Metal Gear Solid 5: It is time to admit Hideo Kojima is a terrible writer

For being wacky, strange and indulging in smug, post-modern humour, Hideo Kojima is lauded in the gaming industry as a pioneer. But he's a terrible writer. For every rehashed philosophical ponder he airlifts into his scripts, there's a convoluted plot-line, reams of sexist rubbish, a twist just for the sake of having one.

Play the Metal Gear Solid series 10 times then sit down and try to recount, in detail, the story. Try to explain the contradictions and the myriad non-sequiturs. Attempt to describe, with a straight face, the fact that in Metal Gear Solid 2 Revolver Ocelot's mind is controlled by a grafted-on arm, but then in Metal Gear Solid 4 it's explained that actually he'd hypnotised himself to make it look like the arm was in control of his mind, so that government spies wouldn't think he was a threat.

[DarkOcelet]

"Metal Gear Solid 4 is the worst of them, and the most poorly written game I've ever played."

" Watch the scene where Johnny tells Meryl he loves her while fighting off the Outer Haven troops, or the wedding sequence at the end, or the epilogue where Big Boss returns to try and explain the entire series' plot "

I just played MGS4 one month ago and i honestly don't know wtf to say to the author of this article. I don't hate criticism but calling Kojima's writing garbage is plain effin stupid. I wont defend Kojima, all i can say is that millions have enjoyed the series for what it is and it is one of the very few games where i had tears at the end. The dialogue between Snake and Big Boss was one of the best i have seen in my life. Just a father and son talk. It was damn perfect.

[Nitrowolf2]

Here's the thing. I won't defend him to death or anything, an dI'll agree there has been a ton of questionable writing in MGS, but exactly like you said.
" millions have enjoyed the series for what it is and it is one of the very few games where i had tears at the end."

The games not perfect when it comes to writing, but holyshit this guy seem to miss the points here and there.

So here;s the thing about the whole Liquid possesses Ocelot in MGS2.
The responses in this forum explains it
SPOILERS
http://www.ign.com/boards/t...
END SPOILER

Yea, MGS is confusing, but if you put pieces together it fits. The story is epic when it is, and at the same time isn't suppose to be completely serious.

[DarkOcelet]

Yeah, i know that Ocelot is the Boss's and Sorrow's son.

I love Ocelot's character so much hence the reason i got the name DarkOcelet. MGS isnt confusing, it just wants you to have an open mind and accept the weird stuff that happens in its world.

[freshslicepizza]

kojima has a huge following and they will eat up whatever he puts out there. maybe this is just a difference in culture thing

[bouzebbal]

"Metal Gear Solid 4 is the worst of them, and the most poorly written game I've ever played"
Witness this folks, COD and FIFA are better written then MGS4.
Get out of here.....

WTF
No

[Name Last Name]

WTF this guy is just clueless about the story. As you can see in MGS4's last battle, Ocelot replaced his WHOLE arm with a bionic one so that he couldn't be controlled anymore by liquid's hand (which happened because Ocelot is The Sorrow's son and has some of his medium powers).

[XBLSkull]

Article speaks the truth. Kojima fanboys everywhere will disagree. I've only played 2 and 4 but the writing and stories are ridiculous.

[breakpad]

i say that Kojima always included in his games metaphysical and paranormal phenomena ...with MGS 4 tried to explain all these with realistic excuses (nanomachines , Ai , Hypnotizing etc) for unknown idiotic reason...IMO MGS4 was poorly written not because was convuluted but because Kojima (probably listening oother members of his team) tried to realistic explain the metaphysical nature(and one of the most loved and intriguing aspect of the series) of MGS... smthing like when Lucas tried to explain Jedis in Episode 1 ...otherwise author of this article is completely clueless biased and unintelligent ...

[Revengeance]

@XBLSkull

If you only played 2 and 4 you shouldn't even be talking. Leave this to the people that have played all the games actually know what the story is about.

[XBLSkull]

Sorry but there is no way the story and writing is so great in MGS 1 and 3 that it makes up for the two that I have played, and while I can't say for sure I almost guarantee it is more of the same.

[pinkcrocodile75]

Sorry dude, I've played they from MGS2 onward and like a lot of Video Games, the writing is spectacularly rubbish.

It's true what they say, "Those that can't write, teach and those that can't teach write for video games".

I read on average 4 to 5 novels a month so I take pride in being able to discern quality from drivel. The one thing that is clear is that video game writers are failed novelists with only a few exceptions, Rhianna Pratchett and Chris Avellone among them.

It's not Hieo's fault, he's a director / dev whose doing too many things. Next time get a professional in and leave them alone to develop a decent narrative, back story and progression arch

[equal_youth]

As a writer myself i dare everybody who agrees with this to write a story on the same scale as kojima. then we can talk again. criticism is easy, being creative on the other hand...

I should add that english isn't my main language.

[asmith2306]

That's dialogue. Not the same as story.

[kneon]

The dialog in most video games is so cheesy that they should come with a warning for those that are lactose intolerant.

[JackVagina]

Ooo a MGS4 fan! here let me link this to you http://i.imgur.com/PeC5DYj....

I'm sorry.

Jokes aside MGS4 is my second favorite MGS game (behind 3) and i thought BB showing up was epic.

[DarkOcelet]

MGS3 is my favorite too. Big Boss and Boss relationship and the whole game was beautiful.

[LightofDarkness]

I agree, even though it had its issues 4 was a great game to play (not so much to watch). Three had the balance the best so far, but sounds like 5 will top it.

[Flo-con]

"I wont defend Kojima, all i can say is that millions have enjoyed the series for what it is and it is one of the very few games where i had tears at the end."

Millions enjoy soap operas... That's not really a good argument.

(I'm not saying that Kojima's writing sucks btw)

[Palitera]

The only thing that reliefs the current state of game blogging (this is not even close to journalism) is how stupid and mad readers are on an obvious troll article.

Haha

So much naivety. No wonder the industry is how it is today. So easy to fool these people...

[-Foxtrot]

As a writer myself I think people enjoy the Universe he's created not the dialogue or in *some* parts the story.

When people say he's the best writer ever thats where I have the problem but there isn't really anything wrong with it like it's "awful" I just think people give him a little too much credit.

Lets be honest the overall story is so complicated and I honestly think the reason why there is so many games explaining parts of the story is because he's had to because of what he's wrote in the games set in the present.

Anyway his games aren't awful and his writing isn't but his writing isn't amazing either which most people like to think.

The Universe he's created with the setting, tone, characters, all the stuff about war, soldiers, Metal Gear etc that's what people like the most in my opinion

[joeorc]

@ Foxtrot

"Lets be honest the overall story is so complicated and I honestly think the reason why there is so many games explaining parts of the story is because he's had to because of what he's wrote in the games set in the present."

Remember this: nothing in war is ever really straightforward!

Psychology is used in war just as much as sending men and women to areas of support to be set as bait for an attack against those supports , just so as to gauge the opponents strength in that section.

Its dirty, its evil and by the onset its never show to be straightforward except in its objective. But knowing the objectives is those that are in leadership's and even than, you may only see just one objective.

The fact kojima wrote it this way I'd say is exactly why its such a popular series, because only this series in computer console gaming has come close to the real concepts on how a war is ran..its never what you see being how the series is ran, its the plots and strategic ploy and play that is used during the operations.

During this series you find out things about the characters and some opposition character's , many Influence's in kojimas style in writing can be seen taken from Flemming's works. Or from characters that are made designed larger than life like elrics saga leading up to hawkmoon: the eternal soldier.

The idea is of things that are hidden in a war that is the real parody's of tragic day to date life of a real soldiers existence to have it bend, and break to the orders of someone else..always someone else.

Thats what kojima was going for and guess what being a former soldier myself he gets it, he has a tongues and cheek methodology in the series because war in all its shape on the battle field is not very pretty especially from the men and women who are inside such a military Machine.

