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S2 Ep46: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
71 Plays7 years ago
Join Dave and Jake as they discover the only rules that matter in this week's episode!
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Transcript
Introduction and Opening Banter
00:00:24
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soap Zone. My name is Jake. I'm joined by my co-host, as always, Dave. How's it going, Dave? It's going good. Yeah? Is that your, uh, is that your, uh, deep nasally, not nasally, gravelly, like Android voice or cyborg voice? I'm trying to imagine deep and nasally. The facial expression I'm making to try and make this noise is good enough for me to just
Exploration of Metal Gear Franchise
00:00:50
Speaker
not... No, I was trying to do a really shitty David Hader.
00:00:53
Speaker
Ah, David Hader, yeah. Metal Gear. Are you a fan of David Hader's? Hey, it's a word play on my name. Yep, got him. So speaking of Metal Gear, this is technically a Metal Gear game that we're talking about, though it's not solid. It's rising.
00:01:16
Speaker
I wanted to make a joke about that new game that was even shittier. Oh the survive. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's that's that's but I can't afford save slots We're gonna talk about this game. Yeah, I know a lot of people actually aren't huge fans of the game. We're talking about which is Metal Gear rising revenge
00:01:34
Speaker
I would love to count the number of times that you've done that. But even if you previously considered this to be the worst game in the Metal Gear franchise, they've actually made it impossible for it to be true. So I fall back on that. Metal Gear as a series is not
00:01:54
Speaker
Terribly consistent in its games. Yeah, um, I feel like it's always a little bit Weird and out there and kind of over the top But beautiful in its own way. Yeah, cuz my main experience has been Metal Gear Solid 3 Okay
00:02:10
Speaker
And that's the only one I've actually played.
Metal Gear Rising: Gameplay and Mechanics
00:02:12
Speaker
Really? No, five. We played five. Right, right. I know. I know we played five, but I thought you were more of a fan of the series kind of overall. I mean, I have a Metal Gear Solid wallet, but that's it. It's kind of cool. I like it lore wise. It's really interesting and in depth and all the characters are cool. And they have very
00:02:34
Speaker
In the same way anime has very good tropes for characters, Metal Gear has bosses like that. So Metal Gear Solid 3 and like, oh you have this really old guy who's a sniper and you had like a whole sniper fight? That was really cool because it was just very out of the box.
00:02:51
Speaker
Thought you were literally referring to bosses like there's big boss. There's a little boss the boss. There's mama boss They have a kid baby boss boss baby there it is So but this time for this particular game, although it's I think it still has espionage somewhere in the name It's not tech the tactical espionage action anymore a strategy whatever it's called
00:03:17
Speaker
No, this is a straight beat them up. Yeah. This is a platinum game and platinum makes games like this game. Yeah. They're usually.
00:03:28
Speaker
Actually, they're not always Quicktime bullet dodgy. No, like I'm thinking of Bayonetta has some very quick and smooth combat but they also Correct me if I'm wrong did a near automatas or your automatas. Sorry shame Combat system as well
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, so it's something they really I would say excel at Yeah, they they kind of know I'm a net there's been a three coming out That was eight bit Bayonetta what we're saving that for the intermission geez spoilers legend the core Oh, never mind. Sorry guys legend of course actually really good. Did you play that I did it's not particularly long Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna step back from really good. I'm gonna say good It's surprisingly playable for like a avatar branded game
00:04:17
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, but yeah, they also made like anarchy reigns has an awesome OST We're never gonna talk about that game. So just go look up the I mean, we're not gonna ever talk about revenge That's true. We could theoretically get there at some point around to it.
Character Analysis and Story Development
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, revenge is Your action game kind of in a similar vein, but not entirely analogous to devil may cry And you play as riding
00:04:44
Speaker
And Raiden showed up. I believe in Metal Gear Solid 2. Yeah, he was universally loved by everyone that wanted to play him instead of Solid Snake. It's nobody. Yeah, people basically hated him for like forever. Well, I mean if you're the new kid on the block Mm-hmm. It's like how do you compare it to like hey, this is the main character you've come to know and love you're not gonna play as Link anymore you're gonna play as
00:05:12
Speaker
stink i mean i blanked long enough i accept your joke yeah so he came in as basically like a nobody a novice yeah didn't have any of the skills or cool david hater vibes but he was just a guy into it right i believe so yeah he's like a trainee or something i never played to so anything i say canon will be used against me
00:05:38
Speaker
All right. So I think two happens after one. I mean, that's actually wise. You would think that that wouldn't be a large, a large jump, but it's a risk. So then in three, that's where we would go back into the seventies. Um, that's when I was most experienced with then four brings you back to a more recent or more current future than two. But I think this is where.
00:06:09
Speaker
Mr. Ryan and get some type of cybernetic enhancements because yeah, everybody has cybernetic enhancements except for Whichever specific snake this is old snake. Yeah, who's just old? Yeah Yeah, revenge takes place in the the far-flung year of 2018. I
00:06:28
Speaker
if i remember correctly so so the past yeah yes um but at this point in the game he's very i feel like you can just say cyborg yeah i feel his hair is real i don't know if anything else is yeah i mean we can we can evaluate that his anger his anger his anger is pretty real yeah this is like uh post kind of fall of the patriots and the metal gear timeline and he's just gone off and joined his
00:06:57
Speaker
His own mercenary group essentially, but they seem to have better morals than every other mercenary group you fight in the game I guess you're like we won't kill the kids. We won't harvest their brains Yeah, we'll get to that
00:07:13
Speaker
but uh As far as the actual tone of the game It's 100 just balls to the wall action absurdity. Yeah, like there is no and Metal gear always has that kind of level of absurdity like there's the recurring gag with the guy that has to go to the back like johnny has to go to the bathroom all these games and Like if you played mgs5 like that game has some really really absurd stuff in it. Oh
00:07:44
Speaker
Exactly But Revengeance kind of just carries that into the action genre Rather than just being Capcom for Capcom's sake it's or Konami for Konami's sake. Yeah, I I Still don't like the game. Mm-hmm, but there's so many things I like about the game. Yeah, I
00:08:04
Speaker
because this is my first time
Revengeance: Plot and Style Discussion
00:08:06
Speaker
even touching it. I had obviously seen some of the memes, the videos and the songs here and there. But when you're running around as like a cyber ninja with a katana and then you have like this.
