Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

[halfnhalf]

I would recommend that you don't try the no kills at least until your second time through the game since you'll be missing out on the insane amount of weapons you can use. But if you still want to continue like that, you can buy a few other none lethal weapons from the shop later on (like Mosin Nagant, which you will need).

if you do no kills, then you get the bandana, ie. infinite ammo. so i think its best to do it on the first try.


BTW im godlike at this game, Fujin knows from the beta, so i know what im doing. And i already have the Mosin Nagant, Raging Vulcan went down like a bitch, she was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY easier than Laughing Octopus.

[Femto]

Not too keen on the de-emphasis on stealth as of right now.

Still a fantastic game though.

I'm fighting Crying Wolf right now.

[Starnum]

Yeah, I got the Mosin Nagant too, I love that gun. The boss fights are so much fun, as to be expected.

[halfnhalf]

im at the start of act 5, and playing on hard mode. So far octopus has really been the only difficult boss, besides that so far for me it hasnt been to hard.



[spoiler]WTF on how you were suppose to know on beating VAMP. I seriously took down the guy like 5 times wondering wtf.. then my friend comes in (he beat the game on easy) was all like yah dood just use the syringe on him. Crying wolf was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to easy, i mean seriously all the frogs were my bitches. I tranqed them, took their p90, tranqed them again and took their five-seven, so all they had left was a knife. But the actual crying wolf was simple. btw little secret i found out on accident. When you beat a boss and they come out of their suit, if you pull out your camera and stay back a bit, the senery changes into a photoshoot and the girls pose for you. Its hilarious until they actually grab onto you and hurt you.[/spoiler]

[War Machine]

I just noticed that your weapons and camouflages transfer from your completed file into Extreme difficulty, so you can actually play Easy mode a couple of times to gather some Drebin Points and Chaff grenades (which are super useful and are not sold in Drebin's Shop), and then tackle Extreme mode with a few extra items. You're also not required to tranquilize the Beast bosses for the Big Boss emblem, only the Beauties. I'm not gonna kill them though, it's all or nothing for me. Anyway, I'll try to take on Extreme to get my Big Boss emblem on the weekend.

[Starnum]

Well I just beat the game, and the ending completely blew me away, of course. Man, this is like the best game ever, heh. I can't believe it's over now. I mean, this could very well be the last MGS game ever. Well, nothing left to do now but play it again, heh. I'll be going for Big Boss Hard mode now, and try to perfect my game as much as possible. Also, I'm looking forward to checking out the online, I'm not even sure what's all up with that yet. So, what's the Big Boss Emblem do? Is it just a medal, or does it actually let you do something?

[spoiler]Yeah the vamp thing was crazy, I had to look it up online. Oh man, and the CQC fight with Liquid Ocelot was so freaking awesome! [/spoiler]

*edit*

So I made my online character, name Starnum. Played a few death-matches, seems fun. Let me know if you guys want to start a clan or whatever.

[Aetherfukz]

Well I just beat the game, and the ending completely blew me away, of course. Man, this is like the best game ever, heh. I can't believe it's over now. I mean, this could very well be the last MGS game ever. Well, nothing left to do now but play it again, heh. I'll be going for Big Boss Hard mode now, and try to perfect my game as much as possible. Also, I'm looking forward to checking out the online, I'm not even sure what's all up with that yet. So, what's the Big Boss Emblem do? Is it just a medal, or does it actually let you do something?

[spoiler]Yeah the vamp thing was crazy, I had to look it up online. Oh man, and the CQC fight with Liquid Ocelot was so freaking awesome! [/spoiler]

*edit*

So I made my online character, name Starnum. Played a few death-matches, seems fun. Let me know if you guys want to start a clan or whatever.

Indeed, game of the year for sure. Played through it yesterday night too. The story and execution is just beyond awesome. The ending, wow, at last a real ending to a beautiful game, not like so much games today which just have like a 1 minute cutscene at best and then credits roll.
While there could have been more gameplay (i mean longer sequences of it between cutscenes) the game really took the story and character development to a new level: Never before have I cared so much for the fates of virtual characters. Snake of course, Otacon, Raiden, even Naomi and all the others - they "feel" really human.
[spoiler]The scene before you the the REX where Naomi does suicide and Otacon weeps for her was really, really touching. Crying never felt so real in a game before.

Oh and also the scene where Meryl asks Akiba to marry her was awesome and hilarious.[/spoiler]

This game is truly a work of art.

Oh and P.S. After "killing" Vamp for like 5 times, I just codec'ed Otacon who told me bascially to use the syringe.

