#this happens after mgs4

[linashirou]

I'm so happy to announce that the chapter "Dating" has this beautiful, amazing head illustration! I really love how handsome Hal looks and also Snake and Sunny 💖! She's so pretty! Do you want to know what is happening? Read the fic!

As always, this was made by the talented @VenomWalter_Art!! Please consider him if you want a beautiful commission!

[armed-saphire]

Something that makes me so sad abt MGS is when they show past parts of characters lives where they could have gone down a much better path, but their choices or circumstances are always going to lead to their inevitable end. hope this makes sense,

[flowergirlmiwa]

Fucking insane to me it's canon Solid Snake has seen Star Wars

[thetruescholar]

My experiments involve studying Irminsul, as the Fatui has insisted I focus on improving my enhanced prosthetic limbs. But infusing prosthetic limbs with souls from Irminsul is a tricky process for someone like myself. How useful it is that Sheznevna has the abilities of the goddess of wisdom Nahida, and how useful it is she’s not as wise as Nahida. I can study Irminsul further with her abilities.

A pity I can’t vivisect her, no that man she calls father will get in my way. Ah if only my higher ups would let me get rid of that old puppet boy so I can get rid of that man.

If you wish to help, perhaps you can aid in my theorizing.

The small child curiously looked at the tall doctor with her curious eyes.

Miss doctor do you see mister dmitry as your son?

And does he view you as a mother?

The small child was so tiny compared to the doctor, she looked like she was only 100 cm in height.

1. Do I see Dimitry as my son? No.

2. No he does not view me as his mother:)

[cellyjubes]

i want to know all your raisune thoughts 👀

👀👀 so i have a looooot of thoughts about them… and also there will be lots of spoilers for mgs2-4 (i havent played rising yet hahahaha... soon)

I'm gonna yap a lot so ill put this under a read more...

I actually didn't start shipping them until mgs4, but i still loved their dynamic in mgs2 a lot! I like how Raiden definitely had some hero worship towards Snake at the beginning (especially after he found out he was snake) but also had so much playful banter between them... but also even when Snake was going as Pliskin, Raiden seemed to just like him a lot anyways and just inherently put a lot of trust into him, and he would often defend both Pliskin and Snake against the Colonel over Codec

As time passes throughout the game you can kinda see the hero worship from Raiden change to friendship as he gets to know Snake better, and he starts jabbing back at Snake too haha its all very cute.. Snake is bossy and mean sometimes but also clearly finds Raiden endearing and often compliments him.... and theres many voice lines that i've listened to where they just say gay shit to each other and flirt in classic metal gear fashion (though i love to smoke copium so. take that as you will). There's just a lot sexual tension going on between them during mgs2 IMO...

Towards the end of mgs2 though, Raiden finds out pretty much everyone in his life had been lying to him, his reality was basically turned upside down and nothing seemed real. Snake was the one person on his side, and in front of his eyes that he can believe... he's the one that helped ground him and to lead him to find purpose in life again... someone that he knew wasn't AI, someone that he could touch, someone that wasn't trying to use him as a tool and actually wanted better for him, and someone he looked up to and knew so much about before they even met... ahhhhg... its all too good...

The real juicy stuff for me comes in mgs4 though... you can noticeably tell that the way they interact has changed a lot (many terrible things have happened to both of them)... Raiden is still holding on to Snake as the one real anchor point in his life and he believes he's the one person he has left.

Raiden turned from his sassy mgs2 self to his much sadder and quieter mgs4 version, and Snake turned from bossy and firm towards Raiden to talking much softer to him in mgs4... every interaction they have in 4 i can just sense so much guilt from Snake from what's happened to Raiden. he even says directly he made Raiden's life "a living hell." Even if Raiden doesn't blame him, Snake's always tended to carry other people's tragedies on his own conscious that were no way his fault. (Note: I also want to point out Raiden as a reminder to him for Gray Fox, and seeing the same thing happen all over again to Raiden would hit him so hard...)

On the flip side, Raiden wants to be useful to Snake so desperately he'll do it at the cost of his own life and well being, even though that's the last thing Snake even wants. The way I interpret his feelings towards Snake is that, at this point he's so used to being seen by everyone he knew as a tool, the only way he could fathom to have Snake accept his presence there was to be helpful to the mission.

Hence the cutscene where he holds on to Snake's leg begging him not to leave him there alone... and the various times he risked his life to save him... it just broke my heart T_T there's so many times in mgs4 where he verbally says he wants to be the one to save Snake this time, like how he saved him back then..

