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Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of The Patriots 2.0 |OT| Kept you waiting, huh?

Steroyd

Member
Found this useful tidbit on the interwebs.

Breakdown of flashbacks per Act.

Act 1 - 40
Act 2 - 105 (65)
Act 3 - 143 (38)
Act 4 - 207 (64)
Act 5 - 273 (66)

Is what the Flashback count should look like when you start a fresh save.

Personally I only missed the Camera one in Act 4 and I still ended up with the flashback trophy getting a grand total of 270 flashbacks at the end, so I don't know how this works precisely.
 
If someone has problem with it, he can just use a random facecamo(drebin, otacon, campbell) then the soldiers are neutral towards you.

Use the facecamo, never have a weapon equipped when an enemy can see you, and when you get to the part with the vehicle patrols just get into the Drum Can when it comes by. Although don't do that in sight of any of the on-foot PMCs, because they'll come and investigate and it's basically just a prolonged Alert.

Anyway, I thought the Metal Gear bossfight was pretty damn cheap with Liquid knocking me down and then ramming me twice while I was defenceless, but jeez the final bossfight is really hard. In an hour of trying I've got to the third round three times, and in each of those he's just headbutted me to death immediately. I think if I can get through the first two rounds without getting hit I might be able to do it, but I keep screwing up and taking damage in the first round or dodging directly into the "TAKE THIS!" punch in the second. I think I have a pretty good handle on the first couple of rounds, but you just can't afford to make any mistakes there.
 

SmithnCo

Member
Found this useful tidbit on the interwebs.

Breakdown of flashbacks per Act.

Act 1 - 40
Act 2 - 105 (65)
Act 3 - 143 (38)
Act 4 - 207 (64)
Act 5 - 273 (66)

Is what the Flashback count should look like when you start a fresh save.

Personally I only missed the Camera one in Act 4 and I still ended up with the flashback trophy getting a grand total of 270 flashbacks at the end, so I don't know how this works precisely.

I missed the camera one and got 270 as well, I guess it doesn't count.
 

KAOz

Short bus special
Use the facecamo, never have a weapon equipped when an enemy can see you, and when you get to the part with the vehicle patrols just get into the Drum Can when it comes by.

Or, just keep walking like normal with Otacons face on. :p No need for extra hiding.
 

Luigi87

Member
Which area were you having the most trouble in?

The first two areas in Act 1 before meeting up with the Mark II.
Just had a hell of a time getting past the PMCs.

Edit: Just did Advent Palace (two attempts) following the video walkthrough. lol, that section was much easier than the start of Act 1.
 
The first two areas in Act 1 before meeting up with the Mark II.
Just had a hell of a time getting past the PMCs.

Oh ok, that is pretty normal (especially if it's your first Big Boss Emblem run). Thankfully, once you have the FaceCamo you are unlikely to run into anymore sneaking areas that will give you that level of difficulty. The rest of the game, with the exception of the bike run, potentially Crying Wolf and the final boss, shouldn't be as problematic as those first two or three areas are.

EDIT: And that you've made it so swiftly through Advent Palace is a very good sign too! Hopefully you won't run into much, if any, problems in Act 2 since most of that is about taking the correct route to run through it as opposed to anything else.
 
Oh ok, that is pretty normal (especially if it's your first Big Boss Emblem run). Thankfully, once you have the FaceCamo you are unlikely to run into anymore sneaking areas that will give you that level of difficulty. The rest of the game, with the exception of the bike run, potentially Crying Wolf and the final boss, shouldn't be as problematic as those first two or three areas are.

Having started last night I was completely caught by surprise by how much more acute the enemy's senses are in Boss Extreme mode. Everything I seemingly tried, I got sniffed out.

The Frog battle also took me the better part of an hour, no thanks to Meryl and co. dying. Then there was the beginning of Act II because I was missing the South American rebel outfit. I found that gaining their loyalty wasn't working, since they never seemed to realize I rescued them so I snuck around and tranq'ed everybody in the next section and all was good, which brings me to now. Hopefully it starts becoming smoother sailing here.
 

iLLmAtlc

Member
Use the facecamo, never have a weapon equipped when an enemy can see you, and when you get to the part with the vehicle patrols just get into the Drum Can when it comes by. Although don't do that in sight of any of the on-foot PMCs, because they'll come and investigate and it's basically just a prolonged Alert.

