Why were people following Skullface and how did he get the money to pay for everything? :: METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN General Discussions

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crua9

has METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:09pm

Why were people following Skullface and how did he get the money to pay for everything?

This is a serious question, and it comes from someone who isn't going to play the other MGS games. How did skull fact pay for everything, and why are the people who "work" for him follow him?

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Showing 1-15 of 40 comments

Klokw3rk

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:14pm

nanomachines

Valdyr

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:16pm

He started as an assassin and got recruited by Cipher, and ended up as an officer under Zero.

Isaac

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:17pm

did you post this three times or something? https://gyazo.com/d23815c908d14c2994489c3cfbeaf827
steam must be borking on me today

Outlaw1109 Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:18pm

Originally posted by klokw3rk:
nanomachines

The obvious answer.

...although, I think, at that time, it would have been VCP's. Or...parasites that carry nanomachines?

...ugh, I think I just inception-ed myself...

Also:

Originally posted by Valdyr:
He started as an assassin and got recruited by Cipher, and ended up as an officer under Zero.

False. He was released from Cipher before going to Africa.

Last edited by Outlaw1109; Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:18pm

Prince Silvermane has METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:20pm

He was Zero's right hand man. What makes you think he couldn't just take money here and there from Cipher whenever he needed it?

Zero also mentioned he doesn't know what every branch of Cipher is doing at every single time so it would be easy to slip under the radar.

Last edited by Prince Silvermane; Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:21pm

Valdyr

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:21pm

Originally posted by PFC.Mike:
Originally posted by Valdyr:
He started as an assassin and got recruited by Cipher, and ended up as an officer under Zero.
False. He was released from Cipher before going to Africa.

You learn from the tapes that he was the executive officer of XOF, which was a support team for FOX that Zero established in secret, and was around by at least 1964. He was definitely an officer of Zero, there's even a tape where they talk and he refers to him as "XO" rather than "Skullface". At some point after FOX was disbanded, XOF broke away and became a rogue element totally under the command of Skullface.

Outlaw1109 Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:23pm

Except: He tried to kill zero before zero visited BB in the hospital.

Ergo, he was not with Cipher. He took XOF and they defected. Hardly a money train.

Last edited by Outlaw1109; Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:25pm

crua9

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:23pm

Originally posted by Valdyr:
He started as an assassin and got recruited by Cipher, and ended up as an officer under Zero.

Ya, but how does he have the money to keep up and buy new things? As far as I can tell, his group doesn't do anything besides screw with the world.

The people following him, they should have an idea what he is going to do. In fact, he is pretty open about what he is going to do. So they should know to not help him and their money will be somewhat useless if they keep helping him.

I know this maybe a bit much, but I never played any other MGS game. So I have no idea if this was brought up before. (BTW his history is within the games tapes. But not how he is able to upkeep his army and what do they do besides what skull fact wants (which skull face can't exactly keep up the army by paying himself)

Originally posted by SingleShade:
did you post this three times or something? https://gyazo.com/d23815c908d14c2994489c3cfbeaf827
steam must be borking on me today

Steam messed up. I think I got rid of all the other post.

Last edited by crua9; Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:24pm

Valdyr

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:24pm

Originally posted by PFC.Mike:
Except: He tried to kill zero before zero visited BB in the hospital.

Yes, he decided to betray Zero and that he, Skullface, was the only one who truly understood The Boss's will. But that doesn't mean they weren't working together prior to that point.

Outlaw1109 Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:27pm

Originally posted by Valdyr:
Originally posted by PFC.Mike:
Except: He tried to kill zero before zero visited BB in the hospital.
Yes, he decided to betray Zero and that he, Skullface, was the only one who truly understood The Boss's will. But that doesn't mean they weren't working together prior to that point.

So the question is still relevant, if Cipher cut his money (because of aforementioned spoiler) how did he pay his soldiers? How could he afford the research into the VCP? Or even OKB Zero? I bet that facility doesn't run itself...probably needs power, which would cost money (cuz the soviets were occupying OKB Zero).

#10

Valdyr

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:30pm

Originally posted by crua9:
Ya, but how does he have the money to keep up and buy new things? As far as I can tell, his group doesn't do anything besides screw with the world.

When Skullface tells Big Boss "The information you recovered was more than enough to fill our pockets" he's referring to the Philosophers' Legacy, a massive secret fund that Big Boss unwittingly helped steal for Cipher during the events of MGS3, Cipher being the secret organization formed by Zero to manipulate world affairs covertly. It was several billion dollars, so I'm sure whatever Skullface was able to take of that money was more than enough to get the ball rolling, and after that, XOF can engage in whatever illegal activities it needs to in order to procure funding.

#11

Outlaw1109 Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:31pm

Originally posted by Valdyr:
Originally posted by crua9:
Ya, but how does he have the money to keep up and buy new things? As far as I can tell, his group doesn't do anything besides screw with the world.
When Skullface tells Big Boss "The information you recovered was more than enough to fill our pockets" he's referring to the Philosophers' Legacy, a massive secret fund that Big Boss unwittingly helped steal for Cipher during the events of MGS3, Cipher being the secret organization formed by Zero to manipulate world affairs covertly. It was several billion dollars, so I'm sure whatever Skullface was able to take of that money was more than enough to get the ball rolling, and after that, XOF can engage in whatever illegal activities it needs to in order to procure funding.

-.-

...well played, sir.

#12

Gritsunorak has METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN

Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:31pm

Originally posted by PFC.Mike:
Originally posted by Valdyr:
Yes, he decided to betray Zero and that he, Skullface, was the only one who truly understood The Boss's will. But that doesn't mean they weren't working together prior to that point.

So the question is still relevant, if Cipher cut his money (because of aforementioned spoiler) how did he pay his soldiers? How could he afford the research into the VCP? Or even OKB Zero? I bet that facility doesn't run itself...probably needs power, which would cost money (cuz the soviets were occupying OKB Zero).

I kinda got an impression then he was working with the soviets (I mean like at least three of the bases we see were soviet + skullface's forces). So I suppose soviets were paying his bills?

Also, was it cleared up if it was Zero or Skully selling the walker gears? Because for a long time we thought that they were working together, while in fact they were not

edit. Nevermind, the question was answered just before i posted

Last edited by Gritsunorak; Sep 20, 2015 @ 5:33pm

#13