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    Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

    Game » consists of 19 releases. Released Sep 01, 2015

    The final main entry in the Metal Gear Solid series bridges the events between Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and the original Metal Gear, as Big Boss wakes up from a nine-year coma in 1984 to rebuild his mercenary paradise.

    Let's talk about Episode 31 AKA "where half this game's budget went" (Spoilers, duh)

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    Do_The_Manta_Ray

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    #1  Edited By Do_The_Manta_Ray

    So, I just played through, or perhaps more accurately, sat through episodes 28-31 in a single sitting.

    I think it's mainly due to the relative sparseness of this game's story that this latest segment seems so overwhelming to me. It feels to me as if Kojima had done his very best to be a good boy, and not fall into his old tropes of showering the players with exposition/mecha porn, but finally couldn't contain himself no more. He reached his boiling point, and apparently, that's where Metal Gear happens.

    There's a ton to say on the events leading up to this semi-final encounter, and even more on what might come next, but what I'd like to talk about is Metal Gear Sahelanthropus.

    Now, I've played a lot of video games in my days, and seen a fair share of what I consider to be impressive boss fights. As in boss fights that leave an impression on you. By this I mean the sheer scale of the Colossus in God of War 2, the slow and methodical sniper battle with The End in MGS 3 or the serenely disturbing and lonely beauty of the Moonlight Butterfly in Dark Souls 1. Moments that stay with you long after you've stopped playing, the kind of experiences you know that you're going to remember for a long time to come.

    I think Metal Gear Sahelanthropus outclass all of those. There's an authenticity to it that defies it's scale. It feels as if it belongs in this world and is moving of it's own accord. Previously, I've always felt that large-scaled bosses were built around gimmicks or an abundance of scripting to make them work. And even then, it was their scale, not the mechanics of said fights that truly impacted. Sahelanthropus didn't feel like a lumbering beast to me, it felt like the perfect predator, and it scared the living shit out of me. Half of the fight, I spent running away, scrambling for cover as it whipped about it's terraforming gundam sword, and I'd hear myself, as if from a distance, gasping and grunting as it nearly got me time and again.

    At one point, I called in a tank I'd previously fultoned, and drove down a sloping path, firing as I went. I was finally able to put some distance between me and the beast, and do some damage to it in the process, and then the air changed, turning a dull red. Metallic archae, was it? I saw my tank rust and decompose even as I tried to make sense of what was happening, parts of it peeling away as Sahelanthropus closed the distance.

    As the fight went on, the boss changed forms and patterns in ways that felt unpredictable, lunging at me bodily or shifting to use it's rail gun, blowing my support chopper to pieces. At the very end, it stood there, shivering, sparkling, on it's last legs. The damage done to it obvious in it's mannerism and look.

    I don't know if it's even possible, but I was at even lower health and with no ammo to speak of. I had a single grenade remaining, and no time to call in a supply drop before it gunned me down. In a moment of desperation, I called out to Quiet to take aim, and threw the grenade, and even as I did, I knew it'd fall short. She hit it mid-air and ricocheted it straight into Sahelanthropus' open maw where it exploded, finishing him off.

    By the time I got to the score screen, I was breathing heavily, sweating just a little. In retrospect, I can't believe how tense a video game had made me feel. That just doesn't happen, but it did.

    S-Rank, huh? Whatever you say, game.

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    shiro2809

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    That's a damn great way to finish him off, if not the best way! I just kept shooting it w/ rockets, supply drops were for the most part automatic whenever I ran out of ammo which was handy!

    The Skulls and Sahelanthropus makes me really want Kojima to make a horror game, or something similar. They make me tense up whenever they're around. Quite curious what Chapter 2 will bring.

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    emfromthesea

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    I know it's technically mission 30 it happens in, but if you're in this thread you have seen mission 30. I straight up laughed when Big Boss and Skull Face are sitting facing each other in the jeep and the music starts playing. That was so dumb! But also kind of fantastic!

    But yeah, Sahelanthropus is a cool boss. I did it all with D-Walker by my side and it felt great. In some sense it was a weirder version of the REX vs RAY fight in MGS4. And I thought that final cutscene was really well done. A lot of games try to shock you with grim imagery, but shooting off Skullface's limbs and leaving him to bleed to death was rough.

