The future of the series

[Jassassino]

Reports indicate Konami is going to start surveying at or after Tokyo Game Show to see what Metal Gear title, out of a select list, should be remade next.

Will be interesting to see the survey. Would quite like MG1 and 2 so they can be reimagined in 3D espionage spaces like the rest of the series, but also feel there's a chance it'll only include MGS1, 2 and 4. The latter of which I just want a port honestly.

[NateDog]

Reports indicate Konami is going to start surveying at or after Tokyo Game Show to see what Metal Gear title, out of a select list, should be remade next.

Will be interesting to see the survey. Would quite like MG1 and 2 so they can be reimagined in 3D espionage spaces like the rest of the series, but also feel there's a chance it'll only include MGS1, 2 and 4. The latter of which I just want a port honestly.

Apparently they've already sent surveys out asking about these to certain people attending TGS. Oddly enough it includes MGSV on the list of options.

[Jassassino]

MGSV remake 😭 lmao what

[Departed]

MG1 and MG2 are the only games I'd genuinely want to see remade from the ground up with Delta's gameplay and some improvements here and there since they're the only games where the writer and director would have the most creative freedom to tell a wholly revamped story while still keeping the beats of the original and finally tying the loop between the two Snakes.

With MGSV, I think the only reason that's on the survey is because if they do anything with Phantom Pain or GZ, they'll need to rebuild it from the ground up since they no longer own the Fox Engine. I don't know if they have the means to port it to PS5 anymore without the rights to FE. Same deal with MGS4 since they can't do anything with that game either without just completely rebuilding it.

[Dirty Duck]

A lot of people on Twitter and Facebook have been asking for a Peace Walker remake.

It’s definitely a result of chronological order brainrot partnered with a disregard for Portable Ops. I’m against the plebs who are like “we need a Peace Walker/Portable Ops remake as the original only had comic cutscenes!” (As if CG cutscenes are the be all and end all?) but I do feel that besides MG1 and MG2 a remake of Peace Walker or Portable Ops is the most likely project to feel “new” provided they aren’t just grafted onto the original game the way Delta kind of was.

Also people seem to be acting like every remake would also be called MGS Delta lol. That couldn’t be confusing at all!

I’d still most like to see the team tackle a known but unseen moment from the canon instead of another remake. Delta probably could have done with some entirely new content the way Nintendo tends to do it these days with their ports-the main game and a smaller separate new “game” that mostly functions like the main game but isn’t necessarily that connected to it. It would have been the best way for the new team to try their hand at writing and designing new scenarios (and to show us they can before the project that finally does requires a full price tag).

Maybe a short mission with the Mozambique War of Independence as the backdrop with a brief self contained new story and a new boss, ending with him finding Frank Jaeger would have worked since that’s the “next” thing that happens in the canon after Snake Eater. Makes it tied to the other games enough to not have certain types of people complaining about it being pointless, and it’s a new setting they could insert their own small MGS story, characters, and locations into to show us they can.

Also MGSV needs a remake, like, yesterday! Fuck it let’s remake Delta!!!!

[Aragorn]

Where does the idea that they don't own the FOX engine actually comes from? I don't think it's been sold off. It's likely just less cost efficient than UE5 - and people vastly overestimate how much an engine actually impacts gameplay feel. The differences come in performance and visuals.

In terms of entirely new games, IMO a Revengeance sequel makes sense, and a prequel with The Boss is still open ground to play around with. I don't really care for more midquels - I don't need a whole game on the one day Big Boss beat up Miller or whatever; unless they create an anthology style game with disconnected episodes for these minor events.

MG1/MG2 makes the most sense, so does MGS1. MGS V Redux is tantalizing but I doubt it'll happen.

[Aragorn]

Actually - i'm gonna go serial hater for a second: when you look past performance and relative fidelity, the FOX engine has a lot of limitations that could be improved upon.

1. Its physics left quite a bit to be desired. I'm replaying MGS V at the moment and you'll find the game can sometimes really struggle with certain slopes/angles and interactions with Snake's various movement modes (standing, sprinting, walking, crouching, prone, etc). Might seem minor - but it can be painful when a perfect run is ruined because Snake froze at a perfectly normal 30 degrees angle.

