𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐁𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

screenshots part 3

I wanted this to be its own post so I can breakdown how the scene goes since you can't play the cutscenes as a video unless the cameras at the in game angles, so these can only be taken frame by frame.

as emma's dying, snake looks away towards the ceiling before turning back to them. when she takes her finale breathes and otacon goes "emma!? emma!?" snake then turns completely away with his back to them, with a shot of his profile.

what isn't shown in game is snake’s expression after a fade to black (well, two fade to blacks in quick succession) while his back is still to them

after this is another fade to black to the shot of big shell as otacon’s talking about his childhood, and when the scene goes back to them snake is then turning around to face otacon and emma. his face is back to a more “maybe upset, but keeping it in” expression. seeing the comparison between the fade to blacks is night and day... and notable he only looks visibly upset while no one can see him

if I was just a bit more crazy and determined it's technically possible to take a of capture every frame and then put them together to make a video... but that person isn't me. but it Would be interesting to see his expression changes in real time because it is animated, and towards the end while he’s still anguished looking it seems like he’s shaking his head slightly

(also, my guess is that they had a vague idea of where they might want the camera be so they animated snake’s face in case they wanted to include a shot when it came time to "filming" the cinematic. why they ended up choosing not to I have no clue. I think there would have been huge added emotion to the scene since I don't think we often, if ever, see snake that upset)

edit: I've gone through almost all cutscenes with snake in them and looking at his face when the camera wouldn't be on it in game, and he's never animated if off screen unless getting from point A to B for the next shot. or any other characters either (hense the screenshots of raiden during the hug where he just stands there).

this combined with someone's tags I saw here makes me think maybe it could be purposeful it's off screen. maybe snakes not only hiding his pain from raiden and otacon (coming from maybe sympathy and care for him and not wanting to burden him more, maybe even from guilt) but from the player as well. you don't get to play as snake because you'll never be snake [like raiden] and you don't get to see him emotionally vulnerable because he wasn't made to let it show, both literally in universe and in meta. snake has a persona he plays that's the image of what he was intended to be, but he isn't that person. he isn't an invulnerable solider who can never faulter like zero intended, like everyone sees him as, that the player sees him as. or that could be entirely unintended that it works well in that way.

not to write a entire novel here, [too late? (;ŏ﹏ŏ)] but also: I think the reason snake is so distraught isn't because of emma dying per say, because he has no emotional attachment to her, to him her death is like any other innocent life lost on the battlefield... except it's not, because he knows how much otacon's hurting. this isn't the first time he sees him cry... but he knows him now. he cares about him. he probably knew how important seeing emma again was to otacon and could have been been a second chance to 'fix' his family. and I think That's whats hurting him so much.

#mgs #mgs2 #the document of metal gear solid 2 #mgs screenshot posting #otasune #solid snake #otacon #pawscreatures