I like to think to think that he was one of Skullfaces parasite experiments and that he was infected so he could kill Big Boss should they manage to get all two bombs out or fail to save Paz. That's why he was out there, easy to grab.
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SPOILER: Metal Gear Solid V Spoiler Thread | Such a lust for conclusion, T-WHHOOOO
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ZeroMaverick
Member
Makes sense. I was thinking that too, but what language would it be?
BiggStankDogg
Member
This is absolutely sublime. Also, yes - I am feeling the pain of losing her. But it's fitting. Kojima...
SJRB
Gold Member
While he's staring at Big Boss he's probably wondering if Big Boss is deaf.
"...did he not hear me? Surely he just heard me saying I'm going to destroy the world.. What's with this guy? Maybe he thinks my mask is stupid? Well fuck him, his eyepatch is stupid. No wait, it's actually pretty badass. Eh.. maybe he thinks my plan is garbage? It is pretty far fetched isn't it... Maybe I should rethink my plan. What the hell kind of name is Sahelanthropus anyway, why not just call it Sally?
Geez, I'm hungry. My feet are sore. Music on the radio is nice though, I should ask that soldier to make me a mixtape"
English probably, because that's what he would speak around Big Boss.
Mechanized
Member
Skullface was the worst, but he had so much potential. No boss fight, unexplained zorro mask(could be in tapes? Dunno), no crazy identity reveal, not enough depth in his backstory. Why?
bobs...onGaf
Member
Got to say the xof explanation was pretty cool (xof are a covert organisation that are basically running around ensuring fox get the job done)
Although I really hate that Kojima weakened MGS3 by saying skullface was there behind the scenes providing Intel and cleaning up after snake
Although I really hate that Kojima weakened MGS3 by saying skullface was there behind the scenes providing Intel and cleaning up after snake
KOMANI
KOMANI
I'm with you, I marked out when I heard Greek/Cyprian actors voicing Greek/Cyprian characters.
akidnamededdy
Banned
Nooooo guys. Skullface didn't know about the vocal cord parasites until well after the mother base attack, when he was relocated to Africa. Plus Chico has a jack in his chest, not a hole for the earbuds.
Skullface knew about parasites though. He was saved by them after all as a child. Maybe it was some other parasite. Or a plothole.
ZeroMaverick
Member
But there were only 3 viles of it, right?
But how did he get Zero sick then?
Knowing Kojima, it was probably for a scrapped plot element.
Haha...aaaah, it hurts to laugh.
akidnamededdy
Banned
Yeah, he had parasite therapy when he was younger. Admittedly it's pretty confusing having "parasites" as the answer for everything in this game, but you know...nanomachines.
It was most likely just part of his torture. "If you like your Walkman so much? Wear it!" that kind of deal.
akidnamededdy
Banned
He was already in Africa by the time he attacked Zero, wasn't he? And I don't think it was said that it was vocal cord parasites he used against Zero...I only listened to the truth tapes once though, may be wrong.
That was tuff 9 years later, Chico was before he had Code Talker.
Other parasites. Vocalcord parasites are only one form.
Ghost Slayer
Member
Just finished episode 46. It's...uh...uhm...er.... I don't know what to say. Either Kojima goes crazy or he wrote the script when he felt asleep, it's weird than i thought :\
They just had to go and explain away the mystery of The Cobras didn't they? Yet Fortune, The Sorrow and Psycho Mantis pretty much get a free magic card.
ZeroMaverick
Member
Hmmm
Yeah, I only listened to the truth tapes once too.
I guess I'll just accept that I'll never truly know why Chico had to listen to his heartbeat...
I think the quote:
Says it all about the ending. The mission is called 'The Truth' but then it immediately, in such a Kojima way, says 'There is no truth'.
I like the schizophrenic argument because I think that's the point of the Big Boss/Phantom Boss/player-as-character ploy. Basically, Big Boss is definitively schizophrenic because the player is controlling him, making his actions not him even though his words and story scenes are.
I fully accept the game's faults but I also really like it and think that it has a lot of truly great aspects, too. No work of fiction/art is black or white 'good' or 'bad'.
MGSV for me is overwhelmingly good - I liked the twist, I liked most of the characters, I liked many of the scenes and I loved all the tapes - but there are large black dots on there - for example Quiet's objectification, not fulfilling the 'become a demon' thread, some pretty bad execution stumbles.
It's not as simple as good or bad. The game has faults but it also amazing. On the gameplay-side it's 95% amazing.
Agree with all of this in the main.
