Which ending do you prefer?

[Gene]

I prefer the Otacon ending personally and feel it should have been the canon ending regardless of whether you submit to the torture or not. I think maybe it would have been better if you received a bit of a debuff for submitting but could carry on as normal if you made it through, but I'm perhaps looking back through the gaze of modern gaming rather than seeing it as it was at the time.

I definitely agree that submitting to the torture doesn't fit Solid Snake's character, but Meryl dying definitely adds to the bond that Snake and Otacon created in that it's an extra bit of trauma they both share and build a great friendship off the back of rather than 'yo dude I know you left me to die for this chick, but I'm alive, do you wanna blow some metal gears up?'

Not to say I disliked Meryl's character, but if she didn't appear in MGS4 it wouldn't have been the end of the world.