Jameson Rook
Super Freak
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2012
- Messages
- 11,873
- Reaction score
- 111
I thought Rising crushed the beauty of Raiden's ending in MGS4. That character went through so much garbage his whole life and finally got a happy family—free from all war and the Patriots. So many made sacrifices for that to happen, including Solid Snake, and then Rising perverted it. I'd feel the exact same way if they tried to continue Solid Snake's story. Heck, Big Boss even waited and gave Solid Snake the choice before stepping in, to see if he wanted to live. Solid Snake and Raiden weren't like Big Boss; they wanted normal lives. They fought because they were helping people and saving the world. The world needed them.
I thought MGS4 was brilliant how it incorporated the horrors of the war economy, as well as our self reliance on technology and government control. People freak out about the government relegating everything, but they are willing to make the sacrifice because it makes life so much easier. We've become so lazy. These nanomachines take away fear, pain, and hunger, and the characters believed it was worth the trade off. Eva touched on how our kids and subsequent generations aren't even going to question the ethical or even logical problems with all this. Yeah, we could say they went a little crazy with how much nanomachines can do; however, I never fathomed a world with 3d printers that could create such elaborate prosthetic arms, like that Iron Man prosthetic for that child, could be made for $350! Heck, Darpa has the ability to control our computers—including our cars through Onstar!
I completely disagree with folks saying to take a property away from the creator who put their soul into something that we love. I think that's self-entitled and a bit infantile. I thought the Star Wars pre-quels were trash, but it's Lucas' universe! I think it's narcissistic to think that he should cater to our own individual interests. Personally, I'm fine with that original trilogy and don't even care about the new movies. That story was great, and if people want more—great! I don't though, and that's fine.
So did Samurai Jack, but you don't see him having a happy life.
Point is, the contradiction of Raiden's ending was a small price to pay for such a great comeback that didn't rely on heavy handed MGS exposition. You could say the same about MGSV since MGS4 already wrapped up Big Boss's resolution.