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Its called acid because your friend dosed you an hour ago and you havent noticed anything besides a general bouncy feeling and then it starts to really kick in as soon as you leave the house. In other games you take the tab and wait for it to begin, eased into it.
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# ? Dec 6, 2017 14:35 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 09:09 |
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Grizzwold posted:Potentially it could also be a shortening of vanguard, i.e. the team sent in first. This was my understanding as well. There are other reasons for this interpretation but they're spoileriffic.
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# ? Dec 8, 2017 08:41 |
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Ace of Aces posted:This was my understanding as well. There are other reasons for this interpretation but they're spoileriffic. Let me guess. The van team was known for teleporting using their psychic powers?
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# ? Dec 8, 2017 08:44 |
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Psychic powers in general seem to be a less-known quantity in Ac!d, possibly because Psycho Mantis doesn't seem to exist, so there isn't a "famous psychic" that is talked about.
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# ? Dec 9, 2017 01:19 |
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Part Five: Snake Goes North After the shot of the dead pilot and co-pilot, we're dumped out to the intermission screen. Having completed the first mission, there's something new here: the deck editor. The deck editor is exactly what it sounds like, the screen where you can choose which cards are in Snake's deck. This is, of course, fairly important as you go on through the game. On the other hand, it's a bit useless right now. I was going to run through Snake's starting deck here, but I decided I'd rather go into more depth on what each card is and how they (don't) work together. While we're here, though, I will take a moment to talk about a couple more types of cards. The first is cost reduction. These cards... reduce your overall cost for your turn. This is very useful for getting a turn advantage on enemies, or just for offsetting the use of a high-cost card. For example, you can use a movement card followed by Cost -4 here to get Snake's turn cost to 0, which means he'll go twice in a row. Cost reduction cards should pretty much always be in your deck. The other type is character cards. These are cards named after characters from the game, and they can do all kinds of things (usually emulating the characters from the game). For example, if you use this Revolver Ocelot card, it reduces the cost of all of Snake's gun attacks to 2, but prevents him from using CQC. Character cards also come with little bios and quotes from the characters, such as: Revolver Ocelot Card posted:[Revolver Ocelot] There are character cards to do pretty much anything in the game, so this category is really too broad to comment on as a whole. Some character cards are really good, some are novelties, some are trash. If you want to see your favourite Metal Gear characters in this game, though, character cards are the way to do it. And that's all I have to say about the deck editor here and now, so let's slide into stage 2, the office. Just like outside the gate, there's a pan over the mission area. Guards are inside, what a surprise. Also surprising: Snake's loving phone is ringing. Roger: It's the Leone Unit--a group of insurgents opposed to the Moloni Republic--named after their leader. If you don't remember, we saw Leone and his Unit in the intro: Like with Teliko, the player being able to identify these guys might be an interface spoiler, but Leone has a portrait and bio in the manual. Snake: So anti-government rebels have stormed a lab facility built on government soil... Another one of Moloni's internal conflicts, maybe? Roger: No. The Leone Unit is actually a group of mercenaries hired by someone else. The group is made up of soldiers from several countries, and they're not working together under any political ideology. Snake: So they were hired by someone to take over this lab after Moloni's civil strife was brought under control? All of this raises the questions: what's in this lab that's important enough to hire mercenaries to take it over? What exactly is "Pythagoras"? Just feel free to stew on those. Roger: Yes, and the enemy security is higher than anything we've seen before. There appear to be security cameras in the facility. Be careful as you go in... Snake's no rookie. Roger: And Snake... I've got something important to tell you. Listen carefully. Snake: What is it? That lead-in makes it sound like Roger's about to drop some knowledge on Snake, but nope, he just gives a tutorial about Cost. I've already discussed it, so I'm not going to show the tutorial, but I am going to point out that it comes before the second mission of the game. I bet that at least one new player has gotten screwed over because they didn't know what the number on the cards meant, so they ended up in a patrol route. Roger: Snake, I think Gary's Codec is damaged. I can't make out what he's saying. But we know he's in the control room to the north. Snake: North. Got it. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program, "Snake's Search for Santa." And that's the start of the mission! The first thing I did was zip up to this door. You can see between the two screenshots, moving in front of the door opens it and allows Snake to see in - in the first shot, the interior area is all blacked out. And yes, in order to open a door, you absolutely have to end your movement. It's a pain in the rear end. Also, yes, enemies can open doors and see Snake if he's just milling about in the hallway or whatever, so you have to be careful of your positioning. You can't see through closed doors, so it's kind of a good rule of thumb to just assume that they'll open up next turn. In addition to the guard in the office, there's one in the hallway. And there's also a surveillance camera! Cameras are harder to see than guards, but get highlighted the same way in the overhead scan view, which makes it a useful tool for getting a read on their position/FOV. Stealth-wise, you have to be especially careful of cameras, since they'll instantly initiate an alert if they see you. With guards, they'll take a turn to use the radio to call for help, so you have a brief window to take them out before they can do that. There are also two more cameras further down the hall. These are two views of the north side of the little office Snake is south of. Even further north, there's one last guard. You can also see a white bullseye in this shot. When Snake stands on that, he'll move to the next part of the map. Now that we've got the lay of the land, I can go on with the mission. It begins with Snake moving into the office and stopping on this tile, where he picks up an "MGS1 Pack." These are booster packs, each containing three cards. The three boosters I skipped outside the gate are all also MGS1 packs, if you were curious. Standing behind this filing cabinet, Snake is out of both guards' lines of sight. Getting the MGS1 pack in the office is a bit of a detour, but... ...It synchs Snake's path up with this guard's, so you can duck back into the office without being seen. Now it's just a matter of getting out without getting spotted by the guard when he turns around. I could murder him with a sword here, but I'm trying for a no-kills run. The H.F. Blade being in Snake's deck here is a bit odd, since Snake explicitly says he doesn't want to use it in MGS2. Let's mark that down as Solid Snake and, uh, Solid Snake being different characters. Instead of sword murder, I follow the guard over to this space and sucker-punch him. It's a knockout! I can't get the MGS1 pack over here because I don't have a gun in my hand to shoot the camera. So it's over here instead! I don't think flattening against the wall actually helps in any way (guards can either see a tile or they can't), but it makes me feel sneakier. This guard's easy to juke, since the furniture restricts his vision cone. You just have to be careful when he moves up here. Make sure you're still behind the divider, since he turns to the right on the next turn, and he'll spot you if you rush. While I was waiting for the guard to turn around, I drew Action+. Using Action+ gives Snake the ability to use one more card per turn, which is a bit of a mixed blessing. It'll let you attack/move/&c. more times, but it also generally means you'll get fewer turns, since you run your Cost up higher. It also means that your hand will slowly dwindle, since you only draw two cards at the start of each turn. In this case, I used it and then immediately ended my turn. Action+ lasts for 10 turns, so it's not a total waste, and it'll let me move further next turn. Unfortunately, the guard in the hallway put a stop to that plan. With the guard over there, getting the pack in that little alcove means dealing with him somehow, which is more of a hassle than it's worth to me. So I'm going to just move on to the next area. As soon as Snake enters the northern part of the office, Alice stops him. Snake: What is it? Alice: Gary is to your north. Oh my god, I get it. I'd like to say that Snake is just being an rear end in a top hat here, since it's been pretty well established that Gary is in the control room to the north. But Alice answers earnestly, so who knows. Alice: If you go to the west side and turn the corner, you'll see an entrance. That's your way in. This is the actual information. You don't have a chance to look at the map before Alice calls, but the hallway in front of Snake is running east-west, not