Here it is, the final part of my editorial which I hope explains why Metal Gear Solid is the greatest video game story ever told. In the previous part I touched on the emotional impact, and the character development in the games. In the final edition I would like to compare the story to other video games and show just how generic the stories are in some of your favorite video games compared to Metal Gear Solid.
Many of the top selling games out there are very americanized, and thus the story is far from complex. Games like Gears Of War contain the generic format that there are a team of hero’s who kick ass and everybody else but the hero’s are wrong. Americanized stories are full of the ignorance that the hero of the story can do no wrong, and the so called bad guys must be eliminated. Which brings me to focus on the diversity of the Metal Gear Story, and the emphasis on the fact that nobody is right and nobody is wrong.
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NO RIGHT OR WRONG
Snake said it himself “I’m no hero. Never was. I’m just an old killer… hired to do some wet work”. Although the Metal Gear Story may be based in America (most the time) and based on American characters, the story is essentially Japanese made. As with many JRPG’s, the Japanese like to create stories that look at the bigger picture, no body in the story is right or wrong, they are just acting upon their own personal feelings and thoughts. If everybody is human, then who is to say that one person is wrong just because he/she is acting based on their own personal beliefs?
This thought process applies to the Metal Gear story in a big way. Through out the games you are presented with the illusion that Revolver Ocelot is the bad guy, but is he really? There is no answer for that question, Revolver Ocelot acted upon his obsession with Big Boss, his aims we’re to end the Patriot systems control and thus bring back Big Boss. Solid Snake and Ocelot in the end were just two opposing pawns of the world, both fighting for their own beliefs, who is to say which one of them was right and which one was wrong?
Evey time you defeat a boss in Metal Gear Solid, Kojima makes sure that the player completely understands their story, their motives and the reasoning for them even being involved in the current mission. This provides us all with an outlook on every single foe’s true motives for behaving the way they do, Metal Gear Solid is in no way a “shoot first ask questions later” type of game. You have to understand why exactly your on the opposing side of the enemy. Which raises the question, if you yourself can understand the enemies motives, then are they really that wrong?
Even the whole adventure of Metal gear Solid 3 was pretty much a whole illusion created for the good of two countries, was The Boss a villain at all? Throughout the whole game no good reason is presented for her to defect over to Volgin’s side, which was a huge give away to the fact that she wasnt acting of her own intentions. Nobody who plays such an emotional part of the story would just defect and turn evil (for no good reason) without there being a mystery behind it.
Noami is the perfect character to symbolize everything I am trying to say. Her only intention was to atone for her sins and make everything right, as she had a huge hand in the whole chaos. To atone for her sins and put everything right again, she used both sides of the conflict. In the end, although she did so much wrong, it was her actions that caused the calm after the storm.
So when you compare Metal Gear Solid to other popular video games such as Halo, Gears Of War and Killzone, is it even possible for them to have the same amount of depth that the Metal Gear Solid story has? Never has a game been so in tune with character development, and it’s the characters that make up the story and keep us coming back. The fact that the game is not just dependent on just revealing the main characters story gives Metal Gear the edge.
Metal Gear Solid makes me hope that Japanese developers will create more American stories, for they truly put American developers to shame when it comes to creating a story. Even if they don’t create more American stories, I hope that more gamers will be open minded enough to check out Japanese games and Jrpg’s after playing Metal Gear Solid.
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END AND THANKS
So thats the end of my Metal Gear Solid editorial, my main aims was to just shine some light on the world to show why this game means so much to the fan base. Not everyone is supposed to agree that this is the best video game story every made, but I am thankful for having the opportunity to speak on why I and many others feel that it is.
So to all those who read this I would like to say thanks for at least hearing out my argument. I tried to write this editorial in a way where I wouldn’t make it drag out into a long article, and in each part I structured it so there really isn’t that much reading to be done. I could have gone on and on, but I feel confident that I summed up everything well enough.
I would also like to give thanks to the Metal Gear Solid fan base who showed support for my articles, don’t think I don’t appreciate it. Shout outs to Omg Metal Gear for featuring my editorial on their site.
Lastly remember to check out The Koalition always, to keep up to date on all things Metal Gear Solid, and all things gaming period.
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See part one here
See part two here
