SDA Knowledge Base - User contributions [en]

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-25T08:30:04Z

Squared64: /* Misc */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as binocular-using guards, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least two standard guards - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A, and the guard on the balcony of the Aft. Deck in the tanker chapter on the European Extreme setting - have lowered sight distances than the difficulty would demand (both remain at Hard/Extreme). This is (presumably) because Snake comes into both guards' distance of sight during in-game cutscenes, and would be discovered with European Extreme sight. Supporting this idea, their ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

* Avoiding the Stinger

While not a timesaver, if the player defeats the Harrier without the Stinger, it will appear fully loaded in their inventory regardless at the beginning of the Metal Gear RAY fight, which is impossible without either the Stinger, or RGB6 (with more ammo than it can hold required).

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points. Regenerative health is reduced from 16-17 to 10-11 (HP is restored in 2s when crouching so the possible maximum can change)
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game (getting sea lice in the inventory reveals that, theoretically, the Extreme limit of 2 rations is still in the engine)
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take slightly longer to tranquilize (without hitting critical areas). The difference is minimal though - no more than a second
# Enemies take longer to stun - 25 singular punches instead of 20
# Enemies take longer to kill - 10 spaced gunshots at a guard's chest (avoiding the instant-kill heart hitbox) versus 6
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T20:53:41Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as binocular-using guards, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least two standard guards - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A, and the guard on the balcony of the Aft. Deck in the tanker chapter on the European Extreme setting - have lowered sight distances than the difficulty would demand (both remain at Hard/Extreme). This is (presumably) because Snake comes into both guards' distance of sight during in-game cutscenes, and would be discovered with European Extreme sight. Supporting this idea, their ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points. Regenerative health is reduced from 16-17 to 10-11 (HP is restored in 2s when crouching so the possible maximum can change)
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game (getting sea lice in the inventory reveals that, theoretically, the Extreme limit of 2 rations is still in the engine)
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take slightly longer to tranquilize (without hitting critical areas). The difference is minimal though - no more than a second
# Enemies take longer to stun - 25 singular punches instead of 20
# Enemies take longer to kill - 10 spaced gunshots at a guard's chest (avoiding the instant-kill heart hitbox) versus 6
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T20:29:27Z

Squared64: /* Enemies */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as binocular-using guards, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least two standard guards - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A, and the guard on the balcony of the Aft. Deck in the tanker chapter on the European Extreme setting - have lowered sight distances than the difficulty would demand (both remain at Hard/Extreme). This is (presumably) because Snake comes into both guards' distance of sight during in-game cutscenes, and would be discovered with European Extreme sight. Supporting this idea, their ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points. Regenerative health is reduced from 16-17 to 10-11 (HP is restored in 2s when crouching so the possible maximum can change)
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game (getting sea lice in the inventory reveals that, theoretically, the Extreme limit of 2 rations is still in the engine)
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take longer to stun - 25 singular punches instead of 20
# Enemies take longer to kill - 10 spaced gunshots at a guard's chest (avoiding the instant-kill heart hitbox) versus 6
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T20:15:44Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as the binocular-using guards in the Plant chapter, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least one standard guard - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A in the tanker chapter on the Extreme settings - has a severely lowered sight distance than the difficulty would demand. This is (presumably) because Snake peeks into the room with corner view during a mini-cutscene, and with the sight of an Extreme or European Extreme guard, Snake would be found during a demo. Supporting this idea, the guard's ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points. Regenerative health is reduced from 16-17 to 10-11 (HP is restored in 2s when crouching so the possible maximum can change)
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game (getting sea lice in the inventory reveals that, theoretically, the Extreme limit of 2 rations is still in the engine)
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take longer to stun - 25 singular punches instead of 20
# Enemies take longer to kill - 10 spaced gunshots at a guard's chest (avoiding the instant-kill heart hitbox) versus 6
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T12:08:29Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as the binocular-using guards in the Plant chapter, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least one standard guard - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A in the tanker chapter on the Extreme settings - has a severely lowered sight distance than the difficulty would demand. This is (presumably) because Snake peeks into the room with corner view during a mini-cutscene, and with the sight of an Extreme or European Extreme guard, Snake would be found during a demo. Supporting this idea, the guard's ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game (getting sea lice in the inventory reveals that, theoretically, the Extreme limit of 2 rations is still in the engine)
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take longer to stun - 25 singular punches instead of 20
# Enemies take longer to kill - 10 spaced gunshots at a guard's chest (avoiding the instant-kill heart hitbox) versus 6
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T11:35:05Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as the binocular-using guards in the Plant chapter, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least one standard guard - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A in the tanker chapter on the Extreme settings - has a severely lowered sight distance than the difficulty would demand. This is (presumably) because Snake peeks into the room with corner view during a mini-cutscene, and with the sight of an Extreme or European Extreme guard, Snake would be found during a demo. Supporting this idea, the guard's ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game (getting sea lice in the inventory reveals that, theoretically, the Extreme limit of 2 rations is still in the engine)
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take slightly longer to stun - 25 singular punches on European Extreme versus 20 on Extreme
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T11:28:21Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as the binocular-using guards in the Plant chapter, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least one standard guard - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A in the tanker chapter on the Extreme settings - has a severely lowered sight distance than the difficulty would demand. This is (presumably) because Snake peeks into the room with corner view during a mini-cutscene, and with the sight of an Extreme or European Extreme guard, Snake would be found during a demo. Supporting this idea, the guard's ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# Enemies take slightly longer to stun - 25 singular punches on European Extreme versus 20 on Extreme
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T11:24:35Z

Squared64:

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings. The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar. Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as the binocular-using guards in the Plant chapter, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies. Interestingly, at least one standard guard - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A in the tanker chapter on the Extreme settings - has a severely lowered sight distance than the difficulty would demand. This is (presumably) because Snake peeks into the room with corner view during a mini-cutscene, and with the sight of an Extreme or European Extreme guard, Snake would be found during a demo. Supporting this idea, the guard's ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T11:22:05Z

Squared64: /* Enemies */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

*Sight and sound

The enemy's field of vision is relatively narrow, and does not change between difficulty settings
The distance from which an enemy becomes suspicious of the player, and the distance at which they discover the player, however, change significantly. See the image on the right for distances scaled to the in-game radar
Note that on European Extreme, an enemy can become suspicious of the player from a distance beyond that of the radar. The distance enemies can hear wall knocking is equal to the distance at which, in a straight line, they would discover the player.
Certain enemies such as the binocular-using guards in the Plant chapter, for obvious reasons, do not adhere to the same sight distances as standard enemies
Interestingly, at least one standard guard - the left-side guard in the second room of Deck-A in the tanker chapter on the Extreme settings - has a severely lowered sight distance than the difficulty would demand. This is (presumably) because Snake peeks into the room with corner view during a mini-cutscene, and with the sight of an Extreme or European Extreme guard, Snake would be found during a demo. Supporting this idea, the guard's ability to hear is unaffected.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T07:57:25Z

Squared64: /* Categories */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* [Not] Game Over on Discovery
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T07:56:53Z

Squared64:

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Categories ===
Metal Gear Solid 2 runs should be classified by version (including region) and difficulty/end-game ranking. Possible main categories for runs include a mixture of the following:
* Big Boss code name/Any code name
* All dog tags/Any%
* No damage/Damage taken to save time
* Single-segment/Multi-segment (Big Boss may use 9 segments)
* Extreme/European Extreme difficulty
* Sons of Liberty/Substance

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-16T06:31:09Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly harder on the initial console versions (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30). The HD collection version drains oxygen faster, but lasts a measly 14 seconds by comparison.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T11:59:53Z

Squared64: /* Tengus */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===
* Rapid damage
The most well known hitbox for this fight is Vamp's head, but there's an invulnerability period between each shot fired. By shooting Vamp multiple times in a row in the left and/or right legs, you can avoid this invulnerability and cause rapid damage to him. The risk with this method is pressing square too slowly and hitting Emma with one of your rounds.

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Make sure there are no (conscious) enemies near the northern door - you'll automatically target them in first person, throwing the angle for this glitch off. Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
* AKS-74u method
Useful in a no damage, no kill run, but several minutes slower. At the start of the fight, knock Snake out with the M9/PSG1-T, and run to the southern room. Hug the left-hand wall of the room, equip the AKS-74u, and use the punching attack on the advancing Tengus in first-person view - aim for the head to instant-stun them. Between the waves of soldiers, tranquilize Snake to ensure he stays unconscious.

=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Triangle button mashing
On the original console versions of MGS2, to maintain oxygen the triangle button must be pressed at least 9 times a second. The difficulty and version of the game will determine how long this sequence lasts. On European Extreme, Solidus will choke the player for 65 seconds in PAL, 60 seconds in NTSC-J, and 55 seconds in NTSC-U. The HD collection nerfs this with a ~15 second sequence. The best technique for mashing triangle quickly is to put the thumb and forefinger together, position the base of the two fingers over the button, and tense the forearm so the hand 'vibrates'. Tensing the forearm for such a period of time is quite challenging and painful.

* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

* Version discrepancy
As a result of the HD collection giving the player more health for the button mashing sequence, since the Extreme difficulties carry the remaining health over to the Solidus fight, the player can have far more health than they should for this fight. The actual amount of health given to the player in the HD collection is 120 - an Easy health bar.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T11:59:04Z

Squared64: /* Vamp 2 */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===
* Rapid damage
The most well known hitbox for this fight is Vamp's head, but there's an invulnerability period between each shot fired. By shooting Vamp multiple times in a row in the left and/or right legs, you can avoid this invulnerability and cause rapid damage to him. The risk with this method is pressing square too slowly and hitting Emma with one of your rounds.

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
* AKS-74u method
Useful in a no damage, no kill run, but several minutes slower. At the start of the fight, knock Snake out with the M9/PSG1-T, and run to the southern room. Hug the left-hand wall of the room, equip the AKS-74u, and use the punching attack on the advancing Tengus in first-person view - aim for the head to instant-stun them. Between the waves of soldiers, tranquilize Snake to ensure he stays unconscious.

=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Triangle button mashing
On the original console versions of MGS2, to maintain oxygen the triangle button must be pressed at least 9 times a second. The difficulty and version of the game will determine how long this sequence lasts. On European Extreme, Solidus will choke the player for 65 seconds in PAL, 60 seconds in NTSC-J, and 55 seconds in NTSC-U. The HD collection nerfs this with a ~15 second sequence. The best technique for mashing triangle quickly is to put the thumb and forefinger together, position the base of the two fingers over the button, and tense the forearm so the hand 'vibrates'. Tensing the forearm for such a period of time is quite challenging and painful.

* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

* Version discrepancy
As a result of the HD collection giving the player more health for the button mashing sequence, since the Extreme difficulties carry the remaining health over to the Solidus fight, the player can have far more health than they should for this fight. The actual amount of health given to the player in the HD collection is 120 - an Easy health bar.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T05:28:24Z

Squared64: /* Solidus */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
* AKS-74u method
Useful in a no damage, no kill run, but several minutes slower. At the start of the fight, knock Snake out with the M9/PSG1-T, and run to the southern room. Hug the left-hand wall of the room, equip the AKS-74u, and use the punching attack on the advancing Tengus in first-person view - aim for the head to instant-stun them. Between the waves of soldiers, tranquilize Snake to ensure he stays unconscious.

