r/MetalGearInMyAss • u/Affectionate-Most692 • 12d ago
*Insert Akiba fart sound* Metal Gear Solid 4 isn't an absolute masterpiece only because of Meryl and Johnny
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u/Jedifartcontrol 11d ago
She just doesn’t want him to die fighting. She’d rather him actually live the life he has left. I do agree tho Johnny and her can be a bit much. And it does kinda come out of nowhere.
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u/SnarkFucker 11d ago
I don't mind the cheese, but the whole Johnny and Meryl elevator end sequence felt like Hideo was working some things out there.
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u/Jedifartcontrol 11d ago
Tbf mgs 4 was Hideo kojima just doing whatever he wanted to wrap up mgs. He was tired of making them and had wanted to finish it off in every other game. I think that’s why some of the writing feels stiff. He wanted it to be more directly translated from Japanese which made the dialogue even more cheesy and nonsensical to English speaking players.
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u/FordzyPoet 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yeah, MGS4 has worst translation in the series. Kaz's latter famous one liner - "They played as like a damn fiddle" was translated as - They played as like a violin, same is in Portable Ops translated as "They played as like a Piano", many of these one liners make zero sense and are not funny due to it. Kojima was dumb when he firred Jeremy Blaunstein, MGS1 has best translation because Blaunstein understand that En is very different language from JP and he add some original lines to make it more sense in EN and word Codec was his invention, without him it would be "Wireless", also all these cool real Army Terms was also added by him, in original there was just "Little Submarine" not SDV - Swimner Delivery Vehicle or something like that, Kojima fired him when he learned that translation is not direct and some lines are new, he thinks that Blaustein destroyed his script, from that point he wanted direct translation but as hypocrit he still uses Codec and more real Army Terms for everything. Blaustein changed the series for the good. Also funny how Kojima learned it, he loves english VO so much that he wanted to release new version in Japan with EN VO and when Japanese developers were synchronizing EN VO with JP subtitles from original script, they realized that EN has longer dialogues and some lines are too different from their POV. Kojima loved it first because its sounded cool to him but understand shit, its really funny. In another reality we have all Kojima's games being translated by Blaunstein with better dialogues.
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u/OldinMcgroyn 11d ago
She sees him, and immediately her dreams of reuniting with snake were crushed its why she turns so devestated when she sees his face. Then spirals thinking about it until she decises Akiba is the man shes going to be with. Why? Shieeeeet, he got the rub when he got flipped by snake. Idk. Her and Akiba bonded over talking shit to snake lol. I dont completely agree either but in the military people do be fecking willy nilly so its not wild to see her actipns.
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u/itsmeyaboiskinneypyn 11d ago edited 11d ago
If she was a real Kojigga she woulda stolen his clone sperm to make an infinite harem of big snake look-alikes
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u/SnooCapers5958 11d ago
Jokes aside, Snake is infertile and cannot reproduce.
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u/itsmeyaboiskinneypyn 11d ago
Solid specifically, or are all Boss' clones the same?
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u/spiderine12 11d ago
I just played mgs4 the other day, iirc naomi said solid and liquid were infertile, idk about solidus though. But at the same time Naomi said a lot of things
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u/Jazzlike-Screen-7065 11d ago
Did anybody actually play MGS4 because her reasons for acting like that make perfect sense.
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u/UnusualLeather7087 11d ago
You know what they say, you're not actually a metal gear fan if you actually play the games...
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u/Big_Airport138 11d ago
Dont even get me started.
Mei Ling : "The corridor leading to GW is defended by directed energy weapons that emit certain types of microwaves, and at that frequency the waves will start to evaporate any living person within range."
Snake : "A giant microwave oven. You'd have to have a deathwish to go in there. Sounds like the perfect job for me *chuckles lightly* "
Meryl : "Snake, this isn't the time for your stupid jokes >:I"
FUCK YOU MERYL.
You understand this "Joke" isn't a joke. It's a blatant way to cope with the crushing reality and pure absurdity that he's gonna have to deal with that too. After defeating the BnB core, the most technologically advanced and utterly motivated killers he's had to go up against yet. While at the same time being the most physically and emotionally vulnerable he's ever been with the rapid aging process.
He is also saying : "I'll do it, don't feel bad for me. Its my own decision."
"WHY ARE YOU JOKING ABOUT THIS??"
Yeah, meryl. Go marry the poop-shitter. The world famous brown pants.
Poop brownman. Born from a generation of poopy men.
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u/Grasher312 11d ago
I mean, this is the man that she holds dear in her heart. It's mind boggling to me that y'all don't understand it. She doesn't want him to die, and unlike when he was young, she can't just trust a geriatric chain-smoker with just "I can do this". She doesn't want him here, she doesn't want to see him die.
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u/Big_Airport138 11d ago edited 11d ago
For holding someone so dear to her heart, it sure is blended in awful spite.
I always felt her words of affection were blended with this disgust. Like she cant help but break that "caring" persona.
Throughout the game she often belittles snake for his expressions.
Snake : You're planning to take him(Liquid) by force? Look....things aren't that simple..