00:08:16
Speaker
I want to say kill animation. Yes, where you could just like lock yourself in place time slows down a little bit each kind of Angle your slashes however you want between roughly horizontal or roughly vertical. Yeah, and then you can cut things into pieces Yes, it counts the pieces. Yeah, it literally counts the pieces like two to the power of and just going Fucking nuts on people and I was like wow that was Really cool. Yeah, it like
00:08:45
Speaker
A different developer would be like, hey, once we cut things up into a bunch of pieces, the graphics kind of just look like garbage for what he's chopping up. Like it doesn't look realistic. It's just like slivers of things. They're like a different developer would be like, let's not do that. Platinum was like, sweet, that's awesome. Let's keep doing that. But yeah, you get even better at chopping things to pieces as you're like focus bar. You buy upgrades for it throughout the game.
00:09:13
Speaker
You start off and you can't go into like choppy mode for that long Um, but eventually you can stay in there for a while but I argue that kind of focusing in on just the This is what people enjoy doing. Yeah, so I see this is like a standalone game off of the franchise in the same way It's not likely to be a revengeance too I wasn't gonna say it's true
00:09:40
Speaker
blood dragon, right? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a standalone game still kind of in that universe off of that engine, but it's like, Hey, what's the fun shit about this? Let's focus on just that standalone title. Yeah. Actually some, some people dislike the premise of this game entirely in the metal gear, uh, universe, because, um, if, and correct me if I'm wrong, you played four, right? Did you play four?
00:10:03
Speaker
i watched for watch for yeah i mean i never had a ps3 there's actually no difference between watching and playing for that i have a controller while watching the game oh you played it but uh riding like has a pretty uh resolute ending kind of at the end where he like comes back to his family basically realized he has a son all of that spoilers i guess
00:10:28
Speaker
but uh so it's not weird that i call him daddy cool but the setup for this one is like his family has nothing to do with it there's only like a mention that he flew them out like to the philippines for safety at one point and it's just him tearing people apart for like eight hours yeah which if you know like his past
00:10:49
Speaker
would sound like a regression as far as where he's come from as a child soldier, but I don't know. I like Raiden. I like the edgy kind of rock music that they've got going on and all of his vibes as an electric ninja. Like, I am the rain lightning transformed moments and stuff like that. No.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it appeals to that that young pubescent part of my brain that just like ninjas are awesome Robots are awesome. I mean, I don't disagree. There's still a part of me that very much Appreciates Naruto. Mm-hmm, and I was talking to your wife about this cuz Talking anime and manga and shit, right, right, but it's how like you have This character who can't really do much. Mm-hmm, but then learn a cool ability and you kind of have that
00:11:44
Speaker
Power growth and you kind of can see yourself like I would also like to grow stronger be able to do cool things right and a lot of What type of anime is it? Shonen Shonen, which is meant for like young
00:12:00
Speaker
Let's say boys, but like adolescents. We're all boys, isn't it? So like 15-ish. Boys to men. It's just really cool to like see that character get stronger and stronger and learn cool new abilities. Right. So I liked when they pulled out cool shit and like, oh, that's really cool. As far as like a design thing. Same way following meta progression for like Hearthstone and other stuff.
00:12:23
Speaker
You've introduced this new, cool thing. How does interact with everything else? Right.
Combat System and Boss Battle Strategies
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah. You get that, that progression, like you're saying. And, uh, yeah, it's, it, it is interesting. They do the, um, as far as the start of the game, they do what many games do and they put you in a situation where, uh, it's like TV tropes, capital letters you're supposed to lose.
00:12:49
Speaker
Uh, and I think if you are basically like a God at the game, you can win like your first encounter and basically, but you, you fight some guys, uh, right. And still has his face intact. Minor spoilers for what's coming.
00:13:05
Speaker
and he's less cybernetic as he is then later in the game but he runs into Jetstream Sam who's this other like body like body suit wearing ninja with a red high frequency blade so you know he's the bad guy
00:13:21
Speaker
Star Wars to tell me anything yeah, yeah, it's not a lightsaber in this case. It's just a really hot blade He just kicks your butt like a lot and Right and like tells himself. He's like oh no my swords for justice You know it's like I'm here to protect people. That's that's what I'm doing
00:13:44
Speaker
But it doesn't really carry him that far and you get your butt kicked in the fight. And he like slices up Raiden's face, like mutilating his eye and then cuts off his arm. Yes. And Raiden keeps trying to fight actually at that point, which is very much Monty Python esque. Yeah, it's not particularly effective. And there's this there's actually like I think it's a timed sequence, honestly, where it's like you can like try to take some swings at him.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah, like but I mean it's it's pointless and he just as you're just bleeding out like standing up barely So quick aside, yeah, what are your thoughts on? When games do things like that you have a supposed to lose not necessarily where you're supposed to lose but it's like hey You're here, but we're gonna drop you down here. You have to work your way either back up more back up and past right and
00:14:41
Speaker
I think you like being kneecapped, right? I mean it's it's it's played played that way in like a lot of games any game like where you lose your upgrades a Lot of likes a lot of sequels do this They'll let you play around with all your upgrades from like the first game and then be like, oh, no You got like launched into space or something. There was a lot of breeze. Yeah Dr. Light I was drunk again and forgot where he put everything installed all your upgrades and
00:15:07
Speaker
In this particular case, it doesn't 100% apply because you don't start out as like a super powered Raiden. Raiden actually gets stronger after having failed this. But you're basically saved because your commander, who has a name, I don't know, he's kind of stereotypical enthusiastic like, go get some Raiden, you know.
