Metal Gear Solid V Review

This is just a quick video to give my general thoughts of the game. I have the other video I was actually working on before MGSV came out that I should have out in less than a week, and boy is it a lot more appropriate now to do it after MGSV's release.
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My MGSV 100% Montage
• Metal Gear Solid V Pha...
MSGV PS4 True Trophies 100% Club
www.truetrophie...
Mr. Wolfe's MGSV Review
metagearsolid.o...
Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain: A Critical Look and Discussion
• Video
Gameplay/Cutscene Ratio [of Metal Gear games]
mgsforums.com/t...
Kotaku article on cut ending mission
kotaku.com/one-...
Cut Final Mission on KZbin
• SPOILER - Metal Gear S...
Polygon article on themes of MGSV
www.polygon.com...
Gamespot article on Quiet controversy
www.gamespot.co...
Super Bunnyhop video on Konami v Kojima controversy
• Kojima vs. Konami: An ...
gamesradar review of MGSV
www.gamesradar....
And finally, Superbunnyhop's much better review
• Metal Gear Solid V: Di...

[@Lb8068]

The best way to think about this game is definitely as a "Peace Walker 2", and I think it's a pretty good send off for the series and for Kojima. It's as if, after having so many narrative-dense MGS games, Kojima Productions have finally delivered the ultimate stealth gameplay experience people craved after every metal gear release. It's the gameplay peak of the series, but it's definitely also the most derivative MGS. I hate how we have context sensitive buttons now, the maps are big open world wastelands and there are development trees simply because every other game coming out today has them too. Some missions simply don't give you any space to avoid conflict and you have to go run and gun without any other options at your disposal (namely one mission near the very end of the game). It's probably the best game to come out this year but all the cut content and time sink features means it's not the perfect 10/10 people are making it out to be. Also Skull Face is such a shitty bitch-ass villain like holy shit.

[@maxderrat]

Jesus louiseus, man. I thought I was hardcore. xD I would have 100% now if there weren't that G44 glitch. xD Thanks so much for your thoughts.

[@enemybird]

SPOILERS: Waited 8 long years for this game. I avoided every single trailer for the best possible story experience. it started strong with opening sequence and the skulls in the first mission. But for me it was downhill from there. Eli was pissed for no good reason, Quiet should've borrowed a pen. ( why did she stab that guy in the mouth btw?) Huey kept lying. Ocelot wasnt Ocelot and the entire reason venom snake was nessecary didnt make sense. if the whole world wanted big boss dead why was quiet the only one who went after venom snake? though the entire game.

[@Compufighter]

+Enemybird the reason why she stabbed that guy in the neck was because he was the new surgeon you rescue who is carrying the kilkongo virus. quiet was trying to stop the virus before it spread that why she went after his mouth.

[@enemybird]

Paremco pretty sure code talker deduced that the virus came from the kids you rescued during the white mamba mission. There was no spy among your ranks.

[@iWillWakeYouUp]

+Enemybird Ocelot mentions what that guy said. Miller hates Quiet or at least is extremely untrustful, so he says she just wanted to kill the guy just because, but Ocelot interrupts him and says that she could've probably tried to cut his vocal chords out (killing one guy to save a lot of people). Btw that was a good one... yeah she should've borrowed a pen lol. Ocelot WAS Ocelot IMO. For the first time ever, we saw Ocelot the way he really is. Almost no "make-up" or "masks" in the form of some hypnosis, outright lies or some persona or theatric show he always puts on. We saw him as a person. This game humanized Ocelot a great deal for me, and I really enjoyed him when he was on screen. I agree though that I would've liked to see some of his "spark"... you know, he didn't even spin his revolvers a single time in the entire game! Or make a few more silly gestures. Why not have all the major characters on Mother Base? Why not let the player walk up to them (like in the Souls games), press triangle and thusly trigger a few hidden conversations that act as character progression? That would've been neat. I kept on looking for Ocelot but I couldn't find him. Appearantly you can, but there's no conversation or anything.

