I am just around that point too. I like the that the game is forcing you to play different - but I dislike the rehashing of the game or missions. For example: The mission where you have to take out the enemies communication system receives a whole new dimension by going in "solo" and "naked" without any tools. But to be honest, that came far too late in the game.
What I enjoyed best about earlier MGS games is that the game was very story driven and in that sense also very linear. For example; MGS1-3 - you are that solo infiltration. That is the aim and the objective and thanks to the fact that you are practically going in naked, you have to supply yourself with the tools necessary to accomplish that mission. That was always one of MGS greatest aspects and one of the aspect that is missing in MGS5. I enjoy that you can use hundredths of weapons in every possible combination, but the game has already lost a lot of its atmosphere by going open-world and the overblown weaponry just add to it.
Not that I don't like the openworld aspect. I regard Snake Eater as the best MGS ever (still), but the one aspect where it was missing (due to limited hardware) was that the forests and jungle only created the illusion of being huge and vast, but in reality were quite a narrow corridor in itself. They could have created the perfect game in MGS5 by having the open world, but more tightly confined story driven missions where get to go to unseen places as the game progresses. MGS5 is just far too repetitive in that sense in that you end up in the same places over again but with different missions. I would have enjoyed a more linear game a lot more, but with the occasional "side quest mission" here and there to take advantage of that huge open world they created.
I.e. the mission "code-talker" is one of the best of the game. Epic hike to the mansion, then the infiltration. That really felt like some of the whmore epic pars of earlier MGS games. The game unfortunately has too little of those missions and landscape in that open world to offer them.
I have a similar view on this. The game could have been perfect if the game was directing the player more. Rarely anything interesting happens whereas in the previous MGS games the game directed you from one memorable event to the other
The repetition of missions we already played was annoying. I felt exactly the same as you did for the communications mission. It felt like a real MGS but this is how the original mission should have been, not its clone in chapter 2. Hideo made the sandbox element way too flexible and easy. Too much freedom kills the immersion and the strategic element that was there in previous MGS games is reduced and eliminates the challenge. The game shouldnt restrict what you can do by rule, but by context.
Previous MGS games did this a lot with boss fights and they were brilliant. The player had to discover the boss's weaknesses and strengths and each demanded a completely different approach. What worked on one boss didnt work on another
Instead of breaking up the game into separate missions that feel disconnected it would have been better if there was more coherence and each mission was dense with content and plot progression.
Also some events that could have been super amazing felt too short and too easy which broke completely the immersion.
For example "Cloaked in Science" got many elements right. But you dont feel the challenge much. Quiet builds personality as the game progresses but the boss fight itself should have had more personality. The bosses in previous Metal Gear games demonstrated a strong and unique personality during the fights.
The man on fire, also had many potential to be a great boss. But he doesnt do much except walk and throw fire at you. The boss fight can also finish in a matter of minutes. The game barely gives you enough to interact the the personality of the bosses.
Skull face was an underdeveloped character and died too soon. He was shrouded in mystery in GZ and looked super interesting. When he died in V its like he came, left and never existed. Almost nothing happened with him
The Skulls would have been more interesting if they were a team of extraordinary soldiers each with their own personality and Quiet was a member of their team originally. How great it would have been if they were significantly more powerful than Quiet, that they met again and viewed her as a traitor, battled her and out-powered her but Snake helped her defeat them. How cool it would have been if each Skull soldier was different like the Boss's team in MGS3 (i.e Fear, Pain, Fury etc) and we fought each at different points in the game each revealing new info or secret.
Other differences between V and previous games was the fact that you had a huge amount of interaction with characters through the codec. Optional or mandatory conversations were full of intel or info that developed the characters. Every time we called someone he would give us the information we needed, or comment on our actions or comment on something that the camera was directed at. In V calling the radio gave the exact same comments regardless of what we were doing or what was on screen.
Ground Zeros showed V's missing potential. The main mission was dense with content, Miller interacted more with you through the radio, and he would comment in real time. i.e when we got the cassette from Chico and listened to some audio cues? That was great. Miller would comment on the go as we were moving to the correct direction.
It would have been better if the game had more bases and more things happened in them. Missions in the interior of the bases would have been awesome. With lots of crazy and intense stuff going on.
