Board Thread:Metal Gear Solid V/@comment-3365837-20150304213210/@comment-1504072-20150305084712

64.33.250.214 wrote: I noticed Weedle likes to bring up the subject of Nihilism a lot. It sounds as though he/she harbors a personal grudge towards it, and has taken the franchise personally as a result. I never got the sense that Metal Gear encouraged nihilism, so much as it promoted introspection. When you make things black and white, there's little to discuss. Moral relativity has always been present in order to address the actions of the player, not just those of the characters.

When Liquid accuses Snake of enjoying all the killing, that is being directed at the player. If you went through the game without killing, then it makes Liquid look bad. However, if you killed everyone, then the accusations hold some truth. MGS doesn't encourage one truth over another, so that the player can interpret the game according to how they personally played it. The biggest challenge is to attain Big Boss rank, which involves killing the least amount of enemies. You're basically given the option to play as a hero, or be guilted into believing you may possible be the villain. That's a good point, though I suspect this would be lost on someone who has barely played the games for themselves. Everyone probably kills a lot of enemy soldiers when they first play MGS1 because they are not yet used to the stealth mechanics, so Liquid's statement could be directed at both the player and Snake. Taking things too literally all the time can be detrimental, because if there ever was a prequel featuring a Solid Snake, who isn't a "psychopathic killer," you can bet there'll be plenty of "fans" who'll complain that it's a retcon, even though it wouldn't even really contradict anything that came previously. Regarding the negativity towards the perceived nihilism, even if one believes there's no inherent meaning to life, that doesn't mean one can't find their own meaning in life, and that seems to be a common theme throughout the series.

If Kojima thinks it's time for him to leave the series then I support him. His problem in the past has been giving in to pressure from the fans for sequels, starting with MGS3, though he can still turn these into good games. On the other hand, Peace Walker and MGSV seemed like games he was invested in from the start, and story preferences aside, I think this shows in their relative high quality (if GZ is anything to go by), compared to other recent entries in the series. Regardles, I believe it's better for him to go out on a high, like MGSV is shaping up to be.