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YES MORE THOUGHTS ON MGS1. Kind of a long post this time.
And here it comes, the scene where Snake takes his breather mask off in the freight elevator. This really drives home just how far the technology had come by MGS2; the play of lighting and texture in this scene is gorgeous. And Raiden has such pretty hair. XD I imagine though, that for someone who had gone from playing MG2 to playing this game, this would be a really impressive scene. Seeing their hero Snake for the first time in 3-D…I guess that sentiment is kind of lost on people who grew up with 3-D, but it SOUNDS like a really cool moment.
What really strikes me about old PS1 games like this and Final Fantasy VII is how RICH the textures are. It’s too stylized to be realistic in the way PS2 games are, but it’s very detailed and beautiful. I’m thinking of the train sequence at the beginning of FFVII here; the first time I saw that scene, my mouth dropped open, because it was totally not what I’d been expecting at all. I’d had no idea they made things like that with the PS1. I’m sure I just insulted everyone who actually owned a PS1 or older system when they were a kid. Sorry! ^^;
o I feel like I should clarify that my first system was a Nintendo64, so the games I grew up playing tended towards bright colors and cartoony characters. Until I got my PS2 and a copy of FFX, the most realistic game I'd ever played on a console was Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Just so you know where I'm coming from here. XD I had played a few semi-realistic PC games (Septerra Core comes to mind. God that was an awesome game. I need to find out how it ended sometime. Also Myst, though to be honest any fond memories I might have had of that game were tainted by that. Damned. Rocket puzzle. Arrgh, it makes me angry just thinking about it!) but FFX was really my first introduction to a semi-realistic level of detail in a console game. So when I got a copy of FFVII and realized they'd been doing things like that even on the PS1, it caught me totally by surprise.
“I’m nice and dry, but it’s a little hard to move.” “There’s a lot of pressure on my torso!” Interesting how both Raiden and Snake criticize their suits, but while Snake gets Naomi gently chiding/comforting him as she explains that it’s meant to prevent hypothermia, Raiden gets the Colonel snapping at him to stop complaining - and then is told that the suit’s literally rearranging his insides. Oh, and they stole his blood too. Almost makes you wonder of Kojima wanted the fanboys to hate Raiden.
Finally a few differences. While Snake watched Liquid fly off in the Hind D, Raiden had to hunt down a node, and then…what happened after that? Did he run into Fortune or Vamp? I forget. :/ It’s been like three years since I played that game.
MEI LING! <3 You were awesome in MGS4.
o As an aside, I think I’ve finally figured out what’s always bothered me about Rose. She’s just not any good at what she does. :/ As Jack’s girlfriend, she’s clingy, whiny, and tries too hard to force emotional intimacy on him, and as a spy for the Patriots she…well, see the above, since none of those qualities are a good way to get close to your target. And I don’t care what she was trying to do, pestering him about their anniversary just was not a good idea.
* Why exactly does getting spotted by an enemy jam the radar? Are we supposed to assume they automatically set off a chaff grenade every time they see someone, and we just aren’t shown that for some reason? I don’t get it.
• "Well, maybe when you get back I'll let you do a strip search on me." Oh my god, Naomi. You have no shame at all. XD
• YAAAAAAY MASTER MILLER ilu. Though I wonder why they decided to rename him Kazuhira in Peacewalker. Making him half Japanese was also probably a retcon, though people who have actually played MG1 and 2 can feel free to correct me on that if it's not. So tell me, guys; would this disguise have fooled those MG players back in the days of yore? I know fandom says this disguise is infamously bad, but I think it looks pretty good.
•
http://www.youtube.com/user/alexfung23games#p/c/10F71614048C9C10/4/IhFcl1EIS0I
• RUN SNAKE THEY'RE GOING TO POISON THE VENTS. Heh, spraying for rats. You're not fooling anybody Liquid. Except maybe your own men. XD
• "They say he's using stealth, too." IT'S AMAZING HOW HE CAN SNEAK AROUND WITHOUT BEING SEEN! IN A WORLD WITH PSYCHICS AND GIANT ROBOTS, TRULY THIS IS AN AMAZING ABILITY.