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    Redhotchilimist

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    @sunbrozak: And then Huey shows up. "Revenge!". It was hilarious, it looked like Venom Snake and Miller might kill him right there.

    I like Sahelanthropus too, but since I had some difficulty dealing with his desperation jump attack/rail gun and no problem dealing with anything else(Just running did the job fine) I got a bit frustrated. But it's an amazing car ride, there are a lot of cool scenes of Sahelanthropus messing shit up, and it's a cool boss fight. I didn't beat it in a way as cool as grenade shooting it either, I did the rocket thing like Shiro2809.

    The story in this part weirds me out. Finally reach the major confrontation with the villain, and he is killed by his subordinate controlling his robot(Who, seconds before, made the man on fire also apparently die). That's not Liquid Snake or Volgin, that's some sorcerer getting eaten by his own dragon type deal. He's even got a parasite of his own. And when the robot attacks him, he goes all "Who's doing this??" like Psycho Mantis somehow isn't on his payroll. So what exactly is going on? Is the implication that Skullface only hired the man on fire and just assumed Sahelanthropus could move on his own? Why do the man on fire/Mantis seem to fight both Snake and the XOF, but at the same time get along with Skullface, until they kill him? Is Psycho Mantis appearing next to Eli meant to imply that Eli was the one making him attack, and in that case, why did he then attack the XOF before in the intro? It's really annoying when these characters don't speak, and other characters don't acknowledge them much.

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    ASilentProtagonist

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    Most games do the generic follow this character around, while he talks. But MGSV has actually made it memorable. The walk, the jeep, the tension with Big Boss, and Skull face being so close to each other. When the music came in it strangely fit perfectly. The scenery was also just epic. The fight with Sahelanthropus visually was outstanding. That rust on environment, vehicles, and my D-Walker looked amazing. Gameplay was as good as it could be for a giant mech fight.

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    Pie

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    @sunbrozak: And then Huey shows up. "Revenge!". It was hilarious, it looked like Venom Snake and Miller might kill him right there.

    I like Sahelanthropus too, but since I had some difficulty dealing with his desperation jump attack/rail gun and no problem dealing with anything else(Just running did the job fine) I got a bit frustrated. But it's an amazing car ride, there are a lot of cool scenes of Sahelanthropus messing shit up, and it's a cool boss fight. I didn't beat it in a way as cool as grenade shooting it either, I did the rocket thing like Shiro2809.

    The story in this part weirds me out. Finally reach the major confrontation with the villain, and he is killed by his subordinate controlling his robot(Who, seconds before, made the man on fire also apparently die). That's not Liquid Snake or Volgin, that's some sorcerer getting eaten by his own dragon type deal. He's even got a parasite of his own. And when the robot attacks him, he goes all "Who's doing this??" like Psycho Mantis somehow isn't on his payroll. So what exactly is going on? Is the implication that Skullface only hired the man on fire and just assumed Sahelanthropus could move on his own? Why do the man on fire/Mantis seem to fight both Snake and the XOF, but at the same time get along with Skullface, until they kill him? Is Psycho Mantis appearing next to Eli meant to imply that Eli was the one making him attack, and in that case, why did he then attack the XOF before in the intro? It's really annoying when these characters don't speak, and other characters don't acknowledge them much.

    Hopefully this stuff is explained in chapter 2. Hopefully.

    I thought the boss fight was ok. I just really struggled the first couple of times and then did it in just over 3 minutes I think by using the rocket armoured vehicle. Overall I was a bit disappointed in the boss fights. I thought Kojima would do some crazy stuff that really utilised the open world, something more creative than a big robot and those fucking annoying skull unit fights both of which I just kinda cheesed my way through. Quiet was fun to fight but was just a riff on The End fight but even The End fight had a larger scale than this one. Fantastic game overall though

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    emfromthesea

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    #7  Edited By emfromthesea

    @redhotchilimist said:

    @sunbrozak: And then Huey shows up. "Revenge!". It was hilarious, it looked like Venom Snake and Miller might kill him right there.

    I like Sahelanthropus too, but since I had some difficulty dealing with his desperation jump attack/rail gun and no problem dealing with anything else(Just running did the job fine) I got a bit frustrated. But it's an amazing car ride, there are a lot of cool scenes of Sahelanthropus messing shit up, and it's a cool boss fight. I didn't beat it in a way as cool as grenade shooting it either, I did the rocket thing like Shiro2809.

