The Music Of Metal Gear Rising Is Smarter Than You Think 

Revengeance is like a rabbit hole. You hear Rules of Nature once, and it starts a chain reaction over the next few years where one-by-one, through whatever circumstances, you hear each boss theme and eventually find yourself listening to it every waking second.

Rising also does a nice characterization of Sam with his DLC. In the game he makes everything look easy, but in the end it's revealed he's almost all human, while Raiden is almost all machine. When you play Sam's DLC, it's much harder than the base game. So Sam is at a constant disadvantage and is fighting an uphill battle. Yet he doesn't show it and takes time to toy with his opponents knowing full well he's constantly in grave danger.

My favorite line from the Sam's theme is "The man in the mirror nods his head." It's such a simple line that shows how distanced the character is from themself.

12:11 how dare you deny me my euphoria from hearing "THERE WILL BE BLOOD!SHED!"

My favorite thing about Sam's fight is how he keeps fighting after losing his weapon, but then, after a while, Raiden lowers his guard and lets Sam pick the sword back. Raiden wanted to win on equal terms to prove he is stronger and Sam could've easily killed Raiden in that moment, but he choose to play along and pick his sword cuz he felt the same. The amount of mutual respect between these two mortal enemies and the story conveys it without a single word.

I think the saddest part is that Sam didn’t really choose this, Armstrong pretty much forced him to (this is shown in the DLC)

I love the character of Sundowner and just how different he is from the other members of the Winds of Destruction. Everyone else is sorta "morally grey" to some extent or in other words something happened to them that made them who they are. Mistral lost her family and became a killer to get revenge, Monsoon grew up during Pol Pots genocidal regime and got messed up views because of it, Jetstream Sam lost his father and like Mistral also started out killing for revenge. With Sundowner though, it's like he was a killer from the start. He joined the army and discovered that he loved killing people. His theme kinda reflects this, everyone else theme songs sound like apologies or life stories about how they got messed up. Whereas with Red Sun, it just sounds like a song that glorifies violence and that's pretty much Sundowner in a nutshell. Morally grey characters are interesting and all but it's nice to see a good old fashioned evil bastard who just loves doing evil shit for the fun of it.

I'm sure someone already commented on this, but another genius aspect of the boss themes in MGR is how they apply to both the bosses and Raiden himself. Wolf being used as just a tool for war, Mistral and not belonging, Monsoon and the anger/pain/sorrow themes, Sundowner and the thing about natural aspects being substituted by technology, and then Armstrong's theme song literally spells it out with "you are just like me".

My own theory on Sam is that the sword is his soul. In Japanese culture the katana is referred to as the soul of the samurai. Whenever Sam looses his blade the music fades out because he isn't in tune with his soul. He even changes his fighting style to reflect his lost. He goes from composed to aggressive beast. I think this also ties into his character where he inherited the sword and he's been fighting since because it is all he has. Okay so edit I forgot Sam also grapples you. I only seem to remember him rushing me like a dog.

Great video! My interpretation of the music going quiet is that the song isn't for Sam, but for his sword, that is meant to be a tool for justice but is being misused. When the sword gets disarmed, it's not fighting anymore, and so its voice goes quiet.

I love how all the boss themes in MGRR talk about the antagonist and how he feels, Sam about how he has lost his ideals to violence and doesn't know why he fights anymore, bladewolf about how he is controlled by desperado ETC, incredible.

the most amazing part is how Raiden and Sam are the same person but Sam is the Raiden who failed to see his ideals through. When you think about the song from Raidens perspective it actually resonates with Raidens inner conflict and only when he defeats Sam, he finally confirms what he wants to be and sees it through to the end.

Best part? It’s not only a perfect reflection and accompaniment but they went the extra very complex step of making it dynamic so that the cues sync with how ballistic the shifts in battles change.

Revengance, Payday, DMC and Doom are all testosteron boosting masterpieces. Seriously, from "Bury the Light" to "Meathook" to "It Has to be this Way", aswell as "Break the Rules" or "I Will Give You My All", all of them are phenomenal.

In my opinion the loss of lyrics during Sam's fight represents him losing his morals. His sword is a family heirloom so he has a connection with it, it reminds him of what he fights for, the only thing keeping him from becoming more like monsoon or sundowner. So when he loses his sword he stops questioning himself.

