IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Kept you waiting, huh?
To me, the highest point was MGS2, the lowest probably MGSV.
My favorite game....before MGSV.
As the time passes, I found this saga less good.
To me, the highest point was MGS2, the lowest probably MGSV.
Maybe the whole "Vocal Parasite stuff" and the resurrection of Volgin, the high influence of Kojima making the story a complete mess, Quiet being there because of reasons, the whole Kieffer Sutherland instead of Hayter because Hollywood just to say a few lines, etc.
My favorite game....before MGSV.
As the time passes, I found this saga less good.
To me, the highest point was MGS2, the lowest probably MGSV.
Maybe the whole "Vocal Parasite stuff" and the resurrection of Volgin, the high influence of Kojima making the story a complete mess, Quiet being there because of reasons, the whole Kieffer Sutherland instead of Hayter because Hollywood just to say a few lines, etc.
From a narrative perspective? Agree. From a game play perspective, the opposite is true.
Kojima is Metal Gear Solid. If you loved Metal Gear and then hated Metal Gear it was all Kojima. The parts you loved and the parts you hated.
What this meant for the script was that I had to come up with jargon to “sell” the image. I did my best. Kojima didn’t use the term “HALO” when he described jumping from high in the air and opening the chute at a low altitude to enter the site. (This was also years before the Halo series debuted.) But I found the term for a high-altitude, low-opening jump in my reading, so it went into the game.
When I read that Snake’s earpiece was just called a 無線機 (“wireless”), I tried to come up with something better for American players. I researched the problem for a significant amount of time before coming across something called a “codec” that I thought sounded cool. I had never heard the term before, but it sounded pretty official.
When Campbell told Snake that he would have to do 現地調達 (“acquire locally”) for his weapons, I knew I needed something that sounded like military jargon. The only problem is that no one in real life would ever put themselves in that situation if they could help it, so I coined the term OSP, or “on-site procurement,” which is still used to this day.
In addition to jargon, I used this opportunity to flesh out characters every chance I had. Too often, in translation, the meaning is kept but all feeling is lost. It must be added back in by the translator.
One example would be when Campbell said, “I’m not a colonel anymore,” in Japanese. I changed it to “I’m not a colonel anymore, just a retired old warhorse.”
Here’s another example, this time from Snake. Let me ask you which option sounds better:
You can probably guess that B is mine, and A is how my translation was “improved” for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
- A) “I’m just a guy who can only find meaning on the battlefield.”
- B) “I’m just a man who’s good at what he does. Killing.”
From what I heard at the time, Kojima began to hear that his work had been “tinkered” with. I’d argue there might have been a lack of appreciation for the needs of localization due to his not being bilingual, but he was not happy. As a result, all future Metal Gear games would be closely monitored for fidelity to the original Japanese script.
This approach resulted in lines like: “I won’t scatter your sorrow to the heartless sea. I will always be with you. Plant your roots in me. I won’t see you end as ashes. You’re all diamonds.”
Some players find this sort of dialogue endearing, but I’d argue that it could have been massaged a bit more for English-speaking players. That’s not up to me, although I’m very proud of the work I put into Metal Gear Solid. The reviews were very positive at the time, and many mentioned the quality of the translation and voice-over work in the game.
Kept you waiting, huh?
MGSV was a complete mess. Definitely my least favorite. MGS2 is up there with the original Deus Ex for all time favorites.To me, the highest point was MGS2, the lowest probably MGSV.
Kojima is Metal Gear Solid. If you loved Metal Gear and then hated Metal Gear it was all Kojima. The parts you loved and the parts you hated.
Felt exactly the same. Played the series around the time V was coming out, to catch up. All 30 minutes of stealth in MGS1 had as much depth as Zelda combat on NES and annoying boss battles is where most of the gameplay is. Couldn't figure out if story is a poor attempt at comedy or just written by a 9 year old. Later entries are more obviously comedy, though you need to be a 9 year old to think there's jungles in Siberia.It isn't and never was. I played it at the time and even as a teenager I thought it was unimpressive. I have never cared for stealth in games that are that linear. The boss battles are more annoying than inventive. The plot is like some kind of weird mish-mash between something more serious and American and Japanese anime eccentricities. The first time I played a metal gear solid with truly good gameplay was V because it dropped the overly scripted nature of the franchise. Kojima clearly wants to make movies but the young gamer audience was exactly the right target if you wanted people who wouldn't scrutinise the level of exposition in a game that still doesn't make sense. People who would celebrate an 18-hour game being 9 hours of cutscene. People who didn't know what a proper tone for a game was to have a problem with awkward tonal shifts.
Part of me envies people who were the right age or right mindset to enjoy this kind of thing, that might sound condescending but I really do think you have to be in a certain mindset to enjoy these games and the best evidence of that I seen is that the fans of this franchise think part 5 is the worst one which to me is so weird. I'm sitting here like finally a reason to use all these silly options finally a game that actually gives me a sandbox to play in where these things are actually useful. I'm playing metal gear solid 3 words giving me all these dumb camouflage options to get through 2 minutes of gameplay. all these silly tutorials that gave me none of them really mattered because the game played like a Michael Bay movie with small gameplay arenas sprinkled throughout that anyone could brute force their way through with enough patience or tenacity.
