LogFAQs > #895837360

Then Metal Gear Rising came out and did the impossible feat of fusing Raiden's MGS2 and MGS4 iterations while furthering his character all at the same time. He's still got the vaguely rebellious/sarcastic attitude he had in MGS2, and he's still dedicated to fighting against oppressive authority, but he also kept the ninja flips and cuts a Metal Gear RAY in half in the first half-hour of gameplay. In the same vein as Dante, Raiden in Metal Gear Rising is extremely fun to play as because he's over-the-top and sounds like he's having the time of his life - which actually ties into his character arc, where his Jack the Ripper origins come full circle. Raiden has to save children being 'programmed' from birth into soldiers the same way he was while also dealing with the killer instinct that never really left him. Considering the game wasn't written by Kojima, it's really impressive how the details of his previous characterization were paid attention to. His eventual character arc of 'it's okay to be a crazy killer as long as it's for a cause I believe in' is not the lesson most heroes learn, but it's true to his character. Then he gets to a fight a senator (made of nanomachines) trying to control the public consciousness. On top of a Metal Gear. MGR got to have its cake and eat it too.

I just really like Raiden. The MGS series imploding is sad and all, but I'm most disappointed about losing the possible Rising sequel than I am MGS6. Raiden still had places his character could have gone, and I would have loved to see what strange thing the writers did to him next.
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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.