Hey duders. I thought it might be cool to make a thread about we know so far about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I've seen a lot of theories floating around, usually going all over the place. Let's just look at what we know so far.

What we know:

• The title: The change from numbers to roman numerals is a way of starting fresh with the series. Kojima has said that the V stands for Victory. It is their way of showing that they want to take back the throne.
• The voice: Hayter is out. Kojima said this also had to do with reinventing itself. They wanted a new voice actor for a new snake. Personally, I find this kind of weird considering the japanese voice actor remains the same.
• Ground Zeroes: This is the prologue to The Phantom Pain, much like the tanker mission in MGS2, or the virtous mission in MGS3. This part of the game is set in 1976. It culminates with a attack on Mother Base, which leaves Snake in a coma. Kojima has said this would "come first", meaning it is probably a downloadable title in the same vein as Dead Rising's Case Zero.
• Timeline: Nine years later Snake wakes up from his coma. This makes it 1985, ruling out all possibilites of this having anything to do with the Outer Heaven or Zanzibar Land incidents.
• Open World: Kojima stated that the player would be introduced to a minor open world in Ground Zeroes, learning them the ropes. In the Phantom Pain, the open world will be, quote, huge. There is a day/night cycle, side missions and different guard patrols depending on the time of day. We also know that you have to make your way to the missions, meaning it is not just large maps. It is a true open world.
• Diamond Dogs: MSF are no more. Snake creates Diamond Dogs, his new unit. This might the prelude to FOXHOUND. The name derives from several things, such as the Bowie album, as well as the term Dogs of War. Kojima did not mention anything spesifically about diamonds, so blood diamonds are probably not related to the name.
• Sci-fi: Kojima stated that if he had to put a number on it, about 80% of the game would be geared towards realism, while 20% would delve into the more supernatural elements. When asked wether or not this would change gameplay, he responded "I doubt that".

What we don't know:

• Who are XOF?
• Why does Snake have a horn?
• Why did they amputate his arm?
• Who are attacking the hospital?
• Who is the Burned Man? Volgin?
• What does "V has come to" mean?

Characters we know are in it:

• Naked Snake / Big Boss: Returns as the main protagonist. This time he around he has a robot arm and a horn of bone and debris.
• Ishmael: A new character supposedly voiced by Keifer Sutherland. He is the bandaged man.
• The Burned Man: Possibly the main antagonist. Little is known about him.
• Paz: One of the prisoners held at Camp Omega.
• Master Miller: Snake's second in command.

Characters we're pretty sure are in it:

• Revolver Ocelot: The man riding the white horse, saving Snake.
• Psycho Mantis: The young person with the gas mask and red hair is Psycho Manits.
• Volgin: Due to the pattern of his pants, the burning man in the elevator is believed to be him.

@legion_: Don't forget that the fake studio behind The Phantom Pain was Moby Dick Studios, a major character identified himself as Ishmael, and there is a mysterious giant whale featured in every trailer. All things that point to some kind of Moby Dick dynamic, perhaps with Big Boss as an Ahab-like character assembling a crew for some kind of big personal mission?

That's certainly a possibility. Ishmael also appears to be voiced by Keifer Sutherland, though this remains unconfirmed. Added a tab for characters we know will make a apperance.

And Big Boss seems to be played by Kiefer Sutherland, as well. At least, to my ear. So, maybe Ishmael is actually just an imaginary comrade and a lot of the impossible things he is seeing are figments of his imagination trying to deal with clear trauma?

The Phantom Pain.

I heard Big Boss as Travis Willingham, but I've also been hearing a LOT of him in video games recently so maybe I am just hearing what I expect to hear.

You know, when I first heard it, I thought it was George Takei, but maybe I've just been watching too much of the Star Trek original series.

heh.

I'm still sad to hear Hayter won't be back. The new voice better do a damn good job.

I bet "V has come to" is one of the few things involved with this games promotion doesn't really have any big, secret meaning. It's probably just a fucked up Kojima-style tagline ('no place to hideo' style) or its just a reference to Big Boss waking from his coma.

Where'd you get 1976 from?

Kojima said that The Phantom Pain (post coma) takes place around 1985. He spent nine years in a coma, so it's just subtraction.

