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ArbitraryWater

Internet man with questionable sense of priorities

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I play old games (Metal Gear Solid 2)

By ArbitraryWater 17 Comments

It's been a while, but I am back once again to tell you kids about old games that I have decided to play. This time however, I'm going to talk about a game that is actually popular and not totally niche like all the other post-goldeneye stuff I have looked at. That's right. MGS2, which I got as part of the MGS Essentials collection that a friend gave me for Christmas. This is the one I finished first, which means that I will probably do MGS 1 and 3 later on down the line. 

Metal... Gear?

But anyways, I probably should start out by admitting that my first real taste of Metal Gear was The Twin Snakes, which probably makes me a heathen in the eyes of the MGS fanbase for some reason. I liked it. But yeah, MGS2 came out in 2001, and the updated version that I have came out in 2002. It adds a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter, like VR missions and some sort of weird skateboarding minigame that plays like a watered down version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
 
First, the gameplay. MGS 2 is very much an old stealth game, in that you have to sneak around dudes and if you get discovered you will probably die. However, most enemies can be easily dispatched with a tranq shot to the head, which removed a lot of the challenge of actually sneaking around. It's clunky and extremely game-y with the way it's presented. The game that the stealth is built around however, suffers from some of the cardinal sins of video games, namely excessive backtracking, escort sequences, and timed missions. None of the particular instances in this game are extremely offensive or long (although I could do without the hand holding that makes you go 5 times slower), but they are annoying. But then again, nobody enjoys Metal Gear for the way it plays. I sure as hell don't, which is why I will probably never touch any of the VR missions. In summation: Gameplay = Bad.

 Hideo Kojima hates you. Fission Mailed
 With the gameplay out of the way, it's time to talk about why this game matters at all: The story. I had a general knowledge of what happened before I played the game, but I would say that it was well worth my time to finish it myself. First off, the tanker chapter does a great job of making you assume that you are going to play as Snake the entire game, which is the first of many upraised middle fingers from Hideo Kojima to his fanbase and everyone else.  But really, it's mostly just setup for the Plant chapter, which stars Raiden. Raiden as a character... sucks. He is naive, somewhat annoying and he looks like a girl (i.e. He could be the lead of a Final Fantasy game) and fails to impress as a main lead when compared to Snake, who shows up in a supporting role as the fake Navy Seal Iriquois Pliskin. However, he is still less annoying than Otacon, who is not only a creeper but also a whiny bitch (which gives him my Shinji Ikari award for most unlikable character meant to be sympathetic). The story goes through the motions of procedurally making everything piece of initial information false, including the purpose of the mission, the demands of the terrorists, the reason for rescuing the president until we all just find out that all the events up to that point were orchestrated by the Patriots (Who are evil and control everything) and that Raiden was just a pawn the entire time. Needless to say, I could go on and on about the story, which I definitley enjoyed, but I'm sure there is nothing to be gained by doing so. In summation: Story = Good.
 
In conclusion, I enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 2 a lot more than I thought I would at first, mainly because of the obnoxious stealth gameplay. However, the story is great because of how balls to the wall crazy and willing to fuck with you it is, almost to the point that feel like it would make a better anime than a game. But thankfully it isn't because, as we all know: Anime is for jerks. And with that, I'm off. 
 
Next Up: Either MGS 1 or 3. Maybe I will just do both in one post.
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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

It's been a while, but I am back once again to tell you kids about old games that I have decided to play. This time however, I'm going to talk about a game that is actually popular and not totally niche like all the other post-goldeneye stuff I have looked at. That's right. MGS2, which I got as part of the MGS Essentials collection that a friend gave me for Christmas. This is the one I finished first, which means that I will probably do MGS 1 and 3 later on down the line. 

Metal... Gear?

But anyways, I probably should start out by admitting that my first real taste of Metal Gear was The Twin Snakes, which probably makes me a heathen in the eyes of the MGS fanbase for some reason. I liked it. But yeah, MGS2 came out in 2001, and the updated version that I have came out in 2002. It adds a bunch of stuff that doesn't matter, like VR missions and some sort of weird skateboarding minigame that plays like a watered down version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
 
First, the gameplay. MGS 2 is very much an old stealth game, in that you have to sneak around dudes and if you get discovered you will probably die. However, most enemies can be easily dispatched with a tranq shot to the head, which removed a lot of the challenge of actually sneaking around. It's clunky and extremely game-y with the way it's presented. The game that the stealth is built around however, suffers from some of the cardinal sins of video games, namely excessive backtracking, escort sequences, and timed missions. None of the particular instances in this game are extremely offensive or long (although I could do without the hand holding that makes you go 5 times slower), but they are annoying. But then again, nobody enjoys Metal Gear for the way it plays. I sure as hell don't, which is why I will probably never touch any of the VR missions. In summation: Gameplay = Bad.

