Your thoughts on Master Collection Vol. 2's Contents?

[Dirty Duck]

Hello! Here's another of our "Cardboard Box Vox Pops", where we get the general consensus of the forum on some simple questions.
For those of you that use a theme with a sidebox you'll have noticed the poll has appeared there to maximise the number of votes we get. If you wish to explain your answer feel free to in this thread, but otherwise, feel free to vote and explain nothing!

This time our question is about your thoughts on MGS Master Collection Vol. 2's contents?

[NateDog]

I said disappointed as I hoped for Rising and/or wanted at least Portable Ops although I didn't expect it. That being said this release isn't for me as I have access to everything if I want it, happy for those with no PS3 to get MGS4.

[Wayno]

I think just getting MGS4 out of purgatory is phenomenal on it's own. Yeah, it's annoying there isn't a great deal in the "collection" but I need to be more positive, apparently so I'm sticking with that stance.

[black king]

MGS4 and PW remain my only really unplayed games, so I'll probably be getting it.

[Jassassino]

I think I'm excited for MGS4's escape of PS3 dungeon and excited Ghost Babel will also be out of the Gameboy dungeon, but I wish Rising was on it too.

Makes me wonder what Collection Vol 3 will be? Rising, AC!D and Portable Ops, and then maybe Metal Gear Solid Mobile? With such a heavy sway toward portable titles, maybe they'll hold off until Sony's new handheld comes out and put it out as a launch collection. 🤔

Also not even joking I'd fucking love MGS Mobile to be on one of these collections. Think that would be insane. Probably more likely to get a Pachinko port though let's be real.

[starschwar]

Freeing MGS4 from its PS3-exclusive prison after 18 years is a benefit to the fandom. The end of the saga should be available to modern and non-Sony hardware. Furthermore, I can't wait to see what it's like at high resolutions and 60FPS. I'd tinkered with emulation and while some cutscene physics were wonky, the game is absolutely gorgeous when it is fluid under such circumstances. It really was held back by hardware. This is a massive win for fans new and old alike.

Peace Walker is an important part of the story, especially connecting 3 to 5, and likewise I'm glad it is now multiplat. I can't imagine any serious improvements beyond resolution compared to the HD collection. And there's only so much mileage PSP geometry can get. But this is good. Very happy CO OP is retained.

Ghost Babel is a hidden gem. I don't care for the MSX games, but this one "felt" much more like the 3D titles in spite of being 8 Bit. The Gameboy Color obscurity is something every fan should give a try at some point.


Volume 3: The most likely candidates are Portable Ops, Rising, Mobile, and the ACID games. Maybe Twin Snakes if rights issues can be sorted out. There's really not much else is there? Social Ops and Touch - there was no story at all in those, right? Pseudo-canon or otherwise? MGSV is also possible as it's never made it to a Nintendo system, but I doubt that's a high priority right now. I guess the 3DS version of Snake Eater might happen. Oh ! And Survive. I keep forgetting that existed.

[st3ve]

I'm glad mgs4 is finally free from the ps3, but to be honest I'm most excited for ghost babel. From what I've heard, 4 is essentially 50% cutscenes, and I've watched all of them multiple times atp so I don't know if there's a huge amount I can get from it. Ghost babel I'm far less familiar with, and it seems to be about as close to a solid game as a 2d game can get, so I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to play it.

[Dirty Duck]

I'm glad mgs4 is finally free from the ps3, but to be honest I'm most excited for ghost babel. From what I've heard, 4 is essentially 50% cutscenes, and I've watched all of them multiple times atp so I don't know if there's a huge amount I can get from it. Ghost babel I'm far less familiar with, and it seems to be about as close to a solid game as a 2d game can get, so I'm really looking forward to getting a chance to play it.

I feel as if the reports of MGS4 being mostly cutscenes is a bit exaggerated. There are a lot but it's definitely not 50%! There's lots of good gameplay stuff in there.

Ghost Babel being in the collection hasn't stopped me from desperately wanting the overpriced cartridge to play it on a Game Boy Color-but I've always been a big Game Boy fan so I suppose that figures.

[starschwar]

MGS4's gameplay has had bad reputation from day one. Yes, the imbalance between cutscene and gameplay is severe - it's pretty much the opposite ratio of Phantom Pain. But Guns of the Patriots is fun! Octocamo, a huge arsenal of weapons, set pieces that kick all kinds of ass, boss fights that are mechanically enjoyable.... I wish there were more and longer sections, I wish the "sneak through a warzone" aspect was utilized for more of the game. But it's a good time. And being able to experience it at (what I hope to be) a smooth 60 frames per second is going to be a literal game changer.

[starschwar]

Steve's post also gave me some thoughts. I've taken MGS4 for granted. But in the 18 years(!) since its release, how many newer MGS fans have been denied a chance to play it due to not having PS3s? It's so weird that such an important part of the canon has been locked to one and only one platform - that none of its successors had backwards compatibility for - for as long as it has. If it were something like Mobile, I wouldn't mind. But having the ending trapped on hardware released in 2006 until 2026 is pretty nonsensical.

It'd be like if Return of the King had been exclusively released on HD-DVD.

Or if the theatrical cuts of the original Star Wars trilogy were never released in anything above Laserdisc quality until 2027. Wait - that one's true. Sorry.