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5! Spoilers for all works on the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series preceding this one, including ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' may have been left unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Please read at your own discretion.]]
6[[quoteright:296:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/revengeancesmall_121.jpg]]
7[[caption-width-right:296:[[{{Tagline}} Cut at will. Cut what you will.]]]]
8%%
9->''"There's a saying I like: 'One sword keeps another in the sheath.' Sometimes, the threat of violence alone is a deterrent. Sometimes, by taking a life, others can be preserved. It's the code the samurai lived by..."''
10-->-- '''Raiden'''
11
12''Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'' is a 2013 StylishAction spin-off of the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series developed by Creator/PlatinumGames in collaboration with Creator/KojimaProductions. Starring Raiden following his cybernetic transformation in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', ''Metal Gear Rising'' is an ActionAdventure HackAndSlash like ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' and Platinum's own ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', with a particular emphasis on {{clean cut}}ting enemies and the environment itself apart. However, the game also incorporates classic ''Metal Gear'' {{Stealth Based Game}}play like [[MobileShrubbery cardboard boxes]], [[BackStab stealth kills]], [[NightVisionGoggles thermal goggles]], and [[ThrowingTheDistraction distracting guards with various sub-items]].
13
14The game started life some time after development finished on ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', as a Kojima Productions title called ''Metal Gear Solid: Rising'', handled mostly by the younger staffers entrusted by Creator/HideoKojima himself. It originally intended to strike a balance between the series' trademark stealth action and a new combat system based around being able to cut almost everything in the game. However, this build was cancelled several months after being shown at E3 2010 due to difficulties achieving a balance between the old and new game design concepts, and the project was handed over to Platinum in early 2011.
15
16While the plot initially detailed what happened to Raiden between ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', the final Platinum version is set four years after the events of ''[=MGS4=]''. Raiden, now a member of a PMC known as Maverick Security Consulting, Inc., finds himself caught up in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge when an African Prime Minister he's guarding gets taken hostage and murdered by a competing PMC, which spirals into something much bigger when he uncovers a plan to make children into cyborg super-soldiers like himself and re-ignite the war economy.
17
18''Metal Gear Rising'' was released in February 2013 for the Platform/Xbox360 (outside of Japan) and Platform/PlayStation3, making it the first game in the series ever to get a MultiPlatform debut. A PC port was also announced by Konami and was released on January 9, 2014. You can purchase it from Platform/{{Steam}} [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/235460/ here]].
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20On April 9, 2013, the first DLC campaign, "Jetstream", was officially released on the Xbox Live Marketplace and [=PlayStation=] Store. This story puts players in control of Jetstream Sam, detailing how he came to be affiliated with World Marshal. On May 14, 2013, the second DLC campaign, "Blade Wolf", was officially released on the Xbox Live Marketplace and [=PlayStation=] Store. This story puts players in control of LQ-84i, detailing his time under Mistral's command before encountering Raiden.
21
22----
23!!And they trope when the sun comes up, [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife with their lives on the line]]:
24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26[[folder:#-F]]
27* EleventhHourSuperpower: Raiden gains access to [[spoiler:Sam's HF Murasama]] during the final boss.
28* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The Slider, an airborne enemy that could fire homing missiles that knock you off of your feet, had a charge attack you're most likely not paying attention to due to trying to evade said homing missiles, and always darted just out of your sword's reach. You get to face ''two'' waves of them in VR Mission 13, ''plus'' two Hammerheads.
29* FiveFiveFive: The number Jack leaves carved into the ground when he "borrows" a motorcycle has these numbers in it.
30* AbsurdlySharpBlade:
31** High-frequency blades can easily cut a tank or even a Metal Gear in half. Special mention goes to Jetstream's blade, which is sharper than all the others and ''glows red'' just to make sure you know it.
32** Grey Fox's sword, a pre-order DLC (console) and a major weapon upgrade (PC), literally cuts helicopters in half in normal gameplay. These helicopters are first faced as a ''miniboss''!
33** LQ-84i's chainsaw cuts through an entire section of a building, and its throwing knives are hot enough to ''melt'' steel.
34* AceCustom:
35** Each of the Winds of Destruction have customised {{cyborg}} bodies with unique gimmicks, letting them fight Raiden far more effectively than the run-of-the-mill Desperado 'borgs.
36** The Metal Gear RAY in the prologue is based on the original model, with upgrades like a [[WaveMotionGun plasma cannon]], cyborg musclefibre instead of the original artificial muscles, and a superheated {{BFS}} stored in one wing. It's somewhat downplayed in that it's not piloted by an exceptional user.
37* AchillesHeel: Most of the bosses have weak spots that must be struck in order to deal significant damage. RAY and [[spoiler:EXCELSUS]] have their legs and head; and Mistral, Monsoon, and Sundowner have parts that need to be struck in Blade Mode (parts of her weapon, his face, and the connecting struts of his shields, respectively).
38* ActionizedSequel: Boris explicitly says early on that this time around, it's ''not'' an infiltration mission. Some stealth elements remain, however, such as the opportunity for stealth kills and the series' trademark cardboard box trick. In general, stealth allows you to get through individual sections without fighting a swarm of enemies that spawn if you raise the alarm, and stealth-kills can take out even very tough enemies in a single hit, which is normally impossible otherwise.
39* ActorAllusion:
40** When Raiden calls his enemies "walking vending machines," Kevin makes a joke about blood and calls Raiden "Dracula." His English voice actor, Creator/PhilLaMarr, voiced Vamp in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''.
41** Creator/JimWard plays an Eastern European scientist who specializes in robotics. Wouldn't be [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater the first time this series]] he's done that.
42** [[spoiler:During his battle against Raiden, Armstrong makes a MotiveRant about America being rotten at its roots and wanting to start over. Likewise, Andrew Ryan in ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' wishes to do the same with Rapture with a system where only the strong and successful survive. Armstrong's seiyuu Creator/UnshouIshizuka voices Andrew Ryan in the Japanese dub.]]
43* AerithAndBob: Sam is the only person who is almost never called by his codename (Jetstream), which can seem a little odd when fighting Raiden/"Jack the Ripper", or working with Sundowner, Mistral, and Monsoon. Confusing the issue more, "Jetstream" isn't actually his codename; it's just a nickname. According to the DLC, it's Minuano, which is something that is only ever mentioned offhandedly by two characters in the DLC intro cutscene.
44* AlienBlood: In the Japanese version, cyborg enemies bleed artificial white blood, like Raiden in ''[=MGS4=]''. Averted in the North American and European versions of the game, where everyone's artificial blood is plain red. [[spoiler:In the Japanese version, only Jetstream Sam has red blood (due to the reveal that he has very few cyborg upgrades — only his arm is artificial).]]
45* AliensInCardiff: The majority of the US-centric action takes place in Denver, Colorado. While not a small town by any means, it's a far cry from the usual suspects like New York or Los Angeles.
46* AllThereInTheManual: True to the series' form, there's a huge amount of information about pretty much every major plot point in the game, as well as character background material, hidden away in codec calls. Doktor is perhaps the most prominent example, harbouring a massive amount of backstory regarding the history of in-universe cyborg science.
47* AMechByAnyOtherName: The A.I. controlled mechs in the game are known as '''Unmanned (Metal) Gears''' or '''[=U(M)Gs=]'''.
48* AmbiguousRobots: In addition to the Gekkos and a RAY, there's Raptors and a few other robots that act like animals rather than machines. Unmanned Gears use a neuro-matrix similar to a living being's brain that can learn from mistakes.
49* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The Japanese box art has Raiden brandishing his sword. The North American and European box art has Raiden slicing a cyborg clean in half.
50* AnArmAndALeg: Raiden loses an arm during the battle with Sam in the game's opening ([[RunningGag "Not]] ''[[RunningGag again!"]]''). Hacking off enemy limbs is also encouraged for extra upgrade points and, in a few cases, collectibles.
51* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The child brains]], when not in VR simulations, are FULLY conscious and are unable to do anything but move their eyes and flail their brain stems.
52* AndShowItToYou: [[spoiler:Raiden tears Senator Armstrong's nanomachine-laced heart out and crushes it before his eyes at the end of the final battle.]]
53* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:At the end, Doktor's plans to create a cyborg staffing firm has been greenlit, leaving him excited at the prospect of offering cyborgs ordinary jobs and lives such as the children. Meanwhile, Raiden strikes out on his own.]]
54* AndYourRewardIsClothes: The player can unlock new cyborg bodies for Raiden by completing a certain number of VR Missions, as well as progressing through the main story. Particularly, Raiden can use use his "standard cyborg" body (the one that gets destroyed by Sam during the prologue) after clearing the final mission once on Hard or above, as well as a suit when the player clears the prologue on Very Hard. His wigs can also be changed as well.
55* AntagonisticGovernor: The main antagonist is [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong, who wishes to start a new War on Terror to fulfill his own twisted dream of reshaping America. Raiden rightfully calls him "bat-shit insane".]]
56* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
57** You're completely invincible while using Zandatsu to keep you from taking damage from enemies (who continue to attack while you're in blade mode).
58** You always have full health upon restarting from checkpoint so that you don't get stuck in an unwinnable situation due to saving at low health.
59* AntiHero: Though Raiden is battling the vicious mercenary group Desperado Enforcement LLC., he still takes psychotic glee in slaughtering even police cyborgs affiliated with them.
60* ArmedLegs: For heavy sword attacks, Raiden grabs the weapon with his foot and ''kicks the blade into enemies' faces.''
61* ArcWords:
62** [[NotSoDifferentRemark "Maybe I misjudged you." or variants.]]
63** "My sword is a tool of justice."
64** "The weak."
65** "Let's Dance!" The BattleCry for [[spoiler:Murasama-wielders]].
66* ArtifactTitle: There's an optional codec call with Boris during the penultimate boss fight where the two discuss how the term "Metal Gear" has evolved since it was introduced some 50-odd years ago, [[spoiler:and whether Metal Gear Excelsus counts as one by the most common definition, that being a nuclear-equipped walking tank. Boris concludes that the name is twofold: one, it's ProductPlacement (made by [=ArmsTech=], whose most famous creation in-series was Metal Gear REX), and two, it's to differentiate it from Unmanned Gears, since it's [[HumongousMecha noticeably larger]] and has a human pilot on-board.]]
67* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The moral code of samurai varied wildly over the social class's centuries of history, making Raiden's assertion that Japanese military nobility lived by a code of deterrence a rather extreme over-generalization. Raiden's philosophy is more reminiscent of the Japanese Buddhist "issatsu tasho" (One life for a thousand) philosophy or Munenori Yagyu's martial philosophy of "katsujin-ken" (Sword that gives life). Which is fine anyway, as a codec call will reveal that Raiden does follow the teachings of katsujin-ken. In the same call he cites George Herbert as the source of the quote he told N'Mani, noting that Yagyu and Herbert lived at around the same time with the same ideas.
68* ArtisticLicensePhysics:
69** Thanks to RuleOfCool, a 6 foot cyborg manages to block the blade of a 300 tonne titanium bi-pedal tank, before throwing it into the air, then jumping up to reach it again and cutting that blade into several car-sized chunks.
70** Falling off a high ledge kills Raiden, but he survives two enormous falls [[GameplayAndStorySegregation by landing on his feet in cutscenes.]] Especially noticeable in one particular sequence where Raiden navigates several rooftops. Falling off any will result in a Game Over screen, but the sequence ends with Raiden falling through an elevator shaft, ''which runs the height of the building and goes further underground'', with no damage to show for it.
71* AsLongAsThereIsEvil: Monsoon and [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] both tell Raiden that as long as hatred and war exist, the strong will always come to dominate the weak. They even tell Raiden as he kills them that [[NotSoDifferentRemark their memes will live on through him]].
72* AsYouKnow: Surprisingly {{lampshade|Hanging}}d most times it comes up.
73** Courtney explains the ''entire'' rise and fall of the SOP system of ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' when Raiden asks her what she knows about it, despite Raiden having been personally involved with those events. Lampshaded as he's actually quizzing her about what she knows; he even mentions that there's more to the story beyond what the public was made aware of after the first call on the subject.
74** In the cutscene at the start of the Abkhazia insertion mission, Raiden tries to say that he's been through the briefing material, only for Kevin to insist.
75** All of the conversations with Doktor about the history and specifications of cyborg enhancement is full of this, for obvious reasons. Raiden actually does get annoyed at Doktor a few times for rambling about things he already knows.
76* AugmentedReality: Gameplay menus, MissionControl calls, and so on take place in-universe as virtual objects Raiden's cyborg enhancements overlay on the environment around him. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration AR elements even feature in cutscenes]].
77* AutobotsRockOut: Every boss battle is accompanied by an electric guitar-laden VillainSong, discussing their motivations and points of view.
78* AuthorTract: Expect to hear many, many conversations about why the United States is irresponsible.
79* AxCrazy: Raiden's {{Child Soldier|s}} "Jack the Ripper" persona takes psychotic glee in killing and battle.
80* AwesomeButImpractical:
81** Doktor comments that Metal Gears are cool, but also impractical as nuclear payload weapons. In his estimation, this is what led to development of smaller [[MiniMecha Unmanned Gears]] and {{cyborg}}s designed for regular warfare.
82** Raiden's assessment of Sundowner's scissor blades. Not that it stops him from picking them up and ripping up whatever he likes with them. He's proven right in gameplay: while they have some monstrous damage potential and can tear armor and bodies apart like you won't believe, it's very slow to swing and leaves Raiden vulnerable in between moves. While it can be charged to deal even more damage, that still leaves him wide open to be interrupted.
83--->'''Raiden:''' Gimmicky shit like that has no place in a real fight.
84** The Fox Blade pre-order bonus blade is the sword of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Gray Fox]], and at full strength can rip the crap out of anything sans bosses in one to two hits. On the other hand, it's not very effective for going for S ranks, and it has a short blade mode time.
85** Out of curiosity, Raiden asks Voigt if he could recover energy from civilian cyborgs. Voigt notes that this wouldn't be possible since they wouldn't have the part Raiden needs in the first place, since they wouldn't need something that powerful when they have electric batteries for a normal life.
86** The spaceship Sunny helped develop is capable of transporting someone from the USA to the likes of Pakistan in about half an hour, but Raiden finds out firsthand through a very uncomfortable flight that it wasn't directly meant for passengers and is planned to be a cargo ship for the International Space Station.
87* BackStab: Known as the "Ninja Kill". You can inflict a OneHitKill on enemies by sneaking up on them, either from behind (which will have Raiden stab them literally InTheBack) or [[DeathFromAbove from above]] (which has Raiden [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impale the opponent]], pinning them to the floor with his sword).
88* BadassBoast: Raiden gives the following one to Monsoon after reawakening his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide "Jack the Ripper" persona]].
89--> '''Raiden''': That nickname you love ''so'' much... Wanna know how I got it? Actually, why don't I give you a demonstration? I think it's time for Jack... [[PreMortemOneLiner to LET 'ER RIP!]]
90* BadassNormal:
91** Boris shows up as backup ''to a cyborg fight'' (albeit in an armored vehicle with a really big gun).
92** [[spoiler:Jetstream Sam has basically no cybernetic enhancements besides his right arm, and is able to clean full-body converted cyborg Raiden's clock at the beginning of the game and prove an intimidating foe near the end. Keep in mind Raiden is already capable of throwing HumongousMecha into the air and deflecting bullets with a flick of his sword]].
93* BaitAndSwitchComment: Raiden delivers one to [[spoiler:Armstrong after he thinks he's [[BreakThemByTalking successfully converted him to his ideology]] by effortlessly bashing him around like he did with Sam]].
94-->'''Raiden:''' [[ArcWords Maybe I misjudged you]].
95-->'''[[spoiler:Armstrong]]:''' [[HopeSpot Am I finally getting through]]? I'll rid this world of pointless wars, Jack.
96-->'''Raiden:''' I was wrong about you, Senator. You're not greedy. [[spoiler: You're '''bat-shit insane!''']]
97* BareHandedBladeBlock: [[spoiler:Armstrong]] blocks Raiden's sword with his own arm, thanks to him being augmented by nanomachines. He even [[spoiler:breaks his normal sword this way, which is why Sam's superior sword is his only hope]].
98* BattleAgainstTheSunset: The final battle between Raiden and Jetstream Sam takes place in the Colorado desert with the sun setting in the background.
99* BattleInTheRain:
100** It starts to rain as Raiden fights Monsoon, fittingly enough given the latter's codename and the former [[spoiler:being consumed by his Ripper persona]].
101** Raiden fights Sundowner on the top floor of World Marshal during a heavy rain storm.
102* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Raiden kills the leader of the Winds of Destruction and sees to it the children kidnapped by the group have a chance at a normal life. However, Raiden is now fighting a new war against World Marshal, echoing the words of Snake and Big Boss that one can never truly escape the battlefield. Not to mention that the collapse of the Patriots hasn't led to the death of Liquid's [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots war economy]], especially with people like Armstrong around.]]
103* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn:
104** When you knock Sam's sword out of his hand, it will always land tip down.
105** When fighting [[spoiler:Armstrong]], he will do an attack that will knock your sword out of your hand; again, it always lands tip down.
106* BloodierAndGorier: Gameplay focuses on cutting enemies into hundreds of bloody bits, instead of sneaking around and shooting as in the ''Solid'' games. Subverted with the Japanese version of the game, as all the blood in the game is [[BlackBlood changed from red to white]], albeit as a deliberate artistic decision rather than censorship (given that [[spoiler:Sam]] bleeds regular old red blood even in that version).
107* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:In the fight against Armstrong, Raiden gets his ass kicked to the point where he's coughing up blood. Armstrong also coughs up blood himself when Raiden rams his hand through his chest.]]
108* BloodKnight:
109** Raiden begins moving towards his battle-loving "Jack the Ripper" persona again, after his failure to protect Prime Minister N'Mani from Desperado Enforcement LLC in the prologue. It gets to the point where he gleefully massacres a cyborg ''police'' unit later in the game.
110** Sundowner doesn't care one bit and even seems ''delighted'' by how the company he more or less runs [[UnwillingRoboticization kidnaps children and turns them into cyborgs]] and then teaches them to commit war crimes. His personal philosophy is basically that war is good, no matter what. He even calls UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror "The good old days after 9/11."
111-->'''Sundowner:''' I'LL BATHE IN YOUR BLOOD!
112* BodyBackupDrive: Cyborgs that are "killed" by having their body destroyed can survive if their brain case is intact, since this can be retrieved and transplanted into a new body. [[spoiler:The Winds of Destruction seem to have backups of this kind, though only Mistral and Monsoon's are seen, and even then they're being piloted by AIs.]]
113* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Desperado has been removing the brains of hundreds of children and placing them in a cyborg skull casing for VR training to brainwash the children into becoming cyborg war criminals.]]
114* BonusFeatureFailure: The H.F. Long Sword is unlocked by ranking first place in 20 extremely difficult optional VR missions. A more powerful Murasama sword can be unlocked simply by completing the story once on ''any'' difficulty. However, the H.F. Long Sword has the benefit that it can be used to achieve the "Naked and Unloved" title, since unlockables in VR Missions are not erased when starting a new game.
115* BookEnds: [[spoiler:The game begins and ends with Raiden brandishing his cool carrying case that contains his sword, before going into battle. The first boss of the game is Metal Gear RAY. The penultimate boss is Metal Gear EXCELSUS, both of which have oddly familiar projectile attacks and massive blades. You even defeat them by throwing them through the air by their blade arms after catching them in a BareHandedBladeBlock.]]
116* BossArenaRecovery: Every boss fight includes either mooks, destroyable projectiles, or item containers you can cut up for health and fuel cells.
117* BossOnlyLevel: File 06 consists of nothing but a BossBattle with Samuel Rodrigues.
118* BossRush:
119** The final three chapters involve fighting six bosses with only a few enemy encounters in between: [[spoiler:you fight robot duplicates of Mistral and Monsoon, then you fight Sundowner, then Jetstream Sam, then Metal Gear Excelsus, and finally defeat Senator Armstrong]].
120** The PC version adds the option to fight all the bosses one after the other without going through their stages.
121* BottleEpisode: R-06, with only three characters (Raiden, Sam, and Wolf), one background, and two cutscenes.
122* BottomlessMagazines: Sam's AR-15 scabbard never needs to be reloaded despite explicitly using blanks loaded in the magazine to shoot out his katana.
123* {{Bowdlerise}}: In the Japanese version, enemies bleed white blood like Raiden in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', instead of the red blood as in other regions, and any cutscenes that involve non-cyborgs getting killed use different camera angles so less gore and violence is shown.
124* BraggingRightsReward: The HF Long Sword gotten for placing first in all the VR Missions. Considering the difficulty of the VR Missions, most players will have a maxed [[InfinityMinusOneSword HF Murasama Sword]] and will already have a preferred range, making its strength and reach bonuses pointless.
125* BreakMeter: Most bosses can be briefly staggered if you push your offensive enough, which will stop their current attack in their tracks (or for stronger attacks, outright send them flying). Even bosses that are in a blocking stance can be staggered this way, particularly if you use heavy attacks or Ripper Mode.
126* BreakThemByTalking: In Denver, Jetstream Sam gives a brutal speech to Raiden, pointing out that [[WhatMeasureIsAMook the cyborgs he slaughters are all humans]] and that many of them were forced into the job by socioeconomic issues, while claiming that [[NotSoDifferentRemark this makes him no different from them]]. This leaves Raiden emotionally devastated as he imagines the thoughts of every enemy he fights, until [[spoiler:he decides that Sam is right, he is nothing but a killer... [[GoneHorriblyRight so he shouldn't feel bad about embracing his "Jack the Ripper" persona and slaughtering them]]]].
127* BrickJoke: The opening cutscene to Chapter 1 establishes that Courtney ''will'' knock over her question mark-handled coffee mug. [[spoiler:She finally does it in the ending cutscene, [[SubvertedTrope but Kevin catches it]] and then [[DoubleSubverted drops it himself when Boris butts in]].]]
128* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:Blade Wolf considered Sam to be "dependable" until his BreakingSpeech and attempted MindRape of Raiden.]]
129* BruceLeeClone: In true Platinum fashion, there are hidden Dwarf Gekkos imitating a human body, and fight with martial arts, complete with the Bruce Lee swagger. There's a trophy for finding and defeating all of them.
130* BrutalBonusLevel:
131** The VR Missions can be insanely frustrating. ''[[LuckBasedMission Even the enemy's choice of attack or death animation can determine success.]]'' Mission 1 has a gold time limit of 40 seconds, the ability to insta-kill the Gekko depends on if it does a charge attack, and your time can easily be sabotaged should the last enemy decide to dramatically fall to his knees before exploding.
132** Mission 11 requires you to know about the invisible midair platforms over a set of camera turrets to be able to finish it in the required amount of time. The platforms are visible if you toggle Augment Mode, but good luck figuring that out since it turns off automatically when you use Ninja Run and most people wouldn't even consider the possibility since none of the other checkpoint missions require you to use it.
133* BulletTime: A fully charged Blade Mode slows down time to set up directional slashes.
134* BullyingADragon:
135** The Winds of Destruction mock Raiden's past and reasons for fighting, not realizing [[SociopathicHero he's actually a bigger sociopath than any of them]].
136--->'''Raiden:''' That [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast nickname]] you love ''so'' much. Want to know how I got it? Actually, [[BadassBoast why don't I give you a demonstration]]?
137** {{Subverted}} with [[spoiler: Senator Armstrong]]. He spends the whole game seeming like an arrogant but ordinary human, and recklessly confronts Raiden even after the latter has plowed through his army like butter and [[spoiler: trashed the latest Metal Gear.]] However, when he actually ''attacks'' Raiden, [[spoiler: it turned out he had superpowers via nanomachines all along, and was actually ''stronger'' than Raiden the whole time. It's an uphill struggle for Raiden to win and he only manages it with help.]]
138* {{Bulungi}}: The African country during the game's prologue, despite every other level taking place in named, real world locales. It doesn't even get a ''name''. Oddly enough, the flags on the Prime Minister's car resembles the flag that once belonged to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Biafra Biafra]] before it was reintegrated into Nigeria.
139* CallBack: Multiple events from ''[=MGS2=]'' and ''[=MGS4=]'' are discussed throughout ''[=MGR=]''.
140** If asked, Courtney will explain the history of the SOP system from ''[=MGS4=]''.
141** Raiden relates to Kevin how at the end of ''[=MGS2=]'', he learned his code name came from the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII "Raiden"/"Jack" fighter plane.
142** When Raiden loses an arm during the prologue, he'll moan [[HereWeGoAgain "Not again..."]], referencing how he lost both arms in ''[=MGS4=]''.
143** Raiden asks Blade Wolf about some of the crazy gibberish the AI Colonel in ''[=MGS2=]'' was spouting: they come to the conclusion that Gubayama might've been a sumo wrestler based on the "yama" part of the name, but who or what Shibomnigee is is lost on them. He's also revealed in a call with Doktor to have read up quite a bit on AI and what determines them to be truly intelligent after his "memorable" chats with the AI Colonel.
144** When battling Gekko, [=QTEs=] can allow Raiden to pull off some of the moves he used to kill them in cutscenes during ''[=MGS4=]''.
145* CanineCompanion: Blade Wolf accompanies you on a number of missions to scout ahead and advise you over codec.
146* CastingGag: Monsoon is not the first cyborg to be voiced by Creator/MasashiEbara, extra hilarity being that the other was named ''[[Anime/AngelCop Raiden]]''.
147* CentralTheme: This game is a ''love letter'' to the themes of nearly all ''MGS'' games, so there are a few of them that weave together.
148** The driving conflict behind Raiden's character development is the question of when it's OK to ignore rules in the pursuit of justice. Raiden does this through his [[SociopathicHero Jack the Ripper persona]], and explores the issue similarly to Big Boss in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker''.
149** [[invoked]][[MemeticMutation Mim]][[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality esis]] was a very important theme in ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', and returns here: it's questioned how much worth Raiden had if he didn't have any control over his own destiny, as his ideals and ideas were governed by others, thus questioning the accuracy of "free will."
150** The core theme at the heart of the story is whether or not the strong should use their strength to protect those weaker than themselves, or to ruthlessly exploit their power for their own gain, or as [[spoiler:Armstrong]] puts it, "Purge the Weak."
151* ChangingOfTheGuard: From Snake to Raiden. From a thematic standpoint, Snake left the world behind at just the right time, as warfare and soldiers within it were evolving to a point that even his enhanced genetics could no longer handle. By passing on the mantle to Raiden, he leaves behind a successor who stands a chance in the new world.
152* ChargedAttack: The [[MightyGlacier Bloodlust]] is powerful enough as it is, but you can hold down the attack for more damage and anything killed by the charged attacks is cut in half automatically. The skill upgrades add a second and third attack which can also be individually charged. When its damage is fully upgraded, the charged strikes become powerful enough to instantly kill non-boss [=UGs=] and outright skip entire phases of boss battles.
153** You can also buy the [[IaijutsuPractitioner "Iaido"]] move, which is also charged.
154* ChevalierVsRogue: Raiden actually ''is'' a ninja (a cyborg ninja, in fact). TheRival, Jetstream Sam, is essentially a cyborg samurai (he even fights with a [[VibroWeapon High Frequency Blade]] made from his father's antique katana). Bonus points for the fact that Raiden started the game talking about his admiration for Bushido (the samurai's code of honour) but had started to abandon it [[spoiler: and embrace traits of his [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Jack the Ripper]] persona]] by that point.
155* ChildSoldiers: Aside from delving into more detail about Raiden's past as one of these, the main plot is set off by Desperado kidnapping children to essentially mass produce them.
156* ClassicCheatCode: Inputting the Konami code allows you to access the [[HarderThanHard Very Hard and Revengeance difficulty levels]] without having to beat the game first.
157* CleanCut: Just about anything Raiden's sword slices will be cut through with a perfectly straight slice. One of the only exceptions is [[spoiler:Sam, who only gets a nasty gash and stab in the chest and dies due to blood loss while in one piece.]]
158* CloseOnTitle: Unlike most examples, this happens in TheStinger, acting as a form of BookEnds.
159* ClusterFBomb: Compared to previous ''Metal Gear'' games, there is a ton of four-lettered words uttered. Steven Armstrong easily takes the cake as the most foul-mouthed character in the entire series.
160-->'''Armstrong:''' Fuck all these limpdick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats! Fuck this 24/7 internet spew of trivia and celebrity BULLSHIT! Fuck "American Pride!" Fuck the MEDIA! [[PunctuatedForEmphasis FUCK! ALL OF IT!]]
161* TheCoatsAreOff: Mistral, Sundowner, and [[spoiler:Armstrong]] all remove their coats before their boss fights.
162* CollapsibleHelmet: Mistral aside, every major cyborg has head or face protection that slides into place when they get serious. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome And even then, its faults are shown when]] [[spoiler:Armstrong wedges his fingers in-between Raiden's faceplate and rips it off before punching him in the face at the beatdown atop Excelsus.]]
163* CombatStilettos:
164** Raiden is such a fan of these that they're built into his cyborg body, which makes sense as Raiden can fight with blades attached to his feet due to this as he has rubberized soles which combined with his ability to clench his feet without restrictions, basically turns them into two extra hands shaped like crab pincers.
165** Mistral has a more exaggerated pair, resembling literal stilettos.
166* {{Combos}}: Well, this is an action game after all. In fact, one of the major drawbacks of the [[MacheteMayhem Bloodlust]] is that it originally only has one attack, although skill upgrades allows you to do up to a three-hit combo.
167* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Just to show you how staggering the jump from Hard to Very Hard is, the first enemies you encounter in R-01 are three PMC solders ''and a [[LightningBruiser Mastiff UG.]]'' Said UG has a new attack that knocks you up in the air, slams you, and stomps on your lifeless body to make sure you stay dead. (The combo itself takes off 30% health ''each hit.'')
168* ContinuityNod:
169** Raiden gains power-up points from Doktor by cutting off the left forearms of enemy soldiers, a reference to Gray Fox cutting off one of Revolver Ocelot's forearms in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid''.
170** [[DownloadableContent DLC]] costumes include Gray Fox's exoskeleton from ''[=MGS1=]'' and Raiden's original cyborg body from ''[=MGS4=]''.
171** Japanese DLC includes a wooden sword that contains the spirit of the late Solid Snake (which speaks when it strikes).
172** Before his upgrade, Raiden's HUD is visually the same as the one in ''[=MGS4=]''.
173** Sunny has a blue rose hair clip on the left side of her hair, the same side Naomi had placed the rose on during their cooking lesson in ''[=MGS4=]''. Her attire, a set of coveralls with the top pulled down, showing off a tank top, [[WholeCostumeReference is identical]] (sans hat) to that of her mother Olga in the Tanker chapter of ''[=MGS2=]''.
174** Sunny's "this is a no smoking flight" is a nod to one of the mission briefings in ''[=MGS4=]''.
175** Sunny will comment "science always ends up being used for war", echoing Sokolov and Otacon's laments in ''[=MGS3=]'' and ''[=MGS4=]'' respectively.
176** The eye that Raiden loses during the first chapter is his left eye, the same eye that Solidus lost during the Harrier Fight in ''[=MGS2=]''.
177** The final duel takes place on top of a ruined Metal Gear, like in ''[=MGS1=]'', ''[=MGS2=]'', and ''[=MGS4=]''.
178** Most of Raiden's combat moves are taken directly from cutscenes of ''[=MGS4=]''. Defensive Offense, Raiden's dodge move, is essentially the same move he used to [[spoiler:finish off Solidus]] in ''[=MGS2=]'' -- flanking the enemy and slashing them in one motion.
179** The spaceflight company Sunny works for is called "Solis", which is spelled incredibly similarly to "Solidus".
180** At the end of the cutscene preceding the second phase of [[spoiler:Armstrong]]'s boss fight, they both assume the exact same fighting stances that Old Snake and Liquid Ocelot assumed prior to their own fight atop Outer Haven in ''[=MGS4=]''.
181* ControllableHelplessness:
182** In the prologue, after Sam cuts Raiden's eye and severs his arm, the hero can do nothing but weakly flail his sword and tumble around until the next cutscene is triggered.
183** Downplayed before the fight with Monsoon. Raiden suffers a HeroicBSOD courtesy of Sam forcing him to listen to the thoughts of the cyborgs he's fighting, and becomes severely handicapped as a result, only able to do wide, inaccurate swings and forced to walk everywhere. He has to maneuver around enemies instead of facing them directly, at least until he meets Sam and Monsoon.
184* ColonelKilgore: Sundowner. He got his nickname not just from the California wildfire, but because he committed so many war crimes during his service in UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank that the blood looked like a setting red sun]]. And he [[AxCrazy LOVED it]]. He also believes that the war economy is an objectively good thing and that war is a part of human nature, so there's no reason to stop it from happening.
185-->'''Sundowner:''' All we're saying is...GIVE WAR A CHANCE!
186* CorruptPolitician: Colorado Senator and 2020 Presidential candidate Steven Armstrong genuinely wants to restore America as the sole world superpower, [[spoiler:albeit by instigating a new Revolutionary War.]]
187* CounterAttack: "Perfect parries" from parrying attacks at just the right time will have Raiden instantly retaliate with a counterattack, which will stagger many enemies and leave them wide open. On Revengeance difficulty, this counter becomes a borderline OneHitKill against even bosses that fail to get out of the way in time.
188* CowboyCop: {{Deconstructed|Trope}}. As the game progresses, Raiden abandons legal and social institutions, considering them deadweight in his desire to bring "justice." Rather than applaud his actions, the game calls him out on this attitude, showing that Raiden is resorting to a "MightMakesRight" philosophy, causing untold damage because of personal conviction, making him no better than the villains. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Armstrong]] [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame calls him his successor based on the willingness to do whatever is necessary]], and the game remains troublingly silent, questioning whether Raiden's victories were worth the personal sacrifices, as he becomes more and more of an anti-hero by sacrificing his body (becoming a creepy cyborg), his mind ([[spoiler:accepting Jack the Ripper again just to finish the mission]]), and finally his principles ([[spoiler:"''This isn't my sword.''"]])
189* TheCowl: [[spoiler:The ending appears to imply that Raiden is now essentially Franchise/{{Batman}}, albeit with ''none'' of his [[ThouShaltNotKill inhibitions]], declaring a one-man war on World Marshal and its allies.]]
190%%* CrossCounter: One of the quick-time events during the final phase of [[spoiler:Armstrong]]'s fight involves this.
191* CurbStompBattle: Jetstream Sam effortlessly defeats Raiden in the prologue, slashing the hero's left arm and eye. The protagonist would be dead, had it not been for Boris' timely rescue.
192* CutenessProximity: If you happen to turn your head right to view a PMC during Monsoon's lecture, a ''cat'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-87d7_D1B0A&t=1m12s will go to the soldier and he will pet it.]]
193* CutsceneIncompetence:
194** In Denver, Raiden starts doubting himself when fighting cops whose fears have been sealed by nanomachines so that they will do their work. Raiden listens to their thoughts and can barely stop them in the cutscene. However, in the gameplay, the player can execute Zandatsu on them so that Raiden will rip the cops' spine while Raiden yells "Dead on!" or "Bull's eye!" as usual. The player may even opt to not kill any of the enemies with some well-timed Blade Mode strikes or with the HF Wooden Sword. In the next cutscene and part of the gameplay, Raiden is exhausted and barely responds to the player's actions.
195** Going for a NoDamageRun on the FinalBoss means avoiding all his attacks, but in cutscenes Raiden still takes a beating and until the final part of the fight can barely stand.
196* CutscenePowerToTheMax:
197** Sundowner shows himself to be very agile in the first level as he makes off with N'mani, jumping about the city. In his boss fight, he's much slower, preferring to use explosive shield plates to defend.
198** Falling from a building in-game results in instant death or at the very least a mission failed, but falling [[spoiler:from a helicopter at near terminal velocity leaves a bit of a dent in the concrete and a very confused police force.]]
199* {{Cyberpunk}}: While Cyberpunk themes have always been present to some degree or another in the ''Metal Gear'' storyline, they are much more apparent here. Since the fall of the Patriots, the world has experienced a vast technological boom. Most military forces now include cyborgs, there are self-piloting vehicles everywhere, and holograms are used in public places for advertising, to name a few examples.
200* DarkerAndEdgier: There's certainly a lot of instances of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTBFty61jw4 strong cursing]] in a series that usually doesn't do it too often. It's also a lot gorier. How gorier? Enemies can be easily sliced to ribbons and jets of blood spray from them as you hack them apart.
201* DeadpanSnarker: Both Raiden ''[[SnarkToSnarkCombat and]]'' Wolf:
202-->'''Wolf''': Raiden. It would appear your only way forward would be to return to the surface. You will exit into an evacuated commercial district. [...] Do not be distracted by the advertisements. You are not here as a tourist.\
203'''Raiden''': ''(sarcastic)'' Sure. I'll just buy a quick souvenir or two for Rose and that'll be it.\
204'''Wolf''': Raiden, we must hurry.\
205'''Raiden''': ''({{beat}})'' Remind me to teach you about sarcasm sometime.\
206'''Wolf''': I understand your attempts at humor. I simply do not find them entertaining.
207* DeathByIrony: When Blade Wolf accepts the BigBad's ideology, determining his "own freedom" and deciding to "fight his own wars", he gives [[spoiler: Sam's sword]] to Raiden, allowing the hero to triumph over the antagonist.
208* DeathByOriginStory: Raiden's failure to protect the Prime Minister is one of the reasons for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
209* DegradedBoss: The first Grad[[note]]except in Very Hard and Revengeance modes[[/note]] that the player encounters serves as the boss of R-02. Grads in subsequent missions are weaker and less aggressive. The Fenrir-type enemies that first appear in R-03 are also weaker and ''much'' less intelligent versions of LQ-[=84i=], the sub-boss in R-01. [[LampshadeHanging Wolf even mocks how stupid the Fenrir models are.]]
