Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

[Talby]

Yeah, I hate that. I like taking my time and planning everything out perfectly, but if I do that in this game I can an A or a B despite getting no alerts or kills.

 

[Garryydde]

Spoiler

If Volgin is the Man on Fire does that mean that he's a literal flaming faggot?

 

[Caim]

I seem to keep getting the Octopus rank because I fulton EVERYTHING. Is it possible to get ranks better than that?

 

[dunno lah]

I seem to keep getting the Octopus rank because I fulton EVERYTHING. Is it possible to get ranks better than that?

I looked through the codename descriptions on the idroid. Octopus is for heavy tranq gun users and Fox/Foxhound for stealth/perfect stealth respectively.

 

[Declinator]

You gain most of the points for completing the missions fast. So if you manage to speed-run a mission in <5min and even have a combat alert, you still can get S rank; which sucks big time for a supposedly stealth game.
It discourages careful exploration and planning. Sure, you can gain a S rank on your first run, but you miss a huge chunk of those "written by...", "directed by" bits.

On some missions the extra objectives weigh more than how fast you did it. The "Backup, Back Down" mission is one example (though it may have been the extreme version.) In that one I got zero points for time but still enough for S rank because I destroyed every objective vehicle (it's the mission where multiple vehicles go through a path and you must destroy as many as possible in the time given.)

Yeah, I hate that. I like taking my time and planning everything out perfectly, but if I do that in this game I can an A or a B despite getting no alerts or kills.

Yes, I ghosted the OKB Zero infiltration (well, took down one guy non-lethally) but still got C rank because I took so long doing it.

I seem to keep getting the Octopus rank because I fulton EVERYTHING. Is it possible to get ranks better than that?

Foxhound is, as always, the best rank. And Octopus, as I understand it, comes from using mostly tranquilizing weapons. One could say that Bear is more impressive (using mostly CQC.)

 

[Caim]

I've done perfect stealth before, and I didn't get the FOXHOUND.

Oh, and I'm going to need tens of thousands of Common Metal and Fuel to upgrade my base. Where can I find that stuff?

 

[Valestein]

I've done perfect stealth before, and I didn't get the FOXHOUND.

Oh, and I'm going to need tens of thousands of Common Metal and Fuel to upgrade my base. Where can I find that stuff?

Do combat deployments that give them and look for red containers that have 7500 of each material in missions(and the white ones that have less of course). The airport and refinery in africa tend to have it iirc.

 

[Talby]

If you have an FOB, you can invade people and steal their resources. It's much faster than trying to farm it in the open world, you can get easily get 50k or more fuel and metal from raiding someone's base development platform. The annoying part is waiting for it to be processed, which is very slow. Even if the defender joins and kills you, you get to keep anything you fultoned.

 

[Declinator]

I've done perfect stealth before, and I didn't get the FOXHOUND.

Perfect stealth three missions in a row.

 

[Somberlain]

As far as I know, the Foxhound/Fox/Butterfly etc. codenames in this game are not ratings on how well you did, they are about how you completed your mission. So if you want a certain codename, just replay some missions according to these descriptions and don't care about anything else.

Spoiler

Chick
Unlocked if you haven’t completed Mission 06 after three missions.

Chicken
Use the chicken hat at least once in the last three missions to unlock this.

Foxhound
Complete the last three missions with the ‘Perfect Stealth, No Kills’ score bonus.

Fox
You were not detected in the last three missions (does not count Reflex Mode as detection).

Eagle
90% of the enemies neutralized in previous three missions were done with headshots.

Puma
Used grabbing method to neutralize most enemies in the last three missions.

Bear
Used CQC for most neutralizations in last three missions.

Octopus
Use nonlethal weapons (ZZZ, STN, —) to neutralize most enemies in last three missions.

Mantis
Slit throats of most enemies you neutralize in the last three missions.

Bee
Used lethal handguns to neutralize most enemies in last three missions.

Scorpion
Used lethal submachine guns to neutralize most enemies.

Piranha
Used lethal shotguns to neutralize most enemies.

Doberman
Used lethal assault rifles to neutralize most enemies.

Raven
Used lethal machine guns (including turrets, AA cannons, Gatling Gun) to neutralize most enemies.

Wolf
Used lethal Sniper Rifles to neutralize most enemies.

Shark
Used missiles to neutralize most enemies.

Orca
Used throwing weapons (hand grenades, grenade launchers, Petrol Bombs) to neutralize most enemies.

Spider
Used lethal placed explosives (mines, C4) to neutralize most enemies.

Hog
Used D-Horse to neutralize most enemies by ramming into them wild riding.

Hound
Used D-Dog’s ‘Do it’ command to neutralize most enemies.

Butterfly
Used Quiet to neutralize most enemies.

Ostrich
Used D-Walker to neutralize most enemies.

Tortoise
Used vehicles (either built-in weapons or by ramming) to neutralize most enemies.

Hawk
Neutralized most enemies by help of air support from helicopter.

Whale
Neutralized most enemies by bombarding through Fire Support.

Bat
Used multiple methods to neutralize enemies with exact numbers (10 kills with multiple techniques).

You can check your database of all the codenames you have unlocked, so you need to only get Foxhound or any other codename once to unlock it. So, the codenames are not ratings in this game, they are unlockables.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Listening to the Code Talker cassettes makes me really mad that they aren't presented in traditional cutscene manner as part of the mission (ties into the usual frustration with far too decompressed story presentation). There's some really interesting and heady stuff (especially for a video game) in them, especially when they start talking about language. I really wish the first encounter with Code Talker would have been observing the second "secret recording" of him and Skull Face.

EDIT: Also it's really frustrating that Ocelot is such a friggin straight man in this game. Guy's always been so fun in his over-the-top antics.

 

[Caim]

Yeah, the whole recording with the bell could have been specatcular if done in a cutscene. Even right before you extract him or something, with Snake watching without being able to do anything.

 

[Grotesque]

is this her only song?

 

[Caim]

I think so.

Also, what the fuck happened to Miller's eyes at the start of Chapter 2? Did he go blind for no reason whatsoever?

 

[Jick Magger]

I think so.

Also, what the fuck happened to Miller's eyes at the start of Chapter 2? Did he go blind for no reason whatsoever?

That confused the fuck outta me too. I mean, I figured they were trying to imply that he was blinded during his time as a prisoner with the Soviets, which is probably partially why his eyes looked so swollen when you find him, but it gets weird when you see him in cutscenes and around the base, and he's doing things that he really probably wouldn't be able to do if he were blind. It's just a weird, unnecessary little addition that's only brought up in that cutscene and never again at any other point in the game.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

That confused the fuck outta me too. I mean, I figured they were trying to imply that he was blinded during his time as a prisoner with the Soviets, which is probably partially why his eyes looked so swollen when you find him, but it gets weird when you see him in cutscenes and around the base, and he's doing things that he really probably wouldn't be able to do if he were blind. It's just a weird, unnecessary little addition that's only brought up in that cutscene and never again at any other point in the game.

Nanomachines... errr... parasites.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Goddammit Stefie is so pretty. I bet Hideo sleeps on a waifu pillow with her pictures on it.

 

[Great Deceiver]

bought this on release, got excited, played 5 hours and haven't played since shit started repeating itself and I had to traverse the shitty open world to get anywhere.

 

[Adon]

I would've been okay with it if they actually developed Big Medic a little bit further with it. Maybe with him having a crisis of identity and a falling out with Big Boss over having his life stolen away from him, only for him to come to terms with it or maybe even start his own little rebellion against him, in which we can actually see Big Boss' proper fall to darkness. Instead he just grins, punches a mirror, and roll to credits. It's a poor man's attempt at emulating the twist in MGS2 that has neither the punch or the build-up towards it that really made it effective in that game.

I'm not as bothered with the twist as other people, because as plenty have pointed out we've had the answer for why Big Boss became what he was by Metal Gear as far back as MGS3, but I'm still disappointed that they dedicated an entire game to what basically amounted to giving the player a weak tap on the shoulder to say "Congrats, you're Big Boss!" instead of actually doing something with it, and to explain what is essentially a minor to the point of utterly insignificant plot hole from MG2.

Yeah, the twist itself is sort of just whatever. Despite there being evidence for the twist in hindsight, it just feels so tacked on because there is no real consequence for it within the narrative. It wouldn't be so mediocre if it didn't ape MGS2 and if it wasn't directly at odds with MGS2's metanarrative about examining the relationship between the player and characters that basically states that we aren't Solid Snake.

Listening to the Code Talker cassettes makes me really mad that they aren't presented in traditional cutscene manner as part of the mission (ties into the usual frustration with far too decompressed story presentation). There's some really interesting and heady stuff (especially for a video game) in them, especially when they start talking about language. I really wish the first encounter with Code Talker would have been observing the second "secret recording" of him and Skull Face.

EDIT: Also it's really frustrating that Ocelot is such a friggin straight man in this game. Guy's always been so fun in his over-the-top antics.

Am I the only one who found the Code Talker and his research tapes really boring? It could've been interesting stuff, but they're the most bloated and self indulgent shit I've heard in a while. Visuals could have improved them (then again this could be said about most tapes) if they're weren't just some pompous way of trying to justify what parasites really are aka organic nanomachines. That said, not all those tapes were bad, it was mostly just that really long one.

Nanomachines... errr... parasites.

Maybe. There is a cutscene where Code Talker is talking to himself and warns Snake to keep his eye on Miller. But nothing ever comes out of it.

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

Definitively Miller is not completely blind. But, for some reason, he's very light sensitive. "It's just too bright in here". Maybe similar to Code talker. Or probably the problem came from long time and that's why always used sunglasses.

Or maybe he's just too blinded for REVENGEEEEEE.

 

[Talby]

Maybe he was blinded with science.

 

[Somberlain]

You mean he was too enlightened by intelligence?

*tips beret

 

[lightbane]

I see the AI continues to be as good as ever.

 

[Caim]

Having enemies react to moving boxes like that is actually pretty funny.

 

[BelisariuS.F]

I'm finally done with this game. Hooooly shit, it really wanted me to hate it. So much in this game is drawn-out and full of filler content. From the menus, through the mission structure (let's start the mission two kilometers away from the objective), to the campaign structure (next mission - let's kill/save some dude that you don't care about in a location which you've infiltrated before (and which probably contains three tents and five soldiers). This game doesn't offer open world. It suffers from it. Open world brought with itself repetitive filler content and messed up story pacing. This game should have been 10-20 individual and unique open levels with every mission pushing the story forward. Right now it seems that the most efficient way to play it is to download a save with 100% completion, play the most interesting missions and watch the story condensed on youtube.