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Part Ten: About Alice Now that Snake's finished his vandalism, we can finally move on to the Residential Zone and, hopefully, catch up to Flemming.   What a great hiding spot this is. Roger: Snake, it seems that Senator Hach, aboard Flight 326, managed to contact the White House. He stated that a number of people on board are already dead, due to vecuronium bromide fumes. The hijackers' anaesthetic gas plan seems to be less and less well-thought-out every time we hear something about it. If Hach died, they'd lose all their leverage. Roger: He also spoke of another type of killing. It was assumed that the hijackers were operating away from the plane, but now it seems that one or more of them are hiding among the prisoners. The additional murders have nothing to do with vecuronium bromide. The pilot and copilot were both found dead -- their carotid arteries severed -- with the numbers "1" and "14" carved into their chests. A stewardess was killed as well -- found with an "11" carved into her forehead.  Snake understands killin' but not what "eleven" is. Roger: The hijackers made sure to transmit an image of each corpse using the onboard camera. Those images are being analyzed at headquarters.   Little bit of static on the line, I guess. Snake: Have you found out anything on Flemming's whereabouts? Roger: Negative. Nothing has shown up on our spy satellites. And Alice isn't back yet.  Frankly, Snake's got a point here. Even if Alice really is psychic, it's clear that Snake is totally unwilling to work professionally with her. Just give her a half day.  But let's talk about this instead. Snake: Never heard of it. Roger: The Burtons own a large oil company. It's time for another classic Metal Gear trope, someone telling a story even though it's absolutely not the time. Roger: Harold Burton, head of the family business, was brutally murdered about a month ago. His body was found with multiple stab wounds. Hundreds of them. That's a lot of stab wounds. Roger: At first, authorities believed the motive behind Burton's death was purely due to a grudge. But along with the unusual amount of stab wounds, his corpse was found completely naked, except for a NEKAL brand nightcap on his head. The murderer was full of contempt for Burton. We've heard of NEKAL once before, in that weird "commercial" during the intro.  Snake doesn't seem very invested in this story. Roger: Several days later, the authorities had named four bodyguards as suspects in the murder case -- all of whom had disappeared. But they lacked any solid proof that these bodyguards had done anything wrong. Eventually, all four of them were found dead, too. Snake: ...   Roger is undeterred by Snake not giving a gently caress. Roger: That's when Alice tracked down the suspected bodyguards, and led the FBI to all four corpses. That's only a taste of what she's accomplished.  Roger: Supernatural abilities and mystical phenomena were nothing more than superstition, so I thought. But Alice is the real thing. She's made a believer out of me.  So here's Roger, laying out the case that Alice is a real psychic. But again, the issue was never Alice's ability, it was the fact that Snake is being a jerk to her for absolutely no reason and it's interfering with the mission.   Roger: Alice. You're back. Alice: I'm only here for the mission. It's time to get some work done. Snake: Amen. We can finally agree on something. I guess that sets us up to get back to the task at hand.  Uh, once the scene ends. Roger: East wing? Alice: Flemming is somewhere in that vicinity. Roger: Did you view that somehow?   I like that Alice, maybe a teenager, is being the adult in the room here. Roger: Well, you heard her, Snake. Flemming's in the East Wing. So get moving. Snake: Right. East Wing it is. Might as well, since I have nothing else to go on.  Pictured: Roger slowly realising that Roy Campbell's recommendation to get Solid Snake on this job was a prank.  There's a lot going on in this mission, so I'm going to cut the update here, leaving you all to ponder Snake's rear end.
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Feb 26, 2018 22:48
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When is this game supposed to happen? If it happens after MGS1 then lol at all this doubt from Snek
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Feb 27, 2018 00:16
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It's not in the same canon as MGS.
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Feb 27, 2018 01:33
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I enjoy lovely grumpy Snake. Looks like he's become waaay more jaded since being hosed over and lied to in Shadow Moses. Good for him.
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Feb 27, 2018 07:00
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Kase moch posted:I enjoy lovely grumpy Snake. Looks like he's become waaay more jaded since being hosed over and lied to in Shadow Moses. Good for him. This Snake never went to Shadow Moses. It would be rather odd if he had, considering his opinion on psychics.
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Feb 27, 2018 07:36
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This is a snake that retired after beating his father to death with his bare hands in a minefield and then had over a decade to reflect on it in alaska with noone to talk to, yeah.
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Feb 27, 2018 07:40
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So he doesn't believe in silly things like psychics, only things like assassination squads trained to work in elevators and cyborgs trained by NASA.
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Feb 27, 2018 16:51
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DACK FAYDEN posted:So he doesn't believe in silly things like psychics, only things like assassination squads trained to work in elevators and cyborgs trained by NASA. Look, the FOXHOUND training regimen is super weird, but not that weird.
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Feb 27, 2018 18:45
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Babysitter Super Sleuth posted:This is a snake that retired after beating his father to death with his bare hands in a minefield and then had over a decade to reflect on it in alaska with noone to talk to, yeah. Nah, it was beating his best friend to death in the minefield and killing his father with a makeshift flamethrower. You'd probably be pissy too if you had to deal with poisonous hamsters and neutralizing acid with the chocolate in your rations.
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Feb 28, 2018 12:53
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dscruffy1 posted:You'd probably be pissy too if you had to deal with poisonous hamsters and neutralizing acid with the chocolate in your rations. Don’t forget the magic owls that make guards believe it’s time for a shift change. And don’t tell me it was nanomachines, those didn’t exist in 1998 even in Metal Gear land. Parasites, maybe.
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Feb 28, 2018 20:43
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Captain Walker posted:Don’t forget the magic owls that make guards believe it’s time for a shift change. And don’t tell me it was nanomachines, those didn’t exist in 1998 even in Metal Gear land. I love how blatantly the parasites in TPP are just a stand-in for Nanomachines because they don't exist yet. Meanwhile, Snake is using his iPhone to get his D-Walker delivered & wondering who he should steal with wormholes. Psychics though, like I'm gonna buy into that scam.