00:15:30
Speaker
Uh, it comes out and says, it literally says kept you waiting, huh? And then opens up with a chain gun on Jesse and Sam. And there's like, I'm going to say like a metal gear level of delay between like, before he starts firing and, uh, like actually threatening Jesse and Sam where Sam's just like, like, Oh man, I guess you saved this time. And there's like 10 seconds of them like staring at each other before he actually opens up with a gun.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's like when there's the bad guy and the police are like, hey, stop. And they're not really afraid of the police because they're like super strong and an alien. Yeah. But they're like, I don't want to deal with the law and regulations. So it's kind of like, yeah, peace. They just hear sirens in the distance and run off basically. So rather than killing, right. He manages to escape in his helicopter.
00:16:23
Speaker
but Redden gets renovated and they they basically add a bunch of Shiny armor to to his body make him more cybernetic He gets like a visor over his left eye, which is pretty cool And then just unnecessary like spiky pauldrons on his arm like on his shoulders Everything about his design is unnecessary. It's cool. That's that's the appeal and
00:16:49
Speaker
Yeah, and then his main feature post-renovation So they send you to like this island fight a bunch of terrorists, whatever. Nobody cares about that. The game technically has a plot. The plot's not important, really. But you get the ability to on a perfect parry On an attack or after an enemy's like really beat up You can just activate your blade mode chop into him a bit and then grab like what is essentially
00:17:16
Speaker
electrolyte, like large electrolyte beads of like Gatorade from their spine. Crush it and absorb their cybernetic fluids.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah. It'll actually give you like a little indicator of like, Hey, slash in the middle. You do that. You can just press a button to stop slashing. You just kind of reach in and pull it out. And then you kind of shadow demon crush it and just, Oh, it refills some of your health and meter. It's full health and meter every time. It's ridiculous. Like how sustaining you can be. If you're, if you're pulling that off, please sponsor as Gator.
00:17:50
Speaker
So Raiden at this point is like a cybernetic ninja vampire basically because he's sustaining himself off the fluids of all of his enemies that he's killing. And your blade also has a passive fluid kind of draining effect where as you're cutting through people you're like absorbing their bodily fluids and it charges your, it builds your charge meter just for hitting people with your sword.
00:18:14
Speaker
This counts if you're hitting robots. I don't know why that is but That's also true It's don't think about it Don't think about this game in general. It's It's not meant to necessarily make sense or have a good plot but I think it's just meant to be fun. Yeah, so if you are I like how Jake's like here's the game. I'm like
00:18:39
Speaker
here's here's why they did the game design wise uh if you just take your sword and like slash enemies it encourages you because oh you're getting the immediate reward of like it can't be defensive yeah if i go on the offense i can get health back right the bloodborne style yes bloodborne does this i think god of war has also done this for some of their entries where you like get resources off of grabs um
00:19:05
Speaker
Things like that things will push you forward. This is not a this is not a sit-back behind cover one because There is no cover system and all the levels are like relatively basic. Yeah, they're very Linear like here's a corridor type thing. Yes, and then you might have cutscene to like another corridor kind of rectangular space Yeah, what's interesting though is they still have the detection. That's true Yeah, the actually you can stealth through a significant portion of the game But no one I don't think anyone ever has
00:19:34
Speaker
I don't can you even crouch you cannot crouch but you can walk slowly You can walk slowly and it doesn't seem like enemies actually Like hear you it could be different if you're like ninja running because riding does this thing really generates lightning as he runs because he's riding but You can straight-up run up to enemies from behind them and if they're not aware of you There's not an alert you can just like stab them through the back with the sword
Game Features and Design Philosophy
00:20:02
Speaker
And you're just like, all right, well, that guy's dead. Um, and you can clear a lot of areas actually, if you go through and stealth it, like watching out for patrols and things like that. I don't know if there's much of a reward for it and you're playing the wrong game. If you're playing it that way. I feel like the game's mechanics, core mechanics do not lend itself well to stealth. Yes. You're usually really fast. Like you run really, really fast. So.
00:20:27
Speaker
And do you have like a rocket launcher as like a sub-item you can use? Mm-hmm, yeah. Rocket launcher, your stinger, grenades, EMP grenades. It doesn't have like a really great inventory. To kill that guy's Walkman. Yeah, got him.
00:20:43
Speaker
It doesn't have a super great inventory for actually switching out your gear. You get three slots, one for your primary weapon, which you always have your sword, but you can equip something else, and then one for your offensive grenade or whatever, and then one for your healing item.
00:21:02
Speaker
You don't get the boxes actually that's pretty essential to the stealth you get the the og optimal camouflage box That'd be a great Halloween costume just be in a carbo box. Where's Dave? He's drunk in the corner Okay
00:21:19
Speaker
There's actually, just as an aside, there's a point in the game where usually you can run over boxes and pick them up. You can carry like five at a time and then they'll like break. I think if somebody like hits you while you're in the box, like you for some reason decided to stay in the box after you were detected. But you can run up and you'll find a box in this like office cubicle area and you can't pick it up.
00:21:42
Speaker
You're like, okay, that's like a little bit weird. A lot of players might just leave. But if you like swing at the box and attack, there's a guy under the box hiding from you. That's freaking great. I'm onto your game, old man. The future is now.
00:21:58
Speaker
So what other types of weapons can you get and how do you get them? Uh, so there's all of the, all of the weapons you get, I believe you get from bosses. There might be some like secret things, whatever. I didn't never paid that much attention to it. Again, you're playing the right kind of game for it, but, uh, um, you get things like, uh, one of them was like, uh, and, uh, pull at, not a pull ax, like a bow staff, basically like a staff, um, made of robotic arms and are linked together.
