Metal Gear Scanlon: V - Part 03

@Mike: about as many as it takes him to realize that he's super easy to spot while standing straight up during the day while exploring bases

15 minutes in: The Afghanistan map is based on one of Jordan, oddly enough. Not that different from each other in the region chosen, the same way the landscape of Sweden quickly reminds Canadian visitors of home.

Three in-game "phantom" mentions so far, one an episode.

What's the policy on giving them hints? @danryckert said you can't "Assassin's Creed" dudes off towers when you totally can.

Also, I feel Drew's theory on stuff like interrogations is going to bite him in the ass if he doesn't learn it. He said that he assumes it would be a "dice roll" which a) I don't really understand what he means by that, and b) it's another example of him making an assumption without actually prodding the system to see its limitations. He has a compulsive desire to Fulton (which is admirable and probably stems from patting down every guard for ammo), but it would be wise to combine business with pleasure: my efficient strategy has been to stun a guy, kick and interrogate him on the ground, then kick him again to stun him so that he doesn't attract attention when he's Fultoned.

Also, bullet drop occurs after a weapon's effective range. I think that came up during Episode 2, Drew firing too far and not getting headshots.

Nice Shaolin Style reference.

Man... Camo was like the very first thing I researched. Desert camo in the desert! No wonder Giant Bomb staff found the daytime stealth so hard.

God dammit Dan.

@ch3burashka: hints are fine, just no story spoilers.

Instead of a Kojima tracker, someone should keep track of how many times Dan mentions how much he has played this game and how many hours he has put into it. Should be a close number to the Kojima credits by the end of this series.

@danryckert You actually can "Assassin's Creed" guards in towers while on the ladder. It's great.

@nigthguy: we should track that and how many times he gives drew bad/wrong advice.

I really wish Dan would just let drew play instead of saying how he played and that drew should too...

@heaveninblack said:

Also, instead of hitting the guy to wake him up, then grabbing him, Drew could have much more easily held him up by pointing his gun at him after hitting him awake. You can then interrogate them or tell them not to move without even having to grab them. They won't move until someone else spots them or an alert goes off. It's useful for taking guys out quickly without fuss.

@dozeworthy: I pretty much did the same thing as Dan - sneaking suit the entire game. The silent footsteps is just an insane advantage. I never had too much trouble getting around during the day. You just have to take your time to scope everyone out and approach from an angle.

@nigthguy: No kidding

Oh boy! I'm currently in the midst of the vast expanses of The Witcher 3, after which V will come to with Dan and Drew!

Judging from the current rate (1% per episode) We'll have 100 videos of Metal Gear Scanlon V.

Good.

Try using iron sights with the tranquilizer pistol, makes it more reliable in terms of accuracy. Also, play during the night! D:

Can't wait or more!

@greywolf_lexx: It's really hard to say. In my game, it wasn't uncommon for me to go 15 or 20 hours without increasing the percentage complete at all. It just depends on how much side stuff Drew wants to do, and how hard he hits the main story missions. This game can take anywhere from 35-40 hours all the way to the other end of the scale and take 150+ hours.

I really hope Dan doesn't encourage Drew to go during the daytime every time just because that's what he did, night time is way better.

-Drew- when you have an enemy on the ground, you can wake them up by kicking him, then up by pointing your gun at them. Then, hold LB and it will bring up the option to interrogate him, instead of having to wait to grab him and hold him. You can also do this for guys you hold up who are standing, and you can even order them to lay on the ground so their comrades don't see them acting strangely.

-You can change guns mid-Reflex mode. Don't forget about first person either. It's still your best friend for precision.

-Don't apologize for "boring stuff"- it's your playthrough! Play it like how you would if none of us were there. Listen to cassette tapes, mess with your load-out, even free-roam. Just do whatever you feel like doing. A few "tape only" or "Tips and Tricks viewing" episodes would be fine by us. You really should listen to the tapes though, and relatively quickly to when you aquired them.

Love the series guys, keep it up. Except for Drew killing the Kojima tracker. COLD BLOODED.

Lol from the beginning of the episode, it feels like Dan is playing the game more than Drew is. Let Drew figure this stuff out by himself!

How has Dan played this game for 90+ hours and didn't know you can throw guys off lookout towers from the ladder?

@darkwolfdemon: Idk man, Drew is already surgical with that tranq pistol in third person.

Hey @danryckert, a quick note about the "kick guys to wake them up" move. There is no need to wait for them to stand up in order to grab them. Just point a gun at them after you kick them and you'll trigger a "hold up" while they are still on the ground. You can still hit L1/LB while they are in this state to interrogate them. This will be a lot faster and, in general, a lot safer than sitting around waiting for their animations to play out. :)

Loving the series so far! Watching while playing which is VERY confusing in the headphones :P Some tips:

- Sneaking suit at night, camo during the day. If you wear camo you need to walk slowly once close to enemies (like < 10ft) if sneaking up to them. For Drew's tranq-happy style, camo will almost certainly serve him better.

- The reticle is red when an enemy is under it and within the weapon's effective range, this is why the tranq pistol felt inaccurate when shooting dudes too far away. You can account for bullet drop but getting closer is way cleaner for headshots.

- The crack icons and other icons on the map come later once you get a team for that sort of thing.

