Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

OK, now that GTA4 is out, up next for the major release hype is MGS4. Is anyone excited about this besides me? I don't have a PS3 right now, but I am hoping to get my stimulus check from the IRS in time so that I can go out and buy a PS3 with MGS4 as soon as it comes out. I've been following the news and early reviews and I cannot wait for this release.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Morgan- If you buy the 80 gig bundle from Walmart next week, you may be able to get a $100 gift card with your purchase. This is the route I'm taking.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Really? That's probably the best news I've heard all day.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I will be very excited for MGS4 once I play MGS2 and MGS3. I'm a bit behind schedule.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I pre-ordered it after watching a video of Kojima doing an in-game demo. Looks good.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I'm in the exact same boat.....my copies of 2 and 3 are sitting around gathering dust. Not enough hours in the day to play games, watch movies and have a life.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

From what I've been reading, MGS4 will bring back a lot characters, events, and loose plotlines from 2 and 3 and wrap them up nicely. If you haven't played those two games, I've read that there's a gameplay feature where you can re-enact or view events from past games to refresh your memory as the story proceeds, so it might not be too big of a deal if you didn't play previous games.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Yeah, I played through MGS2 when I first bought my PS2, and then I tried 3 and got stuck. I ended up hauling it out again this past weekend to see if I could get any farther, and to get in the mood, as I intend to pick up the new one on release day.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Picked up my collectors edition at lunch today, and have been listening to the soundtrack CD. In less than one full listen I am ready to call this one of the top five game soundtracks ever created. Of course I've loved Ennio Morricone's stuff since 'The Thing'
Ennio Morricone

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Uhh...didn't Harry Gregson Williams do the music for this? Just like MGS 2 and 3?

Also, due to a lack of funds, I will not be getting MGS4 today. However, I'm going away from saturday to friday, so it's not like I'd get to play it much anyway.

Who got the game and what do you think?

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

HGW did much of the music I'm told, but Ennio and another artist are also listed on it.

For those, like me, who are shaky on Metal Gear History:
What you need to know before playing Metal Gear Solid 4 - Joystiq

You have rookie eyes: a first-timer's MGS4 experience - Joystiq

Metal Gear Retrospective: Part Six tries to explain it all - Joystiq

War has changed: a veteran's MGS4 experience - Joystiq

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I got the game along with the 80 gig bundle (and the $100 gift card ) but due to other commitments, I have only been able to play for about 15 minutes (just to the first save point.) What little I've seen though, is astonishingly good looking and sounding! The whole PS3 thing is new to me, but in terms of audio and video, the MGS4 presentation is a notch above GTAIV (the only other game I have for comparison.) This is an early knee-jerk reaction, so I may change my mind once I get into both games, but for now, I have to give the nod to MGS4 for sight and sound.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I've played a bit of it. If you don't like cut scenes interrupting your game play then you might dislike the title. I played for about an hour or two and there were quite a few cut scenes during that time. This game looks more story driven than your average video game, so they have quite a few cinematics going.

The opening sequence of the game is quite long before you actually get to play. Graphics, sound effects, and the soundtrack are right up there. It sounds and looks good. I don't mind it so far, but I like games that are more story based so large amounts of cinematics don't bother me. Other people may disagree though.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Long and frequent cutscenes and Codec conversations have pretty much been standard since Sons of Liberty, so I'm expecting a lot of story here as well. Anyway, this game, so far from what I have seen, assumes very much you are familiar with the story of the other games (I've played them all, and I am still trying to recall a lot of things).

BTW, Circuit City is giving away the official stategy book free with purchase. The sales guy there when I bought this said I would get a free strategy guide. I assumed it was going to be some rinky dink, 5 page, first level kind of thing, but it turned out to be the official book. I was annoyed when I first went to Gamestop and they didn't have any left on hand. But it worked out for the best in this case.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Metal Gear Solid Tactics for noobs - Quarter To Three Forums

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I finished it last night. I consider it to be the best game ever (sorry Final Fantasy VII) . It even made me cry a few times and I'm not one who cries often. Make sure you play and remember the other MGS games before you start this one though. Everything that happened in them is important in MGS4.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Finished it last night as well. I agree that it is outstanding, however, I wouldn't say it is a game. I couldn't help but feel about 3/4's of the way through that I was part of a huge event. Not a game.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

O.K. I've owned a PS3 from DAY ONE when it was released (the original 60 Gig version so I have the HW PS2 compatability). I purchased my PS3 as a Blu-ray player and it still is, in my opinion, the best Blu-ray player out there in terms of still being current after all this time (I own 3 BR players so I'm talking from experience.)

