As of today, this review has become the first review I've made to surpass 10k views. Pretty small compared to other, much larger channels, but it means a lot to me all the same that so many folks seemed to get something out of this video, definitely makes the many many months that went into making it feel that much more worth it. Thank you all very much for your support! I appreciate it tremendously and hope y'all enjoy the reviews to come! In keeping up with stealth action genre, the next review I'm currently working on is for an indie stealth game called 'Disjunction'. I'm hoping to have it done within the next few days, beyond that, I've got quite a few others in the works so stay tuned for that!
Dude, when I looked at the views, I was suprised this hadn't been seen more by the MGS community and beyond. Although there are quite a few people who do these things for MGS... Still, VERY professional and you should be proud of this content. I'm glad you view this in the context of how things can be here on YT and your own progress for yourself. great energy and breakdown!
This review was long as fuck, but also a damn blast and single handedly made me want to finally play MGSV after delaying it for so long. Good job, man!
"You can swap weapons mid aim as you are still shooting just by hitting square" Me with more than 300 hours in this game: "You can do WHAT??!!" Seriously, it's amazing how years later one can still discover a lot of secret mechanics and possibilities in this game
Hell yeah dude, and it also works in real life as well as it's an old trick of my own. Nah, but seriously, Kojima games where he is at the helm of development are most well known for the wildly entertaining/convoluted-in-the-best-way narratives. But, beyond that the other thing consistent with maybe all Koji-Pro games is the tight-as-hell gameplay that must take up a huge focus during the development process being worked out and fine-tuned by a crack team of corporal beings by choice group of devs picked by Kojima to actually achieve.
Yeah. Like until this video , idk why it never occurred to me using my rocket punch to destroy communications, or generators, etc.... 3 years after this review and still learned new things.
I personally am ok with the story not being as oppressive as it normally is in the series. It is hands down the best gameplay of the series. My only notes are I would love to have seen Kojima finish it. The recycled missions and the ending. If I were to ask for more, maybe 1 additional biome. Snow maybe? But really, gameplay wise, this is Everything I ever wanted in a Metal gear game
Kojima voiced frustration that the player doesn't see their action as bad when they're in control. I personally think he was talking about Peace Walker and how nobody thought twice about building a nuclear weapon in that game. Really that showed Big Boss's descent perfectly... but nobody saw it, because they were controlling Big Boss. Ok, so how do you get around that? How do you let the player control BB and still make them hate BB as a character? Simples! Have the player be a victim of BB's ruse. It's SO clever.
Any jackass can massacre children and threaten the world with nukes. But it takes a special kind of narcissist to do what Big Boss did to Venom. It took me awhile after finishing the game to piece this together, but it ended up being so much more impactful as a "fall to the dark side" story than what I was expecting.
I love eavesdropping on Soviet soldiers' conversations. In the Red Brass mission, you can listen in to the Russian base commanders talking, and one of them talks with a really worried tone about reports of people 'floating away on balloons'. And me, crouched on a rooftop only a few meters away giggling my ass off.
Stealth games: oh no alert everyone knows my every move Mgs v stealth: oh no I’ve broken line of site and the guards aren’t blocking my path to a objective because they’re investigating my last known position 👌 Mgsv open world is basically Valhalla (mythology not the game) nothing to do but fight, just another day in a war without end
@@frogglen6350Dont see how giving background and similarities is considered pretentious. My only assumption is that they didn't say what you wanted to hear fast enough.
@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398 Hearing someone say the exact same comparison in every video gets old. We get it. Kojima likes using metaphors. Talk about the game already!
In my opinion, this is possibly the most detailed review of MGSV I have ever experienced. Brilliant assessment and the bookmarks are a delight. Thank you again ✌🏻
Love the idea of going to Camp Omega as Venom. The layout could be completely different from the previous game because he was never even there originally. Awesome.
This was by far one of the best (all-encompassing) reviews I've watched about this game, which has made me go "Yes, exactly!" basically all throughout. But did you forget about my man Peqoud? Who's at our beck and call every mission/side-op, with his insanely acurate aim during cover fires which always obliterates everything, but miraculously not Venom. And seems to be the only man that gives an actual fuck about Venom with his 'Be careful down there, Boss.' Oh, how I love that guy! But honestly, great review! Was a blast to watch and now I wanna dive back into it.
The amount of killing I have seen in the first 10 minutes of this video is ACTUALLY more than the amount of soldiers I had to kill in both of my playthroughs . Keep in mind I have completed the game twice on different saves and I am a more tranq/stun style gamer , only because I don’t want to grow the size of the horn on my head and that killing is a bit more inhumane than tranquillising and fultoning an enemy
Im fine with growing the horn in Venom Snake. What im not fine is the fact that im left fucking caked in blood like goddam Carrie at the end of her movie. At least mods can come in clutch for that, i guess
Saw your review featured on J'S Reviews and gotta say you really made some great points. Obviously there's a lot I don't agree with here and am not as big a fan of MGSV, but I also fully admit to not considering a lot of factors you did. One of my biggest problems with MGSV was how easy it was and how every boss fight felt the same. But when you look at it from the lens of how every mission can end up going, then it makes sense it wouldn't be the hardest game in the world. If it were, then all the action wouldn't be as viable a gameplay approach as you state. There's also a lot of stunts you do that I never thought to do because I'm someone who always wants to play a mission as stealthy as possible. Whereas you seemed to adapt to getting caught and just made it part of the fun. So that might be why you enjoyed the game a lot more than I did and I can admit that might just be a 'me' problem since GZ felt a little harder for me and that's what I was expecting from MGSV. I agree that Skullface should have been fought and a fight like Clifford's fight sounds fitting for him, but I think the boss problem extends further than you comment. I don't think the Skulls should have been bosses. To me, they should've just been minibosses like the haven girls or ocelot unit bois. They're mechanically extensive like bosses but don't have as much resilience. If they were just minibosses who turned up a lot with more XOF assassins like Quiet or Volgin showing up as proper boss battles, then that would've solved everything. It isn't that the bosses of MGSV are bad or even boring. They're just so repetitive and so underwhelming when you compare them to the sheer depth of MGS3's bosses which even you acknowledge. I was even more disappointed because the concept arts showed some cut bosses like Chico or Scorch, who was an XOF assassin with full body armor that had weakpoints on his suit and flamethrower you had to target. That sounds like a lot of fun and I wish MGSV had deeper bosses like that, especially since actual antagonists are always so much more entertaining than monsters. The point I never considered was with Eli aka Liquid Snake. I'll admit that I'm someone who is still sore about KotF, but I also never considered what that entire ending would've been like if Eli never showed up at all. Because you're right, his introduction is completely unrelated to everything going on up to that point. If anything, Eli's story even feels like he would work better as DLC since it really doesn't have anything to do with MGSV's plot. Reserving that whole story as a separate chapter sold separately could've saved Kojima Productions a lot of hassle and even worked out for Konami, because they would've made serious money off of that chapter which most of us would've certainly purchased, and that could have have covered the development costs. You just earned yourself a new subscriber, dude. Even if I personally wouldn't rate MGSV nearly as high as you did, the points you raised were really sound points and have got me thinking. So keep up the great work!
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful and insightful comment! I appreciate posts like these a lot! I've actually never believed GZ to be harder, because while you do have fulton and way more toys in V, you also don't *need* anything else in GZ beyond your assault rifle. Experimentally, I've done runs where I do nothing but knock everyone out or kill everyone, either quietly or maintaining high alert from start to finish. And while guards give you a run for your money, you tend to feel like you're in control a lot of the times. The instant you unlock the rifle with the grenade launcher attachment, it's pretty much over. Same with if you hop into a tank because guards and other tanks are powerless to stop you. As you said, I'm very much of the mind that if a game is stealth action, then both aspects should be viable. It's why I enjoyed MGS3 so much more than the other linear games. You can go guns blazing for the same result, but still have a fun time with it. And in V's case, the mechanics are so good that I genuinely have more fun with its combat than any third person shooter I've ever played. I don't personally mind the Skulls being classified as bosses because, functionally, they do what a boss fight should do. But I also wouldn't have objected to your idea either of more colorful human enemies like Quiet to add to the fray. And I couldn't agree more on Eli's segment being better off as DLC. Anything would've been better than how Kojimbo approached it.
11:35 - everyone follows the path to extract the kids. But I got annoyed and neutralized everyone in the outpost of the mine. What I didn’t realize is I blew up the anti air radar so.. I tranqualized the kids and called the chopper pretty easy and simple
I know this is 2 years later but dude, why is Ocelot even in the fucking game? He does nothing that couldnt have been done by ANYBODY else. The audio cassettes are nice but not really what I wanted.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for the timestamps in the description. Now my quick laugh or that section I wanna look over in this over-2-hour review is just a click away.
You make an excellent point about putting in secret bosses in the open world, I think it absolutely would have benefited from it. Like imagine if there was another HARDER secret sniper fight, or a CQC type fight that would keep you on your toes
@ 1:38:00 “If you care more about making some misguided unnecessary point than you do writing a satisfying story, then maybe your priorities as a writer are a bit fucked up.” Most hilariously vicious and accurate stab at Kojima being a writer. And the delivery was spot on 😂 I wish someone would say that to his face.
While I agree with the point made, I don't think this applies to Kojima very well at all. Obviously this is subjective, but I never felt like his points were misguided or unnecessary, and I've definitely enjoyed his stories. I've never felt unsatisfied from a Kojima game. Maybe parts of his games, but never the game as a whole.
@@sufferingmp4102 that’s because kojima left the project in someone else’s hands. They delivered his messages and vision better than he ever could. mGR was fun
This is weird because MGS 1, 2, and 3 are all very satisfying. And MGS 4 has one of the happiest endings for a franchise, showing every character finally living a better life.
Needed a video like this, tired of seeing videos on how disappointing of a “metal gear” game. As a huge fan of the series I was blown away w the in-depth gameplay and I actually like how the story was handled
There are a lot of videos praising it, especially in the last couple years. Futurasound is a channel that is basically dedicated to MGS, especially TPP
This video was phenomenal, i LOVE your voice, the script and editing. I hope you will ever attempt to make another review at least once more, from your words i feel like you don't want to make more and that's fine, sadly you don't have ads on ur vids (i hope you will turn them on someday, i watched this video a few times now and you're not making a single buck from me) but still, i think this video is phenomenal and i can only wish for you to do this once more someday. Thanks again, happy new year and stay healthy!
I'm already working on my next review and side videos. My goal is to grow this channel so I *can* start making money off of it. I just won't ever make a video that's as long as this one is because it's just too much work and too much stuff gets lost between the cracks. Most of my work will typically be between twenty to thirty minutes long. I made the exception for MGSV because I simply had so much to say about this one video game that I almost certainly won't have to say about other games. Happy New Year to you as well!
For Quiet why didnt they just have her be a regular antagonist after you beat her in mission 8 she disappears. She appears again a few missions later and attempts to Kill Snake, but is defeated and snake spares her. Same thing happens a few missions later Quiet shows up, gets defeated by Snake and he spares her. A few missions later Snake is ambushed by XOF and is nearly killed, but Quiet saves you and joins you because you soared her two times and she realized she was just a pawn for Skull Face and Cipher. Also Mgs5 didnt make me hate Big Boss nah it made me realize how much of a fraud he really is. A thing im surprised you didnt mention is how this game puts us in the shoes of not just Venom Snake, but how the boss felt in mgs3 and when all of her accomplishments were not mentioned in the history books or given to someone else
I played this game in 2015 and didn't get all the weapons, started playing 2 months ago and i'm getting there now. I totally agree with this review. Feels like a lot of people slept on this pearl and never gave it a shot
I just got to say that this is one of the best MGS5 reviews I've seen out there and mad respect for keeping up the rhythm throughout the video some people can't do that but you did A plus review
Other than the fact that your assessment, criticism and pinpointing were highly detailed, justified, discussed and objectively proven. But your fast jokes and out-of-nowhere witty remarks and sarcasm left me chuckling while keeping a focused eye on the different subjects you brought up. Excellent review my guy, video games SHOULD be reviewed thoroughly and in-detail EXACTLY LIKE THIS! I wish you all the best in your future works!!