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Mar 1, 2018 00:19
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HitTheTargets posted:I love how blatantly the parasites in TPP are just a stand-in for Nanomachines because they don't exist yet. Meanwhile, Snake is using his iPhone to get his D-Walker delivered & wondering who he should steal with wormholes. Just the really stupid poo poo like Ultrabox and Black Color and that loving owl and imported squeaky sand and orphans stuck in rooms and the only entrance sealed up so it looks like there was never a door there in the first place, for some reason.
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Mar 1, 2018 13:07
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Part Eleven: Snake Logs On Now that the cutscene is over, it's time to get the mission started.   The Residential Zone is a pretty big map, made up of these small pathways outside of the three main buildings. There's one guard on this first path, which isn't much of a hazard, but I wanted to point out that the guards are a little hardier these days. Now, instead of 40 HP, they've got 80, and four equipment slots. On top of that, they now start with 4 cards in their hands, so the SOCOM/CQC knockdown effect won't knock them out straight away.   There are also a couple of guards on the other side of the first building here.   Nobody on the east side of the map, though.   Getting to the actual gameplay, this guard just goes back and forth like this over and over.  And I drew about the worst hand possible. I haven't covered it yet, but the Meryl card is a Cost reducer; unlike Cost -4, though, it reduces the user's Cost by half. Character cards like this one also have a little additional feature:  First, as befits a "special move" a little screen pops up with the card effect's name on it.  And then a clip of the character in question plays. There's no audio that goes with these, so you get stuff like Meryl staring wordlessly at the camera for a second before the actual game starts up again. If you use a lot of character cards, you can turn these cutaways off in the menu.   In order to draw the guard's attention, I knocked on the wall.    Then I ducked under a box and slipped behind him, into the building.  I put a little too much focus on cost reduction with this deck. The only weapons I have are the SOCOM and Chaff Grenades.  There's one guard inside the building, at the south end of the hall.  Before anything happens with him, there's a cutscene as soon as Snake steps through the door.  Snake: What is it? Alice: I had a vision... a premonition. Roger: Premonition? What did you see, Alice? Alice: The barrel of a gun... pressed to his head... a ridiculously large gun. Roger: ...  Sounds like bad news for Snake. Roger: ... Snake: ...  Snake: ...  Well, back to gameplay!   The buildings all have little side rooms like this. Some of them have MGS1 packs inside:  Like this one. But they all have IR detectors right past the doors, so you have to crawl in to get them. There's nothing in the MGS1 pack I need at the moment, so I just left them to languish.  The guard ahead has his back to the wall, so I can't sneak behind him. And the hallway Snake's in is only one square wide, so I can't draw him out by knocking.  The only move he'll make on his own is to turn around and watch the hallway.   So what I do is I toss a Chaff Grenade in front of him.   Now it's back outside.  This guy's no problem.   The path leads down this way, but there's nothing important inside the building. The crates you can see in this hallway block the way out to the south.  Unlike the first building, though, this one has a north exit as well.  The direct path is blocked, since that yellow door is locked.    Instead, the way forward is down this ladder. There's a trench leading south down here.  And, at the other end, a ladder up.   You have to crawl under the stairs here, which slows things down a bit.  And then, of course, you have to watch out for the guard on the other end. This is the same guy Snake passed coming out of the first building, by the way.  He's in the way...   Thankfully, the trusty ol' box keeps him from making any other problems.  And now the south half of the building is open. The side room's empty, so it's just a quick jump through here.  Back Outside, Roger gets Snake on the horn again. Roger: Snake, it's a room in the East Wing. Alice thinks she has a fix on Flemming's location.  Snake might not believe in her, but if she's right, it's a hell of a call. Alice: But I can't tell if it's Flemming. It's as if he's been captured... hands tied behind his back... moving about restlessly. Snake: The far east end, right? Roger: But she doesn't feel the presence of any guards in the area. So he's tied up, but nobody's keeping watch? Snake: That's odd. If they're after Pythagoras, Flemming is their star hostage. How could they just leave him unsupervised -- no guards, nothing?  Ladies and gentlemen, the combined efforts of The World's Greatest Mercenary and a veteran member of the CIA.  And now, while Solid Snake stands in the middle of this bridge, let's talk about Leone. Roger: He calls himself "Leone, the Lion," and has over 100 soldiers at his disposal. His unit is made up of men who've lost their homeland. A guy who has an animal codename and collects soldiers that have abandoned their countries? What a stunningly original idea to see in a Metal Gear game. Roger: Men from small countries in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, put under United States aegis after their civil wars. I told you earlier that Leone's men don't share a common ideology.  I don't think it's necessarily intentional, since this game was released before Peace Walker or Portable Ops were on the radar, but there are an awful lot of similarities between Leone's unit and Big Boss's MSF here.  Roger: To overthrow U.S. puppet regimes and restore independence to each country. They despise America and seek revenge. Leone is a seasoned veteran, able to control even such a motley group as this. Snake: But why would these mercenaries be bothered with Moloni? Roger: ...I don't know. But what I do know is these people aren't legitimate soldiers, Snake. There's no telling what they'll pull.  Roger: Either way, you need to find out the truth. Snake: Yeah, I'm with you there.  Well, let's go spring this trap. How come I don't have control?  ...Oh.  