The Mysteries of Space and Time

Metal Gear Solid 2 is a really weird game

Below is a list of reasons why Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty may be one of the weirdest games I have ever played.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1) the former President of the United States joins a group of terrorists who take control of an offshore clean-up facility whose real purpose is to conceal a gigantic combat facility called Arsenal Gear. His intentions by doing this are to dismantle an ancient conspiracy group similar to the Illuminati–The Patriots (a.k.a., the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo)–and take over the world. Oh, and he is a clone with two twin brothers. The ex-POTUS’ brother is presumably killed, and afterwards he assumes the dead man’s identity while taking credit for the terrorist act he was accused of committing, using his brother’s status as a legendary super soldier to instill respect and fear that he did not earn.

2) members of the terrorist group include: a rollerblading, morbidly obese man who drinks fancy alcoholic beverages and is so obsessed with becoming famous that he is willing to blow himself and a massive facility up along with him; a bisexual vampire who can walk on water, survive being shot through the head, block bullets with his knife, and can leap incredible distances; and a six-and-a-half foot tall black woman with blonde hair, a magnetic rail gun that nobody else can wield because it would kill them, and is impervious to bullets (oh, and her heart is on the right side of her chest, not her left).

3) the main character of the game is a person with no name, no real objective, a vague identity, vague directives, is a member of an organisation that has been disbanded several times over, is in love with a woman who changed every facet of her identity solely to get him to fall in love with her (on orders from the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo, no less), has a commander who he has never met in person, and killed a lot of people as a child in the Liberian Civil War. On top of this, he was partially raised by the ex-POTUS mentioned above, he can’t seem to remember anything about his life before a certain age, and he simply obeys orders given to him by mysterious entities (even if they make no sense at all). He is essentially a character surrogate for the player, for the main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid, and for the bulk of society; in fact, all of these things are explicitly stated by various characters in the game.

4) the game thoroughly disassembles gameplay concepts such as: player agency, freewill within a confined narrative, the suspension of disbelief, immersion, and control over events as they happen within a game. It is repeatedly emphasised dozens of times that you are playing a game, that you have to do what the game tells you to, that buttons control your movements and actions, and that the player is powerless to change any of these facts; at one point, your commanding officer (who is actually an artificial intelligence designed by the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo to gather battle data on the main character so that they can control the whole of civilised society) tells you to turn off the console, and that you have been playing for too long. This is essentially the only actual choice you have if you want to disobey the directives of the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo.

5) it is basically a remake of Metal Gear Solid in many ways. Both games feature so many of the same scenes, themes, premises, and concepts that it is hard to know where to start. These are a few of the similarities between Metal Gear Solid and Sons of Liberty: the main character swims into the opening of a facility from deep underwater, he discovers that somebody else has forced their way into the same place that he was trying to enter, he rides an elevator up to the main section of the facility (taking off his mask during the long ride), he soon encounters a cyborg ninja who introduces themself as “neither enemy nor friend” while telling you to watch out for mines, he eventually comes across a scientist with the surname Emmerich whose work has been coopted for militaristic purposes (contrary to their intention), he repeatedly questions the honesty of his commanding officer while knowing deep down that he is being kept in the dark, he fights off a group of homicidal superhuman maniacs one-by-one, he takes down a well-equipped aerial assault vehicle with a Stinger missile launcher, he fights one of the clones of Big Boss in an epic dual that ends with the clone falling from a great height, and there is also plenty of pee and poop humor.

6) as emphasized by the last part of the above paragraph, the tone and mood whiplash of these games is truly breakneck. Right before a character is fatally injured, she is heard commenting on the attractiveness of the main character and having a conversation with a man who is a hair away from defecating in his pants. After being stripped of your clothes and tortured after discovering your true identity, you begin getting codec calls from your supposed commanding officer, an artificial intelligence who is malfunctioning because of a virus uploaded to Arsenal Gear’s system to prevent a nuclear launch; some of the things said in these calls is surreal and comical. Here are some examples: “I hear it’s amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!”, “I was a North American Fall Webworm in my past life. Those were the good old days… What were you in your former life?”, and “Raiden. Something happened to me last night when I was driving home. I had a couple of miles to go. I looked up and saw a glowing orange object in the sky. It was moving irregularly. Suddenly, there was intense light all around. And when I came to, I was home. What do you think happened to me?”. This immediately precedes one of the most brutal parts of the game, the gruesome death of an important character, and a fairly long and political cutscene explaining what the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo’s plans were (even though the character explaining these plans is wrong, at least partially). Another example of tone whiplash is during the prologue of the game when you are directed to take images and upload them to a nearby terminal; many of the images will illicit a humorous reaction out of the character who programmed the software used to upload and analyse the images; for emphasis, this character is depicted by a cute avatar during this sequence. This entire thing predeces two characters who were implied to have a big presence in the game being killed, the destruction of a giant tanker with dozens of people aboard, and the main character of the prologue nearly drowning and being framed for the destruction of said tanker.

7) there are posters of half-naked women all over the game, and there is a conversation at one point where your commanding officer tells you that he sympathises with you for wanting to peep around in a women’s bathroom. Also, there is a creepy, voyeuristic scene late in the game with footage of a woman not initially knowing that she is being watched before timidly waving and smiling at the camera. And then there is the incestuous connection between Otacon and his stepsister.

8) one character is possessed by another character who has been dead for two years; this happens because the character who is being possessed (Revolver Ocelot) lost his hand two years prior to the events of the prologue and his arm was replaced by a dead man’s (Liquid Snake). Apparently a dead man’s arm can support a person’s memories, thoughts, feelings, and mannerisms, as well as their voice. Nobody seems to find this that weird, which makes the weirdness of it stand out even more.

