#i finished mgs2 and guys: they were not joking

[autismsupersoldier]

I'll visit you soon, sing you a tune, about finding a family somewhere in the ruins... 🎵🎶

(this is not ship art, i view them as brothers)

see readmore for bonuses, see alt text for image ID!

some bonus closeups and other things

ps.: drawing snakes suit was so difficult holy hell. i didnt even get it right i dont think

free use in case you want to draw yourself getting hugged by THE solid snake even though he died two years ago in that incident. big shame. oh well....

and finally: would you kill him for one dolar

[deathofthetext]

What's your favorite metal gear game?

probably metal gear solid (1998)

i love solid snake so much and his establishing arc in that game is soooo good. its the game ive watched the most and probably the mgs game id most like to play in a world where i could play video games. also it introduces naomi who is like my favorite. say what you will about metal gear but it does not skimp on the amoral revenge-bent mad scientist ladies! naomi - grey fox - snake is one of my favorite like. drama triangles of people who knew each other in some way or another and are fucked up about it. its really good how much naomi and snake are both so so so upset abt grey fox to the extent that snake holed himself away in his alaskan depression cabin for five years not talking to anyone else and naomi dedicated herself entirely to Hopelessness And Snake Revenge. i just love her shes such a disaster! 

runner ups and why:

peace walker is the best looking mgs game and it has strangelove (like i said. amoral revenge-bent mad scientist ladies.) it also has kaz who is A Fave. its The Game Where Big Boss Decides To Become Evil and the way that arc is done is genuinely really good. that games main plot is emotionally about bb’s relationship with the boss. and the amount of bullshit it took for him to actually understand what she was trying to say when she died (EVEN THOUGH EVA ABSOLUTELY EXPLAINED IT). and then how once he figured out she was saying that like, nations and borders and soldiers and war were artificial constructs of power, and war is bad, he took it as a BETRAYAL and decided to DOUBLE DOWN ON BEING EVIL AND HOARD ALL THE NUKES. its really the fundamental moment of “no one had to do it” that establishes his Choice To Be A Villain and his like. ideology that we see in mg 1987 and and mg2ss from 1990. 

i really like the cast and their interactions in mgs2 and i think that game does a lot of interesting things, but its hard for me to say its “a favorite”. idk, ive watched it two or three times i think and every time i end up “liking it more” or at least “getting it more”. i love iroquois “definitely not solid snake” pliskin meeting raiden and immediately deciding to pack him a lunchbox of guns and cigarettes. i love fortune. i just really like raiden hes got the problems! and ofc snotacon are extremely peak honeymoon in that game. but. its not my favorite. ig like i ended up getting pretty invested in like... raiden and emma’s weird little friendship where theyre in retraumatization hell but theyre Supporting Each Other, and then immediately it had emma die for like... otacons sad monologue. and its a really good sad monologue and super fucks me up every time abt his horrible family and horrible life and how he made a new better life! its really good! but it super bums me out that emma died for it and didnt get to see this and experience it for herself and that the narrative frames her death to be just abt otacon sad. and its a symptom of a larger problem, like three of the four female characters in that game just die and like no matter how cool they are or how moving their death scenes are its like. i like mgs2 but there were ways to tell a good and interesting story without all of this. (also dont get me started on rosemary/raiden)

mgsv is genuinely horrible in most respects and is also not finished but it has a lot of interesting horrible concepts. i love kaz’s villain arc in it its really like. hoo boy this guy is not way good. i think i “got” that game a lot more when jordan said its really not a main arc metal gear game in the same way the others are because its like, more of a side story about the lives big boss destroyed, even of people who were on his side. once again, no one had to do it, and thats what big boss is all about. 

mg1 and mg2ss i dont feel like i know quite well enough to say theyre faves, although i have read scripts for each of them. i kind of end up combining mg1 and mg2ss in my head, basically bc mg1 is short enough i think of it as a prologue to mg2ss. i do actually have a lot of feelings abt the stuff that happens in mg2ss but i often find myself thinking of those events from the perspective of mgs1 instead? because of how fundamental they are to snavids trauma and his mindset and just the way he is at the start of that game. i also make a lot of jokes about kaz deciding to set big boss on fire because i think that was really valid of him.