The ingame jokes were really funny too. Like Otacon telling you to swap disks, of my favorite:
[spoiler]When Psycho Mantis tries to read you Memory Card and then rumble the controller, and vanishes upon being unable to do both [/spoiler]

[War Machine]

[spoiler]I was wondering if Psycho Mantis would be able to rumble the controller for people who have the Dualshock 3.[/spoiler]

Anyway, I'm really interested in an Evil_Genius clan for MGO. Since halfnhalf is the pseudo-expert on MGO, he should be the one to start it.

[Starnum]

[spoiler]I was wondering if Psycho Mantis would be able to rumble the controller for people who have the Dualshock 3.[/spoiler]

Anyway, I'm really interested in an Evil_Genius clan for MGO. Since halfnhalf is the pseudo-expert on MGO, he should be the one to start it.

Yeah, I was wondering about that thing with the Dualshock 3 too. So has anyone who has one and played through the game yet, know what we're talking about? I'll be able to ask my friend once he beats the game. As for the clan, I say Half should set it up and start sending us invites or whatever.

[Aetherfukz]

I think it will rumble, because I've read somewhere on IGN I think that MGS4 will be one of the first games to work with the dualshock. The circle around Snake where you see how loud your surroundings are is supposed to be there instead of rumbling of the dualshock too.

Anyway started on Big Boss Extreme yesterday, it's certainly nice to have all the weapons and stuff from the beginning. Tried to only stun and knock out enemies the first few levels. But I think I just can't be bothered to not kill anyone - it's just too much fun working with all the difference, upgradeable, weapons. Plus the Mantis Doll kills too, and the nonlethal Sorrow doll only works on corpses (LOL?). Too much fun throwing enemies around with the sixaxis

[halfnhalf]

I have a ds3 and the rumble is awesome in this game.


I dont like being in charge of managing a clan (did it before in CS and D2, its annoying) Let fujin be it, but ill be there to tell everyone the secrets of the game. Though i do have to say i still havent played online yet, havent finished singleplayer. The no killing deal is fucking hard when it comes to bosses.

[Aetherfukz]

I have a ds3 and the rumble is awesome in this game.


I dont like being in charge of managing a clan (did it before in CS and D2, its annoying) Let fujin be it, but ill be there to tell everyone the secrets of the game. Though i do have to say i still havent played online yet, havent finished singleplayer. The no killing deal is fucking hard when it comes to bosses.

I think you can "kill" the Beasts and you just have to tranq the beauties to get the no kill awards.

[Starnum]

I tranq'ed the beauties. I can't imagine not using a real gun on the beasts though, heh.

[War Machine]

The no killing deal is fucking hard when it comes to bosses.

Do you have the shotgun? You can change to the non-lethal V.Ring bullets which do a lot more damage than the Mk22. Anyway, how do you kill the last beast without killing her?

[Femto]

I didn't enjoy the ending all that much.

[spoiler]The whole wedding stuff was silly and came out of nowhere and Big Boss was alive (and then dies)? Give me a break.

The only satisfying conclusion was the Raiden subplot.[/spoiler]
The game just gets way too cutscene heavy way too often.

Act 5 had what? One sneaking section?

Just one?

Are you kidding me?

The game is not horrible by any means, it's still a really refined Metal Gear Solid experience.

I just find it hard to justify all these 10s the game has been getting considering you're not even playing half the time.

[halfnhalf]

I just find it hard to justify all these 10s the game has been getting considering you're not even playing half the time.

try online and play sneak mode. Faceing up against the legendary hero will get your heart pumping.

[War Machine]

I just find it hard to justify all these 10s the game has been getting considering you're not even playing half the time.

MGS4 is actually longer than all the other MGS games if you only take into account total playtime.

[Femto]

I just find it hard to justify all these 10s the game has been getting considering you're not even playing half the time.

MGS4 is actually longer than all the other MGS games if you only take into account total playtime.

Hey.

Thanks for missing my point.

Half of that playtime is cutscenes.

It's ridiculous.

The first two acts have a decent cutscene to gameplay ratio but that worsens as the game progresses.

The last act is pretty much just one sneaking section and three boss fights.

I also found the online mode to be atrocious but then again, I played it for about 10 minutes.

I'll probably never touch it again.

I'll go for no alert/no kill soon.

It'll be fun to see how the pace of the game changes when you skip all the overdramatic, needlessly long and extremely expository cutscenes.

Great game, but not my favorite MGS by any stretch of the imagination.

[War Machine]

I just find it hard to justify all these 10s the game has been getting considering you're not even playing half the time.

MGS4 is actually longer than all the other MGS games if you only take into account total playtime.

Hey.

Thanks for missing my point.

Half of that playtime is cutscenes.

It's ridiculous.

The first two acts have a decent cutscene to gameplay ratio but that worsens as the game progresses.

The last act is pretty much just one sneaking section and three boss fights.

I also found the online mode to be atrocious but then again, I played it for about 10 minutes.

I'll probably never touch it again.

