Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes/The Phantom Pain

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This game is really good. Wish I had started playing it as soon as I got it. For all of the hullabaloo (deserved as it was) about Snake Bauer, the game is so shockingly light on story for the first act (all I've gotten into so far after 50 hours because of all of the Fulton-in' I've been up to) that every time Kiefer speaks up it still surprises me.





So far, it really seams like a Peace Walker that they spent a ton of money and time making less disposable instead of a full Metal Gear game, but still fantastic.
 
every time Kiefer speaks up it still surprises me
Honestly, I think that the fuss over Sutherland was a storm in a teacup. I agree with Kojima's decision to recast the role because there are a couple of times where Snake has lines that I don't think Hayter could have pulled off. Kojima explained that he wanted an experienced actor to add depth to the script. When Snake first rescues Kaz, his line is a very simple "... Kaz?". But if Hayter were in the role, the line would have to be "Kaz? Are you alright?" because he didn't really have the nuance to communicate all of that in a single word. The only time Sutherland's voice was a distraction was in his opening line in Ground Zeroes where it was just a disembodied Kiefer Sutherland voice.

I never really understood why Kojima kept Hayter around. He really should have been recast for Snake Eater; sure, Solid Snake was Big Boss' clone, but did he really have to have exactly the same voice? Especially considering that Liquid was also a clone and his voice wasn't Hayter doing a British accent. And by the time of Guns of the Patriots, Snake was supposed to be an old man, but he just sounded like a yound Snake. Hayter might have been close to the franchise, and he might have been a fan favourite, but he was hardly a great voice actor.
 
Well I've had a bit of spare gaming budget and a series of moments of weakness, so I... Uh... Bought a couple more FOBs. Yes, I'm part of the problem, sorry about that. They've helped boost the sizes of my teams, of course, but the cost of development is increasingly extortionate - as far as GMP goes, anyway. Material costs are very low, the first platforms on the third FOB cost something like 10k in materials, I can't remember what the GMP cost is though. It's like indirectly buying materials, I suppose; if you're finding material collection rates to be too slow to develop your FOB, just buy another and develop that one for less instead until you reach the same point on both FOBs. Frankly it's motivating me to leave the game idling whenever I'm home - as is the dev time bug on the Zorn KP (3 days, offline?! It's a modified flare gun! I have a day and a half left).

Anyway, I'm going through some codenames now, pretty much by completing A Hero's Way lethally with various different weapons. The pistol version I did was great fun, using the WU 9mm I crept right in to the base, capped the commander in front of his recon team then rode away on D-Walker without being seen to get the Bee codename. The shotgun one I did was fun, too.

My teams are sitting around the mid to low 70s, except R&D which is 80. I'm going to start taking D-Dog with his Fulton pyjamas on sorties so I can take more than 12 people, though I am going to have to find better kidnapping gear that doesn't burn through my resources; the grade 1 WU/AK combo is very challenging even with upgraded suppressors. I'm also going to make the effort to pick up resources that I'd previously been ignoring.
 
Anyway, I'm going through some codenames now, pretty much by completing A Hero's Way lethally with various different weapons. The pistol version I did was great fun, using the WU 9mm I crept right in to the base, capped the commander in front of his recon team then rode away on D-Walker without being seen to get the Bee codename. The shotgun one I did was fun, too.
I'm pretty sure that you need to complete three consecutive missions with the majority of incapacitations - lethal or non-lethal - being down to one weapon type to unlock the code-names for each one. I think. I haven't unlocked all of the weapon-based code-names just yet, mostly because I go for a non-lethal style of play.

The rest come from story progression and clearing installations and outposts.
 
I'm pretty sure that you need to complete three consecutive missions with the majority of incapacitations - lethal or non-lethal - being down to one weapon type to unlock the code-names for each one. I think. I haven't unlocked all of the weapon-based code-names just yet, mostly because I go for a non-lethal style of play.

The rest come from story progression and clearing installations and outposts.

I think that might only apply to Foxhound and maybe Fox, because I unlocked the Bee and Piranha emblem designs after obtaining the codenames once each. I tried to get either Bee or Piranha before but because I knifed the commander it gave me Bear instead. I killed literally everyone else in the mission with either a shotgun or a pistol, only one knife kill, but got the emblem for using the knife.