=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Triangle button mashing
On the original console versions of MGS2, to maintain oxygen the triangle button must be pressed at least 9 times a second. The difficulty and version of the game will determine how long this sequence lasts. On European Extreme, Solidus will choke the player for 65 seconds in PAL, 60 seconds in NTSC-J, and 55 seconds in NTSC-U. The HD collection nerfs this with a ~15 second sequence. The best technique for mashing triangle quickly is to put the thumb and forefinger together, position the base of the two fingers over the button, and tense the forearm so the hand 'vibrates'. Tensing the forearm for such a period of time is quite challenging and painful.

* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

* Version discrepancy
As a result of the HD collection giving the player more health for the button mashing sequence, since the Extreme difficulties carry the remaining health over to the Solidus fight, the player can have far more health than they should for this fight. The actual amount of health given to the player in the HD collection is 120 - an Easy health bar.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T05:25:20Z

Squared64: /* Solidus */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
* AKS-74u method
Useful in a no damage, no kill run, but several minutes slower. At the start of the fight, knock Snake out with the M9/PSG1-T, and run to the southern room. Hug the left-hand wall of the room, equip the AKS-74u, and use the punching attack on the advancing Tengus in first-person view - aim for the head to instant-stun them. Between the waves of soldiers, tranquilize Snake to ensure he stays unconscious.

=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Triangle button mashing
On the original console versions of MGS2, to maintain oxygen the triangle button must be pressed at least 9 times a second. The difficulty and version of the game will determine how long this sequence lasts. On European Extreme, Solidus will choke the player for 65 seconds in PAL, 60 seconds in NTSC-J, and 55 seconds in NTSC-U. The HD collection nerfs this with a ~15 second sequence. The best technique for mashing triangle quickly is to put the thumb and forefinger together, position the base of the two fingers over the button, and tense the forearm so the hand 'vibrates'. Tensing the forearm for such a period of time is quite challenging and painful.

* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T05:24:40Z

Squared64: /* Solidus */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
* AKS-74u method
Useful in a no damage, no kill run, but several minutes slower. At the start of the fight, knock Snake out with the M9/PSG1-T, and run to the southern room. Hug the left-hand wall of the room, equip the AKS-74u, and use the punching attack on the advancing Tengus in first-person view - aim for the head to instant-stun them. Between the waves of soldiers, tranquilize Snake to ensure he stays unconscious.

=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Triangle button mashing
On the original console versions of MGS2, to maintain oxygen the triangle button must be pressed at least 9 times a second. The difficulty and version of the game will determine how long this sequence lasts. On European Extreme, Solidus will choke the player for 65 seconds in PAL, 60 seconds in NTSC-J, and 55 seconds in NTSC-U. The best technique for mashing triangle quickly is to put the thumb and forefinger together, position the base of the two fingers over the button, and tense the forearm so the hand 'vibrates'. Tensing the forearm for such a period of time is quite challenging and painful.

* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T04:39:33Z

Squared64: /* Tengus 2 */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
* AKS-74u method
Useful in a no damage, no kill run, but several minutes slower. At the start of the fight, knock Snake out with the M9/PSG1-T, and run to the southern room. Hug the left-hand wall of the room, equip the AKS-74u, and use the punching attack on the advancing Tengus in first-person view - aim for the head to instant-stun them. Between the waves of soldiers, tranquilize Snake to ensure he stays unconscious.

=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Bosses

2013-08-15T04:34:50Z

Squared64: /* Fortune */

{{contents}}
These strategies assume Extreme/EuExtreme difficulty. They may not work in other difficulties. In general if there's a "loop" available for a particular boss, it will be faster than other methods.

== Tanker ==

=== Olga ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx)
Olga has a loop that allows you to shoot her repeatedly shortly before her first mini-cutscene. It works by making her empty her clip, and then interrupting her reload at the front, forcing her to reload at the back later. As she shoots more rapidly in Ex/EuEx, this only works in those difficulties. In the US version of SoL, Olga often runs out to the right, making this strategy fail. All other versions have her run to the left the first time.

An Any% method is to push against the hatch, hold R1, then quickly hold R2 as well when Olga runs out, to dodge her shots. As long as she sees you, she should run back to the left firing, then move to the back.

In 100%, you will probably need both M9 bullet caches, which gives you no time to use the above strategy. You can collect the east, then middle caches, then go close to the barrier in the middle, a little to the left of the eastern set of crates. Duck here and stay still, and Olga should miss you when she runs out (some positions do leave you open, so experiment). You then want to run to the right, such that when she notices you she's already started reloading. The timing is quite hard to get right.

A riskier and less consistent method: after collecting the cache in the middle, stand behind the left side of the eastern set of crates. As Olga runs out, run out a little so that she sees you, then duck back in.

Once you've enabled the loop, move to the east fence (pick up the M9 cache at the southeast if you need them) and aim towards the back. You want the laser to be aimed a little to the right of the small gap between a horizontal and vertical set of poles in the frame Olga is hiding behind. When she is reloading, her head is here. Fire as soon as she starts reloading, then wait for her to recover and try to reload again. If your aim is a little too far to the left, you may miss if you shoot a little early. Four headshots wins.

* Free first shot
At the start of the battle, crawl and look through the gap in the crates in the middle. When Olga runs out she'll stop and look puzzled, allowing you to shoot her easily. This is fairly slow, and only works once.

