Congratulations on 1000 posts! In celebration I’ve added another new theme for you all. 

Our first TRUE dark theme. VR Training is based on the Special Missions of MGS1. If you’ve played the game and beaten all the missions you might recognise that precocious little rascal on the left of the banner! 



Hope you all like it! Let me know if there’s any visual oddities or glitches. Where it’s a dark theme I’m sure some things may be hard to see that I didn’t count on. 

As a reward for reaching our first forum milestone I’ve attached a poll for what entry the next theme should be based on. The future….is in your hands!

I don't want to make this a big deal. But this is the 1,000th post on this forum. I don't want everyone to thank me at once, but it's kind of a big deal. Glad to help this place reach it's goal on my first day, but it won't be a real home until we bring back my homie Mr. Tibbs.

Long live OG Foxhound.
I wonder where Vergil is.
Aragorn are battles were legendary.
Jass ass isno you sexy bish.
Thanks for the invite, Henry.

When is the next game of mafia?

What's up fellas!

Crazy to think that I started posting here as a kid and back to posting on nearly the same site whilst in the process of buying a house, life huh? Good to be back! Time to rack my brain and try to remember what avatar and sig I was using way back when

When do the org wars start?

Back in the day, I used to be really vocal about how much I didn't like MGS1 or much of MGS2, and how I flat out hated MGS4. If I'm honest, as time has gone on and newer games appeal to me less and less, I kind of have a whole new love for the entire MGS series. I have criticisms of every single game, some more so than others. But MGS is the one series where I can come back into any one game and just pick up and play. No fatiguing commitment like with most open world games, and no long stretches of following characters slowly and listening to them talk in-game because it's cheaper than doing cutscenes, despite what it does to a games' pace.

Collectively, I've just come to love the entire MGS series all over again.

Individually, I think the games I've come around to most are MGS1, Peace Walker and MGS4.

I used to say that MGS1 was my least favorite MGS game because I used to get so hung up on what I felt the game should've been, that I wasn't able to fully appreciate what it was. It's a game that has about 3 hours of in-game content, more like 2-ish if you ditched all the backtracking. And in that tie, you get some solid levels to sneak through, 11 unique boss encounters (13 if you include the ambush minibosses), some action set pieces and everything moving at a pretty brisk pace. I maintain the first half of MGS1 is much better than the second half but I honestly have fun with the tower rush because I blend run-n-gunning with my FAMAS with planting claymores behind me in a way that has a fun little rhythm to it. I don't like the boss fights against Wolf or the Hind, but most of the bosses are fun, some are downright amazing, and they come so fast that it keeps the game consistently feeling fresh.

For as much as I used to dunk on MGS4, it is a game I have a lot of fun with now. Utilizing Octo-Camo to sneak past enemies has such a gratifying feel to it, so does picking them off one by one. The boss fights lean into action more but they're still incredibly fun, well imagined bosses that are engaging to go up against. Yeah, Act 3 is obviously the weak point, but the tailing part is only about 10-15 minutes long, and still not as tedious as escorting Emma or the PAL sequence. I wish the game maintained its battlefield stealth, but what it has for the remainder of the game, to me at least, is still entertaining. 

What surprised me the most though is Peace Walker. It's honestly become one of my favorite Metal Gear games and I used to be really down on it for a lot of reasons. But what I realized is it's a game with a ton of content that's really replayable and just as gratifying to zero trace as it is to go guns blazing. I prefer human bosses and was disappointed by the lack of stealth in any of the boss fights but like the MGS4 fights, I can't deny that they're at least fun encounters. I think the games short burst nature works in its favor, but so does having some genuinely good level design that makes sneaking around and zero tracing feel so good. I also love the sheer variety of different levels the game has. From jungles, mountains, fortresses, plantations, military bases and underground facilities. There's a shocking amount of variety and it comes back to just feeling good to bypass enemies. But also having dozens of unique toys to play with for messing around with enemies too. Or having some fun bonus missions to mess around with it.

One thing that's always been consistent for me is the strength of any MGS games' writhing or story isn't what dictates my love of the games. They all fall under the same area for me in that regard, but I can appreciate the sincerity and earnestness in Kojima's stories and his themes. But when all is said and done, it's always gonna be the gameplay first that drives me and whatever the flaws of any MGS game, there isn't a single one where I'm just not having fun. It's a big part of why MGSV and MGS3 are my favorite games of all time and why I've replayed them so much, but when I look back on other games I've replayed dozens of times, the rest of this series is right behind them for just doing so much to keep me coming back decades later.

And with how much games of today feel like they need to either be these massive open worlds or more cinematic and character-focused to the point where gameplay is compromised for the sake of expanding on characters, I can appreciate MGS that much more for going out of its way to keep gameplay and story separate. So if you replay these games, you can skip all the cutscenes and just stick to the raw gameplay and just have a lot of fun with it. Especially since MGS has so much to offer in so short an amount of time usually.

That's my two cents at any rate. How have your guys' thoughts on these games shifted as the years have gone on?

What are your favorite missions from MGSV; the ones you actively enjoy replaying the most?

I think if I broke down my top 10 favorite missions, here's what I'd have:

1. Code Talker
   
2. Skull Face
   
3. Retake The Platform
   
4. Hellbound
   
5. Voices
   
6. Red Brass
   
7. Phantom Limbs
   
8. Over The Fence
   
9. Pitch Dark
   
10. The White Mamba
    

...or if there even is one?

