Just finished the game last night, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit disappointed. The game itself is goddamn fantastic and is probably one of the best stealth games I've ever played. But for me, it felt like it was missing what made a Metal Gear game. People like to poke fun at or complain about how intrusive MGS4's story was, but at least that story was fun and goofy. By comparison, the story in 5 feels scarce, and when it does come up, it feels incredibly tame. Not looking to make this a complaint thread, more so just looking if anyone else feels the same way about the game.

i'm 44 hours in and up to "episode 16" so I know I have a long ways to go.

I think it is indeed a very good game but I do believe it's not the 10/10 that some people have been giving it. On a technical side it's sometimes lovely but sometimes awful. Who knew a rock would cause so many issues for a horse!. Not being able to climb up onto simple terrain seems like something games fixed years ago. The vehicle physics is just plain troublesome.

I find Snakes silence in a couple of the cut scenes slightly odd. Kojima said he wanted Snake to show more emotion to get across what he wanted to say but I half expected "insert dialogue here" to pop up in the subtitles at some points.

So far I have absolutely felt what the reviewers have written about in their reviews. I've felt that feeling of being able to tackle any situation in my own way and have stumbled upon some amazing moments. The kind that get you excited when your explaining it to someone.

That said though,I feel there's a lot of down time between bases too. Vast areas of almost nothing. It almost makes the whole 'can not climb this chest height rock' problem seem even worse when your trying to take a shortcut.

I made I silenced tranquilliser sniper rifle and I think it's borderline broken the game from a difficulty stand point.

The game is indeed excellent though. For me it's the perfect 4/5 star game. Highly recommend it but beware it does stumble in some areas.

@harrysound: I really hope that picture isn't some kind of spoiler.

Edit: Nevermind, those are dummies. If they fooled me then surely they'll fool the Soviets!

@asinies:

I actually thought the silence did the character justice-and saying less in scenes was saying more.

From what I have seen he comes off as complex and brooding. I even thought the character through silence appears more human and vulnerable. He seems like a man trying to live up persona he may not fully understand yet.

The scene towards the start of the game in which BB asks miller something to the effect of "Tell me what to do, like before."

I really really really liked that scene and I thought that simple sentence did much to show human vulnerability and fear. BB is just a man like you or I who leans on his friends for guidance and support.

If this had been a brand new IP that wasn't tied to the Metal Gear franchise, nobody would've found the total amount that the main character talked even remotely noteworthy. The idea that points should be knocked off of the review scores for this (incredible) game for something so completely tangential to the experience, something that literally no other game on Earth would be judged for, is astounding to me. Honestly, I just think it's a silly thing to be concerned about.

@homelessviking: I did! Still pretty disappointing.

@kevin_cogneto: this is a metal gear game though so we can make that complaint.

@kevin_cogneto: If I was a reviewer (and we all are with our own purchases) I wouldn't mark it down for not having enough dialogue from the main character. I criticise it because of a couple of unnatural moments.

I would mark it down for falling short on a technical level and it's difficulty actually.

I feel over powered and find it easy to wipe out an entire base within a handful of minutes without raising an alarm. Strangely though, I like some of the the technical short cummings because they are so typical of Japanese video games. It's got that Japanese goofiness I find uplifting.

It's still one of the games of the year for sure. Possibly top 5 as of now.

It's Hideo Game of the year for sure. (see what I did there...see?)

Actually it probably would and the fact is this IS an established franchise. It's a legit complaint, even if it is an awful choice for a voice actor I probably don't want to hear anyways.

I know i should just watch the video on the site, but is Peace Walker still heavy on story or is it as (comparitavely) bereft of story. Is it all in the tapes?

To me it sounds like Kojima wanted something with heavy gameplay this time out in comparison with the majority of the series. Don't fault him for wanting to go in a different direction; the games don't all have to be the same thing.

@ripelivejam: this is my first proper Metal Gear game and I prepared by playing the hell out Ground Zeroes and catching up on story. I watched over 3 hours of story stuff from Peace Walker on YouTube (day before dan and drews video went up actually) and despite it being just sketches with voice over and the very occasional gameplay clip it was throughly entertaining. it felt substantial and well rounded.

Admittedly I'm early on still, but so far the lack of BB speaking has not been a problem. It's never come across as lacking, he just comes across as a quiet person, which is fine. Sure there are a lot of places where he could have said something, but he didn't feel the need to.