* East-side firefight
The east side of the area is the best to battle Olga as she's fairly predictable, easy to get headshots, and quick to beat. The easiest way to deal with a firefight is to stand at the far east in plain sight, enter first-person, and use the L2 button to dodge her shots.

After her first mini-cutscene, she will always run to the front, giving you a chance of headshot. At the front, she will always pop her head out at the same place, but she shoots quickly, so you have to shoot her first and dodge her own shot.

At the back, she will attack from either a standing or crouched position, but you get slightly longer to dodge. In addition, if she is standing, she waits a second or so before hiding, giving you time to hit her. If you miss first time, aim at the correct spot for the next attempt, as she uses the same position a few times.

* Tarpaulin phase
In general, if a battle reaches this phase, you aren't doing it quick enough, but sometimes Olga will tire of an east-side battle early. In Ex/EuEx the tarp can't be shot off, so it's easiest to wait for a silence indicative of her getting out a grenade, and shoot blindly at her.

After hitting her once, Olga will run forward via the east side to shoot the tarp herself. This gives you ample time to hit her in the head before she does so.

=== Soldiers ===
* General strategy
The safe place in this battle is crouching behind the crate nearest to the action. There are two main methods from this point:

You can back up against the crate, and use the pop-out technique (hold Sq at the left side of the crate) in conjunction with first-person mode. This has a lot of overhead time from the pop-out/in animations, and you should make sure you let go of R1 before popping back in.

Alternatively, stay facing forward, hold R1 to go into first-person and also R2 (which has no effect at first). When you hold L2 as well, you will lean over the crate, allowing you to aim and fire. Let go of L2 to duck back into cover.

A similar method is to crouch in the same position, but use X to stand up and crouch.

There are three types of soldier. One crosses to the west, and then fires or jumps out from that position. One stays in the east and does the same (this is the most dangerous as you can't see what they're up to). The other moves to the crate at the back (essentially the same position as you are) and fires or later throws grenades.

Take advantage of the fact that moving soldiers can't hit you. While the west/back soldiers move into position, headshot them before they get there. You have to take the east soldier out the hard way, and you should be wary of him attacking while you try to take out the other two.

Each soldier is replaced after a certain amount of time, by a soldier of the same type. If you take out the soldiers in a particular order, you can predict the order of the next wave.

Once at least three (or two in the easier difficulties) of each type of soldier have been eliminated, and no more soldiers are on the screen, three last guards will rush you. You can stay in the same position, or retreat to distance if you see it coming. Headshots will deal with these without trouble, but if you shoot the first soldier too quickly, the last one will lose his nerve and hide for a few seconds. It's quicker to wait a little.

* Instant kill (Ez/VE)
Your enemies are soldiers with the same attributes as regular soldiers. On Easy and Very Easy, just plug them with a single M9 bullet.

* Headshot on moving targets
When using Previous equip mode (this can be done with Unequip, but it is slower), lock-on and shoot a moving soldier with the USP, then use their recoil time to switch to the M9 and hit them with a headshot.

* Clear a phase quickly
If you're not aiming for no kills, you can trigger the last phase or finish the battle more quickly by killing the last soldier(s) rather than tranqing them. When tranqing, the elimination is registered when they start snoring - with a lethal weapon it's registered as soon as the killing shot hits.

== Plant ==
=== Fortune ===
* General strategy
Make sure you've got a cardboard box. With the smaller turning circle, you can run back and forth without running the risk of Raiden messing up a 180-degree turn. Stay at the far south and get into a rhythm of running to the east so Fortune shoots straight down, then turning to the west and doing the same.

* Alternative strategy
A slightly faster method by real-time is to have a fully emptied SOCOM for this fight, and use the invincibility frames of the jump-out shot animation to avoid Fortune's rail gun. At the start of the fight, have Fortune destroy the forklift by letting her fire two double shots directly at it (equip the box and sit it down far south of the forklift). Then run to the upper-right crate, and repeatedly perform the jump-out shot until the tenth double shot. From here, run to the upper-leftmost crates with a barrel. Stay here performing the jump-out shots until the mini-cutscene with the elevator begins. Finally, run to the right and use jump-out shots by the left side of the single box. Continue this until Fortune starts attacking the scenery again; use this time to collect the 24 SOCOM bullets lying around.

* Simple dodging (Ez/VE/Nm/Hd)
On the easier difficulies Fortune only fires one shot at a time. Stand in the middle at the back, and crouch just as she fires, then stand back up once the shot has passed.

* NTSC vs PAL
In order to make up for the horrific amounts of slowdown in the NTSC (US/Jp) versions of this battle, Fortune has a different attack pattern between NTSC and PAL (Eu). Particularly, the PAL version lasts significantly longer in game time (enough that it's longer in real time despite the NTSC slowdown) as Fortune shoots about 20 more bolts at you.

=== Fatman ===
* Loop (Ex/EuEx) (PAL)
This loop only works on PAL versions of MGS2. First, freeze the bomb at the northeast. Fatman will make his way to the other bomb - approach him by running west to that box and then south towards him. As soon as you reach the corner, he will shoot at you, so double back into cover to avoid it. As soon as the shots end, run back out and shoot him in a skate to trip him up. Fire one headshot with the M9, freeze the other bomb, then return to where you were and fire another. Fatman will skate in place, so aim for a skate again, and as soon as the red dot appears, trip him again and get two headshots.

At this point, you should be in a particular spot - 2.5 to 3 metres away, and a little further north (if to the east of him) or south (to the west) than he is. If your positioning is bad, he'll skate off as soon as he gets up. If it's good however, he'll fire at you again, but running about 0.5 metres to the south (to the east) or north (to the west) will avoid them. As soon as you've moved this distance, aim for a skate, trip him and get your headshots. Move back to an appropriate position, and repeat until he's KO'd.

