Somewhat of a continuation of my “I don’t like JRPGs” rant, but…
A few days ago, I started playing Splinter Cell: Double Agent after a LONG break. After a few hours of play, I found myself transitioning perfectly into the stealth genre once again, and decided to celebrate by firing up MGS and MGS2, the very first stealth games I ever played. (I hated MGS3, so I never bought it.)
I couldn’t stand them.
It’s not just because of how old the games are, it’s something else. Forgive me for saying this, but I can’t stand Hideo Kojima’s stories anymore. They’re gargantuan in scope, but also ungodly impossible to follow, filled with more plot holes and loose ends than a disintegrating sweater, and generally feel like something someone dreamed up while under the infleunce of a LOT of pot and LSD. This was kind of the thing that REALLY turned me off to MGS3: ten minutes of gameplay, two fucking hours of cutscenes and political ramblings.
Furthermore, the games barely qualify as stealth. The game arms you to the teeth with every damn gun in existence, gives you a shitload of ammo, makes the guards fucking blind, and places you on an almost straight line to the target. Once again, let’s compare to Splinter Cell. In those games, you get some big guns, but god help you if you try to kill everything unless the game tells you to. The guards have somewhat better eyesight, in that they can see you from more than five feet away in broad daylight, which means you really HAVE to stick to hiding to survive. Missions are larger in size, with multiple side areas and sub-objectives to complete.
I know it’s not exactly fair to compare the two, but I’m just repulsed by Metal Gear. The series really isn’t the pinnacle of stealth gaming anymore. So long, PS3, I no longer have a reason to buy you.
I just finished MGS2 again a few days ago. I’ve never played Splinter Cell, but I tend to enjoy games with a lot of cinematics (cf. Xenosaga) which others berate as being boring, so I honestly still enjoy them. Sure, it’s over the top - but that’s what makes it so much fun. Frankly, I found the increase in difficulty for MGS3 almost killed it for me. I play the MGS games for the performances, not for the blood-curdling “oh God I’m gonna die” feeling. In fact, if I’m spotted anywhere, nine times out of ten I just let the guards kill me and try again rather than try wading through them. I’m not much of an actioner, so low difficulty + lots of story = teh win for me.
I’m not going to go all Tim Rogers about it but I like MGS2 and the MGS series as a whole. I’ve played Splinter Cell and Pandora Tomorrow and it’s interesting to note, as has already been stated how vastly different they are in terms of how they are structured.
MGS is very “loose”; Snake or Raiden can carry tons of weapons, the story can round to the illogical at times, etc. If you ask me, MGS3’s storytelling was very compelling and entertaining because the game as a whole was a lot more constricted. I liked MGS2 but it felt like it was going all over the place trying to be a magnum opus instead of a game.
I’m not as fond of SC but I haven’t given it that much of a chance. I willl say that in terms of stealth, yeah, it’s a real stealth game compared to MGS. I remember the first time I played SC and got shot and died. I was dumbfounded for a few seconds wondering how in the world I died so quickly. The stealth portion in that game is more difficult and I’d say more enjoyable than MGS but there were times that I felt drowned in jargon and I felt like I didn’t rally understand or care about the story.
Yeah, so I guess I didn’t come to a conclusion. But I will ask how you found MGS3 difficult, Cid. Granted, the sniper guy drove me to the point where I just chased him around with the shotgun instead of even bothering with that sniper rifle but other than that I don’t see too many trouble points.
I simply found the enemy AI to be too smart and the lack of a radar drove me crazy. I kept getting noticed, and when I was noticed that was it for me. It took me literally something like fifteen tries to take down the final boss (and I managed to beat it with about three seconds left on the clock). I just couldn’t get the hang of it.
I have to say that I almost never used most of the weapons I got in MGS and MGS2. I was just too scared of being found. Hell, I didn’t use anything other than the M9 trank gun for literally about 70% of MGS2.
Well…I kind of got sick and tired of hiding and such since I got found quite often so I tended to basically kill everyone. I used up a lot more ammo and the game was really exciting. You can afford to go Rambo in MGS, Splinter Cell, not so much.
Yeah. When that “river” came up I had to walk a long time. Then I found out I could’ve cheated myself out of going through that sequence, ugh.
I do appreciate the new direction of MGS4. After seeing it in action I think it’s a great idea to put Snake into an actual warzone where, you know, you can afford to use all those weapons.
We’ll see if MGS4 makes my PS3 worth it. I only own the first MGS game for PSX and for Cube (Excellent remake BTW with nice bonus features). I never got ahold of the others. I also have the old NES game Metal Gear. “You got Grenade Launcher”
I’m scared of how FF13 looks. All show with no fun. The Fantavision of RPGs…
Fuck, maybe I’m being too harsh and should play 12 again. I dunno though, learning all those bullshit systems just so I can not press any actual buttons while I fall asleep grinding for hours at a time isn’t my cuppa.
But… the girls are kinda cute. Might be worth it, to stare at certain asses for a while. Fuck, I’m doing it.
I still think the gambit system takes WAY to much gameplay out of the players hands.
Here’s proof: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/459841/45730
Anyway, back to metal gear. I loved the 3rd one, but found the story in the 2nd to be the most convoluted piece of trash I have ever experienced. I STILL don’t think I know what the hell was going on.
I played Splinter Cell, but got stuck, and just kind of put it on the backburner. Good game, IMO, but there is one thing that REALLY bothered me… How in the HELL can’t the terrorist’s ever see that bright, yellow, light that shines on Sam’s back???
I just replayed MGS2 a few weeks ago… it is confusing, definitely, but if you play it a second time right after you finish it, you should get most of the story weirdness straight.
That’s the idea, especially with MGS II. The whole thing just ends up stupid and it turns out nobody knew what was going on. The big conspiracy that you didn’t know? None of them did, either. The ending is pointless and futile. Like war, you know? They’re more about the symbols and the themes than the actual plot itself, in typical modernist format. Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, and the like are ridiculous, unbelievable characters, because they’re more ideals put in to people than characters.
They’re also still something of a parody, though often a more serious deconstruction, nowadays, on spy movie tropes; MG3 was an examination of how emotionally damaging and tragic one of the classic double-agent spy plots would be if the people involved had real emotions. Metal Gear is all about destroying the romance of things, and turning the expectations on their heads. You notice how you never, ever win in a Metal Gear game, you just manage not to completely lose.
I always figured that was to symbolize the fact that you were stealthy. They’d notice a normal guy, but Solid Snake fucking up and wearing bells is sneakier than a normal guy at his most umbral.
Insanity: Ocelot was checking “him” for weapons to remove before realizing it was a lady. Then shit got creepy, because if you couldn’t tell from Ocelot’s distinctive “call”, Ocelot is one creepy son of a bitch.