I feel like I'm on the outside looking in like the people who hate Half-Life 2, the difference between me and them being that one episode two went more open for the finale I thought it was amazing and was totally welcoming a more open world half life or even if it meant spacing out the cinematic nature of the game more. But the reception 5 receipt proved to me that the average metal gear solid fan was more interested in the absurd incomprehensible stories than the interesting game play systems and how they interact with the world. which again I don't totally get to me stealth just doesn't work if there's not enough different paths stealth is trial and error and there's only one way to do it it annoys me and bores me.
My only problem with this is I didn't like it at the time either, but to be fair I was much less a fan of the stealth genre back then. You know until maybe the mid-2000s I would have just told people stealth isn't my genre then all of a sudden all these games begin incorporating optional stealth and I found that when the stealth is optional I can actually really enjoy it.I think the point WAS in the tiny areas and heavily scripted A.I. routines and the vast amount of options. Yes, you COULD brute force your way through it, but obviously that isn't a very fun or fulfilling way to approach it. These small areas WERE your sandbox, kind of like the board in a tabletop game. Yes, you could find yourself not in the mood to play the game, and halfass through it and rush it, or you could really adapt to the expansive rule book and find exciting ways to interact, exploit and even cheese the the board. Playing this game under the notion of modern game design philosophy probably hurts the experience, so I'd make the argument that you DO have to adjust your mindset, and therefore these games may not have "aged gracefully," but it is definitely a series that is rewarding if you engage in it on it's own terms. That's kind of a KojiPro staple at this point.
My only problem with this is I didn't like it at the time either, but to be fair I was much less a fan of the stealth genre back then. You know until maybe the mid-2000s I would have just told people stealth isn't my genre then all of a sudden all these games begin incorporating optional stealth and I found that when the stealth is optional I can actually really enjoy it.
MGS3 is the best playing one though.....From a narrative perspective? Agree. From a game play perspective, the opposite is true.
MGS3 is the best playing one though.....
I know control wise it's not the best, MGS 5 is just stunning in that regard, but obviously gameplay is more than that.Compared to MSGV? Nah. It's my favorite and the most interesting though.
I know control wise it's not the best, MGS 5 is just stunning in that regard, but obviously gameplay is more than that.
The moment to moment intricacies and gameplay scenario design is so refined and bespoke that it is leagues ahead of the rest of them, and the other MGSs are excellent games!!!
Man 2005 gave us this and Resi 4.....
And people say the industry is better than ever
To be honest I felt the sandbox elements to get very repetitive very fast and the Fulton and on a wider scale mother base stuff to be the antithesis of what makes Metal Gear specialI love the environments, survival mechanics, camouflage system and bosses in MSG3, but the control and sandbox elements in MGS5 are divine plus it has the addicting Fulton system from Peace Walker.
To be honest I felt the sandbox elements to get very repetitive very fast and the Fulton and on a wider scale mother base stuff to be the antithesis of what makes Metal Gear special
Ground Zeroes was the perfect blend if MGS 5 was that throughout, then I would have been on board
But the constant back and forth to base and managing soldiers and stuff bleh, like MGS to me is being dropped into a unique hostile environment and making your way through it, and on the way meeting a cast of bizarre characters all whilst the layers of the story get peeled back
I think Kojima lost his way big style after 3, ah well still have the first 3 to always enjoy
Interesting listing there, I would put it likeI think MGSV is a great game, just not a great Metal Gear game. Like you said, Kiefer was a mistake and outside of the opening mission, it really doesn't feel much like a Metal Gear game. I do love the Fulton System but I seem to be one of the few people that loves Peace Walker (it's a much better representation of evolving mechanics but weaving that into Metal Gear's usual structure). If I had to rank the games overall, I'd go:
MSG1 = MGS3 > MGS2 Demo > Peace Walker > MGSV > MGS4 > MGS2
While I think MGS2 is brilliant in a lot of ways, it's the only game in the series I hate. Raiden sucks (props to MGS4 for redeeming him), Big Shell sucks and all of the bosses suck.
Interesting listing there, I would put it like
MGS3, MGS, MGS 2, Ground Zeroes, MGS 4, MGS 5
And I think you are right MGS 5 should maybe have been a new IP from Kojima
Also seeing as ya know your stuff I would highly reccomend a youtube video titled "MGS 4 was a mistake" by Steak Bentley
It's a fantastic video and really takes the viewer on a journey, a must watch for Metal Gear heads!
Ya wont regret it, it's my favourite youtube vid3:26 minutes! I'll watch it.
To be fair, I've only completed MGS4 once and that's a rarity for Metal Gear games in me (I guess I've only played MGSV once too but I still boot it up from time to time to replay missions and improve my save file). I've gone back a few times and only gotten a few hours in. I think mechanically it's a weird half step between classic MGS and MGSV. I might actually hate it too if I ever had the will to finish it again. Does't help that it's trapped on the PS3.
Ya wont regret it, it's my favourite youtube vid
Get a few beers in and a pizza and your golden!
Not entirely true, over the years you had guys like Tomokazu Fukushima, Kazunobu Uehara, Kenichiro Imaizumi and Etsu Tamari that played a huge part in shaping up the series. Heck, as soon as Fukushima bolted after 3 the series tanked noticeably in the writing and Tamari wrote the best story since that initial trilogy. Kojima is a legend, but he had some help.
Then tell me the amazing projects Tomokazu Fukushima has worked on since 2005.