210* DeliberatelyNonLethalAttack: One of the possible weapons that Raiden can unlock is the NerfArm of a (mostly) non-lethal high-frequency wooden sword. Unlike the regular kills caused by other swords, where the enemies get sliced to pieces, the enemies defeated by this weapon just fall unconscious and fade away.
211* DemotedToExtra: Metal Gear RAY shows up as a tutorial boss [[spoiler:and is dispatched by a pre-upgrade Raiden]]. As a consolation prize, this model makes the [=RAYs=] in ''Sons of Liberty'' look like bath toys and Desperado thought it would be a better idea to replace the water cutter with a plasma cannon.
212* DestroyTheSecurityCamera: Cameras in this game are mounted on guns, and will start firing upon Raiden upon spotting him. Luckily, Raiden can use his weapons to destroy them.
213* {{Determinator}}: Hacking the legs off cyborg {{mooks}} will cause them to crawl after you ''[[BadassBoast whilst announcing they're still not dead.]]'' With armoured mooks, the same can be done with all four of their limbs -- they'll still try to crawl towards you, but unlike the other mooks, who can still try to attack, the best they can do is bleed on you.
214* DifficultyLevels: The game can be played on Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Revengeance]].
215* DirtyCop: As Raiden drives into Denver, a cop ''shoots'' at him, ''before'' telling him to pull over. After a high-speed chase, Raiden finally comes out with his hands up... and the cops just laugh at him and declare that he is threatening an officer, and therefore, lethal force is authorized. [[spoiler:The cops are explicitly stated to be on World Marshal's payroll, and since World Marshal is both allied with Desperado and know that Raiden has discovered their brain smuggling scheme, they likely gave the cops orders to kill Raiden on sight.]]
216* DisposableVagrant: Desperado is kidnapping vagrant kids to [[spoiler:turn them into cyborg ChildSoldiers.]]
217* DisproportionateRetribution: As guns are all but a nuisance against cyborgs, those not using specialized melee weapons ''have'' to resort to this out of necessity, be it RPG rounds, high explosives or a BFG.
218* DistractedByTheSexy:
219** Distracting girly pictures return! You, the player, can also find centerfolds hidden around the game, covered by police tape that you can slice away to see the uncovered image.
220** Players of the original series will know that they can leave dirty magazines around so enemies will get distracted by it for a while. Sadly, cyborg inhibitors prevent them from being interested in one, let alone you being unable to find usable ones anyway. 3D Photo Frames however, are mini projectors which display a holographic shapely female body which gets the attention of ''any'' average cyborg. This lets you either slip by unseen or open them up for a stealth kill.
221* DownerBeginning: File-0 ends with Prime Minister N'Mani dead, Raiden losing an eye (one of the very few parts of his original human body he has left), and Desperado getting away. That's not to mention all of the property damage caused by Metal Gear RAY.
222* DownloadableContent: Two mission packs have been released that focus on Blade Wolf and Samuel Rodrigues. There's also a set of pre-order armors that double the maximum amount of repair nanopaste, grenades, or [=RPGs=] you can carry, Raiden's ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' armor, an armor that resembles Grey Fox's exoskeleton, and his overpowered sword, as well as a set of VR missions with more varied circumstances, such as a minigun turret shooting gallery, several platformer levels, levels where you play as the Dwarf Gekko, and a sidescrolling level that makes use of Raiden's temporary unarmed moveset. The Japanese version of the VR Missions also came with an exclusive weapon based on wooded sword that speaks with Solid Snake's voice when equipped.
223* DontExplainTheJoke:
224-->'''Raiden:''' Yeah, let's throw him a bone.\
225'''Blade Wolf:''' Wordplay: my exoskeleton resembles a canine; canines enjoy bones. Amusing on two levels.
226** The same mission introduces George, a boy from Guyana who speaks in dialect. His English is largely comprehensible, but everything he says is subtitled anyway.
227--->"Mi? Wuh da rass ayu fuh do here?"\
228("Me? What the hell are you doing here?")
229* DoubleEdgedBuff: Sam in the DLC can [[PracticalTaunt taunt]] his enemies, which causes them to glow red, attack more aggressively and makes their attacks do block damage along with making them uncounterable, but it also makes them more predictable and greatly lowers their defense, allowing Sam to do double damage to most enemies and cut weaker enraged enemies apart with his normal attacks. This also works splendidly against bosses as well.
230* DoubleUnlock: [[PowerCopying Boss weapons]] and [[AndYourRewardIsClothes alternate costumes]] need to be purchased with Battle Points after unlocking them, including, most egregiously, costumes that were already DownloadableContent to begin with.
231* DramaticShattering: Raiden replenishes his life and fuel cells by removing a cyborg's spine, before making it explode by crushing it in his hand.
232* DualWielding: Sundowner has a funky variation on this. He can wield his two machetes in either hand, or he can pop out a little clamp from his right arm to hold his second blade, so he swings both blades with one arm, like scissors. The additional mechanical arm also appears on Raiden's arm when he wields the weapon.
233* DubPersonalityChange: A slight but noticeable one with Armstrong. While his definition of what constitutes a "weak" person is left vague in the English dub, it's spelled out much more explicitly in the Japanese script. Among those he considers weak are "[[VirginShaming herbivores]][[note]]In Japan, "herbivore" refers to men who have no interest in getting married or having children rather than vegetarians, although it still plays on the idea that RealMenEatMeat as the term is often used in a negative and emasculating light[[/note]] and [[{{Camp}} metrosexuals]]", making his Japanese version a bit of a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain, which consequently makes his Social Darwinist agenda more overtly discriminatory.
234* {{Eagleland}}: The question of whether America can restore its Flavor 1 values after years of being brainwashed into a warmongering Flavor 2 version by the Patriots becomes central to the final act of the game. [[spoiler:Then it becomes a question of ''how'' America should become Flavor 1, whether by forcefully rebuilding the culture, or letting things work themselves out.]]
235* EarlyBirdCameo: This incarnation of Raiden appeared before ''Metal Gear Rising'' was released as a playable character in ''VideoGame/PlayStationAllStarsBattleRoyale''.
236* EarlyGameHell: The intro level on Very Hard and Revengeance, since you don't have access to any of Raiden's upgrades or skills, yet the game expects you to take down a Gekko and a group of normal cyborgs right when you begin. The following enemies are even tougher, but thankfully you can just run past them to the next checkpoint and only the RAY fights are ranked. By the time Raiden lands in Abkhazia, the odds manage to even up a little, since you can now play with the new skills and weapons that Raiden's new body gets.
237* EasterEgg:
238** In the public demo's VR training tutorial, you can create a path up onto the [[BorderPatrol wall surrounding the VR space]] using blade mode and discover a [[MythologyGag wearable cardboard box]] there.
239** Cutting the last cardboard hostage in the public demo's VR training tutorial [[{{Fanservice}} reduces her to an underwear and bra]] instead of slashing her in half.
240** The public demo VR training; if you cut up all the watermelons in a certain order, a giant watermelon will float down from the heavens for you to cut up.
241** If you input the KonamiCode at the title screen, Raiden will [[TitleDrop say the name of the game]] and the Very Hard and Revengeance difficulties are unlocked immediately, rather than requiring the player to beat the game once. Doubles as a ShoutOut to ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'', and ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}''. In the PC version this also unlocks Jetstream, Blade Wolf, the VR missions, and all codecs and cutscenes.
242** In various areas, you can cut open a cardboard box to find a guard hiding in it. The first time you do this, Kevin wonders aloud "... where'd he learn that from?" Renders of them can also be seen in the list of unlockables, and all of them are imitating a pose from some piece of artwork for a prior ''Metal Gear'' game.
243** In one of the VR Missions, if you don't attack the last wave of dwarf gekkos, they will form the letter "[[Creator/PlatinumGames P]]."
244* EliteMooks: There are the longsword-wielding Custom Cyborgs that you must parry three times in a row to CounterAttack as well as the bombsuit-clad, hammer-wielding Heavily Armed Cyborgs who have {{Unblockable Attack}}s. Both of them are also better-armored than normal and have InjuredVulnerability.
245* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When Sundowner [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice kills]] N'mani, his blood gets splattered on both Raiden and Sam. Raiden doesn't even flinch, but Sam immediately wipes it off with a disdainful groan.
246* EstablishingSeriesMoment: You fight your very first boss roughly ten minutes into the first mission. Said boss is [[HumongousMecha a Metal Gear]] with sword-arms, a beam-cannon for a head, and so many rockets [[SteppingStonesInTheSky you will use them as platforms to get to it]].
247** In relation to the Metal Gear franchise as whole, Raiden's first boss fight is against a Metal Gear RAY, a single one of which was a late-game ordeal to fight with just an RPG in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Sons of Liberty]]'', much less an entire horde of them. Here Raiden is tossing one over his shoulder and slashing it into bits, establishing how far he has come from that game and how much more powerful this game's new villains are.
248* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Most people refer to your German cyborg specialist as "Doktor". His real name is revealed by paying attention to his CODEC: it's Wilhelm Voigt.
249%%* EverythingFades: Handy when you want to stealth an area.
250* EvilSoundsRaspy: Raiden's voice grows harsher and more guttural when he slips into his "Jack the Ripper" persona.
251* ExactWords: Raiden's sword is a tool of justice, not used in anger or for revenge. [[spoiler:''Sam's'' sword]], on the other hand, is no such tool, so Raiden gladly uses it to murder the BigBad.
252* ExpositoryGameplayLimitation: Whenever Raiden is making an in-gameplay Codec call, he can walk around, but can't run or attack.
253* {{Expy}}: The members of Winds of Destruction have many similarities, in terms of role and physical appearance. Most notably [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Dead Cell]], and to a lesser extent, [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid FOXHOUND]].
254** Jetstream Sam: Vamp [[note]]Both of them serve as Raiden's [[TheRival rival]]s and have long, dark hair. Sam's catchphrase might even reference Vamp's flamenco-flavored fighting style.[[/note]]
255** Mistral: Sniper Wolf [[note]]Both of them are only women in their respective group and enjoy the company of dogs.[[/note]]
256** Monsoon: Psycho Mantis [[note]]Both of them use their power to attack using parts of the environment, as well as deliver a BreakingSpeech to the main lead.[[/note]]
257** Sundowner: Fatman and Vulcan Raven [[note]]All three have the heaviest frames in their respective groups, and all of them have exploding weapons.[[/note]]
258* EyepatchOfPower: Raiden's AR visor in the prologue is a retractable cybernetic eyepatch over his left eye. After he loses that eye in the process of the level, he starts using a black piece of cloth for an eyepatch, acting as a second eye since it's got millions of tiny photoreceptors on it and can act as a compound eye; Doktor didn't have time to whip up another [[ElectronicEyes cybernetic eye]] for Raiden before the mission, so he improvised. So, Raiden has all the coolness benefits of an eyepatch and none of the realistic disadvantages, even mentioning he thinks his vision is ''better'' than before with it.
259* EyeScream: Raiden loses his left eye to Sam early on. He has to wear a special eyepatch over it which is a temporary replacement for it until an artificial eye can be made.
260* FacePalmOfDoom: When Raiden knocks his sword out of his hand during the battle with him, Sam switches to an unarmed fighting style and starts charging around the battlefield with his fist raised; if he hits Raiden, he grabs his face and slams his skull into the ground in a spray of blood and rubble.
261* FailedASpotCheck: By equipping the Mariachi disguise and a [[MobileShrubbery cardboard box]], you can sneak through war-zones, sewers and corporate offices as a cardboard box wearing a sombrero. None of the guards will find this even ''slightly'' suspicious.
262-->'''Raiden:''' ''[[GratuitousSpanish Adiós, Amigos!]]''
263* {{Fanservice}}: Saving a civilian and slashing them will strip them to their underclothes. It does, however, come with a [[WhatTheHellHero berating codec call.]]
264* FeelsNoPain: Raiden and the cyborgs don't really feel the damage received due to inhibitors, but it gives them an indescribable feeling that lets them know that they've been hurt, but not enough to cause them to recoil. It's when Doc turns Raiden's inhibitors off that he gets really nasty.
265* FinishingMove:
266** Blade Mode, where you momentarily slow down time and cut an enemy to shreds. Whether you [[BreakMeter weaken]], stagger, or [[BackStab stealth kill]] an opponent, you are actively encouraged to deliver the final blow in this manner. This is required for Raiden to use his Zandatsu technique, allowing him to steal enemies' fuel cells and replenish his own supply in addition to health.
267** Executions involve Raiden slamming down, vaulting under, or sending a stunned enemy flying while breaking the rest of their armor in the process, allowing for a mid-air Blade Mode kill.
268* FirstNameBasis:
269** The crew of MSC address themselves by their first names (Boris, Kevin, and Courtney).
270** All the Winds of Destruction refer to Raiden as "Jack" (sometimes completing his nickname, "Jack the Ripper"), even though he claims to have left that name behind. It overlaps a little with TermsOfEndangerment.
271* FisticuffsBoss: [[spoiler:Armstrong breaks Raiden's sword, and he decides to just fight the guy hand to hand. Can't do any real damage, though. During the final phase of his battle, he can disarm Raiden as well.]]
272* FiveFiveFive: When leaving Denver by stolen motorcycle, Raiden carves an apology into the sidewalk with a phone number that starts "111-555-".
273* FiveSecondForeshadowing: In the base in Mexico, Raiden comes across a set of organ-preserving units which he stops to look at and Voigt comments on how great they are at keeping organs fresh and safe. Given that the game literally stops to talk about this, you'd be expecting that Raiden has to throw something organic in there very soon. You're right. [[spoiler:Although it's not shown, Raiden put George's top and bottom half he severed to stop a Desperado scientist from killing him at gunpoint after George gave Raiden express permission to cut him in half even if he's going to die too. Thankfully the unit worked as intended and Voigt managed to save George with cyborg enhancements.]]
274* FlashFreezingCoolant: Raiden defeats [[spoiler:Mistral]] by tricking her into stabbing a coolant tank and slicing it further open while she's stuck, instantly freezing them and allowing Raiden to chop them to pieces.
275* FlatWhat: Raiden has a reaction like this as Doktor is explaining which parts of enemy cyborgs to salvage.
276-->'''Doktor:''' Oh, and their left hands, if you please.\
277'''Raiden:''' Excuse me?
278* FlunkyBoss: Many bosses will summon weaker enemies as backup during different phases of the battle. Raiden points out that this is to his advantage, since he can chop up the flunkies to instantly heal himself. Blade Wolf summons backup soldiers and a Gekko while he takes a break (saying, "Only a fool fights alone!"). Mistral is completely surrounded by Dwarf Gekkos at all times, so she can steal their arms to rebuild her arm-lance while the rest pin you down and occasionally throw what remains of them as explosive projectiles. Monsoon periodically throws most of World Marshal's hardware at you (not necessarily 'enemies', but filling the same niche). Sundowner has a bunch of attack helicopters taking potshots at you and he summons backup soldiers in his second stage. [[spoiler:Armstrong]] also summons upgraded Gekkos during the Metal Gear battle, but since they rarely last longer than 10 seconds due to the twin {{Wave Motion Gun}}s he's constantly sweeping the arena with, they also essentially function as mobile health packs for Raiden, assuming he makes it to their sparking torsos before they blow up on their own and avoids getting a face full of plasma in the process.
279* {{Flynning}}: Naturally, given all the sword fighting going on, but Sam is a particularly common user. He tends to do it to Raiden since he's the only opponent using an HF blade capable of withstanding such maneuvers without shattering in two.
280* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Sam's relative lack of cyborg parts is kind of obvious in hindsight. In the prologue, where Raiden and Sundowner are shown effortlessly leaping great distances, Sam waits for the helicopter winch to be lowered only a few feet above his head before jumping for it. Even then, he almost misses.]]
281* FriendlyFireproof: Civilians cannot be carved up because they're innocent and helpless, and attacking a cat [[EasterEgg causes it to dodge the slash with a backflip.]] There are a few instances in the game where enemies are holding civilians hostage. The presence of this trope makes firing a rocket launcher right at the hostage an easy solution.
282* FullConversionCyborg: Full-body cyborgs made using the same technology as Raiden, such as the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Winds of Destruction]] and assorted EliteMooks, are common. [[spoiler: [[TheDragon Sundowner]] is trying to use the process on ''children'' to turn them into ChildSoldiers, using Raiden's experiences as a template.]]
283* FunnyBackgroundEvent: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IfrghEcB4A During Monsoon's long speech on memes,]] if you look over to your right, you'll see one of the {{Dirty Cop}}s [[PetTheDog playing with a cat]], [[PunchClockVillain clearly disinterested in what his boss is rambling on about]]. He waves bye as it walks away.
284[[/folder]]
285
286[[folder:G-L]]
287* GameBreakingBug: [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS]]'s fight has significant scripting that changes the arena and the boss's model and behavior at the end of each phase, but this is camouflaged by the cutscenes of [[spoiler:Raiden chopping off its limbs]]. Since the Bloodlust weapon deals enough raw damage to skip phases on the spot, using them in this fight can ''crash the game''.
288* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
289** Entering a QuickTimeEvent against [[spoiler:Armstrong]] when the real fight begins does more damage to him than just attacking him, even though Raiden mostly uses his fists and when he tried attacking [[spoiler:Armstrong]] bareheaded before the most he could do was annoy him.
290** The cutscene after beating Sam shows him with dozens of small cuts and a large slash over his gut. Even if Raiden never activated the QTE that causes the slash or only uses the blunt HF Wooden Sword the whole fight.
291** Raiden's new body is supposed to be a drastic improvement to his old one he uses in the prologue, but aside from the new skills Blade Mode and Zandatsu he plays exactly the same.
292** Samuel Rodrigues is established as BadassNormal by easily keeping up with Raiden [[spoiler:despite not being an actual cyborg, just wearing a cybernetic enhancement suit. A single stab through his heart kills him]]. In his own DLC chapter when playing as him (before he even got the cyborg arm), he can take a chainsaw to the chest and get right back up.
293* GenghisGambit: Armstrong's ultimate plan is a variation: by using [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSIUS to create a FalseFlagOperation and reignite the Patriots' old War Economy by triggering a war with Pakistan, Armstrong hopes to shoot up the polls to popularity and use the War Economy to trigger a multi-faction Civil War in America and turning it into a Darwinist Libertarian paradise where every man will happily kill for their ideals.]]
294* GenreShift: ''Metal Gear Rising'' is a "Lightning Bolt Action" HackAndSlash game, rather than a "Tactical Espionage Action" StealthBasedGame, albeit with some stealth gameplay elements like OneHitKill [[BackStab stealth attacks]] and [[HackYourEnemy robotic enemy hacking]].
295* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: At the end of the game, there is the sudden appearance of [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS. Considering the gross amount of foreshadowing the ''Metal Gear Solid'' games put into the unveiling of the superweapons' existence, it's somewhat unexpected to find a giant crab mech appearing.]]
296* GoneHorriblyRight:
297** [[spoiler:Sam and Monsoon break Raiden's mind, convincing him that his "justice" motivation is to veil his bloodlust]]. This reawakens his Jack the Ripper personality, leaving them with a more formidable and now-psychopathic enemy to deal with (and which ends up being their undoing). [[spoiler:Although it's later implied that Sam deliberately did this so Raiden had a chance against Monsoon.]]
