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Comment by WilTimSon | Hacker News Reader

I feel like Kojima is one of those game creators who had some game ideas in his childhood, something he imagined would be cool: epic cutscenes, destructibility, boss battles that don't just require shooting, interactable world. But, unlike some others, when he brings these ideas to life, he does so with that same childlike glee and lack of restraint, for better or for worse.

I'm firmly in the camp of people who get bored by the punishingly long cutscenes in his games but I also can't deny that gameplay-wise they are some of the most fun, fresh, and unexpected titles out there. My mind was blown the first time I found out about the way you can cheese The End fight.

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My mind has been blown to smithereens by literally playing his games during the course of my life - playing MGS trilogy annually is kind of a Christmas tradition for me. It is simply my favorite videogame trilogy of all time.

The first time I fought against Psycho Mantis, I simply marveled the genius behind the fight. MGS2 was way ahead of the curve in almost of all of the aspects - smart texturing work, AI squad tactics, pinpoint pointer shooting accuracy, the still amazing weather effects, cue to the future of information warfare and fake news, VR missions, realtime cutscenes which I can't believe were possible on PS2 during its early stages, the score by Tappy/Harry Gregson Williams/ Hibino, superb VR missions, crisply written dialog and narrative - I still discover something new during my annual playthrough. MGS3 broke grounds by pushing PS2 to its limits, details such as the way the bullets rustle leaves during enemy skirmishes, realtime cutscenes that still hold very well today, probably the best boss fights in the series, great story, score, tight controls and that Hideo Kojima touch. I still remember the fight with The Sorrow, I had no idea on what to do and then I realized - these are characters that I have killed over the course of the game.

Kojima, is an auteur and a master of his craft.

Bonus edit: I recently discovered by accident (epsxe mis-configuration) that MGS1 detects if the player has a monoaural TV set during the fight with Hind D. Video here (not uploaded by me) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzG8Sty9veI

Damn, I finished MGS1 but never the second nor the third one... (but finished MGS2 demo multiple times). You made me want to try again. Are MGS2/3 available on PS4?

Also, I tried MGS4 and it was just too cheesy to me. The intro of MGS5 was just too long and boring so I just gave up... so I'm not sure if I grew out of these types of games or if I should have tried harder.

I wish they were available natively (they are via PS Now). I now play MGS2 on my PC by leveraging this (https://github.com/VFansss/mgs2-v-s-fix/wiki) and MGS3 via PCSX2 emulation.

I kind of stopped playing after MGS3 - tried MGS4 but it deviated too much from its roots. MGS5 is just okay but since there is no David Hayter so not a true MGS for me.

>I'm firmly in the camp of people who get bored by the punishingly long cutscenes in his games but I also can't deny that gameplay-wise they are some of the most fun, fresh, and unexpected titles out there. My mind was blown the first time I found out about the way you can cheese The End fight.

I can totally understand when people say this about the long cutscenes. However, that's partially why I love his Metal Gear games. They're like playing one "movie" (or a series) and it enhances the player feeling. I always felt like I was living through a (rather long) interactive movie. It was glorious. A little long-winded at times but otherwise entertaining.

It's a great juxtaposition with other games that have great storytelling and gameplay but sometimes feel more disconnected and "on rails." If that makes sense.

The real trouble's the repetition. He has some fifteen minute cutscenes that seem to be the same couple minutes of dialog repeated over and over in slightly different ways. MGS4 was the worst for that, but it's in all of them. I've seen enough other Japanese media that I think a little of that is cultural, but not anywhere near the degree that he does it. It's just Kojima. That's why I get bored by his cutscenes.

Agree MGS4 was by far the worst offender. And had really bad writing too.

His Instagram bio reads: “70% of my body is made of movies.”

The End fight totally blew my mind. In my opinion, MGS 3 is one of the best games ever made. The attention to detail is amazing.

So I'd heard, which is why I picked up the MGS HD collection... and was pretty disappointed. The game has aged really poorly; camera and controls were a mess, stealth gameplay was rough, story & writing were... distasteful (the gender politics of the game have aged especially badly). Most of the joy of the game came from watching a youtube video of all the small details & easter eggs, which make for glowing forum posts but bad minute-to-minute gameplay. I was glad to see the end of it.

You're playing a game about a cigar-smoking soldier set in 1964 and you think the gender politics are not keeping with the times?

Nothing to do with the 60s. Having a campy boss with electrical powers imply continued violent rape of Snake's romantic interest was off-putting, to say the least. Plus the constant objectification. My girlfriend watched me play it after hearing me talk about how groundbreaking it was supposed to be and it was... really cringey sitting through a lot of the cutscenes.

> camera and controls were a mess

Unfortunately the HD edition did not include the 3D camera from Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, which is MASSIVELY better than the original fixed camera in Snake Eater.

It did, I played it on PS3.

Yes it did

Even at the time it came out, mgs1, was cringeworthy.

Definitely revolutionary for it's time, but the amount of dialogue and cinematic flair did not match up with over the top dialogue.

It's just kind of not immersive to have a 30 minute conversation and in depth look into every bosses tragic past before getting into a boss fight.

Good writers/Game designers introduce all of the above in a more natural way.

I also feel a lot of it is just culture. Japanese cinematics tend to be like that maybe? I feel subtitles without dubbing tends to hide a lot of the cringeyness of the whole situation. For example the original FF7 actually works well because it's all text.

There are a couple ways I believe. You can do the time trick and there's at least one point where you can snipe him early. I think you can end the game early by killing the boss in the first level by pulling the trigger during a cutscene where you're looking through a sniper scope.

Yeah, there is a certain cinematic je ne sais quoi about his flourish. I feel like it's a window to a very prosperous fountain of creativity and all I have to say is that I'm very proud of the people who got to put those designs and systems in place.

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