Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[ERYFKRAD]

Well that's them missions done. Now for the last few codenames and animals. This part oughta be more fun than the rest.

 

[cvv]

The mission where you battle Man of Fire was cancer. I was runnig around like a retard trying to figure out where to go while MoF pummeling me with fireballs and Pequod yelling at me to get to the chopper. At one point I yelled back "but where you dumbfuck, the tunnel has caved!!1".

I did figure out to make MoF hit the water towers but I didn't know what to do next. I tried to extract him while he was stunned but his weirdo buddy wasn't having it. Then both towers were down and I was fucked.

It took me like 15 minutes to realize I can actually call the chopper into the middle of the fucking boss arena

 

[Blaine]

One of the most annoying things about this game is that the helicopter upgrades are far too expensive, especially considering that calling in the helicopter is almost always counterproductive to getting a good rank (and frankly, too much trouble when you can just do something else faster).

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

It's good to have the at first glance useless water gun in that Man on Fire fight too.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

One of the most annoying things about this game is that the helicopter upgrades are far too expensive, especially considering that calling in the helicopter is almost always counterproductive to getting a good rank (and frankly, too much trouble when you can just do something else faster).

It's all worth it when you can request air support with the helicopter equipped with speakers playing this

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

I don't remember the helicopter upgrades being particularly costly at all. The expensive upgrades all ended up being shit they added months after release.

Since you can use parts of upgrades on other weapons there's a few things you can save money on by buying something cheap and using it's attachments on the things you actually want to use them on.

 

[Blaine]

I don't remember the helicopter upgrades being particularly costly at all. The expensive upgrades all ended up being shit they added months after release.

Oh, they are. You end up paying thousands or even tens of thousands of GMP for a simple extraction, whether or not the armaments are actually used.

Even after I had absolutely all of the offline-intended equipment and some of the online-intended equipment (meant for FOB warfare, cost absurd amounts of GMP) researched and had tons of GMP coming in from raiding FOBs, I still didn't want to use the helicopter with its upgrades.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You end up paying thousands or even tens of thousands of GMP

That's not much compared to the GMP you end up with.

 

[cvv]

So I've unlocked FOBs and now there's an event "Bound Dragon". I choose the Easy diff. first.

The platform is swarming with fucking walking tanks - fully armored guards I can't even hurt. If they discover me it's game over. The most I've managed is to sprint over to one of the stationary machine guns. It took a full clip to kill one guard. The others then promptly raepd' me.

I mean, what the fuck? Is sneaking and manually choking them the only way to deal with them? That doesn't seem very viable since they're constantly milling around and patrolling and covering each other's angles, especially near the core. I guess I can try sleeping or stunning grenades but then all hell breaks lose and I'm fucked anyway.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Even if all hell breaks loose, you can make it up by running to that core zone and staying put. They'll eventually call the search off.
Unless you are doing the medical platform, then you better dig in.

 

[cvv]

The events with the invulnerable soldiers are super hard while the standard FOB raids are retardedly easy. Many FOBs are totally unguarded (I guess a lot of ppl don't play the game anymore) so you can just run up to the core in like 30 secs and collect hundreds of Ks of credits, thousands of materials and even many A+ volunteers. Now I like easy money as much as anyone else but this is a bit over the top. It renders collecting plants and fultoning people or containers during normal missions totally pointless.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

So is this game cool? Should I play it? I've read a bit and watched gameplays of MGS3 Snake Eater, and the game looked cool, but the setting and logic seems very weird, and I have the impression there is no point playing it without reading all of Wikipedia synapsis as the story twists and turns 124128483 times.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So is this game cool? Should I play it? I've read a bit and watched gameplays of MGS3 Snake Eater, and the game looked cool, but the setting and logic seems very weird, and I have the impression there is no point playing it without reading all of Wikipedia synapsis as the story twists and turns 124128483 times.

Nix to the story, you don't need it. Game itself is fun.

