Kojima did himself a huge favor in this script. It was such a narrow window when you consider what happens contextually in this game. So he made the entire plot about double reads, entendre, controlling of information, and lack there of. Something not many writers could do in a way that isn’t cliche
I also would say the reason it works so well is that a story centered around those themes works so well for a video game. Video games are the only stories that make you a part of its dialog, it’s not a character being tricked, it’s you
I lost the person who introduced me to mgs, a couple of years ago. I appreciate your videos so much, it feels like I can continue the conversation with him. And his perspective on things makes so much sense to me now.
Me too i was a sophmore in high school and one of my buddies in french class inroduced me to the series and i thank him in my head all the time for that. I should really try to get back in contact with him
The ones we lost live on through us. And who knows maybe one day there is something once we’re out of this place of consciousness if there’s nothing then oh well. Make the best of it buddies
The entire storyline is about Legend. If MGS1 is Gene, MGS2 is Meme, MGS3 is Scene, MGS4 is Sense, MGSPW is Peace, Then it makes sense for the final game to delve into the fictions own fiction. That Big Boss didn't do half of what is attributed to him, because no one person could really achieve it all for several decades. But a name & a rank can outlast anything.
I always saw MGSV as Kojima bringing the multiverse into the saga and bridging it via the player/Venom, so every player has not only their own Snake/universe but their own interpretation of the series baked right into its lore as well, since the series at that point had already run wild with conflicting interpretations amongst fans (and maybe retcons to boot). Silent Hills was likely to play with the multiverse, and Death Stranding definitely does, with the Chiral Network being multiversal in connecting different Sams/players from different universes and affecting each other's worlds, which again allows room for the series to have opposing interpretations in the future except this time it's established from the jump.
Absolutely I'll never forget when a random African soldier started blowing Skullfaces cover by bragging what he was doing near the base. And this is a voice line that you only get later in the game when your have an Afrikaans interpreter. Then I was absolutely blown away by the voice lines you get when you explore bases with stealth or go through unnoticed. Soldier expose how they see you (Big Boss) everywhere and no one believes stories about Skullface because everyone talking about him treats the tail like a Boogeyman story. You see the setup of how all the atrocities that are perpetrated in V by Zero and Skullface fall 100% on Big Bosses name. No one knows who Skullface is. Even worse the real puppet master Zero.
This might be good but regardless I think the word and concept of multiverse has reached new levels of played out and it seems every single franchise by now has a multiverse
@@MrK4LB Yea at the end of the day it is all about the themes and stories, that’s what Kojima always prioritizes over continuity, and I think he just came up with this work around near the end for various reasons. At least the implementation was outside the box and something that can only be done in games. In a way he gave players the keys to the saga while keeping them away from Konami. It’s very easy to disregard stuff like Survive.
Welcome back! I've been going back to your video essays a lot over the past few months and will continue to do so in 2023, especially as more Kojima related projects continue to release this year and beyond. I hope these video essays remain enjoyable and sustainable for you as a content creator.
"An electronic video essay" As opposed to physical video essays. You know an assignment is serious when they let you do a video essay but have to submit each video frame on paper so the examiner can watch it like a flip-book.
So in a sense, Skullface was the inverse of the boss. Present - at least in spirit - through the whole series and whose worldview informed the events of every major event in the series
More of a bookend, really. The participants of Operation Snake Eater had their own takeaways from the event, which they egotistically justified after the fact as being The Boss' will. None of them really had any idea what The Boss was talking about in the first place, and projected their own beliefs onto her. The Boss' ideology, worldview, or beliefs, had zero influence over what happened from that point. It was never about her, it was about appropriating her name and its influence. That set the stage for the conflicts from that point forward, as the conflict was really about who got to define The Boss and "her" will. Skull Face was just one of those parties, with his own methods to realize "her" will being to eradicate the possibility of cultural contamination and control through language. He was just the one to ignite the conflict, and reveal it was just an egotistic cycle of revenge rather than having any nobler purpose at all.
