a few years ago when i beat this game for the first time, i knew that i needed to play the games that came before it (at the point of writing, i have finished mgs1-4).

taking the raiden i know from mgs2 and 4 and applying it to this game makes me think of it less favorably. of course, the gameplay itself is stellar. but i'm conflicted on whether or not i enjoy the direction this game takes his chacacter in. you can argue that his downfall really starts in mgs4, but i don't know. i enjoyed him there. i might just have a higher tolerance for what changes are acceptable to be made to a character than others.

before i played the other games in this series, i had no real emotional investment in how raiden acted or how he may be foregoing some lessons learned in previous games simply because i hadn't played them. so, i was simply able to look past what i now see as odd mischaracterizations.

after learning about how this game could've taken place in between mgs2 and 4 and shown how he rescued sunny, and how fucked up development was... i feel a little disappointed that this was the end product. however, i won't say that i've done a complete 180 on how i feel about this game overall. it really just comes down to the fact that i know how raiden used to be, and have a hard time seeing how he would become the person he is in this game.

at the end of the day, these thoughts i've had of this game and the way it handles raiden are very fresh as i'm still new to the main series, and my opinons may change as i sit on them longer. this is also written before my replay, which i will be starting immediately after i finish my peacewalker playthrough, so i may update this soon.