It's 6:27 AM on a Thursday. Not far off from Christmas and I just got done fighting a bunch of dragons in Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm trying out the Knight Enchanter class on the hard difficulty and wow, that class truly is overpowered. At some points you don't even need a party. With a self sustaining energy barrier and the ability to deal radical amounts of damage, it's clear why this is the new "meta" for solo Nightmare runs.

I'm sitting here and I'm not even listening to the game audio. I've got my headphones hooked up to my PC and I'm listening to someone who sounds scarily like myself talk about Samurai shit from 500 years ago for reasons I don't know. And while it's entertaining, I'm not even really listening to that either. I'm deep in thought, thinking about my time with Metal Gear Online across the years and multiple games. Subsistence, and my short amount of exposure to that since I bought the game just a few short months before the servers were shut down. Guns of the Patriots, of which I put an embarrassing amount of time into. Portable Ops+ with its attempt to replicate the first MGO but being just different enough for me to not care for it(And also that control scheme sure was nightmarish). Then there's Peace Walker with a decent idea but no execution due to the sheer amount of insanely over-powered weapons making it a joke to play. Sniper-shotguns whaaaaat.

I'm thinking. I'm reminiscing. I'm reliving my past memories of Metal Gear Online. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I'm watching this video, until I remember I've actually seen this video multiple times before.

The distant sounds of soldiers screaming, the intensity of headshots pinging, the codec calls of "Go! Go! Go!", the random lag? They do not know. The nostalgic days of stealth combat action, all the times you really wanted a ration. It's the season of giving(And awkward Metal Gear Online inspired Christmas carols, apparently) and here I am waxing poetic about a dead multiplayer game from 2008... but, what do we say to the angel of death? Not. Today. Motherfucker. (That quote may not be entirely accurate). Anyway. The guys at Kojima Productions L.A. are in charge of the new Metal Gear Online (The link may not work as you must go through an age-gate) that will be included with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. From what I said about the game in my last post, it looks great for what little we've seen so far. But that's not enough, because they want feedback. I decided, being the MGO vet that I am, that I should help out with that.

The Ideal Metal Gear Online

The idea I have is that this MGO should be the continuation of themes and concepts from previous MGO's while improving on them with the new open-world design and mechanical advancements that they have at their disposal thanks to the awesome FOX Engine. The worry is how deep it will end up going. If you look at previous Metal Gear Online games, the options they give players did nothing but add to the depth that the gameplay allowed. You could hang, crawl, shimmy across ledges, fall-grab ledges in a pinch, hide in garbage cans, even go as far as to play dead.

You could grab them, slit their throats, disarm them in several complex ways, choke them out, punch and kick them, or pull out your knife and straight up stab at them. Barrels and boxes and the ability to both roll people over and even "charge" them with the box abilities added in from DLC's furthered the options any player could take advantage of.

You could call MGO a shooter, and you'd be right. But there was so much more there. The ideologies of MGS blurred the lines of typical shooter mechanics, such as "shoot him, stab him, kill kill kill". For example, as I mentioned in my last blog, putting enemies to sleep rewards more points than killing them. CQC-fighting them, choking them out, shooting them with tranq-darts. It went deeper than just "kill that guy and he respawns". You could be cruel to your enemies by knocking them out, stripping them of their weapons and grenades and then leave them alive. They still pose a threat what with their knife and CQC abilities.

That's just one example of the depth you could and would find so very often in Metal Gear Online. I may repeat myself a lot here, but really I say the big secret to MGO, and the reason so many people liked it is because of the options you were given. No two players would play the same. Each employed their own usage of tactics that would rely on skill, ability and luck. That is the core of Metal Gear Online. The soul. Remove that and it's gone.

So when I watch the trailer for this new Metal Gear Online, I see things and I begin to worry. Regenerating health for example. Then I think, man, it's 2014, almost 2015, are we still on the kick that regenerating health somehow degrades a game? Or makes it more "dumbed down?" I don't know. After all, you had a health bar in MGO and could only regenerate health by going into a box and staying idle. It was sometimes impractical as there was a battle raging and there you are, sitting, not contributing. But again, it was an option. That frantic moment as you hide in your box and an enemy soldier walks by, and you think "Did he see me? Does he know?" and the panic sets in. Your health isn't regenerated just yet, do you leave your box and try to brute-force it? Do you wait and see if your ruse has succeeded?

