War has changed
June 11, 2015 7:36 PM Subscribe
I fell in love with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain the moment I tranquillised a goat and then kidnapped it.
To capture my caprine victim, I crept forwards on my belly, lined up the perfect headshot, and poomf! down it went. I attached a cord to the prone beast, from which a giant balloon inflated, and lifted it a few feet in the air. At this point the goat woke up, looking pretty startled, and had a few seconds to hang there eyeballing me hatefully, before the balloon shot off into the sky with its cargo. The sound effect, a strangled cross between a bleat and a scream, trailed off as it disappeared into the heavens (where a plane would pick it up).
To capture my caprine victim, I crept forwards on my belly, lined up the perfect headshot, and poomf! down it went. I attached a cord to the prone beast, from which a giant balloon inflated, and lifted it a few feet in the air. At this point the goat woke up, looking pretty startled, and had a few seconds to hang there eyeballing me hatefully, before the balloon shot off into the sky with its cargo. The sound effect, a strangled cross between a bleat and a scream, trailed off as it disappeared into the heavens (where a plane would pick it up).
I am glad that The Phantom Pain is Peace Walker 2. All Your Base Are Belong to Snake.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 8:16 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by chainlinkspiral at 8:16 PM on June 11, 2015
I want to play the videogame immediately.
posted by codacorolla at 8:23 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by codacorolla at 8:23 PM on June 11, 2015
Someone writing another preview mentioned running into a bear, dying to it, and decided to go kill it. The bear turned out to be too much for his Fulton system but knowing that you upgrade the Fulton (and much else) ... CAN YOU EVENTUALLY FULTON A BEAR? I want to. And then ride it into battle.
posted by sparkletone at 8:26 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sparkletone at 8:26 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Related: Is the Metal Gear Solid V chicken hat the greatest gaming aid ever?
posted by Going To Maine at 8:42 PM on June 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 8:42 PM on June 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
This sounds amazing. Presumably exclusive to something-or-other?
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:50 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:50 PM on June 11, 2015
Nope. The opposite. Will be playable even on previous gen consoles. PC port is gonna be two weeks after console.
posted by sparkletone at 8:52 PM on June 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by sparkletone at 8:52 PM on June 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, if you want to get in the mood, go get Ground Zeroes. Depending on what you pay, it might be slightly over-priced. But it's basically a prologue to Phantom Pain. The main mission is pretty short, but there's side mission and plenty of mayhem-y, open world fun to be had on the base in that game.
Phantom Pain sounds like it's going to be a huge improvement in depth though (never mind the greatly increased world size and the mother base stuff).
posted by sparkletone at 8:55 PM on June 11, 2015
Phantom Pain sounds like it's going to be a huge improvement in depth though (never mind the greatly increased world size and the mother base stuff).
posted by sparkletone at 8:55 PM on June 11, 2015
Can we combine the chicken hat with the Crysis Chicken Gun Bug?
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:56 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:56 PM on June 11, 2015
I'm holding off on getting excited about MGSV until it can prove that it won't get into the gross vaginabomb territory that Ground Zeroes did.
posted by flatluigi at 9:15 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by flatluigi at 9:15 PM on June 11, 2015
I don't play games and I think the very notion of FPS games are awful, but this review really makes me want to go exploring Afghanistan with my dog and my horse. And maybe a chicken hat.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:20 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by wenestvedt at 9:20 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
it won't get into the gross vaginabomb territory that Ground Zeroes did
Ugh. Yeah. I'm worried about that too but we'll see. The press that played for this preview were forbidden to talk plot.
Pre-GZ games had plenty of sexism and more than a little creepy humor (feel free to add air quotes), but GZ definitely went really far past what past games had and kinda out of nowhere right at the end if you hadn't found/listened to the tapes (one of which is unnecessarily horrific).
I find it kind of confounding that the same guy who wrote The Boss, who I'd argue is one of the best female characters in all of video games both in terms of cool factor and gender representation stuff, can also write that stuff in GZ is confounding to me. Rose is portrayed as a shrew a fair amount (though I think people overreact to that), but that's still not... What happens to Paz.