298** [[spoiler:Armstrong]], who believes "survival of the fittest" should govern the world, claims Raiden's murdering of those who stood in the way of "justice" makes their philosophies the same. [[spoiler:When Raiden then kills Armstrong, he unwittingly proves the Senator right; as Armstrong couldn't stop Raiden, the latter became top dog in his place and won the ability to carve his own path.]]
299* {{Gorn}}: Lampshaded during a conversation with Herr Doktor. Only someone completely traumatized and deranged would take pleasure in slashing apart real human beings. On the subject of the film genre, Doktor mentions no one living in a third world war zone would likely enjoy such movies, [[TakeThat only those seeking a false sensation of conquering the fear of death]].
300* GoroawaseNumber: As can be expected when Konami is involved, the license plate of Raiden's car is [[Creator/{{Konami}} 573]]-[[Creator/PlatinumGames PTG]].
301* GrandTheftPrototype: After Raiden defeats Blade Wolf, he decides to send his remains to Voigt to see if he can be salvaged. He succeeds, and Desperado apparently aren't able to reproduce the [=LQ84i=] model and only have the basic [=LQ84=]'s on hand.
302* GratuitousForeignLanguage:
303** [[GratuitousRussian Boris]] generally ends his sentences with "da", meaning "yes".
304** [[GratuitousGerman Doktor]] curses by saying "Scheiße", meaning "shit".
305** The [[ButNotTooForeign French-Algerian]] Mistral throws in [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench a bit of French for good measure]], and all of the moves involving her polearm have French names.
306* GratuitousJapanese: A pizza-eating security guard monitoring the entrance to Solis is seen fawning over an anime character in Moe Magazine while calling her "kawaii".
307-->''"Oh... oh... Hikari-chan! So kawaii..."''
308* GuideDangIt:
309** Some of the Data Storages can be extremely tricky to find: one of them requires you to cut down a passing Slider; and another is dropped by the very last enemy on an exploding elevator that's basically impossible to escape once you get it.
310** You can walk while in Blade Mode by pressing the left stick and then tilting it in the desired direction. The game does not inform you of that at any point.
311** Another possible example is during the final phase of the final boss fight: at certain points during the battle, the Senator's back will glow green, there will be tiny green and bright particles all over the place, and he can heal all the way back to full health if this isn't stopped. The only way to abort this process is to use Blade Mode on his back to target a weak spot.
312* GunsAreWorthless: Against cyborgs, small arms fire is a minor annoyance thanks to their ridiculously strong carbon nano-tube fiber bodies, although missiles, [=RPGs=] and high explosives can still harm them. Lampshaded when Raiden goes to Denver and a cyborg DirtyCop says "deadly force is authorised" before putting away his handgun for a telescoping baton.
313** Though this ends up averted in gameplay terms if you're trying to go for the highest rank on the highest difficulty. While gunfire won't stagger you or do substantial damage, they do make trying a NoDamageRun significantly harder. A stray bullet when you're not paying attention can force you to do the whole level all over again.
314* HappyEndingOverride:
315** At the end of ''[=MGS4=]'', Raiden retired from battle [[spoiler:to settle down with his wife Rosemary and their son John]]. In this game, he has already come out of retirement to provide for his family since being a cyborg meant he couldn't take a conventional job and signed up with a security firm to make use of his fighting prowess.
316** On a broader level, the ending of ''[=MGS4=]'' saw [[LateArrivalSpoiler the elimination of the Patriots]], which despite a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome from Drebin, was framed as a new beginning for humanity to start fresh without the baggage of the past and BigBrotherIsWatching to guide them in the wrong direction. Come ''Metal Gear Rising'', and the world is still embroiled in wars under the influence of smaller scale PMC conglomerates, with new cyborg technology taking the place of the SOP system to make up the difference.
317* HarderThanHard: The top DifficultyLevel above Very Hard, [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Revengeance]].
318* HardModePerks: To compensate for the ridiculous amounts of damage the enemies do to you, the appearance of tougher enemies much earlier on and their increased aggressiveness, properly timed parries that result in a counter do tons of damage to all enemies on Revengeance difficulty, to the point where you can effectively one-shot most basic enemies and ''even some bosses'' with a well-timed parry counter.
319* HealingWinds: The QuirkyMinibossSquad have a wind theme, and are all named for different types of wind around the world. They're all deeply broken individuals with their own motivations for joining their mercenary company, which serves as a less than perfect coping mechanism for their traumas, making them a dark twist on the trope.
320* HerrDoktor: The brilliant Germanic cyborg engineer Wilhelm Voigt is referred to exclusively as "Doktor."
321* HiddenDepths: The lyrics for the boss battle songs say volumes more about their respective boss characters than what is stated in the actual story, which are somewhat superficial.
322* HopelessBossFight:
323** You cannot win the boss fight against Sam at the beginning of the game: he's far more aggressive and has far less obvious tells than any other enemies fought during the intro level, you have no dodge move and even if you manage to block his attacks, you still take ScratchDamage. He doesn't even have a health bar and, after a certain point, he starts blocking all of your attacks perfectly. If you somehow manage to survive for three minutes, the game will simply force start the next cutscene. Thankfully, Sam decides not to kill you during the ControllableHelplessness despite having a good chunk of time to be able to do so.
324** The first two phases of the final boss, [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong (one-on-one)]] are this. Phase 1 ends automatically either after a fixed amount of time or after you deal enough damage to the boss, but Phase 2 is basically you being unable to significantly hurt him while his attacks do damage through your parries. You're expected to lose in Phase 2 and even if you manage to survive at first, after about two and a half minutes, the boss will unleash an unavoidable area of effect attack which forcefully starts the next cutscene. Despite all of this, the achievement for beating him with no damage requires you to do these phases flawlessly, too.
325* HopeSpot: ''Twice'' with the final boss. [[spoiler:Raiden successfully goes hand-to-hand against Armstrong after losing his sword, only to earn a beatdown. Raiden then manages to trick Armstrong by feigning a change of heart, but in spite of landing a few more good hits, Armstrong ends up pummeling Raiden so hard he's only saved when Blade Wolf finally intervenes and gives him Sam's sword.]]
326* HotBlade:
327** One of the modified RAY's weapons is a giant, red-hot HF blade that folds away into one of its arms when not in use.
328** Blade Wolf uses throwing knives that are hot enough to melt steel.
329** Implied with Sundowner's Bloodlust shears - they visibly glow red-orange with heat during when used in battle. File-0 also makes a point of showing the Gemini's (and later N'mani's) flesh and blood visibly sizzling when Sundowner tortures them using Bloodlust.
330* HotBlooded: Raiden, of all people, has begun to openly revel in combat and argue from his emotions.
331* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Blade Wolf doesn't openly despise humans but it does say that they're way more violent than it could ever hope to be, as it lacks the instinct for brutality that comes naturally to humans.
332* HumanResources: Raiden heals by cutting up cyborgs and ''tearing out their artificial spines'', which are filled with regenerative fluids. Raiden's customized cyborg body is deliberately missing that particular component in order to maximize combat efficiency, and because doing it Raiden's way is an infinitely quicker way to heal compared to using the repair units their intended way.
333* HumanWeapon: The main characters are as close to ''literal'' human weapons as possible (they are cyborgs), but the protagonist goes completely OffTheRails and acting as a OneManArmy VigilanteMan SpannerInTheWorks.
334* HumongousMecha: Naturally for a ''Metal Gear'' title, there's many of them to go around. From the MiniMecha Gekkos and Mastiffs to the substantially larger Metal Gear RAY [[spoiler:and Metal Gear EXCELSUS,]] there's plenty of massive robots for Raiden to slice apart.
335* {{Hypocrite}}: Raiden points out that [[spoiler:Sam and Monsoon's lecture on how the mooks he's been mowing down are people and Raiden's bad for killing them is ultimately ridiculous; they wouldn't be ''in'' the position to be slaughtered if Desperado, already knowing everything they've told him, weren't placing them in Raiden's path.]]
336* ICallItVera: The Winds of Destruction have all named their weapons; Sundowner wielding a pair of high-frequency machetes called "Bloodlust", Mistral a long staff that also acts as a whip called "L'Etranger", Monsoon dual magnetic sais called "Dystopia".
337* IaijutsuPractitioner: Jetstream Sam. In fact, the sheath for his sword "Murasama" is actually a ''gun that shoots the blade outward for extra velocity.''
338* IAmNotAGun: An interesting take on the trope. When the Winds of Destruction call Raiden out on being a blood-thirsty killer, he rebukes them with "My sword is a tool of justice!" As time passes, though, Raiden comes closer and closer to subverting this trope...
339* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: The highest difficulty is called [[TitleDrop Revengeance]].
340* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Using Ninja Run makes Raiden automatically deflect any bullets with his weapon. He can also cut enemies and objects into tiny pieces in a blink of an eye in Blade Mode with a ridiculous degree of precision and can strip most of the clothes from civilians with a single swing. Another lesser known property that shows off Blade Mode's extreme precision is seen if you use it on custom cyborgs when they're blocking: if you aim at their sword, they're unable to block the slash and become instantly stunned as a result.
341* InASingleBound: Omnipresent. Even generic mooks can jump their own height or more and custom cyborgs like Raiden and the Winds of Destruction can do much better. In normal gameplay this is downplayed on Raiden's part, since while Raiden can jump fairly noticeably high, it's still not as giant as the leaps he makes in other scenes.
342* InfinityPlusOneSword:
343** The Fox Blade, which requires the Gray Fox DLC and 200,000BP to unlock. Not only does it carry a ~50% chance of ignoring armor and dismembering, but it can be upgraded to "Fox Blade+" for a further 100,000BP ''which extends the effect to all non-boss enemies.'' Once fully upgraded, it becomes so outrageously strong that most non-boss enemies will be cleaved in half with a single swing, even massive [=UGs=] like the GRAD.
344** Without the DLC, the same effect can be achieved by collecting all 30 left arms to unlock the Armor Breaker sword (which works like the un-upgraded Fox Blade after 288,000BP of upgrades). Collecting the arms and beating the game on Hard or above similarly unlocks [[spoiler:the Blade Mode Wig (50,000BP) which allows Raiden to instantly cut apart any non-boss enemy in Blade Mode without weakening their armor first.]]
345* InfinityMinusOneSword: The HF Murasama Blade [[spoiler:(better known as Sam's Blade)]] is unlocked for purchase after beating [[spoiler:Armstrong]] and completing the game once. It serves as a general upgrade of Raiden's default HF Blade, possessing great speed, strength and very good fuel consumption (its only weakness), making it the best "normal" sword available. If well-upgraded, it serves as a viable replacement for the FOX Blade for players who lack it and can make mince meat of the FinalBoss.
346* InformedFlaw: Blade Wolf admits to Raiden that he can't hack computers since he doesn't have hands. The DLC shows that he can augment one easily using the three cables sticking out of his tail and can optionally use computers to play VR missions.
347* InjuredVulnerability: Using blade mode (and Jack the Ripper mode if you've unlocked "him") allows one hit kills, but only against enemies without any armour. You have to attack armoured enemies a bit to break up their armour and make them vulnerable (or hit them with a Sneak Attack). Destroying the custom cyborgs' arm armor also makes them unable to counter your parry counters, making it much easier to land hits on them.
348* InterspeciesFriendship: There are shades of this between Raiden and Blade Wolf, a cybernetic human and a robot dog. Blade Wolf shows minor degrees of hostility, or at least reserved annoyance, at some of Raiden's behaviors but nevertheless is intensely loyal to Raiden. They spend a lot of the game debating philosophy, and by the end of the game Blade Wolf acknowledges the bond that he and Raiden have formed. In the epilogue, [[spoiler:Blade Wolf is shown living at Solis with Sunny. Judging by their earlier interaction, it's safe to say they're friends as well.]]
349* InvisibilityCloak:
350** Desperado cyborgs use the series' famous Stealth Camouflage technology to ambush Raiden.
351** Raiden uses some form of Stealth Camo to conceal the case he carries his sword in at the end of the game.
352* IronicEcho: Monsoon delivers a monologue to Raiden about how the strong preying upon the weak is just nature running its course, war is the way things have to be because it is an essential part of our nature to dominate others. [[spoiler:After Raiden defeats Monsoon by decapitating him]] Raiden throws his words back at him, "Don't be ashamed. It's only nature running its course." Needless to say, [[PayEvilUntoEvil this was very much deserved]].
353* {{Irony}}:
354** The leaders of Desperado that Raiden fights subscribe to the philosophy of an anarchic existence where the rule of law is established by who is the strongest. The strong are allowed to do whatever they want and the weak are preyed upon. Raiden believes in the idea that the strong, like himself, should protect the weak and that if the rule of law does have to be bent that it should be done so when it can benefit the weak. Ultimately Raiden being the hero of the story defeats them; the ironic thing being that by their own moral standards that means they were weak so they were preyed upon by Raiden, who now has the right to do whatever he desires.
355** Sundowner's speech about war being natural, and how not every war in history is part of a conspiracy. [[spoiler:The wars World Marshal and he are involved with, are part of Armstrong's conspiracy.]] Plus the fact that he must have known about the Patriots controlling the scenes behind post-Cold War history and the Sons of the Patriots system...
356* ISurrenderSuckers: After Armstrong's MotiveRant, Raiden performs one of these. He has Armstrong thinking that Raiden will go along with his plans... only to go YoureInsane and attack him again.
357* KarmicInjury: The Jetstream DLC reveals that this is how Sam Rodrigues lost his arm, requiring him to get a cybernetic replacement. [[spoiler:In their fight, Sam manages to slice off Senator Armstrong's arm. Thanks to his {{Nanomachines}}, Armstrong isn't deterred by this at all and simply uses the sharpened end of his stump to impale Sam's arm. To add insult to injury, Armstrong simply reattaches his own arm afterwards, an option Sam doesn't have.]]
358* KillerGorilla: One of the UG enemies, Mastiffs, are fairly large gorilla-like robots. They're quite the LightningBruiser type, able to rush at Raiden and smash and bash him fast and hard, while taking a substantial amount of punishment.
359* KilledOffForReal:
360** While cyborgs' brains can survive for a while after their bodies are destroyed, allowing for them to be transplanted into a new body, Desperado cyborgs always explode after being fatally damaged. This includes the Winds of Destruction. [[spoiler:Hence why Monsoon and Mistral's body doubles are piloted by a standard UG AI - their minds were lost or their braincases destroyed by Raiden before they could be retrieved.]]
361** [[spoiler:Jetstream Sam is definitely dead after his battle with Raiden, due to lacking any cybernetic enhancements that would let him survive.]]
362* KonamiCode: Entering it on the "Press Start" screen [[note]]substituting B and A with O and X on [=PS3=][[/note]] unlocks Very Hard and Revengeance [[DifficultyLevels difficulties]]. In the PC version this also unlocks Jetstream, Blade Wolf, and all codecs and cutscenes.
363* LagCancel: Raiden can cancel most of his moves by briefly entering Blade Mode or by jumping.
364* LampshadeHanging: Calling Kevin in the middle of boss fights sometimes has him note that it can't be all that bad if you can take the time to chat with him.
365* LastLousyPoint: There is a single cyborg left arm that cannot be found in natural gameplay. For no reason, destroying two of the electrical panels without triggering an alert near the beginning of R-004 spawns in a heavily armed cyborg on the corner of the floor who just stands there, and his arm carries patriot data. [[GuideDangIt There is absolutely no indication that any of this is possible or that that's where an arm would be]].
366* LateArrivalSpoiler: Surprisingly minimal, as the game is treated as completely separate from ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', so only the most obvious things (e.g. Snake defeated series villains the Patriots) are actually spoiled.
367* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: All cyborg enemies and [=UGs=] come in three different skin types: the generic mercenary types in the prologue and first two chapters, the Denver policemen in Chapter 3, and the Desperado types for the remainder of the game, each stronger than the last.
368* LaymansTerms: Inverted. In one codec conversation, when Boris explains the new functionality of the soliton radar in a simple manner, Raiden wants to hear the technical explanation, which Boris is having none of.
369* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
370** Just before they fight, Sam refuses to give Raiden a speech on his motivations, noting that they've both heard enough about ideals. Just about every other single ''Metal Gear'' boss has gone on a MotiveRant regarding their ideals, so this could easily be applied to the player as well as Raiden and Sam.
371** At one point, when discussing Metal Gear EXCELSUS, Raiden notes that it lacks most of the features that would traditionally define a Metal Gear (ie. the ability to launch nuclear weapons.) His support's response is that it was probably called a Metal Gear for marketing reasons, as doing so would make it sell better - mirroring the way this game itself doesn't quite play like a traditional Metal Gear but still uses the name, presumably for marketing reasons.
372* LethalJokeItem: The Wooden Sword, which can only be made weaker but carries the chance of making enemies disappear.
373* LensmanArmsRace: The world has gone in just 4 years from small elite units of [[SuperSoldier nanomachine-enhanced soldiers]] in ''[=MGS4=]'' to entire PrivateMilitaryContractors being nothing but {{cyborg}}s by the start of ''Rising''.
374* LeParkour: "Ninja Run" mode allows you to dash over walls, gaps and other architectural obstacles on the fly.
375* Level1MusicRepresents: Zig-zagged; though RAY's theme, ''Rules of Nature'', is one of the most iconic songs in the game, several later boss themes also have reached similar iconic status - LQ-84i's theme (''I'm My Own Master Now'') for being the boss fought in the demo, as well as those of Monsoon (''Stains of Time'') and [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] (''It Has To Be This Way'') for their respective bosses' [[MemeticMutation heavy meme value]].
376* LightningBruiser:
377** Raiden can move very quickly with his "Ninja Run" ability, yet he can also flip 10 story tall Metal Gears with his bare hands.
378** Mastiff [=UGs=] are very aggressive, can ''wall jump'' and charge at you, can knock Raiden around like a ragdoll, and they're ''very'' durable. They're the first enemies you face on Very Hard mode.
379** All the bosses are faster and stronger than Raiden, but special mention goes to the FinalBoss, who zooms around the battlefield at ludicrous speed and can wipe out most of Raiden's health in ''one hit''.
380* LightningFireJuxtaposition: Fire and thunder are very prominent visual themes. Raiden is named for one of Japan's gods of thunder [[spoiler: and the fight against [[FinalBoss Armstrong takes place near the burning ruins of one of the Metal Gears]]]].
381* LightningWindJuxtaposition: Raiden's name is a typical transcription for "Raijin", he can generate electricity around his body to boost his speed and power his strikes, and at one point, he is even called "Mr. Lightning Bolt". The main villains of the game are [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Desperado's]] high-ranking members, who are known collectively as the Winds of Destruction. All of them, [[spoiler:with the exception of Armstrong]], are named after winds, and Raiden has a personal rivalry with Jetstream Sam, who is presented as his ShadowArchetype.