It was all afforded by the fact that you had a health bar, and not regenerating health. And so I wonder if that is just one experience lost to an innovative new addition to the game. I mean, the box does remain as a staple of the Metal Gear Solid series, so could it be that I'm just over thinking it? I must warn you that I am one of those stereotypical people that hate change. I can't stand it. My biggest fear is that MGO is almost perfect. That maybe it gets everything right but some minute and miniscule feature that I just don't like. But that's a topic for later. Going further, Konami released a press release for Metal Gear Online that just happens to mention that the game will feature a "class system". The quote in full:

KONAMI used the online event to debut the first glimpse of METAL GEAR ONLINE, which will go live alongside THE PHANTOM PAIN’s launch. METAL GEAR ONLINE represents the third iteration of the popular multiplayer game, newly redesigned with the familiar gameplay and aesthetic styling of its companion single-player campaign METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN. With a focus on Tactical Team Operations, the game features a ‘class system’ that more uniquely defines the strengths and abilities of player characters on the battle field. Key characters from the series including Venom Snake and Ocelot will also make appearances in the anticipated multiplayer feature. To view the trailer, please visit: www.konami.jp/mgsv

Regenerating health could very well be me just being weird like a caveman is afraid of fire, I'm not sure, but the "class system" is something that concerns me greatly. Allow me to take a moment of self-awareness here. It's hard for me to not come off as whiny or aggressive sometimes, especially when I'm so invested and passionate about not just MGS as a whole, but MGO on an entirely different level as well. So I'm not exactly trying to "attack" these new ideas or design bases, I'm just... I don't know, thinking out loud. Which is really what this blog is about. Speaking of that, back on topic!

The beautiful thing about MGO was that it doesn't need classes. By it's very nature it is an open game for you to come in at any direction for any purpose, rhyme or reason and do what you want. Now, MGO2(The one featured in MGS4) did feature a skill system that allowed you to choose among a list of many skills and then level them up. They were skills like "Runner" which increased how fast you ran(And boy did you run slow in that game), "Assault Rifles" that decreased recoil, increased reload speed and reduced spread on all assault rifles as you leveled up. Then you had skills like CQC that could dramatically increase how fast you could knock someone out. "Knife" level 3 allowed you to slit throats, provided you had the "CQC" level 1 perk equipped.

I mean sure, there was "CQC EX" that got introduced and gave players Solid Snake level CQC, which allowed them to counter any CQC attempt from behind(Or was it from the front? I can't remember) and it also allowed them to instantly knock players out. It was intense and hard to combat, so much so that players would openly kick people for using it. But as for classes, man, I just don't know about that. I have never played MGO and then decided "Boy we could really use some assault right now!". Or "A stealth device could come in handy!" I mean, sure, it could come in handy, but the beauty(Why am I saying beauty over and over again? Yeah I have no idea myself) was that anyone could fill that role at any given time. Anyone could be stealth or assault or whatever they wanted and/or needed to be.

I would often rely on subterfuge and sneaky tactics to get behind enemies, but I did carry an M4 so I was able to mow them down when the opportunity presented itself. But then I would mix it up and go for CQC's, to knock players out for extended periods of time so we could focus on capturing objectives or holding zones, since killing them would just allow them to respawn. How does that work now? That's the question. Will different classes have access to different weapon sets, or even abilities? In this screen shot, you can see a multitude of different headgear among the soldiers. Is this just aesthetic to look super cool(Which it totally does by the way) or will it actually have a function on the battlefield?

The thing that gets me the most is the inclusion of stealth camo for multiplayer. Early in the trailer, you could see a soldier going invisible and then choking out another soldier. The logical reaction would be "But wouldn't this just be spammed until it's the only thing used?" much like "Ghost" in Call of Duty Black Ops II, a perk that made you hidden to the various methods of displaying you on enemy radar's. After all, stealth camo was only available in specific modes in the other MGO's, most notably in Team Sneaking(Which was arguably the best multiplayer mode in existence).

