I found out there's a Jetstream Sam mode. Kinda tough, lacking upgrades to speak of, but pretty rad.
Then I got to VR Mission 004 without any repair paste
It starts with a hint of what's to come- 2 shield guys charge instantly, with a warhammer behind them, supported by two shooters. The shields would easily fall to a well-timed block/counter, except that their charge *usually* gets interrupted by them getting shot in the back for miniscule damage. Meaning they're basically invincible at the start. But eh, the only actual threat is the warhammer-guy with his occasional unblockable swings. Sam lacks Raiden's dodge ability, but I eventually figured out his double jump can usually avoid the swing.
Then there are 3 gorillas. They're tough AF and constantly do highly damaging grabs. At first I could stick-waggle my way out, but I think that becomes more difficult the more you get grabbed. Also some of the variants require really fast reaction anyway. Since there's 3 of them, they tend to surround and grab from off-camera. This was really tough without repair kits, but I eventually got 2 of them down... which triggers 2 of the
fucking silt-striders to reinforce the last one. I quit out of VR heh.
But then I found a repair paste down the hall, and recalled that I'd somehow "used up" my rocket launcher in VR. Sure enough, I was able to carry the repair paste back into VR. And if I immediately quit out, and ran back down the hallway, the paste had respawned (along with one very unfortunate guard). Took a while, but I tried again with 4 repair pastes.
I had barely scratched the surface of the BS this mission throws at you. A chopper, two blade wolves with a bipedal... I got to the swarm of armbots with 2 heavy troopers, and gave up.
Here's what it looks like if you can get perfect blocks, I guess, instead of trying to stay alive while wearing things down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiwpTY8NlTE(also I guess there *are* FC upgrades somewhere?? All I've got is 130% health)
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
It's fun to complain but I get this is a special challenge in a challenge mode. My heart sank with every new wave though XD