I dunno. Kojima, man. Kojima.
posted by sparkletone at 9:45 PM on June 11, 2015
Ugh. Yeah. I'm worried about that too but we'll see. The press that played for this preview were forbidden to talk plot.
Pre-GZ games had plenty of sexism and more than a little creepy humor (feel free to add air quotes), but GZ definitely went really far past what past games had and kinda out of nowhere right at the end if you hadn't found/listened to the tapes (one of which is unnecessarily horrific).
I find it kind of confounding that the same guy who wrote The Boss, who I'd argue is one of the best female characters in all of video games both in terms of cool factor and gender representation stuff, can also write that stuff in GZ is confounding to me. Rose is portrayed as a shrew a fair amount (though I think people overreact to that), but that's still not... What happens to Paz.
I dunno. Kojima, man. Kojima.
posted by sparkletone at 9:45 PM on June 11, 2015
Kudos on the title there.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:32 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:32 PM on June 11, 2015
If it is like other attempts to use the old consoles for this, you will get an extremely neutered version of the AI and world. Shadow of Mordor was technically on old platforms too but the system was cut to ribbons. Not the same game at all, and really, selling a dishonest product.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:50 PM on June 11, 2015
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:50 PM on June 11, 2015
I was so sure The Guardian had misspelled "The Phantom Plain" that I had to Google this to check.
Huh, no. That's weird. My name is much better; theirs sounds like indigestion.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:01 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Huh, no. That's weird. My name is much better; theirs sounds like indigestion.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:01 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Reminder : Ground Zeroes is this month's free PS4 game if you have Playstation Plus
posted by fullerine at 11:07 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by fullerine at 11:07 PM on June 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: War has changed.
Wait, so Ron Perlman's been wrong for all of these installments of Fallout?
posted by radwolf76 at 11:10 PM on June 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
Wait, so Ron Perlman's been wrong for all of these installments of Fallout?
posted by radwolf76 at 11:10 PM on June 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
I find it kind of confounding that the same guy who wrote The Boss, who I'd argue is one of the best female characters in all of video games both in terms of cool factor and gender representation stuff, can also write that stuff in GZ is confounding to me.
There was a long blog post at Eurogamer not long ago, discussing feminist issues in the MGS games. Among other things (such as discussing whether or not the character Quiet in MGSV, who has giant boobs, no shirt, and is mute, is meant as a sarcastic swing at the game industry's fascination with tits), it suggests that the GZ stuff you're referring to is a deliberate parallel of actual rape and murder of Iraqi children by the U.S. military.
It's a very good essay, and I recommend it.
posted by rifflesby at 11:26 PM on June 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
There was a long blog post at Eurogamer not long ago, discussing feminist issues in the MGS games. Among other things (such as discussing whether or not the character Quiet in MGSV, who has giant boobs, no shirt, and is mute, is meant as a sarcastic swing at the game industry's fascination with tits), it suggests that the GZ stuff you're referring to is a deliberate parallel of actual rape and murder of Iraqi children by the U.S. military.
It's a very good essay, and I recommend it.
posted by rifflesby at 11:26 PM on June 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
If it is like other attempts to use the old consoles for this, you will get an extremely neutered version of the AI and world
Actually, I think the example you cite is flawed. Mordor's Nemesis system definitely is beyond what a 360 can do and that results in a game that is missing its defining cool feature. Like. That game loses soooo much without that feature. I'm not convinced TPP will be the same yet.
Take GZ because the platforms TPP is headed for is the same as TPP: what's different? Basically nothing beyond rendering details as far as I know. Now. Sure. Expanding things up to TPP might result in some neutering but from everything I've read of TPP's gameplay I just... Don't see it being the same.
Shadow of Mordor was "just an Assassins Creed clone" without the Nemesis system. I don't see where in expanding GZ to TPP you have to drop a critical thing that ruins it.
I could be wrong. No one knows exactly right now. But taking GZ as an example the differences weren't significant. I think GTA5 on old gen vs new gem and PC is a better example. Clearly the latter is better but you didn't fuck up much playing it on the former.
posted by sparkletone at 2:26 AM on June 12, 2015
Actually, I think the example you cite is flawed. Mordor's Nemesis system definitely is beyond what a 360 can do and that results in a game that is missing its defining cool feature. Like. That game loses soooo much without that feature. I'm not convinced TPP will be the same yet.
