Metal Gear

[anustart76]

The biggest problem I have with Kojima's writing is that it gets so convoluted you need to spend hours looking at wikis just to understand what the fuck is going on even if you've played all the MGS games. MGS5 was made pretty much entirely to explain why Big Boss appears in the original MG2 after his defeat in MG1. You have to play every game and still won't understand half of what's going on.

Then Platinum makes MGR, which just has some input from Kojima, resulting in a game that's easily understandable, connected but mostly self-contained, and still has a great plot, characters, and execution. Is it really any wonder it got so many fans that like it over the main series?

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

MGS5 was made pretty much entirely to explain why Big Boss appears in the original MG2 after his defeat in MG1

This will never not piss me off, as it was already explained in MG2 if you just called Kessler during the boss fight

 

[anustart76]

This will never not piss me off, as it was already explained in MG2 if you just called Kessler during the boss fight

How many people today even played the original MSX games? I'm pretty sure most people would naturally play MGS 1-5 and be confused what the hell is even happening by the time they get to the end.

 

[White Devil]

How many people today even played the original MSX games? I'm pretty sure most people would naturally play MGS 1-5 and be confused what the hell is even happening by the time they get to the end.

Had them on Gameboy and I remember playing them and Pokemon and the original GTA around the same time frame on the handheld. This was like late 90s though.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

while Mgs1 had Jeremy Balustein.

Blaustein also introduced a bunch of terms that became a staple in the series, like the codec and OSP.

 

[The Hero of Kvatch]

I think that's more of the case of Kojima's co-writer, Tomokazu Fukushima, making sure the story is at least coherent, though the translators are also a big help in that regard. Fukushima would later disappear after Mgs3 which paved the way for Mgs4 turning out the way it did storywise.

Shit, that's the guy I mentioned earlier. Is it known what happened to him? I once heard a theory that the fucking yakuza murked him, but personally I doubt that. Unless Kojima wanted less restrictions on his writing and hired them.
I think Fukushima was probably pretty important in keeping MGS grounded and coherent. Not that it was to begin with, but you get what I mean. It went off the deep end Post-MGS3.

How many people today even played the original MSX games? I'm pretty sure most people would naturally play MGS 1-5 and be confused what the hell is even happening by the time they get to the end.

The MSX games were included in the Subsistence version of MGS3 on PS2. They were also included with the HD remaster on PS3/X360. That's how I played them, and I imagine it was the same for plenty others. To my knowledge, the only real differences between the original MSX games and the Subsistence/HD versions is an English translation for MG2 (It was never released outside Japan until Subsistence), and the Codec spritework was changed so that Solid Snake wasn't Mel Gibson, and Big Boss wasn't Sean fucking Connery with an eyepatch, and so on.

 

[Snekposter]

He looks more like Stallone than Gibson to me. Also Sean Connery Big Boss is fucking badass.

"Youah too fah, Shnake! Youah too fah!"

 

[The Hero of Kvatch]

He looks more like Stallone than Gibson to me. Also Sean Connery Big Boss is fucking badass.

"Youah too fah, Shnake! Youah too fah!"

I guess that's probably because of the bandana. I see some resemblance but not much.

Something that caught my eye was that Miller changed race. In the original MG2, he's some Asian guy. But in MGS, he's presumably a blonde white guy with blue eyes (as Liquid was able to disguise as him). This is confirmed in PW, as Miller has blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin. Kazuhira is a Japanese name, but Miller is a Western name. This might've been explained somewhere, but I don't remember it.

 

[Mega Black]

From what I understand the execution ending was part of like, one of the super early drafts where the ending was going to be Snake and Otacon blowing up all the MGs. That got changed to just Snake blowing his own brains out but then the team vetoed that ending so we got Big Boss CQC hugging Snake to counteract his virus with good virus.

The ending is still pretty shit but I do like Big Boss finally acknowledging his son and sacrificing himself in a totally selfless way to let someone else live in peace for the rest of their days, almost like he learned a lesson or something.

Baluestein is pretty much the only time I can think of where I'm okay with a localizer playing fast and loose with a script. Most of the time it is totally shit.

but Miller is a Western name. This might've been explained somewhere, but I don't remember it.

I think the explanation is something like Kaz was born in Japan on a naval base or has a half Asian lineage, I forget.

 

[King Vidiot]

Shit, that's the guy I mentioned earlier. Is it known what happened to him? I once heard a theory that the fucking yakuza murked him, but personally I doubt that. Unless Kojima wanted less restrictions on his writing and hired them.
I think Fukushima was probably pretty important in keeping MGS grounded and coherent. Not that it was to begin with, but you get what I mean. It went off the deep end Post-MGS3.