Also, on a related topic, it's clear that Chapter 2 is the 'TV miniseries'. Chapter 1 is the more standard MGS plot line. So Chapter 2 is a series of interrelated threads which weave in and out of one another, but aren't necessarily very cohesive. Chapter 1 is a tutorial for new players, and is a tighter, more linear 'plot'.
Along with his surgical scars, don't forget the mutilated nose and barcode tattoos. He definitely went through a lot offscreen; and there's really no way of knowing what exactly led him to the state he was in during MGS1. Though I think a few of those might have already happened by the time of V - probably not the major head operation; but I wouldn't be surprised if he had received the barcode tattoos at the Leningrad University of Parapsychology, in the course of their experiments.
The ambiguity as to when and how he gained the ability to break the fourth wall could be filled in a number of ways as well - it'd make sense for it to be either a result of the operation to control/focus/study his powers, or simply a side-effect of his fractured sanity post-serial killer imprint.
Didn't Shinkawa also come up with the idea of a cyborg ninja in the first place as well; with Kojima deciding to make it Grey Fox after the fact?
Hopefully he'll have that as an option when he's added to MGO. Raikov had it in MGO1, after all.
Why the hell are people using the word "magic" to refer to science fiction & the supernatural? This isn't Harry Potter.
Also remember the badassity of the name - Skullface is Fox's XO - executive officer. So the unit is the Executive Officer's Fox unit. "XOF" unit.
Awesome.
You're a wizard, Mantis.
Haunted
Member
Doesn't matter if it's pseudoscientific parasites, pseudoscientific nanomachines or even fucking midichlorians, it's all the same bad deus ex machina writing at its core.
That said, if you have to include such an element, it's infinitely better to just leave it up to the imagination as magic/the force and keep the element of mysticism alive.
KOMANI
KOMANI
It was mostly greek, but the first words the Doctor says, "kousme? Kousme?", are Cyprian, otherwise he'd say,"me akous?, me akous?"
I was being flippant.
It's just Kojima's burning need to explain away things that people really didn't want explaining.
In Eli's voice: "He's not a fucking wizard"
PS the cut Episode 51 content about Mantis conjoining further with Eli due to his resent and hatred of BB was fucking ingenious and it's tragic that it was cut.
The only reason I give Koj some slack for this is that it ties to his 'there are no supernatural answers' theme, which is in literally every one of his games.
I really support that narrative and love that he promotes it.
In terms of how he actually writes/executes it, though, yeah, it's just daft.
PedroPanache
Member
Ultimately what I take away from Peace Walker and V is how much of a non-event the rivalry between Zero and Big Boss was.
razzmahtazz
Member
MG1 Venom is in control of Outer Heaven, BB is leader of FOXHOUND. BB sends rookie Snake over knowing he sucks. Snake kills Venom. BB flees to Zanzi. Solid follows him in MG2 and kills him.
Makes me wonder if BB was just doing his MG2 thing and feeding Snake into the fires of war to be just like him.
So it was like that. Thank you for clarifying.
Teuoxton
Member
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -Arthur C. Clark
An old quote that still holds water for some. It's like Mjolnir in Thor comics: weapon technology so far advanced we call it a magic hammer.
This is essentially what happens, yeah.
It's pretty much a friendship by the end. Like a war-political nod from across a party.
Also a massive plot point MGS. That there's no such thing as the supernatural and crazy shit can still be 'science'.
Surprising he doesn't reference Clark, though.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Which makes you wonder why that rivalry plot was introduced in the first place if the characters end up where they left off after MGS3.
I felt okay with it, which was something. The lack of rivalry, I mean. Didn't stand out.
I suppose it all ties into the theme of double agents, spies and intel being paramount. Who controls who, etc. Things are never what they seem.
Also the slightly nefarious 'Patriot-Zero' thing never clicked for me. Zero always seemed like a totally legit dude, even if his politics were a bit off. It made sense to me that the MGS2 incarnation of the Patriots was none of his doing. That was good.
Edit: Uh, also, I guess I was exaggerating when I said 'friends'. They're still clearly rivals/at odds ideologically.
PedroPanache
Member
It's pretty much a friendship by the end. Like a war-political nod from across a party.
Also a massive plot point MGS. That there's no such thing was the supernatural and crazy shit can still be 'science'.
Surprising he doesn't reference Clark, though.
That's very problematic in light of the MGS4 epilogue. Big Boss is seething with hate when he wheels out Zero before Solid Snake. He talks of a bitter rivalry motivated by fear and envy. I would have liked to have seen that rivalry played out in either Peace Walker or MGSV.