Anyway, I thought the Metal Gear bossfight was pretty damn cheap with Liquid knocking me down and then ramming me twice while I was defenceless, but jeez the final bossfight is really hard. In an hour of trying I've got to the third round three times, and in each of those he's just headbutted me to death immediately. I think if I can get through the first two rounds without getting hit I might be able to do it, but I keep screwing up and taking damage in the first round or dodging directly into the "TAKE THIS!" punch in the second. I think I have a pretty good handle on the first couple of rounds, but you just can't afford to make any mistakes there.

You probably beat it by now but what worked for me was kinda taking a few steps towards him and then dodged to the side. This usually baits him into starting the animation for the falcon punch and leaves him wide open for the power punch (it's the only attack I used against him in the 3 rounds lol). Be careful of the two posts because you could get stuck and take the big punch there.
 
Having started last night I was completely caught by surprise by how much more acute the enemy's senses are in Boss Extreme mode. Everything I seemingly tried, I got sniffed out.

The Frog battle also took me the better part of an hour, no thanks to Meryl and co. dying. Then there was the beginning of Act II because I was missing the South American rebel outfit. I found that gaining their loyalty wasn't working, since they never seemed to realize I rescued them so I snuck around and tranq'ed everybody in the next section and all was good, which brings me to now. Hopefully it starts becoming smoother sailing here.

Sorry to hear it hasn't been working out particularly well. It's definitely true that the "the enemy's senses are much more acute" and as you've said it's very easy to be caught out by this, especially if you were playing on easy or normal beforehand when their cone of vision is much shorter.

As for the beginning of Act 2, I must admit I've never heard of that before. I had always thought that the enemies in this area are automatically neutral (their names appear in yellow as opposed to blue or red), provided you tranquilised the guards surrounding them without hitting a Militia member. If you're at the beginning of the power plant, and the Militia are hostile while you do not posess the disguise, unfortunately I don't think it will be "smooth sailing here". I can see the Confinement Facility being pretty lenient in allowing you to sneak past both sides but Vista Mansion (the outside in particular) is the place where I suspect you may have problems.

At the very least, provided you have pretty good accuracy (and can manage the default sway on Extreme) and you manage to take out the two guards that are on the road when the Resistance Member is at the bottom of the steps in the first area in Act 3, hopefully Act 3 won't be too bothersome.

Similarly, if you have 6 Chaff Grenades by Act 4 (this includes the 2 on the helipad so 4 Chaff Grenades when you start the Act) you should be able to get through the Tank Hangar, the Blast Furnace (do not underestimate this area on extreme as a group of scarabs guard the elevator), the two areas following the blast furnace and the Underground Tunnel to Rex's Lair (the final chaff grenade will later be used in the Scarab tunnel in Act 5 where one is enough to last nearly the entire corridor) which is most of the significantly problematic areas dealt with.

So although I cannot really state whether or not the rest of Act 2 will be problematic (but I have to admit that my immediate assumption upon this is that it probably will be quite difficult if the Militia are hostile), hopefully Act 3 and 4 are not (since Act 3 doesn't change significantly on Extreme with the exception of the minor inaccuracy of the tranquiliser pistol and Act 4 is completely devastated by Chaff Grenade usage).
 
You probably beat it by now but what worked for me was kinda taking a few steps towards him and then dodged to the side. This usually baits him into starting the animation for the falcon punch and leaves him wide open for the power punch (it's the only attack I used against him in the 3 rounds lol). Be careful of the two posts because you could get stuck and take the big punch there.

Thanks, I'll try that. I just spent another hour being pretty ineffectual against him, with a highlight of getting to the third round with a lot of health and then not even getting a hit in on him. I found that almost all of his attacks in the second round are blockable except for the big punch, it's just a matter of not getting caught mid-dodge while he's winding up and screwing yourself over. If you dodge the big punch and then grapple him it's a pretty safe way of doing damage, but it's really slow and at this point it's just prolonging my inevitable death. I'll try relying on my power punch tomorrow.
 

