The Snake Returns | Metal Gear Solid 2 Analysis (Ep.2) | State of the Arc Podcast

[@shazzar2569]

I'm a vet. One time, my command had to go to some boring briefing in a rundown auditorium on base, and they deadass made everyone there start doing jumping jacks and what not in the middle of the briefing. The Tanker Marine silliness is true to form haha.

[@Darrel_B]

If someone hasn't mentioned already, when you boot up the game for the first time, the game asks if you've played or like MGS1. If you select "I've never played it" like I did since MGS2 was my first game, you SKIP THE TANKER MISSION ENTIRELY. For me, this was how I got immersed into Raiden's journey as both me and him were hearing of the events of Shadow Moses 2nd hand. Keep up the great work

[@DiscoCokkroach]

What version of the game did you play?! This did not happen on any version of MGS2 that I've played (SoL, Substance on PS2, and MGS HD on Xbox 360).

[@Darrel_B]

@DiscoCokkroach PAL on PS2. I swear it's an original copy. I'm starting to think it was an EU only thing

[@Omnicloudx13]

The suspension of disbelief and confusion about Ocelot and Liquid's arm with the fandom never made sense to me in a world with literal mind reading/levitation, magical nanomachines, a vampire that can walk on water, cyborg ninjas, a bipedal walking nuke that can fire anywhere. How is an arm seemingly controlling someone so strange when you've seen all that lol.

[@perfectchaosone8253]

Wanted to mention, you can play with the projector in holds to switch the screen manually, if you do it too much it will break and the marines' will notice you. you can also tranquilize them and roll into them to start a domino effect and slow the frame rate down. If you hang and swing through the holds instead of going down the ladder you can see Ocelot hiding under RAY waiting for his entrance.

[@1000BabyRage]

1:00:44 “I know what’s like brother. Big Boss was in his late fifties when they created his copies.” They’re both “drowning in time” is what Liquid is trying to say. Because of how they’re both genetically engineered clones of Big Boss.

[@grahamwade5932]

Snake and Otacon discuss their names and how they've the same as the 2001 characters in the MGS1 'BAD' ending. Snake also reveals his name to Meryl in what ended up being the ending that was chosen to continue the story with, but 2001 isn't mentioned in that one. I can only imagine David Hayters surprise when it came time to record that the first time. Incidentally Snake's real name isn't mentioned again until towards the end of MGS4 Edit: I love the content you guys having been putting out even more than usual recently. Will be joining your patreon when I look at my finances in the next couple of days. Keep up the good work

[@CaffeinatedKing]

I always got this weird sense that people assumed that the Otacon ending was the real ending and then were surprised in MGS4 when they show you that isn't the case. But I never understood why anyone was confused, because Meryl is referenced a couple of times in 2, in the story and in a side scenario, there is a side mission thing that talks about their break up, and then in the story Snake is like "I've had enough of tomboys for awhile". So I always took it to mean it just didn't work out and then he met up with Otacon. (She was a bit young for him anyway)

[@mj2037]

I always appreciate your thoughtful takes, guys! Been watching for quite some time and hardly comment-- but MGS is such a striking series, and I played all of them at the perfect time, 2020 LOL. So its messages hit me so hard, and I've hardly recovered. I'm weird and love MGS4 over all the others.

[@ResonantArc]

Thank you very much! Haha, 2020 might have felt a little too real, striking is definitely the right word.

[@blossom357]

I thought I'd heard it all about this game, but half an hour into this I'm so impressed at the insights. Particularly love the bit at 27:57

[@tricd0444]