north-south. This line is fun if you read it in a kind of pleading tone. "Snake, please don't be a jerk about this." Roger: Go to the west side. Snake: ...Right. And now it's back to the game! Off to the right, there are two guards. They cover this hallway pretty well, so it's nice that we don't have to go that way. Security on the west side is comparatively light, a camera just south of the door we need to hit and a single guard. There's a second camera, but it's too far north to be in the way. By the way, your action count carries over between the two parts of the map, so I could only use one more card at this point. I just ended my turn, but it's something else you have to be careful of. The guard has decided to stare at the wall. Then he fucks off back up the hall. Good work, my man. Cameras can't see the tile directly underneath them, so you have to either shoot this one out or slip past it here by hugging the east wall. Having to stop for doors is absolute horseshit. They fixed this for the sequel. Also horsehit: the game gives you the chance to line up a move here. But as soon as Snake goes through the door, he stops. You guessed it! Roger: Snake, it's a Patrol Bot. Keep your guard up. Snake: A Patrol... Bot? This is the introduction of a new enemy type, Patrol Bots. Roger: A state-of-the-art guard dog developed at the Lobito Chemistry and Physics Lab. Looks like it belongs to the Leone Unit now, though. Snake: ...So I'll put it out of order, then. Roger: Hold on, Snake. That won't be as easy as you think. This is one of the main features of patrol bots. Having armour means they take less damage from attacks. There are various weapons in the game (e.g., Grenades) that have the "anti-armour" property and deal full damage even to armoured enemies. Roger: Unless you can find an armor-piercing weapon, or can disable it with a Chaff Grenade, your best bet is to sneak by without getting caught. Snake: ...Right. That's Patrol Bots 101. And here's another thing that can screw over a first-time player: that cutscene stops Snake right on the other side of the door, leaving him out in full view. Not a problem if you killed the guard, or you timed his route right, but it's also not ideal. The bot always goes south on its first turn. This leaves an easy avenue up the west side of the room. But then you have to wait for it to move again. This is, after all, a stealth game. If you like, you can blow up the robot with a Grenade to get a free MGS1 pack, but it's easy enough to just sneak past it like this. As far as I know, it won't turn to face this doorway, and when it's going north-south, its vision is restricted. This tiny hallway only exists to slow you down. Passing through the second door, you get a glimpse of this trenchcoat-wearing guy as he runs off to the north. There's a guard in the room ahead, but he's not an issue since the furniture blocks his view of the doorway Snake's standing in. The only problem is I ran my Cost way up using three cards per turn, so I have to watch every other person on the map take their turn. Would have been handy last turn. But oh well. At this point, all that's left in this part of the mission is to run north past the guard. Now, let's see what Gary Murray has to say for himself... Cool Ghost fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Dec 16, 2017 |
# ? Dec 15, 2017 21:11 |
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I forgot exactly how jank the system was for the first game.
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# ? Dec 17, 2017 19:19 |
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Can you wind up skipping past a door because your movement cards have too many squares to stop right in front?
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# ? Dec 18, 2017 00:19 |
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No, movement cards let you move up to however many squares, you don't have to use the full allotment every time.
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# ? Dec 18, 2017 02:28 |
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So are the booster packs just not that important? You're pretty casual about skipping them given your disdain for the starter deck.
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# ? Dec 18, 2017 02:29 |
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The booster packs we're seeing here all contain cards from the MGS1 set, a lot of which is the stuff that's already in the starter deck, so you can't really do much for improving that other than taking out a couple of the really bad cards. Plus, boosters will be available to buy soon enough, and that's a much more efficient way to get cards (getting a higher score in the mission means you can buy more cards, anyway).
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# ? Dec 18, 2017 02:40 |
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Grinding currency to buy packs is trivial.
