[Gaming Chat]

[Vic Boss 612]

I'm watching walkthroughs of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, it's super interesting how so many boss battles, set-pieces and plot twists ended up being re-used in later games just because the games weren't well known until Solid.

 

[Vic Boss 612]

>Starting MGS4

>"Awriiiight"

>5-10 minute cutscenes after every 2 minutes of gameplay

>10 minute mission briefing

>"To get the first few emblems, stand in the same place for like 5 hours."

 

Well, okay then

 

[MT 917]

The FF7 remake demo is up on PSN as of this morning.

[Mera'din 307]

Played through it a couple times now. Only real complaint is I'm not a huge fan of what they did with some of the music. It's almost over orchestrated at times and it loses some of it's impact (mostly the boss music and Shinra music). Hopefully not all of it is that severe. Really liked the combat and the "classic" mode was decent to though not exactly what I was expecting. Looking forward to it even more.

[Vic Boss 612]

I've very rarely liked video game music that's re-done with an orchestra. It feels too high-brow and it tends to lose the "punch" of older video game themes especially.

 

I've completed playthrough 1 of 8 of MGS4, popped the first 20 someodd Emblems. Doing the Big Boss/hardest Emblem next. Play on Boss Extreme difficulty, 0 Alerts, 0 Kills, 0 Deaths, beat in under 5 hours, use 0 healing items, don't use the special items (Bandana/Stealth Camo).

 

This is some form of Hell, but it doesn't yet feel like the the worst of MGS2's Platinum.

[Vic Boss 612]

>Standing behind two guards

>Aim for headshots with tranq darts

>Shoot

>Miss

>Shoot five more times

>Miss all five

 

[Mera'din 307]

2 hours ago, Death Rider Mox said:

I've very rarely liked video game music that's re-done with an orchestra. It feels too high-brow and it tends to lose the "punch" of older video game themes especially.

 

Yeah, 75% of the time, best case scenario is it becomes so weirdly unobtrusive that it's almost not there and you miss the feel of the original. Worst case it becomes a legitimate distraction (looking at you FFX). I legitimately bought the PS4 version of the FFX/X-2 collection after already having it on PS3 because it had the added feature of being able to switch back to the original music.  

Some have been good, and not everything I heard in the demo was like that (the opening music was great and the initial battle music was solid) but I think it's going to be a mixed bag. It bothers me most because they've already DONE orchestral releases of the music from the game before that sounded great. Why not use those? Why go overboard and do a NEW orchestral arrangement that ends up being less good? Seems like a waste of time, money and effort.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

I dig orchestral versions out of the context of the game.  Like seeing an orchestra perform it live or just hearing different interpretations.  But I'm rarely into the idea of doing that for the actual game.  That said, I've heard the sentiment that Mera'din said, so I'm sure I'll be mostly into it come time for me to play the FFVII Remake.

[MT 917]

Watching a live orchestra play game music the two times I've been fortunate to see were both amazing. One was Zelda, the other Metal Gear Solid.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

Yeah, I went to see Distant Worlds(the Final Fantasy orchestra) and it was breathtaking.  They're actually coming back to Chicago in October for a FFVII exclusive performance as more hype for the remake.

[MT 917]

The Zelda concert in particular was something special to see. The Zelda series means a lot to me, and there were times when I got really emotional hearing songs. MGS was neat, but a lot more of their songs aren't nearly as iconic.  I did get to see the woman who originally sang the theme to MGS3 (Snake Eater) do it live, which was fucking amazing.

[Vic Boss 612]

I'm at the Act 3 Bike Chase. Apparently the hardest part of the Boss Extreme Run. FML

 

Eyyyyy, made it through the first two parts after a few hours

[Vic Boss 612]

Also I just realized right this exact moment

 

Liquid Snake/Ocelot uses Metal Gear Ray, an amphibious Metal Gear... because he's Liquid so ofc he rides something that can go in the water

[Vic Boss 612]

BTW, does anyone want me to link-dump all the resources I've been using to try to get through this, I'm gonna delete all those bookmarks once I'm finished

[Vic Boss 612]

 

>tfw got the Big Boss Emblem

 

Only like 6 or 7 more playthroughs to go, but they can all be done on Liquid Easy, with special items, and healing, and leeway on fucking everything

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

4 hours ago, Death Rider Mox said:

BTW, does anyone want me to link-dump all the resources I've been using to try to get through this, I'm gonna delete all those bookmarks once I'm finished

I don't know if I'll ever get around to this venture soon, but I wouldn't mind a resource to come back to when I do.

