Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-50.151.195.29-20150903211431/@comment-1672596-20151112223240

100.3.56.214 wrote: Weedle McHairybug wrote: 100.3.56.214 wrote: Happy ending in MG2? The ending implies that he's still traumatized by leaving after saying goodbye. Anyway forget about Raikov. He probably went back to Russia and got promoted (Regardless of whether Portable Ops is canon or not).

Anyway, I find it strange that Venom Snake is skeptical of ESP when Ocelot mentions Eli reading his mind despite encountering ESP (Elisa/Ursula and Gene) multiple times in Portable Ops. Unless the memory transfer stopped before he could remember it? Considering he specifically stated before fighting Big Boss that the only reason he was in Zanzibar Land was to get rid of his nightmares, AND he, when refusing to return to FOXHOUND, specifically said ""...The nightmares have stopped. I'm a free man now." which would mean he actually GOT what he wanted, it sounded like a happy ending (not to mention his leaving abruptly didn't seem to be treated like his being traumatized since Roy Campbell seemed casual about his leaving abruptly again and Holly White was more upset that he broke his promise than concerned about his state of mind). If he was still traumatized, why would he refuse Campbell's offer to rejoin FOXHOUND? He would have instead said "Might as well rejoin, since killing Big Boss didn't change anything...", and Roy Campbell and Holly White would have explicitly been depicted as concerned by Snake's actions.

I'd want to think Raikov returned to Russia, but since it was implied they knew about Gene's true plan and went along with it, I'm not so sure about that. And to be honest regarding the ESP bit, the entire thing seemed strange since he also encountered the likes of Volgin (electrokinesis is considered a subset of ESP which was even directly acknowledged in TPP) as well as The Sorrow in MGS3, not to mention Big Boss if anything would not have been the type to be skeptical of the supernatural (he gets afraid of vampires and believes in Santa Claus). Oh yeah, forgot about The Sorrow. He definitely had ESP. In regards to Raikov, I don't think Russia knew about Gene launching nukes into the USA. As for Solid Snake, saying something and actually being able to do it are two different things. The plot summary in MGS made it clear that Snake was still haunted by Big Boss' speech. The call Gene made to Ocelot suggested they did know, unless I'm mistaken about that. So far as Snake, it's a long ride back to FOXHOUND HQ which was presumably within the USA, so I would suspect he would nap during the trip back there and see if he got nighmares as a result.

Besides, MGS1 retconned more than half of MG2's storyline, so we can't say for certain that this is what MG2 itself was trying to hint at. And I'm pretty sure if MG2 was trying to imply that Solid Snake's abrupt departure was due to PTSD, Campbell and Holly's dialogue would have been far different than this:

Holly White: Snake? ... Where'd he go? Colonel, Snake's gone! // Roy Campbell: ...Snake? ...Where's he off to now? // Holly White: Snake! SNAKE! ...He promised to take me out to dinner. How low can you get?

That implied that Snake was just deciding to be a jerk that time, especially when Campbell's "where's he off to now?" seemed to be more casual than concerned, and Holly seemed more upset that he stood her up than concerned about his leaving abruptly, and even inferred he was "low."