Since it wasnt discussed, I think its important to point out how the intro played into the themes Kojima was going for - both the simulation theory, as well as how defying the expectations of the Solid Snake fan boys plays into this. Tanker section - there is next to zero tutorial. YOU are solid snake. You dont need a tutorial. especially if you played the first game, you already know how the press against walls works, how to crouch and crawl, etc. Otacon gives you help when you call him, but the game encourages you to play around with enemies, to explore the environment and interact with the world, and to figure it out. You're solid snake. You can do it. Then, we go to the plant section - the first ten minutes of gameplay are clogged up with mandatory tutorial calls - Raiden, this is how you hang, this is how you aim, this is how you crouch and crawl, this is how you swim, etc. This serves a dual purpose - giving new players information if they skipped the tanker or are completely new to the series, as well as building this entire simulation theory that culminates in the ending of the game. Campbell is explicitly talking to Raiden, he's also breaking the fourth wall and talking to you the player. In this initial section of the game, it's also important to recognize how similar the plant feels to MGS1 in plot structure and 'process' of the mission. Kinda goes hand in hand with Campbell saying that Snake dead 7 years ago, and that Pliskin isnt part of the simulation in later parts of the game.

[@tricd0444]

To sorta build on this a little more, it adds another layer to the Raiden hate experienced at launch - the 'experienced' player that thought they were playing with Snake all game, now has to play with Raiden that doesn't know anything, and the very game that you bought is calling attention to the fact that you don't get to play as the badass. There's layers and layers to pull out from just the intro sequence, from subverting the players expectations (with extra layers there), to parallels with MGS 1 (with extra layers when considering the simulation theory, even when taking it just as Raiden played MGS1 same as the player did), to being a very action movie-like opening sequence. Metal gear solid 2 is an onion. There's layers, and layers, and layers, and no matter how many times you watch complete playthroughs of the game, or play through the game yourself, or how many multiple hour long video essays you watch on it, there's another thing that you've never noticed before waiting for you the next time you experience it.

[@MiBrCo4177]

You can tell the change in tone during Dolph's speech during the assembly at the bottom of the ship. Even playing it for the first time at launch i kinda had a feeling they cut some dialog out during that. I havent read it yet though (haven't cared to) but im definitely going to take a look. you two have gone out of your way to provide us with some insight that a lot of us have known or havent known on various games over the course of these podcast. The least we can do is follow thru. Keep up the great work.

[@IronCodyAlan]

the parallel with mike and i with the dialogue is the way he feels about MGS dialogue is the way i feel about kingdom hearts

[@willuigi64]

I actually dove all the way in this week. Beat the game two days ago. It was fantastic. Excited for the rest of this podcast.

[@kurtmager1626]

1) The director/screenwriter you were thinking of is Roland Emmerich. 2) Solid Snake reveals his name as David in the previous game. If you beat the game escaping with Meryl, he tells her before they ride off on the snowmobile. 3) The optical camoflauge sneak suit was meant to be a carryover connecting to the previous game. It was an item you could win and play through MGS1 with. Since it was part of MGS1, it was part of the story canon, and so it was included basically to get rid of it. If it weren't included, fans would have wondered why.

[@trabant3060]

DNA bases are all hexogon and pentagon shapes if you want to check out the amines

[@michaelmott1420]

Love the consistent quality content you're both putting out on the channel. Was waiting for this one to drop!

[@JerkyMcDoogle]

Kept us waiting huh?

[@kennymetz187]

In so glad to see this game finally get the praise it deserves, this has always been my favorite

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

I rented this game when I was about 11 or 12 years old, and completed it in a single day, it was about 6AM when I got to the wacky moments and I thought I was going mad haha!

[@nickburose8286]

19:20 - Snake's name is revealed in a conversation with Otacon at the end of MGS1 when they are leaving on the snow mobile if you don't save Meryl. Its kinda touching honestly cuz Snake is still calling Otacon by his code name and they exchange their real names to deepen their friendship.

[@pimentx3253]

Snake also reveals his name to Meryl in case you do save her in the end of the game.

[@CaffeinatedKing]

Snake's name is revealed in both endings. Meryl asks him his name and he says "It's David" and she's like "Okay Dave, where to?"

[@nickburose8286]

Oh yeah, you are right. I forgot about that

[@shpladau]

Yeah, the only thing revealed at the end of MGS1's Otacon ending that you don't find out otherwise is... the twist that Roy Campbell is Meryl's father.

