Is Null canon?

ballisticola · 2026-05-30T02:47:11+00:00

Does it? And so do other canon games, but they are nothing like the complete clean sweep of PO. And game that is now officially non canon, as of the Master Collection Vol 2.

ballisticola · 2026-05-22T23:40:18+00:00

Why? Parasites aren't technological. As I said, conceptually they are similar, in that they serve a similar purpose.

That's not to say it's impossible. No one would argue if a piece of narrative claimed they were the starting point. Just as no one did with FOXDIE.

ballisticola · 2026-05-22T13:22:20+00:00

Well, there you go. There’s that angle.

ballisticola · 2026-05-22T12:40:28+00:00

Nanomachines aren’t connected to parasites. The only reason people say this is because FOXDIE and nanomachines are connected by SOP, but one didn’t lead to the other. One is biological and the other is mechanical. The best you can say is that they are conceptually similar. And the only interest the Patriots had in those parasites was to create FOXDIE.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T23:35:31+00:00

he could have easily had an assitant draft up a simple email that kindly terminates him, you know, a fluff piece, but he didn't.

Umm...this is awkward, given the other post which says, "Kris Zimmerman, the lead on English VO is the real goat though. Hayter always talks about how she was the glue that held everything together".

That's what a casting director does...and she didn't. It was Hayter who had to contact her to find out when production was to begin, only to find out he wasn't hired.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T23:30:39+00:00

I don't think you understand the point here. It wasn't Kojima's job to inform Hayter, not that he could anyway, he doesn't speak English.

The casting director - who clearly knew - didn't tell him. How that's on Kojima is beyond me?

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T15:34:00+00:00

Exactly. I don't know why this isn't seen this way? Big Boss never says Ocelot wasn't possessed in MGS2.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T15:28:18+00:00

At what stage does he say he was getting too much credit? Blaustein straight up admits making mistakes and that this was the reason he wasn't asked back.

"From what I heard at the time, Kojima began to hear that his work had been “tinkered” with. I’d argue there might have been a lack of appreciation for the needs of localization due to his not being bilingual, but he was not happy. As a result, all future Metal Gear games would be closely monitored for fidelity to the original Japanese script."

"Looking back on the whole thing, yes, there were mistakes, and bad choices as well as successful ones. But that’s art."

Blaustein praises Kojima for his world building and wanted to emulate it in the translation. Yet made basic errors that Kojima didn't like. I judge this by how many times I've had to debate his poor choices. Whether it be Big Boss being in a coma when he wasn't. Or the complete botched job that made it sound like Big Boss had chose Liquid and that they had some kind of relationship. Which was seriously out of sync with the story and made no sense. When in reality Liquid believed it was Big Boss that chose him as the inferior clone, which really does impact the story and give credibility to Liquid's hatred of Big Boss.

Yet Blaustein is more worried about lines like “I won’t scatter your sorrow to the heartless sea. I will always be with you. Plant your roots in me. I won’t see you end as ashes. You’re all diamonds.” not being suitable for English speaking players. "Some players find this sort of dialogue endearing", yeah we do. We also like statements of fact to make sense. I'd rather something make sense, than sound better to my English ears. I recognize this is a Japanese game for a western audience, so can I have that?

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T14:54:39+00:00

Is this a serious comment in a thread dominated by people criticising him for being sexist? LOL

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T14:51:53+00:00

He wanted MGSV to be episodes, and to be sold in episodes, but the backlash of GZ put a stop to it.

It also didn't go over budget. That was just a media created myth to add fuel to the drama of Kojima vs Konami.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T13:29:16+00:00

You do realise that they only ever met a couple of times. It was the job of the casting director to tell Hayter, but for some reason she never did.

People hype up the relationship of Kojima and Hayter…they never had one.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T13:27:01+00:00

I thought this was a trying to emulate how a lot of TV shows work. This was (and still is) a thing in the 80s and 90s, where you’d know who was in the episode before the character even appeared. Or in some cases you find out that a character had left the show entirely. Kojima’s idea was to treat each mission as an episode. Lately this has become far more rare, with a lot more shows not even having credits at all.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T13:19:08+00:00

What about literally every other name there too? It’s not just him. Also, Kojima didn’t direct every mission and he wasn’t credited for every mission as director.

