New myth article; Ravi on TUS Pirate Podcast

[Ravi Singh]

Amongst the shit storm that has come about from the recent announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (personally, I'm disappointed) I bring you a brand new myth article about Gray Fox's backstory in Portable Ops. It's in THE FEATURES section so check it out.

Besides that though, I was a guest on the first unofficial TUS Pirate Podcast where we briefly talked about the recently announced Metal Gear Solid: FIGHT OF THE METAL GEARS as well. If you missed it, you can check out the gameplay demonstration video on the FIGHT OF THE METAL GEAR page under THE FEATURES. We also talked about other shit too, so be sure to endure all eighty minutes. Also, yes, I sound like I'm eating the microphone. What can I say? I was hungry.

[Ronok]

Nice podcast. I like how you all basically hate everything. I'm starting to feel like it must come with the territory. Nice comparison with Sonic and Star Wars communities too. Good commentaries on the fanbase too. Once again, hate everything. Good stuff!

[Ravi Singh]

Feedback for the podcast should be posted here.

[John]

Wow, I never realized how fucked up MPO's backstory retcon was.

Oh well, let's just pretend MPO never happened and hope Kojima never brings MPO up again... ever.

[Ravi Singh]

Unfortunately, as the article states, that bit of Metal Gear 2 got retconned from the canon.

[John]

I know. But since the game is only considered a "side-story", and from the looks of it Peace Walker won't be trying to connect anything from MPO to the main (ie good) series (and assuming it stays that way), we can just pretend that MPO is the "Snake's Revenge" of the Metal Gear Solid series, even if it is officially canon (:shudders:)

Speaking of which:
"I don't care if you think Portable Ops is the best thing ever since Snake's Revenge." I lol'd.

[Ravi Singh]

But Snake's Revenge was completely elasticated from the main canon by means of Kojima saying so and the events that took place in the game being contradicted by all of the Metal Gear games since Metal Gear 2. Saying we can ignore it because it's a side-story is like ignoring the Chronicle Resident Evil games as canon.

Portable Ops doesn't offer much to the series but it does take Snake Eater's ending where "The American branch of the Philosophers turn into The Patriots" and changes it into "Ocelot ends the American branch of the Philosophers and starts The Patriots with Big Boss and Zero." This much is supported by Guns of the Patriots.

I suspect that other events in Portable Ops will be referenced in Peace Walker. If this is the case, Portable Ops is practically sealed into the storyline. Unless Peace Walker flat out ignores Portable Ops and contradicts what we saw in that game, we have no choice but to accept the fact that it's canon and Gray Fox's storyline was officially retconned.

[A.G.]

Hey Ravi. Read your Gray Fox article and simply had to comment. Great stuff! Being completely agains MPO, I'm glad you found that. I was going to write up something similar since I immediatly looked up MG2 Gray Fox bio after playing MPO, but honestly I just didn't want to anymore. LOL

Great stuff though! I would say that MG2 backstory (being supported by MGS1) is a bit more valid that MPO. So... hopefully that counts for something for the hardcore fans.

Nice Podcast. I'm with you on the fansite status part. Though I thought you guys were way to harsh on MGS4. It was a good game. You stated that the game was just marginally above horrible. And yet as I recall you originally reviewed it with a high score, high 9's I believe.

Anyway, nice article.

[Ronok]

On comments about the article...
I liked the history aspect you went into. Informative and humorous! That's the TSS style.

[Dick Motorman]

glad some of you guys dug it.

Also, awesome new article, Ravi.

[John]

Dear God. It's him.

Go back to your hole in TUS!

[Dick Motorman]

It's pretty apparent that PW will be filled with PO references. Kojami has no reason to ignore PO, it sold well, and thus is a part of the canon. Same way they have no reason to get rid of MGS4's part in the series history.

Also, it's rather funny to retcon a game that came out two years prior.

Also, thanks to the retcons, Fox is now somewhere near 50 in Metal Gear Solid, which kind of ruins the whole brotherly dynamic he had with Snake.

[Ravi Singh]

[John]

Well this is just depressing.
Ahh, our opinions on Metal Gear Solid 4 may vary (greatly), but at least we can all agree that Portable Ops is horrible.

[A.G.]

I’ll have to disagree with you on that Ravi, and rather completely. Functioning gameplay for action is not a flaw. I’m sorry, but every Metal Gear game contains action (shoot out) parts. And up until MGS4, they sucked. The fact is, while MGS2 and 3 did enhance stealth mechanics, the action controls were clumsy and uncomfortable. Not having a choice between comfortable stealth gameplay and comfortable action gameplay does NOT make a better stealth game. The fact is, you can comfortably play MGS4 the traditional way as well as the “fun action” way. And that is where MGS4 evolves the series. Now it’s complete. You see, Metal Gear games have always been about making a choice. Kill or Sneak. It’s just that in the past the game was designed poorly for action scenes. Now, more then ever before, the player has to make that choice. You have comfortable shooting mechanics and you’re in a war zone. What better setting to truly loose your humanity and cut loose? Other games rarely put you in situations where you REALLY needed to kill, usually it was due to your own error in getting spotted. But MGS4 tempts you with it! A final exam in your own morality, if you will. I don’t know why you don’t respect that.

As for the OctoCamo being the only stealth improvement… I’m not sure if you had a realistic expectation of the game. What did you want them to add beyond what we saw in MGS3? What else is there to stealth? I think the series already covered it all. MGS4 was about giving you the best of everything you’ve seen thus far. Refined controls. Every stealth trick thus far. And great action. It’s a culmination of everything the series pioneered in a final package. If MGS2 had quality abilities like MGS4, perhaps we would not have needed that ultimate cheat of cheats, the tranq gun.

I played both of the Uncharted games and I don’t buy into the crap that they are better looking. Sure, the setting are beautiful… but it’s not a fair comparison. You’re comparing relics/museums/shrines to ruins/dumps/war zones. The fact is, Uncharted is a pretty picture, but it’s empty. You can’t interact with it. In MGS4 you can interact with anything. But this is a separate topic. Uncharted 2 isn’t anywhere near MGS4, not on any level. I’d be happy to dive into that further if you want.

As for the story, I disagree with you as well. Not as definitively as I do on the gameplay/graphics aspect, but still. Despite the ravings of some hardcore fans, MGS2 thus far is the worst example of plot presentation. Fact is, despite it’s depth, the game was boring. The ending was filled with longwinded codecs that were hard to watch. And we saw one useless plot twist stacked on another. Did we need Ocelot explaining the fake S3 plan in a 15 min cutscene only to have the real deal revealed in a 20 min codec call? Hell no. The ending of MGS2 was lame, in every way. Not even close to a fitting end to the series. Now, MGS4 wasn’t a great plot, but no means. But for what it was, it was perfect. The game is meant to be an end. It was advertised to tied everything together. And they did. Yeah, the nanomachine card was overplayed, true. But how else do you explain 10 years of outrageous plot twists? LOL Again, gotta be realistic. I loved seeing all the characters return. What an awesome reunion to close things out. Yeah, Big Boss didn’t need to drag out his death over and over. There are a lot of things that could’ve been changed. But that’s true of EVERY game in the series (with the possible exception of MG2SS).

As for the Online, I really couldn’t care less. I don’t like online gaming. But you need to be realistic about it. In today’s market, if you don’t have Online then you don’t really have a game. The market demands it. You must remember that Kojima is an employee. He doesn’t run Konami. If they want Online… If they want more Metal Gear… If they want more canon Metal Gear… It’s his JOB to deliver. Corporate things like that tend to cramp the creative side.

Anyway, that’s my take on it.