So in three tries I got Bear, which I already had, then Piranha and finally Bee, the latter two I didn't already have. Also I completed a codename challenge task after getting Piranha.
 
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It's safe to say I'm really enjoying the game again, I did get bored before so I took a break but now that I've got a few FOBs to fill and fund I've been having a lot of fun working out novel new tricks with which to abduct people while completing side ops and stealing resources. Tricks like flashbang spamming a group of four heavy infantry who are patrolling an open space, using smoke grenades to make enemies dive for cover so I could close a gap, throwing enemies at other enemies for extra KO reach, actually using DDog's bark command to get enemies to walk past a corner I'm hiding in, etc. In other words, nothing too novel at all, but refreshing for me as I usually just end up shooting everyone*. Sadly I don't have many techniques for taking down helicopters, though.

If you want to abduct a whole load of people, the Hand of Jehuty and DDog's Fulton suit are extremely overpowered, if you just want to roam around and empty the entire map that is actually quite feasible with just those two items.

In fact I realised that the reason I was getting bored was because the game encourages you to stockpile your assets just in case the next gun you develop has ridiculous requirements, or because you might want to develop your FOB more which is quite expensive, so you might - as I did - feel like you want to sortie with the bare minimum of equipment which costs under 1000 GMP and carries no material cost. The problem with that is you're severely limiting your options if you do that, you've got a handgun that becomes useless when the suppressor wears out, an assault rifle that's useless anyway, magazines that are probably the most useful item in the game and 12 Fulton opportunities. No wonder it was boring, you know? But now I've switched entirely from being as cheap as possible and not caring who I Fulton to spending a lot and Fultoning everything with a pulse and the game is fun again! What a revelation... As obvious as it appears now.

At least over the past couple of nights I've definitely had my money's worth out of the deployment cost, over three hours played last night and at one point I had 120 people in my brig. I started off having some teams with over 30 vacant slots, now all my teams are full and I still have 90 in my brig. So now I need to develop my FOBs to accommodate them, too...
 
I think my next play-through will be minimalist, or as I like to call it, "Ultra Snake mode" - minimal development (except where necessary, like "Metallic Archaea"), all weapons OSP, no Fulton, extraction of POWs via helicopter only, no buddies, no returns to Mother Base (unless scripted), and supply drops only on the completion of a mission.

Sadly I don't have many techniques for taking down helicopters, though.
The CGM-25 works wonders. You have to be within about 250 metres, though. There's a could of armoured vehicle unit Side Ops in Africa - particularly in the marshland south of Mfinda Oilfield - that were actually really tricky because of those helicopters.
 
@prisonermonkeys Yeah, launchers or gun emplacements are my two techniques, I've tried hitting one with a mortar but that didn't work out... I've seen the Fultoned C4-laden jeep technique and the Quiet shooting a grenade technique, but I've never tried either. Also I was going to do a subsistence playthrough too but I can't have multiple saves and I've made too much progress to nuke it all now. I'm not sure I'd actually enjoy it, either.
 
I was going to do a subsistence playthrough too but I can't have multiple saves and I've made too much progress to nuke it all now. I'm not sure I'd actually enjoy it, either.
Some of the weapons are incredibly powerful - especially when you customise them - and it really took the challenge out of the game. If you set her up properly, Quiet pretty much plays the game for you; all you need to do is show up and complete the objective. Now that have 100%, including all of the achievements and challenges (unless more have been added with updates), I can go for a subsistence run. But it will have to wait; I still haven't quite finished Fallout 4 and Dirt Rally and Far Cry Primal will be released soon.
 
Deploying by helicopter, setting up 8 capture cages by the location defined by an online guide, and then exfiltrating by helicopter. All in the name of getting the Platinum trophy... Exhilarating.

Getting an A rank on the final Extreme boss mission only because I wasted time watching the awful cutscene before the mission. Great...

Having to somehow kill/tranq 4 snipers that outnumber me, spot me the instant I've fired on one of them and can one shot me. Awesome... Perhaps spawning in with a tank would get the job done.