Haven't heard from Gary in a while, have we? Snake: ...Gary? What is it? Gary: The room you're headed for is probably fitted with a security system. A charge-coupled device scans its target, and if it matches a preprogrammed description, you're in. But an alarm will sound if you're not registered.   Despite us not having had a perfect fix on Flemming's location earlier, apparently Gary knows the specific room. Would've been handy. Snake: So how should I handle it? Gary: You should be able to register at the terminal in the East Wing, but I don't know the password.  Snake doesn't know how to use a computer. Gary: Maybe. I really don't know. Roger: No, Snake. The lab info we've acquired from various organizations should provide us with a list of potential passwords. If everybody at the lab has to use this terminal, it's probably just "Password" or "12345" or something. Roger: We've also received a wealth of info that the Spenser Unit, assigned to this mission before you, didn't have access to. You might as well try it. Head for the East Wing, Snake. We have to find a way to get you past security.  As in, like, literally right around the corner and through that door.  That's where the terminal is.   Why even bother hanging up at this point? Roger: Snake, I'm going to list off a string of potential passwords. Type them in as I read them. Snake: OK! Roger: First try: "Pythagoras." P - Y - T - H - A - G - O - R - A - S.  All the terminal does (visibly) at this point is show some text on the screen. Snake does not know how to use a computer.  What the gently caress?  Why did you hang up? Snake: I don't know.  Unfortunately, there are no famous people named Hans Davis for me to say that Snake is. Roger: Hans Davis? Anyone you know? Snake: No. Roger: You've never been in this lab before... Have you? Snake: Never. Roger: Well, there are two possibilities. Either the machine is broken, or you're "Hans Davis." The most likely possibility, that Hans was the last one to use the thing and forgot to log out, occurs to neither of these men.  Snake: I've never gone by that name. Roger: Well, it bugs the hell out of me what happened, but you've been granted access as Hans Davis, so you should be able to get through the East Wing. Check each room. Snake: Right.  And now it's back to gameplay!  ...For all of a minute, while you move down this hallway. I'll spare you the checking of every room and jump straight to the end.  You can tell this one's important, since it pulls you out of gameplay.  What - or who - could be inside...?
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Mar 2, 2018 23:01
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You know it's a Metal Gear LP when the update starts with "alright, the cutscene is over" and it's still half-cutscene. 
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Mar 2, 2018 23:27
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Snake's got this real seedy used car salesman or broke would-be actor in his early 30s trying to weasel his way into the party kinda thing goin on in his portrait. You need a different headshot Snake, you'll never get a call back with that look.
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Mar 3, 2018 04:43
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Tag yourself, I'm Hans Davis
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Mar 3, 2018 05:26
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Kase moch posted:Snake's got this real seedy used car salesman or broke would-be actor in his early 30s trying to weasel his way into the party kinda thing goin on in his portrait. You need a different headshot Snake, you'll never get a call back with that look. I'd say he's getting a lot of calls
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Mar 3, 2018 16:54
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I think his portrait has a kind of Jecht from FFX look going on more than anything else.
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Mar 4, 2018 08:59
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His skin has a grayish hue that really sells the "alcoholic living alone in Alaska for a decade" aesthetic Snake is going for.
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Mar 4, 2018 14:21
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Snake looks tired to me, like the kind of guy who would say he's too old for this poo poo.
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Mar 4, 2018 16:36
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Part Twelve: Snake Meets the Big Man After a lot of  But, you know, Snake can't wipe his rear end without taking a radio call. Snake: Roger, the door opened. I was granted access to the quarters.  The punctuation on this line strikes me as disproportionate to the situation.  Snake's a lot more blasé than Roger. Snake: The security system identified me as Hans Davis. Can you check that name out? Roger: Absolutely. In the meantime, go see if Flemming's inside. Snake: Right.   They didn't even give this guy a chair?  Snake: Take it easy. Let me get that bag off your head.  Because of engine limitations, two characters can't be on the same tile at the same time, so this is as close to the hostage as Snake can get.  Before Snake can do anything else, though, Leone walks onto the scene.   Outside, Leone's men move in to secure the area.  Snake: drat! And so, Snake, who walked into a trap, is trapped.  Roger: Snake! That's all Roger has to say at the moment. They probably could have cut this line.  Snake: ...Leone, is it?  There's not a lot of talk about Snake's previous missions in this game, but there are a few references to him being famous or "legendary" in the game that, combined with the manual talking about Snake being ex-FOXHOUND, makes me think that at least one of the two MSX games happened in the backstory.  If nothing else, Snake's reputation is strong. Leone: But to me, you're no more than a hapless clown. No, not even a clown. You're nothing like that... Snake: Like what? Snake doesn't really know what clowns are like. Leone's blowing up his whole self-image here. Leone: Each time your master throws a stick, you go fetch it -- bring it back with a wagging tail. You're just a pitiful dog. Snake: ... Leone: The U. S. Government got you this far. You couldn't even tie your own shoes without Uncle Sam's help.  Dammit, Snake, stop thinking about his equipment.  The command staff seems to react to things pretty freely, so it's a little weird that they have to keep calling.  Roger: You've got to buy her some time. Somehow I don't think Snake would be impressed by this plan.  