Metal Gear Solid 4!!!!!

[clint g]

Just got there. I thought the ending was kind of cute as well... sort of like the start of Act 4. It all ends up being one long interactive cutscene though, still, it was kind of neat.

Spoiler: MGS4

At the end, one grave is for Big Boss... but who is the second grave for?

The second grave is for

Spoiler: MGS4 and MGS3

The Boss, Big Boss's friend and mentor whom he was sent to kill in MGS3. All the trouble in the MGS world is because people are trying to carry out her ideals, but are failing to do so

The whole thing about snake saluting in the very beginning of MGS4 is an homage to a very emotional scene involving the above character in MGS3

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, that makes sense now.
Also, yay hopeful ending!

 

[Dreadnoughty]

I got the game a day early here in England, play.com posted it on the Tuesday and amazingly it arrived the next day. Fastest play.com delivery ever!

I have been working and also had things to do but I've just started Act 4. Very impressed witht he visuals, amazing how all of it is in-game graphics. The cut-scenes and visuals (except for sunnys eggs) are not FMV's? Class! Gameplays good....I feel I'm going through the game too fast, I dont want it to end! haha

Oh and also... not tried MG:O yet, has anyone else? Should be fun!

 

[firehawk12]

MG:O doesn't seem to have changed at all from the beta. The matchmaking is still a pain and you still need to register a Konami ID.
That said, it's kind of cool that it has keyboard support. I don't know if anyone uses it, but it's there.

 

[rType]

I haven't been able to spend much time on the game recently, am just starting Act 5 now. For those that have finished the game, is there a theatre mode available after completion?

I got a chuckle out of the optional codec from Otacon during

Spoiler: MGS4 Act 4

the (awesome) REX vs. RAY fight:
Roughly:
Otacon: I should be able to reroute the primary CPU and memory busses for increased parallel processing performance, that should give us a significant boost in throughput.
Snake: I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good.

 

[firehawk12]

Sadly, there's no theatre mode... which makes absolutely no sense considering all the movies in the game.

 

[rType]

^ Maybe it'll come in the Integral/Substance/Subsistence version for PC/PS3/X360 at a later date.

I wish the game had ended

Spoiler: MGS4

with Snake actually killing himself in the graveyard. The final expository half-hour sapped all of the emotional high granted through the cutscenes/gameplay preceeding it, and the "feel good" ending for Snake was totally at odds with the tone of the rest of the game. That stuff should've been left for Sunny/Raiden/Meryl. It might work as a conclusion to the Metal Gear saga, but not for MGS4 alone.

Titles awarded upon completion:
Inchworm: Title awarded to sneaky soldiers who constantly crawled on the ground.
Giant Panda: Title awarded to leisurely soldiers who spent a prolonged amount of time completing their mission.
Scorpion: Title awarded to expert soldiers who neutralised a small number of enemies, were rarely spotted, and died only a few times.

 

[Tomato]

I love the fact I don't even need to buy the game to watch it! Go youtube!

 

[firehawk12]

^ Maybe it'll come in the Integral/Substance/Subsistence version for PC/PS3/X360 at a later date.

I wish the game had ended

Spoiler: MGS4

with Snake actually killing himself in the graveyard. The final expository half-hour sapped all of the emotional high granted through the cutscenes/gameplay preceeding it, and the "feel good" ending for Snake was totally at odds with the tone of the rest of the game. That stuff should've been left for Sunny/Raiden/Meryl. It might work as a conclusion to the Metal Gear saga, but not for MGS4 alone.

Subtegral!

Spoiler: MGS4

That last dum dum duummmm ending was too much. You had the exposition, again, and it basically gives him a few extra months for absolutely no reason. My feeling was that the ending was meant to neatly tie up the MGS3 storyline more than anything else. But giving Solid three months to live, then yet another three months to live... yack.

 

[clint g]

^ Maybe it'll come in the Integral/Substance/Subsistence version for PC/PS3/X360 at a later date.

I wish the game had ended

Spoiler: MGS4

with Snake actually killing himself in the graveyard. The final expository half-hour sapped all of the emotional high granted through the cutscenes/gameplay preceeding it, and the "feel good" ending for Snake was totally at odds with the tone of the rest of the game. That stuff should've been left for Sunny/Raiden/Meryl. It might work as a conclusion to the Metal Gear saga, but not for MGS4 alone.

Subtegral!

Spoiler: MGS4

That last dum dum duummmm ending was too much. You had the exposition, again, and it basically gives him a few extra months for absolutely no reason. My feeling was that the ending was meant to neatly tie up the MGS3 storyline more than anything else. But giving Solid three months to live, then yet another three months to live... yack.

The ironic thing is that

Spoiler: mgs

Out of all the MGS games, MGS3 had the cleanest, tidiest storyline and ending. It really didn't need any more explanation. I was surprised that MGS3 played such a large role in MGS4s story at all.

Like I said earlier though, at least it made sense out of MGS2 lol

 

[Dreadnoughty]

Yeh I finished it the other night....... hell of a long ending but I enjoyed it more-or less. Think I'll start playing MG:O now, anyone else play it much? I played the beta and havea konami ID already so at least that should save a little time.

Was anyone else really impressed with the graphics in-game? I certainly was.

 

[firehawk12]

MGO feels almost the same as before, for better or worse. Everyone just needs to copy CoD4 matchmaking and leave it be.

And yes, MGS2 does finally make sense.

 

[firehawk12]

Don't want to pimp myself too much, but I wrote half a review here:
http://scholarlygamer.blogspot.com/
Given that there are a couple of MGS fans here, I'd just like to get your opinion on how I feel about the cutscenes, since it's the big part of not only the game, but of the series.