[Vic Boss 612]

General Things To Know:

 

 

 

- Make sure you've killed all the bosses non-lethally and collected their Statues in your first non-Big Boss Emblem playthrough for the Solar Gun.

- Also on your first non-Big Boss Emblem playthrough, stock up on Chaff Grenades and don't use them, and stock up on full ammo for Smoke and Stun Grenades, non-lethal shotgun ammo and your tranq guns. You can't buy non-lethal ammo or equipment in Boss Extreme, you can only find it.

- Your stats are in the Mission Briefings starting with Mission Briefing 2, which is available from the start if you loaded New Game + correctly. Check your stats regularly, I did it after almost every area because I had to re-do Act 1 for killing an enemy and not realizing it within the first two areas. Also some Emblems don't have running tallies on the Mission Briefing so you have to keep track of those yourself

- Load your completed game save to start a New Game +, otherwise if you start a new game, it won't accumulate whatever you earned in the previous save.

 

- Use multiple saves just in case you fuck up and don't realize it O_O

- Cut-scenes, codec conversations, the pause menu, even pressing the PS button to go onto the XMB will eat time. Save and exit after a checkpoint if you want to look anything up.

- Checkpoint system in the game = when it says "checkpoint" (usually after you've entered and exited an area), any save you make will save whatever happened before you hit that checkpoint, nothing after.

- On Boss Extreme, you can't die, can't kill anyone, can't be seen, can't use a healing item. If you are or do, you have to exit to the main menu and load your save from there, you can't continue or it will count as a death. You can't use the Bandanna or Stealth Camo for this, but you can use it for every other run

 

- Unequip rations totally, they may automatically get used and that'll fuck you over in Boss Extreme

- An Alert is only when you see the word "Alert" and the countdown. Cautions don't count.

- The prologue with the Gekkos, the Frog Battle in the Advent Palace, the other flying enemies during Raging Raven, the Frog Battle before Screaming Mantis, and the Dwarf Gekkos when you're running to GW's Server Room will make Alert noises but won't count as Alerts. The Frog Battle before Laughing Octopus and the Frogs during Crying Wolf will count as Alerts.

- Things You Can Kill: Gekkos, Dwarf Gekkos, Raging Raven's flying things, the Beast Forms of the B&B Corps, Vamp. Shooting explosive barrels doesn't count as killing enemies (the explosion kills them, not you). Tranqing enemies and them falling from a height may or may not kill them, I never really risked it, though they don't count as kills in the Act 3 Bike Chase. Killing the MGS or the Robot Suits in the Act 2 Chase will count as kills because humans are piloting them.

- In the Act 3 tailing mission, you can wear Laughing Beauty's face camo (or any Beauty's face camo) and the guards will completely ignore you. Use that to get behind them and tranq them easily, though still keep your distance from the Resistance Member as he'll hit on you or sometimes even start shooting at you

- Also in the Act 3 tailing mission, there's an exploit that can shave time off of your run. When the Resistance Member crosses into the next area, stay in the previous area, save, reload. It will count the checkpoint for him so he'll be stationed in the next area of the tailing mission, but the checkpoint won't count for you, so all the time, bullets and alerts you used up will be wiped out, so you can just easily run to the next area. I probably shaved 15-20 minutes off my time with this because god damn that first area sucks.

- In the Act 3 Bike Chase, save the Solar Gun for the third part. I was an idiot and following the Naked Run tactics and that shit's hard as fuck, but with the Twin Barrel with non-lethal ammo and the Solar Gun, I completed it first try (just because I knew the area well enough by then). You also get a health refill at the beginning of the third part, so you just have to get there, you don't have to be super concerned about saving your health in the first two parts.

- In the second part of the Act 3 bike chase, those fucking youtubers do fancy-ass trick shots with Stun or Smoke Grenades but sometimes you can just press Triangle and hide behind Big Mama and get through just fine.

- Raging Raven will die from two fully charged shots from the Railgun, so your health after the third area of the bike chase is no biggie, I had a sliver left when I did it.

- The extra chaff grenades and saved time from the previous acts will give you more latitude to slow down and kill Gekkos in Act 4

- You can kill Crying Wolf with Smoke and Stun Grenades, fight's shockingly easy

- You can wipe out Vamp with one fully charged blast from the Solar Gun and then syringe him for an easy win.

