Kojima Leaving Konami? The Patriots swing into action.

[nakamura]

Which is a pity as it's a really good game when it lets you play it.

[Shozuki]

Don't agree with this. I've enjoyed all of the Solid games and the PS1 game is probably still my favourite of all time. But increasingly they've become an awful slog over the years as Kojima has been allowed to slip further and further into the delusion that he is a truly great film director and storyteller. This, I take it, is his main input. As well as all the meta-gags, tiring back-lore, 4th-wall-breaking nods, upskirt action vulgarity, and such. This I find frustrating. The things that make the games enjoyable, for me, are the fragments of gameplay in-between all that ****e. I'm looking forward to MGS5 of course but I'm equally if not more interested to see what happens to that gameworld/engine afterwards.

Oh I agree with that too, though my personal fave is MGS3. My point wasn't in so much directly regarding MGS per-se, I just meant if you consider Konami as a whole, I can only think of two games which have success these days MGS and PES. Making matters worse is if you look at the last decade they barely had any other games of note.

Now when you consider MGS without Kojima could go either way and without any others games of note, PES isn't enough to keep them going...

[Golgo]

I take your point Shozuki, although I wonder how many ordinary game-buying punters know who Kojima is anyway. They may just see the Metal Gear brand? I don't know, but I guess that's what Konami are banking on...

[nakamura]

PES sales are well down I think. 2014 was reported to be quite a bit down on 2013, not as sure about 2015.

[Dogg Thang]

I'd say a large amount of the MGS buyers know of him. It's so easy to be informed these days and he has been the core of those games and up front in all media about them since MGS.

[Golgo]

I'd say a large amount of the MGS buyers know of him. It's so easy to be informed these days and he has been the core of those games and up front in all media about them since MGS.

Yeah, that's true.

[Shozuki]

I failed to also express my point about Kojima.

I don't know how directly involved Kojima was the gameplay sides of things, but I'd be willing to bet that it'd be quite heavy given his background as a programmer anyway...

That just makes me fear for Konami even more so, I totally agree Kojima has gotten a bit full of himself especially in MGS4 but if the series heads down the Lords of Shadow route say, a shell of what the games are truly about, then Konami are totally screwed...

[Golgo]

Just played a bit of Ground Zeroes after downloading it for ?5.49 off PSN Easter sale, and I take back what I said above. Konami need to go down on bended knee and beg Kojima to stay.

[chopemon]

Another True Believer.

[Golgo]

Hehe! Love the shift to a more economical way of delivering the plot. If Phantom Pain sustains this approach and quality it's going to be immense.

[Brad]

I must be remembering MGS4 with rote tinted specs because I remember it being utterly brilliant in every way.

[Dogg Thang]

Even that one bit that was a following mission that was a whole chapter and yet would be one tiny part of one mission of hundreds in a GTA game?

[wakka]

I did love MGS4 but for me it's probably tied with PW as weakest MGS game. I like long cutscenes...but those cutscenes were LONG. I thought it felt a little disjointed compared to 1 - 3 too.

I love 2 though, which most people feel is the poorest one.

[Dogg Thang]

I enjoyed 2 when I played it again recently. It has a lot to love and I find the gameplay works really well in that one. Hasn't yet lost the clarity of MGS. I just find the setting very dull - it all looks the same. And I think we were all disappointed that we weren't Snake back in the day.

[Golgo]

I enjoyed 2 too, except for a couple of awful boss battles (the mad fat bomber on roller-skates?!). Think I preferred it overall to 3, with the overly fussy eating, healing and camouflage systems they introduced there.