Take GZ because the platforms TPP is headed for is the same as TPP: what's different? Basically nothing beyond rendering details as far as I know. Now. Sure. Expanding things up to TPP might result in some neutering but from everything I've read of TPP's gameplay I just... Don't see it being the same.
Shadow of Mordor was "just an Assassins Creed clone" without the Nemesis system. I don't see where in expanding GZ to TPP you have to drop a critical thing that ruins it.
I could be wrong. No one knows exactly right now. But taking GZ as an example the differences weren't significant. I think GTA5 on old gen vs new gem and PC is a better example. Clearly the latter is better but you didn't fuck up much playing it on the former.
posted by sparkletone at 2:26 AM on June 12, 2015
I'm still disappointed by Kojima switching out David Hayter for Kiefer Sutherland as the voice of Snake. He did it just to satisfy his lust for Hollywood, and since Sutherland cost a lot more he has basically turned Snake into a silent protagonist.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:36 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:36 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
it won't get into the gross vaginabomb territory that Ground Zeroes did.
Not really wanting to google 'gross vaginabomb', but also not really wanting to play a game if it's only going to throw me a 'Surprise! We don't really consider you a person coz you're a woman!' curveball somewhere along the line - would someone mind explaining that this refers to?
posted by pseudonymph at 4:35 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Not really wanting to google 'gross vaginabomb', but also not really wanting to play a game if it's only going to throw me a 'Surprise! We don't really consider you a person coz you're a woman!' curveball somewhere along the line - would someone mind explaining that this refers to?
posted by pseudonymph at 4:35 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I dislike first-person shooters and open-world games, but Jesus those screenshots are beautiful. The first company to combine these graphics with the addictive qualities of Minecraft are going to make a fuck ton of money.
posted by echocollate at 5:49 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by echocollate at 5:49 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Here is a good article on Ground Zeroes' and rape and tone, and here is a huuuuge sort of all over the place writeup of the entire series and its various sort of all over the place grapplings with misogyny, and here is a quick visual demonstration of the series growing misogyny, and here is Kojima promoting the female lead character for this particular game.
I only ever played MGS (which I liked!) and have had some of the others on the to-get-around-to list, but after seeing a lot of this stuff I...probably won't, ever. MGS2 is still in the "Maybe" pile, for how thoroughly it subverts audience demands and how easily it can be read as videogame label suicide. But I'm probably okay with missing out on the rest.
posted by byanyothername at 7:55 AM on June 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
I only ever played MGS (which I liked!) and have had some of the others on the to-get-around-to list, but after seeing a lot of this stuff I...probably won't, ever. MGS2 is still in the "Maybe" pile, for how thoroughly it subverts audience demands and how easily it can be read as videogame label suicide. But I'm probably okay with missing out on the rest.
posted by byanyothername at 7:55 AM on June 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
A bomb in a vagina ?
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 PM on June 12 [+] [!]
And it happened twice.
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 PM on June 12 [+] [!]
I really did not expect that to be so literal. Huh. You're sure it's not an analogy or someth-... *reads byanyothername's links*
Well, damn. O.o Thanks for filling me in, guys.
posted by pseudonymph at 8:19 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 PM on June 12 [+] [!]
And it happened twice.
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 PM on June 12 [+] [!]
I really did not expect that to be so literal. Huh. You're sure it's not an analogy or someth-... *reads byanyothername's links*
Well, damn. O.o Thanks for filling me in, guys.
posted by pseudonymph at 8:19 AM on June 12, 2015
GZ ENDING SPOILERZ:
Two bombs in Paz. One in her stomach cavity gets found in time. The other ... They don't say it right out, but in a tape Skullface says something like, "AND THEYLL NEVER FIND THIS OTHER ONE," and given the sexual assaulty tone of other things around what happens to Paz... Welp.
Whether you've heard the tape or not in the ending cut scene, they get back to base and find that it is getting destroyed by (presumably) Skullface's forces. Forced to lift off, they get the one bomb out of Paz and sew her back up. But she wakes up and kinda stumbles around and is weird. She eventually throws herself out of the chopper in an attempt to save you but the explosion messes up your chopper and causes the wreck that presumably puts Big Boss in a coma for 9 years and costs him his arm.
