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The Idiots Guide to the Convoluted World of Metal Gear Solid

J

JB1981

Member
Ok.

I have spent the last hour on Wikipedia trying to wrap my head around the Metal Gear Solid narrative. I'm starting with Metal Gear Solid (PS1) and backtracking to the third game, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater.

I think I have a pretty basic understanding of how the story goes but there are so many varying plots subplots, factions, subfactions, multiple Snakes (Solid, Naked, Liquid, Solidus - WTF?), Dead Cell, Foxhound, The Patriots that I invariably get lost and a little frustrated. Could some of the Metal Gear enthusiasts on this board give me an overview of the main plot points and characters that I absolutely must be familiar with so that I can get full enjoyment out of the 4th and final game? Let's talk about some Metal Gear.
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
If you figure it out, can you interpret it into a form that I can digest? As it stands now... I don't know what the **** is going on.
 
M

MickeyKnox

Member
This is going to take a while, I think it would be easier to explain to you if you went game by game and tell us what you DO understand, after which we can fill in the pieces that are missing.
 
M

M3wThr33

Banned
MGS2 is a simulation to see if the Patriots can control information.
They succeeded.
Anything else is superfluous data.
 
S

spineduke

Unconfirmed Member
There's a really good GFaqs guide that goes all over that. Did you check it out? Have you played any of the Metal Gear games?
 
D

Dahbomb

Member
Laramie said:
Raiden doesn't have a penis.
Click to expand...
How is Rose pregnant then?

As far as the OP is concerned, if you have read the Wikipedia articles on MGS and played through all 3 games then you should be fine for MGS4. The only thing that anyone here can clear up is anything specific related to the universe.

Also MGS PO on the PSP is also canon in the MGS universe, you might want to play that as well. Takes place between MGS3 and Metal Gear (not MGS1).
 
S

SRG01

Member
The MGS board at IGN and the MGS:TUS site are mandatory readings. Normally I wouldn't recommend IGN, but the TUS regulars post there quite frequently.
 
J

Johnas

Member
MickeyKnox said:
This is going to take a while, I think it would be easier to explain to you if you went game by game and tell us what you DO understand, after which we can fill in the pieces that are missing.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Have you played MGS3? That game comes first storywise (as you probably are aware) so we should probably start there, unless you know what happens there. But since you mentioned Naked Snake, I guess not. ;)
 
U

Umino

Because certain people need something to talk about.
Dahbomb said:
How is Rose pregnant then?

As far as the OP is concerned, if you have read the Wikipedia articles on MGS and played through all 3 games then you should be fine for MGS4. The only thing that anyone here can clear up is anything specific related to the universe.

Also MGS PO on the PSP is also canon in the MGS universe, you might want to play that as well. Takes place between MGS3 and Metal Gear (not MGS1).
Click to expand...

Don't be a smartass. The president was appalled at that paltry bulge.
 
E

ElectricBlue187

Member
okay.

Snake is a clone of Big Boss (the MGS3 character and main enemy in the first Metal Gear, the guy who created Outer Heaven in Africa or someplace), there are several clones, Solid, Liquid and Solidus. The patriots are basically the illumaniti crap found in every game. They made the Solidus clone president, who shows up in MGS 2. Raiden's part in all this is he was tricked into a training simulation that mimics the famous Shadow Moses incident (MGS1).

Solid Snake gave up government work after Shadow Moses and went underground with Otacon to form the group "Philanthropy" to stop the proliferation of Metal Gear technology (we see this at the beginning of MGS 2: tanker level)

that leads us to MGS4, who knows what it's about.
 
R

Rahul

Member
Solid Snake is a bad dude whose dad, Naked Snake, was an even badder dude. Liquid, Solidus and Solid Snake are brothers in bad dudeness, created by the government from Naked Snake (Big Boss)'s cells after he died. All of these guys worked for Fox(Hound), a super secret bad dudes' club, at some point. Everyone gets up to a lot of bad dudery during the events of the three games, which all boil down to being grand experiments by a rogue organisation that was originally created to control the entire world, but has since fractured and turned into a pretty big mess over what basically amounts to lots of money being passed around under the table from the KGB to the CIA to some other group ad infinitum.

And then there are Japanese mecha in there, which Kojima pretty much just thinks is awesome and includes in each game for that reason and that reason alone.
 
D

Draft

Member
Solid Snake is a spy and he beats up b-grade Marvel comic super villians, robots, and his brother.

Everything beyond that can be safely ignored.
 
U

Umino

Because certain people need something to talk about.
These games do relatively well in
Japan
yet they deal
primarily
with American historical issues. Do the Japanese even know who Kennedy is? I sure as
hell
don't.
 
J

JB1981

Member
spindoc said:
There's a really good GFaqs guide that goes all over that. Did you check it out? Have you played any of the Metal Gear games?
Click to expand...
I have played all 3 games.

This is my understanding of what's going on.

I'll start with Metal Gear Solid 3.

In MGS 3 you play as Big Boss, who later goes on to head Foxhound. In MGS 3, The Boss is your mentor who has a child, Ocelot, who also happens to be the son of The Sorrow (that's how Ocelot is possessed by Liquid's Arm in MGS 2).

The Boss dies at the hands of Naked Snake (Big Boss), her pupil, at the end of MGS3. The Boss died serving America. She never defected. She was trying to recover the Philospher's Legacy (i think?).

As Big Boss you go on to lead Foxhound.

In MGS (PS1) you play Solid Snake, a genetically engineered version of Big Boss?

--- that's all i got so far.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
widgetraf said:
someone tell me
why ocelot is being controlled by liquid again
Click to expand...
His right arm, it's Liquid's.
JB1981 said:
In MGS (PS1) you play Solid Snake, a genetically engineered version of Big Boss?

--- that's all i got so far.
Click to expand...
All Snakes are clones of Big Boss.
 
B

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
idiot's--when used in the possessive--has an apostrophe. it's like form following function for the thread title!

no, i'm kidding. seriously, i think some kind of comprehensive guide to what the f*** is going on in these games (particularly mgs2) would be of real help to a great many of us.
 
M

M3wThr33

Banned
Prime crotch said:
His right arm, it's Liquid's.

All Snakes are clones of Big Boss.
Click to expand...

To further confound it, each of the three children has a different mix of the dominant/recessive genes.

I believe this is the order:
Liquid was all dominant.
Solid was all recessive.
Solidus is the perfect mix of the perfect soldier.
And all the other babies were killed in the womb so that these ones would be stronger than the rest.

Because of this, Solid has been able to be the most unpredictable, exceeding anyone's expectations.
 
M

Moz La Punk

Member
So what basically happens at the end of MGS2 again? I forgot and am too lazy to play through it again. Its the only thing I dont know anymore.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
JB1981 said:
Ok. So where does Solidus Snake come in? How is he important to the overall story?
Click to expand...
Solidus was the balanced clone if I recall. There was some bullshit about bad genes and good genes on the first game, if you can buy that then Solidus was the neither Liquid or Solid clone.
edit:It's genes dominance aparently.
M3wThr33 said:
To further confound it, each of the three children has a different mix of the dominant/recessive genes.

I believe this is the order:
Liquid was all dominant.
Solid was all recessive.
Solidus is the perfect mix of the perfect soldier.
And all the other babies were killed in the womb so that these ones would be stronger than the rest.

Because of this, Solid has been able to be the most unpredictable, exceeding anyone's expectations.
Click to expand...
Ah yes genes dominance. That's what I meant with bullshit on the first game.
 
D

Dahbomb

Member
JB1981 said:
Ok. So where does Solidus Snake come in? How is he important to the overall story?
Click to expand...
He's also a clone of Big Boss (A perfect clone I might add. Solidus Snake receives all the good/bad traits of Big Boss where as with Liquid and Solid they receive only one trait. Liquid: Good traits, Solid: Bad traits) and his importance is in MGS2, in which just like most everyone in the game he is a mere puppet of the Patriots. He also raised Raiden as a war soldier when he was young apparently, in the "Les Terribles Infant" project or something like that. Hence why they have an epic showdown at the end.
 
J

JB1981

Member
M3wThr33 said:
To further confound it, each of the three children has a different mix of the dominant/recessive genes.

I believe this is the order:
Liquid was all dominant.
Solid was all recessive.
Solidus is the perfect mix of the perfect soldier.
And all the other babies were killed in the womb so that these ones would be stronger than the rest.

Because of this, Solid has been able to be the most unpredictable, exceeding anyone's expectations.
Click to expand...

Ok. So was Big Boss forced into this genetic experiment? Or was he forced into it by the U.S. government? Who authorized this program?
 
E

ElectricBlue187

Member
Moz La Punk said:
So what basically happens at the end of MGS2 again? I forgot and am too lazy to play through it again. Its the only thing I dont know anymore.
Click to expand...

Raiden finds out the whole mission was a setup by the Patriots and fights Solidus
 
M

Manmademan

Member
It seems like some of your confusion is stemming from not understanding what happened in Metal Gear 1 (NOT solid) and Metal Gear 2. (NOT MGS2.)

