Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6747658-20130401084750/@comment-1.64.176.239-20130703155958

DementedP wrote: While MGS1 had spectacularly-written bosses, you ought to account for the narrative style in each game as well, which definitely influenced the way the bosses were explored.

In that regard, I can accept the Cobras lacking any sense of a deeper characterisation since the whole idea behind their group was more of the spectacle and the bizarre nature of their appearances/gimmicks. I didn't need to feel sorry for them nor did they have to have some deeper meaning beyond representing their battle emotions in a raw and undiluted quality, adding to the overall mystique to the group and its members. Overloading the game with so much story would've killed it (consider the length and the amount of historical context in MGS3 already), and I find that MGS3 found that good balance in terms of spectacle (Cobras) and character spotlighting (Big Boss, Ocelot, Eva, The Boss, Volgin and even The Sorrow to some degree).

As memorable adversaries, the Cobras actually stand out even without the characterisation, and it goes to show that not all characters need some deep backstory to function accordingly as long as it works with the intended narrative. What failed in terms of how the B&B Corps were portrayed was that it TRIED to give them some story, but the execution felt forced and their entire existence almost felt detached from what was going on in MGS4 (though I'd argue that Laughing Octopus and even Screaming Mantis were a bit better than the other two). Heck I found myself enjoying the bosses in MGR more due to how they just played it straight with some of the characters' backstories and how they tried to vary up the way they showed them off and how their background info were conveyed to the viewer (codec, pre-boss cutscene etc.) Vamp on the other hand, I honestly thought he was vastly underwhelming in comparison to his memorable portrayal in MGS2. He was just reduced to a death-seeking character and not much else, and his portrayal was far less frightening and less interesting in the way his dialogue was written. I'd go so far as to say that I enjoyed the Cobras more than Vamp's lackluster role in MGS4 where he's just there because "Oh no! Vamp is still alive?! Whoulda thunk it?!". Guess we should open another page for this off topic discussion - but anyway, I do appreciate how we got so many ways to kill The End and I agree that they are better written than their friends in MGS4. That said, MGS4 bosses arent the worst I can think of, it's the AIs in MGSPW. While I love The Boss' AI's role in the story and the final scenes, the three AIs just give an excuse to not writing a back story at all. Besides, I really prefer the classic codec than what we get in MGSPW.