While I have a couple of PS3 games (some forced on me with my "bundle"), no games actually excited me after some initial playing and most remain dormant. In fact, the only extended gaming"that I have done on my PS3 are some of the classic PS2 titles (e.g. the 2 God of Wars, Shadow of the Colossus) and these titles actually look and sound great with the upscaling, etc. on the PS3. In other words, I consider my PS3 primarily as a Blu-ray player with gaming being secondary (especially since I own all three of the latest consoles - including XBox360 and Wii). And for those titles that are multi-platform the fact that achievement points come with the 360 version always sways me in that direction. The PS3 comes in 3rd as a gaming device in my HT.

Until now.

I never was into the Metal Gear franchise (not a knock, just the fact that there are just 24 hours in a day and I have other interests and never owned a PS2) so I don't have a lot of history with the series. But after seeing the final build of MGS4 I'm totally amazed at how good this title looks and sounds. GTA4 no longer has "Game of the Year" locked up - and that's saying a lot.

Obviously, I've purchased MSG4 and look forward to finally some serious gaming on my PS3. But I have some questions and I'm hoping that those of you with long time experience with the franchise can help me out a bit before I dive in to this game/movie/universe/whatever. Let me be more specific.

• I'm hearing conflicting opinions regarding the need to play through the earlier MG titles (especially the PS2 ones) in order to fully grasp what's going on. Yes, I understand that without a previous knowledge of some of the back story I might miss some of the finer points and subtle (or not so subtle) references that require such history. However, I'm also hearing that the way that MSG4 presents the content there is enough there to bring newbies up to speed on what happened before. What are you opinions on this? I'm hoping to be able to jump right in with MSG4 without a lot of frustration - especially since I have limited time and having to wade through parts 2 and 3 before tackling 4 doesn't really appeal to me if not necessary at this point. What say you?

• If I find myself really drawn into the MGS story I could see myself going back at a later date and playing through the PS2 MG2 and MG3 titles using my PS3 (original) HW. Have any of you used the original PS3 to play through the PS2 MG titles? How do they look? In other words, I'm assuming that MG2/3 works fine on the original PS3 - i.e. there are no problems with compatability as there are with a couple of PS2 titles. What have been your experiences?

I would really appreciate some opinions on the questions I've raised here. MGS4 looks like an awesome title and in my opinion finally gets the PS3 the "killer app" that it sorely needed. Most of the other stuff either wasn't that impressive to me or was cross platform which wouldn't cause a lot of gamers to sit up and notice.

MGS4 certainly does that.



Thanks in advance.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I know I've heard about stuff online (and possibly included with the game, but that might just be the expensive "Collector's Edition") that brings the story up to speed for people who didn't play the earlier games. Try Google.

I bought the PC edition of MGS2, so I can't comment on its performance on the 60GB PS3. If I get around to finishing it I'll pick up MGS3 for the PS2 though.

In the "Good and Bad" section of GameSpot's review, under "The Bad" they put:

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I have not played though a lot of the game yet, but I do think it would be useful to have some knowledge of the previous games. For example, in the first few minutes of the game there is a reference to "FOXDIE" which was a major plot point of the first MGS on PS1. Supposedly, this is the last MGS chapter and that this one is supposed to tie up the loose threads from the previous games. I'm sure the games is probably structured in such a way where it's not required that you had played the previous games, but I'm sure the experience will be a lot more rewarding if you have.

If you go on Wikipedia, you can get plot summaries of the previous games to give you a better knowledge of the story so far. I believe that gamefaqs.com may have some very detailed story writeups as well. The official guidebook also has sidebars that mention important items from the previous games.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I've only played Metal Gear 2 on PS2 a few years ago, and I can't tell you anything about that story that I remember. Some of it was just convoluted. If I ever get this new game, I think I would just read about the previous stories from a website.

~T

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Thanks. Wikipedia does seem to have a pretty good "back story" summary so I can readily bring myself up to speed regarding the prior episodes. Thanks for that.

