Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (メタルギアソリッドV：ザ・ファントム・ペイン) is an upcoming canonical installment in the Metal Gear series. Being developed by Kojima Productions, it will be running on the Fox Engine and published by Konami. Hideo Kojima is writing, directing and doing the game design, as well as producing it.

This game is currently in development for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. A PC version is being considered.Although no release date has been specified The Phantom Pain is likely going to be released in 2014.

Taking place after the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain serves as a prequel to Metal Gear. Punished Snake is the protagonist of the game. Metal Gear Solid V uses open world gameplay structure.

Primary characters

 * Punished Snake
 * Ishmael
 * Kazuhira Miller
 * Dr. Emmerich
 * Chico
 * Paz Ortega Andrade
 * Ocelot
 * Eli
 * Quiet
 * Code Talker
 * Skull Face

Other characters

 * Unidentified doctor
 * Child soldiers

Groups and organizations

 * Diamond Dogs
 * Cipher
 * XOF

Plot
Nine years after the events of Ground Zeroes, Big Boss awoke from his coma. The nurse noticed him awakening, and quickly alerted the doctor. The doctor cautiously explained to him about his difficult ordeal, and duration of his coma.

Big Boss then appeared in a hospital wing where the mysterious patient Ishmael, claiming to be an acquaintance, attempted to help him to his feet. Ishmael injected Big Boss with Digoxin to give him some ability to regain his motor functions. During his nine years in a coma, his left arm was replaced with a prosthetic hook and most of his muscles atrophied, Big Boss was forced to slowly crawl due to his weakened state. Heading to the elevator to escape from the hospital, they encountered a child with a gas mask in their path, immediately after the child levitates through the ceiling, the lifts explode, violently throwing them to the floor. A disoriented Big Boss witnesses a ghost-like figure out of the fire. Then quickly retreated with Ishmael in another direction, attempting to escape the hospital as a military chopper was searching around the building.

Big Boss was eventually picked up and rescued by his old acquaintance Ocelot. Afterwards, Ocelot and Big Boss traveled to Afghanistan which was under Soviet invasion. The purpose was to rescue Kazuhira Miller, who was held captive by the Soviets. It was decided that Big Boss was to go alone to prove that the legends about him were true.

Gameplay
"We added feature because this is an open world," said Kojima during Q&A at LA studio. "What we're going to see in The Phantom Pain is a mass open world. If we bring in the old Metal Gear style where you can be spotted from anywhere, that's a little tough. We added an extra step so the players could avoid being found. Still, if you CQC or kill someone and a vehicle comes by and it's spotted, the alert stage with start. So it's based on how you perform and what happens afterwards." Still, despite the familiarity of these elements, Kojima promises "it's a little different from the generic open world. "We still have infiltration, and the story will be based on the player's choice." Kojima described the game's structure as being "like a TV series where you complete little missions, and by completing the missions it ties together the overall story" "The big difference is that for the past MGS series it felt like the designers gave you a game and said, 'Here's the game, you play it,'" Kojima said. "Since we're going into an open world, it's up to the players to carry the game."

Kojima described the games' AI very advanced and even "unpredictable."

Development
On December 7, 2012, a trailer for a game titled The Phantom Pain was revealed during the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards. The trailer claimed that the game was being developed by the Swedish company, Moby Dick Studio. Despite this, numerous clues suggested that the trailer was actually created by Kojima Productions to promote a new game in the Metal Gear series.

During his trip to Dubai, Kojima was asked about The Phantom Pain. He laughed and said that while he saw the resemblance between Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, it was being made by Moby Dick Studio and that he had nothing to do with it. He also said he was working on Ground Zeroes and "a few other titles" in which he was involved in the script writing and the game design. In a later interview, however, he mentioned that he preferred decieving the audience regarding promotional spots for upcoming games, and was disappointed with how Hollywood ended up showing stuff that was predictable to audiences.

On February 18, 2013, a job listing was posted by Kojima Productions to look for new recruits at the GDC Career Pavilion from March 25-27 for the new Metal Gear Solid title.

On March 12, 2013, video game journalist Geoff Keighley tweeted that he was headed off for the GDC 2013 session to interview Joakim Mogren, the supposed creator of The Phantom Pain, and claimed that it would be "interesting." A day later, Kojima made a twitlonger post revealing that he was going to attend GDC 2013 to not only present a Fox Engine demo, but to make an announcement as well. During said interview, which was shown on the March 14, 2013 episode of GameTrailers TV, the supposed Mogren (who had a large amount of bandages on his face due to an "accident") stated that a new trailer would be revealed at GDC 2013. Later in the interview, Mogren showed several new screenshots and concept art of the game, in which the Fox Engine logo could clearly be seen. When questioned about this, Mogren expressed shock and the interview abruptly ended. On March 27, 2013, Kojima officially confirmed that The Phantom Pain was indeed a Metal Gear game titled Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain during GDC 2013. After the official announcement, it was widely believed that Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain had been combined into one game. However, it was later revealed that contrary to popular belief, they were still two separate games.

Kojima told GameTrailers TV that David Hayter wouldn't reprise his role as Big Boss. He explained: "What we're trying to accomplish is [to] recreate the Metal Gear series. It's a new Metal Gear game and we wanted to have this reflected in the voice actor as well." In the same interview, he also revealed two things: It will be his last Metal Gear game before retiring from active involvement in the series, which he also stated that he has absolutely every intention of carrying out his retirement when citing the prior times he stated he was retiring from the series; and that there will be realism to balance things out, when commenting on the appearance of the giant burning whale in both the VGA trailer and the GDC trailer. He also stated that he initially had The Phantom Pain appear to be an independent game to assess the reception of the Fox Engine.

On April 10, 2013, Kojima posted an image on Twitter regarding scenario books for Metal Gear Solid V, commenting that he had been motion-capturing all day long.

On May 14, 2013, GameSpot revealed that they were going to partner up with Konami to stream their annual pre-E3 show on June 6. They also revealed that an inside look of Metal Gear Solid V would be shown.

On May 30, 2013, Kojima revealed on Twitter that there is a theme for Metal Gear Solid V. After fans were asked to guess what it was, Kojima responded that they were inaccurate and said that the theme for Metal Gear Solid V and the rest of Metal Gear Solid themes can be passed to the next generation. He also posted some hints on his Twitter account on the trailer starting on May 26, 2013, with the first hint, a screen from the trailer, mentioning that it was "Not for the Future."

On June 6, 2013, during the Konami pre-E3 showcase, it was officially announced that Kiefer Sutherland would not only be providing the voice of Big Boss, but would be providing a motion capped facial performance as well. Kojima also mentioned that "Race" and "Revenge" were among some of the themes of Metal Gear Solid V. Kojima confirmed that Metal Gear Solid V takes place in 1984 and that Big Boss at this time is 49 years old. It was also shown that the tagline is now "Tactical Espionage Operations" which had previously been the name of a trailer spot for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

On June 10, Konami announced that Metal Gear Solid V will be released for the Xbox One. The next day, it was announced that the game will be released for the PlayStation 4 as well.

On June 12, Konami via their E3 podcast that Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V are now part of the same game. Kojima, in an interview with GameTrailers, said that, they are developing the game on PC and they hope to release a PC version some time in the future but it is currently "not a priority." In regards to whether Ground Zeroes is to be released in conjunction with Metal Gear Solid V or if it is to be released separately, Kojima cited, upon being asked twice by Computer and Video Games, that they haven't decided yet.

On June 13, Kojima revealed that a new installment of Metal Gear Online will be included in Metal Gear Solid V. Kojima revealed that they want to integrate other devices such as smartphones and tablets and use them to allow users to create their own missions. Kojima also stated that he aims to have Metal Gear Solid V run at 60 frames per second and at at least 1080p on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

On June 28, Kojima confirmed that Project Ogre is Metal Gear Solid V. He told Jeux Video Magazine, "at the time I could not even talk about the fifth episode Metal Gear, that's why I called [it] 'Project Ogre'. "This name was chosen to leave clues about what will happen in the game because it is a kind of 'ogres' in the game."

On July 13, journalist and film actor, Jay Tavare posted a photo of himself performing motion capture for The Phantom Pain. In a comment on the photo, he confirmed that he is playing the part of Code Talker.

On August 1, 2013, Kojima stated:

"-In my next game, things will be for real. No Wall smash.

-Not like Manga like “PW” (Peace Walker), it will be “CQC enemies into walls” for real.

-When I told my staff to implement “Wall smash CQC enemies into wall” in PW, they didn’t really like that idea. But my intention was how “MGS” can be implemented in PSP to bring the real thrill of CQC for teenager(s). That aim in a way succeeded.

-BTW, there will be crawling in the next “MGS”.

-There will not be like “Cautious advance” that appeared in “MGS4″.

-You can steal the weapon from enemy and fire as shown in E3 trailer.

-Of course there will be online.

-Restriction of using enemy’s weapon was because of the future setting w/ID weapons. Next game setting is in old days so u can use them."