Raiden is also the only person in mgs4 that doesn't look at Snake with pity because of his rapid aging condition. Everyone around him seems to look at him as one foot in the grave, telling him off for his smoking, treating him like he's glass that might shatter. Raiden is the only one that fights by his side and respects him just as much as when they first met. The only thing Raiden wants is to fight by his side as an equal, not look at him with pity, and I think that must be so refreshing and a relief to Snake after all he is going through. I don't think he's the type of man to enjoy being pitied ya know?

But also, Raiden's literally stopped caring about his own well being in return for Snake's safety, and Snake had to be the one that tells him that underneath all the machinery, he still has a human heart... Snake would rather sacrifice himself to save Raiden's life, and Raiden would sacrifice himself to save Snake's GAHH.. T_T They're literally just this picture in mgs4 hahahaa

and I want to point out that although Raiden has so many cool battle scenes in mgs4, whenever he talks to Snake he always has a sad puppy eye look hahaha...as seen in this gif... pathetic wet kitten mode activate.... like seriously the way he looks at Snake is craaazy he is so starved for his attention... and also the scene where Snake puts his sword in Raidens mouth and he just takes it directly from his hand???? actually insane scene like. my god. They just care a lot about each other and show it in so many subtle (and not so subtle...) ways in mgs4

Overall, while I dont think as a couple their dynamic would be the healthiest... (lots of obsession, worship, and vulnerability on Raiden's side and so, sooooo much guilt on Snake's side hahaha) it's so so interesting to see how they interact and how their pasts tangle with each other!! I also love toxic yaoi sooooo (this isnt even my most toxic yaoi by far hahaha)

If anyone wants to share more thoughts pleaaaase comment or just DM me im always happy to talk about them T_T i have even more thoughts but this post is already long enough...

[knackeredforever]

Mgs4 is easily the most frustrating metal gear game because it is so close to being amazing because it has some of the best stealth mechanics in the entire series and battlefield stealth is genuinely such a cool mechanic and so fucking fun.

The problem is that once the player gets access to drebins shop it completely kills the balance of the game because you basically now have infinite weapons and ammo making stealth less necessary. But at least you could just ignore the shop the bigger problem is the battlefield stealth parts of the game, you know the main concept of the game only happens in the first 2 of the 5 acts of the game after that the next 3 acts are completely different and significantly less fun and it completely kills the unique fun stealth. Battlefield sandbox the game had been up to that point.

The final boss is still amazing though and one of the best ever in my opinion.

[bigusbossus]

After watching MGS4 cinematic cutscenes, I honestly believe that Bosselot is canon imo even though it was one-sided at first but I do think that BB notices Ocelot's love especially how loyal Ocelot is for him maybe after MGS3 or during MGSV. Just like BBKaz in PW for Date with Kaz

I can't imagine BBKaz or Bosselot being not canon in the Metal Gear Franchise. Same with Otasune. These couples r canon and adds depth to the franchise. The gay and queer subtext is just text imo. Kojima likes yaoi in his games.

i feel like there's just too much that you can't say it's not canon or atleast like something didn't happen... LIKE HELLO?? ocelot kissing snake in mgs4 when their names changed to naked snake and ocelot and that restoring both their stamina's??? ocelot was fr kissing bb and more to restore his stamina too behind the scenes. Also the scene where ocelot lights bb's cigar is such a trope in gay movies like.. we all know how kojima loves his movies.... he was fujoshing out on that one trust me. like the scene was to show how submissive and loyal ocelot was to bb, ocelot wouldn't have done that for anyone else, yet he had literally everything prepared before bb could even say anything , and why did they have to be so close huh 🤨 was that a Russian taunt too 🤨🤨🤨

also bbkaz literally fuck in a box there's no other way to see it they're queers!!! homos!!!! the British slang for cigarettes even!!!

i feel like for bosselot they would've gotten together around the portable ops era, like when bb started returning the feelings for realsies (he would've returned them sooner if he just realized ocelot and we a freak for him but he is dense😭)

[faksyan]

ocelot?

Ask game

When I saw that you asked about Ocelot. barking biting this guy occupies such a big portion of my thoughts.

First impression

If we're talking VERY first the gay guy Venom splashes in the rain with. kinda awesome that he does that. (I saw the model swap of the Quiet cutscene with no context and then thought it's the original for years).

If it's about the proper introduction to the series I started with mgs3 and lost my shit at the meow. I do that now too. Together with the hand gesture and the 'I've been waiting for this' he does at the waterfall. He's a dipshit for how he treated Eva even if it was for show. I didn't see him being a triple agent coming and thought that was cool.