It's super harsh and kinda like I'd indicated before way past where the series had gone before in terms of "hardcore" tone.
posted by sparkletone at 10:20 AM on June 12, 2015
Two bombs in Paz. One in her stomach cavity gets found in time. The other ... They don't say it right out, but in a tape Skullface says something like, "AND THEYLL NEVER FIND THIS OTHER ONE," and given the sexual assaulty tone of other things around what happens to Paz... Welp.
Whether you've heard the tape or not in the ending cut scene, they get back to base and find that it is getting destroyed by (presumably) Skullface's forces. Forced to lift off, they get the one bomb out of Paz and sew her back up. But she wakes up and kinda stumbles around and is weird. She eventually throws herself out of the chopper in an attempt to save you but the explosion messes up your chopper and causes the wreck that presumably puts Big Boss in a coma for 9 years and costs him his arm.
It's super harsh and kinda like I'd indicated before way past where the series had gone before in terms of "hardcore" tone.
posted by sparkletone at 10:20 AM on June 12, 2015
(My point being it's not two "vagina bombs." It's still pretty fucked up and horrible though.)
posted by sparkletone at 10:34 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by sparkletone at 10:34 AM on June 12, 2015
On the lighter side of things: Apparently on Monday we're getting a six minute trailer edited by Kojima himself.
posted by sparkletone at 10:46 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by sparkletone at 10:46 AM on June 12, 2015
That was very, very clearly not his call. So. Uh. Yeah. NO PLACE FOR HIDEO.
Divorces hurt the children (us) the most.
posted by sparkletone at 10:50 AM on June 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
Divorces hurt the children (us) the most.
posted by sparkletone at 10:50 AM on June 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'm still disappointed by Kojima switching out David Hayter for Kiefer Sutherland as the voice of Snake.
Yeah..... I was okay with Sutherland in Ground Zeroes, but disappointed to find out that Snake's basically silent in what press have played of TPP. Big Boss was such a chatty cathy in MGS3 and I can sort of see there being a plot justification for him basically never speaking post-coma but just... I dunno. That's a thing that's ~not Metal Gear~ to me. We'll see how it plays out over the course of the whole game I guess.
posted by sparkletone at 10:52 AM on June 12, 2015
Yeah..... I was okay with Sutherland in Ground Zeroes, but disappointed to find out that Snake's basically silent in what press have played of TPP. Big Boss was such a chatty cathy in MGS3 and I can sort of see there being a plot justification for him basically never speaking post-coma but just... I dunno. That's a thing that's ~not Metal Gear~ to me. We'll see how it plays out over the course of the whole game I guess.
posted by sparkletone at 10:52 AM on June 12, 2015
There was a long blog post at Eurogamer not long ago, discussing feminist issues in the MGS games.
Thanks for linking this. I hadn't seen it. I knew I'd end up agreeing with it a lot when I got to this:
While we're talking MGS essays, I love, love, love this one by Leigh Alexander about MGS3, which happens to be my favorite entry (MGS2 basically ties). She talks about it so lovingly while acknowledging its flaws. Interestingly, while she loves MGS3, she apparently isn't interested at all in TPP. I can't quite say I blame her, but also, well. I most definitely do want Kojima's crazed swan song.
(NB. I hope Kojima continues to make games, I just mean swan song for this series. Games after this might bear the name, but they won't be Metal Gear to anyone with half a brain.)
posted by sparkletone at 11:21 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thanks for linking this. I hadn't seen it. I knew I'd end up agreeing with it a lot when I got to this:
And so no surprise that MGS4 is, for my money, one of the most vicious and pointed single-finger salutes aimed at a fanbase ever, designed to deliver exactly what they say they want (main character Solid Snake, the convoluted plot with every major character returning, the shattered husk of Shadow Moses) but then casting them as an aged outsider in a world transformed beyond these ideas.There's a lot of things wrong with MGS4 in terms of story, but they're all very deliberate. It takes a crap on the series by way of being a giant fuck you. It's also a bitter, sad game about how Hideo doesn't want to make Metal Gear games anymore. He seems revitalized by GZ/TPP, perhaps because they're open world games and thus fairly different in terms of how they work (also Big Boss has, and has always had, much more of a character arc than Solid Snake could ever have)... But, man. MGS4 is a trip.