[@AtownKid18]

Yep, Dave and Hal . Then they laugh about it

[@arttavarez]

I really love your guys' overview on this section and really taking the time to lay the ground work for all of the different moving parts, how they are all being controlled and orchestrated. Each pull of the curtain revealing a new curtain. I am playing this a little different. I am going to play the part you went over, with this conversation in mind. I've been playing this game since it came out so nothing is spoiled per say, and it lets me look for the specific themes you guys discuss here. One of my all time favorite series. Cannot wait for the next episode.

[@tessier-ashpool3462]

Love it when I see the new video posts on a refresh.

[@Jmbbit138]

Never clicked so fast

[@DarkOfLight42]

KEPT YA WAITING

[@grahamgoolsby1]

@@DarkOfLight42HUH

[@LPN00b]

One interesting and likely unintentional thing that can be pointed out is that snakes shed their skin, which is exactly what solid snake talks about about choosing what to pass on to the future and what to let go of.

[@WorthlessWinner]

Nucleotides are hexagonal with only C, N and O so the chemicals look like DNA (even if it's not exactly DNA)

[@ZUCC1N]

Another Banger State of the Arc episode. Regarding the speech Ocelot makes there is a lot of things that are setups which as mike said, seem like really weird setups with the knowledge Kojima's desired for this to be his final game, but I consider it him having a plan of some sort in his mind, and then when he moved onto 3 and 4 paying them off. There is a lot of single throw away lines that actually have massive significance down the track, like when Ocelot monologues to Dolph saying "Steal? No, I'm taking it back", implying the Patriots or Russians originally had possession of Ray. But Gurlukovich doesn't really question that, so he at least has to believe they have some right to Ray. Why? This itself is paid off only passingly in 3 and even then in a self referential way which if you take literally only muddles the canon and only works if you consider it by it's broad strokes. One note about the Liquid's voice coming from Ocelot's body, as goofy as it is there could be an explainable reason. Some people say it was to clue people in that Liquid took control but it flashes images of Liquid which to me should be a big enough clue. It could be that in reality his voice didn't change, it's not a foreign concept for MGS that the player doesn't hear the exact diegetic dialogue, e.g mgs3 and a conversation Snake has near the beginning of the game, but I'll avoid specifics cause a spoiler's a spoiler. Perhaps as the POV character, Snake was reminded of his brother so was hearing him as a stylistic choice. Either way this is just an educated guess, in the Japanese dub Ocelot's voice wasn't changed, he retains his original voice actor when controlled by Liquid, and if there was a specific reason it was changed, it probably just confused people or made them go "this is weird, I'm out".

[@ScottWaltonDev]

35:14 quick mention that the examples here aren’t really “new” abilities in MGS2: Snake demonstrated an encyclopaedic knowledge of military weapons in MGS (he identified the Hind D instantly in a snowstorm, he recognised the Genome Soldier 556ers and pineapples). Some of the script differences might have just been because Kojima was more hands-on to get an exact translation in MGS2, making it a bit more obvious that Snake is an expert in military tech.

[@reloadpsi]

A solidus is also a forward slash, as in Solid/Liquid. He's the balanced middle ground.

[@aiox82]

With organic molecules (Carbon and hydrogen based) they typically form geometric shapes. Commonly hexagons and pentagons. The nitrogenous bases and the pentose sugar in DNA strands do have such patterns. Making the 'skin' have the hexagonal pattern is not at all accurate but it sure does look cool. Also, what they show happening to DNA is not replication. The sides of the double helix would not separate from the bases (the cross struts in the double helix) unless it is damaged. Still, it is symbolically very cool suggesting that the DNA is breaking down. I take this intro as being analogous to a James Bond intro. It's not to be taken literally but full of symbols you will see in the movie/game.

[@MrDadeadone]

Tomokazu Fukushima and Shuyo Murata also wrote for the first 4 MGS games and the different spinoffs. People (even the industry) put Kojima on such a pedestal when he's one part of a team.

