Metal Gear Solid 5’s best secret: You can play the campaign as a woman
Metal Gear Solid 5’s best secret: You can play the campaign as a woman
If you are put off by the costumes and lack of protagonist representation in Phantom Pain, but still kind of want to play it for the gameplay/story/etc then Brianna Wu has a method to let you play most of the game as something other than the default protagonist (who I now dub Standard Snake).
The focus of the article is how to play as a woman, but as Brianna points out the same system opens up the option to play as a person of color (of either gender) as well. It also has minimal spoilers.
We’ve got the guide to how to get Quiet some real clothes as early as possible, which sadly is actually quite late into the game. Unless you take the more extreme (and extremely awesome) option that one MikeKob did. (h/t: Glitch & nibelung)
This method is so secret not even Hideo Kojima knows about it! Or if he does he doesn’t care enough to share, promote the article or even mention the feature of playing as anyone but Standard Snake. It seems while someone was very determined to include these options, that someone was not him.
The integration is fairly complete but has some note worthy limitations:
- You must start playing as Standard Snake.
- NPCs will still react to you in game and in cutscenes as though you were Standard Snake, using male pronouns and descriptions.
- In cutscenes, Snake’s lines will just appear as captions instead of being delivered by a voice actress (or alternative voice actor).
- Other problems with plot arcs and treatment of female characters remain.
It does have a few extra benefits:
- In cut scenes, Snake’s lines will just appear as captions instead of the generic, over the top, alpha male grunting.
- NPCs will treat your Snake with the same respect and admiration they’d show Standard Snake.
Now for how to get Quiet into some clothes. The bit lots of people will tell you is possible but won’t explain how or what’s involved, again – spoilers under the cut!
(Edit: Between when I did the majority of this writing and when it got posted there was single tweet by Kojima, it was a retweet of someone thanking him with elaboration afterwards. x )
– wincenworks
There is one fully covering (Gray XOF) and one mostly covering but with ridiculous cleavage (Lone Wolf Sniper) outfit available for Quiet via unlocking in the game. There are still some issues:
- Both outfits are only available a long time after first having the option to take Quiet as a Buddy (Mission 15 onward). (Lone Wolf Sniper outfit is available for completing Mission 40 on Extreme, but the Grey XOF outfit can be unlocked earlier around Mission 30.)
- Earning Quiet’s confidence will still result in her adopting more and more titilating poses while in the chopper with you.
- Quiet’s overall plot arc will remain the same (including scenes of heavily sexualized violence against her).
- NPCs will still react to and describe Quiet as though she was wearing her default “Naked” skin. The game may also default her back to her Naked skin for some cutscenes.
In order to unlock the Grey XOF outfit you need to watch the cutscene of Quiet’s interrogation where she is tortured – yes we’re at a point where cutscenes are something they have to reward you for watching. There’s mixed information on how to trigger the cutscene but general consensus seems to be:
Complete Mission 29 (Code Talker appears in the cutscene) and then keep making trips back to Mother Base to trigger all the information about the main plot, do side missions, etc and eventually it will appear. If you prefer to skip it by turning off the tv or monitor+speakers, it’s about seven minutes long.
– wincenworks
Metal Gear Solid 5’s best secret: You can play the campaign as a woman
Metal Gear Solid 5’s best secret: You can play the campaign as a woman
If you are put off by the costumes and lack of protagonist representation in Phantom Pain, but still kind of want to play it for the gameplay/story/etc then Brianna Wu has a method to let you play most of the game as something other than the default protagonist (who I now dub Standard Snake).
The focus of the article is how to play as a woman, but as Brianna points out the same system opens up the option to play as a person of color (of either gender) as well. It also has minimal spoilers.
We’ve got the guide to how to get Quiet some real clothes as early as possible, which sadly is actually quite late into the game. Unless you take the more extreme (and extremely awesome) option that one MikeKob did. (h/t: Glitch & nibelung)
This method is so secret not even Hideo Kojima knows about it! Or if he does he doesn’t care enough to share, promote the article or even mention the feature of playing as anyone but Standard Snake. It seems while someone was very determined to include these options, that someone was not him.
The integration is fairly complete but has some note worthy limitations:
- You must start playing as Standard Snake.
