Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1918136-20140105030045/@comment-1210805-20140105163308

The whole Johhny thing in general could have been handled better, and their marriage seemed to be a result of Kojima feeling pressured to tie up everything that could be seen as a loose end, in this case Meryl and Snake.

Johnny's not having nanomachines is a problem in and of itself. For one, the System would have to be pretty flawed for the squad's commander to be unable to tell that a member wasn't linked up at all.

Going on from that, why is the excuse for his bowel issues suddenly nanomachines? He had these issues before, during times when none of the soldiers had nanomachines. We never saw any other soldiers having such severe and ongoing issues, which would suggest an underlying health issue rather than the absence of something most people don't have. His lack of nanomachines really doesn't fit as the cause of his issues.

As for his relationship with Meryl. I'm fine with them getting married and being a couple, I just wish it was dealt with better. From Johnny's perspective it actually gives him decent motivation for being part of the squad. It would have been weird if a prisoner from Shadow Moses was commanding the man who guarded her without a reason, and Johnny's infatuation made more sense, and was far easier to deal with than any other reason.

Meryl's side of things is where it falls apart. She had no interest in the guy, even seemed to dislike him, right up until he gave her CPR. Seems to me that a woman who was trained to not be effected by male attractions probably shouldn't suddenly develop strong enough feelings to justify marriage just because a cute guy does something he was trained to do. Which brings up something else, did she not notice that he was cute before? Or was it brought on by oxygen depravation?

The whole quick proposal kind of fits Johnny's goofy personality, but it seems odd that Meryl would be for it so fast. Surely she'd think of dating first. Actually testing the waters before making a full on commitment. It's not as though she would never find another man. I'd find it pretty hard to believe that Johnny and Snake are the only options, so she really shouldn't be quite that desperate.

Despite the problems though, it's really not a big enough part of the game to draw me out of the experience when I'm playing it. It would be kind of interesting to see how they've gone in a future Rising game.