Metal Gear Solid 4

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Just started playing this on PS Now, the rather bare basics streaming service from Sony. Seems to be running alright so far (via a PS4), no lag or any of that stuff normally associated with streaming games. Internet is rated at about 35 mbps so I reckon it's more than fast enough. There's a free 7 day trial available, so I'm hoping I can cane the entire game in that time. It's the only Metal Gear game I've never played, and the only other option was buying a PS3 just to play one game, which isn't going to happen.

Your thoughts on it? I've not got very far, spent a few hours figuring out the convoluted control scheme so I can wander around being a sneaky bastard, instead of my natural urge to pull out the AK and start blasting fools.

There was a cutscene just then of a little girl cooking some eggs. One of the eggs had a broken yolk, and I can't help but feel that this may be significant somehow. She's also got some boots on that means she can't walk up stairs too good. Oh, and the mechs are making moo sounds, like cows.

Looks dated as fuck though. 720p maximum I think, and there's no Dolby Digital surround sound. I wish the PS3 architecture wasn't so complicated, so they could soup it up like they do with backwards compatibility on the Xbox.

[bgmnts]

Steak Bentley's Magnus Opus:

https://youtu.be/93-_r0w7ykI

[Consignia]

The problem with mgs4 is that it's not so much a game but the first cut of a poorly written movie. If it'd cut down on the narrative and put as much gameplay as it's predecessors, it'd been a great game.

[Chairman Yang]

Motherfucker needs to slow down

[popcorn]

This is the only MGS game I have absolutely zero memories of. Like almost nothing at all. I remember only the sensation of it being thin and poorly sketched out, but none of the details.

There's a bit where you're crawling somewhere quite hot, I think?

[Jim Bob]

There was a cutscene just then of a little girl cooking some eggs.

Oh gawd.  Get used to that cutscene of eggs being fried.  You'll be seeing it a lot.

The problem with mgs4 is that it's not so much a game but the first cut of a poorly written movie. If it'd cut down on the narrative and put as much gameplay as it's predecessors, it'd been a great game.

Correct.  My overriding memory of the "game" is that it's 80% horribly written cutscenes and 20% actual gameplay.  No joke, the ending cutscene is feature length.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

David Hayter starts to grate in this one. He's always overdone his lines, but in this he REALLY goes over the top. There's this sort of gargling noise at the end of every sentence.

[Golden E. Pump]

The first two acts were great. I could cope with the overlong cut scenes because I was invested in the lore of the series and it was classic stealth gameplay. There are some decent boss fights, but nothing on the level of previous games with the possible exception of the final boss (although that feels like a nostalgic rehash of the Liquid fight from MGS1, it must be said).

But then the later acts feel like gameplay is only there briefly because it has to be a video game. That stalking sequence in Europe where you're dressed as young Snake feels like a side mission. The Shadow Moses stuff is fantastic, but it also feels a bit too on-the-nose in terms of nostalgia.

I actually feel like the story is impacted by Kojima trying to tie up every loose end. Whilst we get a satisfying resolution, it explains absolutely everything and takes the magic away - it's basically like the Midi-chlorians situation from Star Wars all over again.

Still better than five though.

[bgmnts]

Nah 5 is better.

[Consignia]

Yeah, I love 5. Not quite as much as 3, but it really got the gameplay nailed. I found myself completely having fun just doing the side ops, which I'd sack off in most games.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Thing is, I know I'm probably not going to enjoy it very much, but there's that compulsion to play it just because it's the only one I've never experienced. A lesser man would watch the cutscenes on YouTube and call it a day, but I am made of sterner stuff than that, by golly.

I didn't mind 5 that much btw. At least he finally got somebody in who could implement an intuitive, easy to grasp control scheme, and not the absolute clusterfuck it was in the early games.

[Thursday]

Honestly find it mad someone would choose to play MGS4 in this day and age. The worst Metal Gear Solid game.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I have absolutely nothing better to do with my time. Would you watch the Police Academy films but skip out on Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol? Of course you wouldnt, that would be a totally unhinged thing to do.

[JamesTC]

Well I like it.

Chapter 4 is even more of a nostalgia fest than Metal Gear Solid 4 usually is. And I love that chapter for it.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I have absolutely nothing better to do with my time. Would you watch the Police Academy films but skip out on Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol? Of course you wouldnt, that would be a totally unhinged thing to do.

In terms of gameplay, watching the whole Police Academy series is comparable.

[robotam]

3rd Best Metal Gear Game. Probably about 9th best videogame.

[Famous Mortimer]

Nah 5 is better.

I struggled with the open-world nature of it. One of the things I loved about the previous games was learning the routes, but I didn't feel there was a lot of that in 5.

[bgmnts]

I struggled with the open-world nature of it. One of the things I loved about the previous games was learning the routes, but I didn't feel there was a lot of that in 5.

Oh i'm not saying 5 is great by any means, the story is utterly fucked and whilst I think the open world was implemented a lot better than in most games, i think metal gear solid should be one big level.

But the gameplay is a lot more fun and there is just more depth.

[brat-sampson]

5 was the best game but the worst MGS.

[Bazooka]

I liked 4, 3 had my favourite bosses and setting. I liked 5 but didn't like trying to do a perfect stealth run for an hour,dying and then realised I have nothing to show for it, unlike every other MGS.

Peace Walker on PSP, I probably invested the most time in, it's really overlooked despite the re-releasse.

[Famous Mortimer]

Weirdly, I've played 2 the most, purely because I had the right console at the right time (I've never completed 3, for instance). I noticed that the HD remaster of 2 and 3 was available for free with XBox Game Pass so I'm going to give them both a run-through.

[bgmnts]

3 is one of the best games ever made, for real.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Someday you go through the rain
Someday you'll feed on a tree frog

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Well, finally finished it. Don't think I'll be playing that one again.
My concise review:

Nanomachines.

[Pink Gregory]

Picked up 4 just as a completionist something like 2 years ago and was astounded at how much I really enjoyed it.

Stayed up until 4 in the morning playing through chapter 2 in one unbroken go, felt like one huge running battle and then there's a man with a monkey friend and the monkey friend has little silver pants and I out up with it.

[Dannyhood91]

There are some boss women who try and kill you and when you kill them they get all horny it's weird af fam lol

[Thursday]

I know this is boring but

3>1>2>5>4

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Read an interesting article about the first Metal Gear Solid, and how the subsequent English translations began to lose us:
https://www.polygon.com/2019/7/18/20696081/metal-gear-solid-translation-japanese-english-jeremy-blaustein

I always thought that the later games got worse in terms of dialogue because Kojima had started getting a bit too overblown with his language and ideas, but it turns out they started doing literal translations instead. No wonder the first one is arguably the best one, and makes the most sense, without having to resort to a synopsis on the internet to find out what the fuck the game is on about.

[Golden E. Pump]

I know this is boring but

3>1>2>5>4

This.

EDIT: I have a hard time ranking 5, because it's fun but doesn't feel like MGS. And it's all a bit samey. You can experiment, but it's all ultimately the same mission approach over and over.

[bgmnts]

I know this is boring but

3>1>2>5>4

Doesnt quite cancel out your abysmal yorkshire pudding post but agreed.