I know that it is a very innapropriate thing to discuss on Vizzed, but people who've played Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will know what I speak of.

Of course, be weary of spoilers as there will be some in even my post.

Also, it will prove to be very disturbing for people that aren't interested in the game, but wish to read about it.




Do you think that Paz's death went too far?

When I heard Chico's tape, hearing Paz get tortured and sexually abused by Skullface, XOF soldiers, and unwillingly Chico, and then have a nuclear bomb shoved into her body was just horrible. I was not only disgusted, but for the first time, I questioned Kojima's mindset. How could he imagine something like this?

I know that there's been a lot of torture scenes in the series, resulting in scars or the loss of an eye, but never before has it gone to this length.

For such a normally goofy or out of line series, it really took a much darker turn.

What are your thoughts on Ground Zeroes' ending, and the cruel death of Paz?

Has Kojima gone too far, or is this just what we needed to begin to really hate Skullface?

I wouldn't classify that as entertainment.  Entertainment is the triumph of good over evil, truth over lies, and love over hate, with smiles and family all around in the end.  Kojima did go too far, and I would say that it isn't the first time.  Companies continue to try and push the boundary for "shock value", which I find isn't valuable at all.  It desensitizes and demoralizes, instead of uplifting us, as should be done.  Why participate in something if you aren't having a good time?  If you're having fun in a game, is it the kind of fun that lasts?  Or is it over in an instant, lost until the next thrill comes around?  Those are questions that must be asked when you pick up a game.  Turn it off if it's not making you feel warm and tingly inside.  There may be moments when you feel good, but are they few and far in between?  Or are they frequent/constant?

supernerd117 : The thing I've always respected and loved about the Metal Gear series is how the main outlook on the game is purely how awful war is, and how things can be accomplished without the loss of lives.

You can get through every single Metal Gear Solid game without killing a single person.

Sure, the villains may be bad, but when we think of them as bad, it's normally from a philosophical or warfare sense. Only one of them has been as bad as this in the past.

Metal Gear Solid games always end with the triumph of good over evil, its main question in the game is also "What is good? What is evil?" and it really asks those types of questions that really get you to thinking about human nature and senses.

Playing through GZ didn't make me feel that as much as the other games in the series.

Ground Zeroes is only the prologue in the first place, so of course the bad guy gets away, but after waiting a year for Phantom Pain to come out, it's going to pay off when you finally get to do away with him in the end of the game.

Of course there are other ways to make us hate an antagonist, like Grunty was hated in Banjo Kazooie, but the way he did it just toppled a lot of his artistic integrity, but at the same time, it did do well in getting the point across that he is not a good person in any sense.

Mr. Kojima definitely went too far.The games were great without that shock value, but poor Paz being tortured like that plus the graphic nature of her last scenes were just too much. I understand that some of the characters had horrific pasts(B&B Corps comes to mind) so I could possibly understand Paz being tortured but I just didn't like the way GZ dealt with things. Sadly, real life can be much worse sometimes. I thought video games were for escaping reality. That's what I do with them anyway. I do not want to see real life in a video game.

I don't know what to say. It was like watching a hospital drama the ending. The tapes though I really am glad I haven't listened to them properly. I am speechless on how Kojima or one of the developers thought this was a good idea for a reward. Though despite that the game made me excited for the actual game.

It was not too far, at least, not in my opinion. As the future comes about, so do the future of games. Game developers want to be a cut above others, and sometimes, this is how it is done. If a more realistic torture portion of the game is added, let it be there. I feel like it could have done without the sexual violence, but it happens in the real world, and I guess Kojima wanted that to be displayed in the game, for effect. In order to develop feelings for certain characters, and to make sure people feel in a specific way, it is necessary to sometimes go to extremes.

That Hideo Kojima is a distinct guy, we all already knew. And the ending to MGS: Ground Zeroes was very shocking. But, in my honest opinion, just another taboo to be broken. More opportunities for video games are presented each generation, and as such, things are bound to get more realistic, and as such, more dark.



....but it didn't go too far. Remember when voilence was a taboo in video games before GTA? When alcohol abuse and suicide where big things in video games? True, they're scary and can be emotionally disturbing, but they're often plot-related. I think it's a matter of how much you, as a gamer, can take before you say "screw the plot, I'm not playing this". The age rating isn't there for nothing, either. I compare it to the movie Saving Private Ryan. It gets scary realistic at parts, and some people are thrown off by that (understandingly), but it is what sets new bars in the industry.