Metal Gear Solid 2 Appreciation Thread

[KentaRawr!]

I tried playing it twice now (once on PS2, once on the HD collection), and I just can't seem to get into it.

I've never gotten passed the Russian lesbian with hairy armpits.

She's not a lesbian! Unless she's only pregnant because she was raped, but that's a sad thought.

[Mirage]

Yeah, are you really expecting russian commando soldiers to shave their armpits?

[Bolivar]

I also never felt the idea "was any of this real?" was actually a question left hanging, I felt the game explained everything pretty well, it's just it's rapid fire plot-twist revelation action was not very graceful way to tell the player and I felt that's where the confusion comes from.

I think the reality issue is cool because of how it was done as opposed to lingering question once it's all said and done. There was just so much trippy stuff that you really don't know in the middle of it. Afterwards there's definitely enough to form your own opinion.

Kinda like Solidus' line to Raiden about killing his parents. I get what Kojima was going for but it wasn't done that well.

LOL I was going to mention this when Wolf said he didn't like that you had to fight him. It was literally "Oh, and by the way, just to add a little spice to this fight: I killed your parents!!!"

At best it was a Back to the Futue Part 2 ending where the answers would be answered in some future installment, at worst it felt like Neon Genesis Evangelion's TV ending where the answers to a lot of questions were answered off screen and the ending decided to just focus on one part of the story.

Well it definitely wasn't the former. Kojima has said on record that he intended to end the series with 2.

I never had a problem with the frayed plot threads because I always assumed there would be another game, and I think it's obvious from the way it ends. I'm always disappointed by the fanbase who says "Kojima SAID it was supposed to end with 2" and use it as a means to detract from the brilliance of MGS4.

The truth is, no creator ever has a set idea of how things are really supposed to turn out. Even a creator who most loyally executed a series according to an entire vision has to have many things, including important elements, that changed or were added along the way. That's why fans arguing about what the creator originally intended is meaningless.

However, I feel the game sort of rings hollow compared to MGS1 and 3. The boss fights were less enjoyable fights than the ones in 1 and 3. Final boss fights aside (They were great in all three!) how many fights were as great as Ninja, Mantis, Raven or Wolf? Or indeed that vastly underrated fight v the Ocelot Unit, or the Sorrow, or the duel vs the End? That's not to say the boss battles in 2 were bad, of course not, but they were just a little bit bland by comparison.

That's one of the few legitimate slights against this game - the Metal Gear Solid series is known for multiple entries among the greatest boss fights in gaming, but sadly MGS2 doesn't put forth any nominees. I think it's because this is the point where the series had to adapt to the responsive, real-time action game phenomenon. Sure, the series always wanted to reach that level of immersive gameplay, but Metal Gear at its core is more of a Pac Man meets point and click adventures kind of game. The boss fights in MGS1 play more like puzzles than boss fights in an action game, and I think that's a more meaningful method which allows a lot more creativity for the developer. MGS3 tried to get back to this slightly with The End and The Fear. But the "responsive real time action game" method finally go t good in MGS4, culminating with the impossibly epic Crying Wolf fight. It's a shame Peace Walker took that as one of the ways it built on MGS4, because it was back to hardware that doens't do that kind of fighting particularly well.

Still if I ever decide the time is ripe to buy a PS3 you can guarantee that MGS4 will be one of the few games I ever buy for it.

You say that as if you can't imagine there being many games you would want to play on it. Which is ironic, because the PS3 has SOOOO many exclusives. The PS3 has so many exclusives, we couldn't even list them all in this thread.

There wouldn't be enough text

Seriously, though, I think regardless of what we think about the crazy plot and cliffhangers, I agree with Forsaken Lover that the whole point was to give us something to talk about. I definitely think Kojima wanted us to ponder over those questions, and many more, as the video I dropped said the identity of the Ninja was supposed to be one of them.

[Del Murder]

MGS2 was my least favorite in the series, but I didn't hate it. I prefered Snake over Raiden and I thought the characters and bosses were the least interesting in the series. I also thought the ending was dumb. The last hour of the game is pretty much a mindsmurf that makes the rest of it seem pretty pointless and I didn't like that.

[Iceglow]

Still if I ever decide the time is ripe to buy a PS3 you can guarantee that MGS4 will be one of the few games I ever buy for it.

You say that as if you can't imagine there being many games you would want to play on it. Which is ironic, because the PS3 has SOOOO many exclusives. The PS3 has so many exclusives, we couldn't even list them all in this thread.

There wouldn't be enough text

I don't want another ps3 vs 360 debate here, not now but:

The key thing here is I need there to be enough exclusives which are a) good (sorry but I'm going to say it, much like 360 has bad ones too, there's exclusives which are just utter gash on ps3) and b) interest me. I'm interested in 3 games/series so far on ps3 - Uncharted, MGS4, Heavy Rain. I need more than that to commit to a console.