My fear is that I'll be playing and maybe I'm killed by someone using stealth camo and so I react with "Well then I'll wear stealth camo!" and the circle of stealth camo goes on and on. Much like in The Last of Us, when someone brings out the all-mighty Bow, which incites everyone to pull out their own Bow class on the logic of "It's so overpowered that by not using a bow of my own I'm at a grave disadvantage!" I just hope they make sure these things are useful but not overpowered.

I am interested in the freedom of movement that MGSV allows will carry over to MGO, with players being able to climb into more advantageous positions and navigate the battlefield more accurately than ever before. Say what you will about the older MGO games, but you weren't really able to climb freely. You were bound pretty harshly to climb only waist high boxes and ladders. That restriction has been removed and it takes one step to opening up the gameplay into interesting directions. That's one thing I'm totally in favor of. Freedom of movement is always great.

It's really exciting to think about the situations we can expect with the idea that anyone could be hanging around anywhere(Within reason, of course). One thing that's on my mind are how will vehicles come into play? In the trailer we can see a truck but the question is: Can someone just jump right on in and start driving? What can we expect from that? It's not known if you can shoot out of vehicles in MGO or even The Phantom Pain, but you couldn't in Ground Zeroes. Perhaps your companions can shoot from the back or even the passenger seats to provide cover? Interesting questions and I'm very excited to learn more. Also, who doesn't love running people over? It's hilarious! "Stealth action this!" as you ram Snake with a jeep. Haha, yeah, take it Snake.

Bulletpoints! (Bang bang!)

So I've made this huge blog, like I always do, and I rambled, and I'm subconscious of my writing so I'm always afraid that I wasn't able to proficiently discuss what I intended, but let's finish this up with what I think Metal Gear Online can do without.

• Awkward invincibility frames after getting shot. In MGO's of old, when you get shot, you actually enter a momentary i-frame stasis that allows other bullets to pass through you. It was never explained why this happened, but it was certainly the bane of my existence during certain exchanges where I'm shooting through someone, not quite managing to pull off the headshot that I need to save my life. Just look in the video I provided above, it features someone getting shot and some bullets just pass right through. Not cool.
• LAG. Seriously. MGO was peer-to-peer which means you could play with some downright janky people. People could also use this to their advantage and lag-switch. It was not cool and not handled with enough care to actually make any progress. I would very much enjoy some actual servers to ensure lag-switching and other terrible instances of getting shot by ghosts because on their screen they are standing right in front of you, but on yours they are way off in the distance. Also not cool.
• Box popping. It was the worst. Box popping, for those who aren't into the MGO mythos, is when someone rapidly equips and unequips a cardboard box while also aiming and shooting their gun. When you equip and unequip a box, you enter a series of i-frames that allows you to basically avoid all damage and continue dishing it out yourself. It didn't make much sense and it got really annoying as people were able to, in most cases, walk right through firefights without taking a hit. Because not only are they making themselves a smaller target by entering the box, they gain temporary invincibility. Some would argue it is a legit strategy, I would argue it was one of MGO's many flaws.
• No more weird point reward system locking off customization options. When MGO rolled out the rewards store, everyone was filled with the purest of hype. It allowed us to finally customize our soldiers and make them truly our own. The problem was the only way to get points was to spend forever in auto-matching or join weekly tournaments in which you were set up against other teams for the ultimate reward: Reward points. It was a fantastic idea that was executed on well enough, but the problem was the lack of reward points given. With the prices of items going as high as 50,000 reward points, getting 25 points for winning a match just doesn't cut it. Sure, it's good to have goals, but there are better ways to go about it. And judging from the trailer, this new Metal Gear Online will feature a lot of character customization.(Awesome customization too). Let's just hope they are reasonable to obtain with many options(Colors, camos).
• No region locking. Seriously. I have friends from all over the world that I never got to play MGO with because the servers were region locked. The communities were fragmented from the very beginning because of this and it was a severe letdown. It's 2014, let's do away with region locked servers and let us play with all of our friends. That's the way of the future.

Okay, well those bulletpoints look fucked up. God damnit if I can't do anything right. Well, anyway, I should say that while Kojima Productions are the new kids on the block, I have the utmost faith that no matter what they do, they will reinvigorate Metal Gear Online with new ideas and design philosophies. I mean, just look at these guys.

They got shit under lock and key.

