Snake, this is a Solo Sneaking Mission - No more.

Kojima and company certainly surprised quite a number of people a few months back when they officially announced Quiet (as well as D.D, the Diamond Dog) as "buddies", characters that can join and assist you on your missions in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Interestingly, they added that these characters were entirely missable. Completely optional, and, for example, you could go through the entire game without seeing Quiet. It's an interesting turn of events, especially after calling Quiet the "main heroine" of Metal Gear Solid V.

They showed quite a bit of gameplay of Quiet in action, along with two cutscenes.

The interesting concept behind the videos is that they showcase a world where there is no more "solo sneaking mission". No, "ultimate mission with no room to fail". No, "the world is on the brink, if not for ONE. MAN." etc, etc. Now, we have all kinds of friends to call in. Like Quiet, the "sniper deprived of her words", who appears to be nothing short of a human-sized Titan from Attack on Titan, or Shingeki no Kyojin for you purists out there. She possesses super speed, invisibility(Actually, it looks more like she's pulling herself apart molecule by molecule before putting herself back together again), and she also seems to be invulnerable to fall damage.

This is all beside the point that she has gameplay advantages, like being able to scout ahead and even help you take down enemies via co-op headshots. Oh, and take down a fucking helicopter by shooting a grenade into its fucking face.

You picked the wrong day to be a helicopter!

Aside from the cutscene above, they didn't show off any gameplay of D.D. But they did share a bunch of screenshots that makes this dog look like one cool cat. Hehuhuhe, yeah. Italics!

Dawww. He's missing an eye!

Little mermaid reference.

Just two wild and cuhrazy animals hanging out.

He picked the right day to be a helicopter.

The wolf is wearing a fucking eyepatch, and you STILL haven't pre-ordered the game!?

 It's an exciting though, the buddy system. They've shown off just two characters out of possibly many more, but the thing that gets me the most excited is the possible range of what to expect. So far we've got a superhuman sniper, and a wolf.

Metal Gear Solid is no stranger to the supernatural. It's the perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy that makes the thought of ghosts and giant robots not so crazy. We have seen the likes of The Sorrow, a fucking ghost. The Fury who seemed to be a demon, eploding into a fiery demon head and all. The End was old as shit but still capable of running laps around a younger Snake... and I guess there was that whole "able to communicate with the spirits of the forest" thing. The Fear could turn invisible and also weird as shit. And as much as I'd love to turn him into a punchline, The Pain could communicate with and control thousands of thousands of bees and even some hornets.

That's just one game. That doesn't even take into account Psycho Mantis and his telepathy, or Fortune's gift to deflect bullets.

Before I get too far off track here, the point I'd like to make is: The MGS series is filled with the supernatural, but no one has ever truly questioned it. No one has ever said "Hm, that fucking guy is made out of fire or some shit. YO COLONEL WAS THAT A FUCKING VAMPIRE BRO. BRO. WAS THAT  A FUCKING VAMPIRE!?!?" everyone just carries on as usual and no one makes a big deal about anything. But with Quiet being a "buddy" and the idea of possibly having other supernatural soldiers, we could finally have some insight into this big mystery. What are they, exactly? Do they really possess powers, or was it due to some research program? Could it be like some comic book where everything is in play? This guy was affected by chemicals, this dude got stung by a radioactive bee, this guy's father was a ghost so now he's half ghost?

The grounds is there, if they choose to explore it(Which, let me say right now, is what I've always wanted). They've spent much too long with MGS4 explaining the ins-and-outs of nanomachines and how this works and how that works, but so far they've mentioned nothing about how the supernatural works in MGS. The only thing we do have is when Sean Eyestone said (Paraphrasing) that "Quiet possess superhuman powers", which I guess is the first confirmation on what these people are; superhuman.

Well, they don't call him Little Boss.

Aside from all of the supernatural talk, the addition of the buddy system makes a very crucial change in the gameplay which was once a solitary and somewhat lonely, harrowing experience. You were always the guy. Solid Snake. Naked Snake. Big Boss. The man they send behind enemy lines when everything was on the line, the only guy to get the job done. "But Guile", you say "Peace Walker already introduced the concept of a buddy system, with online co-op!" yeah, sure, you've got me there. But that was a different beast. That was more attuned to the Monster Hunter genre, that wasn't a heavy, meaty Metal Gear Solid experience. Missions were often short, and often required a lot of grinding in order to get better items and gear. I'm not saying that is not the case here, but the thing about Peace Walker's co-op is that it truly didn't seem to change anything. Let's not forget there was an illustrated cutscene in Peace Walker showing that MSF had a fucking AIRCRAFT CARRIER!!! And that came into play absolutely... nowhere. It mattered not.

But in The Phantom Pain, there's all of this emphasis on huge landscapes that will require the most crucial attention to the environment and your surroundings as you plan your moves totally autonomously in this new open world game design. If something requires acquiring, you must obtain this yourself. If something requires destroying, you must devise a plan, all on your own, to destroy it. And now, to find out that the system has changed, in a big way, that you now have allies with their own unique abilities and powers, it's one hell of a change from the days of corridor stealth and vision cones.

A warm embrace from Big Boss reminds us that he's still a real human bean

I know it's not very important praise from a blog dedicated to Metal Gear Solid, but Hideo Kojima seems to have a lot of ideas coming together in what can only be described as one of the most ambitious games of all time. And as long as they don't repeat the mistakes of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, well then this game is going to be something to remember.