 

[cvv]

So is this game cool? Should I play it? I've read a bit and watched gameplays of MGS3 Snake Eater, and the game looked cool, but the setting and logic seems very weird, and I have the impression there is no point playing it without reading all of Wikipedia synapsis as the story twists and turns 124128483 times.

Was afraid of that too. Grab the Definitive Experience edition with the Ground Zeroes prequel which must've been a hilarious money scam when it first came out but now you basically get it for free so it's ok. It's just a few missions but you also get a handy overview of the past events.

To be honest the story of the MSG series seems p. retarded, just like with 95% of all videogames. You probably wouldn't even need the overview. During the main Phantom Pain campaign you'll lose track of who's who and what the fuck is happening super fast anyway. The mission-to-mission lore is just garbled nonsense and the overall plot looks like something from a bad comic book which sticks out like a sore thumb in this generally realistic, serious looking game.

But none of that matters because the core gameplay is fucking phenomenal. I'm 60 hours in and I'm only halfway through, unlocking only a fraction of all the weapons, toys and other gizmos. AND there's the whole FOB raiding AND a whole separate multiplayer mode. The amount of content in this game is astounding and most of it is very high quality. Sometimes I imagine the Japs must look at the Western AAA publishers and their shabby, emaciated, MTX ridden turds wrapped in shiney tinfoil with amusement and disgust.

 

[cvv]

Btw after my MSG5 hard-on I'm not sure whether to look forward to Death Stranding. As a gameplay designer Kojima is fucking brilliant but my dead budgie could tell more interesting (and coherent) stories than him. And if DS is going to be heavy on the story and lore and thin on the gampelay, like it seems from the trailers....well everything's gonna be clear p. soon I guess.

 

[Average Manatee]

So I've unlocked FOBs and now there's an event "Bound Dragon". I choose the Easy diff. first.

The platform is swarming with fucking walking tanks - fully armored guards I can't even hurt. If they discover me it's game over. The most I've managed is to sprint over to one of the stationary machine guns. It took a full clip to kill one guard. The others then promptly raepd' me.

I mean, what the fuck? Is sneaking and manually choking them the only way to deal with them? That doesn't seem very viable since they're constantly milling around and patrolling and covering each other's angles, especially near the core. I guess I can try sleeping or stunning grenades but then all hell breaks lose and I'm fucked anyway.

I think the events are intended to be essentially post-game content (i.e. only fightable with highly upgraded weapons). FOBs in general are complete ass to stealth due to the ridiculous architecture. You do get a boatload of resources though.

The events with the invulnerable soldiers are super hard while the standard FOB raids are retardedly easy. Many FOBs are totally unguarded (I guess a lot of ppl don't play the game anymore) so you can just run up to the core in like 30 secs and collect hundreds of Ks of credits, thousands of materials and even many A+ volunteers. Now I like easy money as much as anyone else but this is a bit over the top. It renders collecting plants and fultoning people or containers during normal missions totally pointless.

There's some kind of balancing system, you'll eventually upgrade to seeing 90% players with 4 platforms and 75 soldiers to fight through (and everyone eventually puts in only E-skill soldiers cause they don't want you fultoning them away, meaning you get no real rewards unless finishing all 4 platforms). On top of that your rank multiplier or w/e lowers over time till you only get half of normal resources. Its still possible to reset the invasion targets till you get a nice 1/4 support platform that you can just toss a few smoke grenades and walk in the basement in under 2 mins, but gets increasingly tedious.

 

[ultimanecat]

So I've unlocked FOBs and now there's an event "Bound Dragon". I choose the Easy diff. first.

The platform is swarming with fucking walking tanks - fully armored guards I can't even hurt. If they discover me it's game over. The most I've managed is to sprint over to one of the stationary machine guns. It took a full clip to kill one guard. The others then promptly raepd' me.

I mean, what the fuck? Is sneaking and manually choking them the only way to deal with them? That doesn't seem very viable since they're constantly milling around and patrolling and covering each other's angles, especially near the core. I guess I can try sleeping or stunning grenades but then all hell breaks lose and I'm fucked anyway.