I do think Blade Wolf's desire for freedom is showcased in his little opening cutscene, if subtly. You do get the sense that he's not content to live this way from how he describes the mindwipe procedure and his directives. On my first blind playthrough i definitely got that impression despite having not even heard the song yet.

8:24 Something else that you alluded to is the notable exception to this theme. The ONLY sentient antagonist who doesn't get lyrics to characterize him is Sundowner. Instead his vocals are similar to those we get in Ray's theme: Lyrics that generally depict the cruel, antagonistic "rules of nature" and animalistic brutality. Red Sun and Rules of Nature depict a primal struggle, because Metal Gear Ray and Sundowner are very similar in function: they are weapons first, inhuman hounds that serve a singular purpose. And Sundowner LOVES it. He is the 2-dimensional character you mention at 13:18. "What about all the good things war has done for us?!" He is unapologetically and gleefully evil, bloodthirsty and war-hungry; one who speaks fondly of the conflicts and death that arose from 9/11 and after. He follows Armstrong, who wants to instigate war as a means to an end, whereas for Sundowner the war IS the end, not even questioning or caring that Armstrong is specifically opposed to his goals ("pointless wars") in the long-term. He seeks instant gratification. And in a way, that means that the song DOES characterize him. He is a short-sighted, crazed animal, or rather he thinks of himself not as one animal, but as the death and violence that will eventually set itself upon any setting, no matter how idyllic. Plus his boss fight/mechanics are my favorite, apart from the vehicle section at the end.

My interpretation is that when Sam loses his sword the music stops to show that he isn't fighting with the intention to win. By all logic he should go and grab his sword but instead he hesitates to do so. I think this is also backed up by the fact that he leaves a message in his blade and makes it so it gets unlocked for Raiden, showing that he doesn't care about winning. He fights because he has to fight, so when you disarm him the music stops to symbolize him not really caring anymore before ultimately picking up the blade which is symbolic for him picking himself up in a figurative sense.

Red sun, red sun over paradise Red sun, red sun over paradise Golden rays of the glorious sunshine Sending down such a blood-red light Now, the animals slowly retreat to the shadows, out of sight Arid winds blow across the mountains Giving flight to the birds of prey In the distance machines come to transform Eden, day by day Only love is with us now Something warm and pure Find the peace within ourselves No need for a cure When the wind is slow, when the fire's hot The vulture waits to see what rots Oh, how pretty, all the scenery This is nature's sacrifice When the air blows through with a brisk attack The reptile tail ripped from its back When the sun sets We will not forget the red sun over paradise

I realized this as I was playing the game. I could tell that Bladewolf, despite fighting me, was trying to break free every moment; he wanted freedom so badly. That's what made me fall in love with this game. Then I fought monsoon. His talks of memes and the like paired with his song... made it sound like he lost all hope, and decided to just try and have some fun. Amazing how the game worked.

Oo oo my turn to throw out an opinion! Sam's sword originated as a family sword, passed down by his father. At first, he was the "cool winds of Brazil", a force of good fighting crime cartels. He augmented himself and his sword in pursuit of this goal, and the DLC shows him hunting Sundowner in much the same way. Though now that he's switched sides for his own gain, he's having to forget everything he's fought for in order to play a part in something he wants to do, but can't morally reconcile. This is manifested in his father's blade now cutting open good and hard-working people, and his guilty conscious won't let him forget that. But when the sword is gone, the last thing that reminds him of home, he forgets just how much he's forgotten, and can focus entirely on kicking Raiden's ass with his own two hands. (But he can't, because Raiden learned the power of mixing monster energy and mountain dew and can only survive with the help of a sword that questions why he's even here.)

I think the same coolness goes to the final theme of the game, the theme of Armstrong, "It has to be this way". And unlike Sam's, it's lyrics tells us exactly the same the Senator himself told in the cutscenes. However what makes this track even more interestingly, that it lyrics can be interpreted as the speech from Senator to Raiden equally as the inner speech from Raiden to Senator. If you look on theese lyrics it would make sence

I particularly like that moment in Sam's song that he says "to find the truth in front of me I must climb this mountain range" implying that the mountains in question are the foes he has to fell, and later he says "because the mountains don't give back what they take" meaning if they take his life it's over. EDIT: My gf mentioned that the same happens in Nier: Automata too, and that was true. A Beautiful Song for example does the same as Sam's only that it's not in english, and you later get the same info in a cutscene when you play as 9S.