Snake: How do you get around with that spare-tire gut? Perhaps just as a show of defiance against Alice, Snake goes straight to insulting Leone. Leone: ...  Pretty short conversation.  Snake: Why does a such a big boy like yourself need to hide behind so many men? Can't hold your own in a fight? I only included the screen there to show off the fact that the shot is focussed on the soldier's rear end.  Leone: But there's no time to play. We've got something much more important to take care of. Snake: It's Pythagoras, isn't it? What makes it so special? What is it exactly, and why are you searching for it? Leone: You know, Snake... Flemming is a key element to fulfilling your mission. It's too bad I have to snuff out that element. Right here. Right now.   Leone's being less cooperative than Snake had hoped.  The "mercenary of mercenaries" over here is sure being taken for a lot of loops. Leone: Looks like doggy went to fetch the wrong stick.  Leone: I'm sure his master will bury him in a pet cemetery along with all the other loyal dogs.  Luckily for Snake, someone chucks a grenade in from off-screen.    Also luckily for Snake, it's only a flashbang, so he's not killed instantly. Leone: drat! A survivor...  At least he's smart enough to book it.  Even if he does immediately turn around and start shooting.   Probably a better plan than the shootout.  Been a while since we've seen Teliko around, eh?  Snake: Huh? I guess she's trying to impress him with her own animal codename. Teliko: We'll have to fight our way up to the North Exit to get out of here. I have a "Card LV. 1". Now we can open that yellow door I mentioned earlier.   With new orders given, the objective marker for this mission is finally placed.  And the mission restarts.  As usual, the first turn is Snake's, but there are a couple things to point out. The first is that the second half of the mission takes place in a permanent Alert Phase. The second is Teliko's health bar up in the top-left corner - Snake's made a friend.   Around the map, there are various new guards moving in on Snake and Teliko's position. What this part of the mission really comes down to is movement - the quicker you can get around to the north exit, the better.  ...Which brings us to Teliko's deck. Teliko's deck is a lot like Snake's starting deck - a lot of high-Cost flash, very little focus on movement. It doesn't help, either, that we need that keycard to get to the exit, but she's only got one copy in her deck. The biggest obstacle to me completing this mission was figuring out a way to burn through Teliko's deck without getting her and Snake killed.  I did a lot of discarding.  For example, I dumped this Equipment LV. 3, which is 15 Cost and totally unnecessary given the other content of the deck.  Meanwhile, I just have Snake haul rear end across the map.   In about two turns, I have him parked here under the walkway. It's the safest spot I could find for Snake to wait.   I also had him throw a Chaff Grenade to distract this guy, even though it doesn't matter at all. Getting spotted at this point doesn't count against your score at the end of the mission.  Snake's now just sitting here until I get Teliko and the card over. Since his Cost is low, Snake's getting two and three turns per round, all of which I have to end immediately.  As for Teliko, since I don't want to kill anyone, I just ran her up the road here. You can see, though, that she's at 13 Cost - since her starting deck isn't optimised at all, she runs the Cost up very quickly. Generally speaking, every guard on the map will get an action between Teliko's turns.  This means that Teliko gets shot a lot.   The Olga Gurlukovich card does nothing except draw 3 new cards. This is one of Teliko's most useful cards in this situation.  I suppose I should also point out here that it says "Rest 1/3." Teliko can take three actions per turn by default, which gives her a small advantage over Snake, who only gets two. On the other hand, Snake can use Action + cards to get up to four per turn, while Teliko can't.  There are a lot of guards moving up the lane. The smart thing to do probably would have been to kill a couple of them, but I was feeling stubborn.  Finally, with 9 cards left in her deck, Teliko drew the Card LV. 1.   As a bit of added hassle, you have to stop next to a card-locked door to open it. This means that the optimal strategy is to park one character while the other moves through. It's similar to how the card keys worked up through the first Metal Gear Solid, where you had to actively equip them to open doors. It also sucks for the exact same reason: you have to waste a valuable equipment slot to do it.  The one small mercy in this situation is that Teliko can stop on the far side of the door.   Only one of the two has to actually reach the goal for the mission to end, which is also nice.  And there it is, mission complete!   I was legitimately surprised that this was an S rank - 210 Cost is a lot, to my mind.  Like I said, none of the MGS1 packs on this map are worth collecting.  The bonuses also kind of suck. Otacon could be interesting, I suppose - it increases per-shot damage and accuracy by 10 and makes the weapon it's attached to armour-piercing. Pretty situational, though.  It's not quite back to the Intermission yet, though, so tune in next time as Snake and Teliko get to know each other.
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Mar 5, 2018 23:43
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Oh god, I forgot how bad the card key system was in this game. Did the sequel improve upon them like it did with regular doors and whatnot?
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Mar 7, 2018 17:13
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If I remember right, they just took card key cards out of the sequel completely. So, yes.
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Mar 7, 2018 20:05
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How much real-world time does it take to do a mission? Could this game be reasonably speedrun?
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Mar 8, 2018 18:00
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I'd say it takes me probably 20 or 30 minutes for most missions. You could probably speedrun it, especially on a new game + file.
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Mar 8, 2018 20:04
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That seems like an odd effect for the Otacon card. I think the closest he came to a gun was having a crush on Sniper Wolf.
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Mar 8, 2018 22:56
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HitTheTargets posted:That seems like an odd effect for the Otacon card. I think the closest he came to a gun was having a crush on Sniper Wolf. But he also knows about weakpoints, character flaws and timed hits, ever since he told Snake how to kill REX
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Mar 9, 2018 01:29
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Part Thirteen: The Snake and the Swallowtail Having successfully escaped Leone's ambush, Snake and Teliko now have a chance to get to know each other.  Oh, no, Snake just hadn't had a chance to put his master plan into action yet. Teliko: According to Yin and Yang, finding a butterfly in the first throes foretells good luck throughout the year. In capturing the Metal Gear Solid tone, Metal Gear Acid also captures a recurring theme: everyone in the military is a loving nerd. Teliko: Actually, finding a yellow butterfly or swallowtail brings good luck, but a white one is bad luck. I'm a swallowtail -- bringer of good fortune. Understand?  Snake doesn't put any more stock in Teliko's Yin and Yang than he puts in Alice's ESP.  I like Snake calling it "ying" here, just like someone who honestly does not care would do. Teliko: Basically...   Roger doesn't want to hear this again, either. Roger: It's great to hear your voice again. Teliko: Hello, Colonel. It has been a while. Guess these two know each other, then.  Teliko: I may be the only one left. Roger: Was it Leone's unit that... Teliko: Yes. She didn't even let him finish the question.  Because she had to ask this really important one instead. Roger: I am.  Roger: Oh, yes. Sorry. Teliko, this is the moment you've been waiting for.  Teliko: I'm Teliko Friedman. Snake: Solid Snake.  And here's another one of those Metal Gear Solid moments, someone encountering Solid Snake and being in awe at meeting this living legend. This is a big part of Metal Gear Acid's success in matching the tone of the larger games. Roger: Back when I was a visiting instructor at the FBI, Teliko was just a rookie. I told her all about you. Teliko: That's right. Hearing about Solid Snake's adventures really inspired me.  Snake asks a good question here, since most of his adventures are, like... bad. I'm not sure you want to tell the FBI rookies about the guy who beat his best friend to death with his bare hands in the middle of a minefield as a pep talk. Roger: Not fairy tales. All the stories are recorded as factual events. I'm in a position to know. I will give the game some credit, though, because they never do specifically talk about Snake's deeds. Maybe in the Acid canon, Solid Snake isn't the most frequently-betrayed man in military history. Snake: We have more important things to worry about right now, Roger. One of them being that Flemming wasn't really Flemming. Snake shouldn't know this yet. Leone said the guy was Flemming right before shooting him, and nobody contradicted it. Roger: Hmm. The imposter might've been one of Leone's men.  Snake: What? Teliko: I caught an earful of some soldiers' complaints when they were ordered to move him. I heard the name Flemming, so I decided to follow... Roger: You followed them? So you must know what room he's being held in, too. Teliko: Yes. And I got a good look at his face.  How? Roger: So when Gary told us that Flemming was being kept in the residential quarters... Teliko: Gary? Roger: He's one of the lab engineers. It seems the lab workers were forced onto a boat and shipped somewhere, but he managed to escape.  Teliko: It's hard to believe that someone could get past Leone so easily. Snake: Maybe Gary is one of Leone's...   Everyone on this mission is just constantly listening to Snake's radio, waiting for a chance to jump on a call with him. Gary: I'm Gary. 100% Gary Murray. No more, no less. I know I saw them taking away Dr. Flemming. Roger: Maybe Leone allowed Gary to escape, knowing that he would lead us in the wrong direction with false information. Gary: So you're saying that... he used me to trap you? Teliko: If you're really who you say you are. Gary: That's it. What's your problem, missy?  Teliko just wants to have a goofy animal name like her hero, I guess.  But Gary's not on board. Teliko: The Yin and Yang says that finding a butterfly in the first throes of spring... Gary: I have no idea what you're rambling about. Snake: I had to suffer through that whole speech.  ...She says, after they just spent like ten minutes in the middle of this mission chit-chatting. Roger: I know how he feels. Teliko: ... The scene actually closes here with the results screen, but I moved it up to the end of the last update to keep the flow.  And now we can check in with Minette back on the plane. Minette: Do I have to, like... turn it off or something? This isn't, like... one of those reality shows or anything, right, Alice? "We put a bomb on a plane and then see if the passengers can disarm it" would be a hell of a pitch. Minette: A lot of TV shows in England have started having movie stars on, and then they, like... get tricked on the air. Planting a bomb is one of the most classic pranks possible. Minette: That's not what's happening here, right? Alice? Are you listening?  The background actually changes to reflect Minette moving through the hold here, which is neat.  Oh, Alice does have lines in this part. Nice of her to show up. Minette: You just keep telling me to look, Alice. Aren't you the one with second sight? Alice: If I don't concentrate, my senses scatter, and I lose sight. Minette: So concentrate, then.  Maybe Snake was right about Alice's competence... Alice: Three people were murdered on that plane. Each of them had a number carved into them. Could those numbers be... No, it can't be him. But even if he's not directly responsible, he could be involved somehow. No. Maybe someone is trying to frame him. That would make more sense. But... She should probably be telling this to Roger, not Minette.  Alice: ...  While Alice babbles cryptically to an uncaring child, it's time for Elsie and Frances. Frances: That's right. Every plane is U.S. are space is under my control. A quick google search told me that there are about 5,000 commercial flights over the US at any time. Frances: I can do whatever I want with them. If the U.S. government doesn't treat me right, Those passengers'll suffer. Elsie: Boy, I wouldn't want to get on your bad side! Frances: You'd better not!   That's a new one on us. Elsie: But the woman next to me started screaming and I got all panicked, so I had to kill her too... Frances: ...  This scene closes with this shot, which symbolises that some air traffic controller is getting fired tomorrow because they let a spider build a web on their radar.
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Mar 13, 2018 19:19
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We're not quite there but this is about the point the game's plot starts to kick into "holy poo poo what is happening" territory.