I want that damn Platinum, but it's such a chore grinding through missions to complete secondary objectives, and being pretty much forced to use a guide in order to get all the animals/blueprints/documents. Add to that the fact that Kojima Productions forgot all about game design when designing the "harder" aspects of the game. Any of the extreme missions that include the skulls just become a tedious battle in figuring out how to actually be able to survive enemies that can take much more damage than you, instantly spot you the moment you fire on them, and require you to be in harms way whenever you are firing on them.

Quiet with a 50. caliber sniper rifle becomes a near necessity, as does using the battlesuit, as you otherwise won't be able to tank enough hits. But none of these are solutions for the 4 sniper skulls in the Code Talker mission, and oh god that extreme Quiet boss fight.... I shiver at the thought.

And I have to play through both the prologue missions again to get the S Rank.... Don't get me wrong, the prologue is cool the first time around, but it's still around 30-40 minutes per mission, where you aren't doing much outside of crawling around.
 
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Deploying by helicopter, setting up 8 capture cages by the location defined by an online guide, and then exfiltrating by helicopter. All in the name of getting the Platinum trophy... Exhilarating.
I think the game is expecting that you will deploy, set the cages, then go on and do a mission or two before exfiltrating and the cages recovered. That's how I did it except for the last half-dozen animals, and it never felt like a chore.

Getting an A rank on the final Extreme boss mission only because I wasted time watching the awful cutscene before the mission. Great...
CGM-25 and Hail MGR-4. You could start the mission, cook a roast and then finish the mission and still get an S-rank.

Having to somehow kill/tranq 4 snipers that outnumber me, spot me the instant I've fired on one of them and can one shot me. Awesome... Perhaps spawning in with a tank would get the job done.
It's cheap, but you can do it in two runs - take the full stealth camo (the one that recovers its battery) and use it to take out the Skulls; that will cause the APC to spawn on the way out of the valley. Second time through, evade the Skulls entirely by following the river and scaling the rockface; D-Dog helps a lot.

being pretty much forced to use a guide in order to get all the animals/blueprints/documents
Blueprints aren't too hard, since their availability is always marked when you select a mission. Most of the documents should unlock through the story; I can't think of any that require extra work, except maybe the fast travel receipts. The animals are a bit frustrating, though.

Any of the extreme missions that include the skulls just become a tedious battle in figuring out how to actually be able to survive enemies that can take much more damage than you, instantly spot you the moment you fire on them, and require you to be in harms way whenever you are firing on them.
Once again, the CGM-25 and Hail MGR-4 combination chews through the scenery. "Metallic Archaea" is the only really difficult mission, but if you sprint to the northern end of Nova Braga and pop the lock, you can alternately take shelter behind the airport wall and force the Skulls into a narrow corridor between the wall and the crest.
 
I think the game is expecting that you will deploy, set the cages, then go on and do a mission or two before exfiltrating and the cages recovered. That's how I did it except for the last half-dozen animals, and it never felt like a chore.

I managed to find all but 9 animals, planting cages in almost every main mission, as well as many of the side ops. The remaining ones are located in such specific areas that I simply cannot imagine anyone finding them without using a guide, or spending hours going through the areas, essentially relying on pure luck.


CGM-25 and Hail MGR-4. You could start the mission, cook a roast and then finish the mission and still get an S-rank.

Not saying the mission is hard. I did it without dying, but the time I spend in the lenghty cutscene before actually resuming control over Big Boss, resulted in me coming up short in points. It makes no sense to penalise players for time spent watching a cutscene.


It's cheap, but you can do it in two runs - take the full stealth camo (the one that recovers its battery) and use it to take out the Skulls; that will cause the APC to spawn on the way out of the valley. Second time through, evade the Skulls entirely by following the river and scaling the rockface; D-Dog helps a lot.

Cheers for the advice. I'll give it a go.


Blueprints aren't too hard, since their availability is always marked when you select a mission. Most of the documents should unlock through the story; I can't think of any that require extra work, except maybe the fast travel receipts. The animals are a bit frustrating, though.

I have all the blueprints, but I'm still missing 4 Key Items, and I'll have to resort to a guide just to figure out what they're for. Same goes for the remaining music tapes. Just don't know where they are, but I know I'm only missing a few.


