Malf on 7/9/2015 at 08:03
I think the various ++ ranks are only in relation to character stats, henke.
I've got two S ranks so far, some As and Bs, but nothing in-between.
Interestingly, it looks like some story missions can be done out of sequence if you stumble into the right area.
For example, I had only done up to mission 7 when I accidentally activated mission 11 by exploring the map. S ranked it first time too :)
I've also just unlocked the combat ops and am trying to work out what benefits there are to playing as random guys I've Fultoned. Sure, the "Specialists" give you access to skills that Snake doesn't possess, such as faster crawling. But beyond that, I'm trying to work out what these medals I'm getting are, and whether playing as Joe Fulton increases his abilities or not.
Still, I am absolutely loving this game.
The open world and side ops are like one big stealth sandbox and training ground, where you're free to experiment with all sorts of wild tactics with no fear of getting bad ranks. If things go wrong, you're not going to get a worse rating for going with the flow and fighting your way out of it. Yet because the missions are ranked, I spend more time trying to perfect side ops so I know I can play at that level in missions.
Also, I found that I actually CAN knock out dudes with supply drops, so Operation Stunnabear is back on.
I'm currently at 14% and savouring every last minute of it. I'm one of those people who won't advance story missions until I've got every last upgrade available at my current story progression level, so this game is providing a LOT of quality game time.
I also bum-rushed through all the missions I hadn't done in Ground Zeroes on Saturday morning, and have interesting things popping up every now and again thanks to syncing my saves. It was also quite cool to go back to after having played Phantom Pain for so long. It's like something old made new again thanks to having an expanded skill-set.
Thirith on 7/9/2015 at 08:16
Quote Posted by Malf
Also, I found that I actually CAN knock out dudes with supply drops, so Operation Stunnabear is back on.
And once you've managed that, my challenge to you is to stun a Metal Gear ST-84.
henke on 7/9/2015 at 08:27
Speaking of Metal Gears I got to the cutscene yesterday where Snake first glimpses a Metal Gear, but Snake did NOT SAY THE LINE! I don't know, maybe he just didn't realize it was a Metal Gear and he'll realize it later and have a shocking revelation, but he damn well better say it at some point or the SERIES IS RUINED FOREVER!
henke on 8/9/2015 at 04:32
Gah, why is "You are leaving the mission area" even in this game's vocabulary? Twice now there have been in story missions where you're up against seemingly unstoppable enemies but the game artificially restricts you from doing the obvious thing, which is getting the fuck out of Dodge. The second time I even ended up aborting the mission for myself by riding at full gallop out of the mission area before I realized I weren't allowed to do that, meaning I had to replay the last hour.
Pyrian on 8/9/2015 at 04:43
Hrm. That seems against the spirit of open-world.
Malf on 8/9/2015 at 07:54
By the way henke, some weird controller stuff going on here. I use a PS4 pad on my PC using Input Mapper, and my triggers do act as analog accelerators / brakes when in vehicles.
I did that Mujahideen prisoner rescue last night and thought I'd bungled it, 'cos I set of an alert in the main prison area, called in supply drops, took out guys while holding one as a human shield, fired weapons un-silenced, pretty much the antithesis of stealth really.
Yet I got an S rank at the end.
I suspect it's because I Fultoned EVERYONE, including 6 prisoners, 3 hedgehogs, two vultures and possibly a partridge in a pear tree.
That and I didn't kill a soul. YAY for the rubber-bullet firing SMG :)
242 on 8/9/2015 at 09:42
Quote Posted by Malf
Yet I got an S rank at the end.
I suspect it's because I Fultoned EVERYONE, including 6 prisoners, 3 hedgehogs, two vultures and possibly a partridge in a pear tree.
No, it's because you did it quick. You may do whatever you want in the missions, use any weapons, rise the alarms, kill, but if you do it quick you'll get S. And vice versa, if you'll be
too slow the points won't be enough for S even with perfect stealth. There are some hidden big bonuses though, like for killing Skulls, or for no traces, but I don't know if even they would be enough to compensate 0 for time if you're too slow.
Malf on 8/9/2015 at 09:45
An hour's quick?
242 on 8/9/2015 at 09:55
Quote Posted by Malf
An hour's quick?
Slow. So you got 0 points for time and still got S? I read it was possible, but only in some missions.
Malf on 8/9/2015 at 11:47
That mission in particular's an interesting one for scoring, and if I recall correctly, I think each prisoner was worth 10,000 points.
The reason being, if you don't act quickly, the first 3 can be killed of by their captors once the jeep departs, so you've got to rush in and protect them.