Each trip will move Fatman a little to the north or south. If this movement becomes a problem (e.g. you're pushing him around a corner), aim for the other skate to move him in the other direction.

On NTSC versions of MGS2, you can get the first four headshots using this strategy, but Fatman will always skate off afterwards.
* Repeated headshots
When you knock Fatman down by shooting him with the SOCOM, you can headshot him repeatedly with the M9 by abusing quick reload and auto-aim in first-person (hold R1 and L1). You can start firing shortly before he stops sliding back. You can sometimes get better accuracy by crouching and maintaining distance. You can get three headshots on harder difficulties - it is possible to win with a single knockdown on Very Easy.

=== Harrier ===
=== Vamp ===
* Loop
Vamp's loop can be triggered any time (preferably the first time...) he jumps out of the water.

First, to get to that point, hit him with an M9 headshot as fast as you can, then wait at the south near the edge of the water for him to surface. You can do a little more damage with stun grenades or Stinger in the water if you like, but it's negligible.

When Vamp jumps out, edge north off the ledge so you drop into the water and grab it. This changes Vamp's behaviour so he drops and walks slowly around to investigate. Preferably you want him to go around the east, as he gets stuck a little at the west. When he gets close enough he'll take a knife and slash at your hands. As soon as the animation begins, climb back out - you can start climbing out before the animation to save time, but ensure it's late enough that you're still climbing when the slash hits. You'll end up very close to him, and can punch him freely while he recovers from his slash animation.

In this position, you can start the loop. You want to hit Vamp with two punches, delay a little, then repeat. The key is to avoid doing a three-hit combo while still being quick. If you're still up close when the attack is over, he'll try to slash you again - this is your cue to run out of range, then back in and start hitting him again.

You should aim for at least six hits per loop (perhaps less on the first loop), but it's possible to get eight. Always ensure you continue the loop though - if he hits you, most of the time he'll dive, and if you run away from him too early he'll do so as well. Timing is key, and if you don't have a good rhythm you should simplify things to ensure you maintain the loop.

If you see him start to slash, and you know you won't be able to run out in time, don't try to do so. Ensure you are as close to him as possible, and take the hit. As long as you do this, he'll slash the ground a second time, allowing you to get up and resume punching him. Otherwise, he'll dive and waste stupid amounts of time.

* Critical hit
There's one point on Vamp's body that is a critical hit box - the gunshot wound in the middle of his forehead. You only get one real opportunity to hit it, and that's at the very start of the battle, if you wait for him to bow in your direction. If you use the loop above, this takes too long for the increased damage to be worth it.

* Claymores
If all else fails, you can lay Claymores on the and east and west paths, and Vamp will walk right into them while on the ground. This takes a very long time and doesn't help you with no kills.

=== Vamp 2 ===

=== Tengus ===
* Exit trigger
As soon as you reach the final phase, make sure you can go about 5 seconds without being attacked (stun grenade, for example). Press yourself against the door and then let go and go into first person. Then do a three-hit combo, and as the kick animation starts let go of R1. Differences between your position in and out of first person will push you into the exit trigger on the inside of the door, completing this battle.

* Coolant trick
This glitch works in both Sons of Liberty and Substance, but the requirements for making it work in Substance are so strict that it's not feasible for a speedrun. You should consider this an SoL-only trick.

The trick is performed in the last phase. You start by hiding behind one of the boxes at the south of this phase to lure Tengus into that area. When a Tengu approaches, spray them with coolant, and repeat this until all available Tengus are being sprayed. You now need to continue spraying the Tengus to gradually push them back, and eventually behind the box you're hiding. You may need to adjust your position (usually to move forward) at times, and you may need to quickly tranq one of the Tengus in the top level that shoots at you.

Once all Tengus are behind the box, the game should consider you out of their line of sight, and this will trigger the end of the alert phase. However, you should leg it out quick before they realise what's up, and watch out for any others on the top level.

* Phase skipping
This battle consists of a number of phases triggered as you advance further north. Most of these phases are triggered when you pass a horizontal line on the ground. When you trigger a new phase, the game assumes you've eliminated all the Tengus in the previous phase, and they become inactive. This means that theoretically you could reach the last phase without eliminating a single enemy.

=== Tengus 2 ===
=== Rays ===
* Open mouth attack
The basic way to deal damage against Ray is to attack a leg, causing it to open its mouth so a head attack will deal heavy damage.

At times (particularly shortly after a new Ray appears), Ray will do a battle cry. If you can anticipate this (there's very little time, if any, to react), you can hit them for open mouth damage with a single shot.

The simplest time to do this is at the very start of the battle. The middle, then right, then left Ray will do a battle cry, and with perfect shooting you can hit all of them. Hold R2 before the battle begins to immediately equip the Stinger, then instantly fire and then lock on to the head and move on to the one on the right to do the same (mash Square to get an instant shot). If you find it too hard to hit three, then skip the middle and go for the right and left Rays.

When a Ray is on the platform with you, when close up and directly in front of them they will do a water cannon attack. You can bait this by getting close and running horizontally past their field of vision. Continue running past to dodge the attack, and you can get a free open mouth shot. Don't be too close though, as you may not be able to aim the Stinger high enough. You can also bait the water cannon after hitting a Ray, by simply standing in front of them.

=== Solidus ===
* Loop
Solidus' loop is probably the easiest in the game, it works in both phases, and can be triggered right at the beginning. However, it is (marginally) more difficult to maintain in the easier difficulties as he's a weakling and falls over easily in the others.

In the first phase, slash at Solidus with the sword and stay very close right in front of him, to tempt him to attack you back. Hold L1 to block and he will kick at you, leaving him open.

In the last phase, make sure you're facing Solidus as he dashes at you, and block his attack. If he shoulder-barges, he's open immediately. If he slashes, however, block all three strikes, slash him to knock him off balance, and run close to him to attack.

The attack you want to use is two slashes (vertical or horizontal, doesn't matter). You then want to wait a bit, and move to his right side (the side without the eye patch - he has better eyesight on this side and is able to block more easily), then slash him again. He'll block, then try another kick, which will leave him open to another two slashes.

On harder difficulties you can stay in front of him and slash as he crosses the blades together in order to make him block, but this has a short window and isn't recommended unless you can't reach his right side. If you knock Solidus down with this third slash, it's too early. If he attacks through it, it's too late.

After forcing him to block, you can reposition yourself before he kicks if you're in a bad position - for example if you're near an edge.

== Substance ==
=== Gurlugon (Raiden) ===
Run up to the large collection of crates in the centre of the area, and press yourself against the south edge of the southmost crate. As soon as Gurlugon roars, edge south to dodge the blast, then pick up the book that appears. Place it on the ground in front of you, and stand there like a vending machine.

The cutscene is horrifically long, but it's still a hell of a lot faster than any other strategy.

=== Mech Genola (Snake) ===
Start by tricking Mech Genola into blowing up the left side box on the second row from the front. This is done by nearing the box, running into the searchlight and immediately taking cover behind the box. You may have to dodge when he actually fires at you. Immediately fire a Stinger at his head and collect the Chaff Grenades, then climb onto the left side box at the front. Finally, throw a Chaff Grenade into the hole where his head was.

=== Genola (MGS1 Snake) ===
Collect the Stinger and run as far left as possible. If you look to the left (don't do it in an actual attempt >_>) you can see where the wall ends (both at the end and the bottom); make a note of a point just below the bottom of the wall, and just to the right of the end of it. Look north and equip the Stinger, and lock on the target (it's behind the back wall), then quickly move your aim to the point explained above and fire. If you're still locked on and your aim is true, the missile will go through the hole in the back wall, hit the target and summon Gurlugon.

Alternatively, hit the target revolving around far above you to summon Mech Genola. This is harder to find and also difficult to hit due to the distance.

There's also the option of shooting out three of the scaffolds holding a pan above Genola's head with an assault rifle, but that takes a loooong time.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T04:26:02Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points
# Enemies do not carry any items
# Rations are completely removed from the game
# Enemies see and hear significantly farther
# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes
# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly longer (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30, on the PS2 versions. The HD collection is only marginally longer than normal)

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T04:25:37Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Difficulty Differences:

* Unlike Metal Gear Solid 3, the core gameplay of MGS2 changes between Extreme and European Extreme difficulty.

# Health is reduced from 50 to 30 hit points

# Enemies do not carry any items

# Rations are completely removed from the game

# Enemies see and hear significantly farther

# Enemies tranquilized with the M9 wake up after 40 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes

# The button mashing sequence with Solidus is significantly longer (55-65 seconds, region dependent, as opposed to ~30, on the PS2 versions. The HD collection is only marginally longer than normal)

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T04:19:39Z

Squared64: /* Big Boss */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one Very Easy life bar is 200 hit points, while one Extreme life bar is 50, so expect the cutoff to be anywhere from 525 to 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts. Note that continuing from Game Over on the Tengu fights will add to the alert number (even though continues will void the rank regardless).

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T04:16:43Z

Squared64: /* Movement */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

* Running up and down stairs

In the PS Vita version of the game, holding the weapon holster button (D-Pad down) while moving will have the player character maintain their current pace and bearing. When running towards stairs, hold the button to run directly up (and down - only really useful as Snake) them without stopping. This may work in the Xbox/360 versions of the game, given the similar control method.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T01:41:26Z

Squared64: /* Enemies */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current E-Extreme strategy for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last before leaving gives enough just time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T01:40:45Z

Squared64: /* Enemies */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Lengths of stun/tranq

The period of time an enemy will remain knocked out is dependent on difficulty setting.
M9 tranquilizer rounds will knock an enemy out for 9 minutes on Very Easy and Easy, 5 minutes on Normal, 3 minutes on Hard and Extreme, and 40 seconds on European Extreme.
A stunned enemy (with stars around their head) will remain stunned for 1 minute on Very Easy and Easy, and 30 seconds on all other settings.
The time enemies remain down continues to pass when outside of the room; this is incorporated into the current strategies for bomb disposal in Strut E, where tranquilizing the guard patrolling the right-hand staircase last gives enough time for the player to defuse the heliport bomb and return without them waking up.

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T01:32:09Z

Squared64:

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===
[[File:Radar.png|thumbnail|right|The range of the enemy's sight changes between difficulty settings]]
* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

File:Radar.png

2013-08-15T01:29:36Z

Squared64: The green area represents the size of the in-game radar. The blue area represents an area too distant to be shown on the radar's canvas. The blue dot represents the player character. The yellow dots represent the distance at which an enemy becomes cur...

The green area represents the size of the in-game radar.
The blue area represents an area too distant to be shown on the radar's canvas.

The blue dot represents the player character.
The yellow dots represent the distance at which an enemy becomes curious to the player character's presence.
The red dots represent the distance at which an enemy can spot the player character.

The distances of the enemy's sight are shared between Hard and Extreme difficulty.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T01:26:01Z

Squared64:

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

* Field/Distance of vision

Guards' sight varies between difficulties; e.g. the distance a guard becomes curious of the player on Extreme is the distance the player is spotted on European Extreme.

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T01:25:41Z

Squared64:

<gallery>
<gallery>
File:Example.jpg|Caption1
File:Example.jpg|Caption2
</gallery>
</gallery>
[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

* Field/Distance of vision

Guards' sight varies between difficulties; e.g. the distance a guard becomes curious of the player on Extreme is the distance the player is spotted on European Extreme.

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2013-08-15T01:25:12Z

Squared64: /* Enemies */

[[Category:PlayStation 2]]
[[Category:Games]]

{{sda run|http://speeddemosarchive.com/MetalGearSolid2.html}}
{{contents}}
=== Versions ===

MGS2 has gameplay differences between every version of the game. The main revisions (in order of release):

* Sons of Liberty (US)
* Sons of Liberty (Jp): Dog Tag changes, most notably some Marines in Tanker Holds. Boss Survival/Casting Theatre modes. Various bug fixes and presentation changes. This version only: V.Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard are named Easy, Normal, Hard and V.Hard respectively.
* Sons of Liberty (Eu): European Extreme difficulty. C4 locations changed in Strut D and Strut A Deep Sea Dock.
* Substance (World): Exploits and glitches fixed, most notably the Tengus Coolant glitches (made significantly more difficult to execute) and Elevator floor clip. Extended Boss Survival mode. Snake Tales, Missions, and (PS2-only) Skateboarding modes. Various bug fixes.

While PAL (Eu) and NTSC (US, Jp) ostensibly run at the same speed (adjusted to compensate for PAL's lower frame rate), there are various subtle differences in PAL versions either caused by it, or specifically added for other reasons:

* Many guard and mech routes are slower, which can make things easier or harder depending on the situation. This (and other timing effects) are caused by routes using a frame timer (instead of a real-time timer) which has not been compensated for.
* Elevators (including the one in Strut A Deep Sea Dock) take longer to appear.
* Button actions take longer to take effect, including firing (which makes it difficult to fire a pistol rapidly), opening equip menus (which also gives Quick Equip a bigger window) and equip scrolling.
* First-person aiming is slower, as the distance covered when adjusting it is measured by the frame.
* Codec conversations, when skipped with Square, take longer to do so (one screen per frame).
* There is less slowdown in graphically-complex areas such as outside on the Tanker, the Holds, Fortune and Rays. Game time is measured in frames, so slowdown (or the lack of it) does not give one version an advantage in game time. However...
* Fortune's attack patterns are changed to compensate (or rather, over-compensate) for the huge slowdown in the NTSC version. PAL Fortune attacks 16 more times on Extreme.
* Fatman's loop strategy only works on PAL versions. When attempting it on NTSC versions, after you trip him twice, he gets up and runs away, no matter your location.

There is also a difference caused by translation that affects all languages. Some guard actions (such as initiating Alert/Caution) are timed to take effect once they finish using the radio. Depending on the dub, some languages will take longer than others, and so some marginal hit and run strategies may not work.

=== Weapons ===

* Quick reload

Double-click R2 to refill your clip quickly. You can also use this to skip the end of a long firing animation (e.g. the M9, which needs a round loaded for every shot), which enables you to shoot at a faster rate. For example, if done fast enough, you can run at a guard and send them to sleep in three shots (Ex/EuEx) before they can turn around.

You receive a magazine when you run out of bullets in a clip - using quick reload stops this from happening.

* Lock-on headshots

Pressing L1 while aiming with a basic gun (M9, USP/SOCOM, M4/AK) while near an enemy (not bosses in Ex/EuEx) switches your aim to their chest. You can use this to run and shoot by holding L1, but it also simplifies aiming for headshots.

Hold Sq and R1 to aim in first person, then tap L1 to aim at the chest. Then move the aim up to the head and fire. With practice this becomes easy and quick.

* Quick equip modes

There are two quick equip modes in the Options menu - they affect what happens when you tap L2 or R2 instead of holding it. Unequip mode unequips the current item if it is equipped, and equips the last-equipped item if there is nothing equipped. This is the same behaviour as L1 and R1 in MGS1. Previous mode acts like Unequip mode if you have only equipped one item since you last had nothing equipped. Otherwise, it will switch to the last item you had equipped, meaning it will switch back-and-forth between two items repeatedly.

Unequip is the default mode. It is most useful when you expect to use a variety of items or to grab enemies without a weapon. It's also the easiest mode to use, and in general it won't do anything you don't expect it to.

Previous mode is significantly quicker, and more intuitive, than Unequip when you expect to use two items only, or when you will repeatedly switch between two. In the Tanker, where the only weapons you're likely to use are the M9 and USP, Previous is king - once you've equipped the USP, you probably won't need to enter the weapon menu again. However, in the Plant, if your second weapon is first-person - Stinger, PSG-1(T) or Coolant - techniques like quick reload will make you stop running for a short time. You can deal with this by quick-reloading during a cartwheel.

=== Enemies ===

* Knock-down tranquilize

If you shoot an enemy with a tranq dart (M9, PSG1-T) anywhere, they will fall asleep as soon as they are knocked down. Any technique will do; combo, roll, throw or grab/strangle.

* Tranq an enemy looking in your direction without stopping

When running at an enemy that is looking in your direction, wait for them to see you, then shoot them once with a USP/SOCOM/M4/AK round shortly before they fire. This normally gives you enough time to approach them, shoot them with the M9, and knock them over. If not, you can shoot them again before they finish recovering.

This only works if you selected Not Game Over If Discovered, and depending on the situation it may alert other guards.

* Daze

Shoot an enemy's blue "!"-sign and they will stand in a daze for 10 seconds (or until you attack them). The easiest way to do this is to stand a certain distance away in front of them and wait for them to walk towards you and notice you.

It is possible (though difficult) to shoot them once in a nonlethal location (lethal: head, crotch, heart), then shoot the "!" that appears quickly.

* Hold up with any weapon

Any weapon can be used to hold up an enemy. Hold Sq lightly with the M4, AK, Nikita and RGB6. Simply equip the Stinger, PSG1 and PSG1-T while looking at the enemy to hold them up.

* Scare without firing

Normally you would scare a held-up enemy by shooting them with a lethal weapon in a nonlethal area (or by shooting near them, which is faster). You can also scare them by equipping the Stinger and looking at them, or by aiming the RGB6 or Nikita at them. This can be useful if you don't have a suppressed pistol or rifle but do have one of the above weapons.

* Coolant attack

The coolant, while it has a short range, also affects a large area in front of you. It stuns an enemy for about three seconds, and can be used in stealth (the enemy acts as though they have been shot by an unseen enemy) or in battle (it affects all enemies in front of you so it is an effective close-range crowd control weapon).

* Field/Distance of vision

Guards' sight varies between difficulties; e.g. the distance a guard becomes curious of the player on Extreme is the distance the player is spotted on European Extreme.

=== Movement ===

* Coolant rise

While crawling, with the coolant equipped, press X to rise and immediately press R2 to unequip the coolant. You will immediately be in a standing position. The timing is quite lenient; you can press both buttons at the same time.

The trick can be used in general play (e.g. Strut A during the bomb run) when you have no weapon equipped and the coolant is your last-equipped weapon (Unequip mode), or when it is your previous weapon (Previous mode). Crawl as normal, then, when you are able to rise, tap R2 and immediately tap R2 and X together. Depending on your speed, this can be up to a second quicker than rising normally.

* Travelling with a box

Walking with a box equipped has three uses that I know of:

# You have a smaller turning circle, so you can turn 180 degrees in place while running. This makes Fortune significantly easier on Ex/EuEx.
# Your height is halved, making it useful in areas with low cover such as Strut E. It also travels underneath the projectors in Hold 1 and Hold 2.
# It slightly increases the size of your hitbox for setting off claymore mines, but your hitbox for being hurt by them remains the same. This means that it's possible to set off a mine but not actually be hit by them (e.g. Strut A roof after Fortune - dodging the claymore is possible without the box, but is easier with it).

* Roll/cartwheel tricks

# You can roll up or down about 4 steps of stairs with Snake.
# You can cartwheel down stairs with Raiden significantly faster than running.
# Raiden can cross gaps (e.g. Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge after Harrier) with his cartwheel.
# Roll/cartwheel is about the same speed as running, but it is faster at first and slower at the end. In some situations you can cartwheel into an enemy's line of sight so they see you earlier, and (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 2) notice you rather than alert. In others you can use it to reach the side of an enemy as they turn towards you (e.g. Raiden Sneaking 5).
# Use roll/cartwheel to travel forward in situations where the game would normally force you to stop (e.g. Strut D-E Connecting Bridge when called by Deepthroat). You can also use it as a buffer to equip a new item/weapon without stopping.

=== Misc ===

* Quick bomb freeze

If you are at an angle (e.g. facing near the side of the bomb), the coolant will sometimes affect more than one point on it, and freeze it in half the time.

* Quick elevator summon

The elevator trick from MGS1 is also in MGS2, but isn't quite as quick. Press the button to summon the elevator twice, and the doors will open about two seconds later.

If you're unlucky, this can be slower than normal play - occasionally the doors will open immediately the first time you press the button.

* Answer codec calls manually

Some mandatory (the icon appears red rather than blue) codec calls force you to stop. You can answer the call immediately with Select and save about a second.

This can also give you a head start in some areas (e.g. in Arsenal Gear as X-Raiden, if you answer Campbell at the start immediately, you can run along the south wall and change the first Tengu from what would normally be an Alert, to a notice).

* Skip some codec calls and cutscenes

You can avoid Rose's codec calls that usually appear on the first time through Strut F-E Connecting Bridge and Shell 1 Core 1F by being in Caution status when you enter these areas. This also works in the Engine Room to stop the door repair guard appearing.

== Big Boss ==

Big Boss is the top rank on Extreme and European Extreme. The requirements are believed to be:

* Tanker-Plant
* Time under 3 hours
* 8 or less saves (PRUD ENCE)
* 3 Alerts (ALRTNUM)
* No kills (NUET)
* No Rations used
* No continues
* Damage taken under 10.5 life bars (DMGA MMOUNT)
* Shots fired under 700 (AMMOUS ED)

Notes:

* The names in parentheses above refer to the stats shown on Plant's Mission Failed screen. You can die after saving to examine your current stats in a segmented run.
* Mission Failed (or rather, Fission Mailed) also appears twice during Tengus 2. The stats shown here are accurate - if ALRTNUM is 3 at this point, your Alerts stat is good.
* The "damage taken" requirement is not known exactly - one life bar is 200 hit points, so expect the cutoff to be around 2100 damage. Regardless, you're unlikely to get close to failing this requirement.
* Similarly, 700 shots is plenty. You're only likely to fail this if you waste ammo in an area with ammo spawns (most likely the oil fence sniping area).
* The three mandatory Alerts occur at the start of the oil fence sniping area, the start of Tengus 1, and the start of Tengus 2. You're not allowed any unnecessary Alerts.

Strategy:

* If you do something to fail a requirement - for example, killing someone, or getting an Alert - save your game before leaving the current area. When you reload this save, your stats will be the same as they were when you entered the area. Of course, you can only do this a maximum of eight times.