I was never expecting a good story, Metal Gear games have always been incomprehensible garbage to me in that department, so I'm fine with the stupid twist at the end. What I'm not fine with is taking Quiet away from me permanently and without any warning whatsoever. That's fucking bullshit.

I was looking forward to finishing all the side ops and getting the mission tasks I had missed, but not anymore. Quiet is the only buddy who's worth a damn (D-Dog is okay) and now that I can't use her anymore I have no interest whatsoever in playing anymore. And there's no way in hell I'm doing it all over again.

I've done some searching and I know about the butterfly emblem trick, but I didn't learn about that until after finishing mission 46. I'll go ahead and ask, but if I replay mission 41 using the emblem trick will it magically bring her back? I doubt it, but if anyone has tried it let me know.

It's such a shame too because the rest of the game was pretty good. I've played 56 hours of good only to have it all fucked up in the last few.

I love this design decision more and more.

But no, she's gone. If you're playing on PC you can mod her back in, otherwise you're just gonna have to live with it. Get used to using D-Dog.

Pretty much.

You're just feeling the phantom pains.

@ichthy:

It's super bold, that's for sure. Having already played 80+ hours and done most of the "hard mode" missions when I finished the game, I thought it was a great way to end that storyline and to stop people from using her like an easy mode. But I'll probably be kind of sad if I can't use her in some form if/when we get story DLC.

Yeah it's pretty shitty. I mean, I love that you lose her in the story and wish there was more missions after, to make you really feel it.

Going back after the game is over to do some side shit and get your S-ranks with a huge gameplay choice missing is crappy. Story is completely irrelevent at that point, plus you essentially go back in time to 'repeat' missions.

I just modded her back in anyway because I'm on PC. Use D.Dog just as much, It's just nice to have the right tool for the job.

I loved that design decision personally. Seems obviously planned for a DLC return, but who knows if that'll ever happen.

Anyways I get your feelings but definitely don't feel the same.

The body I've lost... the comrades I've lost... won't stop hurting... It's like they're all still there. You feel it, too, don't you?

(I love this part of the game)

You're supposed to be pissed you lost her. That's the whole point.

This is why we can't have good things.

I actually sort of like it when games take stuff away for narrative/emotional impact. Lisa did it pretty well, too. I guess it's more of a "respect" than "enjoyment" for me, though.

Y'know what really makes me not want to play after finishing a game though, is when something happens at the end that should change everything, but then post-credits the game is like "Oh hey you can just go do all the side stuff now and nothing is different, because nothing you did in this game mattered".

The longing was strong after I realized I was never getting her back. Hurts so good.

Personally I wished games did more of this kind of stuff. Irreparably change the dynamics of a game after a tectonic shift in the plot. Not saying all games should do this, but I'd be welcome to some games picking their spots for maximum effect.

@xerseslives: Exactly. There's some not so subtle meta commentary throughout the game about the player feeling phantom pains. Obviously this doesn't excuse the cut content which is a shame, but stuff like the emotional impact of losing Quiet and the crippling panic when suddenly everyone on your base becomes a potential biohazard was very intentional.

D-Walker can be upgraded to get pretty overpowered in fact one of his heads allows him to move autonomously and take dudes out like Quite's "cover me" option along with the ability to use him for movement and for auto marking. He's essentially all the other buddies in one if you invest the RnD into him. Plus by completing all non-repeat missions you should've unlocked the Gray Fox suit for development which essentially let's you trivialize most encounters due to the run speed. If you keep Quiet via Butterfly emblem you can't have that suit.

Calm down.

God forbid losing a character actually means something. Don't play Final Fantasy VII or Persona 3 any time soon.

She's gone. That's what happens. The fact that you're upset she's gone means it's effective. It's an awesome design decision. And yes to sound like a broken record, what you're feeling is Phantom Pain. It's definitely intentional and they obviously succeeded.

I find this kind of reaction funny. You mean a story had a permanent impact on the game? You cant just click "Cover Me" and S rank?

When I realised that I couldn't use her anymore it had an impact and sometimes when i go to choose a buddy it hurts she isn't there and I love that game design.

If you're on PC, you can mod her back in. If not, ya gotta burn that save.

I'm on PC, but if I ever decide to remove the emblem and do those missions, I'd probably only do them to get 100% and then burn the save and start over.

I think the correct nerve was hit. The game did it's job.

Anger, one of the stages of loss.

I got the best of both worlds on PC. I experienced the game as-is, then did a simple mod and now Quiet is back. I'm going to laugh my ass off if Konami puts out a "Get Quiet back! Plus two new sexy costumes for only $9.99!" DLC.

@Mike: Well they already have costumes announced so....

One of the boldest design decisions in big-budget games in a long time. Let you spend 80+ hours building something up only to unexpectedly tear it away from you permanently. Hurts so good I can't even play the game any more. Sucks in the best way possible. GOTY!

lol...there's your "bold game design decision" I guess.

So, the weird thing about this for me is that because I didn't use Quiet that much and never got her to full bond, I never unlocked mission 45 so I never lost her. So, I guess...I win?

Word.

Really thinking about it, games taking anything from the player with even a whisper in the direction of something that matters (characters, items, abilities, locations) is nigh unheard of.

It's not costumes for Quiet though...

It's horse armour.
No, seriously.

Yeah. I mean just look at threads on here about how pissed people were they lost easily replaced base staff members to the parasite. I love all of that.

