mgsv – Alternative Mindz

Lets Talk- Truth:The Man Who Sold the World (MGSV)

December 28, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Despite the knee-jerk reaction of many across the internet, I love it. I think the last few seconds are a little hard to understand, and I think it’s hard to build a complete picture without a little conjecture or some assumptions, but I really enjoy what is going on here. I think this game fits well into the greater thematic arc of Metal Gear and in itself finishes off Big Boss’s story satisfactorily. A lot of people say the ending raises too many questions, but if you grasp from around Metal Gear, I think you can put together a coherent narrative even if the pieces are kind of a mess. Luckily, I spent too much time thinking about this series and am a human Metal Gear encyclopedia.

So at the end of the game, you get a tape explaining that you are not Big Boss, but an exact duplicate created by Zero to protect the real Big Boss from his own organization. This scene is really really good, and I love Kiefer’s mocap work when Venom Snake smirks and looks at himself in the mirror with this look of power.

But the last few seconds of this scene are extremely important. When he flips the tape over, there’s a time jump to 1995.

Be perceptive: in the reflection of the mirror, there is a Diamond Dogs emblem on the bathroom door. However, when Venom flips the tape over, that emblem becomes an Outer Heaven logo. What’s the other side of that tape labeled? Operation N313 aka the operation Solid Snake goes on in Metal Gear 1.

Venom puts the tape into an MSX and it reads data on a screen, data Venom can see, but we can’t. He then walks over to the mirror again, and in anger punches it. On the other side stands his reflection, which then turns away from us and walks away into darkness. Given that we’re in Outer Heaven in 1995, and you can hear the chaos of gunfire outside, it can be safely assumed that this scene happens immediately before Solid Snake arrives to shoot some rockets at him. He breaks the mirror in rebellion against the mission given to him on that tape, but he accepts it anyways, stoically walking to what will become his death. It’s also important how this is depicted visually; Venom walks away in black, silhouetted against smoke. As he walks, the space around him becomes darker, until finally he disappears completely.

I think this scene is important not just for characterizing Venom Snake as he strolls off, but also ties into the game thematically. In a lot of ways, MGSV is about the forgotten people that operate in the background to support the big players. Skullface, XOF, us as the players of these games, and Venom Snake; all of them were used to create the Metal Gear world as we know it, and all of them were lost to time. If the original games are about the titans of the universe, this game is about their shadows. Venom Snake disappears at the end of this game; he is washed away from history. Everyone thinks he was Big Boss, and that is all that is ever known of him. He quite literally disappears.

Many people upon seeing the ending assume Venom Snake built Outer Heaven, but this isn’t true. At the hospital in Cyprus, Ocelot gives Big Boss a new passport with a new name on it. This is Big Boss’s new identity while Venom Snake is Big Boss; the name on that passport is whatever you make it during the character creator, but for the sake of simplicity here, let’s just say the name is Steve. Venom Snake, aka the medic, unwittingly gets Big Boss’s identity and makes Diamond Dogs and the events of MGSV happen as we see them. During this time, Big Boss is under the name Steve and is building Outer Heaven in South Africa.

But wait, it says that Solid Snake kills Venom Snake in Outer Heaven!?

Yes, but the credits also say Big Boss built Outer Heaven. Notice how the credits refer to real Big Boss as Big Boss exclusively; they refer to Venom Snake as Big Boss’s Phantom, never just Big Boss. There’s also a discussion after the credits between Kaz and Ocelot about this.

But then what the heck is Venom Snake doing there in Metal Gear 1?

Venom Snake was originally created to be a decoy for Big Boss so that he may live when the whole world wants him dead. Sometime during the events of MGSV, Big Boss realizes another purpose Venom can be used for: he and Big Boss can work together to build Big Boss’s legend and achieve his ideological goals.

Many people thought that Big Boss’s turn was going to happen in this game, that we would finally see what made him turn to villainy. But Metal Gear is never so black and white, and in reality, Big Boss’s turn was more subtle, and actually happened in Peace Walker.

