Editing Metal Gear (section)

===Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty===
Known mostly as where the story of the Patriots and information control started.

After MGS1, Ocelot leaks plans of REX to the world, causing numerous countries to start making their own home-grown nuclear weapons programs through this data. Due to this, the US Marines are commissioned Metal Gear RAY, a not-metal gear that's designed to take on other giant robots, rather than launch nukes. [[Rage|Why they needed their own is only explained in optional dialogue that you have to go out of your way to find]]. As conventional weaponry (anti air and anti tank mostly or just a crap ton of explosives) can easily defeat Metal Gears. In short the USMC want to stick it to the Navy who have their own Metal Gear project.

This is caught by Snake's and Otacon's attention, who infiltrate the tanker transporting RAY to get photo evidence of the US government building another Metal Gear (never actually considering that in the age of Photoshop, the USG can easily deny these claims).  Things go not as planned after Ocelot and a bunch of Russian mercenaries take over the tanker. Things are even more complicated after Ocelot betrays the mercenaries, then takes RAY for himself, sinking the oil tanker, and pinning the entire incident on Snake. Snake is assumed to have died during the tanker incident. Also Snake meets Olga Gurlukovich, daughter of the mercenary commander's daughter, for....reasons.

Fast forward a few years, and a facility called "Big Shell" is built on-top of the oil spill, to facilitate clean-up of the patch of water. Said facility is then taken over by the "Sons of Liberty" a disenfranchised US Special Forces group, led by former president George Sears, who intends to rid the world of the Patriots' influence, supported by a group of Russian mercenaries. He plans to do this by gaining access to nuclear weapons and requires the President's authorization to allow him to use it. During this time, they take the US president, and his cabinet hostage during a routine visit from them.

Along with a SEAL team, the US government sends "Raiden" a bishie "rookie" of Fox Hound.(he's trained with VR, but has no field experience to speak of. If you discount his stint as a child soldier. [[Twilight|Who was designed to appeal to teenage girls. A demographic known for its awful taste.]])  Also there's this SEAL named Iroquis Pliskin who sounds, looks, and acts a lot like Solid Snake, but it can't be him because he's dead. Plus there's also this female cyborg ninja with a thick Russian accent, who's....just there, I guess.

His objectives were to rescue the president, prevent the terrorists from blowing-up Big Shell (as the chemicals used for de-contaminating the oil would poison the area around Manhattan), and neutralize the Sons of Liberty....atleast that was the plan. As with the first game; Raiden fails his original mission as the Big Shell is eventually destroyed, the US President is dead, and Solidus gains access to another superweapon that he was able to use. But he was able to prevent Armageddon by stopping Solidus by having a sword-duel to the death. Anyways:

PLOT TWEEST: Pliskin is actually Solid Snake (whether this can still be considered a twist is debatable, but meh), the Ninja with the feminine Russian accent was Olga all along, Big Shell was just a cover for the Patriots attempting to build another Metal Gear called "Arsenal Gear", the oil spill was [[Just as Planned]] to allow it's construction and the Big Shell was never doing any clean-up work at all, and this entire flubdubbery was actually an exercise to allow the Patriots to gather data on the SSS program or "Solid Snake Simulator", a program that would allow them to train a soldier at-par with Solid Snake with Raiden's experiences, using Ocelot as an observer. Ocelot was actually working with the Patriots, if that was ever a surprise. Also the Colonel Campbell and Rosemary advising you were actually the Patriot AIs, bringing into question whether everything Raiden has been told by the two is real or not. Snake also comes off looking like an asshole in this game as he does things such as using Raiden as bait for Solidus and withholds information. Which is kind of the point. As being a super spy for twenty years some odd years would make just about anyone else into a jerkass. He also knew that the Patriots were monitoring Raiden. A proper reason for keeping somebody you don't trust in the dark about your plans.

A TWIST TO THE PLOT TWIST: Ocelot was just a pawn (or so the Patriots think), SSS was actually for "Selection for Societal Sanity", a program enacted by the Patriots to gather data on how they can filter and censor information, to ensure the world only listens to the Patriot's point of view, as they deem that humans are incapable of forming context for information, resulting in dozens, to hundreds of opinions and interpretations, that inevitably cause either a stagnation of progress and conflict. By creating a context for everyone to adhere to, it is that much easier to influence the masses on how to think.

Another twist: Everything Raiden knows may or may not be a lie, but the validity of it is left ambiguous to allow the player to decide whether its truth or a lie.

Retrospective: 
As many sources attest to. MGS2 was supposed to the magnum opus for Kojima and wanted to leave the series in the hands of younger developers. There are a few problems with this. Sons of Liberty would be the second game for most players. As the eight bit games were never released internationally until 2005.(other than a shitty port of MG1 and a really bad third person shooter on the NES) Making the game's twists feel forced and unearned. Another problem is that players got vastly different dubs. Not just language but Solidus and Olga have the same voice actors as Snake and Meryl. Talking no differently from their roles in MGS1. The devs also despised the changes that improved English dub of the game and refused to let it happen again. Disrespecting their larger audience who can't even play the Japanese version of MGS2. 

So again, despite being a fanboy of America. It's Kojima fault for not realizing that [[derp|Japan has different values]] from the rest of the world.  He and his staff didn't understand how western culture views things(and possibly still doesn't). As Raiden comes off as a poor man's Shinji Ikari for most of the game. So it came off to western players as one of many ripoffs of [[Neon_Genesis_Evangelion|Evangelion]]. [[fail|Another large problem is that one of the translators is a racist Karen who now whines about the MeToo movement and sues people when she is caught lying.]]

Another issue is that America wasn't bad off and didn't have the shitty economy Japan had in 2001 until 2007. Nor did big social media websites exist at the time to unwittingly assist in spreading conspiracy theories and accelerate the decline even further. [[Neckbeards|Geekdom]] also didn't accept anime otaku culture as they do now. It also blames no in particular for these problems. As Japanese culture has the rather dumb ass view of not shitting on the flaws of your enemy. [[Star Trek| Thus falling on its face compared to more successful franchises.]]

The largest flaw is that the game's story is based around Richard Dawken's The Selfish Gene.  A book at the time of development was over twenty years out of date. Which is a long time when it comes to science and long enough for most of its  theories to be discredited.
Worse for the devs and writers as a whole. Is that the Bioshock games, Specs Ops The Line(both subversive video games that did what MGS2 did but better) and anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam (shitting on those who glorify WW2 Japan) or Ghost in the Shell (itself based on Blade Runner) have the same messages but aren't as nice about it. MGS2 would most likely had been better received if it was meaner and actually went out of its way to criticize those whom it was railing against.
Of course most people in their twenties, even fresh military recruits, are not obviously going to be anything like Solid Snake. But it seems that Kojima and Fukushima don't realize or have forgotten [[Isekai| how shitty the tastes of most teenagers and twenty year olds actually are.]]

Also most people in the west unlike those in Asia. Think leaving plot threads open for non existent sequel as a sign of laziness, opposite of a large franchise such as the [[Marvel_Comics#Marvel_Cinematic_Universe|Marvel Cinematic Universe]]. Whose writers and producers actually planned ahead, even in the case of their most famous director leaving for his own projects.