[@mdude62]

32:50 Can't say I ever thought about it but Ocelot's plan to photograph Snake wouldn't have worked at all if the invisible camouflage didn't break when Snake landed. Either Ocelot somehow sabotaged Snake's camouflage prior, which is really only possible if Snake got it from Ocelot (or his group) in the first place, which is definitely possible given the ending of the game, or Ocelot had a way to detect Snake despite the camouflage and then could disable it, which he technically does have the former ability in Liquid's arm as we'll see later on in the game that it can detect when Snake's near even when there's no possible way Ocelot could know otherwise. Maybe that's actually partly why Ocelot had it transplanted in the first place. I've finished MGS4 but I've never really liked the explanation there and it always felt like kind of a retcon.

[@mrzwanzig460]

This series, and even moreso 4 if you ever get that far, is going to be the true test of the oft-repeated "this is not a lore podcast" mantra. :P

[@LrnecBuma]

"Nanomachines?!" Is a fitting meme for this section. The tanker part was intended to be longer. Snake was supposed to rush back up to the surface rescuing olga on the way out. They could not get the speed of the water filling up the ship tight. It was either too slow for the player to care or a realistic nightmarw frustrating players. So it was folded into the closing cut scenes Its mention in the making of documentary you covered. And mentioned again that the guy with dragon tatoo had somilar issue with water physics

[@CaffeinatedKing]

I'm glad there was a short discussion on "style" when talking about the "As you know..." dialogue. I love that the characters talk that way to deliver information, I WOULD hate it in any other series but never in Metal Gear, it's just a fun quirk of these games. I like that we have a meme of Snake repeating everything with a question, I like that the characters will just randomly break the fourth wall. MGS3 probably has most of my favorite fourth wall/meta conversations in the entire series. (Though the MGS2 ones near the end are incredible)

[@EBattousai]

Snake repeating everything connects back with Fei from Xenogears and aizuchi! We're learning from Casen and Mike!

[@OverZaEast]

Playing MGS2 again, and I find out in the Soldier drills opening level you can distract them temporarily so that you easily maneuver that level by I think changing the projector screen into a Gravure Model that you can take a picture of it in one if the tanker lockers if you can find one.

[@land_walker]

I haven't finished the video just yet; But I don't think either of you read the three in game books under the extra section. The third one is very long at 300 in game pages, really around 100 actual pages, but all three recontextualize the events of the first game and explain why Ames is in MGS2 and why he is important.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Considering MGS2 is a commentary on sequels, I think there's something to be said about Snake and Otacon, the protagonists of MGS1, quite literally forming an organization specifically with the intent of destroying Metal Gears. I think this thought is even more compelling when you think about how Kojima wanted to leave the series behind with MGS2.

[@samuelpipe88]

I was playing mgs2 when you announced this series. Just finished a few days ago and I've been so excited!

[@JonathanFerGold]

Metal Gear Solid 2 is a fantastic choice for an analysis. But please, for the love of god, do an analysis for Silent Hill 2 (2024), the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Final Fantasy XII, and the original Parasite Eve!

[@tehdii]

57:46 I know that talking about Blindsight by Peter Watts is like a mem but in that moment of the video when you point out: "discrediting the evidence by the media" something clicked in me. Blindsight and Echopraxia are such a wonderful refreshment in the hard SF genre, it is like MGS on paper in some way. I am re-reading for the third time in past year. Watts has this Hideo-esque way of weaving in the background the corruption of media, news, governments. A delicious "modern" flavour. FFT and Vagrant and many other games went there but I like how metaphisical corruption is covered by political corruption. MGS and Watts are like technologically driven affairs when Vagrant and FFT add the dash of religion, metaphysics :)

[@erikmclennan3934]

They never made a pinned comment to tell us where to play up to for next week's episode.....😢

[@erikaufdenkamp7397]

I just now beat Fatman. Thinking the same thing.

[@Cernunn0s90]

The tanker mission is a vertical slice of what a perfect MGS1 sequel could look like, before the game breaks away and betrays the audience. It was very much done on purpose. The tutorial dialogue in the Plant mission becomes a word for word repeat of MGS1s, but voice acted in a robotic and mundane way compared to the original, hinting at the truth. E.E = Emotion Engine Colonel = Kernel Big Shell = Shell interface (command line) Jack/Raiden = The jack you as a player plug into.

