Gaming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

[Cleptomatic]

With 14 days left I can't hold back my anticipation any longer, I have been waiting for this game forever. So many unanswered questions and unfinished stories tied together in a freakin massive end-all Metal Gear Solid game!

lest start w/ the questions that the trailers for it have brought up:
1) Will Riden save Olga's child?
2) What relationship with Meryl does snake have this time
3) Does Snake salute Big Bosses grave or The Bosses grave?
4) What is Naomi Hunter's real identity
5) Does Snake off himself?
6) Does Otacon avenge his sister's death?
7) Why is Campbell so old and still asking snake for help when Foxhound was destroyed
8) WTF young snake?!?!
9) Will Riden finally beat vamp? or will Vamp still kick his jaw corrected a**
10) Will snake finally take Liquid down
11) will Snake actually erase his genes? And if he does will people kill Hideo in real life?
12) will they cut it down to fit on one BR disc or will they leave it on 3 so the story will actually make sense.
13) will Gray Fox make another appearance? (I really hope so)
14) Will the VR junkie be playable again?

these are just some of the may questions MGS has left in it's wake over the last 20 years and maybe we'll get some answers, but at the cost of a great franchise...

[size=1][color=blue]Welcolme, Cleptomatic.

I merged your thread with the original Metal Gear Solid 4 thread. There is an [u][b]Arcade Thread Directory[/u][/b] in the stickies, and it's also recommended that you do a search before creating a thread because the thread may have already been created. Who knows, there maybe some answers to your questions already in this thread. If you have any questions feel free to contact me or any other staff member. ~Phenom~[/color][/size]

[silpheedpilot]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Metal. Gear. Solid. 4.

This is it. No more Solid Snake. It's done. The legacy has been closed off but thats not why I'm here.

I'm here for Metal Gear Online. The multiplayer component to Metal Gear, which is to say the least, awesome.

Sort of.

You have to take the good with the bad, the cheap with the fair, and the complete bs with bs.

Sometimes you'll be unloading into a mans head and he just swivels, aims, and takes your dome off. Other times you'll think you're being sneaky when someone runs up on you, uses the tazer end of the knife, then lays down and stabs you to finish you off.
Snipers run rampant, pistols are useless. Grenades don't do what they're supposed to do; which is kill. No, instead the grenades knock you off your feet and take half of your life instead of all of it like grenades have done since the beginning of time.

However, at the same time you can't help but have fun. When you try you can normally sharpshoot with the AK, if you're rolling with a team that has an inkling of tactics it's a blast, and when you do someone utterly amazing like flanking the snipers of the opposing team and taking them out you feel like the game was made for you.

The game has many skills that you can equip to benefit you in some way. The 'Runner' skill makes you move a bit faster. Equipping the 'Assault Rifle+' skill lowers the amount of recoil to your rifle and lessens the time it takes to reload.
All of the skills are able to increase up to 3 levels, which give you added bonuses to that certain level. Having level 3 'CQC' allows you to strip the weapons of your enemies and does a tremendous amount of damage to their stamina when you throw them, plus you can choke them out much quicker. Certain abilities aren't available until you level up and equip certain skills, as well. Equipping level 3 'Knife+' and level 1 'CQC' allows you to grab enemies and slit their throats.

The downside to skills is that you can have a maximum level of 4 equipped, so; Level 3 'Assault Rifle +' and level 1 'Runner' is all you can equip. Or you could do level 1 'CQC', level 2 'Sub-machine gun+', and level 1 'Runner' and so on so forth, you get the idea.

The amount of weapons, while not mind boggling, is a fair amount. You can access up to, I believe, 15 weapons which range from Sub-machine guns, assault rifles, a machine gun, a handful of sniper rifles, and some heavy artillery in the form of the RPG-7 rocket launcher. Some of the rifles, sniper rifles, and the P90 are able to upgrade in certain game rooms with the use of Drebin points, which are essentially points that tell you how good you're doing. The more points you have the better you're doing, and thus more points to spend on upgrades or buying a new weapon. The system is pretty neat in the fact that while you may go on a streak and have enough to buy the G3A3 assault rifle, which is better than both the starting rifles, you could end up getting killed enough times by doing a bit more poorly and have your points stripped away.

