WT Lite

Alyxa the Kitsune (who you might remember from our Sonic2sMonth episodes) joined Squidge to discuss Metal Gear Solid, how it can’t possibly be Metal Gear (again!), and trying to decipher Mei Ling’s Chinese sayings.

Players

Squidge

Alyxa

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Show Notes

As with all of the WT Lite episodes, Squidge introduced the format at the start of the show:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

Waffling Taylor’s Lite: the pocket size podcast that packs a gaming punch.

In this serving of byte sized banter with a side of gaming goodness. We catch up with Alyxa the kitsune about Metal Gear Solid for the PS One.

Take it away, guys

The WT Lite series of episodes will be peppered in alongside the “standard” episodes, so keep an eye out for them. These episodes allow us to focus specifically on a specific game or series, and really focus on our guest’s thoughts. And after a brief discussion on Metal Gear memes

nanomachines, son!

Squidge wanted to know about Alyxa the Kitsune:

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

So, hi, my name is Alyxa.

I am a voice actress. I haven’t done a lot of voice acting stuff, though. In Portuguese, by the way. European Portuguese. Not in the thick of Brazilian Portuguese. I’m also a VTube streamer on twitch. I go by Alyxa the Kitsune - that’s A-L-Y-X-A underscore T-H-E underscore K-I-T-S-U-N-E. Okay. I was trying to see if I had forgotten any letters. I did not.

And I actually started streaming. My first stream was actually playing Metal Gear Solid. And it also created, like, this funny nickname among my followers, which is Glitter Fox

There’s So Much Story

For his first question, Squidge wanted to know whether Alyxa was ready for the sheer amount of story involved in Metal Gear Solid.

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

I was a bit, because my boyfriend played the games, like, way before I started playing them.

I’m playing the whole series for the first time in my life. I’ve never previously played anything Metal Gear Solid related. I knew some memes, that’s all I know. The extremely famous and extremely overused alert sound.

But I will never forget that there was this one time when I was having a very anxious moment of thinking, "oh, well, is anything even worth it in life?" And my boyfriend is actually like, "there’s this video game series that I really like, and this character actually says something like this," and I’m pretty sure he was talking about Metal Gear Solid Two. I’m pretty sure he was talking about Metal Gear Solid Two, now that I think about it. And just a few months ago, he decided to replay the whole series again. And I was like, "okay, but I really need to understand, why does he like Metal Gear Solid so much?" And so that’s how I decided to play the games.

So I was a bit ready for the amount of story and information that was going to be dumped on me. I was not ready for the extreme amount of information that was going to be dumped on me. Yeah, the lore is quite extensive, especially because when he was playing, I wasn’t paying that much attention, so I couldn’t really like I was picking this and that and that information over there, but really basically almost nothing.

But then I started playing, I was like, "oh, that is a lot. That is a lot."

Whose The Best On Shadow Moses?

There are quite a lot of characters in Metal Gear Solid, and almost all of them interact with Snake whilst he is on Shadow Moses Island. So Squidge’s question was: who is Alyxa’s favourite character?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

You gave me, like, a week to think about this, and it’s still hard to choose just one character.

So imagine if this was, like, about the whole series and not just the first game. I would be like, "I don’t know. I would need a month think, at the very least," because every single character has something that’s I wouldn’t say, like, lovable about them. Like, not all of them are lovable. I mean, you got [Revolver] Ocelot, for crying out loud.

…

But everyone has something so interesting about them.

Like, I love Mei Ling and all the Chinese sayings that she has that are also connected to things that we have to do and that we should do.

I also love Sniper Wolf because I cried when Sniper Wolf died. I cried when she died, and I was not expecting that. I saw my boyfriend playing, like, the whole first game, and I was like, "okay, Sniper Wolf died." But when I played it, it hurts. Because when she was talking about her past and how she suffered, I’m like, "I was not ready for this. I was not."

And then there’s Otakon. He kind of sounds like the comic relief, which is also good, but I don’t know, there’s something so enduring about him.

Design Your Own Boss Fight

Squidge’s next question posed a rather strange situation: suppose that Alyxa had the opportunity to design her own boss fight on Shadow Moses Island how would you make it bizarre in your own way? What would you bring to the table? What concept or gameplay twist would you introduce?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

You completely lost me here. Because I used to have a great imagination. Not any more.

I should have played this game when I was a kid. Maybe I could have created something really weird and I would, and I could show it to you. I don’t know.

Come on, can there be anything weirder than a bisexual vampire?

…

I don’t know. I like foxes. And there’s an actual character called Brave Fox. So I don’t know, make him work with something that’s actually like, I don’t know, maybe a Mech Fox. Oh, well, I mean, you know how some people use, like, horses? Make that guy ride a mech fox. Please do not think I just said Megan Fox. I said mech, fox.

Just a Point of View

Whilst Metal Gear Solid is a third-person action game, the camera perspective shifts quite a lot throughout game play. So Squidge wanted to know whether the shifting in perspective was easy for Alyxa to adjust to

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

I think that it didn’t take me as long to get used to it because again, I saw my boyfriend playing it, so I already had an idea of how the game would be. In fact, sometimes the first person was actually harder than the top down. And we’re talking about a PS One game. So obviously the controllers are slightly janky.

I have no complaints. Again, I was playing on an Emulator, so maybe they did something to make it better. I don’t know.

…

I was commenting just a few days ago, in some parts it was convenient, other parts was inconvenient, and other parts was both convenient and inconvenient. Convenient and inconvenient was against Vulcan Raven, like, both convenience and inconvenience.

