[6/18/24]
23 fucking years ago.
Everything MGS1 does is made so much better in this game. In regards to stealth, the much smarter AI, new traversal like hanging, having to map out each floor of each building as you go, and the new Caution level of alertness make creeping around so much more tense. For combat, being able to shoot in the first person finally makes action bearable, especially in the few forced action sequences. The boss fights here are also so much more bearable. Fatman fucking rules, and the fight against the Metal Gear actually isn't on the verge of bullshit this time.
Narrative is the big one here, and it's the reason why this game is still talked about today. It's got two sides; the whole meta-textual aspect and the other part everyone talks about including THAT speech. The former comes from Raiden's mission being a little too similar to Snake's raid on Shadow Moses. Turns out that was the plan all along. Those VR missions that he did and that simulation of the Shadow Moses Incident? You did them too, and it's immediately put to use to get you to get used to Raiden when the sudden protagonist switch catches you off guard if you didn't know. He and you are tricked into thinking the mission you go through is an actual military op and not just another staged act to train soldiers. Do your mission and play the game; they're one and the same in and out of the screen. The Snake segment at the beginning was a setup to scrub him out of the picture so that the Patriots could go along with their plan, but he lives and sets things off balance. Entering your name at the first node results in it being engraved on some dog tags Raiden wears at the end, and he tosses them away to be his own person, no longer controlled by you or the Patriots.
Then there's the second, infinitely more popular part; the Patriots and in turn the writers predicting the state of public discussion, echo chambers, government censorship, and misinformation was eerie then, but it's extremely fucking creepy now that we're living in a time where the Colonel and Rose being AI realistic enough to fool Raiden is now entirely possible today and current geopolitical affairs. Of course their solution to this problem being to filter and cultivate information themselves, erasing any trace of negativity towards them, is wrong and terrible and contradictory, but unfortunately the Patriots have attained the status of having people go "they're right, actually" because they stated the issue in a pretty profound matter with a handful of those individuals playing right into the hand of their hand. In reality, the Patriots are afraid of what they cannot control, and the new front of communication being an essential tool as the rest, often acting as an even more free means to do so, poses a threat to them. The game also expands upon the gene concept of the first game by demonstrating that there are thing outside of genes that can be passed down, material that has to be recorded through other means. It's what this game does, and this also plays into the idea of Raiden becoming his own person with the memories and ideas he has. As long as they're definitively his own to control, he is free.
Play this game on its own to question society if you haven't yet in the past eight months or whenever generative AI or genocide denial became commonplace. Play it as a sequel too for the full, unfiltered message.
23 fucking years ago.
Everything MGS1 does is made so much better in this game. In regards to stealth, the much smarter AI, new traversal like hanging, having to map out each floor of each building as you go, and the new Caution level of alertness make creeping around so much more tense. For combat, being able to shoot in the first person finally makes action bearable, especially in the few forced action sequences. The boss fights here are also so much more bearable. Fatman fucking rules, and the fight against the Metal Gear actually isn't on the verge of bullshit this time.
Narrative is the big one here, and it's the reason why this game is still talked about today. It's got two sides; the whole meta-textual aspect and the other part everyone talks about including THAT speech. The former comes from Raiden's mission being a little too similar to Snake's raid on Shadow Moses. Turns out that was the plan all along. Those VR missions that he did and that simulation of the Shadow Moses Incident? You did them too, and it's immediately put to use to get you to get used to Raiden when the sudden protagonist switch catches you off guard if you didn't know. He and you are tricked into thinking the mission you go through is an actual military op and not just another staged act to train soldiers. Do your mission and play the game; they're one and the same in and out of the screen. The Snake segment at the beginning was a setup to scrub him out of the picture so that the Patriots could go along with their plan, but he lives and sets things off balance. Entering your name at the first node results in it being engraved on some dog tags Raiden wears at the end, and he tosses them away to be his own person, no longer controlled by you or the Patriots.
Then there's the second, infinitely more popular part; the Patriots and in turn the writers predicting the state of public discussion, echo chambers, government censorship, and misinformation was eerie then, but it's extremely fucking creepy now that we're living in a time where the Colonel and Rose being AI realistic enough to fool Raiden is now entirely possible today and current geopolitical affairs. Of course their solution to this problem being to filter and cultivate information themselves, erasing any trace of negativity towards them, is wrong and terrible and contradictory, but unfortunately the Patriots have attained the status of having people go "they're right, actually" because they stated the issue in a pretty profound matter with a handful of those individuals playing right into the hand of their hand. In reality, the Patriots are afraid of what they cannot control, and the new front of communication being an essential tool as the rest, often acting as an even more free means to do so, poses a threat to them. The game also expands upon the gene concept of the first game by demonstrating that there are thing outside of genes that can be passed down, material that has to be recorded through other means. It's what this game does, and this also plays into the idea of Raiden becoming his own person with the memories and ideas he has. As long as they're definitively his own to control, he is free.
Play this game on its own to question society if you haven't yet in the past eight months or whenever generative AI or genocide denial became commonplace. Play it as a sequel too for the full, unfiltered message.