MGS V - Some Thoughts on a Letter, Some Thoughts on a Number

Recently (as in the last few months) I've been getting into the lore of another fandom. Namely, that of Metal Gear Solid. I remember seeing a physical copy of the first game at my house years ago, but never got to play it because it was rated "M." Fast forward to a many years later, and I've already read up on the story and lore, and just break down and buy it as a PS One Classic.

Now the hype is increasing as the release of Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain draws near. I've just finished the 3rd game and started the 4th. Then Jamez took over and started into 4 also. And gotten further than me. ARGRH.

Anyway, the poster of Phantom Pain got me thinking.

Almost a !. So close, yet so far

The letter V, I'm sure, was chosen because it's seen as "classier" than a plain old 5. Maybe to avoid the appearance of churning out so many games. (Probably not. Anyway, if there were a 6th, I'd hope it'd be Metal Gear Solid 6, since Roman numerals can be pretty awkward to deal with in certain numbers.)

V has several meanings, though. As a music major, I immediately think of a famous V - Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It has the famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) musical figure of three short notes followed by a long one:

Dun dun dun DUUUUH, dun dun dun DUUUUH

While looking up morse code to try to "decipher" part of a trailer (there wasn't anything there, at least not that I could find) I saw another interesting connection: the pattern short-short-short-long, present in the Fifth Symphony, was also the morse code for the letter "V."

That's all fine and dandy, you say. V = ..._ = Fifth Symphony. Big deal.

However, let's take a closer look at the motif and symphony itself. First of all, Fifth Symphony is considered to be one of Beethoven's greatest works. Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain have the potential to be Kojima's Fifth Symphony.

The main motif of Beethoven's work is usually seen as signifying "fate," by most listeners in the public. GZ and PP are the chapters which will most likely conclude Big Boss's saga by showing his ultimate transition from anti-hero to villain. As much as we may feel for his loss at the end of Ground Zeroes, Big Boss ultimately sets in motion the development of several world-endangering Metal Gear projects, among other things. Ultimately, his fate is sealed. Yet, like the different moods within the Fifth Symphony, there is opportunity for some hope within BB's tragic tale.

The key of C minor represents a heroic struggle, much like Big Boss faces.

Anyway, enough romanticizing - the link between the two was tenuous enough.

The V on the poster vaguely resembles the font of the first PS title, and could be seen as either an upside-down "A" or a ! that got into an accident with a letter-opener. I should refrain from reading so much into a single letter, but it is interesting that the "V" does not match the font of the title of the game (Or anything else on the poster, for that matter.)

One last thing I'll say about the V: a common hand-gesture, known as the "V sign" meant at one time "victory," and can now mean that, or "peace." Big Boss suffers a major loss, and this loss was of a base built and manned during a game called "Peace Walker." On the other hand, if the gesture is reversed, it becomes an offensive one. I'm sure that at least one of the MSF felt like flashing at least that at the forces that destroyed Mother Base.

Anyway, I could go on finding thin links between real-life used of V and the V sign, and Metal Gear, but I won't. I could say something like, "V gesture can also be devil horns, and Big Boss is already a demon," but I'll quit now.

Stay hyped!

"V has come to."

Gaming - Metal Gear Solid V: The Build-Up

At first, I was going to let myself make due with having played Metal Gear Solid and read about/seen the other titles in the franchise. After all, the game is set right after MGS 3, so I wouldn't be missing too much, right?

Snake/BB eats snakes and stops the bad guys.
That's it, right?

However, we went shopping at Mr. K's. Besides the book Moby Dick, (to possibly be addressed in another post) I quickly discovered that they had MGS 2 for $8. And later we found MGS 4 at GameStop for $4.99! So I showed them to Mother, and she insisted to get them for me. And when people offer free games, who am I to argue?

I had to decide: continue the (very early) save file on 3, or begin with the much-maligned, occasionally crazy 2.

This cover is a BIG. FAT. LIAR.

In the end, I opted for 2, because why not? I figured I could see Jamez's (my brother) reactions to stuff. Like how the box art and manual lied about the player character. Or the weird characters in the game. Or how Otacon isn't the next Mei Ling.

Naturally, I began at very easy. I'm in the game to have fun and see the over-the-top story, so there's no need to try to prove myself or anything. Big Boss, I am not.

I must not despise the game myself, since my first play session lasted a little over 5 hours. Jamez was there for most of it too, so it was also bonding time! Yay!

My first impression is that there's not as much fun dialogue or voice acting. Sure, the Tanker mission lets you tease Otacon by taking *certain* pictures and has Kevin Michael Richardson (aka Bulkhead from Transformers Prime, among many other cartoons) as a speech-giving Marine commandant. However, once I got into the Plant mission, there was just Colonel Campbell, "Snake," and Rose. The reals Sna- I mean, Iroquois Pliskin, didn't show up until a little later - and he slept a lot!

Fortunately, other major characters started showing up, like the bomb expert and Mr. X. So after somersaulting around, slipping in pigeon poop, and icing down a few C4 bombs, I finally decided to take a break. Looking forward to showing/seeing how Jamez reacts to the rest of the game and its zany characters!

TIL that this line originated here.
Oh dear.

(Thankfully, we've already seen footage of Phantom Pain, so Kojima couldn't have pulled a bait-and-switch like last time.)

(Right?)