It further details Big Boss’s fall and shows us everything we ever needed to know about him. While in a coma, Zero comissions a memetic clone of Big Boss. The parallels between Les Enfants Terribles and the creation of Venom Snake are obvious. When Zero did this the first time, Big Boss was disgusted and rejected it. But what did Big Boss do this time? He embraced it, he embraced the cult of personality, he embraced the legend. After MSF was obliterated in Ground Zeroes, Big Boss realized that in order to achieve his sweeping dreams, he had to work from the shadows, even if that meant tying the noose around someone else’s neck.

Venom Snake builds Diamond Dogs and eliminates XOF as a threat. It is now that Big Boss lets him in on the whole ruse and opens up an avenue of partnership.

This is the point where conjecture begins

So what we know is that Big Boss is again under the Big Boss identity by the time of MG1; everyone knows him as Big Boss, leader of FOXHOUND, while no one knows who is commanding Outer Heaven. As I said before, Big Boss is building Outer Heaven during MGSV, and as such, Diamond Dogs cannot be Outer Heaven. Everyone in Diamond Dogs (Kaz, Ocelot, Big Boss) eventually ends up in FOXHOUND. What this tells me is that at some point shortly after MGSV ends, Big Boss and Venom Snake switch identities again; Big Boss resumes the title of Big Boss while Venom Snake resumes the Steve alias and takes over as head of Outer Heaven. That’s how everyone knows Big Boss is the CO of FOXHOUND, but nobody knows who is leading Outer Heaven in MG1.

It is known that to Zero, and ultimately the Patriots, having Big Boss return to them is favorable to having him killed. So then it makes sense that Big Boss returns to them with Diamond Dogs, Kaz, and Ocelot. He again becomes leader of FOXHOUND, finds Sniper Wolf and Gray Fox, and trains Solid Snake.

But why? Why would Big Boss go back to the US/Cipher/the Patriots?

So that he and Venom can play the field from both sides. He communicates to Venom Snake through cassette tape, and later through MSX tape.

Ok, so what happened in MG1? Why would Big Boss have Solid Snake kill Venom Snake?

This isn’t, and never will be, clear to a concrete extent. Because Kojima is gone, all we can ever do is try to build a complete picture from what is, at best, ambiguous information. I’m basically trying to explain character motivations and such using nothing but the last 10 minutes of Phantom Pain, the paper thin plot of a 30 year old MSX game, and the thematic undercurrents of the MGS saga.

But this is my theory, and I’m sticking to it.

It can be safely assumed that whatever is on that N313 tape, Venom doesn’t like it. He reads the info and immediately destroys a mirror in rage because he has lost everything (his sanity, love interest, comrades, and identity) and he saw what he became. That does not sound to me like the reaction of a happy man. Given the info we have, it can be reasonably assumed that Big Boss and Venom communicate through those cassette tapes; it can also be reasonably assumed that towards the end of Metal Gear 1, Venom Snake becomes aware of the fact that Solid Snake is coming to kill him and tries to sabotage that operation. During the game, your CO is Big Boss. He’s basically the Campbell of Metal Gear 1; he gives you hints and suggestions on what to do. But suddenly, towards the end of the game, Big Boss contacts you on a new frequency and begins giving you bogus advice to try and sabotage your mission.

Real Big Boss’s frequency: 120.85

Venom Snake’s frequency: 120.13

This second Big Boss on the new frequency is Venom Snake trying to stall Solid Snake’s mission. Now, what we see in MG1 is that the entire time, Big Boss is helpful in assisting Solid Snake in his mission to destroy the Metal Gear TX-55 and Outer Heaven. We also know that Venom Snake contacts Solid and tries to stop the mission. If Big Boss didn’t want Solid to kill Venom, he would have also worked to stop the mission, not assisted the whole time.

It isn’t clear, and it will never be clear, what Big Boss’s grand plan was for Operation Intrude N313 (AKA the Outer Heaven Uprising). As it stands in canon now, he expected Solid Snake to fail. Given the new information about Venom Snake, his motivations become even more nebulous. It was established in early canon that Big Boss sent Solid Snake to Outer Heaven to die. We will continue accepting that this is true since there is nothing that directly contradicts it.

What we also know is that around the time of the mission, Venom Snake gets a tape labeled N313 from Big Boss. This tape likely contains information from Big Boss about this mission, and maybe some orders for Venom Snake as well. After seeing the tape, Venom punches the mirror. Then we have that shot that immediately follows it: he stoically walks into oblivion, accepting his fate.