I'll add something else the medic is no longer the medic he rembers nothing from his previous life. He was never pretending to be big boss, he was implanted with the memories of the real big boss everything that happened in mgs3 peace walker and portable ops he remembers it as if he experienced it himself he truly thinks he's big boss even his manorisms I will say that the process was incomplete but he's around 70-80 big boss
And on top of that even when he learned the truth he still accepted his role as big boss. Big boss himself recognized they are both big boss so honestly I think you could say he is 100 percent big boss they are one in the same sharing a title
I believe MGSV best connected to MGS4, both the previous numbered game, and end of the series, via Skullface's plot against Major Zero. In MGS3 Zero is the good guy, in MGS4 he is the villain that secretly heralded over the entire series. We never see the heel turn until MGSV. Skullface poisoned his body and mind, destroying a vital point of contact within his new operation, which then goes on in wild and destructive paths.
You have kept me (and are keeping me) company in moments that, personally, are not too easy in life. Every time I receive a notification from this channel, I smile; because I know that what I'm going to watch won't be a simple video...but a real experience. Thank You, Boss
Great video, thanks for keeping MGSV alive. Always saw skull face as disembodied revenge and Venom as a Christ-like figure, can’t wait to see what comes next out of this channel.
Welcome Back, Futurasound Productions!!!! Question. I love your INTRUDER series where you deep dive into the main series of games. Any plans on doing one on Peace Walker? I was playing it the other day and forgot how awesome the game was. Would love your take on it. Keep up the great work!!
I know so much about the series, but haven't thought about ex post facto stuff you mentioned in this video. Very impressive, makes me think more about the whole saga. Many gamers still don't understand TPP and its open-ended message. We can all still cry about the unfinished/scrapped Kingdom of Flies mission, but we ALL KNOW what happens after, because of the ex post facto. Putting every piece together that made this saga as it is today was an extremely hard work. Jumping toward various decades, going further, getting back, doesn't matter... It is perfectly fine for the fans to not get all the answers by devs, and that's what Kojima did. He left some gaps on purpose because we, the gamers/fans, share the same knowledge about the story with him. Incredibly, that was going on for almost 30 years. We ARE the WRITERS of this saga, too.
that was the idea behind the ending of MGS2. but the fans didn't like it, so we got MGS4 instead, which then outright spelled it out for us and went full fan service due to death threats to Kojima. (yes, MGS4 is terrible in terms of story writing and Old Snake literally is Kojima being done with the series at that point) that's why Raiden talks about his VR experience ... only if you did the tanker episode. that's why Raiden in most cases spells out what the player is thinking. when Ray jumps up to catch the Harrier and Raiden goes "METAL GEAR?! IT'S ALSO ACTIVE!" it's what the player was also thinking "wait, that's metal gear! and it's active!" or when crazy shit starts happening and Raiden starts to question what's happening, but the colonel keeps reassuring him (us) that it's fine and we should resume out duties. Raiden is the player, till Arsenal Gear where Raidens past is revealed, that's when he becomes his own character.
@@DarkDyllon Yeah, I also think MGS 2 is like a twin brother to MGS 5, mostly because Medic and Raiden were betrayed pretty similar. And since we were THEM, we also felt the same emotions. Kojima's writing skills were and are ahead of its time.
@@arklyshill i disagree with MGS5 being like a twin brother honestly. Raiden was purposefully setup as a blank character, a canvas in a sense, while Medic was set up as Big Boss' phantom, I honestly wish we would've received the product that should've been in the end, for this to be the end of the series is just sad. Medic doesn't feel to me as "i'm Big Boss" it just feels as i'm playing a guy that was basically brainwashed to be Big Boss, so i'm playing Big Boss, someone who i've already played as in 2 previous games. (MGS5 PW, yes, PW was the original MGS5 before Konami axed the name because "can't have a numbered entry on an handheld") and MGS3 obviously. While Raiden was thrown in to throw the player off. You start the tanker as Snake, everything we loved about him in MGS1 is still there, he gets the job done, he can engage in banter etc. then Raiden appears and just the amount of details in his 1st scene is amazing. (which change depending on if you did the tanker or not) where Raiden talks like Snake, but once his codename gets changed to Raiden he becomes the guy we know later on. I could go on and on about all the differences and why i like Raiden and dislike Medic, but I would probably need a few more pages of this video to just do that. Normally i wouldn't promote other channels, but go watch Outerheaven on Twitch, the guy in charge probably knows the most about MGS and shows his passion anytime he streams, while shitting on MGS V, not even kidding, he can spend close to 5+ hours covering small details on just the tanker in MGS2 and easily 2-3 hours talking about details in the 1st area of the Plant (not even the elevator yet, just where you start)
@@DarkDyllon I get your point, but what I meant about them both being twin brothers is the BETRAYAL toward players, made on purpose. I wouldn't normally compare them storywise since we're talking about a period when Kojima wanted to finish the franchise with MGS 2 back in 2001. MGS 2 holds a different message within the narrative, while MGS 5 holds another. Both messages are extremely profound and thought-provoking. Kojima was obviously pressed by Konami's executive staff to continue the franchise as much as he can, but I still love all MGS games since I find something special and big in any of them. Kojima and his team still managed to do an incredible job.