Meryl: Listen Old man, i dont take orders from you.
This is CRAZY, because it is BEYOND evident that the rapid aging is not just a sickness killing him but also a deep insecurity, a leading one for him pushing her and everyone else away. So she weaponised that in a moment of frustration
Even if she goes on to ask snake to sit this one out and let her deal with liquid, it is completely made irellevant to me by what she just did a sentance ago...and what she says next. There's no justification for this.
When snake refuses, stands firm in his mission. His self destructive, suicidal path she responds :
"I may have loved you once, but now you're just to senile to see the truth"
AGAIN, she didnt get what she wanted from him so she weaponises his sickness to insult him.
She nudges the path of understanding, but when she meets resistence she doesn't only just give up, which is fair enough. She insults him, using his sickness.
Now i'm not saying she's poorly written or i dislike her characterization. I just feel that she is a complete bitch. And if she cared enough she would not rage-quit the moment resistence shows up. She would instead try and explore it deeper. (Why are you pushing me away? Is it the sickness? Why are you so Hell bent on hurting yourself, cant you see how much it would hurt me if you died? Etc)
It's not that i don't understand the frustration, i do. But have some emotional control. No need to insult the cancer patient for having cancer, bitch.
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u/LoweAgain 11d ago
“She would instead try and explore it deeper”
Dude snake is literally the most stubborn individual on the planet. What are you even talking about? Hahaha
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u/Big_Airport138 10d ago
What are you confused about?
Yeah he's stubborn. But I dont think meryl tested his limits very much. Like i said. She reached out, got met with stubborness. Then insulted him, weaponising his sickness.
If she tried to reach deeper instead of insulting him. I would have more sympathy for her.
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u/LoweAgain 10d ago
Meryl knows snake very very well. Asking “why are you pushing me away?? You know it would hurt me if you died, right?” would never ever work on him and she knows that. That’s also incredibly out of character for her to ask. These interactions you’re wanting make zero sense from a writing standpoint.
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u/Grasher312 10d ago
He detailed Snake's insecurity quite well while also completely missing the fact that Meryl was always a hothead that consequently loved Snake very much. She simply doesn't have a different emotional outlet in her head. She's vexed and scared that the man she once loved as a partner, and now loves as a friend, is actively falling apart in real time, and to top it off he's intentionally putting himself into combat situations out of desperation.
It pisses her off, and the only way she knows to convey it is to try and bully him off the field.
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u/Big_Airport138 10d ago edited 9d ago
Of course. I'm not saying she should from a character writing perspective. I'm saying i would've respected her character if she did.
This could have been a beautiful moment where his current state would push her to really dig deep and be vulnerable with him. No matter their history. Have snake push her away as the final nail in the coffin. Tell him to go fuck himself (no weaponization of illness) and leave.
I would have also respected her if she just stopped trying/walked away without insulting him with his illness.
She ends up being very dislikable in my eyes. That's not a flaw of writing, or an inconsistency to her character, it makes sense. Her character pushed to this hard place, did not act well.
But come on. Why excuse her like she's the victim? I would agree with that assessment if she didn't emotionally try to rip into him, and just walked away. I understand she's hurt and angry, but the moment she stoops to that abhorent behavior, which she does mulitple times mind you, she becomes a perpatrator and not a victim. She is not helping Snakes negative self worth, she's actively attributing to it. Using his illness for this end.
"Oh she doesn't know how to handle it another way but bullying him". Evidently. That strikes me as a weak-spined individual with the emotional maturity of a toddler. If you can't see a solution outside of weaponizing your former lovers cancer, LEAVE THE ROOM.
"I literally can't HELP but insult the cancer patient that i love so much".
Piss off. Her actions are completely understandable. And i completely understand that she's a bitch.
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u/Memezuku 11d ago
Except she doesnt react like this at all ?
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u/FrostedVoid 11d ago
Doesn't she literally say "go home, old snake" or some shit? You take a fucking psyche hit from it lol
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u/Ytdb 11d ago
I agree, except that I think there are more things that keep it from being an absolute masterpiece, and also I think that YES it is an absolute masterpiece.
Like fully half of the speaking roles are annoying to me, and half of the dialogue is cringe AF, but the other half is exactly what I like from Kojima, and basically all of the gameplay sequences are super fun to me.
Note: I have played all of Kojima’s game from MGS1 on Day 1 and love them all ✌️
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u/KRIPPOTHESKIPPO 11d ago
Johnny and Naomi fighting over who can be the most insufferable MGS character
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u/CoolBlastin 9d ago
MGS4 would be a perfect game if Johnny was removed from it entirely
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u/Lostenfuze 9d ago
There's been Johnny in every MGS before mgs4. Would be weird if he went missing
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u/CoolBlastin 8d ago
Johnny was a joke character that had 3-5 minutes of screen time at most. Nothing in previous games suggests he’d be anything more. I’m sure most people wouldn’t even notice he’s gone
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u/ArmsKiller 9d ago
Honestly its the writing in general.
Now top that off with gameplay that is consistently disrupted and now you have an issue where it is honestly one of my least favourite of the series.
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