@redroach: without spoiling there's a scene later where a dude speaks to BB for 10 minutes about big revealing stuff and BB doesn't react to it or anything. It's not just something that's in the early game, he's very silent for the entire game honestly.

Any opinion about a game is valid, I don't feel doing something or not doing something when previous games in the series did the opposite makes it any more valid. A game not being what you expected isn't in itself a flaw, critique a game for what it actually IS, not what anyone said it was.

It always bothered me when people would say things like "it's a great game, just a terrible (long running series' name) game"

I just completed Chapter 1 and love the episodic theme. The coming up in Chapter 2 has got me looking forward to more. Plus you get your own metal gear!!! Cant wait to use that!

I felt the same about 15 hours into the game., but the buddy relationships with D-Dog and Quiet are just as satisfying as the insane moments of the other games. The villains from the other metal gears are far more memorable but ultimately the stealth, replay-ability, depth to staff/base management and hopefully online play make this an awesome game 4.5/5

@lv4monk: I'm pretty sure I made it very apparent in my OP that I think the game is terrific, I don't know why you thought otherwise.

I can see why you'd have issue with people not liking a game for defying audiences idea of what they wanted said game to be, after all the MGS series is known for that. But that's kind of the issue I have with the game. I very much wanted it to play some crazy trick on me, to defy my expectations. And it does, no doubt, but said trick feels like it was a trick for the sake of just having one in there. In short, you expect the game to be kinda crazy, but it comes off as flat and kinda bland. Either way, it's all personal stuff, and people can have issue with it if they want. Jeff himself said that Mass Effect 3 was a good game, but a bad Mass Effect game. You can have issue with that statement all you want, but that's also how he feels, and how I feel when it came to MGS5.

Also I hope this message doesn't come off as me being rude! I just think that video game criticism shouldn't necessarily have any restrictions on it, especially for people that aren't trying to be reviewers.

I just finished it too (both endings seen), here are my thoughts (no spoilers) i think the trailers built up the story to be much more than it is, in a way thats a bit disingenuous. Theres 2 chapters to the story, chapter 1 is the main narrative, and chapter 2 is just a bunch of random repeat missions, and some cool side character wrap up missions, theres no overarching narrative to chapter 2. After finishing chapter 1 i was disappointed for sure, it doesn't really have the scope of the previous games, or even contribute to the metal gear time line in a meaningful way. Chapter 2 is a bit annoying, having to repeat a bunch of missions, but there are some really cool missions that wrap up the stories of some of the side characters in an effective way, here some of the stories do kinda contribute to the greater metal gear time line, but not as much as you would hope. The problem is that the trailers cut scenes from both chapters together in a way that made it seem like they were all part of one grand narrative, which is not the case, several parts of the trailers are from missions largely unrelated to the main narrative.

Minor spoiler follows

Major spoiler follows

Despite some of these complaints, i still really enjoyed the game, i just think those trailers made me believe there was way more to the story than there was, if i had not seen them, i probably would not have felt underwhelmed.The game-play is still fantastic.

Well, considering that cut content that someone on Reddit pointed out, it makes sense it wouldn't be as fulfilling as it could, even though the game is freaking amazing.

Defying the players' expectations because players are habitual and petty, and would rather eat familiar garbage than engage in something unfamiliar and impressive, is good.

Defying the players' expectations because you are self-indulgent and think throwing things at a wall until something sticks is better than the continuation of a beloved franchise, is bad.

This post has nothing to do with Metal Gear Solid V. That game is great.

It's disappointing in the sense that when you go into a MGS game, you expect a density of storytelling that does not exist in MGSV. The plots that come and go are good though, I thought, even if you have to go searching for much of the context in audio logs.
By terms of story I'd say it's the weakest of the series, but that isn't to say the story is bad, or that it doesn't offer memorable moments or characters.

@itsthat01guy: That's kind of my problem though. The game isn't unfamiliar and impressive in terms of the story. Mechanically fuck yes, but the story is so....so by the books.

Also I don't know why some people keep implying I don't think MGS5 is great, I literally said at the top that "The game itself is goddamn fantastic and is probably one of the best stealth games I've ever played."

@jinoru: that cut content isn't part of the main story, its just a wrap up mission for a side character.

The story is Kojima BS that we get in exchange for Kojima innovation, this time in the gameplay. We get the good and bad

If it makes you feel better, I was agreeing with you, more or less.