It is also unclear if the Outer Heaven uprising was Big Boss’s or Venom Snake’s plan. Again, in canon it is Big Boss’s, and at this time nothing directly contradicts that information. The Uprising was the end goal of Big Boss’s dream, the final result of Outer Heaven. It was an outright war against the Patriots, and Venom Snake goes along with Big Boss’s orders to start it.

The Patriots react to this by sending Solid Snake into Outer Heaven to kill its mysterious leader. Big Boss commands him throughout that mission because he is under cover and doesn’t want his cover blown. He hopes that his Uprising will be successful in not just killing Solid Snake, but also in challenging the grip of the Patriots.

However, there is one other favorable outcome. If all goes wrong, Venom Snake can still fulfill his duty as Big Boss’s doppleganger. If Venom is able to convince Solid Snake that he is the real Big Boss, and gets killed by Solid Snake, then the real Big Boss can use this to fake his own death and go underground to establish Zanzibar Land, aka Outer Heaven 2.0.

I believe that tape contained a general outline of Solid Snake’s mission, which is how Venom was able to mislead him on the radio. I also believe it contained instructions from Big Boss for Venom to convince everyone that he is actually the real Big Boss so that if he dies in Outer Heaven, Big Boss can still work in secret to achieve his true dream. This order is what makes Venom furious, what makes him punch that mirror: he was in many ways given the same mission as the Boss. If he cannot defeat Solid Snake, he must die. He must sacrifice himself so that Big Boss can carry on with his plans. He has to give up his identity, his face, his emotions, his ideology, his life; all of it to Big Boss. No one will ever know who he was, no one will ever know what he did. He will go down in history as a criminal, as a monster who instigated an armed uprising and almost brought the world to nuclear disaster.

And Venom accepts his mission. He convinces Solid Snake that he is the real Big Boss by feeding that information to Gray Fox and then by telling Snake himself. He gives killing Solid Snake an honest shot, but he also makes sure that if he goes down, everyone thinks it is Big Boss who went down.

The Man Who Sold The World Meaning

The song ‘Man Who Sold the world’ was a single by David Bowie way back in November 1970, and it was covered by nirvana and released in 1994.

around that time of releasing the song, Bowie was a closet heterosexual but he was a bisexual ( wife once told he had an affair with mick jagger), it is this inner conflict – he created an alter ego called ziggy stardust an androgynous rock star who spoke with aliens.

So the song is something David Bowie used to be (Ziggy stardust) and he seeing himself as people do ( Bowie) and convincing himself he has changed. The conversation with his alter ego is clear when Bowie Says in the lyrics that I thought you died alone and oh no not me we never lost control ( we never is the bisexual in him) ziggy talking back oh not me I never lost control.

The man who sold the world is the image that is Bowie has sold to the world, and his search foreign land and years to roam is his inner journey to find his identity.

So for this case, Big Boss is the man who sold the world and Venom Snake is nothing more than an phantom/body double of big boss no matter how legendary “he” is, he is not the real “legend”.

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Lets Talk:Metal Gears (the weapons)

December 24, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Metal Gear is the designation to various models of bipedal tanks. Metal Gear are behemoth machines capable of decimating lesser machines. Metal Gear have the distinction of being nuclear capable, firing warheads from their rail gun, eliminating the need for a missile, or launchpad allowing them to attack targets from anywhere in the world, on any kind of terrain. This peaked with Metal Gear REX which was sophisticated enough to launch a nuke from anywhere on earth and hit a target anywhere in the world, REX also had the distinction of being completely untraceable.

Generally speaking, the climax of a Metal Gear game is where the player must battle against the specific Metal Gear threat of that era.

Definition

The general definition of a Metal Gear prior to the collapse of the war economy is a mobile nuclear launch platform similar in purpose to ballistic missile submarines. However, its precise definition is debatable, as many other weapons have been designed to fill a similar role, or have used the same technology. The individual units have varied greatly in appearance and size, but their purpose has always been the same—to destabilize the global balance of power via the threat of covert long-range nuclear attack.