There's is brilliant shit here, you were in the cusp of it. The story of V is a dual narrative told by the same events with different perspectives. The unsatisfying version is told by the first playthrough, it seems messy and doesn't make any sense by design. Then you beat the game realize that you are a body double then second playthrough starts with the same story but with more context. Your second playthrough of mgsv is knowing you are the double, and every piece of Intel is a face-to-face lie just to get you to execute skull face and get zero's revenge. Then the Patriots (and the game) tell you to fuck off while you're still sitting in it. So in short, Metal Gear Solid 5 is a metal gear game that lets you complete the "story" (ch1). Then it lets you sit in a breaking down operation. V is an interesting art piece. It's the equivalent if Kill Bill kept lingering and continuing to show the main character spiral in to crippling depression from the PTSD from the murders. Then leaving us in the middle of one of her nonsensical breakdowns. But in this case the Snake eating it's own tale is thematic. It seems like the truth tapes should integrated into your second playthrough, which makes a lot of the motivations make sense. The characters that seem off are playing a role. Those roles were specified in the truth tapes. The only person that didn't know he was playing a role was skull face. Additionally I don't believe that skull face knew Big Boss was a body double. Another detail from the truth tapes that skull face used a copy of the The Boss's PIN to infect zero. Imagine the insult just Skull Face if he knew that he carried out his revenge on a body double, he wasted his amazing plan on the wrong person. That's why skull face is revenge is as limp dicked as the players revenge. Everyone lost except Zero. This is why the body double looks like someone who is bored during skull faces big plot reveal. The double did not live the moments that skull face is referring to, had big boss been in that seat he probably would have been in there with his mouth open to be honest. Again reaffirming the main point that revenge is never fulfilling. And you were frustrated with all the juxtaposition and dual characters, well that was there on purpose as well. "We are not you kind of people, everything's a lie". It's the lies that make this the most Metal Gear that's ever existed. Nothing but lies created The legend of Big Boss. Which is the bigger plot that Kojima is trying to say. Every superpower will eventually slip into the truth/power struggle that the Patriots realize. What part of this struggle is your nation in. This is why he didn't miss, he's giving you a look at how lies turn into a tale of legend, then pass on for generations as a narrative. Skullface did have the last laugh, his meme was put into the system as he said. And repeated in Metal Gear Solid 4 by rogue Patriot AIs. Literally his taunting words as he died. Big boss's dark Shadow was the greatest Metal Gear villain because he was a pathetic little shit, but he was right about how much more evil zero and the Patriots were going to become without him. He knew where the Patriots were going and he thought he could kill them from the inside out, when in reality he set up the awful world that was played out between MGS2-4.
Great Vid. You weren't kidding about running away from the skulls on D horse...that part was unbelievably almost PTSD tense for me. I'm sure you wouldn't look at it this way but..I like to believe that Venom Snake embraced his new identity
I feel like the breaking up into chapters and only having 2 was kinda smart if you look at MGSV, not as a movie, but a TV show. A lot of shows do end after 2 seasons and because each main mission is labeled an “episode” my theory doesn’t feel too off the mark.
That begs the question, does hugging the ground (triangle/Y when prone) hide your horn from the enemies' collective view in a situation where it would otherwise get you spotted?
I agree with Kojima being an ideas/themes guy but not a writer. He's really not. His character writing sucks ass. MGS 3 is incredible in a lot of ways, but there's one thing the game doesn't sell whatso-fucking-ever: Snake's supposedly super deep and complex relationship with his mentor, The Boss. All we hear in the game are characters saying ''ooohhh she's your mentor, ohhh she's like your mother/lover/best friend/something even deeper", but we're never shown any of that. Hours of cutscenes yet no exposition showing us how close they really are, just Kojimbo going ''no they really care for each other tho lmao trust me". Give me even a crumb of exposition, for the love of fuck. Make me care even one bit, just one tiny little bit.
I love all the different approaches to the man on fire gimmick fight. My favorite way is placing c4 on the water tower supports, leading him over there and dropping it on his head
Love this video, really illustrates a lot of how I feel about this game even years after its release. A great game with some flawed execution but I cant stop coming back to to it.
MGSV is what solidified the series for me as a brutal tragedy. If not for Skull Face, maybe Zero and Big Boss could have made up with each other, and maybe David and Eli, and even Raiden/Jack could have lived out normal lives. The Medic would go on to live his own life instead of that of a phantom body double. But Skull Face ruined that chance for reconciliation and set the world on a course for disaster with the Patriots and war economy. But by the events of Shadow Moses or Big Shell, the only person left alive who even knows about him is Ocelot.
Honestly it was the fact you said you could never Fulton anyone and still be fine that got me to replay this game. Where I would attempt each mission with stealth, but almost always take only lethal weapons.
Holy cow. Bravo. This review was STUNNING! I feel like I developed a friendship and appreciation of your true self just listening to this. You just get me!
I find it funny how CodeTalker's mansion has an infinitely easier way to infiltrate via the literal front door, but the devs pulled a sneaky by making most players start in the forest area where they can get ambushed by snipers. If it's your first time, you won't even realize that CodeTalker is literally a corner away from the front door. You may even try to exit through the same way you came in. It's only when I was trying that "catch the legendary Ibis" side mission that I realized I was played like a damn fiddle.
I wonder if you'd do a video on the missions of MGSV. Hardly anyone ever talks about the game's level design and the various ways to do each particular mission. Missions like "To know too Much" for most people would just be: go to desert, blow up robots and rescue the dude whilst completely being unaware that if he gets captured before you get to him, a completely new mission emerges at Lamar Khate palace. So a mission review and ranking video would be something I'd be very interested in.
I've actually considered a variation of that idea. Not so much ranking each mission, simply because there are some missions that I just have nothing interesting to say. But rather, going into my top 10 favorite missions and elaborating why I keep replaying those missions in particular.
@@KeivReviewsThings I'll look forward to that! Having replayed "Proxy war without end" revently, I realised that depending on how you play it, it doesn't have to be an inferior "Back up, Back down" clone. If you let the battalion enter Nova Braga air port, you can sneak into the base just like in "the war economy" and capture the commander Miller always about at the beginning of the mission that most people never encounter. After that you can use the roof of the main building in the airport to rain hell on the tanks and helicopter, whilst the base starts swarming you. It's just incredible how much missions can completely change like that. Shame that the checkpoint system in this mission can ruin things though.
Don't you think that's a show of poor level design rather than good level design though? I mean, if (arbitrary number) 90% of your players never find out how good the design is, is it actually good?
@@MrRaznov I think that's more to do with difficulty, balancing and game mechanics. Most folks can simply dolfin dive into an outpost's main entry and reflex-chicken hat- rocket punch the guards without ever sneaking around the various sections and ignoring most of the base. So less to do with the level design but more to do with other factors.
Here’s something to think about, if it hasn’t been said yet. Since Kojima is a big movie fan as well, who’s to say that he didn’t take the pulp fiction approach has far as the episode orientation of telling the story🤷🏿♂️
I'm making this comment early in the video and mostly using it as background audio while I do other stuff. For me, my biggest gripe with TPP is the resources system. If not for how *terribly* it is handled, with being completely unable to AFK the resources being refined and the pain that grinding them is, the game would likely be a 9/10 for me, with a point knocked off due to it being incomplete. But because of how much they fucked up the resource system (along with the weird insistence on online gameplay for resources, those resources being separate, etc etc) it drops to a 6/10 for me. I've been in a mood lately to replay it again bc the main story and gameplay _is_ fantastic, but my ADHD brain just hates the need to grind out resources or mindlessly run around just because I want to be able to develop stuff.
I love this review. The story analysis, in particular, is on point. You didn't just complain about the cut content, but actually dug into the narrative, and explained what works and doesn't work. Great job, man.
I'm torn on many parts of this analysis but your video is so comprehensive that I not only really enjoyed it, but felt the empty gap of appreciation towards this game's story was filled and I loved your interpretation. This game has had my head spinning for 3 fuckin years since I first completed it and it is great to see smaller creators like yourself covering the game with this level of passion.
Thinking about it, I always went with a semi perfectionist checkpoint reload heavy no kill playstyle, though going in with a rolling with the punches mentality sounds fun too
I also like how if a vehicle goes missing or if you have Snake steal an item, then there's a chance a guard will realize something is missing and thus will alert everyone
During the ending scene, I think it would have been more emotionally impactful if Big Boss admitted that he took venom snakes freedom, but then explains “I may have sacrificed your freedom for mine, but I left just a small amount for you by, and you used that little bit of freedom to build friendships, the soldiers who fought against you became your family” and while he says this, venom snake doesn’t think about his friends, he thinks about killing his men, quiet sacrificing her life for his, he could hold his hands up to show that his right hand trembles but his left hand doesn’t, he could caress the metal sticking out his head and flip up his eye patch. I think this variation would really express all that venom snake lost and how big boss sent him down the path without his consent.