Luigi87

Member
Oh ok, that is pretty normal (especially if it's your first Big Boss Emblem run). Thankfully, once you have the FaceCamo you are unlikely to run into anymore sneaking areas that will give you that level of difficulty. The rest of the game, with the exception of the bike run, potentially Crying Wolf and the final boss, shouldn't be as problematic as those first two or three areas are.

EDIT: And that you've made it so swiftly through Advent Palace is a very good sign too! Hopefully you won't run into much, if any, problems in Act 2 since most of that is about taking the correct route to run through it as opposed to anything else.

Definitely not looking forward to the bike chase @_@
Anywho, finished Act 1, and got Flashback Mania during Act 2 Briefing (forgot to grab them the first time around), will reset soon, and begin Act 2.
 
Sorry to hear it hasn't been working out particularly well. It's definitely true that the "the enemy's senses are much more acute" and as you've said it's very easy to be caught out by this, especially if you were playing on easy or normal beforehand when their cone of vision is much shorter.

As for the beginning of Act 2, I must admit I've never heard of that before. I had always thought that the enemies in this area are automatically neutral (their names appear in yellow as opposed to blue or red), provided you tranquilised the guards surrounding them without hitting a Militia member. If you're at the beginning of the power plant, and the Militia are hostile while you do not posess the disguise, unfortunately I don't think it will be "smooth sailing here". I can see the Confinement Facility being pretty lenient in allowing you to sneak past both sides but Vista Mansion (the outside in particular) is the place where I suspect you may have problems.

At the very least, provided you have pretty good accuracy (and can manage the default sway on Extreme) and you manage to take out the two guards that are on the road when the Resistance Member is at the bottom of the steps in the first area in Act 3, hopefully Act 3 won't be too bothersome.

Similarly, if you have 6 Chaff Grenades by Act 4 (this includes the 2 on the helipad so 4 Chaff Grenades when you start the Act) you should be able to get through the Tank Hangar, the Blast Furnace (do not underestimate this area on extreme as a group of scarabs guard the elevator), the two areas following the blast furnace and the Underground Tunnel to Rex's Lair (the final chaff grenade will later be used in the Scarab tunnel in Act 5 where one is enough to last nearly the entire corridor) which is most of the significantly problematic areas dealt with.

So although I cannot really state whether or not the rest of Act 2 will be problematic (but I have to admit that my immediate assumption upon this is that it probably will be quite difficult if the Militia are hostile), hopefully Act 3 and 4 are not (since Act 3 doesn't change significantly on Extreme with the exception of the minor inaccuracy of the tranquiliser pistol and Act 4 is completely devastated by Chaff Grenade usage).

It hasn't been so bad, it's just required a lot of patience. I got to the end of Act 2 but it turned out I killed somebody during the chase so I decided to take a break. I have a save right as the chase starts so I know where I might have messed up. Still, I got the hang of that section and I should be all right. The rebels at the beginning were hostile because of Laughing Octopus showing Snake's face, but after I tranq'ed a good chunk of soldiers they eventually turned neutral. The 2nd area and on was fairly easy because I just had to sneak my way through without needing to use much ammo or anything.

I have plenty of Chaff grenades for Act 4, and I'm confident I can sneak my way through Act 3. So right now I'm probably most concerned about fighting off the Gekko in Act 4 and the motorbike chase in Act 3.

Also, Act 2 should be around 2:05 when I'm done. Am I making good time?
 

iLLmAtlc

Member
It hasn't been so bad, it's just required a lot of patience. I got to the end of Act 2 but it turned out I killed somebody during the chase so I decided to take a break. I have a save right as the chase starts so I know where I might have messed up. Still, I got the hang of that section and I should be all right. The rebels at the beginning were hostile because of Laughing Octopus showing Snake's face, but after I tranq'ed a good chunk of soldiers they eventually turned neutral. The 2nd area and on was fairly easy because I just had to sneak my way through without needing to use much ammo or anything.

