General Vibes
Otacon's generally not a combative character, willing to support Snake in the field, but reluctant to directly engage with violence. Considering this is a big part of his character, I feel it wouldn't make sense to actually have him running around with a gun of his own with this in mind, but there's a lot of cool elements his Support archetype could lend to him - as well as using his tools and equipment from the
Metal Gear series in some interesting ways.
Gameplay Concept
Unlike traditional "Support" characters, who tend to gravitate toward being more traditional healers, Otacon's role in the
Metal Gear series tends to err more towards providing intelligence for Snake, whether that be directly through earpiece communication, or indirectly through the technology he provides Snake with in the field. I think this lends to a really unique vibe that'd be a lot of fun to work with, and it'd differentiate him from other Support characters as a result. Combining this with the interest in making him a less directly combative character that needs to play to his own strengths to really succeed, and there's one tool in specific that immediately springs to mind...
Metal Gear MK. II (herein referred to as MK. II for brevity) is a tool introduced in
Metal Gear Solid 4 that acts as a mobile terminal and weapon with plenty of tech packed in, allowing Snake to approach problems in all-new ways... and interestingly, it's also a reference to one of Kojima's earlier works,
Snatcher. Now, there's plenty of tech in it - much of which I'll explain when describing Otacon's moveset - but, for the most part, the general concept is that this is the source of Otacon's attacks and many of his abilities. This also means, yes, Otacon only has one weapon type - but I think it's varied enough to work really well here.
I also think there could be a lot of fun customisation options for this, actually. While the different camouflage types are likely to be represented with alternate costumes for characters like Snake, it'd be fun if MK. II's paintjobs could reference different Metal Gears (or Metal Gear-adjescent weapons) from throughout the series. I feel like a Shagohod paintjob could look really cool on it, actually.
Passives & Similar Stuff
Metal Gear MK. II: Firstly, it's worth noting how MK. II works. There's a few notes to consider about it, which I'll explain in bullet points.
- MK. II doesn't share Otacon's health pool, and has a seperate HP bar to him. If it's destroyed, Otacon isn't killed, and you don't lose a life. If Otacon is killed, you do lose a life, and MK. II is automatically destroyed as well.
- While Otacon has 90 health (making him pretty squishy, all things considered), MK. II has 120.
- After being destroyed, or after Otacon is killed, MK. II respawns by being "airdropped" in. It spawns with 70% battery power (a point I'll get to in a moment) and 1 magazine of ammo for MK. II Fire (again, which I'll get to.)
- When playing as MK. II, you can "scope in" at any time by pressing L3, allowing you to zoom with the in-built camera. Interestingly, this can be a helpful way of picking out snipers to reveal using Radar Tagging, one of MK. II's abilities.
- MK. II also gets automatically destroyed if it's completely depleted of battery power for 20 seconds.
- After being destroyed, you have to wait for an additional 20 seconds for MK. II to respawn. During this time, Otacon is basically defenceless.
- Additionally, when destroyed, it explodes in a plume of smoke. Directly around it is a quite small blast radius akin to a weak grenade, allowing it to potentially be used as a last-resort tool if in a really difficult situation... but the explosion isn't powerful enough to really warrant use. This is actually a loose reference to a scene in Snatcher, when the MK. II in that game is laced with explosives.
Battery Power: MK. II has a limited pool of battery power seperate to its HP, which depletes over time as it's used. This battery pool is represented with icons, but numerically, it goes from 100% (full) to 0% (empty). If MK. II is completely depleted of battery, it becomes inert - but, Otacon can recharge MK. II at any time by holding X while nearby to it. It takes 5 seconds to fully recharge it (20% p/s), though this is balanced by Otacon obviously needing to be nearby to do so - and after use, he can't recharge MK. II again for another 10 seconds (regardless of whether it's fully-charged or not). Just in case you don't notice, MK. II visibly looks a little more "tired" when below 15%. By default, Otacon recharges MK. II
before reloading MK. II, so bear that in mind.
Follow Mode: The default mode for MK. II, in which it follows Otacon around. It usually trundles along to his side or behind him. When in this state, MK. II passively uses 0.5% battery per second - so, if Otacon doesn't use any battery-draining abilities, it lasts for 120 seconds before needing a recharge.
Solid Eye System: A more traditional passive, now. Both Otacon and MK. II have access to the "Solid Eye System", which gives them two things. Firstly, they can see green, digital-looking "silhouettes" of allies through walls or behind obstacles, provided they're within a 25 metre radius of the viewer's location. Additionally, they can view the exact remaining health of allies in numerical form (on a pop-up next to them), as well as the remaining health of enemies... but only after attacking them. If the enemy exits Otacon or MK. II's line of sight, this passive effect is deactivated.