My favorite way to play the game was without any gadget, no fist, naked, with the horse companion and only a bare kalashnikov and a bare pistol both unsuppressed and with live rounds, kinda Rambo-style - that way I had no choice but to rely on pure stealth, I could not fire without raising the alarm and if I got spotted and fired back I was in for a long and sweaty action-packed sequence with no non-lethal options that turned into a bloodbath. I had a lot of fun because it felt more adventurous, but I never noticed a lot of features, like the guards reacting by wearing helmets, goggles or decoys and never saw them with masks, I never tried Quiet or even the dog before I had the Raiden outfit unlocked so 200+ hours into the experience, and absolutely no upgrades whatsoever. Viewing this video actually teaches me things I never remarked about the game. I don't regret anything however it was great, I sweated hard at OKB zero though. Try it if you haven't, also tanks are mines or C4 only, snipers can only be used against helicopters and the missile launcher is absolutely reserved for only the sahelanthropus ! And of course no helicopter support, the big idea is to be isolated in total OSP ;)
That stealth prone isn't just meant for listening for conversations it actually gives you actually have a less chance of being seen If you use it then if you don't . If you don't use it gaurds will see you from 10 m but if you use it then then they see you from 8m and if your in grass then you camouflage even more
Hey Keivan. Ever since you dropped this video, I fell in love with your channel and your straight-to-the-point style of commentary. Your opinions are truly some of the most unorthodox and yet most well-thought-out ones on the entire Internet, especially regarding the Metal Gear franchise. While many still lament and moan about what V "could have been", you have been quick to point out most of the fallacies in their criticism. With exposure, I have come to accept and appreciate a good majority of the points you have made in your video series covering the entire franchise. Ever since I played it, V had been one of my favorite games, yet I couldn't put my thoughts into words and your videos have enabled me to do just that. That being said, I have still been unable to really articulate my thoughts about how it stacks against the Hitman series of games. I resonated strongly with the points you made about how one can just load up a mission and go nuts, and that made me think of Hitman, and how both of these games have similar selling points of replayable, play-your-way stealth-action. While I always come back to V and leave the latest Hitman on the shelf once I feel I'm done with it, I can't help but feel that perhaps Hitman is a richer experience or something? Perhaps this is because I haven't seen people hate the new Hitman games as much as I have seen people handing out the dumbest criticism in echo-chambers to justify their feelings about V. (I wanna believe that I am not so stupid as to fall victim to groupthink, but if I was, I wouldn't know it, would I?) With regards to the gameplay in V, I love the level design, the multitude of playstyles and how the game is perfectly suited to accommodate each one (I mean you can literally punch tanks till they explode, or use grenades to blow up gunships, using Quiet's ricochet mechanic. The fact that I am still finding out new mechanics every so often blows my mind.), your points on "action and momentum", the fact that fuck-ups don't feel like fuck-ups, the open-endedness of each main and side op, the scripted sequences and alternate scenarios, the enemy variety and AI (to this day, I find it mind-boggling how the adaptive AI can even react to the 15-20 things that it does), the uniqueness of each main mission, some of the most mechanically impressive boss-fights I have ever seen, and the weapons and buddies and how they change the dynamics of any single deployment. However, even though I just listed out what I love most about one of my favorite games, I can't help but be confused as to why some part of my mind thinks that Hitman's approach might be better. I know it's an entirely different breed of stealth: the core sneaking and action mechanics are slapdash compared to V, however V pales in comparison to the grandeur of Hitman's labyrinthine maps (even though I still love the level design in V). You yourself stated that many of V's elimination missions are short and sweet in lieu of Hitman's drawn out and unforgiving nature. This in and of itself lowers Hitman's replayability in my opinion. I have always been a proponent of Hitman's levels containing only one elimination target, as there are very few scenarios where eliminating both at once becomes viable, and inclusion of multiple targets more often than not just boils down to using different strategies in different areas of the map, lengthening playtime and dampening replayability. However, Hitman still provides a bunch of different opportunities either in the form of unscripted challenges or scripted mission stories to deal with targets and complete objectives. The maps are ripe with alternate paths and traversal is challenging on its own. I always vacillate between what I consider to be more superior: the more developer-intended experimentation, exploration, and puzzle-solving of Hitman, or the spontaneity and immediacy of V, which heavily relies on its core mechanics giving rise to organic, emergent gameplay. Now, I have come to be wary of Bunny Man's opinions on the Internet, as he is just a passionate nerdy fanboy and the lion's share of his criticism - at least when it comes to Metal Gear, and storytelling in general - has been a little crude and inadequate to say the least. However, certain arguments he makes here: th-cam.com/video/mBaZUtRiIAM/w-d-xo.html, I believe are at the core of my dissociation. At the same time, some of his arguments just boil my blood: th-cam.com/video/yqAF2j_X-_c/w-d-xo.html (says that V was responsible for Hitman's poor sales figures or some dumb shit like that), and th-cam.com/video/he9K0G4pADo/w-d-xo.html (calls later MGs inelegant?). I know this is subjective, but I reckon we share similar tastes. Since you have played both, and obviously like V more, I would love to know your thoughts about this.
I adore comments like these so thank you very much for taking the time to write this out. With regards to V vs Hitman, the two games share very similar design philosophies on some level. Both games have missions that are incredibly open-ended and designed to be played a whole slew of different ways to give you your moneys worth. Any one assassination in Hitman can be played about a dozen different ways and still feel like a different mission each time, due to the sheer volume of script sequences targets have, the vast scope of every level and the dozens of different methods you can conjure up to kill a target, organically or through utilizing the opportunities the game provides you. In that regard, Hitman offers much more for its missions than V does. Where the two differ and where I veer towards V is intent. See, what many don't take into account is the fact that stealth action games aren't a monolith. There are games meant to be played to perfection, where deviation from stealth results in death or things spiraling into a giant mess. And there are games meant to let you adapt fully as the situations get hairy. V is the latter, and Hitman is the former. V doesn't provide the sheer scope of opportunities and vast levels as Hitman because these missions aren't meant to be laser perfect commitments. Most missions, you tend to knock out in 15-20 minutes at most the first run. And repeat runs are usually half that time or less unless you're going for a pure zero trace run. That's why the outposts are significantly smaller than the levels in Hitman and why the opportunities established in most missions aren't near the amount of the Hitman games. And I personally tend to prefer that approach to stealth action games because those are the kinds of games I tend to want to replay. With Hitman, the levels are vast and the opportunities almost overwhelming. However, my biggest gripe with those games is that the experience itself often feels too similar. In that, for as vast as the brilliantly designed levels are, you're still very limited in terms of what you can do outside of the scripted kill opportunities the game provides. Outside of using those pre-assembled puzzle pieces, you can choke someone out, shoot them in the head, chuck a brick at their skull, snipe them from afar, push them off a cliff, etc. And it's all satisfying to get through, but at the same time, you have no room to get super creative. That's largely because Hitman isn't designed to be a "adapt as you go" sort of game. If you screw up at any point during a mission, you may as well reload your last checkpoint because Agent 47 has no durability, and the AI doesn't really adapt. Most targets just stand in fear when bullets start flying, and you're forced to either partake in some pretty mediocre cover shooting gunplay, or try to run when you can't really take a lot of damage. The vast levels are excellently realized and get full mileage due to the sheer extent of scripted events targets have to give you more opportunities to take them out. So you're not going to be stuck in one area over and over. And I would certainly agree that the designers use their space in Hitman much better than KojiPro did for V. But the drawback here is that it also means missions take a long time to get through. And as I note in my review, missions that feel like a commitment don't have a lot of replay value for me. The amount of ways a mission can play out in Hitman are nearly infinite, but if each replay is going to clock me a full hour to get through or even half that, then I'm personally not inclined to replay them because that's a lot of time to commit to something I've already beaten that isn't giving me a lot for what I could otherwise get with another game. The way I see it, I can spend one hour replaying a really good assassination mission in Hitman Season 3, or I can spend an hour replaying three or four levels in Shovel Knight and chugging through four different boss fights in the process. And for me, it's no contest, I'll go with what lets me do more in a shorter amount of time. That's also where V has the edge, because I can do about as much or more replaying V and just doing a few random missions than sticking to one overly long mission in a Hitman game. So while Hitman may afford a far more rich and robust experience with a lot more structure to its missions, something like Phantom Pain just has so much more versatile and satisfying core gameplay loop with far more replayable missions due to their accessibility, brevity and the much wider scope of gameplay mechanics. Both are excellent stealth action games at the top of their craft, but both intend to do completely different things in terms of how they approach replay value. And I think V, as a video game, excels, whereas Hitman, enjoyable as the series may be, succumbs to a lot of the same issues other one-n-done stealth action games tend to have; namely, just asking too much for too little in return. That's simply my take on the matter. One day, I'll likely review the Hitman seasons for the PS4 and go more in-depth from there. Thank you for the kind words and I do hope you enjoy the videos to come!
honestly we really have to give peace walker such amazing praise for being the guinee pig to all of the amazing systems but i still wish we had metal gear zeke style boss fight where we got to make a monster metal gear of our design and customize and then properly fight and destroy, even use in the unit deployment mechanic or even defend mother base and have random players fight our metal gears. would have been so cool shit i typed this early into watching, glad to know it was a dope idea
Honestly the game has some awesome charm, It makes you think outside the box to make it more fun like stealth can be boring but rewarding or you can fist fight an entire base to complete a mission like some MMA fighter on drugs. The game has some insanely funny mechanics to it that just bring out the hilarity in it
Although there is no doubt in my mind that MGSV is the best action-game ever, gameplay-wise. Its just a damn shame the story is an unfocused, unstructured mess. I really wish it was more linear ,story-wise, like previous entries. I sold my PS4 years ago, but I still have random dreams about running around in MGSV at butter-smooth 60fps in a mostly empty desert. Really miss DD too. I’m playing MGS2 these days but watching your review has inspired me to give this game another chance and finish it.
Best review of MGSV I've ever seen by a mile. The way you summed up how Kojima shat all over the ending of the game in mission 30 & 31 was as well done as it possibly could be. Damn did it leave me infuriated. No character fucked up the series as hard as Liquid. A crap villain in MGS1, led to a shockingly stupid plot twist in MGS2 (the arm), ruined Ocelot as a character, ruined the ending of MGSV and ruined Skull Face. Why the hell does everyone love him, I can't understand... at all...
Omg I have never agreed so much. You are amazing I'm a 52 year Mgs freak. And you are spot on with everything you said and your ending would be so much better. Happy turkey day
by far one of the best reviews/synopsis of MGSV ive watched and contextualizes my thoughts and feelings into a game that plagued most of my time gaming as a child. MGSV was my first Metal Gear game of the series, I loved it for all it's bat shit storytelling and its amazing gameplay that made me come pack time and time again even today.
This may be your longest review but IMHO, it's your best too! This came out AMAZINGLY well, mate! You laid out your points so thoroughly and without any filler or weak attempts at humor. And you went into detail without dragging anything out. I'm not sure how you made two hours feel so brief but you should be commended for that alone! :D What I love is the examples you use in the video, some of the gameplay you showed was insane! I didn't even KNOW you could get a fulton by knocking out four blokes with one decoy like that. And the way you used cardboard boxes, I never would have figured to use in the game. Like as a shield against Eli before sliding into him. XD You raised so many good points that it's hard to disagree with. Eli doesn't belong in TPP and he DOES come completely out of nowhere. And I've been saying for years that Chico should've filled his role. So I'm glad we're on the same page there. The ending does become very unsatisfying as a result and I think that would've been VERY different if Chapter 1 didn't conclude the way it did. I also really like that you took the time to show the order in which some missions should play out. I never considered that because it all fell under the blanket of rebuilding Mother Base for Diamond Dogs to be stronger. But looking back, you make a very good point. I think that if those missions were rearranged, that would've actually been REALLY beneficial to the games pace and made the story feel a lot tighter as a result. Where I differ a little is on the character. I didn't dislike Quiet the way you seemed to because she has such an air of mystery to her, despite her over-sexualization. I also disagree that if Kojima wanted to really sell the "Player is Big Boss" metanarrative that there shouldn't have been cutscenes. I don't agree because you have games where you play as silent protagonists and there ARE still cutscenes. Zelda is a great example of that. Link doesn't say a word besides whatever is said in some dialogue choices but the stories still work and the characters are still allowed to breathe. I think what it boils down to is that Kojima just made some bad choices. Killing Skull Face the way he did was a terrible choice. Including Liquid Snake was a terrible choice. And cutting Chico was a VERY terrible choice. And TBF, I think if Kojima DIDN'T make those choices, then we all probably would be much more satisfied with TPP's story. I also disagree with it being the strongest in the series. TBH, I think Peace Walker is still the best story because it has the most appropriate tone for MGS and as you, yourself, have said, it does the MGS Protagonist better than ANY MGS game. Where TPP excels is building up a mystery and using gameplay to further the plot. Not to mention TPP has a MUCH stronger main villain than PW. But otherwise, I liked the cutscenes of PW more and the character interactions a lot more in PW because there was more humanity to them. But all said, you did a VERY good job with this review. I can see why it took you so many months to finish, there's so much footage and cuts used here and the time shows! Thanks for crediting me BTW. I was so glad my pics got used in such a thoughtful review! :) ~ Cheers
02:03:47 Very good point regarding Eli and the "missing" chapter. Also, we already know where he came from. We know that he lives. And we know what he goes on to do.
