i'm on mission 21 and want to make sure i'm working towards the game's true ending. is it possible to explain how to get this WITHOUT spoiling anything?

hope you can help. thanks :)

Can't miss it. Keep playing yellow missions and side ops. Listen to yellow tapes.

As far as I know, you just have to play the game. Do the main missions, do the side-ops and go to mother base every now and then becouse there are some cutscenes that you can miss if you spend too much time away from motherbase. But I didn't know that there was a true ending and got had no trouble getting it, so you should be ok.

Just keep playing missions, and then play the main and important side ops that are highlighted in yellow.

You'll see credits at some point, and at the end of them a sizzle reel of what is to come. From there, just do stuff. Prioritize yellow things, but for the most part just clear side ops, missions, etc. You will figure it out quickly.

If in doubt, play some side ops.

Do the main missions. Don't worry about the super hard versions of the old missions unless you want to, they are unnecessary. Do any gold/yellow Side Ops you see. If there's a period of time where you don't have any special side ops or main missions left, then just do a bunch of Side Ops or do a main mission or two(they can be replays of the normal version of the old missions) to get a specific game clock to further. They'll let you know when a new thing pops up. That's it. No big deal, really. When you get Mission 46, you're about to do the final mission for real.

Yeah...I wanted to do every mission, but I hate those. Good to know I don't have to do them. I'm on a total stealth one and the one where I have to fight Quiet. I'm not going to do them.

Main/Gold missions and tapes.

What's the actual final mission number? And are the last couple just more remixes? I'm at 41.

The missions with credits attached are 31, 45, and 46. 31 is the end of the normal story, 45 is the end of a specific storyline, and 46 is the true ending.

@quarters: Awesome, thanks.

Are you able to keep playing after the "true" ending? Or no?

@ssully said:

Yes, in fact you unlock a couple new items as a result of watching the finale and there's a few missions that are more or less remixes of previous ones that give you something to do.

Beat mission 46

If you want to beat that one easily. Use a tank.

And if you want to do it non-lethal, without firearms (for the objectives list): The supply drop on her head still works, but only if you bait out her shot beforehand. I suggest the parasite suit with the armor upgrade just in case you screw up; wait for the countdown to hit 20, pop up, she'll prioritize shooting at you, and she'll get thumped by the box.

Much tougher than the first time through, but still doable.

Mission 46 didn't unlock for me until i established a FOB and did the tutorial. I was playing side ops like a madman and nothing happened. But when i did the FOB crap it unlocked straight away.

I don't follow to closely as to not get spoiled, but didn't kojima tweet that there is a TRUE ending and people haven't done everything yet? I'm pretty sure that will probably include S ranking or getting every objective for every mission. Just my guess though. I just finished mission 43 and everything else unlocked is a repeat mission atm. About 5 of them :-(

I believe that was the case in peace walker to fight the final boss Paz

I was led to believe that you didn't have to complete any of the "EXTREME", "SUBSISTENCE" or "TOTAL STEALTH" missions in order to get the final, true ending. But I've beaten all gold/yellow missions in both the main and side-ops. I've just about cleared out all the side-ops in fact and I've completed a certain character's entire story-line. Yet I don't have mission 46 on my list.

Why is this?

Do I need to complete those missions I listed above? Specifically there is an EXTREME version of the last mission that I reaaaaaally do not want to do because I completely hated that mission on normal difficulty.

@handlas: People were not lying. I only did two of the mission variations. Just go do other side ops you have left until they call you back. It will happen.

@artisanbreads: Any clue how many you need to do? Feels like it's becoming a real grind. I've completed 102/157 it says. Overall I'm at 54% completion... wondering if maybe it has something to do with overall completion percentage.

@handlas: A few times I felt the same because it took like 3 side ops for them to hit me back up but they would. I know the feeling because I had the same doubts or worries about some kind of glitch but it should work out for you. If you have a stupid easy side op like mine clearing just do that.

@handlas: To confirm what @artisanbreads said you do *NOT* need to do the repeat missions to get the ending. If you are stuck with no important side ops or missions (marked in yellow) do 3 random side ops, like the prisoners or soldier extractions. This will get you back on track. I much prefer this to having to do those missions over as I used the side ops as an excuse to try out all the gear I ignored during the main game. Decoys are hilarious.

Alright I'll keep at it! I've actually already done 6 Side-Ops since getting the wrap up on the buddy's story. I'll just keep at it and hope it unlocks soon.

@handlas: Just in case I will spoiler this due to it having mission name and task related spoilers but:

Haven't done that one. I've only done one Total Stealth one. I've done probably 15 or so Side-Ops now and still nothing :(. I guess I'll give that a shot and see if it does anything. I think I've done all the Wandering missions (spoilers for medical base story ahead). I've given Paz most of the pictures from those missions; the last time I went to her there was a cutscene about Skull Face with Ocelot so I'm not sure if that's the end of that storyline or if that even matters.

@handlas: It doesn't matter to finishing it but you have not finished it either, for the record. I finished the Paz storyline after the game. Did you listen to all the yellow tapes? Not sure if that matters totally but I would if you haven't.

@artisanbreads: where do u find Paz? I haven't seen her in the game.

oh geez. I do get why you'd miss it (I would've) but I got tipped off early on by people. Go to the Medical Platform and look up on, if my memory serves, the third floor of the platform. There is a door with a blue light on that you can enter.

@artisanbreads: thanks.

I have not and that's the only yellow markers on the mission screens now. I bet that is it actually... I'll do that next time I play. I've done so many Side-Ops, lol... I've just about completed all of them.

Oh yeah I think that might be it man. I don't think it should take you more than like three side ops to trigger that mission appearing so I'd listen to the tapes. I listened to the tapes religiously so I never ran into that issue but I think that's probably it.

@handlas: I didn't even think about suggesting the tapes, they are definitely worth a listen regardless! At least you can be happy knowing you were doing side ops in a good game instead of playing something less enjoyable!

Thanks guys. That was, indeed, it. So listen to all yellow tapes as well as do all the main missions for sure. I pretty much didn't listen to a lot of them other than the Huey ones and created a backlog for myself.

@handlas: Glad to hear that you narrowed down what the limiting factor was. Now we know for sure what all you have to do for that last ending. Congrats on finishing up the game!

@handlas: LISTEN TO THE HAMBURGER TAPES! Glad that was it though.