Mirado

@lord_canti: You can get a 100% save for GZ on PC if you don't have the time to finish it before the 1st, and it'll be the best looking and best playing version, assuming the PC port doesn't shit the bed.

If you can get it for cheaper, that seems to be the way to go.

@quid_pro_bono: Yeah, instead of giving everyone the same experience, Konami seems to have negotiated different things with different people. I assume that's not unheard of, but in this case it seems that one part of Konami wasn't sure what the other part was doing, and the end result is this weird mix. I mean, it seems like different people wound up playing totally different builds (I don't have any other explanation for how some people can say certain things were disabled or how there can be such a disparity in opinion on the story) and were allowed to handle it for totally different amounts of time.

Games Radar said that people were forced to sprint through the game with the chicken hat on in order to finish it in 40 hours, whereas some people say they got a hundred hours to tool around with it, while others have said they did half the game in 50 hours and are still enjoying it. What the hell?

There's so much contradictory information! What the hell is going on? Games Radar states that "We played between 9am to 5pm, with no unsupervised play outside these hours." But Greg Miller stated that he'd play for far longer than that, sometimes until 10 PM.

Others have stated that FOB mode was disabled, while some are saying that played a few rounds and enjoyed it quite a bit.

On the story: sometimes people are saying there's nothing more then a minute or two of cutscenes, then the Examiner states they would hit 20 minute blocks of cutscenes every few hours. Some say the story is lacking, others say it has the craziest twists of any MGS game. The themes are either handled poorly, with "nothing to say about them, they are just present" to praising how well Kojima handled difficult topics.

Everybody seems to love what they played, but they all seem like they played somewhat different games, with different restrictions and different amounts of time allotted to them.

I'm so confused!

@somejerk: Yeah, it's odd. Here's a snippet from the Examiner review:

The single-player experience is reason enough to purchase The Phantom Pain alone, but if you are still longing for more, either see a doctor or check out FOB because it offers up essentially another game’s worth of online, multiplayer fun. I did play a few rounds of FOB and it is clear that players will find endless fun and possibilities inside it.

Nothing like conflicting information to fuel speculation!

@cirdain: Hell yes! :D

I mean, I already got you as I do so for everyone that joins, but the system only works if people are on your friend's list; the group doesn't do much beyond making it easier for people to add each other and as a place of discussion. So fire away! Everyone who's a member will know why you are sending them a request (they can check your profile to see if you are part of the group), and I've encouraged everyone to add as many people as possible. The more friends are linked together, the tougher we are to crack without retribution.

@somejerk: Miller mentioned that Konami forced him to keep his console offline as part of the NDA, but as that seems to be a random guy (Youtuber, perhaps?) it's possible that he just went ahead and did it anyway.

I'm not sure if Gamespot implied that it wasn't implemented, as it's supposed to be included on launch.

EDIT: @adequatelyprepared: Might want to spoiler that bit. It was present in one of the demos but never explained.

@somejerk: I'm not sure what you mean, as that's more or less the FOB mode as described to me. My only question is how the matchmaking works which that paragraph doesn't explain, unless that is what you are referencing.

No reason for me to vote, only to change my opinion in eight days. I hope.

@cirdain: Gotcha covered; I usually put down your profile's name on the list and then make it a link, so Panda it is. :D

@chaser324: Thank you very much for the heads up. I was considering watching it after people said it wasn't much more than what we've seen in trailers already, but now I feel like I dodged a bullet.