I really wish the story was more fleshed out but still when it comes to everything else… BEST GAME EVER! It’s sad to know this will be the last real Meal Gear
I haven't got much time to respond to some things before but now I have so... :P On the topic of guards and how their AI works I would say that game is probably the best example in stealth genre in how it isn't as punishing as it usually is. Partial margin failure in this genre is infamously low which this graphic shows precisely critpoints.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/1345519042675.jpg but MGSV averts that trend to large degree, there are multiple variables that affect spotting chance and variables that affect reaction of guards after being spotted (small glimpse will make him brush it off, longer glimpse will make him investigate after short while or will make him run to investigate immediately especially if there is a friend next to him depending on length of the game and even if you do get spotted you have reflex mode or before that happening you can fuck up outpost's communications system to not let them call reinforcements or alert others and so on). But on the same topic I find the game to be quite at fault for more reasons than you presented. One big reason is that most outposts are designed in such a way that there are routes and paths that don't have any guards or any sort of obstacles to be mindful of which is kind of boring. Why is it even here if there are no guards to make fun of, fight or sneak past by? It is partially redeemed by game placing various resources in places that have higher guard presence but inclusion of such space seems like a waste of time and resources anyway. Other than that some of the advanced and complex AI behaviours don't have a necessary breathing room to really shine or are undermined by other decisions. Namely guards have tendency, especially early in the game to take SO MUCH TIME to actually investigate, check out something and so on for no tangible purpose. I don't know what it aims to achieve because it actively goes against game's momentum where otherwise fast paced in both stealth and action game with fluid movements, changes of states and so on radically slows down because if you wanted to creatively bypass or lure guard somewhere (which is one of the selling points of the game) he takes ages to actually act on that input and all you do is wait and be bored. The whole "report -> check -> report" routine would be fine if it worked like in MGS2 "why are you late with your status report?" because it would be in service of something interesting that could add a ton to emergent messiness this game has going for it and thus add something fun to your creative options. As for breathing room thing game has really good "flush the enemy out of house" behavior that is wholly organic and not scripted like it was in say MGS2. But it seems entirely superflous because most buildings have multiple exit and entry points and guards only ever like to attack from one maybe two entrances (that and most people don't try to wait in house but rather try to flank or escape as fast as possible). Most people didn't even notice that AI in MGSV can do that. Here's a video showcasing that behavior th-cam.com/video/DEzfAbkU3Hs/w-d-xo.html Other thing I wanted to add is on the topic of Quiet. I agree with you on the other things but these. Namely I think that concept of "show rather than tell" in case of Quiet was largely on the former than latter, me thinks. Kojimbo this time around bombarded you more with cutscenes where Quiet has shown her affection through her actions like the cutscene with the necklace or the cutscene with the aircraft fight or the cutscene with the rain and so on (and of course these cringe as fuck "poses" in ACC because holding hand or something is generic and not artsy enough, probably). There was also huge gameplay component where we see them bonding on the battlefield through gameplay as both Venom and Quiet cooperate, work out new tactics and options and so on the more you play with her as a buddy. That is also one of the "player is Venom" aspects that works really well because in moments like these what you and Venom do or want completely align, you're just playing that part of Venom character instead of watching it or whatever. It conveys that part of bond and so on rather succinctly and with gameplay alone (you also have that option in game to call her and she will "respond" differently, will give you OK gesture if you scope her and so on which is also a nice touch). I agree that this is undermined by contrived scenario where she goes from trying to murder Venom openly and TWO TIMES, and one of these times happened mere moments before, to loving and actively helping him out (it makes little sense logically and dramatically even if we include that she was XOF's biological weapon whose aim is to get rid of Diamond Dogs because logically she should speak English to fuck up Diamond Dogs the moment she was surrounded by Venom, Kaz and Ocelot and all these soldiers next to them). Unless... Unless the love was shown before. I don't remember the beginning of the game all that much now and I probably speak out of my ass now because I always skip Awakening but wasn't Quiet in the hospital hesitant to kill Venom? I also remember thinking during the fetish strangling part that it seemed like they were... kissing? Or something of that nature. It would add a ton of credibility to what Kojimbo was selling, execution of that aside. So minus the second paragraph on the topic of Quiet I would summarize this like that: akchyually Kojimbob has shown the love of Quiet through visuals, actions of said character and her gestures + gameplay played big part with it and whatnot. It's all show, don't tell as it goes because she has nearly completely zero dialogue. How "she loves the boss" is conveyed is surely "tell, not show", I agree, but the context to that is as "show, don't tell" and "play, don't tell" as it can get. The thing I would argue is bad here is the execution or how it is shown or played at best (I certainly see no value in these oversexualized poses in ACC rather than handholding or something other less primitive). That's too much of a wall of text so I'll end it here. And once again great review!
Very interesting reply, thank you! Regarding the enemy AI, I can't comment too much on the earlier side of things, simply because, typically, a larger scale game like this would want to give players some breathing room starting out. Though, I do think an option for just starting off with enemies in peak awareness wouldn't hurt, like how you can turn reflex mode off. The game is already so accommodating with optional training wheels, so it would make more sense to provide a few to enhance the experience for long-time players. The flanking, I feel, could've been better if soldiers lobbed more grenades at windows or surrounded the entire building to make escapes a little more difficult. But I chalk that up to FOX Engine's last-gen NPC limitation hampering the game for everyone, sans PC players. The main reason I didn't comment on either one was simply because they didn't *really* hamper my experience the way some other issues did. As for Quiet, she actually doesn't hesitate. The first time she has her gun pointed, it goes into slow-mo, but Ishmael jumps her. And after that, she starts strangling Snake until getting lit ablaze. Her face is pure aggression in that moment before things go blurry, with no real hesitation to be seen that I'm aware of. My issue with Quiet was, while the stuff in-game works great to make me personally feel attached to her, simply because she's a very reliable buddy and fun to use, I just didn't get enough from her and Snake. They have ten direct cutscenes together after her boss fight and before Mission 45, including the birthday cutscene and showering together. In three, they're hostile towards one another, and in a few, it's mostly just going on about her abilities. Leaving only a handful of scenes where they're actually friendly (the necklace, dancing, birthday, shooting down a plane, and showering). It felt like more was needed between them, for me, where there's a bit more of an organic growth from hostility to passive tolerance to genuine warmth and care. Often times, Kojima is on the right track, but just needs a *little* bit more to make something work for me. Quiet was at a deficit from her ridiculous costume and skin-breathing alone, but I do feel she could've worked with just a little bit of extra nudging. Either way, thank you for taking the time to leave such a great comment! I appreciate it tremendously!
At around 1:22:00 you ask: If skull face's goal was to exterminate english language, he had the virus strain. Why not let that virus infect English places. You're wrong there, this part where he's driving with snake, he clearly says, he wants to exterminate all the languages of the world. So people speak the language of nukes only. he says he wants a world where every country respects the existence of other, knowing they all have nukes. This is where his market begins. I'm still listening to entire review. You've done an amazing Kojima tier job xD Good work man. Really good work.
My fav tactic in taking out the skulls is to stay hidden in the start (at least in the missions where you can hide), place all c4 in the inventory in front of snake and then wait for them to stumble towards me, while you back off. Once they’re close enough, you just let it go off. Most of them will be out for the count
This game legit ruined other games for me. The stealth is so good, that it makes other games that use stealth mechanics look way too simplified. Uncharted 4, Horizon Zerp Dawn, Days Gone, TLOU 2, Far Cry 3 -5 Ghost of Tsushima. All these games make use of stealth. But the stealth is so simple. Just hide in grass and you'll be invisible automatically
Not exactly. TLOU2 at least is one game that plays and feels like a MGS3, MGS4 and MGSV making a good use of stealth mechanics where your movement (fastor slow), going prone or crouching, distance and many types of vegetation decides if you are visible or not, unlike the other games where all you have is the famous "tall grass"😂.
@@frogglen6350 TLOU2 is definitely NOT a walking sim, mate. It has a lot of cutscenes but its stealth action gameplay equates to about as much gameplay most MGS games have once you get past cutscenes. The vegetation they're referring to is different in size. You had the tall grass and then low grass and wheat that you have to crawl instead of crouch through. Not to mention the stealth parts have several outcomes thanks to level design.
I just watched it and bro, what a review. Bravo. Really love your insights on the metal gear games. Really opened my eyes to stuff I didn’t see when I played them. Cheers
I love this review, it covers every point and bit i had with this game that could't explain correctly, althrough i don't agree in some parts i can say this the best review of the game i've watch.
![[🔴LIVE] งานประกาศรางวัล MAYA TV AWARDS 2024 : มายามหาชน](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nwmWYXXVwBY/mqdefault.jpg)
As of today, this review has become the first review I've made to surpass 10k views. Pretty small compared to other, much larger channels, but it means a lot to me all the same that so many folks seemed to get something out of this video, definitely makes the many many months that went into making it feel that much more worth it.
Thank you all very much for your support! I appreciate it tremendously and hope y'all enjoy the reviews to come! In keeping up with stealth action genre, the next review I'm currently working on is for an indie stealth game called 'Disjunction'. I'm hoping to have it done within the next few days, beyond that, I've got quite a few others in the works so stay tuned for that!
Much support from me man. Keep Metal Gear Alive !
Dude, when I looked at the views, I was suprised this hadn't been seen more by the MGS community and beyond. Although there are quite a few people who do these things for MGS... Still, VERY professional and you should be proud of this content. I'm glad you view this in the context of how things can be here on YT and your own progress for yourself. great energy and breakdown!
This review was long as fuck, but also a damn blast and single handedly made me want to finally play MGSV after delaying it for so long. Good job, man!
@@bucket9486 by far one of the best games out still in 2021 man its worth it
Great video! Congrats!
"You can swap weapons mid aim as you are still shooting just by hitting square"
Me with more than 300 hours in this game: "You can do WHAT??!!"
Seriously, it's amazing how years later one can still discover a lot of secret mechanics and possibilities in this game
You deserve my like but I didn't want to change it from 69 likes..... Nice...
Hell yeah dude, and it also works in real life as well as it's an old trick of my own.
Nah, but seriously, Kojima games where he is at the helm of development are most well known for the wildly entertaining/convoluted-in-the-best-way narratives. But, beyond that the other thing consistent with maybe all Koji-Pro games is the tight-as-hell gameplay that must take up a huge focus during the development process being worked out and fine-tuned by a crack team of corporal beings by choice group of devs picked by Kojima to actually achieve.
Yeah. Like until this video , idk why it never occurred to me using my rocket punch to destroy communications, or generators, etc.... 3 years after this review and still learned new things.
I personally am ok with the story not being as oppressive as it normally is in the series. It is hands down the best gameplay of the series. My only notes are I would love to have seen Kojima finish it. The recycled missions and the ending. If I were to ask for more, maybe 1 additional biome. Snow maybe? But really, gameplay wise, this is Everything I ever wanted in a Metal gear game
Hideo
2 hours long and it has a 3 second intro. Amazing
Honestly it was pretty surprising
@@uncanny-hector-1906 I agree on your side
4 second*
Bro jumps right into it like a fucking Boss. Nice work man.
a rarity these days
46:20 “Boss, how did you defeat Sahelanthropus so fast?”
Venom: “I punched it”
Kojima voiced frustration that the player doesn't see their action as bad when they're in control. I personally think he was talking about Peace Walker and how nobody thought twice about building a nuclear weapon in that game. Really that showed Big Boss's descent perfectly... but nobody saw it, because they were controlling Big Boss.
Ok, so how do you get around that? How do you let the player control BB and still make them hate BB as a character? Simples! Have the player be a victim of BB's ruse. It's SO clever.
