Hideo Kojima Defends Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Length

[AzrealMaximillion]

I haven't seen this much hate for the price of a game that people probably were never going to buy in a while. I've seen 30 for a 2 hour story=/= a 2 hour game. Metal Gear has always had massive amounts of unlocks and replay challenges.

Once again the majority of complaints come from people unfamiliar with the series and need something to cry abour. I think someone told them that their tear ducts go out of whack if they don't use them every day....

Except in this case GZ will serve as a teaser trailer for PP so don't expect that many unlocks, bonus modes and VR missions. Remember that MGS2 demo they included in Z.o.E? This will be most likely the same thing sold separately.

Gran Turismo 5's teaser title had the same pricing model with GT 5 Prologue. GT 5 Prologue also had a fair bit of replayability and unlockables. So think comparing GZ to the MGS2 demo is a janky comparison. GT 5 was too much game to be called a demo but not enough to be a full game and as such wasn't priced as such. GZ is the same kind of deal.

 

[Scrythe]

To be fair, there was far less of a hubbub over Metal Gear Solid 4, which also had roughly 2-3 of actual gameplay.

And that game was sixty fucking dollars.

I'd say that game has around 8-12 hours of actual gameplay, the chunks where you get to play are pretty damn substantial, not exactly comparable. Though we don't really know because we only have Game Informers word for it, the game could be longer or shorter than 2 hours for all we know).

I've timed myself through half a dozen runs (skipping every cutscene the game allows), and on a casual not-really-at-all-trying-to-speedrun-this level, I clocked an average of two hours and thirty minutes on Hard difficulty. Apparently, I'm not the only one [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/926596-metal-gear-solid-4-guns-of-the-patriots/43762543] who's come to this conclusion [http://www.gamelengths.com/games/playtimes/Metal+Gear+Solid+4/].

I'm not saying MGS4 was terrible, I just think that it's weird that I payed $60 for a movie that had a few interactive scenes in it. I think I pushed more buttons on God of War 3, and that game was one long, arduous quick-time-event.

 

[MrBaskerville]

To be fair, there was far less of a hubbub over Metal Gear Solid 4, which also had roughly 2-3 of actual gameplay.

And that game was sixty fucking dollars.

I'd say that game has around 8-12 hours of actual gameplay, the chunks where you get to play are pretty damn substantial, not exactly comparable. Though we don't really know because we only have Game Informers word for it, the game could be longer or shorter than 2 hours for all we know).

I've timed myself through half a dozen runs (skipping every cutscene the game allows), and on a casual not-really-at-all-trying-to-speedrun-this level, I clocked an average of two hours and thirty minutes on Hard difficulty. Apparently, I'm not the only one [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/926596-metal-gear-solid-4-guns-of-the-patriots/43762543] who's come to this conclusion [http://www.gamelengths.com/games/playtimes/Metal+Gear+Solid+4/].

I'm not saying MGS4 was terrible, I just think that it's weird that I payed $60 for a movie that had a few interactive scenes in it. I think I pushed more buttons on God of War 3, and that game was one long, arduous quick-time-event.

It might be true, it just felt a whole lot longer to me. But then again, i'm always very surprised everytime Silent Hill 3 is finished, it takes around 4 hours, but it doesn't feel short at all.

But it takes me about 19 hours to complete MGS IV (everything included), i think i might be slow or something, i have hard time believing that there's a 80-20 ratio of story to gameplay. It felt more like a 50-50 deal.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

so the time has come fellow gamers,after a whole console generation where game demos were missing,companies now bring them back,but instead of handing them out for free,they charge us for them.
Good. Who would expect 10 years ago that game demos,who are marketing material would be sold instead of given for free ?

 

[SadakoMoose]

Here's what I would do if I was Konami:
Contact everyone that pre-ordered Ground Zeroes over the Playstation Network and offer them a noticeable discount on Phantom Pain. Next, offer a lesser discount on Phantom Pain to people who buy after the release. Similarly, give a sharp discount on Ground Zeroes to people who pre-order the Phantom Pain when it comes out.
People that are already planning on buying Ground Zeroes are the same people who are planning on buying Phantom Pain (MGS fans).
People that are planning on buying Phantom Pain could be convinced to pick up Ground Zeroes to tie them over as they wait, and might be more likely to do so if it's a smaller investment.
People that are just starting on MSG now have more incentives to invest in the next upcoming title.

 

[Frankster]

I'm assuming the "can be finished in 2 hours" line means that players can theoretically blitz through the game if they know exactly what they are doing and skip all the cutscenes.

So in other words this won't be massively different from metal gear solid on ps1 where I remember there being some apprehension in interviews (if need source this was uk official playstation magazine, whichever issue had a kojima interview before MGS release when hype was building, same interview where he mentions how much work it took to get the smoke effect on cigarettes right) prior to games release where Hideo said he could finish the game in 6 hours to a games journalist before another dev butted in and added "that doesn't included cutscenes, most players will find the game's length to be satisfactory".

At least I'm assuming this is what they mean, a 2 hour long metal gear game with cutscenes included is a worrying prospect.

 

[otakon17]

I'm assuming the "can be finished in 2 hours" line means that players can theoretically blitz through the game if they know exactly what they are doing and skip all the cutscenes.

So in other words this won't be massively different from metal gear solid on ps1 where I remember there being some apprehension in interviews (if need source this was uk official playstation magazine, whichever issue had a kojima interview before MGS release when hype was building, same interview where he mentions how much work it took to get the smoke effect on cigarettes right) prior to games release where Hideo said he could finish the game in 6 hours to a games journalist before another dev butted in and added "that doesn't included cutscenes, most players will find the game's length to be satisfactory".

At least I'm assuming this is what they mean, a 2 hour long metal gear game with cutscenes included is a worrying prospect.

From what I've read, it can be completed in 5 minutes if you know what you're doing. The 2 hours is if you're playing for the first time. This sounds more like a Visual Novel than a proper game, and I don't care how much it can change. Two hours to complete the game is still two hours to complete the game even if there is re-playability(which I highly doubt there is that much).

This is going to flop hard unless the price reflects the short length.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

On one hand I usually dislike how "play times" are often "rushing through the main quest, skipping all dialog, doing only what is mandatory to get to the end". That isn't play time, that's a speed run. At very least have the thing inclusive of all gameplay and cutscenes before giving a time figure. On the other hand, I do feel that for $40 I expect a full-length game. Games like Dear Ester and Journey often cost less than $10. If this is an introductory "demo/tutorial" , price it accordingly - $10, or certainly no more than $20.

What is more frustrating to me is that it appears that both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain won't be released on PC, my platform of choice, at least in parity with the other consoles. I had hoped that, much like Capcom, Konami had finally figured out that the PC (especially released via Steam, or utilizing Steamworks) is a viable platform and there are lots of gamers that want to enjoy your products but have no interest purchasing a console. When they launched Metal Gear Rising: Revengance on PC with all DLC included, at an excellent price point ($20 for the first week or pre orders, $30 after that), I went out of my way to preorder and support it. So did many others apparently, as it was deemed a successful release!

Especially in this day and age where major consoles are basically proprietary, locked down, (and depending on your perspective, overpriced and underpowered) gaming PCs, I see no reason not to release for PC users from a technical standpoint and even less so to deny this valuable market from a financial standpoint.

BAsically you want every exclusive known to man just because you can and want to and screw anyone on a platform that's not PC right?.

Doesn't give you the right to deny anyone else fair treatment but some people forget that gaming is firsthand a luxury and not something desperately needed in life like medicine.