    The story in this part weirds me out. Finally reach the major confrontation with the villain, and he is killed by his subordinate controlling his robot(Who, seconds before, made the man on fire also apparently die). That's not Liquid Snake or Volgin, that's some sorcerer getting eaten by his own dragon type deal. He's even got a parasite of his own. And when the robot attacks him, he goes all "Who's doing this??" like Psycho Mantis somehow isn't on his payroll. So what exactly is going on? Is the implication that Skullface only hired the man on fire and just assumed Sahelanthropus could move on his own? Why do the man on fire/Mantis seem to fight both Snake and the XOF, but at the same time get along with Skullface, until they kill him? Is Psycho Mantis appearing next to Eli meant to imply that Eli was the one making him attack, and in that case, why did he then attack the XOF before in the intro? It's really annoying when these characters don't speak, and other characters don't acknowledge them much.

    This game makes Huey look like such a scumbag. It's surprising, but I really the direction it goes in.

    (I've hidden the explanation as my interpretation of the events is coming from a complete knowledge of the game's story. That said, I'm pretty sure this is all stuff you could theorise from what the game has presented you by mission 31)

    My understanding is that baby Psycho Mantis is drawn to rage and the desire for revenge. He is responsible for the Man on Fire and for controlling Sahelanthropus. The desire for revenge that Skullface held allowed him to use Mantis (and therefor the Metal Gear) and Man on Fire at his disposal.

    When Eli enters the scene, Mantis discovers that his hatred is much stronger, therefore he abandons Skullface and the Man on Fire and the Metal Gear runs amok.

    The intro stuff is explained, but not at that point in the story.

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    JesusHammer

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    That boss was amazing, but shooting off Skull Face's limbs while it flashed to past Miller was one of my favourite Metal Gear moments. Holy shit that was great.

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    Teddie

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    It's probably the best fight against an actual Metal Gear in the series, but mostly because of the spectacle. It was annoying trying to fight it with D-Walker (which was my best chance since I'd never used a tank before then and could barely get a hit on it that route) because I couldn't aim high enough to hit the right spots half the time, especially when he was doing the jumping/railgun thing.

    When the credits rolled I was like "wait that's it?", because basically nothing had happened in the story and there was still heaps of stuff from trailers that hadn't come up at all. Turns out it's just a weirdly structured story. I'm still looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up for real, but I do feel a bit empty continuing on when the main conflict is already over.

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    Redhotchilimist

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    @sunbrozak: I had a look, and alright, that seems to make complete sense.

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    Oldirtybearon

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    Fighting Peace Walker (Round 2) solo prepared me for Sahelanthropous in a big way. It's a lot of running, endurance, and supply drops out the ass. The good thing about this fight in comparison to Peace Walker is that when you run out of ammo, Miller just fultons more in automatically. Good Guy Miller.

    As far as the story stuff goes, from Episode 28-31 is just god tier Metal Gear. Everything about those four episodes are incredibly memorable. Tense as hell infiltration, expository dialogue with incredible cinematography and stage direction, just... man. Great, great stuff.

    That boss was amazing, but shooting off Skull Face's limbs while it flashed to past Miller was one of my favourite Metal Gear moments. Holy shit that was great.

    That was rough. Gratuitous violence with a hell of a point. I really appreciated how Miller was steadying Big Boss's aim, as if they were trying to pull the trigger together. It's just an incredibly well done scene.

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    StrawHat_NPC

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    #12  Edited By StrawHat_NPC

    I thought the boss fight was rad. I used the two rocket launcher tank things to take it down pretty easily but it was pretty tense when one rusted and blew up and then I was running blind through the mist trying to find another.

    Also when I came back to mother base there was a cutscene where Eli walks around a corner like you're supposed to follow him but I can't find him. Anyone know where he is?

    edit: nevermind just needed to do some missions to move it forward.

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    Mindkiller

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    #13  Edited By Mindkiller

    The scenes with Skullface and the Metal Gear fight were great. Sadly, I do actually think that the thread title isn't entirely inaccurate, the rest of the game going forward feels much cheaper :(

    But at least we got some hours of real emotionally impacting Metal Gear out of it.

