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[Barry Burton]

Regarding the horrors of Zanzibar Land.

Kojima likes Big Boss too much now.

If he were to make a MGS6 exploring ZL, I am sure we'd get some plot twist about how all the horrors are just propaganda to force the Patriots AI to take action against Big Boss.

This seems unquestionable now.

 

[Alo81]

The end of Episode 31 where you shoot Skull Face sort of bothered me. I had the gun aimed at him and after seeing his sorry state, and how it was positioned like when you kill the Boss, I thought I was committing a mercy killing.

So I pull the trigger hoping to end his pain, and see this gruesome scene. I keep pulling the trigger hoping to finally kill him so he can be at peace, and then after shooting off his limbs we walk away leaving him alive.

It was a small frustration for my intentions to be at odds with the games interpretation and it really pulled me away from feeling a part of Venom snake.

Did anyone else feel similarly?

 

[Unknown One]

Regarding the horrors of Zanzibar Land.

Kojima likes Big Boss too much now.

If he were to make a MGS6 exploring ZL, I am sure we'd get some plot twist about how all the horrors are just propaganda to force the Patriots AI to take action against Big Boss.

Kojima's hard on for Big Boss pisses me off. He has no balls to make him evil. Even Big Medic makes Big Boss looks more heroic through his actions. You are probably right, if such a hypothetical game would happen and is written by Kojima, he would find a way to make Big Boss look misunderstood.

 

[Neiteio]

Because the scenes you're reference actually demonstrate that Volgin is capable of moving without Mantis' control. The reason I brought up his misuse is the same reason we're debating this: the game gives us almost no information whatsoever on which to determine Volgin's capabilities. We have no idea at all as to why he froze in one instance, walked back in another and continued in a third. We can guess or infer, but thats it.

We know he can walk without Mantis and we know he wants to kill Big Boss. That's it. Everything else is conjecture.

Given the possibilities for his death, the hallucination answer is the more convoluted and more unlikely answer. Within that scene, there are no tells whatsoever as to it being a hallucination. They only two you can provide are inferences/guesses based on Mantis and his proximity.

Wait, you're saying that because he moves in the scene, that proves it's not a hallucination? That doesn't make any sense. Him moving in that scene -is- the hallucination.

The material supports what I'm saying. The tapes explain that Mantis makes the Man on Fire come to life when he's drawn to his negativity. When Skull Face comes along, Mantis defers to Skull Face, and through Mantis, Skull Face is able to control the Man on Fire.

For the brief period that Mantis appears next to Shaboni, taking interest in him because his hate outweights Skull Face for the brief period he's alive, the Man on Fire goes cold because Shaboni is not willing Mantis to make the Man on Fire move.

When Mantis finds a hate greater than -all- of them in the form of Eli, he defers to Eli and floats over to Sahelanthropus, Man on Fire following behind, crushed by the Metal Gear now set in motion.

Again, the tapes establish: Mantis defers to the most negative man in the room, and Mantis is what makes the Man on Fire walk. No Mantis, no Man on Fire. Without Mantis, the Man on Fire is just a catatonic body. And when that scene takes place, Mantis is with Eli back on Mother Base. Out of sight, out of mind.

This is all material explicitly spelled out in the game. What evidence do you have against it? Him walking doesn't prove that it's not a hallucination, because that's the hallucination.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I dunno why Venom would have PTSD about Man on Fire.

I ran him over with a car twice.

 

[akidnamededdy]

You might be right, looking back at the scene.

Plus Kojima seems to have the most internal logic about how Mantis functions of anything in the game, so an oversight doesn't seem likely.

I'm really not willing to give Kojima that much credit.

 

[Red Blaster]

if konami makes another metal gear and kojima doesn't poach all of his key staff if/when he gets a job elsewhere, probably a good bet that etsu tamari (he wrote metal gear rising) takes over as head writer with shuyo murata directing.

 

[Neiteio]

I dunno why Venom would have PTSD about Man on Fire.

