Quote Originally Posted by Bolivar View Post

Wolf & Big Boss

Big Boss has been built up as a good guy since the original Metal Gear Solid retconned him and his status as Snake's father. Everyone in that game idolized him, and the Solid Snake in that game is a man wracked by grief and rage over killing his own father, leading to his complete disillusionment and distrust with the United States government and its special forces. Kojima sacrificed the original Metal Gear games in order to build a deeper story with relevant themes that go beyond a soldier on a mission. And Porable Ops and Peace Walker both dealt with the same subject matter because only Peace Walker was directed by Kojima. They were both games in which Big Boss dealt with The Boss' death because they had to be; we needed to see how Kojima intended to handle it. Lastly, at the end of MGS3, he only learned what The Boss had done, he still refused to understand why she had done it.

Have you listened to the bonus tapes towards the end of the game?
No I haven't yet, I'm almost at the end of Peace Walker.

I wouldn't say they built him up as a good guy in the first game with the retcon, the father retcon just makes the clone plot twist not come off as silly as it really is. He was well respected but only Liquid truly idolized him and mostly in a twisted "I'll surpass you" kind of way, it doesn't change that Snake and just about everyone that wasn't FOXHOUND felt that Big Boss' idea of Outer Heaven and reigniting the Cold War by throwing Nuclear deterrence out the window was a bad idea and made Big Boss look crazy instead of this wonderful guy. He was presented as a complex character for sure, but I wouldn't say it made him any less villainous. They didn't ever really build him up until after the success of MGS3. I also disagree with "needing to see how Kojima would handle it" cause that's a terrible excuse to re-use an idea especially so shortly after it was already done and despite Portable OPS still being official canon. I also feel your last statement should be changed to that she told you why she did it, he just refused to listen to it.

I feel that the writers are just grasping for something meaningful to give him development and are willing to tredge up resolved issues and making them unresolved again to do it. Peace Walker is to the MGS narrative what Advent Children is to VII, a rehash of old themes cause the team knows there is nothing new to talk about. I want to see the Big Boss that was ready to throw the world into chaos for the sake of soldiers, not the guy who literally picks up and recruits every woman, child, and sob story he can find in the jungle and send them back to mercenary base for tea and cigarettes. I wanted to see him fall, not be transformed into the only true hero of the story, and I like the guy but I feel he lost his edge with the retcons. Even if Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 were remade to coincide with the series new narrative, I feel that Big Boss would be more of a Woobie Destroyer of Worlds instead of a Well Intentioned Extremist due to how they've been building him up since MGS3.