While I fully understand that playing the earlier games will result in a richer gaming experience because all the references fall into place I'm not so sure that I would characterize it as being more "satisfying" (although I do see and appreciate that point.) I've played lots of games where there has been a type of flow from one numbered version to the next and while I can see the linkage I also feel that it's not critical to the story line. The excellent (but now dated) Half-life series immediately comes to mind. References to "Black Mesa" in HL2 elicit knowing glances but don't make it impossible to get the current story. Game developers would be doing their products a disservice if they made you play through the earlier efforts for a number of reasons. For one thing some of these franchises have been around so long that many of the earlier systems are now either unavailable or in our closets. For another, the tremendous leap in game technology makes the earlier efforts (aside from their back story aspects) rather quaint looking because the newer editions look, sound and play so much better. True, it is my understanding that some of the early edition MGS boss battles rank with the best of all time in terms of story, etc. and it's things like that which make them possibly appeal to me after I finish MGS4 when I get the time.

Once again, thanks for the feedback. It's appreciated. I particularly like the comment about MGS4 being an "event" rather than a game. To me, that's the type of experience that I look for in a game that I'm going to devote my time to. Clearly, those of you who have followed the MGS series from its inception (or at least since it came to the PS2) are having a great time as the story reaches a final conclusion. As a final observation, I see where most sites have been very cautious to not talk about specifics so as not to spoil the ending. But I also have a pretty good idea, as an outsider to the series, where it's headed based on the tone of the vague comments. That doesn't bother me at all because to me it's all about the world that a game creates and apparently the MGS franchise has created a magnificent one on just about every level.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Think of MGS4 as Return of the King. That movie didn't really explain what had happened in the two previous movies and MGS4 doesn't really explain what happened in the previous games. If something like Foxdie is mentioned Snake may say something like "FoxDie. You mean the..." followed by a short explanation but that serves more as a refresher to people who have played the rest of the series. You also get brief flashes back to event in the other games but if you hadn't played them you wouldn't know what was going on. If the story is something that interests then I suggest going out and picking up the Metal Gear Solid Essential Collection which has the first 3 MGS games (remember that MGS1 was a PS1 game) and play them first. They're great games and well worth playing and will enhance your MGS4 experience greatly.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Also, just posted over on PSN is a, free for download, interactive Metal Gear database that covers ALL of the games in the series.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I was wondering what that was. Cool.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Yes, the MGS Database that's available as a free download on the Playstation Network is just what the doctor ordered - literally. It gives you an encyclopedia, a timeline and a relationship chart that covers the entire series. Another nice thing for us newbies just getting into MGS with MGS4 is how it protects spoilers for MGS4. After you install the MGS Database onto your PS3 it checks for an MGS4 save file on your PS3 HDD and adjusts spoilers accordingly in the database. Therefore, if you haven't reached a certain point in the MGS4 story line any pertinent info that wasn't known before that point is locked out of any database "reveals." I already noticed this with some of the timeline entries and I'm sure it extends to all areas of this convenient database.

Very cool (and helpful!)

Speaking of which - J&R had the MGS PS/PS2 essential collection on sale so I bought it. The first title is for the PS1, not the PS2 (even though the combo case says "PS2"). I've successfully played PS2 games on my original (60G HD) PS3 but I've never tried a PS1 game on the PS3. Any old time PS players - can you tell me if I can expect MGS1 for the PS to work on my PS2 capable PS3? Otherwise I'll be limited to MGS2 and MGS3 in this collection (and yes, I realize that chronologically MGS3 comes first).

Thanks for the continuing help. I can see why so many people get involved with the MGS franchise. It does give one some very interesting play aspects and, of course, the graphics and sound on MGS4 are absolutely state of the art.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

According to Sony's site: PlayStation.com

Metal Gear Solid plays fine on your 60gig. Have fun RAF. You've just taken your first step into a larger world.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Robert, I have the same tri-pak and the PS1 game plays perfectly fine on my new 80gig PS3-MGS4 bundled machine. It should be no problem at all on yours, since with your 60gig machine, BC is done in hardware. I have to admit that I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of backwards compatibility Sony has been able to wrangle out of their software emulation. I have some fairly old (and rare) PS1 games like Klonoa and Castlevania, and so far, they all appear to play without a hitch on my PS3. Overall, I am impressed by this hardware. I think as more folks get hands-on time with the PS3, Sony's market share will change... for the better. It's a pretty elegant box IMO.

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

Chad and Gary,

Thanks for the comeback on PS1 playability on the PS3. I always like to hear from folks who actually use this stuff rather than just having read about it. Looks like all is fine.

A couple of personal comments on this whole situation:

• You mentioned MGS "opening a whole new world" and I have absolutely no doubt that you are correct. My biggest problem is one of time (and I've been retired for nine years!!) since I have so many titles in the queue for my 360, my Wii, my DS and even my PSP and now my PS3 that it could literally take me the rest of my life to wade through all of it. Gaming becomes more and more amazing at every turn in the road and with GTA4 and now MGS4 the bar has been set higher than ever. I can't wait to see what comes next.

• In a related issue, what's the deal with the number "4" in game franchise cycles? It appears to be a VERY lucky number. Consider the following: Oblivion (Elder Scrolls 4), GTA4, MGS4, Call to Duty 4, Devil May Cry 4, etc. etc. etc... I'm sure I'm missing some other great ones but you get the point. I can't wait until Bioshock 4 and Fable 4.

• The world introduced in GTA4 is amazing (as are the graphics in MGS4) and I really hope that soon some of this technology is applied to titles that I can share with my grandkids (who now range in age fro 6 to 11). I can't even let them in the same room with me for GTA4 and the environment (if not the language) is absolutely amazing. I've heard that Fable 2 is going to incorporate a GPS mapping system similar to GTA4 and I'm hoping that at least the language will not make my kids too mad at "cool grandpa" for showing the grandkids such things. It will be amazing (at least for the pre-teeners) for today's gaming capabilities to filter down into the world of "E" or "E10+" rated titles.

• Finally a note about the PS3. I've been a big fan of the PS3 as a kick-A$$ Blu-ray player and applaud Sony for making good on their promise to level up the performance from version 1.0 through 1.1 and now 2.0 via firmware. I have absolutely no misgivings about having purchased a PS3 on Day One. Props to Sony. I was far less enthusiastic with the performance of the PS3 as a gaming device. True, it was my first source of 7.0 sound (that intro music and a lot of the downloadable titles) but, quite frankly, the interesting games were not there. I'm serious when I say that the best gaming experience for me on the PS3 was from PS2 classics like God of War, etc. (I never got into the PS2 since I was an Xbox and PC gamer - with Nintendo as a guilty pleasure). The XBox 360 was clearly the gaming choice for me. The graphics were on a par with the PS3 and the games were much more intriguing - not to mention the online experience and the one thing that still hasn't come to the PS3 world - Achievement Points! That still tilts the scales for me in the direction of the 360 when dual platform titles (like GTA4) come out. However - after downloading the MGS Database from the Playstation Network I was pleasantly surprised how much better the Playstation store has become. I was also pleased to see that the download speeds seem to have gotten better as well. As a user of all the consoles I now feel better that Sony is finally getting their PS3 gaming act together and that Microsoft will have to respond to up the ante. That's a win-win situation for gamers because competition is a good thing. More props to Sony for future proofing their HW (at least with the PS3) and allowing a comfortable level of backward compatibility with earlier consoles. They definitely have a leg up on MS in these areas. But this isn't really meant as a PS3 vs. 360 discussion. It should be clear by now that both now-gen systems merit consideration in one's gaming arsenal. And let's not forget the last-gen (graphically) Wii which is laughing at both of them all the way to the bank. This is truly the golden age of gaming (and I've been there since before a lot of members here were born so I know what I'm talking about.)

Game on! (A phrase with multiple meanings).

Re: Metal Gear Solid 4 - Anyone else excited?

I still have a working ColecoVision with over 100 CV games, plus the driving module, Atari 2600 module, a Roller Controller and a pair of Super Action Controllers. So, I've been at it a while, too!

I agree. It's a great time to be a gamer! I don't see me getting a 360 any time soon (although up until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't see me getting a PS3, either... ) Even though they deliver very different gaming experiences, I find much to like about both my PS3 and my Wii. I just wish Nintendo would release more Virtual Console titles. I wonder if we'll get to see some C=64 games over here like Nintendo has released on the VC in Europe.

Getting back to MGS4... One thing puzzles me. Am I doing something wrong, or is it not very clear when you have reached a good save point for stopping in this game. Twice now, I thought I successfully completed a stage, and after saving, exited out of the game. The next time I went to play, I was kicked back to the beginning of the level I thought I had completed. Is this normal?