This hurts me. MGSV has arguably the best gameplay mechanics in the series, providing an almost endlessly flexible arsenal that grows exponentially throughout the game (provided that you actively seek out materials and soldiers to meet requirements). The areas, while not quite as varied as I might have wanted, are amazingly free, and completely open to approach in any way you personally see fit. In previous MGS games, the gameplay continuously evolved, introducing more and more options to further deepen the player's experience, while also tightening the AI, making for an overall better sneaking experience. However, nearly every past venture came with at least one caveat. MGS2 had bleeding, which was rather annoying to deal with when escaping an alert phase. MGS3 had the cure system and general menu navigation, which had some growing pains and took up a lot of playtime. MGS4, while having the most evolved and easily accessible form of gameplay, introduced the stress bar, a mechanic I despise with every fiber of my being. The Phantom Pain expands upon the freedom of any given mission, massively grows the arsenal, introducing new and fun tools to experiment with, and has possibly the best inventory system I've ever experienced in a game. The core gameplay is absolutely incredible. However, in my mind, MGS games are made up of two equally important halves; the gameplay and the story. I think you can see where this is going. Unfortunately, as a complete package, MGSV is disjointed and unfinished. Its plot has a decent enough setup, being posed as a fairly simple revenge story, and it hooked me right from the start. It all goes downhill from there. The story is spread so thin to the point where I often forgot what the next main objective even was, especially during chapter 2. Throughout the first chapter, while being rather shallow, still held my interest and had a satisfying climax/conclusion. After that point is where it all falls apart. To even simply unlock new story missions, you're often expected to meet arbitrary goals and complete seemingly unimportant side ops. All for hardly any extra story advancements, and perhaps the worst reveal in video game history. Though it's neat that we now have an answer that explains why Big Boss returns in Metal Gear 2, the Venom Snake reveal in the context of MGSV has absolutely zero impact on the story, and isn't build up to or teased in any significant way. It tries to have this big profound message about identity right at the end, but without any of the genius storytelling through gameplay or impact that MGS2 had. It's simply thrown in at the end, after a final mission which is just as bad as its eventual reveal. After having no significant plot developments in several hours, MGSV has you play through the entirety of the first mission, only this time with extra cutscenes at the beginning and end, only serving the purpose of answering a question that never existed. While I love the moment between Ocelot and Big Boss, this mission was a massive headache. The worst part is, mission 43 gave me hope. Being easily the best mission of the game, it has so much impact through its visual storytelling and strengthens Venom Snake's character significantly, more than the final mission ever could. It gave me hope that maybe, just maybe the rest of the game would be worth playing, but it really wasn't. This game had the potential to be the best in the entire MGS series, but ended up being a disjointed mess. It makes me wonder what it would have been like if Kojima and his crew were actually able to finish the game. Unfortunately, we'll never truly know. Though it was massively disappointing in the end, it still has the gameplay to hold it up. For that, I can't bring myself to call it a "bad game."