Impression now

I have. so many thoughts about Revolver Adam Adamska (not a real name) Shalashaska Ocelot. fuck this guy. I hate him. he makes me so sad I want to cry. want to punch him in the face. make him a nice cup of tea and let him sleep. feed him to the bears.

He was raised to be a weapon, and yet he is a creature of emotion and love that exists hand in hand with violence. He was never meant to be a person but all that he cares about are people's real names and his comrades (that aren't actually that, he's a triple agent) that Volgin kills, and animal and plants facts. He loves westerns and made them his whole personality for decades and decades. He talked to guy once and then almost burned the world down for him. A lot of times.

I find it so interesting that in v he says he plays up the idea of himself being a sadist and enjoying torture to some extent. I think the Huey interrogations show a lot of how he actually likes doing his work, which has an accent on efficiency and not blood and guts. It's simultaneously cruel and merciful, and it saves time and lives that he can use for something else. I could go on and on about this guy honestly, there are so many fascinating things about him.

Favorite moment

What isn't honestly. The meow. The revolver spin. He tried to poke Snake in his missing fucking eye?? The way he dresses in mgs1&2. also

"It doesn’t feel right to shoot an unarmed man…but I’ll get over it." Slay.

Idea for a story

Let's see I have so many of those. The idea of Ocelot inheriting some of Sorrow's powers is really fun, I was thinking about writing about him using it for a mission with Kaz where they have to dig a dead guy up and interrogate him to get some info.

Unpopular opinion

His feelings towards bb have never been reciprocated, he has never tried to act on them, and is fine with that. him in v is the closest we ever get to seeing him being his genuine self. There is not enough information about how his hypnosis works but that's an interpretation of it that I really like. Also people seem to be really hung up on the fact that he is ""canonically"" gay when he isn't canonically anything. so I guess my unpopular opinion is not necessarily viewing him as specifically gay idk.

Favorite relationship

sigh. ocelhira. horrible terrible predictable I know. I have a big ass wall of text about them in my notes I need to finish. even the ship stuff aside, the things they were hypothetically up to during the nine year coma must have been insane. and after that? What about FOXHOUND? Or Kaz's death? So much could've happened during all of it aghhh. Even during events of v, we get so little of them together in it. Also Ocelot is a loser and has no other friends lol look at that guy. Him and Eva before mgs4 are such a cool duo though, a shame we didn't get to see any of their dynamic in that time period, or during the Patriots.

Favorite headcanon

He's on aroace spectrum. also stupidly in love with kaz miller and the reasoning for why and what and how is entirely in my head and hopefully in text at some point, it makes sense I promise. I just like when characters are in love even though I am so bad at understanding what that entails but so is he so that's fine. Their dynamic is really interesting to me.

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P3R: middle-school SEES, struggling with my social calendar, the Abyss of Time, questionable movie choices, and oh god we finished Sunset and now I’m hitting sad stuff in everything else I’m playing/watching too.

I’m still in Tartarus from last time, so I can knock out a few more floors before we go home. I’ve been introduced to a new thing, though, and it’s a Big Hand!

I kind of love how goofy the hands are. They do a little dance and sometimes it syncs up with the music. ^_^

After that, it’s time for the next gatekeeper floor! And it’s--

...oh. Oh god. Is this it? I’m not ready for this. I’ve got Mitsuru with me, but oh man. Not the Table.

……

...false alarm. This is a Terminal Table, not a Crying Table. We’re safe for a little longer.

That wasn’t so bad.

Also, I got a weapon for Shinji as a quest reward, and it’s a crossing sign from in front of a school. It’s so silly.

I rolled through the next set of floors pretty quick, but I don’t think anyone’s quite prepared to take on another gatekeeper. Everyone is pretty drained in terms of SP. So we’re gonna head home for the night, and go learn some more nonsense from school tomorrow.

...all right, actually an acceptable discussion related to the book we’re reading. But hey, sometimes your soulmate can be your rival! Seven years from now, two rival soulmates are gonna be climbing through a cognitive space station!

This is not a fair discussion when Minato’s soulmate still isn’t here for another month and a half.

Anyway, Mitsuru is very worried about Shinji. He wants to extend his leave of absence from school again even though he’s come back to the dorm. So I guess he’s been absent for two years now? She really wants him to re-enroll, though. She, Akihiko, and Shinji were the only three members of SEES originally, back when the three of them were in middle school.

Apparently they could barely handle the first floor of the tower, which… They were children, so I’m not surprised. No adult supervision, either, and Mitsuru only had minor navi powers. I’m surprised none of them got killed. At least Ken has all of us who’ve already learned to fight to keep him safe.

They promised that they’d all graduate high school together, which explains why Mitsuru is so invested. She clearly cares about both of them a lot.