- NPCs will still react to you in game and in cutscenes as though you were Standard Snake, using male pronouns and descriptions.
- In cutscenes, Snake’s lines will just appear as captions instead of being delivered by a voice actress (or alternative voice actor).
- Other problems with plot arcs and treatment of female characters remain.
It does have a few extra benefits:
- In cut scenes, Snake’s lines will just appear as captions instead of the generic, over the top, alpha male grunting.
- NPCs will treat your Snake with the same respect and admiration they’d show Standard Snake.
Now for how to get Quiet into some clothes. The bit lots of people will tell you is possible but won’t explain how or what’s involved, again – spoilers under the cut!
(Edit: Between when I did the majority of this writing and when it got posted there was single tweet by Kojima, it was a retweet of someone thanking him with elaboration afterwards. x )
– wincenworks
There is one fully covering (Gray XOF) and one mostly covering but with ridiculous cleavage (Lone Wolf Sniper) outfit available for Quiet via unlocking in the game. There are still some issues:
- Both outfits are only available a long time after first having the option to take Quiet as a Buddy (Mission 15 onward). (Lone Wolf Sniper outfit is available for completing Mission 40 on Extreme, but the Grey XOF outfit can be unlocked earlier around Mission 30.)
- Earning Quiet’s confidence will still result in her adopting more and more titilating poses while in the chopper with you.
- Quiet’s overall plot arc will remain the same (including scenes of heavily sexualized violence against her).
- NPCs will still react to and describe Quiet as though she was wearing her default “Naked” skin. The game may also default her back to her Naked skin for some cutscenes.
In order to unlock the Grey XOF outfit you need to watch the cutscene of Quiet’s interrogation where she is tortured – yes we’re at a point where cutscenes are something they have to reward you for watching. There’s mixed information on how to trigger the cutscene but general consensus seems to be:
Complete Mission 29 (Code Talker appears in the cutscene) and then keep making trips back to Mother Base to trigger all the information about the main plot, do side missions, etc and eventually it will appear. If you prefer to skip it by turning off the tv or monitor+speakers, it’s about seven minutes long.
– wincenworks
Looking at the Steam trailers you would never guess that Defiance had a rich lore involving numerous types of aliens, politics and a diverse range of characters – their main priority in the latest trailer seems to be reassuring you that you can play as a sexy young woman and always be reminded of it by seeing her pigtails at all times.
And yet, her costume is dramatically better than that of the signature character in the first trailer… who seems to be there mostly to assure us there are women with cleavage and the game is “edgey”.
And in case you’re wondering, yes the tv show has weird boobplate gear.
– wincenworks
Looking at the Steam trailers you would never guess that Defiance had a rich lore involving numerous types of aliens, politics and a diverse range of characters – their main priority in the latest trailer seems to be reassuring you that you can play as a sexy young woman and always be reminded of it by seeing her pigtails at all times.
And yet, her costume is dramatically better than that of the signature character in the first trailer… who seems to be there mostly to assure us there are women with cleavage and the game is “edgey”.
And in case you’re wondering, yes the tv show has weird boobplate gear.
– wincenworks
Sherry
the-midnight-doe submitted:
While we’re sort of on the subject of unlockable outfits, I wanted to bring up Sherry from Resident Evil 6. Sherry was originally from Resident Evil 2, where she was a young child.
Pretty standard stuff. For Resident Evil 6, Capcom surprised fans by bringing her back as a (really awesome) playable character, where she became an agent for homeland security after being inspired by Claire Redfield’s actions in the second game.
Her design looks great, and it makes practical sense. This still holds true for later in the game, where all the characters have an outfit changes due to the game skipping six months ahead in the story.
And then…we get to these outfits.
The one on the left is an unlockable outfit that players can use in the Mercenaries mode, essentially a survive to the end with an increasing amount of zombies type of minigame. The developers thought it would be cool to give Sherry her original outfit…and I guess they meant the actual outfit, because wow that is really small.
The context of the one on the right is even worse, and pretty disgusting (RE6 story spoilers to follow:) at one point, Sherry and her partner, Jake, are captured by the villain organization and are experimented on for six months. Apparently they had absolutely nothing for Sherry to wear while in the facility, so they took a few rags and tied them together. Meanwhile, her partner was just shirtless with some sweatpants on.