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# ? Dec 18, 2017 21:12 |
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The moment i read viggo's line of "This must be the work of..." my mind automatically completed it with "an enemy stand" Which honestly does not feel far off with the talking dolls and insanity that exists in the mgs universe
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# ? Dec 19, 2017 14:04 |
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Part Six: Makin' Friends The north part of the office complex contains a cutscene. Thanks to the low camera angle, the player can see the guy hiding under the desk, but this never occurs to Snake. He's never been on a seeking mission before. What? Gary skipped the lesson on not yelling at the phone during hiding school. Snake: You must be Gary Murray. Clearly, Gary wasn't thinking that the gun pointed at him was the start of a conversation. Snake: I just talked to you on the Codec. Gary: Oh... So you're the American? Thank you. Snake: Looks like you're injured. Can you stand? Gary: Yeah. I'm fine. Instead of animating Gary getting out from under the desk, the scene cuts to Teliko running through this hallway. This is where Alice called Snake and told him to go west. Now back to the Snake and Gary show. Gary: Yes, I do. I just happened to see where Dr. Flemming was taken during my escape. This kind of situation happens in every Metal Gear game through MGS2. The player enters an enemy stronghold looking for some VIP and ends up getting directions to find them from some other prisoner/VIP. Part of why I think Metal Gear Acid is effective as an MGS spin-off is because it nails down the structural similarities in those early Metal Gear games. The first four Metal Gear games all also start with you going north (well, up, towards the top of the screen). Gary: Those terrorists forced the lab workers into boats and sent them off to a nearby island. They were being treated like prisoners. Then, after U.S. soldiers came and attacked, the terrorists just went nuts. Despite being an FBI unit (so not technically "U.S. soldiers") the HRT does deploy overseas. Maybe this factoid is less interesting to Americans. Gary: I managed to slip past them and tried to make my way to FAR, but one of the guards caught sight of me. I thought it was all over, but somehow I managed to make it here without getting killed. Snake: What's "FAR"? Gary: It's a research building in the northernmost part of the plant, where Dr. Flemming would receive instructions. Only the doctor's closest advisers were granted access to that place. Everyone called it FAR--an acronym for Flemming's Assembly Room. Must have been big assemblies if they needed the whole building. Gary: Intellectuals can be a little extreme. Snake: Where was Flemming taken? Gary: The residential quarters, located to the east. Little slip by the editor there. Gary: But I could hear him yelling, "I'm Flemming! What the hell are you doing ?!" It had to be him. There's no doubt in my mind. Snake: Residential quarters to the east, huh? The shot moves to Snake for his last line there, but I thought the call icon over his face was funny. Roger: Snake, you better get over there on the double. Snake: Right. Snake: I'll come get you when my mission is over. Gary: Please hurry... Good luck, Gary. Since the mission can't just cut off there, now we have to head back south and go east through the hallway. As shown here. The purple bullseye indicates the mission goal. Note also that the cutscene with Gary doesn't actually end Snake's turn, so I only have one action left. Since I'm heading south, I've flipped the camera around. Just pointing it out here because all the rooms are "upside down" compared to the previous trip. The guard is heading to the north side of this room, so I'm able to pick up this MGS1 pack while I pass through. The patrol bot's still watching the west exit, so it doesn't spot Snake moving through the door here. I have to kill a turn standing next to the door so the guard doesn't catch Snake when he turns around. And that lets me slip under the camera and past the guard. However, there are two guards watching the east exit. It can be a little tough to sneak past these guys, since they cover each other's blind spots well and there's not a lot of cover. Thankfully, Snake has a tool for that. This is a Metal Gear game, so of course you can hide under a cardboard box. The box stays equipped forever, as long as Snake doesn't get spotted and you don't use a weapon. As long as you're in the box, guards won't investigate unless you're directly in their path or they see you moving. So I'm free to hang out here. And then, once the guards are looking away, I'm free to slip into this little nook. If it weren't for the box, Snake would be spotted here. I'd have to knock out one or both of the guards to slip past. At this point, it's just waiting. And then a quick hop to the exit, and it's mission complete. Another S rank! Despite this mission taking six times as much cost as the last one, I still get the "speedy" bonus. I don't know what the exact criteria are for it. The two MGS1 packs I picked up didn't really have anything great in them. Equipment LV. 2 can be handy once you actually have some good equipment, I guess. The clear bonus contains a Genome Soldier, though. That's handy, since Snake only starts with three in his deck (out of a maximum of four) and it's the only movement card available at this point in the game. Anyway, time to phone command. The guard around the corner is probably very confused right now. Also, the call is only that one line. It doesn't really serve any purpose to the story. Before we return to intermission, though, it's time to check in with Lena and Viggo. Viggo: Are they really dead?! Lena: Yes. But how did you...? I don't think I'd vote for a guy who said he talked to dolls. Lena's very tactful, so she just glosses over it. Lena: People at the control tower should have cleared the air lanes for us so we can fly a relatively safe path. Viggo's still stuck on the doll bullshit. I mean, not that I blame him. Oh? What's this? Something we'll find out about later, of course. Elsie: It's not fair, Sis! Frances: What? Elsie: You were playing, just like I thought! You were killing people. I wanna kill people, too. I wanna make their hearts stop 'n' all that. Frances: ... You know what, Elsie? I killed the pilot and copilot to get some messages across. Elsie: Messages across? Is that a fun game, too? I suppose that means there aren't 12 more bodies lying around, at least. Frances: I'll tell you. Lena: But... Viggo: Explain the situation to the best of your ability, and get them to catch that...that monster sneaking around in the shadows. Lena: Yes, sir. I think that's just the art style, chief. Lena: When I found the corpses in the cockpit, I gasped with the shock. I could've sworn I smelled gas... "You know, make sure you smell gas. Don't jump the gun."
