138. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) | Year of Metal Gear | S6E05

In this episode Nicholas tries to be fair to a game he very much did not enjoy, and Lauryn makes sure they cover something important, how the series is now leaning more heavily into its MANY combat mechanics and perhaps moving away from its origins as an anti-war war game. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

This month, we finally discuss a game people have actually played: Metal Gear Solid. We also take a look back at Kojima's notion of creativity as a memetic/genetic process and how this game maybe complicates the somewhat rosy picture he paints in his memoir and interviews. Also! The premiere performance of "Liquid Snake and the Konami Code," with its hit song, "Genome Soldier!" Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this episode we discuss Kojima's response to Konami's attempt to make a Metal Gear sequel without him and how, in so doing, established the baseline for what "stealth games" would become. We also compare its gameplay to the more expansive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to show how it tries to force the player into a near paranoic sense of hyperawareness. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

Lauryn and Nicholas take you back to the Cold War, to the '80s, when hair was big and everyone was worried about nuclear winter. We begin with the very first Metal Gear game and discuss what it means to try and make an anti-war war game. We reckon with all the ways the game teaches you how to play that were in many ways anathema to how video games were played at the time but nevertheless became the bedrock for how modern games are designed. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this, the first episode of season 6, our YEAR OF METAL GEAR, we dive into the Kojima lore, why you shouldn't always take it at face value, and what it means to think of one's creative output as a kind of genetic legacy. ALSO: a mysterious message from an enigmatic stranger... Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

For our final episode of Season 5, before THE YEAR OF METAL GEAR, we look at the seminal Studio Ghibli film, Kiki's Delivery Service. We discuss what it means to come of age in a context where you are a literal outsider and how the film indirectly meditates on what it means to doubt your creative powers, lose them, and ultimately get them back. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In which we argue that Halo represents a genuinely novel approach to shooter design at a time when the video games industry was becoming but had not yet turned into what we know it to be today. Join us as we delve into the complex narrative and gameplay relationship between Master Chief and Cortana and ask... is Halo a tragedy? Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In celebration of Pride month, we take a somewhat unusual look at Oshii Mamoru's Ghost in the Shell as an allegory of trans becoming. We look at how trans individuals have read the film against their own experiences and how this highlights a queerness in Kusanagi's character that Oshii likely never intended yet is still palpably there. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

In this episode, we think about games as a complete composition of many artforms and how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 withholds the kinds of information that normally aid gameplay in order to get the player to treat the game as much as a work of art to be appreciated as be immersed in. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social

Following up on our discussion of Cyberpunk 2077, we consider the Netflix series and what it means to be bodies in spaces, how we lie to ourselves and each other, and how the anime aspires to say something profound but ultimately get too caught up in its own romantic tropes to truly grapple with what it's trying to show. Substack: https://gamedesigndiscourse.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/furidashi Twitter: https://twitter.com/furidashipod Lauryn: https://bsky.app/profile/espressocat.bsky.social Nicholas: https://bsky.app/profile/academicality.bsky.social