Can I start with metal gear solid v?

[P0MK0NTHA1]

or which entry should I jump into first?

Which entry do most people play first or if you started with 5, did you eventually go back to play previous titles? thanks!

[niralamart000]

yeah you can start with V, you won't understand anything cause this game's narrative is more of an after thought and gameplay is meant to be the only thing you remember about it. If you wanna buy it then i recommend the ps4/5 version cause it's the most active online without any hackers and you actually get to buy a disc , not rented like here on pc.

Plus you can freely game share so if you don't want it's online+singleplayer combo style, you can game share with another psn profile and unaccept the terms and conditions to just play single player on menu every time it pops up.

[spy]

It is better to play in the order of release because these games tell the mystery of the previous games. mgs5 tells the mystery of the metal gear msx game. In other words, if you play mgs5 and then play metal gear msx, the surprise may be missed. if you want to play a modern mgs, the most modern one is mgs5 and you can play it directly. If the story is important, play the whole series patiently.

My personal recommendation is the order:

metal gear msx
metal gear 2 solid snake msx
metal gear solid
metal gear solid 2 sons of liberty

these games are old, play them together or not, but they are canon in the series. They are 4 games that tell the adventure of solid snake one after another. The old pixel games are canon and have a consistent story.

metal gear solid 3 snake eater
portable ops
peace walker
metal gear solid v gz tpp
these games tell the stories of naked snake one after another.

mgs 4 guns of patriots

this game is the end of the whole story and should be played last. You should never get spoilers and finish the previous games. You can start with either the stories of Naked Snake or Solid Snake. You can play the story of Naked Snake with a more modern gameplay. You can choose one of the two and start.

[angstlicht]

if you don't want to do release order because you hate 8 bit and 16 bit games, i feel like most (or at least, very many) people played mgs1 first. mg1 had a botched NES port and a kinda bad sequel to said port in snake's revenge.

the 'actual' msx2 versions of mg1 and mg2 were eventually ported with a few cosmetic and name adjustments to be on a release of metal gear solid 3. you can buy these on steam now. the original version of metal gear 2 for msx had some actor likenesses and names lifted directly from novels, so those can change depending on which release you're playing.

a lot of fans bypass games like metal gear solid gameboy and metal gear acid, even though mgs gameboy is probably one of the better made games in this franchise. they're basically written by the codec calls co-writer and not kojima.

mgs portable ops was canon for a quite while, but over time it got replaced with peacewalker. or not? it's kinda weird. peacewalker itself is the actual start of metal gear solid 5's story, too, with most of the side characters in mgs5 actually being from specifically peacewalker.

there's also that one mgs mobile phone game with victoria reed. you can still play it, but only if you're a gamer of rank 5000 at least.

also mgs4 is in this weird zone where it's Pretty Good, but locked to the ps3 which is Pretty Bad. this makes playing the series in order a lot harder even if you're just sticking to the MGS games.


tl;dr: you can play or at least try out most of the games in this franchise on steam except for mgs4, which itself was mostly psp movie stick tier cutscenes anyway. mgs5 references peacewalker a ton, mgs3 a lot, mgs1 a bit, and there's like one nod to mg1 (no coward duck recruitment side op; unplayable). but it also references 24 and moby [censored whale], so who knows what you're supposed to know or not going into it. you can start with mgs5 if you wanna roleplay as a confused person for shrapnel injury immersion. it plays like a normal third person shooter, unlike basically all the other games in the IP.

[[ACPL] Jon]

You can, but that'll kind of spoil MGS 3 for you and the whole overaching narrative it has going for it. Thus I recommend waiting for MGS 3 remake (MGS Delta) and playing it first. You may want to (but doesn't have to) watch a "game movie" from MGS Peace Walker (given that Delta isn't out yet you might wanna watch it in the meantime).

Personally I'd skip most of the middle part in PW, you won't really miss out on anything.
And you care about PW only to know what's up with MSF, Chico & Paz.

It's very important you play MGS V Ground Zeroes prologue before the main game. You want to buy the "Definitive Experience" version anyway, as it has everything, incl. MGS V GZ.

To me, MGS PW seemed a bit... infantile? in tone and that whole pandering to child soldiers; also somewhat conflicting with main character's approach to "mother of special forces" in the ending that clashed with their whole relationship in MGS 3.

It did had a pretty decent MAD motif in the end though.

[phantom dier WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW]

i started with v. no plans to play anything else. i enjoy v. i like the story. didn't have issues understanding anything.

[angstlicht]

Originally posted by ACPL Jon_Gra_TTV:

You can, but that'll kind of spoil MGS 3 for you and the whole overaching narrative it has going for it. Thus I recommend waiting for MGS 3 remake (MGS Delta) and playing it first. You may want to (but doesn't have to) watch a "game movie" from MGS Peace Walker (given that Delta isn't out yet you might wanna watch it in the meantime).

Personally I'd skip most of the middle part in PW, you won't really miss out on anything.
And you care about PW only to know what's up with MSF, Chico & Paz.

It's very important you play MGS V Ground Zeroes prologue before the main game.

you'd probably be better off skipping the entire metal gear franchise and just watching the movies para-medic tells you about in mgs3 instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CirepJNbY0g

[[ACPL] Jon]

Haters gonna hate.

