Can you suggest any PC games that play similarly to Phantom Pain? Open world optional.

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's not just the imposed linearity, it's just missing a certain charm too that's a little hard to place a finger on.

The minimap, the focus system, the inventory system, the checkpoint system, the cover system, the barely functional disguise system, the level design that encourages the use of all those modern and dumb mechanics often found in modern third person games, the scoring system, the inability to customize your loadout. The last thing coupled with level design and abysmal disguise system reveal that you only have an illusion of choice. Exploration and experimentation is definitely not encouraged in Absolution. AT ALL.

All of that is completely true, and much of it is what I meant by 'linearity', which is basically robbing the player of choice. You know... "Streamlining", because it sounds better phrased like that.

But, there's something about the overall tone of it, aesthetically and otherwise that is off too. Like they tried to gritty it up and left behind the colour and the dark humour elements that were so charming in Blood Money. If these things were intact I might have at least finished Absolution, despite not enjoying it nearly as much as it's predecessors. As it was it just felt like a cocktail of wrongness that was completely off-putting.

That's all still there (less humor though). You just don't get to really see it or appreciate it because the game won't let you.

 

[josemlopes]

Well then, you're "lucky", because the story sucks whether you're a longtime fan or not. This entire game hinges on the gameplay, and the story just makes an occasional appearance every couple of hours.

Let's put the salt aside. Whether it sucks or not, will I be able to understand the gist of it from playing MGS V alone? I'm not talking about the deepest parts of the lore meant for the die-hard enthusiasts, just the basic "what's going on and why should I care".

You can as its so shit and useless that it doesnt actually tie in with anything from the other games. All you need to know is watch the 2 cutscenes of Ground Zeroes and you are set, you dont even have to play Peace Walker or know all about the other important things of the series since the game never develops those aspects and in facts tries to stay the fuck away from it.

OT: Splinter Cell series, Hidden and Dangerous 2, Sniper Elite series, and I guess thats it, maybe the Far Cry series but its a long stretch.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

Well then, you're "lucky", because the story sucks whether you're a longtime fan or not. This entire game hinges on the gameplay, and the story just makes an occasional appearance every couple of hours.

Let's put the salt aside. Whether it sucks or not, will I be able to understand the gist of it from playing MGS V alone? I'm not talking about the deepest parts of the lore meant for the die-hard enthusiasts, just the basic "what's going on and why should I care".

You can as its so shit and useless that it doesnt actually tie in with anything from the other games. All you need to know is watch the 2 cutscenes of Ground Zeroes and you are set, you dont even have to play Peace Walker or know all about the other important things of the series since the game never develops those aspects and in facts tries to stay the fuck away from it.

This is wrong. Very, very wrong. The Phantom Pain is basically Peace Walker 2. Understanding Peace Walker is crucial to understanding the events of The Phantom Pain.

Think about it this way -

Spoiler

Venom Snake is a recreation of Snake created by replaying all of Naked Snake's missions and known experiences. This is literally what Strangelove tried to do with her Boss AI Project -- recreate The Boss using every scrap of information she could obtain. Venom Snake is basically an organic version of that concept. If you haven't played Peace Walker, you won't understand Paz. If you don't understand Paz, you won't understand why Medic cared so much about her and felt such guilt over failing to find the second bomb and why when her phantom shows him the path to peace, he finds a new way of understanding that allows him to put Huey on a life raft instead of killing him. The entire plotline of The Phantom Pain revolves around Peace Walker. And contrary to fanboi whining, The Phantom Pain is extremely plot rich. The game has plenty of cutscenes. It just doesn't have endless talking for the sake of talking the series before Peace Walker was known for.

 

[stroopwafel]

This is wrong. Very, very wrong. The Phantom Pain is basically Peace Walker 2. Understanding Peace Walker is crucial to understanding the events of The Phantom Pain.

I agree, to an extent. It's true that Phantom Pain(or espescially GZ before it) is a direct continuation of PW but the difference in style and tone is so different here that I was often scratching my head that we were talking about the same characters. Now it's not new that Kojima puts joke characters or support cast of previous games into roles of major antagonists(the codec cast of MGS3 is..what?) but it's espescially jarring in Phantom Pain.

Phantom Pain is one of the best games I've played and I really enjoyed it's story as well but just like the 'missing chapter' of the game it is distinctly lacking in coherence or closure. And not of the intended kind like in the previous games. When Phantom Pain was first revealed it was still unsure whose game this was and if this was a new IP, and while everyone expected this to be Metal Gear I wish Kojima went the opposite direction and just made it a new story without the Metal Gear IP dragging the entire thing down.

I almost feel that, Phantom Pain is better without prior knowledge of the previous games and just let your imagination fill in the blanks.

 

[sageoftruth]

I'm not sure it can live up to MGS5, but no one's mentioned Shadow of Morodor yet. If anything, it covers the parameters you set. Open world, stealth, a variety of offensive options, you can handle yourself if stealth fails. As long as you're not put off by the Arkham-style combat, it might be worth looking into.

 

[Strazdas]

my suggestions would be: Hitman games, Dishonored, Metro games, Deus Ex.

Well then, you're "lucky", because the story sucks whether you're a longtime fan or not. This entire game hinges on the gameplay, and the story just makes an occasional appearance every couple of hours.

Let's put the salt aside. Whether it sucks or not, will I be able to understand the gist of it from playing MGS V alone? I'm not talking about the deepest parts of the lore meant for the die-hard enthusiasts, just the basic "what's going on and why should I care".

From my experience - the answer is no whether you played one or all of the games. The answer almost seems "your not supposed to".