I also preferred it when the supernatural elements of the series were subtly hinted at either through Vamp's healing via water or the possession of Ocelot being explained by an ability passed onto him from his father, The Sorrow. It was a mistake not to embrace that. I think negative fan reaction played a huge role in shaping some of the more suspect aspects of the series.
akidnamededdy
Banned
Unless you're psychic. Psychic is the only real magic yo.
Lostconfused
Member
Ok but what about cutscenes?
The more I play, the less I like the game. This is one of those situations where the amount of content the game has is actively working against it as every limitation of the AI and flaw in the game systems is being exposed after 100 hours.
Last night I went through and beat all of the target practice sideops on mother base. (My last side ops.) Slipped off a ledge after beating the last one. Despite the game saving after every single other side op in the game, all of my progress was lost. Felt like that moment was the catalyst for me to really examine whether I was enjoying the game at all any more. Each of those target practices had been so poorly constructed anyway. I had to go away and think about the game in general.
110 hours in, I finally got Paz's last photo. Then the cutscene with her. This is a very interesting scene with Venom, and it's delivered a sold 60 fucking hours since I last had any other story beats, and long after the twist was revealed. Needless to say, I didn't give a shit anymore and had long since heard of this on the internet as I looked for help S-ranking missions. Stuff like this is a great example of how Kojima didn't understand just how the story would actually end up being delivered or experienced by players in an open world game that takes 100 hours plus. That scene would have been great as I was in the process of beating the game. Where it happened? After an amount of time equal to two solid playthroughs of an entire earlier MGS since the story concluded? Totally wasted.
The AI which seemed like so much fun at the beginning of the game is really showing its flaws now too. I feel less like I'm against infiltrating bases guarded by a bunch of elite soldiers than herding blind sheep. A guy stands 20 yards away from me and 3 dead bodies. He should clearly be able to see me. Instead he pulls out a flashlight, bobbing cluelessly. He moves forward, but I fulton a guy. 'Huh!' he says, and he stares blankly at the wormhole. I'm right there. Right there. He goes to move forward again, but I wormhole another. 'Huh!' and the process repeats. I crawl away and he blankly moves to where I was, where I run up behind him full pelt and he doesn't hear and turn around until my fist is about to meet his face. Another solider approaches. Surely he saw that? No. The same dance repeats. Sorry, but we need a better challenge than that.
The armoured unit side ops really struggle in the area of AI, particularly. Fultoning a tank right next to two soldiers who don't react at all is ridiculous. Snipers not reacting to two friends getting choked out or bodyslammed right behind them is ridiculous. Helicopters that can't spot you when their searchlight passes right over you is ridiculous.
I'd love a mode with extended vision and AI and no fultoning. Being able to sneak behind a tank and 'magic it away' takes all the fun of encounters with armor away.
To add to that, the repetitiveness of the side ops is super disappointing. Since infiltrating a base feels the same, no matter what your objective is, there's no real difference in 'rescuing a prisoner' or 'rescuing a diamond dog' at the same location. There's no difference between taking out a 'Tank Unit' or an 'Armoured Vehicle Unit' at the same location. Those are the bulk of the missions, right there. As for mine clearing and 'Wandering Puppets', those are just terrible busywork that should have never made the game. And they all just repeat, and repeat, and repeat....
But at least I still have a reason to play, as I currently need to wait about 10 real life hours for my base to process enough fuel in order to let me expand my base... I still have to wait to develop the weapons I feel might reinvigorate this for me. And how about failing a 3 hour deployment twice in a row? Boy doesn't the prospect of more tactical waiting action appeal?
I don't know, man... The more I play this game the more I realise how much more fun I've had with Far Cry games, which feels like a damning indictment. I feel like I'm realising how much different, diverse and emergent gameplay was in those games compared to this one. How much less time wasting there was. How much better the open world was than the frankly terrible Africa map in MGSV. How much I think I've overrated this game because of hype, nostalgia for Metal Gear and my love of 'Kojima' whom I feel should now be dubbed 'Venom Kojima' or 'Medic Kojima'.
...I saw two jackals attack two soldiers last night. One soldier survived and killed the jackals, I snuck behind right as it happened and killed the soldier. It struck me that after 100 hours this was the first time I had encountered emergent open world gameplay in this open world game. Something I'd take for granted in Far Cry or anywhere else.
All of this is intentionally without mentioning the story or main game structure, which has been done to death. I just don't know.
