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Edited by Smarkdow:
9/24/2015 10:55:26 PM
7
After finishing the story and letting it sink in for a bit, I have to say I like it. That isn't to say there aren't problems with pacing and some plot developments coming out of nowhere (Quiet leaving, Truth), but overall I enjoyed the ending and the twist.
I know for some people, the trailers hyped up the game to be something it wasn't, but I learned a long time ago not to trust Metal Gear trailers, though I do think the marketing for this game was brilliant. For the first time in the series, what we saw in the trailers was what we got, curbing expectations in that regard yet at the same time it hyped up the "legend" of Big Boss with marketing like "THE MISSING LINK", " MEN BECOME DEMONS", etc. And that marketing ties in with the overall theme of the game.
Metal Gear Solid, and Hideo Kojima by extension, has always favored the meta when it comes to themes, and this is probably the most meta game in the series since MGS2, though unlike 2 it isn't about the expectations of sequels and the main character (Raiden) throwing away the player's control. It's the exact opposite. It's about Venom/Ahab/Medoc embracing his role as Big Boss instead of throwing it away like Raiden did.
And the twist works in that regard because [b]the gameplay is the story[/b] in MGSV. All of our actions and experiences in the game contribute to the legend of Big Boss. "I'm Big Boss, and you are too. No, he's the two of us together." We, the players, are Big Boss and all of our stories that we have to tell are grandiose, personal, silly, fun, contradictory, and simultaneously true.
But while we build up the legend of Big Boss, we also learn that John, the man behind the legend, isn't all he's cracked up to be. And that is another theme of the series. Remember in MGS1 when Solid Snake tells Meryl or Mei Ling that "the reality (himself) is no match for the legend", or how in MGS2 he tells Raiden that "legends are stories passed from person to person"? We see that in this game; Big Boss' phantom (the player) is the one doing all the work and spreading the name around while the original, John, is content with sitting in the shadows and taking the credit.
The "real" Big Boss' actions highlights a very gradual descent into villainy, one that started at the end of MGS3 when he refused to shake the President's hand, followed up in Peace Walker by him forcibly kidnapping soldiers (including children) in order to conscript them into his army and building a nuclear weapon, and finally in Ground Zeroes where he hides said nuke and orders the destruction of all documents pertaining (that is not what a hero does). In the Phantom Pain, he becomes exactly what he hated and fought against, a manipulator hiding behind the scenes influencing events just like Zero/Cipher/The Patriots. He goes along with the plan to use an identical body double (and that double did not consent to the plan), whereas before he split off from Cipher due to the Les Enfants Terribles project. He puts an entire hospital in jeopardy, and mostly everybody there dies for the sake of the plan. He lays down his weapon and stops fighting, the very thing he criticized The Boss for doing at the end of Peace Walker. To put it simply, John is a coward and a hypocrite. He is not what the legends build him to be.
To be continued (?)
English
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MGSV trailers where far worse then MGS2 when it came to ruseville. MGSV trailers are so bad they can even be called out for false advertisement. The biggest contenders for that would be the Nuclear Trailer and the MGSV Launch trailer. The Nuclear trailer shows Big Medic turning into a demon, the beginning of the trailer shows him walking though a pile of burning Africans. Then you get the entire ashes scene and Big Boss rubbing the ashes on his face. At the end of the trailer we witness Big Boss killing his own men. So after we see this trailer we think Big Boss is going -blam!-ing mad. In TPP, it's the exact opposite, Big Medic is a damn saint. The dude saves child soldiers from battle, kills his own men who are infected instead of napalming them and calls the Diamond Dogs family. The Launch Trailer is even worse, because it shows us the MGS3 sneaking suit that doesn't actually appear in game, and appears as DLC. The Bandana is the trailer is the exact opposite of the one in game, and to top off this model of Big Medic isn't even in the damn game. Then the trailer decides to pull off this Skullface/Big Boss scene when Skull Face shows up for 3 scenes tops. What's even worse is the twist is obvious, and you could have found out the twist in GZ. Medic having the same voice as Big Boss, never showing the medics face, and the medic takes the bulk of the damage in GZ. Even in the first TGA trailer when Kaz say's "What about him" should have been throwing off alarms. Now in the "Truth" mission we are forced to play the hospital scene again with little to no changes. Then at the end the game tells us "Oh yeah you were the Medic the whole time, and Big Boss was doing some random shit that no one knows", It just left a bad taste in my mouth that they decided to go explain things that were in no need of being explained (The Cobra Units powers, and Big Boss "Dying" twice). And not deciding to do the things that we know Big Boss did at the time such as saving Grey Fox, training Sniper Wolf or even showing us what the hell Big Boss did during the events of Big Medics storyline. To end my little rant here, my main problem with TPP is it added so little when it could have added so much. You can completely remove TPP from the storyline and little would be changed. Is just set the MGS series out with a whimper, not with a bang.
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Edited by Smarkdow: 9/25/2015 3:38:34 AM[quote]MGSV trailers where far worse then MGS2 when it came to ruseville.[/quote]Oh no no no. No way. Pre-release media for MGS2 did not feature Raiden at all; he was the industry's best kept secret until the game released. On the other hand, the trailers heavily featured Snake in scenes that weren't there at release such as: -Snake fighting Fortune in the Big Shell. -Snake fighting a Harrier on the George Washington Bridge -Snake using a FAMAS to gun down soldiers on the tanker (Seen in a flashback, but is not usable in the game) -Snake escaping from the sinking tanker Just off the top of my head. What we saw for MGSV for the most part, even years ago when it was just known as The Phantom Pain, was what we got. The way it was marketed and hyped, on the other hand, was an elaborate misdirection. Kojima is no stranger to this sort of thing; he knew exactly what fans wanted to see, hence the "MEN BECOME DEMONS" "OUTER HEAVEN", "MISSING LINK" etc. Yet he went out of his way to make a game that [i]didn't[/i] satisfy those expectations (not the first time he's done so either). Why? Usually because he wants to make a point. I think that (meta) point ties in with the expectations vs. reality of legends. [quote]What's even worse is the twist is obvious...[/quote]In hindsight, sure, but that's always 20/20. [quote]It just left a bad taste in my mouth that they decided to go explain things that were in no need of being explained (The Cobra Units powers, and Big Boss "Dying" twice).[/quote]I'll agree that I didn't care for explaining away the Cobra Unit's powers with nanmachi...err parasites. I disagree with Big Boss dying though, it's a nice recontextualization of an event that really is a big deal in the Metal Gear universe. [quote]And not deciding to do the things that we know Big Boss did at the time such as saving Grey Fox, training Sniper Wolf or even showing us what the hell Big Boss did during the events of Big Medics storyline.[/quote]On the other hand, we see a young Liquid Snake meet his "father" and subsequently see just why he hates him (and Solid Snake) and inklings of his future actions in FOXHOUND, all without ruining the character that we already knew. I'd say that's a pretty large piece of fanservice, and unlike MGS4 it's done very well. As for what Big Boss Classic was doing, we know that. While Venom is out running Diamond Dogs and spreading the name and legend around, John is working behind the scenes to establish Outer Heaven. Eventually, he ends up in command of FOXHOUND, and the rest is history. [quote]To end my little rant here, my main problem with TPP is it added so little when it could have added so much. You can completely remove TPP from the storyline and little would be changed. Is just set the MGS series out with a whimper, not with a bang.[/quote]I disagree. TPP recontextualizes and explains quite a few events in the lore. We find out why Zero ends up in a vegetative state, the beginning of the A.I. Patriots and the War Economy, how Big Boss was in two places at once, why Kaz eventually turns against Big Boss, the origin of Psycho Mantis and Liquid and why the latter hates Big Boss so much, the culmination of the (gradual and subtle) downfall of Big Boss as a person, etc. MGSV is not an ending. It's a bridge. MGS4 was an end to the series, tying up the loose ends.
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So would you say it's a phantom pain to the series?
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I heard the whole "It's our Phantom Pain" nonsense Having a bad story is still a bad story, and making a bad story to make a player feel like they "Lost" something is even worse
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Heheheheh. It's a phantom pain to you, but not to me. I've never seen ideologies and concepts tackled in a video game before like this. Main reason I got it was because of the themes presented in the trailer. While the theme of anger deteriorating the Boss never really made an appearance (Sad face) the themes of language, race, and parasites was executed near flawlessly IMO.
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Do you know what Phantom Pain is?
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Yarb.
