Board Thread:Metal Gear Solid V/@comment-146.90.86.5-20150917130942/@comment-1971498-20150921024456

86.168.68.166 wrote:

I can keep going, but I don't want this to rapidly become an essay. I just picked a few games from my most recent played list on steam. But yes, many developers treat their female characters with more respect than Kojima. We say he's pretty awful with this for a reason. Really good examples there, and I especially like Clementine.

People say it's because Kojima is Japanese and it's just "part of the culture", which is absolute BS when you consider how other Japanese authors are capable of breaking away from such a mentality.

You have characters like Alessa/Heather Mason in the Silent Hill series who not only served as the starting point of the franchise but also became a very competent protagonist in the 3rd game of the series. The character was even re-invented to create more depth in her psychology within the spin-off game "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories" where the twist relies on the fact that you weren't even playing as Harry Mason (her father) but rather as Cheryl-Heather Mason and how she perceived her own father.

Again, Bayonetta was brought up before, and for all the fetishistic elements implemented to her character, the fact remains that she maintains agency in the way she acts even with all her sexy flaunting.

This isn't limited to gaming, anime have also been capable of churning out female characters with great depth and personality without resorting to the kind of mistreatment that Kojima inflicts on his female characters.

78.250.236.247 wrote: Blame Kojima, feel sorry for Quiet.

Exactly this. Quiet by herself isn't inherently bad, heck she practically gets the most complete character arc in TPP. More than anything it's Kojima's fault for the plot contrivance that surrounds her needing to have less clothes, and in this regard it's more of an issue with the writer than necessarily the character itself. If Kojima were to truly believe in his contrived reasoning for her to dress that way, we shouldn't even have outfits like the Sniper Wolf costume or the XOF uniform if he was really being serious about her characterization.

People say that the criticism of a simple outfit is blowing things out of proportion, but this just trivializes everything the work is trying to convey. Even then, it's not just the outfit, rather it's a combination of various elements paired with the outfit that makes it a form of bad writing. As mentioned before, the camera angles, contradicting framing of making her tragically sympathetic while sexualizing her, and the forced plot contrivance that obviously puts her in that very specific situation. Pair that with the frequency of Kojima's misguided attempts of characterizing his other female characters and it becomes more jarring. Being a badass action doesn't excuse the kind of shoddy writing that Kojima implemented on her, in fact it only serves to hamper it.

Again, I love MGS and I think that Quiet's potential as character was hampered by Kojima's handling than anything else. In this regard, I personally can't wait to unlock her XOF uniform for her to use.