[@mysteryperson706]

The more I play this game the more I am convinced this is an MGS2 situation, and the themes of phantom pain/revenge/loss are quite cleverly implemented. Not through the story, but in how it makes the fans feel, and in turn how those feelings reflect back onto the game and fill in where the story seems to leave gaps

[@LogosSteve]

That's a bit too optimistic if you ask me. It's not even good at doing that in my opinion.

[@lotheravanti4295]

No one can dispute how the most epic moment in the game is the Quiet scene at the very end and how the lyrics mix so well with the themes.

[@louthegiantcookie]

Let's just say it right now: The fans who whined about long cutscenes and CODEC conversations are not - and have never been - real fans of the series. I played these games for the story, and I haven't played one since MGS4 for precisely that reason.

[@selemanecu]

+louthegiantcookie well I can do one better in fact the critics themselves said it best it's a "Metal Gear" not a "Metal Gear Solid" game back then was Snake such a talker NO he wasn't did we have long dialog and Cutscenes on the MSX both in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake NOPE we could explore the base try things out for ourselves (the most recommended way to play those old games yeah) did we need cutscenes NO gameplay told also the story and after a while you had to think outside the box if you wanted to stay alive

[@louthegiantcookie]

***** Don't tell me you don't love it.

[@Franku40keks]

I know this is an old comment but this is a stupid take. Excuse me for wanting to play a game instead of sitting in front of my screen listening to badly written conversations.

[@ZetsubouNoNnoitra]

Your video sums it up for me! At last someone who got the same opinion as me. The themes of race, revenge, language and child soldier are so downplayed! Skullface was a wasted opportunity and the story didn't add much to the lore with the exception of the ending and few cassette tapes here and there! I'm kinda weirded out about how people says that we shouldn't judge a game based on its story since we were spending 40% of our time hearing and watching it in previous titles!

[@downrightsuperb5690]

This is by far my favorite game in the series. The game design is unparalleled. I know the story is a bit lacking. I think it had a lot of good stuff, but I think that the final Metal Gear game (also being a prequel) having less story is kind of a necessity.

[@angelfire1987]

Great review Steve. Been subscribed since your MGS2 AI analysis so it's always good to see more content from you. I highly agree with everything you said in this. It's really beyond me what's happened. The pain I felt at the disjointed story was only pushed to 10 with the ending. It's fair to say I was in a perpetual down state the first few days after clearing it. I won't put any spoilers here other than referring to what you've already mentioned. I'll try to be as vague as possible. It sucks that we didn't see Big Boss become a demon, but at the same time, he kinda did - I mean, he lets the events of the opening take place, as well allow the "project" to go ahead.. I've always had an inkling too that his main turning point came with the killing of The Boss in MGS3. V has more or less shown that he's been on a downward path ever since and by 1995/9, he'll be even further down the rabbit hole. I hate how it's implied though.. The trailers were blatant lies and the whole misinformation thing isn't even relevant here like it was in MGS2. What I believe the ending revelation represents and what the player feels as a result, as fucking badly executed and out-of-left-field-with-no-build-up as it is, is the phantom pain that Big Boss suffers from as a result of losing The Boss 20 years earlier. We're put into that headspace of losing something we thought was there... I hope this isn't spoilery but thinking of it this way definitely helps to soften the blow a bit, as in we're supposed to be feeling this way. Which still doesn't account for the unfinishedness of the rest of the game though, but hey, "phantom pain" right.

[@LogosSteve]

+angelfire1987 Yeah, I donno, I don't think you can really apologize for any of it. Even the reveal of the secret ending comes out of nowhere like SuperBunnyHop said, and after one of the copy-paste technically filler missions no less. You could easily rewrite things so it was more gradually built up, say Ismael kept in contact with you the whole game or something, maybe impersonated someone else before the reveal. It's never explained how you even get the tape for the secret ending. Everything in the game especially after the first credit roll feels so rushed and padded. Obviously yes it all goes back to The Boss but the fall is supposed to be gradual, it's just a shame we don't see any of it in the game. I'm glad to hear you're a long time subscriber, you're going to really appreciate my next vid then.