@legion_: I'm guessing you've seen this interview with Kojima and Keighley at gametrailers from the info in the OP. You should include that Kojima said the horn in Big Boss' head is debris and bone (apparently!)

He also said the phantom pain takes place around 1984 and that the game is roughly 80% realism and 20% supernatural / sci-fi.

I gotta call bullshit on the "reason" for not bringing back Hayter. Especially if they bring back Akio Ōtsuka in Japan as Big Boss. Ground Zeroes literally takes place right after Peace Walker (where Hayter was the voice). You can't just say that this is a new kind of MGS, where you're recreating it....even though it takes place in the same goddamn universe. It's a prequel to the most of the games, and a sequel to the last MGS release (Peace Walker). The only way that excuse works is if it's a reboot or literally just a brand new MGS universe. It should be either Hayter or Doyle (who voiced Big Boss in MGS4).

And it's pretty fucked up to not even give Hayter the courtesy of a phone call. I remember how fucked up it was, and how pissed off fans too, when it was done to David Bateson when they tried to get rid of him as Agent 47. They're basically firing the guy. Giving him a phone call sounds like something that should be done.

The Moby-Dick motif could also tie into how Snake lost his arm. The whole reason Ahab hunted the White Whale was because it took his leg. If they are leaning as heavily into the parallels with Moby-Dick as they appear to be, this could be a personal revenge story. My guess is the same event that took Snakes arm resulted in resulted in something more significant as well. It would seem odd for him to want revenge over something as ultimately insignificant as his arm.

Well, they destroyed his base, killed his men and sent him into a coma for nine years. I'd be pissed.

Correct, good sir! Adding that now.

All this information is correct so far. Here's some more tidbits, not stated, but that are known to be the case:

• Solid Snake and Liquid Snake are about 11-13 at the time this game takes places (11 assuming the 1974 and 1983 dates for GZ and PP, 12-13 assuming the 1976-1985 dates)
• Solidus takes part in the Liberian civil war in the eighties. Assuming this to be true, he is probably an adult, or near an adult by the time of Phantom Pain
• Otacon is 3-5 years old, so Huey must have survived the attack on MSF as he did not die until Otacon was significantly older.
• Every member of the old FOXHOUND team could conceivably be old enough to be featured at some point.
• A character that is "over 100 years old" is in the game. This implies the End, as he is the only character (besides Zero in MGS4) to fit this description. I guess that means we can expect a few more familiar faces to pop up from MGS3.
• The doctor who wakes him up looks suspiciously like Kio Marv, a character from Metal Gear 2 (look him up)
• The hospital Big Boss wakes up in is located in Cyprus

Some speculation on my part:

