Giveaway: Master Collection Vol. 2 Giveaway

[Dirty Duck]

it’s been too long.

[starschwar]

hopefully with an improved presentation.

It's looking like the most powerful platforms can play MSG4 at 4K.  A few others at 1080p.  Both well above the PS3's weird 1024x768 stretched to 16:9 rendering.  Switch in handheld mode is a mere 720p but that's still higher horizontal resolution than PS3.  All versions except switch are purported to run at 60fps, with Switch stuck at 30.  But Guns of the Patriots often dipped well below 30 on PS3.  It approached 60 in very specific conditions.  Having some stability will be nice in any case, but 60HZ MGS4 is a dream.  Even the Shinkawa art cutscenes are rendered in real time, so even those should look smoother.  I wonder if the Act 3 conclusion is no longer pre-rendered?

Not sure what can be done to improve the presentation of Ghost Babel. Are there innovations in presenting Gameboy Color games that I'm not aware of? Maybe more realistic emulation of the individual screen pixels?

[Tricerius]

MGS4 on the Switch? What a time to be alive.

The MGS4 re-experience on more potent hardware would be the thing for me. It holding up as well as it does is a testament to its baseline quality, and it's going to be interesting to see how improved said experience is going to be. As a small aside, it'd be a nice, if unlikely, nudge if Otacon's remark about disk swapping fot updated to acknowledge the mostly digital distribution.

PW would be a nice rethreading too, though Ghost Babel would be more intriguing simply because of never having played it before. I have to wonder how the mapping for that one is going to work.

[Dirty Duck]

Not sure what can be done to improve the presentation of Ghost Babel. Are there innovations in presenting Gameboy Color games that I'm not aware of? Maybe more realistic emulation of the individual screen pixels?

So while not necessarily an objective "improvement" as emulation being close to playing on the original hardware is a bit of a subjective desire when it comes to including the "drawbacks" of the hardware, I saw this on Twitter shortly after your post and thought it was quite cool:

https://x.com/richmond_lee/status/2083278703497552021

[codectalker]

I’m beyond excited to play MGS4 again. It was my intro to the series and it’s been too long.

It was my introduction to the series as well!
I remember when I started to go back and play the earlier entries that I would see some chatter about people not liking Raiden.
But I didn't understand why because I thought he was a total badass (since I'd  only played mgs4).
So once I finally played mgs2 I kinda understood what they were saying. lol

[Tricerius]

Raiden was contentious (at the time) in part because he was something of a bait and switch as well. It doesn't help that the game then proceeds to rub Snake on your face time and again.

While MGS2 is something of an acquired taste for me, none of it was due to Raiden. I took him as behaving that way as part of the role bestowed upon him (which he played really well), and fairly relatable (which I'm sure was also part of the intent). The Rose bit did get a bit old at times though.

[starschwar]

I think Raiden - like most of MGS2 is the kind of thing that confused most people at first, but grew over time.  MGS2 became more and more recognized as a masterpiece over time as more and more people dissected the layers.

Here's a weird take I have, unsure if anyone else has put it this way.  Or if I've mentioned it before.  I believe the placement of all the titles in the Ground Zeroes Deja Vu mission are meant to represent something about the games themselves:

Spoiler:

• Metal Gear is next to a toilet.  It was -nearly- waste, but thanks to art through adversity, Kojima was forced to (mostly) invent a new type of game.
  
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is at the base of a ladder.  It is the foundation from which the series would aspire to greater heights.
  
• Metal Gear Solid is in an armory, including the weapon needed to complete the task of erasing the titles.  With 3D graphics and CD audio, Kojima finally had the tools he needed to make his vision.
  
• Sons Of Liberty is hidden behind a sign.  The only way to illuminate it is to either press yourself against the fence in a particular angle, or blow it up with a grenade.  MGS2 requires effort on the player's part to appreciate.  Either you force yourself to get out of your comfort zone and wrap your head around the plot, or blunt force your way understanding it on your own terms.
  
• Snake Eater is atop a guard tower.  A shining beacon above all else - the masterpiece.  Also, you climb a very tall ladder in that one.
  
• Guns of the Patriots is on a piece of electrical infrastructure.  It represents technical power (PS3 tech demo stuff), but is utilitarian.  It exists to fulfill a specific purpose (ending the story).  
  
• Peace Walker is easily missed because you have to call in the helicopter.  It acknowledges the game's portable nature, and how one might accidentally skip it because it isn't a numbered entry.  But like the chopper - it is essential for completing Snake's story.
  
• Ground Zeroes is a concrete guard booth.  It is sturdy, but small and empty - just a tiny piece of something much larger, referencing its nature as a prologue to The Phantom Pain.
  

[Raiden]

Raiden’s creation has always been funny to me. Made because Kojima received a complaint from a girl about not wanting to play as an old man. And then we got Old Snake anyways, because it was still fun. MGS2 is a good game, I enjoyed flipping my way through the map, but I get why people were mad. I was fine with the bishi look, but compared to Snake he was whiny. And I still don’t like Rose.

[starschwar]

And then we got Old Snake anyways, because it was still fun.

Liquid did hint at the accelerated aging back in the Tanker, I think?  Regardless, I remember someone asking Kojima at some point after Snake Eater what his next game was about.  He responded, "It's about getting old."  Everyone took it as a joke at the time.  Unsure how much time passed between that interview and GOTP's legendary "this is no FPS" trailer and the reveal of Old Snake.

[SnakeBackwards]

I never got the chance to play MGS4 on the ps3! it's the only mainline MGS game that I've missed. Also hopefully I can get some friends to try out peace walker in multiplayer.