I understand it's not easy to stay on a regular uploading schedule, but it's good to see you back! Very excited for what the future might hold for this channel.
There is only one big boss venom is a hallucination Ocelot set up the attack on Mother Base in 1975. Skullface had no need or motive to attack Mother Base, nor was he likely present at the attack. Ocelot however, in his lifelong quest to fulfil his mother’s will, had motive to remove the now directionless Big Boss. At the end of Peace Walker we see Big Boss abandon his own interpretation of the Boss’s will. He no longer believed in the Boss. The hero of GroznyjGrad was gone and instead there was just a mercenary with no direction in his place. Ocelot couldn’t of liked that his idol and the man who was to carry his mother’s legacy had suddenly let it all go. We know both Zero and Sigint were involved in Peace Walker, we don’t know how Ocelot was involved, or even if he was involved. But we do know Ocelot had a long history of secret units (like his own unit in Snake Eater) and we know XOF is a secretive arm of the Patriots and formally part of FOX. We also know they, and Skullface, were not present in Costa Rica. It is my belief that Skullface was enacting his plan to take out Zero during this time and that Ocelot is the one who informed him about Paz (who played a role Ocelot would usually play) and that she knew where Zero was. Ocelot would even promise to deliver Paz and, by extension, Zero to Skullface. For a price. Big Boss needed to lose MSF, he needed to regain purpose and he needed to become the legendary Naked Snake again, as opposed to some vagabond gun for hire. Ocelot approached Huey, acting as an inspection agency. This ensured he could keep Big Boss off of the base during the attack. Things got out of hand when Big Boss arrived back at base though, ending with the crash that wasn’t supposed to transpire. Skullface wasn’t supposed to try and kill Big Boss via Paz either. Neither of these events factored into Ocelot’s plan. Ocelot needed Miller out of the picture, however after the botched destruction of Mother Base he couldn’t just have him killed because he would still hold use in the future. That’s why they were separated at the hospital. Ocelot had a golden opportunity to reshape John into the man he should have been. Having Miller around could have ruined the process. Through tapes, hypnotic suggestion, prolonged exposure to ideas in a controlled environment and through Ocelot’s usual methods of drugging and electrotherapy he breaks Big Boss down to the basics, to a canvas he can reshape into the legend he believes Big Boss should be. He kills off the identity of “John” by creating the narrative that he is a separate person. Miller would be a problem here because he would remind Big Boss of their dream. He could deconstruct Ocelot’s brainwashing of Big Boss. So Ocelot has Miller captured and tortures him severely. We know from MGS and MGS2 that Ocelot was a notorious torturer within the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 80s. We know that’s where he got the handle “Shalashaska” and we know he was notorious in the region. We also know the Soviets, with the assistance of the Skulls (a Cipher unit) captured Miller, put a bag over his head, limited his vision with sensual deprivation and then he was tortured for no clear reason. His arm and leg were removed, he was likely reminded constantly about the people who died, who he let down. Ocelot needed to break Miller, to turn him insane. Miller would serve as motivation for the newly revamped Big Boss and would also be key in helping drum up troops to follow the legend once more. Money no longer mattered, revenge did. Miller was so broken and vengeful that he had no inclination to look at what was going on. He never even questioned what Ocelot was doing on Mother Base or how he had gained so much influence over operations there. He didn’t question why Ocelot’s KGB unit were on the base with them. Ocelot, for his part, did not want to trigger Big Boss’s memory either. So he behaved completely out of character. He acted like a subordinate to a man he basically had to spoon feed. He spent very little time with the rest of Mother Base’s management team, he took it upon himself to DNA test Eli despite MB having a state of the art medical wing. Ocelot couldn’t risk having “Venom” realise he was the real Big Boss because it would possibly trigger a return to his 1975 