Metal Gear Solid 4

[Mephistopheles]

Bold statement there mate. And also an incorrect one.

It's not a statement; it's an opinion. And I stand by it. Until MGS4, Splinter Cell had a far superior control scheme, camera, stealth mechanics, level design and inventory system than MGS which felt clunky and dated in comparison. Of course, MGS was always in another class when it came to story and presentation.

[JP]

I think before these there was 2 songs & 2 camouflage patterns but I've not checked for a couple of days.

A couple of new digital camouflage threads for Snake are now available. The Laughing Camo and Raging Camo patterns join the two previously released patterns. These have a special effect on enemies when you're spotted.
Laughing Camo: OctoCamo pattern imbued with the emotion "Laughter". Enemies' LAUGH emotion will increase when they spot you.
Raging Camo: OctoCamo pattern imbued with the emotion "Rage". Enemies' RAGE emotion will increase when they spot you.
You can download them for free from the EXTRAS menu. In addition to those, there is also the Digital Red OctoCamo (no special effects) and Digital Blue OctoCamo (increases Camo Index when in or near water). It's great to get these little bonuses, which encourage more messing around in MGS4. Keep a lookout for additional Music and Integral Podcast releases as well from the EXTRAS menu in Metal Gear Solid 4!

[JP]

Was having a bit of a mess around on this last night and found another way to get through the (Act 4)

->Open Spoiler<-

Tank Hangar on Shadow Moses without raising an alert. If you stay outside the door and shoot through the gap you can take them all out but because they can't see you only a Caution is raised.

Once you've cleared them from the main room you can just go in the middle of the hangar and shoot the ones on the higher floor, in the sub-rooms and the cameras on the wall.

I'd recommend first of all going up the steps outside the building and crawling along the vent as you get Drebin Points and can pick up some music.

It's just nice to clear the whole room for the Drebin Points and because you can walk around picking up all the extra gubbins.

That's my prefered way of doing that section now.

[kernow]

Nice, I just went in there guns blazing last time \\o

[JP]

It's worth mentioning that you need to be careful while doing that as it's fairly easy to miss the odd one out.

What I do is

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take the majority out and if I can't see any inside the hanger or with the Solid Eye then I send the the little feller in there with stealth activated and just scoot around carefully making sure that there aren't any around.

[Darwock]

I think before these there was 2 songs & 2 camouflage patterns but I've not checked for a couple of days.

I downloaded those patterns last week, but I couldn't find any trace of them in the camo menu option - where do they appear for use after you have downloaded them?

I have just reached yet another inconsistency with the flashbacks/characterisation... Mei Ling! It's like, not even the same character. If it wasn't for the name dropping I would never have guessed it was her.

All through the game the visual flashbacks have come from the PS1 MGS that we all know and love - but certain pieces of audio characterisation/flash backs have been taken from (the horribly bland) Twin Snakes instead.

Why would he do that? If Kojima was in some way ashamed of how old MGS1 looks these days, then using the visuals from Twin Snakes would make sense... but why use the re-recorded dubbing?

Also I don't know if I have just missed something but the optional codec conversations are very thin on the ground in MGS4. Snake Eater excelled in providing amusing and interesting conversation from several characters - any time something happened in the game the first thing I would do is call up everybody on the codec and hear what they had to say.

I've just finished Act 4, and maybe I've missed something but so far there have only been two characters available on the codec. And one of them doesn't say anything interesting at all. MGS4 is a remarkable game, but at this point I have to say it's my least favourite of the entire series. I love how he has linked all the plots and actually made something coherent out of it (I didn't think it was possible to do, but I was left in shock and amazement after a certain cutscene in Act 3!) but it doesn't feel much like Metal Gear. Less humour, less neat little tricks... just more action game.

Of course I haven't even finished my first play, and if this IS a true MGS game then it will come alive on the repeat plays. I hope it does, and my opinion changes!

[Darwock]

Well, I finished my first play! Stupendous.

Here's a kind of important point for any people like me who think that starting a second game in MGS4 is the same as MGS1 (i.e. you have to start a new game if you want to try a different difficulty setting). It doesn't work like that. I stupidly started a new game and saved over the top of my completion data, only to discover that when I got to the MGS Mk II, I didn't get any of my weapons, items or Drebin points back. Looks like I reset myself I guess you have to load your completed game and it must give you the option to select a new difficulty.

Not to worry I guess, as there are so many ways to play it's not going to get boring... just kind of gutted as I really wanted to buy that matchlock rifle ASAP, and I have thrown away 300,000 DP.

