Ok, finished this last night (at least I assume I have, there might be some crazy shit I haven't seen yet even though I'm 98% complete with a few side ops left).
I just gotta work through some thoughts here.
If there's something that I've missed the explanation to, either in cassettes or otherwise, let me know. But some of this stuff I feel just wasn't explained or cut due to time.
Also I realize I'm probably thinking waaaaay too hard and too critically about all of this, and most of it probably has no answers, because Kojima and Metal Gear and all that, yeah I know. But I still have the questions and if someone even has theories or conjecture or whatever I'd like to hear it.
1) What the fuck was Skullface's deal?
He said, in his own words, he basically had an urge for revenge against Zero and Big Boss that was like a volcano that had hardened into granite.
Why?
As far as I can tell neither did anything to him to warrant this sort of resentment. If his motive was like, power or control or something I'd get it. Big Boss and Zero are two major influential power players carrying out the Boss' legacy, so if that was his key motivation (and he gets into that a little when he's taunting Zero) that would make more sense.
But why did he want revenge? Near as I can tell, it's the Soviets who fucked up his life, took his language, his face, his lungs etc. Shouldn't it be them who he is fucking with? Shouldn't he be trying to destroy the USSR? Instead he's collaborating with them to get at Zero and Big Boss.
Again, why? All they ever did was give him a job, train him up, and make him ride bitch on Operation Snake Eater. And while he mightn't have liked that last one, was it really justification for wiping the English language from the planet. Shouldn't be have been trying to eliminate Russian?!
2) Seriously, what was up with Skullface's plan?
It wasn't in self defence from a linguistic point of view; Zero had already given up on the vocal parasites and had clearly chosen to head down the Foxdie path as shown by the last conversation he had with Skullface.
What was he trying to do? Why did he trust Psycho Mantis to control Sahelanthropus for him when in the very first mission the kid was clearly fucking his shit up with Volgin and Space Whales? Did he have no contingency that this ineffable, mysterious child who had attacked his forces in the past might not play ball with him forever? Or is it my lust for explanation here?
3) So I guess Huey is tied with Gaius Baltar for the biggest piece of shit who attempts to rationalise things to himself in the universe award.
I kind of don't understand why he did half the things he did. Did he kill Strangelove or just not hear her? Why did he fuck with the quarantine protocols that let the parasite mutate? What was going on there.
And what the hell was the point of Battle Walker? It was this thing that got waaay more prominence than it deserved (ie, fully animated and voice acted cut scenes) but then was only ever used as a Battle Deployment thing. Was this just something left on the cutting room floor?
4) What was up with the third English strain?
The end of the game seems to indicate that it was in Quiet. Ok. But I could have sworn I saw Psycho Mantis giving it to Eli.
Does that mean Quiet was one of the first two strains, and that Eli was the third and Code Talker and Ocelot got it wrong? But Snake said he tossed two vials into the fire in cassette tapes. Was he mistaken or am I misremembering the scene where I thought I saw Psycho Mantis giving Eli the vial? What the hell was going on here; is the third strain still in play?
5) Why oh why did Code Talker keep silent about Quiet's vocal parasites after he had his conversation with her in Navajo?
Wasn't he like, really fucking set on tracking down and eliminating that third strain to end Skull Face's legacy and prevent his creation being used for genocide? But when Quiet tells him that she's got em, he does nothing, not even under the radar?
I mean, why wouldn't he go to Venom or Ocelot or anybody? Why wouldn't he secretly try to give her Wolbachia or something? Instead he just does nothing and when shit inevitably hits the fan in terms of parasite mutation, he only then admits he had this super pertinent information that he should have shared ages ago.
What was up here? All his character motivation thus far suggested this was something he wouldn't do. He seemed earnestly dedicated to eliminating the parasites. Was that a ruse?
6) What happened to Sahelanthropus?
I guess uh, Eli took it to Africa or something...? Are they setting up for a side game here or something? And if Psycho Mantis can control things like that, why wasn't he piloting Metal Gear Rex in MGS1?
7) So this is it for Zero?
So during the events of this game, Zero goes into a vegetative coma from which he cannot awaken until Big Boss kills him in the epilogue for MGS4? Or am I missing something there?
Doesn't that make it seem like he was kind of a non-factor from this point on in the universe? He sort of set up the Patriots through Sigint in the 1980s and vegetated for another 30 years until Big Boss euthanased him?
What was going on here?
Again, I realize I'm probably taking all this too seriously, and I may have missed stuff, but I find writing this out kinda cathartic.