Oh... I was hoping maybe the story would pick up more. I'm only 5 or so hours in but the gameplay is what is kind of disappointing me so far. I'm hoping it's just because I'm in the early goings. I love the Mother Base aspect but, so far, Ground Zero's mission area was more fun than what I've played so far which is just big empty deserts with dilapidated buildings with 10 or so soldiers guarding them (which is all I've really seen in gameplay vids as well which is worrying me). I hope there are more elaborate areas.

story is completely Metal Gear. there's just less of it.

and it feels like it wasn't the focus.

unlocking stuff makes the game easier and more fun, because you have options, the best part of an open world game.

The first ending is bad.

The second ending is bad, and the third ending is the absolute worst.

@handlas: Keep going, I think Brad tweeted something similar to what I'm about to say, but the game starts off a bit slow at first because you don't have a lot of things and you're getting used to the mechanics (ie, how far guards can see you and such), but you're almost at a point where the game gets crazy fun and starts clicking. I agree with the big empty spaces being disappointing, but I guess for me they were never a problem because I was always on the move to another side-op or something. Either way keep going for at least another 3-4 hours. If it's still not clicking for you at that point, maybe it's not worth it to keep going.

I enjoyed the final ending of the game. I think it is really thematically interesting and I'm actually happy Kojima didn't make a straight fall to villainy story because that's what we all expected and probably would have been boring. I think how it is now leaves a lot to be discussed.

MGS4 hits: too many cutscenes

MGSV hits: Not enough cutscenes.

Games can't win.

@ddi_kazal_st_drebin: This nails on the head how I saw it. Many folks questioned why BB talked so much in previous games and not in this one. Once I got ending 2 it made perfect sense to me. This had all the Metal Gear goodness. It's just that being open world, the cutscenes are much further apart. I also loved the tapes, as it is basically codecs you can play through.

MGSV supposed has well over an hour of main story cutscenes over MGS4. Not sure how people are feeling otherwise. I agree that MGSV doesn't feel like a suitable ending to the Metal Gear legacy, but I knew this was going to be the case when Ground Zeroes decided to make a sudden shift from campy B-movie sci-fi spy nonsense to super serious cringe-worthy grittiness.

It becomes obvious why David Hayter couldn't voice this Snake. The incongruent nature would have been even more striking. On top of that, Kojima continues to try and retcon/reexplain/deconstruct/demystify things that would have left a nice bit of flare on the whole series if he'd left them alone. The final reveal being probably the most disappointing to me, making me feel like all of my actions in the game are pretty much pointless.

@anjon: To clarify, and I should've said this in the OP, it's not that I think MGSV has less story than the previous games on a numbers basis,, but that I think there isn't enough happening in the story we have. That's a very, very personal criticism to have with the game, but I only feel that way about it because the last 4 games were pretty much like that and this one by contrast stands out.

I'm 26 hours in (mission 16) and the story is definitely the weakest point of the game so far, which is a weird thing to say about a Metal Gear game. The biggest problem is actually Keifer not saying a lot in the cut scenes, it doesn't feel natural and sticks out like sore thumb. The tapes do remedy this somewhat though and everybody should be listening to them.

Yeah... Also if you lie under D Horse and have it poop, the poop just clips through you.

I'm glad there is less story. This game seems the most replayable of all the mgs games because there aren't long drawn out cut scenes and tons of stupid coded calls with terrible voice actors and for once the gameplay is good. David Hayter sucks, people need to get over it.

@mems1224: You can skip the cutscenes and the codecs in the previous games so that's kind of a weird complaint.

I agree with Hayter sucking, although I think he was genuinely good in MGS1. MGS3 was by far his worst.

yea but imo the best parts of the old games is the story because i never really had fun actually playing the games. and replaying it for the story when you already know all of it seems pointless. TPP is a lot more focused on gameplay so it seems like its going to be more replayable.

Mad Max is the secret best game out this week.

All of big boss's stories have been tame though, he's easily the least interesting of the "snakes" imo. But so far i love the game, i've barely touched the story honestly.

@asinies: I understand that when people say that line they sometimes mean to say something like "It wasn't what I wanted", which is totally fine. My point is that there's a difference between "it wasn't what I wanted" and "it's a worse game for not being what I wanted".

I didn't imply you disliked the game for the very reason that line always irked me. A game not being what you wanted isn't the same thing as finding faults with a game.