Snake Eater Operation
Groznyj Grad ~ The Sorrow Battle

At last, Groznyj Grad. The first scene upon arrival, the images were made to imitate that of the first generation MGS.
Take note of Raikov's underpants. It's the "Thunderbolt Pants", with a thunder mark on it. And the poster inside the locker is Raiden too. Also, whether you knock out Raikov or kill him is indication of your love towards Raiden. I'm guessing it'll be a swift death for him in Europe. But, that decision I leave up to the player. That is the essence of MGS.
Actually, the Shagohod going 300 miles per hour and then shooting nuclear missiles in this high speed, this entire setting was decided mid-way into the production. But what kind of contraption, what kind of method to use to launch the nuclear missile? That's where the fun of sci-fi comes in. At first we considered some kind of transformer-type combination with a WIG and then shooting the missile, along with many other different ideas. In the end, we settled with a speed acceleration method using rocket boosters and hovercrafts.
Looking at the photograph of Sokolov together with his family, that's the kind of life a man wants for sure. However, the face of Sokolov's wife in the photo is pretty scary! Sokolov is a good man, but his taste in women is kind of... (laughs). Mrs Sokolov, she has the look of nobles during the Kamakura Era! I told Shin(kawa Yoji) about it, but all he said was "Is that right?" and he didn't fix it for me.
The Raiden mask comes equipped with Sigint's special designed "blink" function. It's a pity, but even with Sigint's skills still the mouth can't open and close (laughs). This lack of mouth opening action, somehow resembles E0 (Enemy Zero) and D2 (Dの食卓2, D no Shyokutaku 2), is that alright?
Volgin : "少佐、ここで何をしている?部屋で待っていたんだぞ? Major, what are you doing here? I had been waiting in my room?"
The Colonel had been waiting in his room for the Major, for the purpose of doing secret business.
When he grabs Snake's crotch, he realizes that it's a different person because the size is different.
Colonel Volgin : "お前は誰だ! Who are you!" (Upon grabbing Snake's crotch.)
Director Kojima : "Wahahahahaha!" (Exploding laughter.)
When The Boss says "長く自分を偽ると浸食される" ("Disguise yourself for too long and it will erode you."), she is really talking about herself.
Even Volgin is afraid of The Boss' CQC. Being a Japan maniac, he mistakes it for Judo (柔道).
Because he is a little afraid of The Boss, usually he remains a certain distance away from the The Boss. When he gets close, he moves back, he doesn't quite understand CQC.
However, after The Boss leaves, look how over-the-top violent he becomes. He repeatedly electric-punches and gut-punches Snake, and the last punch is reminiscent of 周潤發 Chow Yun Fat in "英雄本色 (HK) / 男たちの挽歌 (JP) / A Better Tomorrow (US)", with a slow motion punch to the face to finally put Snake down.
The plastic bag, it was a means of information retrieving torture used frequently by organizations such as the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti - Committee for State Security, Soviet Union) and the STB (Statni Bezpecnost - State Security, Czechoslovakia). Actually we had wanted to make it more real, but we can't motion capture it, so we just went as far as hanging by the hands.
Here, depending on how much injuries Snake has received up to this point, Volgin's dialogue lines change. If Snake hadn't received much injuries, he'll comment on Snake with "綺麗な体だな。無垢な子どものようだ" ("A flawless body. Like that of an unsullied child"). In the beginning, during this torture interrogation scene, there were going to be controls to resist, and buttons to press for Snake to struggle and swear, but regrettably these were not realized. Even though the dialogues already got recorded.
This sound of Snake's restricted breath with the plastic bag over his head, it was done with a sound staff actually putting a plastic bag over his head, and recorded with a microphone placed inside the plastic bag. I understand it took many tests to find the best sound, and in the end it was the Tokyo City designated garbage bag that gave off the best sound. This is dangerous so everyone please do not imitate it.
Here it is. The thing that repeats itself in MGS, the loss of bladder control.
Because Volgin is a sadist, he gets more and more high as he deals out violence, and he leaks his own secret (about the Philosopher's Legacy).
Here Ocelot already saw through Tatyana's identity, that's why he goes for Tatyana with his triple revolver Russian roulette.
Snake's right eye is burned by the muzzle flash. It wasn't actually hit by the bullet.
Seeing Snake take Volgin's torture and not give in, this is when Ocelot first awakened to the art of torture interrogation.
Afterwards The Boss comes over to Snake, press the R1 button and... Ghost! Here The Sorrow makes an appearance. Even when the R1 button mark doesn't appear on the screen, there are places where it is possible to switch to first person view, see if you can find them.
After the Colonel's torture, Snake will be locked up in a holding cell. If you throw outside the rations that are thrown you or animals you catch in the cell, and the guarding soldier outside takes them, he will feel a liking towards Snake.
After losing his right eye, you can say he's been in a "Mad Max 2" condition. In first person view too the right side has become narrow.
Also, with the SAA Revolver equipped here in first person view, rotate the Right Stick, and Snake will perform gun play. During the second and subsequent playthroughs, in front of Ocelot, if you do this gun play move, he will be extremely overjoyed.
Guard : "ジョニー Johnny."
Snake : "いい名だ Good name."
Back then if it got out that his wife was in the West, he'll probably be arrested. The ruling method around that time was "fear". It's the same as the war time Japan. Where is there a spy, when will there be a tip or an accusation, you don't know.
Also, if you look in first person view at Johnny's photograph... it's the radio frequency!
Snake : "ここを出してくれないか? Can't you let me out of here?"
Hahahahahaha! This to the clone Solid Snake would be an impossible line. It is because Naked Snake is so human, that this line can be said. This is what makes it MGS3.
(After Ocelot has Snake cornered,) Ocelot seems to be having a good time with this. To take the jammed bullet of their first meeting, and load it into the chamber here. It really is as if it was kept solely for the purpose of this occasion.
This jump, it is indeed "The Fugitive" no doubt.
The number of the Ocelot Unit decreases each time it battles with Snake, by this time there are already not that many left (laughs). It's a troop under the command of a leader like Ocelot, I think it can't be helped. But, as we can clearly see already during the Ocelot battle at the crevice, he is admired by his subordinates.
The only intelligentsia (Russian intellectual elite) of the Cobra Unit, but a dead man. Medium Soldier The Sorrow (霊媒兵士ザ・ソロー). Take off his glasses, and he's an Ed Harris type man. It is easily understandable how The Boss would fall for him.
At this place, all the soldiers the player has killed up to this point are lined up in a row. Maximum 100 bodies! Depending on how they are killed, the soldiers appear in different ways, making this a really scary scene. It is not at all MGS, it turns into a completely different game.
The Sorrow : "おまえは息子達に殺される。おまえの中で光と闇が増殖する You will be killed by your sons. Light and darkness are reproducing inside of you."
Well, this is a prediction towards MGS. It foretells the birth of the clones Liquid and Solid.
Considering how important this line turned out to be, how much it got discussed among players, it is surprising that this line was not in the original script.
(Original script refers to the initial finished script, the script with which all voices were recorded.)
Like in MGS, I had intended for the names of train stations of the 能勢電鉄 Nose Railway (pronounced noh-seh) to be spoken by The Sorrow, as well as words like adenine, thymine, and guanine, during this The Sorrow battle, but because there are too many sound elements I gave it up. When we used the station names of the Nose Railway in MGS, the 神戸新聞 Kobe Newspaper interviewed and reported about us. MGS2 also got in. But this time, we wasted the chance to be reported by the Kobe Newspaper (laughs).
(能勢電鉄株式会社 Nose Electric Railway Co.,Ltd. - http://noseden.hankyu.co.jp)
(神戸新聞社 Kobe Shimbun Newspaper - http://www.kobe-np.co.jp)
During this The Sorrow battle, for those who had already used the Fake Death Pill by this time, it is easy to solve.
If you select Continue three times, there is a specially prepared dialogue line from Major Zero that tells you to use the Revival Pill at the Game Over screen. From what I understand, very few people heard this line.
Japanese people will know this river to be the "三途の川 Sanzu no Kawa" - "River of Three Paths".
It seems there were some people who, because of thinking this is the Sanzu River, refused to cross the river.
(In Japanese beliefs, after a person dies, he goes into the next world, the other world. But before actually leaving this world and entering the next world, there is a border between the two worlds, a river, where the person must first be judged. This river is known as the 三途の川 Sanzu no Kawa, or the River of Three Paths. (Very similar to the River Styx or River Acheron of Greek mythology.)
The actual name of this river is the 賽の河原 Sai no Kawara (River Plains of Sai).
葬頭河 Souzuka (Head Burying River), 三瀬川 Mitsusekawa (Three Waters River), and 渡り川 Watarikawa (Crossing River) are some other popular names of this river. 三途の川 Sanzu no Kawa (River of Three Paths) is just the name popularly used because of its three paths.
The 1st path is for the sinless, who cross the river on a bridge.
The 2nd path is for the light sinners, who cross the river through shallow waters.
The 3rd path is for the heavy sinners, who cross the river through deep waters.
The bridge of the first path is made of gold and silver and bejeweled with the seven gems.
The shallow waters of the second path is high just below the knee.
The deep waters of the third path flows quickly and turbulent, with waves as high as mountains, rocks coming downstream with the waterflow, and huge snakes swimming at the bottom.)
(My original text.)
After the battle, there is a hidden first person view scene here where you can see The Sorrow rise into heaven. The last assassin of the Cobra Unit is defeated.