I thoroughly enjoy playing MGO and I don't foresee myself changing multiplayer games any time soon especially not when Konami are releasing expansion packs with more weapons, maps, character items, and modes.

I won't lie to you though; this game is certainly an acquired taste.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Treble]

I finished the game over the weekend on my brother?s PS3, and I must say it was an absolute blast from the beginning to the end.

I have to admit, some of the cutscenes in the game were ridiculously long. Sometimes it seemed like it took an hour or so for a scene to end. To me that?s a bit too much, because there were times where I wish a cutscene would hurry up and end already so that I could save the game and rest. Of course, despite the length, I thoroughly enjoyed watching them all as they were done amazingly well.

One thing I like about this game is that there seems to be a variety of ways for people to play the game. For instance, I?m one those people who like to charge in and attack whenever I get the chance. My brother, on the other hand, takes forever trying to be as stealthy as one could be while messing around with the OctoCamo. There?s a ton of different things one could do in this game, and its stuff like this that makes this game so awesome.

As for the storyline, I?ve never been good at following the series all that well. So I can?t really say much about it, but it seems to answer a lot of the questions that were left unanswered in the previous games.

Well, that?s it for me. I think I?m going to go back and try to replay it on a harder difficulty setting since I played it on the easiest setting, haha.

Oh and the whole sign-up process for Metal Gear Online is totally not cool at all. You need a Konami ID and a separate Game ID. And to make things worse, you only get to have one free character to play with. Oh well, I?ll live. It?s pretty fun so far.

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I'm in the same boat as Treble; I recently finished MGS4. I rented it for a few days and played it on my dad's PS3.

It's true that MGS4 is probably the best in the series and it [i]does[/i] wrap up all of the various storylines and sub-plots.

In doing so, however, we are treated to (or punished by) frequent long cutscenes. And I mean [i]frequent[/i] and [i]long[/i]. Sometimes this really irritated me, because I'd watch a cutscene for half an hour, then play five minutes of game, then be forced into another twenty minute cutscene. Yuck.

I must point out that I didn't mind this in MGS3, both because the MGS3 cutscenes were all incredibly interesting/well done [i]and[/i] because they generally weren't too long. They were pushing it, but were tolerable.

MGS4 goes a bit too far in this regard. A lot of scenes could have been snipped back quite a bit or avoided all together, simply with better editing. In some scenes, characters repeat the same concept over and over again but in different ways. In other words, much of it is utterly redundant.

Having said that, it is difficult for one game to wrap up all of the storylines from this series. And MGS4 does do this effectively, although in doing so, it does betray the highly convoluted nature of the MGS plot.

I did follow most of it, but some things just lost me, primarily because I had forgotten details from previous games. So I almost feel that it's worth reading plot summaries of the prior three games before playing MGS4, just so that you are in the best possible position to enjoy the story.

Anyway, the actual gameplay (when the game gives you the chance to play it, that is) is excellent. There is quite a bit of variety - probably moreso than previous games in the series.

In fact, the trailers are all pretty much centered around the Middle East (which is great fun). But you will also visit [spoiler]South America, Eastern Europe and - wait for it - [i]Shadow Moses![/i][/spoiler]

Also, as Treble said, there's a lot of variety in terms of how you can approach situations. There are times when it's quite advantageous to move in quietly, but other times you're actually better off diving in with all guns blazing. MGS4 seems far more "alive" and action-orientated than previous titles. There's a greater sense of urgency and a more thorough sense of being engulfed in the middle of a million proxy battles.

Funnily enough, you will spend a lot of the game being surrounded by lots of other characters - be it friends, enemies or neutrals (or all three). And yet this does not in any way impede on the concept of Snake "going it alone" or being stealthy. In fact, once again, it offers some great variety to the formula.

And like with previous games, there are some hilarious fourth wall aspects to MGS4. In fact I think the whole break down of the fourth wall barrier is done better in MGS4 than in any other MGS game to date.