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# ? Dec 21, 2017 20:55 |
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I was going to post something as a correction but I'm suspicious it's actually version differences, since I play the yurop version of the game. One of the booster packs in the "outside the gate" mission is a MGS2 booster, as is the one through the office door in the "office block" mission. Also, Snake doesn't have the HF Blade card in the deck, but has the Cyborg Ninja card instead (which deals five 10-damage hits to a single target, ignoring damage resistance; this is silent and cannot miss, and doesn't require Snake to have a line of effect to the target). I'm kind of surprised this game has version differences like that beyond passwords. Also: they changed all that but still screwed up the ammo on the XM8? Come on guys.
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# ? Dec 22, 2017 06:34 |
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I played the US version and I don't remember seeing the blade till I began opening packs, might there be some randomization in the starting deck?
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# ? Dec 22, 2017 07:11 |
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I don't think that's the case since I've had the same starting deck every time. It could be a different pressing, or it had a patch released?
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# ? Dec 22, 2017 11:45 |
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Deathwind posted:I played the US version and I don't remember seeing the blade till I began opening packs, might there be some randomization in the starting deck? I want to say this is right. I've played parts of this game a few times and the ninja card was in my deck my first time playing and I remember redoing the tutorial mission until I had it in my deck on my second attempt at finishing the game. I'm glad to see this get another shot as an LP. I remember enjoying where the story was going, but for whatever reason I stopped playing.
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# ? Dec 22, 2017 19:07 |
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Hmm. It's possible the US version has some randomization in your starter deck and the European version doesn't, or that I've simply had some weird luck and had the same deck every time, since that's not out of the question with my luck...
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# ? Dec 23, 2017 01:06 |
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I did a little test myself just now, starting five new games in a row. In one of them, Snake did indeed have the Cyborg Ninja card in his starting deck instead of the HF Blade. I didn't see any other changes, but I'll admit I wasn't keeping close track. None of the card packs in the office or the outside area were MGS2 packs, though (but I did only check these once, using the Ninja deck under the assumption that they might be related). Fun fact: if you start with the Ninja card, you can kill the guard at the gate straight away, since it doesn't trigger his body armour.
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# ? Dec 23, 2017 04:58 |
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Well, we can blame the Cyborg Ninja thing on my weird luck (since you get Spin Kick in the deck every time, as near as I know, the Ninja is more useful anyway), but I'm pretty sure the packs being different can be blamed on region differences.
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# ? Dec 23, 2017 07:58 |
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I am very confused about what's going on in the plane.
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# ? Dec 24, 2017 05:27 |
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Kibayasu posted:I am very confused about what's going on in the plane. I think, at this point, you're supposed to be? All we know is there's dolls who seem crazy, and gas, and passengers. And dead pilots.
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# ? Dec 24, 2017 06:47 |
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Kibayasu posted:I am very confused about what's going on in the plane. This is a Metal Gear game on acid, did you really expect it's plot to make sense? Just roll with it like it was a D-grade action/horror movie.
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# ? Dec 24, 2017 09:57 |
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I've not actually finished this but I've played through the first... two, I guess, major plot twists? And the plane doesn't make any more sense to me by that point. I'm assuming it will either build up to something utterly amazing or peter out into nothingness, since this is a Metal Gear game.
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# ? Dec 25, 2017 12:47 |
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Ace of Aces posted:I've not actually finished this but I've played through the first... two, I guess, major plot twists? And the plane doesn't make any more sense to me by that point. I'm assuming it will either build up to something utterly amazing or peter out into nothingness, since this is a Metal Gear game. So either the plane is Metal Gear or the hostages are rescued with no complications despite taking up a lot of screen time. You're right, those do sound like things a Metal Gear game would do.
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# ? Dec 25, 2017 16:23 |
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HitTheTargets posted:the hostages are rescued with no complications Not with Solid Snake on the job!