@Garland846 I choose to believe snake gave me the opportunity to make my own communist motherbase
Any jackass can massacre children and threaten the world with nukes. But it takes a special kind of narcissist to do what Big Boss did to Venom. It took me awhile after finishing the game to piece this together, but it ended up being so much more impactful as a "fall to the dark side" story than what I was expecting.
well, it wasnt his idea but Zeros, Big Boss just used what he woke up to.
But yeah, still ruthless.
I play for the gameplay what did he do
Yeah mgs5 is my first mg game i wanna know too.
@@irregular_banana skip to 1:48:35 - 1:55:33
@@rishi1363 skip to 1:48:35 - 1:55:33
I love eavesdropping on Soviet soldiers' conversations. In the Red Brass mission, you can listen in to the Russian base commanders talking, and one of them talks with a really worried tone about reports of people 'floating away on balloons'.
And me, crouched on a rooftop only a few meters away giggling my ass off.
1:13 "[MGSV:TPP] plays better than [...] just about any single Stealth/Action 3rd-Person Shooter I've ever played." *Still true in 2022.*
still true in 2024 broo
@@pepecervantes6813 👍
Stealth games: oh no alert everyone knows my every move
Mgs v stealth: oh no I’ve broken line of site and the guards aren’t blocking my path to a objective because they’re investigating my last known position 👌
Mgsv open world is basically Valhalla (mythology not the game) nothing to do but fight, just another day in a war without end
Thank you for not having an hour long intro about Moby Dick
I agree. I hate when pretentious critics do that.
@@frogglen6350Dont see how giving background and similarities is considered pretentious. My only assumption is that they didn't say what you wanted to hear fast enough.
@@leonseuropeanislandadventu7398
Hearing someone say the exact same comparison in every video gets old. We get it. Kojima likes using metaphors. Talk about the game already!
@@frogglen6350 Is it really pretentious when the game's themes heavily reference the novel? The game actively wants you to think about Moby Dick.
In my opinion, this is possibly the most detailed review of MGSV I have ever experienced. Brilliant assessment and the bookmarks are a delight. Thank you again ✌🏻
If you liked this you should also watch someordinarygamers mgs4 video
@@noahmatee Thanks for the recommendation.
i would also recommend Tetramore’s mgs videos he has nice ones
I bought this game on day 1 release. It's almost into 2023 and I'm still playing it. I love this game.
Love the idea of going to Camp Omega as Venom. The layout could be completely different from the previous game because he was never even there originally. Awesome.
like maybe that he hallucinates it and knows the slight layout from being on the chopper, so its like all weird and changed in subtle ways
Your love and appreciation for this game clearly shines through - well done 👍
Indeed it does. I have much love for the MG series & this game for sure
This was by far one of the best (all-encompassing) reviews I've watched about this game, which has made me go "Yes, exactly!" basically all throughout. But did you forget about my man Peqoud? Who's at our beck and call every mission/side-op, with his insanely acurate aim during cover fires which always obliterates everything, but miraculously not Venom. And seems to be the only man that gives an actual fuck about Venom with his 'Be careful down there, Boss.' Oh, how I love that guy! But honestly, great review! Was a blast to watch and now I wanna dive back into it.
"D-Walker, the answer to Johnny 5 is alive." Subbed immediately.
The amount of killing I have seen in the first 10 minutes of this video is ACTUALLY more than the amount of soldiers I had to kill in both of my playthroughs . Keep in mind I have completed the game twice on different saves and I am a more tranq/stun style gamer , only because I don’t want to grow the size of the horn on my head and that killing is a bit more inhumane than tranquillising and fultoning an enemy
I'm already a demon
@@KeivReviewsThings*woah-hoooooooooooooooo*
Im fine with growing the horn in Venom Snake. What im not fine is the fact that im left fucking caked in blood like goddam Carrie at the end of her movie.
At least mods can come in clutch for that, i guess
@@mateosanchezaquino3829 *sad playstation noises*
Saw your review featured on J'S Reviews and gotta say you really made some great points. Obviously there's a lot I don't agree with here and am not as big a fan of MGSV, but I also fully admit to not considering a lot of factors you did. One of my biggest problems with MGSV was how easy it was and how every boss fight felt the same. But when you look at it from the lens of how every mission can end up going, then it makes sense it wouldn't be the hardest game in the world. If it were, then all the action wouldn't be as viable a gameplay approach as you state.
There's also a lot of stunts you do that I never thought to do because I'm someone who always wants to play a mission as stealthy as possible. Whereas you seemed to adapt to getting caught and just made it part of the fun. So that might be why you enjoyed the game a lot more than I did and I can admit that might just be a 'me' problem since GZ felt a little harder for me and that's what I was expecting from MGSV.
I agree that Skullface should have been fought and a fight like Clifford's fight sounds fitting for him, but I think the boss problem extends further than you comment. I don't think the Skulls should have been bosses. To me, they should've just been minibosses like the haven girls or ocelot unit bois. They're mechanically extensive like bosses but don't have as much resilience. If they were just minibosses who turned up a lot with more XOF assassins like Quiet or Volgin showing up as proper boss battles, then that would've solved everything. It isn't that the bosses of MGSV are bad or even boring. They're just so repetitive and so underwhelming when you compare them to the sheer depth of MGS3's bosses which even you acknowledge. I was even more disappointed because the concept arts showed some cut bosses like Chico or Scorch, who was an XOF assassin with full body armor that had weakpoints on his suit and flamethrower you had to target. That sounds like a lot of fun and I wish MGSV had deeper bosses like that, especially since actual antagonists are always so much more entertaining than monsters.
The point I never considered was with Eli aka Liquid Snake. I'll admit that I'm someone who is still sore about KotF, but I also never considered what that entire ending would've been like if Eli never showed up at all. Because you're right, his introduction is completely unrelated to everything going on up to that point. If anything, Eli's story even feels like he would work better as DLC since it really doesn't have anything to do with MGSV's plot. Reserving that whole story as a separate chapter sold separately could've saved Kojima Productions a lot of hassle and even worked out for Konami, because they would've made serious money off of that chapter which most of us would've certainly purchased, and that could have have covered the development costs.
You just earned yourself a new subscriber, dude. Even if I personally wouldn't rate MGSV nearly as high as you did, the points you raised were really sound points and have got me thinking. So keep up the great work!
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful and insightful comment! I appreciate posts like these a lot!
I've actually never believed GZ to be harder, because while you do have fulton and way more toys in V, you also don't *need* anything else in GZ beyond your assault rifle. Experimentally, I've done runs where I do nothing but knock everyone out or kill everyone, either quietly or maintaining high alert from start to finish. And while guards give you a run for your money, you tend to feel like you're in control a lot of the times. The instant you unlock the rifle with the grenade launcher attachment, it's pretty much over. Same with if you hop into a tank because guards and other tanks are powerless to stop you.
As you said, I'm very much of the mind that if a game is stealth action, then both aspects should be viable. It's why I enjoyed MGS3 so much more than the other linear games. You can go guns blazing for the same result, but still have a fun time with it. And in V's case, the mechanics are so good that I genuinely have more fun with its combat than any third person shooter I've ever played.
I don't personally mind the Skulls being classified as bosses because, functionally, they do what a boss fight should do. But I also wouldn't have objected to your idea either of more colorful human enemies like Quiet to add to the fray. And I couldn't agree more on Eli's segment being better off as DLC. Anything would've been better than how Kojimbo approached it.
11:35 - everyone follows the path to extract the kids. But I got annoyed and neutralized everyone in the outpost of the mine. What I didn’t realize is I blew up the anti air radar so.. I tranqualized the kids and called the chopper pretty easy and simple
I know this is 2 years later but dude, why is Ocelot even in the fucking game? He does nothing that couldnt have been done by ANYBODY else. The audio cassettes are nice but not really what I wanted.
Damn, huge video! Awesome that you managed to finish this behemoth of a review finally lol
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for the timestamps in the description. Now my quick laugh or that section I wanna look over in this over-2-hour review is just a click away.
You make an excellent point about putting in secret bosses in the open world, I think it absolutely would have benefited from it. Like imagine if there was another HARDER secret sniper fight, or a CQC type fight that would keep you on your toes
@ 1:38:00
“If you care more about making some misguided unnecessary point than you do writing a satisfying story, then maybe your priorities as a writer are a bit fucked up.”
Most hilariously vicious and accurate stab at Kojima being a writer. And the delivery was spot on 😂 I wish someone would say that to his face.
While I agree with the point made, I don't think this applies to Kojima very well at all. Obviously this is subjective, but I never felt like his points were misguided or unnecessary, and I've definitely enjoyed his stories. I've never felt unsatisfied from a Kojima game. Maybe parts of his games, but never the game as a whole.
@@sufferingmp4102 that’s because kojima left the project in someone else’s hands. They delivered his messages and vision better than he ever could. mGR was fun
This is weird because MGS 1, 2, and 3 are all very satisfying. And MGS 4 has one of the happiest endings for a franchise, showing every character finally living a better life.
That criticism belongs to the last of us 2. Because nothing about that game is satisfying
@@moist_cabbage8472 The delivery there was actually satisfying
Needed a video like this, tired of seeing videos on how disappointing of a “metal gear” game. As a huge fan of the series I was blown away w the in-depth gameplay and I actually like how the story was handled
There are a lot of videos praising it, especially in the last couple years. Futurasound is a channel that is basically dedicated to MGS, especially TPP
@bencarlson4300 it's his religion, his "meme" so to say lmfao.
I love this analysis, although I completely lost it at the "Red Skull's discoloured cousin" lol
People don’t talk enough about how absolutely amazing the gameplay is and how it’s leagues ahead of GTAs dry follow map in corner BS
This video was phenomenal, i LOVE your voice, the script and editing. I hope you will ever attempt to make another review at least once more, from your words i feel like you don't want to make more and that's fine, sadly you don't have ads on ur vids (i hope you will turn them on someday, i watched this video a few times now and you're not making a single buck from me) but still, i think this video is phenomenal and i can only wish for you to do this once more someday.
Thanks again, happy new year and stay healthy!
I'm already working on my next review and side videos. My goal is to grow this channel so I *can* start making money off of it. I just won't ever make a video that's as long as this one is because it's just too much work and too much stuff gets lost between the cracks. Most of my work will typically be between twenty to thirty minutes long. I made the exception for MGSV because I simply had so much to say about this one video game that I almost certainly won't have to say about other games.
Happy New Year to you as well!
For Quiet why didnt they just have her be a regular antagonist after you beat her in mission 8 she disappears. She appears again a few missions later and attempts to Kill Snake, but is defeated and snake spares her. Same thing happens a few missions later Quiet shows up, gets defeated by Snake and he spares her. A few missions later Snake is ambushed by XOF and is nearly killed, but Quiet saves you and joins you because you soared her two times and she realized she was just a pawn for Skull Face and Cipher.
Also Mgs5 didnt make me hate Big Boss nah it made me realize how much of a fraud he really is. A thing im surprised you didnt mention is how this game puts us in the shoes of not just Venom Snake, but how the boss felt in mgs3 and when all of her accomplishments were not mentioned in the history books or given to someone else
I played this game in 2015 and didn't get all the weapons, started playing 2 months ago and i'm getting there now. I totally agree with this review. Feels like a lot of people slept on this pearl and never gave it a shot
30 seconds in and I LOVE this video so far. No preamble, no bullshit you just get straight to the point! Gonna very much enjoy the next 2 hours!
