Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25168690-20160312223141/@comment-26985269-20160316215112

I think because many of us were left disappointed by Phantom Pain, primarily Chapter 2, we wish there Chapter 3 hadn't been scrapped in the hope that it'd redeem the story. But it's wishful thinking. Kojima is with Sony now and I doubt Konami would sit on an extra 1/3 of the game without teasing something for over half a year.

I'll admit the Gray Fox is Venom theory sounds inviting, but that's partly because I didn't resonate with the self-insertion reveal that is the Truth ending. I agree with Adachi in that Python and Selkan could've trimmed down the video or made at least divided for relevance. One part is them saying what they liked and disliked about Phantom Pain, the other is them pointing out the predictions they got right, and the other is the Gray Fox theory.

What got my attention isn't entirely to do with Gray Fox and the similarities between Venom. Kojima is known to repeat visual themes and dialogue, so you can chalk some things up to coincidence. That bit about how the doctor already "did as instructed", implying the facial surgery was done in 1977 instead of 1984, was the highlight of the video for me. I've been scratching my head over that line of dialogue ever since its release. Could it have been a translation error? Or maybe the dialogue was referring to the hypnotherapy, not the surgery. That's the one that lends the Gray Fox theory any weight. Nearly everything else which was pointed out could be symbolism and nothing more.

The timeline conundrum involving Para-Medics death might just be an oversight. 2005 is when she was confirmed dead by Naomi, regardless of if it happened off-screen in 2003. Though it is interesting that we never saw it happen when we've seen Zero and Sigint die. It could just be the fact an inconsistency due to Kojima wanting to connect Snake Eater characters to MGS1 and not having really planned it in advance.

A part of me wishes it were more than inconsistencies, but Kojima warned us this would be the case before the game came out. If Gray Fox was Venom/Big Boss during Outer Heaven, that'd make the story even muddier than before. Not to mention how Gray Fox appears in Zanzibarland, when Venom is stated to have died in Outer Heaven.

But... if Phantom Pain was actually a fabricated reality which took place between Zanzibar and Shadow Moses, and everything we see in the game is Gray Fox experiencing a form of VR simulation or hallucinations caused by Dr Clark/Para-Medic's experiments... that would not only be believable, it would be hands down the greatest video game plot twist of all time.

This theory would also explain consistencies such as why Metal Gear is so much more advanced than future incarnations to the point of ridiculousness. Even if it could only be piloted by children, has to be some work around right? The fact it can only be controlled by two MGS1 characters and deterred by someone experiecing hallucinations (Venom/Gray Fox), adds to the possibility to could all be a hallucination. Or it's could just be fanservice...

If you think about it, all the characters in Phantom Pain represent characters from MGS1. Quiet and Code Talker are obvious stand-ins for Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven. Huey is a stand-in for Otacon. Then there's literal MGS1 characters like Ocelot, Mill, Liquid, and Mantis. Big Boss overshadows the events of the game like he did in MGS1. Skull Face is what Big Boss could have become if he had survived Solid Snake's flamethrower without being reconstructed. Lastly there's Venom, who acts as the most trusted soldier with a personality disorder aka Gray Fox. Add to that a Decoy Octopus element in Venom becoming a body double.

That only leaves out Solid Snake, but you could argue Venom is a comb of Solid and Gray Fox. Donald Anderson/Sigint and Dr Clark/Para-Medic are also unaccounted for, though there are doctors and black people in the game.

Either Phantom Pain is the Unusual Suspects of video games or it's one big fanwank.