What I don't get is how hundreds of bugs mysteriously appeared in the middle of the hallway for no real reason, and then Emma's fear of bugs is never mentioned again. And the cell phone, which you only get one message on for the entirety of the game despite having it for much longer.
The entirety of Emma's segment doesn't really make sense to me from a writing standpoint, though. She's mentioned briefly in the Tanker chapter, you suddenly learn more about her halfway through the Plant chapter, and then she's present for all of 15 minutes before the entire thing ends on a pointless and rather mean-spirited note. I get that she's partially supposed to be a parallel to Meryl from the first game, but Meryl was kind of flirty and a strong ally for Snake to back up her more emotional side. Emma's just kind of whiny and needy and doesn't matter for 80% of the game.
I really feel like MGS2's story could have benefited from somebody giving Kojima a strong slap across the wrist once in a while, which is a damn shame because it's even better than the first in terms of gameplay.
So as not to derail the thread too much, I got spotted when more guards suddenly appeared as I was dragging Emma along. I'd gone ahead and cleared the entire thing, leaving the bodies where they fell because I didn't assume guards would just spawn from nowhere as I was dragging Emma through.
Well if you call Otacon or the Colonel on the Codec they'll tell you about what the bugs are and why they're there. They're also in the hard-suit docks beneath Strut A so it stands to reason they enjoy or breed in open water like you'd find in the flooded strut ('H' I think it is?). Also, why would they need to mention her fear of bugs more than once? I don't get it. >.> You also get
three messages on the cell phone, if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps more. One if you approach the claymores around the Vamp Room after you return to it with Emma without the mine detector equipped, one when you stand near the flames on the Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge without using the Coolant Spray, and one if you hang around the sea lice in the flooded strut long enough. It's also used in one of the Snake Tales in Substance to track down Jennifer.
There's quite a bit more to her story than you're making out to be. She talks a lot about Otacon's relationship with her, and you get to learn about Otacon's early life and his horribly unhealthy family life as well. Her death later on also gives Otacon a reason to tell you about his stepmother, who committed adultery with him. She also uploads the worm cluster (which she programmed in advance, but I'll get to that) to destroy GW. Meryl is no comparison for this character. Meryl is a soldier who underwent intense training, whereas Emma's is a teenaged (teenaged mind you. Meryl was 20+ years old and a grown woman at the time of the Shadow Moses Incident) girl who's deathly afraid of water because she nearly drowned when she was young but MUST swim in order to escape with her life! And as if that's not enough for you, do you know what kicker number two is? Do you?
Emma nearly drowned when she was a kid because Otacon was banging her mom when he was supposed to be watching her, which she also briefly witnessed (ouch). AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT KICKER NUMBER THREE IS? THE BIGGEST KICKER OF THEM ALL? Otacon's stepdad drowned trying to save Emma, also because Otacon wasn't there, also because he was banging his stepdad's wife at the time! KICKER NUMBER FOUR: EMMA EMMERICH PROGRAMMED THE ARSENAL AI TO GET BACK AT OTACON FOR KILLING HER FATHER AND BANGING HER MOM AND DESTROYING HER FAMILY. SHE IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST REASON EVERYONE IS THERE AND THE GAME IS EVEN HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE. How much more sodding character could you pooooosssssiiibblllyyy aaaassskkk fooooorrrrrrr???!!! I'm practically choking on all this character here!!! You weren't listening hard enough. Or you played MGS1 first and you're [slightly?] biased.
I disagree. Kojima is at his best when given license to do what he wants, and he's done great things as a result, like the above. ^^
Rather than hold her hand, consider punching her out or tranq'ing her. It's faster to actually drag her. Unless that's what you were already doing. <3