You can hand over the extension form here, but there’s also the option to hold onto them and go find Shinji to talk again. So… I guess you can literally just end the events there if you choose to not take the form back and go pry.

...there’s nothing we can do?

And any miracles I can make will come too late. If only my sister was here… It’s just a cruel twist of fate that which twin survives the car accident determines whether Shinji can live ten years later.

He says he’s happy to spend time with me, though.

This isn’t fair, you can’t hit me like this after the fic Jade and I finished and the end of MGS4 and the fic my other friend is writing AND--

God. And he doesn’t want to tell anyone.

At least Junpei is happy. He really, really likes Chidori. But he’s willing to go at her pace on everything.

Good for you, my guy.

Let’s go upstairs and check on Ken. He’s banging something around in his room, so probably good to make sure that he hasn’t dropped a box on his head or something.

He’s fine, but he does ask me to come in, because he wants to ask for a favor. Turns out, he’s got a pet hamster!

...you’re gonna be fine, Ken. But okay. What’s the little guy’s name?

……amazing. Yes, I will take care of Hamburger, but I’m also not gonna let anything happen to you. Everyone here is going to take care of you. You’ve noticed, right?

Because you’re the youngest and you’re our collective baby brother/kid. No one wants you to get hurt, and it’s unnerving how you talk like you don’t matter, and like you’re not planning to make it through all this alive.

Maybe school will be less depressing. It’s a good day to go to art club. Apparently Keisuke’s dad is very enthusiastic about him studying art abroad! And he says he’s going to go! But then he immediately says he’s not excited about it, so… Keisuke, seriously. What do you want to do?

Ah, well, I’m sure he’ll figure it out.

And then a box falls on Minato’s head, and everything goes dark.

Keisuke gets Mina to the nurse’s office, and after he wakes up, checks him over. Apparently Minato has dodged a concussion. He blames himself, because apparently he’s the one who put the box on the shelf. He’s not used to cleaning, because the maid does all of that at home.

Right. Sure. Careless at cleaning because of the maid. Cool.

He really seems to like the idea of being a doctor, and he’s afraid that if he goes to become an artist, that’s it, he can never be a doctor.

So… sounds like you made a decision, dude.

Keisuke. What. Do. You. Want. For fuck’s sake.

Anyway. So people have been talking about the culture festival all week. There’s gonna be a haunted house. There’s gonna be fried food. The archery club was gonna do a maid cafe, which I know because Yukari was so mad she was gonna have to wear a maid dress.

But, a typhoon is rolling in, so the festival is canceled, and isn’t gonna be rescheduled despite Mitsuru’s efforts. And after school on Friday, we head straight home, because the wind is starting to really kick up.

But… there’s still one person wandering around Port Island Station.

He’s not worried about the oncoming storm. He wants to talk, specifically about Chidori. He asked if she was okay. If we were taking care of her. If she was being a problem.

...no, you dumb asshole.

He also wants to bitch at me again about how we want to stop the Dark Hour.

Apathy? Maybe if you’d caught me six months ago. I have people I like now, and a reason to care. Meanwhile, you’re sitting there talking about how I don’t understand the ‘true value’ of my powers. What value is that? Wandering around at midnight killing people, like you do?

Minato is drenched by the time we get back to the dorm, because the downpour has kicked in and the typhoon has properly arrived. Everyone is a little cranky about missing the festival (except Yukari), and Minato’s got chills and fatigue from getting soaked, so he opts to go to bed early because he’s not feeling well.

…uh. Hi? Is the elevator about to crash?

Igor says that he hasn’t called me in my dreams in a while, and wants to open up some more special fusions for me to do. Which is great and all, but like… I am trying to sleep because I am sick. Can we do this any other time?

I see. Well, that’s… vague? Are you talking about like… the other Full Moon Shadows? The Clockwork God? Do you know what’s about to happen and won’t tell me? Although I guess you can’t help it, considering who made you.

Even if he wasn’t always like that.

Well, let’s get a good night’s sleep and see how we feel in the morni--

Minato. Mina. Darling. It’s MONDAY. You slept for TWO DAYS?

So, according to Q, Minato was feeling well enough that the team went to Tartarus last night. And Igor left the Velvet Room at some point, making it unstable enough to crash the elevator into the Abyss of Time. Apparently it’s not just the Abyss that no one remembers. They don’t seem to remember the instigating trip to Tartarus either.

Weird. But understandable I guess.

Anyway I missed two days of possibly playing my MMO all day. You could have at least showed me my teammates checking on me!

I guess I’ll spend my vacation hanging out with Shinji. Senpaiiii, teach me to cook!