00:22:25
Speaker
Oh, so from from Mistral. Yeah. Yeah. What are those? What are those things that are they like dibos or die? The three pronged blades. Electra uses them.
00:22:38
Speaker
Those are Psy. Psy. And I remember that from TMNT. Yeah. I'm glad you knew what I was talking about. They're like tridents, but for just your hands. Hand tridents. Um, and there's, there's some other stuff I think you can get, but, um, yeah, you don't get that until after like three bosses in. Which character Mortal Kombat did you say?
00:23:03
Speaker
I didn't say Mortal Kombat, I said Electra. Oh no, Electra's yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. There is, there is a character in Mortal Kombat, I think uses those, right? There has to be, because there's like every weapon. I think Molina does. Ah, okay. Molina is the Tarkatan who's... Katarsis? Hmm.
00:23:24
Speaker
I'll be honest, I'm not going to be able to fact check you on any Mortal Kombat lore. I know that Sub-Zero and Scorpion exist. And a guy named Noob Smoke, which I thought was just like a modern warfare insult or something.
00:23:41
Speaker
First boss though game basically shows you what's up. It's a it's a metal gear ray You fight two of them actually and he like jumps out starts shooting at you if you're ninja running which is moving fast and you like vault over Like obstacles and then like auto-dodge projectiles. Yeah, you'll you'll actually block him with your sword. He automatically like spins a sword and stops bullets
00:24:09
Speaker
So that's the kind of game this is. But you carve him up a lot and he tries to stomp, he does other things. And after you've gotten enough damage on the Metal Gear, it's like, all right, I'm going to attack you with an arm smash. This happens a couple of times in the game. And this is the first time Raiden just does something that's literally impossible. But he'll grab the arm and you're like, mash that Y button. And he like picks up the Metal Gear and throws it.
00:24:39
Speaker
He throws it. And these things are huge. For audio listeners, these are like five stories tall. And you know, metal gears, so. Giant robots. It's like he throws the mech is not usually like the description of what happened after fighting the mech, right? Yeah, it really changed a red alert for me when I realized the ground units could just, you know, fucking yeet mechs.
00:25:06
Speaker
And, uh, Raiden's actually a repeat offender for this. He does this this time and then for the final boss where he's just like, oh yeah, this huge, you know, thousands of tons of metal. Just throw it. What else would I do? I don't want it.
00:25:24
Speaker
Oh, so after that happens, he finishes that one off and gets attacked by another one and then gets thrown at a, uh, not a skyscraper, like a clock tower or a tower, a church tower, maybe. Yes.
00:25:40
Speaker
Yeah, and then you run down it while the projectiles yeah and missiles. Yep, which I would still consider projectile Yeah, that's fair. Um and music plays and then like you jump between things and then you just like jump for the eye Yes, or the head and you just kind of drag your sword down it full anime. Yep, you cut it in half 100 percent
00:26:01
Speaker
like this is this is a this is a thick a thick boy this metal gear is and his sword is not it's long because you know it's a katana and this is anime but it's not that long and he cuts it in half it doesn't make any sense but again if you're looking for sense this is not the right game you shouldn't keep saying it's not the right game but it is the right game that's the that's the key takeaway for me it's the right game
00:26:31
Speaker
That's that's how they get you into it, though. That's their introduction to the experience you'll be having. There's less tactical espionage and more vampire cybernetic robot thrower. So for you, is it all the is it the over the top and the edge that you like? I do. It's just like silly and for fun.
00:26:53
Speaker
Yes. It's like there's some games you can get into and you're like, all right, the mechanics, I've got some goals, like MGS5. Really fun for being able to be like, sweet, mother base. I'm going to literally abduct people. Have them work for me on the base. They always appreciate being abducted because you're that awesome. But you're like, I'll get money. I'll get these unlocks for researching things. And it immerses you kind of in the world.
00:27:23
Speaker
This is not that kind of game. You are aware that you are playing a game the entire time that you're playing Revengeance because they will not let you forget that you're playing the game Yeah, they really like breaking the fourth wall. Mm-hmm or putting in Dumb jokes that don't that do not belong right, but you're like metal gear. Oh you
00:27:44
Speaker
One of your compatriots over like the radio is just like talking about the mission where you're going to go fight the terrorists. And he's like, keep an eye out, Raiden. And I was like, oh, I'm sorry about that. Because you lost your eye. It's just it's freaking hilarious. Also the kid.
00:28:06
Speaker
You were you talked to me a little bit on discord. I didn't remember until I played again in my defense Um, I want to set the context a little bit. Yes, so as any of our longtime listeners will know We'll usually play through a game to kind of get like a refresher so we can talk about a little better Yeah, or if time constraints happen, maybe we'll just watch something. Maybe we'll just fucking wing it We just pretend that we play games Yeah
Humor, Characters, and Cultural Tangents
00:28:33
Speaker
so i'm like well i'll probably have some more time tonight to play and i want to go through something i got frustrated with the game i was not sober i had like a drink or two just winding my evening down i was like oh i'll watch some metal gear rising revenge and see what's going on and you meet this kid
00:28:55
Speaker
Who I guess got abducted for like science reasons for plot. Yeah, and I don't know what his accent is I don't know what's going on because it's like part walk a uh-huh part
00:29:07
Speaker
Whatever that part of England is like you don't mean bruv. Yeah. Yeah type thing It's just it's all over the fucking place. I think I'm just losing my mind while this is happening And I message Jake like hey, what what the fuck's going on this kid? He's like, what do you mean? He's like, oh, yeah And then I don't think he really comes up again sort of like maybe the next the next cut scene something after that like level Yeah, you talk to him a little bit over the radio my favorite thing about this kid is
00:29:37
Speaker
Is he speaking English? Yes. And he has English subtitles for what he's saying. He occasionally will like use a slang word or a slang catchphrase. The me brudda basically of all of the words he's saying. Yeah.
