Rain pouring straight down from the skies, cars flying by, not noticing the cloaked figure, which only moments later made his spectacular jump onto the "Discovery" tanker. Solid Snake has made his appearance, the game begins. Not knowing that Solid Snake will be replaced by a girlish rookie, named Raiden, in less than an hour, the people who are new to the MGS series get to know Snake a bit, before he's taken away from them. Thus making the surprise even bigger. That was, in my opinion, the main goal of the Tanker chapter. Now that everyone is familiar with Solid Snake, whose presence is essential in any MGS game, the story can begin.
The Plant chapter contained more surrealistic events and unexplained actions. Such as Vamp's powers, the people in the ending cut scene, walking by as if everything is normal, etc. etc. So, what's going on here? Well, I actually think that virtual reality has nothing to do with it, for one. Nor is it real. In my opinion, all of this is pure symbolism. Allow me to explain.
*First of all, replacing Solid Snake with Raiden, to the disappointment of many. Raiden did the same things; he took on supernatural "bad guys" as well as sneaking his way through areas taken by terrorists. Though he does not get the credit Snake does. This is proof, which it's not about what Solid Snake does; it's about who he is. How much the player likes the character?
*Secondly, the Patriots, filtering information, controlling human behavior due to the S3 plan. While you were blindly following orders, they had you right where they wanted you. This shows how easily humans can be controlled; everyone is an actual "puppet" one way or another. We even communicate using the language that was taught to us.
*Finally, the most obvious example. The ending cut scene. Arsenal Gear crashed into Federal Hall. Though all the people walk by as if nothing happened. This shows how Raiden broke loose from his false objectives and the lies he's been following. While the mindless crowd moves on in ignorance, Raiden finally knows what the Patriots are and what they are doing to the world. This is simply to show the player the difference, the contrast. However dumb it may sound, the parrot flying away just before this happens, also has a symbolic meaning. The same one actually, breaking free, not being held captive anymore. Not by a cage, not by lies. The whole ending is purely symbolic, as is 90% of the game. The ending is actually a short summary of what the game is about. Freedom of opinion, of character, having control over yourself.
Solid Snake's part in the rest of the game, after the Tanker, is to be the one who is already free, one who knows what the Patriots are about etc. He actually guided Raiden, helped him break free. "We're not tools of the government, or anyone else..."
See, the game definitely had a goal, a message, but it was in symbolism, not in the literal events in the game.
Mr. Kojima loves to give his games a moral message. And I think this game was practically only about the moral message it contained, and that nothing, or almost nothing, was "real" in this game, or to be taken literally.
The meaning lies beyond the first interpretation, the things that were shown to you have a deeper, symbolic meaning, you see... Therefore, this is my theory, my view, beyond the first interpretation, beyond the veil.
What Solid Snake said was an exclamation mark to this theory: "Find the meaning behind the words, and then decide."