Hi. I'm N7. I like to write blogs from time to time and I've even got my own blog here at www.wordsthatkill.com

You might ask yourselves "Why do you not post some blogs on Giant Bomb" and that's because I still find the whole "linking to my own blog at the end of my blogs" kind of scummy, even if I'm not doing it for underhanded reasons, so I figure I'm not going to spam the joint with referrals to my blog, and only do so when I feel it's a big and nice enough blog to post here. That's right, I spoil you guys.

Great read. Definitely agree with a lot of your points. I can't wait to get my hands on the new MGO, used to love the MGS4 version a few years back. It was super unique for the reasons you've covered here and even today I still don't think there's really anything else quite like it. The closest another MP game has felt to me is probably Uncharted, where you could flank and sneak up on people as well as traditional gunfights - but even that doesn't come close to the wealth of options MGO offered.

I definitely think having dedicated servers would be great, but I do hope (if they end up going down that route) that people can still set up their own lobbies. I used to love popping into a room labelled as "CQC only" and having a really stupid, fun time with people punching each other and getting into some bizarre positions with the grappling mechanics. I remain very excited to see what's to come.

@y2ken: Yes, I actually forgot to put "custom lobbies" in the blog here. It's definitely something I want to see return. I love going into CQC only or Knife only rooms and just having a blast. Not to mention the lobbies with 99 minute time limits that let people just get it going and keep at it.

I would be called out as a psychopathic fanboy for saying MGO is the best multiplayer I've ever played, but man, it was just so fun. You had so much to do and so many ways to do it. There was some shit going down all the time and when you're in this grove of killing guys and then suddenly someone comes out of nowhere and strangles you and leaves you on the floor for anyone to kill... Man. What a rush. I haven't seen anything capture the feeling of MGO since maybe Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, but that was kind of shitty so.

I hope the core of MGO can be salvaged while also accommodating the new engine, but either way, I can't wait to get my hands on the new MGO.

Great blog! It's just a shame so few people are going to comment on it... Need to add a dash of sexism in there next time! Or talk about how much you love/hate the staff!

Anywhoo, since I have so little experience with MGO in the past, all I can really hope is that it's better than Peace Walker's... which I already know it will be as watching trailers of MGSV's MGO has proven to be more entertaining than playing Peace Walker's rubbish interpretation of it. I guess its multiplayer component wasn't even considered an 'official' release of MGO anywhoo if MGSV's is MGO3? Following from Subsistence and MGS4's.

Oh, and hopefully their logging in setup won't be quite as obtuse as MGS4's, but that too is surely a given at this point.

For like a span of 6 months Metal Gear Online was my religious obsession. Its so good. No greater feeling in the world than playing as Solid Snake and sneaking past REAL live human enemies as they fight around you and outsmarting them as they try to hunt you down.

I still remember when they updated their ranking system and I logged on to see that I had gained the ranks of FOX, HOUND, DOBERMAN, and FOXHOUND. At the time, the four highest ranks in the entire game. Very few people could get that high, much less all of them. I remember I got them because of several hours of playing Sneaking mission. I was so good at hunting Snake that by killing him so many times, the game would ensure that I was Snake.

After about 6 hours straight of playing Sneaking Mission, I didn't lose a single mission. I constantly beat entire teams of hardcore players and died a total of 3 times. It was the greatest reward I had ever received in a multiplayer game. For the first time, I looked around and saw myself among the highly skilled. This time, it was me Austin. It was me all along.

BUT. That's not even the greatest. The greatest feeling in the world is when you get Snake, and someone gets to play as Metal Gear MK.II and they are absolutely the bomb. I had played with people who did better as the MK.II than I did as Snake. There were some games that ended just moments after they began because the MK.II managed to get three dog-tags like it was nothing. It's the greatest feeling, knowing you've got a true friend.

And not to go off on a tangent or anything, but I love how that worked. Sneaking Mission pits two teams against each other while you, Snake, are smack dab in the middle with your buddy Metal Gear MK.II. It's not the same as being on a same team, it's about survival. It's not just killing the most people, it's about dog tags, microfilm. Getting the goal and being sneaky while you are surrounded by people who would rather work together to kill you than each other. It's beautiful. I fucking loved MGO. That symbiotic relationship between Snake and Otacon carried over into an online platform and it fucking shined like the friendship-star it was. I cri evertim.