• "There's an intruder besides me?" (facepalm) Come on Snake, even you can't be that dumb - oh wait, they're talking about the Ninja. Never mind! XD; I was wondering why they said the intruder had killed three people…Wait, just three? Tsk, you're slacking on the job there Fox.
• Man, that is a sweet looking tank.
• Doing sit ups in your jail cell, Meryl? You are hardcore. <3 I've always liked you. Even if wearing a dangly earring onto the battlefield is silly.
• 3:00 If this were a later-generation game, we would totally be treated to a loving close-up of Snake's ass during this scene. I can just picture it.
• OH GOD SIGINT ;___; He started talking, and I don't know…It totally just hit me. This is the guy who laughed with Big Boss over how ridiculous Granin's walking tank idea was, and geeked out over guns with him, and got creeped out by his obsession with boxes…Only it's not even the REAL Sigint, is it? The real Sigint's been dead for hours by now. ;_; I liked you, Sigint. Why'd you have to turn evil?
• METAL GEAR?! ahahahahah I was waiting for Snake to say that as soon as not!Sigint started talking about nuclear-equipped walking battle tanks. Awesome.
• Man, REX is an awesome robot. You did a good job there, Hal.
o On a side note, it still really bothers me how complicated RAXA and Peacewalker were. I guess the fact that RAXA needed a telekinetic to be piloted affectively helps a little bit, but there's no excuse for the whole AI subplot IN THE SEVENTIES. Though it does make me feel better about some of the technological shenanigans I'll be pulling in MO.
• WHY did they cement Baker into a room? Seriously, why would anyone do that? Were they planning to leave him in there to die?
• Huh, key cards that work by interacting with the user's own electrical field…gosh, that doesn't sound familiar at all!
o Actually, to be honest I thought the idea that the Big Shell was a deliberate exercise set up to make another Solid Snake was really interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/user/alexfung23games#p/c/10F71614048C9C10/4/IhFcl1EIS0I
• Did she just - DID MERYL JUST BEAT UP THE GUARD AND STEAL HIS CLOTHES? :D Meryl you are awesome. <3
• I wonder if part of Meryl's hesitation here could actually be due to that little speech Snake just gave about how much of a rookie she is. She starts out their encounter sounding pretty confident, but by the time the other guards break in she sounds pretty shaky. Nice job you did there, Snake.
• Man, the life bar is TINY in this game.
• And here it is, Meryl's ass. And so a tradition is born. But only because it's hard to show an ass in eight-bit.
• Whoa, that's some pretty sexualized dialogue you've got going there, Mantis. Always knew you were a freak.
• God, I just know I'd have a hard time with this boss fight.
• WAIT WAIT A MINUTE Ocelot allowed himself to be cemented into the tiny room WITH Baker? So, wait. Was Baker deliberately being used as bait then? I just do not get this cementing thing at all. Is Liquid secretly a Poe fan or something? XD
• I wonder why Solidus didn't have anyone cemented into a room. Since that's apparently something Kojima's really into and all.
• EEEEEEEE Ocelot you and your gun tricks <3 Fifty years and you're still a ridiculous show-off.
• Oh my GOD Ocelot, stop stroking that barrel. That's just too blatant even for you. XD
• Oh what the hell. WHY is Ocelot's life bar so big? That's just ridiculous!
• Another reason why I would have a hard time with this fight, beyond my terrible reflexes and aiming skills: I'd keep stopping to hear Ocelot say his lines. XD At least in MGS3 they give the good lines their own mini-cutscene.
• Hm, looks like landing a hit takes a pretty big chunk off Ocelot's life bar…I guess it's not as unbalanced as it looks after all.
• "You're pretty good." OH MY GOD AHDKJGSDKGSHGFSDHFDSKDSF <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 I have gained an all-new appreciation of that line. That beautiful line and all it stands for.
o In all seriousness, I actually do have a huge thing for epic love. And this? Is truly an epic love. Ocelot continued working for Big Boss even after he was a comatose torso in a trash bag, it's so romantic. <3
• JSKDJGDKFGJD FOX >(
• And now I'm wondering how people without all my backwards nostalgia reacted to this. Relief that they wouldn't have to spend another twenty minutes playing gun-tag with a creepy Russian man?