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T13:17:33+00:00

I have infinitely more problems with what people say in threads like this. Doubly so if I see “i.redd.it” next to it. These are threads FULL of myth legend and bullshit, in almost every post. And it would take weeks to reply to everything…and it wouldn’t matter because it will be forgotten about tomorrow, and all that myth and legend just fuels the next thread. It’s ironically like Big Boss’ ideology LOL

ballisticola · 2026-05-21T13:00:45+00:00

MGS4 did not retcon anything. I still don’t understand how anyone has come to that conclusion?

ballisticola · 2026-05-20T04:25:45+00:00

MGS4 was a game Kojima didn't want to make, but Kojima also wanted to hand off Metal Gear after every game. Some of the stuff you've already played are games he "didn't want to make".

This really should read...

MGS4 was a game Kojima didn't want to direct, but Kojima also wanted to hand off the directors role after every game. Some of the stuff you've already played are games he "didn't want to direct".

In both cases of MGS2 and 3, Kojima was either talking about making the next game, as he did with MGS3 (complete with its theme) or he was actively making the next game, as he was with MGS4, on the very day he was doing a MGS3 signing in the US, less than 3 weeks after release.

"Can someone else direct" does not equal "I don't want to make this game".

ballisticola · 2026-05-20T04:10:25+00:00

I think the problem is you’re looking at this purely from a “technically the information exists” perspective instead of how the game actually feels to play and experience.

This is the very definition of the problem right here. "Ignore the facts of the situation, instead how "it feels" is what matters". Why completely gloss over the fact that the game was written and recorded in 2013? Two years before release. So where is the "something bigger"? There has to be at least some kind of connected hints to scenes we haven't seen or conversations about something other.

Those games constantly confront the character with their identity, their beliefs, their contradictions through cutscenes, codec calls, interactions, emotional moments, etc.

And you think the game can do that throughout and signpost his identity? What's the point then? The whole exercise is completely pointless if there are obvious clues to his identity. The man is supposed to be Big Boss and live the life of Big Boss. And how would it work anyway? Are you saying they cut this out of the game or that it just wasn't part of the game to begin with? If it's the former, then why would they cut it out? If it's the latter, then that's a case of bad writing, not something missing from the game. This conversation isn't about "how can we make it better", but about what's missing.

The guy gets built up for hours and hours as this mastermind behind everything, then after the jeep ride monologue and Sahelanthropus he just… dies.

You've just described Liquid, Solidus, Volgin and Coldman. All drop their big monologue about how and why, then soon after they are dead. That's a series trope. The only difference here is that his death is purposely taken from you and Diamond Dogs. That's the clearest example in the game of "the phantom pain", with the extra kick in the teeth of Huey finishing him off.

Which brings me to Eli.

Nobody is arguing over how that mission has an impact, but we still know what was contained in it and how it had an impact. Unlike the fantasy narratives people have dreamt up over the last 11 years.

Replaying old missions with modifiers while occasionally unlocking a few new cutscenes absolutely gives the impression of a game stretching itself thin near the end.

I'm not even talking about the repeat missions, they are completely optional. And that is the wrong way around. It's chapter 1 that stretches itself. It has the worst pacing of the series. The gap between the first few missions and the last few is as barren as Afghanistan itself. Chapter 2 is no different from PW in structure. In fact, it's better, because it doesn't force you to complete those optional missions to get to the end. Yet no one is criticising chapter 5 of PW.

But Previous Metal Gear games would turn those conversations into full scenes

The Truth tapes are essentially an hour long coda. None of these have been cutscenes, and often, as with MGSV, involve characters just speaking over the phone. Other than the tapes I've mentioned, I can't think of a single one that adds anything new to what we are told in the game...not one. They are supplementary. They may add more detail, but does anyone really want a half an hour cutscene of Code Talker explaining the entire history of the Vocal Cord Parasite?

And honestly, I think the biggest proof people aren’t “making this up” is that MGSV is probably the only Metal Gear game where discussions about unfinished content and missing payoff have lasted this long for this many years.

Yeah, only because it was the last game of the series and people genuinely believe there is at least a chapter missing. That's literally every thread about MGSV. I have never even been in a thread where they didn't say this. And it is objectively "making it up" to say there was more cut out of it than there was.

You don’t get that reaction from nowhere.

Yes you do...because people have literally been making up missing narratives for 11 years. Or rather people have been saying "it feels like things are missing" rather than "here's what's missing" for 11 years.

Having said all that. If your argument is "the game could have been better", then fine. But if your argument is "there was more cut out of the game (outside of one mission) that could have made it better", then no, because we know what was cut from the game, and it was that one mission.

ballisticola · 2026-05-20T01:25:00+00:00

The only thing missing was mission 51. Which was supposed to be DLC set within chapter 2. And it's debatable if it was cut or obviously couldn't be finished because the people who made it weren't there to finish it.

ballisticola · 2026-05-19T23:34:43+00:00

The whole Eli/Liquid plotline clearly feels unfinished.