I ran him over with a car twice.

lol

I think the hallucination is rooted in the MoF becoming a huge scary fire demon every time they meet

 

[Palpable]

if konami makes another metal gear and kojima doesn't poach all of his key staff if/when he gets a job elsewhere, probably a good bet that etsu tamari takes over as head writer

Lmao I hope this is a joke. That hack wrote Rising. Total garbage.

 

[Edzi]

I can buy Volgin being pure hallucination in the body retrieval mission, but it makes the scene less effective, because it's Venom's mind saying that Volgin doesn't see him as Big Boss.

Pretty much. If that scene was a hallucination, then that would just make even less sense.

 

[Valkyri von Thanatos]

I'm assuming that the illustrations are from Shinkawa. In my humble opinion, his drawings rarely come to fruition or done justice to. Those drawings of Venom/big boss drawings are terrific.

The art also had the scarf thing including an awesome hood, so you can bet it was terrific looking. I agree that Kojima probably should have pressured the team to better represent his drawings. For example Fortune and Fatman I think both look a lot more cool as Shinkawa art than in game.

I'd have liked it if more stuff changed.

Nothing changing between the bed and the ambulance was pretty bad.

They should have at least remove any of the mandatory stops and parts where you had to wait for Ishmael to tell you how to crawl or something. It's like "wow okay I knew how to do this way back when, most gamers don't need this much hand holding anyways", but with the repeat its like "okay, really, I get the twist, Boss let's wrap this up ok?"

The worst offenders for me are the Volgin scenes, where Venom silently stands by and lets a seven-foot flaming man hug him.

(See below, and yeah)

I can agree with this. He has some insanely awesome ideas, but he needs someone to put them together properly.

I really missed codecs in this game. Couldn't stop thinking about how awesome it would be to be playing as a young, chatty Solid Snake with no growl.

Yeah, too bad any Kickstarter or otherwise new project from him will probably only emphasize this problem. "From Hideo Kojima" are powerful words, and making a new studio or something is bound to create less in the way of a collaborative story design group that can oppose him. Imagine if Sony bought him up but put a mandatory co-writer/director with him. Either Kojima or his fans would probably be upset about it even though it would be an important action to keep things focused.

I wanted an action movie exchange between Volgin and Snake

Snake: "Volgin, aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Volgin: "Aren't you?"

And then have a cool cutscene fist fight leading into a not shitty boss fight

Instead we have

Snake: "..."
Volgin: ROAR

Yeah, it's just sort of whatever. I thought it was crazy enough when Venom just surrenders to Skully, but just watching Volgin walk up without doing anything was around the point that I lost all faith the game using Volgin as more the scenery dressing, and in the plot actually delivering on the promise of a lot of things, really.

In fairness to the context of the game, Venom should have had no idea who Volgin was at first.

That said, it's a real dumb way to resolve the subplot that Volgin just eventually notices Venom isn't Snake and gives up.

Indeed, I worked why way replying from the bottom up, so my thoughts are below.

This also would have let Kojima refocus himself on direction; when he's in the zone - like the Ground Zeroes opening cutscene - he produces some gems.

Yes to all of this, but a small addition, every cutscene and story piece is better in Ground Zeroes pretty much. It even justifies the "one shot" camera style better and more consistently. It really feels that Ground Zeroes, despite being still pretty much representative of an unjustified and scummy business practice, it is ironically the most "complete" piece of "MGSV". TPP is bigger, but feels so disjointed and compromised in so many places, and additionally, even the things that aren't cut apart lack the "MGS Master Craft" feeling that Ground Zeroes gives.

I guess it could be said to be intentional since it has obvious parallels to the Tanker chapter, and people have made good points before that the Tanker chapter was intentionally crafted as a "perfect/what the fans wanted" sequel in both story and gameplay compared to the Plant chapter, but I don't know. It's just strange. The tightness of GZ makes sneaking a real thrill versus the relatively spacious and thus easy to spot and tranq guards from a distance environments of TPP. Oh and on that note, I guess the windiness of GZ's weather really threw off the trans aim and gave it more of a challenge to use than TPP, clear days during 75% of ganeplay (it seems).