The term “Metal Gear” was coined by Soviet weapons scientist Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin to describe to Naked Snake in 1964 the “missing link” between infantry and artillery: infantry could roam the battlefield at will, but were both vulnerable and lacking in firepower; artillery could inflict immense damage upon an opponent while resisting similar damage, but was at the mercy of the terrain. Granin envisioned a tank with legs, enabling it to quickly traverse the battlefield, inflicting and repelling damage on a scale never before seen.

Following an encounter with a Gekko in 2014, Otacon explained to Solid Snake that what makes a “Metal Gear” is specifically its nuclear launch capability. Considering Granin’s original coinage of the term, it can be therefore assumed that a Metal Gear can be defined as a bipedal nuclear weapon. Not only does this negate the Gekkos and the Mk. II/Mk. III from being true Metal Gears, but it also discounts Metal Gear RAY. Otacon notes that RAY was an exception to the definition, as it was overall created under the premise of nuclear strategy (it targeting nuclear warhead-equipped Metal Gears).

After the end of the war economy era, the classification was redefined to simply mean any mech that exceeded the size of unmanned gear walkers such as Gekko. Furthermore, possessing nuclear weaponry was no longer required to being labelled as such due to the concept of deterrence being outdated by the rise in cyborg technology

Metal Gear RAXA (1970)

Appears in: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

The Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear (ICBMG) was developed for the Central Intelligence Agency by Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov in the 1970s. Sokolov was heavily influenced by Granin’s designs when creating this Metal Gear. The idea for this version of Metal Gear was to use a large rocket to launch the actual Metal Gear unit itself into near-orbit before releasing it, allowing it to parachute back down to the target location where it would then launch its payload of nuclear weapons.

Metal Gear RAXA (pronounced “rasha”), was a prototype of the ICBMG created in 1970. Although considered to be the first Metal Gear, neither RAXA nor the ICBMG truly lived up to Granin’s original vision of a bipedal walking tank.

Metal Gear ZEKE (1974-1975)

Appears in: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker,Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear ZEKE was the first fully bipedal tank. It was designed by the Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF) at the Mother Base by Huey Emmerich and Strangelove in 1974. It is equipped with a railgun, a radome, and a jetpack to increase mobility. Originally an unmanned weapon, Paz Ortega Andrade hijacked and modified it as manned weapon, and planned to launch a nuke at the United States’s Eastern Coast if Big Boss (Naked Snake) didn’t rejoin Cipher; however, it was heavily damaged in the ensuing fight. Strangelove noted afterward that it could at least regain the ability to walk, as she had made a backup copy of the AI, but whether it would be used again was up to Big Boss. During the Trojan Horse Operation in 1975 carried out by Skullface and XOF, they succeeded to destroy Mother Base along with ZEKE.

Metal Gear ST-84/Sahelanthropus (1984)

Appears in: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

In the 1980s, XOF stored and later deployed Metal Gear Sahelanthropus in Soviet territory. It had been developed by Huey Emmerich in 1981 after his capture by the Soviets. It featured a head similar to that of Metal Gear REX, although with only one eye on each side as opposed to REX’s three, a circular plate and legs similar to that of Metal Gear ZEKE. While normally taking on a hunched-over stance similar to REX, it also possessed the ability to stand completely upright and take on a disturbingly humanoid shape, being the only Metal Gear with fully functionally arms and hands. It was to be used as a marketing tool that would intimidate the world, forcing them to purchase nuclear weaponry from Skull Face, but its appearance was never made public. Unlike other Metal Gear, Sahelanthropus was piloted remotely by Skull Face and later Eli by using Tretij Rebenok’s psychokinetic powers as a conduit, a very unique method of control. It was stolen from XOF by Diamond Dogs after its defeat and eventually was completely destroyed after being hijacked by Eli. On the other hand, it takes its name from the first animals thought to stand up straight, “Sahelanthropus Tchadensis”, in the same vein that Metal Gear Sahelanthropus/ST-84 is the first Metal Gear to stand up straight.

Metal Gear TX-55 (1995)

Appears in: Metal Gear

The Metal Gear TX-55 was the first globally documented bipedal tank designed (at force by Venom Snake as he wanted to battle against cipher/the patriots) at Outer Heaven by the Eastern scientist Drago Pettrovich Madnar in 1995. TX-55 proved Granin’s vision to be a potent weapon — a mobile nuclear launch system that made stationary missile silos obsolete. It was used to threaten and blackmail the rest of the world, but never launched any nukes. In fact, this Metal Gear was never actually deployed, as it was destroyed by Solid Snake before its development could be completed.

