History VideoGame / MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain

* ShownTheirWork: Jay Tavare, Code Talker's voice/motion capture actor, claims that his character speaks in a complex dialect of Navajo. It's worthy of noting that Tavare is Native American himself, implying the use of the language is just that multifaceted.

** Mark Serrels posted an article on [[http://kotaku.com/why-snake-is-the-best-climber-in-video-game-history-1636633722 Kotaku]] explaining why Snake has the most impressive (read: realistic) climbing technique in video game history, and that contemporaries like ''Uncharted'' and ''Assassin's Creed'' get this very wrong. The writer praises the following: Snake puts a lot of focus on footwork rather than his upper body strength, he uses his knees to propel his body upward, he hugs his torso against the wall so he doesn't fall, and Snake is seen shaking his hand to ease the fatigue in it making note most games don't showcase how lactic acid tires out the muscles.[[note]]Though it should be noted that the Special Forces make it a point to teach their troops how to transverse virtually any terrain, and proper mountain climbing technique is something a fully trained elite would be expected to know how to pull off; as Snake is a former Green Beret, and the student of The Boss, he would be educated enough to know the proper way to climb. In fact, his infiltration of Camp Omega was similarly realistic in terms of style.[[/note]]

** Sahelanthropus, the Metal Gear mech in this entry, is Soviet in design, though it's implied that Huey had a hand in its construction. [[spoiler:Likewise, the Man on Fire (aka, Volgin's corpse) is also the result of Soviet experimentation.]]

* StoryToGameplayRatio: ''Phantom Pain'' is noted for being one of the most gameplay-focused mainline ''Metal Gear'' titles; the first 40 minutes or so of the game are one big interactive cutscene, but after that is a ''huge'' amount of open-world gameplay, with much fewer cutscene interruptions than previous ''Metal Gear Solid'' games (many plot points are delivered via radio or optional cassette tapes instead). This is a sharp contrast to ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', which had short gameplay segments frequently interrupted by long cutscenes, some of them over an hour in length.

** In ''Ground Zeroes'' [[spoiler: Paz had]] suffered torture, just been operated on under awful conditions, and fell from a helicopter into the ocean as the helicopter was blown up by a rocket and their base was being destroyed. Turning up alive wasn't a case of being absurdly tough, lucky, and [[SoftWater being saved by landing in the water]] that one might expect from Metal Gear games but rather [[spoiler: Snake hallucinating that the second bomb had been discovered in time and that she could have survived all of the harsh conditions long enough to be rescued]].

* TimedMission: When Ocelot says that Miller has three days, tops, before the Soviets dispose of him, he is ''not'' kidding. You have ''exactly'' three in-game days to rescue and extract Miller before being slapped with a [[NonStandardGameOver Time Paradox]] and being forced to start the mission all over again.
* TheStinger: Explains why Miller sold Big Boss out, joining FOXHOUND and helping Solid Snake take him down in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''. [[spoiler:Really, getting abandoned by his best friend, who went on to become a full-blown terrorist, and left with a BodyDouble drove Kaz off the deep end. Also, it's implied that [[Videogame/MetalGearSolid Revolver Ocelot was the one who killed him.]]]]
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: WordOfGod confirms that this is the relationship between Miller and Ocelot, and in fact the entirety of Diamond Dogs; all of them cooperate ''only'' because of Snake's presence, and the entire organization would collapse without him.

* DirtyCommunist: Averted. Despite the setting and Cold War backdrop, not all the Soviet forces are painted as depraved or evil.

* HumiliationConga: What Huey suffers. And it's incredibly [[spoiler: [[AssholeVictim satisfying]]]]. The most [[spoiler: satisfying]] part of it is at the end where [[spoiler:he's forced to keep the boat he's on afloat by [[LaserGuidedKarma dumping his precious]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch robotic legs overboard]], crippling him once more.]]

*** During the opening in the hospital, [[spoiler:the radio plays a cover version of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World". An imitatior sings a widely-covered song about talking to a duplicate, and possibly the cost of fame and lack of control over one's life.]]
*** Ocelot sends Venom Snake into the first mission with [[spoiler:"Let the legend come back to life!" Aside from the obvious meaning, a "legend" is an intel agent's deep-cover identity.]]

* ThemeSongReveal: The RealSongThemeTune for Venom Snake, "The Man Who Sold the World", which hints at the events that unfold. [[spoiler:Specifically, it's actually ''massive'' foreshadowing for the ending twist: the song is about meeting with a villainous doppelgänger, and only plays during the parts when the real Big Boss crosses paths with Venom Snake. Acting like a leitmotif for the real Big Boss, it's only heard during the hospital sequence when he's present as Ishmael, and in ending after he sends Venom a debriefing tape labelled "from The Man Who Sold the World."]]

** Venom's standard fatigues with its scarf resembles what The Boss wore during Operation Snake Eater, complete with ponytail and scarf, while the shirtless version of the fatigues also makes him look a bit more like a [[SpearCounterpart male counterpart]] to Quiet. The new Diamond Dogs sneaking suit resembles the one that would later be worn by Solid Snake in Shadow Moses, while the new Battle Dress is very similar to the ones worm by Solidus Snake's hi-tech soldiers in the Big Shell.

* TakeThatUs: Hideo Kojima may be egotistical enough to place himself inside his own game as a badass side-character, but let it never be said that he isn't capable of some self-depreciation: "The Hamburgers of Kazuhira Miller" is a series of cassette tapes that brilliantly parody the series' own writing, especially its propensity for navel-gazing, roundabout conversations. It shows what would happen if the characters were to take their normal, ridiculously serious, philosophical tone, and use it to speak about a less lofty concept than usual... Fast food. Taken to RefugeInAudacity levels with the last tape, which includes such gems as Miller excitedly explaining how his cheap, chemical-filled burgers will lead to world peace and an awestruck Code Talker referring to them as a true "ethnic liberator".

* ShadowArchetype: When his motivations came to light after you defeat Mosquito (the villain of Mission 22), he is essentially shown to be one to Venom Snake and the entire Diamond Dogs operation. Losing MSF and MotherBase in 1975 led him to believe Big Boss was to, and thus chose to build his own PF to strike back at the person he believed is at fault. Kaz, [[DramaticIrony seemingly portrayed as not seeing the irony]], characterizes him as misinformed in his revenge. [[spoiler:Later on, Kaz realizing the truth that Big Boss is out there with his own separate plans from him makes him react just about as badly.]]

** Paz [[spoiler:really did die at the end of Ground Zeroes; her appearance in Phantom Pain is just a hallucination. Taking it one level deeper, the "phantom" of Paz ''also'' "dies" for real after showing her the last photograph, though she at least gets to leave you a proper goodbye (via cassette tape) this time.]]

* HumiliationConga: What Huey suffers. And it's incredibly satisfying. The most satisfying part of it is at the end where [[spoiler:he's forced to keep the boat he's on afloat by dumping his precious robotic legs overboard, crippling him once more.]]

* CentralTheme: How the cycle of revenge and [[RevengeBeforeReason acting on it]] affects those around you. Thr prominent characters in the story, Venom Snake, Kaz, Quiet, Eli, Skull Face, [[spoiler:and the real Big Boss]] have nothing but revenge on their minds. Venom, Quiet, [[spoiler:and the real Big Boss]] are perfectly reasonable when they sought to act on it. Kaz and Eli are becoming more and more unhinged as the plot goes on, and Skull Face is so wraped, he plans to use his Metal Gear and parasites to rid the world of English. Even prisoner-specific missions involves extracting them, and in post-missions, they even want to have their hand in revenge.