And here it comes, the scene where Snake takes his breather mask off in the freight elevator. This really drives home just how far the technology had come by MGS2; the play of lighting and texture in this scene is gorgeous. And Raiden has such pretty hair. XD I imagine though, that for someone who had gone from playing MG2 to playing this game, this would be a really impressive scene. Seeing their hero Snake for the first time in 3-D…I guess that sentiment is kind of lost on people who grew up with 3-D, but it SOUNDS like a really cool moment.
What really strikes me about old PS1 games like this and Final Fantasy VII is how RICH the textures are. It’s too stylized to be realistic in the way PS2 games are, but it’s very detailed and beautiful. I’m thinking of the train sequence at the beginning of FFVII here; the first time I saw that scene, my mouth dropped open, because it was totally not what I’d been expecting at all. I’d had no idea they made things like that with the PS1. I’m sure I just insulted everyone who actually owned a PS1 or older system when they were a kid. Sorry! ^^;
o I feel like I should clarify that my first system was a Nintendo64, so the games I grew up playing tended towards bright colors and cartoony characters. Until I got my PS2 and a copy of FFX, the most realistic game I'd ever played on a console was Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Just so you know where I'm coming from here. XD I had played a few semi-realistic PC games (Septerra Core comes to mind. God that was an awesome game. I need to find out how it ended sometime. Also Myst, though to be honest any fond memories I might have had of that game were tainted by that. Damned. Rocket puzzle. Arrgh, it makes me angry just thinking about it!) but FFX was really my first introduction to a semi-realistic level of detail in a console game. So when I got a copy of FFVII and realized they'd been doing things like that even on the PS1, it caught me totally by surprise.
“I’m nice and dry, but it’s a little hard to move.” “There’s a lot of pressure on my torso!” Interesting how both Raiden and Snake criticize their suits, but while Snake gets Naomi gently chiding/comforting him as she explains that it’s meant to prevent hypothermia, Raiden gets the Colonel snapping at him to stop complaining - and then is told that the suit’s literally rearranging his insides. Oh, and they stole his blood too. Almost makes you wonder of Kojima wanted the fanboys to hate Raiden.
Finally a few differences. While Snake watched Liquid fly off in the Hind D, Raiden had to hunt down a node, and then…what happened after that? Did he run into Fortune or Vamp? I forget. :/ It’s been like three years since I played that game.
MEI LING! <3 You were awesome in MGS4.
o As an aside, I think I’ve finally figured out what’s always bothered me about Rose. She’s just not any good at what she does. :/ As Jack’s girlfriend, she’s clingy, whiny, and tries too hard to force emotional intimacy on him, and as a spy for the Patriots she…well, see the above, since none of those qualities are a good way to get close to your target. And I don’t care what she was trying to do, pestering him about their anniversary just was not a good idea.
* Why exactly does getting spotted by an enemy jam the radar? Are we supposed to assume they automatically set off a chaff grenade every time they see someone, and we just aren’t shown that for some reason? I don’t get it.
• "Well, maybe when you get back I'll let you do a strip search on me." Oh my god, Naomi. You have no shame at all. XD
• YAAAAAAY MASTER MILLER ilu. Though I wonder why they decided to rename him Kazuhira in Peacewalker. Making him half Japanese was also probably a retcon, though people who have actually played MG1 and 2 can feel free to correct me on that if it's not. So tell me, guys; would this disguise have fooled those MG players back in the days of yore? I know fandom says this disguise is infamously bad, but I think it looks pretty good.
•
http://www.youtube.com/user/alexfung23games#p/c/10F71614048C9C10/4/IhFcl1EIS0I
• RUN SNAKE THEY'RE GOING TO POISON THE VENTS. Heh, spraying for rats. You're not fooling anybody Liquid. Except maybe your own men. XD
• "They say he's using stealth, too." IT'S AMAZING HOW HE CAN SNEAK AROUND WITHOUT BEING SEEN! IN A WORLD WITH PSYCHICS AND GIANT ROBOTS, TRULY THIS IS AN AMAZING ABILITY.