I started to try and do a no alerts/no kills run, however I bungled a CQC move in the opening stages and got an alert, so I switched to only try for no kills this time. The custom shotgun is a godsend for this if you switch to the non-lethal ammo!

Already I am doing a much better job than my first play, I guess I have adapted to the controls now so the game should start to really shine for me! WAAHHEEEEYY here I go again!

[Brad]

Regarding codecs mate, talk to Otacon as much as you can, especially on level 4. he comes out with some great stuff.

[dc-arena]

I am currently back on Act 4 on my 2nd play through the game. I am doing 0 Alerts, 0 Kills, and 0 Health items and so far so good. There was a couple of areas where I thought I might struggle, but I sailed through them, and instead made a school boy error and Alerted a random guard. I love so much about this game, its incredibly detailed and deep - I really think you could play through it 5 or 6 times and play it differently each time.

It's a shame that a lot of people play it through once and don't ever touch it again, or they think they've seen it all or all it has to offer. I am enjoying this play through just as much as the first time I played the game, and I am already looking forward to dishing out my super stealthy kills on my 3rd run for the Assassins Creed secrets. Then its Rambo time, and I think my fifth run with be the big one, The Boss Extreme difficulty with no Alerts, Kills, or Health items.

It's my game of the generation so far, and easily my Game of the Year too.

[Darwock]

Fantastic take on it Spatial and it all makes sense, but even if that was the intention I still dont feel he done THAT very well in his closing scenes... SPOILERS!!

This is a well out of date quote sorry, but regarding comments about the impact of the ending....

Mardigan8 said :

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Big Boss was the wrong character for Snake to close the story with as there is just no connection with the player to get you connected with it.

I really don't get how you can say there is no connection between the player and Big Boss - have you forgotten about Snake Eater?? I have a much stronger attachment to the character of Naked Snake/Big Boss than that of the cloned Solid Snake.. MGS3 was a much more emotional game and so the characters had much more impact (for me)

In fact...

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I was a little disappointed that a different actor voiced Big Boss in MGS4.. it's not David Hayter at all - that DID weaken the connection with the player

[Dogg Thang]

Your last spoiler bit was part of the problem for me there, Darwock.

->Open Spoiler<-

I appreciated that Big Boss looked really like the MGS1 artwork but, for me, I could make no connection between him and the character I played in MGS3. Naked Snake looked pretty much exactly like Solid Snake. Old Snake looked like Solid Snake with some years on him. And yet Big Boss, to me, didn't look like Naked Snake grown up, and certainly didn't sound like him. So I really felt no connection there.

If anything, for me, it broke connections. There was a tragedy to the violation of Big Boss's corpse and also a mystery to it. Having him pop up alive at the end only served to undermine that whole story element.

And actually he unravelled a lot of things, especially the Liquid/Ocelot thing which pulled all power away from what we had just experienced. Big Boss kind of shat all over the story for no real reason and added nothing to it.

[dc-arena]

I just completed my 2nd run through, and I finished with 0 Alerts, 0 Kills, and used 0 Health items. Awesome! Getting into Outer Haven without being spotted with epic. It's a short section but f88k me its intense.

Can't wait to start my next run!

[Uli]

->Open Spoiler<-

Big Boss kind of shat all over the story for no real reason and added nothing to it.

that exactly sums up the whole dilemma with the convoluted storytelling in MGS4 - it feels pretty much pointless in the end.

[Darwock]

Your last spoiler bit was part of the problem for me there, Darwock.

->Open Spoiler<-

I appreciated that Big Boss looked really like the MGS1 artwork but, for me, I could make no connection between him and the character I played in MGS3. Naked Snake looked pretty much exactly like Solid Snake. Old Snake looked like Solid Snake with some years on him. And yet Big Boss, to me, didn't look like Naked Snake grown up

I can't agree with that - Old Snake looks like the old version of the Young Snake face camo... and the Young Snake face camo doesn't look much like MGS3's Naked Snake. Naked Snake had a squarer jaw for one thing.

->Open Spoiler<-

I could definitely see the resemblance in Big Boss.. just couldn't hear it in his voice

That ties up with what is said in the game too, about neither twin being identical to their dad.. Solid Snake coming from a fertilised egg of a Japanese woman etc etc.

[Darwock]

that exactly sums up the whole dilemma with the convoluted storytelling in MGS4 - it feels pretty much pointless in the end.

Ever seen 'The Usual Suspects'? Do you rate it as a good movie, or is it pretty much pointless?