Metal Gear Topics

Twenty Years Ago... Remembering First Times
Twenty years ago, on July 12th, 1987, on the MSX2 video game system, Metal Gear was released. What better to do on the eve of the Metal Gear series' 20th anniversary than to remember some of the first times. It's been such a long time since I first played the old Metal Gear games, well, twenty years, it's impossible to still remember much of the details, but one thing I do remember is that, when I first picked up Metal Gear, I went in without a lot of expectations. But it ended up as one of the most memorable games from the 8 bit era. Well, for me at least. Gameplay-wise, the one thing I remember was that I passed through the long deep waterway before I was supposed to, and I was stuck for the longest time in that area because I didn't know what I was supposed to do to advance with the game. Also I entered the desert without the compass, and wandered in it for a long time before deciding on backtracking. The first time I destroyed the Metal Gear, I was very excited, but at the same time was a little sad that the game had already ended, I remember wanting to play some more. Then Big Boss appeared in the adjacent room, and rather than getting annoyed by the surprise of yet another boss battle, I remember feeling glad because the game just became a little bit longer. The first time I played Metal Gear 2, I remember thinking I liked Grey Fox and Big Boss a lot, a lot more than the two doctors who I was supposed to rescue, even before one of them turned on me. I actually enjoyed killing Dr Pettrovich more than I enjoyed killing Grey Fox. I did not want to kill Grey Fox, nor did I want to kill Big Boss. I hope they had lived, I remember thinking after finishing the game the first time. Gameplay-wise, I remember jumping into the trash shredding machine just to see what would happen. I also remember the mouse trap duct, that duct filled with mice running all over the place and blocking the way, I was unable to figure out the ration solution for the longest time. And I also remember, after hangliding across the broken bridge, my habit of exploring every single accessible entrance made me enter a truck that transported me back across the broken bridge, and then completely not knowing how to get once again across that broken bridge. I only managed to advance by stumbling upon that conveyor belt truck completely accidentally. The very first time I played Metal Gear Solid, I was quite excited to see Solid Snake in 3D polygons. Quoting Psycho Mantis, it was quite nostalgic. He was just as cool as I remembered him, even though it was only a vague image of him that still remained in my mind, but it was a cool image. I have to admit, I did not really remember Master Miller. The gameplay, the excellent gameplay... I did not figure out the codec-frequency-is-on-the-CD-package puzzle. Campbell had to spell it out for me. Mantis battle, I did not know about the switch-controller-to-second-port thing, and fought him for real. The battle went on for just over 50 minutes. I lost. I did not pick up the Rope my first time passing by it, I was in a hurry being chased and thought it was just un-needed ammo or something. I had to come back down all the way from the top of the Communication Tower A after Liquid blew the radar, just to pick up the Rope. I was completely surprised when Master Miller revealed himself as Liquid Snake. I was actually not surprised that Cyborg Ninja turned out to be Grey Fox. I guess I felt more nostalgic and glad to see him than I was surprised by him. I was surprised when the third PAL Key input activated REX. I was very impressed by the sheer size of REX standing in front of Snake. The first time I fought REX, I didn't think to use Chaff Grenades, and so had the hardest time. I fought it head on, mostly running away. I got to the second phase, and got defeated with Liquid's HP 1/3 depleted. I got defeated many times after that. One time, I managed to go the distance, and actually had Liquid's HP almost completely depleted, with my own HP also almost completely depleted. I shot a stinger missile at him just after he shot two missiles at me. We got hit at almost the same time, and we both died. After the screen turned white then black, the game deemed my effort a failure, and I had to start the battle from the beginning all over again. When Liquid walked out from behind his crashed jeep, I thought, "crap", and got myself ready for yet another battle with him, just before he collapsed. My first playthrough, I got the Meryl Ending. When I played Metal Gear Solid 2, I had already read about it, and so I already knew about Raiden. I did not dislike Raiden's character, but I did not care for the playable-character-change. It was a fun idea, but bottom line, it was unnecessary. The first time I met the Ninja, and heard Shiozawa