Went back to MGSV for probably the 5th time and I still don't like it. As someone who loved the sandbox elements in 3 and played the hell out of that, it baffles me how V has gained the reputation of "best gameplay in the series". For one, you've got an "open-world" that only lets you travel along specific paths to encounter guard outposts at pretty much the same angle each time with minimal options to route around them, and the guard pathing is often actually simpler than it was in 3, meaning that for any given outpost there's only a couple ways to go through it. The areas also seem as if they were designed with a completely different process from how they were designed in the classic Metal Gear entries, as if MGS 1-3 levels were probably drafted up as a VR missions sort of thing and then converted into levels to make sure they're fun, whereas for V, levels were drafted up through concept art and put together without much thought into how they'd actually play to make them look good. Sad considering Ground Zeroes was such a good level.
There's also the animations and how they got the same treatment as RE4 remake where they're no longer snappy and now have lots of weight and momentum. Naked Snake himself lacks the refined control of his body that Big Boss and Solid Snake have, and instead just throws himself at the ground and shit which is pretty immersion breaking, since for someone who's supposed to be stealthy the way he moves is unnecessarily loud. The (default) controls are also just shit, with weapon swapping mapped to the D-pad for some reason so you can't swap while moving (can't use the right hand to do this because you need the right analog stick to change equips). Also, pushing the control stick inward to sprint is awkward, and having the horse's sprint button map to the X button/square is retarded; what other game uses the button furthest away from your thumb for sprinting, the one you're going to be holding for the longest amount of time? Why is there so much unnecessary life sim/base building shit tacked on to this game when the basic mechanics are so incomplete?
Also, the fact that good items come from the progression system and not from the levels makes exploring Afghanistan way more boring knowing you won't find anything cool. I can't understand how this is meant to be the peak of Metal Gear gameplay, it's such a step backwards. I'm guessing it's because they put a progression slop system on the game that people praise it. It's on a low tier out of the stealth games that I've played. Willing to hear any defenses for it but 13 hours in and it still seems pretty bad.