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    Spitznock

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    You people with your big, fancy tanks and your shiny walkers and your angry music... I sort of just spammed rockets at it until it was dead. Exciting, yeah, but far less so. I lack ingenuity. It is my curse.

    The scene with Skull Face on the jeep was fantastic. One of the most memorable moments in the game. The way Sins of the Father plays in its entirety at a point is classic Metal Gear.

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    Grixxel

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    You people with your big, fancy tanks and your shiny walkers and your angry music... I sort of just spammed rockets at it until it was dead. Exciting, yeah, but far less so. I lack ingenuity. It is my curse.

    The scene with Skull Face on the jeep was fantastic. One of the most memorable moments in the game. The way Sins of the Father plays in its entirety at a point is classic Metal Gear.

    I was waiting for my ladder scene. Jeep delivers.

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    Dezztroy

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    Big Boss severing Skull Face's arm and leg was pretty brutal. Mission 31 was fantastic in general.

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    Moonshadow101

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    #17  Edited By Moonshadow101

    @mindkiller said:

    The scenes with Skullface and the Metal Gear fight were great. Sadly, I do actually think that the thread title isn't entirely inaccurate, the rest of the game going forward feels much cheaper :(

    But at least we got some hours of real emotionally impacting Metal Gear out of it.

    Chapter 2 is definitely a weird beast. It feels scattered and disconnected, but also has pretty much all of the game's real emotional hits. People who don't play it are cheating themselves out of the best content in the game, but it still feels like all of that content was dumped together without any connective tissue between it.

    As for Sehelanthropus, it was a straight RPG fight for me. Took me a few tries to figure out its weak spots, but otherwise it went pretty smoothly.

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    Teddie

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    Chapter 2 is definitely a weird beast. It feels scattered and disconnected, but also has pretty much all of the game's real emotional hits. People who don't play it are cheating themselves out of the best content in the game, but it still feels like all of that content was dumped together without any connective tissue between it.

    I kind of like to think of it as doing the loyalty missions in Mass Effect 2, only they locked the ending behind them. I would have felt way better about the game's story if all those chracter arcs were interspersed throughout the first chapter though, as one huge narrative (like the trailers suggested, and like other Metal Gear games).

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    Whitestripes09

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    I think I made the mistake of playing episode 31 at night time... but likewise the end scene where you blow of Skull Face's limbs was really cool looking with the night lighting.

    The boss fight itself was really fun. I died a few times, but on the round that I beat it I felt like having D-Walker is almost essential for this fight or maybe even D-Horse. When I saw those tanks just parked, I immediately got in one and just started shooting away at Sahelanthropus and got him to about half health before he let out the rust Metallic Archaea After that it was pretty much a game of cat and mouse. Between me hopping on D-Walker and zipping around trying to get behind him and shoot him with rockets while my support chopper was trying its best to gun him down as well. Overall very epic.

    Now I only wish that chapter 2 really explains what the motive is for kid Psycho Mantis and maybe some more backstory on Code Talker would be nice too. Also I completely forgot about Battle Gear...

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    NTA_Luciana

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    I had to do the Sahelanthropus fight about 7 times because I always died when he was on the last damn sliver of health. That's what impatience will do to you I guess. I'm getting angry just thinking about it now.

    But it is a really good fight. When he throws the grenade and everything gets all smoky there's a real Evangelion feel to it.

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    chebbles

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    Just finished the fight, really enjoyable, though the railgun messed me up a few times initially...

    It had my favourite moment in the game so far though, I was sprinting for the supply drop to get my last missile to finish Sahelanthropus. Missiles are fired, which I avoid by diving into the supply box. I begin to reload my rocket launcher and just then reflex mode activates. I turn my aim to find the psycho mantis kid looking at me and the Sahelanthropus charging it's railgun. It felt good to quickly pull the trigger and send a final rocket into it's chest in slow motion. Hoping Chapter 2 is up to the level of the final few missions, though it looks like I may be repeating missions which doesn't sound great. Also, somehow ended up with an S-rank, which was nice.

    However, episode 29 was not enjoyable. Even if I used the same method as Sahelanthropus of running in circles and firing rockets it just felt a bit...flat and boring. Not a fan of the skulls.