While we're talking MGS essays, I love, love, love this one by Leigh Alexander about MGS3, which happens to be my favorite entry (MGS2 basically ties). She talks about it so lovingly while acknowledging its flaws. Interestingly, while she loves MGS3, she apparently isn't interested at all in TPP. I can't quite say I blame her, but also, well. I most definitely do want Kojima's crazed swan song.
(NB. I hope Kojima continues to make games, I just mean swan song for this series. Games after this might bear the name, but they won't be Metal Gear to anyone with half a brain.)
posted by sparkletone at 11:21 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some magazine dropped a fairly big spoiler about The Phantom Pain, and what the title means and the philosophical consequences of it in the game. I won't discuss it here and it's been taken down, but y'all who are concerned about Big Boss being "silent" or being Kiefer Surtherland probably don't need to worry much.
posted by gucci mane at 11:37 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by gucci mane at 11:37 AM on June 12, 2015
We got ourselves a 6 minute trailer put together by Kojima himself, presumably his last such E3 trailer for this series. This is a story one rather than gameplay that manages to convey tone but literally no coherent sense of plot beyond bits we already knew from the end of GZ and earlier trailers. The music is super cool. The voice over is some vintage Kojima nonsense about MEMES, MAN. IDEAS. CONTROL THE INFORMATION.
I love it.
posted by sparkletone at 12:53 PM on June 15, 2015
I love it.
posted by sparkletone at 12:53 PM on June 15, 2015
all i care about is YARNY
posted by poffin boffin at 5:43 PM on June 15, 2015
posted by poffin boffin at 5:43 PM on June 15, 2015
The idea of being controlled by our language is a way more interesting premise than what usually passes for deep game writing (WHAT IS THE MORALITY OF KILLING SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE FOR FUN?). I'm excited for this. I think I'm going to play GZ since it's free on PSN right now.
posted by codacorolla at 8:49 PM on June 15, 2015
posted by codacorolla at 8:49 PM on June 15, 2015
Having watched the trailer over again whenever bored with E3 today (so a lot)... There's a lot there to read into... I think the most heartening thing is that if you really close read it, it makes clear that the awful stuff with Paz is not (from this) just hand-waved away. Big Boss might be doing his heel turn, but there's no part of what happens at the end of GZ that isn't referenced, most especially Paz. The assault of women to further a man's development is a terrible trope but that Snake is taking on the totality of what happened and not just, say, being really salty about his base getting attacked at the end of GZ is better than nothing.
I'm still not sure what to make of the lady roboassassins introduced with gratuitous chest shots in contrast to The Quiet who is seemingly not great, but Kojima says will be a slap in the face to how that kind of character is usually done. We'll see. It's a hell of a trailer regardless. Like I said. Tone conveyed but no content in a good way.
posted by sparkletone at 9:31 PM on June 15, 2015
I'm still not sure what to make of the lady roboassassins introduced with gratuitous chest shots in contrast to The Quiet who is seemingly not great, but Kojima says will be a slap in the face to how that kind of character is usually done. We'll see. It's a hell of a trailer regardless. Like I said. Tone conveyed but no content in a good way.
posted by sparkletone at 9:31 PM on June 15, 2015
40 minutes of gameplay footage from pretty early in the game. Shows off a short mission beginning to end. Relatively free of plot spoilers. Looks super fun!
posted by sparkletone at 6:13 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by sparkletone at 6:13 PM on June 18, 2015
I didn't really like the cinematic trailer! But I'm excited for the gameplay demo! Wow!
posted by grobstein at 7:21 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by grobstein at 7:21 PM on June 18, 2015
Then the dog pisses on the sand while Snake listens to 80s powerballads on his Walkman and
posted by grobstein at 8:30 PM on June 18, 2015
posted by grobstein at 8:30 PM on June 18, 2015
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posted by poffin boffin at 8:14 PM on June 11, 2015 [7 favorites]