(Untitled)

[khronos_keeper]

Coincidentally in honor of the date of MGS2, I managed to finish playing it and write a behemoth of an analysis of some of the game's larger themes. By request, I am now plunking it all here. I do hope that it is interesting and offers yet another look at this sprawling labyrinth of a game.

Apologies for not cutting this into more digestible pieces

Comments

[oudeteron]

"War determines not who is right; only who is left."
THIS IS BRILLIANT and...yeah. I wish I knew more about Chinese so I could tell whether the pun is the same originally as in the English version, but either way thanks so much for sharing.

Gaming is supposed to be an escape, not a reminder of our daily lives.
Haha, I think this is what makes Kojima so fun/frustrating - the player is lured with the concept of the game being a "stealth mission", then it's not at all about stealth. (Then again, I'm an extremist like that; someone complains about some aspect of MGS gameplay they don't like, and I counter with "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THIS GAME ISN'T ABOUT THE GAMEPLAY.")

Anyway, I agree that MGS2 is where you're constantly forced to think about "what makes a game character". And of course it's more complicated than with the most common types of heroes because you eventually find out that Raiden doesn't even fall into that category. It's interesting that the game states his backstory fairly up-front, just not straight away. I love the effect when you just realize things about the character in retrospect, although you're not even finished with the whole game.

One of the last messages the games departs on is another huge theme: more than just determining the past, information essentially determines reality. For much of the game, both Raiden and his handler are confused about what is real and what is a relic of his own mind, or the Patriot's control over him.
And I really like this. I wouldn't even call this Kojima being manipulative, exactly - he's just not acting as the "filter" people expect when they're being "told" something (and even with something as interactive as gaming, when there's a narrative the player usually expects to be "told" parts of it). Even though you're much better served when the medium leads you to think about who picks the information to be passed on and why and how it happens, as well as about the lack of "objectivity".

Still on the determination of history bit: I'm reminded totally out of left field even by Kojima standards of The Ravages of Time (adaptation of the Three Kingdoms history/mythos). The writer/artist says something similar, as in history is also controlled by whoever writes it or written by historians controlled by power interests. As if to prove that point, the graphic novel introduces portrayals that are sometimes totally unexpected for certain characters with a distinctive myth surrounding them already, and makes it work. So yes. It just reminded me of the whole problem around how much of history is manufacture that gradually turns into expectation.

PS: I'm tagging this post so it's possible to find in the future.