An Open Letter to Nicholas Theisen / Furidashi Podcast

You’re Wrong about Metal Gear Solid 2 #

Dear Nicolas:

I’m a Furidashi listener and in general, I think you and Lauren make excellent video game critiques and commentary. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve heard so far and look forward to more of your content.

HOWEVER. During your recent podcast for Metal Gear Solid 2 (as part of your Year of Metal Gear), you gave this cultural touchstone a 2/10 score for psychodrama. That is the most egregious gaming war-crime I have ever heard! How dare you!? An insult such as this cannot stand unchallenged.

So of course I wrote a 2000-word rebuttal.

Concrete Psychodrama #

To begin, I actually do agree with many of your points.

I agree that fleshing out characters right before they die / in the process of dying undermines overall psychodrama. I also agree that the “hand-holding” nature of the early codec calls reduces immersion and psychodramatic weight. I will even agree that many of the character-focused subplots end too quickly and could have been better if they were further fleshed-out. All of those are valid criticisms.

But a “2/10” is not only unfair, it is either a mistake, uninformed, or punitively harsh.

First, consider the actual “meat on the bone” psychodrama we are given in-game: Rose and Jack’s relationship unravelling. Vamp’s weaponized sexuality being wielded against Raiden. Otacon’s Mom / Sister issues. These are explicit examples of psychodrama. Perhaps you think these subplots are too shallow, or are resolved too quickly, or are undercut by silliness. Maybe they are. But surely even these subplots by themselves are at least worth a 5/10 on the psychodrama scale.

I mean, if MGS2 is a 2/10, what scores should other games get? Does Madden (pick one) get a 1/10? What about System Shock 2? Or Doki Doki Literature Club? What about Burger King’s PocketBike Racer? My point is that even the surface of MGS2 has at least average levels of psychodrama compared to other games. But maybe you were exclusively comparing it to other MGS games? Even that is a gross miscalculation.

Here’s why:

The Big Shell is just a Cover-Story #

MGS2 has more psychodrama than any other game in the series. But in order to prove that, let me explain some things first:

  1. Raiden is a blank-slate character, and his identity is naturally entangled with the player’s. Raiden == Player for most of the game.
  2. The Patriots need another Solid Snake because he doesn’t work for them anymore.
  3. To create another Solid Snake, the Patriots need to re-create a Shadow-Moses event to “forge” their copy.
  4. The Big Shell mission is just a giant petri dish, where the Patriots are trying to introduce all the ingredients to turn Raiden into their new Solid Snake.

Once you understand this, it makes the real psychodrama and subtext of MGS2 more visible.

The Campaign of Psychological Warfare Targeting You #

Those “shallow” subplots you complained about aren’t isolated little spats of psychodrama anymore. Each one is part of a larger battle being waged against Raiden’s mind.

For example, after you understand points 1-4, the codec subplot: “Jack and Rose have issues,” becomes “Rose is only here because the LaLeiLuLeiLo are trying to change Jack’s identity, and she may not even love him in the first place.” That’s about 1000 times more impactful.

In fact, every subplot is actually part of a larger campaign of psychological warfare directed at Raiden by the Patriots. And because Raiden == the player, that means the Patriots are also using psychological warfare against YOU by extension.

With that said, these subplots are just the lead-up to the main psychological crisis and climax of the game, the Arsenal Gear section.

Running Naked in the Dark #

Raiden’s crisis begins in earnest when he is captured and tortured by Solidus. As players, we are forced to reckon with the very thing we’ve been avoiding this whole time (capture, detection, being seen). We are pushed to our limits, just as Raiden is pushed to his limit during the torture. Unfortunately escaping the torture chamber offers no reprieve.

With no codec support and none of the weapons we’ve acquired up to this point, Raiden is literally stripped naked like a snake shedding its skin. This amplifies his crisis and isolates him completely. He can no longer pretend Snake’s silenced tranq gun and stealth suit are his own. He must wander the maze of dark corridors, covering his genitals, desperately searching for a way out. If that isn’t a metaphor for a psychotic break, I don’t know what is.

Sidepoint: Why does Raiden bother covering his genitals? It’s too dark for any of his enemies to see. Clearly, it’s an externalization of his internal vulnerability.

Finally, in the belly of the beast (Arsenal Gear’s stomach), in the darkest section of the game, Raiden’s identity is challenged explicitly. Col. Campbell, his trusted superior, turns into a literal ai-deep-faked skullface and tells Raiden/the player to “turn off the game console”, the equivalent of a metatextual suicide. The Patriots are supplying the ultimate crisis stimuli and are trying to break Raiden mentally (like Gray Fox) to transform him into the perfect soldier. But Raiden does not give in and eventually completes the escape sequence.

A New Raiden, Not a New Snake #

After surviving the Patriot’s ploy, Raiden’s immediate reward is psychological relief.

He reunites with his codec support team. He also links up with Snake, who returns his equipment and stealth suit. And while you trivialized it in your combat discussion, the sword Raiden is given is actually the most important item in the game. It’s more than just another weapon. It’s a new identity.