00:29:55
Speaker
It's so good. It's so good. It's literally because they actually have what he's saying in his like, quote unquote, like mother tongue, basically that is still English. And then below that is the literal English translation. So it's literally English subs and underneath that English subs. It's a good time.
00:30:21
Speaker
You also get a wolf friend. Well, it's a dog, basically. But it's a robot dog that's called Wolf.
00:30:30
Speaker
Yeah. Which you first meet as a boss. Yes. And has some different like jumping attacks. Here's the chainsaw tail. Yeah. I got my shit wrecked several times because I'm bad at this game. You also didn't know about parrying for a very long time. And the game's a lot harder without parrying. Yeah. And I swear to God, you still can't dodge in that game from my experience. Yeah. But after you beat the dog robot boss,
00:30:58
Speaker
It becomes your friend. Yes, and it just gets reprogrammed. I'm using air quotes here by doctor who's like not a Nazi, but he is like a German side. Yeah Not saying all Germans are Nazis because that would be a racial stereotype
00:31:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So you now have like this robot dog friend who's like with you in the car and you're trying to be inconspicuous because you're going to check out some lab in Mexico or some Spanish speaking region. Yeah. And there's like, Hey, be sure to keep a little profile. The yada yada. And he's like, don't worry about it. And then you get out of the car and you have a fucking sombrero and poncho.
00:31:45
Speaker
There's two guys who are just like watching a robot in it robot dog come out of like a fucking Mercedes just like the fuck yeah, they're Immediately just like what in the world is going on with that guy? And then the thing is nope, no part of this makes sense But like riding immediately goes in a sewer so he didn't need a disguise at all like he literally goes underground immediately after disembarking the car and he just like
00:32:11
Speaker
leaves the hat on there he like he tips the hat to the guys on the other side of the road then leaves it outside the storm drain i feel like a lot of metal gear as a franchise design decisions are like do we need this or can we get rid of it no we don't need it but let's keep it anyway so like they add things for like the shits and giggles yeah but it tickles my fancy it is pretty fancy tickling
00:32:40
Speaker
I didn't know that could be turned on in the podcast. But, uh, they had to talk about the next boss though. Oh yeah. So, uh, after, after the dog is a Mistral. Yeah. And there's like, there's a lot of areas you go through to get there. None of them really matter. Like this is again, rectangular areas, sometimes square areas. Did you fight the dudes? Did you kick open a chest for an item? Cool. You're at the next boss.
00:33:07
Speaker
Yes, yada yada boss and Mistral's thing like is she's a french femme fatale All of the bosses are basically um cyborgs to some extent yes, um
00:33:22
Speaker
But her particular shtick is there's these enemies that are essentially a ball and then three arms attached to the ball called tripods and uh, because they have three because the three yeah, yeah the three and uh They'll like run around like on their their hands essentially or like roll around and jump at you Yeah, grab on to you um, and her shtick is like she's wearing a suit
00:33:47
Speaker
That has these like attachment ports on the back and so she just like rips arms off of these robots and like attaches them to her Exoskeleton. Yeah, like she has little sections in her spine and becomes fucking mecha Shiva. Yeah, and then she also has this Well, you're the weapon you're talking about before like this bow staff. Yeah, but it's made up of like all these robot arms and it's like
00:34:13
Speaker
At least 10 to 15 feet. Yeah And it just the design is so cool. She's all boss designs in metal gear are fucking Yeah, there's some there's some fun ones in this You fight her a bit you like jump you're on this like oil refinery you jump from platform to platform. There's this kind of like They have that sort of um, not two-dimensional but really short um
00:34:41
Speaker
short corridor or like walking space where you have to work. You're on a pipe. Yeah, but yeah, you're on a pipe. And eventually you make your way down to like another platform next to some tanks. And if you continue to damage her, finish her off, you basically bait her into a cutscene. That's how you get them. That's how you always get them, bait them into a cutscene.
00:35:03
Speaker
And she goes to stab you after you jump onto this tank. And it releases all this liquid nitrogen, which freezes her to the ground. And Raiden's like, all right, that's great. Cuts open the rest of the tank, bathes her in liquid nitrogen, basically. So she's frozen solid. And then you get to go full sword mode and chop her into all of the pieces. And this is a good time to mention there's
00:35:31
Speaker
There's just like weird Assassin's Creed-esque radio call every time you beat a boss, including Wolf for the first time before he's reprogrammed, where like they'll talk to you about what their motivations were, maybe some information about like the next boss or something like that. And they're always like, ah, you got me. And like the guys literally chopped into 20,000 pieces. Yeah.
00:35:56
Speaker
it's like some remnant voice log or something it's like in the event of my death uh have plot revelation for whoever kills me it's hilarious it's like it's such a weird dialogue assassin's creed kind of does it because it's a simulation but this is just happening in real time with a dead person right next to you
00:36:16
Speaker
Yeah, it also has like that whole sin of After everything it's like hey, I'm gonna put your finger in your ear. Oh, you're listening to like a voice message And you're gonna walk slow or just not be able to move. Yeah, it's like those weird forced cutscenes
00:36:33
Speaker
the Batman communicator which like games have used way too much thankfully there is one redeeming thing for most of the communications in this and that's you can press Y to skip whatever that certain line of dialogue is yeah so if you read the subtitle you can just hit Y and then read the next subtitle and hit Y and skip most of it that way and still get all the content
00:36:54
Speaker
Yeah. And that's, as I've always said, a great design decision. Cause I hate when you force somebody to experience a thing with no way of being done with it. Yeah. Hey, it's not for me. I don't care about the dialogue as much. Let me get to the hack and slash. I don't care what you're saying. Done. Move on.