Also to answer one of Clepto's questions: no, this game only runs on one Blu-ray disc. And honestly, that's all it needs. It still took me a good 19 hours to complete it on the first run through.

At one point, in fact, [spoiler]Otacon tells you to change to Disc 2. At this point, Snake is confused...and Otacon says something like "Oh, I forgot... we're on the PlayStation 3, so no need for multiple discs! What will they think of next?"[/spoiler]

So, yeah, this is a great game in general and an even better game for MGS fans. Definitely the first truly must-own game for PS3.

Be prepared, however, to play 50% and watch 50%. If you can tolerate that, you'll find it a worthwhile experience.[/font]

[Doublehex]

Well, I personally have no problem with long cutscenes. I am a big fan of the Xenosaga games, all three of which had cutscenes up to an hour long (with a break to save at the 30 minute interval). The story was told quite well, with excellent cinematography and voice acting, so it was no complaint in my book. Heck, it was an excuse for me to bring out the popcorn!

And yes, I would pause a cinematic to get a bag of popcorn.

So, as soon as I get a PS3, you can bet this will be one of, if not [I]the[/I], first game that I will play.

[silpheedpilot]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Has no one played the multi player aspect? Or is that none of anyones concern?[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I haven't, simply because I was renting the game and I wanted to finish it during the rental period, haha.

Also the internet at my dad's place is horribly slow. So I wouldn't even try.

But eventually I'm sure I will give online a go. :catgirl:[/font]

[Treble]

I?ve played MGO for about 7 hours now, and I still haven?t leveled up a single skill yet. Right now I?m stuck with all level 1 skills, CQC, Assault Rifle, Runner, and Blades. My luck seems to be on and off, though. Sometimes I do pretty well with tons of head shots in a row, and at other times, I?m easily getting destroyed. However, the more I play the game, the more I seem to enjoy it because I?m constantly trying to figure out the best combination of skills to work with. So, yeah, any advice on what skills I should play around with?

[silpheedpilot]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]It all depends on how you wanna play.

I personally focus on Assault Rifle+ and Runner cause I'm more of a sharpshooter. The more you kill people with an assault rifle and so on so forth the faster it'll level up.

If you want to take a more subtle approach you can use CQC to knock your enemies out and then lay down and stab them with the knife. Takes a while but once you get those skills leveled up enough you can start grabbing dudes and slitting their throats. Furious.

So, really, it all depends on how you want to play. I'd say at least level up Assault Rifle or SMG up and then focus on other skills because you can only level up like 5 skills to level 3 before it cuts you off and you either need to delete that character and start over to level up other desired skills or buy another character slot.

Throw grenades a lot? Use Quarterback. Kind yourself sniping but that recoil is just too much to handle? Use Sniper Rifle+ skill. Yadda yadda.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Sephiroth]

I've finally got the Big Boss rank :D

[url]http://c.imagehost.org/0802/DSC00002.jpg[/url]

Though to be honest the extreme mode in this version was easier than previous MGS games, probably because they had an even harder version (European Extreme)

Ok, my thoughts on MGS4 and MGO

First of all I am a huge MGS nut, waiting for this game to be released was torture for me and I was the first person on the day of release waiting outside the store for the midnight opening

This game has not disappointed me at all, I loved every second of the 18 hours it took me to complete it the first time round. I was genuinly interested in ALMOST every cutscene in the game and was happy with most of the long running questions in the series that finally get answered

The ending probably couldn't have been any better for me, mainly because [spoiler]I'm a huge Big Boss fan, and him dying had a bigger impact on me, I actually shed some tears :(

Also it was really sad that Ocelot was actually a good guy all along, and even though you don't actually see Snake die, you know he only has a few months to live before he dies because of his accelerated ageing[/spoiler]

If your a fan of the series, you will absolutely love MGS4, if you haven't gotten into the series and are thinking of getting this game then I recommend that you either start with MGS The Twin Snakes on the Gamecube, if you like it then carry on and play MGS2 and MGS3 before playing MGS4 as the games are fun and you'll get a better understanding of the story since MGS4 won't be any fun if you don't know whats going on most of the time because of the story. If you want to play MGS4 without playing the earlier games then you should probably read up on the story on wikipedia or something before hand or you will be extremely confused during the game.