"IMMA GONNA KILL YOU! VOLGIN SMA- oh wait second. Let me have a closer look. Oh my! Excuse me good sir, I confounded you with another man. I am terribly sorry, as a man of honour I can't live with this rudeness. Time to die."

Yeah, honestly he should have been more pissed. That he has no idea where their target of his revenge is, and he should have lashed out against an "innocent" instead, tying more into the themes. Volgin giving up just adds more to the "in Outer Heaven, men become pretty nice guys" theme, since just sort of laying down and dying seems to work well with the "we don't judge our enemies" line later. Volgin's just another wasted opportunity, scenery dressing really. A flaming prop for people to flaunt around.

Spoiler

Just like Venom. Oooooh shiiiiit. (Sans flames)

...damnit this game handled child soldiers better than MGSV

(See below)

So one year ago, who thought that Rising would do a better job in its writing, plot, and direction than V?

It's.. pretty surprising. Especially because Rising, despite having an alright story (why no Solidus when they bothered to hire John Cygan for the live action commercials?), it also screws with the happy ending of 4 in a number of ways as well, so it being more faithful to Metal Gear and even better fleshed out, directed, and even written is boggling.

On things I liked from the game, Kaz's speech at the end of Chapter 1 was pretty powerful.

"We hold our rifles in missing hands. We stand tall on missing legs. We stride forward on the bones of our fallen."

"Still, It doesn't feel like this is over. And I'll never be whole again."

Well shit, Miller.

One of the only good lines not spoiled by trailers. Too bad it caps off the poorly directed story of Ch 1 and is followed immediately by the incoherently presented trainwreck of Ch 2. For the record, 43 was pretty good, would have been better if I hadn't been spoiled, but it was good. Only problem is they hadn't had any real characters in quarantine, so I only really felt bad when I had to kill one or two people I sort of recognized, and one female character, who I think I had used in missions before but was mostly upset because women are so rare in the game.

They really should have had a few Diamond Dogs recruits with real story and character, maybe even just have a "lead disease expert" who Big Boss maybe even just meets once or twice on Mother base as part of some mandatory visit brought on by the outbreak, and they actually show some kind of admiration for BB besides "HURT ME MORE SNAKE".

Venom had been pursued by the Man on Fire throughout the game, some traumatizing shit in itself. Why -couldn't- there be a hallucination when he encounters the remains?

And again:

Man on Fire was in Afghanistan while Mantis was in Seychelles.

And again:

The cut back to his inert body a ways away.

Eh, he saw MOF as Volgin, real face and all. If it wasn't at least partially because of Volgin's voodoo, how did Venom know what he looked like? Poor offense because Venom already has absurd levels of hypnotism, so a face isn't really stretching it, but I really see his brainwashing as more of a "go along with whatever, here's the Spark Notes of BB's life", rather than a huge in depth thing recreating all of BB's memories one by one. Venom has to constantly be reminded of things the Medic wouldn't know but should have been covered by his brainwashing (like Volgin, and he doesn't react to the AI pod really at all), so I sort of see him as a confused guy who believes he should know what's going on, and because of the self deception planted within he ignores a large number of red flags. He just goes with the flow IMO, and doesn't really have detailed programming of, for example, Volgin's face.

 

[ElFly]

The end of Episode 31 where you shoot Skull Face sort of bothered me. I had the gun aimed at him and after seeing his sorry state, and how it was positioned like when you kill the Boss, I thought I was committing a mercy killing.

So I pull the trigger hoping to end his pain, and see this gruesome scene. I keep pulling the trigger hoping to finally kill him so he can be at peace, and then after shooting off his limbs we walk away leaving him alive.

It was a small frustration for my intentions to be at odds with the games interpretation and it really pulled me away from feeling a part of Venom snake.

Did anyone else feel similarly?

The scene could have been done better; I was weirded out because I didn't think Skull Face deserved being killed like The Boss, so I was relieved when they just start taking his limbs off. OFC this made me feel bad later as I was being just as vindictive as Miller and Venom were.