I hate women.

So am I popular now or something? Is that how it works?

Also, they dropped the Konami ID stuff years ago. Hopefully it died a slow painful death in some pit in the middle of nowhere. That shit was the worst. Really, they've got nowhere else to go but up.

@n7: I loved lazy snakes who expected Mk.II to do all the work for them lol

Awesome write up! I'd love nothing more than MGO3 to blow me away. I want to seriously get hooked on all the game modes - I enjoyed 1 and 2 but I just needed something more. I don't know what it was and I don't know if 3 has it but DAMN that trailer got me hype and DAMN OCELOT LOOKS FUCKING BAALLLEEERRRRR.

Gimmie playable DD and Quiet and you can guarantee my 100% attention. I need a new online game after my BF4 and AC sessions have dropped off. I want this to be it.

Oh, and by the by... Venom Snake?!

I wish I'd given the online component in MGS4 a shot. I didn't really "get" Metal Gear Solid 4 when I played the game (MGS4 was my first MGS game), and thus I never stuck around long enough to see the multiplayer. It was only last year when I played through the entire series, and I'm sure MGO was long gone by then.

I'm still really excited for this. Really, just being able to play with other people with the mechanics of MGSV is enough for me.

Also, anyone that wants to join my inevitable MGO3 clan (or PMC or whatever the in game term is, assuming it has one), you can feel free too! I might as well start talking about it now so it can be the Unofficial Official Giant Bomb one. No one else is planning on doing that right now, right?

@rmanthorp: Ocelot doesn't know how to not look baller. I am interested in seeing how his duel-wielding will work, since before he only had one revolver. It makes me wonder if his ricocheting bullets will return. This is the first time we've seen him since freaking 1964 so I am curious. Also, thanks! I had a lot of fun writing about MGO. Let's hope it's even better than before.

MGO was sort of a cult classic. If you weren't into it at first, you probably wouldn't be interested in it ever. It's such a specific game and that could turn people off. Not to mention it was very headshot focused so if your reaction time wasn't on point at all times you would not get very far. We used to say that MGO had a very, very sharp learning curve and that's why it turned so many people off.

MEN BECOME DEMONS.

Good idea. It's better to get on it as soon as possible to get more exposure in the long run. Now all you have to do is think up a witty name and you are in.

@n7: The first things that come to mind are plays on "Outer Heaven." First I was being egotistical, and trying to work "Moose" in there, but if it'll end up being a Giant Bomb thing, it should be GB related. Bomber Heaven? Or maybe something related to one of the staff members? Taswel's Patriots? I dunno, plenty of time to think of something good before the game is out.

Can this not just be a hide and seek simulator? You're it. I'm counting to 100.

I never played the first MGO, but I spent a lot of time with the MGS4 incarnation. I had pretty much stopped playing obsessively by the time the last expansion came out, but man I had so much fun with that game. It's a shame that there's a widespread perception that no one played MGO (almost to the point that I was going to email the bombcrew to answer their question of ''Who wants another MGO''...I ended up deciding I really didn't care that much if they want to dismiss it). It really did allow you to take the freedom of action in the main game and go up against people who were all playing their own way. It helped too that the community was pretty tight, probably as a result of the ridiculous hurdles Konami made you go through to play and the fact that the PS4 was still really expensive back then; the people that were playing were really into it.

My biggest request is that they keep the reward shop updates in the English release generally close to the Japanese shop updates. Other than that as long as people are having fun sneaking around in boxes I think I'll be happy. Also singing. I'll be happy as long as I can sing.

I remember spending a ton of time playing MGS4's MGO. All that time grinding out CQC skills in those grinding lobbies. And all that time trying to get everyone in the server to sing the chorus song. Oh and all that time sniping people with the mosin nagant since putting people to sleep didn't give them a kill cam. And putting Playboy magazines at the top of ladders and at the landing zones of those man-catapults.

@mooseymcman: "Bombs of the Patriots". Or in lieu of that, "Bombers Sans Frontiers". If you really want to make me happy, though, go for the "La-Li-Lu-Le-Uh-Uh-Uh-Uh". Expect a good 15 updates by the end of the weekend as I can't seem to stop obsessing over this.

