Delta impressions thread

[NateDog]

Finally finished it now. Enjoyed this playthrough despite sticking in getting GA-KO and Kerotan, still have a couple to get but mostly early ones. Have an extra appreciation for Josh Keaton's performance as Ocelot. I didn't really realise how much the series spent its future after MGS3 relying on a chunk of EVA's monologue recording to Snake, about how no-one will ever understand The Boss or what she did or wanted. I am able to enjoy MGS3 now after many years of struggling with that with the game, but I still hate that feeling that it gives me knowing what it resulted in the obsessiveness with The Boss down the line.

[Aragorn]

Finally finished it now. Enjoyed this playthrough despite sticking in getting GA-KO and Kerotan, still have a couple to get but mostly early ones. Have an extra appreciation for Josh Keaton's performance as Ocelot. I didn't really realise how much the series spent its future after MGS3 relying on a chunk of EVA's monologue recording to Snake, about how no-one will ever understand The Boss or what she did or wanted. I am able to enjoy MGS3 now after many years of struggling with that with the game, but I still hate that feeling that it gives me knowing what it resulted in the obsessiveness with The Boss down the line.

I still think the boss might conceptually not be a particularly bad zeitgeist for the franchise story - but the issue is these games were always made in isolation with Kojima assuming “okay THIS is the last one fr” so no real ground work was laid for sequels.

[BigBrother]

Finally finished it now. Enjoyed this playthrough despite sticking in getting GA-KO and Kerotan, still have a couple to get but mostly early ones. Have an extra appreciation for Josh Keaton's performance as Ocelot. I didn't really realise how much the series spent its future after MGS3 relying on a chunk of EVA's monologue recording to Snake, about how no-one will ever understand The Boss or what she did or wanted. I am able to enjoy MGS3 now after many years of struggling with that with the game, but I still hate that feeling that it gives me knowing what it resulted in the obsessiveness with The Boss down the line.

I still think the boss might conceptually not be a particularly bad zeitgeist for the franchise story - but the issue is these games were always made in isolation with Kojima assuming “okay THIS is the last one fr” so no real ground work was laid for sequels.

It isn't that groundwork wasn't laid for the sequels; it's that...sheesh. Everything post MGS3 revolved around The Boss, as Nate said. MG, MG2, MGS and MGS2 all (just about) worked as a story (Jesus, you can even make a decent argument Ghost Babel plays into MGS2). MGS3 (and post MGS3) are where the issues started.

[starschwar]

I've had difficulty in articulating my thoughts on the way movement feels in Delta, but this video does an excellent deep dive into the issues:

[Solid Spartan]

Finally nabbed the game. Got one with codes for the DLC camos, too.

It's probably the most faithful remake I've ever played. Everything is the same, even down to enemy patrol routes. Glad they didn't make any of the ... controversial choices made by Silicon Knights on Twin Snakes. The bullet drop mechanic they added to the Mk 22 was a bit of an annoyance, though.

[Dirty Duck]

Finally nabbed the game. Got one with codes for the DLC camos, too.

It's probably the most faithful remake I've ever played. Everything is the same, even down to enemy patrol routes. Glad they didn't make any of the ... controversial choices made by Silicon Knights on Twin Snakes. The bullet drop mechanic they added to the Mk 22 was a bit of an annoyance, though.

You pick it up in the 50% off sale or did that end? Glad you're getting to play it!

I kind of disagree-it may have steered clear of the controversial choices to do with altering cutscenes, voice recordings, level of action etc but the gameplay quite strangely does fall into the same remake trappings as Twin Snakes. That is to say it adds modern gameplay mechanics that make it easier without changing the level design to make sure said changes don't trivialise it a bit. The bullet drop is maybe the only change attempting to add some level of difficulty rather than remove it (and it just feels a bit weird imo lol).

Have you given Fox Hunt a go yet? Curious if you can even find a room these days.

[starschwar]

I think there were *some* subtle alterations to the gameplay. On normal difficulty, I noticed some guard behavior that I had not seen previously. I'm pretty sure their "senses" of sight and hearing are more keen - sneaking seemed more difficult than it used to, especially at close range. The stalking mode is just a bit slower than I recall, but it's hard to tell with the weird hybrid of Phantom Pain and original animations. I think The Fury's helmet is now unbreakable, making that fight just a tad more difficult.

The bullet drop was a good decision - sniping enemies from across the level with a pistol just doesn't make sense and it needed some nerfing. But all in all - thanks to the ability to move while manually aiming in third and first person, and other Phantom Pain like gameplay features, combat is much easier regardless. I don't think it's as severe as what happened with Twin Snakes.

