I am not here to defend t he weak Chapter 2 or the missing Chapter 3.
I've been following this game since I was a child. I have shed tears, learned that there are gray area characters. Not just the Black Hat vs the White Hat. I love Metal Gear. My favorite series.
I love the mechanics of Phantom Pain. It is empty. It feels kind of dead. But again I do enjoy the mechanics..
I wish there was a difficulty setting. Seriously wish there was. I don't even shoot people anymore. I just choke them all.
I wish MGO wasn't 6 months to a year away. Not even sure how long. Scared to look.
I am rather pissed the shipped a less than finished game.
I agree everything from Eli to the Third Boy to Solid's location. All these things matter. But the Big Boss story is complete.
I felt the same after finding out who Venom was. But I think people feel this way because they are misunderstanding it.
So let's look at the ending where Venom is looking at his reflection in the mirror.
In the reflection of the mirror, there is a Diamond Dogs emblem on the bathroom door. However, when Venom flips the tape over, that emblem becomes an Outer Heaven logo. What's the other side of that tape labeled?
Operation N313 aka the operation Solid Snake goes on in Metal Gear 1.
Venom puts the tape into an MSX and it reads data on a screen, data Venom can see, but we can't. He then walks over to the mirror again, and in anger punches it. On the other side stands his reflection, which then turns away from us and walks away into darkness. Given that we're in Outer Heaven in 1995, and you can hear the chaos of gunfire outside, it can be safely assumed that this scene happens immediately before Solid Snake arrives to shoot some rockets at him. He breaks the mirror in rebellion against the mission given to him on that tape, but he accepts it anyways, stoically walking to what will become his death. It's also important how this is depicted visually; Venom walks away in black, silhouetted against smoke. As he walks, the space around him becomes darker, until finally he disappears completely.
I think this scene is important not just for characterizing Venom Snake as he strolls off, but also ties into the game thematically. In a lot of ways, MGSV is about the forgotten people that operate in the background to support the big players. Skullface, XOF, us as the players of these games, and Venom Snake; all of them were used to create the Metal Gear world as we know it, and all of them were lost to time. If the original games are about the titans of the universe, this game is about their shadows. Venom Snake disappears at the end of this game; he is washed away from history. Everyone thinks he was Big Boss, and that is all that is ever known of him. He quite literally disappears.
Many people upon seeing the ending assume Venom Snake built Outer Heaven, but this isn't true. At the hospital in Cyprus, Ocelot gives Big Boss a new passport with a new name on it. This is Big Boss's new identity while Venom Snake is Big Boss; the name on that passport is whatever you make it during the character creator, but for the sake of simplicity here, let's just say the name is Steve. Venom Snake, aka the medic, unwittingly gets Big Boss's identity and makes Diamond Dogs and the events of MGSV happen as we see them. During this time, Big Boss is under the name Steve and is building Outer Heaven in South Africa.
I feel this connects us to MG1.
But we do see how Big Boss has fallen. Hell he fell back in the end of Snake Eater.
He used a hospital full of people to shield their escape. That is if Ishmael was even real. The truth tapes certainly point to the fact that Boss intended to assist Venom out and use the staff and patients as a shield.
He was complicit with the act of using Venom so he could hide away and complete Outer Heaven. Once they swapped he would lead Foxhound and build Zanzibar Land on the side. I could easily have my timelines mixed up.
But regardless. We see what Big Boss is capable of. We also find out Skullface has deep resentment for Big Boss and Zero. If Big Boss had failed in Snake Eater Skullface was meant to take his place. Skullface protected and cleaned up after Snake during that mission. Gathered intel and make sure he stayed alive.
That makes me feel like Big Boss, as amazing a solider that he is, Venom, who is you and me is a better solider. Mentally and physically. We've been there from the beginning We are his best solider. For all we know we are the best of the Snakes save Solid Snake. Who is canonically supposed to be the superior Snake.
We know that Big Boss is an asshole at the end of the game. I'm honestly not even interested in learning about Big Boss. Like Kaz. My heart is with the Big Boss that shows compassion. The Big Boss that probably has a better idea of what The Bosses intentions were. But he played the game Big Boss wanted him to.
He punched the mirror knowing that Solid was about to shoot missiles at him. That this was part of the plan.
Seriously. Fuck Big Boss.
Konami need to just make a massive MMO out of the franchise and be done with it.