I’ve done the normal and easy versions of the event FOB several times now, and I’m nowhere near endgame. But you do need to use stealth. Some tips:

-These event soldiers are blind (at least on normal and easy) and they don’t use night vision. With appropriate camo and crawling, you can get very close to them. In full stealth prone (pressing action after staying still on the ground for a second) they can literally pass within a couple meters of you, even during the day. You do get a reward bonus for a day invasion, but nighttime makes them even blinder. With appropriate camo and crawling, even when an enemy spots you, you generally have time to crawl away and break sight. The important thing is that you’re not identified until you’ve reached the final platform if at all, because alerted enemies are much more aware of their surroundings and much less forgiving.
-You can’t fight enemies straight up, but they fall for all the same tricks even with the armor. Lure them in to a corner and knock them out. Place sleep mines and/or decoys. Once you get to the last platform, don’t be afraid to pop a smoke grenade or two to cover yourself and find a place to wait out any alert.
-The platforms get busier the further in you go. If you plan on extracting soldiers, you should do it early before it becomes too hard to do it without somebody noticing. That being said, sneaking across the deck of all platforms is possible without taking out a single guard - some of them you can just crawl along the outside fence once you pass the one or two guys who check the connector, others have covered areas you can crawl through. Keep in mind that while guards generally patrol the entrance to a platform, they don’t really patrol the exits, so if you can get across the first 2/3 of a deck, it’s usually clear sailing from there. Even if you’re spotted at that point, you can usually keep crawling on to the bridge connector and chill there while the guard loses interest.
-If you shoot a UAV over water, more likely than not nobody will notice it exploding. Bring a silenced rifle and scope for that, if nothing else.
-Ignore any material containers. They’re just not worth the trouble.
-It should go without saying, but learn where the different cores are and the best ways to get to them.
-You get a bonus for every platform you make it to. If you can make it to the last platform on normal, you’re guaranteed to come out well ahead on GMP even after paying your ransom. You’ll lose standing on the rankings board but honestly who cares.

If stealth isn’t your style, then this all may sound tedious, because at the end of the day it’s lots of marking, waiting, and crawling around, and a maybe a little bit of punching or choking guys out. I’d recommend at least doing it once, though, because between event rewards, mission rewards, and challenge rewards, you’re looking at millions of GMP and some decent personnel. Then if you hate it, never do it again.

 

[cvv]

I like the raids a lot so far (not bored of them yet) and I've even figured out throwing a sleep grenade doesn't actually trigger an alarm. The lesson is never assume anything, always try shit out.

There are only two problems - if the mission end is on the highest floor you can't just crawl to it or cheese it with a smoke grenade since stairs can't be crawled on, you have to crouch and you WILL get spotted. And second - It took me like 20 minutes to finish my last event raid and I got about the same reward as a raid on an unguarded FOB that can be completed in 30 seconds. Seems like a fun optional challenge but not much more. Or rather unguarded FOBs should either not be in the game or not give you any reward.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Have you developed the non lethal suppressed shotgun though? Used right it's more useful in FOBs than rifles and other such.
Pretty funny to shoot fuckers from a distance and have them bitch to CP about snipers.

 

[ultimanecat]

There are two benefits to the event FOBs: you’ll never risk retaliation (although succeeding will raise your ranking which theoretically could make you more of a target) and you earn event points. The first thing may or may not be important, but with the event points you can straight up buy large numbers of high rank personnel, among other FOB-related things.

 

[Perkel]

All this talk of Death Stranding made me think about TPP.

I haven't finished the game the first time around and I'm thinking about replaying it. Are there any mods that succefully fix the utterly fucked gameplay loop of tranq gun entire base -> fullton entire base and bring some semblance of balance to the entire thing?

Answer is naturally Infinite HEaven mod. Increase cone of view to 200% and life to 20% and you will shit your pants when whole base just called alarm because you fultoned someone. I think IW also has an option to give you random soldiers every "tick" so that you can skip fultoning entirely.