Regarding MGO....

I've racked up about 20 hours or so at the moment, I've made a clan called Aeris Dies lol, with some friends from real life.

The game is......fun, I wouldn't really take it too seriously though as it has some problems.

The main problem it has had since the beta, and that is the problem with headshots. They are insanely easy to get and that is mainly because of the huge area that constitutes a headshot, I have been shot in the shoulder and it has classed it as a headshot. The weapons are also extremely unbalanced, using LVL 3 Shotgun mastery I can sneak up on an opponent, shoot him at point blank range, and it will take 2, usually 3 shots to kill him, during which most of the time they will turn around and headshot you before you can kill them

I also have LVL 3 CQC and LVL3 Blades. With LVL3 CQC you do a lot more damage from slamming them to the ground and you choke them out much faster, and you can also disarm them of their weapon. With LVL3 Blades you can slit their throat providing you have LVL1 CQC. LVL3 Blades is fun as hell

The best mode is undoubtedly SNEAKING mode, it really is a unique experience and it's extremely fun. Especially should you get lucky and get the chance to play Snake (Determining who gets to play Snake for the round is completely random)

Overall MGO is fun, especially when you start to mess around with CQC, it has some problems but hopefully they should be fixed in the future

[silpheedpilot]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]You know. I just can't see myself getting Big Boss because I just CAN'T meticulously move the way you're meant to and the urge to kill someone ALWAYS overtakes me.

Aside from that I'm an ADD gamer and I simply can't play one game until I've done or gotten everything (with the notable exception of Oblivion) so I'll give it some time on the shelf and give it a whirl later because I hear it's not impossible this time around.

Still, though, the urge to kill is rising.
[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Treble]

Seeing how I?m more of a run and gun guy, I'm going to go with you guys and try to level up my Assault Rifle and CQC/Blade skills. I was in a CQC only room the other day, and it was hilarious to see a whole group of people get stunned down by the knife in one area. Fun stuff!

And congrats to Sephiroth for getting the Big Boss rank, I certainly don?t have the patience for that. Whenever I see a guard by themselves, I just want to sneak up behind them and slit their throats.

Speaking of [spoiler]Big Boss, I?m glad he showed up at the end to convince Snake to live life to the fullest for the short time he has left. Having to witness Snake get weaker and weaker due to his quick aging throughout the game was torture for me. Especially that part where we had to control him through the microwave room, and Otacon kept screaming at me to get through the room. After going through all of that, it would have not been cool at all to see Snake gun himself down in the throat. It's a good thing he didn't, because that would have been too much for me. [/spoiler]

[Kre]

Well, I went over to my friend's house, who just got a PS3 like two days ago. He rented MGS4, and when I got there he was playing it. After about an hour or so of watching him play, I asked if I could start a story mode, and he let me.

The beginning was amazing, but also [i]really[/i] cliché.[spoiler]I mean, Snake coming disguised as a Militia-man, and then all of them dieing.[/spoiler] But the animation was still amazing and it was a pretty cool beginning. The thing I don't like about the cut-scenes, is, as everyone's said: They're really long. It annoyed my other friend who had also come over to skip the cut scenes where [spoiler]Snake meets Meryl.[/spoiler] Not exactly sure if that needs a spoiler tag, but oh well. So all of a sudden these guys bust through the wall and start shooting me. And that's where I stopped.

Ah yes, and the scene where Snake first sees Johnny. That made me laugh.

[Font="FranklinGothicMedium"][Color="seagreen"] Spoiler tags should only be used if you are revealing things in the story that people wouldn't know without playing through the game. I'm sure that those who know the background things about MGS4 will know that Snake will eventually meet Meryl.

~Korey[/Color] [/Font]

[Foredaddy]

I forgot that I started this thread... 3 years ago.

I finally got my copy of MGS4, but I haven't gotten to play it yet. I bought a 42" plasma thats been giving me some trouble, so I might get a chance to really dig in until after this holiday weekend.

I've been staring at the game case drooling. I need me some of that Old Snake action.



That sounded gross...

