#i like the little sniveling bastard we got though. hes adorable and i love him. but im nothing if not dedicated too

[ryuichifuwa]

All in all I do understand why weevil is the way he is and why they had to nerf yugis deck as the story went on to become entirely focused on duel monsters, but making him be a weak cheater from battle city onwards boggles my brain a little.

I mean, either he's a national champion who won fairly, or he cheated the entire time but *we* never got to see or hear about it. Come on. Some consistency would've been nice

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Undercover Lover prt 79 prt 1

79

Driving back to Trost felt wrong. Leaving Eren again felt wrong. In the end Levi nearly turned back half a dozen times before giving up and giving in. He’d wanted to respect Eren’s wishes. He truly did, so he found himself a hotel room before sitting down on the edge of the bed for some serious wallowing. There he was, 43 fucking years old, pining over his brat who was 15 years his junior. Life. Work. Existing. He’d gone through all the steps before Eren came along. He’d tried dating. He’d tried feeling. Now all he felt was old and useless in the face of what he’d left Eren to go through. How the fuck had he let himself fuck it all up so fucking bad? Why did he run away at thought of losing Eren? Why did he have to let his shitty fears get the best of him when Eren needed him the most?

There weren’t enough hours in the day to scrub away the memory of that day. He’d lied to his friends. He’d lied to himself. He’d broken Eren’s heart and his own along with it. Then he talked about respecting Eren, only to now he renting a shit hole of a room because he couldn’t walk away again. Hanji had tried her fucking hardest to help him. All he’d done was blow up at her. He’d blown up at everyone out of his own self caused misery. He’d thought Eren could forget him. He wasn’t all the great things Eren saw in him. His brat hadn’t left his mind for an instant. He missed it all. Eren didn’t need a snivelling alpha who let his fears get in the way. He needed Levi to get his shit together and prove himself through his actions.

He missed Eren being at home waiting for him. He missed Eren giving him shit about not bothering to know the neighbours. He missed the days when they did nothing but lay on the sofa together like the world didn’t matter. He missed cooking for his brat, and knowing in some way Eren understood why he was the way he was. He missed listening to Eren go on and on about his bike to the point he was jealous of the damn thing. There was this kind of energy that came from the omega when he was working. Whether it be on a case or on his bike, Eren had such pride in what he did that Levi envied him. He didn’t want to hold Eren back. He wanted the omega to achieve everything he ever wanted. He didn’t own Eren and never had, no, Eren had gifted him with his love and he’d fucked it up.

His depression had been worse than it’d ever been before. Thoughts of acting reckless and stupid invading his mind. He’d been such a coward and he hated himself so much it made him physically sick for a time. Even working with his team didn’t distract him from Eren. He couldn’t go out in the field as he was, so worked what he could from their centre of operations, annoyed he’d been benched over his own shitty actions. Why couldn’t he have accepted things sooner? He’d been thinking about Eren wanting children... He’d let himself think about it. He’d let himself start to want it then feared he’d ruin Eren’s life if they stayed together. He couldn’t... he couldn’t walk away and wait another two weeks, no matter how selfish that made him.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he opened his photos. Their daughter right there. He didn’t want to walk away from her. He didn’t want her to be asking the same questions he had. If she was loved. If she came from love. If she was wanted. Who her father was. Did his father even care that he’d existed or had he never know? Had his mother truly loved him or was he a reminder of what could have been one of the worst experiences of her life? What would it have been like to grow up with her there? Would she have loved him? Would she have accepted him? It’d been so long he no longer remembered the face of his mother. He didn’t remember how she smelt or how it felt to be with her. He didn’t want children because... deep down, his biggest fear was he’d pass on his sins to any child he had. He feared his sins as much as he’d feared Eren hating him. He’d feared his omega dying trying to chase his dreams. Eren out there somewhere happy without him was a far easier pill to swallow then Eren not being out there at all.

Eren had told him he’d do some “serious thinking”. Levi wanted to throw all thought out the window and let emotion cloud both their judgements. He wanted to take Eren on a proper date. He wanted to see him smile... and maybe just a little bit hoped that his omega would go “dumb” as he’d complained he did so often. Eren could be very dumb, yet he wasn’t stupid. He’d never been stupid in all the time Levi had known him, despite doing some pretty stupid things. Fuck, if he was going to ignore Eren’s wishes, he might as well call him now and take the scolding he was bound to receive... but first he had to do something about the lie he’d been lying. He was going to be a father and it was about time he spoke up about it... and the first person he really owed it to was Hanji.

Rewriting his message to shitty foureyes twice, it took all of thirty seconds for Hanji to be calling him back. He could imagine Hanji there with her hands in some shitty corpse getting Moblit to read the message to her, before she promptly dropped everything. Sliding his thumb across to answer, Hanji was already yelling before he moved the phone to his ear

“Levi! What the fuck do you mean Eren is pregnant?!? Did you get him pregnant?! Are you really going to be father?! How is he?! Is he talking to you?! You better have fucking apologised or I’m going to castrate you! Did this happen in Marley? Is he okay? When did this happen?! Levi? You better still be there!”

Hanji had a way with words and ignoring the basic function of breathing between words

“Levi!? Say something!”

“Hey, Hanji. I’m going to be a dad”

“Oh, thank god. Now, what do you mean our Eren is pregnant? I know you saw him in Marley but...”

“I fucked it all up”

Hanji took a sharp breath

“You better not be telling me what I think you’re telling me”

Yep. She’d already guessed the truth

“Yeah...”

Levi had winced in preparation, moving his phone away from his ear as Hanji started yelling again

“Are you stupid?! How could you do to that to him?!”

“Trust me, I know how dumb I was”

“Do you?! He’s an unstable omega! How could you do that to him?! Do you know how much he loved you? How much he trusted you?! What if he’d had a drop?! What if his dynamic had shifted? To much beta and he could lose the baby!”

“I know... I mean, I talked to Hannes. Eren didn’t mention it, and I’m waiting until he brings it up”

“You’re the dumbest arsehole I know. Eren wouldn’t want you to worry! Where are you?”

“In Nedlay...”

“Good. I want you to go throw yourself at his feet and beg his forgiveness!”

Levi sighed deeply, Hanji needed to stop watching so many weird movies

“I’ve already apologised... He wanted time to think... but I don’t think I can leave him again...”

Hanji let out an equally deep sigh

“I know you’re not dumb but I’m so fucking pissed at you. At least now I know why you’ve been insufferable dick. Is he at least okay?”

“Yeah... Fuck, Hanji you should see him. He’s so excited about the baby...”

He’d nearly told her it was girl, but Eren should at least have the choice when he shared that. As far as he knew, Armin hadn’t been told yet

“... they’re so small... He’s gone through so much alone... but... I’m going to be a dad...”

A dad to someone who’d wear those tiny socks he’d bought. Someone who’d be so tiny and grow up in front of their eyes...

“Levi... I get that you’re caught up in this, but have you really thought things through? I’m not trying to be a bitch here, but babies in general are more work than people think...”

“I know. I already talked to Hannes...”

And he’d read himself into a hole of tangled thoughts from all the online advice

“Which is good and all, but did you try talking to Eren about what he wants and needs from you as his partner? You can’t walk away again... and you shouldn’t have in the first place”

“I know... He says he doesn’t want anything...”

“Idiot. Of course he does. He’s a pregnant unbonded omega who fell head over heels for our resident cranky pants. You’re lucky he’s talking to you at all, but if he’s not being honest about his pregnancy with you, then you need to be the one honest with him. There’s this magical thing called talking. You two were getting good at that”

They’d talked last night. Eren missed everyone from Shinganshima and Trost... Isabel would be so excited to know Eren was pregnant... Yet... Hanji wasn’t there. She wasn’t in Eren’s head, nor had seen him. He’d told Eren how he felt, but maybe it was time to go big? He didn’t want Eren thinking he didn’t respect him

“I don’t want him to feel pressured or obligated”

“Because love is logical like that? Does he know you’re there?”

“Yeah. We talked a bit. I was going back to Trost today and I couldn’t do it. It felt wrong to leave him”

“And you say I’m the idiot. You’ve been a complete bastard since you two broke up. I understand why now, and I knew it was hard because everyone could see how much you adored him, but you’re not listening to your instincts. You need to be there for him. Having his alpha there for the pregnancy will help him stay calm and settled, though with you, I wouldn’t be surprised if snaps and smothers you in your sleep”

“I want to be... Fuck, Hanji. I want to be there for him”

“Then go call him. You fucked things up but Eren is Eren. Tell him how you feel”

“I already did. He wanted space to think”

“And you rolled over and let him. Now, I have a baby shower to plan, and you’re not coming home until you bring him back”

Eren wouldn’t love Levi dictating his life. Why was he the only one who seemed to be listening to what Eren had to say? Hanji knew how damn stubborn Eren could be

“He’s got a life here”

Hanji sounded ready to explode. Levi didn’t think he was being dumb enough to warrant her annoyance

“And you won’t if you don’t make up with our Eren. You’re lucky you’re not here or I’d stab you myself. Please tell Eren I’m excited for him. Who would have thought you’d be a father?”

Though she didn’t say it was because he was “fucked up”, Levi could hear it in her tone

“Not me... I’ve got to go. Thanks for the chat”

“You should be thanking me. And tell Eren to message me. I miss him...”

“You do realise he’s carrying my baby”

Hanji cackled like the maniac she was

“Pffft. I’m clearly the better choice. Widdle Levi’s gonna a widdle ba-“

Hanging up Hanji. He didn’t want to hear it if she wasn’t going to be serious. She hadn’t even congratulated him. Now that he’d told her, she’d tell everyone. Shit. He didn’t want Isabel and Farlan finding out from Hanji... nor did he have the energy for another phone call with a screaming woman. Texting both of them, pride came with being able to tell. He’d kept quiet for Eren, and now he finally had the chance to brag that his brat of an omega was carrying their baby. It’d been hard not to confide in Erwin. Erwin less than impressed to learn the secret he’d been keeping. He wanted to tell his team. To tell Hannes. To shove it Grisha’s face that he was missing out on the life of the most amazing omega he’d ever met. Hopefully Eren would hear him out about staying, and hopefully his brat would like what he was planning.

*

Watching Levi leave, Eren needed a few moments. The alpha’s anger had made his omega panicky. Levi meeting Floch wasn’t supposed to happen. Floch would have known who Levi was, without Levi having to introduce himself. If it weren’t for that shitty call to forensics to see if they could get their evidence bumped up in the queue Levi wouldn’t have had to come looking for him.

Heading back into the foyer, Floch was waiting for him. Eren had half a mind to punch him in the face again for talking to Levi. Instead, he ignored the alpha, knowing it’d upset Floch more that way. Heading towards the elevator, Floch followed him. Why couldn’t he take a hint already? Hitting the button Floch moved to stand next to him, nearly as unnerving as having the man behind him

“What’s in the bag?”

“None of your business”

“I’m only trying to make conversation”

“From what I understand you’ve been telling people I’m a slut. How’s that for conversation?”

As the elevator doors opened, Floch followed him in. Eren lifting up the bag to rifle through what the hell Levi had bought. There was more in the bag than the two prescriptions he’d been expecting

“It’s not like that...”

“Floch, I don’t care. You can play all the games you want to, but if you ever go near Levi again, I won’t hold back”

“I’m telling you it wasn’t like that. He wanted directions to your office”

Three bottles of hydralites sat in the bag, as well as big block of chocolate and something pinkish down the very bottom of the bag that he couldn’t pull out without making a mess. Levi didn’t have to buy him anything, yet the gesture was appreciated

“I know. Reception called me. But what this has to do with you I fail to see”

“Because it’s clear you’re setting yourself up to be hurt...”

“Whether it is or isn’t, isn’t your business”

“But you need someone... You don’t have to go through this alone”

“Floch, I’m fine. I don’t need someone”

“Then what’s in the bag? If you were fine you wouldn’t need so many pills. We weren’t the best when we were together but we could try...”

“No. And don’t even think about leaving flowers on my desk again. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but this is my life. I’d die before I get back with the likes of you”

Floch threw his hands up. The alpha could lay hands on him in the elevator when there was a camera right there

“I’m trying to be there for you. Why can’t you listen to me?!”

“What? Listen to you tell the father of my child that I get around?!”

“He left you... I wouldn’t make that mistake again. We could be a family. You, me and the baby... I’d love it like it was my own”

Eren wished to god the camera wasn’t watching them, or Floch would be eating meals through a straw

“Floch. Your childish obsession needs to come to an end”

“No, you need to see sense. No one’s going to love you like I do. Please Eren, tell me what to do to make you see that”

“Nothing is going to make that happen. I’m going back to the case and I suggest you should too”

Having borrowed a conference room to go through all the evidence again, Eren was stuck with Floch following him. Armin watching the pair of them enter, silently asking if he needed to kill Floch with his eyes. Giving a slight shake of his head, Eren dumped the bag down in front of where he’d been sitting

“Right. Where are we?”

Please for the love of his sanity don’t let them be going over people’s socials again...

“We’ve finally got the call records back for the bouncer. I thought you’d like to see them first”

“Perfect. Do you have the call log for the omega too? I want to cross reference the numbers”

“Sure do. What’s in the bag and why do you smell awful?”

Seeing Floch was sure to open his mouth, Eren figured he should explain things first

“Levi brought me some things I’d left with him yesterday, and picked my scripts up for me this morning”

Armin gave a squeal jumping on the spot in happiness

“Dude! How did you not tell me?! I asked and you said no”

“Because I thought he’d be on his way to Nedlay but he had the ultrasound photos and my stuff from the obstetrician. Can we get on with work now?”

“Nooo. Oh my god, did he see the baby?!”

“If I say yes, will you let me get on with my work?”

Armin squealed again, rushing to throw his arms around him. His best friend seemed to have forgotten there were other people in the room

“I’m so happy, but you’re being careful right? You have to tell me everything when we’re done here”

“Seeing you’re giving me a ride after work, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. There’s not much to tell. It was... nice”

“You totally slept with him, didn’t you?”

“‘Min, we’re at work, can we please focus? I’d rather not discuss my private life with a witness”

Armin let him go

“I know. It’s just you guys are so in love and now he’s met the baby... I would have congratulated him if I’d known he was here”

“You can congratulate him when you see him next, and for the third time, can we please get back to the case?”

The expression on Floch’s face left him feeling uncomfortable. Armin’s excitement seemed to be pissing the alpha off

“Okay, okay. Sooo do you want to write on the board or should I?”

“You can. I’ll read the numbers. Let’s start with the omega first. Did we get the club call list?”

“No dice there. Not enough evidence despite the dealing happening there”

“Fuck. Well, I guess we just have to do things the old fashion way”

Knowing there was chocolate there, Eren pulled out the bar, then gave into his curiosity as he emptied the bag to the bottom layer. Socks. Three sets of tiny socks. His omega melting at the size of them. They were so tiny. Tiny and very cute with their pink bows... Levi had given their baby a gift. The first gift he’d gotten for his little girl. Tearing up, he wanted to laugh at how much of a practical gift giver Levi was

“Eren?”

Quickly wiping away his tears, Eren placed the papers from the obstetrician over them, then replaced his medication into the bag. The socks were so small. Socks for their baby girl... Levi didn’t have to... but he had and now Eren wished he hadn’t left. He would have thanked him if he’d known. He hadn’t bought anything for their daughter yet and the gesture had him feeling so emotional

“Sorry. I’m good”

Armin raised an eyebrow

“Right. That’s why you’re crying”

“It’s hormones. I’m so happy to have chocolate that you wouldn’t believe it”

Armin shook his head, turning back to the glass board

“I don’t. You ready with those numbers?”

“Yep, gimme a second...”

Breaking for lunch, Armin hung back with Eren. Having demolished the whole block of chocolate, the sugar crash wasn’t fun but it’d been so worth it. Waiting for the room to clear, his best friend was on him the moment the coast was clear

“Why didn’t you tell me Levi was back?! Did he go to the scan? Is he staying? I know you said he’d be back but what happened?!”

“We’re having a baby girl... I wanted to tell Mikasa first, but she’s not on until tonight. Levi came to the scan, and he spent the night”

“Eren!”

“Not like that. We slept... that’s all that happened in bed. But... I left my prescription in his car so he picked it up. ‘’Min, you’ve got to see this”

Pulling the socks out the bag, Armin awwed over them

“They’re so tiny”

“Yeah... and he... he chose them himself. I don’t want to rush things... and he gets that, but I can’t help but hate that he’s gone again”

“Why didn’t you ask him stay?”

“I’ve got the baby to think about. I... you know how much it hurt to lose him once. What if he leaves us again? I won’t do that to her... You should have seen his face at the ultrasound... and he... he wanted to know how the baby was, how he could help...”

“I know he hurt you. I still want to kick him in the balls for it, but he loves you. You love him”

If only things could be settled that easily

“I don’t want to be hurt. I don’t want our daughter growing up with parents that can’t talk to each other... I don’t want him if he doesn’t want me. Not just because I’m carrying his baby”

“He loved you before then. If he wants to be involved, that can only be a good thing. He had to have given it a lot of thought, with all you said, I get the feeling he wouldn’t have wanted to leave either”

“But how am I supposed to work this out when I’ve been doing it alone for so long? I can’t even think straight around him”

Armin snickered

“You do prefer men”

Eren mentally rolled his eyes

“You’re not funny. I’m serious here”

“I know. I also know you well enough to know you haven’t told him everything, have you?”

“No. And I feel like shit now. If I tell him and leaves us then there’s no hope left”

“And if you don’t tell him, it’s as good as lying to his face”

Armin moved onto the next set of socks

“I should hate him for the condition he left you in. You took weeks to settle back in. He broke you heart and I was scared he’d broken you... but obviously you two have a connection. Maybe you should go to Trost for a few days? Sit down and spend some real time together and see how it makes you feel”

“I can tell you it made me stupid yesterday. My omega couldn’t shut up about how happy it was to be near Levi”

“You are compatible partners. He even got morning sickness because you’re pregnant. You need to face it, you’re both hopeless. Look, all I’m saying is that you love him”

Love wasn’t the issue, but it was. Loving Levi came to easily even after all that had happened. It terrified Eren to think they could that if they bonded, they’d be more drawn to each other than ever before

“That’s not the problem”

“Then talk to him. He seems like he really needs to talk to you. I can come with you if that makes it easier”

Armin might be “pro-Levi” but that didn’t mean he didn’t have his own alpha instincts and putting the pair of them together wouldn’t result in someone taking a swing

“No... I need to work this out for myself”

“Okay, as long as you don’t forget you can talk to me”

“I know. So what do you think of the socks?”

Armin beamed at him

“Dude, they’re so fucking small! Was Mina this small? I feel like I can’t remember”

“She was tiny... you’d never know now”

“Man... I’m getting all clucky. Annie wants to wait a little longer until she’s done with her Mitras stuff”

Armin and Annie would be great parents. They’d be prepared and have each other’s backs for the whole thing

“You’ll be a great dad. I remember how much you helped me get through being a kid”

“I remember Mikasa chasing away all the bullies. Man, we’ve all come so far. They let arrest bullies now”

They were running more from him than Mikasa when they’d been kids. Whenever he’d shown up, they’d left Armin alone. Mikasa happened to be there by coincidence.

“Yeah. Still, you helped me out, and I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you enough for it”

Armin smacked his shoulder, trying to lighten the mood and change topic. When it came to serious praise his friend was great at deflecting it

“Pffft. Don’t go crying on me again. Can I see the scan now? I wanna see my niece”

“Can I send a photo to Mikasa first? You know, she is my sister and everything”

“Fine, but the second you’re done, I wanna see! Then we’re getting lunch. If I have to keep looking up names and numbers I’m going to need food”

*

The afternoon dragged on with them putting names to numbers. Eren well and truly over numbers as hung up, crossing yet another name off his list. Armin was doing the same on the other side of their office. Normally Armin would have insisted that this kind of work be passed to their junior officers, but Eren didn’t want Floch talking to potential connections. Nobody liked a spam caller, all of the people he’d called thought he was selling house insurance. Thank fuck they didn’t have to do things like other officers. Anyone could be a potential leak back to the main supplier, and or, dealer.

Coming in early for her shift, Mikasa brightened the day in a way she didn’t realise, just as Armin pegged him in the side of the face with a lackey band. Scowling at the world, his sister had been busy, carrying a gift bag with pink paper poking out the top

“I can’t believe you’re having a girl”

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear games are some of the only video games I really feel like I can talk about in my review style, because these games are about 85% story and 15% gameplay, and even that might be a generous estimate. But what about a Metal Gear game that is infamously criticized for a lack of a story? Or, well, I should say an incomplete story. Metal Gear Solid V is a game composed of the somewhat short epilogue Ground Zeroes and the sprawling main game The Phantom Pain, and together they combine to make quite a divisive package, with many citing the absolutely stellar gameplay as a selling point while condemning the supposedly sloppy and incomplete story as a major downgrade. Some have seen this game as a step down from the lofty heights of Kojima’s previous four games, while others are just as likely to embrace it. I suppose that is the nature of Kojima’s work; it always sparks discussion and debate.

I’m certainly not going to debate on the gameplay here; it’s a very fantastic open world sandbox that gives you a lot to do, from capturing animals to spiriting away guards with the Fulton system to finding the oodles of cassette tapes so that you can blast “Take On Me” while you ride a horse guns blazing into a fortress full of armed Russian soldiers. You can play stealthy or straightforward, pacifist or violent, and you can do it all while Joy Division and Spandau Ballet blare over the speakers of your helicopter. This is easily some of the best gameplay the series has ever had, and there are plenty of little missions and side objectives to do while you scour the maps for things to do. But I’m not here to sell you this game based on its gameplay; any game reviewer worth their salt has done that already. No, I’m  going to make a case for the story and characters, and hopefully convince someone that they’re not nearly as bad as some have claimed.

The centerpiece of this game is Venom Snake. Venom might actually be my favorite Snake of them all; this sounds blasphemous, but his character arc is just so beautifully tragic to me, and how he compares to Big Boss, it just really makes me love him. Venom is a man who was never given much of a choice; it was decided he should be Big Boss’ “Phantom” while he was in a coma. And when he wakes up, while he looks the part and can act the part, he just doesn’t have the wit or talkativeness that Big Boss does, leading to Venom being a bit more quiet than most of the other protagonists in the series. But his silence masks that, unlike Big Boss, to the very end Venom was a truly noble man, never mind he believed himself a demon. Unlike Big Boss, who may or may not have outright brainwashed people into joining his cause and who didn’t break a sweat at training children for war, it never even crosses my mind that Venom used torture and brainwashing, and he never fights to have child soldiers after Kaz tells him no – he drops it without much of an argument. Venom is a good man, one who does some dark things in the name of keeping the world safe, but he never truly sinks into anti-villainy the way the man he’s doubling for does, at least not in this game. Any man who would spare Huey rather than execute him immediately has a bottomless well of compassion in their soul and higher moral fiber than most of us.

Of course, the real reason I love Venom is the two most meaningful arcs: his coming to terms with Paz, and his relationship with Quiet. The former is a hauntingly tragic look at Venom’s psyche, something that shows that even though he doesn’t remember who he was, the memory of his failure to save Paz still follows him like a shadow, and the moment when Paz leaves the phantom tape telling him to let go and live – a sentiment Big Boss himself would eventually echo at the end of his life – is poignant and beautiful. As for his relationship with Quiet… everything about it just really gets to me. It’s such a beautiful friendship they form, from enemies to partners with a mutual respect, one that works even better as both are characters who speak very little or not at all. It gets to the point where, yes, the two seem like they do love each other, with culminates in the most adorable scene in the entire franchise as they splash each other in the rain… but it’s a love that can never be, as despite her respect and admiration of Venom, Quiet has a desire for vengeance that she lets consume her… and it leads to her a demise, though it is a demise of her own choosing that she brings about in a final effort to save Venom. That moment that ends their story together, which has Venom running through the desert only to find the tape with Quiet’s first, last, and only words to the man she loved, is just utterly heartbreaking and the perfect depressing capstone to their partnership.

Venom is not a character that gets happy endings. In fact, after it’s revealed he was turned into the body double of Big Boss, it’s shown that ultimately he would go on to die in Big Boss’ place during the Outer Heaven uprising depicted in the original Metal Gear. The ultimate tragedy and heartbreak that Venom goes through in this story and the others is ultimately what draws me to him and adore him; unlike Solid Snake, he never gets to earn his happy ending, dying for the cause of his commander, loyal to the bitter end, having lost almost everyone he loved and cared for along the way. Unlike Big Boss, he never gets to ultimately realize the fruitlessness of his actions and truly come to terms with the fact that all he lost just wasn’t worth it in the end. He’s just so fascinatingly sad, and it’s a sort of sadness that really draws me in. I wouldn’t say he’s a better protagonist than Solid Snake is, and he lacks some of the finesse and charm that Big Boss does, but there’s just a lot to Venom that makes him an incredibly compelling character in his own right, and all with only the bare minimum of a vocal performance.

Speaking of minimal vocal performances, there is Quiet. Quiet is such an odd character, even for this series; she is blatantly designed to be an over-the-top fanservice character in a series that has tons of gratuitous fanservice in the first place, to the point where it’s kind of weird and uncomfortable. Of course, thankfully, as Kojima is incapable of just leaving a character as one-note and superfluous, he gives Quiet the standard bonkers backstory nearly every character in the franchise gets, and as mentioned before gives her wonderful chemistry with Venom. It’s to the point where I seriously can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t feel a bit misty-eyed at her death scene, or the beautiful song her actress Stefanie Joosten sings over the credits of the episode Quiet dies in. She’s a bit much even for this series, but I think her relationship with Venom and her impact on him as well as how she fits thematically into the story more than makes up for any shortcomings she may have.

One of the MVPs of the game is undoubtedly Kaz, who got ridiculous amounts of characterization and some of the most iconic lines (“They played us like a damn FIDDLE!!!!”). He went from being something of a background character to almost the moral core of the game, the shoulder angel to Venom in contrast to Ocelot’s shoulder devil. Of course, much as everyone else, Kaz is consumed by revenge, which leads to him taking the final reveal of who Venom is and Big Boss’ betrayal of him rather badly, and any fan of the franchise knows how his desire to take down Big Boss goes. Still, his presence goes a long way towards making up for Ocelot’s shocking lack of presence; frankly, Ocelot in this game is a bit of a minor character, which on one hand is understandable as he’s only here to keep up appearances while the real Big Boss kickstarts Outer Heaven, but it’s kind of sad to see the guy who is perhaps the franchise’s greatest character take a backseat for vast chunks of the game, only chiming in now and again to give Venom some info or record a tape.

And then we come to the villains. Skull Face is a rather intriguing villain, who lives up to the hammy nature of past villains in the franchise; just see where he howls as Sahelanthropus is taken control of by Eli’s sheer hatred and, ahem, lust for revenge. Skull Face is just a wonderfully thematic villain, and while he is tragically cut down a bit earlier in the game than he should have been, his impact is still felt, as in a manner of speaking he is the reason for the events that plagued Solid Snake’s life due to his crippling of Zero with parasites. We also have some more minor villains, such as Eli (AKA Liquid Snake), Psycho Mantis as a kid, and the Man on Fire (which is actually the reanimated corpse of Colonel Volgin from Snake Eater. Sort of. It’s complicated). The more minor villains seem a bit excessive, especially seeing as the former two don’t actually get to have their arc in this game pay off in a meaningful way due to the Kingdom of the Flies portion unfortunately being cut, but they still lead to some entertaining and exciting moments, particularly young Mantis. Eli is really the only minor villain who feels like a missed opportunity, since all he really does is act like a haughty little brat and adds very little to the overall story, which is a shame considering who he grows up to become.

Of course, no discussion of evil in Metal Gear Solid V would be complete without mention of Huey, the father of Otacon. Huey is the complete and total antithesis to his son. Where his son took responsibility for things that were not even his fault up to and including his own rape, Huey deflects all blame and throws it onto others to make himself seem an innocent victim; where Otacon had the courage to face up to the horrors of the world, Huey chose to be a sniveling coward who hid behind anyone who offered him some semblance of safety; and where Otacon and Solid Snake were true companions and friends to the end who managed to raise a wonderful child together, Huey was an utter bastard who backstabbed his friends repeatedly and killed his own wife via inaction because she dared to stand up to him and not allow her child to be a battery for a Metal Gear. Huey is one of the most detestable, loathsome, and pathetic characters ever conceived in all of fiction… and I love him for it. He is just so void of any sort of redeeming quality that he becomes the poster child for “love to hate.” There is a beauty to a character like this, and it helps that he does get his comeuppance and he’s never shilled by other characters; in fact, not one of his so-called “friends” likes or even trusts him, and all of them think he’s a pathetic, delusional liar. He’s a nasty, spiteful, egomaniacal hypocrite, and I wouldn’t want him any other way.

Now I saved the story for last, mostly because the story is infamously a bit short and incomplete. Still, I feel a lot of the hate for the story is a bit unjustified; while it is true and incredibly frustrating that nothing involving Eli gets any payoff outside of descriptions of what would have happened, all of the story with Skull Face, Quiet, the parasites, Huey, and the side quest involving Paz are all rather engaging in that crazy Metal Gear way, and the prologue Ground Zeroes definitely helps to round things out. If we’re only counting the Solid games, I’d say this is at least as good story-wise as 2 in its own way; where that one is a much more cerebral story involving metatextual elements and deconstructs a lot of concepts, this game’s story is more of a showcase of the toxicity of revenge. Almost every character in the story – Venom, Kaz, Skull Face, Quiet, Eli, the Man on Fire, and Huey – has some desire for vengeance against those who have wronged them, some need to bring some semblance of closure… but it never comes. As is demonstrated in the scene where Skull Face dies, Kaz and Venom both realize that even if they killed Skull Face then and there, it wouldn’t bring back their dead comrades, it wouldn’t return the time they lost, it wouldn’t bring back their missing limbs. Ultimately, revenge is a bitter, futile waste that will only end up consuming and destroying, as it did to Skull Face, as it did to Huey, as it did to Quiet, and as it would do eventually to Kaz and Big Boss. In the end, all that has been done is that a cycle of violence has been perpetuated, and no one is better off for it.

While it’s obviously not the first story to use these concepts, I do like how it ties into the series. It all feels like it fits. Add in the fact that this game finally resolves some long-standing plot holes, such as how Big Boss survived Outer Heaven to end up in Zanzibar Land and how Kaz went from singing the praises of Big Boss to saying he was a monster who deserved death in Metal Gear 2, and while it is a technically incomplete story, it is most certainly a solid one that gives you just enough to think about that I can’t really see calling it “bad” as a logical statement. Could it have been better? Oh, absolutely. But is it still good on its own merits with a lot of standout moments due to the themes and the wonderful cast of characters? Absolutely.

I think the game’s true strength lies in its moments. This game contains some of the most powerful emotional beats in the entire series, hands down. The conclusion of Paz’s side quest, Quiet’s exit, Venom having to deal with a breakout of the parasite among his own soldiers… even if the overall narrative isn’t as cohesive as the four previous games, it still manages to pack so much emotion and power into some of its scenarios that you will feel something. The tapes too manage to be powerful and emotional, from Paz’s final “phantom” tape to Strangelove’s final moments recorded to Zero’s lament that he couldn’t ever apologize to Big Boss, there’s just so much to love here in terms of writing and emotion that I really don’t care about the main story being cut short a bit. It does suck, but I’m too busy sobbing over Quiet and Paz’s fates to really care about the fact I didn’t get to smack Eli upside the head one last time.

The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes are not perfect games, far from it. But they are good games, end even if a small part of the overarching story doesn’t get a satisfying conclusion, Most of the rest does, and there are so many powerful moments in here that it reminds you this series with its roid-raging nanomachine senators and gay vampires who can run on water and giant volcaloid AI robots can actually be poignant, heartfelt, and heartbreaking. It’s a fantastic game, and if you love the series you’ve likely already played it, but I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t, though play through Snake Eater and Peace Walker first. It’s definitely worth your time, and far more rewarding than some have made it out to be.