• "There's an intruder besides me?" (facepalm) Come on Snake, even you can't be that dumb - oh wait, they're talking about the Ninja. Never mind! XD; I was wondering why they said the intruder had killed three people…Wait, just three? Tsk, you're slacking on the job there Fox.
• Man, that is a sweet looking tank.
• Doing sit ups in your jail cell, Meryl? You are hardcore. <3 I've always liked you. Even if wearing a dangly earring onto the battlefield is silly.
• 3:00 If this were a later-generation game, we would totally be treated to a loving close-up of Snake's ass during this scene. I can just picture it.
• OH GOD SIGINT ;___; He started talking, and I don't know…It totally just hit me. This is the guy who laughed with Big Boss over how ridiculous Granin's walking tank idea was, and geeked out over guns with him, and got creeped out by his obsession with boxes…Only it's not even the REAL Sigint, is it? The real Sigint's been dead for hours by now. ;_; I liked you, Sigint. Why'd you have to turn evil?
• METAL GEAR?! ahahahahah I was waiting for Snake to say that as soon as not!Sigint started talking about nuclear-equipped walking battle tanks. Awesome.
• Man, REX is an awesome robot. You did a good job there, Hal.
o On a side note, it still really bothers me how complicated RAXA and Peacewalker were. I guess the fact that RAXA needed a telekinetic to be piloted affectively helps a little bit, but there's no excuse for the whole AI subplot IN THE SEVENTIES. Though it does make me feel better about some of the technological shenanigans I'll be pulling in MO.
• WHY did they cement Baker into a room? Seriously, why would anyone do that? Were they planning to leave him in there to die?
• Huh, key cards that work by interacting with the user's own electrical field…gosh, that doesn't sound familiar at all!
o Actually, to be honest I thought the idea that the Big Shell was a deliberate exercise set up to make another Solid Snake was really interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/user/alexfung23games#p/c/10F71614048C9C10/4/IhFcl1EIS0I
• Did she just - DID MERYL JUST BEAT UP THE GUARD AND STEAL HIS CLOTHES? :D Meryl you are awesome. <3
• I wonder if part of Meryl's hesitation here could actually be due to that little speech Snake just gave about how much of a rookie she is. She starts out their encounter sounding pretty confident, but by the time the other guards break in she sounds pretty shaky. Nice job you did there, Snake.
• Man, the life bar is TINY in this game.
• And here it is, Meryl's ass. And so a tradition is born. But only because it's hard to show an ass in eight-bit.
• Whoa, that's some pretty sexualized dialogue you've got going there, Mantis. Always knew you were a freak.
• God, I just know I'd have a hard time with this boss fight.
• WAIT WAIT A MINUTE Ocelot allowed himself to be cemented into the tiny room WITH Baker? So, wait. Was Baker deliberately being used as bait then? I just do not get this cementing thing at all. Is Liquid secretly a Poe fan or something? XD
• I wonder why Solidus didn't have anyone cemented into a room. Since that's apparently something Kojima's really into and all.
• EEEEEEEE Ocelot you and your gun tricks <3 Fifty years and you're still a ridiculous show-off.
• Oh my GOD Ocelot, stop stroking that barrel. That's just too blatant even for you. XD
• Oh what the hell. WHY is Ocelot's life bar so big? That's just ridiculous!
• Another reason why I would have a hard time with this fight, beyond my terrible reflexes and aiming skills: I'd keep stopping to hear Ocelot say his lines. XD At least in MGS3 they give the good lines their own mini-cutscene.
• Hm, looks like landing a hit takes a pretty big chunk off Ocelot's life bar…I guess it's not as unbalanced as it looks after all.
• "You're pretty good." OH MY GOD AHDKJGSDKGSHGFSDHFDSKDSF <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 I have gained an all-new appreciation of that line. That beautiful line and all it stands for.
o In all seriousness, I actually do have a huge thing for epic love. And this? Is truly an epic love. Ocelot continued working for Big Boss even after he was a comatose torso in a trash bag, it's so romantic. <3
• JSKDJGDKFGJD FOX >(
• And now I'm wondering how people without all my backwards nostalgia reacted to this. Relief that they wouldn't have to spend another twenty minutes playing gun-tag with a creepy Russian man?