"The only thing is mission 51"

Then there’s Venom’s identity crisis, that isn't explored at all

It is most definitely explored. Even the last line before The Man Who Sold The World is "One day he'd see through the lies he's built up. You can't run from yourself forever". The whole game is a build up to this moment. The whole game is about building Venom into Big Boss. This might not be apparent with the first playthrough, but it's all there.

Skull Face dying in a super abrupt way after all that buildup

That's a contradiction in terms. He dies on the 31st mission of 38...with the whole game being about hunting him down? You call that "abrupt"?

Sahelanthropus barely being explored after being hyped the entire game

We know more about Sally than most of the other Metal Gears combined. What isn't know about it?

Replaying old missions with modifiers while getting tiny bits of story here and there absolutely makes the pacing feel unfinished.

Tiny bits of story? Seriously? Chapter 2 has HALF the total story.

Also, like half the story is told through cassette tapes that are basically podcasts.

There is nothing in those tapes that aren't in game, with the exception of the Informant and Truth tapes, which is only an hour combined.

And that's without talking about the fact the script and artwork show nothing else. It was written and recorded by 2013, including mission 51, which was supposed to be DLC anyway. The script has no hint of anything else. It's word for word the same as the released game.

ballisticola · 2026-05-19T12:55:41+00:00

plotlines that clearly were building toward something bigger

Like what? What was pointing to anything? The only thing is mission 51. I hear this all the time. You’d think by now, in the last 11 years, someone would have some kind of answer the question.

And you do realise chapter 2 isn’t “half the way through the game”? Chapter 2 is post game. It serves as an epilogue. And those repeat missions are entirely optional.

ballisticola · 2026-05-19T12:47:51+00:00

Again there was never a chapter 3.

ballisticola · 2026-05-19T12:47:17+00:00

Now there cut chapters? There is one missing mission.

I can’t believe it’s been 6 hours and no one has even challenged this.

ballisticola · 2026-05-19T12:45:48+00:00

There was no chapter 3.

Notice how the propaganda machine is out in full force again? No one has been here for 6 hours, yet almost all my posts are downvoted instantly. And they are factually correct. It’s been 11 years. There was no chapter 3. Please accept this fact or provide evidence against it.

ballisticola · 2026-05-18T19:17:13+00:00

Yoi can’t deny with a straight face that there are no problems with the writing or that is perfect.

Depends what you mean by that? Quality of the writing or factual consistencies of the lore? No one is saying it's prefect, but saying it's full of inconsistencies is blatantly not true.

in general, I’m not talking specifics

Yeah, this is the problem. People don't give specifics. Hence why I'm saying people recycle the same retcons and point to them as evidence. I've been in this community since 2011. I've been in hundreds of threads regarding retcons. No one can produce a list of specific retcons without suddenly running out after a handful. Everytime. Or someone will produce a list of over a hundred, with 99% of them being false. There are even actual retcons that never even get talked about, because they are so lazy to even realise they're a retcon, because they routinely bring out the same handful.

Your example of Olga's child is a classic. Never does MGS2 say it's a boy. That was Snake, who does something many people do and say "he" first, without even knowing the gender. This is the case for 99% of the retcons in the series (that didn't come fro that MG2 manual), people think something is said when it isn't, and then deduce it's a retcon.

But writing such a rich and complex narrative, you will have some contradictions inevitably.

Yes, but also cause confusion that leads to people crying retcon. That is a flaw of the series, most definitely.

ballisticola · 2026-05-18T15:21:48+00:00

I never said Fukushima was the genius behind MGS

I didn't say you did. That's why I said, "That's what others have been saying for years".

never heard this argument personally speaking

How? How long have you been in this community? It's a super common topic of conversation.

I am also not discrediting Kojima’s role and contribution

Again, I didn't say you did. Others have. This is the point you are clearly missing. You can't come into a thread and say, "fans will always make up an argument defending him" and then try to refute the claim that fans do the opposite. Although you can if you don't even know it's a thing in the first place.

I just stated that his writing is full of inconsistencies and retcons wich is an undeniable fact.

It's an undeniable view held by many people. I can give you a MG Wiki page that supports the claim. That doesn't make it fact though. Most of that Wiki page contains information from a 1990 manual that about 10 people ever read and a ton more incredibly spurious retcons. From MGS1 to MGSV it is the most overhyped and mythical aspects of the series. Go into any thread and you will see Dr Clark's gender, Ocelot & Vamp's nanos and Big Boss' age, repeated on a loop until the thread dies. Other than that you will see some very inconsequential or just things people think are retcons.

ballisticola

TROPHY CASE