For instance, the most inconvenient that the top down vision was was during the fight against Sniper Wolf. Like the last fight before she dies, the top down is super inconvenient. I’m sorry, I’m trying to see where she’s going, but if I have the sniper on me, I can’t move only the camera.

Cruel and Unusual Suet?

We thought about summarising Squidge’s question here, but it’s a thing of beauty. So here it is, in it’s entirety:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

In an alternative universe, Ocelot, instead of torturing Snake with Electrocution, decides to do something a little bit different.

Now, what people don’t know is Ocelot fancies himself a bit of an amateur chef, complete with the overalls and the hat - the oversized one - and everything. And he decides to make something for Snake to eat. And the endurance taking down is from eating the food that you’ve got to be a certain speed at eating.

So … what’s Ocelot’s Shadow Moses signature dish that Snake is going to have to scoff down as quickly as possible? [One that is] probably going to give him indigestion.

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

This one got me really thinking, like, of everything that you gave me. This was one of the questions that got me like, "wait, how am I going to answer this one?" And then the first thing that came to my mind is, "well, if his stomach is like his father’s, he can take pretty much everything except probably Russian rations."

Or probably the strawberry poison dart frog. That is the name of the frog. I actually searched it up. I was like, "what is the name of the frog?" And I’m like, "no, but, like, red poison dart frog. It’s like strawberry poison dart frog. Okay." It makes sense because the color red is really vibrant on that frog.

So I was like, "wait, think about everything that you can eat on the third game and put that in a dish, but, like, everything that’s disgusting." So we got some of the snakes that he ate that he would say that were disgusting. The we have the Russian rations. There were some animals.

I also did that thing where if you spin him a lot, he’s going to puke. Yeah, we all have to do that. Did you even play Metal Gear if you didn’t do that?

Quick-Fire-Round? It Can’t Be!

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

Solid Snake, Ocelot and Psycho Mantis decide to compete in a talent show. Who does what? And do any of them have any hidden talents that no one ever thought about?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

Like the whole sneaking thing with Snake. Ocelot juggling with his revolvers. And Psycho Mantis, he is Psycho Mantis. He uses telekinesis. So maybe Psycho Mantis can juggle people? That’s the best I can come up with.

With Snake being so good at sneaking. Maybe something related to magic, to magic tricks, making things disappear.

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

You’re in a production meeting with Hideo Kojima, and the subject of having a possible catchphrase comes up years before the iconic "kept you waiting," What idea would you put forward for a catchphrase?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

I’m going to have to agree with a lot of people. The whole, "can love bloom on a battlefield?"

That is one that everyone knows, everyone remembers, everyone loves that one. It’s really good, actually. So I think it would be a very good catchphrase.

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

The Metal Gear Solid band. Who is in it? What instrument do they play and what type of music do they make?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

I was actually thinking about that just before the recording and I was like, "okay, who would be?" And Oscelot was the first one that came to my mind. And I was like, &quot’drums!" The way that guy shows off just spinning his revolvers, he would totally show off doing the same with the drumsticks.

And when I think Snake, I think that he would probably go for the bass or the guitar. Though he kind of looks more like a bass type of guy. And Liquid would probably be the guitar. Then again, they both be in bass because, like, funny, they’re twins, so both go to the bass. We’re missing a vocalist, though. I can’t think of a vocalist. I don’t think Otacon would have a good singing voice, though. Can’t imagine it.

But the type of music, that’s the hard part because I’m not really good in identifying music genres. So, you know, that kind of slow rock kind of thing I think it would probably fit the band itself. Some songs a bit more energetic, but mostly slow rock kind of thing. I’m calling it that because I don’t know the exact terms for this. I’m sorry. For anyone who’s into music.

The first song that came to my mind was them doing kind of singing the Way to Fall song. The one that’s on the credits for Metal Gear Solid Three. That kind of music. I’m guessing that’s rock. I don’t know.

Shadow Moses - The Kid-Friendly Story of Cloning and Terrorism

Imagine that some random, big name, author on Twitter had been given the rights to create a novelisation of Metal Gear Solid and they said:

Hi, guys, I’m taking on a new project. I’m going to turn the Shadow Moses incident into a kids book. #GoTeamFoxhound #VulcanRavenForPresident #SniperWolfOnlyFans

- Some Totally Real Author, honest

What kind of book would they write? And would it work?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

I think everything can be done…

However, if you say you’re going to write a kids book about the Shadow Moses incident, and one of the hashtags you put in your tweet is #SniperWolfOnlyFans?

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

I don’t confess to knowing how to use Twitter, so maybe they won’t put that one in. Maybe just get a bit people get people seeing it. I just thought maybe that’d work. Get more eyes on the tweet.

But maybe that wouldn’t be in there.

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

The story itself is we’ve already talked about this. The story is quite confusing. So I would really like to see a kids book author trying to pull it off. It would be very interesting.

They wouldn’t even need to tone down on the whole death thing because I’ve watched a lot of movies with characters dying. That would not be the freaking point about it. It would mostly be about the whole confusion. Then again, he could probably pull it off, but we all know how the Internet works, so yeah, some people would say, "oh, that is interesting. I would actually like to show my future kids, or I would like to show my kids how the story goes without it being extremely confusing and having them play the game before they should." And then you would obviously have the other side of the Internet, which would be, "no, don’t ruin the story for us. You have no right to do that. What are you thinking? No, don’t touch the story. You’re going to ruin it."

There’s always two sides to the coin. In my case, I would be very interested in seeing someone pull that off.

Although I would probably remove the whole Otacon pissing his pants thing from the kids book. I don’t know.

Music

Links to the music used in the podcast can be found below. Definitely check them out, because they're amazing tracks by awesome musicians.

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Games Covered

We mentioned 15 games in this podcast. In the following order, those games where: