Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima did another interview with Geoff Keighley and answered many fan questions for the first time. We’ve cut through the fat and have made a list of details revealed about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain & Ground Zeroes.
- The false company name (Moby Dick Studio) and developer (Joakim Mogren) was done to do something interesting and energize the community because the “social space was boring.” They also wanted to get opinions of FOX Engine without letting people know The Phantom Pain was being developed with it.
- The GTTV interview with Joakim Mogren was not CG; it was just a Swedish guy.
- Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is a prologue set 9 years before The Phantom Pain, but put together, these 2 pieces comprise Metal Gear Solid 5. Kojima explained The Phantom Pain is really the main part of the game, emphasizing “it’s really a huge game.”
- Not sure how the 2 parts will be distributed and sold but Ground Zeroes will come first. It will be a prologue to the Phantom Pain, offering up the new gameplay but on a smaller scale. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will be open world, but not quite as big as the Phantom Pain. It will allow the user to jump in, learn how to sneak in real in that open world. Then the Phantom Pain will come and they’ll be thrown into this huge open world. It’s a 2 step process to game design.
- There will be a new person voice acting as Snake, but Kojima can’t say who.
- David Hayter was not chosen to reprise his role as Snake again because they want to recreate the Metal Gear series. Kojima explained, “It’s a new type of Metal Gear game and we want this reflected in the voice actors too.”
- The hospital scene is viewed from the point of view of Kojima, wondering if his creations are dead or alive he expressed jokingly.
- Diamond Dogs is Big Boss/Snake’s new unit because he lost his old unit (FOX). Kojima expressed there are many meanings to it including “dogs of war”, even acknowledging the David Bowie album.
- The scene at the end of the latest trailer shows Big Boss with debris and some bone stuck on and in his forehead; not a horn.
- The bionic arm will be able to do some different things, but “it won’t quite be Bionic Commando.”
- MGS has always been about sneaking and infiltration, but with a “story on rails“. MGS 5‘s goal is to offer realistic infiltration. Letting the player figure out how and when to get to the location; then adjust their strategy depending on conditions in the open world. An example includes deciding day or night to infiltrate a location, which can determine the difficulty and style of infiltration.
- Metal Gear Solid V runs on a 24 hour clock, with time actually passing in game.
- FOX Engine allows game development to focus on game design. Kojima explains that now a level designer can build a level for the game almost entirely by himself now.
- V stands for victory. Victory for Japan and creating video games; something Kojima claims feels lost in Japan.
- You will only play as Snake in MGSV.
- The hospital scene from the demo is the start of the Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain
- The Phantom Pain set around 1984.
- Kojima Production’s new Los Angeles studio is hiring. They will not necessarily be working on the same things as the Tokyo office. He wants the 2 studios to compete and work on different things.
- Kojima can’t comment on MGSV releasing on next gen consoles, including the PS4.
- Metal Gear Solid 5 works on PC but is targeted for PS3 and Xbox 360, so it will look very close to the demos. Kojima did not confirm a PC release.
- Hideo Kojima wants MGS5 to be his last Metal Gear, with the hopes that the Kojima Productions LA team and Tokyo team can take over so he’s freed up to work on his own projects that he’s been thinking about for the last 10 years.
- Kojima expresses to fans that Metal Gear Solid V will be a very different experience from previous games. It’s not the tradition stealth experience, but it’s very fun. It’s what he wants to create.
You can also watch the nearly 18 minute long interview with Hideo Kojima below…
Incase You Missed It: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain trailer & screenshots revealed at GDC 2013