[@DetectiveThursday]

Though I don’t have the time to realize the idea myself I think it would be interesting to explore the question of determinism as it applies to all three of the metal gear solid games that featured solid snake. For solid one the theme was nature, for sons of liberty is was nurture and for guns of the patriots I would say free will. I’d also say for snake eater since it’s a prequel that theme is destiny (cannot cause time paradoxes after all).

[@shadow8928]

Regarding the russian soldier that closed the door after Snake, I always took it as the guy fearing for his life after snake taking down his comrades and just going "nope, I'm not going to die over this."

[@LogosSteve]

Yeah that seems more likely and like Snake mentions later they sealed the decks on purpose anyway so that was probably his primary goal.

[@EDcaseNO]

100% The only one who knew of Ocelots plan on the tanker was Shalashaska ^^

[@jamesk2325]

I think it's really important context that so many of these unanswered questions are meant to remain so; mgs4 being a sequel to 2 is very much a response to pressure from above kojima I really think the game is in part made with the intent to evoke feelings of dissatisfaction, confusion and to be challenged on why you feel such things

[@jacobkramer1218]

Nothing defines my childhood more than playing this game with my baby brother and singing "Nana nana nana nana Fat MAAAAAAANNN" over and over again as a way to get each other through the fight.

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

Looking jacked discussing the second best Metal Gear Solid game of all time! :P The 1998 game is my favourite video game of all time. Love MGS1, 2, and 4.

[@AJ3RDAMAN232]

interesting point with regards to them wanting you to not be sure if it was merill or olga when you first see her, the japanese VA for olga is the same as merill from mgs1 so its funny you guys mentioning kojima trying to fuck with the player and throw them curve balls and the japanese players had even more lol, the Japanese VAs for snake and solidus are also the same which also could trip out the audience, but dont want to get ahead of myself in terms of spoilers. Great vid lads, lookin forward to the rest of the series

[@Mezmero]

I want to bring up something from the demo version of this opening segment. First of all you DO have access to lethal weapons in the demo. Now one of the things you can do as of this game is hold-up soldiers and you can get items or info from them by doing so. Some soldiers have stronger will than others and won't give you anything, unless...you shoot their limbs with your lethal firearms. If I recall correctly you could shoot as many as 3 separate limbs (arms and legs) and they can stay alive from that, and if they have a chance to escape from you they will limp away in a hilarious fashion. I believe in the full game you can only shoot out two of their limbs and shooting a third will automatically kill them. Mike makes a great point about the creativity of boss fights in MGS but I still think they are weaker in this game compared to every other entry in the series. This opening Olga fight is decent although for as many cool little touches that are in the fight you ultimately are just waiting for chances to shoot her out of cover and that's it. Fat Man is the only other fight that I think has a lot of cool easter eggs and fun little details. I'll have to wait and see what you think of later fights but there's maybe one other one with some cool alt strategies that I can recall. All that aside this podcast series is off to a great start.

[@ProxyDoug]

The chip was called Emotion Engine, not really worth correcting, but I'm just wondering if Sony named it that as a pun that could meant electronic motion, as in e-motion engine.

[@FatedTim]

23:17 And even if nukes are not used as a deterrent-or used by a crazed person to take the world/harm. I believe a person who makes their plea of violence seem rational, and convinces the world to destroy ourselves more realistic and terrifying over all

[@EDcaseNO]

there is this modest proposal type suggestion where the nuclear football key/codes should not be inside some secure brief case for the leader but instead; be *inside* a good friend and aide of theirs who always accompanies them. before accessing that power they would be required to... well, you can imagine. unironically great suggestion imo >.

[@ohiosfinest]

You guys need to do an episode on The last of us. With all of the deep diving you guys do, it would be an amazing video.

[@BlackCatsXVII]

It doesn't need deep diving cause it's a surface level game

[@johnmeroney2007]

Anyone interested in the turn-of-the-century, 9/11 zeitgeist, Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon explores this. Also, he mentions Kojima/MGS two separate times in the novel. I feel like the themes explored in BE could support MGS2 discussion. BE is also somewhat less dense than other Pynchon works, as far as barrier to entry.