Once again, the CGM-25 and Hail MGR-4 combination chews through the scenery. "Metallic Archaea" is the only really difficult mission, but if you sprint to the northern end of Nova Braga and pop the lock, you can alternately take shelter behind the airport wall and force the Skulls into a narrow corridor between the wall and the crest.

I've done all but the Quiet Boss fight on Extreme, Code Talker on Extreme and Occupation Forces Subsistence. I dispise the Skull Fights because they eliminate one of the best parts of the game. The freedom of choice. You're very limited on how you can take them on, espicially on the Extreme difficulty missions.
 
Some of the weapons are incredibly powerful - especially when you customise them - and it really took the challenge out of the game. If you set her up properly, Quiet pretty much plays the game for you; all you need to do is show up and complete the objective. Now that have 100%, including all of the achievements and challenges (unless more have been added with updates), I can go for a subsistence run. But it will have to wait; I still haven't quite finished Fallout 4 and Dirt Rally and Far Cry Primal will be released soon.

The way I see it, though, is if you haven't developed anything you get locked into playing the game one way only. In addition, if you have no intention of developing anything there's nothing stopping you from killing everyone or simply bypassing most enemies which is trivially easy if you use magazines.

If you do what I've been doing recently (which I'll admit isn't for everyone) and roam around with the aim of hitting every single outpost and base, the game is still quite challenging with exotic gear simply because you will run out of ammo which forces you to adapt your tactics as you go. For instance, you can one-shot people easily with a NL sniper rifle which would be OP in, say, A Hero's Way but if you're staying deployed for hours you'll run out of ammo after one base and one outpost. The NL shotgun with a suppressor attached also has about 20 rounds but it'll become a lot less useful before then because the suppressor will wear out after about 15 rounds, too.

The only really cheap gadget I've been using recently is the Hand of Jehuty because you can cheese the absolute crap out of outposts with it. Combined with DDog's ability to Fulton everything you can grab people from 20 metres away (and although it does make a sound, as long as no-one was looking directly at the target and they don't have a line of sight to wherever they ended up they don't call it in to their HQ) then make them disappear instantly. That can be repeated as many times as you want and in outposts with 12 enemies you probably won't drain the battery more than about halfway. AND I have another upgrade for it that I'm quite close to being able to research that'll extend the range and the battery, I'm guessing it'll add another 10 metres which will make it even more useful. Honestly, it should be one of the gadgets that restricts your rank in my opinion. Even the Fulton Ballista only has a few uses, but I guess that does completely trivialise a few missions with vehicles involved.

One thing is for sure, though; this game really took advantage of the opportunities an open world setting gives the player. I can't think of another game that gives the player such a broad spectrum between loud, lethal gameplay and being able to ghost their way through situations.
 
Same goes for the remaining music tapes. Just don't know where they are, but I know I'm only missing a few.
They don't count towards overall completion or achievements. Really, the only one you need is "How 'bout them zombies, eh?" because it sounds epic when you set it as Pequod's music.

I dispise the Skull Fights because they eliminate one of the best parts of the game.
The boss fights are very underwhelming compared to previous games. That, and the lack of large indoor infiltrations (like the Granin Design Bureau), is probably the only disappointing thing about the game.

I'm still missing 4 Key Items, and I'll have to resort to a guide just to figure out what they're for.
From memory, you need to grab all fast travel receipts in both Afghanistan and Africa, get all of the photos from the wandering soldiers and Fulton a certain number of enemies. I'll look it up tomorrow.

Cheers for the advice. I'll give it a go.
It's counter-intuitive, but once you scale the rockface, you need to double back to the south; there's a Skull that will spot you otherwise.

One of the Skulls starts on a rocky outcrop directly in front of you. Another is to your left and up high; she'll jump to a ledge to the south to cover the reverse angle of the valley. There's a third behind the first and to the right; you can't see her to begin with, but she'll leap to a ledge above the river to again cover the reverse angle. The fourth is deep in the forest at the top of the path and tends to move in a triangle pattern; lines of sight are very difficult and you can blunder into her, unless you climb the rockface.

If you do what I've been doing recently (which I'll admit isn't for everyone) and roam around with the aim of hitting every single outpost and base, the game is still quite challenging with exotic gear simply because you will run out of ammo which forces you to adapt your tactics as you go.
If you call in a supply drop, you'll get suppressors to replace the worn-out ones.

Combined with DDog's ability to Fulton everything you can grab people from 20 metres away (and although it does make a sound, as long as no-one was looking directly at the target and they don't have a line of sight to wherever they ended up they don't call it in to their HQ) then make them disappear instantly.
I don't use the Hand of Jehuty; it's silly. I don't use D-Walker, either, since it's useless. And I only use the stun knife for D-Dog.

The way I see it, though, is if you haven't developed anything you get locked into playing the game one way only.
I only really play one way to begin with - pick off the guard at the point of entry I want to take, then close-quarters stealth, usually with the Burkov tranquiliser pistol. If I'm indoors, I use smoke, sleep or stun grenades.
 
@prisonermonkeys I've been avoiding supply drops because they're so expensive (especially when it comes to materials), but it's nice to have that option. I don't mind silly if it opens up new gameplay options since MGS has always been silly anyway, and it is just a game.

Playing it one way is what made me just stop playing, these days I find it more fun to work out how best to not play the same way, because when you're on a 3-hour sortie with the primary aim of kidnapping everyone and the secondary aim of gathering materials, you have to vary your approach to conserve ammo (which helps immensely when dealing with situations that get out of hand) and resources. And even if your approach uses no ammo at all, using it every time would just get boring for me, as it did before which is why I stopped playing.
 
I actually started loving this game more intensely again now that I've bothered to use all the different weapons and items, and trying out different tactics.

But I do have one question though...I overhear conversations of saying "we can call in chopper support" but I've yet to encounter that at all. Has anyone encountered enemy chopper reinforcement?
 
I actually started loving this game more intensely again now that I've bothered to use all the different weapons and items, and trying out different tactics.

But I do have one question though...I overhear conversations of saying "we can call in chopper support" but I've yet to encounter that at all. Has anyone encountered enemy chopper reinforcement?

I did, in Africa. Was trying to rescue a prisoner (side op), got spotted, and after a few minutes of combat, a gunship attacked me. Luckily, I had a Brennan anti-materiel rifle and downed it with two shots.
 
I've been avoiding supply drops because they're so expensive (especially when it comes to materials),
My usual loadout is actually really expensive - a G44-MG with stun grenade underbarrel and modified to chamber .308 ammunition, a tranquilising Bambetov SV with smoke grenade underbarrel and high-performance scope, and a silenced Burkov tranquiliser pistol, plus smoke, stun, sleep and fragmentation grenades, smoke box, C4, pentezamin and night vision goggles.
 
I did, in Africa. Was trying to rescue a prisoner (side op), got spotted, and after a few minutes of combat, a gunship attacked me. Luckily, I had a Brennan anti-materiel rifle and downed it with two shots.

So you are in combat for a few minutes? I usually either just bail after getting the objective, or just defeat them in a short amount of time. I'm going to purposely try to get a chopper called on me whilst I'm using the Parasite Armor.
 
So you are in combat for a few minutes?
Yes. I have had it happen to me, too. The enemy will attempt to engage you directly, but if they can't flush you out on their own, they'll call on reinforcements. If they still can't get you, they'll call on aerial support. I have it happen a lot at Munoko ya Nikoia - I just can't get a clear run there - but I suspect that the helicopter they call on comes from a nearby armoured vehicle unit Side Op. I have also had them come at me in Kungenga Mine and Lufwa Valley.
 
I like using the completely unupgradded grenade launcher DGL-103 as a medium range crowd control weapon, or for taking out emplacements in the middle of a fight. On my back, I'll often have either the M60E3 looking machine gun, because it's a damn nice looking gun, or the 5.56mm variant of the semi automatic sniper rifle, to simulate carrying a Mk 12 Mod 1 SPR. I would've gone for simulating an SR-25, if you could carry more than just 3 mags of 7.62X51mm.

