MGS: Questions and Opinions!

Q: How did you get into the MGS series?

(Mild language warning.)

When I was around the age of 8, a month or two away from 9, curled up by the fire with a PS2 controller, the joysticks long worn from vigorous quick time events and bouts of rage, my dad walked in with a GameStop bag, which was a regular, but special occurrence. Which, to a 'normal' child (at said age), would be like getting a- I don't know... Barbie dream-house or whatever it's called...? I don't know. Shitty analogy. What I'm trying to say is those GameStop bags, were like, solid gold to me (Because, y'know, liquid gold is obviously inferior to solid... Imsosorryihadto). Every day when my dad's white Camry pulled up in the driveway, I would pray he'd walk through the door with said little white bag, just big enough to hold a mystery game case inside.

And the day in question, it just so happened he did.

And he hadn't brought back just one game, oh no.

There were two of those bad boys in there.

'MGS2: Sons of Liberty', and 'MGS3: Snake Eater'.

Now if you know anything about Metal Gear, you know that the order the games came out isn't the chronological order in which the events in the games follow. Like, at all. MGS3 is actually the first game in the chronological timeline, and MGS2 follows far...far after.

So yeah, we'll talk about MGS2 another time. (Sorry Solid, still love ya.)
Which at the time confused the shit out of me, but I rolled with it, cause I was a G, and loaded that baby up, my older brother, who at the time was nine, by my side, ready to share the experience with me.

And the very first thing I notice about this guy, who I would later know was Naked Snake (Which my immature shit-face made endless jokes about): His kick-ass hair. Like, I'm pretty sure I just stared at the title screen for at least five minutes, just admiring this man's beautiful, lush locks.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the first time I fell in love.

Yes, love.

Shh.

And I'll be honest, I sucked so bad at this game. Oh God, it was laughable. But despite how annoyed it made my brother, who, mind you, I never let touch the game, sucking at it was so much fun. I could run around blindly in the forest for an hour, kill one measly snake, and I could feel like the most accomplished person on the face of the universe.

Then I realized how much I was missing.

One day, on a whim, I erased my save data because I had absolutely no idea where the hell I was/was doing, and I decided I was going to play this game for real.

Every cutscene, every "Snake... Snake... Snaaaaake!!!", every 'mission failed,' screen (Lord knows there were many), every code call- I learned from it. I became skilled in the art of sneaky sneak, and I kicked ass.

I stayed up so late playing that game, and I got in so, so much trouble.

By God it was worth it.

But that's still not the point.

That was playing a video game, and anyone can do that if you try had enough.
I did something that likely happens once in a life time.

I did more than just play that game, let me make myself very clear.

I connected with those characters- no, people. I lived the legacy alongside them. And I know that probably sounds cheesy as hell, but that's the only way I can really explain it. I saw in Ocelot's desperation for respect and admiration, my own desire to be acknowledged and to be worth something- something I struggled with years before I even knew what MGS was- and still do. With Snake I learned to handle my father's betrayal just as he did the Boss's, (Whom a few months after beating the game I no longer lived with- which I won't go into because the internet isn't the place to tell sob stories.) but I learned to hold on to what happy memories I had of him too. I learned a myriad of things, but I can't find the strength to type them all.

But likely above all of that, if you really wanna know why I love this game so much: I learned that Pain, Fear, Sorrow, Fury, even the End (Not just the characters)- they didn't stand a chance against me.

...Because I could fight back.

You can bet your ass I did.

-Fiddle