I want to experience this franchise so bad

[brettapuss]

i wanna buy this so bad but the reviews worry me. i watched "SomeOrdinaryGamers" video on this game and he seemed disgusted by it. he mentioned all these different ports etc, but i really cannot be bothered with all the technical logistics of getting an emulator working. its never straight forward when dealing with an emulator. how can i get into MGS!?

[neon.wir]

I don't know who/what "SomeOrdinaryGamers" is, but this collection has a lot of issues. A lot do not have any major effect on playability, but some people do experience some severe bugs like uncapped framerates, crashes, and corrupted save games. There are workarounds that address some of these issues.

My first suggestion would be emulation, but your post seems like you don't care for that solution. Other than that, I found the GOG versions of MGS1 and 2 to run without issue "out of the box." But MGS2 you will still want to get something called "V's Fix" to actually make it a more tolerable experience. And of course, if you have a PS3/PS2/360 and buy the older releases for those platforms and experience them that way as well.

Each option comes with some caveats. Though I do think emulation is probably the best way to experience these games right now. While the Master Collection is the most "convenient" way to experience them.

[brettapuss]

Originally posted by neon.wir:

I don't know who/what "SomeOrdinaryGamers" is, but this collection has a lot of issues. A lot do not have any major effect on playability, but some people do experience some severe bugs like uncapped framerates, crashes, and corrupted save games. There are workarounds that address some of these issues.

My first suggestion would be emulation, but your post seems like you don't care for that solution. Other than that, I found the GOG versions of MGS1 and 2 to run without issue "out of the box." But MGS2 you will still want to get something called "V's Fix" to actually make it a more tolerable experience. And of course, if you have a PS3/PS2/360 and buy the older releases for those platforms and experience them that way as well.

Each option comes with some caveats. Though I do think emulation is probably the best way to experience these games right now. While the Master Collection is the most "convenient" way to experience them.

i wish emulation was simple but i wouldnt know where to begin, where to SAFELY install the games without getting a virus.

[Toasty]

MGS1 (first solid game) and MGS3 (first game chronologically) are the best games to start with.

How you can play MGS1:

• Play the PS1 version on a PS1
  
• Play the PS1 version on a third party emulator (Duckstation is top notch)
  
• Play the PS1 version on Konami's emulator (Steam/Xbox/PS5/Switch)
  
• Play the GOG version (you'll likely want to download fan patches if you choose this method)

How you can play MGS3:

• Play the PS2 version on a PS2
  
• Play the PS2 version on an emulator (PCSX2 would likely be your best bet, but it's difficult to emulate properly)
  
• Play the HD version on a PS3
  
• Play the HD version on emulator (RPCS3 is likely your best bet, but emulation is VERY difficult)
  
• Play the ports of the HD version (Steam/Xbox/PS5/Switch)

For MGS1, If you can figure out how to get what you need, then playing it on Duckstation is the best. If not, this version here on Steam isn't horrible either.

For MGS3, play the HD version. It'd be best on an actual PS3, but once again, this version on Steam isn't truly horrible either, just buggier.

[Toasty]

Originally posted by brettapuss:

i wish emulation was simple but i wouldnt know where to begin, where to SAFELY install the games without getting a virus.

Yeah, I would advise you to just play the games in the master collection.

[Duckilous]

Originally posted by Toasty:

Originally posted by brettapuss:

i wish emulation was simple but i wouldnt know where to begin, where to SAFELY install the games without getting a virus.

Yeah, I would advise you to just play the games in the master collection.

It's legal after all.

[Deathraven13]

Well you could buy the collection and test it rather than blindly listen to what other says, don't use steam deck tho it's not compatible with a lot of games here.

If you play less than 2 hours you can refund the game hence why you should see if you have issues running the games or not.

For me I've been able to get all achievement in MGS1 and complete the game on multiple versions without any issues, I've completed MGS3 with any issues too, didn't play MGS2 yet because one achievement is very grindy BUT some people report that saves can be corrupted so you either manualy backup your save or save a lot/multiple times.

Can't see if MGS2 have any issues or not since I have not played it so I won't lie and tell you that it work perfectly when I may have issues playing it.

PS: If you don't own a copy of a game you emulate it's called piracy, so be careful, technicaly if you buy this collection then emulate from it you should be fine I think, technicaly you do own ALL copies of the version of the game you are playing in this collection, but it's up to you.

No one can guarrantee that your PC can handle the games nor that you won't have any issues so all I can say is try and refund if you have a gamebreaking issue.

If you buy MGS1 pack be warned that for the VR mission achievements it's either the VR missions in integral or SPECIAL MISSION, I recommend the last one.

Speaking of multiple versions: MGS1 pack have PAL and NTSC versions, PAL version run at 50hz and NTSC run at 60hz, so PAL versions are slower like back in the days.

Do note that this collection got mods that fix some issues you may encouter along mods that add some stuff (for now crouch walking in MGS3 and a wig with a different color in MGS2), finaly if you have an NVIDIA card and your game run super fast you can check the news section on how to limit your FPS to 60, this also mean that you can challenge yourself and play with a higher speed which is pretty funny.