On August 15, 2013, Kojima stated, "Specifically for the next-gen and Metal Gear Solid 5, it's not necessarily about breaking the fourth wall, but we do have a big surprise for the players in this game." Kojima told CVG in a recent interview, "We have challenged and pushed ourselves with something that movies can't do but only games can do. It hasn't been done before. I'm very interested in that stuff whether it be the facial expression readings or something else." He continued, "But we're having a hard time with that and we're not sure if we'll be able to implement something for MGS 5. But we're still looking at it and are really interested in the new Kinect."

On September 3, 2013, Kojima stated, "It's hard to talk & play simultaneously on "MGS". It's desperate to show off play, since it requires cautious & sensitive control and once you get spotted, it turns to different scene you were going to present. It often time happens to be no monitor to check on stage. So recently I do the talk and let someone else to play."

On September 4, 2013, Kojima on the topic of the character Quiet stated, "I've been ordering [art director Yoji Shinkawa] to make the character more erotic, and he did it well. Recently, I've been making characters this way. I create the setting thoroughly, how he/she spent early life, name style, favorite phrase, fashion, action to stand the character out. The initial target is to make [you] want to do cosplay or its figurine to sell well." The response the announcement got was mixed from fans, websites and other game developers. Kojima clarified exactly what he meant when he asked lead designer Yoji Shinkawa for more a "more erotic" character. Speaking through a translator, he said: "Maybe the phrase 'erotic' wasn't really the correct word for what I was trying to say. What I'm really trying to do is create unique characters. One of those is, of course, Quiet. She's a really unique character, I wanted to add that sexiness to her. It wasn't really supposed to be erotic, but sexy." He also said "You're going to notice when you play, but there's limited dialogue with Metal Gear Solid 5, and for that reason we really want to show the characteristic from each character. Sexy could be for guys, weapons, vehicles, it's really that characteristic." Shinkawa also weighed in at the Q&A, saying, "From my perspective, it's not just the characters, but often I look at a weapon or a vehicle and think 'That's really sexy.' It's not just the characters, but the mechs and weapons as well." When asked for her thoughts on Quiet's design, Stefanie Joosten, Quiet's motion and voice actor, stated, "Of course, I was surprised to see Quiet's outfit at first. But, you know, it fits in the Metal Gear universe, I think. I don't think I'm allowed to say a lot about this, but, well, Mr. Kojima has his reasons for deciding why Quiet [is] wearing what she's wearing. Players will just have to look forward to that."

On September 5, 2013, Kojima stated “Game technology and hardware have always been evolving and becoming great, but we’re always fighting against aliens and shooting. I didn’t want to be like that,” Kojima told CVG during an interview at E3. “I wanted to make a game with a deep theme and change the industry.” “Distance is a very big factor,” claims Kojima. “In the trailer you saw Snake riding a horse, but you can also walk to a mission or take another mode of transport.” Watch and you’ll notice a lovely touch where your hero repositions his weight to lean against one side of his horse and avoid being spotted – a technique similar to a move in Shadow Of The Colossus. It’s a clever example of hardwiring the series’ stealth into the challenges open-world transport brings about, and continues the gloriously playful controls seen in Guns Of The Patriots. “All the freedom is up to you and there are no rules [like] the linear games in the past,” Kojima states. “You can use smartphones and tablets to interact with the world. That’s why we did an open world, because we thought about all these interactions on multiple devices.” Kojima has also confirmed The Phantom Pain will enable players to create their own missions. “Using tablets and smartphones you can also enjoy MGS V and create user-generated missions within the world.”

On September 7, 2013, Kojima outlined the theme of the game as being “GENE”⇒”MEME”⇒”SCENE”⇒”PEACE”⇒”RACE," and that the story touches upon the misunderstanding, prejudice, hatred, and conflict caused by the difference of language, race, custom, culture, and preference.

"Ground Zeroes is only the prologue, so I wanted to separate it [from The Phantom Pain]" Kojima said in a press Q&A session this evening at his studio's new L.A. office. "Ground Zeroes takes place in 1975, Phantom Pain takes place nine years after. There's a wide difference between the two, and I wanted to separate that."

"Another reason," he adds, has to do with The Phantom Pain's open-world design. "In transitioning from the style of older Metal Gear games to an open world design, we didn't want it to be a shock. Ground Zeroes is a little bit closed. It offers an opportunity for player to get used to the open-world feel. They can get used to traversal and use all these different vehicles to move around in a closed area, then move on to the real story with its open feel."

Kojima confirmed that Metal Gear Solid V will be much more bigger than Ground Zeroes in terms of open world. He said that Metal Gear Solid V will be 300 times bigger than Ground Zeroes. He also confirmed that the current generation versions of Metal Gear Solid V will run at 30 frames per second, while the next generation versions will run at 60 frames per second.