I'm pretty sure the EVA and Boss costumes are for EVA but yeah I don't think they will ever have DLC to bring her back or any nonsense like that.

Were you able to get mission 46?

The DLC outfits of Boss and Eva are for female soldiers you recruit in the field and can play as on missions.

@demoskinos:Wait is Eva in this game besides being mentioned in tapes? I thought those two costumes were for your female soldiers, which is honestly fucking weird considering they deliberately take away any costume option that could sexualize your female soldier in the base game, you can't choose the naked camo variants and can't wear the MSF sneaking suit and even the parasite suit's bra shape looks very unsexualized on them.

Also on the topic of Quite leaving her helicopter photos are gone as well leaving empty space on the wall.

She's hilariously OP. She can practically beat the game by herself. Even DDog is ridic but Quiet is pretty much a cheat code.

Yep, it just skipped 45.

Mission 42 goes from being potentially one of the hardest things in the game to an absolute cake walk with Quiet. She can just wreck the skulls with her Anti-tank rifle.

@demoskinos: yeah i'm sure she makes it stupid easy. i stopped using her on story missions after getting max trust because she was a S Rank This Mission button

When I shot her the first time I decided to carry her to the closest waterfall and throw her in just to see what that would do to the game. I knew I'd never see her again because I read it before but I thought it would be hilarious to throw her off the ledge. So I carried her over there but it turned out there wasn't really a high ledge anywhere so I carried her back to the chopper and brought her to the base. Yeah, I could've just shot her when I had the chance in the first place but that's boring. Her constant annoying humming and random soldier sniping made me use her once or twice and never again. DD all the way.

That actually never happens unless you give the command to cover you or if you were suddenly detected and the soldier is within her line of sight or if the enemy is in combat alert. Otherwise, she never randomly fires, ever.

I know. But she did when I asked her to cover me. Can't you direct her shots?

@basketsnake: in this case, cover me means fire at will, kinda misleading though.

@basketsnake: 'Cover Me' is open season, she'll shoot anyone she sees. 'Fire' will fire at whoever she's looking at, which changes if you look at another person (e.g. through binoculars, I found her aiming to be a little finicky at times but it was usually fine). 'Take Aim' will have her fix her aim on the current target and shoot the next time you do, so you can take down two people at once.

@brads_beard: Once you start getting side ops with guys in full body armor she becomes pretty useless actually.

As far as taking out small outposts when no one is wearing a helmet yah she's pretty perfect, but she's not the best choice for everything. I got attached to her as another human buddy to take on missions, but once I started bringing D-Dog along for the ride I realized he's probably the less exciting but better choice, especially in areas that have indoor sections.

If you equip her with the right weapon, Quiet is perfect for guys in body armor and/or helmets. As long as you don't mind that they are dying and not being tranquilized.

Having Quiet leave isn't some deep commentary on loss, and it honestly blows me away that people think it is. People dislike Quiet leaving because she was a great gameplay mechanic. Not because she was a great character that they miss. Seriously people, it's not a matter of "getting it," it's a matter of thinking it's a stupid gameplay decision.

Uhh, you know Miller tells you to finish her while you have your gun pointed at her after winning the sniper battle... I pulled the trigger as fast as I could, she got what was coming to her.

@berserker976: Well my arm isn't some great character either but I would still be bummed out if I lost it. And some people do like Quiet so there's that.

Missing a character =/= "deep commentary on loss"

I missed her as a gameplay mechanic AND a great character and I'm by far not alone in thinking that. I'd say you're the one not getting the arguments against the OP.

@frostyryan: See - I feel the same way as berserker976. I completely understand the whole Quiet thing and why she left. That is separate from wanting to use her in post-game content, which thankfully I am able to do since I am on PC.

This whole "you just don't understand and you don't get Kojima's vision" is bordering on some really elitist nonsense. I had zero connection to Quiet beyond the gameplay capabilities she provided, and having other people tell me I'm missing something because I didn't feel the same thing they did is infuriating. The reason I modded the game to get Quiet back is because I didn't get to use her as a buddy very much before she left, not because I am in denial about important aspect of the game that I don't understand. Play your game, and I'll play mine, thank you very much. Don't tell me what I should be feeling or experiencing or how I should be playing the single player portion of my game.

@Mike: Except no one is telling you what you should feel or how you should experience it. People are just discussing and admiring a design decision. For a person who doesn't care about other people's opinion influencing the way you play, you seem extremely angry about something that doesn't really happen. If anything, the only mockery I saw so far came from you making fun of a "bold design decision" based on the fact that there are costumes for female characters and horse armor, as if that somehow confirmed that she's getting reinserted into the game permanently.

@berserker976: The game is called The Phantom Pain. And I disliked the fact that Quiet is leaving because I genuinely enjoyed her character and story arc. Could you please stop telling me what I should be feeling or experiencing or how I should justify my reaction towards a particular gameplay/story event?

@dudeglove: Well, a game called Nier beat him to the punch on that one, kinda. It's still one of the ballsiest way to end a video game I've ever seen. I think Imscared does a similar thing, too, but I pussied out on that one early.

Also, thanks for your thoughts on Kaz as an audience surrogate, because that shit is fascinating. I wrote my BA on the relationship between Kojima and his audience based on MGS2 and man, maybe I should write an addendum based on what I'm seeing in TPP.

Say what.