[@AshenVictor]

As I recall, the first MGS was one of the earliest games to use professional voice actors (because games before CDs couldn't have more than a few lines of voice anyway and it would be digitised super heavily to the point that it could be anyone talking so why not just grab whoever from the office) and there just wasn't a SAG contract rate for voice acting in games. So the actors used the names they use for non-SAG contract work because nobody knew whether there was going to be a problem if they worked under their registered names. By MGS2 it was all sorted out and I think they kept the original casting names for series tradition.

[@lionheart4424]

Casen, I beg of you... PLEASE practice your Otacon impression. Also Mike, the same goes for your Solid Snake impression, then you guys do another take on the codec conversation for the last episode. Casen has a very similar voice to that of Otacon and he is so close to sound almost like the voice actor. I'll be spamming you with this request on the MGS podcasts until it becomes true lol. Been enjoying your content, I just finished the Silent Hill 2 one and it was amazing. Keep up the good work!

[@curiza]

The Emotion-Engine.

[@EDcaseNO]

E.E!?

[@video_ouija7114]

Man. The end of this game blows my mind, what they were able to accomplish

[@EvanLechelt]

have fun with this one . it is balls crazy and quasi prophetic

[@MC.Mikey117]

What a legendary game

[@Ocelot231k]

Near the end of this series just a suggestion. Call up Max Derret for the GW sections. 😉

[@lionheart4424]

*Derrat, and I hope for that collab too.

[@LogosSteve]

I already told them Max could vouch for me lol if only but I doubt they will have me

[@DJTS1991Yes]

It’s discussed at a later time in a different game that Ocelot’s ancestors could speak to and harness spirits. And the spirit of something, or its essence, is essentially the effect it has on everything around it. Which suits the topic of memes a lot and environmental influence. I imagine that Ocelot could be an individual who is particularly susceptible to environmental influences, and as such, has no sense of self and thinks that he IS Liquid Snake. You see this often with mothers and their babies where they’re unable to distinguish that they are another person. And I think this is a problem still prevalent today. People are still unable to differentiate between nature vs. nurture. It’s next to impossible to measure accurately and definitively. Where is the line when nature ends and nurture begins, and vice versa. This makes Snake and Liquid/Ocelot perfect adversaries. Snake knows who he is, where he comes from and how his environment affects him. He has a keen level of self-awareness that can come across as campiness. He’s very “solid” in his foundations. Liquid Ocelot’s foundational presuppositions flow like a river. Solidus, and to an extension, Raiden, is symbolic of the idea that life is a constant mediation between yourself and the environment and this will never change.

[@AkibaInk]

Just wanted to add to the discussion of the Liquid Arm thing... [SPOILER] While yes, the actual, full dissection of the arm situation is covered in MGS4, there were also hints of it in MGS3 that was a pretty satisfying breadcrumb (and ultimately a misdirection of sorts) on what was going on with the arm - In 3, it's revealed that Ocelot's father, The Sorrow, was a soldier who came from a line of spirit mediums. I won't spoil anything else about the character, other than it was theorized before 4 came out that Ocelot was channeling Liquid's spirit in the same sense that his father would channel dead soldiers... but that Ocelot wasn't actually aware that he had the power and by taking Liquid's arm had accidentally subjected himself to being the medium of a particularly strongly willed person. This specifically explains the "Liquid voice" being present as well... as an arm won't change your vocal chords by any means. I find that explanation preferable to 4's, personally... simply because I preferred some of the series more ridiculous aspects remaining mysterious and fantastic, instead of being explained and dissected down to the smallest detail.

[@ZayIvory7]

[Spoilers] I think the 2 explanations work in tandem. After all, Ocelot actively removes Liquids arm after 2 which doesn't contradict his fathers abilities at all.

[@raphaelm.darocha9206]

So.. what’s the goal for next week for those following the game club format?