 

[clint g]

Its a good review. I sort of agree on the whole cutscene thing. What makes the issue even more interesting is that Kojima has gone on record as saying that Japanese developers need to be more in tune with western gaming and has even adapted some western gaming conventions to MGS4 (the entire camera control system is essentialy taken from Splinter Cell). Despite this, he still gets hooked up on his cutscenes. I suppose its because he's still an aspiring movie director at heart.

I guess alot of the problem is that the franchise got so wraped up in its own mythology that it needed tons of cutscenes to sort it out. For what it's worth, i think the best way to have cut down on the cutscenes would be to both edit the dialogue down and to have used something like the crosscom from Ghost Recon. That way snake could be briefed while actualy conducting the mission, thus not taking you out of the game. The same could have been done for CODEC conversations.

 

[rType]

I don't mind the length or number of the cutscenes, or the decision to have them sustain most of the plot/character work, however I do mind the clumsy editing, the same points are regurgitated over and over again. For the most part I found them engaging enough, assisted by the phenomenal production values, and it wasn't often that I found myself impatient to advance to the next gameplay sequence. Whilst some of the cutscenes could be implemented as playable sequences - most notably Raiden's demolition of the Gekkos/Irvings in Act 2 - many of them couldn't, at least not without sacrificing the subtle touches. It's not the design that's the problem, it's the execution.

Spoiler: MGS4's conclusion

I'd also like to underscore again how bitterly disappointed I was with the ending. From the first act it was clear that Snake was a dead man, that he had nothing left to offer the world, or the world to offer him, past this final mission. Having Snake commit suicide to prevent himself from becoming a biological weapon would've been the perfect closure for both the character and the game, and Kojima walked right up to that line and then spat on it in favour of some fanwank exposition that ties together the Metal Gear saga whilst sacrificing any sense that the journey was actually worthwhile. An off-screen death some arbitrary date in the future is no death at all.

Fortunately, after reading what must be several dozen reviews of the game by now, I've found someone who shares my feelings towards that conclusion in a more articulate manner: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/games/metalgearsolid4.ars/1

 

[Garrett]

So, what's the percentage of time you're spending watching as opposed to playing, would you say? I've been curious to check out MGS4, but my tastes are far too western in the last several years, I guess. I managed to play through about 10 hours of Final Fantasy X awhile back before getting sick of how much watching I was doing. Cutscenes are all right in small quantities, but I prefer more interactive methods of storytelling. The worst is when I feel like the developers are merely giving me the privilege of controlling their character for brief moments in between scripted sequences and cut scenes.

Anyway, I'm curious about the game, but I'll probably just skip it altogether if there's a lot watching to be done. Especially with the style of action and what not I've seen of the cut scenes in the previous games. (I've only played MGS:TS on the Game Cube and the first couple of hours of MGS2 on the Xbox).

 

[rType]

So, what's the percentage of time you're spending watching as opposed to playing, would you say?

I imagine that depends on how you approach the game. If you go for a run-and-gun approach at a lower difficulty setting it's probably around 50%. A slower, stealthier, approach (which I find far more interesting) will yield longer gameplay sequences and thus lower proportional cutscene content. Either way, there are many cutscenes of considerable length and it's by no means a lengthy game overall, I clocked up some 50hrs but only because I accidentally left the PS3 on for 24hrs or so, the pitfalls of a near-silent console.

 

[firehawk12]

Oh yeah. I think Edge or Eurogamer called the ending self-indulgent as well, but didn't go into specific because people don't do such things in reviews.
Playing it again, I wish there was a fast forward button... you either skip the whole cutscene or you sit through it. Geez.

Also, I would say it's 50/50. Although, I think you can have a lot more fun in Act 1 and 2 with just going around and killing the infinite spawn enemies all ninja style. I finally figured out CQC and the holdups, since the manual doesn't explain it all that well, so it's getting fun. You could probably spend hours there just fooling around... not so much in Act 3 to 5 though.

I'm going to write up something on the BB Corp/FROGS and the representation of the women in the game at some point. Of course, the standout thing is the fact that Naomi is braless and likes having her shirt unbuttoned. The gratuitous shots of her cleavage can be explained away by saying that they're showing you the USB key necklace, but even then...

 

[rType]

Playing it again, I wish there was a fast forward button... you either skip the whole cutscene or you sit through it. Geez.

That's part & parcel of the whole "in-engine" thing, isn't it? Aren't there technical issues involved in having real-time 3D engines run in reverse and such?

I finally figured out CQC and the holdups, since the manual doesn't explain it all that well, so it's getting fun. You could probably spend hours there just fooling around... not so much in Act 3 to 5 though.

Not a CQC fan myself. I prefer avoiding enemies, tranquilising them, or sniping them.

The gratuitous shots of her cleavage can be explained away by saying that they're showing you the USB key necklace, but even then..

I'm not sure how you can explain this: Laughing Beauty Photoshoot

In fact, I have no idea what's going on there. Where do you get that camera from anyway?

 

[firehawk12]

I dunno. Maybe they could add chapter stops or maybe there's some way to just speed up the animation, ala the Halo 3 movie player.

I don't do CQC often, because tranq ammo is easy to get, but it's useful once in a while.

As for the camera, it's available during the briefings. Get it during the Act 4 briefings, behind Sunny's computer using the Mark II.
And really, the Beauties are strange... I imagine they were made that way to show the contrast, but, still, it's kind of awkward. It puts off that "men made this" vibe.