Obviously this article is filled with spoilers, so if you don’t like things being spoiled it’s probably best to not find out how to keep the character Quiet as a buddy in Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. If you do want to know how to keep Quiet as a buddy in the game without losing her, the article details how to do that.
[Spoilers ahead]
So essentially after mission 41 a series of events will transpire and if you beat mission 45 you will no longer have Quiet on your team. She sacrifices herself for Venom Snake and presumably leaves the Diamond Dogs to die. Remember in the article explaining why she’s in a bikini? Well, it’s for the same reason why she can’t speak and ultimately it’s deadly and dangerous. She speaks to save Snake at the expense of her own life.
However, gamers are not pleased with this outcome because if you complete mission 45 you no longer get to use Quiet on your missions, on the side-ops or in previous missions. She’s gone for good. The mission where Quiet leaves Snake can be viewed below courtesy of YouTuber Skilled Guy (obvious spoilers are obvious).
There is a way to stave off her departure, and it’s discussed in a spoiler-heavy thread over on Steam that was started by user suksas, where dedicated fans point to a strategy guide that explains how to keep her on as your buddy. The only drawback is that it “locks” the game’s story so you won’t be able to 100% the game if you use this method to keep Quiet alive in your game. Users quote the strategy guide for the game, where it states that you can keep her as a Buddy using the following methods…
“The first is to artifically keep your bond with [Quiet] safely below 100%, but this is an unwieldy solution. The second trick is to use the “Buetterfly (fron)” design (obtained by securing the “Butterfly” codename) in your emblem, which will “lock” the final stages of Quiet’s tale while it is in place.”
Both solutions sound kind of inconvenient but that’s how you keep Quiet for now.
Gamers aren’t very satisfied with this option and have even started a petition on Change.org to ask for her to come back in some capacity.
They even go as far as to state that they are willing to pay for Quiet’s return as a form of DLC, writing in the petition…
“Ultimately, we’d like to have her back in the form of either a patch or a DLC. Many of us would even be willing to pay for such DLC and given how MGS5 is protected by Denuvo, this could be a secure source of revenue for Konami that would leave many fans very satisfied that our voices count.”
Opting to give Konami money to have a character already in the game return as an operable side-kick for some post-story shenanigans? My, how the mighty have fallen.
Nevertheless, many of the gamers bummed about Quiet stated how attached to the character they had become, despite the fact that she doesn’t speak.
Scenes like the one below, captured by SSSniperwolf, showcases the lighter side of the character as Quiet frolics around in nothing but her bra and panties while getting soaking wet. This kind of stuff made hearts race, blood bump and brains numb, only adding to the appeal of the character with certain male gamers. This is also known as fan-service overload.
Nevertheless, using the “Butterfly” emblem or keeping your bond just below 100% may help with keeping her on the Diamond Dogs a little bit longer until a more permanent solution can be found, but you’re essentially gimping your own gameplay experience that way.
Most gamers expect for this either be resolved with a patch, DLC or in the PC community via a mod. I wouldn’t doubt it that along with a mod to make Quiet a permanent companion someone will also throw in a little extra effort to do a nude mod at no extra cost.
[Update 9/8/2015:] There is now a mod available for PC users to be able to keep Quiet in the game, even if you did already finish the main story missions. The modification also makes it so that you no longer need the “Butterfly” emblem to retain Quiet as a buddy.
The modification was spotted on the MGS sub-Reddit by eatMagnetic. There’s a pastebin with the instructions on modding the game to ensure that Quiet never leaves your team and you can get her back even if you finish her special mission and finish the main story. You’ll first need to download the MGSV QAR Tool from NexusMods. There’s also the TPP Tool that you can also download from NexusMods, which is specifically made for The Phantom Pain.
Once you get the tool you’ll need to extract the data1.dat file located in common\MGS_TPP\master\ directory. Make a backup copy of the data1.dat file before you extract it. Also after you make any changes to the files within the data1.dat file you’ll need to repack the file using the QAR Tool.
You have to modify the settings in the TppStory.lua file located in the Metal Gear Solid V data1.dat file directory: data1\Assets\tpp\script\lib\
You can edit lua files with a basic text editor.
On line 595, after the string: function e.CanArrivalQuietInMB(n)
You’ll need to add the following:
gvars.str_didLostQuiet=false TppBuddy2BlockController.SetObtainedBuddyType(BuddyType.QUIET) TppBuddyService.UnsetDeadBuddyType(BuddyType.QUIET) TppBuddyService.UnsetBuddyCommonFlag(BuddyCommonFlag.BUDDY_QUIET_LOST) TppBuddyService.UnsetBuddyCommonFlag(BuddyCommonFlag.BUDDY_QUIET_HOSPITALIZE) TppBuddyService.SetSortieBuddyType(BuddyType.QUIET) TppBuddyService.SetFriendlyPoint(BuddyFriendlyType.QUIET,100)TppMotherBaseManagement.RefreshQuietStatus()
Repackage the file after making the changes and run Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. If you have a modded Xbox 360 or PS3 you can attempt to unpackage the files on your PC, modify the data files using the instructions above, repackage the files and copy the whole game (along with the modified files) to your Xbox 360 or PS3 hard drive.
Now you and Quiet can be together… forever.
[Update 11/10/2015:] Jen-Marten Block from over on Change.org discovered that Konami has released an update that apparently allows you to get Quiet back for the home consoles as well. You must repeat the mission “Side-OP 11” six times, which is called “[Reunion] Cloaked in Silence”. After the seventh time Quiet will return as a selectable buddy. According to Block there is no story or cut-scene… she makes a quiet return to Snake.
