Forum:Case for a significant walkthrough addition.

It might be a good idea to add a section to the MGS4 Walkthrough detailing some of the finer points of the Heads up display. I believe that being able to fluidly recognize and react to the various ways gameplay is affected by the changing elements in the HUD is perhaps the most vital part of a skillful playthrough. Weapon and Item icons are fairly straightforward but psyche, stress, camo index, wind direction, alert level, and to an extent, the baseline map and threat ring require a fair amount of interpretation. In the game, there exists no explanation of what exactly to expect snake to do with 2/3 of his psyche left or a stress level of 35%, nor is there an explanation of how you can expect enemies to react when Snake's camo index is at somewhere between 30 and 85%. Naturally, these numbers mean vastly different things depending on alert level (which is a complex HUD element in itself), difficulty, and other factors and It's that incredible level of situational variability that both marks the game's highpoint in terms of realism and makes fully comprehending the mechanics quite a daunting task. I suggest a breakdown of the individual HUD elements by what what affects their value and, more importantly; what effects these values have on Snake and his environment. Granted, most players' intuition tells them to "keep stress low" and "keep psyche and camo index high," but for players gunning for speed, emblems, and showcasing their skills, knowing whether or not they're going to be seen by a dwarf gekko on "Big Boss Hard" during a caution phase with a camo index of 70% is vital information. Even for casual players, it would be nice to know what you can get away with, and to better understand how a concrete numerical value correlates to the convincingly organic behavior of Snake, his enemies and his environment. The sheer volume of variables may prove this task impossible but in the end, the game is still only a simulation running scripts based on the actions you take within it. I'm of course open to even the harshest criticisms of this idea and look forward to some feedback. THESHOOTIST 18:47, 13 August 2008 (UTC)