Opinion: Metal Gear Solid V humanizes Big Boss, and that's a good thing

Josh Barnes of G4@Syfygames shares his interpretation of what the story of Metal Gear Solid V does for Big Boss as a character.

[-Foxtrot]

" of what the story of Metal Gear Solid V does for Big Boss as a character "

Nothing...because he hardly speaks or shows any emotion in this game, he's like a robot. Hell Plank in Ed, Edd and Eddy showed more personality then him.

http://vignette2.wikia.noco...

[Name Last Name]

SPOILER

I just try to justify it in my head as Venom being so quiet because he is not Big Boss. Lets not talk about the ridiculously awkward jeep ride with Skullface...

[Whitefox789]

Speaking of that scene,

http://i.imgur.com/O0cEaNS....

[Kratos0289]

He was humanized in MGS3 and a lot of that came from his relationship with The Boss, MGSV was supposed to show us his decent into villany which we never got, I'm still wondering why Keifer Sutherland is in this game dont get me wrong his delivery is spot on but he hardly speaks and isn't given much to work with Kojima said back in 2013 he wanted someone at the age of 49 (which is Big Boss' age during Phantom Pain) and Keifer potrayed that perfectly I didn't buy it then and after beating the game now I'm still not convinced

[-Foxtrot]

That makes Kojima come off as a bullshit liar. Most of his work Sutherland has in the game comes in the form of Cassette tapes, how do you need a "professional actor" for something which could have been done in a voice recording booth

In my opinion I think it was because he was a affordable Hollywood actor and Kojima thought it would be a good way to get into the Hollywood scene. He's always posted pictures here and there of him and someone from Hollywood, last person being George Miller, director of the Mad Max films

Kind of a douche move with what he did to Hayter. Sutherland did nothing in the game which Hayter couldn't do himself...if not better.

[DarXyde]

Troy Baker once said something wise in reference to him not returning to voice Kanji Tatsumi in the Persona 4 series. He said he doesn't own Kanji. Likewise, Hayter does not own Snake. Frankly, I think it was a poor decision to ever give Hayter the role for Big Boss. He is Solid Snake and it should have stopped there. I enjoy Hayter's voice acting, but he was off his game in Peace Walker. Sutherland's unfamiliar voice worked out pretty well for deceiving players in the hospital though, which would have been a dead giveaway if Hayter played them. I'd rather Doyle come back as Big Boss, but Sutherland does play a decent "not Hayter, not Doyle" voice that falls in between theirs that does a fair job of expressing his voice changing with age.

Now about getting into Hollywood, I think you're being cynical, but that's my take. Isn't it possible that--given Kojima is a huge fan of western films, music, and general culture--that he would want to take pictures with the director of Mad Max, Norman Reedus, Troy Baker, etc.? It's not that unusual. Besides, he could also be approaching them about future ideas or sharing ideas to create certain themes in their works. It's not that strange.

[-Foxtrot]

"Sutherland's unfamiliar voice worked out pretty well for deceiving players in the hospital though"

Lol. As soon as I heard the other guy speak and then noticed it was him I knew the twist in seconds.

Oh and as for Troy Baker, it's not the point. Yes Hayter doesn't own Snake but Kojima could have at least called Hayter up and said something like how he's got someone else. Hayter said he didn't even do that, he only found out when we all found out.

I mean what is Troy really going to say he's in the game, not like he's going to say anything against Kojima, if you read his interviews in the lead up to MGSV Troy has being doing damage control for Kojima with the whole Hayter thing.

He's been Snake for 17 years, you'd least want a call to let you know before we all find out. Plus it is the last MGS game from Kojima why get anyone else.

If not Hayter then Richard Doyle would have worked like you said but no no apparently a Hollywood actor is more important despite his presence in the game being a waste.

[DarXyde]

Not saying the twist was totally a surprise. I am saying though that it was much less obvious than it would be having Hayter there. Perhaps I should have worded that more clearly.

Personally, I'm skeptical about how this whole thing with Hayter went down. I feel like we really don't know the details, much like how we still don't know any concrete details regarding Kojima and Konami. How do we know Kojima isn't playing the victim? How do we know Hayter isn't trying for sympathy? Motion capture was obviously something Kojima really cared about in making The Phantom Pain and maybe neither Doyle nor Hayter had very believable expressions in this regard. Finding someone at an age relevant to Snake's was a good move. Did it have to be Sutherland? No, and I'm not really sure what the point was there, but hey, it happened. Still loved the game and he delivered on mocap. Richard Doyle would not work, simply because he is far too old to do good mocap for Snake. If it were just a voice thing, I'm sure Hayter would've been invited back. As far as NOT letting him know, that's a bit cold, but you could also say that voice acting is at the end of the day a job. If you don't get a call back, you're probably not being considered, despite your past experience.

I don't doubt that Kojima could and should have handled it better, but I think it came down to motion capture and Kojima's attention to copacetic detail.

[Whitefox789]

Here's a funny thing about the whole Solid Snake and Big Boss sounding the same even though they are clones.

Why is that notion outlandish when we were given Ahab and Ishmael who are two different people that sound exactly the same? Doesn't that make even less sense?

Plus we still don't know how BB's voice changed so drastically from PW to GZ where the time frame is only a week.

Also got to say Troy Baker as Revolver Ocelot, I didn't like it. I honestly thought I had nothing to worry about with him being in that role. Yet somehow I was wrong not to worry. I don't know what it is. Maybe you guys could fill in the blanks for the reasoning.

[DarXyde]

That was a fun read. I agree that Big Boss was a strong character through and through. He really didn't succumb to a darker world view, especially when you read the events timeline at the end of the game to learn [SPOILER IN 3...2...1...] it was actually Venom who was killed by Solid Snake in the Metal Gear games. In that sense, the ending of Metal Gear Solid 4 was really all about Big Boss returning to the spotlight and ending Cipher by pulling the plug on Zero. Big Boss was "never evil", and I say it like that because it was very likely a change in story direction by Kojima. I do believe he regretted making Big Boss into an antithetical character for the series protagonist Solid Snake. Venom works around that and really makes for a great twist, even though I suspected something was off when they never showed the medic's face in Ground Zeroes and why Sutherland voice them both. In hindsight, it was perfect not giving the role to David Hayter. That would've gave away the twist immediately. I think people weren't really used to Sutherland's voice enough to make a clear case for it. But it also says, "you are Big Boss" and Big Boss is you. It's a bit of a fourth wall interpretation, but I think it also shows that Big Boss really is human because you're human and he eluded death thanks to his phantom.

-Foxtrot,

I'm glad you distinguished between speaking and showing emotion since the two are not synonymous, but Sutherland's motion capture was pretty good if you ask me. I would say he's shown enough emotion. It kept it realistic. To a guy who had to kill his mentor, lost his entire army twice, an arm, got 100+ pieces of shrapnel lodged in his body only to be told he's lucky to even be alive...I would say at that point, not much can really get a rise out of you. He was pretty emotionally expressive in Ground Zeroes, but consider that the psychological burden is much greater by the time The Phantom Pain comes around. Sulking obviously won't earn back nine years. There's work to be done, regardless of how you feel about it. I think his emotions were fine. They acted as a great counter to Kaz's outrages. Kaz was never really like Snake or Ocelot, both of whom are very collected characters with more battle experience. As a soldier, a very good one at that it makes sense he wasn't overly expressive.

[goldwyncq]

Just a slight correction: It was Venom who Snake kills in the first Metal Gear. The real Big Boss was the leader of Zanzibarland and is confronted by Snake in the sequel and defeated.

[DarXyde]

...That's exactly what I said. I wrote, [AND AGAIN, SPOILERS FOR ANY ONLOOKERS] "it was actually Venom who was killed by Solid Snake in the Metal Gear games".

You said, " It was Venom who Snake kills in the first Metal Gear".

We literally said the same things, mate.

[goldwyncq]

You made it sound like Snake never confronted the real Big Boss until the end of 4. Big Boss did become evil, as the events of Metal Gear 2 would tell.

[AstroCyborg]

the media got paid off by konami to defend the awful performance of snake in mgs 5 again i see

[Chapter11]

It did the opposite. If anyone can be Big Boss with a little hypnosis, then why bother caring about him, or his clones?

[twiggytree12]

It was big boss's best and most trusted soldier... not just anyone. You really should play the game.

[DarXyde]

I'm hesitant to call him that. For sure, it was someone Big Boss could easily confide in, given that he helped him escape death. But as I recall, Gray Fox is Big Boss' most trusted soldier.

[twiggytree12]

@DarXyde Look at the timeline man

Venom Snake was in alliance with big boss during peace walker - ground zeroes before ultimately assuming the role of the boss himself.

Gray Fox didn't serve as a soldier in Foxhound with Big Boss until the 1990's..... Way after MGSV takes place.

"Circa the early 1990s, Jaeger served in the U.S. Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND, with Big Boss himself being reinstated as its commander. Jaeger was the only member to receive the unit's highest commendation, being awarded with the codename "Fox." Having been decorated five times, Fox was considered an unofficial leader in FOXHOUND due to his extraordinary soldiering skills and his keen intellect,[15] and was held in high regard among the members of FOXHOUND.[7] During this time, Fox's real name was classified under National Security.[5]"
http://metalgear.wikia.com/...

The only thing that happen with Frank and BB prior to the 90's was that Big Boss rescued him twice...Once with naomi. He wasn't his soldier yet in those points in time.

[Bass_fisherman]

And more importanty it humanized Zero after the whole reveal in MGS4 ending

[goldwyncq]

It made the part where Big Boss kills Zero so much more powerful.

[MysticStrummer]

MGS3 did that.

What MGS5 made me think about a lot was the relationship between Boss and Ocelot, and how that related to the portrayal of those characters as bad guys in the Solid Snake focused MGs. Also the importance of perspective and context since back then the Mujahideen were aided by the US in their fight against the Soviets, but then later one former Mujahideen fighter became the boogeyman of the US's "War on Terror". Trained and then later hunted by the same country… sound familiar?