I can't believe I never thought to use D-Horse whistle-warping on rescue missions.
I just got to say that this is one of the best MGS5 reviews I've seen out there and mad respect for keeping up the rhythm throughout the video some people can't do that but you did A plus review
Other than the fact that your assessment, criticism and pinpointing were highly detailed, justified, discussed and objectively proven. But your fast jokes and out-of-nowhere witty remarks and sarcasm left me chuckling while keeping a focused eye on the different subjects you brought up. Excellent review my guy, video games SHOULD be reviewed thoroughly and in-detail EXACTLY LIKE THIS! I wish you all the best in your future works!!
There's is brilliant shit here, you were in the cusp of it. The story of V is a dual narrative told by the same events with different perspectives. The unsatisfying version is told by the first playthrough, it seems messy and doesn't make any sense by design. Then you beat the game realize that you are a body double then second playthrough starts with the same story but with more context.
Your second playthrough of mgsv is knowing you are the double, and every piece of Intel is a face-to-face lie just to get you to execute skull face and get zero's revenge. Then the Patriots (and the game) tell you to fuck off while you're still sitting in it.
So in short, Metal Gear Solid 5 is a metal gear game that lets you complete the "story" (ch1). Then it lets you sit in a breaking down operation. V is an interesting art piece. It's the equivalent if Kill Bill kept lingering and continuing to show the main character spiral in to crippling depression from the PTSD from the murders. Then leaving us in the middle of one of her nonsensical breakdowns. But in this case the Snake eating it's own tale is thematic.
It seems like the truth tapes should integrated into your second playthrough, which makes a lot of the motivations make sense. The characters that seem off are playing a role. Those roles were specified in the truth tapes. The only person that didn't know he was playing a role was skull face. Additionally I don't believe that skull face knew Big Boss was a body double. Another detail from the truth tapes that skull face used a copy of the The Boss's PIN to infect zero. Imagine the insult just Skull Face if he knew that he carried out his revenge on a body double, he wasted his amazing plan on the wrong person. That's why skull face is revenge is as limp dicked as the players revenge. Everyone lost except Zero. This is why the body double looks like someone who is bored during skull faces big plot reveal. The double did not live the moments that skull face is referring to, had big boss been in that seat he probably would have been in there with his mouth open to be honest. Again reaffirming the main point that revenge is never fulfilling.
And you were frustrated with all the juxtaposition and dual characters, well that was there on purpose as well. "We are not you kind of people, everything's a lie". It's the lies that make this the most Metal Gear that's ever existed. Nothing but lies created The legend of Big Boss. Which is the bigger plot that Kojima is trying to say. Every superpower will eventually slip into the truth/power struggle that the Patriots realize. What part of this struggle is your nation in. This is why he didn't miss, he's giving you a look at how lies turn into a tale of legend, then pass on for generations as a narrative.
Skullface did have the last laugh, his meme was put into the system as he said. And repeated in Metal Gear Solid 4 by rogue Patriot AIs. Literally his taunting words as he died. Big boss's dark Shadow was the greatest Metal Gear villain because he was a pathetic little shit, but he was right about how much more evil zero and the Patriots were going to become without him. He knew where the Patriots were going and he thought he could kill them from the inside out, when in reality he set up the awful world that was played out between MGS2-4.
Great Vid. You weren't kidding about running away from the skulls on D horse...that part was unbelievably almost PTSD tense for me.
I'm sure you wouldn't look at it this way but..I like to believe that Venom Snake embraced his new identity
Bro FKCN cooked so hard in this video.
Best review of MGSV
I feel like the breaking up into chapters and only having 2 was kinda smart if you look at MGSV, not as a movie, but a TV show. A lot of shows do end after 2 seasons and because each main mission is labeled an “episode” my theory doesn’t feel too off the mark.
That's really a smart idea!
OK, so Demon Snake does affect gameplay, enemies can spot you from much farther away. To the point of it being unfair.
I didn't know that, thank you for the info! That's just another reason why Demon Snake was a terrible idea then.
That begs the question, does hugging the ground (triangle/Y when prone) hide your horn from the enemies' collective view in a situation where it would otherwise get you spotted?
@@jharju2352 That does absolutely nothing, I tried that and got spotted by a helicopter 1km away in the middle of the night.
@@KeivReviewsThings Exactly, I would actually recommend trying it out to see how downright ridiculous it is.
@@InReserveProductions That's fucked. Now I'm glad that I preferred nonlethal anyway.
YOU CAN CUSTOM MOD YOUR WEAPONS? THE FUCK HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS
I agree with Kojima being an ideas/themes guy but not a writer. He's really not. His character writing sucks ass.
MGS 3 is incredible in a lot of ways, but there's one thing the game doesn't sell whatso-fucking-ever: Snake's supposedly super deep and complex relationship with his mentor, The Boss. All we hear in the game are characters saying ''ooohhh she's your mentor, ohhh she's like your mother/lover/best friend/something even deeper", but we're never shown any of that. Hours of cutscenes yet no exposition showing us how close they really are, just Kojimbo going ''no they really care for each other tho lmao trust me". Give me even a crumb of exposition, for the love of fuck. Make me care even one bit, just one tiny little bit.
Very impressive, you weren’t kidding when you said this would be a video with a lot of new insight on this game, keep up the good work!
I love all the different approaches to the man on fire gimmick fight. My favorite way is placing c4 on the water tower supports, leading him over there and dropping it on his head
Love this video, really illustrates a lot of how I feel about this game even years after its release. A great game with some flawed execution but I cant stop coming back to to it.
MGSV is what solidified the series for me as a brutal tragedy. If not for Skull Face, maybe Zero and Big Boss could have made up with each other, and maybe David and Eli, and even Raiden/Jack could have lived out normal lives. The Medic would go on to live his own life instead of that of a phantom body double. But Skull Face ruined that chance for reconciliation and set the world on a course for disaster with the Patriots and war economy. But by the events of Shadow Moses or Big Shell, the only person left alive who even knows about him is Ocelot.
Honestly it was the fact you said you could never Fulton anyone and still be fine that got me to replay this game. Where I would attempt each mission with stealth, but almost always take only lethal weapons.
Going fully prone isn’t useless because it actually increases your camo index
Holy cow. Bravo. This review was STUNNING! I feel like I developed a friendship and appreciation of your true self just listening to this. You just get me!
I find it funny how CodeTalker's mansion has an infinitely easier way to infiltrate via the literal front door, but the devs pulled a sneaky by making most players start in the forest area where they can get ambushed by snipers.
If it's your first time, you won't even realize that CodeTalker is literally a corner away from the front door. You may even try to exit through the same way you came in.
It's only when I was trying that "catch the legendary Ibis" side mission that I realized I was played like a damn fiddle.
I wonder if you'd do a video on the missions of MGSV. Hardly anyone ever talks about the game's level design and the various ways to do each particular mission. Missions like "To know too Much" for most people would just be: go to desert, blow up robots and rescue the dude whilst completely being unaware that if he gets captured before you get to him, a completely new mission emerges at Lamar Khate palace.
So a mission review and ranking video would be something I'd be very interested in.
I've actually considered a variation of that idea. Not so much ranking each mission, simply because there are some missions that I just have nothing interesting to say. But rather, going into my top 10 favorite missions and elaborating why I keep replaying those missions in particular.
@@KeivReviewsThings I'll look forward to that!
Having replayed "Proxy war without end" revently, I realised that depending on how you play it, it doesn't have to be an inferior "Back up, Back down" clone.
If you let the battalion enter Nova Braga air port, you can sneak into the base just like in "the war economy" and capture the commander Miller always about at the beginning of the mission that most people never encounter. After that you can use the roof of the main building in the airport to rain hell on the tanks and helicopter, whilst the base starts swarming you.
It's just incredible how much missions can completely change like that. Shame that the checkpoint system in this mission can ruin things though.
@@KeivReviewsThings do that
Don't you think that's a show of poor level design rather than good level design though? I mean, if (arbitrary number) 90% of your players never find out how good the design is, is it actually good?
@@MrRaznov I think that's more to do with difficulty, balancing and game mechanics. Most folks can simply dolfin dive into an outpost's main entry and reflex-chicken hat- rocket punch the guards without ever sneaking around the various sections and ignoring most of the base. So less to do with the level design but more to do with other factors.
Here’s something to think about, if it hasn’t been said yet. Since Kojima is a big movie fan as well, who’s to say that he didn’t take the pulp fiction approach has far as the episode orientation of telling the story🤷🏿♂️
this video is underappreciated af
I'm making this comment early in the video and mostly using it as background audio while I do other stuff.
For me, my biggest gripe with TPP is the resources system. If not for how *terribly* it is handled, with being completely unable to AFK the resources being refined and the pain that grinding them is, the game would likely be a 9/10 for me, with a point knocked off due to it being incomplete. But because of how much they fucked up the resource system (along with the weird insistence on online gameplay for resources, those resources being separate, etc etc) it drops to a 6/10 for me. I've been in a mood lately to replay it again bc the main story and gameplay _is_ fantastic, but my ADHD brain just hates the need to grind out resources or mindlessly run around just because I want to be able to develop stuff.
I love this review. The story analysis, in particular, is on point. You didn't just complain about the cut content, but actually dug into the narrative, and explained what works and doesn't work. Great job, man.
I'm torn on many parts of this analysis but your video is so comprehensive that I not only really enjoyed it, but felt the empty gap of appreciation towards this game's story was filled and I loved your interpretation. This game has had my head spinning for 3 fuckin years since I first completed it and it is great to see smaller creators like yourself covering the game with this level of passion.
The rhythm you maintained through this video is incredible. Probably one of if not my favourite video on the platform.
I had to check my playback speed when I started this. 10/10 for not wasting time. Thank you
A mission editor... You're a genius! That was all it needed!
I hope the modders pick that idea up.
They are working to implement a level editor to the game or something like that
Phantom Pain let me run around with a silenced shotgun.
so basically MGS V is a great game but as always kojima is shit at writing stories
Thinking about it, I always went with a semi perfectionist checkpoint reload heavy no kill playstyle, though going in with a rolling with the punches mentality sounds fun too
Who’s here in 2024?
Me
Over here
Right here
Yep
Still infiltrating FOB please someone who's online in mgs5
Don't know how you don't have more subs. I've never finished it. But I just might, thanks to you.
I also like how if a vehicle goes missing or if you have Snake steal an item, then there's a chance a guard will realize something is missing and thus will alert everyone
This game is called the phantom pain for a reason, there are a lot of things missing
What a phenomenal write up as well as masterful editing.. you’ve just earned another subscriber o7
Amen to everything you just said brother... 🙏🙏
Wow. You did amazing work here sir, good job.
even the head shots feels so smooth in both games
During the ending scene, I think it would have been more emotionally impactful if Big Boss admitted that he took venom snakes freedom, but then explains “I may have sacrificed your freedom for mine, but I left just a small amount for you by, and you used that little bit of freedom to build friendships, the soldiers who fought against you became your family” and while he says this, venom snake doesn’t think about his friends, he thinks about killing his men, quiet sacrificing her life for his, he could hold his hands up to show that his right hand trembles but his left hand doesn’t, he could caress the metal sticking out his head and flip up his eye patch. I think this variation would really express all that venom snake lost and how big boss sent him down the path without his consent.
