10-02-2006, 02:30 PM
Specifically on Metal Gear Solid 2. I guess before I get into it I should toss in some info \small talk. (Warning spoiler)
I think Hideo Kojima is a clever designer\creator. Sometimes to the point of being mischievous, this is the guy who created this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boktai after all. There's something diabolical, genius, or geniusly diabolical about making a portable game that uses sunlight. Considering that from what I've seen, despite the tag of portability most portable gaming still happens indoors. (Some glare\contrast problems with display screens and things like weather resistance is still a factor.)
So looking at his games, I get the impression that he's the type of guy who plays on multiple levels. One level being the players head and their (pre) conception. The first Metal Gear Solid on first impression, looks like a typical actioner, hyper macho one secret agent vs many, throw in some James Bond type roster of villains, some nukes and gunplay, and there ya go. I remember when it first came out the first things my friends commented was how they can sneak and kill enemy commandos etc. It wasn't the only thing they talked about the game later on, but it was usually the first thing. Later on however, to me it was more and more like someone's idea of a trojan horse. Like a sexy, blockbuster war movie that is actually anti war.
So enough rambling, I'll get to it. In MGS 2, am I the only one that got the impression that the Raiden mission was all VR, and that the ultimate act of 4th wall breaking was the many hints that the game itself was a form of VR\S3. Personally I think it was quite smart (or smart ass to some people) that Kojima was able to say that Raiden is both the player and not the player. The closest analogy I can think of right now is the movie 'NeverEnding Story', the part when the boy keeps saying it's not real, they can't be talking about me, it's just a story etc.
So my question is, if the Raiden mission was all VR, when did it end as a simulation? Was Rose in the end the real Rose or was it still the simulation going?