ok and mgs4 is the game i think is ACTUALLY second place for me but i have only watched it once or maybe once and a half and i need to rewatch it. it for real made me cry about solid snake SO much. the thing is that all the stuff w old snake in that game punched me in the gut really good. and many of the other things in there were things that SHOULDVE done that but were framed really weirdly by the narrative and didnt end up causing me Enough emotional distress when i was actually watching it but ive spent like months thinking it over and talking it over w my friends and figuring out how i think they shouldve happened in order to really be narratively effective - i am especially talking about naomi stuff here. there were also a lot of times in mgs4 where i ended up pretty checked out from what was happening, especially when the b&b corps were on screen bc i found their treatment as like Sexy Crazy Baby Women was extremely offputting. but in the end i guess my extremely subjective experience of mgs4 is that i think its really good or at least the version of it that exists in my head is.

[whotookcheesuschrist]

Some excerpts from the playthrough

I was pretty close to getting chills from that intro. That is the most atmospheric video game intro I’ve experienced thus far. All the way from the menu to the actual game. Fucking damn. (Apart from maybe Dragon Age Inquisition.)

Made it through the first part on the first try. Saved. It didn’t save as far as I thought it would and I had to do it again, failing four times. :-(

“Behold, my amazingly rendered abs. And flat-ass face.”

You can tell this is game was a first attempt in many things; such as delivering awkward, awkward lines.

There is a mission briefing mimicking VHS tapes and I fucking love it.

Whuh... COLONEL DID YOU KILL HIS DOGS? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So... that was intensly antagonistic of a character who have up to this point been delivering barely any support apart from diet-coke Sun Tzu.

Speaking of Sun-Tzu...

As of writing I’ve finished MGS2, and there’s a certain related part of that that I will get into on a later date, but this one, more than what’s to come, reminds me of that police interrogation in The Venture Bros.

YOUU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

In the most threatening way possible, say the words: Follow the mice.

These controls are hUaORRIBLe

In one way, yes, it adds to the difficulty without being forced, but good fucking god, trying to figure out which direction I’m supposed to push the stick while pressing up against a wall is a nightmare. And having to stand still while shooting and not being able to move while aiming at all is... not very user-friendly design. Thank God for auto-aim

In a similar vein, a third-person shooter with the camera angle being from what we Norwegians call bird perspective is a bit of a challenge

The game play is still pretty dope though

Bee tee dubbs, the ex-Fox unit is hereby dubbed the Suicide Squad

(I would totally play a super-hero video game with that kind of lay-out of the villains and the hero. I think this could actually transfer to comics as well, the way the villains are set-up, introduced and used.)

First meeting with Metrosexual Noodle Eastern.

"I love to reload during a battle! There's nothing like the feeling of slamming a long silver bullet into a well greased chamber." — Revolver Ocelot, Metal Gear Solid.

I bet you do, Ozzie

This game is not complete without a ninja.

There’s a masturbation joke lying in there somewhere.

So far this game has been surprisingly Not Gay. Except from Snake’s sick abs, but then comes Otacon and fucks my shit up on so many levels.

Johny’s grand introduction: Face down, ass up

Meryl... I really like Meryl, but she is so obviously one of the “not like other girls”, tomboy-ish archetype that isn’t really all that useful. It’s pretty sad, because we see her kick ass. We know she can, so it’s a little sad that she isn’t properly utilized.

Poor Otacon.

The ninja was depressingly easy to best. I know the TWEETHT!! that comes later with this guy, but man, you’d think it’d be more of a fight.

OH. MY GOD. Let me count down how many ways Otacon’s introduction is gay.

After being saved from death by katana, Otacon stares at Snake downward-up. When the camera stops, we get a damn good shot, yet again, of Snake’s Sick Abs.

“You’re uniform is not like the others...”

The disappointment in Otacon’s voice upon learning that he was not the goal.

The symbolism of Otacon literally coming out of the closet.

Snake sitting with legs crossed like a fucking femme fatale as he and Otacon catch up to speed

Snake inspecting Otacon, crotch on up

Snake walking up to Otacon until he’s one foot away, laying his hand on his shoulder and asking “you okay?” in an uncharacteristic, caring voice: and Otacon being weirede out by it, commenting: “What’s wrong, getting all friendly all of a sudden...”, to which Snake just awkwardly backs away and says “uh nothing, just... glad you’re okay”

Forget Meryl, Hal’s your love interest and we all know it.