outlook. Ocelot is only ever seen behaving like himself away from Big Boss. In front of him he’s this yes man with little personality. He still held Big Boss’s hand and led him down certain paths. The head trauma Big Boss suffered left him in an already damaged and incoherent state so it wasn’t hard for Ocelot to take control from the background. For the lie to be complete Ocelot decides to trigger Big Boss’s belief he isn’t the original. After the breakdown over Paz it became clear to Ocelot that he needed to advance the illusion to cement the idea. As far as ‘Venom’ and Miller needed to know, the man who gave up on the Boss was gone, he was off somewhere starting some fruitless adventure as a complete nobody. But he’d left a message for ‘Venom’. “You’re Big Boss, he is the both of us together”. He was no longer Big Boss, rather, Big Boss was no longer John. Big Boss was a story that would unite the world. The way Ocelot believed his mother had wanted. An icon to unify under that didn’t have a nation, a religion, an economic or sociological model. A man who would fight for what he believed in whilst risking his life for others. Not some money driven war criminal, but a hero. Not an enemy of the times like the Big Boss of 1975, but an icon of the times, like the Big Boss who stopped Nuclear annihilation time and again in the 60s and early 70s. Ocelot could never be the man to carry out his mother’s will in the public eye, he was too far gone by the time he understood. But Big Boss could be that person. We know there was no limit to how far Ocelot would go to see the Boss’s vision realised. Between him and Solid Snake it finally was. Big Boss at the end of everything had regained himself, and probably held onto a bit of his mental doppelganger too. As he made peace with his clone at the end of his life he realised why Ocelot had acted the way he did, and how when his Venom Snake plan fell through Ocelot had decided to put himself through the same ordeal. Ocelot really did carry out the Boss’s will, at the sacrifice of his own name, image, legacy and life. Just like his mother before him.
Wasn't Zeke the first bipedal Metal Gear before Sahelanthropus? Or are we considering the blueprints that Huey had in Granin's office, which look like Rex (that Hal designed) but could've been his design for Sahelanthropus?
MGSV’s ending does exist. It already existed before every other Metal Gear game. Metal Gear 1 is MGSV’s true ending. MGSV has no ending, and the Metal Gear Saga (when played in release order) never ends. You play the games from MG1 to MG2, from MGS1 to MGSV, and the ending of MGSV actively encourages the player to go back to MG1, which would make the player replay the following games, before going back to MGSV. And the saga “ends” and “begins” simultaneously once more. It’s a loop of sorts. Making the Metal Gear Saga a NeverEnding Story of sorts.
@@George-zj9rr they weren't datamined, they existed as a part of the collectors edition. It's pretty clear to me that this is death of the author stuff anyways, so this is merely the commenters interpretation
Metal Gear has been in the forefront of the zeitgeist lately. With the announcement of an announcement for the future of the series recently. I hope justice is done with this franchise.
Welcome back, Boss. Kept us waiting, huh? But we're not going anywhere. We're going to dig in here. It's going to be a long year. From today you can call this place... "Outer Heaven". Good to see you back, my friend. Hope everything's well on your side. Until next time, Boss. 🐍
MGS5 doesn't really feel like a metal gear game to me, sure it's what we always wanted on paper but it doesn't have that special feel that all the other mgs games do especially. 2 is an absolute justified masterpiece and if your a true fan the og ps1 version is always goat.
Venom was his father ... Is my opinion ...and this one too 👉The true is on my summary on my page ...go and read it or listen it .... 2 hours will take 🙂
7 years and it's still the greatest Rambo simulator out there. Everything else that tries to do this kind of stealth+action gameplay (new far cry and ghost recon games for example) feels so very shallow compared to it, nothing else provides this kind of emergent gameplay and variety in dealing with any threat. It also probably has the most polished and expansive 3rd person movement in the genre. Needless to say I'd sell my kidney for MGSVI with gameplay that expands on MGSV.