Kaneto's voice come out of him, I actually believed it might be Grey Fox, even though I didn't think it was him. I liked Emma, she reminded me of Mei Ling. I actually didn't feel anything from Colonel's screwed up codec calls, I had figured he wasn't Campbell earlier on. From the beginning it didn't make sense to me that he would be in the post of Raiden's support. And his behavior wasn't very Campbell to me. I had him figured as an imposter long before he was revealed as AI. I wasn't annoyed by Rosemary's long codec calls. I am a fan of Inoue Kikuko (I've always liked Kasumi in Ranma 1/2), and I liked listening to her talk. From the first time I played the game in its original Japanese language, I fully understood the storyline, and did not find it confusing at all. I did, however, find it unnecessarily repetitive in terms of continuously overturning something it said previously for the effect of surprise revelations. Since the "Translated English Script" topic is lost, I'll say this again. The first time I played the English language version of the game in Substance, at the time having already played the original Japanese game many times and had already full awareness of the plot and story of the game, I got confused by the story. Granted, the script of MGS2 was indeed a difficult script to translate, but that was a damn confusing translation job they did. Such that someone who already knows what's going on can become confused by it. A lot of information became inconspicuous and unclear, and generally hard to interpret the meaning of. And a lot of stuff are lost. Aside from information, the biggest loss is the overall serious mood and atmosphere appropriate for the game. Pretty much every character's speech patterns became overly childish and light hearted, too childish for the characters they are, and too light hearted for the situation they're in. Gameplay-wise, I thought the game was perfect, just perfect, pretty much perfect in every way. I loved the Tanker Chapter, I replayed that portion of the game before I even completed the game for the first time. I loved the C4 sniping bit at the Shell 1 Shell 2 Connecting Bridge. I don't have a specific reason why, I just enjoyed the tranquility of it. I reloaded the previous save and replayed that portion just after I finished the Harrier battle. I enjoyed greatly the battle against the mass production model RAYs. It was a disappointment when the battle ended when there were still RAYs standing, I wanted to fight them some more. I wanted to fight them all. Before I arrived, seagulls filled the skies above Big Shell. After I passed through, there are no seagulls to be found anywhere near Big Shell. The most exhilarating moment I got out of this game was when I hit a seagull with an RGB6 grenade for the first time. The first time I played Metal Gear Solid 3, I used very little CQC. I either tranquilized or shot everybody, I was more used to that. I played on Normal Difficulty, and finished the game with no Alerts. The first "Time Paradox" I saw was due to my killing the unconscious Ocelot. I got surprised the first (and so far the only) time a crocodile rotated and twisted Snake and instantly killed him. I also got surprised when a guard dog recognized me through my full Raikov disguise. The first time I encountered Raikov, I did not kill him. The first time I dealt with Johnny the guard, I did not kill him. The first time I walked with Eva, I killed her, with a point blank shot to the head. The first time I fought The End, I made him out to be a more difficult adversary than he might have been, that I crawled the entire time I fought him, fearing he would hear my footsteps no matter how far away he was. The first time I fought The Sorrow, I selected "Continue". I found the Shagohod battle to be less exciting and spectacular than both the mass RAY battle and the REX battle. Still fun, just less... less sci-fi I suppose. Fighting a robot is more fantastic than fighting a tank. (Fantastic = fantasy-like.) The first time I fought The Boss, I did not use CQC once. I defeated her using the Mk22 and the Mosin Nagant. The moment the cutscene showed Snake hung on a rope, I knew it was time for Snake's eye to be blinded. I didn't know how it was going to happen, I just knew it was time for it. I wasn't surprised by Naked Snake turning out to be Big Boss, but I guess that was never meant to be a surprise, just a cool revelation the players had been waiting for since starting up the game. I thought Snake couldn't be any cooler when he defeated The Boss using only the Handkerchief for the first time. Then he defeated The End using only the Handkerchief, then The Fear, then Volgin, and he became the coolest ever. The first time I saw the first trailer of Metal Gear Solid 4, I said, "wow". So, what do you remember from your first times? 7.7.07