It's cool to see a war game making it's main theme anti-war. You can tell that each foe raiden fights he starts regretting fighting them and killing them. Like that war is anger, and like anger, when you think back on the reasons why you were angery and realize that maybe you shouldn't have been so snapy. Because when you humanize enemies, you empathize with them, and it makes you hesitent to kill them.

I really wish more games would use this, adding in both instrumentals and lyrics to reflect characters in games is just a really nice detail and a big reason why I love MGR’s soundtrack ever since I realized that it did that.

There's another potential layer to all of this: Every boss is a dark reflection of what Raiden is or has been. Every single one is a different example of how a person could look at Raiden from the outside, or even the inside perspective we have. And of course, in the end, this reading climaxes "Standing here, I realize, you were just like me, tried to make history, but who's to judge the right from wrong, when our guard is down I think we'd both agree, that violence breeds violence, and in the end it had to be this way"

You should do an analysis of NieR Automata’s soundtrack. It almost has the polar opposite approach of making up a language so they can have lyrical themes ‘without distracting the player by having them focus on the lyrics’. However, despite this, every track still makes you feel the intended emotion that you can get from the track’s title. For example, ‘The Sound of the End’ really makes you feel like this is the ultimate fight. This song has a quiet variant when one of the characters is close to death, which gives the song the same feeling but in a depressing format.

At 2:17, I feel the same way about Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2. Not only do you have the whole of the pre sequel to give him backstory, but having him always in your ear throughout borderlands 2 really makes him a villain that you can occasionally agree with, or at least understand where he’s coming from, making a villain that you love to hate.

I like the interpretations of Sam's song and the lyrics cutting out. In terms of other examples of great music in the game, I don't know how much this counts since it's DLC, but Khamsin's theme is probably my favorite in terms of lyrics. He has the least info available out of all of the bosses -- at least the ones in the main game get more screen time, talk more about their ideology, and have some codec convos about their backstories -- which means in that instance the music is doing almost all of the legwork in defining what kind of person he is. I never thought I would find myself appreciating a villain for being cannon fodder, but that's literally what the song is about, and it turns a generic soldier boy into someone that I couldn't tell if I was supposed to hate or pity.

I really love that you put in the effort to have subtitles for your videos. As a small creator it must be a ton of work, but just know it doesn't go unappreciated. Also excellent video! It might be time to finally give this game a try.

I also love the fact that they add little details like his expressions, like, you can see that he’s holding back. Details that you only notice after you get to know him. Like, in the train scene he hesitates to deliver the final blow and even shows a face of pain because of how much Raiden reminded him of himself.

Memories broken The truth goes unspoken I’ve even forgotten my name I don’t know the season Or what is the reason I’m standing here holding my blade A desolate place Without any trace It’s only the cold wind I feel It’s me that I spite As I stand up and fight The only thing I know for real There will be blood- -shed The man in the mirror nods his head The only one Left Will ride upon the dragon’s back Because the mountains don’t give back what they take Oh, no, there will be blood- -shed It’s the only thing I’ve ever known Losing my identity Wondering, have I gone insane? To find the truth in front of me I must climb this mountain range Looking downward from this deadly height And never realizing why I fight

Yeah it's rare the unstoppable badass you're fighting is so well written you'd never know he's a miserable shell of a man unless you actually looked for it is one of the reasons I love MGR and it's definitely one of my favorite games of all time.

You made the mother of all OST breakdowns Tomkon!

All of the tracks in the game reflect the thoughts of the boss character. Mistral, a stranger. Sam, the fighter. Except the very *last* one, It Has To Be This Way, reflecting Raiden’s own thoughts in the fight as he tries to defeat Armstrong. I love this game.

8:06 "just a robot dog placed mid-level to check if the player has learned to parry yet." I somehow went through the game on Hard not knowing how to parry until the Monsoon AI Fight... It was Hell.