382* LikeCannotCutLike: The High Frequency Blades can cut anything... except other High Frequency Blades. Particularly odd since even the largest of them cannot cut the smallest ones, and even Murasama, which is explicitly stated to be superior to other blades in the game ([[spoiler:and proves it by being the only weapon capable of damaging Armstrong's nanomachine body]]), cannot cut through Raiden's fairly standard HF Blade.
383* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror and Occupy movement[[note]]mentioned in a Codec conversation sometime during the FinalBoss fight[[/note]] still happened sometime back.
384* LudicrousGibs: Blade Mode lets you cut enemies into ''dozens'' of bloody bits.
385[[/folder]]
386
387[[folder:M-R]]
388* MacheteMayhem:
389** The HF Machete, which are a favorite amongst generic mooks. Raiden can get it too, which trades the reach of his other HF blades for speed.
390** Sundowner's [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Bloodlust]] is basically a pair of outsized, heated machetes that can combine to form a massive pair of shears.
391* MacrossMissileMassacre: The modified RAY-class [=UGs=] and several other enemies are capable of firing dozens of missiles at once.
392* MadeOfBologna: Every foe Raiden faces can be bloodily dismembered, but the innards shown are rarely more detailed than a dark red texture, sometimes with bones visible. The boss Monsoon can split his body into segments that evoke this aesthetic.
393* MadeOfPlasticine: Nearly everyone Raiden fights he can chop into pieces really easily. He's wielding a [[{{Vibroweapon}} high-frequency katana]] which is essentially a [[AbsurdlySharpBlade lightsaber]].
394* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Raiden lets out an annoyed "[[OhNoNotAgain Shit! Not again!]]" when Sam lops one of his arms off in their first fight.
395* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler:Armstrong]] is a very appropriate name for a burly man who can solidify his skin. The cutscene before the boss battle even displays his strength as he punches a hole in a Metal Gear carapace.
396* MechaMooks: The Gekkos from ''[=MGS4=]'' return, along with the new Mastiff, Grad, and Raptor. Blade Wolf is also one, but ends up defecting after being reprogrammed.
397* MegaCorp: Raiden uses the term "mega corp" by name to describe World Marshal. While certainly nowhere near as powerful as Liquid and his five different [=PMCs=] during ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', or the Patriots and their virtually limitless resources, they have enough power to fund a massive PMC business with cutting edge equipment and an army of cyborgs and unmanned gears. They even have enough political clout in the United States to utilize U.S military equipment, as Raiden encounters U.S Air Force drones at one point in the story and notes it should be illegal for a corporation to use U.S military equipment without permission; meaning that they have deep enough pockets to hire U.S personnel to scramble military equipment. On top of this, they control the police in Colorado, and Raiden suspects their media branches are helping to censor the media the old fashion way.
398* MemeticsInFiction: Monsoon discusses the concept:
399--> '''Monsoon''': Free will is a myth. Religion is a joke. We're all pawns, controlled by something greater: Memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture -- they are everything we pass on. Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate. They become a carrier. Envy, greed, despair... All memes. All passed along. ''{...}'' You can't fight nature, Jack.
400* MenacingStroll:
401** If you don't attack immediately in the first boss fight against Sam, he will slowly and casually approach you with his sword on his shoulder. After [[spoiler:Raiden's arm is chopped off]], Sam will casually walk behind you if you attempt to limp away from him. Thankfully, he doesn't take advantage of this.
402** After going into his "invincible" stage, Monsoon will approach you in this manner until he's within attack range. Additionally, in the first two stages of the [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] battle, he will approach in the same manner.
403* MenAreTheExpendableGender:
404** Deconstructed, then reconstructed. While Raiden ultimately decides to rip through the [[spoiler:unwilling]] male enemies, most of his rage comes from what Desperado is doing to men and impoverished boys under the false guise that they are disposable.
405** Raiden discovers that the large amounts of trash being disposed mysteriously in Mexico are actually the bodily organs of little boys, as their brains are being "Harvested" to mold and create more cyborg soldiers. This, and the possibility that some of the soldiers he was fighting could've been children, not even grown adults at least, disgusts him so much it convinces him to go [=AWOL=] in the first place.
406** Raiden believes the cyborgs soldiers he's killing had willingly chose to become terrorists for military benefits and such. When [[spoiler:Jetstream Sam revealed that nanomachines are suppressing their emotions of fear, sadness, and regret, he realizes most of these soldiers were under economic or medical pressures that forced them to sign up, and they never had a "fair" choice to begin with. Unfortunately, he understands the only way to get to and punish those responsible for setting them up as human shields is to fight and kill the cyborg soldiers sent his way. He does so with little hesitation, but all in the name of stopping it long term.]]
407* MetalSlime: Humanoid Gekkos are generally found in out-of-way places, often drop large Holo-Chips that give a lot of BP when killed and one of them can only be found if you get to its location undetected and it quickly starts to fade away after you drop your disguise to attack it.
408* MobileShrubbery: The series' iconic cardboard box returns as a means to sneak around almost any area when no one's looking. There is also the Drum Can from ''Guns of the Patriots''.
409* MoneyIsExperiencePoints: Battle Points are used to upgrade weapons, learn skills, and buy costumes.
410* MookChivalry: Enemies attack one at a time except on Very Hard and Revengeance. Unlike in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', they will still attack if they're off-camera.
411* MookDebutCutscene: It's a Platinum Games signature, though there aren't any BossSubtitles to go with it.
412* MookHorrorShow: Jetstream Sam forces Raiden to realize that the cyborgs whom the hero had been killing throughout the entire game were actually regular men who agreed to become soldiers due to economic pressure. In the following cutscene, Raiden hears the thoughts of his opponents and learns that, from their point of view, he is a monster.
413* MoralMyopia: Dolzaev calls Raiden a murderer for killing Mistral, upon which Raiden calls him out for the hypocrisy of saying such while being involved with Desperado. Monsoon and Sam also try this on Raiden for killing men who have their emotions suppressed and didn't have a choice. Raiden also calls them out on this, because when they manipulate these men into being their pawns, and send them against him with the intent to kill, he can't do anything but fight back.
414* MundaneFantastic: Before, Raiden got strange looks in public as a civilian due to being a cyborg. Nowadays, cyborgs, in general, are commonplace usually for medical reasons or if you are wealthy enough. While Denver has an established cyborg police force, cyborgs with regular jobs are noted such as a plumber, a skater who went viral and sports teams are already planning to ban cyborgs due to the potential unfair advantage. [[spoiler:Voigt establishes a staffing firm for the brains Raiden recovered so they can have voluntary jobs such as construction and medical care.]]
415* MundaneMadeAwesome: Never has cutting watermelons looked so badass. Nor has wearing a sombrero or [[spoiler:a Senator kicking ass.]]
416* MundaneSolution: Should the player fail to obtain the first left hand of the game in R-01 so that they can use it to bypass the biometrics scan of a security gate, Boris -- exasperated at Raiden botching things -- tells Raiden to forgo obtaining the ID data and simply do what he's been doing up to that point: slicin' and dicin'.
417* MysteriousStranger: When Sam first attacks, Courtney states she honestly doesn't know what he's doing there, as Sam has no affiliation with any of Maverick Security Consulting's competitors.
418* MythicalMotifs: Subtle, but there. Raiden, associated with lightning, is fighting villains named after winds. In essence, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raijin "Raijin"]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fūjin "Fujin."]] Let it be known that while Raiden's explanation of his "Mr. Lightning Bolt" moniker to Kevin has him translate ''rai'' as "lightning" and ''den'' as "electric", Raiden is also another name for Raijin.
419* MythologyGag:
420** The first demo of ''Metal Gear Rising'' was included in the ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders: HD Collection'', a reference to the first demo for Raiden's previous game ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' [[PreviewPiggybacking being included in]] the original release of the first ''Zone of the Enders''.
421** As with all ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' games, the cardboard box makes an appearance as a wearable item. [[spoiler:The same goes for the wigs from ''[=MGS2=]'' that activate cheat effects, which can be found by cutting off enough officer arms.]]
422** Monsoon's monologue before his first boss fight is a ControllableHelplessness section stuck in first person with Raiden having recovered from a serious beating, just like Liquid's speech to Snake near the end of ''Metal Gear Solid''.
423** Boris's first words in person in ''Revengeance'' are "Kept you waiting, huh?", a reference to Snake's introductory line in ''[=MGS2=]'' and [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl the Subspace Emissary]].
424** Raiden does the kneeling pose after he's dropped off by the plane.
425** There is an unlockable tuxedo outfit, much like in the previous games, as well as [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty sunglasses]].
426** Each one of the "Men in Boxes" found unlocks a collectible statue, each being a cyborg mook replicating a famous ''Metal Gear'' pose with a box. In order, they are: [[spoiler:Gray Fox (''[=MGS1=]'')]]; [[spoiler:Raiden (''[=MGS2=]'')]]; [[spoiler:EVA (''[=MGS3=]'')]]; [[spoiler:Old Snake (''[=MGS4=]'')]]; and [[spoiler:Raiden (''MGSR'')]]. The icon used for each MIB statue on the collection screen is also modeled after the logo used for the "Metal Gear 25th Anniversary" event.
427** Calling Boris during the fight with [[spoiler: Metal Gear EXCELSUS]] will prompt Raiden to deliver the classic ParrotExposition.
428--->'''Raiden:''' ''Metal Gear?''
429** If you call Courtney on Codec in chapter 2, you can have a conversation with her on nopales, a cactus leaf that goes well with Mexican food. After she describes it, Raiden goes out of his way to ask [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater "How does it taste?"]], then dismisses the thought since it's unlikely he'd need to catch food in the sewers anyway with his cybernetics keeping him going.
430** Raiden is now two for two in having a final boss fight in melee with [[spoiler:a super-powered politician on top of a ruined Metal Gear.]]
431** Blade Mode is, by default, controlled with the right analog stick, same as when Raiden first acquired an HF blade at the end of ''[=MGS2=]''.
432* {{Nanomachines}}: The game lampshades the series's frequent use of the concept as a magical plot device. [[spoiler:The final boss is augmented with nanomachines that grant him a set of bizarre abilities, including SuperStrength, near invulnerability, and pyrokinesis]].
433* NationalStereotypes: PlayedForLaughs:
434-->(''Raiden is about to jump out of a helicopter'')\
435'''Doktor''': ''Enjoy your flight!''\
436'''Raiden''': (''laughs'') [[DefiedTrope And they say]] [[GermanicDepressives Germans aren't funny.]]
437* NecessaryDrawback: Blade Wolf and other [=UGs=] use a neuro-matrix for a brain rather than a Von Neumann bit-processor that most computers use. This means they can learn from mistakes, react to various situations using "fuzzy logic" and even, in Wolf's case, attain sentience, but this has drawbacks: each brain must be "grown" and "trained" rather than programmed and the training can't be downloaded instantly to another robot. Blade Wolf also says that this means his memory can be "fuzzy" like a human's, so he doesn't memorize faces the way a regular computer might and can't talk directly to other computers because of a difference in protocols.
438* NewTechIsNotCheap:
439** A Codec conversation with Kevin reveals that cyborgification is really expensive (both initially and its maintenance costs) and that Desperado must have some kind of really involved payment plans for their recruits to have so many cyborgs in their ranks. This also explains why [[spoiler:the Mistral and Monsoon body doubles]] weren't mass-produced.
440** Another minor Codec conversation with Boris regards the new type of fragmentation grenades you find lying around in boxes: while they're vastly superior to normal grenades and work even on cyborgs, they're also 3 times as expensive.
441* NGOSuperpower: World Marshal, described as being the biggest [=PMC=] in the world since the downfall of Liquid Ocelot's Outer Heaven, has enough money to not only fund all kinds of cyborg and unmanned weapon development, but also to privatize a cyborg police force in Denver.
442* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Lampshaded. Raiden wants to thank Sam and Monsoon for helping him overcome his childhood trauma.
443* NinjaRun: Sort of. Though Raiden's LeParkour sprinting is referred to as Ninja Run, he doesn't assume the stance while doing so. The cyborg mooks in the Japanese garden do this when running.
444* NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech: [[spoiler: Raiden, on his knees at the doors of World Marshal HQ after being put through the psychological wringer, finally admits to himself that his philosophy of being a "Sword of Justice" was just a thin veil to try and control his inherent bloodlust as Jack the Ripper - a veil that's now broken.]]
445* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Raiden is on the receiving end of a big one at the hands of Armstrong.]]
446* NoSell: [[spoiler: Armstrong]] doesn't even try to stop Raiden's barrage of punches, casually brushing off his shirt afterwards. Raiden follows this up with another barrage of punches which [[spoiler: Armstrong]] is visibly affected by... That is to say, they make him stumble a few steps backward. Needless to say, this incredible display of badassery has become a MemeticMutation.
447* NoSenseOfHumor: Blade Wolf [[DontExplainTheJoke analyzes jokes]] and sometimes responds to Raiden's quips [[LiteralMinded literally]]. It turns out he gets Raiden's jokes but he doesn't think they're funny.
448* NoodleIncident: Kevin reminds Raiden of something that happened in Montenegro in order to prevent the latter skipping out on an AsYouKnow briefing.
449* NotQuiteDead:
450** The [[EnergyWeapons Custom]] [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Desperado]] Metal Gear RAY pulls this off twice: first when you cut off one "arm", then once more when you sever the other.
451** It's mentioned that as long as a cyborg's brain case is intact, they can survive for some time even after being sliced to pieces. Desperado mooks however [[EverythingFades explode when killed]], making such recovery impossible for them.
452* NotSoDifferentRemark:
453** Senator Armstrong, while clearly deranged, taunts Raiden over [[spoiler:his methods in burning down World Marshal and killing anyone that got in his way, just like him.]] Even the boss theme for [[spoiler:Armstrong himself]] points this out:
454--->"Standing here, I realize, you were just like me trying to make history."
455** Raiden gets this impression from pretty much all of the boss characters. They lecture him at length about the BloodKnight and KnightTemplar character traits he's repressing, and even in defeat claim that Raiden will one day become like them if he isn't already. It gives the unsettling implication that Raiden's victory is {{Pyrrhic|Victory}} at best. Quite a few of their [[VillainSong songs]] apply to him just as much as them, highlighting their similarities.
456** Sam makes this point when [[spoiler:he shows how Raiden's not so different from the cyborg enemies he's been chopping up, fighting for their lives after being denied the choice to stop.]]
457** Raiden posits this idea if you call your support team during the boss battle with Blade Wolf. They discuss Blade Wolf's claims that his memories would be wiped if he were to disobey an order, which for an AI is the equivalent of death. Raiden muses that fighting back to keep himself alive means that he has no choice either; in that sense neither party wants to fight but they have to if they are going to survive.
458* NothingPersonal: There is a subtext of this sentiment between [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] and Raiden during the final boss battle. Both of them are men that have shed a lot of blood to get to where they're at, and only want what they think is best for the future. The thing is that only the victor of their duel will be able to invoke their ideal future for the world, and so even if they are the same they must fight. It's very reminiscent of what Solid Snake said about his fight with Gray Fox: it was just two men, with no malice or absurd politics in the way, doing their jobs as soldiers fighting for what they believed in.
459* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: We don't get to see Raiden's entry into Pakistan, the game just goes from [[spoiler: Raiden taking off in a space shuttle to him already landed.]]
460* OffWithHisHead:
461** One of the Gemini cyborgs (N'mani's bodyguards) is killed this way by Sundowner, who catches him between Bloodlust's shears and snips his head off.
462** [[spoiler:The final Blade Mode QTE on Monsoon]] is scripted to involve Raiden decapitating him at the very end.
463* OhCrap:
464** Pretty much everyone on Raiden's team (including Raiden himself) has a reaction to this effect when [[spoiler:Armstrong [[WreckedWeapon destroys Raiden's HF Blade]] with his bare hands.]]
465** Raiden, Boris, Keven, and the player get this after figuring out "Operation Tecumseh." [[spoiler: Armstrong's planned assassination of the president [[LikeRealityUnlessNoted in Pakistan]] in order to spark another [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror War On Terror]]]]
466* OhNoNotAgain: Raiden's reaction to losing his left arm to Sam is an annoyed "Shit! Not again!" Also a CallBack to his losing both arms in ''[=MGS4=]''.
467* OlderIsBetter: The higher the quality of a sword, the more effective it is as a HF Blade. This makes Sam's HF Blade, which was made using a centuries old katana expertly crafted by the master swordsmith [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muramasa Muramasa]] [[note]][[AllThereInTheManual whose name was mispelled into "Murasama" by one of Sam's ancestors]][[/note]], a much more effective weapon than Raiden's mass-produced, rivet-covered default sword.
468* OldMediaAreEvil: Raiden is furious when Kevin brings up the argument that [[spoiler: even though The Patriots media filtration is destroyed, American political media would never bring up allegations of Senator Armstrong's human trafficking, torture and conspiracy.]]
469* OnceIsNotEnough: When the Zandatsu prompt comes up for the FinalBoss, you have to repeatedly strike him until the game tells you otherwise. If you try to hit him only once, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory like you might with every other enemy,]] he will make you pay for it.
470* OneFreeHit: During the boss fight, Armstrong at one point allows Raiden to pummel away at him while making no attempt to defend himself.
471%%* OneManArmy: Both Raiden ''and'' Sam.
472* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Blade Wolf remarks that Sam's MindRape of and BreakingSpeech to Raiden in Denver is not like him at all.
473* PacifistRun: Getting no kills in a fight gets you a point bonus. Using the Wooden Sword weapon allows for no kill runs. Ironically, the [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Fox Blade]] is the second best weapon for these; allowing you to easily lop off enemy legs and render them harmless. That said, the bonuses apply only for humanoid cyborgs - fully mechanical enemies and bosses have to be taken down the lethal way.
474* PaintingTheMedium: The game opens with the HUD resembling that of ''[=MGS4=]''. When Raiden gets his new body, the HUD changes to a similar but slightly different-looking one. Likewise, if you equip the "Standard Body" costume, the Blade Mode reticule's color will be an ''[=MGS4=]''-esque yellow instead of blue.
475* PapaWolf: Having become a father, and given a chance to give an innocent boy the love and happy childhood that he never had, Raiden has sworn that ''no'' child will '''ever''' be made to endure what Solidus put him through. Hence, it is a bad idea to abuse, harm, kill and exploit children and ''gloat'' about it in Raiden's face. The black-hearted mercenary-doctor in Chapter 2 found out the hard way.
476* PaperThinDisguise: Raiden tries to disguise himself as a Mexican local by putting on a sombrero and a poncho, while the rest of his cyborg body is completely visible. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when the first pedestrians who see him spot him straight away and question if he's part of a mariachi band. A Codec convo with Courtney afterward has her note that the sombrero probably wouldn't have worked anyway, as locals favor more low-key headgear, with sombreros really only being worn by mariachi; Raiden's choice of hats outed him as a tourist from the start.
477* PatrioticFervor: [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] is a staunch "American" patriot. Or rather, patriotic towards [[spoiler:a Social Darwinist America that he plans to build over the actual USA.]]
478* PerpetualMotionMachine: One of the left arm data collectibles has classified Patriot data that reveals the Patriots were working on creating such a device.
