Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

[doodledude]

Been playing for an hour, only got to the third mission so far. Dunno if I like it or not, I keep getting killed.

Should I be fulton hooking everyone I come across?

Initially you will, but you'll soon be more selective only using fulton on higher ranked soliders as theres a limit to how many soldiers you can have

[J0e Musashi]

Right, but how do I tell if they are highly ranked or not? There doesn't seem to be any indication.

[hudson]

You manufacture some special goggles for that quite early on I think.

[J0e Musashi]

Aha, that must be the analyzer. Right, I'll actually try playing it now.

[Sketcz]

Yes of course there's English and David Hayter doing the voice in the PAL version.
Joe only plays/talks about Japanese versions!

Ace, I was worried for a second!

[J0e Musashi]

I've become a bit stuck. I just killed the second boss, but it appears that I need C4 to progress any further. Does anybody know where I can find it?

[KusoGaki]

You should find it during the normal course of the game iirc, it may just be that you haven't reached the research level to develop it yet.

[J0e Musashi]

How can I tell what research level I'm at? Also how does research level rise? Is it just through playing or does something make it happen?

I've not been FRS'ing anyone other than the FSLN prisoners I come across and anyone I scan who is a C or above (which so far has only been one C-rated soldier). Does this contribute towards things?

[KusoGaki]

Research level rises when you move staff into the research plant at the base, the level of the staff in each area contributes towards the amount the level goes up. So you move them into whichever area they are suited.

[Sketcz]

5 missions in and this is painfully dull so far.

I've come to the conclusion I don't like MGS games without a Soliton radar or similar. The stealth here isn't particularly fun, the controls render it almost unplayable, the QTEs during cutscenes are ****ing abysmal (at one point I thought my game had crashed because it kept repeating), the story is cringeworthy (not digging the setting at all), and the disturbing number of audio cassette tapes I need to listen to makes it as slow as molasses in January.

Does it get better? When does this happen? Because right now it's as bad as Portable Ops, which was terrible.

My biggest complaint is that I don't like this on PSP - it would have been far better suited to a PS2 release. Or hell, a PS3 release with cut-back visuals. The PSP doesn't feel suited to the scope of this.


EDIT:
Also, this has to have the worst manual of all time. NOTHING is explained properly. It took me AGES to work out that the picture of 2 people with numbers under it (0/4) on the mission select screen meant the number of potential multi-players for that level, instead of the number of high ranking soldiers you need to capture. I kept replaying one stage and wondering why the number never went to 4/4, despite me capturing everyone I came across.

You can't push select on the mission select screen either, to bring up an icon explanation chart, so I've had to guess this stuff.

Also: what the hell are heroism points for?

This is unforgiveable. Worst manual I've seen in years.

[hudson]

From what I read there, I don't think you're going to like it. Personally, I absolutely loved the game. I didn't bother listening to audio cassettes or really paying too much attention to the story. I just found the gameplay, recruitment, man-management, co-op and extra-ops addictive.

Would love a PS3 MGS with all the same features of this.

[jimtendo]

After a long haitus (as July was the last time I played this) and finally having hooked this up to the big screen and playing this via the DualShock 3 I've got around to adding another 30 more hours to the ticker, and in total just over 70 hours :/

There is so much more end game here in the form of Extra Ops. They total just shy over the #120 mark and trying to S-Rank the 5 red skull difficulty boss battles solo are utter swines. Unless you have maxed out weaponary in the form of Fulton Mines/ Fulton Launcher/ Mosin Nagant then there's not much point in attempting it. Which leads me onto the content that's unlocked when playing Extra Ops. There is so much more to unlock here it's unreal. As most of the top weapons and gadgets

->Open Spoiler<-

such as the legendary bandana and stealth camo

are found this way. And even to get some specific camoflauge, for example

->Open Spoiler<-

The End

, you have to

->Open Spoiler<-

use you codec to speak to dead ghost soldiers

. I mean wtf kojima, I know you're bat**** insane but...

Unless you're willing to spend an exorbitant amount of time:

• micro managing MSF base personnel
• spending lots of time replaying stages to bump up the R&D percentage
• farming certain stages to get the best personnel for their department
• S-Ranking various Ex-Ops to get access to better weaponary and gadgets

Then this wont be for you.

I'd wager this wont pop up on many Game of the Year shortlists, but for me it's worth a shot. Due to the crazy amount of content and secret stuff thats in there. One mention must go to Heavens Divide as possibly being my favourite MGS end track.

[Brad]

Did you play this on a PSP Go then (DS3 use) ? Or is there a way to use a DS3 to play this on an older PSP?

[jimtendo]

Aye, the PSP Go.
Using this contraption to get full screen output, because my telly has rubbish zoom options.

[Sketcz]

<lots of excellent points>

Then this wont be for you.

You're right I'm afraid. It started to get better for a bit after mission 5, but I recently defeated the 3rd boss and see that I'm nearing the end of the main story, and then i just stopped because I couldn't be bothered anymore. So I know I won't be bothered for the extra crap that unlocks after the story.

The micromanagement is cool, but I'd rather it was its own game. I hate having to go out and do a mission just so that I can see how things have progressed at base. I wouldn't mind a "next day" option, to progress time manually.

I hate farming for recruits. It's such a slow tedious process. And very few are high ranking, so at the moment I have about 100 E level recruits just bolstering the numbers.

The missions themselves aren't very interesting - nothing like Snake Eater's lengthy quest.

To highlight how bored I am, I recently installed a GBC emulator on my PSP, and have been playing MGS: Ghost Babel, which blows this out of the water for a handheld solid snake.

This is very technically accomplished, and it has a lot of content, and I'm sure many will love it, but it's not action oriented enough to feel like a big MGS for me (I'd rather play Snake Eater), and it's not micro-management enough to feel like a menu simulation (the missions detract from the fun of management). I just don't think the 2 genres gel well together.