You know, a game that managed to pull off the characterization for the antagonist well was Borderlands In Borderlands 2, for example, from the very first few minutes of gameplay Handsome Jack is ALREADY trash talking you through your "echo", which basically functions like a phone. So instead of relying on cutscenes, the game uses direct dialogue with the antagonist throughout a good portion of the game to characterize them.

Awesome breakdown! I'd love to mention the final song which can be added onto "The Only Thing I Know For Real". Most people assume that "It Has to be This Way" played during the Armstrong fight is from Armstrong's perspective. While at first I would agree, it's only upon further thinking that it's more likely (and to me) Sam's second song. This is mainly because, as you mentioned in the Sam/Raiden fight, when Sam loses his sword the lyrics stop. It's exactly the same when Raiden loses Murasama against Armstrong. Sam and Raiden both manifested their "raison d'être" through the sword. In that Armstrong fight, it's Sam speaking to Raiden through the sword. Sam realizes, at the end, he and Raiden are both the same. It's almost like an apology and a hope that Raiden will be able to do what Sam could not. "When our guard is down, I think we'll both agree that violence breeds violence, but in the end it has to be this way." Sam knows that a cycle of violence is inevitable but solemnly admits that it must be this way for one of them to succeed, by any means necessary. "I carved my own path, you followed your wrath." It's almost like a duet where it could be both Raiden and Sam singing. Who is who? Who carved their own path, or followed their wrath? From both perspectives it fits. "The world has turned, so many have burned, but nobody is to blame." Sam laments that this cruel world has killed so many but it's not one person who did it. It's the system society created that kills all these people. "Yet staring across this barren wasted land, I feel new life will be born beneath the blood stained sand." As Sam looks across the battlefield where he and Raiden fight (literally the desert) he realizes that Raiden fights for something, his OWN reasons. Something Sam once did but abandoned when he lost to Armstrong. Sam knows that if he is killed that Raiden might be able to to what Sam wanted, but could not do; get revenge against Armstrong. In this sense the new life coming out of the blood stained sand is Sam seeing his death as an opportunity for Raiden to succeed and create a new society without the endless bloodshed. There's so many ways to look at these songs as the humanity in all of the antagonists. It's what makes them real, they are similar to you and I. These are only my thoughts on this song but there are many hints that make the case for it. It's open to the most interpretation in my view, really exemplifying the similarities between Armstrong, Raiden, and Sam. Honestly one of the best games with such honesty. So happy you made this video!

STANDING HERE, I RE-

Good video, because I definitely think the lyrics (and how they're mixed in) are what make the music of Revengence so special. My personal favorite song from the game will always be "Stranger I Remain" for the line in the original version of "My true aesthetic's unwinding / And I'm about to come undone" which I find fairly relatable, and her whole thematic basis in Camus' "L'Etranger." Possibly my single favorite moment in any videogame of "the lyrics to a song telling you more than the story itself" is "Blank Canvas (Hummed)" from Transistor (which is a rough game for self-harm I tell ya). The Main Character of the game "Red," has lost the ability to speak but can still shout and hum. Because she was a singer prior to the game, you can make her hum along to the soundtrack when there aren't enemies around. The song "Blank Canvas (Hummed)" is interesting because it plays as she is going to kill herself, and the song she hums is actually a different song - "Paper Boats" - which is a duet between her and the man whose consciousness is trapped in the titular Transistor. The Transistor has the power to alter the world, and the song "Paper Boats" being a song about eternally chasing each other regardless of the circumstances, which leads me to almost break down in tears whenever I hear "Blank Canvas (Hummed)" because she's using the want she has as reason to go through with something so dramatic. It makes me think of a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy every time for just the feeling that the entire game's events take place over a single night, and ends with her alone in a dead city refusing the power of the transistor not knowing how to deal with her existence.

Sam was basically the Protagonist that failed, showing a kind of "What if..." scenario, or showing the player what happens if he loses. And this mental disconnect that he joined a side he never cared for shows in the lyrics. beautifully done. The no lyrics during the hand-to-hand combat could just be to make it more visceral, same as usually the lyrics of the theme will only kick in in high impact times. Another thing you didnt really talk about which is smart, is that the songs will play their bridge repeatedly until the main action starts, which allows it to easily go into the drive. If you dont start a certain action or in case of rules of nature, block the attack, the song will keep playing the bridge until you do, to cut in with "RULES OF NATUREEEE" at the perfect milisecond.