There's a HUGE amount of backstory there, including Big Boss turning on the US and creating outer heaven (MG) and snake killing both big boss AND his friend/world's greatest soldier in MG2.

This is how he came to be known as a "legendary soldier" by MGS.

Also, Solid Snake is not big boss' "son" per se- he and liquid (and the genome soldiers? I'm not sure) are all clones of some sort based on Big Boss' DNA. The cloning process is unstable, which is why Snake is aging rapidly in MGS4.
 
S

Sage00

Once And Future Member
Dahbomb said:
He's also a clone of Big Boss (A perfect clone I might add. Solidus Snake receives all the good/bad traits of Big Boss where as with Liquid and Solid they receive only one trait. Liquid: Good traits, Solid: Bad traits) and his importance is in MGS2, in which just like most everyone in the game he is a mere puppet of the Patriots. He also raised Raiden as a war soldier when he was young apparently, in the "Les Terribles Infant" project or something like that. Hence why they have an epic showdown at the end.
Click to expand...
I thought the Les Infant Terribles project was the cloning of Big Boss?
 
J

JB1981

Member
Manmademan said:
It seems like some of your confusion is stemming from not understanding what happened in Metal Gear 1 (NOT solid) and Metal Gear 2. (NOT MGS2.)

There's a HUGE amount of backstory there, including Big Boss turning on the US and creating outer heaven (MG) and snake killing both big boss AND his friend/world's greatest soldier in MG2.

This is how he came to be known as a "legendary soldier" by MGS.

Also, Solid Snake is not big boss' "son" per se- he and liquid (and the genome soldiers? I'm not sure) are all clones of some sort based on Big Boss' DNA. The cloning process is unstable, which is why Snake is aging rapidly in MGS4.
Click to expand...

His friend is Gray Fox, right? But he didn't really kill him. He shows up again in Metal Gear Solid (PS1)?
 
M

M3wThr33

Banned
widgetraf said:
yes but how does this happen? its just a hand..? its one detail ive never really been able to understand
Click to expand...

All of the clones have nanomachines in them. They took control of Ocelot's brain.

A large part of this is expected to be explained in MGS4, as the one quote from Liquid goes something like "Why do you think I chose you as the host body?"

Funfact: Raiden has no blood. It's actually all white nanomachines.
 
M

Manmademan

Member
ElectricBlue187 said:
The Patriots, he wasn't forced, he was dead at the time.
Click to expand...

Big Boss could not have been dead at the time the cloning experiments took place, since it was Solid Snake who killed him in MG2.

All of the clones have nanomachines in them. They took control of Ocelot's brain.
Click to expand...

I don't think this is true. MGS3 hints that Ocelot's father (the sorrow) was a powerful psychic with a strong rapport with the dead. Thus, Ocelot ends up being "taken over" when he grafts the arm of a dead man to him in MGS2.

it was never established that liquid had nanomachines in him (and why would he? he didn't have any contact with naomi hunter, or the patriots) and even if he did, the nanomachines that snake was injected with circa MGS were very short lived and expected to be out of snake's bloodstream within a couple of days.
 
M

MickeyKnox

Member
JB1981 said:
I have played all 3 games.

This is my understanding of what's going on.

I'll start with Metal Gear Solid 3.

In MGS 3 you play as Big Boss, who later goes on to head Foxhound. In MGS 3, The Boss is your mentor who has a child, Ocelot, who also happens to be the son of The Sorrow (that's how Ocelot is possessed by Liquid's Arm in MGS 2).

The Boss dies at the hands of Naked Snake (Big Boss), her pupil, at the end of MGS3. The Boss died serving America. She never defected. She was trying to recover the Philospher's Legacy (i think?).

As Big Boss you go on to lead Foxhound.

In MGS (PS1) you play Solid Snake, a genetically engineered version of Big Boss?

--- that's all i got so far.
Click to expand...
The Boss was ordered to "betray" her country, recover the legacy and die at the hands of Naked snake, she followed her orders to the letter except for giving her final de-breifing to Big Boss via Eva.

Since learning of this Big Boss grew ambivalent towards the Philosophers/Patriots, after forming Fox Hound and rising to status of the gretest soldier ever to walk the earth he eventually started an uprising, using Metal GEar as a means to try and combat the complete and total control that the Patriots have over the fate of nations and men.

Before leaving Foxhound, he was used in a genetic experiment whose goal was to identify the specific genes that are tied to being a great soldier, this was called the "Les Enfants Terrible" project. From this project, three intimidate clones of Big Boss were created. The 1:1 genetic copy was Solidus Snake, the other 2 were the result of trying to distill specific genetic information, with Liquid getting all the "good" genes (the ones determined to create better soldiers) and Solid getting all the waste that was left over (think Danny DeVito in Twins.)