Last night I went through and beat all of the target practice sideops on mother base. (My last side ops.) Slipped off a ledge after beating the last one. Despite the game saving after every single other side op in the game, all of my progress was lost. Felt like that moment was the catalyst for me to really examine whether I was enjoying the game at all any more. Each of those target practices had been so poorly constructed anyway. I had to go away and think about the game in general.
110 hours in, I finally got Paz's last photo. Then the cutscene with her. This is a very interesting scene with Venom, and it's delivered a sold 60 fucking hours since I last had any other story beats, and long after the twist was revealed. Needless to say, I didn't give a shit anymore and had long since heard of this on the internet as I looked for help S-ranking missions. Stuff like this is a great example of how Kojima didn't understand just how the story would actually end up being delivered or experienced by players in an open world game that takes 100 hours plus. That scene would have been great as I was in the process of beating the game. Where it happened? After an amount of time equal to two solid playthroughs of an entire earlier MGS since the story concluded? Totally wasted.
The AI which seemed like so much fun at the beginning of the game is really showing its flaws now too. I feel less like I'm against infiltrating bases guarded by a bunch of elite soldiers than herding blind sheep. A guy stands 20 yards away from me and 3 dead bodies. He should clearly be able to see me. Instead he pulls out a flashlight, bobbing cluelessly. He moves forward, but I fulton a guy. 'Huh!' he says, and he stares blankly at the wormhole. I'm right there. Right there. He goes to move forward again, but I wormhole another. 'Huh!' and the process repeats. I crawl away and he blankly moves to where I was, where I run up behind him full pelt and he doesn't hear and turn around until my fist is about to meet his face. Another solider approaches. Surely he saw that? No. The same dance repeats. Sorry, but we need a better challenge than that.
The armoured unit side ops really struggle in the area of AI, particularly. Fultoning a tank right next to two soldiers who don't react at all is ridiculous. Snipers not reacting to two friends getting choked out or bodyslammed right behind them is ridiculous. Helicopters that can't spot you when their searchlight passes right over you is ridiculous.
I'd love a mode with extended vision and AI and no fultoning. Being able to sneak behind a tank and 'magic it away' takes all the fun of encounters with armor away.
To add to that, the repetitiveness of the side ops is super disappointing. Since infiltrating a base feels the same, no matter what your objective is, there's no real difference in 'rescuing a prisoner' or 'rescuing a diamond dog' at the same location. There's no difference between taking out a 'Tank Unit' or an 'Armoured Vehicle Unit' at the same location. Those are the bulk of the missions, right there. As for mine clearing and 'Wandering Puppets', those are just terrible busywork that should have never made the game. And they all just repeat, and repeat, and repeat....
But at least I still have a reason to play, as I currently need to wait about 10 real life hours for my base to process enough fuel in order to let me expand my base... I still have to wait to develop the weapons I feel might reinvigorate this for me. And how about failing a 3 hour deployment twice in a row? Boy doesn't the prospect of more tactical waiting action appeal?
I don't know, man... The more I play this game the more I realise how much more fun I've had with Far Cry games, which feels like a damning indictment. I feel like I'm realising how much different, diverse and emergent gameplay was in those games compared to this one. How much less time wasting there was. How much better the open world was than the frankly terrible Africa map in MGSV. How much I think I've overrated this game because of hype, nostalgia for Metal Gear and my love of 'Kojima' whom I feel should now be dubbed 'Venom Kojima' or 'Medic Kojima'.
...I saw two jackals attack two soldiers last night. One soldier survived and killed the jackals, I snuck behind right as it happened and killed the soldier. It struck me that after 100 hours this was the first time I had encountered emergent open world gameplay in this open world game. Something I'd take for granted in Far Cry or anywhere else.
All of this is intentionally without mentioning the story or main game structure, which has been done to death. I just don't know.
You feel it too, don't you?
Teuoxton
Member
Otacon sort of does in the Smash Bros. Codec calls (Zelda or Ganondorf, I don't remember.) That means Mantis' and Sorrow's powers can be replicated!
Rising_Hei
Member
I loved everything in this game but i feel like the important secondaries should have been made missions instead 
Well they actually try to explain Mantis in TPP but the answers are even more WUT then I thought they would have been.
Tl;dr. Microwaves,
Only people with cool powers get free cards. Bee guy can beat it though.
Dick Justice
Banned
Via Reddit
Messypandas
Member
Isn't Venom Snake 60 in that broken mirror cutscene? Kinda weird
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