Warning: This is a comprehensive description of all of the ‘Buddies’ in The Phantom Pain. If you do not wish to spoil finding out about them for yourself, avoid this article.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain finally gives Snake the option to infiltrate with a partner; you no longer need crawl through the grass alone.
Buddies will significantly enhance your effectiveness in the field as well as bolster your enjoyment of the game to boot.
Perhaps you consider yourself a true, hard-core Metal Gear Solid player. You might be avoiding all of the added bells and whistles in favour of naked, gritty, solo stealth. But why ruin the tons of fun injected into this adrenaline stew?
Anyway, without further ado, here are your new best friends.
D-Horse
D-Horse is essential for getting around when all else fails.
Your initial buddy is the simple and noble steed. Before you can extract vehicles with the Cargo Fulton, the horse will be your essential means of getting from A to B. Fast, silent and loyal, D-Horse is a solid partner that won’t let you down.
D-horse will instantly appear beside you with a whistle by opening the options by holding L1/LB and selecting ‘Whistle’. And while D-Horse can be shot down, it cannot die.
You will want to upgrade it with its tailor-made Battle Dresses which will give it gradually stronger defence, upgrading the dress further the higher your development levels rise.
The horse affords relatively fast yet stealthy approaches to enemy groups. You can sling on either side of the horse and hide yourself from enemies.
With a higher bonding level, the more tactical turd-mine (not its actual name) can be unlocked.
An L1/LB command will unleash a slippery caca from the horse which will send an unsuspecting jeep spinning out of control and disorient its occupants.
D-Dog
Snake and wolf, a splendid combo.
This lovable pooch appears to approach Snake at random spots in the field as an adorable little puppy. Various friends and people online have encountered the dog in various spots, so you’ll just have to keep travelling until you hear barking.
Bring him back to Mother Base and in time the cute rascal will mature into a lethal wolf that will prowl by your side in the field.
Being able to sniff out and therefor mark a whole platoon of surrounding enemies, D-Dog is invaluable for silent infiltration.
D-Dog can also distract soldiers by yelping and pulling them away, and of course perforate their jugulars with his fangs with disturbing satisfaction.
D-Dog is also great for finding animals/birds/reptiles for your zoo.
Be advised, unlike the horse, your canine will perish permanently if damaged too much, and you will cry like the kid from Sixth Sense
D-Walker
It’s the ’80s and Kojima doesn’t care.
The bipedal rover is the most versatile and destructive companion. This funny little robot will begin with harmless dual tranquilizer pistols, but can be upgraded to something akin to a Warhammer: 40K Dreadnought.
At great cost, you can roll in a hellfire-unleashing mech, wielding monstrosities like flamethrowers and rocket-launchers.
The D-Walker also doubles up as a nifty stealth-machine, silently roving in a crouched position using its mechanical version of CQC to grip enemies and give them a good shake.
A highly-augmented D-Walker will turn tanks and choppers into wet toilet paper.
Quiet
Her accuracy is flawless, and better rifles will improve her aim even further.
Your first encounter with Quiet involves a troublesome boss-fight in a romantic, ancient ruin in Afghanistan, right next to the power plant.
You can chose to eradicate Quiet, but then you erase the chance to make the game much, much easier.
Use non-lethal firearms or simply drop a couple of supply boxes on her noggin, then bring her back to Mother Base.
Quiet isn’t exactly a team player, so she gets slammed in a cell (you might want to visit).
Several missions later, the nose-bleed-inducing lass will accompany you whenever you need. She is, however, the most expensive buddy to deploy.
Also be aware that the rest of Mother Base’s staff detests the eerily silent bombshell and morale will begin to sag. Your regular return to MB will ensure the rekindling of personnel spirits.
Quiet will begin with a lethal sniper-rifle but will later unlock a tranquilizer-rifle with a moderate bonding level.
You can upgrade both styles to more powerful and silenced editions. You can also choose to coat her in blood, or silver or gold paint, if expensive fetishes are your thing.
To me, Quiet is the most effective buddy and will erase most opposition save for armoured vehicles. Even helicopters can be taken out as she can shoot a thrown grenade in its direction and blow it out the sky.
Your first L1/LT instruction will be the basic ‘Take Aim’. Focus on an enemy; choose this option and Quiet will crumble a cranium.
Quiet can also be deployed anywhere on the map, scouting out outposts and checkpoints or ensuring every person around her is lying face down, dead or sedated.
I prefer using the tranquilizer rifle, preferring the non-lethal approach, ensuring the extracting of skilled soldiers.
A higher bonding level will allow the ‘Cover Me’ option, turning Quiet into your personal marksman guardian-angel as a holy laser-sight becomes your halo. Either way, Quiet will make your performance far less challenging, almost guiltily so.
You will probably also spend a fair amount of time in your Arial Command Centre with Quiet. It’s interesting to notice how her behaviour towards you progresses from cold to respectful admiration.
There’s more where that came from
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