...senpai is mean. XD

But apparently I’m a menace in the kitchen, so maybe I deserve it.

Let’s go to the movies, too!

Yes, we’re seeing this. It’s a movie about cute animals!

…….oh fuck me this is Watership Down isn’t it

Shinjiro-senpai I’m so sorry.

He sounds like he’s about to cry. X’’’’D

I thought it was a nice movie!!!!

Well, now someone has wandered into Tartarus again, so let’s head back, and check in with the Velvet Room about those new fusions. I’m not a high enough level for them yet, but it can’t hurt to look.

...why does it get its own fire attack. Why does it inflict charm.

WHY IS ITS LEVEL UP ITEM ITS HEAD. WHAT HEAD.

God.

After buying everyone new weapons and fusing some more personas, we’re probably going to be in Tartarus for a while. Because, well…

I’m broke.

So next time, yeah, we’re gonna save people, but also, time to look for so much money.

[fascinationstreetmp3]

would you happen to have the various motorcycle models from mgs3?

eva's first bike (the one she rides up until escaping groznyj grad)

the sidecar bike model -- this one was kinda finicky and weird, there were a bunch of them but none of them were actually complete for some reason so i stuck two together and it's kinda a mess texture-wise, but the bike model is exactly the same as the first one, only the right mirror is attached to the sidecar instead.

there were a few license plates but some have oddly crunchy textures, i'm not sure if it's something to do with how they display in the game engine (and i couldn’t even find ocelot’s. sad) but i realised that all the license plates, except for eva’s (016к нун) and ocelot’s (3756 K0T) have “гром” (thunder) on them

and eva's bike in her final scene, the triumph bonneville t100. bb rides the same model in pw and tpp, and eva does again in mgs4, making this bike model probably the 2nd most recurring character after ocelot

[sarrai]

LMAO

I started mgs4 today and I am flabbergasted how little concern anyone has for Raiden.

The "Wait, what happened to Jack?"

"Who?"

"Jack. Y'know, Raiden"

"Oh, he's missing"

"what"

Exchange killed me! No one ever told Snake, who at least has the decency to sound upset over the situation. And, like, sure, they weren't besties, so why bother giving him the news, but Otacon and Rosemary don't even bring him up at all on codec calls after! I only got far enough to hear Raiden on codec, I really do wonder what the characters' reactions will be to seeing him! I hope there's a little more concern there when he pops back up lol

[cinnamnt]

Thoughts on MGS4 graveyard scene and post credits scene?

well the snake graveyard scene was super cool at first, i think the cinematography with snake there by himself with the gun in his mouth had a lot of cool moments and frames… and not sure if by post credits you mean the first fakeout before the like 20 minute big boss graveyard cutscene or the post credit audio with otacon so ill give you both 🙏

the big boss graveyard scene was also very cool at first bc i was like WOAHHH BIG BOSS… (<-already knew exactly what was going to happen) but it definitely went on for too long like immediately after that LMFAO i did Not want another tell dont show monologue over a series of jpegs in the last like. ten minutes of the game and the way big boss took forever to die from FOXDIE was annoying as hell omfg he kept keeling over and dying only to come back and regurgitate the same spiel about how there shouldn’t be snakes in the world anymore

i did think the fact that he somehow just Had zero there with him in a wheelchair and made a whole big deal about turning off his life support was kind of hilarious though like what the hell was that

as for the post credits audio with snake and otacon DONT even talk to me about it. don’t even like. don’t

(i also have heard that bit a billion times before but it still hit crazy style getting to hear it for myself. for as much as people love to act like snake died immediately after mgs4 i think it’s really sweet that otacon was basically like Um me and sunny are your family so we’re coming with you Are You Stupid)

anyway that’s some of my thoughts for now my brain feels like a soup rn so i’ll probably share more another time but. yeah

PS i’ll be honest i didn’t think the longest cutscene in a video game ever felt all that long at least up until the big boss monologue i was really digging it (more than some other cutscenes in the game at least)

[majjiktricks]

9 + Venom Snake

9. a missing scene that definitely happened

im SO upset we never get to see venom interacting with the main cast outside of cutscenes. not even a little rpg-style chat menu to talk to your guys… dragon age camp style wouldve been ideal........ theres NO WAY he didnt go to sickbay and visit kaz or quiet while they were in there.

especially when you rescue kaz, because theres absolutely no way there wasnt some kind of timeskip for him to get back into active command of motherbase. that guy was FUCKED UP. heavily wounded with likely-shoddily-dressed severed limbs, probably malnourished and dehydrated, not to mention traumatized and at least partially BLINDED. so there had to have been at least a week (because hes insane and wouldnt have let himself rest longer unless someone forced him to) where v and others were visiting him in the sickbay that the game doesnt show you.