 

[Neiteio]

Eh, he saw MOF as Volgin, real face and all. If it wasn't at least partially because of Volgin's voodoo, how did Venom know what he looked like? Poor offense because Venom already has absurd levels of hypnotism, so a face isn't really stretching it, but I really see his brainwashing as more of a "go along with whatever, here's the Spark Notes of BB's life", rather than a huge in depth thing recreating all of BB's memories one by one. Venom has to constantly be reminded of things the Medic wouldn't know but should have been covered by his brainwashing (like Volgin, and he doesn't react to the AI pod really at all), so I sort of see him as a confused guy who believes he should know what's going on, and because of the self deception planted within he ignores a large number of red flags. He just goes with the flow IMO, and doesn't really have detailed programming of, for example, Volgin's face.

Ocelot says in Doublethink that they transplanted memories of every mission and experience BB ever had into The Medic. Having memories of what people look like is important, so they probably showed him pictures to put a face with each name during the brainwashing process.

TBQH, memory transplant is more farfetched than hypnotizing someone to think they recognize someone.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

One thing with Volgin is that it's real weird how Snake had no reaction to him, either.

 

[Reebot]

Wait, you're saying that because he moves in the scene, that proves it's not a hallucination? That doesn't make any sense. Him moving in that scene -is- the hallucination. ].

No, I'm not at all. I would encourage you to reread what I wrote.

The remainder of your post deals largely with inferrences you're making from scenes. Again, all we know are four instances of Volgin: one in which he moves, directly controlled. One in which he walks away, uncontrolled. One in which he freezes, uncontrolled. And one in which he walks, uncontrolled.

Your interpretation of those scenes leads you to believe the fourth is a hallucination. That's fine, but its unsupported except in your interpretation, which you cannot then turn around and use to support yourself.

Again, this entire discussion would be completely avoided by proper use of Volgin as a character and not simply a handy fire-starter whenever the script called for something to burn.

 

[ElFly]

Is Etsu Tamari still at Konami?

 

[Dixon's Jet]

MGSV gives me the impression that this series should have ended sooner. Between Kojima always saying he hopes the latest one is the last one and now the phantom pain of mgs5, it's obvious that this metal gear is running on fumes.

 

[Haunted]

I'm surprised Kojima resisted the temptation to make the Man on Fire crotch grab Venom during the Afghanistan scene and then realise that he isn't Big Boss.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

MGSV gives me the impression that this series should have ended sooner. Between Kojima always saying he hopes the latest one is the last one and now the phantom pain of mgs5, it's obvious that this metal gear is running on fumes.

I am actually more curious than ever how a Kojima-less Metal Gear will work now.

My assumption is "not well," but could you imagine if it's actually amazing?

 

[Red Blaster]

Is Etsu Tamari still at Konami?

he's got writing credits for a buncha missions in mgsv

 

[Marty-esque]

Thinking back, does it seem like Skullface addresses Venom as though he knows he's not Big Boss? Like it's not as personal? Could just be the writing.

 

[Neiteio]

No, I'm not at all. I would encourage you to reread what I wrote.

The remainder of your post deals largely with inferrences you're making from scenes. Again, all we know are four instances of Volgin: one in which he moves, directly controlled. One in which he walks away, uncontrolled. One in which he freezes, uncontrolled. And one in which he walks, uncontrolled.

Your interpretation of those scenes leads you to believe the fourth is a hallucination. That's fine, but its unsupported except in your interpretation, which you cannot then turn around and use to support yourself.

Again, this entire discussion would be completely avoided by proper use of Volgin as a character and not simply a handy fire-starter whenever the script called for something to burn.

My interpretation is supported by scenes showing how Mantis controls Volgin and tapes explaining how Mantis controls Volgin. Mantis is not in that scene. He's a world away.

When you have a character prone to hallucinations of Paz, Skull Face, etc., and you have a fire demon who previously only worked when Mantis is present, and Mantis is gone but MoF is somehow still working... Well, in the absence of Answer 1, Answer 2 prevails.

