This is for all the Metal Gear fan boys...
"Tough to say for me. I feel like they are both fascinating characters and that even though they are very similar in movements, the way they carry themselves, line delivery, all of that, they are very different characters with two completely different stories.
Big Boss' is much more emotional overall. Having to kill his mentor, coping with that and then pretty much disregarding The Boss by PW and creating his own nation of soldiers and becoming in MG and MG2, a completely different person from the Naked Snake we knew in the three games we saw with him (MGS3, PO, PW).
Seeing him in MGS4 brings his arc full circle. Seeing him as so damn remorseful, and broken up over The Boss was raw and powerful. With making amends with Snake and admitting he was wrong with everything he did, and telling Snake to stop being a fucking idiot and stop wallowing in his misery was so beautiful. He had a great story and a great arc. I love Big Boss.
Snake on the other hand is equally as interesting. His overall arc for me is just as good, and I feel like in MGS4, he is so damn well done and developed. Even though he is far different from the confident, younger Snake we knew in MGS and MGS2, MGS4 makes him so much more deeper and stronger character.
MGS had him as the get it done, and go home soldier. Do what you're told, no emotions. But through it, he develops and expands into a different person. He appreciates life more, and becomes more confident and finds a reason to fight.
MGS2 was the birth of that new ideology that Snake fought for a reason and not for the government. He was his own man and wanted to make a difference. He fought because he wanted to fight and carve his own path.
MGS4 is a complete relapse in terms of what Snake thought in MGS2 and it was completely taken away from him. He no longer thought like that. While a problem for some (and I understand why), to me, it made him a much deeper and richer character. He no longer fought because he wanted to, he fought because he had to. His old age and the virus inside him slowly ending his life created a much more somber, reserved character that had lost who he was. MGS4 is a very existentialist story because Snake has in a sense, given up on himself, can't find anything to believe in. And it kills him. He's so stuck on the fact he's dying, he can't live with the time he has left.
Until his final meeting with Big Boss which yields the fact that he needs to just live his life, and not let what's happening (although detrimental) stop him from appreciating what he has. And Snake sees this through Big Boss who did so many things he regretted and didn't realize it until the end of his life.
Seeing this and learning this lesson helps Snake live out his final days in peace. And to find a reason to live after all the wars he'd been through and the life threatening illness he has, is not only inspirational, it's really beautiful.
Because it's a great life lesson that can appeal to anyone.
It's really hard to pick. I don't really know who I like more. They're both great characters with great development and great arcs. I use to be hard core Solid Snake, but BB appeals more and more to me. They're about even now. And that last scene in MGS4 displays them so beautifully."
This is a favorite reply to an old Metal Gear thread* I happened to stumble upon. Personally I choose Solid, as he'll always be the first in my eyes <3
But how do you guys feel? Thoughts? Fond memories? Any Raiden fan boys?
*From a completely different forum website, just in case you were confused
Edited 4/29/2014 07:51:22