[@angelfire1987]

+LogosSteve Awesome! When's it coming out? I also saw you did a Matrix retrospective which I'm a little hesitant to watch seeing as only part 1 is up. Last thing I need now is more phantom pain at missing content.. :P And yep can't deny any of that. Once the lustre of the gameplay and graphics etc fades, the attention then falls onto the pacing and actual substance of the game, which this game has very little of for whatever reason. I thought the opening dozen or so Afghanistan missions were fabulous, and was really looking forward to Africa, but from there the story just dipped so damn hard! I don't want to hear about Wolbachia ever again.. Your ideas are sound though. Seeing more of Ishmael would have been great. It's weird because as you said, it's easy to put all this stuff in that makes the story flow better. I don't even think it's expensive to do so! The biggest question is, how does a master game maker of 28 years put something like this out... I'll watch Bunnyhop's review too. Love that guy. I have a feeling he's also feeling like this.

[@LogosSteve]

Yeah he does a way more thorough review than me and really nails a lot more points too, I agree with pretty much everything he says. Like I said in the vid, I can only think of blaming Konami for sabotaging this game or Kojima for genuinely giving up, it doesn't make much sense to me otherwise. My part 1 is only part 1 because it only covers the first movie but it's pretty complete in that respect, I also recently did a follow up to it too expanding on something I said, you should totally still watch them. My next video which will be on MGS2 I'm almost certain will be out before the end of the month, I already have the script and all the footage, I originally was going to have it out before MGSV anyway but I just couldn't finish it in time.

[@angelfire1987]

I suspect it'll take a while before the mystery is solved if ever. I mean, Kojima and Konami have been thoroughly professional throughout and probably will remain so even after they officially split in December. I'm personally looking to just come to terms with the middle third of the story, where I feel the pacing really goes downhill and the silly parasite shit is introduced, because that's the point I stopped experimenting and savouring the gameplay and instead began to rush a bit. For now though, sans an explanation and for my own peace, I'm just gonna believe that everything in the game is as Kojima intended it to be, and that the "phantom pain" theme stretches all the way throughout. It hurts how much potential this squanders. It's a 9.9/10 game for me that should have been an easy 20/10. But anyhoo. Awesome! I actually love all three Matrix movies (though I probably love the first one and Revolutions the most), so I look forward to checking out part 1. And a video on MGS2 would be swell. I have a feeling you'll be talking about what made that work as a whole, but whatever it is I'm sure I'll be gripped by it.

[@LogosSteve]

You're dead on, it's about the work as a whole. I'll have it out soon.

[@angelfire1987]

Mr Steve! Had a conversation with you just below when this video released 4 years ago. Just going through all your releases since then. The latest MGS1/2 ones are fab as usual. Interested to hear if your thoughts on V have changed since this video. I went back and played it a bunch of times and have really come to appreciate it more over time.

[@LogosSteve]

They have not changed a lot. I have yet to replay it however. Sure there's a lot of bright spots, like I said some aspects of the game design deserve praise and some good writing is there but it's hampered by a largely unfinished story and unfinished game that lacks a consistency of quality the series used to be known for. It will get an in depth video at some point talking about the themes and comparing their execution to previous games in the series.

[@galacticreggie]

You can delete this game from the timeline and it would have no effect whatsoever on the Saga. That's shocking when you consider all of the events that were happening in the mid 1980s - early 1990s in the Metal Gear universe. This was the most disappointing game I have ever played in my life, and I don't care if the gameplay is amazing.

[@makefoxhoundgreatagain842]

And it seems kojima would say to that "yeah, but the whole game is pretty much about venom building up big boss's meme while the real BB is off building up outer heaven"

[@thewhizkid3937]

I thought the game was really good. Maybe I have been a MGS fan since day one and love its theme.

[@EdwardGutierrez90]

I really want a true remaster of the first Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

[@LogosSteve]

There was a fan project for one that was canceled. Cease and desist. Probably never will get one sadly.

[@RepublicTrooper125]

Wow Bro This shows that I am just a B player. You sir are worthy of Codename Fox. Congrats on beating the game 100%

[@LogosSteve]

+Gabriel Laureles-Arias lol Thanks, I used to do this like, regularly for all major releases. At best I was 2nd in the world to 100% Gears of War 3 but unless a game is called Metal Gear (or maybe Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy), I don't really feel the urge to 100% them right out of the gate anymore.

[@solidv2]

Great commentary , I agree with must stuff~

[@paiovezam8533]

Idk i really like the codec calls

[@shredisodes2541]

a lotofpeople i think are more confused about this game than disappointed or dont have understanding of whats going on. heres a lot to think about a lot of details its mysterious and not straight forward i think its very smart

[@mxskmg4]

Somebody please explain to me how this gameplay is good? I've clocked in about 11 hours and i have to say it is extremely boring, am i missing something?

[@LogosSteve]

+Nick Howard No, I do kind of agree, I just mean the core gameplay is solid. But I did say a lot of the missions are pretty much filler.

[@dirt420]

you'd probably have to explain your faults with the gameplay first before asking what you're missing

[@thewhizkid3937]

^ Have you done the side missions and quests. It may be repetitive, but...

[@thewhizkid3937]

@@LogosSteve not the main missions. They are marked yellow, if I remember correctly.

[@ManintheArmor]

One thing to blow away the competition. Another thing to blow away yourself. A shame, it's as though Phantom Pain was just a demo like Ground Zeroes before it.Another mission, right Boss? EDIT: And where'd our child soldiers go? Sundowner is displeased and wants his precious little brains!

[@thewhizkid3937]

^ naw, ground zeroes was literally like a demo. The real game was The Phantom Pain.

[@MGStealthbeta2015]

great cutscene % comparison. ty.

[@MGStealthbeta2015]

+MGStealth beta I've taken the (un)usual liberty of linking you on my last video: watch?v=6bxXKVmyius Tell me if not okay; thank you either way.

[@LogosSteve]

+MGStealth beta Thanks I appreciate it.

[@FronkZappa]

I am generally pretty level headed with being open to new things but i gotta admit as a huge MG fan I kind of dropped MGSV pretty early and was feeling pretty alienated by the game at the time. for comparison's sake, i am precisely that nerd that people laugh at who sits and thinks all these codec calls are so interested and gets ingrossed in the content of all the games. I need to go back and finish the game because the disappointment has basically gone away at this point, but I suppose in a way it was just a more extreme version of how I felt about MGS4 the first time playing it. It's definitely an extreme game - it's hard to deny it's pretty gritty and the pure design from a gameplay perspective is by far the best of any metal gear game yet. It might sound silly but it's almost to where it felt like Metal Gear 2 more than any of the actual MGS games, not at all from the technological standpoint but from the aspect that the story seemed supplemental to the gameplay for the first time in a long time. It's not a bad thing and in retrospect I wish I gave it more of a chance because I know I'll enjoy it if I actually go through and play it, but I kinda let the hype get to me I suppose. I think it's also easy to get frustrated when something seems universally loved by the gaming media, although back in the day I guess some people felt the same about MGS2 for different reasons

[@thewhizkid3937]

^ no, you are hinting at something. Metal Gear Solid 2 in terms of overall influence was the best one. It spoke of artificial intelligence, nature, genetics...that game got me thinking lmao 😂😂😂 But it seems as the stories progress, the shift became towards governments and their powers, use of soldiers....to Nuclear Weapons...which I enjoy, but it seems others didn't or don't enjoy Kojima's messages.

[@FrederickGuese]

Maybe he just felt tired of the series after MGS3. I thought the game that broke the camel's back was 4. I am pretty sure his new IP will be a lot better without the Metal Gear baggage.

[@LogosSteve]

+Frederick Guese Yeah. I'm going to (hopefully) eventually make videos talking about all the games in the series and based on how strong his themes are you can tell which games he liked the most.

[@downrightsuperb5690]

Also, I think MGS 4 is garbage from top to bottom. And I never saw MGS V as a new chapter that drives the story forward. This point in the timeline almost came too close to where the series began. I've always seen MGS V as an epilogue to the series. I think it put a nice cap on the whole thing. Initially, I was pissed when I discovered the twist. Looking back on it, I think it was brilliant and I loved the twist in the end. It was a perfect metaphor for all of us wanting to be like Big Boss or wanting to be like Snake, referencing MGS2.