“I’ve been therapied into not having an interest in men and no one can break the spell at all none at all nuh-uh...” And of course Snake is going to prove them wrong. Eww. Call it a product of its time, but still, gross.

Bee-tee-dubbs, Otacon and Snake discussing Meryl’s low-pixelated ass strikes me as hilariously “no homo”. I’m pretty sure, given how Hideo is on the subject in later games, that all of it is intentional. Subtext included.

Psycho Mantis, stop dissing my game stats

Poor dude. Seriously, that is a sad and solid backstory for a character

“Riussiain lieady rieportyingk in on wieapions” I like her tho

Man, this game... In all of the silliness it is STILL on-point with its social commentary. Nastasha’s talks about the START programs, nuclear disarmament, the money involved, the ultimate plan of the Foxhound members, nuclear programs made for short-range launches... All of these are things that I’ve seen in the news this week, and what goes on in the game takes place in the year 2005. Not to mention us becoming more and more desensitized to violence and warfare. It is frightening to behold. I wish I had it in me to talk about all of this at length, because there is really a well of subject matters to discuss here.

Once again I experience a video game trying to impose on me that, in the story, something is urgent, but in reality, I have hours of backtracking if I want to.

I... kinda like the voice they gave Sniper Wolf. And that she’s Kurd; it is nice to see that Hideo remembers a little history. And it brings a little variation in a very formulaic artistic industry.

There is nothing so jarring as video game characters talking specifically about the controls on your PS controller. Abs are still sick. I like the little touch that this death will be different from the others, and set you somewhat back in progress. Not enough for it to make an impact, but I appreciate the effort; the game is present even on its own metalevel

Otacon, you sap. Oh and thank you for massaging my arm, Naomi

If Johnny were ever to be in a Rambo-parody the first movie would be called Johnny - First Brown

My old enemy... Stairs...

OTACON DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT SUBTEXT MEANS

My tactic for handling this: laying down land mines whenever possible and run like a pussy.

Sniper’s demise, the entire scene for all parties involved, is pretty heartfelt still you two should kiss

I have literally played Die Hard.

HUHHHH! THE PLOT THICKENS! WE’VE BEEN BETRAYED!

Vulcan Raven has no sense of humor. I am big man McLargebeef. Fear me.

One of the greatest things about this game is the boss fights. All of them are different and interesting, fun to play. Same goes for the rest of the game: nothing ever gets to the point of being samey.

I mentioned atmosphere earlier, and oh how I do love this for keeping it throughout. This feels like a beautiful tribute to the 80′s action movies, in tone and spirit as well. This is what the 80′s style tribute that we’ve seen lately really ought to be: specs of hilarity and ridiculoussness mixed with complete sincerity and genuine, dark depth, without getting to caught up in aesthetic.

Metal Gear Chicken.

How can anyone survive working on that thing.

I wonder what Ocelot really thought of Liquid.

GAAASP! MILLER IS BRITISH! OH NO!

Liquid is just an asshole, but if that was his upbringing I feel a little bad for him. No wonder he hyper-compensates.

Snake takes these news surprisingly well

Snake being made into a weapon, robbed of information that he really needs: this game makes his feelings and responses, however douchy, feels quite earned

I am fighting a giant mecha and this is STILL a stealth game.

Okay that... that surprise from Gray Fox actually was a surprise. And what the fuck is he MADE of.

So Richard Dawkins is to blame...

           OF COURSE-

SHIRTLESS BATTLE! OVER A WOMAN!

“MACGYVEEEEEEEEEER!”

Surprise bitch I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me

Liquid’s death is surprisingly evocative for me. I really do feel like Liquid’s plan is more important to him than anything, because he that desperately needs to prove himself in the light of his “father”.

...

                    ...

          ...

          ...

          ...

          .                           .                         .           

          WILL YOU           SHUT UP

BTW I made it through without sacrificing Meryl. I’ve learned what happens in the other ending, and it is pretty dumb how that one leads so much better into the next game than the other. And while on the subject

Woah, yet another twist. Although knowing what I do about Ocelot now it is hardly that surprising. The impact of this is still satisfying and intriguing, because there are things in the game that for someone who isn’t already completely familiar with them seems a bit weird. The reveals here makes some things falll into place, and I am surprised that the game actually did specifically build up to a sequel

It strikes me that I haven’t talked once about the performances. While there are a lot of them that don’t go all in, you gotta give David Hayter props for this, as well as several of the others. This must’ve been so very strange to work on for all of them: not quite a translation from a japanese work, not quite American either, giving this exposition-heavy dialogue a unique life of its own

And the game naming Snake after him is a very cute touch, one that I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t thought of before. And no one could give Snake the layers of believable capability and apparent ineptitude better than he. IQ of 180 my ass.

GOD that ending dragged on.

[63824peace]

Friday, 25th of november 2005

Female detective Sunny Randall is the heroine of Robert B. Parker's latest novel, Melancholy Baby. During the course of the story, she consults the lovely psychiatrist Susan Silverman. Silverman has also appeared in Parker's series of Spenser novels.

Sunny learns that her ex-husband lately re-married, and the knowledge instills her with a suffering sense of loss. She has a dream one night, and she asks Silverman about the dream's meaning.

"What are our dreams?" Sunny asks. "Do they reveal our desires?"

The psychiatrist answers her without digging deeply into Freudian dream analysis. "Sometimes dreams exaggerate the circumstances of the dreamer's waking life."

I cried out from another nightmare this morning. I felt emotions and stresses like those felt during the dream that I recounted in my October 2 blog.

I always forget good dreams, but I remember all my nightmares.

I don't know whether the dream's circumstances were good or bad... but I was about to accept a tremendously prestigious award. Imagine some combination of the Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, and the Academy Awards. Multiple entertainment media qualified-movies, music, and games could all compete equally.

The ceremony would start soon. I needed to head over to the ceremonial hall, or else I would arrive late. I didn't understand why, but I was still fixing an anime clip that I had planned to show at the ceremony.

I don't know why it was specifically anime. I only knew that I needed to edit a segment from the footage --- no, I needed to edit several scenes! The presentation had screwed up somehow.

I hastily tried to correct each scene, but my anime support staff was slow. They were positively inflexible. The corrections shouldn't have taken long, but my staff worked at a snail's pace. We could have edited everything digitally, but everyone insisted that we shoot from animation cells. They couldn't understand the concept of digital editing -- and all of the studio's technology was over ten years old.

Nevertheless, we somehow finished the corrections. I ran to the ceremony hall.

I couldn't find my outfit when I arrived at the dressing room. I asked someone where to find it, but he explained that he couldn't open the suitcase that held my costume. He didn't have the key!

I noticed the gigantic suitcase in the corner. It looked large enough to have held a few corpses.

"Why is it in the suitcase?" I asked. "Who has the key?"

"Well," said the fellow, "The guy with the key left for the airport."

"What?! The airport!?"

I couldn't go onstage in casual clothes. The event had a dress code. Everyone had to dress formally for the live broadcast, even the camera crew.

"Hey, come on! You're up!"

A man opened the dressing room door. I could only see his upper body. He pressured me to come onstage. He had a foreigner's face, but he spoke perfect Japanese.

"All right, we're running out of options," he said. "Put on anything, just hurry!" Strangers surrounded me. They dressed me in a costume covered with patches.

Someone pushed me from behind, and I appeared on-stage beneath dazzling lights. I could still see the faces beyond them though.

The audience stirred. They seemed surprised to see that I had dressed like a street performer, or a vaudeville comedian. The MC froze on the spot.

A musician was supposed to have handed me the trophy... he looked like Mick Jagger. He whispered into my ear, "What the hell kind of costume is this? Is this some kind of joke?!"

He slandered me with words that sounded as though they had been translated, and then he laughed out loud. The ceremony hall's audience erupted into a storm of booing.

They threw all sorts of things at the stage. Something hit my head…

And I suddenly awoke.

It hadn't been a frightening dream, but it was definitely unpleasant. I've had these types of dreams before... dreams wherein I lose or forget something, or I can't proceed according to plans, or all my teeth fall out.