Random side note - while the Solid Eye System has only really been represented with "eyepatches" and the like in the
Metal Gear series (such as Old Snake's eyepatch, or Raiden's visor), I'd say this is diagetically akin to it being installed in the internals of MK. II, or in Otacon's iconic glasses. This isn't something we've seen in the actual, mainline series, but I feel it'd be unlikely for him to go out of his way to wear an eyepatch, and it'd be neat to give his glasses some tactical use.
Attacks & Actions
MK. II Fire (R1, Tap): Tap R1 to fire a burst of three rapid-fire, semi-automatic bullets from MK. II's "head" in the direction you're aiming in. However, after firing a burst, it needs about 0.3 seconds of cooldown in order to fire the next burst, preventing MK. II from being used as a glorified turret. MK. II has a maximum capacity of 2 magazines, each containing 48 bullets, resulting in a total of 32 "shots" before it needs to reload. Each time it's used, it also uses up 5% battery.
It's worth noting that MK. II's unusual nature lends to a couple of notable elements to consider. Firstly, it needs to be in Follow Mode in order to reload it. Attempting to reload while in Remote Control Mode will simply result in a prompt saying you need to return to Otacon. Secondly, when in Follow Mode, MK. II can periscope around cover when firing - effectively allowing Otacon to stay out of harm's way without the risk that typical cover firing would result in.
Remote Control Mode (R2, Hold): Hold R2 to activate Remote Control Mode, which allows Otacon to remotely pilot MK. II while your viewpoint moves from Otacon's third-person view to MK. II's first-person view. When in this state, Otacon is left vulnerable - but MK. II can travel around freely, at least up to a distance of 25 metres from Otacon's own location. Notably, MK. II can use all of its other attacks when in Remote Control Mode, so this can be a valuable tool to use when needing to more directly combat opponents. However, when in Remote Control Mode, passive battery use goes up from 0.5% p/s to 1% p/s.
If MK. II runs out of battery, Remote Control Mode is deactivated automatically, and you can also let go of R2 or tap X again to go right back to Otacon. That said, the latter results in MK. II having to physically travel back to him - while it'll pathfind the fastest possible route, this might make it susceptible to enemy attacks or traps, and might lead them right to Otacon in the process. Once it gets back to within a couple of meters of Otacon's location, it'll return to Follow Mode - though this also allows Otacon to go and rendezvous with it, too. Additionally, when controlled by Otacon, he'll do so with a PS3 DualShock controller.
Item Storage (L1, Tap): When near an item (or "pickup"), tap L1 to pick it up with MK. II's prehensile manipulator arm. This doesn't actually use the item, but instead stores it inside MK. II. It can store up to three items at a time, but whenever storing any items, it stacks an additional 1% p/s of battery use on top of passive battery use. Allies can interact with MK. II if it's close enough in order to release the items, with them popping out of MK. II in the process and allowing the ally to pick them up - and MK. II can also automatically drop these items by tapping L1 again while either not near any items, or at any time while carrying the maximum of three.
This is effectively Otacon's... unusual method of helping to heal allies - MK. II needs to actually travel around to find the pickups and grab them in order to do so, but can ferry health and ammunition alike to allies should it come across them. This is more of a reference to how Drebin 893 uses MK. II as a carrier for laundered guns in
MGS4, but I think it fits pretty well here. Oh, and after dropping its items, it can't pick any more up for 10 seconds (for balancing reasons.)
Radar Tagging (L2, Hold): Hold L2 at any time in order to activate this passive ability. What this effectively does is provide active intel to teammates within a 25 metre radius of MK. II's location. This comes in the form of a few things. Firstly - Otacon and MK. II's "Solid Eye System" passive is granted to all allies within the radius, allowing them to see ally silhouettes and remaining health... as well as the remaining health of enemies that any ally has attacked. However, it also allows any enemy that MK. II sees to be "targeted" with a reticule, giving them a red silhouette, and showing that to all allies (as well as remaining health and a blip on the ally radar.) Despite the 25 metre ability limit, MK. II can see an enemy from any distance, so long as they're capable of being seen or "scoped in" on.
There's a couple of caveats, though. Firstly, using Radar Tagging uses up 2.5% p/s of battery, which is stacked on top of either Follow Mode's passive 0.5%, or Remote Control Mode's passive 1%
and Item Storage's stacked 1% - resulting in a theoretical maximum of 4.5% p/s of usage, not counting use of the MK. II fire. It's also worth noting that if MK. II runs out of battery, the effect is deactivated - and deactivation means the Solid Eye System is deactivated for everyone except Otacon & MK. II and that all enemy silhouettes, info and radar blips disappear too. After deactivation, it also has a cooldown of 10 seconds.
That said, this does lend to elements of strategy, allowing Otacon to communicate enemy locations to allies in order to potentially spring traps or force them out of cover - though MK. II does still need to put itself in some danger in order to spot them and put them under the effect in the first place, and if used poorly, it's a reasonably useless method of eating through your battery power.
MartianSnake
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cashregister9
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ninjahmos
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KneeOfJustice99
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Champion of Hyrule
make a lot of sense.
