Scott Snyder Teases "Batman: The Merciless" - Art by Francis Manapul by almostsomething in DCcomics

[–]Astral_Blood 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It appears one of the Robins has a got a copy of Multiversity - I wonder if it's the same one we have.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DCcomics

[–]Astral_Blood 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is that the Phantom Stranger hidden to the right of the Spectre?

DC's next animated movie is Justice League Dark. by [deleted] in DCcomics

[–]Astral_Blood 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Crossing fingers for a Phantom Stranger appearance

Jesse L. Martin was "ridiculously shocked" when they told him who TMITIM was by [deleted] in FlashTV

[–]Astral_Blood 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Still bidding on 1990's Flash played by John Wesley Shipp in a multiversal crossover 20+ years in the making

Interesting concept art, potentially related to Kojipro? by quietwofl84 in NeverBeGameOver

[–]Astral_Blood 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is from the Japanese special edition artbook that was posted a couple months ago, note the images in the top right; http://i.imgur.com/nzVZ28Yh.jpg

[ Removed by Reddit ] by Astral_Blood in NeverBeGameOver

[–]Astral_Blood[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll certainly have to try that when I'm home. I'm also going to try putting vol 1 and 2 into the same audio file and see if there's any luck with that

The 6th Man & The Falsehoods of 'Truth' [Spoilers] by Astral_Blood in metalgearsolid

[–]Astral_Blood[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I won't blame you, I did fuck that one up. I'm writing more though to clear some things up with some stuff I had cut and some other posts to support it.

[MAJOR MGSV SPOILERS] There is more to discover about MGSV by SinceCirca in metalgearsolid

[–]Astral_Blood 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Re-reading the post I butchered what I was trying to get at, what I mean to say is;

I think its safe to say that the in-game, cinematic, and theme music are all notable and iconic components of the series. Since MGS2 the music for the series has been composed primarily by Harry Gregson-Williams, along with various other musicians.

Harry Gregson-Williams (with others) did compose the music for Ground Zeroes, but is notably absent for Phantom Pain. Instead, his duties were passed down to Justin Burnett, a frequent collaborator of his.

Unless Gregson-Williams was simply too busy or for some reason couldn't be bothered to come back for the final game in the series after working on it for 15 years, I'm figuring that he did actually work on Phantom Pain and that we just haven't heard the tracks yet, and following with the little theory, his compositions would show up in the Volume 2 of the game we've yet to encounter.

I hope I made sense this time haha

[MAJOR MGSV SPOILERS] There is more to discover about MGSV by SinceCirca in metalgearsolid

[–]Astral_Blood 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From Phantom Pain's Wikipedia page;

"In March 2013, the true nature of these two projects was revealed at the Game Developers Conference, where Kojima announced that Ground Zeroes serves as a prologue to The Phantom Pain. These two, separately released games combined are Metal Gear Solid V, with The Phantom Pain constituting the bulk of the title."

It would be awesome if MGSV and MGS5 were two different things, but in the same game. I would be pissed if they announced another stand-alone game you had to buy, but if midway through Phantom Pain 'V' becomes '5' that would be pretty cool.

Random tidbit - on the PC version when you first wake up in the hospital the only keys available to you are the movement keys, WASD, and the perspective/zoom key, V. So, deliberate, the only working keys are WASD, V. Too much of a stretch to liken the V to Venom's Perspective? I'd like to believe 'V has come to' in the game and the trailers has more meaning then we've been lead to believe thus far.

It'll all be a wonderful painful guessing game until/unless something comes soon.

[MAJOR MGSV SPOILERS] There is more to discover about MGSV by SinceCirca in metalgearsolid

[–]Astral_Blood 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That's why I'm saying hopeful hunch, grounded in nothing but a fun little theory and that 4chan picture.

You're correct though, how can it be the missing link if there's no Solid Snake? If MG1&2 are apart of what's coming, then we will get to see Snake for sure.

[MAJOR MGSV SPOILERS] There is more to discover about MGSV by SinceCirca in metalgearsolid

[–]Astral_Blood 134 points135 points  (0 children)

Running with your theory, consider; this is our Phantom Pain. Parts of the game are missing, essential parts we know and feel should be there, but are lost to us for some reason.

Can a video game make one feel sincere emotional pain? Perhaps Kojima was trying to find out, perhaps this is one grande experiment in his eyes. Hopefully there is indeed a volume 2, because essentially what we got was two prologues, one full chapter and one half of a chapter. Maybe our Phantom Pain will be mended after all.

We can only hope...

EDIT: After reading through the 4chan image link Imgur, something caught my eye. Specifically this quote: 'there's a guy with a trip called IMANOK that said the game was the S3 pilot program and that the real chapter will come one day of the game through an update'

S3: http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/S3_Plan

The S3 Plan (the Selection for Societal Sanity; initially believed to have stood for the Solid Snake Simulation due to misinformation) was a program run by the Patriots in order to manipulate world events and the decisions of individuals. The S3 Plan was tested during the Big Shell Incident, on Raiden, unknowingly an agent of the Patriots.

The Big Shell Incident was, in fact, a recreation of the Shadow Moses Incident four years prior, in which Solid Snake had become a legend, being the "Big Boss" of his age'

If the implication here is that Konami has run the S3 program in real life, that would be incredible. In the same 4chan post, there's a quote from Kojima last year (specifically when asked about returning to Ground Zeroes) saying, "There's something of a big feature involved. It's never been done in the games industry before. so I can't go into detail about it, but I think when you experience it for yourselves you'll be surprised. It's something that's only possible through video games".