Metal Gear D (1999)

Appears in: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Metal Gear D was a re-designed version of TX-55 (the TX-55 being a prototype for Metal Gear D) that was very similar in appearance. It was also developed by Dr. Madnar within Zanzibar Land in 1999. This Metal Gear also featured additional weapons for close quarters combat. Metal Gear D’s standard arsenal was comprised of a 60mm rotary cannon, a 5.56mm machinegun and a six-missile pod that could be armed with several different types of warhead. While its main purpose was to serve as a mobile launch platform for short-to-medium range nuclear warheads, it could also function as a weapon of conventional warfare.

It also carried a sensor system that consisted of the main camera, laser sights, an image sensor, and an infrared sensor.

Metal Gear REX (2005;2014)

Appears in: Metal Gear Solid 1: The Twin Snakes, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear REX was a Metal Gear developed for the United States Army. It was developed by Dr. Hal Emmerich, in a joint venture between ArmsTech and DARPA, at the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island in 2005. It was considered to be a revolutionary weapon – unlike all previous iterations of Metal Gear, not only could REX deliver a nuclear weapon both to and from any point on the globe, it was undetectable and untraceable. All previous Metal Gears were merely mobile ground-based launch systems for nuclear missiles, little more than the land-based equivalent of ballistic missile submarines. REX utilized a railgun, which fired much smaller projectiles without chemical propellants – factors which made them virtually invisible to radar. It thus completely negated the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction – whoever controlled it could launch a nuclear attack at any target at any time without fear of reprisal. Additionally, unlike all the previous Metal Gears, REX’s legs were heavily armoured rendering grenades useless.

Metal Gear RAY (2007-2009;2014-2018)

Appears in: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the patriots, Metal Gear Rising:Revengeance

Metal Gear RAY was a Metal Gear originally developed for the United States Marine Corps. It is, however, a Metal Gear by Granin’s initial definition – although RAY is a bipedal weapon, it lacks any form of nuclear armament. Nevertheless, it was originally created under the premise of nuclear strategy. In addition, it did serve as part of a true Metal Gear’s “conventional” armament – Arsenal Gear. RAY was designed and developed by the Pentagon and the Marines in 2007 as a countermeasure to the abundance of Metal Gear REX derivatives being developed due to REX’s plans being leaked onto the black market after 2005. For this reason, it was, until the creation of the Gekko, the only Metal Gear designed for close-range battle.

RAY is notable for being the first attempt at Metal Gear mass-production. The Patriots (via the U.S. Navy) produced twenty-five mass-produced Metal Gear RAY units to serve as guards for Arsenal Gear in 2009. They differed from the original RAY in that they were unmanned (the original intention of the Marine Corps), had no tail and were slightly smaller.

Metal Gear EXCELSUS (2018)

Appears in: Metal Gear Rising:Revengeance

When SOP and the Patriots fell following Liquid Ocelot’s Insurrection, PMCs acted on the development of cyborg technology as the information had been previously suppressed. The result was an abundance of cyborgs in the armies of PMCs. Due to the advantage of cyborgs capable of making decisions like other humans, the small unmanned gears such as the Gekko units were generating less favor in regards to urban combat. In response, AT Corp did a 180-degree turn and returned to develop a larger Unmanned Gear (UG) capable of overpowering cyborgs and tearing a path through urban terrain using its sheer size and power. The result was a new Metal Gear codenamed “Excelsus”. The vehicle was not armed with a nuclear weapon, instead being designed for the purpose of asymmetrical warfare in light of cyborg development. Although initially designed to be a UG, the final design required a pilot. Due to the term being redefined to mean a mech that far outclasses UG-walkers in size with nuclear deterrence becoming obsolete, it was also given the name “Metal Gear” despite lacking nuclear armaments.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain News- New Details about the game

June 5, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

It’s been some time since we have heard something new about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the latest entry of the Metal Gear Solid series launching later this year on consoles and PC in all regions. Thankfully some new details have emerged online today, details that will surely make fans of the series even more excited for the upcoming release.