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# ? Dec 25, 2017 19:26 |
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Technically, he saved the Armstech president from the terrorists. He had no way of knowing he was carrying FOXDIE at the time. Solid Snake did nothing wrong.
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# ? Dec 25, 2017 22:11 |
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That's only people who died. Things definitely became complicated for Meryl. Hell, Otacon quit his job to become a terrorist after Snake showed up at the office.
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# ? Dec 26, 2017 01:37 |
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Meryl is the Schrödinger's npc of the franchise, I'm not quite sure if she cannonically lived or died...
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# ? Dec 26, 2017 04:21 |
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Deathwind posted:Meryl is the Schrödinger's npc of the franchise, I'm not quite sure if she cannonically lived or died... Marrying Johnny is a kind of painful death, I suppose.
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# ? Dec 26, 2017 05:35 |
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To be fair that whole scene of them wrecking face on Arsenal Gear was kind of awesome, in an 80s movie kind of way. Which pretty much describes MGS, really.
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# ? Dec 27, 2017 12:45 |
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Cool Ghost posted:That's only people who died. Things definitely became complicated for Meryl. Hell, Otacon quit his job to become a terrorist after Snake showed up at the office. but Kojima should have stuck with his idea for the ending of 4 where Snake and Otacon were tried, sentenced, and hanged rather than the actual ending he did
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# ? Dec 28, 2017 18:08 |
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Philanthropy Did Nothing Wrong His entire team vetoed the idea, so he couldn't go through with it.
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# ? Dec 28, 2017 19:25 |
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I think the idea of Snake simply fading away works better with the themes anyway, so it's probably a good thing they vetoed him.
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# ? Dec 29, 2017 01:48 |
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Ace of Aces posted:I think the idea of Snake simply fading away works better with the themes anyway, so it's probably a good thing they vetoed him. Agreed. The man created literally for war gets to die a natural death, surrounded by friends and loved ones. All the villains, those who claim war for their own reasons, die alone in the battlefield. It's somewhat ironic. The good irony.
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# ? Dec 29, 2017 02:15 |
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bman in 2288 posted:Agreed. The man created literally for war gets to die a natural death, surrounded by friends and loved ones. All the villains, those who claim war for their own reasons, die alone in the battlefield. (plus you'd lose Otacon's line where he tears up and says "Snake... had a hard life" because he knows he can't explain literally any of it to Sunny, which was delivered quite well and really highlighted how much those two are actually close)
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# ? Dec 29, 2017 22:03 |
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Snake not being hanged (and not killing himself) are the conclusion to the arc set up in Metal Gear 2. Big Boss says that Snake will be unable to escape battle, and from then on that's Snake's real drive. It's part of the conflict in MGS and MGS2, as well, and gives rise to Snake's objection to being called a hero in MGS4. So when he takes the gun out of his mouth (and when he quits smoking) it's Snake's final symbolic victory over Big Boss to follow the practical victories of destroying the Patriot AIs and killing Liquid Ocelot. Having Snake and Otacon executed would have been a more provocative ending, but not as thematically strong.
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# ? Dec 29, 2017 23:33 |
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It's probably a testament to Kojima's skill as a creator, rather than talent, that he allowed himself to be talked into something better by the rest of the team, rather than insisting on His Vision. Although that happened like once per MGS anyway... (he wanted MGS3 to be done entirely in Russian and Snake's VA even took Russian lessons but pretty much all the other VAs threatened to quit if that happened, apparently.)
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# ? Jan 4, 2018 01:07 |
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Considering how Japanese VAs sound when they try for another common, easier language like English I can only imagine how that might have ended. A bit like Asuka trying to speak German in NGE, hah
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# ? Jan 8, 2018 00:07 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 09:09 |
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Ace of Aces posted:It's probably a testament to Kojima's skill as a creator, rather than talent, that he allowed himself to be talked into something better by the rest of the team, rather than insisting on His Vision. Although that happened like once per MGS anyway... (he wanted MGS3 to be done entirely in Russian and Snake's VA even took Russian lessons but pretty much all the other VAs threatened to quit if that happened, apparently.) He also wanted the fight with The End to be way, way longer, but then the team mutinied again.
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# ? Jan 8, 2018 02:15 |