[Magus]

[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]I like what I'm hearing about the game, both from here and review sites. I've never had issues with the long cutscenes in the MGS series (especially when they can be skipped), infact, I play the games for the cutscenes lol. I suck when it comes to the gameplay. (CQC and shooting in third person)

Now MGO, I'm not really looking forward to it. Don't get me wrong, I've seen some impressive clips dealing with the multiplayer, but I just don't play games online.

System seller? (Don't own a ps3 yet)[/COLOR]

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][Font= "Frankllin Gothic Medium"] I would say so Phenom. From what I've seen of the game, myself not owning a PS3, MGS4 would be a reason to buy a PS3. The game just oozes awesomeness and wraps up the series' unanswered questions very nicely. The CQC and shooting part does take some time getting used to, even for seasoned vets of CQC in MGS3. I personally do not like the L2 and R2 buttons for the PS3 being more like triggers instead of actual buttons. It makes the controller feel weird in my hand.

I'm skeptical about MGO though, because of the past attempts at online play for games such as Metal Gear Solid go down the tubes with bad online netcoding. I thought games such as Brawl would have awesome code for netplay. Alas, they do not. I'm thinking that MGO will probably follow suit on this one. I think Metal Gear is really more of a single player experience anyways. [/Font][/FONT]

[Kre]

So I started playing MGO, and I have mainly two pet peeves about it. One, is it just me, maybe it's because I have all level 1 skills, but does it take everyone else like one hundred shots to kill a single person while you sometimes die in like 3? Also, is it just me or do your skills level up like REALLY slowly?

[Treble]

System seller? Hmmm, I would probably say yes to that. Gameplay wise, I think it?s a lot more open compared to the older games, and because of that it?s a whole lot easier to get into. Like all of the impressions here, MGS4 is definitely one of the must-own titles that is out for the PS3 right now.

[quote name='Rurouni922']So I started playing MGO, and I have mainly two pet peeves about it. One, is it just me, maybe it's because I have all level 1 skills, but does it take everyone else like one hundred shots to kill a single person while you sometimes die in like 3? Also, is it just me or do your skills level up like REALLY slowly?[/quote]

I experienced that every now and then. Most of the time people are always aiming around the head area in order to get an instant one-shot kill. It?s kind of cheap, but as long you try moving around when people are attacking you then you should be able to put up a fight. As for leveling skills, it certainly does take a while to level up a skill. It took me like 5 hours just to level up my handgun skill to level 2.

[Andrew]

[size=1]I'm not gonna make a big, long speech or go into detail about my thoughts about this game because, generally, words cannot describe the experience of playing and completing this game. I'll just say a few quicks things instead.

First of all, I bought my PS3 solely to play this game (of course, later titles like Res 5 amongst others also encouraged me), and it didn't disappoint. And I really didn't have a problem with the cutscences. Most were enjoyable, informative and funny. Especially when you have interactive options of playing with the Mk. II or pushing buttons at times to be reminded of previous events. I enjoy them so much so that I'm watching them all again on my second play through.

And yes, I cried man-tears. Not really crying or blubbering, just leaky eyes at two points during the game. [spoiler]When Naomi was teaching Sunny how to cook eggs properly and when Sunny was asking Otacon about Snake after it is presumed he's capped himself.[/spoiler]

Notice both involve [spoiler]Sunny?[/spoiler] Pretty much, of all the great story lines, genius gaming concepts and all-round awesomeness of this game/series, it's Sunny that ultimately made this for me! She is like the most cute, adorable and awesome character I think I've ever seen! If it's possible to be in love with a fictional, seven-year-old girl while not having any weird intentions, that's what I have for Sunny!

EDIT: I find MGO to be fun because of the online aspect but severely frustrating. Much like others who've already commented, I have trouble killing people while they seem to be able to cap me in like 1 - 2 shots and usually from great distances. Enjoyable none the less and I'll probably be spending a lot more time on it once I've played through a few more times, gotten more used to the game and unlocked some things. Maybe take another crack at Big Boss. I was doing damn well on Twin Snakes on Extreme until my memory card formated! Stupid Gamecube! >_<[/size]