The following passages are from Project Itoh’s novelization of MGS4. Hideo Kojima had very strong feelings about Itoh being his successor, even saying that he’s one of the few fans who was capable of “reading between the lines” of his games. Sadly, he died of cancer in 2009, which is why Peace Walker is dedicated to his memory.

These passages completely and utterly refute any defense of Metal Gear Rising’s portrayal of Raiden.

Act 5

“My body is a machine. I can-”

Raiden’s burden was too heavy to bear. His despair dwarfed anything Snake or I could imagine; his loneliness, a thousand blades piercing his body. But to bury his despair and loneliness, he clung to his yearning like a feral beast. Someday, he would forget he was ever human.

Snake raised his voice, hoping to bring this young warrior, who Snake himself might have cursed to his condition, back to humanity-back to a life with Rose.

“Your body may be a machine… but your heart is human. You’ve got a life to go back to.”

“She means nothing to me now.”

“Raiden, look me in the eye.”

Snake knew words wouldn’t be enough. He found the strength to stand and presented to Raiden the battered countenance of an old soldier. Raiden’s eyes, wild with obsession, perceived the magnitude of Snake’s burdens and shrank back.

“You still have your youth,” Snake said. “Don’t waste it. You can start over. You’re not saddled with your troubles-you’re clinging to them. You think destiny and fate to be burdens, but no shadow falls over your future.”

Even now, despite being surrounded by enemies-no, because of it-Snake tried to sever the illusory bonds that tightly bound Raiden. This too was a duty Snake felt compelled to fulfill.

“From here on,” Snake said, “this is my fight. I… we tore the world apart. Made your life a living hell. It’s my duty to put an end to all of this.”

Perhaps in this moment Raiden began to understand why Snake continued to fight, even in his current state. Perhaps Raiden finally comprehended the true meaning of Snake’s words, in that early morning on Manhattan Island.

“Maybe you were only forced to play the role of Raiden in the Patriots’ script, but everything you felt and everything you thought about is yours.”

Epilogue: Raiden

In a mirror in the corner of the room, Jack caught the reflection of [his family’s] embrace. He chuckled and said, “We’re like Beauty and the Beast.”

Rose lifted her head and looked into his eyes.

“No,” she said. “You’re no beast. You’re my husband… and his father.”

Part of me [Otacon is the narrator of the book] thinks that in this moment, Rose truly became John’s mother. She stopped fearing this man, the father of her child. She accepted him the way he was. As Jack began to acknowledge his role in their family, she too started down a new path.

How many detours had she taken before reaching this point? Much she had given up, and much she had lost.

Jack had come dangerously close to stripping all meaning from her sacrifices. He had selfishly rejected life and basked in the comfort of nihilism and despair.

“I won’t lose my way again. I don’t have time to waste in searching for myself.

"I have too much to do now, as a father.

”And only by remaining true to my family can I repay the freedom Emma and Naomi gave me.“

Naked Son: After Big Boss’ death

Snake affected the lives of many. Some, like Jack, misunderstood and strayed from their paths, but in the end, Jack, too settled into where he belonged. Any who witnessed the way Snake lived his life could awaken their inner strengths. He had that effect on Meryl, and even Colonel Campbell.

Afterward: Hideo Kojima on Project Itoh

"Metal Gear Solid 2 was greatly anticipated, but the initial response to its release was sharply divided. The game has since gained a reputation, but at the time, I would become depressed when I saw what people wrote in comments and reviews-about the new character, Raiden; that the message at the end was too strong; and that the story was too abstruse for a gamer audience. Itoh-san was the first to understand me. On his personal website, he wrote an article saying ‘I’m the only one happy with this kind of game!’ Someone understood the riddles and messages I put into my games. I felt that simple fact saved me.”

“The first draft [of the MGS4 novelization] soon arrived, and it surpassed my expectations. There was even a feeling, I have to say a nice feeling, of entrusting my own creation to a third party. Of course he recreated the themes I’d put into the game, the emotions of my characters, and the turns of the story, but vividly present in Itoh-san’s prose were different aspects of the story I’d never realized were there, and motifs hidden within the setting. There’s a phrase, 'reading between the lines.’ Itoh-san gathered meaning and details and feelings between the letters of the game script.”

I really, really, really fucking hate cancer right now. If it wasn’t for cancer, Kojima would have left the series in good hands by now. Metal Gear Rising probably wouldn’t have existed, or if it did, it would have been infinitely better.

Edit: Also relevant;

http://www.thearabgamer.com/2013/01/i-interviewed-hideo-kojima-in-dubai.html

TAG: Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4 was sort of a family man, he was mainly fighting for Rose and his son. Yet in the latest Metal Gear Rising trailer you see him killing people relentlessly like a mad dog, what happened?

HK: [laughs] Well originally I had planned a story for Raiden. It would take place before the events of MGS 4 and would explain a lot of his story and how he became a cyborg. Then the project was taken over by Platinum Games who then became in charge of Raiden’s character. They wanted to create a story after the events of MGS 4.

TAG: Ah, so they basically made him the crazy Jack we saw in the trailer.

HK: Yea, they wanted to take that direction.