[@jansonhensen7804]

I could of swore they set up liquid sharing ocelots body at the end of the 1st game. But it's been awhile

[@barkbentley4657]

The La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo are REAL!!!!!!! 😮

[@joaomadalenopereira]

You can also shoot the guard's arm of his trigger hand and the guard won't be able to shoot.

[@shinluis]

Late game CODECs direftly explain the logic behind La-li-lu-le-lo: for a Japanese speaker, l and r are the same sounds and there is no difference between them. It is defaulted to R in romanisation, so the the idea is that L is a phoneme that effectiy “doesnt exist”/ is impossible to pronounce (as its been standardised as R), even if you’d try to. Rose later asks Raiden how can he know for sure the alphabet is really 26 letters and not 30 letters and some where erased and no one no longer knows about them, or something of the sort.

[@DJTS1991Yes]

With the phrase “Laliloolalo”, it’s like a word that doesn’t exist. Which makes perfect sense because the Patriots also “don’t exist”. No one knows they exist. So how do you describe an organisation that doesn’t exist? With words nobody can adequately pronounce. It’s actually genius. When you can’t properly define a problem, it will continue to have a hold on you.

[@DungeonBricks]

All this time and I didn't know "solidus" is another way to refer to the non-newtonian fluids state of matter. Mind blown.

[@ProxyDoug]

There's a Metal Gear fan movie called Philanthropy

[@jasonwintermyer8566]

You hold up every guard in the game and shake them down for their dog tag. I got the trophy for collecting all of them.

[@Tyler-h7p]

The jingles😊

[@TheBeird]

I forgot to mention last week, and it may be too early in the series to start bringing up how this game predicted the misinformation hell that we are currently in, but it's worth mentioning that in the 90's there was a book called The Sovereign Individual. I forget who wrote it - other than one of its co-authors being father of scumbag politician Jacob Rees-Mogg - but it too predicted certain things that have come to pass. Not as a warning though. More as an "look how we'll be able to exploit this" kind of way. Kojima may have been aware of this book, or of the same research the book looked at too. As for the Tanker Chapter? Yeah it's one of the greatest intro sequences/vertical slices of a game ever. I ain't got much to add with regards to that.

[@fattmusiek5452]

So good fellas so good

[@kurtpritchett117]

I'm no expert but, all those tranquilizers can't be good for that baby

[@BillyMaurice]

A few things to consider. 1 kojima wanted this to be the last, not sure if the plan was to hand it off or not. 2. Mgs3 was a prequel so in a lot of ways it seems silly to wait till mgs4 but that's the next continuation of the story. 3. They really regretted killing off liquid because of how popular he was. So bringing him back in a silly way had more to do with that then it was for any narrative purposes. I appreciate you guys for trying but considering kojima loves movies, in particularly action movies, I think people read into a lot thematically with his games rather than just enjoying the circus.

[@tricd0444]

1. After tons and tons of fan theories, plot analysis, and a handful of interviews, the most common consensus I have found is that Kojima didn't want to make mgs2 originally, and ended up making it with the explicit plan to hand it off to "the next generation" while he worked on something else. There is absolutely a 'handing off' of the torch thematically when comparing MGS1 and 2, specifically in parallels between Snake and Raiden in their respective games. This point is really hammered home in MGS4, the third game he didn't want to make.

[@derrickpanciera5644]

Yes.

[@JasperJunior94]

yes but for how long...? 🧐🧐

[@sxztube]

26:30 Kasatka in Russian means Killer Whale

[@stevezac_cptlpnshmnt]

1:17:50 Ocelot was channeling Liquid Snake because Ocelot is the son of The Sorrow from MGS3 who was a Medium.

[@blossom357]

Absolutely not. I will never understand when people try to reconcile details introduced by later entries in a series to its previous ones. Unless, possibly, you can prove Kojima had the MGS3 storyline in mind while writing MGS2.

[@tricd0444]

Ocelot/liquid will never make complete sense no matter how you look at it. In this installment, liquid is literally supposed to be taking over his mind. It's only after MGS3/4 released that they claimed everything was nanomachines and Ocelot was faking it the whole time. This is where MGS falls apart, later entries retcon everything that came before it, sometimes breaking continuity and suspension of belief in order to give an answer.