Between the two of us, I'm the only one pointing to the material to support my conclusions.

 

[Alienous]

Thinking back, does it seem like Skullface addresses Venom as though he knows he's not Big Boss? Like it's not as personal? Could just be the writing.

Nah, he thinks he's Big Boss. They've never met, but he seems convinced it's actually him and not an imposter.

 

[ElFly]

he's got writing credits for a buncha missions in mgsv

But maybe he left with Kojima?

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Thinking back, does it seem like Skullface addresses Venom as though he knows he's not Big Boss? Like it's not as personal? Could just be the writing.

He specifically says "I have been watching you since Operation Snake Eater, where I provided back-up."

 

[Ashura_MX]

Thinking back, does it seem like Skullface addresses Venom as though he knows he's not Big Boss? Like it's not as personal? Could just be the writing.

I get that vibe in the Honey Bee mission, same with Huey.. "Snake?"

Edit:
https://youtu.be/QXCgjWUPfsY?t=349

Though after watching it a few times it seems I went too deep in the rabbit hole #nevebegameover

 

[Neiteio]

I am actually more curious than ever how a Kojima-less Metal Gear will work now.

My assumption is "not well," but could you imagine if it's actually amazing?

I totally think a Kojima-less MGS has the potential to be amazing, at least in terms of plot. Although even if it were amazing, I think there would be some who feel it's missing something. Whether that's just a placebo effect would be the source of much debate.

 

[Alo81]

On the Giant Bomb Phantom Pain Spoilercast, Jeff Gerstmann mentions how Kojima had said that the mainline Metal Gear Solid games will all be arabic numbered, and roman numerals are to be considered side games.

Does any one think that lends any credibility to his further idea, that originally Kojima planned to later on release a Metal Gear Solid 5, in which you play as Big Boss during the events of Metal Gear Solid V, where you play as Venom.

It's definitely a very Kojima-esque thing and could be incredible if it was well executed.

 

[Marty-esque]

Nah, he thinks he's Big Boss. They've never met, but he seems convinced it's actually him and not an imposter.

He specifically says "I have been watching you since Operation Snake Eater, where I provided back-up."

O yeah. Forgot about that. Just more bad writing then.

 

[Timeaisis]

I'm of the opinion the entire Man on Fire was a gigantic hallucination induced by Mantis.

Skull Face is the real Volgin. Think about that shit, folks.

 

[Valkyri von Thanatos]

The end of Episode 31 where you shoot Skull Face sort of bothered me. I had the gun aimed at him and after seeing his sorry state, and how it was positioned like when you kill the Boss, I thought I was committing a mercy killing.

So I pull the trigger hoping to end his pain, and see this gruesome scene. I keep pulling the trigger hoping to finally kill him so he can be at peace, and then after shooting off his limbs we walk away leaving him alive.

It was a small frustration for my intentions to be at odds with the games interpretation and it really pulled me away from feeling a part of Venom snake.

Did anyone else feel similarly?

Yeah, its the only time when Venom shows any kind of real darkness and yearning for revenge, not before, not after. His oblivious expressions and bored demeanor in the jeep ride really add to how awkward it was. I wanted the game to naturally make me feel more compelled to act out BB as getting progressively more dangerous and unforgiving. But I stayed pretty much non lethal the entire time except for the two times you can fight XOF forces, and at OKB Zero it felt awkwardly more wrong than in the hospital.

(Although, unlike you, I actually tried to postpone his death, so I didn't pull the trigger because I wanted him to have some more dialogue, even just a little. It was so weird because the game wants you to hate this guy and want him to suffer and I just wanted to learn more about him and didn't want him to die so prematurely.)

Regarding the horrors of Zanzibar Land.

Kojima likes Big Boss too much now.

If he were to make a MGS6 exploring ZL, I am sure we'd get some plot twist about how all the horrors are just propaganda to force the Patriots AI to take action against Big Boss.

