Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6431205-20130423195835/@comment-189.25.72.177-20131217022313

98.235.30.104 wrote: 189.25.149.152 wrote: Why not make it like a Tenchu Game? i can see Raiden crouching, crawling etc. and being stealthy. Just reduce the over the top action and go back to the roots. If they do a Raiden game set between MGS2-MGS4. I'd hope Kojima had a bigger part in it.. while MGR was fun with all its crazy stuff (especially senator armstrong on nanomachines) I wouldn't want those kinds of things to return. I'd like to have it very serious. Not_sure_if can trust PG* to do that kind of a game... I'd gladly be wrong though.

Anyway,  I have to admit, when I saw the FOX Engine graphics for the first version of MGR (Or Metal Gear Solid: Rising), they looked amazing and I will admit, a lot better than PG. So I do hope the FOX Engine will help make MGR2 because I am not bashing PG's graphics, they have good graphics too, but yeah, I'd prefer to see the on the FOX Engine, give it a little more purity

I can see what you mean by that. I didn't have a problem with MGR being balls to the wall insanity. It was fun, but I couldn't take it 100% serious until the story actually kicked in. Which didn't take long thankfully. Just as I stated, they left too big a gap between MGS2 and MGS4 to not explain. Also I understand your fears about PG because I have the same ones. I don't believe they can pull of an emotional game. It just doesn't seem to be there forte. They can do a good story, because I have seen them do that, but not an emotional one. In my opinion anyway. I love MGS for it's serious story, it has such an emotional story, which is why MGR kinda bothered me. They made Raiden back into what he had resolved by the end of MGS4. The Jack the Ripper side came out during the MGS2-MGS4 gap that has been left. In fact there is refference to it in MGS history that explains a little bit how Sunny was rescued by Raiden. But unfortunately, no honest to God detail or explanation to what occurred. So yeah, I really want them to explain that section of story. It's the only thing left still really bothering me. The story and writing of Rising were fine, and the theme of "a means to an end" align VERY WELL with the MGS series. Armstrong was introduced rather late, but everything he represented and stood for was actually very well-done. What I particularly liked were the parallels drawn between Armstrong and Raiden, and more importantly Raiden and Big Boss. Watch the ending scenes with Armstrong and actually listen to the dialogue; happy to go more in-depth on this topic if requested.

Building a believable "universe" is something else Rising did phenomenally well. There were so many small details about how a world with cyborgs actually functions. The post-Patriot era wasn't shown directly, but it was described and expanded through the codec (take note MGSV, because MGS4 dropped the ball when it came to extra codec conversations).

Raiden's character was another huge plus. Phenomenal improvement over his MGS4 incarnation (though I understand he was in a very different state of mind during that game), and he was well acted and written. He had personality once again, and was an improved, hardened, more confident version of his MGS2 self.

In defense of the over-the-top tone, soundtrack (which was awesome, by the way), and "anime" inspired designs—I think what people are missing is that THIS GAME IS NOT METAL GEAR SOLID. It intentionally has a different tone, pace, and feel. It falls in the same universe, but Rising IS a spin-off with its own identity. You guys need to keep this in mind when evaluating the game, because faulting it on being different from MGS isn't doing it justice.

That being said, there were a lot of criticisms here which I did agree with. Most are in regards to gameplay—the core combat was excellent, but little things here and there could use tweaking.

More developed and fine-tuned stealth implementation is welcomed, because while stealth isn't the focus, it IS present and encouraged at some points of the game. Crouching would be helpful, and more integration of movement with the environment would be fantastic (hanging, wall-scaling, using destruction to your advantage).

Level design definitely fell flat in most areas, and personally, I felt the scale was off (streets and corridors MUCH too wide). This was likely done to give room for combat, but there is definitely room to make these environments more interesting.

Game length—the core campaign WAS a bit on the short side, though I'll concede that there were a lot of extra upgrades and VR missions (which were very well done) to keep you busy. Ending felt a tad rushed, too (and given the development hell they went through, it might have been).

Weapons. Only the standard HF blade and polearm were actually developed. The others only had two or three moves. Full movesets for all weapons, please, and let us use hand-to-hand throughout the whole game!

Customization. It was a nice tease in Rising, but let us swap out individual body parts to affect stats. Mixing and matching different parts could bring a whole new level of depth to the game, and it leaves it open for visual customization too. Also, more costumes!

The things I mentioned are all typical expectations for a sequel—I was very pleased with Rising and only hope that a sequel is bigger and better