OK that's a little facetious. KONAMI clearly have finally realised the significance of the Metal Gear Solid IP and that they have room to move forward with it. Kojima was supposedly itching to get away from it for over a decade and it all ended up spilling over into an unpleasant ending.But it seems like Kojima long ago accepted that he was never going to own the IP and that it would likely continue on after him.

So where do we think KONAMI will go from here? MGS had been in the wilderness for almost a decade when they announced that they were going to rerelease most of the games in the series, alongside pushing out merch that we haven't seen before (vinyls, bags, pins, heck even clothing collaborations with Uniqlo). We've since of course been preparing for the release of Delta (Δ) and there have been plenty of rumours about the next collection of re-releases (and let's be honest, you're not going to specifically title a collection "Vol. 1" if you don't have more planned). It seems like the industry is clamouring for remakes and re-releases, all you have to do is look at the pile of money Druckmann sleeps on after Naughty Dog's latest release, The Last Of Us Remaster's Remaster Remastered or Skyrim FINALLY getting its 1324th release to tell that.

Personally I'm not surprised that they decided to go with Snake Eater for Delta. It is far and away the best received MGS title and the most well-known, alongside being the chronological starting point of the series. I don't love it like other people do by any means, but I will say I enjoyed my replay of it last year more than I did on any previous occasion. I still don't care for Big Boss nor do I look forward to retreading his life story of pining for The Boss whether alive or dead. But it makes sense.

For me the dream would be this leading us towards a full and proper remake of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I played them for the first time last year when I decided to replay the series (before the collection was even announced). Metal Gear is really forgettable apart from the general setup and ending, but MG2 is so enjoyable. I never knew how much my favourite game (MGS) borrowed from it, to the point where I do find it hard to argue with people that regard MGS as a 3D remake of MG2 (albeit with a lot of differences in narrative of course). That being said, this would be a huge undertaking, something along the lines of the Final Fantasy VII remake project although naturally smaller in scale. But a prologue of Metal Gear into a full retelling of MG2 would be superb.

I honestly can't really say what I expect though. If Δ performs well then maybe nothing can be ruled out, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see this turn into a series of more straightforward like-for-like remakes (I guess that'd include MGS2, Peace Walker and maybe MGS4 although I'd still be unsure on that).

This was supposed to be a brief question topic but here I am. I missed this series dammit despite all of its problems. What do you all think happens going forward, what are you hoping for?

MGS2 has always sat in a very strange place for me.  Back in the day, I used to yo-yo between loving it and hating it.  Today, I can comfortably say that I love all MGS games in spite of their flaws, including MGS2.  For me, it's a game with some genuinely amazing mechanics that make sneaking around bad guys so satisfying, and has some great bosses that really utilize all of those new mechanics beautifully.  But the biggest black eye for me has always been the set pieces.  I love everything about the tanker, especially when playing to bypass enemies instead of knocking everyone out, because the environment is designed so well to provide tons of distractions and little hiding spots.  But the entire photography section always ground my fun to a halt since I've always hated really stringent forced stealth.  The bomb disposal is a great way to get acclimated with the Big Shell in an organic fashion, and I didn't mind the disguise part either.  But the entire sequence escorting Emma, to me, is almost as tedious as the PAL sequence from MGS1, with no parts of it that I can say I enjoy, minus the fun Easter Eggs you can find during the sniping part.

None of that's enough to ruin the game for me, but I'll admit that if MGS2 ever got a remake, I'd be head over heels if those parts got completely overhauled.

How do you all feel about MGS2's leaning into set pieces more than the previous game?  Were there some set pieces or puzzles you liked more than others do you feel like the game would've benefitted from not having those parts, or at least altering them in any way?

What it do, everybody?  It's been a hot minute, huh.

For those who are new, I'm Departed.  I was a member of the OG MGSF that joined back in 2007 cuz my older brother told me to check it out.  He also texted me that there was a new site with some old faces and so I am.

Lot's changed since last we all chatted.  I just turned forty a few months ago.  I made a youtube page for some reason.  I'm working plenty and keeping above water.

Good to see a lot of familiar faces already.  I hope you've all been doing well.

▪️Deeper RPG systems, draws inspiration from immersive sims like Deus Ex and Dishonored
▪️True stealth system with better tools to make that playstyle viable, including melee weapons and skills for silent takedowns
▪️Enemy bars let you know if your stealth attack is powerful enough, enemies will detect dead bodies and alert guards
▪️You can acquire a skill that disintegrates bodies on the spot
▪️N-Ray scanner lets you see certain objects and NPCs/enemies through walls, some enemies can cloak themselves to be invisible
▪️Improving gunplay was a major focus for Obsidian, citing Destiny as inspiration
▪️Improved movement mechanics, more nimble, sprint sliding while aiming down sights
▪️Tactical Time Dilation returns (toss a grenade into a group, activate TTD and shoot it midair

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I enjoyed the first game. This has the potential be really great IMO.

Hey everyone,

Been a bit since we've all gotten back together eh? Lots of familiar faces and it brings a smile to my face. I hope you all have been doing well and I hope I can reconnect with some of y'all again!

What have you guys been up to?