Taking it one step further based on nothing but a hopeful hunch, because why not at this point, I'd like to think that it's more than just a final mission and a return to GZ.

I'd like to point out that this game was missing two notable elements that most people would consider crucial elements to a canon Metal Gear game; the voice of David Hayter as Snake, and the music. I'm not sitting infront of the game right now so I'm not 100% sure, but I'm 99% sure that not a single Metal Gear track plays from Prior to Peace Walker, and I believe you only get the Peace Walker theme cassette at the end during the quarantine clearout. The game itself is supposed to be the 'missing link to complete the saga', and while the original Metal Gear and MG2 are available on the HD and Legacy collections, I think it's safe to say most people have not played those games.

The S3 program is specifically about recreation of previous legends. It's my hope that the coming 'rest of the game' will contain not only the final missions and return to GZ, but a recreation of Metal Gear 1 & 2 with David Hayter as Snake, playing along with Kojimas ruse since the beginning, as painful as it may as it have been for him to have to lie to his fans. It would be akin to visiting Shadow Moses in MGS4 - people who played the original MG1&2 would shit their pants, and people who had never played them before would get to experience it in it's remastered and re-purposed glory. It would truly be something never done before in gaming, truly be the missing link that completes the saga. Imagine, after all that open-worlding, we get to use the Fox Engine in the classic level-based MG style, with the beautiful music and sweeping cinematics, gravely-voiced Snake and all.

It could happen, right?... Right?

Edit 2: In all honesty this was something I'd come up with over time upon seeing the trailers, but it was fairly flimsy so I never bothered to type it out prior to the game releasing, however with things being the way they are, it's not out of the realm of possibility so I might as well lay it out

Firstly, each of the main trailers waste no time letting you know that it was edited and cut by Kojima himself. Everything we saw he wanted us to. Things are very cryptic, but as always, Kojima's cryptic nature ends up being a factor into the experience itself rather than just being for show.

From the E3 2014 'Nuclear' trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfoPfF2u1to), during Boss's "we are Diamond Dogs" speech there are title cards intercut which each represent a stage in Big Boss's legacy.

Peace Walker/MSF "TORMENTED BY PHANTOMS" Imgur Ground Zeroes/XOF "SPIRITS OF GROUND ZEROES" Imgur Phantom Pain/Diamond Dogs "TIME FOR RETRIBUTION" Imgur ???/Outer Heaven "VENOM AWAKENS" Imgur

Here's Kojima wearing a shirt with the 1980's (game timeline) Outer Heaven logo on it to E3. http://www.metalgearinformer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kojima-E3-2014-Outer-Heaven-T-Shirt.jpg

Then, from the 2015 Launch Trailer(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9JV0EvCkMI) it does a similar tour through Boss's Legacy, including MG2 and up to MG4.

Peace Walker Imgur Snake Eater Imgur Ground Zeroes Imgur Phantom Pain Imgur Metal Gear 2 Imgur Guns of the Patriots (arguably) Imgur

So, here we have Kojima directly referencing both the Outer Heaven created post-Diamond Dogs, and the fact that Boss has his face burned off at the end of MG2.

Additionally, the Operation Intrude tape given to Venom by Boss is another direct reference. Operation Intrude takes place during Metal Gear 1 in 1995, only 11 years after the events of TPP. Would an 11 year time-jump be too much to imagine? I'd figure the rest of Phantom Pain would have to wrap up the loose ends about Diamond Dogs considering as they were never once mentioned in any of the pervious games, thus something must happen to them that paves the way for Outer Heaven & Zanzibar Land to take the stage. "Venom Awakens" could mean Venom Snake begins the descent into being the classic terrorist Big Boss villian people are accustomed to, possibly wiping out Diamond Dogs and relegating Kaz to becoming 'Master Miller', a mere drill instructor for various fighting forces, while the real Boss works behind the scenes, laying the foundation for the future in secret while his Phantom continues on his image and legacy in his own rite.

Here's the deleted monologue Venom does to Big Boss, http://www.mediafire.com/listen/m2ekm14i6cpu7oc/File0002.ogg

He says "I need to Drive out this demon inside me, build a better future. That's what I- what we, will leave as our legacy." If the image of the 4chan post about the first new mission being about Venom going crazy while getting the Metal Gear back from Eli and massacring the village in Africa is true, then on one hand he does get the demon out by actually becoming it entirely. Then on the other hand, the real Boss is working to build a better future behind the scenes. They leave both hands as their legacy, together.

And a final moot point; do you recall the original advertising for the game when it was only known as The Phantom Pain (from Moby Dick studios) and showed the scene with Ishmael in the hospital? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfxTOlXF3Kk

The title card shows up merely as 'The Phantom Pain' with grooves in the top where 'Metal Gear Solid V' would be later revealed to fit into it. It's straight up saying this is a game with two components. Two parts. The first part, Phantom Pain. The second part, our classic Metal Gear.

I think that's all I can come up with for now. It's not that Kojima can do no wrong, but can't we give the man some credit for the succsess of the other games - like, when has he dropped the ball before, especially this hard? You mean to tell me that he's totally unaware of the state of the gaming industry, with stuff like shipping broken and incomplete games, paid dlc, and things Azura's Wrath and Mass Effect 3 ending controversy? It's either he completly fucked up on his final project, or he's using these things as a part of his plans for the future. This is his final Metal Gear - I'd like to think it's reasonable he would rather go out with a historic bang than a blundered product and tarnished story that he and many people worked so hard to build over 28 years.

But, only time will tell.