- They give you the Rail Gun late in the game to kill Gekkos with, but I find the M82A2 worked better because you can shoot it faster, I think one of the youtubers uses that

- Generally all of these youtubers/speedrunners are like frame-perfect, so they'll be like "Just do this and run here and LOL NO ONE WILL SEE YOU XD" and then you'll do it and literally everyone on the map will see you and even your next-door neighbours will look in your window IRL and raise the alarm. That and they cheese Metal Gear Ray and I have no idea how they do it, I 100%ed lucked out and managed to beat Ray without ever getting hit, so that can be a bit frustrating

- There's a trick with the Frogs before Screaming Mantis. Tranq all of them except one, then throw a Smoke Grenade at the last one, hit them in the body with a tranq, then when the smoke is near settling, throw another one, and then after it settles, another one just in case. For some reason it triggers the early end of the battle.

- I don't know if the youtubers did it, but during Screaming Mantis, switch to non-lethal Saiga12 ammo, that way you can accidentally shoot Meryl and it's fine. Shoot the Mantis Doll out, collect it, then use the Mantis Doll on Screaming Mantis for the easy win,.
 

 

 

PSN Profiles Trophy Guide

Playstation Trophies Collectibles Guide (including Flashbacks, one thing they don't mention, in Act 4 you can only collect one of Old LA 2040 or Policenauts End Title iPod tunes per playthrough, you have to get the other in another playthrough)

Playstation Trophies Emblem Guide (useful for grinding out Emblems on your Chicken Run especially)

Boss Extreme Non-Lethal Ammo Locations

Vash12349's Naked Run on Boss Extreme with Commentary (sorta Speedrunny, really useful commentary)

Jaguar King's Naked Speedrun on Boss Extreme with no saves

A New Game+ Run on Boss Extreme (This is useful for slow-and-steady tactics, easier ways to take down bosses with New Game + equipment, and for when you find you just can't do frame-perfect speedrun bullshit)

 

I didn't find this nearly as frustrating as MGS2's. The bosses that fucked me up mostly did so because I hadn't learned the patterns yet or I had made it through a previous encounter with shit damage, whereas some of MGS2's had One Hit Kills and you had to survive for 10ish minutes against them, really only the third part of the Bike Chase is that hard and that's only if you try to do it Naked. Every area felt like if I just figured out the trick, I'd eventually make it through and the checkpoints are generally forgiving (there's a few in Act 2 that are the worst, and one of the tailing areas). You do have to beat the game 8 times to get the Platinum (I'm on #3 right now), but after the Chicken Run and Boss Extreme run, it mostly just takes between two and three hours to beat

[MT 917]

 

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

I can get behind that.

[webhead 519]

Huh...that''ll be...interesting.

[Galeigh 308]

Provided they listen to him that is. 

[MT 917]

E3 may end up being cancelled this year

[MT 917]

E3 cancelled, Ubisoft and Microsoft considering digital events

[Nick 38]

God damn. It's REALLY weird to know there won't be an E3 this year.

[Vic Boss 612]

Arguably one of the most important for the next few years too, Xbox Series X was probably gonna do the full reveal there and then Sony was probably going to adjust their pricing and strategy depending on what they did.

 

I assume we'll just be getting a lot of DIrects instead... and that would probably better <_<

[webhead 519]

Directs are better.  I just wish they'd do them together like E3.  A day of watching directs is the same as watching E3 presentations.  And no fake "please clap" either.

[Galeigh 308]

Yeah I would love a collaborated "Direct Announcement" Day. 

[Vic Boss 612]

>Only 18 of 160 mission left to S-Rank in Peace Walker

>9 are vehicle battles

FUCK

>8 are Monster Hunter battles

Somewhat FUCK but already S-Ranked them with a bro online so I thiiiiink I only have to beat them now

>Date with Kaz

Saving that one for last ??

[Vic Boss 612]

Aight, just popped in Ground Zeroes, here we go

 

I have one major desire for MGSV

 

At the end, Snake meets a white haired kid nicknamed Jack The Ripper and you find out you've been playing as Solidus pretending to be Big Boss the whole time, all based on that one sentence from MGS2 "It was the '80s..."

