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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Content Warning

This episode contains spoilers for Metal Gear Solid 2 and a few swears.

Starting at the 34:00 mark, and continuing through to the 37:00 minute mark, there’s a section which might be triggering for folks, as it deals with sexual assault. Please bear this in mind when listening with others—especially the ears of the innocent.

Please listen responsibly.

Show Notes

Squidge is back with a brand new invention WT Lite episode. And this time, our resident Metal Gear expert V-Tuber Alyxa has returned with him.

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 (codename: Glitter Fox) about Metal Gear Solid 2. We cover everything from lengthy cutscenes, dummy tick moments, to mullet withdrawl.

So without further ado, sit back, grab some snacks, and get ready for this episode entitled: "Metal Gear Solid 2 Part 1 - A What Vampire!?"

Take it away, guys

The Glitter Fox Returns!

Alyxa wanted to remind everyone as to why she is know as the Glitter Fox:

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

For those of you who don’t know, the reason why some people call me “Glitter Fox” is, again, because of Metal Gear Solid.

Because in the first game, Metal Gear Solid, there was one viewer who saw me throwing a chaff grenade. And because of the little effects that it plays on the screen, it looked like glitter. So they started calling it glitter bomb. So now whenever I throw away a chaff grenade, I scream, “glitter bomb!”

And when they gave me a drawing, like my first fanart of me, it was me with a sneaking suit, holding a chaff grenade or a glitter bomb, and people started calling me Glitter Fox.

Which is an incredibly charming reason to have a nickname, you’ll agree.

Which Games Have You Completed?

The list of Metal Gear games that Alyxa has played through (on stream, no less) is impressive:

  • Metal Gear Solid
  • Metal Gear Solid 2
  • Metal Gear
  • Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
  • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

And not just that, Alyxa is a true ending achiever. Meaning that she plays all of the extra side missions and aims to get the best ending possible.

Pretty solid stuff… if you’ll pardon the pun.

Squidge drops a knowledge bomb on us about Metal Gear Solid 2:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

Metal Gear Solid 2 has got the second least lengthy cutscene content of all Metal Gear solid games. Second least.

Which do you think has the lengthiest? Get your answers in now.

And Alyxa answers the question for us, a moment later:

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

On the official website of the Guinness World Records. If you search for "cutscene," the first thing that you’re gonna see is "Longest cutscene in a videogame." And if you click that article, you’re gonna get Metal Gear Solid 4 at 27 minutes.

That’s a lot of David Hayter speaking in a gravely voice about how war is bad.

Did you know that the PSP’s battery didn’t have enough power to get through the final stage of Metal Gear Acid and the ending?

Tanker or Plant?

Squidge wanted to know which Alyxa preferred: the Tanker (aka Solid Snake) section of Metal Gear Solid 2 or the Plant (aka Raiden) section, or both?

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

Honestly, I had a lot of fun with both. Like they’re, they’re both different. Different. Totally different.

Like what I liked the most about playing a snake was like especially the codex. Especially because Otacon decided, you know what? Let me try pull a mailing on this. It did not work and I love it.

Both Squidge and Alyxa agree that the best way to experience THE STORY of the Metal Gear Solid games is to play on easy. And the rest of us at Waffling Taylors HQ agree. Games are meant to provide a fun challenge, and easy mode can do that.

Alyxa's Avatar Alyxa:

But, yeah, that is also another problem I get. I accidentally said, it’s normal.

…

Actually, I managed to do Snake’s whole part. I actually managed to do it all. The problem was when I started playing as Raiden, and it was getting really, really hard, and I was like, "why is it so hard?" And then I pressed pause and saw, "ah, guys, I set the game to normal. I don’t want to play this anymore."

I did mention this the previous episode, which was that I set it to normal. And then I had to stop streaming the game for a while until my boyfriend actually had the time to play it, and he went through the whole thing in half an hour.

On Themes

On looking back on Metal Gear Solid 2, Squidge was convinced that Hideo Kojima was ahead of his time with some of the themes—especially those about information control

Jay here: this is something that Noam Chomski wrote about in his 1991 book "Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda"

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

The thinking points of this game revolve around control, censorship, and manipulation of the truth. Because that’s what the entire crux of the game is. But my question to you is, considering how much of this game is foreshadowing to what’s happening modern day, can you believe that this game came out in 2001?

Alyxa’s answer is incredibly long and detailed, so you’ll need to listen to the episode to hear it out. Her answer covers things like how powerful the Internet is, how accurate the censorship themes of the game are, and how we can’t trust the news to be a true representation of the situation that they’re reporting on.

Heady stuff.

Raiden: Was He Born With It & Why Can’t Otacon Catch A Break?

Squidge coming in with the hardest hitting journalistic questions:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

Raiden. Is his hair a wig or not?

Pulitzer Prize when?

Which started a conversation trying to figure out why people didn’t like Raiden. Sure, he’s a complex character and he kind of comes out of nowhere. But why all the hate?

Squidge thought it was one, simple reason:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

Mullet withdrawal. Raiden doesn’t have a mullet. It’s mullet withdrawal. People wanted more glorious mullet.

And when talking about Otacon’s history, things turn dark. Otacon, as a character, has a super dark backstory and can’t ever seen to catch a break. And this point includes a section which is potentially triggering for folks. Please listen responsibly.

During this part of the conversation, Squidge mentioned John Romero signing a copy of Doom 3, and here it is:

source: imgur (click to enlarge)

Solid Sneak That Shizzle

With all of the tactical espionage action that Alyxa has been playing through, Squidge wanted to know whether Alyxa had picked up a thing or two. So he posed this question:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge:

You as a person have got to navigate through a room. Now there are going to be guards. You can’t be caught.

Here’s a question for you: if you had a choice of navigating through a room where there’s guards with either cardboard boxes to help you conceal, as in cardboard boxes around the room, or you were disguised as a potted plant, which one would you do and what tactics would you use to try and get through it?

And Alyxa’s answer was incredibly detailed—way more detailed that was required for a silly question on a silly podcast about videogames. As such, you’ll definitely have to listen to the episode to hear her thought process, and we’d recommend it; it was a doozy. It’s also worth sticking around afterward, because Squidge talks through his process for getting through the room in question.

And that’s just part one of the conversation.

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.

All copyrighted material contained within this podcast is the property of their respective rights owners. Please see the above list for copyright details pertaining to music used.

Games Covered

We mentioned 18 games in this podcast. In the following order, those games where: