never really been said(I don't think) when he rejoined the unit, and we're getting close to the other games in the timeline, so yeah. But regardless, I'm sure we'll be in for shenanigans.

Moby Dick Studios. A character named Ishmael. And a mysterious giant whale.

So, reasonable to say they're liberally referencing Moby-Dick.

It seems possible that Ishmael is just some alternate personality of Big Boss and a lot of this craziness going on around him is in his head. Plus, the character, or his personality, Ishmael is likely going to be pursuing whatever or whoever that giant whale is.

Sounds just crazy enough to work.

Yeah, that's certainly an idea. I actually thought for a second that it would be interesting if that was Chico, injured after Ground Zeroes and nine years older. I know at first that sounds like craziness, but Chico's thing in Peace Walker was that he was always wanting to hunt mythical animals. I realize that Ahab was more of the hunter, but it's a thought at least. Thought I certainly wouldn't be surprised if he really was just a figment of BB's imagination.