[Vic Boss 612]

Day 1 Me Going Through All The Five Stages of Metal Grief Solid

 

 

 

- "Where's David Hayter, this isn't Snake"

- "This is more of a Far Cry game than an MGS game"

- "Wtf this isn't my Paz, Kaz or Chico either"

- "Wtf Kaz wasn't this big of a dick in Peace Walker"

- "Cecille and Strangelove gone, Paz and Chico presumed dead, fuck all of this"
 

(Acks that cutscene at Mother Base was pretty cool)

 

Day 2 Me

 

 

 

"Welp, starting to get a feel for it, I'll hit up a walkthrough to test if I can S-Rank the main GZ mission"

>Hit up a walkthrough for the main Ground Zeroes mission

>Start a test-run

>Fuck up multiple times

>Use checkpoints 6 times

>One of the checkpoints fucks up the parking of the truck, no getaway vehicle

>Sprint away from an APC and a bunch of dudes on foot

>Extract Paz

>"Aight, that went okay, I think with a bit more practice I can get it next time"

>S-Rank pops off of that run

>Beat the main mission on Hard Mode too
 

 

 

Looks like I'll be attempting to 100% GZ at least ;_;

[MT 917]

 

 

[Vic Boss 612]

I can't really tell if it's a good idea to release pandemic-based video games right now or not. It seems in poor taste in some ways and in others it's pretty much our lives so why wouldn't it be front and center in entertainment.

[dr. b 492]

Must be worried about their sales numbers if they proceed with the planned release date

[Vic Boss 612]

 

I fucking lol'ed x)

[Vic Boss 612]

The MGSV Platinum is within reach, then I'll have a full mainline set (I'm not gonna bother with MG Survive, and I will play Revengeance but I consider that a different style of game so I won't worry about the Platinum because I'm not as good at those kinds of games). I've got one easily completable Side-Op left that I'm leaving for last, two hard-mode missions that I shoooould be able to do, one Subsistence Mission that does worry me, and a bunch of mission tasks in regular missions that I ignored originally that should be a lot more doable with better equipment and buddies.

[Galeigh 308]

Jason Schreier has quit Kotaku. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/04/16/jason-schreier-is-leaving-kotaku-citing-go-media-reason/?outputType=amp

[Mera'din 307]

Whelp. There goes basically the last person that kept Kotaku relevant.

[webhead 519]

I stopped reading them a long time ago.  He'll go somewhere better.

[Mera'din 307]

I think most people did, other than his stuff. Everything else I've stumbled across from there is usually vapid pointless shit like "Lol I gave all the random NPCs backstories in FF7 Remake" (this is not a joke). His articles were always really good though. Looking forward to seeing where he is going.

[Galeigh 308]

Kotaku is gonna nose dive into obscurity so fast now. Jason was their last good writer. 

[webhead 519]

@Mera'din @Galeigh

 

 

[MT 917]

GeForce Now losing even more games

[webhead 519]

This whole thing fucking disgusts me.  The fucking rent seeking these companies think they're entitled to is sickening to me personally.  Could you imagine if they tried to pull this shit with in home streaming?

[Mera'din 307]

Yeah, the GeForce now thing makes no sense to me. How is this in any way affecting the publishers when you have to already own the fucking game? This has to be a pretty fucking gray area in general for copyright stuff I would imagine since you're effectively just playing games you already bought and Nvidia is probably just trying to play nice but it's getting downright idiotic at this point with how the game publishers are acting about it.

[webhead 519]

I think Nvidia is tip-toeing around the publishers being greedy cunts because they don't want to piss them off, not because they could get sued but who knows.  It probably is gray somehow because copyright law is fucking ridiculous.

[Vic Boss 612]

Everyone's gonna launch their own streaming services, probs just used GeForce as a testbed to see how possible it was

[MT 917]

 

[MT 917]

Marty Stratton of id gives his side of the story involving Mick Gordon's work on Doom Eternal

 

For those that don't know what happened, the basic gist of it is that Mick's full soundtrack for Doom Eternal was not put on the official OST that came with the collectors edition, and people were upset. It sounds like Mick had some sort of issue with it, as he didn't sound happy about the final result.

[MT 917]

Ubisoft was planning on a reboot of the Prince of Persia series back in 2012 that never saw the light of day. However, this footage got online back then, and somehow no one noticed it until recently.

 

 

Feels very Uncharted meets God of War.

[Psycho666Soldier 283]

I know this is shallow and dumb, but I don't dig that character design.  The buzzcut and beefy frame doesn't quite jive with the Prince of Persia vibe.

 

Gameplays looks pretty good for the time, though.