I have plenty of Chaff grenades for Act 4, and I'm confident I can sneak my way through Act 3. So right now I'm probably most concerned about fighting off the Gekko in Act 4 and the motorbike chase in Act 3.

Also, Act 2 should be around 2:05 when I'm done. Am I making good time?

Wait do you have no camo whatsoever or do you intend to do a naked run? It's not necessary to do any sneaking in Act 3 really, just pop on a Face Camo that's not Snake (Otacon for example) and the guards won't do anything if they spot you. You still need to shoot them and move them out of the way so the Resistance Member won't run away though.
 
Wait do you have no camo whatsoever or do you intend to do a naked run? It's not necessary to do any sneaking in Act 3 really, just pop on a Face Camo that's not Snake (Otacon for example) and the guards won't do anything if they spot you. You still need to shoot them and move them out of the way so the Resistance Member won't run away though.

Oh yeah I have different camos, I haven't read up much on getting through Act 3 so that will help out even more then.
 

jimi_dini

Member
Oh yeah I have different camos, I haven't read up much on getting through Act 3 so that will help out even more then.

Then sneak through the first map till the rebel goes to the next map. And then instead of following, just save your game. Reload it. And there you go - rebel is already on next map, but the time wasn't saved. Which means you can run through by using a face camo.

Next map - do exactly the same.

This saves plenty of time.
 
eh... got the flashback trophy in my second playhtrough.

Expected to have missed something in Act 2 (but I guess the DP reward really doesn't mean anything, even though I got less points in Act 2...), but the trophy just popped up in Act 1 while meeting Meryl for the first time.

I know for certain I got these prompts in my first playthrough, whatever... maybe didn't press X often enough to show all the images.
 

Luigi87

Member
Up through Laughing Octopus.
First area (Cove Village) took me an hour of resets to get through..
Then I got through the Power Plant, Confinement Facility, and Vista Mansion in a single try with no guide, lol.

FROGs weren't tough to deal with (but dang there are a lot of them), and took me a few attempts to take down Octopus.
1h 07m on the clock so far.

Edit: On to Act 3. Drebin Escape was slightly nerve wracking, as I kept being afraid I was going to kill some of the ZomPMCs with the machine gun @_@
 
Blood, sweat and tears finally paid off.
aUqhKl.jpg

It took one more playthrough since I didn't get enough kills for the Tarantula Emblem on my Assassin/Tarantula Emblem run.
 

iLLmAtlc

Member
Congrats man. I'm so jealous of you guys for being able to muster up the strength to playthrough 5-6 times meeting the ridiculous requirements (which basically calls for playing the game as ineffectively as possible).
 
Congrats man. I'm so jealous of you guys for being able to muster up the strength to playthrough 5-6 times meeting the ridiculous requirements (which basically calls for playing the game as ineffectively as possible).
Thanks, I was bored out of my mind doing those playthroughs. Changed costumes and face camo to keep myself slightly amused. The ipod tunes definitely helped stop the monotony of those runs.
 

Luigi87

Member
Yay, at Act 4 of my BBE run. Should be a cake walk from here on out... Final boss aside.
Bike section... just... never again on The Boss Extreme.
 

Gawd yes. I can't thank all you bros enough for your tips and tricks and shameless exploits, I never would have got through it on my own. The power punch (punch while blocking) is an absolute Godsend in the final bossfight. You can pin Liquid against the side of the conning tower and just nail him what that thing over and over in the first and the third rounds. It comes out pretty slowly but it has huge range, so when Ocelot's trying his CQC hand position you can just sock him right in the face from further than he can reach, and once you start driving him towards the edge it's pretty much over. I was hitting the R1 button so hard during the old man slugfest.

Now I just have three more playthroughs until the Platinum, and I'll breeze through them on Liquid Easy.
 
Also got the BBE. Not a great time, 4:12:XX, but I'll take it. Liquid boss battle took me forever though, but I've got it down so well I don't think I'll ever have trouble again, haha.