To add on to what others have said, Sam losing his sword is the secondary reason the music cuts out. I think the main reason is that despite almost completely limiting himself to no cyborg enchantments and renaming human, remaining him, in the second part of the fight he almost entirely uses his cyborg parts, those being his suit and arm which were given to him not by his family like his sword was but by Desperado.

Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken I’ve even forgotten my name I don’t know the season or what is the reason I’m standing here holding my blade A desolate place (place) without any trace (trace) It’s only the cold wind I feel It’s me that I spite as I stand up and fight The only thing I know for real There will be bloodshed The man in the mirror nods his head The only one left Will ride upon the dragon’s back Because the mountains don’t give back what they take Oh, no, there will be blood- (blood) -shed (shed) It’s the only thing I’ve ever known Losing my identity Wondering, have I gone insane? To find the truth in front of me I must climb this mountain range Looking downward from this deadly height And never realizing why I fight

Back when I played Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance I got the impression that the lyrics talked about the Boss Raiden was facing but also about himself. For instance, Bladewolf's music refers to a situation similar to the one Raiden was in back when he was a Child Soldier, so the battle against Desperado's Generals is also happening in his head as battle against his own demons, which the Bosses represent. The Stains of Time seems to be saying more about Raiden's feeling regarding his transformation into Jack the Reaper than about Monsoon. etc. I even started to think the songs were meant to describe Raiden's internal struggle during the fight, not the Boss backstory: the instruments are his emotions and the lyrics are his thoughts.

WOW... I just gotta give it to ya, this video is superb! From your editing, to your voice, and the way you word and write things in a way that makes them easy to understand. Guess I could say that your channel is a real diamond dog in the rough ;)

This soundtrack is a huge part of why MGR is my favorite game ever. On the surface it's hardcore techno beats with edgy lyrics (my crack essentially) but when you dive deeper into it you realize how much deeper the rabbit hole actually is. This soundtrack will always be special to me, no matter how much I listen to it, because it gave me such a profound respect for Video Game and Film music that I listen to it almost exclusively.

I really like the lyrics in it has to be this way, specially the part where it says “I followed my path, you followed your wrath, but maybe we’re both the same” Jack and Armstrong both had to do a lot of destruction to make the ends meet, even though it’s for different reasons and morals. They are essentially the same as the song says

0:07 the first thing that came to my mind was “ *standing here, I realize* “

"Video games are a great medium for storytelling, in part thanks to how they're able to draw so many different techniques from other mediums, the big three being writing, visual or art design, and music. It often feels like the first two get the most attention when it comes to making a game, and serve as the core base that the music can then 'enhance' or improve upon. But games have the potential do so much more with their music. There are so many opportunities to leverage soundtracks in truly unique ways to not just elevate or enhance the experience, but to convey narrative and story elements that otherwise wouldn't be possible. And that's why, as cheesy as it is at times, I love the soundtrack of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and think it's a lot smarter than it gets credit for." (c) Tomkon

Btw, based on your progress in the fight against the bosses, the music also skips to specific parts. For example: If you're winning against Sam, the lyrics start to play but if you manage to disarm him, the hard instrumentals kick in

My take on Sam's song stopping when he's disarmed is that his song is mostly about how disconnected he has become with his own self, in his battle for betterment and revenge he lost all sense of who he is, but when the sword is away he's now a little bit closer to his humanity, no tool to draw the blood of his enemies thus the vocals go away

I realized the songs were about the characters on my first playthrough and thought it was a really cool concept. You explain it here better than I ever could, well done!

I really appreciate this kind of storytelling, getting in the heads of your opponent through their theme song. This is something I've seen in one of my favorite Terraria mods called Calamity Mod, it takes direct inspiration from this game and even references it a few times. It has a great bossfight called The Jungle Dragon, Yharon. It's incredible.