- You can totally play lethally if you like. When you kill people instead of fultoning them, you get volunteers at the end of missions to add to the ranks. You definitely get more recruits using the fulton, but don't feel tied to any particular playstyle over it. The game is pretty open and there's a hell of a lot of it coming, so getting comfy is probably wise lol.

Hey, Dan. You should tell Drew about holding people up by walking behind them with a gun drawn. You can ask them questions, and tell them to lie down. Lieing down is permanent unless they're found, or the abse goes on Full Alert. Also, if you kick a sleeping or stunned guy to nudge them awake, you can point a gun at them and interogate that way.

@Mike:Also, how many times is Drew going to alert all nearby guards by doing the CQC slam Dan seems to love so much?

@drewbert Don't you think you should either play for longer or play more frequently? I know the schedule doesn't allow for it all the time.

I think you should hit hard and often here in the beginning. 2-hour-long videos 3 days a week, for at least 2 or 3 consecutive weeks. Once the mechanics finally start to sink in a little, you could move to 1-hour-long sessions 2 days a week for busy weeks.

@unastrike I'm just worried that Drew will still be asking how to call D-Horse on the 23rd Mission. I know this is a classic Metal Gear Scanlon complaint, but now it's more relevant than ever. ... Jason, fix it.

I mostly tranq/fulton people to get them out of the way... recruits just as a bonus.

gotta hide a body somewhere half the time, fultoning solves that issue neatly.

no worries about them waking up either.

D-Bear DLC please!!!

"Can I not carry both?"

"I believe that is the case."

WRONG.

@drewbert@danryckert

The weapon on your back (the right primary slot) can be a Sniper Rifle, Machine Gun, a Launcher, or a Shield. For the left primary slot, the choices are Assault Rifle, Shotgun, or Grenade Launcher.

How is he wrong? I'd love to know how to carry both an assault rifle and a shotgun at the same time.

This will be the endurance run of all endurance runs

@drewbert@danryckert

Never really did this for MGScanlon before, so I'll try not to be completely obnoxious in offering advice here. I know it can get to be a little much in these comments sometimes.

As much as Dan loves his sneaking suits (and I do too), they can be a liability in certain situations, such as when you are in broad daylight against lighter surfaces such as the rocks and sand in Afghanistan. Sneaking suits are only objectively better in terms of noise production and visual concealment at night. They provide an adequate amount of concealment at night, but, during the day, camo is way more effective at keeping you hidden, visually --- it's one of the rare cases in Metal Gear where applying common sense and real-world logic will yield positive results.

You just need to remember that, while not wearing a sneaking suit, you have to actually sneak at your enemies slowly rather than Ryckert Running into a CQC slam that will alert every enemy in the base. When he tries to be stealthy, Drew seems to just tranq everyone anyway, so this actually isn't nearly the issue that Dan is making it out be.

Don't just do every mission during the day. It's super hard when you start out and are just getting the hang of the stealth systems.

You can totally get shotguns with suppressors later on, if you still want to merc guys in true Metal Gear Scanlon fashion without sacrificing a silenced weapon for those rare occasions when you are not tossing grenades like rice at a wedding.

Excellent episode as always! Oh, by the way, @danryckert, not sure if it's mentioned elsewhere, but that GameCube game, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, was developed by Radical Entertainment, the folks who made Prototype. It's pretty startling how similar the two games' gameplay is as a result.

@Mike: What kind of sneaking amateur sneaks around during daytime!

Drew seems like he'd be better off with camo than using the sneaking suit. The sneaking suit is pretty good at night since it blends in with the darkness, but if you're ever doing a mission during the day guys can spot you from like twice the range they could if you had on proper camo. And Drew isn't doing a ton of CQC so being able to walk right behind a guy isn't doing him much good.

Huh you learn something every day! I played like a hundred hours of this and never once used that "Return to ACC" option from the menu. Seems like it would have saved me a bunch of time.

another great ep of jason watches dan play drew play snake scanlon

This is so frustrating.

Basically the comments say you should play however you want, not so much being influenced by Dan.

@drewbert

@galacticpunt: thank you! Was hopeing someone made that :D

Well Dan, should have told him to do the Translator sideops.

Well, for all extents and purposes having an underbarrel shotgun or grenade launcher for your assault rifle serves the same purposes.

You can mash the unlock door button to make it go a bit faster.

Slamming a soda first thing in the morning is like the best thing ever. Burns out all that sleep gunk.

Also I almost never used the sneaking suit. Pretty much stuck to camo based on where I was going. Some times used the sneaking suit on my lady soldier cause its got a lil more curvyness to it.

"I don't need to reload." And without iron sights. Damn, son.

The Mother Base soldier names are starting to sound less like MGS names and more like Mega Man X boss names.

I've 100%ed the game, S ranks on everything, all side ops, all achievements, etc, I wore the sneaking suit for everything besides combat heavy missions. Stealth was never, ever, even SLIGHTLY an issue. Once you figure out how the guards work (Which happened looooong before my 100%.) you're pretty much fine.

The biggest benefit of the stealth suit is the quieted footsteps, which is vastly more important than camo, as you can sneak up and take out guys much quicker. Actual camo is hardly relevant unless you're really bad at pattern recognition.

Oh, and this was a playthrough without reflex, too, since I found it way too generous in Ground Zeroes. It's not that I'm some tactical genius (Maybe a tactical okayius?) it's that the guards are all very predictable.