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Mar 21, 2018 01:49
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Bonus Update: The Teliko Friedman Starter Pack Now that Teliko has joined forces with Snake, her deck is available to edit as well. Since the card shop's already available by this point, her starting deck will see less use than Snake's, but it's still worth taking a look at, if only to introduce some of the new cards. Unlike Snake's deck, which was made up of primarily MGS1 pack cards, a lot of Teliko's come from the MGS2 pack, so there's a lot of new stuff here. Like we did with Snake, let's start with Teliko's weapons:  Not everything in this deck is new. Teliko's still carrying two Grenades. Interestingly, there are no Stun Grenades in this deck, despite her using one on Leone's men.  Teliko's sidearm is the USP. The USP has twice the damage of the SOCOM, but with 1 higher Cost and only 80% per-shot accuracy. Additionally, the SOCOM's knockdown effect is replaced by destroying one piece of the enemy's equipment. The USP is also an Equip-type weapon, rather than a Use-type, so it's a little more cumbersome to use than the SOCOM. Ultimately, in my opinion, the USP suffers from the fact that there's not much of a niche for handguns in the game. The damage, accuracy, and range are all too low, so you're really banking on that equipment destruction if you're keeping this around, which is a situational use. On top of all that, having two copies of the card in her deck is the absolute bare minimum to make the USP usable at all.  Fun fact: despite the USP in MGS2 being the 9mm version, this one is a .45.  Teliko's main weapon is the AKS-74U and its laser-sighted variant. There are a couple differences between the two guns, but the damage and accuracy are the same (5 per shot for 10 shots at 70%) and they have the same Cost. Teliko's got three of each in her deck, so a full fifth is AKS-74Us, which is... still a bit low for your main weapon, actually, but definitely a functional number. As for the weapon itself, the main draw here is that it's silenced. The damage is simply too low to be useful in direct combat without using attachment cards, which also isn't helped by the piss-poor accuracy. But if you're trying to sneak around, being able to shoot out a surveillance camera without making noise is helpful, and it's an Equip-type weapon, so you can extend its function with attachments. This isn't a long-term weapon, but it's useful as a deck builder immediately after Teliko joins just because she's already got a bunch of them. The only difference between the laser-sighted and non-laser-sighted variant of the AKS-74U is that the laser-sighted version has "free attack." With regular weapons, you can only shoot at targets you can see, but with free attack, you can shoot at any square within the weapon's range. It's handy for blowing up hidden Claymores if you already somehow know where they are (and other things like that) but it's not a really huge difference in most situations.  Teliko's also carrying a backup assault rifle in the form of two M4 cards. The M4 is great... when you use it to load other 5.56mm guns. On its own, the 10x8 damage isn't awesome, though the 80% accuracy is solid - it's a better weapon than the AKS in general. Like Teliko's other weapons, this one is also an Equip-type, so it can be boosted up from "decent" to "really good" if you do want to equip it, but like I said, the biggest draw of the M4 is that it fires 8 shots of 5.56; there's a gun you can combine this with later on to really gently caress poo poo up. Within the confines of this deck, though, it's severely limited by only having two copies. Since she uses Equip-type weapons, Teliko's also got some attachments to improve them:  Strand is an attachment card that makes every hit from a weapon add 1 Cost to the target's total, emulating the FAMAS's add-on effect. Using this with something that shoots a lot, like the AKS, can help you to tie up your enemy, especially if you have something on hand to manage your own Cost (including the 5 that attaching Strand will add). The biggest drawback here is that Teliko only has one of these, so your chances of seeing it in any given situation are bad.  Aim makes your gun shoot more straight. Slap this bad boy on and bam, 20% more accurate. Great for the M4 or the USP, bringing their hit rate up to 100%. Slightly less great on the AKS, since it only brings it up to 90%. For the record, most attachments only last one turn or one weapon use, so you can't just attach them and sit on the effect. Also, just like Strand, Teliko's only got one of these, so that basically makes it a strategic non-entity. Always include more than one of a card in your deck.  The Vulcan Raven character card also works as an attachment. What it does is it makes your weapon hit a 3x3 area in front of the character instead of an individual target. There's no penalty to accuracy or damage, so you don't have to worry about that. On the other hand, it's fairly rare that you'll really need to hit a 3x3 area, plus adding 8 Cost to your turn is not a good choice in general. And, like the other attachments, there's only one copy, so you're working against the odds to ever even draw Raven. This is one of my least favourite cards in the deck, honestly. And that's the attachments done, so let's move on to Teliko's other equipment:  Starting with my actual least favourite card in the deck, Equipment LV. 3! This is the next level of the Equipment LV. 2 card, which gives you four total equipment slots for 7 Cost. Four equipment slots can be useful - you can equip a weapon, armour, and a key card all at the same time. Equipment LV. 3, on the other hand, gives you nine equipment slots for 15 Cost. Nine slots is simply too many - if you're using a strategy where you want to equip five or more things at once, you probably want to pare that down unless you're an expert player getting up to some weird poo poo. And if you draw this card but don't have a use for it, 15 Cost is prohibitively high for movement. Get this thing outta here!  Rations are the same old 150 HP healing item Snake started with.  The Survival Kit is similar to the Ration, except it affects the other character and restores 200 HP instead of 150. The Cost is way higher (9 vs. 4) too, which isn't really offset by healing 50 more HP. Ally-healing cards are a weird bunch, mostly suited to situations where one character's deck puts them in more danger than the other character, or where one character just has fewer opportunities to heal (e.g., a higher-Cost deck). Not totally useless, but not a vital part of a balanced breakfast. And, of course, she's only got one of these loving things, so you'll never draw it when you need it.  Teliko does have a second ally-healing option, in the form of the Handy 1st Aid Kit. This will heal your ally for 200 HP at only 4 Cost if they're standing next to you. That need to be directly adjacent just puts too much of a restriction on this thing's use for my tastes, especially because you can replace this card with a self-healing item that either character can use anywhere. This is the territory of very specifically-built support decks, which Teliko's starter deck is not. Also, yet again, she's only got one.  The last healing item in Teliko's deck is the Handy Medical Kit. If your ally gets knocked out, this will revive them with 10 HP. Getting knocked out is a situation where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so replacing this with a self-heal, a Survival Kit, or even a Handy 1st Aid Kit is probably a better choice, especially because a character with 10 HP is in prime position to just get knocked out again. In the context of this deck, you know, only one of these in there, so good fuckin' luck pulling it when Snake eats poo poo.  