#metal gear solid 4 spoilers

[mallowmaenad]

so when Revolver Ocelot claims to be possessed by the digital phantom of someone he idolizes it's "the works of a literary genius" and "an unexpected twist to an excellent conclusion of the franchise" but when I do it I'm "cringe" and "schizophrenic"

[royasuka]

metal gear solid 4 spoilers

mgs4 made me cry but like. it was because i got falsely spoiled and thought snake was actually going to die in game and when he had that gun up to his head i thought he was GONNA DO IT aaaahhhhh otacon saying "snake... had a hard life" fucking destroyed me.

[euludey]

goodbye, old snake

[spoilerbracket]

Losers Round 4: Bracket 1

The last remaining spoiler characters that the mod straight-up doesn't know at all. Tell you what, if the girl wins, I'll play Persona 5. And if the Snake wins, I'll, I dunno, watch some videos of male characters with Quiet's rigging or something.

If you'd like to confirm who you're voting for, the characters' names are listed below the cut. Keep in mind that given the nature of this tournament, there may be, well, spoilers.

Left/first option: Venom Snake from Metal Gear Solid

Right/second option: Sumire Yoshizawa from Persona 5

[blizzblu]

[minor spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]

I am so fucking stupid

[randamhajile]

Plagiarism in Fallout 4's Plot

@glaochormfitheach Snatcher is an old and somewhat obscure pre-Metal Gear Solid Hideo Kojima game that Emil Pagliarulo, the lead writer for Fallout 3 and 4, clearly is a fan of. There's explicit references to Snatcher in Fallout 3 with the "Search the House!" note on a dead NPC named Gibson who is murdered in the same way as the Gibson character in Snatcher, and the Gillian, Benson, and Harry houses being the names of characters in Snatcher, with one of them containing a model house that the note refers to, just like in Snatcher.

The lead level designer of Fallout 3 and 4, Joel Burgess, has an interview where he says he placed the easter eggs in Fallout 3, but clearly Emil is a fan of Snatcher and Blade Runner since there's also the "Replicated Man" questline in Fallout 3, and Snatcher itself is heavily inspired by Blade Runner.

Then of course there's the striking similarities in MANY key plot beats in Snatcher and Fallout 4. I know no one is going to play Snatcher so idc about spoilers:

Robot body-snatchers infiltrate society and sow paranoia and panic

A military man and his wife and child get cryogenically frozen to survive a world-ending catastrophe and are awoken many years later to an alien society

There's a reveal where a bearded older man scientist character turns out to be your son, all grown up

This son character gets a dramatic death in the presence of their father due to circumstances beyond their control (specifically Nuclear Family quest in Fo4)

There's a younger robot clone of someone's son who doesn't know he's a robot

A robot body-snatcher goes crazy and causes a public incident that kills many people, thus revealing the body snatchers' existence, and starts waves of paranoia and discord

There is a secret underground lab with highly advanced technology that creates the robot body snatchers and is doing virus research

A disaffected son rises in the ranks of the underground lab and is pivotal to finishing the robot body snatcher project

Implanted memories are key plot points for main characters

Main characters have a robot detective sidekick

I think it's just far too many parallels and goes way beyond mere homage, and helps explain why the plot in Fallout 4 is so disjointed and nonsensical - it's just stringing together plot beats and cool ideas Emil likes, while stripping them of the context that made them special in the first place.

[danthepest]

So with the Metal Gear Collection out now (of debatable quality), I figured I'd make a short, handy list of the chronological order of these games, and a short summary of what they're about. I'll try to be as vague and spoiler free as possible.

1 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Takes place in 1964 during the Cold War. CIA operative and FOX unit member Naked Snake is sent to Russia and has to survive the jungle (don't ask, just roll with it) to stop the development and deployment of a new kind of ultimate weapon, the Shagohod. Things are not what they seem and the political machinations of both the United States of America and Russia will have severe repercussions for the rest of the series. Most of all, it will affect Naked Snake and his legacy.

2 - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - Takes place in 1970. FOX has seemingly gone rogue and started a revolt in San Hieronymo. Naked Snake begins to build his own resistance with the help of Roy Campbell. (The game is only available for PSP and while it was touted as a "missing link" between Snake Eater and Metal Gear 1, it hasn't been mentioned or referenced since. Easily skippable.)

3 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Takes place in 1974 in Costa Rica. Naked Snake and Kazuhira Miller begin building their private military company Militaires Sans Frontières. As they uncover the truth behind the strife in Costa Rica, Snake's past during the Snake Eater incident comes back to haunt him. (Originally a PSP game, it was included in the PS3 HD collection. This was also billed as a "missing link". Up to you if agree. Definitely need to play this to understand the next game.)

4 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Takes place in 1975. After the Peace Walker Incident, one of MSF's own people goes to Cuba on a failed rescue mission and Naked Snake goes in alone to retrieve his man and the person he came to rescue. Serves as an epilogue to Peace Walker and a prologue to the next game.

5 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Takes place in 1984, primarily in Afghanistan. Ten years after what happens in Ground Zeroes, Naked Snake is rechristened Venom Snake and is rebuilding his forces with Miller, naming themselves Diamond Dogs. They prepare to strike back at the organization that has been targeting them for the last 10 years. A startling truth is revealed and strong alliances shatter.

6 - Metal Gear - Takes place in 1995. FOXHOUND unit rookie, Solid Snake is sent into the fortified state, Outer Heaven, to rescue FOXHOUND veteran Gray Fox and discover the secret behind Outer Heaven's nuclear weapon, the Metal Gear, and the identity of its leader.

7 - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - Takes place in 1999. Dr. Kio Marv has bio-engineered a new fuel and energy source that would reduce the consumption of oil. Military forces belonging to Zanzibar Land kidnap the doctor, intending to control the world's oil supply and hold the world hostage as well as stockpiling nuclear weapons. New FOXHOUND commander Roy Campbell forces Solid Snake out of retirement to infiltrate Zanzibar Land and rescue Dr. Kio Marv. Solid Snake is forced to face those he once considered friends and mentors.

8 - Metal Gear Solid - Takes place in 2005. FOXHOUND rebels against the US government and takes over the Alaskan island Shadow Moses, which contains a nuclear weapons disposal facility. Among their demands is the body of Big Boss who is considered the greatest soldier that ever lived. They wish to use his genes to create an army of super soldiers. At the behest of the Secretary of Defense, Roy Campbell once again has to ask Solid Snake out of retirement for one last solo mission. Solid Snake is forced to confront who he is, where he came from and what it is he's fighting for.

9 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Takes place in 2007 and 2009. In 2007, the anti-terrorist organization Philanthropy learns that a new Metal Gear is being transported through the Hudson river and attempt to stop it. They are thwarted by Russian mercenaries and the tanker is blown up as they get away with said Metal Gear.

In 2009, FOXHOUND operative Raiden is sent to infiltrate the Big Shell, a large decontamination facility that has been taken over by a terrorist faction calling themselves the Sons of Liberty. Raiden must neutralize the threat and save the hostages. However, Raiden will soon learn of a conspiracy that dates back to even before the Cold War and begin to question his own existence.

10 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Takes place in 2014. War has changed. War has become a commodity and has created what is known as the War Economy. Old Snake is tasked with putting a stop to the madness as well as put an end to a personal war that started as far back as 1964. (So far, this is exclusively a PS3 title, but there is hope that it will be released for PC in a further Metal Gear Collection)

11 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Takes place in 2018. Raiden has made peace with his lot in life and is trying to support his family by working as a military trainer and VIP bodyguard among other things. While protecting a VIP, Raiden is ambushed and utterly defeated by a cyborg that is part of a larger organization. Raiden begins his quest of vengeance and will finally see if he can put his past behind him.

And there you have it! Dunno really what prompted me to do this, but hey, maybe someone out there will find this helpful or interesting or intriguing or whatever.

[dandelionsprout42]

Captain Laserhawk episodes 4 through 6 review (Mid-major spoilers)

I am so damn confused after finishing those episodes. There's at least 30 unanswered questions.

References I spotted (I likely missed several): • Crazy Taxi (More on that further below). • Sega-CD FMV games. • Metal Gear Solid 2. • Arachnid from Transformers Prime (Easily the best Transformers media). • Rayman Origins. • Any horror movies where girls chant menacingly. • Earthbound?

Why didn't we get to know who the imposter talkshow host is? E06 made it clear that it's likely not an intangible hologram. There also really only was one Rayman in the dimension they came from (Shadow Rayman doesn't count).

I don't know a whole lot about Splinter Cell lore, so I'm not sure why Sam Fisher had both legs amputated from the knee down.

The Crazy Taxi system feels like something People's Republic of China and Saudi Arabia would literally copy 1:1. Including the electroshocks and apparent sleep deprivation.

How many VR worlds (Dimensions?) are there in this lore by now?

What kind of beach bar only serves 1 drink type?

Why could the Warden turn into a mecha-spider? Surely cybernetic upgrade programmes alone can't explain that.

The map showed 5 or 6 megacities and 1 desert. I'm pretty sure one city can't cover the equivalent of a third of the Midwest each.

There's no info about other countries' diplomatic relations to Eden. Surely Canada would have some diplomats and crises with Eden or something.

With various characters dead at this point, who's going to fill out the hero team if a S2 does get made? Ly the Fairy? Betilla? Globox? Ajay Ghale? TrackMania Car? There's very few options left.

[ladymariayuri]

im way better than u in metal gear solid 5😎 i want U to post your sickest clip, or you an NERD whod doenst play the best game of all times??!?!?!? Metal gear Solid 5 Is amazing theres ocelot Big boss uuh The other guy who dates big boss uh thh big boss 2 (tecninachly 1) and theres that white girl who (Spoilers alerts!) #IsaGhost!!!!

Make america great agaian and olay Metal gear Solid Five On your Xbox 360 Xbox One Xbox series X Playstation 3? Playstwtion 4 Playstation 5 Computer And Nothing for switches!! (Kinky!!!)

Netal gear Solid V is g4eat because theres an amazing variaty of weapons, The missions are cool, Yhe history is awesome And theres WomAN!!! Quiet!!! she SNIPER!!! Tgeres DDog (Do not congund with Diamond dogs! 💎) Theres an annoying nerd whos cute but an bad person (Joke alert! BigBoss should've Give Him his "snake" If u know what i mean HahaHa!This is a joke Please dont take s3rious)

Theres also Very sad scenes! It makes me want to cry! Like When Theres (Spoiler alert!) An virus on mOther Base (Mother Base is where bigboss Does his thing) And Big Boss needs to Kill his friends! Euch qnd sad moment....

Remember it! Show your awesome clip so i can show mine and DESTROY U!

hi. Did you type this all out yourself

[sharky-chan]

five comfort characters five tags

Tagged by @lipstickmata <3 <3 <3.

Not 100% sure what comfort characters are, but I'll just take a crack at it assuming it means "I was or am extremely fixated on them and/or I just think they're neat." Trying to avoid massive spoilers, but there may be some minor ones despite my efforts...

Nero tol Scaeva (Final Fantasy XIV) I am pretty sure my first comment upon seeing Nero in RR was "Who is this loser? Looks like a worthless midboss that won't even make it to the end of the game," and boy was I wrong (about making it -- 100% he's a loser and worthless midboss). Now, 4 expacs later, he's my forever baby girl thanks to his incredible arrogance, sassy mouth, and "uncomfortably in love with Cid while also being divorced from Cid"-ness...

Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid) Ocelot is the OG "war criminal loser who is completely amoral outside of being wholly devoted to a single person, for whom he'd give up everything" so I obviously love him for the same reasons I love Nero. Every time Ocelot shows up in an MGS game, it brightens my day even as it makes the day of everyone around him worse <3. Meow.

Akemi Homura (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) Hmm...looks like we're just on the "loser who will burn down the whole world to save the one person she loves" train, but it's a good train and I like it here! I wasn't a fan of the movie's take, but Homura's characterization (and magical girl powers) in the original show is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking. Is it too much to ask that Homura be happy forever? No, I think it's not.

Sam Vimes (Discworld) I started with the Rincewind books, and while I do love them (and the academia references have only become more real to me over the years), imo the Nightwatch books are the heart of Discworld (yes, even more than the Death books, yes, I know this is contentious). Vimes is such a wonderful combination of rage, cynicism, kindness, and an unwavering adherence to justice.

Trico (Last Guardian) It's probably more fair to say all of the Team ICO games are comfort games, but a special shout out to Trico, who is the cutest kitty-bird-monster of all time despite eating those naughty, forbidden Trico Treats. I definitely had to lie down for a long time after finishing Last Guardian, and I was already emotionally prepared for having to lie down after finishing any Team ICO game ^o^;;

Not sure who wants to be tagged, so tagging @illuminesce, @songofkeys, @thistleburr, @penquinlori, and @poor-punctuation but feel free to ignore if you don't wanna play!

[dookasx]

Finished Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker and 4 over the past week.

Not much to say about Peace Walker, it's good but it didn't leave that much of an impact upon me. I obviously enjoy the dynamic with Big Boss and Kaz though, and it was an interesting lead in to where the MSF will be in the later games.

MGS4 is by all means a masterpiece though. It didn't quite overtake 2 for me, but it's definitely my second favorite in the series. My only real issues with the game stem from having to emulate a PS3 to play it. Otherwise it's an incredible conclusion to the story of the patriots, big boss, the twin snakes, everything..

The Beauty/Beasts admittedly felt a bit underbaked. But it's one of those things that I struggle to mind when I think about what MGS4 was trying to cover. Like, even if they were undercooked.. mgs4 was NOT struggling in the memorable villain department.

Liquid's presence throughout the game was just so well done. I love that it really is just personal for Snake at this point and you know it. Any guise of duty or honor he pretends to have fades away when you hear him scream "LIQUIIIIIID".

I guess I don't wanna say too much at risk of spoilers, but what a finale.

Time to move onto Ground Zeroes/5

[pyreofsunflowers]

What I watched this week (3/6-3/12 '23)

Perfect Blue (1997, dir. Satoshi Kon)

I'm not saying anything new when I say I loved what a mindfuck this movie is. Truly a masterpiece in keeping you glued to the narrative and second guessing your own interpretation of the film.

It's really hard to talk about this movie without getting into really big spoiler territory but I'll do my best to describe why this film is such a masterpiece. Beyond the striking visuals and the intense score, Perfect Blue tackles the psyche of fame in a way I've never seen done before. It gets it so perfect, from the jealousy, the self loathing, to the wide variety of opinions of the public it paints a compelling picture of how fame literally, and figuratively traps one in it's web. Much like Mima, I constantly found myself backtracking and second guessing the films narrative, and ultimately the payoff left me with just the right amount of unanswered questions. I can't wait to re-watch and pick up on anything I may have missed.

5/5

Fallen Angels (1995, dir. Wong Kar-wai)

This!!! movie!!! is!!! so!!! sweet!!!! It's a movie about weirdos falling in love made for weirdos. The plot is just a loose thread that holds this bundle of joy and light against the grimey city underbelly together in the bestest of ways. This movie is ultimately about its characters, and for having so many different arcs going on all it once, it manages to give each one the right ammount of time to shine and grab onto my mind enough to leave a mark.

The theme of love and lonlieness permeates and saturates this film through the dark, intimate aesthetics and the bloody over the top gunfights and it makes it something special - and one of my favroites.

5/5

Escape From New York (1981, dir. John Carpenter)

Watching this movie as a metal gear solid fan is a trip, and probably contributed to 90% of my enjoyment of it. I know I know everyone has said it, "Snake plisken! snake plisken!" but there's more to it than that. The pacing, the plot structure, the elements of sci-fi all of it was used as a base in MGS and it's so cool to see it in it's original form!

Metal Gear references aside, Escape from New York is a solid sci fi action flick with good (albeit silly) worldbuilding and a solid, likeable cast of characters. I thought the movie lagged a little bit, but it made up for it in every other aspect - especially in it's action scenes.

4/5

Scream 3 + 4 (2000, 2011, dir. Wes Craven)

Oh scream, why does everyone love you? Honestly, am I just missing something with these movies? Is there some secret piece of knwoeldge I've glossed over? Or are people just stupid. I don't know. These movies are painfully boring and uninteresting people! The twists aren't fun, the gore is boring, the satire is blunt, and oh my god are the characters ever awful!

Look, I understand that looking for good characters in a Slasher is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, I understand that! But I'd forgive this movie if it didn't spend so much fucking time on them! I do not care about Sidney prescott. I do not care about Gale Weathers. I do not care about Dewey Riley. They are all fine as plot devices to keep the kills coming, but as these movies go on and on they become more and more about these people who I simply do not care about.

Scream 3: 1.5/5

Scream 4: 2/5

Scream + Scream 6 (2022, 20223 dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett)

Sadly, new directors couldn't fix this movie. They continue to perpetuate every flaw of the Craven films, and somehow manage to make them worse. The characters are just as flat, the movie is still way to long, and despite all the talk of "requels" , "elevated horror" and "reboots'' the satire continues to feel dated and overall blunt. I'm sorry, Scream franchise but saying something is a trope then doing it is neither funny or good satire.

I also personally find these two insulting as they try to knock sigh "whiney snowflake nerds with letterboxed" accounts down a peg for not enjoying.... shallow cashgrab franchise shlock? very strange angle for a satire to take but alright I guess. Also this film trys to tackle social media and. Just fails so horribly on it. At least 6 finally had some good kills.

Scream (2022): 0.5/5

Scream 6: 2/5

Better Call Saul S6 (2022, shrn.  Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould.)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. That is my emotions on the end of this show. OH MY GOD what a ride this series has been, did you know I actually started it to get some inspiration for a long abandonded fanfiction? because I did. And GOD am I ever glad I did because the payoff, the journey was incredible. I haven't been this nethralled by a TV show in perhaps ever. I was on the edge of my seat for the entirtiy of season 6, just waiting to see how it would all come crashing down and MY GOD did it ever.

It is so hard for me to be and speak normally about this show, in fact I don't think I could even if I tried so I'm just going to leave it at that. Until next week folks!

[slowmissiles]

Back in a former life, I had an addiction that I loved beyond sanity. Here’s the story of it. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 pt1 2009 pt2 2009 Redux

This is the final spec list for my glorious, insane Brutal Truth.

Nissan Skyline BCNR33 GT-R (Type 2) manufactured in April 1996. JDM non V-Spec vehicle retailed through Osaka Nissan Prince in May/June 1996. Imported to the UK in June 1997. Remained in original JDM spec without speedometer conversion until August 2002. Only the steering wheel & white dial sets were fitted in Japan.

Nismo RB26N1 bare engine: [N1 water pump (improved flow & less cavitation)/Reinforced cylinder block head bolt boss/Increased sump capacity (6L 20w60)/1.2mm oil restrictor]

N1 head with 0.5mm overbore (2598cc)

Cryogenically hardened N1 crankshaft

Wossner forged & cryogenically hardened pistons

Abbey Motorsport reinforced & cryogenically hardened con-rods

ACL Race Series conrod & crankshaft bearings

Tomei sump baffle kit

Tomei high flow (larger drive gears) oil pump

HKS 1.2mm metal head gasket

Tomei Procam Spec 2 cam kit (270 degree inlet & outlet with 10.25mm lift)

HKS V-Cam System Step 1 Type B (variable 248-278 degree inlet; replaces Procam inlet camshaft)

HKS vernier cam pulleys

HKS kevlar reinforced timing belt

Trust metal intake & throttle gaskets

HKS front pipe & decat gaskets

GReddy Iridium 08 Racing sparkplugs

Mocal 19-row oil cooler & Abbey Motorsport remote oil filter assembly

Abbey Motorsport catch tank & washer reservoir with SFS breather hoses

Abbey Motorsport Pro Alloy large radiator

Tomei fuel pump, fuel regulator & 600cc injectors

A’PEXi Power Intake induction kit

A’PEXi GT Spec intercooler (237x610x136mm) & hard pipe kit

HKS GT-SS turbos

HKS twin AFM delete kit

Tomei turbo elbows

HKS downpipes

HKS Silent Hi-Power exhaust

Abbey Motorsport 80mm decat pipe

Mine’s VX-ROM

HKS F-Con V Pro

HKS EVC 6 boost controller (1.6 bar)

AEM wideband lambda sensor

Splitfire DI Super Direct Ignition System

HKS Circle Earth kit

HKS GD Max twin-plate clutch (with lightened flywheel)

Abbey Motorsport rebuilt transfer box

Abbey Motorsport rebuilt gearbox with cryogenically hardened gear set, modified Nissan synchromesh upgrade and OS Giken strengthening plate

Abbey Motorsport rebuilt rear diff

Nismo gearbox mounts

Nismo Solid Shift gear stick (10% short shift)

Omex Shift Light Sequential

Sunsei SE-135 solar panel trickle charger mounted on a custom aluminium riser between the rear parcel shelf speaker enclosures.

Team Dynamics Equinox alloys 19x9.5, ET+15 in silver with polished stainless steel rim.

Falken FK452 265/30/19 Y-rated tyres

Cusco brake master cylinder brace

Cusco rear steering delete kit

Cusco front & rear upper suspension links

AST Sport Line 1 full suspension kit with UK spring setup

Nismo stainless steel braided brake hoses

StopTech 355mm rotor 4 pot caliper front brake kit

StopTech 355mm rotor 2 pot caliper rear brake kit with Abbey Motorsport modified pad retainers

Ferodo DS2500 brake pads front & rear

Bomex AD-390 front splitter

Nismo R34 smoked front indicators in custom aluminium mounting plates finished in crackle black

Nissan Xenon headlamp units

Border Racing Aero Fenders (vented front wings) with silver GT emblems from a R32 Skyline

Nismo smoked side repeaters

Top Mix one-off FRP twin blade rear spoiler on custom aluminium mounting plates

Entire exterior resprayed in BMW black (code 086) base and lacquer

Nissan Motorsport International carbon fibre B-pillar plates

PIAA carbon effect silicon wipers, front pair with spoilers, rear without

Nismo white face dial sets (dashboard & centre console) in carbon fibre panels

AEM AFR gauge mount replaces the lighter socket

HKS EVC display mounted on custom carbon fibre plate replacing the ashtray

Lighter socket relocated to the fog light switch panel

Nissan Momo steering wheel (with airbag)

Dressycar Nismo harness pads

Redline Automotive leather gearstick & handbrake gaiters

Abbey Motorsport carbon fibre door sill trims

Carbon fibre boot sill trim

Inlet plenum and sundry induction pipework finished in powder grey

Trust clear cam pulley cover

HKS Kansai Service carbon fibre spark plug cover

Right hand cam cover finished in crackle black

Nismo radiator & washer reservoir caps

HKS Kansai Service front strut brace finished in high gloss black

GReddy aluminium slam panel finished in crackle black

Tein bonnet dampers with black sleeves

Custom made one-off Cobra Misano Lux front seats: [Alcantara (colour code 9189) outers/Alcantara (colour code 9182) centre panels/One-piece carbon fibre backs/Sidewinder bases on custom subframes adapted by Abbey Motorsport/Cobra logo in silver thread on the headpads/GT-R logo beneath the grommets on seat backs]

JVC KD-AVX2 multi-media DVD/CD receiver with built-in 3.5” widescreen monitor

2x JL Audio Evolution VR600-CXi 6” speakers (front)

2x JL Audio Evolution TR650-CXi 6.5” speakers (rear)

Multiple and interlaced Thatcham rated security systems.

500 bhp. 520 ft/lb.

Ludicrously, hilariously, unbelievably fast.

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane with me. Cheers! JM.

(Photo by N. Liassides.)

[themoneystore]

My Thoughts On It: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Discussion on sexual violence against women and misogyny.

Spoilers for the Metal Gear Solid games + Ground Zeroes.

Recently I've been playing through the Metal Gear Solid trilogy. The Master Collection released some months back, and so I've been plugging through each of the mainline Solid games. It's been an interesting journey. Watching the series go from a weird and clunky PlayStation game to the juggernaut of videogames that is Metal Gear Solid 2. Along the way, however, I've noticed that Kojima's writing when it comes to women has followed a certain trajectory.

The women in the games have for the most part either been enamoured supports to the protagonist. Charmed and blushing at his heroic stature. Or, they've been tragic women who've lost so much. These tragic women are also typically obsessed with the protagonist in some way. 3 is perhaps the game which breaks the most from this, but is also the most obsessed with the sex-appeal and mistreatment of women sexually.

The original trilogy's tone has typically been able to offset the abject cruelty. Not allowing you to take in the mistreatment of these women for long enough to put too bad a taste in your mouth. So what's up with Ground Zeroes?

Upon my replaying of the game. A game which I have not played since it launched on PC almost a decade ago. I was immediately met with a much more self-serious presentation. The cutscene had a bunch of shakey cam, shots of soldiers moving about soldier-y. And of course, the Guantanamo Bay type prison that the marines had set up. Dogs barking, prisoners held up at gunpoint as they sat on their knees in the rain.

Ground Zeroes wants you to know that it's a serious game. That's why they show you Chico. A small boy who has bolts in his achilles heels and a hole in his chest where he places a 3,5mm jack for some reason. The mission being to save both him and a girl named Paz. These are characters that you would meet in Peace Walker, a PSP game in which you build up Big Boss' army.

The part that stood out to me, beyond how dark and edgy the game was compared to the trilogy, was the cassette you're forced to listen to after extracting Chico. This cassette serves as an audio guide towards Paz' position within the compound. However, in it you can hear what to me sounds like her being sexually violated. Which is made explicit in the ending cutscene. A secret second bomb hidden in her womb. The stitches on her stomach only being from the first bomb.

Perhaps it's the tonal whiplash coming from not having played 4, a game which I know has some extremely misogynistic portrayals of women. But, that doesn't stop Ground Zeroes from stopping me dead in my tracks. Completely uninterested in playing The Phantom Pain now.

It's hard not to place extra malice on Kojima's portrayal of women in the trilogy in retrospect, having replayed Ground Zeroes. What were warning signs of a strange attitude towards women in previous games has become a full-blown exploitation of sexual violence towards women. Merely objects to be ogled and pitied as he makes them go through horrific violence. All for some childish belief of what makes a story more mature.

[spoilerbracket]

Round 1: The Match-Ups

Presenting the finalized roster! The nearly 70 spoiler-riddled nominations have been whittled down to only the most spoiler-tagged of candidates, here to duke it out for a prize that we can't even explicitly say why they deserve!

There were a ton of fantastic (and often very funny) submissions. Thank you to everyone who wrote in. For the final list, I took into account the number of votes, the arguments people made, and my own incredible personal bias. If you're wondering why a character didn't get in, the reason is almost certainly "because there were twice as many nominations as slots".

Round 1 starts later this week. To avoid flooding the dash, Brackets 1 and 2 (Left Side) will go live on Friday March 3 at 7 p.m. EST, while Brackets 3 and 4 (Right Side) will go live on Saturday March 4 at 7 p.m. EST. There may be some shocking twists. So start planning your propaganda campaigns now, and may the biggest spoiler win!

The full list of participants is given below the cut (minus the small detail of their names, of course--that would be spoilers).

Bracket 1:

REDACTED from Outer Wilds vs. REDACTED from Ghost Trick

REDACTED from Deadly Premonition vs. REDACTED from Disco Elysium

REDACTED from King Dragon vs. REDACTED from Samurai Flamenco

REDACTED from AI: The Somnium Files vs. REDACTED from Ghost Trick

Bracket 2:

REDACTED from Final Fantasy XIV vs. REDACTED from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

REDACTED from Kamen Rider Build vs. REDACTED from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

REDACTED from Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward vs. REDACTED from Star Wars

REDACTED from Paradise Killer vs. REDACTED from The House in Fata Morgana

Bracket 3:

REDACTED from Umineko: When They Cry vs. REDACTED from Detective Conan

REDACTED from Heaven Official's Blessing vs. REDACTED from The Locked Tomb

REDACTED from The Great Ace Attorney vs. REDACTED from Mystic Messenger

REDACTED from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery vs. REDACTED from Danganronpa

Bracket 4:

REDACTED from Gravity Falls vs. REDACTED from The Adventure Zone: Balance

REDACTED from Steven Universe vs. REDACTED from Undertale

REDACTED from Fire Emblem: Awakening vs. REDACTED from Persona 5

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[asseater3k]

Ahoy gamers

I’m borrowing a ps3 from a friend and I’m returning it two weeks in that time I’ve decided to challenge myself to beat every MGS game In the MGS legacy collection which contains

Metal gear solid 2: sons of Liberty

Megara gear solid 3: snake eater

Metal gear solid : Peace Walker

Metal gear sold 4: guns of the patriots

I wanted to do this because one I haven’t actually played any mgs games outside of the twin snakes and I want to see what happens and 2 I need to fill free time until the 25th now the main thing I want to experience is the story these games provide and while we the gameplay is very important to these series I’m in a strict time limit here so there are the following caviates/ parameters under the read more

I will be playing these games on very easy difficulty. I know that i might be depriving myself of the challenge and reward of the gameplay but I had to make concessions for time also i was not strictly speaking “good” at the only metal gear I played so I might still be challenged

No game skips or crazy speed run tricks are allowed for the challenge. I want to get as complete a picture of each game as time allows so I won’t be doing things like setting the clock ahead for the sniper fight in MGS3 I feel like I’ve already made concessions with the difficulty and stuff like that feels a bit like cheating to me in this context

I will very likely miss certain codec calls and story beats within them. My current setup is a ps3 plugged into a dell monitor with no speakers I don’t want to have no sound at all during this experience so I’ve set up a queue of like mgs2 the movie all cutscenes videos on my phone that I can sync up and area soundtracks but because of this setup I’m at the whims of what these compilations include and I want to have sound when people talk in these games I’ll try to get everything I can but I’ll miss something’s but please feel free to mention things I might’ve missed as long as they’re not spoilers to the time point I am at in the game

Im going to be writing up little blog posts at the end of each day if the challenge containing thoughts/ funny/ moments occurrences I find notable I will be tagging these with #metalgearmania and game appropriate spoiler tags the first of these which will be a combo of day one and two will go up later tonight