For sidearm, I choose either the infinitely surpressed tranq pistol, the completely standard D114 chambered in .45, or the carbine version of the D114. I still try to stealth it as much as possible when using a completely lethal loadout. Just makes for a more challenging experience, as well as more engaging firefights. Also an avid user of the support helicopter, with mixed results.

I tried using D-Walker in intercept mode, but god he was awful. Don't think he ever used his Minigun, and while he can tank a lot of damage, he's range is too poor to be of any use.
 
I tried using D-Walker in intercept mode, but god he was awful.
It feels like Kojima kept trying to re-balance D-Walker so as not to make him too over-powered, but without neutering him. You have to be pretty close to D-Walker to make him effective in intercept mode. He works best providing rear support to prevent enemies from approaching from behind, but it's such a limited use.

I like using the completely unupgradded grenade launcher DGL-103, as a medium range crowd control weapon, or for taking out emplacements in the middle of a fight.
I prefer the smoke grenade variants - especially the Isido - to cause disruption; with a bit of practice, you can space them out to create a wall of smoke.
 
It feels like Kojima kept trying to re-balance D-Walker so as not to make him too over-powered, but without neutering him. You have to be pretty close to D-Walker to make him effective in intercept mode. He works best providing rear support to prevent enemies from approaching from behind, but it's such a limited use.

That might be. He's still absurdly powerful when using him with the fulton extraction tool, but other than that, I fail to see much use in him.


I prefer the smoke grenade variants - especially the Isido - to cause disruption; with a bit of practice, you can space them out to create a wall of smoke.

I use the smoke version of the revolver type grenade launcher in missions that require stealth. I think of it as a get out of jail free card, should things go wrong. I tried using the stun grenade as well, but found that the downtime on enemies was too low.
 
He's still absurdly powerful when using him with the fulton extraction tool
I haven't even gotten that far with him. He completely lacks agility; I can't strafe with him, and boarding and disembarking takes too long.

I use the smoke version of the revolver type grenade launcher in missions that require stealth. I think of it as a get out of jail free card, should things go wrong. I tried using the stun grenade as well, but found that the downtime on enemies was too low.
I like smoke in close quarters; it's much more dense. I like to close off corridors because if you time it right, the enemy won't recognise it as a grenade straight away.

One of my favourite tactics is to mix grenades - if you use a high-level smoke grenade with a low-level stun grenade, you can contain the blast of the stun grenade within the smoke cloud.
 
The real trick with D-Walker, apparently (I haven't tried it), is to equip a shield when you use him because it makes you much less vulnerable from behind. I don't use him much either because he's also extremely expensive when loaded up with good stuff and I just don't have a need for that much lethality, I suppose.

My loadouts recently have been entirely non-lethal, I think it costs me over 100k to deploy but I think I saw it also costs over 1000 in fuel and nearly 500 in precious metal, but I have only deployed with that kit four times and accidentally called for a resupply once. It's very general, just so I have a tool for every occasion, so I don't think I'd use it for missions but it works well for free roam. I'll post a screenshot of the deployment cost screen, it's definitely expensive enough to dissuade me from calling for resupplies every time my shotgun's suppressor wears out or I run out of sniper rifle ammo.

Speaking of free roam, I've officially emptied both maps of all the material I could find (and I had a good poke around every point of interest) so there's probably not a lot of point in doing more since I'll find more soldiers to kidnap in missions. I'll probably concentrate on completing mission tasks for challenge rewards for a bit, even if it means using grade-limiting items, while further boosting my teams up (last I checked, apart from the security team they're all above 80).
 
The real trick with D-Walker, apparently (I haven't tried it), is to equip a shield when you use him because it makes you much less vulnerable from behind.
I did that to get an S-rank in the mission where you infiltrate OKB Zero. It felt really cheap.
 
It is quite cheap, but so is setting Quiet up to neutralise everyone for you, or using D-Dog to Fulton people you've knocked out even during a firefight, or using D-Horse to... Prance around. D-Walker is just the combat buddy that's just as OP as any other buddy in that specific role, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not too interested in going that loud but I do feel like I'm missing out on something by never using it.
 
@neema_t

My loadouts while going on side op freeroaming is usually in the low to mid 200K GMP now. I'm sure once I get the grade 8 and 9 stuff developed I'll be touching the 300K GMP range.
 

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