[@danielwallace1759]

What is your opinion on Ground Zeroes?

[@LogosSteve]

I'm disappointed it was sold at the price it was sold at, otherwise it's mostly all right, although I agree with the criticism that the handling of the more serious stuff didn't really pan out well.

[@LogosSteve]

Max Derrat has a great video saying the story would have been better if Chico ended up being Quiet because he had a sex change. That's always going to come to my mind based on the torture stuff, even if now that I'm thinking about it that might not have worked very well still, it would have been better than the mostly nothing we got.

[@danielwallace1759]

@@LogosSteve Yeah, this is just speculation, but maybe Kojima saying that players "will feel ashamed of your words & deeds" might have had some merit at some stage of the development of the game.

[@joemorley2187]

I had no problem playing as venom snake I thought it was a cool twist but it makes no fucking sense there's so much missing like how a fucking medic picked up these top level cqc and skills and being able to go up against a metal gear, phsyco mantis, burning man etc. An he found out such a lame way should've been venom over hearing ocelot talk about the real snake and then he gets miller to keep an eye on him. Venom keeps havin flashbacks of being the medic cause he was brainwashed he thought he was snake but by putting the puzzle together he comes to the conclusion je isn't snake. Then ocelot leaves motherbase trying to escape. Ocelot fight venom snake boss battle ocelot is then tortured where he then reveales where the real bog boss is the u have the ultimate boss battle. Honestly fuck Kojima and konami I should be guiding these game destroyers.

[@misterhoobomaster]

That list is not correct I think. I would've been at #30 something. Do you need a account or something?

[@LogosSteve]

I don't think so. But you can always go check the site. Truetrophies.com

[@insertnamehere001]

I actually really liked the ending. Yes, the entire story of MGSV was weak as piss but the ending was good, it was (supposed) to be a criticism of the hatred Raiden got. The bait-and-switch happened at the END instead of the BEGINNING, showing that it REALLY (REALLY) doesn't matter 'who your character is' but 'who you are as a character'.

[@LogosSteve]

insertnamehere001 The problem is that it's still poorly set up compared to the commentary in MGS2. It could have been much better done.

[@s0nnyburnett]

Why has every single franchise turned to shit.

[@LogosSteve]

+s0nnyburnett Corporate executive mentality. Short term profits and sure bets are more important to them than good games by a wide margin.

[@s0nnyburnett]

LogosSteve They ruined my tools, they ruined my vidya games, they ruined my cars with that thinking. Back to the PS1 classics forever.

[@s0nnyburnett]

Phreaker1997 Valve has no mentality other than pushing steam harder.

[@LogosSteve]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/moqoZpauhtd8ppo

[@andrewbyron5361]

+LogosSteve So with Kojima's departure from the company and his team dissolved, do you think MGS can still move on like Konami claims it can? Would you be up for a sort of spiritual successor from Kojima whether it be in the employment of another dev group or his own team? Personally despite MGS's story kind of going downhill after 3 imo (although truth be told I more often tolerated and laughed at it than I took seriously and praised it when playing the old games recently) it'd be difficult to replace Kojima completely if only because of how synonymous he is with Metal Gear. As for a spiritual successor, it'd be difficult to adjust to but ultimately I feel that a new start is what would be needed if not in time for metal gear then whatever new ip he's writing with a new team. Alternatively he could write a Final Fantasy game or something (That was the first idea that came to mind).

[@FADEDKING]

lol COD

[@Jose-se9pu]

Unfinished mess, the direction is terrible, and no story. Excellent gameplay, best in the franchise, but ruined in a game where you do the same thing again, and again, and again.... MGS4 and PW were already bad, but this was an insult.

[@fodolocraigo8426]

worst mgs

[@thewhizkid3937]

^ opinion

[@jordanolson11]

you can totally tell when kojima stepped away in this game. Let's not forget how having an actor ruined the funding and production of the game.