metal_gear_solid_v:mgsvgz_faq [Metal Gear Speedrunners]

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====== Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes FAQ ======

[[ground_zeroes|Return to Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes]]

**Q: What is the true speedrun category for this game?**\\
**A:** Like with any speed game this question doesn't really have an answer. Going purely by numbers, [[https://www.speedrun.com/mgsvgz/Ground_Zeroes|Mission Ground Zeroes]] has the most submissions on speedrun.com. In recent years full-game runs have been popular with the community, making for significantly longer runs than single mission ones. Hopefully there is something here for everyone.

**Q: Why do speedrunners generally rescue Paz before Chico?**\\
**A:** Generally speaking, because it is faster. Going to Paz first just makes for a faster route through the mission. On top of that, rescuing Chico last skips the cutscene where Snake gets the audio tape from him. 

**Q: How does one skip the cutscene when putting a POW on the helicopter?**\\
**A: ** This is made possible by using the [[mgsvgz_weightless_glitch|Weightless Glitch]].

**Q: What's the difference between RTA and in-game time (IGT)?**\\
**A:** RTA (Real Time Attack) refers to timing speedruns with an independent timer, and in-game time refers to the time one gets at the result screen of an individual mission. Generally single mission runs are timed using in-game time and full game runs use RTA timing.

**Q: What's the difference between Single Segment and Multi Segment runs?**\\
**A:** A single segmented run for this game is a single level run that does not reload checkpoints. For multi segmented runs, using checkpoints is allowed. With reloading one can manipulate the in-game timer and obtain a better time than would be possible otherwise. The leader boards on speedrun.com have been split accordingly for single level runs.

**Q: What's the Companion App and what are its uses for speedrunning?**\\
**A:** The Companion App was released alongside this game on iOS and Android. Among other functionality, it allows the player to call the helicopter to a LZ via the app. This can be done even while the game, and thus the in-game timer, being paused. The leaderboards on speedrun.com are split based on app usage. In 2018 moderators made the decision to hide runs using the app by default on the leaderboards, to provide a more sustainable environment for speedrunning the game. It is unclear how long the app will remain functional and it is not available for PC players.

**Q: What constitutes a full-game run?**\\
**A:** A full game run goes through all available missions in the game in one sitting, this includes post-release DLC. The run is started from a fresh save file and timed RTA. A list of all levels can be found [[https://www.speedrun.com/mgsvgz/individual_levels|here]].

**Q: What constitutes a NG+ run?**\\
**A:** NG+ (meaning New Game Plus) runs allow you to use previously unlocked items that aren't available to you on a first playthrough. Some people call NG+ full-game runs Full Game+ runs.

**Q: When doing NG runs, do I have to constantly reset my save file?**\\
**A:** No, just not using the unlocked items, not available on first playthrough, is enough.

**Q: What's the difference between the releases of this game?**\\
**A:** Overall the game behaves very similarly across platforms. Originally there was exclusive additional content for consoles, but everything was made available on every platform via later updates. The main difference is overall game performance, with loading times being of primary interest for full-game runs.

**Q: Why do I see speedrunners repeatedly aiming at nothing during Reflex Mode?**\\
**A:** This is a technique used to artificially extend Reflex Mode. Since the in-game timer runs slower during Reflex Mode being active, stretching it out as much as possible, allows for reaching lower times with runs that are timed using IGT.

**Q: Why are speedrunners killing guards, but are still getting the //Perfect Stealth, no kills// rating on the result screen?**\\
**A:** The game is very particular about what counts as kills the player has committed. A lot of causes of death one would intuitively consider as such, the game categorizes as //environmental kills//. Environmental kills are:
  * standing next to exploding barrels
  * falling from great heights
  * getting struck by a driving vehicle, not under direct control by the player character
  * those, who are heavily injured, bleeding to death
For them to count as environmental kills, it doesn't matter, if they were caused by the player (i.e. shooting and heavily injuring a guard, or throwing a guard from elevation).