With the Chicken run and BBE run out of the way, it's just smooth sailing from here.
 

Luigi87

Member
Playthrough #3 Complete (Assassin + Tarantula), and got all the weapons for I am THE expert on weapons, equipment and cutting-edge technology (so Little Gray too). All that remains is the remaining emblems for that final iPod song.


Doing 4-8 in the order of Panther, Spider, Leopard, Jaguar, Centipede.
That way the quickest ones are at the end (where as the ones with 250+ kills are at the start).
 

SmithnCo

Member
Everything about the BB Corps is so sexist, it's just sad. I just beat Laughing Octopus and the accompanying cutscene was pathetic.

All the scenes after you beat the beasts are cringeworthy. They could've just had them say one thing and been done with it, but it's like minutes worth of dialogue that means absolutely nothing.

Five playthroughs in now, going to go for BBE next week.
 
All the scenes after you beat the beasts are cringeworthy. They could've just had them say one thing and been done with it, but it's like minutes worth of dialogue that means absolutely nothing.

Five playthroughs in now, going to go for BBE next week.

What? No, that was them being cleansed. They finally realized how fucked up their emotions and past actions were. Laughing Octopus, for example, one of the first things she says when she comes out of her suit is "No, it's not funny... I shouldn't be laughing..."
 

SmithnCo

Member
What? No, that was them being cleansed. They finally realized how fucked up their emotions and past actions were. Laughing Octopus, for example, one of the first things she says when she comes out of her suit is "No, it's not funny... I shouldn't be laughing..."

Then they repeat the same thing dramatically for two more minutes which crosses into corny territory. But such is MGS, at least the Meryl/Johnny scene was kinda playful even though it was right before the most impactful moment of the game.
 
Then they repeat the same thing dramatically for two more minutes which crosses into corny territory. But such is MGS, at least the Meryl/Johnny scene was kinda playful even though it was right before the most impactful moment of the game.

Yes, the scenes are definitely terrible and way too corny, I agree. Just wanted to say they aren't meaningless.

--------

I don't really get the hate for the Meryl/Johnny scene. I was okay with it.
 

SamuraiX-

Member
Yes, the scenes are definitely terrible and way too corny, I agree. Just wanted to say they aren't meaningless.

--------

I don't really get the hate for the Meryl/Johnny scene. I was okay with it.

Really?

That was probably the first time in the game when I finally said: "Ok. This is just too much. Even for MGS."

It was just so, so, sooo bad. Worse than anything else in the game for me.
 
I don't really get the hate for the Meryl/Johnny scene. I was okay with it.

You don't get the hate for Meryl having a fairytale instant marriage, with no dating or living together or anything, with the character who, up until this point in the series, has been nothing but 'lolpoop'? Right in the middle of Snake's grim self sacrifice as he runs off to probably be cooked alive while completing his final mission? That scene is so bad. It's worse than Naomi saying "I have to go now, my planet needs me" and Otacon whipping Snake with his ridiculous robot tentacle so he can loudly whimper at her body some more. It's worse than Raiden saying it rained the day he was born, which nobody in the world has ever said before, and then magically obtaining lightning powers because of Snake's bizarre reply and also having no arms despite only losing one.

By the time I was watching Meryl stroll down the aisle to marry the guy who pooped loudly while I was escorting E.E. along the Big Shell struts I was about ready to believe that Sunny probably married that South American boy five minutes after the credits rolled.

Anyway, dat Plat:
P1010579.jpg


I took the last playthrough really slowly, listened to everything on the iPod and tried to find every Codec conversation. There was probably about an hour of Otacon and Snake I'd never heard before. I think I'm well and truly burned out on MGS for now, though.
 
You don't get the hate for Meryl having a fairytale instant marriage, with no dating or living together or anything, with the character who, up until this point in the series, has been nothing but 'lolpoop'? Right in the middle of Snake's grim self sacrifice as he runs off to probably be cooked alive while completing his final mission? That scene is so bad. It's worse than Naomi saying "I have to go now, my planet needs me" and Otacon whipping Snake with his ridiculous robot tentacle so he can loudly whimper at her body some more. It's worse than Raiden saying it rained the day he was born, which nobody in the world has ever said before, and then magically obtaining lightning powers because of Snake's bizarre reply and also having no arms despite only losing one.

