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Kojima as a Creator/MGS rant. Whatcha think about all this?

MegaTenLove · 2013-03-23T05:35:56-01:00

Let's start way back in MGS1. Good game, good characters, but stuck amidst a bunch of pretentious tripe involving social commentary and some conspiracy bullshit. Right, well we could look past that and find joy in the gameplay and characters. Hell, we even swallowed the crazy clone plotline because it made for good drama. Also: neat! The endings change depending on what we do! Then came MGS2, which is widely considered the worst MGS game made, primarily for the horrible story. There's a lot of perspectives about it, but none that Kojima intended. No one speculated "Well, what is a nation?" and "Can we really tell if our lives are not just a part of some greater pattern woven by people greater than us?". Nope. We speculated "Wait, is Raiden meant to be a mirror for the gamer who wishes they could be Snake? Is Kojima telling me to fuck off?" and "Why did this game get so stupid, so confusing, so BATSHIT INSANE? Is Kojima telling me to fuck off?" Then we have MGS3, which is widely considered the best of the series since it has great characters and a conspiracy plot that actually kinda makes sense (in comparison to the other games? Yeah). And no more nanomachines = Deus Ex Machina bullshit! Hooray! _But what's this? Kojima wants to walk away from MGS? ...Are you fucking joking? What about Solid Snake and Otacon and Raiden and EVERYTHING from MGS2?! You want us to just sit and play guessing games over your wackadoo nonsense?! "Once again I'd intended for MGS3 to wrap up the series, but so many people wanted to know what happened after "2". Things like the identity of the Patriots and so forth. I had planned on leaving those mysteries as mysteries, but people weren't convinced that the series was wrapped up." -Hideo Kojima http://www.konami.jp/mgs4/uk/interview/03.html ...Oh, you do. ... Is Kojima trying to tell me to fuck off? And then came the fan outrage, which is still considered a divisive topic among even the fans. Should Kojima have given into the fans and gone ahead with MGS4? Should he have put himself into the co-director seat for a game he did barely anything but bitch about in interviews during development? _Speaking as a writer, we creators have an obligation not really just to our fans but primarily to our creations. We need to treat them with respect, as if they were our own flesh and blood. We imbue our sweat, our time, our lives into our creations and we can't just leave them incomplete. Not if we want to consider ourselves anything more than hacks. Kojima had an obligation to the series to give it a real ending, even if it was one that would have to tackle the colossal task of answering ALL the questions Kojima's trip down crazy (aka MGS2) brought up. Now, yes, it didn't need to come with fucking death threats. That's just... What the hell, man?! Fuckin' nut cases doing death threats! But even so, it needed to be done. Not the death threats, but the closure. Death threats are bad. MGS4, the game that, though most rightly argue is full of retcons (like every MGS game) and has so much expository dialogue that it can drive a man mad, is considered to be the end of the MGS series. It's the end because it did what it needed to do: answer our questions (though it did so in a confusing manner) and brought closure to the characters we'd grown endeared to over the years (though it did so with a LOT of contrivances). It is flawed and at times fuckin' stupid, but it's the end. [size=6]...I like it at least...[/h] ...Or is it? "Metal Gear: Revengeance! Oh, boy! A story about Raiden? As a badass cyborg ninja? Well, I thought him having a family and getting a life at the end of MGS4 was great, but fuck it! I'll play along! Can't be more worse than MGS2!" - Someone other than myself. ...Someone IS telling me to fuck off!! And then there's this: "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance never claimed to be a Metal Gear Solid. This is not a game about our beloved Solid Snake. It is a spinoff that tries something different. We have not yet finished with Solid Snake, despite the fact that I wanted to let him die at the end of Guns of the Patriots." - Kojima http://www.gamesradar.com/metal-gear-solid-5-apparently-confirmed-kojima/ So MGS4 is not the end, and Kojima doesn't give a fuck. [color=red]EDIT[/color]: Change of perspective and change of speaking, mates. Enough of you have managed to turn me around as the more literate of you have pointed out something rather obvious I missed in my blind ranting argument here: That, considering Konami is indeed in charge with MGS, and considering the state of the gaming industry these days (what with the recession and all), it's likely Konami will not let Kojima move on from MGS any time soon. Also, I made a mistake in reading his words as him blaming the fans when he actually hasn't [size=5]yet[/h]. I changed the topic title to reflect the change. So the topic is still open about Kojima as a creator and whether MGS should end, but I apologize for the rant regarding him AND the ending. Still think he's a dick, but a tragic one. For those of you who actually have something to say: What do you guys think?

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MegaTenLove

12 years ago

bakapink wrote...

MegaTenLove wrote...

And I understand Konami is in charge, but with the clout Kojima has in the industry these days I find it hard to believe he's that much of a slave to their whim. I'm certain he could think up an alternative, like the one you just mentioned, and yet he plans to continue the series and keep Snake around longer

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/6994-Metal-Gear-Rising-Revengeance

"Hideo Kojima didn't direct or write MGR:R. His only role was that of creative supervisor. He approved the script and gameplay ideas that Kojima Productions and Platinum Games came up with, but he wasn't directly involved in making the game."

Comments section.

Rather Kojima wants to continue the series or not, it's not his choice, he does not own Metal Gear's Ip, Konami does, and he is contracted with them to do as they will. If fans love Metal Gear, Konami will keep milking them, and Kojima will keep having to make them or quit his gaming production medium/group he spent years to make.

Honestly, as someone who wants to create, I would find it to be excruciating to have people demand "only" the same 2 IP's from me over and over. I'm sure Kojima has other things he would love the chance to produce, but investors always favor proven success over blind bets. It may be a bit misdirected but I can sympathize with his frustration in his fan base only demanding MGS or ZoE. Don't get me wrong, I honestly would welcome anything he puts his heart into, but only if he did it because "he" wanted too.

I really do want to see what else happens in Kojima's head, what other stories could he have created in the decade of working on MGS. But no one would support that (fans haven't from what I've seen, no one in the tread seems to want anything other than MGS or ZoE), creators really do not have that much free will or liberty to just, pick up and start, whatever they want. Ultimately creators are bent over backwards for their investors or cut.

I see. EscapistMagazine and Yahtzee are awful in my opinion, which is why I never thought to look there for any info. But if this is really the case then I see I've overlooked something massive here.

While I still think Kojima personally might be a dick, I can see now that, despite his clout, he really isn't in control. I also see that I made a big mistake in just raging about the man when clearly it's, yet again, corporate higher-ups in charge.

I have a distinct issue with viewing creator intent and action from the perspective of a literary writer, where the author does indeed have more say than anyone. However, this is often not the case in other mediums, and especially not in videogaming. I simply assumed it was applicable to Kojima because of the authority I believed he had, but I didn't recognize the hands reaching down over the guy from Konami.

So sorry everyone for the rant about Kojima and the end of Metal Gear. I still believe what I believe about Kojima personally, and it won't change, but this perspective of him and the continued milking of MGS beyond its conclusion and him blaming the fanbase has changed drastically.

Thank you, bakapink, for explaining yourself in a mature and reasoned manner. Hope you can create what you want to create with shackles similar to other creators out there!

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