@n7: Genuinely great article. I appreciate how upfront and self-aware you're being about being somewhat overprotective, but that's something we all can relate to. MGO has always struck me as just brimming with potential. As you say yourself, it's incredibly diverse and flexible, allowing folks to take just about any approach they might conceive of, making for a very dynamic experience. There's been limitations in the past which prevented the game from really coming out of it's shell, especially in terms of movement. It's always felt rigid and stiff to me, which some people could argue makes for a more controlled experience, but I personally feel it really built a ceiling over how inventive you could be with your style of play. That's where this game seems to really differentiate itself from previous titles, though. As long as they build maps that take advantage of Snake's new capacity for moving about, I think we could be in for something really special here.

@do_the_manta_ray: Bombers Sans Frontiers is really good! It abbreviates to BSF, which would be a good clan tag!

@n7: But... what happened to Punished Snake? Naked Snake? Hell, I thought he had finally chose to go by Big Boss after Peace Walker! Why must every character in this series have like 12 different codenames...

Major Tom, Dick, Harry, Zero. Then finally, Kid Moe.

@thunderslash: @spacerunaway: If singing doesn't return in MGO, I riot.

Catapults were such a random thing and I loved it. There was nothing quite like headshotting a guy mid-air-salute. And then on the flip side(Do people still say that?) there's nothing quite like taking a risky catapult to close the distance on some enemies and get the higher ground. Such a simple thing as "We're gonna put a fucking catapult right here" added so much to those levels. It was great.

You can see in the MGO trailer people are fucking everywhere. Climbing shit left and right. So we're immediately presented with a brand new direction. It's exciting because if you would imagine that scenario in MGO2, what would happen? You'd walk up to the door, and you'd walk in. That's what would happen. Now you can vault over shit, climb up on shit and over shit and all kinds of shit. And judging from both Ground Zeroes and the part in the trailer where they show everyone running, I think the stiff movement has been smoothed out. In fact, people seem to be quite speedy, even the heavier armored looking players.

But when it comes to what I want from MGO, I think I do have to be self aware and take a step back. The last thing I want to do is hug the game to death with my wants and needs so I decided to lay it out as, I suppose "politically" would be the correct term. I just want the game to retain its open-gameplay personality that allows people to pick and choose what they want to do. The class system may get in the way of that, it may strengthen it. I cannot say for sure. But I know for certain that I can say what I don't want to see.

The one thing I didn't mention in the blog is that the bulletpointed issues(Which now that I notice, the bulletpoints don't look as ugly as they did in the editor. Seriously, it looked all kinds of fucked up before I posted) were also in the first MGO. I don't know how it was possible, as I'm pretty sure it was an entirely different engine, but every problem could be linked to both iterations of Metal Gear Online. So I hope they start with a clean slate. And seeing as how they've built an entire studio to create and oversee Metal Gear Online as opposed to the random Konami team that handled it the last few times, I feel completely safe by trusting these guys.

And as for the clan names, man I'm drawing a blank. BSF sounds tight though, I agree with that.

Those aren't actual "name names". No one is going to call him Venom Snake or Punished Snake or Sneaky Snake or whatever. They are going to continuously refer to him as Snake or Boss. Venom Snake is more of a state of mind. A concept. When he makes his heel-turn he's not going to say "YO FUCKIN CALL ME VENOM SNAKE NOW ARIGHT FUCK". (Or as Kiefer Sutherland would deliver it "rihgihsdoiosihdisoihg") He's still going to be Snake, he's just going to be darker and edgier. Like how no one has or will call Skull Face "Skull Face". It's just a title that's given because the guy looks like an anime villain. His actual, official name is probably going to be goofy like Acorn Billy or something.

They retconned his acceptance of the title Big Boss because they are going to utilize it and make it symbolic. I mean after all, The Boss says it herself. "There's only room for one Snake, and one Boss". He'll start calling himself Big Boss once he gives "David" the title of Solid Snake. Because at that point, he isn't a Snake anymore anyway. He'd have been years in disguise as the leader of Outer Heaven while also commanding FOXHOUND for the U.S. Government. It's gonna be tight and segue into MG1 and 2 remakes y'all.