I liked sundowner's a lot. Seems like so much can be inferred and theorized from his song alone

I also love the way they show the conclusion of the game with "It has to be this way". Showing us all that they wanted to express in the whole game "There is no good or evil at all. just 2 sides conflicting each other, when the battle is over only the winner can decide who was the rightful of them all" That battle with Armstrong is an awesome scene for the history of games.

I think that the craziest thing about MGRR is how in it’s determination to be as direct and unsubtle as possible, it actually creates nuance seemingly out of nowhere.

Yet another great video, and on one of my favorite games too! There's this really great video about Sam by a channel called Meti Not The Bad Guy that has another great interpretation of the lyrics to Sam's them. Might be worth watching

And here I thought Rising didn't have anything left to talk about. Great video!

I'm noticing no one mentions Sam's design, specially after seeing him in his prequel DLC, when he starts he's dressed purely in white, as he is described to b a sort of wandering anti hero, slaughtering criminals and mafias, but when he looses to Armstrong and becomes a wind of destruction, he gets a new black arm, a symbol of how he's now a tool of desperado, and a black bandana style mask, a symbol of how desperado has broken him and turned him into a mindless weapon, muting his own ideas and philosophy (the mask also fully wraps around his head, which makes it look like muzzle, a symbol of control over dogs, which is funny considering he seems to have a close relationship with bladewolf, who is also a slave to desperado)

I love that Sam’s theme has an auto tuned flute. It’s an old instrument enhanced with modern technology, like how he’s a samurai with cyborg enhancements

3:30 music making me suddenly have flashbacks to a certain RU-vidr transforming overpriced 3rd party transformers

My favorite it's It has to be this way. Because it's come from Raiden's side but tell us about Armstrong

It's not just the music. It's.. everything. The tie around of the entire game, it's characters, it's music, it's.. story it's trying to tell. Is just perfect, that most if not all games have an impossible time trying to do. I've realized where games have made a twist on the subject of antagonists. Where a friend close to you was an actual enemy betraying you like done in cod games. Or it's an enemy we come to realize the motives of from their past. There've been anime alike that smoothen this out incredibly, one being Demon Slayer. We come to face our enemies under hate in first impression, and ultimately end it off with sympathy and feeling bad for them. I believe that understanding your enemy is the best way to have your best narrative. Metal Gear Rising revengeance does this flawlessly, with characters that stick well and unforgettable, with music that speaks leaps and bounds for the characters themselves, themes that can be explained in such great detail, and even the main character being boosted by some of the villains! Jetstream Sam, is the pinnacle of what every best antagonist should be. He, is what inpired me to Metal Gear Revengeance and to delve deeper in his character, song, everything. I am absolute shock and awe in his character design. I fell in love with the game so profoundly it's unlike what most games can manage

I think the great thing is that the ending voice clip and Jetstream DLC actually somewhat confirm some of what you said about Sam's Lyrics showing of him. He has inner conflict involving Raiden because he too used to want to use his sword for his own type of justice, but then became a part of Desperado due to his belief on strength and seeing Armstrong was superior to him. However, meeting Raiden makes him start to question and remember what he was originally fighting for and as such he has to fight him again to see which answer was truly right.

For Sam's theme, I felt like his theme more conveys a "blood knight" nature. His character as a foil to Raiden is that he has come to embrace his bloodlust and is fighting for the sake of battle alone. Gone on for long enough, he's forgotten what cause brought him to pick up the sword in the first place. With the line about forgetting his name a cheeky touch on how Raiden's name comes from the Allied reporting name "Jack", while Sam happens to be the reporting name for another WWII aircraft, "Reppu": a name that qualifies for the Winds of Destriction's theme and another instance of Sam's character being the inverse of Raiden. However, I feel lyrics dropping off in the fight might not serve a narritive purpose, but simply an emotional one. Something that simply indicates that the scene is a "lull" in the action, a calm in the middle of the storm. The same purpose as to why a song might have an instrumental or a a capella section before it's final chorus.

I wanted to hear what you thought about Sundowner, since his theme seems to talk a lot less about his character than the others. Which I always wondered why. I mean, you could say it's more beastly and raw to show his personality but I wanted more insight.

Great perspective. You described the idea perfectly. The more you fight and the longer it goes, the more you feel struggle and feeling behind them. Whether it's against common enemies or the bosses. The ost both enhances and transmit the experience.