The new Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gameplay details have emerged thanks to a new preview published on the Official PlayStation Magazine UK. NeoGAF user Itchy//Tasty has provided a summary of the new details revealed in the preview, which cover the size of the map, the beginning of the main campaign, enemies, fulton upgrades and much more. There are some mild spoilers included included in the summary so beware.

– They say the opening hour is astonishing and one of the greatest they’ve ever seen. The original Phantom Pain/Moby Dick Studios trailer didn’t touch on it’s full brilliance. They say it’s completely different in tone to the rest of the game and almost horror-esque.

– Early on you can interrogate guards but you don’t understand Russian/African; it’s useless until you do a side-op to Fulton a translator. This unlocks the ability to understand foreign dialogue from enemies.

– Can get easily around the map using fast-travel with cardboard boxes. Orange signposts are delivery points and you can collected and dropped off elsewhere like in MGS1 and 3, but far more useful because it’s open-world.

– ‘Loadout’ screen like in Peace Walker, you can select the time of mission start, weapons, gear, tools, mechanical arm (electrocution is just one type), explosives, buddies, boxes, starting vehicles and player character. Says you can play as your generic troops, like in PW. You can have a car or lorry with you from the start, if you want.

– Lists the Buddies as Quiet, Horse, Dog, and mech-walker. Says the mech walker can go turbo, you can put it on cruise-control, and upgrade its skill-tree to give it more stuff like CQC and a stun-gun. You only unlock the mech when you finish a ‘specific’ mission whilst using the mech (danced around spoilers here).

– the dog attacks enemies and finds things in the environment that shows up on the iDroid. The horse is invincible. You can put a prisoner on the horse like in Red Dead.

– Says Quiet’s presence actually lowers morale on Mother Base, probably due to being a former antagonist.

– Setting off the alarm in a large base causes reinforcements to drive in from smaller, adjacent bases nearby. You can choose to shut down the smaller bases first to stop potential reinforcements, or sever smaller communications dishes in the main base to cut them off. You can also call the chopper to act as a distraction in an adjacent base, which removes reinforcements from the the base you want to get into, thinning out the ranks.

– The larger satellite dishes on the bases control automated AA defences. Blow them up and you can call for chopper extraction at closer points.

– Cardboard box tobogganing, says you can run and press square and you go into a funny slide, which retains momentum if you’re on a hill.

– They had a whole section on his notepad ready for notes on how it performed/technical complaints, and the only thing he wrote at the end of his whole session was that some foliage occasionally pops-in in Africa, i.e it was mostly perfect.

– Counted 14 or so major bases in Afghanistan, and over two dozen smaller outposts.

– Minor spoiler, they said once you rescue Miller the base you take him from floods with gas.

– Minor enemy spoilers about the pale, weird looking soldiers from the trailers: They’re called the Skulls, they can run faster than your horse, have glowing green eyes, and are described as ‘unkillable’ but the word is in inverted commas so there’s probably a way. They’re compared to MGS4’s Haven Troopers in that they fit the enhanced soldier archetype. They hunt you down after you rescue Miller.

– This has been said before, but the missions are presented a little like TV eps, with opening and closing credits. They remark how it wouldn’t matter if Kojima’s name was scrubbed from the box art and marketing because it’s EVERYWHERE in the game.

– Every mission has smaller side-objectives that bring extra rewards if you check them all off. Reminds me of Assassin’s Creed bonus objectives (or GTAV if you like). Says it only tells you the bonus objectives once you’ve finished the mission once, encouraging replayability without distracting you with it on the first pass.

– There’s a great screen of DD riding in a jeep with Snake.

– You have to upgrade the Fulton to extract heavier stuff. When extracted, it’s gone from the map for good, so you can’t farm for infinite stuff.

– Says that like PW, there’s a lot of cassette tapes to flesh out the story if you want to.

– Game structure is open-ended. Numerous missions are open at any time and you don’t have to go back to Mother Base in between. Some ‘Important’ side-ops open up new story missions. The game rewards you constantly with new blueprints and tapes.

– Some side-ops have you rescuing ‘crazed’ survivors from your MSF base-destruction 9 years ago.

– One side-op you have to tranq and extract a ‘legendary brown bear’.

– New Mother Base is in the Seychelles. Compares MP to Dark Souls invasions, which can simply turn off in the menu.