 Hideo Kojima hates you. Fission Mailed
 With the gameplay out of the way, it's time to talk about why this game matters at all: The story. I had a general knowledge of what happened before I played the game, but I would say that it was well worth my time to finish it myself. First off, the tanker chapter does a great job of making you assume that you are going to play as Snake the entire game, which is the first of many upraised middle fingers from Hideo Kojima to his fanbase and everyone else.  But really, it's mostly just setup for the Plant chapter, which stars Raiden. Raiden as a character... sucks. He is naive, somewhat annoying and he looks like a girl (i.e. He could be the lead of a Final Fantasy game) and fails to impress as a main lead when compared to Snake, who shows up in a supporting role as the fake Navy Seal Iriquois Pliskin. However, he is still less annoying than Otacon, who is not only a creeper but also a whiny bitch (which gives him my Shinji Ikari award for most unlikable character meant to be sympathetic). The story goes through the motions of procedurally making everything piece of initial information false, including the purpose of the mission, the demands of the terrorists, the reason for rescuing the president until we all just find out that all the events up to that point were orchestrated by the Patriots (Who are evil and control everything) and that Raiden was just a pawn the entire time. Needless to say, I could go on and on about the story, which I definitley enjoyed, but I'm sure there is nothing to be gained by doing so. In summation: Story = Good.
 
In conclusion, I enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 2 a lot more than I thought I would at first, mainly because of the obnoxious stealth gameplay. However, the story is great because of how balls to the wall crazy and willing to fuck with you it is, almost to the point that feel like it would make a better anime than a game. But thankfully it isn't because, as we all know: Anime is for jerks. And with that, I'm off. 
 
Next Up: Either MGS 1 or 3. Maybe I will just do both in one post.
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Daryl

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Edited By Daryl

Thought you were playing old games. :P

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kashif1

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Edited By kashif1

there is a way to have more fun with the gameplay, try using auto aim.

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deactivated-61665c8292280

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Edited By deactivated-61665c8292280

After having played Twin Snakes, I can't handle going back to the original Metal Gear Solid. The MGS2 controls are so much better.  
 
Also, there is nothing wrong with going back to play Metal Gear Solid 2, because that is, still (to me at least), the best Metal Gear game of the lot.

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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater
@Daryl: Nice one. However, this game came out almost 9 years ago, which is long enough ago for me to consider it old. My self-imposed cutoff date is 2005, which was the last real year of the previous console cycle and the first year of the current one.
 
@kashif1: I did. It didn't make the gameplay any less rote, predictable or clunky.
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Edited By Claude

I liked The Twin Snakes better than the original, fuck the haters. When Raiden went naked in MGS 2, I liked him. Snake would have never been in that situation, so I felt sympathy for his character and worked my ass off to get him out of that mess.

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jonnyboy

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Edited By jonnyboy

Jesus I feel old.

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kashif1

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Edited By kashif1
@ArbitraryWater: each to their own
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Snail

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Edited By Snail
@Daryl said:

" Thought you were playing old games. :P "

You're getting old, son.
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Edited By captain_clayman

that game's not old

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox
@Snail said:

" @Daryl said:

" Thought you were playing old games. :P "

You're getting old, son. "
This was my train of thought when I saw the thread title, except it was inf first person.
 
Yeah, I called myself 'son'. Ya wanna fight about it?
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Edited By I_smell

This is like one of my favourite games.

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Edited By Video_Game_King

Don't worry, for I started on The Twin Snakes, too.
 
Hold on a second: gameplay first, THEN story!? Did you read my blogs upside-down :P?

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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater
@Video_Game_King said:
" Don't worry, for I started on The Twin Snakes, too.  Hold on a second: gameplay first, THEN story!? Did you read my blogs upside-down :P? "
Well, I figured that I would get the bad stuff out of the way before getting onto the stuff that I actually like. And come now, I don't try to rip off your blogs that bad... besides the fact that we basically do the same thing. I just limit my selection based on when the game comes out and if I am feeling lazy or not. I didn't blog about Disgaea after all.
 
Also I should probably add that I really liked the music for the game as well. Forgot about it in my initial rush to get the blog posted. And yes, you are all old. I was too busy playing Smash Bros on my gamecube to care about this game when it came out, so it's a new experience for me.
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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

Not me; I was too busy glaring at my friend across the street for having Super Smash Bros. and a GameCube instead of me. Then again, I had GTA3, so I could just activate flying cars cheats and watch the roads turn into mirrors before the game froze.

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breadfan

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Edited By breadfan

I remember playing through Sons of Liberty for the first time, it was such an experience.  That Fission Mailed sequence caught me off guard at first.  
 
One of my all time favorites of all time.  Good write up by the way, I look forward to the next.

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Daryl

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Edited By Daryl
@Snail: Time flies.