^^^

In any case, MGS games have always had open-ended endigs. It is hard to change the habit.

I loved the fighting scene at the end. I loved how it goes through each story - music change and the hp bar changed. It was awesome. Little touches like this make fans happy :D

*Thinks of Matrix 2 and 3*

*Shivers, then runs to the toilet*

Lol, that scene was bad, It seemed like a cruel joke.

I thought Act I was the worst of them all, and that Act 3 was the best. That's just me though.

I'd take a whole game of Act I over most others anyway, it's just nitpicking.

Not quite sure what your intent is but I completely agree about Japanese storylines.

Which is why I've said that even though Japanese history is long and unchallenged, they have few multicultural stories... Sure, we have Kurosawa but that's only after WWII and westernization. Overall, the island is pretty terrible at reaching out to other people and connecting on a spiritual level. If you don't believe me, just ask Joseph Campbell.

Shit, even the tumultuous Chinese managed to pull that off many times over. We stupid Westerners read Chinese literature constantly yet we pull little from the Japanese... I think that says something about the culture. It just doesn't work well. It's a confused, angst-ridden, horrible way of telling things that wants to be free yet continues to restrain itself for politeness. That leads to terribly written, convoluted stories that play to the lowest common denominator who is paying attention.

Frankly, beehive mentality does not work when it comes to creativity. Which is why I love and despise Kojima at the same time.

Good for you!

I'm not there yet.

DTG, you really need to respond to my Apocalypse Now post... I know how you love to dance around "interactive media" and terms like that but if you really believe in MGS so strongly, you should be able to take on Coppola without a problem.

Honestly, I doubt you've even watched the movie so you won't even understand how heavily Kojima ripped the personalities from the film. Please, for the love of God, watch Redux.

If you come back and tell me that somehow MGS2 or 4 is more powerful, just say it and we'll be done with this conversation. 

Let's just use this as an example of some of the most powerful pieces ever done:

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

When you read that, you realize just how powerful sacrifice can be and just how powerful media can be in its glorious height. Kojima would take a line like that and bastardize it over four paragraphs and explain every word to the viewer. Shit, that takes the majesty out of it, right?

That line is a 10/10. In comparison, MGS falls somewhere around 5/10. Anyone who argues different doesn't bother to think too much. Sorry to say it but it's true.

Comparing a line from one of the greatest writers of English in modern times to a plot from a videogame is rather unfair.

First off I have to say both on challenge and raw gameplay the best MGS game is by far, MGS the Twin Snakes for gamecube. Its basically just MGS1 but they added a lot of the better MGS2 features (such as aiming and better control) so you get the great modern MGS gameplay in easily the best game of the series in terms of raw gameplay and stealth action.

That said as a total package MGS4 is far and away the best. I would liken the series of games to a very well done trilogy plus a tangentially related story thrown in (MGS3, which was still great fun and brought in the awesome camo system) The first game has character introduction and more action since there's less to explain (1 really keeps you in the dark on most things), the second has a little less action (and the HUGE mistake of not letting you be Snake) and a little more story, and like Empire Strikes back, a barely victory ending. MGS4 does have a little extra in the way of cutscenes (ok a lot extra) but its amazing in how it wraps things up. If you played the first game and didn't find the Metal Gear Rex scenes awesome I have no idea why not.

@Rocketpig As far as the game being easy if you play on a lower difficulty level DON'T complain about it being too easy. If you wanted it to be harder (or in the case of boss level way harder) then don't play it on easy or normal. Friggin duh.

I also found the octo camo to be amazingly fun once I got the hang of it. For a real challenge combining octo camo and going for a low kill count game (using stun knife and tranq darts) is very difficult. That has always been the pinacle of MGS difficulty, the no (or limited) kill game. In the end though I found myself liking just about every part of the game, yes even the meryl holding off the endless frogs (yes I could have done without akiba part but I still felt a strong sense of wanting Meryl to live that kept the scene interesting, once again probably in part from remembering her in MGS1).

There are all kinds of little fan send offs that are great if you played the first ones too, every character more or less is back, the references to the earlier games, even obscure ones (like akiba being the soldier you own early in MGS1, the Metal Gear vs Metal Gear battle, psycho Mantis being back, and my personal favorite when Snake has the dream when going to Shadow Moses that takes the form of playing a section of MGS1). It was just great and engaging all around, beginning to end. Pick up the MGS 3 pack if you haven't played them, then play MGS4, its 100x better if you do. Its like watching Return of the Jedi before the other two movies, sure its good on its own but its way better if you saw the other two first.