Istg the music just keeps getting better and better for each boss you fight

My interpretation of Sam losing the lyrics of his song when he loses his sword is because his entire being under Desperado has become that of just a sword. As being under the rule of Desperado has become all that he knows, as he loses his sword, he loses the one piece of himself he's been able to hold onto before joining the organization, his fighting capabilities.

Your content is very original.

"How is it so good?" "Nanomachines, son"

My pitch for how to do another thing with Sam without doing a prequel. Sam’s dying body is picked up by some undead parts of desperado. They bring him back to life soon after he dies so not much irrecoverable damage is done. When he wakes up, he tries to get away so they suppress but don’t remove his memories. Sam is now fully no longer the man he once was as now he no longer even has his memories. However due to them rushing the implant, it’s faulty and occasionally there’s a crack and a fragment of something surfaces, before quickly being suppressed. Raiden is going after Desperado and doing what he can to fully kill it. I’m doing so he finds Sam, and a cutscene plays where he’s in shock but then thinks that’s it’s just an AI controlled by a spare body. Cue fight. During the fight, hitting him in the head makes him shooketh as he begins to regain his memory. You finish the fight by hitting him in specific parts of his head enough. Afterwards, there’s a cutscene where Sam is beginning to remember what happened and almost kills Raiden. Raiden holds him off enough and shows Sam the Murasama Blade wolf had given him. Raiden returns it and Sam says, “So what came of Armstrong? I assume you being here means he’s dead.” And Raiden responds with, “Yeah no shit.” After an exchange and a call from whoever your backup team is, because this is a metal gear game and therefore you have to have someone who calls you throughout the game, Sam joins your team to help you finish taking down desperado. Maybe if they decide to have coop in the game this is where it gives you access to it. That could actually be very fun (although blade mode would need to be reworked/modified if they decided to do that). Anyway just a silly and dumb idea to bring back the weakest Brazilian male to MGR.

"If u play some time as the protagonist and come to root for them, then u not gonna have any motivation or desire to help the antagonist achieve their goals, if u suddenly got switched to play as them" as TLOU is on background. I see what you did there 😏

I dont remember when I subbed to you but Im glad that I did. Great Vid! Now I have to get out my dusty ps3 and Play this gem again.

Honestly that's why i love the final song for Armstrong, because you can actually look at it from both ridens and Armstrong's point of view with the words "I carved my own path, you followed your wrath..." Both sides can see each other as the enemy following their wrath.

Something about that bit in the Halo novel that I realized is that it could be an interpretation of what happens in gameplay. Just as every time you charge in against the odds and pull through represents Chief's iron-blooded determination and discipline, every time you stop to analyze what you're looking at or you're given pause by what you're fighting, that's Chief's blood running cold.

And that’s why the arbiter in halo was great, gave us insight into the covenant and this gave us ALOT of time with our antagonist, even tho we weren’t necessarily a villain in that moment

Amazing video! Though I believe that the reason lyrics go quiet after disarming Sam is him speaking with Raiden through his sword like a warrior

I’ve listened to the soundtrack many, many times over, but i’ve never taken the time to really try and understand the lyrics, but this video really showed me what was going on with Sam, I never realised what he thought. I have to say, i really love this video, i’d like to just say how much i loved and appreciate this video!

The Interesting thing about mgrs music is that the lyrics only coming in at certain points of the fight means that the game spontaneously bursts into song in moments of high emotion. Thus making metal gear rising is a musical.

I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately, specifically in relation to Armstrong's two fights; the two songs are not so much about Armstrong as they are about how Raiden sees him. During the metal gear fight, we get Collective Consciousness. At this point, Raiden thinks he has Armstrong figured out as a tyrannical warmonger, who would see America reduced to a nation of subservient, unquestioning drones, but after the infamous Armstrong speech, he sees that he was totally wrong about the guy and we get It Has To Be This Way, Raiden's realisation that the two of them aren't so different.