00:37:11
Speaker
It's not even like it's an elevator or something you're using to hide a loading screen. Yeah, it's just like I see the content It's right in front of me I can't get there because you forced me to put my my hand to my right ear and box slowly It's like you're about to go into the mall or the arcade with your friends and they're like your mom calls Mm-hmm, and you haven't talked to your mom in a while and she's like don't hang up on me You see your friends are like come on
00:37:40
Speaker
It is much like that. Yeah, that's great. I didn't know dad was trying that. That's really cool. So yeah, don't put that in your games if you're a game developer out there or at least let us skip it. Yeah. Fuck you monster hunter. So after Mistral, I believe it's
00:38:04
Speaker
big muscly yeah big muscly um whose name was that sound means it's time for intermission where we talk about whatever we want to talk about and what i want to talk about are palm crisps
00:38:27
Speaker
Alright, I guess I should follow up with something then. Basically, I just brought these to eat. It's the equivalent of, like, moon cheese. And other, like... I don't know what the deal is with fried cheese as a snack. But, uh...
00:38:40
Speaker
It's available in a lot more places now. I also just realized, since you haven't said anything, there's a chance I'm recording this on my own after the fact. I don't have much to say on cheese crisps. Cheese crisps? The cheese crisps? And the cheese blood? We can't anger the cheese blood. The parm crisps.
00:38:59
Speaker
Cause like I brought out my crispy crunchy mochi rice nuggets from Trader Joe's. Right. Which are like a nice little snack and it has just the right amount of salt. I don't mind the Parmesan crisps. They're strong. The thing is like Parmesan is not my favorite cheese by any means. It's just like, it's a lot of salt. Maybe if you had it like with something. Yeah.
00:39:21
Speaker
I mean, you have to have it with water, but other food I could also understand. If you need water, that's too much. Yeah, it's 10% of your daily value of sodium. I actually got some hot sauce today. Oh, yeah? I wish somebody just gave it to me, but now I already arrived in the mail. Okay. But it is guac hot sauce.
00:39:40
Speaker
That sounds weird to me. So it's like pretty avocado based, but then still has those things to make it spicy. Hmm. So like I made some chicken tonight and then like I saw the shit out of it. Yeah, it's good. I liked it. I've never actually I don't know if I ever had like avocado in a preserved sort of form.
00:39:59
Speaker
Always thought the time to kill on avocado between like cut up and actually in food. Yeah, it was pretty short I know it turns like brown and stuff and I'm sure they have Preservatives or something with that? It's interesting though. It is interesting
00:40:15
Speaker
But yeah, most things do go brown when they decompose. Well, you know what I mean. Your color choice is correct. Guacamole is like, I made it. And then you look away and you look back and you're like, it's dead. That's why I'd never take my eyes off my guacamole. Got my eyes on you. All right, what's your favorite type of dip or sauce? Dip or sauce? So it's funny that you asked this. You'd think we actually prepared this.
00:40:41
Speaker
But I have not prepared it it comes pre-prepared now you can get mayo chip Have you heard of this what you can get mayo chip? Wegmans has it you can buy it on Amazon and like mass bulk, but it's mayonnaise and ketchup pre-mixed literally like Heinz name brand Mayo and ketchup pre-mixed
00:41:04
Speaker
I would try one, but my eyes are so squinty right now. You just can't see exactly. Because for me, the only time that should be a valid combination is if you're having like fish and chips. It's good with that. It's good with fries. I've always had like ketchup on the side, like tartar sauce over here, which is as far as I know, just like mayo and relish. Right. But I found if you mix them, it's fucking delicious still. And then you have one dipping sauce for your fries and your fish.
00:41:32
Speaker
I've never tried ketchup and tartar sauce, that's interesting. But mayo and ketchup has been going on since the beginning of time. I've never heard of that. It's an underground movement for sure. So you're saying your favorite sauce is mayo and ketchup? It's up there. I used to ranch a lot. I put ranch on a lot of stuff, but recently it's fallen a little bit out of favor. Ranch doesn't hold well. No.
00:42:01
Speaker
It also looks really weird, like, if it's just been out. Yeah. Like, on a surface or something. It dries out and loses its color and... I don't like it. No. Mayo chip. Sundowner. What is his name? Yeah, that's the name of the guy. Okay. Yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker
So basically his thing is he has these energy shields that are attached to like, I'm not gonna say pulleys, but like robotic arms. Or if you think like the monitor stands that people have where they're just like, oh yeah, we'll put monitors above our desk. He's got those attached to his back and they have shields in front of him. And he uses it to block your attacks.
00:42:50
Speaker
The trick to that and it's something I didn't use at all when I fought him OG fight like first time is you can cut them off of him You can cut them off of his body and he just has like no actual defenses But I just brute-forced it. I was just like always defending himself. I'll wait
00:43:11
Speaker
There's also like a there's like a helicopter. It's like attacking you in this fight I don't know people make jokes about the fact that he's not the actual boss. It's just the helicopter
00:43:22
Speaker
Kind of like the marauder shields thing for a mass effect. It's like, oh yeah, it's the helicopter in the background. That's the guy. Um, so he's just so defensive that I need an offensive mechanic in it, which is some other vehicle with a chain gun. Yeah, he's, he's pretty like offensive too. He's also a jerk. Like he's, he's the, he's the enemy who's meant to be the jerk and this like, I think there's like four main bad guys and all of them, they're supposed to have like some sympathetic.
00:43:51
Speaker
Kind of like motivation, but this guy's American. Yeah, he's very in touch with his inner child He's also like he kills He sets this in motion at the start of the game by killing the Prime Minister Prime Minister that you're trying to protect. Yes And then you like decapitates another guy with like he's got like scissor swords Basically where they're like he can make them work like scissors. It's really weird It's odd, right? Yeah, but it's anime so
00:44:21
Speaker
But he's full on in support of war mm-hmm in the war economy and he just wants to promote Violence so he can kill people and make money and yeah profiteer but obviously riding as a protagonist is like That's bad. That's no good
00:44:43
Speaker
Say no to war profiteer. But yeah, there's, there's not a whole lot else to him. He's just there along, like to make you hate the bad guys. And then the rest of them are all like, we have something kind of sort of a little sympathetic so you can think about our point of view.