After going through the crisis, Raiden discovers his own identity when he pulls himself out of the darkness of Arsenal Gear. He earns the hi/low frequency blade to symbolize the completion of that self-discovery. Across all MGS protagonists, the sword in MGS2 is completely unique. Players only get to use a sword with Raiden. With it, he’s no longer the generic, “off-brand Solid Snake” that players were annoyed to discover they were playing as at the beginning of the Big Shell mission. With the sword, Raiden has begun to escape Solid Snake’s shadow.

Fighting Solidus with the sword is the psychodramatic climax of the game. Raiden uses his new-found identity to defeat his enemy, the 43rd president of the United States, George Sears (a poignant message, given the politics of today).

In wielding the sword, Raiden also severs his entanglement with the player’s identity. After the final sword fight, when Snake and Raiden part ways in New York at the end of the game, the player parts with Raiden too. This ‘parting’’ continues as the Raiden persona is never again playable in MGS. Raikov and Cyborg Raiden do appear in later games, but only as npcs (not counting Rising spinoff).

This mostly completes my brief explanation of the psychodramatic depth of MGS2, but now I must mention a larger, more egregious flaw in your “Year of Metal Gear” series so far:

You have ignored the most important theme of the entire MGS series.

The Theme of Identity #

Let me start by saying:

  • Yes, “memes” are important.
  • Yes, “being an anti-war action game” is important.
  • Yes, “genes” are important.

But the real theme of the MGS series is this: Identity. You aren’t who you think you are, but by playing the game you will discover who you really are.

I actually thought your discussions on Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 came close to approaching this theme, so kudos to you guys there. But to totally ignore identity with your discussion of MGS2 is a time-paradox-inducing critical failure. MGS2 is the entry that clearly establishes the theme of identity, which continues in every mainline game afterwards.

TO SUMMARIZE IDENTITY IN MGS QUICKLY: #

  • MGS: JK you’re not some random badass, you’re Big Boss’s clone, Solid Snake.
  • MGS2: JK you’re not Snake, you’re Raiden.
  • MGS3: JK you’re still not Snake, you’re Snake’s dad, Big Boss.
  • MGS PO: JK you’re not Big Boss, you’re Revolutionary Big Boss.
  • MGS PW: JK you’re not Revolutionary Big Boss, you’re Capitalist PMC Big Boss.
  • MGSV: JK you’re not actually Big Boss, you’re his body-double Venom Snake.
  • MGSIV: Finally, you really are Snake, but you’re old and half the other characters are trying to resolve THEIR identity crises.

To prove my point about identity being the main theme of the series once and for all, try to answer this fundamental question a new fan might ask: Who is the protagonist of the Metal Gear Solid franchise?

The vast majority of MGS fans would correctly say “Solid Snake” right? His name is in the title! BUT HE’S ONLY IN 2.25 / 7 MGS games (1.25 if you don’t count old Snake). And yet, “Snake” the persona (role) is arguably the main character of all the games (except MGS2). That leaves us with a series of games where every entry introduces a dissonance between your name and your persona, and attempts to resolve this tension over the course of its runtime. In other words, these games are about identity.

Finally, now that I’ve explained the importance of identity, I can make one last point to finish refuting your “2/10” psychodrama score.

Rejecting Raiden #

MGS2 was the first time Kojima tricked players about who they were playing as.

Players weren’t expecting to play as Raiden, they bought the game to play as Snake. Snake was a badass manly-man whereas Raiden represented the things a typical early 2000’s CIS male gamer didn’t like about themselves: Raiden was a whiny, non-binary, inexperienced rookie.

“I’ve had plenty of combat experience,” Raiden moans, citing his time in the simulator.

This line was written specifically to irritate the player. It hits too close to home: Most players literally have the same amount of combat experience as Raiden, having played the same “Shadow Moses” simulations Raiden was trained on. When Snake chastises Raiden, he’s also chastising the player.

Many “action gamers” did not like playing as Raiden. There was acute outrage about this at the time. And when you consider that outrage was directed at a character that was basically a stand-in for yourself, you realize that you are participating in the psychodrama, not just witnessing it.

If a game can make you an active participant in its psychodrama, or can force you to engage with the parts of yourself you don’t like, or can target you directly with psychological warfare, that is not a 2/10 psychodrama-level game.

Conclusion #

In conclusion, I hope I’ve convinced you that MGS2 is actually the most psychodramatic MGS title, not the least. It’s been at least eight years since I played it, but your commentary stirred up plenty of fond and disturbing memories.

While MGS2 may not have a Psychomantis or a Sorrow, it is certainly worthy of more than a paltry 2/10 psychodrama score. It portrayed a vast dimension of both concrete and subtle psychodrama; delivered a fulfilling psychological crisis, climax and resolution; and most importantly, it introduced the main theme of identity to the whole series, which in turn laid the foundation for most of the psychodrama of later titles.

Surely, if you’ve read this far, you’ve seen the error of your flippant remark and agree that MGS2 is the most psychodramatic game in the series.

PS: But seriously, I love the Furidashi Podcast. You guys are doing great work. I can’t wait for the next episode, and am looking forward to your perspectives on all the other mainline games, Acid, Rising, Survive, MGO, the pachinko machines, and especially Kojima’s pee-pants fetish.

Don’t keep me waiting,

rare