The "legacy mode" is a good idea, but I haven't used the top-down camera since Subsistence and have no desire to go back. If there were a gameplay mode that emulated Subsistence, that would probably be the best of both worlds, but I can't see them adding that in this late.

I'm torn. There's some things that make this an absolute improvement over the original, and not just graphically. And there's some things that were fixed compared to the HD and Master Collection versions. But the little annoyances do add up. At worst, I guess it's the second-best version of Snake Eater, which isn't bad at all.

What it really boils down to is this - it accomplished its mission of being a very faithful rendition of a classic that should appeals to both longtime fans and newcomers alike. But I think it's geared more towards the later. Things like pressure sensitive face buttons and so on - these are relics of a bygone age that will never come back. The original controls made sense at the time, but would be borderline incomprehensible to a modern audience. I'd prefer what we got over something that took way too many liberties.

[Solid Spartan]

You pick it up in the 50% off sale or did that end? Glad you're getting to play it!

I kind of disagree-it may have steered clear of the controversial choices to do with altering cutscenes, voice recordings, level of action etc but the gameplay quite strangely does fall into the same remake trappings as Twin Snakes. That is to say it adds modern gameplay mechanics that make it easier without changing the level design to make sure said changes don't trivialise it a bit. The bullet drop is maybe the only change attempting to add some level of difficulty rather than remove it (and it just feels a bit weird imo lol).

Have you given Fox Hunt a go yet? Curious if you can even find a room these days.

No, it was full price. Got lucky financially this month and didn't have to pay my electric bill due to a refund credit. Had enough to get both this and the WWE 2K26 Monday Night Wars Edition.

Aside from the OTS camera option and the peeking, most everything seems original. Twin Snakes added gameplay mechanics that the environments weren't originally designed for. Everything Snake can do here, he could do in the original.

I'm not really a multiplayer guy and don't have PS Plus (or whatever it's called) to play it.

The bullet drop was a good decision - sniping enemies from across the level with a pistol just doesn't make sense and it needed some nerfing. But all in all - thanks to the ability to move while manually aiming in third and first person, and other Phantom Pain like gameplay features, combat is much easier regardless. I don't think it's as severe as what happened with Twin Snakes.

Yeah, I suppose I can agree with that. And from an in-universe perspective, subsonic tranquilizers wouldn't be able to achieve the velocity of a 9mm.

[Dirty Duck]

You pick it up in the 50% off sale or did that end? Glad you're getting to play it!

I kind of disagree-it may have steered clear of the controversial choices to do with altering cutscenes, voice recordings, level of action etc but the gameplay quite strangely does fall into the same remake trappings as Twin Snakes. That is to say it adds modern gameplay mechanics that make it easier without changing the level design to make sure said changes don't trivialise it a bit. The bullet drop is maybe the only change attempting to add some level of difficulty rather than remove it (and it just feels a bit weird imo lol).

Have you given Fox Hunt a go yet? Curious if you can even find a room these days.

No, it was full price. Got lucky financially this month and didn't have to pay my electric bill due to a refund credit. Had enough to get both this and the WWE 2K26 Monday Night Wars Edition.

Aside from the OTS camera option and the peeking, most everything seems original. Twin Snakes added gameplay mechanics that the environments weren't originally designed for. Everything Snake can do here, he could do in the original.

(What are the new WWE games like? I played some Smackdown vs Raw 2006 with my gf's housemate recently and it reminded me how fun they can be.)

Eh I don't think saying everything he can do here he could do in the original is quite right. Twin Snakes added first person and ledge hanging which is obviously not what the game was designed for, but Delta added crouch walk, over the shoulder aiming, and moving while aiming, which Snake Eater wasn't designed for either. Ocelot's boss fight in Twin Snakes was trivialised with first person aiming, but his boss fight in Delta was trivialised as well thanks to being able to freely move around and aim during a battle where the challenge is having to be standing still exposed in the open to try and get a shot in. And item wise MGS1 wasn't designed with a tranq in mind, but MGS3 wasn't designed with the plethora of effects the DLC outfits give you from the get go either. It feels like a similar situation; Making MGS1 with MGS2 gameplay has issues, and making MGS3 with MGSV gameplay has issues too.

[Aragorn]

Feel like I wanna go back to this game and chase that platinum after i'm done with the barrage of games in April (Saros and Pragmata and i'm working through Hellblade II). Hope we see MGS1 remade soon.