– Goes over the base management, tl;dr sounds like a richer version of PW. Outer Ops seems to be back to send your Combat soldiers to.

– Wash blood off of Snake at the Mother Base showers, do target practice or fight with new recruits. Says MB starts off disappointingly small, but soon grows and adds new layers and levels. Morale of your men will drop if you don’t visit it often enough.

– The item to view enemy soldier stats in the field before Fultoning is back from PW.

– Mission completion times are recorded to the thousandth of a second.

– There was a lot more they saw, but not allowed to talk about yet.

Judging from these details, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is going to be truly massive. The huge amount of new gameplay mechanics will end up making The Phantom Pain the ultimate Metal Gear Solid experience.

The release date of this game will be on September 1, 2015 for the XBOX ONE, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC
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Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain-What do we know so far about the story?

February 17, 2015Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

It has been over one year since the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and fans including myself are anxious for the release of MGS5: The Phantom Pain. This game has been in development for about 4 years now and the release is coming sometime this year for the PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. For this entry, I will explain what we know about the story and characters so far based on trailers and interviews from the Metal Gear creator himself, Hideo Kojima.

SETTING.

The theme for this game is “Race and Revenge” as with the story touching upon the misunderstanding, prejudice, hatred, and conflict caused by the difference of language, race, custom, culture, and preference.

Kojima set out to depict the damage present in all returning soldiers in The Phantom Pain. Physical injuries such as the loss of limbs, and emotional wounds created through the loss of comrades and loved ones will all be part of this theme of pain. Kojima said that having his characters lose limbs is one way to depict the pain they carry.

This game follows up from the ending of Ground Zeroes where MSF (Militaires Sans Frontières. Big Boss’ private military company) has been under attack by XOF due to an Trojan Horse Operation carried out by SkullFace. Once Big Boss saved Kaz Miller and escaped from their base which was under destruction, Paz (who was rescued hours before) revealed that there was a second bomb inside of her. She then jumped out of the chopper but unfortunately, she jumped out too late before the bomb exploded, sending it careening into a pursuing XOF chopper. Since after that scene faded to black, we are not sure what happens next but we do know that in the hospital near by when Big Boss, Kaz and a third patient are treated in a nearby hospital and Big Boss fell into a coma.

9 years later (keep in mind that this game takes place in 1984. This is the sequel to Ground Zeroes and that took place in 1975 and the prequel to the very first Metal Gear which took place in 1995), Big Boss Awakens from his coma and the doctor informed him about how long he has been there. Also, Big Boss’ left arm is missing and replaced with a prosthetic hook and he has a shrapnel debris on the right side of his head. Later that night, The hospital is attacked by XOF where they also killed many patients. A patient going by the name of Ishmael aids Big Boss with his escape since he is way too weak and his muscles atrophied. During the escape, we see a young Psycho Mantis, a ghostly flaming figure of Volgin from MGS3, a flaming whale and more. After some time, Ocelot appears and rescued Big Boss as they escaped the area.

A number of days later with recovery included, it s time for Big Boss to go on his first mission and it is at Afghanistan. Kaz Millier has been held hostage for 10 days Prior to Big Boss awakening up from his coma. his mission is to rescue him within 3 days and leave the area. While all of this is going on, a new unit formed between a Big Boss, Kaz and Ocelot and it is named Dianond Dogs. It’s purpose is to take back revenge to Cipher/The Patriots to what happened 9 years ago and for soldiers to have a home without any control of Cipher or any government. This is all we know about the story for now so I am glad that Hideo Kojima is not spoiling too much.

LOCATIONS

Since this will be a first for the Metal Gear series to be an open world stealth action game, the maps in the game will be much larger than any other Metal Gear game to date. Troy Baker who is doing the voice acting for Ocelot, recently stated in an interview that the game’s very larger scale and map size is much bigger than the highly popular open world RPG game Skyrim. The comfirmed locations where the story and missions will take place at will be in Cyprus, Afghanistan and Africa.

In the Metal Gear series, Hideo Kojima has always used real life events in his fictional universe. For example, the hospital escape sequence and attack is a reference to the Princess Mary hospital attack/suicide bombing that happened in Cyprus in 1983. Between 1979-1989, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan took place and in this game, most of the areas on the Afghanistan location are under Soviet control. The location of Africa, we know a few things that happened in that time period such as the Mozambique Civil War. There are also child soldiers in this game being shown that they are participating in the war.

