Metal Gear Rising

[Ford Prefect]

I've had the demo for ages because I bought the ZOE HD collection but it is now available to the rest of you plebs so

My experience was really positive. I felt the combat was tight and blade mode really satisfying. I like chopping up stone pillars yo. In terms of the combat I thought it was pretty challenging. I've played through on both easy and normal and even on easy enemies are aggressive, active and do decent damage. Normal is actually kind of unforgiving. Parallels can understandably be made with Bayonetta. Like in Bayonetta, enemies in Rising telegraph their attacks with a visual effect* but the actual execution of their attack animations seem faster. I found defensive moves were more more of a challenge to execute, particularly because parries and dodges aren't tied to a single button like in other brawlers. To execute a parry in Rising you need to tilt the stick towards the incoming attack and hit the light attack button. In the past I've described it as 'skill-based' which is a little daft, but the difference becomes evident really quickly in combat with LQ-48i, the demo's boss - his attack animations are multi-hit, so it's not enough to just execute the parry once. Defence is pretty involved as a result.

Something the demo doesn't communicate is that there is different timing for parries. Normally if you parry you'll deflect the attack and the enemy will jump backwards, making it difficult to follow up. I thought this was weird, because the similarities with Bayonetta made me feel that executing the main defensive move should open them up to counterattacks. It niggled for a while until I realised the answer was I just wasn't good enough: if you execute a parry with perfect timing it will actually open enemies up to counters. You don't need perfect timing to win, but it adds an additional layer of challenge for those of us aiming for the ultra-fast no-damage combat required for S-ranks.

I really like blade mode. It's really, pardon the use of 2010's preferred buzzword, visceral. Admittedly the cuts are so clean and so easy that it can feel a bit strange, but it's still cool to go chop chop chop car falls into bits chop chop chop tree branches flying everywhere chop chop chop bridge collapses. The pieces can sometimes lack the mass you'd expect but weight in video games is often wonky.

The game isn't without it's issues. The camera could do with being tighter, especially given how quickly you can move. I noticed some strange David Lynch-esque camera angles during the Zandatsu animation, but it was rare overall. Precision aiming with the right stick during blade mode was tetchy. In the tutorial I couldn't consistently hit the precision targets. In the game proper it was solid when it comes to hitting target points, I just felt quite clumsy and I'm not sure this, specifically, was my fault. For the most part I rely on quick slashes in blade mode (with the attack buttons), and only use precise slashes when I'm feeling fancy. In sum I was really impressed by how it actually plays, enamoured with Raiden's freaky hand-foot swording animations, and felt it had that 'Metal Geary' feel, from the hidden giant watermelon to the codec calls about silly codenames and the more dramatic content about the feelings people have in combat. I'm looking forward to it.

*Like with Bayonetta's Non-Stop Infinite Climax difficulty I expect that Rising's hardest difficulty (Revengeance, of course) will remove the telegraph just to fuck you up.

[Losonti Tokash]

I couldn't really get into Bayonetta but this was pretty cool. I definitely agree on blade mode feeling a bit wonky but I switched the control sticks for it (Type B) and it felt way better and slicing the dog robot into a million pieces was pretty fantastic.

What's up with the mooing robots, though?

[Ford Prefect]

That was a thing from Metal Gear Solid 4. Kojima wanted the Gekkos to have a distinct atmospheric presence, as well having a variety of 'organic' mannerisms. You can get a Gekko in Rising so hard it actually vomits, lol

[Crazedwraith]

I'm a pretty big MGS fan but I'm still iffy about this new direction. Still you seem to have enjoyed it. Is it set post MGS4?

Also that blocking system sounds hard man. I never got the hang of using sticks and buttons at the same time when doing the blade-dodge on Arkham City.

[Ford Prefect]

I'm a pretty big MGS fan but I'm still iffy about this new direction. Still you seem to have enjoyed it. Is it set post MGS4?

It's set in 2018, so four years after Guns. While a lot of fans have been apprehensive because of Platinum's 80s rock attitude to the game, overall the feel of the game is pretty 'Metal Gear'. Like it's not as grounded as 100% of the game is a Cyborg Ninja scene, but it still has that familiar feel.

Also that blocking system sounds hard man. I never got the hang of using sticks and buttons at the same time when doing the blade-dodge on Arkham City.

The game is hard. Even on easy it can have you over a barrel.

[Losonti Tokash]

Is there an easy way to dodge? So far the closest I've managed is the rettreating slash on X+A. I'm getting better at parries but I doubt that all the bosses will be vulnerable to them.

[Ford Prefect]

The only dodge is the retreating slash, which you' probably picked up has more than one direction. As far as I can tell from the boss trailer parries work well enough on bosses, though it may be that they have some unblockable attacks. For the most part though parries are a pretty core element of gameplay so it seems unlikely that they'd negate it too often.

[Stark]

Is this the parrying you have to do directionally??

Man I am not even going to bother with this game. I will fail it.

[Ford Prefect]

I gave it another play to rewind, and yeah, a parry only triggers if you're tilting the stick in the right direction. It's actually pretty forgiving and the actual 'parry state' lasts for a fair amount of time, you just won't be racking up the BIG POINTS to purchase rad cyborg gear from Herr Doktor. I know you had a lot of trouble with Bayonetta Stark, but you might as well download the demo and give a whirl. You never know, it might click or it might be really embarrassing :v

[Stark]

Look, in Bayonetta I could do the one move over and over JUST FINE.

[CaptHawkeye]

I like it. I played the demo a couple of times. I was only made aware of looking for how to parry by this thread though. The tutorial is basically just "how to slice and dice melons". I actually like the mechanic though, since it isn't just a "stop attack" button. You have to time the parry just right or it won't work.

Man it's fucking cool to actually be able to fight Gekko this time instead of just run from them.

[Ford Prefect]

If you call Boris up when you fight the Gekko he completely geeks out over the prospect of actually getting to see a Raiden v Gekko match live :v

I have a real appreciation for the parry system, because it was chosen over a dodge to emphasise the Raiden's aggressive nature. He doesn't dodge, or retreat, he counters attacks with attacks, always moving forward. Even the actual dodge step features a slash, and is far more effective when locked on to a target, as Raiden with circle strafe around to their back and drop a chop on them as he goes. If anyone is still having trouble with parries, there are basically three important things to remember: you have to be standing still to parry, you can still parry while being staggered by enemy attacks and you can hold a parry for a couple of seconds.

Yesterday I did some experimentation to try and replicate some attacks I heard about on the grapevine. Moving the left stick back and forth followed by hitting the wide attack button will make Raiden do this pretty wild force push move that will break an enemy block. Moving the stick back and forth and tapping heavy attack will do a sweep that will knock enemies in range off their feet. Double tapping in a direction and hitting wide attack will do a a launcher; hitting heavy attack will do a dashing stab reminiscent of Devil May Cry's Stinger.

My favourite is spinning the stick and hitting heavy attack. You gotta try that one yourself :v

[Ford Prefect]

Being a week away on average it might be worth updating the thread a little with some videos. There have been a lot of videos released through IGN and I wouldn't really recommend going through them. Apart from the really major English trailers they've been sort of trite. I like the Japanese trailers for. This will probably be the last big one before release and was cut together by the cutscene director. It's in Japanese but I feel the drama regardless (though I am a total Metal Gear tragic so it may just be me lol)



Also apparently there has been an early leak somewhere and the opening five minutes are up. N'Mani can be the prime minister of my heart any time.

[Admiral Valdemar]

There's one where Raiden takes on a RAY. It's... Actiony.

[Ford Prefect]

Well it is an action game.

Most of the trailers prefer to emphasise the Platinum Games style element rather than the stuff about Raiden's psyche or the confrontations to his system of belief (though it comes up in the major trailers like the TGS 2012 trailer, the Jack the Ripper trailer). Then again, basically none of the Vanquish trailers really mentioned how it was the best parody of American shooters ever :v

[Manus Celer Dei]

I am incredibly fucking stoked for this game. The only thing I that didn't really click for me in the demo was the whole emphasis on parrying over dodging, but I'm hoping that'll be negated somewhat in the game itself - I hear they've implemented some kind of assist option for morons like myself who can't get the timing right :V

[Stark]

God I hope so, I was a complete failure at parrying in the demo.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Yeah, I was forever botching otherwise perfect opportunities to slice an enemy in half and feast on the tasty electrolytes within. It's easy when you have time to do it, but in the heat of battle, getting a good angle to slice is tricky.

[Manus Celer Dei]

So I picked this up on the way home from work and it rocks. It's pretty much Vanquish but with swords instead of guns and PMCs instead of space colonies.

[Stark]

So everyone I know who grabbed this game spent all weekend playing it. Is anyone here playing it?

[Moby Halcyon]

I have. Thematically, it fits with the older MGS games, what with crazy bosses going into speeches about humanity on the battlefield, it's just the gameplay that's changed. And even then, there are segments of the game you can run around doing stealth kills, even if when you're busted you just bust out with ninja moves.

The game scales difficulty pretty well - normal can get easy but the higher difficulties are fairly unforgiving - the zandatsu 'slice dude in half to heal' hitboxes are way smaller, the parry windows tiny, etc. The game's fairly short - I beat normal about five hours, but it's somewhat replayable with different weapons, upgrades, and dress-up. There's a smattering of VR missions to find and complete, but I'd recommend renting the game if you're not a MG fan due to how short it is.

The bosses are pretty much the highlight of the games, with only one being easy-boring. The final boss plays out like a parody of Metal Gear villains, comes out of nowhere, but is hilarious so I don't think you'd have a problem with him. I don't know if you care about music but the same's soundtrack is aces - the boss themes switch from instrumentals to full lyrics when they're in the final stage and you know shit is going down.

Perhaps the best comparison I can give for it is what MCD said above - it's Vanquish, with sword instead of guns, and set in the MG universe. I can expand on stuff like story or themes if you want.

[Stark]

I don't think I can enjoy it because I suck so bad at the style of play. I'm just surprised to see such a broad response to what I assumed would be a less-popular gimmick remix of a tired franchise.

[Moby Halcyon]

I guess most of the shitty stuff people associate with MGS isn't as prevalent in MGR. But yeah, the assist mode is only on easy so I don't think it'd be possible to enjoy the difficulty of the game without first getting past the parry mechanic.

[Cykeisme]

I don't own a console so I'm unlikely to play this in the near future, but out of random curiosity, two things:
1) How does parrying work in this game?
2) How does the slice-to-heal thing work?

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm going to have to pick this up. My brother having DMC now means I'm missing out on the hack 'em up action here.