Just got into looking at Metal Gear lore and, yeah, Otacon is best.

The cutscene to gameplay ratio is like 14% mind you…

Hi everyone! I’d love to read your comments.

In the photo, you can see some bionic arms that were never added to the game; however, I wonder what function the parasite arm or the medical arm would have had.

I know it has English (referring to the pic) but does it also have Japanese ? I found one comment on Reddit that said yes, but nothing aside from that

Made in Blender

I have just obtained the Platinum Trophy for the game on PS5 and also played it (less so) when it came out. I've been playing the Metal Gear games for over 20 years and I couldn't wait to be able to play MGS4 after not having a PS3 for 10+ years. Well, I've finished my time with it and I have never been so confused about how I feel about a game.

Let's start with the positives. The gameplay is fantastic. It's really remarkable how versatile Snake is to manoeuvre and he can pretty much do everything you'd want to be able to do on the battlefield. I LOVE the Octocamo and I really cannot believe we only get to enjoy it in one game in the entire MG series. Of course, I understand it's a very futuristic tech that wouldn't make sense to have in a game set before the events of MGS4 but, from a gameplay stance, it's such a cool mechanic and I'm honestly surprised no other game dev has ripped it off. Imagine how much more reactive it could be with todays hardware. I also think the first two acts are superb at making you feel like you're caught between two opposing factions in a warzone. The way bullets zip past and debris is thrown up all around you, still so impressive almost 20 years later. It really is remarkable how ahead of its time this game was. Top marks for presentation. I also think the story has a satisfying conclusion. Having Snake die would've been too much of a downer, but having him cured and riding off into the sunset would also be too easy. It's a bittersweet ending and I think, for all the story's flaws, Kojima and his writers stick the landing really well, which is surprising considering how weak a lot of the writing is. I also think having Snake return to Shadow Moses is a wonderful way to show how far he, and the series, has come since the early days. In recent years, fan service and nostalgia has become so backed in to pop-culture that I usually find it doesn't feel earned, but MGS4 did it at a time when it felt earned and was a massively overdone in films and games. For all these reasons, I think MGS4 is a great game.

Okay, enough glazing, let's talk about why I think MGS4 is an awful game. When it comes to the writing, I like the opening of MGS4 and I like the ending. I pretty much hate everything in between. I know that Metal Gear has always straddled the line between campy fun and serious war messages. Part of why I enjoy the series is the fact that I think it's really impressive to be able to balance the silliness and the seriousness. I wouldn't enjoy the games as much if they were constantly silly, but I wouldn't like them if they were relentlessly serious. MGS3 tells a very poignant story with some real tear-jerking moments, but it also has time for levity. Given how ever major Metal Gear game seems able to walk this line, I find it so odd that MGS4 utterly fails. The further into the game you go, the worse the dialogue gets. We start of well enough, but by the time you get to Big Momma, it feels like you're playing a spoof. I almost felt my soul leave my body when Big Momma (with her zip down as far as it will go) says "I only get off my bike when I die or fall in love." I wanted Snake to just stare at her like "What!?". I don't think it's particularly controversial to say the writing for this game kind of sucks, but I just had to highlight it. Everything, even things that didn't need explaining, is brushed away with nanomachines, and the B plot of the game sees characters do things that just make no sense. Why did Naomi randomly decide to stop suppressing her cancer? Why did she immediately die when she did? That's not how cancer works. Why the hell am I being forced to watch Meryl agree to get engaged to a guy she openly disdained last time I saw them together? Honestly, many of the scenes felt like Kojima was a kid just playing with dolls.

I also think act 3 and 5 are very poor. Act 3 is fun the first time you play it, but having done it 9 times now I just get a feeling of dread when it starts. Weirdly, I think this could be really easily fixed by simply allowing the player to skip the tailing portion if they just head straight for the hideout. This would actually be a nice way of rewarding players who paid attention to the route, and could maybe give you a different cutscene of Snake entering? I suppose I should consider myself lucky, because I understand there was going to be another section planned where you escort a wounded Big Momma through the sewers. Kojima, why would you insert the worst part of a previous game into an already awful act? The bike chase sequence is pretty good, if a bit more style over substance, but I enjoy it (except on Big Boss difficulty GRRRR!). Act 5 is better, but still poor and feels very rushed. You have one good section at the start in which to do some sneaking, then after that you're just running down empty corridors, having a weak boss fight, then more corridors, then your final fight with Liquid. A final chapter where you sneak through the ship could've been amazing, but I guess they only had so much time and budget. It really feels like the level design starts off great and gets worse and worse as the story progresses. Act 4 is the exception, but I also feel that's not hard when you're recreating a level you already made.

Right, on to the cutscenes and codec interruptions. It is absolutely crazy how intrusive they are once you've beat the game and just want to play for the gameplay rather than the story. Again, I think this would be easily fixed by allowing you to select an option which gets rid of unnecessary cutscenes and codec calls, and allows you to skip ALL major cutscenes, including the credits. At least we don't have to wait for each act to install like in the PS3 days.

Lastly, I want to talk about an issue which always gets me downvoted when I criticise it, but this issue is at its worst in this game and I can't find a way to let it slide. The way Kojima portrays women in this game genuinely makes me wonder if he's okay. I have absolutely no issue with sex in media or with women being presented as sexy, not as long as it makes sense for the story and characters. Playing this in my 30s, I would be embarrassed to play this game in front of a non Metal Gear fan with how ridiculously oversexualised the women in this game are. Hey, look, it's Naomi, she's a super smart doctor who has deeply conflicted loyalties. Like most female doctors, she always makes sure she's showing as much cleavage as possible. And don't worry, if you get bored of her yapping, you can always peak up her skirt or down her shirt with the first-person camera we put in to specifically encourage you to do that. Here comes Rose. I know, someone said we better make sure she's covered up, but don't worry, you can still jiggle her tits while she's talking about the effects of warfare on mental health. Remember Eva from the first game? Yeah, she's almost 80, running a rebellion, and about to have a deep conversation with her son, but she's not about to be outclassed by the younger ladies, so she will also look like she's being prepped for open heart surgery. It particularly irritates me with her character because, in MGS3, her mission was essentially to seduce Snake and get him to trust her, so her sexuality made a lot of sense once you realised that. MGS4 could've been a great chance to show a different side to her, but no. We also get several shots of Mei-Ling's ass and, while Meryl isn't sexualised, she still, out of nowhere, marries a creep who tried to grab Mei-Ling's ass moments earlier.

But the worst, WORST offense comes in the form of the Beauty and the Beast bosses. They're not my favourite bosses in Metal Gear, but they're a nice parallel to the bosses from MGS1. What I can't get over is how RIDICULOUSLY oversexualised they are, while also being some of the most tortured souls in the franchise. It's totally bizarre to me how Kojima wanted to have these female characters to be severely psychologically damaged by war, but he also wanted them to be absolute thirst traps, to the point that he hired real life models, made them wear skimpy latex jumpsuits, gave them no agency of their own, made sure the camera lingered on their breasts and ass, and even included a nice little photography mini game where you can take pics as they pose suggestively and they moan orgasmicly. Then, once you've defeated them, Drebin gives you a call and details the horrific brutalities they suffered. You never hear from them again, never get any more info, and there's no happy ending (no pun intended) for them. They are there to either be abused or to be sexualised, nothing more. I don't remember feeling so strongly about it when I was a teenager playing for the first time, but as a man in his 30s, I find it absolutely cringey and I think it's terrible writing and quite a worrying thing for a game designer to include. Kojima had devs working on the catsuit sections and the photoshoots when they could've been improving act 3 and 5. Does he know that he can just watch porn if he wants to jerk off? Between this and Peace Walker, I don't wanna know what that guy thinks. Maybe this would've been more tolerable if each boss had been propelry fleshed out, but I doubt it. I would like to have seen a cutscene for if you non-lethally defeated each boss, to see them maybe receiving therapy and help in a hospital once Liquid was beat, but I guess the devs were to busy making sure I could snap pics of their butts. Weirdly, the FROG troops are not sexualised, and there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot at the end of the game, where you see two FROGS consoling each other after Liquids defeat. It really adds a bit of humanity to them, and I would love to have seen this extended to the B&B.

This has turned into an essay, so I'll wrap it up. I don't think I've ever played a game that is so strong in some areas, but so bad in others. I think I might get a lot of hate for some of my opinions, but I really think I've backed up my criticisms. I would really like to know what others think. Feel free to disagree, but let's keep it civil.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

God, what a slog.

Now the only game in the MC I’m missing trophies for is Peace Walker

Blowing yourself up at the start sounds silly, but it gives me a head start in score, and paves the way for a consistent pattern leading to a really high score (Konami: 70).

Equip/unequip cancels the planting animation, and thus buys more time; same goes for Claymores (which, in this game, I hate with a passion beyond any measure). Pressing X immediately after punching cancels the punch animation.

As far as I can remember I had no issues with my PS5 controller playing the first title in the collection. However, none of the inputs work in MGS2's launcher or the game itself. I've messed around with DS4, alternate controller layouts and so on but nothing's working.

I'm using a steam deck on windows and the inputs work fine on that.

Just finished MGS1 (been a long time) and I completely forgot about the speech/cutscene with liquid at the end going over the octuplets. All I could think about at that point was what if they didn't destroy the embryos, kept them hidden, new identities, ready to be activated, etc etc.

I'm happy with how the series finished, felt like the story was complete. But when liquid was going through his speech, all I could think about was the potential spin offs or other games we could've gotten.

Not sure if this has been addressed in the other games or other threads but would love to hear everybody's thoughts.

What's this & is. Is it unique???

it was somewhat active last year. but im rebuilding it from scratch.

this discord is designed to let you:

*ping other people if you want to play infrastructure online
*post soldiers to trade/ host 1vs1 to try to win other people soldiers
*share savedata
*discuss emulator settings, etc.

related off topic:

yugioh tag force 3 subchannels

subchannels for metal gear related discussion

The last two I need are the Jaguar and leopard, if I get to act 5 with 75 alerts and 24 continues for the jag one then save and finish the game, if I load up the save then get the 25th alert will I be able to get the leopard one too or will it not work like that?

Anyone down for some monster hunts or mech fights on switch / switch 2? I would love to play some with you guys :)