Fans have found evidence that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain received extensive cuts, much more than Mission 51.
Mission 51 would have explained Big Boss’ and Liquid Snake’s motivations much clearer. However, game files reveal a chapter called Peace, that did not make it to the final product. It’s speculated that Peace would have matched up with the two other chapters, named Revenge and Race respectively.
Our source also claims he had been following the game’s reveal and various trailers and noted several scenes did not make it to the final product. A scene with a burning village, a scene where child soldiers were getting trained, and a mission based in Africa with a PS4 cardboard box did not make it to the final product.
As production problems come and go, it isn’t as bad as, say, Heaven’s Gate or Fitzcarraldo, but perhaps more in line with Apocalypse Now. Much like how Coppola had all the money and equipment need, and still faced an ordeal from his shooting environment in the Philippines, Kojima and his staff must have faced an unusual and grueling ordeal working on The Phantom Pain as his relationship with Konami deteriorated.
We don’t know if Kojima was compelled to cut scenes by his budget, or the pressures of production, or directly instructed to do so by Konami, but in any case, it’s clearer now Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is a shadow of what it should have been.