"What sort of dream is this?" How would Parker's Susan Silverman respond? Was this merely a menagerie of "exaggerated forms of circumstances from the dreamer's waking life?"

I ate a combo plate for lunch at Del Sol, followed by a double Macchiato. I looked into my coffee cup and saw the shape of a heart. I stirred the surface to erase it. I don't need any more hearts... hearts are troublesome.

I'd rather fill myself with something more substantial -- something more stable.

We left the restaurant and headed back to the office. On our way, Kenichiro found a provisional booth selling lottery tickets. Was this fortune?

"What's up?" I said.

"I thought that I'd like to buy some lottery tickets."

I hadn't seen one of those booths until yesterday, and then I remembered. They start selling End-of-the-Year Jumbo Lottery tickets today.

"Do they usually sell winning tickets here?"

"Well, I wouldn't know. I'm generally lucky at the lottery."

I looked more closely at the booth. The sign above it read, "Sister shop to Yuurakucho Daikokuten, seller of many big winning tickets!"

"Ha! Looks like it's the sister of the real winning booth."

"Well, that's hardly persuasive, is it?" said Kenichiro.

"We'd better get tickets from the real seller instead of its sister."

"I don't even need to buy them. I'm just that lucky with lotteries." Kenichiro recounted his many lottery victories as he walked away from the booth.

I've never won the lottery -- and what's more, I usually lose games like rock-paper-scissors. I never draw a winning raffle ticket, and I've never won a game of Bingo. Consequently, I don't expect gold to rain upon me. I never gamble or take huge risks... I'm better suited for work that requires steady, serious pacing.

Kenichiro, on the other hand, seems to have good luck.

I've theorized that everyone has received an equal distribution of luck, and each person's luck has a limit. You'll run out of luck if you squander it on lotteries and gambling. We're not like Fortune from MGS2. We won't have luck stored for important things like work if we use it excessively.

If I win the lottery, then I've spent that piece of luck. I try not to use my luck frivolously since I want to save it for my games.

Kenichiro boasted that he always wins back what he spends on lotteries, even though he's never won the big prizes. I said, "Don't you think that's why you've never made a hit game?"

"What are you talking about? I've already done that."

"For example?"

"You know… that game!"

"Oh, that," I conceded. "That was definitely luck."

"I'm lucky with women."

"Same here."

Neither one of us could laugh at that.

I've looked for Masaki Yamada's book Magic Opera since yesterday. It's printed by the Hayakawa Publishing Corporation. I finally chanced upon the set of books today at the Aoyama Book Center.

Mr. Noriyoshi Ohrai made the cover, of course. His composition and layout are fascinating as always!

Magic Opera is the second book in a trilogy. I started with the first book, Mystery Opera, which I had bought back in August. I've just read Magic Opera's first sixty pages, and the story has already captivated me. It looks interesting.

Mr. Masaki Yamada's most notorious recent work is Kamigari-2. Russian Roulette isn't as popular, but I still found it outstanding and interesting. The Opera Trilogy is his newest saga; it's part of the Kiichiro Midashi series that started after the Kami Trilogy. I'm looking forward to its narrative development.

I learned that he'll title the third book Final Opera.

Mr. Masaki Yamada contributed an article for the limited release of MGS: The Twin Snakes on the Gamecube. He always responds whenever I mail him my impressions of his books. He is such a remarkable, intellectual man.

I first discovered Mr. Yamada's writing when I read his novel Agni-wo-nusume. I was either a junior high or high school student back then. Agni-wo-nusume was an adventure novel. Some salary-men had been deceived, and then they received company orders to infiltrate a Himalayan fortress. They risked their lives at the fortress, fighting against the CIA and the special assault team.

I have read so many books published by Hayakawa Publishing Corporation. I might say that they practically raised me. They have really bustled for their sixtieth anniversary. Since the beginning of the year, they've released a variety of reproductions and reissued books.

This month they distributed a short story collection by one of their more unusual authors. They've only done this once before. Hayakawa Publishing Corporation's line-up included Theodore Sturgeon's collection titled One-Horned Beast, Many-Horned Beast. They also featured my much-loved Richard Matheson's collection, 13 Shocks.

They've reissued the books in the B6 standardized publishing format, so we can carry the books around more easily. We can also read the larger print more easily. So many interesting books remain in this world... I'd like to see the good, older book reprinted more often.

I bought the mook-book for the film that I saw yesterday, Always: San-cho-me-no-yuuhi. Nippon TV published it, and they included a pair of red and blue 3D glasses in the back. Solid Eye ought to recall memories of the Shōwa Era now!

Later in the day, Tojin the sound director burst into my work booth. "Director! Can you spare a moment?"

I looked up at him. "What is it? Another problem?"

Tojin wore a huge smile. "I registered my marriage on November 22! That's the day of Ii and Fuufu!" Ii and Fuufu are the old-style Japanese numbers. They have double meanings: Ii means "good," and Fuufu means "married couple."

His face didn't betray any self-consciousness or embarrassment. I could sense the willful pride of man who has taken a wife.

Well then... Ii Fuufu, eh? A good married couple?

Tojin's romance was dramatic from the start. He and his new wife met on top of Mount Fuji, at the eighth and highest checkpoint. She had loved Mount Fuji so much that she chose to live and work in the hut at the top for the summer.

Tojin would climb Mount Fuji just to see her. In other words, Tojin had climbed the whole mountain again every time they shared each other's company. I wonder how many times he climbed Mount Fuji that summer.

One day he realized that he had become an expert at climbing Mount Fuji. He hadn't even paid attention to his growing prowess! He has organized every summer trip up the mountain for the sound team because of his experience. Unfortunately, I had to miss it two years in a row.

I'll never forget the time when he proposed to her.

We had met with some creative staff members from outside the company. Right in front of our guests, Tojin whispered an apology into my ear. "I'm so sorry, but I need to go to the panoramic viewing platform at the Hills. I need to propose to my girlfriend. May I leave now?"

"You're making her wait?" I said. "As cold as it is tonight?"

"Yes, well... I thought about staying here until the end, but...." He was obviously worried about the time.

"You go on," I said. "It's better on the rooftop lookout point, by the way. They've got a heliport up there, and it's much less crowded. It costs five hundred yen to enter."

"Got it."

Everything was so serious that I couldn't keep it to myself. I explained the situation to our guests.

Tojin's spirit and determination had moved them too.

"Hurry on up there!" we yelled, bidding Tojin farewell. It seems as though it happened only yesterday.

It turned out that the rooftop had already closed, but I don't think we need to guess her answer. He's said everything by informing me about Ii Fuufu.

Congratulations, Tojin!

Today I led the MGS4 project meeting in the glass room. Only three of us attended -- Murashu, Rettsu, and myself.

Between the meetings I autographed the placards to send with the Subsistence gifts. These are totally different from signing the MGA2 cards. I have so many presents to send, it's no joke!

I just handled the cards for the Japanese version today. I had only taken care of one-third of the total. It was still some hard work though. Whew!

We received the sample Ghillie suit that we had ordered. We bought it in case we're unable to make one during training.

Toyopy tried it on. He looked like the monster Waiaaru Seijin from Ultraman.

In the evening, I had a small dinner party with Ms. Yamanaka and Ms. Miyamoto, KojiPro's assistants. I occasionally throw them a small party to express my thanks for all their support.

We're able to make good products thanks to them. If game-makers need to present an ordered list of people who deserve thanks, their staff and fellow workers come first, then everyone's families, and then the office assistants. Game-makers ought to recognize themselves last.

Kenichiro is Ms. Miyamoto's supervisor. We four went to a sushi bar in the Roppongi area. I drank a white wine called Sushi Wine, and I got pretty tanked.

I had a couple of sidecars in my Nishi Azabu hideout after that. The Kansai bartender doesn't seem to work there anymore.

I was in a mellow mood, so I turned my thoughts to last night's dream. I felt as though I were forgetting something about it... but I just couldn't remember what. I didn't get anyone's help explaining last night's dream -- no Susan Silverman for me. I decided just to find an answer myself.

If the costume had disappeared, then I should have just bought a new one. I think I got the hint that my dream had left me... "Get a new leather jacket this winter!"

I'll sleep well if I can keep thinking like this.