Solidus, Liquid and Solid would all be used as pawns by the Patriots during their lifetime, Solid would encounter his "father" when Big Boss stages his rebellion and succeed in killing him, without knowing the full picture until after the events of MGS2.
 
S

Sage00

Once And Future Member
JB1981 said:
His friend is Gray Fox, right? But he didn't really kill him. He shows up again in Metal Gear Solid (PS1)?
Click to expand...
They restored his body with an exoskeleton.
 
P

Prime crotch

Banned
JB1981 said:
His friend is Gray Fox, right? But he didn't really kill him. He shows up again in Metal Gear Solid (PS1)?
Click to expand...
He was revived on MGS, but Snake did killed him on MG2.
M3wThr33 said:
Funfact: Raiden has no blood. It's actually all white nanomachines.
Click to expand...
When was this explained?
 
S

Sage00

Once And Future Member
S. L. said:
does anything of MGS2 actually happen or is it all VR?
(except the tanker incident)
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it happens, or else Snake and Otacon wouldn't remember it.
 
N

Night_Trekker

Member
My suggestion: either play the games yourself or forget about trying to figure it all out.

You can enjoy a MGS game and forget about the storyline. I know I did in MGS2.
 
M

M3wThr33

Banned
S. L. said:
does anything of MGS2 actually happen or is it all VR?
(except the tanker incident)
Click to expand...

*sigh*

NONE OF METAL GEAR SOLID 2 IS FAKE.

By "simulation," it means that the Patriots staged it because they wanted to recreate Shadow Moses (MGS1) and see how a trained soldier, like Raiden, would react and how well he would succeed.
 
J

JB1981

Member
MickeyKnox said:
The Boss was ordered to "betray" her country, recover the legacy and die at the hands of Naked snake, she followed her orders to the letter except for giving her final de-breifing to Big Boss via Eva.

Since learning of this Big Boss grew ambivalent towards the Philosophers/Patriots, after forming Fox Hound and rising to status of the gretest soldier ever to walk the earth he eventually started an uprising, using Metal GEar as a means to try and combat the complete and total control that the Patriots have over the fate of nations and men.

Before leaving Foxhound, he was used in a genetic experiment whose goal was to identify the specific genes that are tied to being a great soldier, this was called the "Les Enfants Terrible" project. From this project, three intimidate clones of Big Boss were created. The 1:1 genetic copy was Solidus Snake, the other 2 were the result of trying to distill specific genetic information, with Liquid getting all the "good" genes (the ones determined to create better soldiers) and Solid getting all the waste that was left over (think Danny DeVito in Twins.)

Solidus, Liquid and Solid would all be used as pawns by the Patriots during their lifetime, Solid would encounter his "father" when Big Boss stages his rebellion and succeed in killing him, without knowing the full picture until after the events of MGS2.
Click to expand...

Ok. That is really helpful. So The Patriots consist of who exactly?
 
E

ElectricBlue187

Member
Night_Trekker said:
My suggestion: either play the games yourself or forget about trying to figure it all out.

You can enjoy a MGS game and forget about the storyline. I know I did in MGS2.
Click to expand...

honestly the storyline has become so convoluted it's hard to make heads or tails out of it, like Zelda's storyline. But that's one of the cool things about it I think.
 
S

Saterium

Member
S. L. said:
does anything of MGS2 actually happen or is it all VR?
(except the tanker incident)
Click to expand...

It all happens, it's just all staged. With the exception of Snake and Otacon showing up and I believe Fatman's actions. (I might be wrong about Fatman?)

It was an experiment by the patriots to see if they could successfully control someone, in this case Raiden and I guess Fortune to a point - the test was a success.


In other information I think this thread kinda shows what the issue with the MGS series is, Kojima has one hell of a task explaining everything in MGS4.
 
U

Umino

Because certain people need something to talk about.
JB1981 said:
Ok. That is really helpful. So The Patriots consist of who exactly?
Click to expand...

12 dudes. 5 of which are the fabled five Jew bankers.
 
S

Saterium

Member
JB1981 said:
Ok. That is really helpful. So The Patriots consist of who exactly?
Click to expand...

Portable Ops made it seem like Ocelot was one of the Patriots and that he intended for Big Boss to become one too. There's also an informant who goes by the codename Zero, implying that Major Zero might have had some big roll to play in all this.

But at the end of the day it's all speculation, no one really knows who or what they are yet.
 
D

dralla

Member
no one knows who the Patriots are. That's really the plot for MGS4. In MGS2 it says there's 12 of them, but that's about it
 
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