I have an alternate view on the lyricless segment of Sam’s fight based on an interesting interpretation I read of it a while ago. I’ll present that theory with my expansions as groundwork: Sam’s unarmed phase is an anomaly; there’s no sign of unarmed capability in his moveset when we play as him in the Jetstream DLC, nor does he use it in any of those cutscenes. Where did it come from? Well, if you take a look at his posture when he does his unarmed charge, you should see something familiar… it’s the same right hand back posture as Armstrong’s flame charge. Now, we fight Armstrong twice in the game; once with Sam, and once with Raiden. That flame charge is a deadly threat to Sam, both unblockable and tricky to dodge. When we play as Raiden, though? It’s an opportunity for a quick-time event to deal incredible damage. So why is Sam emulating one of Armstrong’s moves in the middle of his final duel with Raiden? … well, the theory is that he’s actually testing Raiden. Seeing if he has the skill and ability to deal with the attacks that all but ruined him. In light of that, I like to believe that the reason the lyrics cut out in the midsection is that Sam is indulging in that most dangerous of vices: hope. And so for that little while, the utter loss that his song expresses doesn’t apply.

I love how the lyrics hop in during an emotional climax mid song, it's what perfects the bosses. And how the lyrics of the only thing I know for real leave when Sam loses his sword is a spot on detail

The first things that come to my mind when I hear Metal Gear Rising in order: 1. Ninja 2. College Football 3. Cyborgs 4. Brazilian Double Jump

Metal Gear Rising and Halo 3 ODST are the only games ive ever played that are MADE by their soundtrack.

Alternatively, there’s a super traditional notion that “a Japanese man is his sword,” or something to that affect. Anyways, sure is neat how Sam’s characterization goes away with his sword, huh?

I love how you brought out sams sword being related to his killings especially considering how raiden viewed his sword and later sams sword

When I listen to the lyrics of Sam's theme. It makes me think that hes been fighting so much for so long, that now it's all he knows. All he ever does it fight wanting stronger and stronger opponents to either, give him the rush of having a good fight, or to go down in battle and be done fighting. The song is literally called "the only thing I know for real". He wants to fight, but also, he wants to stop, but he can't. Fighting, is the only thing he knows for real

8:30 Armstrong doesn't have his *own* song. "Collective consciousness" is what he claims to fight against, and "It has to be this way" is about Raiden and Sam.

Great video! That is definitely one of the many reasons why the entire cast of Metal Gear Rising is so damn memorable. You get what, less than 2 minutes of screentime with each of them? A bit more with Sam? Yet their musical themes are so filled with personality and tells everything you need to know about them. I love how Armstrong's lyrics in "It Has To Be This Way" talks about both him AND Raiden, on how they're trying to achieve the same goal thing through different paths and actions. And it fits perfectly with Armstrong's final words "We're both kindred spirits, you and I."

have been a few years since i last played the game but the soundtrack still sticks with me, its mixed in with my normal playlist i listen to on my 1 hour drive both the vocal and the instrument versions and most of the instrument version i can more or less sing the vocals to just based on the music it self, the people behind the music did an amazing job on it

I love, during phase 3 of the Armstrong fight if you lose the sword, the song fades from vocal to instrumental

Bringing up Halo's Fall of Reach novel during a video about Metal Gear Rising's OST really elevated this video for me.

The first song is Coasting by Darren Korb for anyone wondering, great soundtrack for a great game, Transistor. He also made the Bastion soundtrack which is great and that game is great too.

I never thought about the lyrics as a story for the antagonists, just something to add on to raiden but this way of thinking is proof that there is so much thought put in this series then first thought. Put simply, I’m going to play metal gear rising again

8:12 It’s a little obvious, buy my personal favorite part of this is that Blade Wolf changes to Raiden’s color scheme too, and this might be looking a little too deep into things, but I think his eyes stay red instead of turning blue because Raiden tends to have these red glowing eyes.

Him: "Music" Me: "THE GOOD OLD DAYS AFTER NINE ELEVEN"

Nice Sneaking in of Deference of Darkness at 0:43. Even if it is for Chief, it does show his humanity and something that is now being shown now especially with Halo 4 and Halo Infinite.

I don't know why I'm this late, but I love this kind of thinking and analyzing. I'm happy to subscribe!

I just came back to this video to thank you. The music is fantastic on its own and I will be eventually playing the game to see it in action with the story.