2. Pop in is pretty atrocious. The game circumvents this with the binoculars to some extent, but its clear the game had to take a lot of shortcuts with draw distance to maintain performance. Where this becomes a real problem is how it impacts enemy density and your ability to properly plan with marking.

3. Speaking of density, this places heavy limitation on how alive the world can be. It's a crime that we didn't get to sneak around active battlefields like we did in MGS 4 - or vibrant towns, etc.

4. Visually there were a lot of flat textures, low poly shortcuts, etc. It had a great lighting system which hid a lot of flaws.

I guess the point i'm trying to make here is game engines aren't the be all end all of an experience

[Jassassino]

I think Konami would definitely still own it, just shelved it - the problem being maybe that a lot of the developers who helped produce it with the software designers in the first place aren't employed there anymore. I imagine it's a steep learning curve to get a bunch of other people and new employees learning it, for it to not be an Industry Standard tool. That must be a ridiculous amount of money spent in training and upskilling. I'd probably shelf it too.

After what we've seen with Oblivion Remaster though, still running the original version of Creation Engine it was built on with UE5 attached for visuals, sound, etc. I can see something like that happening in coming years with MGSV/GZ. In which case I guess they would have to have basic working knowledge among their staff with FE to get it running properly.

[Aragorn]

I think Konami would definitely still own it, just shelved it - the problem being maybe that a lot of the developers who helped produce it with the software designers in the first place aren't employed there anymore. I imagine it's a steep learning curve to get a bunch of other people and new employees learning it, for it to not be an Industry Standard tool. That must be a ridiculous amount of money spent in training and upskilling. I'd probably shelf it too.

After what we've seen with Oblivion Remaster though, still running the original version of Creation Engine it was built on with UE5 attached for visuals, sound, etc. I can see something like that happening in coming years with MGSV/GZ. In which case I guess they would have to have basic working knowledge among their staff with FE to get it running properly.

This is a bit hearsay too but apparently it wasn't actually that easy to work with; and a big part of the resource drain on V that drove a wedge between Koji and Konami was the complications with the FOX engine - and that might be why they didn't just license it like Guerilla did with the DECIMA engine. They still used it up to 2020 for PES and Survive, so it's clear that they tried until it stopped being viable.

In general, custom solutions seem to be a losing game in the world of software - and trying to brute force a one size fits all tool set rarely ever works. Just look at what EA's Frostbite mandate did to a ton of its proprietary assets e.g BioWare.

[Dirty Duck]

I don’t know why I’m citing Nintendo games when the obvious comparison is actually FF7 Remake Intergade’s Episode INTERmission where you play as Yuffie doing her own thing. It introduced mechanics that then appeared in Rebirth and gave a short self contained story-and it was really good!

In terms of entirely new games, IMO a Revengeance sequel makes sense, and a prequel with The Boss is still open ground to play around with. I don't really care for more midquels - I don't need a whole game on the one day Big Boss beat up Miller or whatever; unless they create an anthology style game with disconnected episodes for these minor events.

MG1/MG2 makes the most sense, so does MGS1. MGS V Redux is tantalizing but I doubt it'll happen.

A Revengeance Sequel is probably the most exciting prospect in terms of having faith it’ll be good. Unlike Delta’s team we’ve seen what Platinum Games can do and there’s no reason to think they couldn’t do it again, and it’s good they’re clearly still on good terms with the MGS team even after Kojima’s departure.

I still think a Philanthropy game is the perfect framing narrative for an anthology style MGS game and it’s probably the only interquel time period I’d much care for along with Raiden’s Sunny rescue. I don’t want to see more Big Boss, and I don’t want them to try and cram another Snake chapter into the story when his entire timeline is accounted for in a much tighter way than Big Boss’ ever was. And while it was an idea I liked as a teen I don’t want a Boss fronted game.

This may sound incredibly outlandish but I’d actually have a lot of respect if the new team gave us a new protagonist. Raiden is the first and only time we got a character who was absolutely new as the protagonist. I don’t think it’s something they’d be bold enough to do, but would you guys play an MGS with a new protag?