This is why I'm glad they won't be doing that, at least not with Kojima. V was the chance for Kojima to abandon his love for BB and show him to be the monster he becomes (its literally the main point of the game's marketing!), but Kojima chickened out.

 

[Opto]

I am actually more curious than ever how a Kojima-less Metal Gear will work now.

My assumption is "not well," but could you imagine if it's actually amazing?

Well Rising was pretty dope

 

[EpicBox]

I liked the twist.

The unfinished Eli-stole-my-metal-gear plotline is doing my head in, though. I want to play that mission!

 

[Neiteio]

It's weird Kojima would resist a negative depiction of BB. The end of MGS4 already redeems BB, so might as well go in balls deep in the earlier titles.

 

[ElFly]

Nah, he thinks he's Big Boss. They've never met, but he seems convinced it's actually him and not an imposter.

He had to have seen photos of the guy at least and seen him on the distance; he is sent by Zero to tail Snake during Snake Eater, and complete the mission if Snake were to die.

Not that it means he wouldn't have been fooled by Venom's plastic surgery.

 

[brau]

I'm surprised Kojima resisted the temptation to make the Man on Fire crotch grab Venom during the Afghanistan scene and then realise that he isn't Big Boss.

lol. I think Kojima is a classic fit for people that high five themselves.

This is hilarious tho. I wonder what is going on through his mind on this kind of scenes. Or like Quiets rain scene... i want to believe he is just trolling everyone and seeing how much he can get away with. But part of me believes he thinks he is being artistic.

I don't know what to believe anymore.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

It's weird Kojima would resist a negative depiction of BB. The end of MGS4 already redeems BB, so might as well go in balls deep in the earlier titles.

He has said before he prefers writing Big Boss to Solid Snake because he views Snake as a fake human incapable of expressing emotions.

 

[Unknown One]

On the Giant Bomb Phantom Pain Spoilercast, Jeff Gerstmann mentions how Kojima had said that the mainline Metal Gear Solid games will all be arabic numbered, and roman numerals are to be considered side games.

Does any one think that lends any credibility to his further idea, that originally Kojima planned to later on release a Metal Gear Solid 5, in which you play as Big Boss during the events of Metal Gear Solid V, where you play as Venom.

It's definitely a very Kojima-esque thing and could be incredible if it was well executed.

With what we got for MGSV, it's too late for that. Even if the game was actually complete, it would have been a disappointment. So much that is the backbone for the MGS series was absent for this game.

Wacky characters, easter eggs, a well paced plot, interesting boss battles, character backstories, a meaningful ending, health bar, holding all the inventory in some fashion, codec calls, and finally dirty magazines.

He has said before he prefers writing Big Boss to Solid Snake because he views Snake as a fake human incapable of expressing emotions.

Yet his Solid Snake depicts way more emotion and is much more compelling than his Big Boss. Big Boss started out as a Solid Snake clone to boot.

 

[Valkyri von Thanatos]

Well Rising was pretty dope

Dope, but sacrificed the integrity of Raiden's character and MGS4's ending + Snake's sacrifice. Just my opinion, but at least give a shot to watch the "Seeing things for what they are, Raiden and Rose analysis" videos. They are pretty interesting and make a good few points against Rising's plot that I didn't realize before.

 

[Reebot]

When you have a character prone to hallucinations of Paz, Skull Face, etc., and you have a fire demon who previously only worked when Mantis is present, and Mantis is gone but MoF is somehow still working... Well, in the absence of Answer 1, Answer 2 prevails.

Given that we've seen him walk without Mantis before, Answer 2 in this case really should be "he's walking without Mantis."

Between the two of us, I'm the only one pointing to the material to support my conclusions.

You mean except the in-game scenes to which I've repeatedly referenced?

 

[Alienous]

He had to have seen photos of the guy at least and seen him on the distance; he is sent by Zero to tail Snake during Snake Eater, and complete the mission if Snake were to die.

Not that it means he wouldn't have been fooled by Venom's plastic surgery.

What?

I thought all Skull Face did was put Big Boss' shits in plastic bags.