That are just seen by the people in charge as a asset. The leadership's have a tough choice and its Always the soldier who many times get the "this cog is broken" get another. By the leadership's in charge.

Its plans within plans and we are just soldiers under Kojimas objectives, now are we good soldiers following the orders trying not to gum up the machine or are we soldiers that than want to be the leadership the ones making the designed objectives for others to follow.

To have to bend, and some times break just to completely finish the objective your given.

Putting your self in the shoes of the soldier is not just handing a virtual gun and equipment, but also putting yourself in the rule of being the lever for someone else's objective , no matter how much it may not seem is a good objective.

[n4rc]

i dunno... the story is pretty out there.. i get what the author is trying to say...i think.. but goes a little overboard..

[christrules0041]

It's click bait.

[Gozer]

Myself, I agree with the author of this piece. I have thought Kojima is a terrible writer for well over a decade now. This isn't to say that his games aren't fun, his writing is just awful. Try comparing his stories to any acclaimed plot driven shows, movies, games, or books.

[Nitrowolf2]

A lot of the stuff that happened earlier in MGS is retcon with every new iteration.

"Tell me about how, in the last five minutes of Metal Gear Solid, the colonel pops up on the radio to say everything – the entire terrorist action – was the American Secretary of Defence "acting alone," and how that plot thread is never mentioned in the series again. "

This guy even Play MGS? Well by the looks of it, yeah it does, but it's clear that they can't grasp the whole reason behind that

Sure, MGS doesn't have the perfect writing, I get it. But the story in reality isn't that tough to follow when you just barebone it, and in truth a lot of people enjoy it which a lot of gmes just fail to do

[TLG1991]

I would say its absolutely perfect writing. if you strip it right down it is straight forward enough to follow, at the same time there are many vague areas and side plots and twists that let the fans discuss.

Keyword there is "discuss" if you give something to people they can talk about and fill in the gaps it creates a wonderful group of followers.

the same kind of thing star wars has done, there is plenty to be explained and plenty to happen but if you strip it down its a simple story, but the fans can imagine new plots and side plots and fillers all day long and talk about it.

[Letsplayhalo]

Kojima is an icon, the industry admits that. May be the author should too.

[n4rc]

no doubt... but cmon, the guy wears many hats.. watch the credits and his name pops up like 20 times..

he is an icon and he makes iconic games... doesnt mean he has to be perfect in everything.. his writing is pretty (trying to think of the right word here) convoluted..

dont think hes as bad as the author makes him out to be... but he does make some valid points

[Letsplayhalo]

I agree, but that doesn't mean we should call him a bad writer, he is good and I am excited to see what he doesn next.

[Professor_K]

guys an attention graving edgelord. i dont get the hype about him. Even after playing most mgs games, hes an o ok writer but dam do people like to blow him out of proportion for something dozens of unspoken developers have done over and over.

[ginsunuva]

All praise Kojima! Any criticism is satanic and punishable by death.

[Salooh]

There is a fine line between love and hate.

Please have some love author. Be cool !! :>

[TheCelestial]

People often call in stupid what they don't understand.

I'm sure the author of the article thinks G. R. R. Martin and Tolkien as terrible writers as well.

[TLG1991]

i was thinking that myself but didn't want to say it.

His article does seem to be focused around plots he doesn't understand so im going to go with that one.

[TLG1991]

. double post!!

[Yui_Suzumiya]

!

[solidboss07]

Sometimes its crap, yes. But sometimes its great. For example in MGS Sons of Liberty I loved the story and all cutscenes from them tanker mission. Especially when Revolver Ocelot reveals himself and steals Metal Gear Ray after,killing Gurlukovich I think it was, ' When did you betray us, Ocelot?'
'I abandoned Her during the cold war, Commrad.' Great.

[solidboss07]

And its the gameplay I always loved.

!..huh?

[Summons75]

Is the writer of this a hipster or just extremely drunk? Even if you don't like the games you can't deny the Kojima is an amazing writer and one of the best people in the industry. The fact alone that he has kept the story coherent and easy to follow FOR 30 YEARS just shows you his talent. Hell even without playing the original 2 Metal Gear games people can follow the story on just the Solid series alone.

[asadachi]

I don't know if I would call it terrible, but some scenes can be long winded for sure. Still, I've loved every MG I've played, including the first on the NES, but I've always liked the gameplay the most.

[-Gespenst-]

I think he's pretty poor at "showing not telling." There's nothing worse than endless expository dialogue. It just screams "look how complex my storytelling is!" The tools of storytelling are just that - tools - they are a means to an end, not the end in itself. I don't care how complex your narrative is - it needs to have an emotional core. I'm not saying MGS doesn't have this, but I think the emotional core that it DOES have is negatively impacted upon by exposition.

Plus, endless expository dialogue is just weird - it takes you out of the world of the fiction. No people behave or talk like that - it's just the director / writer desperate to show off how complex his story is.

I do think that he's good at game design though. He's also pretty good with cinematics, he's just bad at writing scenes that aren't full of exposition. He's bad at communicating the complexity of his narratives through anything but endless exposition. He can't seem to do exposition with brevity, nor is he great at, again, showing rather than telling.

[FullmetalRoyale]

That's part of why I am so excited for The Phantom Pain, because gameplay seems to be king. As someone who loves Peace Walker I'm totally on board for a revenge tale after watching so many of what felt like MY people die in Ground Zeroes. I put so much time and effort recruiting the best people for Mother Base, and I really have to give Kojima credit for finding a way to put me in the same mindset of Big Boss; wanting to kill those responsible. It was very uncomfortable for me to watch, to see all of MY hard work get destroyed right in from of me, and my people lost. So there's my narrative motivation, and frankly that's all I need.

[plmkoh]

"Plus, endless expository dialogue is just weird...No people behave or talk like that"

I had a 30 minute detailed discussion about mundane gun laws and the effects on society over lunch with my boss today, would that be too long for your attention span.

[-Gespenst-]

I don't know, that's pretty different.

[joeorc]

@plmkoh + 1h ago
"Plus, endless expository dialogue is just weird...No people behave or talk like that"

"I had a 30 minute detailed discussion about mundane gun laws and the effects on society over lunch with my boss today, would that be too long for your attention span."

Exactly! Bravo, kojima is telling a story giving you bread crumbs to follow, do you want to be just one of the soldiers that just follows order's , or do you want to grab a excellent seat at the head of a strategy planning table making the objective instead of following them!

He is trying to prepare you for the one making the objectives instead of just following and completely oblivious to the other opposition's objectives that other such soldiers may be following.

Watch the movie : the iron triangle it gives a good two sides to view in war and how each side both good & Bad operates in their objectives.

[ginsunuva]

But did you talk about incorporating nanomachines into the guns?

[LightofDarkness]

The lengthy exposition is apparently a Japanese cultural affect, where people tend to explain things in far more detail than may be considered necessary. It's not just MGS (although it is often the most guilty of it), Resident Evil, many JRPGs and anime do it all the time as well. It's just one of those things you'll have to get used to with Japanese storytelling. It's sometimes akin to an elderly person meandering through a story, trying to recall exact dates, names, faces and other irrelevant details as if they were central to the understanding of the plot (they're not, grandma, stop telling me how mom was conceived; I only asked about the day she was born).

I get people love his work for myriad reasons, but calling him a great or "perfect" writer like someone above did is being a little over zealous, as is considering him to be on the same level as the likes of George R.R. Martin and Tolkien (another space cadet above). And yes, Call of Duty does do a better job of telling its story in a lot of ways, it's really just that the story itself is trite. It doesn't wrestle control away from the player with constant, unnecessary expository cutscenes or codecs, it stays on-point and is often performed better by its voice actors (granted it has the luxury of being mostly developed in the last 10 years).

Example: the recent Quiet trailer. She dives from the chopper, performs a whole bunch of unnecessary flipping around and showing off of her abilities, while the guys flit back and forth between "Detain her" to "Kill her" and finally "Don't kill her", also while surrounding her from 2 feet away., Why? They have high powered assault weapons! The distance is their advantage! Why would all these supposedly highly trained, super effective soldiers rush to be within her effective range when they hold the advantage? Why was this scene necessary? At the end he just says "Don't worry, when the time comes, I'll be the to do it (kill her)." Why later, when you could do it far more easily now? You could say "because she's useful!" but he has other useful comrades to choose from, and I'm sure innumerable marksmen in his ranks. The scene only serves to let her show off, while also allowing Snake to deliver a shallow attempt at deep foreshadowing. Potential plot holes gleaned from one trailer.

That's not to say that other games and writers aren't guilty of similar sins, but Kojima has basically built a franchise on them. I LOVE his games but to say the story and storytelling aren't a tad overwrought (*at the very least) is frankly BS. He has been surpassed by other writers and directors in the medium, but people refuse to admit any flaws in his works because of nostalgia. I played MGS when it came out and thoroughly enjoyed it,and didn't finish two or play three until just before and after 4 came out, and even by that point they were ageing poorly, with regards their stories. I had no nostalgic connection going in or need to "hate" him, nor did I have some weird anti Kojima bias, as many would claim in defence as a means of simply and easily batting away criticisms without having to rebut them. The author makes a lot of valid points, but most peoples' responses are to simply plug their ears, "shout "NOO!" at the top of their lungs and insult anyone with differing opinions.

But hey, that's fanboyism.

PS. The reviews are all confirming something that I'd hoped, and it's that he's taken these criticisms largely on board for this release, allowing the player to actually play the game in huge amounts without constantly wrestling away control so he can explain to you what's happening, whether it's important or not. I love the gameplay, and in this entry, gameplay is king. Good times.

[-Gespenst-]

I KNOW I've played games of Japanese origin without reams of exposition. None of the Final Fantasys have it bar the Lightning saga, I don't remember the Chrono games having it. I could go on. Final Fantasy X has very elegant exposition I think.

In my experience, the best JRPGs often have their characters express or explain the plot in a more simple and human way.

Honestly I think it's a Kojima thing, but some writers share it. Hey, have you seen Inception? Pure exposition. Dreadful stuff. Not eastern though.

You're right though - people don't like to hear a bad word said about Kojima, but he's not perfect. He has strengths and weaknesses.

[LightofDarkness]

Like I said, they're not AS bad, but it certainly happens. Square have rarely been guilty of it, and I actually find FFX and VIII to be the most guilty of it, outside of the XIII trilogy you mentioned (I hear KH can be a little over-the-top as well).

Although I must disagree with the author's tone and choice of words: terrible is far from the truth. He's always played with interesting ideas and forged a fairly lucrative web of lore over the years that few have dared to rival. His stories are almost always fun rides, in the end, despite whatever flaws exist. And it's a testament to his legacy that he has come to be compared so rigorously to storytelling in mediums that are geared entirely toward storytelling, because he apes their styles so well (cinema, mostly). He certainly deserves to be lauded for driving storytelling in gaming forward in a cinematic fashion (I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, mind).

[Two-Face]

His games have a tendency to have too much filler cutscenes/dialogue, while also being super slow paced.

[WitWolfy]

"FLAME ON!!!"

[DarXyde]

And yet the games are amazing with more than what one would call a cult following and there's a ton of people passionate about the Kojima-Konami dilemma. People like myself are dying to see what the next story will be. There are discrepancies, but the author apparently doesn't get it. The ending of MGS4 stirs up a lot of emotion which you'd only really have if you cared about the lore and characters. In other words, the writing is more than serviceable. You don't get fans who are sentimental over a nostalgia trailer, create a universe with very iconic characters, and have tons of fan theories for of your games if you're a bad writer.

I think the author is terrible at making their case.

[Gatsu]

The writer should stop playing video games. Kojima's games are very unique and amazing, even story wise, which you don't often see in game industry...

It's the reason why so many love them.

Lot of hate in this dude, I bet he never even understood the games.

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

He doesn't understand the games because they are not easy to understand. They don't make any sense.

[DarXyde]

Your comment doesn't make sense.

"They are not easy to understand" and "doesn't make any sense" are not synonymous. In one case, you suggest it's convoluted. In another, it's nonsense, period.

The games are pretty simple if you understand a couple of rudimentary things before long into the games, some of which include political climate of an era, a lick of knowledge about genes and technology, basic history, and your objective in the game, which you learn about in the first 5 minutes of all the games.

Again, some inconsistencies here and there, but really not hard to understand at all.

I should add, the games are wacky and over the top, but that's the charm and identity of this series.

[ginsunuva]

You sound like you're 12. You probably are.

Anyway, MGS is my favorite series ever, and I too think the writing is cringeworthy at some times.

The author doesn't hate the games. Obviously he's paid more attention than you have.

[Gatsu]

How do I sound like 12 year old, because I'm not. Imo your reply sounds a bit childish.

He hasn't paid attention if he thinks MGS4 is the most poorly written game ever.

I think the writer is just seeking attention after all the MGSV reviews. I'd like to know what he thinks of MGS3.

[MilkMan]

Ill go on record an say that Kojimas games lack cohesiveness, and real story. However they make up for it with tight game play and cinematic feel. His positives outweigh his negatives. I also feel that his lack of command of the English langue and culture, something he draws from greatly hurts him. But his obsession with style over substance wins him his fans.

Its a delicate balance he and only he is afforded in this business. Especially considering he doesn't do a lick of coding.
Hes basically the guy that tells the coders what to do.

[plmkoh]

"Kojimas games lack cohesiveness, and real story"

Yeah I mean, his game's just transcended 20yrs of history, can't possibly be because the story is good.

"Hes basically the guy that tells the coders what to do."

So he's a director/producer?

[LightofDarkness]

That's a pretty good, succinct way of putting it, unlike my wall of text above :p

[lildudexst]

Hideo Kojima is not a terrible writer. It just that the story he trying to tell, is all over the place. So many game in the wrong time line. Took a min to understand where was i,when i started playing on ps1. I didn't know there was more before that so I was like mother beep. Why all these game in the wrong places.

[2pacalypsenow]

I was 8 when I first played MGS and understood the story just fine. The new games just build up on them, he didn't plot out every Metal Gear game at once, obviously there's gonna be some contradiction but it makes up for it

[Gwiz]

My personal feelings about the writing of all the MGS games is the first one (PSX and PC port) is hard to top
[SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSP O ILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOIL E RSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERS P OILER]
" Spoiler alert Snake?what's that for?,YOU never KNOW "

.It has plot twists,great battles from the most simplified genome soldier battles to Sniper Wolf to battling a chopper,not to mention the alloy plot.It had a great story and it went really convoluted when MGS 2 put in Raiden and all kinds of other villains.I wouldn't say hes a bad writer he just put himself in an awkward position,it could have been intended to keep the series alive and himself a job lol.

[BigPoppaT]

It seems to me that the author is taking this almost personal. I don't understand what his expectations are. It's a video game. This is not writing a book. You are not relying on the readers imagination and the writers ability to connect the dots for them. You are trying to write a story that would be fun to interact with and keep someones attention and that is only part of the problem. Then you have to build this world, its capabilities and convey just enough expression that consumer accepts your interpretation. How many times have you watched a movie after reading a book and been utterly disappointed because it did not match with what your thought of how something looked, felt, worked didn't match up with the directors creative license.

Also, his comparisons and condescension seems to be egotistical masturbation.

[Dannylew]

hahahahaah HIDEO KOJIMA terrible writer

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[slappy508]

It's time to admit you're a terrible writer desperate for clicks

[eddieistheillest]

lol This is the only article on N4G that I commented on that I didnt click .

[Chaos_Raiden]

At least Hideo Kojima is a better writer than the author of that site.

[2pacalypsenow]

This guy is an idiot.

Probably to dumbd to understand the MGS story.

[LightofDarkness]

"Probably to dumbd to understand the MGS story."

Priceless.

[2pacalypsenow]

Fast typing on work computer :-)

[LightofDarkness]

Haha, I know the pain too well.

[ThatEnglishDude]

If he can make the events of MGS2 make sense, and wrap up a 20+ year saga in MGS4, then the man deserves an award.

[scark92]

Agreed.

[Roccetarius]

Attempting to bring it to light, that there's plenty of nonsense going on in the MGS story, is a dead end. People are so set in stone, that what Hideo Kojima has written is gold and without flaws.

One of the most common things is that they enjoyed it, but that has nothing to do with the writing in the games.

[Helios86]

"reams of sexist rubbish"

Aaand and don't care to read this bs anymore.

[CookieMonster1]

ANNNNNNDDDD its just BaitClick , Nothing to do here

[cyclindk]

This is an opinion on the style, I think, more than anything, which is entirely a personal preference and thus entirely subjective. Is Hideo's WRITING ability actually in question, or rather, this particular gamer's tastes?

Because one thing is certain, Hideo has a style of story-telling which certainly is off the wall and long-winded at times, taking character monologues to new extremes, but is never-the-less entertaining, if difficult to follow.

But such is any story that you start so far into the series.

My 4 cents...

[flyingwombat33]

Lol, I don't have to admit anything. Actually, just to piss you off I'm going to say he's the greatest writer since Homer. Come at me.

[cyclindk]

For accuracy's sake and assuming you are referring to THE Homer, presumed author (possibly amongst many) of The Odyssey and The Iliad, then it would be truer to say that he/they were not, in fact, great witers, but rather great story tellers as the works were not initially written, but spoken or sung. But your meaning is apparent.

[flyingwombat33]

Yep, but the same is true of Kojima in a way: he's not writing everything in Metal Gear. He has a small team of writers, but he does come up with the story.

[Elit3Nick]

Oh boy, someone's kicking a hornet's nest...

[KurtRussell]

Lots of overzealous weak-minded hornets in there

[MrsNesbitt]

Click-bait...it's working. well done author!

[Scrivlar]

Hmm...normally I hate people saying articles are clickbait just because the authors opinion is in the minority but with this..Your timing is impeccable to be making such a controversial article that you know lots of people will be annoyed by, so sorry dude but I'm calling clickbait. It's worked though so fair play to you i guess..

[yewles1]

Kojima's series hasn't been loved by just the gameplay alone these past few decades. Though I prefer the continuity in, say, Yakuza a little bit more myself, there's no denying the greatness that his auteur'ism has produced in the past 3 decades.

[joeorc]

Fully Agreed, if you have read Flemming's books on bond.. Its never straightforward. Because you cannot make it that way because the other side is not going to play it straightforward also.

That's why its called espionage!
That's the thing in my opinion Kojima capture's that feeling very well with his work.

Its like back in the 60's with Thomas crown..played by Steve McQueen.
The plot about how he picked and chose his team, how he went about gathering the team, and what the objective of the team, down to the timing of everything. Thomas Crown as a character is written the stage and story set piece as you would in an espionage thriller.

But it was a bank heists!
That was the point, it masked its true objective into the story for 15 mins before going into the real plot. But twisted it from what you may think it was to what it really was.

In spy espionage books like those written during the 60's you pick up a lot on the way , only to find out that during that story the majority's of it was to distract you from the real goal.

The point is many such operations during the coldwar were done with quite a bit of plans within plans and sometimes the plan you think is just a plot that was to distract you , was really a key to set in motion something tied to that failed or no failed, it was able to complete a part of the objective it was set out to do.

And if it was successful than so much the better.

That's the point many I think keep missing about Kojima's work, his writing is like straight out of the 60's spy novel's.. Does he really reach that goal to have his stories feel that way?

I think he does, because I like the spy novels of the 60's. Example the destroyer books..ie: character: remo William's

[Bass_fisherman]

flamebait not going to click that good try tough

[DrGonzo]

Just from a writing perspective, this article is pretty spot on. Kojima is prone to extremely long winded exposition dumps that compound an already grossly bloated overall story. A hour long cutscene of nothing but exposition is not good writing.

There so many goddamn plot threads (MGS2 added so much fuel to this fire) that the whole thing falls apart under its own weight.

I think a lot of people here are confusing complexity with good writing. Anybody can write a complex story, but it takes skill to convey that story in a digestible manner. Kojima has some good ideas but he completely falls flat on his face when it comes to actually presenting them to the audience.

[Bass_fisherman]

The whole point of the plot "behind the scenes" of MGS is to use politics and science bureaucracy that apply in real life situations which is why the MGS series includes belivable backstory plots unlike many games that mostly use a main antogonist as a scapegoat which is not realistic.

All the effort that Kojima puts into these plot devices are really well done and it really isnt important for the player to understand them in full because that´s the whole point , when it comes about rules and protocols its never clear what is the definite awnser for things to happen.

The story presented in cutscenes from the games are pretty much on point to the essencial story from the games. The plots behind the scenes make it even more interesting because it makes you think unlike the average action game.

Calling Kojima a terrible writer is like calling Christopher Nolan a bad director just because many things arent directly explained to the audience.

[joeorc]

Maybe because its done in the style of a freaking Espionage novel!

How many here has read espionage novels from the 50's and 60's , not Jason borne, but stuff like the destroyer, orflemmings work?

You should Read some of those , because if you have you would see kojima is not far off the mark to how he has in story telling of spy thrillers from the 60's and remember snake's story takes place in what time line ?

That's point in how kojimas being in how he wrote it that way, it starts in the 60's for his line it was set in the cold war. But we did not find out many of the ongoing plots and the objectives and false objectives even false objectives has many objectives hidden inside it, this we as watchers, readers listeners , players had to wait out until much later past metal gear solid.

[eyoung25]

I disagree. While his writing is definitely out there, it has created a mythos and universe that is hard to match not only in gaming, but in any form of media. His story may be in need of retcons but it pales in comparison to anything the comic industry has put out.

[KurtRussell]

How dare he insult are Lord and Saviour Hideo Kojima The Master Storyteller!!!!!??????

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

Agree with the author but the gameplay of MGS V looks awesome.

But he's not wrong, The MGS series is a convoluted mess whose plot has had so many continuity errors that have needed to be retconned.

[WoshJills]

I bought Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, 4, 5, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, and played PT.

I have to say, Hideo Kojima isn't the best writer. He's great at making games and making them feeling cinematic, but he's actually pretty shitty at delivering a story.

He tells his stories in non-sequential order, and doesn't walk new fans of the franchise through previous installments. (3 starts the story, but 4 ends it? How are we supposed to know that if we're new players?)

Writers are supposed to weave narrative through the exposition of a story, not hand people a damn manual and say, "read up on it."

[Bass_fisherman]

Just play the games and figure it out for yourself Kojima isnt teaching 3rd grade math.

Fans love the universe because its always something to think about how´s that bad writing? the story of the games are pretty self explainatory: inflitrate, reveal the secret weapon and stop "bad" guy.

[WoshJills]

When hardcore fans have to create entire forums and websites trying to understand what the hell is going on in the universe, it doesn't make him "deep." It makes his stories convoluted.

[mogwaii]

Ridiculous bullshit series, at least his fucked up nonsensical writing would of been at home in silent hills.

[S2Killinit]

he must been doing something right though no? lets focus on that eh?

PS: his writing might be inorthodox but then, should all authors do the same thing? I think not. You can't argue that what he has created, has not grabbed the attention of many gamers around the glob. Furthermore, I personally feel that his writing is more true to the Eastern rather than western audiences. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, and doesn't mean westerners would be excluded from liking it. Its like a if you take a book written in Japanese and translate it to English. It might still be good and some might still swear by it.

My two cents.

[Tontus]

I've only ever played MGS4 and that had atrocious writing so I'm inclined to agree.