Twenty Years Ago... Remembering First Times

Twenty years ago, on July 12th, 1987, on the MSX2 video game system, Metal Gear was released.
What better to do on the eve of the Metal Gear series' 20th anniversary than to remember some of the first times.

It's been such a long time since I first played the old Metal Gear games, well, twenty years, it's impossible to still remember much of the details, but one thing I do remember is that, when I first picked up Metal Gear, I went in without a lot of expectations. But it ended up as one of the most memorable games from the 8 bit era. Well, for me at least.
Gameplay-wise, the one thing I remember was that I passed through the long deep waterway before I was supposed to, and I was stuck for the longest time in that area because I didn't know what I was supposed to do to advance with the game.
Also I entered the desert without the compass, and wandered in it for a long time before deciding on backtracking.
The first time I destroyed the Metal Gear, I was very excited, but at the same time was a little sad that the game had already ended, I remember wanting to play some more. Then Big Boss appeared in the adjacent room, and rather than getting annoyed by the surprise of yet another boss battle, I remember feeling glad because the game just became a little bit longer.

The first time I played Metal Gear 2, I remember thinking I liked Grey Fox and Big Boss a lot, a lot more than the two doctors who I was supposed to rescue, even before one of them turned on me. I actually enjoyed killing Dr Pettrovich more than I enjoyed killing Grey Fox. I did not want to kill Grey Fox, nor did I want to kill Big Boss. I hope they had lived, I remember thinking after finishing the game the first time.
Gameplay-wise, I remember jumping into the trash shredding machine just to see what would happen.
I also remember the mouse trap duct, that duct filled with mice running all over the place and blocking the way, I was unable to figure out the ration solution for the longest time.
And I also remember, after hangliding across the broken bridge, my habit of exploring every single accessible entrance made me enter a truck that transported me back across the broken bridge, and then completely not knowing how to get once again across that broken bridge. I only managed to advance by stumbling upon that conveyor belt truck completely accidentally.

The very first time I played Metal Gear Solid, I was quite excited to see Solid Snake in 3D polygons. Quoting Psycho Mantis, it was quite nostalgic. He was just as cool as I remembered him, even though it was only a vague image of him that still remained in my mind, but it was a cool image.
I have to admit, I did not really remember Master Miller.
The gameplay, the excellent gameplay...
I did not figure out the codec-frequency-is-on-the-CD-package puzzle. Campbell had to spell it out for me.
Mantis battle, I did not know about the switch-controller-to-second-port thing, and fought him for real. The battle went on for just over 50 minutes. I lost.
I did not pick up the Rope my first time passing by it, I was in a hurry being chased and thought it was just un-needed ammo or something. I had to come back down all the way from the top of the Communication Tower A after Liquid blew the radar, just to pick up the Rope.
I was completely surprised when Master Miller revealed himself as Liquid Snake.
I was actually not surprised that Cyborg Ninja turned out to be Grey Fox. I guess I felt more nostalgic and glad to see him than I was surprised by him.
I was surprised when the third PAL Key input activated REX.
I was very impressed by the sheer size of REX standing in front of Snake.
The first time I fought REX, I didn't think to use Chaff Grenades, and so had the hardest time. I fought it head on, mostly running away. I got to the second phase, and got defeated with Liquid's HP 1/3 depleted. I got defeated many times after that. One time, I managed to go the distance, and actually had Liquid's HP almost completely depleted, with my own HP also almost completely depleted. I shot a stinger missile at him just after he shot two missiles at me. We got hit at almost the same time, and we both died. After the screen turned white then black, the game deemed my effort a failure, and I had to start the battle from the beginning all over again.
When Liquid walked out from behind his crashed jeep, I thought, "crap", and got myself ready for yet another battle with him, just before he collapsed.
My first playthrough, I got the Meryl Ending.