My favorite way to play the game was without any gadget, no fist, naked, with the horse companion and only a bare kalashnikov and a bare pistol both unsuppressed and with live rounds, kinda Rambo-style - that way I had no choice but to rely on pure stealth, I could not fire without raising the alarm and if I got spotted and fired back I was in for a long and sweaty action-packed sequence with no non-lethal options that turned into a bloodbath. I had a lot of fun because it felt more adventurous, but I never noticed a lot of features, like the guards reacting by wearing helmets, goggles or decoys and never saw them with masks, I never tried Quiet or even the dog before I had the Raiden outfit unlocked so 200+ hours into the experience, and absolutely no upgrades whatsoever. Viewing this video actually teaches me things I never remarked about the game. I don't regret anything however it was great, I sweated hard at OKB zero though. Try it if you haven't, also tanks are mines or C4 only, snipers can only be used against helicopters and the missile launcher is absolutely reserved for only the sahelanthropus ! And of course no helicopter support, the big idea is to be isolated in total OSP ;)
That stealth prone isn't just meant for listening for conversations it actually gives you actually have a less chance of being seen If you use it then if you don't . If you don't use it gaurds will see you from 10 m but if you use it then then they see you from 8m and if your in grass then you camouflage even more
Hey Keivan. Ever since you dropped this video, I fell in love with your channel and your straight-to-the-point style of commentary. Your opinions are truly some of the most unorthodox and yet most well-thought-out ones on the entire Internet, especially regarding the Metal Gear franchise. While many still lament and moan about what V "could have been", you have been quick to point out most of the fallacies in their criticism. With exposure, I have come to accept and appreciate a good majority of the points you have made in your video series covering the entire franchise. Ever since I played it, V had been one of my favorite games, yet I couldn't put my thoughts into words and your videos have enabled me to do just that.
That being said, I have still been unable to really articulate my thoughts about how it stacks against the Hitman series of games. I resonated strongly with the points you made about how one can just load up a mission and go nuts, and that made me think of Hitman, and how both of these games have similar selling points of replayable, play-your-way stealth-action. While I always come back to V and leave the latest Hitman on the shelf once I feel I'm done with it, I can't help but feel that perhaps Hitman is a richer experience or something? Perhaps this is because I haven't seen people hate the new Hitman games as much as I have seen people handing out the dumbest criticism in echo-chambers to justify their feelings about V. (I wanna believe that I am not so stupid as to fall victim to groupthink, but if I was, I wouldn't know it, would I?)
With regards to the gameplay in V, I love the level design, the multitude of playstyles and how the game is perfectly suited to accommodate each one (I mean you can literally punch tanks till they explode, or use grenades to blow up gunships, using Quiet's ricochet mechanic. The fact that I am still finding out new mechanics every so often blows my mind.), your points on "action and momentum", the fact that fuck-ups don't feel like fuck-ups, the open-endedness of each main and side op, the scripted sequences and alternate scenarios, the enemy variety and AI (to this day, I find it mind-boggling how the adaptive AI can even react to the 15-20 things that it does), the uniqueness of each main mission, some of the most mechanically impressive boss-fights I have ever seen, and the weapons and buddies and how they change the dynamics of any single deployment.
However, even though I just listed out what I love most about one of my favorite games, I can't help but be confused as to why some part of my mind thinks that Hitman's approach might be better. I know it's an entirely different breed of stealth: the core sneaking and action mechanics are slapdash compared to V, however V pales in comparison to the grandeur of Hitman's labyrinthine maps (even though I still love the level design in V). You yourself stated that many of V's elimination missions are short and sweet in lieu of Hitman's drawn out and unforgiving nature. This in and of itself lowers Hitman's replayability in my opinion. I have always been a proponent of Hitman's levels containing only one elimination target, as there are very few scenarios where eliminating both at once becomes viable, and inclusion of multiple targets more often than not just boils down to using different strategies in different areas of the map, lengthening playtime and dampening replayability. However, Hitman still provides a bunch of different opportunities either in the form of unscripted challenges or scripted mission stories to deal with targets and complete objectives. The maps are ripe with alternate paths and traversal is challenging on its own. I always vacillate between what I consider to be more superior: the more developer-intended experimentation, exploration, and puzzle-solving of Hitman, or the spontaneity and immediacy of V, which heavily relies on its core mechanics giving rise to organic, emergent gameplay.
Now, I have come to be wary of Bunny Man's opinions on the Internet, as he is just a passionate nerdy fanboy and the lion's share of his criticism - at least when it comes to Metal Gear, and storytelling in general - has been a little crude and inadequate to say the least. However, certain arguments he makes here: th-cam.com/video/mBaZUtRiIAM/w-d-xo.html, I believe are at the core of my dissociation. At the same time, some of his arguments just boil my blood: th-cam.com/video/yqAF2j_X-_c/w-d-xo.html (says that V was responsible for Hitman's poor sales figures or some dumb shit like that), and th-cam.com/video/he9K0G4pADo/w-d-xo.html (calls later MGs inelegant?).
I know this is subjective, but I reckon we share similar tastes. Since you have played both, and obviously like V more, I would love to know your thoughts about this.
I adore comments like these so thank you very much for taking the time to write this out. With regards to V vs Hitman, the two games share very similar design philosophies on some level. Both games have missions that are incredibly open-ended and designed to be played a whole slew of different ways to give you your moneys worth. Any one assassination in Hitman can be played about a dozen different ways and still feel like a different mission each time, due to the sheer volume of script sequences targets have, the vast scope of every level and the dozens of different methods you can conjure up to kill a target, organically or through utilizing the opportunities the game provides you. In that regard, Hitman offers much more for its missions than V does.
Where the two differ and where I veer towards V is intent. See, what many don't take into account is the fact that stealth action games aren't a monolith. There are games meant to be played to perfection, where deviation from stealth results in death or things spiraling into a giant mess. And there are games meant to let you adapt fully as the situations get hairy. V is the latter, and Hitman is the former.
V doesn't provide the sheer scope of opportunities and vast levels as Hitman because these missions aren't meant to be laser perfect commitments. Most missions, you tend to knock out in 15-20 minutes at most the first run. And repeat runs are usually half that time or less unless you're going for a pure zero trace run. That's why the outposts are significantly smaller than the levels in Hitman and why the opportunities established in most missions aren't near the amount of the Hitman games.
And I personally tend to prefer that approach to stealth action games because those are the kinds of games I tend to want to replay.
With Hitman, the levels are vast and the opportunities almost overwhelming. However, my biggest gripe with those games is that the experience itself often feels too similar. In that, for as vast as the brilliantly designed levels are, you're still very limited in terms of what you can do outside of the scripted kill opportunities the game provides. Outside of using those pre-assembled puzzle pieces, you can choke someone out, shoot them in the head, chuck a brick at their skull, snipe them from afar, push them off a cliff, etc. And it's all satisfying to get through, but at the same time, you have no room to get super creative.
That's largely because Hitman isn't designed to be a "adapt as you go" sort of game. If you screw up at any point during a mission, you may as well reload your last checkpoint because Agent 47 has no durability, and the AI doesn't really adapt. Most targets just stand in fear when bullets start flying, and you're forced to either partake in some pretty mediocre cover shooting gunplay, or try to run when you can't really take a lot of damage.
The vast levels are excellently realized and get full mileage due to the sheer extent of scripted events targets have to give you more opportunities to take them out. So you're not going to be stuck in one area over and over. And I would certainly agree that the designers use their space in Hitman much better than KojiPro did for V. But the drawback here is that it also means missions take a long time to get through. And as I note in my review, missions that feel like a commitment don't have a lot of replay value for me. The amount of ways a mission can play out in Hitman are nearly infinite, but if each replay is going to clock me a full hour to get through or even half that, then I'm personally not inclined to replay them because that's a lot of time to commit to something I've already beaten that isn't giving me a lot for what I could otherwise get with another game.
The way I see it, I can spend one hour replaying a really good assassination mission in Hitman Season 3, or I can spend an hour replaying three or four levels in Shovel Knight and chugging through four different boss fights in the process. And for me, it's no contest, I'll go with what lets me do more in a shorter amount of time. That's also where V has the edge, because I can do about as much or more replaying V and just doing a few random missions than sticking to one overly long mission in a Hitman game.
So while Hitman may afford a far more rich and robust experience with a lot more structure to its missions, something like Phantom Pain just has so much more versatile and satisfying core gameplay loop with far more replayable missions due to their accessibility, brevity and the much wider scope of gameplay mechanics. Both are excellent stealth action games at the top of their craft, but both intend to do completely different things in terms of how they approach replay value. And I think V, as a video game, excels, whereas Hitman, enjoyable as the series may be, succumbs to a lot of the same issues other one-n-done stealth action games tend to have; namely, just asking too much for too little in return.
That's simply my take on the matter. One day, I'll likely review the Hitman seasons for the PS4 and go more in-depth from there. Thank you for the kind words and I do hope you enjoy the videos to come!
@@KeivReviewsThings Thanks for the quick and insightful response! Looking forward to your future projects!
honestly we really have to give peace walker such amazing praise for being the guinee pig to all of the amazing systems but i still wish we had metal gear zeke style boss fight where we got to make a monster metal gear of our design and customize and then properly fight and destroy, even use in the unit deployment mechanic or even defend mother base and have random players fight our metal gears. would have been so cool
shit i typed this early into watching, glad to know it was a dope idea
Honestly the game has some awesome charm, It makes you think outside the box to make it more fun like stealth can be boring but rewarding or you can fist fight an entire base to complete a mission like some MMA fighter on drugs. The game has some insanely funny mechanics to it that just bring out the hilarity in it
Saying the enemies reacting to how you play isn’t far enough is actually insane
Although there is no doubt in my mind that MGSV is the best action-game ever, gameplay-wise. Its just a damn shame the story is an unfocused, unstructured mess. I really wish it was more linear ,story-wise, like previous entries. I sold my PS4 years ago, but I still have random dreams about running around in MGSV at butter-smooth 60fps in a mostly empty desert. Really miss DD too. I’m playing MGS2 these days but watching your review has inspired me to give this game another chance and finish it.
Your reasoning for returning to Ground Zeroes and capping it of at Chico. Wow. Kohima needs writers.
Best review of MGSV I've ever seen by a mile. The way you summed up how Kojima shat all over the ending of the game in mission 30 & 31 was as well done as it possibly could be. Damn did it leave me infuriated. No character fucked up the series as hard as Liquid. A crap villain in MGS1, led to a shockingly stupid plot twist in MGS2 (the arm), ruined Ocelot as a character, ruined the ending of MGSV and ruined Skull Face. Why the hell does everyone love him, I can't understand... at all...
Great review man !! Just discovered this game series a few years ago and no doubt Phantom Pain is my favorite no contest and I will play it forever.
Omg I have never agreed so much. You are amazing I'm a 52 year Mgs freak. And you are spot on with everything you said and your ending would be so much better. Happy turkey day
I never knew you could punch tanks to death.. I need to play again.
by far one of the best reviews/synopsis of MGSV ive watched and contextualizes my thoughts and feelings into a game that plagued most of my time gaming as a child. MGSV was my first Metal Gear game of the series, I loved it for all it's bat shit storytelling and its amazing gameplay that made me come pack time and time again even today.
This may be your longest review but IMHO, it's your best too! This came out AMAZINGLY well, mate!
You laid out your points so thoroughly and without any filler or weak attempts at humor. And you went into detail without dragging anything out. I'm not sure how you made two hours feel so brief but you should be commended for that alone! :D
What I love is the examples you use in the video, some of the gameplay you showed was insane! I didn't even KNOW you could get a fulton by knocking out four blokes with one decoy like that. And the way you used cardboard boxes, I never would have figured to use in the game. Like as a shield against Eli before sliding into him. XD
You raised so many good points that it's hard to disagree with. Eli doesn't belong in TPP and he DOES come completely out of nowhere. And I've been saying for years that Chico should've filled his role. So I'm glad we're on the same page there. The ending does become very unsatisfying as a result and I think that would've been VERY different if Chapter 1 didn't conclude the way it did.