[@scatterbraineddaily4722]

I always preferred Olga Battle: March of the Russian Queen.

[@ResonantArc]

Ha! Perfect

[@dankeybong]

Hell yeah dude

[@ChaosAngelZero]

There's "As You Know" dialog and general bad writing due to Kojima kicking Jeremy Blaustein out. He cleaned up a lot of Kojima's mess in MGS, but also added, removed, and changed things that he shouldn't have.

[@ShannonHallKC]

Mgs2 Pajama party 🧦🧦

[@CoffeePotato]

Tactics Olga 😂

[@djangotur0910]

i think its important to say that every mystery this game presents (Liquid Ocelot, the Patriots) where never meant to be answered. Kojima did not intend to make a MGS4, he was sceptical of even making mgs3. And it shows in in mgs4, tha answers are dumber than the questions, and where never intended to be given. Mgs2 should imo be analized whilst ignoring the existens of mgs4, frustrating as it may be. edit: I kinda commented to fast, you pretty musch ackowledged this :)

[@SuperZero42]

Idk if you guys are going to cover this, or if you ever put it together so... SPOILERS Re: the Liquid Ocelot thing... Kojima's original 'expalnation' of it was in MGS3. By implication, anyway. It had to do with Ocelot's biological father being a medium. Kojima seemed to want to leave it at that until, as you point out, he decided to retcon it again in MGS4

[@leif54]

Solid.

[@kennymetz187]

Solid 2

[@JohnRayner5]

@@kennymetz187Solidus 3

[@philiphall6351]

Liquid snakes VA died so was written out.

[@yuuts2619]

Cool

[@VikDeth502]

I just wanted to clarify. The PS2's EE chip was called the "Emotion Engine". It's not "Emotional". It just makes me cringe when you called it the "Emotional Engine".

[@Big_Dai]

How can they have +100k subs and consistently get between 6k and 10k Views? No wonder they are worried about growth.. since it seems this channel isn't going places.

[@matthewgubbins8515]

Brother

[@chloroquin6724]

"Snake Solid" Please dude...

[@johnmckeough4368]

Love your optimism but you will not get through the fatman fight next week, and I wouldn't have it any other way ❤

[@MrRusty103]

No, no, no. Please detail every single movie shot reference in Kojima games. We'll have 90 hour videos per game, its basically an infinite content hack.

[@AceBadguy]

Hope anyone reading this has a great 2025.

[@ChocoboChords]

Day 5 of asking for skies of Arcadia

[@kennymetz187]

Rather have mgs

[@Jmbbit138]

naw. MGS all day baby .

[@CassidyListon]

I've expressed my opinion in an earlier video, but I really hated the "I live on... THROUGH THIS ARM!" moment in the game. Kinda ruined the whole game for me.

[@ghost-in-the-ciel]

I don't get this thing you always hear from Japanese developers at the time, where they had this fixation on passing things on to a new generation, but they were like 38 years old??? Kojima, Takahashi, and others have all said this. I could understand them thinking about this if they were nearing retirement age, but they're nowhere near that. Their life calling is to be a creator, but they want to step aside in perpetuity in their 30s? Is this just some altruistic impulse to give the kids a turn at the wheel? Was it some kind of cultural chauvinism against video games where it wasn't considered a "real job" for adults in their 40s to do, even though they'd already made millions of dollars doing it? It also seems like total hogwash because most of the people who expressed this sentiment just continued directing games anyway

[@stanm4410]

Maybe it's just a Japanese cultural thing because the "old mentor" characters in JRPGs who help the young protagonist character along the hero's journey are often just in their 30's 😆

[@unchartedgoldenabyss]

😂😂😂​@@stanm4410

[@TheWildHart]

These guys are insufferable. His name is "Solid Snake", not "Snake Solid" lol

[@LPN00b]

Mike's right arm looks really brown compared to his left, has he immersed himself so much he took on another arm? Liquid??