479* PetTheDog:
480** Aside from a literal example with Sunny and Blade Wolf, Sam is shown to be not such a bad guy when [[spoiler:Raiden realizes if he'd wanted to stop him from reaching Pakistan, all he had to do was kill everyone at the Solis launch center, including Sunny. Instead, Sam just waited for Raiden on a road outside Denver so they could have a fair duel.]] Bonus points in that Blade Wolf is accepting a petting session from Sam's hand, when he refused to be treated like that with Raiden. Even said dog being petted agrees that Sam isn't a bad guy!
481** One example that's easy to miss is in the "interactive" cutscene before the battle with Monsoon starts. Look at the mook to the right. At some point, he pets a cat.
482* PlotRelevantPowerUp:
483** Raiden receives his new cyborg body after he was severely injured during his first confrontation with Sam. Of its numerous abilities, it allows him to steal electrolites from enemies after cutting them open with Blade Mode and grabbing their exposed spines.
484** [[spoiler:When Monsoon and Sam make Raiden realize that many of the cyborgs he's chopped up ''didn't'' have a choice to do it as he previously justified, he decides that they're right and that he does just love violence, allowing his Jack the Ripper persona to emerge, being the culmination of his repressed sadism. After the fight with Monsoon, Raiden will unlock Ripper Mode, in which he lets Jack play, making every slash of his weapons an ArmorPiercingAttack.]]
485* PowerCopying: After Raiden defeats a boss, Doktor will make him a copy of their signature weapon.
486* PowerGlows:
487** Samuel's sword, which he upgraded when he inherited it, now permanently glows red with power.
488** This trope also used to helps you figure out how to avoid damage - if an enemy gets a glowing outline around their body, the upcoming attack cannot be parried and you'll have to dodge.
489* PowerUpLetdown: The blonde wig, which turns each and every one of your attacks into an ArmorPiercingAttack, almost like you're permanently in [[SuperMode Ripper Mode]]. It's the last wig you can buy, requiring you to get all 30 left arms throughout the game to be able to purchase. However, by then, you should have gotten the blue wig, which only requires 20 left arms and instead provides you infinite fuel cell energy - in other words, infinite Ripper Mode ''and'' Blade Mode. Not only that, but the blonde wig tends to ruin your score, since you tend to miss out on combo and Zandatsu bonuses if you end up chopping down everyone too quickly. The blue wig doesn't provide this problem, since you can freely turn Ripper Mode on and off depending on if you want to rack up points or just kill an enemy quickly.
490* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Raiden delivers one before the final battle with [[spoiler:Armstrong.]]
491-->'''Raiden''': [[spoiler:I said my sword was a tool of justice. Not used in anger. Not used for vengeance. But now... Now I'm not so sure. And besides... ''This isn't my sword.'']]
492* PrivateMilitaryContractor: Desperado is the more traditional use of the trope (i.e. supporting terrorists and criminals, and overall being evil). Maverick (the group Raiden is a member of), is a more benevolent example, similar to the Militaires Sans Frontieres in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Peace Walker]]''.
493* PunchKickLayout: Raiden's standard katana moveset is divided into fast, chainable strikes with a standard sword stance, and slower but stronger slashes with the sword attached to his foot; basically a punch-kick layout with a weapon rather than with physical attacks.
494* PunchPunchPunchUhOh: The end result of the second phase of the [[spoiler:Armstrong]] battle: if Raiden takes too much damage and is reduced to critical health or managed to avoid his attacks until he performs an unavoidable shockwave attack, he performs a last desperate RapidFireFisticuffs assault on him, while he just stands there and adjusts his glasses afterwards. Raiden tries it again but to no avail, at which point the battle ends. Unlike most other examples of this, [[spoiler:Armstrong]] does take damage from the punches, but the grand total is barely above 10% of his health.
495* QuirkyMinibossSquad: Sam and the Winds of Destruction.
496** Mistral, a woman with a long lance and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous fourteen]] arms.
497** Monsoon, a man whose body can segment itself so Raiden's sword just whiffs straight through.
498** Sundowner, a heavy-set man with two huge machetes and six pop-out shields on waldos that can combine to form a wall between himself and Raiden.
499* RagtagBunchOfMisfits:
500** Maverick Security Consulting is made up of an ex-Russian mercenary, an East German MadScientist, an ex-UN researcher, a data analyst [[TheKlutz klutz]] just out of grad school, the remnants of EVA's [[LaResistance Paradise Lost Army]] and a ReluctantPsycho ex-{{Child Soldier|s}} {{Cyborg}} AntiHero.
501** A darker version can be found with the Winds of Destruction. We have a American BloodKnight mercenary, a Cambodian ex-gang banger who served with Pol Pot, an ex-{{Child Soldier|s}} from Algeria, and a Brazilian MasterSwordsman.
502* RapidFireFisticuffs: In the second phase of the [[spoiler:Armstrong]] fight, Raiden does this twice in a row. [[NoSell It does absolutely nothing]]. Though, the second time, [[spoiler:Armstrong]] actually flinches from the punches and is knocked back about a foot by the final one.
503* RatedMForManly: It's the goriest, most intense, most over-the-top game in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series so far. The mellow and philosophical tone found in the main Metal Gear games is very downplayed here, being secondary to all the action.
504* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: During the initial stages of the FinalBoss's battle, Raiden calls him out on his SocialDarwinist ways, angrily remarking that he has no idea what it's like to be weak, poor, and hungry, let alone having to fight and kill just to survive. In a twist, the villain throws it back at him by saying that Raiden himself managed to overcome those things, validating the villain's philosophy.
505* RecurringRiff: The final boss' theme incorporates ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Peace Walker]]''[='s=] theme into a rock arrangement.
506* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Desperado's cyborgs all have a red and black color scheme. The fact that Sam is largely an exception save for his [[ArtificialLimbs clearly prosthetic limb]] marks him as an anomaly amongst their ranks.
507* RedEyesTakeWarning: Raiden's eye turns red when activating functions of his cyborg body, like killing a robot and draining its battery.
508* RedshirtArmy: The other Maverick troops in the first mission. The suit-clad cyborgs do well against Desperado mooks but get trounced by Sundowner. Sam slaughters the rest. At least the Maverick guys get to die to bosses, though; the soldiers of the African country get slaughtered en masse by the ''mooks'' you go through by the dozen.
509* RegionalBonus: The European release comes [[http://www.destructoid.com/reminder-europe-gets-the-mg-rising-gray-fox-dlc-for-free-243249.phtml with a free code for the Gray Fox DLC,]] presumably because Europeans frequently miss out on the [[PreOrderBonus pre-order bonuses]] tied to [[NoExportForYou U.S.-only companies.]]
510* RequiredSecondaryPowers: A codec conversation has Doktor declare that further upgrades to the special eyepatch Raiden is using would be pointless because the human brain would not be able to use any additional resolution it might give him.
511* RetroUpgrade: [[{{Vibroweapon}} HF Blades]] can be made using any sword; even Sam's Murasama, which is centuries old, was made into a deadly anti-cyborg weapon.
512* RewatchBonus: After [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong rants on how much he hates the current state of the USA]], listen to the song beforehand "Collective Consciousness" again. [[spoiler:At first, it sounds like a goal he's trying to achieve where he can manipulate anyone he wants. With his true goals, it sounds more like a satire.]]
513* RobotBuddy: The Desperado AI prototype in a {{chainsaw|Good}} RobotDog body, LQ-84i[=/=]Blade Wolf, who becomes Raiden's ally after being released from Desperado's RestrainingBolt programming.
514* RoboCam: Most, if not all, cyborgs have these. This also serves as a gameplay mechanic: Raiden (and Wolf, in his DLC) can use Augment Mode to find hidden enemies.
515* {{Ronin}}: Samuel before he joined the Winds of Destruction. He launched a one-man attack on World Marshal [[ForGreatJustice simply because he felt they deserved it]], having grown tired of slaughtering drug cartels back in South America.
516* RooftopConfrontation: Sundowner is fought at the helipad atop World Marshal headquarters. Mistral also sort of counts, since her boss fight starts at the top of the refinery.
517* RougeAnglesOfSatin: In-universe, Sam's Mura''sama'' is called that because one of his ancestors mistranslated the blade's original Japanese name, being the legendary [[PublicDomainArtifact Muramasa]].
518* RRatedOpening: The opening cutscene has Jetstream Sam bloodily cut a man in half.
519* RuleOfCool:
520** In the Metal Gear RAY BossBattle, Raiden blocks a strike from the HumongousMecha, throws the entire thing into the air, and then runs up along its arm swinging his sword until he's sliced that entire section to pieces.
521** Platinum Games claims they used the [[AntiquatedLinguistics archaic]] word "Revengeance" for the subtitle because it sounded cooler.
522* RunningGag:
523** Bad things happen to Raiden's chin. In the final battle, he narrowly avoids an uppercut, backflips away, briefly rubs his chin while smirking and chucking to himself... [[spoiler:only to sent sliding along the ground on his face an instant later courtesy of Armstrong's haymaker, leaving his chin glowing hot.]]
524** Courtney keeps placing her coffee mug at the edge of the table and Kevin keeps moving it away. [[spoiler:When she finally knocks it off, Kevin catches it before it lands and spills. [[DoubleSubversion Then Boris comes in, slaps him on the back, and...]]]]
525[[/folder]]
526
527[[folder:S-Z]]
528* SamuraiCowboy: The game dips into the genre, considering the second and third mission take place in Mexico and Colorado respectively, and the villains are a PMC called "Desperado". Raiden and Sam's duel is even modelled on a ShowdownAtHighNoon, complete with blowing tumbleweeds.
529%%* SayMyName: [[spoiler:"''AAAAAAARRMSTROOOOOONG!''" ("''STEVEN!''" in Japanese version)]] Context?
530* ScannableMan: Most of the cyborgs have a barcode on them, usually on the forehead but occasionally elsewhere (Mistral, for instance, has hers on her left breast).
531* ScratchDamage:
532** [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS]]'s attacks are slow, but so powerful that even if you do block any of its attacks, you still lose a bit of your health.
533** In the prologue's HopelessBossFight against Sam, even if you do manage to parry his attacks they still damage you.
534* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney:
535** Denver has a completely privatized police force, which shouldn't even be ''legal'', as whoever pays them is effectively above the law. The leftovers of the Patriot world control system are still in place, too: the bad guys own so much of the media that no media institution dares to air the dirty laundry of politicians for fear of losing all their ''advertising revenue.''
536** Voigt mentions that some very wealthy individuals are planning to ''cheat death'' or at least prolong their lives by getting a cyborg body.
537* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: As pointed out by Boris, World Marshal owns the police force in Denver, and thus ''are'' the law in that city.
538* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Raiden's decision to attack World Marshal to save the children they're brainwashing is a violation of diplomacy, though the ethics involved obviously still paint him as the hero.
539* SelfDeprecation: While talking about Metal Gear [[spoiler:EXCELSUS]], it's pointed out that like RAY, it actually has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Raiden guesses that because people are used to the term 'Metal Gear', putting the title on a technically-unrelated mech would make it sell better, a reference to the game itself having the title and being set in the same universe, although it forgoes the stealth aspect and encourages directly fighting your enemies.
540* SerialEscalation: Raiden goes from fighting car-sized bipedal tanks in ''[=MGS4=]'' to taking down a [[HumongousMecha 70-foot tall Metal Gear RAY]] with only a sword during the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVFyYqfNSVg opening boss fight]] in ''Rising''.
541* ShearMenace: [[PsychopathicManChild Sundowner's]] signature [[MacheteMayhem twin machetes]], [[NameToRunAwayFromReallyFast Bloodlust]], can be combined onto his arm or wielded together to form a massive pair of shears.
542* ShootTheHostage: [[spoiler:A mad doctor, holding George at gunpoint and gassing a bunch of kids to death, is taken down when Raiden slashes ''straight through the doctor and George.'' It then turns out that George survived and gets a cybernetic body below the shoulders, but the entire ordeal still rocks Raiden to his core despite George consenting to the attack, being the start of his descent from the paragon he wants to be.]]
543* ShoutOut:
544** George invokes one to the ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'' movie of all things, as well as the game made by Konami, during a sewer level:
545--->'''George''': A ninja? Cowabunga! Go, ninja, go, ninja, go!\
546'''Raiden''': What're you...
547** A bleak and cynical parody of the famous Music/JohnLennon ballad-of-peace in the first chapter of the game:
548--->'''Sundowner''': All we are saying is... give ''war'' a chance!
549** And to the famous line from ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''.
550--->'''Desperado Doctor''': Surrender! Or decide: the needs of the many, or the needs of the few?
551** Senator Armstrong refers to Raiden as Saucy Jack. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saucy_Jacky_postcard Saucy Jack]] is something a person claiming to be Jack the Ripper gave themself on a postcard sent to Scotland Yard.
552** Mistral has a few towards Creator/AlbertCamus; her staff named ''[[Literature/TheStranger L'Etranger]]'' after one of his novels, she is a French-Algerian like the protagonist of that novel, and her theme song is called ''"A Stranger I Remain"''.
553** When Raiden tells Doktor that Sunny's aircraft won't break the Karman line, Doktor expresses disappointment, hoping that Raiden would have brought him back a [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey monolith]].
554** The last two hostages that the player will encounter specifically, bear more than a passing resemblance to [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Harry Mason]] and [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 James Sunderland]].
555** Raiden's visor activating before a boss fight is likely one to ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'', a game which director Kenji Saito worked back during his days as Clover Studios. There's also the "Falling Lightning" move, which is Joe's Red Hot Kick in all but name.
556** In one of the codec conversations, Kevin makes mention that Detroit was kind of a pioneer for a privatized police force, which served as grounds for later cities to undergo such a process, like Denver. The privatization of the Detroit Police Department is a shout out to ''Franchise/{{RoboCop}}''.
557** One piece of [[http://pcgameswallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Metal-Gear-Rising-Revengeance-Wallpaper-1920-x-1080.jpg promo art]] has Raiden and Blade Wolf mimicking the [[http://yuq.me/u/1371245/akCXdgS6AZ.png classic shot]] of [[Anime/NeoHumanCasshern Casshern and Friender]].
558** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7I1lDsQZ4 BGM]] that plays at Sundowner's Japanese-style garden is a cover of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5LxQvPVDmw Stage 1 theme]] from the original ''VideoGame/GanbareGoemon''.
559** During the [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS]] fight, [[spoiler:Armstrong]] may tell Raiden "[[Music/RayCharles Hit the road, Jack!]]"
560** The last thing Blade Wolf says before his boss fight with Raiden begins is [[Series/DoctorWho "Exterminate"]].
561** The scene where Raiden stands on a flying plane and slices another plane in half with a sword is a reference to another Konami game, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEqu2ITiOPI&t=47s Neo]] VideoGame/{{Contra}}.
562** Raiden taking his Mexican sombrero off and throwing it aways while saying ''“Adios, amigos!”'' is a reference to Konami’s classic arcade game [[VideoGame/SunsetRiders Sunset Riders]].
563** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ft6kst_Zc0 music]] that plays during Raiden's HopelessBossFight against [[spoiler:Armstrong]] is a remix of the [[https://youtu.be/pVZ2NShfCE8 Terminator theme]].
564* ShowsDamage: Every boss other than Blade Wolf will end up with various cuts on them when fight is almost over, even if Raiden was using the HF Wooden Sword.
565* ShownTheirWork:
566** At one point you can have a codec conversation with Kevin about Sam's Brazilian background, and every information is pretty spot on. Highlights are mentioning the big Japanese immigration and how that brought on Brazilian styles of certain martial arts (such as Sam's), and the spelling of his name being the Portuguese one: Samuel ''Rodrigues'', as opposed to Rodriguez.
567** The opening mission in Abkhazia features rather realistic commentary on the state of affairs in the post-USSR Caucasus. Rather unexpected too, as the region has never been touched upon in any other work of media to date.
568** The [[GratuitousForeignLanguage gratuitous Russian]] spoken by several characters is mostly grammatically correct and features sensible and appropriate obscenities actually used in everyday speech.
569** George speaks in authentic Guyanese Creole. It's also mentioned in a Codec call that George is of East Indian descent. Indo-Guyanese are the largest ethnic group within Guyana.
570** The mission that introduces George is hinted to take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the San Juan de Dios river was encased inside a big, wide pipe that was covered by the Independencia avenue -- [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer hence why the sewers of Guadalajara seem to be so wide and spacious]].
571* ShutUpHannibal: Several delivered by Raiden to the Winds of Destruction and [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong. In a codec conversation with Sunny, Raiden mentions he [[KirkSummation didn't help free America from the Patriots just so a maniac like Armstrong could destroy it]].]] More often than not, he accomplishes this by [[TalkToTheFist slicing them to pieces.]]
572* SlideAttack: Possible during a Ninja Run and can be chained into Blade Mode if it connects with an enemy, making it the only way to slash up enemies during Blade Mode while still mobile.
573* SmokingBarrelBlowout: Sam does this to his gunsheath in his DLC after his charged attacks if you don't press any buttons afterwards.
574* TheSocialDarwinist: [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]] envisions a kill-or-be-killed America.
575* SoLastSeason:
576** Raiden starts out with a modified form of the exoskeleton from ''[=MGS4=]'', but it's quickly outclassed and devastated in a fight. He ends up getting a nice new one to compete.
577** Codec conversations reveal that Gekkos are already considered outdated, even with the new production models that Desperado has.
578* SpiritualSuccessor: The combat system borrows multiple elements from ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', as ''MGR'' director Kenji Saito was the main programmer for that game.
579* SpiritualAntithesis: To the rest of the ''Metal Gear'' series as a whole. Sneaking past enemies is indirectly penalized (fewer [=BPs=] rewarded, which means you get fewer upgrades) and there is a heavy emphasis on melee combat with almost no ranged combat whatsoever (the only guns you get to carry around with you are missile launchers). The narrative also runs against the normal trend of far-reaching conspiracies, as seen when Sundowner directly states that not everything is some orchestrated plan-within-a-plan and that, while the Patriots certainly ''controlled'' the War Economy, humans started it all on their own.
580* StartXToStopX: [[spoiler:Armstrong's plan can be summarised as this, as he plans on using war as a business to get himself elected, giving him the power to end war as a business and introduce [[TheSocialDarwinist his ideal form of it]] to the world.]]
581* StealthBasedMission: The game incorporates stealth elements like OneHitKill {{Back Stab}}s and MobileShrubbery. Some maps encourage you to sneak or BackStab by pitting you against an impossibly large force if you're caught. Additionally, there are some VR Missions where being caught means a GameOver.
582* SteppingStonesInTheSky: Raiden can use the {{Macross Missile Massacre}}s launched by Metal Gear RAY and the Hammerheads to cross over large gaps.
583* SticksToTheBack: After upgrading his cybernetics Raiden switches from wearing his sword and scabbard at his hip to storing them on his back. The scabbard is actually attached to his body by a mechanical arm and can shift from the back position to the hip position during certain post-level victory stances.
584* StrawNihilist: All of the boss characters seem to feel that fighting is the way things have to be. Their song lyrics even back this up by saying things like "it had to be this way", or "through no fault of our own", when obviously that isn't true.
