The Shrine

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha; text-align: left; '>...first the non-spoiler stuff. The game just fucking rocked. The controlls were excellent, except for some minor lingering problems with the camera when you're pressed up against a wall or something. The story was good too, though towards the end it took a definate turn for the freaking wierd and confusing. The voice acting was top notch again. I didn't notice the music so much and thus can't really comment on it. The graphics were incredible, but I think we'd all known that long before it was released when they had that original trailer at E3. It may have just been me, but MGS2 felt a ~lot~ harder than the original. I died a ton more times in my first time through on MGS2 than I did on MGS. Didn't collect many dog tags my first time though, either. I didn't get the hang of exactly how close you had to be to get the guards to freeze until fairly late in the game. And quite often I screwed up something while trying. Bah.

Spoilers from here on out. You've been warned.

Did anybody else think that things towards the end got more than a little fucked up? I had a hard time following everything that happened after Raiden got captured to get into Arsenal. Wierd doesn't begin to describe it and getting back to that part to see if I can understand it is a pretty good reason to play the game again. Maybe after a while it'll make more sense (I mean, I did just beat the game less than a half hour ago so it's still "hot" in my mind, so to speak.), but I don't know.

I was dissapointed at how little you got to play as Solid Snake. I learned to live with playing as Raiden eventually, but damn it I wanted to play as Snake!

The storyline had me a bit concerned for a while. I'd had the lingering feeling that I'd done it all before in the first game. There were a lot of similarities and the fight with the Harrier cinched it. Almost exactly like the Hind fight in the first game. So the revelation that the whole thing was ~supposed~ to be a psuedo-recreation of Shadow Moses was good. Whether it was a clever plot device or just a way for Kojima to save his ass from being flamed for rehashing his own stuff is a matter of opinion.

Otacon is just fucked up. His sister isn't much better.

They never really do go into who or what Vamp really is. That's kind of annoying in retrospect. At least you find out a bit about Fortune and Fatman, but Vamp is a complete mystery from what I saw.

That's it. I'm playing again. Going to do it on Very Easy to soothe my battered ego (I died 17 fucking times!) and to collect dog tags. Then as I get more cool stuff I'll head up to higher difficulty levels. And no Blotus, I won't punk out and use the stealth on the higher difficulty levels.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>There is a lot more to the game also (besides the dog tags).

Check out this link...

<A HREF="http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file ... r_eggs.txt">

It details all of the extra little things you can do and bits of dialogue you can pick up. Good stuff, it's all worth trying.

And you can actually get a background story on Vamp if you ask Pliskin or the Colonel enough.

About the Very Easy mode... you're going to have to go through it anyway for dog tags... but personally I hated it. It was WAY too easy, and I got bored shitless. At least I was able to beat it in four hours or so.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt "Times New Roman"; text-align: left; '>Was the metal gears fight.</div>

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha; text-align: left; '>I had nearly no trouble at all with that fight with the Rays. I talked with a couple people at work today about the game and they said that the fight was a bitch, but I just breezed through it with hardly a thought. And I do agree somewhat about the difficulty. Even though it was a lot harder than the first MGS, it still was too easy and thus too short. I'm looking forward to playing on Hard and Extreme to get some real challenge out of it.</div>

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha; text-align: left; '>...and it's been utter cake. Just insultingly easy. OTOH it will allow me a lot of leeway to collect dogtags (the main purpose) as well as to try and make a bit more sense out of that tangled mess that was the last hour of the storyline.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>...although, personally, I liked it more than the first. Boss fights weren't as varied or original, but the gameplay and controls rape the shit out of MGS1. It's hard for me to go back and play MGS1 now, even though the story is better, and obviously more clearer.

Think all the hype and mystery surrounding the game (as a result of Kojima's "submerging") just set most people's expectations way too high, and as a result, it's getting mixed reviews from the public. But fuck 'em, I loved it.

<div class=msg-quote>
...first the non-spoiler stuff. The game just fucking rocked. The controlls were excellent, except for some minor lingering problems with the camera when you're pressed up against a wall or something. The story was good too, though towards the end it took a definate turn for the freaking wierd and confusing. The voice acting was top notch again. I didn't notice the music so much and thus can't really comment on it. The graphics were incredible, but I think we'd all known that long before it was released when they had that original trailer at E3. It may have just been me, but MGS2 felt a ~lot~ harder than the original. I died a ton more times in my first time through on MGS2 than I did on MGS. Didn't collect many dog tags my first time though, either. I didn't get the hang of exactly how close you had to be to get the guards to freeze until fairly late in the game. And quite often I screwed up something while trying. Bah. </div>

I felt the difficulty was about the same, but the plant mission on Extreme is getting harder (I've beat the game on all the other difficulty settings).

Spoilers from here on out. You've been warned.

Did anybody else think that things towards the end got more than a little fucked up? I had a hard time following everything that happened after Raiden got captured to get into Arsenal. Wierd doesn't begin to describe it and getting back to that part to see if I can understand it is a pretty good reason to play the game again. Maybe after a while it'll make more sense (I mean, I did just beat the game less than a half hour ago so it's still "hot" in my mind, so to speak.), but I don't know.

You start to get a better idea of what's going on when you do it a second time... but don't expect to understand everything no matter how many times you go through it -- Kojima's got some 'splainin to do. Some parts around the end are borderline ridiculous.

I was dissapointed at how little you got to play as Solid Snake. I learned to live with playing as Raiden eventually, but damn it I wanted to play as Snake!

You and everybody else (go to any MGS2 message board and you'll find morons swearing off all future Kojima games because of this). I liked Raiden okay, and the fact that you got to play with him was more of a surprise to me than a disappointment.

In the Japanese version you can do a boss battle mode, and use Snake to fight the bosses in the plant mission (except Fortune 'cause you can't actually do anything to her).

The storyline had me a bit concerned for a while. I'd had the lingering feeling that I'd done it all before in the first game. There were a lot of similarities and the fight with the Harrier cinched it. Almost exactly like the Hind fight in the first game. So the revelation that the whole thing was ~supposed~ to be a psuedo-recreation of Shadow Moses was good. Whether it was a clever plot device or just a way for Kojima to save his ass from being flamed for rehashing his own stuff is a matter of opinion.

I thought it was pretty neat, but also felt a little let down that it was, in a way, rehashed.

Otacon is just fucked up. His sister isn't much better.

Emma's too cute for words (especially without the glasses). It's a fucked up family, but Emma and Hal aren't really blood related so the (arguable) "incectuous" overtones aren't TOO disturbing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit moist-eyed at her death (and the following scenes with Otacon and the parrot)... although the "I fucked your mom" thing almost ruined it.

They never really do go into who or what Vamp really is. That's kind of annoying in retrospect. At least you find out a bit about Fortune and Fatman, but Vamp is a complete mystery from what I saw.

Talk to Snake ("Pliskin") on the codec a few times after Stillman sends Snake and Raiden off to diffuse the bombs. He'll give you backgrounds on all the Dead Cell members. In case you wanted to hear it from him yourself, I've put the summation of his comments on Vamp in the spoiler section.

Fatman sucks. I wouldn't mind the drinking wine before a fight bit, and his stupid nickname, but the rollerblades just cheesed me off.

That's it. I'm playing again. Going to do it on Very Easy to soothe my battered ego (I died 17 fucking times!) and to collect dog tags. Then as I get more cool stuff I'll head up to higher difficulty levels. And no Blotus, I won't punk out and use the stealth on the higher difficulty levels.

Good. Extreme is pretty fun without using the stealth or the bandana/Raiden's brown wig... I'll probably try it with no radar after I finish it.

<b>Spoiler Message:<b>
<span style="background: black; color: black;">Snake tells you that while Vamp was a child, a bomb went off in a church while he and his family were in it. His parents died in the bombing, but he survived in the rubble for a few days by drinking their blood... he was also impaled by a crucifix. Snake says that he's not called Vamp because he's a vampire (although in the scene following the battle with Fortune - Vamp surviving the bullet in the head - that's debateable), but because he's bisexual. Vamp and Fortune's dead husband (the original leader of Dead Cell) were lovers, and he also mentions that Vamp and Fortune are very close, but not lovers. No wait... I think it was Fortune's father than was boning Vamp... agh, one of 'em.</span></div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>It could use more gameplay and less codec rambling. Play it on hard or extreme.</div>

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha; text-align: left; '>

...although, personally, I liked it more than the first. Boss fights weren't as varied or original, but the gameplay and controls rape the shit out of MGS1. It's hard for me to go back and play MGS1 now, even though the story is better, and obviously more clearer.

Yeah, the gameplay is light years ahead of MGS1, but then again it should be. It's implemented really well and I can't think of anything in MGS2 that I wanted to but couldn't because of the controls.

Think all the hype and mystery surrounding the game (as a result of Kojima's "submerging") just set most people's expectations way too high, and as a result, it's getting mixed reviews from the public. But fuck 'em, I loved it.

True, but I didn't get super hyped up about it. I just wanted to play it and have it be as good, or nearly, as the first one. If I had to choose between the two games, I'd take the first one for the originality factor, better bosses, and better/clearer storyline. But I'd take the second one in terms of the gameplay in a heartbeat.

I felt the difficulty was about the same, but the plant mission on Extreme is getting harder (I've beat the game on all the other difficulty settings).

It's hard to compare difficulty directly, but I just felt that MGS2 was more difficult. If for no other reason than item placement. I never found the SOCOM supressor in MGS2 and that made things a lot harder. I couldn't take out guards and basically clear an area. Whereas in MGS1, the surpressor is almost impossible to actually miss. Add to the fact that in MGS2 the AI is a lot better and has more tricks up its sleeve, and I thought it was more difficult.

You and everybody else (go to any MGS2 message board and you'll find morons swearing off all future Kojima games because of this). I liked Raiden okay, and the fact that you got to play with him was more of a surprise to me than a disappointment.

The thing that gets me on this is that Kojima could have easily done a split away mode where you actually take control of Snake while he's galavanting around over in Shell 2. Kind of a "Meanwhile, over in Shell 2..." sort of thing. This would have not been all that difficult to implement I would think and would have satisfied a lot of people who were expecting to play more with Snake. I mean, I liked Raiden well enough after I got used to him, but I was expecting to play as Snake.

I thought it was pretty neat, but also felt a little let down that it was, in a way, rehashed.

True. It was a bit dissapointing. I wasn't so much dissapointed that it was a rehash, though that did have me somewhat concerned. What bugged me the most was that totally wierd tangled shit that showed up at the end. It was like Kojima went so plot twist happy that he lost track of what was supposed to be going on.

Emma's too cute for words (especially without the glasses). It's a fucked up family, but Emma and Hal aren't really blood related so the (arguable) "incectuous" overtones aren't TOO disturbing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit moist-eyed at her death (and the following scenes with Otacon and the parrot)... although the "I fucked your mom" thing almost ruined it.

It was just pretty messed up. I never expected it and didn't honestly see why it was really all that necessary. The "I was screwing your mom" thing was just not right. It didn't add anything to the story and was just strange. But yeah, Emma was cute as hell.

Talk to Snake ("Pliskin") on the codec a few times after Stillman sends Snake and Raiden off to diffuse the bombs. He'll give you backgrounds on all the Dead Cell members. In case you wanted to hear it from him yourself, I've put the summation of his comments on Vamp in the spoiler section.

I don't think you should have to rely on proactively calling people on the Codec to get what could be considered fairly essential plot stuff. I nearly ~never~ called people on the codec unless I was seriously stuck or it was necessary (ie to save or whatnot).

Fatman sucks. I wouldn't mind the drinking wine before a fight bit, and his stupid nickname, but the rollerblades just cheesed me off.

I didn't mind the nickname simply because I was reminded of the Fatman and Little Boy atomic bombs. But I could be wierd like that since I grew up in the city that has the National Atomic Museum with replicas of those bombs there. But you're right, the rollerblades were totally lame.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>

The thing that gets me on this is that Kojima could have easily done a split away mode where you actually take control of Snake while he's galavanting around over in Shell 2. Kind of a "Meanwhile, over in Shell 2..." sort of thing. This would have not been all that difficult to implement I would think and would have satisfied a lot of people who were expecting to play more with Snake. I mean, I liked Raiden well enough after I got used to him, but I was expecting to play as Snake.

Yeah, I would've loved that. Or the ability to just play the whole plant mission from Snake's POV. It's possibly Kojima may have been planning something like that, but they had to meet a pretty stringent deadline (read the "Last Hours of MGS2" article at gamespot) so I'm sure they had to cut corners somewhere.

I don't think you should have to rely on proactively calling people on the Codec to get what could be considered fairly essential plot stuff. I nearly ~never~ called people on the codec unless I was seriously stuck or it was necessary (ie to save or whatnot).

I wouldn't call Vamp's history essential to the plot.

Hmm... I think I'll make an MGS2 pouel soon.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Yeah, it was kinda easy. Hard mode's a decent challenge though, I haven't tried out Extreme yet.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>For some reason, I thought it was cool when Fatman took a sip and then said "Mmm... Good year." A pretty lame line, actually, but for some reason it doesn't sound half bad coming from Fatman.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt "Times New Roman"; text-align: left; '>I am playing it on hard. Much more fun</div>

<div style='font: 9pt arial; text-align: left; '>Sounds exactly like Metal Gear Solid, which is why I can't really replay it anymore. Great story, but can't I skip through the 5 minute Codec marathons?</div>

<div style='font: 12pt "Times New Roman"; text-align: left; '>I like Liquid, and his voice just rules. When he popped out of Ray and announced himself, I thought it was awesome. GOODNIGHT!</div>

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha; text-align: left; '>...be in the third Metal Gear game. Because there really can't be any question, given what happened at the end and the conversation after the credits, that there will be one. And we'd better fucking be playing as Snake damn it!</div>

<div style='font: 12pt "Times New Roman"; text-align: left; '>..that you won't be snake. Chasing Liquid is not a duty for Raiden</div>

<div style='font: 14pt Agatha; text-align: left; '>...Raiden made a cameo or was playable for a specific section of the next game, but the main character, the vast majority of the gametime, should be with Snake. Heh. Here we are talking about the next MGS game when the second one has hardly been out for long. Wonder how long it will take Kojima to get on MGS3?</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>In this one you can, actually. Triangle zooms right past the codec dialogue. It's potentially the best feature in the game.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>A while. It's vacation time for them now.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Xenogears, anyone? Tons of story without a fast forward button.</div>