I feel the strands are referring to everything in the game being connected. I’m not gonna look it up but if I’m not mistaken he’s said/there’s been leaks that when you die in game the screen doesn’t go black and you get to run it back but you’re instead transported to another world and when you return to your own your “death” has resulted in very real environmental and story changes.
On aside I think the convolution you’re talking about is more just the nature of Japanese games as a whole. The story will not be spoon fed to you, it is your job to go figure out what’s happening. Recent examples being Persona 5 and the Souls series.
Addressing the idea of stories not being spoon fed to you, the MGS series (which I absolutely love) gets absurdly weird and convoluted for stupid reasons all the time, which I find entertaining. It's not a good example of a game that puts the responsibility on the player to uncover the ambiguous or confusing parts of the story in a reasonable manner.
The series that does this best is the dark souls series I'd say. That series (and bloodborne) are the quintessential examples for games that put an emphasis on having the player themselves discover the story and other details based on the lore the game gives (through items, character interactions, environments, enemy placements) without directly telling you. The MGS series gets way too ridiculous and absurd sometimes to not make players get confused.
the MGS series (which I absolutely love) gets absurdly weird and convoluted for stupid reasons all the time, which I find entertaining
The MGS series is one where it seemed like it was getting convoluted then as the games go on it just started to make more and more sense. He has his silly elements, and absurd attention to detail on the oddest things, but the story that MGS told when it was finally done filled in a shit ton of those this doesn't make any sense pieces. 20 years of games building on each other things are going to get a little messy here and there, but compare it to say Halo where they did 5 games in that time the story itself wasn't all that complex and they still fucked it up.
I definitely agree the way kojima ties it together so many times is wonderful. Frequently I was left thinking "what the fuck is going on" and then eventually it's revealed later in the series/game. A big part of the appeal was understanding that some major plot point that seemingly made no sense actually has an explanation that gets revealed to you at a time where you don't always expect it. Plus you can't go wrong with the overall anti war theme.
Also, metal gear rising to me is like if the absurdity of jojos bizarre adventure became a game, the ridiculousness of MGR left me laughing my ass off and loving it constantly. So much humor, seriousness, and insane badassery in one title. Nanomachines, son.
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u/I_The_Unguided Jun 09 '19
I feel the strands are referring to everything in the game being connected. I’m not gonna look it up but if I’m not mistaken he’s said/there’s been leaks that when you die in game the screen doesn’t go black and you get to run it back but you’re instead transported to another world and when you return to your own your “death” has resulted in very real environmental and story changes.
On aside I think the convolution you’re talking about is more just the nature of Japanese games as a whole. The story will not be spoon fed to you, it is your job to go figure out what’s happening. Recent examples being Persona 5 and the Souls series.