Board Thread:Metal Gear Solid V/@comment-204.111.35.233-20150307163421/@comment-95.44.240.193-20150307225115

While I agree with anyone suffering from "theory fatigue", this is one of the better theories that I've read. I'm a big fan of there being multiple Snakes, so this is right up my street. Something I do find a little odd about the MGSV hype is the references to "Punished Snake" and "Venom Snake". While they could merely be era-defining monikers for the character evolution of Big Boss similar to "Naked Snake", they do open the door to there being more Snakes, which is surely what everyone wants.

Overall, I think the Metal Gear series was at its best when there were new Snakes popping up everywhere, specifically near the end of MGS2 when Solid Snake and Solidus Snake are listening to a Revolver Ocelot possessed by Liquid Snake lecture about several things, including the legacy of Big Boss a.k.a. Naked Snake. Plus, Raiden was also present, who is along with Ocelot an adopted Snake. That makes six Snakes. I genuinely think that that specific scene was the high point of the Metal Gear series drama-wise and story-wise. It would be great if the series could go out on a similar high point.

(For the sake of completeness, The Boss would be "Mother Snake" in my lexicon. And, comparing MGS3 and MGS4 to MGS1 and MGS2, the absence of real new Snakes (and Metal Gears) rendered their plots hollow, in my book. Granted, Ocelot is an adopted Snake and The Boss is one of the series' greatest characters, but neither MGS3 or MGS4 felt like they had the immediacy of innovation that MGS1 and MGS2 had. Including Metal Gears, MGS1 had Liquid and Rex, MGS2 had Solidus and Ray and then...Volgin, who is a wannabe Snake, and the Shagohod (which I actually rather liked as a prequel Metal Gear) and Liquid Ocelot, who is an admission that my mad interpretation of the series at least holds some water as Liquid Ocelot is clearly the best surrogate new Snake they could feasibly come up with, and...nothing, just a Rex vs. Ray fan service fight and no new Metal Gear. And, I don't know about anybody else, but people like Hot Coldman and Zadornov and Volgin don't cut it for me as Metal Gear villains. Gene felt like a good substitute new Snake as he was set up as the "Gray Fox of the mind". (Speaking of which, Gray Fox is definitely an adopted Snake.) Oh, and I hope "Skull Face" ends up being a false name. It really is terrible. The Metal Gear boss names are better than that. Admittedly, he does feel better than Peace Walker's and MGS3's villains, but only just. A cool name would do wonders.

To end, I just think it's a shame that the excitement of MGS1 and MGS2 hasn't been replicated in the later games, with the admitted exceptions of playing as Big Boss and interacting with The Boss which, although great, did not give MGS3 the same aura as the previous two games (in my opinion). I really hope MGSV brings back that excitement. (An easy way of doing that is by naming your characters with common nouns and ABSOLUTELY REFUSING to give them real names. That's the backbone of the Metal Gear series. That's why it's great.)