Those are all of Teliko's healing items, which are equipment in the sense of stuff she can use, but Front Evade LV. 1 is equipment in the sense of stuff she can equip mechanically. Snake also started with Front Evade LV. 1, though he at least got two of them. This card has the same problem it had in Snake's deck, which is that you have to be expecting to get shot at from the front to even equip it in the first place, and then it'll only work 50% of the time and only on one attack, so it's pretty situational. Which is not helped by Teliko having only one copy.  Teliko's last piece of equipment is this piece of poo poo, the Card LV. 1. It was an extremely bad gameplay decision by the developers to make these things work the way they do, and it also sucks that she's only got one of the loving things to start with. gently caress to Card LV. 1. And, finally, let's look at Teliko's other cards:   Marines and Genome Soldier make up Teliko's Move card section. These are identical cards functionally, letting you move 4 squares for 4 Cost. Very useful to have, but there are only 3 total in the deck. Just like Snake's deck, you want to look at getting more movement into Teliko's ASAP.  Funds is a card that makes your ally draw one card, which is slightly useful if they're running a deck that eats up their hand. For Snake, that means that you've been using Action+ cards; this actually makes more sense in Snake's deck because Teliko can play 3 cards per turn by default. Like all other ally-support cards, the usefulness of Funds depends on what deck the other character is running. This is definitely a good choice if you are using something that burns through your hand (or if you're getting knocked down a lot, I guess). Also, Snake starts with Action+ in his deck, so it's not unreasonable to include this in Teliko's starter deck; it's actually a nice bit of synergistic deck design. Be great if she had more copies, though.  Olga Gurlukovich just makes the user draw 3 cards. If you use all of Teliko's moves every turn, she will burn her hand down fairly quickly, so this is a good card for that situation. 4 Cost is also good for movement if you can't use it regularly, so this is really a good inclusion overall. Not much else to say here, it's just a simple card that makes mechanical sense.  Cost -4 we're all familiar with at this point.  But Teliko introduces its counterpart, Ally Cost -4. Ally Cost reduction cards come with a major drawback over regular Cost reducers, which is that they add Cost to the user. This makes them more situational than the regular type, which most decks should already be including anyway. These cards are basically for when you want one character to go hard into dangerous places and the other to hang back and support them from a safe position - AKA, the ally support deck archetype. Having one of these on hand isn't really doing Teliko any favours. Instead, you end up with a card in her deck that a player might be able to use at any given time, but isn't guaranteed to shine. Overall, Teliko's deck here is a bit scattered. Her selection of weapons is okay, and she's even got some attachments to suggest to a new player how versatile Equip-type weapons can be. But there are too many cards in here in low numbers to be a very good deck. It ends up middling at a point where Snake's deck is starting to take shape as players have a few missions to feel out the game's mechanics, develop a playstyle, and separate out some of the chaff. If you count the AKS and laser-sight as one card, and the Genome Soldier and Marines as one card, since they're pairs with the same function, Teliko's got 19 different cards in her deck. Snake starts with 17. Snake's starting deck does more than it should because it's demonstrating options to players in the opening levels, but there was a real opportunity to show off a more specialised deck here and it's squandered.
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Mar 22, 2018 17:49
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Ace of Aces posted:We're not quite there but this is about the point the game's plot starts to kick into "holy poo poo what is happening" territory. I mean I'm still at "what is happening" so stepping that up to "holy poo poo" will certainly be something.
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Mar 23, 2018 03:44
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Kibayasu posted:I mean I'm still at "what is happening" so stepping that up to "holy poo poo" will certainly be something. Well, if you like to have questions like this, you'll love the next story mission.
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Mar 24, 2018 00:21
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This game will eventually reach the point where you will be begging for the simple logic of getting a guard to open a gate an owl's hoot
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Mar 26, 2018 08:04
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And it has a sequel!
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Mar 26, 2018 21:57
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A sequel that in all honesty is better to play in almost every way but less insane in the writing.
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Mar 27, 2018 01:02
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Deathwind posted:This game will eventually reach the point where you will be begging for the simple logic of getting a guard to open a gate an owl's hoot And I can't wait for it to happen!
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Mar 28, 2018 15:15
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Part Fourteen: Mr. Snake's Wild Ride Begins After the mission, another one of these information commercials shows up. You can click the image if you want to watch the video.  Long story short, though, the MGS2 pack is now available in the Card Shop. This one's a game-changer - the MGS2 pack introduces three new Move cards, Equip-type weapons, new equipment, a bunch of weapon attachments/alterations (stuff like instant-kill headshots), and a bunch of other things. Deck-building options open up hugely at this point, so it's worth taking a while to farm points in Extra Missions and collect some of those cards. They're 900 points each (the MGS1 packs are 600 each) but still restock after every mission, so they're a little slower to sell out but easily farmed.  In the Intermission, there are a bunch of new options. First up is editing Teliko's deck, which is pretty self-explanatory.  The deck size is also expanded to 35, which is worse than it sounds. Generally speaking, you want to keep your decks as close to 30 cards as you can, to maximise your odds of drawing what you need.  Snake's got 300 HP now, too.  And, finally, Link Battles are available. This is Metal Gear Acid's multiplayer option, allowing for local competitive games. I've never played this mode of the game, so I can't really comment on it.  After all the little unlock messages, there's also a tutorial on Equip-type weapons, which is handy for first-timers who probably don't know how they work.  Before we move on to another mission, though, there's something I want to show off/collect from the title screen. This is the Password menu.  Going into the Password menu, you can enter passwords like this one.   