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    BBAlpert

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    Quick question: Do we know if Chapter 2 is something that's still to come (like a DLC campaign), if it's a set of story missions after the "ending" (like in Peace Walker), or if it's just a tease at something that does/will not ever actually exist?

    Or do we not actually know what's up with it, yet?

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    Oldirtybearon

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    @bbalpert: It's a greatly expanded, revised, and retooled version of the Peace Walker hidden chapter.

    Basically they took out the annoying as fuck Outer Ops requirement. In order to unlock more story episodes you just do a lot of side ops. Alternatively you can tackle the remixed episodes from earlier in the game.

    Some of the best story beats in the game is in the second chapter, so it is definitely worth doing. Think of it as an extended coda to the main story.

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    BBAlpert

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    @oldirtybearon: Alright, so the trailer thing that plays is of stuff you get to see, not just footage they created specifically for that clip and nowhere else? Awesome.

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    deactivated-5daa2dc0c43a6

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    Yea this boss fight and the episodes leading up to it were incredible. In this year packed with major releases I never thought Metal Gear would be at the top for me so far but it is. All I did was shoot rockets at Sahelanthropus but it was still fun. I finished him off by planting c4 and luring him towards them. It was great. And now just having that huge metal gear at my R&D station... Its certainly a hell of a sight. The reel of whats to come in chapter 2 left me excited for more and even though the first couple missions have been old missions with new rule sets they were still fun. Can't wait to play more

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    gesi1223

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    @chebbles said:

    Just finished the fight, really enjoyable, though the railgun messed me up a few times initially...

    It had my favourite moment in the game so far though, I was sprinting for the supply drop to get my last missile to finish Sahelanthropus. Missiles are fired, which I avoid by diving into the supply box. I begin to reload my rocket launcher and just then reflex mode activates. I turn my aim to find the psycho mantis kid looking at me and the Sahelanthropus charging it's railgun. It felt good to quickly pull the trigger and send a final rocket into it's chest in slow motion. Hoping Chapter 2 is up to the level of the final few missions, though it looks like I may be repeating missions which doesn't sound great. Also, somehow ended up with an S-rank, which was nice.

    However, episode 29 was not enjoyable. Even if I used the same method as Sahelanthropus of running in circles and firing rockets it just felt a bit...flat and boring. Not a fan of the skulls.

    @marco724 said:

    Yea this boss fight and the episodes leading up to it were incredible. In this year packed with major releases I never thought Metal Gear would be at the top for me so far but it is. All I did was shoot rockets at Sahelanthropus but it was still fun. I finished him off by planting c4 and luring him towards them. It was great. And now just having that huge metal gear at my R&D station... Its certainly a hell of a sight. The reel of whats to come in chapter 2 left me excited for more and even though the first couple missions have been old missions with new rule sets they were still fun. Can't wait to play more

    These retooled missions are optional to progress the story. You only have to do the missions/side ops marked in yellow to progress. At least, that's all i've had to do.

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    atomicoldman

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    #27  Edited By atomicoldman

    @redhotchilimist said:

    @sunbrozak: And then Huey shows up. "Revenge!". It was hilarious, it looked like Venom Snake and Miller might kill him right there.

    Huey is such a piece of shit and I hate him, but that one little bit made me think he might be kinda alright.

    By the way, on the subject of chapter 2, according to the guide mission 46 is hidden behind some conditions that need to be met first. It doesn't outright say what those are, in fact it directs you to scan a QR code because - at Konami's request - it was decided that it would be excluded from the guide.

    @chebbles said:

    However, episode 29 was not enjoyable. Even if I used the same method as Sahelanthropus of running in circles and firing rockets it just felt a bit...flat and boring. Not a fan of the skulls.

    I love this game but man, episode 29 can kiss my ass. That was zero fun, and I still have to go back to it to get an S-rank and complete the optional mission requirements. Not looking forward to that.

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    Jawshua

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    I hopped in a tank that was around, shot at it for a minute and fight over.

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    Teddie

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    I love this game but man, episode 29 can kiss my ass. That was zero fun, and I still have to go back to it to get an S-rank and complete the optional mission requirements. Not looking forward to that.

    D-Walker's gattling gun shreds those guys in episode 29. I was having so much trouble trying to fire rockets at them, remembered that D-Walker was basically a walking tank, and finished the mission in under 5 minutes with one of the easiest S-Ranks I ever got.

