Oh come on. The whole JACK IS BACK thing is nonsense. It makes zero sense. Whatever character development was established in MGS2 was completely undone here. The philosophical military waxing was grating. It's grating in the MGS games, but this takes several steps beyond that. There are several instances where it tries too hard to emulate the franchise. STFU about memes already. Frankly, I don't give two shits about the story, not even enough to "analyze" it. I only enjoy it in a "it's so stupid it's funny" way.
Also, brains. Brains of homeless children. Brains of homeless children to be turned into military cyborgs.
Fucking living brains in storage.
BRAINS, dude.
BRAINS.
In few words, the plotting in this game is childish and stupid. Like Vanquish and Bayonetta before it, unsurprisingly.
Well, it comes off as your not giving the story a fair shot then if your not even bothering to analyze it. And since you didn't give much of a reply here, there's not much for me to refute, so instead I'll say why I liked it.
One of the most major themes of MGS is that the battlefield is a consuming entity that once those who first take a step into it are forever changed. And Raiden was in the middle of it from his childhood, so it is perfectly in line that, combined with his unnatural cybernetics and the left overs of the war economy, it makes perfect sense that Raiden is unable to find work anywhere except in a PMC. Still, and this is why I object that they 'undid' the character development in MGS2, he is working for one of the few benevolent PMC's out there, with his job mostly centering around just being a body gaurd, which is also in line with his belief that he wants to do good in the world. It's only until Sam and the other Winds come in and wreck shit up. And perhaps in most cases, Raiden would be able to let it go, unjust though it may be that they get away...but they were kidnapping children to raise as child soldiers, like he was, except it's even worse with modern technology. It makes perfect sense why he'd be affected by this personally and would go to any lengths to stop them. But with World Marshal being outside the reach of the law, he has to go beyond it, which is where he starts slipping back into his Ripper persona, which also makes sense because he is now back in a world where there aren't any laws for him and he has to kill to survive. And it's not just him, it's every soldier (though on a less extreme scale) that has to join up PMC's and do terrible things just to feed their family. The main theme of the struggle between the basic savagery of mankind and the will to do the right thing is something that resonates in just about every character and every plot point, from the beginning to the end. It's a very cohesive narrative in this, and the idea that you have to do evil to basically survive is a compelling one to explore.
And that's not even going to the other stuff that Rising does well. The codecs give so much world building to every aspect of what is going on that is mindbogglingly elaborate. Some of it is interesting, some of it feels like a dull history lesson, but it's good that they went to such lengths to build context for everything that is there. And there are so many MGS throwbacks that any fan can appreciate them. A lot of effort went into this.
Yes, Rising indulges in some silliness. A lot of silliness, actually. Those brains in particular would have been more horrifying if they left off the googly eyes, but I guess they wanted to demonstrate that the kids have self awareness while they're being tortured. Things like that could have been done better. Armstrong in particular can be too difficult to take seriously (Though he, I would argue, provides a satisfying conclusion to Raiden's arc nevertheless).
So yeah, I think your only looking at the surface elements and not actually considering how they all work narratively. It's not like bayonetta, who is very arbitrary in it's narrative and characters. No, almost everything in Rising is explained, almost over explained, and the characters all have their own distinct motivations and goals that make sense within the context. Vanquish...I honestly barely remember. I'd have to play it again. I'd write more, but it's 1 and I have class tomorrow. But yeah, I'm willing to defend MGR. Come at me bro.