I also really like that you took the time to show the order in which some missions should play out. I never considered that because it all fell under the blanket of rebuilding Mother Base for Diamond Dogs to be stronger. But looking back, you make a very good point. I think that if those missions were rearranged, that would've actually been REALLY beneficial to the games pace and made the story feel a lot tighter as a result.
Where I differ a little is on the character. I didn't dislike Quiet the way you seemed to because she has such an air of mystery to her, despite her over-sexualization. I also disagree that if Kojima wanted to really sell the "Player is Big Boss" metanarrative that there shouldn't have been cutscenes. I don't agree because you have games where you play as silent protagonists and there ARE still cutscenes. Zelda is a great example of that. Link doesn't say a word besides whatever is said in some dialogue choices but the stories still work and the characters are still allowed to breathe.
I think what it boils down to is that Kojima just made some bad choices. Killing Skull Face the way he did was a terrible choice. Including Liquid Snake was a terrible choice. And cutting Chico was a VERY terrible choice. And TBF, I think if Kojima DIDN'T make those choices, then we all probably would be much more satisfied with TPP's story.
I also disagree with it being the strongest in the series. TBH, I think Peace Walker is still the best story because it has the most appropriate tone for MGS and as you, yourself, have said, it does the MGS Protagonist better than ANY MGS game. Where TPP excels is building up a mystery and using gameplay to further the plot. Not to mention TPP has a MUCH stronger main villain than PW. But otherwise, I liked the cutscenes of PW more and the character interactions a lot more in PW because there was more humanity to them.
But all said, you did a VERY good job with this review. I can see why it took you so many months to finish, there's so much footage and cuts used here and the time shows!
Thanks for crediting me BTW. I was so glad my pics got used in such a thoughtful review! :)
~ Cheers
02:03:47 Very good point regarding Eli and the "missing" chapter. Also, we already know where he came from. We know that he lives. And we know what he goes on to do.
I really wish the story was more fleshed out but still when it comes to everything else… BEST GAME EVER! It’s sad to know this will be the last real Meal Gear
I haven't got much time to respond to some things before but now I have so... :P
On the topic of guards and how their AI works I would say that game is probably the best example in stealth genre in how it isn't as punishing as it usually is. Partial margin failure in this genre is infamously low which this graphic shows precisely critpoints.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/1345519042675.jpg but MGSV averts that trend to large degree, there are multiple variables that affect spotting chance and variables that affect reaction of guards after being spotted (small glimpse will make him brush it off, longer glimpse will make him investigate after short while or will make him run to investigate immediately especially if there is a friend next to him depending on length of the game and even if you do get spotted you have reflex mode or before that happening you can fuck up outpost's communications system to not let them call reinforcements or alert others and so on).
But on the same topic I find the game to be quite at fault for more reasons than you presented. One big reason is that most outposts are designed in such a way that there are routes and paths that don't have any guards or any sort of obstacles to be mindful of which is kind of boring. Why is it even here if there are no guards to make fun of, fight or sneak past by? It is partially redeemed by game placing various resources in places that have higher guard presence but inclusion of such space seems like a waste of time and resources anyway. Other than that some of the advanced and complex AI behaviours don't have a necessary breathing room to really shine or are undermined by other decisions. Namely guards have tendency, especially early in the game to take SO MUCH TIME to actually investigate, check out something and so on for no tangible purpose. I don't know what it aims to achieve because it actively goes against game's momentum where otherwise fast paced in both stealth and action game with fluid movements, changes of states and so on radically slows down because if you wanted to creatively bypass or lure guard somewhere (which is one of the selling points of the game) he takes ages to actually act on that input and all you do is wait and be bored. The whole "report -> check -> report" routine would be fine if it worked like in MGS2 "why are you late with your status report?" because it would be in service of something interesting that could add a ton to emergent messiness this game has going for it and thus add something fun to your creative options. As for breathing room thing game has really good "flush the enemy out of house" behavior that is wholly organic and not scripted like it was in say MGS2. But it seems entirely superflous because most buildings have multiple exit and entry points and guards only ever like to attack from one maybe two entrances (that and most people don't try to wait in house but rather try to flank or escape as fast as possible). Most people didn't even notice that AI in MGSV can do that.
Here's a video showcasing that behavior th-cam.com/video/DEzfAbkU3Hs/w-d-xo.html
Other thing I wanted to add is on the topic of Quiet. I agree with you on the other things but these. Namely I think that concept of "show rather than tell" in case of Quiet was largely on the former than latter, me thinks. Kojimbo this time around bombarded you more with cutscenes where Quiet has shown her affection through her actions like the cutscene with the necklace or the cutscene with the aircraft fight or the cutscene with the rain and so on (and of course these cringe as fuck "poses" in ACC because holding hand or something is generic and not artsy enough, probably). There was also huge gameplay component where we see them bonding on the battlefield through gameplay as both Venom and Quiet cooperate, work out new tactics and options and so on the more you play with her as a buddy. That is also one of the "player is Venom" aspects that works really well because in moments like these what you and Venom do or want completely align, you're just playing that part of Venom character instead of watching it or whatever. It conveys that part of bond and so on rather succinctly and with gameplay alone (you also have that option in game to call her and she will "respond" differently, will give you OK gesture if you scope her and so on which is also a nice touch).
I agree that this is undermined by contrived scenario where she goes from trying to murder Venom openly and TWO TIMES, and one of these times happened mere moments before, to loving and actively helping him out (it makes little sense logically and dramatically even if we include that she was XOF's biological weapon whose aim is to get rid of Diamond Dogs because logically she should speak English to fuck up Diamond Dogs the moment she was surrounded by Venom, Kaz and Ocelot and all these soldiers next to them). Unless...
Unless the love was shown before. I don't remember the beginning of the game all that much now and I probably speak out of my ass now because I always skip Awakening but wasn't Quiet in the hospital hesitant to kill Venom? I also remember thinking during the fetish strangling part that it seemed like they were... kissing? Or something of that nature. It would add a ton of credibility to what Kojimbo was selling, execution of that aside.
So minus the second paragraph on the topic of Quiet I would summarize this like that: akchyually Kojimbob has shown the love of Quiet through visuals, actions of said character and her gestures + gameplay played big part with it and whatnot. It's all show, don't tell as it goes because she has nearly completely zero dialogue. How "she loves the boss" is conveyed is surely "tell, not show", I agree, but the context to that is as "show, don't tell" and "play, don't tell" as it can get. The thing I would argue is bad here is the execution or how it is shown or played at best (I certainly see no value in these oversexualized poses in ACC rather than handholding or something other less primitive).
That's too much of a wall of text so I'll end it here. And once again great review!
Very interesting reply, thank you!
Regarding the enemy AI, I can't comment too much on the earlier side of things, simply because, typically, a larger scale game like this would want to give players some breathing room starting out. Though, I do think an option for just starting off with enemies in peak awareness wouldn't hurt, like how you can turn reflex mode off. The game is already so accommodating with optional training wheels, so it would make more sense to provide a few to enhance the experience for long-time players.
The flanking, I feel, could've been better if soldiers lobbed more grenades at windows or surrounded the entire building to make escapes a little more difficult. But I chalk that up to FOX Engine's last-gen NPC limitation hampering the game for everyone, sans PC players. The main reason I didn't comment on either one was simply because they didn't *really* hamper my experience the way some other issues did.
As for Quiet, she actually doesn't hesitate. The first time she has her gun pointed, it goes into slow-mo, but Ishmael jumps her. And after that, she starts strangling Snake until getting lit ablaze. Her face is pure aggression in that moment before things go blurry, with no real hesitation to be seen that I'm aware of.
My issue with Quiet was, while the stuff in-game works great to make me personally feel attached to her, simply because she's a very reliable buddy and fun to use, I just didn't get enough from her and Snake. They have ten direct cutscenes together after her boss fight and before Mission 45, including the birthday cutscene and showering together. In three, they're hostile towards one another, and in a few, it's mostly just going on about her abilities. Leaving only a handful of scenes where they're actually friendly (the necklace, dancing, birthday, shooting down a plane, and showering).
It felt like more was needed between them, for me, where there's a bit more of an organic growth from hostility to passive tolerance to genuine warmth and care. Often times, Kojima is on the right track, but just needs a *little* bit more to make something work for me. Quiet was at a deficit from her ridiculous costume and skin-breathing alone, but I do feel she could've worked with just a little bit of extra nudging.
Either way, thank you for taking the time to leave such a great comment! I appreciate it tremendously!
Yours is the best review on MGSV out of the like 14 I've watched. Thank you. 🎉❤
At around 1:22:00 you ask: If skull face's goal was to exterminate english language, he had the virus strain. Why not let that virus infect English places.
You're wrong there, this part where he's driving with snake, he clearly says, he wants to exterminate all the languages of the world. So people speak the language of nukes only. he says he wants a world where every country respects the existence of other, knowing they all have nukes.
This is where his market begins.
I'm still listening to entire review. You've done an amazing Kojima tier job xD
Good work man. Really good work.
Skull face was wasted as a villain. Dude was an awesome villain but they did fuck all with him and never let us fight him. Bullshit.
i can't believe i've watched this whole video......... TWICE
AWESOME review bro!
You made the best MGSV video.
Thank you for this.
Hope Kojimbob sees this and grow as a writer-director.
Or just let someone else do the story bits. I've wished this for decades.
Why don’t you have more subscribers? I thought you had like 100k!
My fav tactic in taking out the skulls is to stay hidden in the start (at least in the missions where you can hide), place all c4 in the inventory in front of snake and then wait for them to stumble towards me, while you back off. Once they’re close enough, you just let it go off. Most of them will be out for the count
This game legit ruined other games for me. The stealth is so good, that it makes other games that use stealth mechanics look way too simplified.
Uncharted 4, Horizon Zerp Dawn, Days Gone, TLOU 2, Far Cry 3 -5 Ghost of Tsushima. All these games make use of stealth. But the stealth is so simple. Just hide in grass and you'll be invisible automatically
Not exactly.
TLOU2 at least is one game that plays and feels like a MGS3, MGS4 and MGSV making a good use of stealth mechanics where your movement (fastor slow), going prone or crouching, distance and many types of vegetation decides if you are visible or not, unlike the other games where all you have is the famous "tall grass"😂.
@@TheMrCHELL
Lou 2 is a linear walking simulator
@@TheMrCHELL
And what do you mean "many types of vegetation"
Only vegetation you can hide in is grass
@@frogglen6350 TLOU2 is definitely NOT a walking sim, mate. It has a lot of cutscenes but its stealth action gameplay equates to about as much gameplay most MGS games have once you get past cutscenes. The vegetation they're referring to is different in size. You had the tall grass and then low grass and wheat that you have to crawl instead of crouch through. Not to mention the stealth parts have several outcomes thanks to level design.
@@vicwaters87 tlou2 has probably the worst ending I’ve ever seen
I just watched it and bro, what a review. Bravo. Really love your insights on the metal gear games. Really opened my eyes to stuff I didn’t see when I played them. Cheers
Bro I felt that “fuck the R&D platform” in the deepest part of my soul.
I love this review, it covers every point and bit i had with this game that could't explain correctly, althrough i don't agree in some parts i can say this the best review of the game i've watch.