This is also the point of the story where the clothing swap happens, and even though the outfit is fine, the changing cutscene is shot in a veeerrrryyy particular way.
Resident Evil has some particularly great women, but recently they’ve been going a little downhill with how they’ve been treating them (and the franchise in general.)
Some say we shouldn’t criticize bonus video game character outfits (unlockables/DLCs/pre-orders), because they’re optional and therefore even more in the vaccum of “just fiction”/”just fanservice” than the default character looks.
We gotta keep in mind that optional costumes, unlike, say, fan mods, are still intended by the developers to be the part of the experience, sometimes even the selling point for some specific edition of the game. It’s just as valid to be critical of them as of the game’s marketing, even if (or rather, especially if) they’re not faithfully representing the game as a product.
As @femfreq puts it in their newest video, the double standard of defaulting unlockable female outfits to “sexy” is especially harmful when the character is otherwise appropriately dressed for her job. And Sherry is just one heroine on the long list of Resident Evil’s capable-women-turned-eyecandy.
Maybe, just maybe, the idea would be more valid if male unlockable costumes were also all about sexyness and showing skin. And if the rare cases where this actually happens weren’t getting revoked as soon as possible.
~Ozzie
edit: Something’s very wrong with tumblr lately and it has been repeatedly deleting the first two paragraphs the-midnight-doe wrote. Apparently they didn’t make it into a single reblog of this post, of which I’m sorry both to the submitter and the rebloggers.
~Ozzie
Sherry
the-midnight-doe submitted:
While we’re sort of on the subject of unlockable outfits, I wanted to bring up Sherry from Resident Evil 6. Sherry was originally from Resident Evil 2, where she was a young child.
Pretty standard stuff. For Resident Evil 6, Capcom surprised fans by bringing her back as a (really awesome) playable character, where she became an agent for homeland security after being inspired by Claire Redfield’s actions in the second game.
Her design looks great, and it makes practical sense. This still holds true for later in the game, where all the characters have an outfit changes due to the game skipping six months ahead in the story.
And then…we get to these outfits.
The one on the left is an unlockable outfit that players can use in the Mercenaries mode, essentially a survive to the end with an increasing amount of zombies type of minigame. The developers thought it would be cool to give Sherry her original outfit…and I guess they meant the actual outfit, because wow that is really small.
The context of the one on the right is even worse, and pretty disgusting (RE6 story spoilers to follow:) at one point, Sherry and her partner, Jake, are captured by the villain organization and are experimented on for six months. Apparently they had absolutely nothing for Sherry to wear while in the facility, so they took a few rags and tied them together. Meanwhile, her partner was just shirtless with some sweatpants on.
This is also the point of the story where the clothing swap happens, and even though the outfit is fine, the changing cutscene is shot in a veeerrrryyy particular way.
Resident Evil has some particularly great women, but recently they’ve been going a little downhill with how they’ve been treating them (and the franchise in general.)
Some say we shouldn’t criticize bonus video game character outfits (unlockables/DLCs/pre-orders), because they’re optional and therefore even more in the vaccum of “just fiction”/”just fanservice” than the default character looks.
We gotta keep in mind that optional costumes, unlike, say, fan mods, are still intended by the developers to be the part of the experience, sometimes even the selling point for some specific edition of the game. It’s just as valid to be critical of them as of the game’s marketing, even if (or rather, especially if) they’re not faithfully representing the game as a product.
As @femfreq puts it in their newest video, the double standard of defaulting unlockable female outfits to “sexy” is especially harmful when the character is otherwise appropriately dressed for her job. And Sherry is just one heroine on the long list of Resident Evil’s capable-women-turned-eyecandy.
Maybe, just maybe, the idea would be more valid if male unlockable costumes were also all about sexyness and showing skin. And if the rare cases where this actually happens weren’t getting revoked as soon as possible.
~Ozzie
edit: Something’s very wrong with tumblr lately and it has been repeatedly deleting the first two paragraphs the-midnight-doe wrote. Apparently they didn’t make it into a single reblog of this post, of which I’m sorry both to the submitter and the rebloggers.
~Ozzie