9) it is hard to determine at times if anything that happened in the game was even real; ultimately, it was, and even some of the implications of the game are cleared up in its sequel Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, but it was confusing and bewildering in how it manipulates the player and has them questioning the existence of everybody working on the operation. Your C.O. is an A.I., your girlfriend was hired by the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo to spy on you and help motivate you, your hero shows up wearing a disguise, the person you thought was your hero tricks you into thinking he is a terrorist mastermind (which serves to demystify the idealization you had built of your hero), and you just found out that you have been a mass murderer since the age of 12. Good job.

Just a freewrite

reizzasjellybones:

I’m going through this weird phase in life where I’m trying to be comfortable around social groups. I want to get it. I’ll try all of them and see where i fit in. When you decide, “maybe instead of staying home, eating perogies and watching the same gore film for the 10th time in a row, maybe i will see people”, does that mean i’m expanding my horizons?

Are these new journeys making me feel more confident?

Has my distaste or fear of people dissipated ? Or increased?

Well no/yes to all those things. It is a confusing time for me.

This weekend I hung out with a bunch of white dudes to get some perspective, meanwhile forgetting being the only lady person might be problematic. Y'see when you’re usually always alone… always alone reading manga to yourself, or laying outside on the cement reflecting on how interesting whales are, you’re not really self aware. Thats why it’s weird being around people for me. Two dudes tricked me into kissing them that night. One of them, I geniuenly thought was interested in my jellyfish facts, but I found had other motives, and the other dude… OK it might have just happened. It makes me uncomfortable, because I did not know it was a thing that people do. It’s not a good hobby. Don’t do that to people.

Another thing I found out is, I love the fucking LGBT community. I finally was able to go to my first drag show this summer, and the highlight of my life was a beautiful man in a gorgeous gown told me I was beautiful and fuck everyone who thinks otherwise. It made me cry because I think that’s the first time anyone, none less a stranger has seemed so genuine with complimenting me. I accepted it too!!!!! Which usually I never do because of my sometimes debilitating social anxieties… but. But! but I am learning.

Anyways i still haven’t really found a place i fit in yet. Perogies, bad b movies and sitting down are still the things that i feel most comfortable at doing. Those are the things that feel the most right. Maybe eventually I’ll find my dope girls, dudes, or queers that will happily join me without hesitation. That and maybe they’ll bring beer.

Hell yes to everything here

Another nother freewrite

reizzasjellybones:

Socializing is hard. Anxiety is not cute. 

I don’t bat my eyes after saying something weird. I ain’t Zoey Deschanel. My eyes are not a big blue. My head is swirling when I answer, and of course that isn’t cute. Small talk is hard for me. I’ll sweat through the ground into the earth’s crust, when you talk about the weather. I rather it be socially acceptable to open palm smack people in the face to acknowledge other people’s existence. 

Like at the same time it’ll be like, 

WHAM. 

“Well I’m happy to know you’re doing well too, John.” And then you’re done conversing for the day. Yeah, it’ll hurt. But at least it will be mutual. 

short story PT 3

reizzasjellybones:

By the time Mary got to Charles’s house, she could feel her abdomen hurting. Sharp pains shot up down to her legs and her lower stomach was cramping. She breathed heavy short breaths and massaged her stomach so the pain would stop. When Charles opened the door, the gurgling and cramping subsided so she thought nothing of it. Probably too much ham. Maybe it was just bad ham. Maybe it was too much bad ham.  

“Hey baby,” Charles said trying to be seductive, “You don’t look… that bad.”

Mary looked down and rubbed her cheek. She layered her face with mountains of foundation and concealer so the bumps wouldn’t be so obvious. Charles’s hesitance made her sink into her shirt. 

“Oh come on. You’ll always be beautiful to me,” he kissed her on the forehead, “always and forever my dear.”

Mary couldn’t tell if her stomach was making her nauseous, or if it was Charles’s unconvincing straight-out-of-grocery-store-line-up-paperback-romance dialogue. She forced a smile. Charles’s lips were caked in cover-up.

Charles turned on the TV and they both sat on the couch. He put his arm around her and at that instant Mary’s stomach started hurting again. 

“Um. I have to use the washroom. Why don’t you put on a movie while you wait for me?” Mary said, not waiting for a reply. Hunched over, she held her stomach as she shuffled to the bathroom. Charles shrugged and turned on netflix.

Mary shut and locked the door. The pain was getting worse. She leaned on the door, and another sharp pain shot through her body, like she had just eaten glass. Her head felt numb. She lifted her shirt to reveal her stomach. 

“No… what… what’s happening to me?” She covered her mouth so she wouldn’t shriek. She watched her stomach visibly ebb and flow, and curdle and growl. 

“This can’t be happening.” 

She fell to the ground, and held her knees.

“This is just indigestion right?” She said out loud, like her stomach would respond.

And then she burped. The pain stopped again. She slowly wobbled and stood up. She checked her stomach again. It wasn’t moving anymore. 

“Maybe it’s because I haven’t been eating that much. I’m hallucinating or something.” 

Mary rejoined Charles on the couch.

“You poopin’ in there?” Charles asked as she sat down.

She rolled her eyes, and Charles turned on the Matrix.

Phew, I was scared for a minute there.

I think it’s kind of odd how downplayed or just not talked about Tobi Vail’s role in Riot Grrrl was and is. Yeah, granted, she’s never been as central or prominent a figure as Kathleen Hanna, Allison Wolfe, or Corin Tucker, but she was still a very central figure in Bikini Kill back in the early 90s, as big as Kathleen Hanna in many ways. Here’s to Tobi Vail.