00:44:59
Speaker
Like Mistral was very grew up child soldier, some mercenary or something killed her parents. So she then went back and killed everybody type thing. Yeah. She basically like, she has that in common with Raiden, which is why Raiden actually like, there's a little taken aback when she's describing her backstory, her plot, because like that was, that was his start.
00:45:23
Speaker
But he was extracted from that situation and not allowed to be turned into a monster. We also skipped a boss, but that's okay. We skipped Monsoon is actually the next one.
00:45:37
Speaker
But yeah, Mistral, as Mistral said, Monsoon, really quickly, is a guy who can like break his body into like 30 pieces and then reconstruct himself. He's basically like a bunch of Legos, magnetic Legos, essentially. Segments. Yeah. So if you went to the like slash his leg, he could separate his leg at that point and be like, you missed. Yeah. And he actually does during the fight. You have to hit him in the head in order to like knock his head to the ground and then run up and wail on it. Cause that's the point you can damage.
00:46:07
Speaker
He also mastered magnetism, much like Magneto, and throws a bunch of tanks and crap at you, helicopters. You have to chop them into pieces, and they reuse that mechanic later in the game as well.
00:46:22
Speaker
Yeah, Jack has to give into his anger basically because he's a minute emotionally manipulated by By Jetstream Sam Who's the first guy that chopped your arm off? He's like talking to you on monitors and stuff He's like, oh man, like how many people have you killed?
Final Battles and Narrative Impact
00:46:40
Speaker
Jack or Raiden
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah, same name. And so he starts this like self-doubt thing and the game actually hits you with a mechanical penalty for it, where Raiden's like, he hears everybody's voices like, oh man, like I'm trying to save my family and stuff.
00:46:56
Speaker
but they're actually trying to kill you. Yeah, but you sense other people's hesitation, fear, doubt, and you're like, oh, these are people, and you feel bad. Yes. Yeah. You have the guilt. It's meant to make you feel bad and kind of remind, right into his humanity.
00:47:15
Speaker
but he gets through all that and there's a part where you're actually just walking slowly and this is kind of the forced stealth section it's not 100% forced but you really can't fight while you're like emotionally compromised i guess uh and you have to like sneak riding in his debilitated state past all these enemies and up to monsoon where they have this back and forth conversation and monsoon's like memes the dna of the soul
00:47:45
Speaker
choice line Yeah, it's also actually in the game. Jake's not paraphrasing. No, that is that is a direct quote So Raiden's like, all right, we got to get in there we got to get in there we got to kill these guys We got to like finish this podcast out. So he stabs himself here. He gets stabbed through the chest by this like henchmen and Raiden calls up. He's like doctor Turn off my pain inhibitors
00:48:11
Speaker
That's actually a really good impression. And Doctor's like, what? And Red's like, do it. I know that you are not seeing. He doesn't say that. But turns off his pain inhibitors. Raiden experiences excruciating pain, pulls the sword out of his chest.
00:48:32
Speaker
And like not a straight out motion, but an up like an up motion such a spray of blood in front of them. Yeah. He's all right. He's live because he's a cyborg. Great. Um, and then he like glows red and his eyes turn red and his voice gets like even deeper and more gravelly.
00:48:50
Speaker
Yeah, he tries to he goes full edge the word it kind of like throws out a reason he's like needs to dig deep Into the anger and the bloodlust. This is my norm guy. Yeah. Yeah That's it. So you see him At least not under the false pretense of like
00:49:09
Speaker
I am the sword and the katana of justice. The sword is the bone of my justice. I'm gonna bone lady justice. Oh man. But yeah, you get the ability to, whenever you're at full electrolyte charge from that point on in the game, you can activate rage mode base. It's devil trigger. You can go red and do a bunch of damage.
00:49:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's not a new mechanic. No, no. And there's some other kind of bosses, but the main thing is the end guy here, who is Senator Armstrong. Who again is American. Yes.
00:49:56
Speaker
He's also kind of a war economy sort of guy, but he is basically filling the power gap left by the Patriots He's like, all right, we're gonna we're gonna go start a war and we're gonna make America great again
00:50:11
Speaker
That's not me injecting political commentary, he just says that. This game came out in 2013. But he has nanomachines, son. And punches you really hard. And whenever Raiden hits him, his body
00:50:29
Speaker
Reacts his body reacts to physical trauma Hey mine, too But essentially It absorbs the kinetic energy so if you look through a baseball on a wall We impact at that point and the energy would then disperse throughout and that's leaving an impact
00:50:48
Speaker
But it kind of equally Responds to the energy being applied. Yeah, so it negates everything is essentially his skin is hardening Yes from with the nanomachines at these points. So you're just doing jack to him That's my one joke
00:51:04
Speaker
And there's some great cut scenes here. They have this ideological back and forth. And at one point, he's kicking Raiden's butt and literally punts him. And there's a cheering crowd sound bite that plays for a second and a half when Raiden gets punted. And that's pretty good. I like that. That tells you what kind of game this is. Another of his lines is like, I played college ball. I played college ball, son.
00:51:34
Speaker
My gosh, he's such a good final antagonist and he reminds me so much of Hank Hill as well Oh, yeah, I actually like visually. Yeah, he looks like a little bit. He's got some of that going on He's also he's a true American patriot. He is yeah
00:51:50
Speaker
He's got a full metal gear. This is the other one that, uh, this one's gigantic. It just comes out of a hole in the ground. That doesn't really make any sense either. Like, why would it be there? But, uh... Like, it's underneath the ground and it emerges from the ground. Um, but you fight it a bunch, it's right in. And then you grab it by the blade, which, you know where this is going, and you rip the arm off of this metal gear. And the blade is, like, 30, 40 feet long, like...