I found an entry for Tomokazu Fukushima on MobyGames. It looks like he is still doing stuff in the industry. His most recent credit is doing story work on a game called Redemption Reapers which came out earlier this year.

 

[The Hero of Kvatch]

I think the explanation is something like Kaz was born in Japan on a naval base or has a half Asian lineage, I forget.

Yeah, that'd make sense. America occupied Japan post-WW2, around the time Miller would've been born.

I found an entry for Tomokazu Fukushima on MobyGames. It looks like he is still doing stuff in the industry. His most recent credit is doing story work on a game called Redemption Reapers which came out earlier this year.

So Fukushima didn't get murdered by the yakuza. Nice to know he's still writing for games.
But what made him part ways with Kojima/Konami? Especially since he worked on every game post-MG2 and pre-MGS4.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

He looks more like Stallone than Gibson to me

In the radio picture it's hard to tell, but in the intro it looks way more like Gibson

It's kind of like how on the MG cover art he's doing the Kyle Reese pose, but his face is 100% Don Johnson.

@The Hero of Kvatch

But what made him part ways with Kojima/Konami? Especially since he worked on every game post-MG2 and pre-MGS4.

Kojima: "Hey, remember how we made Ocelots dad a spirit medium to try and explain Liquid being able to take over his body in MGS2?"
Fukushima: "Yeah..."
Kojima: "How about instead we just make it hypnosis and nanomachines cause Liquid's just a bad ass guy? That way we can have Psycho Mantis be a ghost that posses people from beyond the grave in a cameo!"
Fukushima: "Here's my two weeks notice, faggot."

 

[The Hero of Kvatch]

Kojima: "Hey, remember how we made Ocelots dad a spirit medium to try and explain Liquid being able to take over his body in MGS2?"
Fukushima: "Yeah..."
Kojima: "How about instead we just make it hypnosis and nanomachines cause Liquid's just a bad ass guy? That way we can have Psycho Mantis be a ghost that posses people from beyond the grave in a cameo!"
Fukushima: "Here's my two weeks notice, faggot."

Yeah, now I see why he left lmao. I've said it like 2000 times but Kojima was off the rails with MGS4.

Now that I think of it, Kojima didn't want to make MGS4 in the first place. There's a chance Fukushima thought that way too.

Maybe that's why he left? Maybe he had grown fatigued with MGS and it's seemingly neverending sequels. Maybe Kojima's insane ideas drove him away because he couldn't get any of his ideas in?
I guess that unless Fukushima has stated why he parted ways, we can only speculate.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Something that caught my eye was that Miller changed race. In the original MG2, he's some Asian guy.

IIRC, from the manual Miller was always half-Japanese, but his story was happier. Being the anvil of so many retcons turned him blond, I guess.

 

[Aunt Carol]

I don't have the source, but I need to put this somewhere I can find it again:

"I soon realized that Mr. Kojima was serious."

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

I heard the remaster is a disaster.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

I don't have the source, but I need to put this somewhere I can find it again:
View attachment 5339688
"I soon realized that Mr. Kojima was serious."

Isn't this from that documentary released with Sons of Liberty? I'm not sure, but I think that's Yoji Shinkawa talking about designing an amphibious Metal Gear.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Isn't this from that documentary released with Sons of Liberty? I'm not sure, but I think that's Yoji Shinkawa talking about designing an amphibious Metal Gear.

I'm pretty sure it's Shinkawa,* but I'd only encountered it as a meme image before, so I can't confirm what Kojima was serious about.

Spoiler: he grew his hair out later

I can be bad with faces, but I found a picture of young Shinkawa... wearing the same shirt. [archive]

 

[Friendly Primarina]

I'm pretty sure it's Shinkawa,* but I'd only encountered it as a meme image before, so I can't confirm what Kojima was serious about.

Spoiler: he grew his hair out later

I can be bad with faces, but I found a picture of young Shinkawa... wearing the same shirt. [archive]
View attachment 5339931

I skimmed the docu and it is from that, yes. He's not talking about RAY, though.

Here's the whole thing if anyone's interested:

 

[umami's milk]

I heard the remaster is a disaster.

How hard can it be to just UPDATE the GRAPHICS. You're not even remaking the whole thing from scratch like REM4KE. Just recreate MGS3 in the FOX engine. Some folks have even come close on Unreal.

What's that? You don't wanna use FOX? Why? It's a perfectly fine engine. You're still going to reuse the old voice lines, though? Oh. Okay.