I wish FOB was made in vein of Peace Walker. IT was much more fun there and more interesting.

So is this game cool? Should I play it? I've read a bit and watched gameplays of MGS3 Snake Eater, and the game looked cool, but the setting and logic seems very weird, and I have the impression there is no point playing it without reading all of Wikipedia synapsis as the story twists and turns 124128483 times.

Story is shit. Gameplay is great and with Infinite Heaven mod gameplay is god tier and best stealth action game ever.

 

[cvv]

There are two benefits to the event FOBs: you’ll never risk retaliation

How do retaliations work anyway? I just infiltrated some Russian guy's unguarded base, mindlessly ran up to the highest level....and then press "E" for some reason, jumped over the rails, fell down three floors and killed myself dead. Yeah.

So if the Russian dude is still active can he discover it was me who died like a retard in his base and raid my base in return? And if he does then what? When I win a FOB raid I get about 600k credits and thousands of materials. Does the other guy actually loses that some amount? So technically people could keep raiding me and bleed me dry?

 

[cvv]

Answer is naturally Infinite HEaven mod. Increase cone of view to 200% and life to 20%

There are quite a few problems with the stealth mechanics a simple cone of view can't fix. Enemies are blind if you crawl, deaf to sounds that logically should alert them, a running horse in battle gear with one leg hanging out doesn't bother them, they don't see anything particularly interesting about a walking cardboard box and many, many other issues, including the often illogical and inconsistent "No Traces" requirements.

Ideally mobs should see everything you would see, hear everything you'd hear and react to shit like actual people. "Quiet" shouldn't be able to swoosh around them completely unnoticed. Night should be darker than a slightly cloudy day (Thief got that nailed ages ago). Time shouldn't play any role whatsoever in a stealth game. Unguarded FOBs shouldn't give any rewards and rewards for raids in general should be drastically lowered to keep the main game looting and fultoning meaningful. Is there a mod for all that? Thought so.

I wish Kojima gave us a proper sequel with all this shit ironed out instead of whatever pretentious garbage Death Stranding is shaping up to be.

That said I always bitch most about games I love the best. A while ago I wrote up a Chinese wall of complaints about Kingdom Come too so yeah...

 

[ultimanecat]

How do retaliations work anyway? I just infiltrated some Russian guy's unguarded base, mindlessly ran up to the highest level....and then press "E" for some reason, jumped over the rails, fell down three floors and killed myself dead. Yeah.

So if the Russian dude is still active can he discover it was me who died like a retard in his base and raid my base in return? And if he does then what? When I win a FOB raid I get about 600k credits and thousands of materials. Does the other guy actually loses that some amount? So technically people could keep raiding me and bleed me dry?

I limited my time messing around with FOB stuff so there may be things I’m missing, but the general flow is that yes, anything you destroy/take/kill on an enemy FOB is directly deducted from their resources (although not the GMP reward for a success, I believe). Successfully capturing a core also rewards you with 10 of his highest ranked soldiers from that platform whom are not under direct contract. After a patch earlier this year I believe most of your soldiers are technically housed on your FOBs (along with most of your resources) so they’re always at risk if not contracted. I actually also don’t think you can refuse to build an FOB if you play online past the mission where they open up (or at least I got locked in that menu with no way out other than building one) so yeah, Konami are jerks... but if you never do any invading of your own, you usually won’t pop up as a target except to people of similar (low) rank.

Retaliations can occur when you cause an alert and/or kill a guard, steal resources, or destroy equipment (cameras, UAV, etc) on an FOB. If you are not caught in a combat alert and reach the core, or don’t cause any permanent harm before you reach the core, then you cannot be retaliated against. When you open a retaliation wormhole then for a period after, if the rival FOB owner can invade you successfully they get anything you took back plus whatever they win. Alternatively, any player who supports them can also invade you.

 

[sullynathan]

FOB's are the best money getters and are decently challenging on harder difficulties.