By the time I was watching Meryl stroll down the aisle to marry the guy who pooped loudly while I was escorting E.E. along the Big Shell struts I was about ready to believe that Sunny probably married that South American boy five minutes after the credits rolled.

Anyway, dat Plat:
P1010579.jpg


I took the last playthrough really slowly, listened to everything on the iPod and tried to find every Codec conversation. There was probably about an hour of Otacon and Snake I'd never heard before. I think I'm well and truly burned out on MGS for now, though.

Yeah... you know what, I DO get the hate. I get it. I just don't hate it myself. But yeah, I get it now, thanks.


Also, when Raiden said it rained on the day he was born, the word rained was in quotations. Does it have some kind of hidden meaning?

And yes, it is stupid that Raiden is missing both arms even though he only lost one, BUT you know what IS awesome? That he magically has lightning powers. That's awesome.

Congrats on the Plat dude
 

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
You don't get the hate for Meryl having a fairytale instant marriage, with no dating or living together or anything, with the character who, up until this point in the series, has been nothing but 'lolpoop'? Right in the middle of Snake's grim self sacrifice as he runs off to probably be cooked alive while completing his final mission? That scene is so bad. It's worse than Naomi saying "I have to go now, my planet needs me" and Otacon whipping Snake with his ridiculous robot tentacle so he can loudly whimper at her body some more. It's worse than Raiden saying it rained the day he was born, which nobody in the world has ever said before, and then magically obtaining lightning powers because of Snake's bizarre reply and also having no arms despite only losing one.

By the time I was watching Meryl stroll down the aisle to marry the guy who pooped loudly while I was escorting E.E. along the Big Shell struts I was about ready to believe that Sunny probably married that South American boy five minutes after the credits rolled.
Yeah, that perfectly sums up how embarrassing that whole scene/relationship was.

I can understand Kojima wanting to do something quirky and unexpected, that's what I love about these games (especially the craziness in MGS2). But man, that Johnny/Meryl mess was on a whole other level. I learned that I did indeed have my limits, lol. Definitely a low point in the series for me.
 
Act 5 is tough to watch man for the wrong reasons. That said, there are a couple moments that are done really well. Im still bitter the actual theme couldn't make it for that debriefing.

EDIT: This game has reignited my MGS fire. I just bought Snake eater on PSN and was disappointed to learn Peace Walker is not yet separately. Quick Googling has left me without answers so i figured you guys would be in the know.

Are their plans to release Peace Walker HD in the US alone?
 

Luigi87

Member
Act 5 is tough to watch man for the wrong reasons. That said, there are a couple moments that are done really well. Im still bitter the actual theme couldn't make it for that debriefing.

EDIT: This game has reignited my MGS fire. I just bought Snake eater on PSN and was disappointed to learn Peace Walker is not yet separately. Quick Googling has left me without answers so i figured you guys would be in the know.

Are their plans to release Peace Walker HD in the US alone?

August 28th
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Fuck that suicide gekko fight.

Anyway, I still haven't gotten around to pick up the HD Collection. I've played MGS 1 and 3 before, but could never quite get into them due to the stealth gameplay which I'm not really a fan of (and for MGS3, the original version, I thought the controls and constantly fiddling around in menus was clunky). How hard are the games if I just play them on the easiest difficulty just to experience the story?
 

iLLmAtlc

Member
For the Suicide Gekko I'd spend more time hiding than fighting. The M82A2 will make this fight be a lot easier because the rate of fire is a lot higher than the Rail Gun and you can hide under REX on your stomach to recover health too. If you have the Sailor or Rock Me Baby tracks those will increase the health regen rate.

But yeah by hiding more than fighting I mean just hide under REX and shoot Gekko in your sight lines and of course any that are counting down.

With that strategy this part should be easy even on Extreme.
 
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