And for those here who haven't played it but want to give it a chance, try not to overuse the tranquilizer gun, or even just get rid off it. It trivializes stealth and I genuinely believe it may be the reason many dislike this game, it can turn it into a repetitive snooze fest and the game kinda pushes you into using it thanks to the fulton/basebuilding mechanic. Similiar thing with most silenced non lethal guns.
Absolutely agree bro ... Regards ...im from Colombia and I recomend you muy sumary ....another idea of the game 👉The true is on my summary on my page ...go and read it or listen it .... 2 hours will take 🙂
If Konami wants to actually make a move that doesn't stink of cash grab and alienate the fans, they take metal gear 1 and 2, plot point for plot point, assign a competant director, and say "make this with the fox engine" Konami gets 2 games out of it and fans get a solid feeling version of those games that feels more in line with the 3d games. It would be new territory for many fans who never got through the MSX games.
I just finished my first replay of the game, spurred on by finding your channel and binging everything. This is the perfect video to tie it all together. Thank you for the guidance.
I have found something that is interesting in both ground zeros and the phantom pain if you pay attention to Big Boss shadow that gets reflected on the ground/ surfaces in both games even in the main menu of ground zeros if you click on cassette tapes look closely and you will see that something isn’t correct that being the shadow that gets reflected is that of the medic head model I’m sure this isn’t a oversight I think kojima had this done for a reason as the shadow should reflect big boss mullet etc etc however it doesn’t it shows big boss with short hair like the medic meaning that even before phantom pain you never played as the real big boss you may have been in a VR simulation as the medic possibly I’m not sure but the game itself is telling you that something isn’t right even when you play ground zeros the medic shadow follows you.
That's not true, I'm afraid. I actually thought the same when I saw Venom's shadow in mgs5: it doesn't show the mullet, but it does show the ponytail. Thus, it is an oversight.
The thing about MGSV is it feels like the entire polar opposite of MGS4 MGS4 was extremely linear, and spoon fed you most of the story through absurdly long cutscenes. MGSV went so completely in the opposite direction, where the cutscenes were extremely sparse, short, and completely non linear, and most of the gameplay was open world and free form to the point that it could easily lose players not motivated enough to find the truth. The problem I have with both of them, though so polar opposite, is that neither of them feel like they are really about anything the way MGS1-3 were, where there was deeper philosophical stuff to explore directly within the story. You could argue that maybe MGSV is in a more direct way about what the earlier games were about in some form, being more skeptical and thoughtful in the content you consume and to always looking between the lines to find the truth for yourself, but it does so in a way that is possibly too extreme perhaps? It's hard to be totally certain, but I can't help but feel like the original trilogy were the most concise and effective at conveying their messages.
0:01 The word "cage" from the initial quote may also cause "Déjà-Vu" along some "conflicts" of massive magnitude with the reader's "internal timeline" "for a S-Special reason."
What annoys me with MGSV is that the real Big Boss is off doing something far more interesting with Grey Fox, Naomi and Sniper Wolf if you pay attention to the story's of those character's in MGS1. I remember being really excited before the game came out that it was going to be set in Africa, (where Grey Fox killed Naomi's parent's) a trip to Kurdistan to meet a young Wolf would also have been better than what we got with the awful Quiet. Plus rather than using the medic as the body double, it would have worked just as well with Grey Fox Still a huge missed opportunity to me
@@JJ_Jack_Gittes high level storytelling! 😂 This is the game with half naked sniper who wobbles her junk all up in your face!l every chance she gets 🤨 Pull your nose out of Kojima's pretentious arse M8! The man just can't write! He has big ideas but has no clue how to incorporate them into a cohesive story. That was Tomokazu Fukushima's job who left after the first 3 games, you know the good ones!
I still say this game is unfinished , as much as ppl say “ kojima said it’s done it’s supposed to be like “ I say other wise , don’t get me wrong I still love this damn game but the ending half is clearly not done all your doing is side ops and repeating the same missions on hard mode , not only that but we know there was supposed to be another chapter called “peace “ if I remember correctly with concept art and everything and ppl who got the special edition had a deleted cutscene of venom getting back Rex from liquid in Africa and that it self was supposed to be a whole other chapter we never got. So don’t tell me the game is finished. But anyways I love mgs and I hope we get a remake