I'll go for no alert/no kill soon.

It'll be fun to see how the pace of the game changes when you skip all the overdramatic, needlessly long and extremely expository cutscenes.

Great game, but not my favorite MGS by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm not refuting your statement, only making a different one, but I do disagree with MGS4 not being the best in the series. Anyway, Normal difficulty did feel easier than the other games, but then again, I played the hell out of the others, so I'm fairly used to the game mechanics.

Right now I'm at the beginning of Act 2 on Extreme, on my way for the Big Boss emblem, but the very first area is killing me, it's insanely big and you have to go through a lot of enemies before you get to the next checkpoint. The dudes can see you at night, from afar, with %80 camo index, it's fucking insane!

[The Herald]

Getting prepared for Guns of the Patriots I beat Twin Snakes and Sons of Liberty about a week before it came out. Doing so gave me a good grasp on the whole cut scene feel. Yes, during the game the cut scenes do feel long and the lack of codec feels odd compared to the other games, but in reality the cut scenes are making up for the lack of codec time because the producers took the time to animate the conversations. The Mission Briefings are what really take the longest but you can treat them like a game still, with moving around the little robot while they're talking and all that. Or, you could just skip em, which is what almost everyone did when they first played Twin Snakes.

What I like about this MGS4 is that things people say and do actually matter to your gameplay, with the psyche meter. That was a wierd but good twist. I was a little disappointed that the only new characters were Drebin, his monkey, and Raiden's son, John, and all of the B&Bs of course, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable game. I still like Snake Eater the best personally, but that's because it's so thick with real history and the fact that you can eat practically anything that moves. Also, Ocelot was awesome at twenty. Which reminds me of a few questions I'd like to ask about the plot: does Eva look a little too young in MGS4, and is Ocelot Sunny's father? Also, when I first saw Johnny, I thought he looked a hell of a lot like Snake. Maybe he could be Big Boss's biological son that the patriots never knew of?

I agree that the wedding was kind of silly, but mostly because Johnny's such a dweeb. C'mon, he's been the secret joke character in every game with digestion problems that you unlocked a scene with, but you never saw his face. I like that they turned a joke into a real character, like the joke wasn't just a joke after all. And man did he turn out to be cool. Same thing with Raiden. I remember how pissed people where that you played as him in the second part of MGS2, but I liked him. Man has he taken a turn for the better. His ghostly look is even creepier than the Sorrow and his resilience makes him even cooler than Grey Fox. If he's still around there's always a posibility for another Metal Gear game, if not of the Solid title.

Also, this game never repeats the gameplay, there's always something new to do, which was a stroke of genius.

[Aetherfukz]

I agree, the moment Akiba / Johnny took of his mask after saving Merly, I was like "Dude, it's Snake in his early years."

[MadDogMike]

So my PS3 order finally came in. Only the 40 gig model is available in Australia, so I'm not happy about not having backwards compatibility but there's nothing I can do about it...

It's been updating the OS/firmware for the last 1.5 hours... I'm going to have to go to sleep for work before I get to play the bloody game! >:(

[LordMune]

I'd be so pissed at this game if only it could make me care.

[spoiler]Ending with a wheelchair-bound old man (who is the worst villain ever to boot) shitting himself instead of Snake going out with dignity? Oh, I'd be downright furious if only Kojima hadn't spent what emotional investment I had in this series on hookers and blow. Not to mention the whole "Big Boss is a good guy!" bullshit beyond MGS3.[/spoiler]

Re-playing it now. Good game, will not be re-watching any cutscenes.

EDIT: In retrospect, the mess that was MGS2 seems downright eloquent. The cop-outs and retcons (some admittedly clever) that is MGS4 cheapens the message and impact of MGS2, but that might just be my lack of sleep talking.

[MadDogMike]

So I'm a couple of hours into the game, and so far I'm a bit disappointed that the game seems to reward you more for playing like it's Gears of War rather than a MGS game. Not only is it a lot quicker and easier to progress that way, but you also end up collecting a lot more weapons to trade.

[War Machine]

The biggest rewards lie in stealth. In the harder difficulties, fighting is not a viable option on account that you can die in one direct shot burst from the enemy, literally.

I finally made it to Act 3 on Extreme and I've come to realize that rolling on the ground is indispensable (lying on the ground and pressing L1+X to roll to the sides); you move much faster than crawling and preserve about 75% of your camo index (if the floor pattern doesn't change).

[spoiler]Also, Laughing Octopus was easy to beat with the Shotgun with V. Ring bullets and the Mosin Nagant; if you move quickly, she barely even gets a chance to hit you. The only weird thing was that when she was hiding inside the cardboard box, I wasn't able to hit her with any non-lethal weapon, I ended up just waiting for her to move to a new hiding place so I could continue the fight.[/spoiler]