Remember when Kojima got on stage at GDC with Ishmael's bandages? He probably thought the twist was GOAT. I didn't mind at first, but getting increasingly bummed when I think of what could've been. I think I saw theories of V not being BB, but brushed them off, thought Kojima was past making twists regarding the main characters identity. In MGS2 it tied into the theme of the game... Though I suppose you could make the argument for V too, since the game is more about the story you create during gameplay. Just wish the marketing hadn't been so misleading. Didn't the japanese ads make a big deal about how the game would reveal BBs turn to evil? Sigh. And that final trailer, showing BB turning (metaphorically)into Skullface, all a lie.
It's not really a lie. Skull Face was Zero's phantom. Venom Snake was Big Boss's phantom. From FOX two phantoms were born. It made sense that the two phantoms would attempt to kill each other, neither knowing they've both been duped. They both turn quite corrupt in the end even. Skull Face becomes a nihilist who is bent on the total eradication of human language... he's bitter, and thinks what he's going to do will help the world. Venom Snake believes that disarming all nukes aside from their own, and building a military complex/nation with enough power to take down any opposing country, while spurring wars on around the world for profit is the way things have to be.
None of these pre-solid guys are very good guys. They're all jaded, cynical, selfish assholes. Zero made The Patriots to run the world and didn't take into consideration how that might work out, not to mention he cloned BB, with zero shits given as to the ethics of it. Huey was a sociopath that killed Hal's mom, and murdered a lot of people for self-gain. Miller became obsessed with revenge. BB thought that creating a military nation, and using one of his own trusted friends as a scapegoat was a great idea for world peace. He then goes on to justify child soldiers, and the idea that all soldiers are good for is killing, and fighting. Paramedic did horrible human experiments and probably made if sound just fine to her colleagues... she loved animals guys, not people. Sigint goes on to help develop The Patriots, and Metal Gear... Everyone of the pre-solid characters were selfish and driven to "shape" things into what they wanted, and the core characters wanted to "realize The Boss's will" when they missed the fucking point. They all interpreted The Boss in their own ways... she's the most interesting character in the series because she was so misunderstood. I never want a game starring The Boss... because Kojima would fuck her up. She's amazing as she stands now.
Post-BB era is filled with compassionate characters who fight the identity they were given. They don't give a damn about "The Boss" or even Big Boss... They hated him in fact, and viewed him as a tyrannical psychopath. Hal was a good hearted guy who obviously hated his father... we never get hear about it, but this game cleared up why. Raiden is an EXTREMELY tragic character and he's amazingly written in my opinion... I could detail the amount of fucked up things that guys been through, but everyone saying "he's whiney!" well... you live through what Solidus put him through as a child soldier, and get fed gunpowder, hypnotized with nanomachine, get skull sliced in two and be turned 95% cyborg... etc.... He fights to refute the horrible person inside of him, and he reflects upon it. Solid wants so badly to stop fighting but he has to, so that he can put a stop to the insane bullshit his father created... Ocelot is probably the most interesting character in that he is literally The Boss's son, and he probably did far more than Big Boss or Zero ever did... in that he cleaned up everybody's messes... This game did a good job showing us the beginning of the descent of the characters that created the giant trainwreck Solid, Ocelot, Otacon, and Raiden are forced to clean up. Ocelot is the last remaining remnant of the Big Boss era, and even seems to still look at him in an admirable light. He begins cleaning up the mess that his colleagues started, and in the end he looks quite evil to us... at least through most of his solid characterizations... likely because that's how he's meant to come off as. He looked at those people as his peers and even idols... So honestly, I liked TPP. It's definitely not what people expected, and not for everyone though.