585* TheStoolPigeon: Going by the comments during the "Sword" trailer, apparently the soldier was being interrogated because he was suspected of leaking their strategic information to the enemy.
586* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Sam's katana is a work by Muramasa, but is intentionally misspelled in-game as "Murasama", implying that it was mistranslated by Sam's family when they received it. It's also symbolic of the imperfect translation inherent between ideals and the people who try to interpret and live by them.
587* SuperMode: Raiden's [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Ripper Mode]] is this; activating it causes Blade Mode to slow down the game by 90% instead of the usual 50%, and causes all attacks to either [[ArmorPiercingAttack destroy armor]] or [[CleanCut dismember unprotected enemies]], in addition to dealing much more damage to anything that survives.
588* SuperSpeed: Raiden has the ability to run extremely quickly, as well as to slow down his perception of time so he can chop one target a hundred times in a second. Basically, he's like a sword-based version of Sam Gideon from Platinum's previous release, ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}''.
589* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
590** Raiden's actions in Denver lead to him being branded a criminal, and even though he kills the BigBad, he admits that his actions aren't going to solve the problems that had been occurring in the game.
591** Slicing apart a vehicle flying towards Raiden at high speeds at the last split second doesn't mean the pieces will always slow down enough to stop being dangerous.
592** Taking the Patriots out of the picture for good hasn't solved all the ills of the world but merely started just another chapter in human history. For starters, the war economy couldn't simply stop cold and has merely slowed, and the media filters the Patriots put in place are still being used by governments for their own ends.
593** While the standard pain inhibitors for cyborgs mean that they can usually tank a sword to the gut or something, it instead replaces the pain feeling with an indescribable one according to Raiden which at least let him know he was being hurt. Voigt notes that if the inhibitors blocked everything, this would be dangerous in the long run as a cyborg could go critical without even noticing.
594** Even though Voigt is a strong advocate for cyborgs, he himself hasn't come under the procedure due to not only is there currently nothing seriously wrong with his body, he'd essentially be put in the hands of someone who might botch the procedure since cyborg enhancements had only gone through widespread use recently, so he reasonably doesn't trust any fellow colleagues yet. He does plan to wait a couple of years until the technology and overall skill of others improves and if his body does run into a problem.
595* SwipeYourBladeOff: After a stealth kill from behind ends, Raiden dramatically swings his blade down to shake the blood off. [[spoiler:He'll also do to remove Sam's spilled blood from Sam's fallen sword after killing him, before giving the blade to Wolf.]] He'll also wipe his blade across his arm, as seen after completing the first half of the RAY boss battle. Note, however, that [[spoiler:he doesn't do this in Ripper Mode, hinting to his somewhat AxCrazy mindset at that point in the game.]]
596* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: [[spoiler:Samuel's sword, which Wolf claims he keeps as a memento, unlocks itself for use during the final battle and is the only weapon capable of truly hurting Armstrong.]]
597* TacticalSuicideBoss: [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS]] would be completely untouchable if it didn't rotate to bring its legs into Raiden's cutting range for no reason whatsoever. Same goes for Mistral if she just stuck to throwing fireballs from the high ground.
598* TakeThat:
599** Armstrong gives one to the Tea Party Movement in the leaked conversation [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeX55kZH9yE found here.]]
600** Armstrong's speech [[spoiler:during the final boss battle]] takes a lot of cracks at the political and social climate of America, likening its weaknesses onto a disease that is rotting the country to its core. [[CallBack Stuff very reminiscent of what the AIs argued back in MGS2, in fact.]] It's marginally offset by the fact that his own vision for a revived America is comprised mostly of harsh, Social Darwinist rhetoric.
601** One of the titles you can earn at the end of the game is "Mr. One Percent" for earning at least 300,000 BP, and even one of Raiden's codec calls plays on the "1% of wealthiest Americans" term.
602--->'''Raiden:''' I've read that only one in fifty soldiers can kill without hesitation. Guess I'm a two-percenter, huh?
603** When Courtney recounts the tale of her joining up with Maverick after hearing Raiden's own story, she mentions the 1% as well, then speaks of how she was perturbed by the luxuries first-world countries enjoy at the expense of third-world ones.
604--->'''Courtney:''' Me? Ah... Well, it's funny. I was a business major, actually -- thought I'd go for an MBA. When I was in school there was a lot of talk about the widening gap between rich and poor. I figured I'd join the 1%, and never have to worry about money again. [[SarcasmMode Pretty noble, huh?]] Anyway, around then you started hearing all about this war economy stuff on the news. I was... I dunno -- disgusted, I guess? Disillusioned, for sure.
605** There are numerous statements about the government response to 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, the military-industrial-congressional complex, etc. And, all these things are implied to directly lead to acts such as murdering peacefully-elected African leaders, kidnapping children and ripping their brains out, forcing soldiers to become privately-owned cyborgs, etc.
606* TakeUpMySword:
607** Blade Wolf reveals that, in his conversation with Sam prior to Raiden's arrival, [[spoiler:the latter wanted the victor of their duel to do whatever they wish with his overpowered Murasama.]]
608** [[spoiler:Armstrong]], on the verge of death, muses that he and Raiden are kindred spirits, and [[spoiler:Raiden is a worthy successor to his ideals.]]
609* TakingTheHeat: [[spoiler:Before taking on World Marshal and becoming a public enemy upon doing so, Raiden resigns from Maverick so no one will think of going after them.]]
610* TalkingWeapon: The April 2013 ''"Snake Soul" Wooden Sword'' DLC weapon, a {{wooden katana|sAreEvenBetter}} that says stuff in Solid Snake's voice when swung, and apparently [[SoulJar is infused with his soul]].
611* TemptingFate: In Pakistan, one codec conversation with Kevin has Raiden state that he should be fine since none of Desperado's standard cyborgs or [=UGs=] are a threat and the Winds of Destruction are dead. Turns out, the enemy does have an ace up their sleeves after all. [[spoiler:Conveniently, a similar codec with Boris has him and Raiden ponder who could be at the base to lead Operation Tecumseh, specifically ruling out Senator Armstrong because he's not a combatant, assuming a cyborg with specialized combat enhancements like Sundowner would be there instead. They were wrong on all three accounts: there is no cyborg, Armstrong has physically hardening nanomachines in him and is very much a fighter, and he is at the base leading the operation.]]
612* ThatPoorCar: At one point in the VGA 2011 trailer, Raiden kicked an enemy soldier so hard, it triggered a car alarm on the black car behind them upon impact.
613* ThemeMusicPowerUp: The boss themes play with this trope in an unique way. For most of the fight, their themes are instrumental, but when the boss' life lowers to a certain point, vocals kick in just so you know it is ''[[TurnsRed on]]''. Some bosses utilize this in a different way; Sundowner's vocals don't kick in unless you slice off all of his shields. Sam's music starts out with vocals, but turns to instrumental should you cause him to drop his sword. And [[spoiler:Armstrong's]] vocals stop if he causes Raiden to [[spoiler:drop Muramasa]].
614* ThemeNaming:
615** The Winds of Destruction, true to the group's name, are each named after a different type of wind (Sundowner, Mistral, Monsoon, Jetstream, plus the DLC-exclusive Khamsin). Jetstream Sam is also known as "Minuano."
616** The ID-tagged soldiers are all named after U.S. Presidents (e.g. Barack, James, William, Ronald, Gerald).
617* TheThemeParkVersion: Two thirds into your raid on the World Marshal Headquarters, you land in a giant "Japanese Garden" created to host [=VIPs=] because one of the World Marshal executives is a [[OccidentalOtaku "Japanese Culture Enthusiast."]] Inside is a simulacrum of JidaiGeki, with sliding doors, wooden umbrellas, red painted, tile roofed castles, and cherry blossoms blooming in a simulated evening. Amusingly, you can see the spotlights above the room that provide ambiance.
618* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill:
619** It is entirely possible to use Blade Mode to cut someone/thing into over a hundred little bits. The game even counts how many parts you cut them into! This is how all the members of Winds of Destruction (except Sam) and pre-HeelFaceTurn Blade Wolf are dispatched.
620** In-universe [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS]] was ''intended'' to be this, as a counter to the spreading use of cyborg soldiers. Any buildings in the way would be crushed, but it's [[MightyGlacier so slow]] any civilians can simply get out of the way (as opposed to an airstrike, where they can't), leaving only enemy soldiers that will likely not have any weapons that can damage it.
621* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch:
622** As Raiden puts it against Sundowner, "[[WouldHurtAChild They're kids]], you son of a bitch!"
623** [[spoiler: Armstrong]]'s explanation of his power manages it without swearing: "Nanomachines, son."
624* ThisIsReality: A codec conversation in Pakistan has Kevin rule out the use of an infiltrator [[spoiler: on board Air Force One to assassinate the US president]] as foreign press would not be allowed on board in reality, "not like in the movies."
625* ThousandYardStare: Raiden sports one on a couple of occasions in the game after significant moments of distress. In the immediate aftermath of his battle with [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong after having crushed his beating heart in his hand]] Raiden has an especially haunting look of exhaustion on his face.
626* TitleDrop: Many songs have their own titles as part of the lyrics, some are more subtle ("Wash away the sorrow/All the '''stains of time'''") while others are pretty much shoved in your face ([[LargeHam "RULES OF NATURE"]] and [[LargeHam "I'M MY OWN MASTER NOW"]])
627* TitleScream: Enter the [[KonamiCode Konami Code]] on the Press Start screen, and Raiden'll say the title of the game.
628* TooAwesomeToUse: 3D Photo Frames, the equivalent of magazines in other ''MGS'' games. In a game with simplified stealth mechanics and enemy patrolling AI, an item that, when thrown well, can completely distract entire crowds of mooks can be extremely overpowered. Thus to balance it, 3D Photo Frames are more rarely seen compared to other items, giving a tendency to hoard them. Wig A, which provides infinite sub-weapons, makes this a non-issue however.
629* TraintopBattle: Raiden and Sam engage in a swordfight on top of a supply train in the prologue.
630* {{Transhuman}}: Cyborgs are abound in this game, every enemy being either a cyborg PMC, a UG, [[spoiler:Sam or Armstrong, who are completely human aside from their arm and heart respectively.]] Raiden's new look accentuates the mechanical aspect, as he is now more machine than he is man. Desperado's plan is to make an army of child soldier cyborgs by extracting their brains and putting them in VR training not unlike the training Raiden went throught. Doktor also discusses the uses of cybernetic enhancements outside of military operations, using [[spoiler:George]] as an example of how cybernetics could save lives and enhance their capabilities, both physically and mentally.
631* UncannyValley: Raiden explains in a codec that one of the reasons adjusting to civilian life as a cyborg was so hard was because artificial skin can fool people from a distance, but it's obviously fake up close. Indeed all the cyborg characters look "off" compared to the human characters, which is also a big hint about [[spoiler:Jetstream Sam]], as he looks much more human.
632* TheUnfettered:
633** [[spoiler:Armstrong]] believes that ''everyone'' in the United States should be like this. He thinks the end result would be a nation culled of its weaklings while the strong thrive.
634** Raiden himself gradually becomes more and more unfettered as the story goes on, giving up body, mind, ideals, and weapon to win. [[spoiler:It's why Armstrong is so confident that Raiden is a worthy successor to him.]]
635* UnnecessarilyLargeInterior: The World Marshal building contains both ridiculously enormous rooms and corridors.
636* UnorthodoxSheathing: Raiden's new body has a sheath on a mechanical arm that can swap between being mounted on his back or on his hip.
637* UnskippableCutscene: Monsoon's pre-fight cutscene cannot be skipped, since the player must watch his speech from Raiden's point of view.
638* VariableMix: Music regularly gains and loses instruments and tempo depending on events within the game. Boss themes in particular often shift to different parts of the song to go along with the actions of the battle, usually ending in a full vocal performance.
639* {{Vibroweapon}}: "High Frequency Blades", knives and swords that vibrate at high frequencies through the use of alternating currents, to the point that they can [[AbsurdCuttingPower cut through concrete and steel]].
640* ViciousCycle: Several codec conversations are about how suffering and violence are often part of a seemingly endless cycle; abused kids grow up to abuse their own children because they don't know anything else, ChildSoldiers kill the parents of other kids who become child soldiers in retaliation, etc. Much mention is made of how the memes of society (the original definition, not the popular one), once widespread, are almost impossible to get rid of and can shape a civilisation for generations.
641* VictoryFakeout: Metal Gear RAY appears to have been destroyed early in the prologue level, but comes back to fight Raiden once more later on. It fakes out again at the end of the second battle, before finally being taken down in a QTE.
642* VideoGameCaringPotential: There are four civilians to save from Desperado or World Marshal cyborgs. Doing so nets you the "Humanitarian Assistance" achievement.
643* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
644** The cyborg troops hiding in cardboard boxes will never attack you. This doesn't stop you from [[OffWithHisHead slicing off their heads]].
645** Provided you don't hit a cyborg's electrolyte core or head, ''it's possible to non-lethally carve off [[AnArmAndALeg their limbs]]. You get more points if you do this to all of them''. Granted, they're still alive, but...
646* VillainHasAPoint: Raiden may believe that [[spoiler:Armstrong]] is batshit insane, but he shares the villain's contempt with the whole idea of war being an industry with people fighting and dying for money and causes that aren't their own. [[spoiler:He leaves his allies in the end to keep fighting elsewhere, presumably for a cause of his own.]]
647* VillainSong: Every boss fight has lyrics describing themselves.
648** "Rules of Nature" - As the song played for several of the Unmanned Gears' fights, this is about how they, as [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots 'predators' of past battlefields,]] [[TechnologyMarchesOn are now on their last legs against the smaller, but faster, stronger and more effective cyborgs of the current times.]]
649** "I'm My Own Master Now" - LQ-84i's is about how he is [[AntiVillain forced to battle]], and [[WinYourFreedom yearns for freedom]].
650** "A Stranger I Remain" - Mistral's is about she feels like a [[BloodKnight wanderer whose real home is the battlefield]].
651** "The Stains of Time" - Monsoon's talks about a symbolic [[BattleInTheRain storm]] (AKA war) that [[StartOfDarkness washes away all your reasons for fighting and hope for a peaceful life]] until [[StrawNihilist only hate remains]].
652** "Red Sun" - Sundowner's talks about how he and the Earth itself are both [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul being slowly corrupted by technology]] as [[GaiasLament nature recedes from the destruction his wars unleash]], and how in a stroke of slight irony [[NatureIsNotNice it returns in the form of vultures, that come to pick at the rotting corpses left behind in the wasteland he made]].
653** "The Only Thing I Know For Real" - Sam's talks about not knowing any [[NotInThisForYourRevolution reason]] to draw his [[MasterSwordsman sword]] other than to [[BloodKnight shed blood]], only to [[HeelRealization start to remember why he fights]] [[DuelToTheDeath just as it's too late and he is staring death in the face]].
654** "Hot Wind Blowing" - Khamsin's theme is about the conflict between [[{{Eagleland}} his beliefs in freedom]] and the harsh realities of being [[WarIsHell just another soldier in an army doing awful things for that same freedom]], [[IgnoredEpiphany ultimately discarding his own moral compass and introspection]] in favor of [[PatrioticFervor blind obedience and dogmatic belief that he's doing what's right in the end.]]
655** "Collective Consciousness" - [[spoiler:Senator Armstrong]]'s theme nihilistically tells the [[WeakWilled unenlightened masses]] to [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill give up free will forever]] and [[MassHypnosis let their country control their souls]]. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Armstrong isn't actually a big fan of this sort of thing.]]
656** "It Has To Be This Way" - [[spoiler:Armstrong]]'s second theme talks about how he and Raiden aren't so different, and also mentions his plan to [[spoiler:burn America to the ground and rebuild it to suit his SocialDarwinist ideals: where each person is allowed to fight, kill, and die for their own beliefs and interests rather than their country's as in the above song]].
657* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Armstrong, mostly because he admittedly doesn't write his own speeches. He's even a candidate for the 2020 Presidential elections.
658* VisualPun: Mistral's L'Etranger pole-arm is made from Dwarf Gekko limbs. It's quite literally a pole-arm made from arms.
659* WalkingTank: The "Grad" is more of this than the Gekko is. It's covered in heavy, reactive armor plating, and while it does have the capability to smack people around in close combat it primarily attacks using conventional weapons like machine guns and rockets, whereas the Gekko has the capability to shoot people but almost universally prefers to kick most of its targets to death. The Grad can also transform into a roller mode to act like a more conventional tank. Another thing to note about the Grad is that it essentially is the closest thing (even moreso than the Gekko, as above) to Granin's original definition as to what a Metal Gear would be, a tank with legs linking infantry and artillery.
660* WakeUpCallBoss:
661** While you can get through Act 00 on [[DifficultyLevels Normal or above]] without learning to use the parry or dodge mechanics, if you haven't by the LQ-84i BossBattle in Act 01, the UG will rip you apart.
662** Monsoon. His magnetic abilities make him near-invulnerable for much of the battle, while his attacks almost always occur in quick bursts or sequences (sometimes while using a RP grenade to screw with your vision.) Being able to parry is more or less a requirement for beating him.
663* WarForFunAndProfit: Sundowner is all about this trope, and loves to espouse the virtues of war.
664* WaveMotionGun: The modified Metal Gear RAY has a plasma cannon capable of cutting a building in half in place of previous RAY models using a hydraulic water cutter. [[spoiler:Metal Gear EXCELSUS]] has ''two'' of them.
665* WeirdCurrency: Raiden can purchase upgrades from the Doktor using accumulated combat data, or "Battle Points." This includes the combat data of enemy cyborgs, which can be gained by cutting off their left arms and taking the data chips inside.
666* WesternSamurai: Samuel "Jetstream" Rodrigues is a Japanese-Brazilian cyborg [[spoiler:(in reality a human with a nanotechnology armor)]] with part-Japanese ancestry who has an [[IaijutsuPractitioner iaijutsu-based fighting style]]. He [[AncestralWeapon inherited from his father]] a katana [[NamedWeapons named "Murasama"]], modified by him to be a [[{{Vibroweapon}} High-Frequency Blade]] just like Raiden's own sword. Raiden himself is the {{Foil}} of "Jetstream" for being a {{ninja}} with [[McNinja non-Japanese origins]].
667* WhamShot: In the Japanese version, [[spoiler:when Raiden kills Jetstream Sam, he surprisingly bleeds red instead of white, serving as a reveal that he wasn't the same as the Winds of Destruction even on a physical level.]] The English version has Raiden [[ParrotExposition explain it outright]] due to [[spoiler:the cyborgs bleeding red instead of white.]]
668* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
669** Mostly subverted. While cutscenes don't touch on the ramifications of earlier missions, radioing Codec contacts will give you details on the political and economic fallout after you stopped the coup in Abkhazia, the futures of the children rescued in Mexico, and so on.
670** Solid Snake's fate after ''[=MGS4=]'' is not conclusively addressed. However, Raiden does talk about him with Kevin during one Codec conversation when Raiden references the philosophy that Snake passed onto him. Raiden refers to him in the present tense, while Kevin uses past tense, leaving Snake's fate open for Kojima to decide on later.
671* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Raiden coldly dispatches dozens of {{cyborg}} enemies, unnervingly saying they're nothing but "walking vending machines" who chose to become terrorists who were getting what they deserved. He still tries to do everything in his power to protect non-cyborg civilians. He is later called out on this mindset, however, [[spoiler:when Sam claims that many of these cyborgs weren't really given much of a choice, but rather were exploited by the PMC system. Raiden laments to Blade Wolf that he thought these men had been given a fair choice, unlike Blade Wolf who had likewise been forced to fight.]] Earlier, Monsoon is able to give Raiden a HeroicBSOD by using the SOP system to [[spoiler:force him to read the thoughts and feelings of the PMC cyborgs, who are all scared out of their minds and do NOT want to fight him, but see no choice.]]
672* WhatTheHellHero:
673** Kevin gets pretty frustrated with Raiden while trying to convince him he can't just go around breaking laws.
674** Boris calls Raiden out for quitting Maverick while the latter goes on a manhunt for Desperado. When Raiden manages to get to a building, Raiden gives him his point by telling him he's only doing it because he doesn't want any more kids turning into Jack the Ripper. Boris nominally denounces him to prevent legal blowback against Maverick, and then decides to give him unofficial support.
675** Cutting the clothes off civilians will cause most of your contacts to be (reasonably) upset with you. Turns out that they're not fans of a cyborg stripping the clothes off innocent people with a sword that can cleanly cut through solid steel.
676* WhyWontYouDie: Said verbatim during one boss battle. [[spoiler:The final one, in fact. Raiden demands to know why Senator Armstrong won't die. His answer? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhMsboqMMzs "Nanomachines, son."]]]]
677* TheWorfEffect:
678** [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty A Metal Gear RAY]] appears during the game's tutorial as the first boss. Raiden destroys it without much trouble, showing how much more powerful he has gotten since the previous game.
679** Raiden gets laid out and [[spoiler:his sword broken easily by Armstrong in the first part of the fight]], showing that Raiden needs help to win. Cue Blade Wolf showing up to provide him with the tool he needed to achieve victory.
680* WhatTheHellAreYou: Both Raiden and Sam ask [[spoiler:Armstrong]] this word for word after witnessing him perform superhuman feats.
681* WorthyOpponent: All of the boss characters express this sentiment towards Raiden to some degree. Sam most of all seems to care more about fighting Raiden than he does about Desperado's plan. [[spoiler:During the final boss battle Senator Armstrong will say, "This is the greatest fight of my life," so he certainly thinks so too.]]
682* WreakingHavok: Any time you CleanCut a target, the game's physics engine will make a [[RuleOfCool spectacle]] of it by making the pieces fly through the air or collapse in on themselves.
683* WreckedWeapon: Raiden's sword is broken in the final battle, representing that the final thing he has to lose (his ideals) has been lost.
684* WrestlerInAllOfUs:
685** The Mastiff enemies will occasionally perform full on dropkicks on you, especially after you cut their arms off.
686** In the final battle, [[spoiler:Armstrong]] will attempt to pull off an elbow drop on Raiden in a QTE, and Raiden performs an armbar on him.
687* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Implied by Armstrong, that even though he and his entire force has been destroyed, he was able to share his ideals with Raiden, and he believes that Raiden will carry out those ideals in the future]].
688* YankTheDogsChain: Right after Raiden slices off Metal Gear RAY's other arm, it collapses in a heap and looks beaten, and Raiden turns his back to the boss, about to do his victory pose where he sheaths his sword. But the background music doesn't give way to triumphant ending notes... then RAY springs to life once again and snaps its jaws around Raiden while his back is turned. On the first playthrough, a player may not expect this fake-out, but after RAY lost its arm and still came back to pick a fight with them a second time, they should expect that the only way to kill it off for good is to utterly destroy it, which leads to the final phase of the boss battle.
689* YouAllLookFamiliar: Doktor justifies this on the part of the Desperado mooks by saying that many cyborg bodies are mass-produced.
690* YouAreAlreadyDead: Done on a few occasions, such as the Metal Gear RAY fight; after impaling its head and running down to its tail, Raiden stops and dramatically sheathes his sword before it splits and explodes.
691* YouHaveGOTToBeKiddingMe: Said by Raiden when he realizes [[spoiler:Armstrong]] still intends to fight, and in fact [[HulkingOut hulks up]] to do so.
692* YouLookFamiliar:
693** The designs for the Mastiff enemies (the hulking [=UGs=] with the cannon attached to their right arm) were reused from concept artwork from ''Guns of the Patriots'' that was originally meant to be the designs for one of the B&B Corps members.
694** Sam, TheRival to Raiden, resembles Vamp. The developers state that this is purely a coincidence, and that Sam is not related in any way to Vamp.
695* YoureInsane:
696** Raiden delivers a variant of this StockPhrase to the FinalBoss:
697--->'''Raiden:''' I was wrong. You're not greedy... You're batshit insane!
698** Monsoon delivers one to Raiden, but as part of a NotSoDifferentRemark.
699[[/folder]]
700
701[[folder:''Jetstream'' and ''Blade Wolf'' '''(ALL SPOILERS UNMARKED)''']]
702* AnArmAndALeg: In ''Jetstream'', Sam severs Armstrong's right arm, but because the cut was made at a harsh angle, Armstrong is able to use his nanomachines to harden the stump into a BladeBelowTheShoulder and stab it through Sam's own right arm, wounding it enough to need the prosthetic he uses in the main game. Plus, once the battle ends, he picks up his arm and uses the nanomachines to reattach it.
703* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The packs let you play as [[TheRival Raiden's main rival]] and robot [[CanineCompanion canine companion]] respectively.
704* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Sam figures out during the final cutscene of his DLC that Armstrong has nanomachines that harden his skin as well as how long it takes. He cuts Armstrong's hand off before it can harden.
705* BaitAndSwitchBoss: At one point in Sam's DLC, he's greeted by Monsoon in a wide open room. After a brief conversation, he then makes a smokescreen, just as he does in the fight with Raiden...and then a shutter opens, revealing [[HumongousMecha Metal Gear RAY]].
706* {{Backtracking}}: The story of both packs almost entirely consist of this (save for a few points):
707** ''Jetstream'' receives a few new areas, but is effectively a replay of the main story's Desperado HQ level (albeit in a different ordering) with the sewers from the opening of the Mexico level standing in for a different set of sewers. The enemies have been changed up and made significantly more difficult, but the final boss is simply the main plot's Senator Armstrong with a couple of new moves.
708** ''Blade Wolf'' is entirely made from doing part of Colorado again in AI, and then doing half of the main story's Abkhazia mission backwards. Again, the main difference lies in changing the minor enemies and hiking up the plot, but the pack also comes with a few DLC missions and a new boss battle at the end.
709* BatmanGambit: Mistral's plan relies entirely on Blade Wolf stealing the remote to his RestrainingBolt, fleeing for the coast, and defeating Khamsin. Naturally, Blade Wolf follows through perfectly, meaning Mistral can re-restrain him afterwards. Though the remote turns out to be a MockGuffin anyway; after Blade Wolf has disposed of Khamsin for Mistral, she re-enables the range limiter using an augmented-reality display.
710* BoringButPractical: Sam's finishing move for most enemies after they're stunned is just a very strong, barely flashy kick, which is quick, to the point, and, with the right timing and positioning, can be done on ''multiple'' enemies.
711* BottleEpisode: The ''Blade Wolf'' DLC takes place before Raiden met Blade Wolf, which itself was a story told by him while living with Sunny.
712* BrickJoke: That motorcycle Raiden commandeers when he escapes from Denver? It belongs to Sam.
713* BrutalBonusLevel: The Jetstream Sam DLC gives us VR Mission 04, a ''[[MarathonLevel brutally long]]'' fight against dozens and dozens of progressively tougher enemies, and is one of the only VR missions to feature a mid-boss fight.
714* ChainsawGood: Blade Wolf's strong attacks involve his back-mounted chainsaw. It also used to [[SwordSparks counter against Khamsin's chainsaw]].
715* ChargedAttack: Sam's playstyle is more or less based around this: using charged quickdraw slashes is his main way of dealing damage, and each of them has different properties depending on what point of his normal combo you use it if you charge it fully: by default, it's a multihit dashing attack with some degree of vertical homing if used in midair, a LauncherMove if used after the first light attack, a SpinAttack if used after the second light attack and a RazorWind projectile if used after the third light attack or during a Ninja Run. Unlike Raiden, he can also use his quickdraw slash during Blade Mode, which allows him to Zandatsu enemies from much farther away than Raiden, but he can't change the angle of the slash, only where he aims it.
716* CleanCut: Actually works against Sam in ''Jetstream'', as he severs Armstrong's arm in such a way that Armstrong manages to use the stump, sharpened to a point by his body-hardening nanomachines, to cut off Sam's own arm.
717* CoolBike: Sam's motorcycle is the same one Raiden steals.
718* CutAndPasteEnvironments: The sewer in the beginning of Sam's chapter is a remodeled version of the same one that Raiden went through in Mexico during the main campaign. Sam comments on this.
719-->'''Sam''': Why do these sewers seem so familiar?
720* DespairEventHorizon: Samuel has one after Senator Armstrong defeats him, which results in him reluctantly [[DefeatMeansFriendship joining Desperado]].
721* DifficultButAwesome: Jetstream Sam takes a lot of time getting used to if you've played with Raiden a lot. Specifically his taunt makes enemies take much more damage but they also deal more and can damage you through parry making a full defensive stance less effective. His charge attacks do damage on par with the Counter Parry and it can be done freely to enemies but the lead in time means you can't do it while directly under attack unlike the Counter Parry. He also can't keep pressuring the enemy by endlessly mashing weak attack like Raiden can thanks to his infinite combo string and the ability to cover distance automatically between slashes if the enemy is too far since Sam only has a 4-hit chain and all of his charged attacks that follow it have their own unique properties that need to be learned to use them effectively. But once you've fully learned how to play [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFThn13S47A him...]]
722* DoomedByCanon: In ''Blade Wolf'', the player learns of another major Desperado cyborg named Khamsin. Since Raiden never even hears of him, it's clear he won't be around for long.
723* DownerEnding: See ForegoneConclusion.
724* EverybodyLaughsEnding: A much darker example than usual in the ''Jetstream'' ending. Armstrong offers Sam a handshake to congratulate him on his new job at Desperado... except that in order for Sam to take the handshake, he'd need the use of his right arm, which Armstrong just stabbed through. As Sam looks from Armstrong's outstretched hand to his useless sword arm, the fact that Sam couldn't accept the handshake ''even if he wanted to'' is enough to get him laughing at the sheer hopelessness of his situation, and Armstrong soon joins in.
725* FiveSecondForeshadowing: At the end of Sam's story, he says that he will cut Armstrong's arm off. He actually does, but Armstrong retaliates by cutting Sam's arm off with the sharpened stump.
726* ForegoneConclusion: Being prequels to the main plot, both packs qualify.
727** ''Jetstream'' ends with Sam laughing along with Armstrong, implying that Sam has lost the will to fight for his ideals. Soon, after he begins fighting for World Marshal and Armstrong's plans.
728** ''Blade Wolf'' ends with Mistral revealing she was not going to give Blade Wolf freedom, and she forces Blade Wolf to continue fighting for Desperado and by extension, her. [[EarnYourHappyEnding Fortunately, Blade Wolf does soon gain freedom in the events of the main game]].
729* FragileSpeedster: Unlike Raiden, whose parry lasts long enough that he can parry early without much punishment, Sam's parries last for only a few moments and when enemies are enraged he can't afford to keep parrying them constantly. However, he also has far greater movement ability than Raiden, with a double jump and air dash, alongside his charged attacks sending him flying forward quite a bit, encouraging the player to keep away until the enemy is open to attack, then rush them down.
730* FreudianTrio: In ''Blade Wolf,'' Mistral's TheSpock, Khamsin's TheMcCoy, & Blade Wolf's TheKirk.
731* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Sam has the ability to bounce back if he's sent flying into a wall in normal gameplay. He does basically this off a helicopter during the final Quick Time Event in his fight against Armstrong. He also sometimes does it while on the train in his very first battle against Raiden.
732* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
733** Despite Sam and LQ-84i not being cyborgs they still uses nanopaste and electrolytes the same way Raiden does.
734** Sam dies in the main game with one straight stab to the heart. Here, he can take a chainsaw to the chest the same way Raiden does and get right back up.
735* GlassCannon: Sam's moveset makes him one of these. He has awesome offensive moves and great mobility, as well as a counterattack that lets him instantly open most enemies up for finishers. However, his parry timing is much stricter than Raiden's and lacks stealthy options. The latter can be explained by the fact he is a samurai, not a ninja like Raiden.
736* GoneHorriblyRight: When fighting Armstrong, Sam watches his movements and when he activates the shield nanomachines to evaluate when to activate his quick draw. He manages to slice Armstrong's arm off with it, only for Armstrong to activate his nanomachines to make the pointed end of his stump into a sword. Armstrong then stabs through the shoulder of Sam's sword arm, completely severing it.
737* HandicappedBadass: Khamsin is revealed to have no legs. In their place, however, is the wiring that connects him to a MiniMecha.
738* HopeSpot:
739** At the end of Sam's campaign, he seems to have Armstrong beat after cutting off his hand, only for Armstrong to use the sharpened stub on his arm to sever Sam's right arm, before reattaching his own hand.
740** Blade Wolf's campaign also has this during Mistral's mission to Abkhazia. Mistral disengages Wolf's RestrainingBolt as part of its mission, and Wolf takes the opportunity to make a mad dash for freedom; come the ending, it turns out to entirely be a BatmanGambit to get rid of Khamsin.
741* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Blade Wolf does this to Khamsin a few times during their fight.
742* LagCancel: Sam's [[TauntButton taunt]] can be cancelled after two seconds by pressing any button. [[GoodBadBugs It can be cancelled even earlier by switching subweapons or recovery items.]]
743* MiniMecha: Khamsin, who is connected to a humanoid mech with a chainsaw bladed axe.
744* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Subverted in Sam's case. One of the many reasons Sam wants to take down Desperado and Armstrong is because they are taking advantage of innocent and vulnerable men, turning them into cyborgs, and having them fight and die for their own evil goals. He came in with this understanding, unlike Raiden who found out the hard way.
745* NintendoHard: Both packs. All the enemies are much more aggressive by default even on Normal, several often-used tricks in the main game no longer work, parrying has a tighter timing and doesn't do nearly as much damage. Even taunting enemies as Sam, which in Raiden's case forces them to attack, instead stacks on speed and either block damage or non-counter attacks.
746* OriginsEpisode: Both episodes in their own way. Jetstream is about how Sam began to work for Desperado while Blade Wolf is about Blade Wolf developing sentience as well as getting his new name.
747* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: This pretty much sums up the plot of the Jetstream DLC, showing how Sam went from a heroic individual who used his BloodKnight causes to fight crime and help people to losing hope and ideals and then joining Desperado.
748* RazorWind: An attack for Sam. Apparently his sword is just so sharp, the sharpness goes flying off it if you swing it right.
749* RooftopConfrontation: Sam's confrontation against Armstrong takes place on Sundowner's helipad.
750* SeinfeldianConversation: The Jetstream DLC opens with Armstrong and Monsoon discussing cherry blossoms for two minutes; the former hates them, but the latter is indifferent.
751* ShaggyDogStory: ''Blade Wolf'' as per [[ForegoneConclusion canon requirements]]. Blade Wolf outsmarts Mistral, fights through Desperado mooks, kills Khamsin, and finally reaches the coast and earns his freedom. Cue Mistral reactivating his inhibitors, locking him in place so she can explain it was all part of her BatmanGambit.
752* ShoutOut: The platformer-style final VR mission in Sam's DLC shares its layout with the first level of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI'', complete with shutters where doors would be and a breakable wall with BP items in the same relative location as the [[InexplicablyPreservedDungeonMeat wallmeat]] in the original game.
753* StartOfDarkness: ''Jetstream'' details how Sam was broken physically and emotionally by Armstrong to become his new minion.
754* StealthBasedMission: Blade Wolf has more overall emphasis on stealth than other characters: he can do his BackStab from farther away than Raiden and can do it to any enemy in his story (including Khamsin). This even extends to enemies during alerts if they're unaware of him or if he blinds them with an RP grenade. As well, stealthy players can ''easily'' get greater score totals than even the main game if they haven't alerted any enemies and use stealth kills exclusively (or not kill anyone at all, if possible). In essence, just going berserker may be the easier route, but stealth is harder and more rewarding.
755* TheStinger: The after-credits scene of ''Jetstream'' is Sam's intro in the main game, but from his perspective.
756* SwordSparks: Finishing off Khamsin causes a chainsaw-to-chainsaw grind.
757* SympathyForTheDevil: Both packs act as this.
758** Sam turned from vigilante/rogue to Desperado as he was bested by Armstrong, who cut off his right arm. As such, he joined to both [[JoinOrDie survive]] and to find an enemy better than himself (who would thus have a remote chance of killing Armstrong).
759** Blade Wolf, whilst originally making a very sudden HeelFaceTurn, is revealed to be a lifelike AI who has always yearned for freedom; the reason he fights for Desperado is simply because refusing results in torture and death.
760* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Sam jokingly references this when he meets Armstrong in person on the World Marshal helipad thinking that he'll do this under the assumption that Armstrong isn't a nanomachine-fueled juggernaut.
761* TauntButton: Sam has one, which can be used to hit an enemy's BerserkButton and cause them to act more recklessly, attacking faster and harder without blocking.
762* UnnecessarilyLargeInterior: Sam explores Desperado HQ from the sewers up. Between the Server Room, the Japanese Garden, two freight elevators side by side, and an underground hangar large enough to store a Metal Gear RAY, all stacked on top of each other, all sense of scale seems to disappear the higher up you go.
763* WakeUpCallBoss: Blade Wolf again in ''Jetstream''. He's even faster than in the main game and much more aggressive, presumably to teach the player that Sam is better at dodging than parrying.
764* WeCanRuleTogether: Sam's story ends with Armstrong dismembering Sam, but offering a partnership. Since Sam is bleeding, cornered, and [[LeaveYourQuestTest has no other option]], he agrees and becomes one of the Winds of Destruction.
765* WholeEpisodeFlashback: ''Blade Wolf'' actually occurs after the ending cutscene, and is Blade Wolf telling Sunny his history.
766* TheWorfEffect: Armstrong hands Sam his greatest defeat. Adds emphasis to his TakeUpMySword schtick with Raiden, as explains why Sam needs to be defeated; only someone better than Sam can stop Armstrong. It also explains why for as one-sided the fight between Raiden and Armstrong was initially, he began to make actual effort the moment Blade Wolf arrived, because he already knows that Sam's sword is capable of cutting him.
767* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Armstrong adds to his main-story wrestling moves with lariats and giant swings. And then there's his sumo-esque stomps.
768[[/folder]]
769
770----
771->''"I've got my own war to fight."''

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