i know thats a really mundane scenario and it kinda makes sense that it was omitted from the game for story and mechanics reasons (since kaz is in charge of mother base and it would be difficult to run without him). but if mgs4 can have those scenes on the nomad where everyones just sitting around getting caught up on mission objectives and hanging out, we couldve gotten even a tiny montage of hospital visits……..

or quiet when shes recovering from the chlorine burns!!!!!!! v is obviously invested in the well-being of his crew, quiet especially, and after the chlorine tank scene with the necklace where he PERSONALLY CARRIES HER TO THE MEDICAL STAFF, she just.. gets booted to sickbay menu and we never hear anything about it again. like. REALLY??? the med team or r&d team have to have treated her somehow even if she would barely let anyone touch her- hell i bet she WOULD let venom do it. she trusts him. he (subconsciously) knows what hes doing with first aid, and anything more complicated he could either be instructed on or convince her to relax just by being there....

it just... if ocelot can bring bb and venom flowers… why cant we bring flowers for kaz or quiet… peel an orange for them or SOMETHING 🥺

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

MGS4 AND THE VALUES OF A SNAKE

MGS4 is about where the series of Metal Gear Solid games tends to start running into explicit problems.

And personally, I find it a bit difficult to go through its story because its longs and talkative, and it has some of the longest cut scenes in video game history.

But just like the other MGS games, the value of a thing isn’t in the words themselves--its the meaning behind the words.

A lot of MGS4 is just talk, and frankly after the leave off of the first MGS games story wise, its easier to say that MGS4 (and by extension 5) would’ve been better not being here. But well, we have them, so let’s handle them.

First Point. Breaking the Ouroboros.

MGS4 is the point where the Cycle Breaks.

What do I mean by Cycle?

The First MGS games show a story that’s in a cycle. A legendary soldier who gets caught up in political intrigue, attempts to save the world and fails, leaving it up to the protege, who inevitably murders the legendary soldier because of political intrigue, making the protege the Master, who tend raises another legendary soldier, who inevitably slays the master for their crimes, realizes its all political intrigue again, and the cycle goes on and one.

The first MGS games are an Ouroboros. A literal immortal Snake eating its Own Tail.

There is little to no difference between Solid Snake and The Boss, and Big Boss and Raiden. In fact, MGS3 does actually show us what would have happened if the cycle didn’t break. Raiden, under the Patriots, would have skilled Solid Snake--just as Big Boss under the Philosophers killed the Boss.

But MGS4 is where the cycle breaks. Immortal shadowy organizations won’t necessarily go away, they’re apart of the Times, but this specific Ouroboros has broken with Snake ending one shadowy organization, and Big Boss himself stopping the avatar of his mentor from ending his own life.

The ironic truth is, the MGS Cycle would’ve actually been more interesting without the cycle breaking story wise. However, reality-wise? Thank fuck Big Boss stopped Snake; poor David needs a break.

The Second Point. The Values of a Snake.

MGS4 is the point where every facet of Snake himself is broken down. Its taken up right in front of us, and absolutely destroyed, until we reach the end and Snake just about has nothing left.

Snake values philosophy and meaning in battle as a well to both understand the world and himself. He sees the value of other people, even if they’re on the other side.

Well now War is meaningless, and nobody has any value for life or themselves (not even Wildlife are present in this game). Even his closest friends and allies are willfully upholding this meaninglessness-- for example, Campbell is a political figure who mourns the fact that the US has to take responsibility and Meryl is a PMC. (I’ll get to Naomi in a bit).

Everything is controlled, and nobody is laying down their arms and walking away. There is no meaning here.

Snake sees value in his enemies, and one of his most surprising traits is his empathy and understanding, even for his most sadistic of foes.

Well, now we have the B&B, who are basically just faceless (without character) foes who fucking hate him, hate people, hate the world, and simply won’t stop or will not be stopped; who have ridiculously tragic backstories.

That if you honestly listened, and then saw what they became--frankly, putting them down was a favor to the world and themselves.

And that kind of thing? Would destroy Snake’s ability to forgive and his struggle with what he calls his inner killer. Because now he has enemies that, in any other video game logic, would count as Bandits, Evil Orcs, or Fallout Raiders but with amp’d up equipment...

... and Snake hates that. Its exactly in line with the VR Training he despises.

And he can’t really forgive someone who never had control in the first place, but he also can’t let them go because they also will not stop with their killing spree.

He values finding meaning behind the words he’s told, basically the context of something, because sometimes he’s not being told the whole story and sometimes the person informing him doesn’t know the whole story--and you can only do the job that’s in front of you.

Well, now he’s being told too much in such a short time frame. Its not very understandable, and he knows it. He’ll crack corney jokes or make weird poetic conversation, and I can only assume that, by this point? He knows, Its all pointless.

Everything is controlled, there’s no context anymore and there’s no room for personhood. And frankly? He probably just wants this done already.

By the end of it all, the things beyond his own control and which he has no fault in, are punishing him for his existence.

From the mutating Foxdie, to his existence as a clone, to his legacy as the avatar of the Boss (Because as above, so below--He’s the legendary soldier in the Boss’s Bandana), to even his own friends and allies either pitying him or judging him for not falling in line (Meryl) or losing their own values (Lookin’ at you Otacon).

This game? Is what Hell looks like for Snake. This is a Nightmare worse than Outer Heaven.

The Third Point. The Secret Monster in the Dark.

Let’s talk about Naomi.

I’m gonna flat out say, that the Naomi we encounter isn’t actually Naomi.

Naomi Hunter, as she is introduced in MGS1, was a Geneticist with Outer Heaven ties, who by the end of MGS1, wished Snake to live. She couldn’t give him all the answers, and she ultimately forgave him after a game of antagonizing him for a situation she didn’t fully know about, but she could hope for him.

The Naomi Hunter we see in MGS4, is apparently a double-crossing super tech who knows fucking everything about the Patriot AI along side being a Nanomachine genius, who apparently blames herself for fucking everything that has ever happened. Who claimed that you couldn’t fight fate, as a whole 180 from the original Naomi.

... and that’s not Naomi Hunter. So the question is, why do I think that’s not Naomi Hunter, rather than assuming that “writing is bad” or “characters change”. If she isn’t Naomi, who is it then?

Simple.

That’s Para-Medic. That is motherfucking Dr. Jane Clark.

MGS5 can back this up for me; you can, in fact, use 80s tech and maybe more, to make someone look and act like someone else. Imagine what they could do with Nano-Machines.

That’s the how, here’s the Why: * She knows the Patriot system in and out, and she would only know that if she had a hand in creating it... Given that apparently instead of being a hyper-advance AI system from the 80s, its part fucking Organic, thus medical.

* She ultimately tells Snake that he Will Die and there’s no stopping that, even though we have Nanomachines that can outright stop fucking Cancer and cause Immortality. There is no reason to not be able to Help Snake, unless she specifically designed Snake to die and wished to bring an end to all her Projects.

* A regret for Vamp. Naomi Hunter has had no fucking ties with Vamp prior to this game, and there’s no reason for Vamp to be that attached. In fact, experiments on people using future-tech was never an Naomi thing...

... But Clark did it, on Gray Fox, and presumably others. Clark could make clones. Clark could bring people back from the fucking dead as Cyborgs. Clark is a big fucking movie buff who even talked about Dracula, and would probably jump at the chance of making an immortal vampire.

And Clark, who is already ensuring Snake’s death, would mourn her creations though she knows it is futile.

* Because every Patriot has been seen at this point, and we’ve seen their deaths. Every single one... except Para-Medic’s. We’re told that she died in an explosion caused by Hunter and Gray Fox, but the thing is, unless we’re told evidence or shown on screen, there’s no telling if that’s ever been true. MGS has historically loved to mess with people, even with “evidence”.

And then, like every Patriot before her, she fucking dies and not only is nothing solved, (because the only Patriot who ever did anything useful for the world was Ocelot, and the only Patriot who did anything useful for People was Big Boss), things actively got worse for it.

* It would have been pointless senseless suicide for Naomi Hunter, but not one for Clark... who, once she is found out, would be dragged to trial.

Other notes: - Yes, this does mean that another older woman took advantage of Otacon. No, I don’t like it either.

- MGS5 actually backs this theory with as much evidence as possible. You can become someone else, you can utterly remake your body to be someone else and someone like Clark, who makes clones and cyborgs, would absolutely jump at that change if she thought it would be useful.

- And this means she is right, this is all her fault, and its even worse, because she didn’t bother to fix anything, now Snake is going to die.

- The unfortunate thing behind this theory, is that it makes the dorky cheerful movie-loving and fact giving Para-Medic in MGS3 one of the most evil people on the planet. I don’t like it, I can’t imagine anyone else will, but that’s the information MGS4 gave us to work with.

- Yes, its fucked.

The Four Point. Four is Death... ... and Death is but a change.

Ocealot broke the cycle by setting everything up to kill the Patriots. And like the slithery bastard he is, we can’t exactly pinpoint why, but well, it worked. There’s probably multiple reasons.