And finally, Outer Heaven, Big Boss’ military nation in which we first found out in the very first Metal Gear, is located in South Africa so this game may possibly introduce us to the creation of Outer Heaven.

CHARACTERS

Big Boss/Venom Snake (Voiced by Kiefer Sutherland)

Once a legend and an enemy to others, Big Boss is back and is ready too take back revenge against Cipher for what they did to him 9 years ago. He is no longer the same person he once was anymore as he is deprived with nothing but hate and pain. He leads the new unit Diamond Dogs as his quest for revenge begins. Nobody is sure about how he lost his left arm and how that debris got on his head but we will sure find out once we play the game for ourselves. He will stop at nothing whether if his actions are for good or for bad. Pretty much, he is turning into the main antagonist against America in the first Metal Gear.

OCELOT (Voiced by Troy Baker)

A triple spy, agent for Cipher/The Patriots and someone who idolized Big Boss since the 1960’s, Ocelot returns in this game. Ocelot is also on Big Boss’ side for the quest for revenge but we don’t know why. We however, do know that in the beginning of the Soviet Invasion, It was during this time that he became feared amongst the mujahideen as a sadist, for which they named him “Shalashaska.” At some point, he also ended up working in the Soviet Union’s concentration camps as a special torture advisor. Ocelot also joined the Diamond Dogs unit as he became the interrogation specialist and the weapons trainer for the soldiers.

KAZ MILLER (Voiced by Robin Atkin Downes)

Kaz is more hell bent on revenge more than both Big Boss and Ocelot. I would be too if I’ve lost my unit, been captured by the Soviets, tortured and lose my arm and leg. He is also the sub-commander for Diamond Dogs but unlike when he was the sub-commander for MSF, he shows no mercy and does not hold back on his anger. The Developers of the game stated that Kaz this time around will be unpredictable so I am looking forward to seeing how darker they will take the character’s direction.

QUIET ( Voiced and motion capture by Stefanie Joosten)

There is only a few things we know about this mute sniper.

She cannot talk but can make sounds.
She has special abilities.
Ocelot tortured her for reasons unknown as of right now.
As stated by the developers, there is a reason she does not have on a lot of clothes but we will have to find out once the game releases.

SKULLFACE (Voiced by James Horan)

The man and leader of XOF who caused the destruction (under Cipher’s orders) of MSF 9 years ago, is here again. There is a lot we know about SkullFace we know since Ground Zeroes but there is a lot more we need to know in this game. One of the most important things that we need to find out is when and where did him and Big Boss meet before since he said in one of the recording files to Chico that “me and your Boss go way back”. what will be his motives in this game and at the near end of the E3 2014 trailer for this game, we see him and Big Boss in the same location where a Metal Gear is. Will he side with Big Boss in this game or will he not? I consider him the Joker of the Metal Gear series as his torture audio files in Ground Zeroes makes him one of the most convincing villains in the series for a long time.

ELI (Voiced by Piers Stubbs)

Another character we do not know too much about besides the few scenes we have seen him in the recent trailers. Many fans including myself may think this kid is the Young Liquid Snake (Big Boss was cloned by a project which caused him to have 3 sons in 1972. Solid, Liquid and Solidus Snake). He looks very similar to him, he was in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, and the bible reference where David ( Solid Snake’s real name) was the superior son while Eli was the inferior. There are many more theories to back this up that Eli is liquid Snake since his real name went classified for so many years until maybe now.

HUEY EMMERICH (Voiced by Christopher Randolph)

The father of Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Huey is suspected that he was the sole person that lead to the destruction of MSF but there are also other theories to why Ocelot and Kaz tortured him. We also do know that he is not in a wheelchair no more as he now uses bipedal legs to help him walk.

There are many more characters that we do not know yet and I have not explained such as Ishmael, Psycho Mantis, Code Talker and more but their bios has not been fully explained yet but again, I am glad that Hideo Kojima is not spoiling way too much. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain should be released sometime in 2015. Next month, I will cover the gameplay and multiplayer aspect of the game.

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