 

[Stereogatari]

I'm surprised Kojima resisted the temptation to make the Man on Fire crotch grab Venom during the Afghanistan scene and then realise that he isn't Big Boss.

Oh man. How did he not think of that.

On the Giant Bomb Phantom Pain Spoilercast, Jeff Gerstmann mentions how Kojima had said that the mainline Metal Gear Solid games will all be arabic numbered, and roman numerals are to be considered side games.

Does any one think that lends any credibility to his further idea, that originally Kojima planned to later on release a Metal Gear Solid 5, in which you play as Big Boss during the events of Metal Gear Solid V, where you play as Venom.

It's definitely a very Kojima-esque thing and could be incredible if it was well executed.

I'm 100% with Jeff on that. Sins of the Father would be a great subtitle for a real MGS5.

 

[Neiteio]

lol. I think Kojima is a classic fit for people that high five themselves.

This is hilarious tho. I wonder what is going on through his mind on this kind of scenes. Or like Quiets rain scene... i want to believe he is just trolling everyone and seeing how much he can get away with. But part of me believes he thinks he is being artistic.

I don't know what to believe anymore.

I like to think Kojima is completely serious in scenes like the rain scene.

"The purifying waters of heaven... Outer Heaven... are absorbed into the boobs of Quiet, nourishing her parasites... Just like how the cleansing flame of war feeds its parasites... Arms dealers... Mercenaries... Private militaries..."

"Boobs... are... war."

 

[Neiteio]

Given that we've seen him walk without Mantis before, Answer 2 in this case really should be "he's walking without Mantis."



You mean except the in-game scenes to which I've repeatedly referenced?

The MoF is never shown walking without Mantis.

Mantis is with MoF in the hospital.

Mantis is with MoF at the Devil's House.

Mantis is with MoF at the lab.

Mantis doesn't have to be visible each time. The camera has other shots clearly establishing he's in the area, controlling Man on Fire.

And the tapes explicitly explain this is how he works.

 

[ElFly]

What?

I thought all Skull Face did was put Big Boss' shits in plastic bags.

Wiki says so. Dunno their source.

 

[EmCeeGramr]

actually now that i think about it


ethnic conflicts in africa
manipulating and artificially constructing legends
guy with an advanced prosthetic arm, and even sometimes chooses not to wear the arm to remind himself of the pain of loss
a shadow version of your old special ops outfit that did all the dirtiest work but got no recognition
a guy undergoing plastic surgery



wait a fucking second

 

[Opto]

He has said before he prefers writing Big Boss to Solid Snake because he views Snake as a fake human incapable of expressing emotions.

....

 

[ShockingAlberto]

....

http://kotaku.com/kojima-talks-metal-gear-solid-v-clones-sexiness-1262231488

Q: As the series has progressed you seem to be focusing more on Big Boss as a main character. Do you just prefer him over Solid Snake?

Kojima: You have to keep in mind that Solid Snake is not a real human. [As in, within the story universe, Solid Snake is a genetically modified clone.] On the other hand, Big Boss is a real human being with true emotions. He can be more expressive than Solid Snake. So yes, as a result I find him more compelling to write.

This was one of those "I think I gave Kojima too much credit as a writer in 1998" things for me.

 

[Neiteio]

http://kotaku.com/kojima-talks-metal-gear-solid-v-clones-sexiness-1262231488

Man, Kojima really dehumanizes Solid Snake by sayings his emotions are somehow lesser or not real.

I had tons of problems with MGS4, more than any other MGS game, but one thing I liked was that Solid Snake seemed genuine in his feelings.

 

[brau]

I like to think Kojima is completely serious in scenes like the rain scene.

"The purifying waters of heaven... Outer Heaven... are absorbed into the boobs of Quiet, nourishing her parasites... Just like how the cleansing flame of war feeds its parasites... Arms dealers... Mercenaries... Private militaries..."

"Boobs... are... war."

He has to chuckle at some point like this... just for a second... maybe.

Maybe he is just a perv.