Big Boss broke the cycle by saving the avatar of his mentor. Solid Snake is effectively the Boss of the 21st century; he has walked with her bandana, trudge trenches in her boots, and holds all her values. (Even the Loyalty to the End, the difference is, is that the Boss was always loyalty to herself first because if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be as strong as she was.) Big Boss finally became the person he wanted to be-- the one who could save the Boss, after she has saved him so many times.

Snake, did not break the cycle. He couldn’t. The nature of himself wouldn’t allow for such cycle breaks, because the cycle was meant to keep someone like him trapped, just as the lady before him. Its a perfect trap that keeps him in place. It would have taken outside help, and funnily, the ones who helped him were the one who’ve tried to kill him repeatedly.

But now, Snake can lay down his arms, and choose Peace, like what he’s been trying to do for a long time.

[izeas-null]

so i finished mgs3 for the first time in years, it easily stays in my favorite games of all time. yet, i feel kind of mixed about its design now.

unless you don't know how stealth works or are very aware of how everything in the game works, it really feels like the absolute most optimal way to play the game ...is to just not play any of it. everything in the way the game is designed points to just crawling around, avoiding absolutely every single interaction you can have with the level design outside of 'funny camo index go up' every once in a while. i feel like the stakes are way too high for this game and the two that came after it as there's seemingly not as much room for figuring out how to experiment as with mg through mgs2 since you have almost no way of seeing enemies outside of sight (they are camouflaged) and vauge indicators much less knowing how safe you are from being spotted. i know this is an intensional design choice, but it really does just feel like an arbitrary limitation they added for realism they never could figure out how to compromise well with until mgsv. especially since mgs3 and 4 are games with very few hiding spaces, since your camo is supposed to be your "hiding space"

i think maybe most of my problems come from this being a game i've played before though. i'm too familiar with it to rush into things, but i'm also not familiar enough to know how anything works with it. i tried to do way to many things in this playthrough (i mean i did a full non-lethal playthrough for christ's sake, you are NOT supposed to do that if you aren't doing a special run) and i payed the "I didn't have as much fun as i could have" price. i think i'm willing to give myself another try at it, especially considering i literally have already lol, i actually started different save on subsistence around the time i got to graniny gorki on the master collection. i'll probably do a replay of it for a bit before i set up my ps3 to do mgs4 and pw.

also side note but i tried out a ds3 controller for the last part of mgs3 because my pro controller needed to charge, and i absolutely hate that i enjoyed using it. what happened to me, man. maybe it really was a good controller this whole time but the shitty game stop controller that came with it when i bought it just poisoned my mind about it so bad for so long. that and i kinda hate using the ps3 so its probably like controller ptsd too. i still think the design of the triggers, the cheap plastic feel, and the finicky charging still suck farts out of a dracula playing a saxophone tho, so that hasn't changed 🤗

[superespresso]

I remember back when Life of Pi won an award a bunch of us joined in solidarity for the VFX group that worked on the movie since NONE of them were recognized for the graphics marvel that they were being awarded for. It was a BIG DEAL, and this was I'd like to say.. around mid 2010. The studio took the award and shut down the GFX studio surrounding the people responsible for the modeling, 3D and rigging behind the tiger in the movie. It was MASSIVE since it was something that had never been done before. And in case you were too young to remember what happened; it was absolutely horrible. The movie WON, and the director completely disregarded the work of the team.

Some highlights of that debacle. A bunch of us in the industry were PISSED because this had been happening more and more in the industry, and I was just starting on my 3D journey at the time. I remember there were protests at the awards ceremony, and a call to unionize 3D artists and create guilds. It backfired so damn spectacularly by the movie industry, and ended with a lot of people I knew at the time being blacklisted.

These days, you don't see a whole lot of same-studio work in 3D or VFX. It's all outsourced. Even in gaming you'll see a massive number of studios doing a lot of stuff for cutscenes, rigging, 3D, animation, etc. Not all that uncommon, but it's far surpassed what it used to be. As an example, back in 2006-2007 MGS4 had Cavia do the cutscenes for it. Now you'd see maybe 40 different studios doing the same amount of work due to the nature of the business. This is due to a bidding market, where the work is basically auctioned off to tiny companies who are able to do it for the cheapest and sent back to the big in-house distro for cleanup.

It's INSANELY time consuming to clean up the small studio issues and unify it into one clean, concise product, but until 2D, 3D and the art form is seen as something that isn't just for-profit; it will never change. I think our best shot was after Life Of Pi and Hollywood had their say on it. They usually get their way.