[merylsilverburg]

Originally Posted by kupoartist

people have a bad habit of interpretating my intensifying phrases and randomly-addressed interrogatives as personal attacks I don't even remember you talking about the old Snake, so I can't have been addressing you

Oh sorry, it's just I did mention my thoughts/feelings on the old Snake earlier in this thread and I think I'm the only one who dislikes the old Snake for the reason that he is old rather than just the visual aspect.

Originally Posted by kupoartist

All age groups should get their own video game hero. Will Snake die in MGS4? It has to be a possibility, I mean Kojima almost seems to be preping Raiden for something...

You've got a point there, Kojima does seem set to put Raiden into the mix permanently...otherwise, he wouldn't have created him and put him through the MGS2 "training."

Originally Posted by kupoartist

But sooner or later Snake is going to die anyway. It's probably far better that he goes before the game falls in danger of going stale like you said...

Well, I know that Snake is going to die sooner or later...after all, all of us humans have an expiration date, if you will. But, for me, I much prefer if Kojima allowed Snake to live at the end of MGS4 but he just retires or goes off somewhere while Raiden (or whomever) takes his place. That way, I don't have to actually see Snake die. It's much more emotionally shattering for me to see a favorite person of mine pass away at the moment, rather than the assumed idea that they pass away in the future. A good example of this would be (I'm sorry to throw a different subject in here) but the anime Rurouni Kenshin. It's naturally assumed at the end of the TV series that things end well and peaceful, but in 2002, they created a new series that revealed the death of the main character...in the worse way possible (contracting a disease...excuse me?). I don't know why I have this problem of mine, but I've always felt this way ever since I was a child.

Originally Posted by Harry

I agree. I have always thought that "heroes", in any kind of myth, must eventually die, disappear, go away at the right time.

For me, the heroic death thing depends on the circumstances or the situation at hand. Such as in "Legacy of Kain: Defiance"...even though I was pretty depressed too (I didn't expect an ending like that...I was very naive), it was more of an "understanding-sadness", even though I would've preferred a different fate for the anti-hero.

Originally Posted by Harry

Snake cannot live forever because he is not just an "action hero", one of those modern action movie characters that can be reused forever; he is closer to a tragic hero, one that from the beginning of his journey, next to his almost superhuman strengths, has already those limits that will eventually lead to his end, like Liquid, Solidus, or Big Boss.

Ah see? There, that's the problem...because Snake is more of the tragic hero, it becomes even more tragic that I (and I use myself strictly since it seems I'm the only one who isn't thrilled with his fated death ) have to see him die! With what you said above, I'm already nearly tearing up...only because what you said is very much the truth and I hate to admit it.

Originally Posted by Harry

But I would love the series to change its name after MGS4, to create a distinction between the past and the future - and eventually between development teams lead by different directors.

This is a good idea and I would like that too. But would the new name still include some kind of "Metal Gear" in the title? Or will the future games have something else other than the Metal Gears...another new mecha-weapon, perhaps? It'll be interesting to see what the next teams decides to do.

Oh dear, I'm afraid this thread has swayed into another topic entirely.