    Now, as for the optional mission requirements... :(

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    MaxMischi3f

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    #30  Edited By MaxMischi3f

    I pretty much just drove a tank straight through the middle of skull face's base, sat in a jeep with him for what felt like forever, and then shot the metal gear in the face while driving in reverse with the rocket launcher APC until it fell over.

    It was a little anticlimactic.

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    kyelb22

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    The more I play of this game, the more I'm starting to actively dislike it. I come to Mear Gear for the ridiculous, over the top story and set pieces, and this game has very little of that so far. Between Big Boss being almost unrecognizable from his portrayal in MGS3, and the games determined lack of story, I just can't find any reason to care about anything. The ride with Skull Face fell completely flat for me. Who is this guy and why does he care about language so much? Oh, a big Metal Gear fight? I guess I'll just sit here and shot rockets until it's dead. I sincerely hope Chapter 2 is where they hid all the good story, but hearing about the recycled missions, I'm doubtful.

    Also, fuck the Skulls. I didn't think it'd be possible to have worse boss fights than the B&B's, but here we are...

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    mithhunter55

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    #32  Edited By mithhunter55

    @teddie said:

    It's probably the best fight against an actual Metal Gear in the series, but mostly because of the spectacle. It was annoying trying to fight it with D-Walker (which was my best chance since I'd never used a tank before then and could barely get a hit on it that route) because I couldn't aim high enough to hit the right spots half the time, especially when he was doing the jumping/railgun thing.

    When the credits rolled I was like "wait that's it?", because basically nothing had happened in the story and there was still heaps of stuff from trailers that hadn't come up at all. Turns out it's just a weirdly structured story. I'm still looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up for real, but I do feel a bit empty continuing on when the main conflict is already over.

    I beat the fight on foot. With a grenade launcher and basic rocket launcher. I never considered dropping a tank in. Really didn't need to hide much, other than the cliff face rail gun section. I was actually afraid the first few attempts, fighting something of that size was distressing. I haven't played the God of War or Dark Souls games. Ended up getting really comfortable being close to him and just unloading the rockets and grenades. Ended up with an S rank.

    @teddie said:
    @atomicoldman said:

    I love this game but man, episode 29 can kiss my ass. That was zero fun, and I still have to go back to it to get an S-rank and complete the optional mission requirements. Not looking forward to that.

    D-Walker's gattling gun shreds those guys in episode 29. I was having so much trouble trying to fire rockets at them, remembered that D-Walker was basically a walking tank, and finished the mission in under 5 minutes with one of the easiest S-Ranks I ever got.

    Now, as for the optional mission requirements... :(

    There is an extreme version of that mission. I stood on the roof of the airport and let quiet kill them. Bam!! S rank and the Foxhound emblem.

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    MVHVTMV

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    Maybe I'm just in a sour mood in general, but I thought almost all of this sequence was incredibly boring and anticlimactic. I played the game fully non-lethal so when I got spotted in OKB Zero I just ran all the way to Skullface, with a dozen dudes chasing me down. The walk with Skullface back to the truck was awkward and weird, it's not that what he was saying was meaningless (it mostly was) but the way that you're stuck on rails and you can only walk forward in a very specific direction. The rails results in a weird stuttering walk where you keep bumping up behind Skullface and you occasionally just stop moving because you were slightly to far to the side. I don't know why they didn't just make it a cut-scene, because I felt the awkwardness of the controls just made that section boring and frustrating.

    The truck ride was incredibly boring, Skullface blabbered on about mostly nothing even though his motives were obvious in a few seconds. Snake stays totally silent, not even a "huh?", which is just weird (not even in a brooding way, he just seemed totally fucking bored with it too.)

    I'll admit I really liked the segment with the music playing over the jeep ride, it was insane and surreal in the same way as Ladder Boss from MGS3.

    I really didn't enjoy the Sahelanthropus fight, maybe it played out differently for me than for everyone else, but after dying many, many times because I only had non-lethal weapons equipped and the iDroid menus for calling in supplies being so laggy and going into the red on GMP because of Miller's automatic supply drops, I had to abort the mission back to the ACC where I had the option of doing some side missions if I wanted. This is kind of jarring in it's own right, I get that it's supposed to be episodic, but it completely stripped out the sense of urgency I'd been running on since my men had gotten infected with the parasite. I finally beat Sahelanthropus after several deaths with about 25 rockets, and all the ammo from the MRL trucks, and it was more a sense of relief that I'd never have to do that again. My biggest problem being with the OHKO tracking rail gun. I couldn't figure a way to out manoeuvre it so I had to find a rocky outcropping and hide behind it in a way that made me feel like I was just glitching out the game.

    I did actually really like the final confrontation with Skullface, it was brutal, bordering on ultra-violence (which I'm not a fan of), but it was definitely incredibly evocative.

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    musubi

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    So just finished this and got setup for Chapter 2.

    I think that fight might be the best Metal Gear moment. I've played video games for like the past 26 years since I was 4 years old and my god seeing Sahelanthropus just towering before you conveyed a scale in a game of the likes I've never seen. A lot of the times bosses with huge scale are retrofitted into gimmicky fights that are very restrictive. This is just hey here is this walking battle machine of death. Figure out how to beat it. And reading through this thread seeing all the ways people finished the fight makes it even more impressive to me. Just man everything about that build up is fucking amazing. Every time I think I can't be more impressed by this game it just ups the ante.

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    dewar

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    StarvingGamer

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    Hm, lots of praise for this fight, but honestly it felt like one of the more boring boss fights in Metal Gear. There wasn't any real nuance to it or clever tricks like most previous MGS bosses had. I just kept shooting it with rockets and grenades and it hit me 3 times before dying. I guess maybe part of it is my fault for doing so much side-stuff that I had all my gear maxed out including my support heli.

    I mean, it looked fantastic. Fucking amazing sense of scale and all that. Just mechanically really boring.

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    Fredchuckdave

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    #37  Edited By Fredchuckdave

    @starvinggamer: It's definitely a lot more difficult with weaker gear or if you try to use only vehicles (it is possible). As far as bosses go I think it's probably the second best mech boss in the main series next to the Shagohod, but all the mech bosses other than Shagohod suck. The bosses in this game in general aren't very good thus far (except for Quiet and the Skulls Snipers) so I don't think it's much of a stretch to praise this boss fight for being slightly above average and visually impressive.

    To give you an idea I think MGS4 is inferior to V in every other way but the bosses are still way better in MGS4, even if you give them a billion minus points for the "beauty" sections of the fights or Drebin's 5 hour discussions of dry backstory.

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    Shindig

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    I eventually figured things out with a 'one in the chamber' mentality. When it's down to the last dregs of health and Mantis shows up, I made sure I had Grenade Launcher ammo at hand to stun Metal Gear. Still a nightmare of about 7 attempts to get things done, mind. It tried my patience as it brought back my big issue with Peace Walker's marathon boss fights.

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    rccola

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    Man, I liked this fight intially, but for some reason I had a lot of trouble beating it. I ended up quitting out to the ACC and farming for a while to unlock more gear. That made the first part of the fight easier, but I'd always mess up during the railgun bit. So after about 4 hours of replaying one fight I gave up and opened Cheat engine.

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    Dave_Tacitus

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    It took me a few attempts before I figured out about shooting the weird ginger kid (and before that, backing out and actually developing some useful heavy weaponry) but, as people have said, the opening and closing cutscenes really made the whole thing memorable.

    My first attempt had Quiet bale on me in a huff so I went in solo.

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    kasaioni

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    @rccola: You have to hide behind something when he's using the rail gun; there's no way to avoid it.

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    tangdelospooties

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    The problem with this mission isn’t the boss itself because the boss is not challenging whatsoever. The problem with this mission is fucking Pequod keeps calling itself in and getting killed, which is after a bunch of fire missions call themselves which costs me GMP so by the time pequod comes in and inevitably is destroyed, the cost of the artillery strikes that I didn’t ask for plus pequod’s dumb ass being shot down puts me in the red, forcing me to go back to the checkpoint even though i have the boss near death. Whenever i hear pequod coming I desperately open my droid and spam ‘dismiss helicopter’ but to no avail. He will not fuck off. All he does is cost me GMP and time. And that, friends, is the worst part of this stupid mans otherwise not challenging whatsoever mission.

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    Shindig

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    You should upgrade your helicopter's armour.

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