• The Moby Dick references are directed towards Big Boss's relationship with the Patriots/Cipher, Zero to be more specific. Cipher attacks and destroys Mother Base, taking BB's arm. Taking into account the narrative of Moby Dick, and the various demonic imagery around Big Boss in the game (his shrapnel horn, the illusions of Volgin et. al having devil horns, all the fire), it seems Big Boss will go down a dark path in his quest for vengeance. Seems like it could be the downfall of Big Boss into a villainous role, likely in preparation for a remake of Metal Gears 1+2 (those games are so old as to be unplayable, and hold an important place in the canon for how out of date and retconned their narratives are).
• Hayter is almost certainly coming back. He is one of the most recognizable voices in games. Hayter still has Snake images all over his twitter file, and besides a few 'sentimental' tweets, he doesn't seem too shaken up. He even made a Snake joke today. He won't be voicing Big Boss anymore, but I suspect we will see him back.
  • He is probably going to voice Solid in future games that have Solid and Big Boss.
  • The Japanese voice actor voices Big Boss in the Ground Zeroes portion, before the time jump. We only know Hayter isn't there after the time jump
  • I know Hayter said he isn't doing it. Logically, he cannot tell us if he was because he is clearly not playing Big Boss and would be under NDA since he would be voicing another character (Solid Snake)
• The 'V' stuff is obviously more meaningful than 'V' for victory, and the POV in the opening shot is clearly not actually meant to be Kojima. Just what all this means he is purposefully leaving up to speculation, as well as all the Hayter stuff. We're talking about a man who created a fake game company and did all sorts of crazy shit lying to fans in other games (see Raiden's existence)
• The burn man might not be an old character. He is probably not Volgin, as Volgin was a tank of a man. Literally the guy was fucking huge. Also, Volgin wouldn't be into the kind of "Apocalypse Now" fashion sense this guy has. Not to mention I doubt Volgin would ever work for Cipher/the Patriots. However, Volgin is to my knowlege the only character to have 'died' in a manner consistent with burns.
• If Ground Zeroes is a separate title, it will probably be 40 dollars and be about 10 hours long. Or a downloadable thing a la Dead Rising: Case Zero. I'd rather they be together though, and Ground Zeroes is the Tanker Chapter of this game.
• If Ocelot is back, I'd expect to see Eva too.
• I think it's possible the game takes place over a series of years, especially if we're to see Big Boss's downfall and a young Solid Snake.
• If this game ends with the formation of FOXHOUND, you can say goodbye to the majority of Portable Ops from the MGS canon. It was nice knowing you, Gene *salutes
  • If Portable Ops is gone, then we can expect to see a new Campbell origin story.
• I'd expect the open world aspect to be many large maps that you access from a hub world (Outer Heaven aka Mother Base ver. 2).
• I'd also expect a more robust version of base management from PW, perhaps with options for automation for people who do not want to bother with it and just want to run and gun
• Kojima's talk of this as a new start for the series seems woefully incorrect. I expect he is misleading us again. For a 'fresh start' with a 'new Snake' he sure is referencing other events n the canon (white flower petals, Kio Marv being the doctor who wakes him up, figures from MGS3 appearing to him as flames, Mother Base in general, little Psycho Mantis, etc...)
• I think bandages guy either doesn't exist or is Gray Fox
• I think you will recruit all the members of the MGS1 FOXHOUND team in this game, one from every zone you go to (if my theory of the many areas/hub world is correct).

That's all the speculation I have.

General notes:

• I got goosebumps at Big Boss's thousand yard stare when MSF was going down. He and Miller looked so helpless.
• I liked the song/video sync.
• Kojima is a tricky bastard, and literally do not trust anything he says until the games are out.
• The Fox engine is really cool
• With MSF goes decades of cardboard box technology. This will set humanity back decades.
• I love the 80's action movie ascetic of Big Boss and Diamond Dogs. Every Big Boss game very specifically represents the pop culture of the era it takes place in (James Bond and espionage in MGS3, peace love and deterrence in PW). The 1980s are what inspired Kojima to create fiction. I can't wait to see what he makes here.

I still don't buy the whole "reinventing" Snake thing as an excuse for Hayter's departure. This is still Big Boss. How can they reinvent a pre-made character in a chronologically in-between time period?

Also, are we sure this is coming out for the Xbox as well?

Kojima said in the gt interview the horn was shrapnel

@xyzygy: That's what I'm saying. David Hayter was partly responsible for centering Solid Snake as a gaming icon. His voice is as iconic as the bandana. I mean, "METAL GEAR!?" for freaks sake. You can't hear that without hearing his voice.

And yes it's coming to Xbox 360 and PS3. They, at first, confirmed a PC release now, but in that Gametrailers interview I think he said it's not set in stone.

Should probably be added in the first post that Chico is a confirmed character too.

In terms of theories, I have a few.

1. I agree with the sentiment that this might lead to a remake of MG1/MG2. I don't think this is it, but I figure this game will end with him rejoining FOXHOUND.

2. I kind of suspect something is up with the voice actor business, one way or another. Either Hayter really is doing the voice, and he's just being mischievous, or it's something far more mind screwy. What if Kiefer Sutherland is doing Big Boss? Think about it; why would they get a big name actor to play some random character from the game, and then get a generic voice actor for Big Boss? Why would they have a placeholder for the main character, but VA from a celebrity for this random side character?

Also, the fact that Kojima couldn't say who the person was. What if Sutherland doing the voice of Ishmael in that trailer is just a trick, to throw people off? Honestly, even if it doesn't end up being him, I think the only way he's throwing Hayter off is if he goes with big name celebrities for all the characters, which could be what part of the reinvention is about. He talked a lot about making it more competitive with the gaming scene. Maybe this is one if his first shots fired. I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned this, as Sutherland is literally the first well-known movie/TV actor(unless you count Hayter) that they've gotten for the entire series. Nine games doing things one way and then suddenly changing it for the tenth with a random character? No way it's that simple.

Perhaps they have brought Kiefer in to voice Big Boss/Snake and he will play him in the Metal Gear movie they are working on. Not really ideal but a possibility I guess

Kojima also said that Ground Zeroes takes place "immediately" after Peace Walker, which was set in 1974. Nine years later would make it 1983.

Yeah. Kojima is crazy.

Solid snake does not go to kill big boss till 1995

When Snake wakes up he is clearly in a British hospital. Maybe in some relation to Zero? One other thing it says on the mgs wiki site Big Boss saved Frank "Gray Fox" Jaeger for a third time during the Zambican Civil War and brought him and Naomi to the United States in 1980. Anybody confirm if the games many many lines of info states this as true? Also if this holds up and you say he was in a coma during this time then that'd mean Kojima is still pulling shit out of his ass.

He goes into a 9 year coma.

Exactly. So rumors about this leading into Outer Heaven would require some serious retconning. I'm calling bullshit, especially since Kojima has said this would be somewhat of a new start for the MGS series.

You thinking maybe Kojima might pull a fifth clone type shit. Maybe one with advanced aging? If I remember correctly Solidus Snake's aging was faster than Liquid or Solid.

All the crazy stuff is phycho mantis illusions. http://i.imgur.com/FuHzc1V.jpg

Look who is rideing the horse behind the demon. Also he ghosts through a wall before fire volgan blows up the elevator.

Well, my comment made no sense when you editet your post. Also, link fixed.

The game could take place over a number of years, leading into 1995. It would be unconventional for Metal Gear, but I wouldn't count it out entirely.

Soldius ages faster than the other clones because he was created for a different reason. Solid and Liquid were made to be soldier replacements for Big Boss; their aging was created more as a fail safe should they turn against the Patriots. Solidus was created a little later to act as a figurehead to replace Big Boss, so he was created to age faster so he could fill the role more easily (he could catch up to Big Boss in age faster than Solid or Liquid)

I think it's reasonable to consider that -some- of what is being seen is not real. Everything about the presentation of this game has been about deception and playing with expectations. So, even if there are real things going on, how Big Boss is seeing things may be part of an illusion or simply how he is coping with the traumatic "Phantom Pain" of what has happened in the past. Maybe the game is even about setting things right to relieve himself of what now haunts him.

If it's really true that they're not bringing Hayter back then I'll be mad as hell and I'm sure a lot of you agree with me. His tweets suggest it but today is april 1st so hell if I know.

Hmm I wonder if they really are getting rid of Hayter? He just tweeted a long message about what went down with Konami and with today being Aprils fools day could it be one big marketing ploy? I mean it got his name trending on twitter and the japanese voice actor is the same so who knows.

So one event is sticking out in my mind that really doesn't add up with BB being in a coma. In 1980 BB took a young Naomi Hunter and Frank Jaeger to America. After which Frank returned to Africa with Big Boss. Naomi herself I do believe directly mentioned her relationship with both BB and Frank. We're reaching a point where a lot of the older fiction is starting to conflict with the newer fiction.

Also where does Portable Ops fall on the timeline? Im still really not convinced that what we've seen so far is actually the truth. Kojima has made some large leaps of logic to tie everything together so far but im just really unsure how thus is all going to be explained.

Either its the ultimate misdirection. or hes truly done, but hayter wrote a big ol twitter message saying thank you to the fans and that hes done with metal gear solid and wont be returning

https://www.giantbomb.com/metal-gear-solid-v-the-phantom-pain/3030-40796/forums/hayter-officially-confirms-he-s-not-returning-for--1430934/#7

Eli is a young Liquid Snake

cause symbolism

People are theorizing that Ishmael is Decoy Octopus and that he, for some reason, takes Snake's persona and look, which is why he sounds like Sutherland. Could be completely wrong, though.

@dudeglove said:

Debris that ended up lodged in his skull.