Hope that help.

I forgot ! Someone said that it's bad that you can't buy 1 game at a time then once you got them all you don't get the bonus content, It's steam doing that so if you want the bonus content for reasons then you'll have to buy the whole collection (no Idea if steam will change that) so keep that in mind, you could buy the whole collection after buying 1-all games for the bonus content but that will still cost you 60$.

For a refund it's 2 hours per packs, so if you play MGS1 for 10 hours then you buy and get a critical bug in MGS2 after 1 hour you can refund MGS2.

[Toasty]

Originally posted by Duckilous:

It's legal after all.

Third party emulators are legal too, as long as you legally obtain everything you need to play the game on it.

[Duckilous]

Originally posted by Toasty:

Originally posted by Duckilous:

It's legal after all.

Third party emulators are legal too, as long as you legally obtain everything you need to play the game on it.

Of course, I'm just saying that getting games from places like Steam is legal.

[Kyo Tanaka]

If you wanna jump in, this collection is a good point. If you can get all other games somewhere else, get them somewhere else. You're free to wait for a discount if you want.

The only game to worry about is MGS2 with the disc read error. Nobody is sure why that one's happening or if there's a way around it. To be as spoil free as possible, it occurs during a reunion. There's also a save corruption bug but alternating and saving frequently can minimize risk.

Don't listen to youtubers. Do YOU want to jump into the series? Do you want to do it now, or are you willing to wait for a discount? Because this is the best starting point you'll get. MG1 and 2, 1, 2, and 3.

Should note it's best with a controller. You CAN play with a keyboard. But if there's any proof in lizard people existence... The guy who designed keyboard controls for this game is a clear link to it.

Also ignore Raven. Steam is working on making MGS2 and 3 playable on the steam deck through Proton. With the combined might of the community, the entire collection is playable from start to finish with extremely simple guides to making it work, give Valve some time and you won't even need to troubleshoot the games. It even avoids the Disc Read Error that PC players have reported on 2.

[Pierce Dalton]

Originally posted by brettapuss:

i wanna buy this so bad but the reviews worry me. i watched "SomeOrdinaryGamers" video on this game and he seemed disgusted by it. he mentioned all these different ports etc, but i really cannot be bothered with all the technical logistics of getting an emulator working. its never straight forward when dealing with an emulator. how can i get into MGS!?

Well, if you don't have any of the consoles in which the games were released and you also don't wanna emulate them, there's no other option than buying the collection. Just wait for a sale, because Konami doesn't deserve $60 for this. That's the price of a brand new AAA game that cost millions to be made, while Konami clearly didn't invest much in this collection.

[metal_hamster]

Just buy the collection if you want to play them. The play fine.

[thejuiceweasel]

I've played all three MGS game through this collection and it's absolutely okay, with one exception: with MGS1, only use the US or JP version, not the EU ones. Also, I recommend using the sammykay mod to remove the bilinear filter, so it looks more like the PS1 version.

Other than that, if you want to start enjoying MGS, especially if you're a PC gamer, I'd recommend this collection. It's not spectacular, but it does the job.

[Wild Dog]

Originally posted by brettapuss:

i wanna buy this so bad but the reviews worry me. i watched "SomeOrdinaryGamers" video on this game and he seemed disgusted by it. he mentioned all these different ports etc, but i really cannot be bothered with all the technical logistics of getting an emulator working. its never straight forward when dealing with an emulator. how can i get into MGS!?

This collection is not bad at all. The issue is that it is a bare bone collection with some add ins.
Folks were expecting remasters and this is just a collection.

[Deathraven13]

Originally posted by Wild Dog:

This collection is not bad at all. The issue is that it is a bare bone collection with some add ins.
Folks were expecting remasters and this is just a collection.

But there is a remaster on the way: MGS DELTA. New graphism and more stuff, so the 4K and other stuff a tiny minority of people complain about will be in the remaster.

[Pierce Dalton]

Originally posted by Wild Dog:

Originally posted by brettapuss:

i wanna buy this so bad but the reviews worry me. i watched "SomeOrdinaryGamers" video on this game and he seemed disgusted by it. he mentioned all these different ports etc, but i really cannot be bothered with all the technical logistics of getting an emulator working. its never straight forward when dealing with an emulator. how can i get into MGS!?

This collection is not bad at all. The issue is that it is a bare bone collection with some add ins.
Folks were expecting remasters and this is just a collection.

Well, I think people were expecting 1080p as promised by Konami. The games don't need to be remastered, all they needed was a resolution setting (which doesn't equal a remaster, far from that).

Originally posted by Deathraven13:

Originally posted by Wild Dog:

This collection is not bad at all. The issue is that it is a bare bone collection with some add ins.
Folks were expecting remasters and this is just a collection.

But there is a remaster on the way: MGS DELTA. New graphism and more stuff, so the 4K and other stuff a tiny minority of people complain about will be in the remaster.

Delta is not a remaster, it's a remake and they're completely different things. Also, if only a tiny minority of people were complaining I think the games wouldn't have mixed reviews. Additionally, it's important to keep in mind that even positive reviews have been criticizing this collection.