davidmerrick

So you need to complete the yellow-marked "Recapure the Port Facilites" combat deployment in order to unlock all of the final missions. The hitch is that you need an APC. I have a tank, but no APC. Where's a good place to get one? Besides Episode 9, where the vehicles are all on the move and it's difficult to Fulton them. The more stationary the better.

Thanks!

My favourite little clue: shortly before he's strangled by Quiet, the Greek doctor wordlessly shows you a pair of photos, both showing a group of people standing in front of a chopper. In one is Big Boss, Miller, Morpho (the pilot) and a fourth soldier, presumably the medic. This photo slightly overlaps the other, very similar photo. One person--the medic--appears to be missing. Kind of the doctor's "get it?"

Man, what a vague way to access those final missions/cutscenes. Do you remember which missions you replayed?

So I'm at the point in my save file where I've completed all of the available post-31 episodes and side ops that aren't harder reruns of earlier missions. Do I need to complete these EXTREME and SUBSISTENCE missions in order to unlock the last couple? Thanks!

What's nice about Phantom Pain re: spoilers is that the whole thing is broken up into discrete, numbered parts. If you're only on episode 8, say, you know you want to avoid any discussion about chapters 9 and further.

With that in mind, holy crap, being pursued by the Psycho Mantis-controlled Metal Gear across open terrain was fantastic, one of my favourite things I've ever done in a video game. It's like they merged the best parts of Alien: Isolation and Pacific Rim. I was scared to look behind me during the chase, even though I wanted to swivel the camera around and soak in the sheer scale of my pursuer and the setpiece. For a brief, thrilling moment I was treated to what it would be like to be a regular old person in a world where mechs exist, and I both don't want to live in that world and really want to live in that world.

So, um, yes, The Phantom Pain is a very good game so far.

Movie Akira is one of the most visually fluid animated films I've had the pleasure of watching, though its plot is confusing as all hell. Nausicaa used to be a contender for my favourite Miyazaki film, but after reading the manga, which is a truly epic work, the movie feels underwhelming now. Will say Akira for movie, Nausicaa for comic.

Like Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze and the other villains who don't appear in Arkham Knight, I figure they either chose not to participate or wisely got the hell out of Dodge.

I wish I knew how to make GIFs, because this could be way better, but Austin and Jeff's shared incredulous glance during the "Mechanical Apartheid" bit of the Deus Ex presentation was amazing.

Man if this is the reaction to Austin waxing about post-apocalyptic fiction, I dread how people are going to respond when he brings up racial issues in games and other things that actually matter.

Good on you, Austin. You've been working, what, three days and you feel like you've been at Giant Bomb a long time. :)

Also here's an essay he wrote on abuse in Gone Home. It's super good and now I'm going back through all of his stuff.