Each password unlocks a card for use in your deck. This one, the XM8, is probably the best available. The XM8 shoots anti-armour rounds at 50 damage each with 60% accuracy, and can inflict random status effects on enemies. On top of all that, it can be loaded with M4s, so it'll fire 8 rounds at a time. The XM8 is probably the best assault rifle in the game, so having it freely available at any time is pretty wild. Really, the only drawback is that you can only use the password once, so you need to wait until the MGS2 pack is for sale so you can get your hands on some ammo for it. Oh, and if you use the XM8 for movement, you can go 6 squares instead of the usual 3.  Now, it's time to check out BRC-026.   It's not instantly apparent, but this is the same warehouse Teliko passed through in the intro sequence. Snake: Spray some of that perfume you're wearing, Teliko. Teliko: But I'm not wearing any perfume! Snake is a hermit who lives in Alaska and he just thinks people smell like that.  Roger: Snake, I checked up on that name you were identified as by the security system: Hans Davis. Snake: ...Ugh. Snake is disgusted that a computer would think he's German. Roger: What's wrong?  Wait, no, his hangover's just come back. Roger: Take the headache medicine attached to your CHAIN. And Snake, I found out quite a lot. Snake: Let's hear it. Roger: Hans Davis was the top dog at that laboratory several years ago. He was Flemming's supervisor, and presided over various research projects. Why didn't any of this come up before? Roger: He was on loan from BEAGLE as a lab chief, but has no records on file before that. When Hans first arrived, witnesses attest that dozens of children were taken from the main island to Lobito Island by boat. The, uh, mass kidnapping probably also should have come up before.  Roger: No one ever heard from them again. Locals say that droves of children being lured into a boat conjured up an image eerily reminiscent of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."  Another shot of Snake's dawning realisation that he should not have answered the phone. Teliko: Could those children have been used as test subjects for the new drug? Roger: I don't know. But apparently, Hans is the type of man who'll use any means, fair or foul, to get what he wants.  Hold on, Roger, we can discuss Hans's various crimes after Snake takes this.  Oh, hey, it's Gary saying some poo poo that doesn't make any sense. Snake: Gary? Gary: Test patients for the new drug were forced to sleep in that storehouse -- packed in like sardines.  The mass kidnapping was also accidental, presumably. Gary: They were closed in for quite a while. ...A lot of people died in there, Snake. Snake: Where are you, Gary? Gary: Would you like to know about Hans Davis? Snake: Do you know something about him? Gary: H-Ha ha ha ha...  Gary: Ha ha ha... sorry, Snake. It's just amusing to hear you ask about Hans so... earnestly. Hahahaha! Roger: What are you laughing about?! Gary: A new drug was definitely being developed in this laboratory. That's not funny...  Gary: It's the proverbial golden egg. One that will hatch into riches beyond our wildest dreams. Teliko: What's that mean? What are you hiding from us? Gary: All I wanted was the ACUA research data.  Turns out Gary is an underwater archaeology enthusiast. Gary: The structural formulas, biosynthetic/metabolic pathways, and of course the clinical test data. I wanted all of it. Then I'd have to get Flemming to crack the code for me. I was waiting so long for my big break, cooped up in this depressing lab. Roger: So Pythagoras is encoded? Gary: Pythagoras?  Gary: For all I care, your team, BEAGLE, and that giant tub of a soldier can kill each other over it. Roger: Pythagoras has nothing to do with ACUA then? So they, uh, murdered a bunch of children for something that's not even the main event. Gary: Snake, can you tell me with a straight face that you haven't the slightest clue about Pythagoras?  Ah, the very core of Solid Snake's being exposed. Gary: Wow. I suppose "No. 16" doesn't ring a bell either. Seems like you're all still groping around in the dark. About Solid Snake's involvement too, I suppose. Roger: What was that? Gary accuses Snake of not knowing how to count to 20, while Roger hears a noise in the other room.  Gary: Locals were even comparing it to "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," believe it or not. Meanwhile, Metal Gear Acid becomes self-aware and starts recapping even within scenes. If you're not familiar with the story of the Pied Piper, you might want to take a quick look.  Gary: The locals are surprisingly more in tune with what's going on than you are. Roger: Gary, what do you know about Solid Snake?! Gary: I'll let you figure it out. Just ask yourself, Snake. Were you involved with the research somehow? Why were you granted full access at the retina scan? And why were you identified as Hans Davis?  Snake's back again with his classic answer to questions. For the record, this whole "cutscene" is just the camera zooming in and out on Snake while the dialogue boxes pop up. Roger: Don't listen to him, Snake.   I am not familiar with the concept.  Snake zoned out. Roger: ... Gary: Pythagoras has something to do with a weapon called "Metal Gear." Snake: Metal... Metal Gear... Roger: Out with it, Gary! Gary: Hm hm hm.  Gary: Thanks to all of you and your big "mission," those soldiers were drawn out of my hair, buying me just enough time to obtain the ACUA data. Not only that, but you even filled me in on Flemming's true whereabouts. Just look at our little informative session here as my heartfelt thanks to you. But I'm a busy man. I'll be needing Flemming to help me turn this data into several large briefcases full of dead presidents. That's not a very safe way to store your dead presidents, Gary. Gary: Funny how, without the code, this data is just a jumble of rubbish. Oh, and to answer your question, Snake... I'm just a stone's throw away from BRC-026. Let's see who can get to Flemming first, shall we? Snake: ... Gary: If Flemming cracks the code, he'll be nothing more than a waste of space to me. After all, there's no need for two ACUA developers. Snake: Gary... you wouldn't... Gary: How does it feel to talk with a soon-to-be BILLIONAIRE?  Well, I'm sure we'll deal with that eventually. For now, though, let's take a break, and we'll pick up the last third of this cutscene next time.
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Apr 3, 2018 18:27
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Cool Ghost posted:Gary: Thanks to all of you and your big "mission," those soldiers were drawn out of my hair, buying me just enough time to obtain the ACUA data. Not only that, but you even filled me in on Flemming's true whereabouts. Just look at our little informative session here as my heartfelt thanks to you. But I'm a busy man. I'll be needing Flemming to help me turn this data into several large briefcases full of dead presidents. I've played too much MGS, my first interpretation of this comment was "So the ACUA is some weapon against the Patriots?"
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Apr 3, 2018 21:33
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So, I'm assuming Gary is Hans. But a Snake is Hans too. So... TWIN BROTHERS!
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Apr 3, 2018 21:53
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| # ? May 20, 2024 04:49 |
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HitTheTargets posted:So, I'm assuming Gary is Hans. But a Snake is Hans too. So... TWIN BROTHERS! Ac!d Snake
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Apr 3, 2018 22:45
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