00:52:20
Speaker
a chunk of metal there's no there's no and then you start you have the special blade attack where like time stops and you start cutting with it but you use the arm of the metal gear to chop up the main body and you can so the game has this thing where you can go overkill on the chopping sequences and like chop them into like no pieces like they cease to exist
00:52:48
Speaker
You can just sit there and like... A fine powder you're showing? Yes, a fine powder basically. It actually says destroyed and that's your indicator. You could stop and the cutscene will play out and you can proceed with the game. Oh, okay. But if you don't want to do that, you just keep cutting. You could just sit there is riding with this huge freaking arm and spend like 30, 40 seconds chopping this robot to pieces beyond the minimum five. And it's, oh my gosh, such a good game. Yeah.
00:53:17
Speaker
That transitions to his final fight, which is the the super saiyan you versus him He hits the ground a lot causes like earth earthquakes Your dog comes out wolf gives you the sword of jet stream Sam who you previously killed on a one-on-one spoilers in Reverse and Basically you after he's broken riding sword you use jet stream Sam sword to Go to town finish him
00:53:45
Speaker
There's this cool mechanic in that final, like, last fight where if your sword is hit out of your hand by Senator Armstrong, Raiden actually gets unarmed, an unarmed moveset. And it doesn't make any sense. Like, why would you design that for this game? It's literally used in one section of one boss fight. Because that's Metal Gear Day.
00:54:07
Speaker
You can literally run over and pick up your sword and like not fight at all, but they still made an unarmed movement Is it effective? It's like it does all right. It's not as good as the sword I'll be honest. I tapped out from this game pretty early on. Mm-hmm. I Just did not really enjoy the mechanics. Yeah, but it has a still fucking worth a watch too. Yeah It's entertaining. Mm-hmm
00:54:34
Speaker
It doesn't have all of the political intrigue of like Metal Gear Solid does, but it is still a really fun action game. Also like the final cut scene kind of here is like, he tries to heal himself a couple times. You hit it with a sword, hit his like healing weak point with a sword, he stops healing. Eventually after you've warmed down a ton and he's like done that thing where he throws a bunch of machines at you like Monsoon did, they got a little more value out of that.
00:55:04
Speaker
Raiden actually goes in to finish him. And the way that he kind of outsmarts Armstrong here is he knows that the nanomachines are gonna harden wherever he hits them. He hardens in response to physical trauma. He like just starts, goes full Jojo basically on his side, like punching. And then after that spot is like where all of the resistance is focused, then he goes in on the soft spots and starts
00:55:32
Speaker
beating him up Then he rips out his heart and he crushes it. I Mean that's really electrolytes If this game has taught me anything he also senator Armstrong has a synthetic white Gigantic like I'm gonna say baboon heart. I think it's a baboon heart if you've seen like Team Fortress And yeah, it's it's pretty metal it's pretty metal
00:55:59
Speaker
Do you want animal organs? I just, I don't know. I like it. It's, it's, it's a really good conclusion kind of to the story there. Raiden's left, like a little bit uncertain of himself and Senator Armstrong at the end, he respects strength. He's kind of this, got this like apex predator mindset where whoever's the strongest will survive. And that proves that they're right. You know, that like that ideology.
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's, again, one of those tried and true tropes.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:56:28
Speaker
Well, if I kill a whole bunch of people, the strong will survive, and we'll let that sort it out. Gonna make America great again! Yeah.
00:56:37
Speaker
Uh, it's a, it's a good game. So Dave and I have slightly different opinions, I think on it. This is like a classic for me. And I will say it has not, it's a little bit harder to play now that it's aged. Um, if I could do a boss rush, that would probably be kind of the ideal way to play this game. The sections in between just aren't really that inspired. Um, but you know, it's like 2013. So, you know, what are you going to do?
00:57:06
Speaker
We initially had planned to do this one a little bit earlier, but we had just done Killer is dead. That's right. And we didn't want to have to hack and slash in a row. Yeah Not that anybody would notice but this time on murder week. I Really like the mechanics of that and that game in general better, but it does have very similar
00:57:29
Speaker
Also platinum, right? Yeah Interesting They do share both kind of like abstract ideals Weird not really important plot. Yeah, this is like crazy cool over-the-top shit
00:57:48
Speaker
But for me personally, I really enjoy Metal Gear series in its own weird way. I think this is a good branch off of that. I think it would have been better if I played Revengeance when it came out.
00:58:06
Speaker
Actually, I could have sworn it was it was platinum, but it was a suit of 51 and grasshopper. Yeah, it's like that is a suit of 51. It's an acid trip. So, you know, it's suit of 51. But yeah, it does fill out like a little bit of this, like the the lore fans for Metal Gear. They get an expanded writing article because of the existence of this game. So it's not all a loss.
00:58:33
Speaker
And people who like, kind of like, definitely cry like me. There's a wheelhouse, and then you just deliver this to the front door of the wheelhouse, and the wheelhouse lets it in. Ah, more wheels, thank you. Thank you for your contributions.
00:58:47
Speaker
Well, I'd like to thank everybody for sticking around for this episode of Soapstone. As always, you can send us our feedback. Our feedback. Our feedback. We deserve it. Send us our feedback. Well, I grabbed the mic too hard. I know. Just attacking the listeners. But anyways, whatever you guys are thinking about it, send to us at
00:59:09
Speaker
Soapstone Podcast at gmail.com. Join us into us directly or join the discussion at facebook.com slash soapstone podcast. Always happy to interact with our fans there. I say our fans. That's pretty presumptuous. People listening to us and people who have mistakenly left clicked. Welcome. How did this happen? I can't stop it. Your mouth stops working after you started listening to the podcast. I guess this is reality now. We'll see you in the next one.
01:00:48
Speaker
AHHH!