When I played Metal Gear Solid 2, I had already read about it, and so I already knew about Raiden. I did not dislike Raiden's character, but I did not care for the playable-character-change. It was a fun idea, but bottom line, it was unnecessary.
The first time I met the Ninja, and heard Shiozawa Kaneto's voice come out of him, I actually believed it might be Grey Fox, even though I didn't think it was him.
I liked Emma, she reminded me of Mei Ling.
I actually didn't feel anything from Colonel's screwed up codec calls, I had figured he wasn't Campbell earlier on. From the beginning it didn't make sense to me that he would be in the post of Raiden's support. And his behavior wasn't very Campbell to me. I had him figured as an imposter long before he was revealed as AI.
I wasn't annoyed by Rosemary's long codec calls. I am a fan of Inoue Kikuko (I've always liked Kasumi in Ranma 1/2), and I liked listening to her talk.
From the first time I played the game in its original Japanese language, I fully understood the storyline, and did not find it confusing at all. I did, however, find it unnecessarily repetitive in terms of continuously overturning something it said previously for the effect of surprise revelations.
Since the "Translated English Script" topic is lost, I'll say this again. The first time I played the English language version of the game in Substance, at the time having already played the original Japanese game many times and had already full awareness of the plot and story of the game, I got confused by the story. Granted, the script of MGS2 was indeed a difficult script to translate, but that was a damn confusing translation job they did. Such that someone who already knows what's going on can become confused by it. A lot of information became inconspicuous and unclear, and generally hard to interpret the meaning of. And a lot of stuff are lost. Aside from information, the biggest loss is the overall serious mood and atmosphere appropriate for the game. Pretty much every character's speech patterns became overly childish and light hearted, too childish for the characters they are, and too light hearted for the situation they're in.
Gameplay-wise, I thought the game was perfect, just perfect, pretty much perfect in every way.
I loved the Tanker Chapter, I replayed that portion of the game before I even completed the game for the first time.
I loved the C4 sniping bit at the Shell 1 Shell 2 Connecting Bridge. I don't have a specific reason why, I just enjoyed the tranquility of it. I reloaded the previous save and replayed that portion just after I finished the Harrier battle.
I enjoyed greatly the battle against the mass production model RAYs. It was a disappointment when the battle ended when there were still RAYs standing, I wanted to fight them some more. I wanted to fight them all.
Before I arrived, seagulls filled the skies above Big Shell.
After I passed through, there are no seagulls to be found anywhere near Big Shell.
The most exhilarating moment I got out of this game was when I hit a seagull with an RGB6 grenade for the first time.

The first time I played Metal Gear Solid 3, I used very little CQC. I either tranquilized or shot everybody, I was more used to that.
I played on Normal Difficulty, and finished the game with no Alerts.
The first "Time Paradox" I saw was due to my killing the unconscious Ocelot.
I got surprised the first (and so far the only) time a crocodile rotated and twisted Snake and instantly killed him.
I also got surprised when a guard dog recognized me through my full Raikov disguise.
The first time I encountered Raikov, I did not kill him.
The first time I dealt with Johnny the guard, I did not kill him.
The first time I walked with Eva, I killed her, with a point blank shot to the head.
The first time I fought The End, I made him out to be a more difficult adversary than he might have been, that I crawled the entire time I fought him, fearing he would hear my footsteps no matter how far away he was.
The first time I fought The Sorrow, I selected "Continue".
I found the Shagohod battle to be less exciting and spectacular than both the mass RAY battle and the REX battle. Still fun, just less... less sci-fi I suppose. Fighting a robot is more fantastic than fighting a tank. (Fantastic = fantasy-like.)
The first time I fought The Boss, I did not use CQC once. I defeated her using the Mk22 and the Mosin Nagant.
The moment the cutscene showed Snake hung on a rope, I knew it was time for Snake's eye to be blinded. I didn't know how it was going to happen, I just knew it was time for it.
I wasn't surprised by Naked Snake turning out to be Big Boss, but I guess that was never meant to be a surprise, just a cool revelation the players had been waiting for since starting up the game.
I thought Snake couldn't be any cooler when he defeated The Boss using only the Handkerchief for the first time. Then he defeated The End using only the Handkerchief, then The Fear, then Volgin, and he became the coolest ever.

The first time I saw the first trailer of Metal Gear Solid 4, I said, "wow".

So, what do you remember from your first times?

7.7.07

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