Thread:Weedle McHairybug/@comment-1191892-20200203180054/@comment-1672596-20200203193923

Evil Tim wrote: 1. Well, if it has a rational explanation as to what it is referring to outside the fiction, that's enough. Something like EXCELSUIS' "Metal Gear in name only" status directly mirroring real-life criticism of the game is pretty clear-cut, though I'd accept the "all that crap in San Hieronomo," while dismissive, might not be intended as a direct reference.

2. Eh, I feel it was trying to be more subtle by giving Miller the same dismissive attitude towards Portable Ops as Kojima himself, basically making him a mouthpiece for Kojima's views on the subject. There's no need to break immersion entirely for the player to "get" what's being talked about, and that's certainly how a lot of people read that particular line.

3. Well, no. All it means is he recognises in that moment that there was music at his current location and that there is no longer music at his current location. Naomi then goes on to tell you that Mantis uses music as part of his mind-control trickery, so that music has a specific in-game explanation. Otacon also hears the music in the background over Snake's CODEC when he's talking to Meryl in the lab (which, granted, doesn't make a great deal of sense considering how the CODEC is supposed to work), so this is a three-stage thing: Otacon recognises that Mantis' music is a real in-game thing, Meryl notices it's stopped, and Naomi tells you what it is. 1. To be fair, Gekkos also were "Metal Gears in Name Only", yet Otacon's statements regarding that were not fourth wall breaks, so I'm doubtful Excelsus was that either.

2. One reason I don't buy that explanation is that Kojima not only approved of Portable Ops, but even specifically indicated he wouldn't finish MGS4 until AFTER Portable Ops was finished and implied they were directly tied regarding plotlines, something which I doubt Kojima would have done if he was outright dismissive it (if anything, he'd probably just finish MGS4 without even caring if it conflicted with MGS4 and say "screw Portable Ops", you know, sort of like Katzenberg's treatment of The Lion King where he arrogantly wrote off that film as a guaranteed bomb and acted like Pocahontas was the next big hit when in reality, it was more the exact opposite both times). Plus, why would he be all that dismissive of it when he used the cutscene stills from that game in at least two of the montages, included it among the other Metal Gear-related artwork in that chapel, and even had it being included in Naomi's timeline in Act 2? That doesn't sound like a guy who is outright dismissive of Portable Ops. If anything, a guy who is dismissive of Portable Ops would go out of his way to avoid making even a small reference to that game, whether it be using cutscene stills, including it in a literal in-game timeline, or including it among the art in a church. And that's not even counting how Portable Ops was included in the 20th anniversary promotion stuff, or for that matter Konami's timeline while promoting Peace Walker (which if anything excluded the MSX2 games). As far as reading in that particular line, people reading into that line =/= factual basis. I could just as easily read in that Snake was an American-loving patriot, despite all in-game evidence to the contrary, or that Big Boss hated Che Guevara, despite all in-game evidence to the contrary, yet going by the actual hard in-game evidence, my "read-ins" are completely wrong. And bear in mind, I'm not at all fond of Kojima largely because he has the compulsive need to push his politics onto us and hates staying consistent to his story (and if you ask me isn't nearly as smart as his fans and he claim), so don't think I'm only saying this because I like the guy.