Do what I've said & you'll be happy or go with MGS V's like "####" & you may be happy too.
Either way you mostly care about MGS 3 \ MGS Delta and eventually MGS Peace Walker.

MGS 2 happens later and thus should be played later.

[angstlicht]

Originally posted by ACPL Jon_Gra_TTV:

MGS 2 happens later and thus should be played later.

actually mgs2 happens

https://youtu.be/iwi-aGn_-zA

[Profile Name]

The short answer is, Yes. you can start with this game. This is my opinion.

Metal Gear has this formula, and you've probably noticed by everyone here - It is...rather unique.
You can play any one game as an isolation of it's self, and it still explains in great detail the objectives, and the do-whats.

Having knowledge of the other Metal Gear titles other than the one Metal Gear you are playing, does help you understand hidden things and secrets.

But, I don't think that having that knowledge is explicitly needed to enjoy a 'current' Metal Gear you may be playing, 'at the moment.'

So perhaps Metal Gear is best enjoyed in segments.

[angstlicht]

Originally posted by Profile Name:

But, I don't think that having that knowledge is explicitly needed to enjoy a 'current' Metal Gear you may be playing, 'at the moment.'

A GAMER'S GREATEST ENEMY IS THE TIMES, JACK. YESTERDAY'S GOOD GAMES MAY BE TOMORROW'S DEFUNCT GARBAGE.

STEALTH GAMES USED TO BE AN ENGAGING CURIOSITY, AND EVEN BAD ONES COULD INSPIRE GREATNESS IN THAT CONTEXT; BUT NOW, EVEN MANY 3D PROVINCE-SIZED STEALTH SIMULATORS ARE SEEN AS PHONED IN REDUNDANT WASTE.

NOW ASK YOURSELF, WILL METAL GEAR SOLID 3 STILL BE ANY FUN IN TWENTY MORE YEARS? SOMEHOW I DOUBT IT...

WHAT WILL IT BE, JACK, LOYALTY TO THE BRAND NAME, OR LOYALTY TO ME? YOUR FAVORITE GAME, OR YOUR INDUSTRY?

WHOEVER WINS THIS FIGHT SHALL INHERIT THE TITLE OF GAMER, AND THE GAMER WILL KNOW NOTHING EXCEPT A LIFE OF ENDLESS ENGAGEMENT PARADIGMS. BATTLE PASSES, GAMER SCORE, FULL PRICED REMAKES, FORUM ARGUMENTS WITH CHATBOTS, STEAM SALES... ALL UNTIL THEY ARE DESTROYED BY THE GAME ECONOMY.

yeah mgs5 can be your first/only metal gear. It's the most organic to control and it's also the longest one by a country mile.

[Profile Name]

Originally posted by angstlicht:

Originally posted by Profile Name:

But, I don't think that having that knowledge is explicitly needed to enjoy a 'current' Metal Gear you may be playing, 'at the moment.'

A GAMER'S GREATEST ENEMY IS THE TIMES, JACK. YESTERDAY'S GOOD GAMES MAY BE TOMORROW'S DEFUNCT GARBAGE.

STEALTH GAMES USED TO BE AN ENGAGING CURIOSITY, AND EVEN BAD ONES COULD INSPIRE GREATNESS IN THAT CONTEXT; BUT NOW, EVEN MANY 3D PROVINCE-SIZED STEALTH SIMULATORS ARE SEEN AS PHONED IN REDUNDANT WASTE.

NOW ASK YOURSELF, WILL METAL GEAR SOLID 3 STILL BE ANY FUN IN TWENTY MORE YEARS? SOMEHOW I DOUBT IT...

WHAT WILL IT BE, JACK, LOYALTY TO THE BRAND NAME, OR LOYALTY TO ME? YOUR FAVORITE GAME, OR YOUR INDUSTRY?

WHOEVER WINS THIS FIGHT SHALL INHERIT THE TITLE OF GAMER, AND THE GAMER WILL KNOW NOTHING EXCEPT A LIFE OF ENDLESS ENGAGEMENT PARADIGMS. BATTLE PASSES, GAMER SCORE, FULL PRICED REMAKES, FORUM ARGUMENTS WITH CHATBOTS, STEAM SALES... ALL UNTIL THEY ARE DESTROYED BY THE GAME ECONOMY.

yeah mgs5 can be your first/only metal gear. It's the most organic to control and it's also the longest one by a country mile.

I am going to be honest. The All Caps are hard to read. I had to find a case converter to make it legible.

About games being fun after twenty years; A timeless classic never truly goes away. They stand the test of time, and it is not for me to judge this. I can only assist in the divination of answers.

[phantom dier WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW]

Originally posted by Profile Name:

I am going to be honest. The All Caps are hard to read. I had to find a case converter to make it legible.

About games being fun after twenty years; A timeless classic never truly goes away. They stand the test of time, and it is not for me to judge this. I can only assist in the divination of answers.

time has no true bearing on how good a game is. if a game could be thoroughly enjoyed at some point in time it can be enjoyed anytime. people like new games because we already know what we have and we don't know what we don't have, the newest game has the potential to be the greatest game.

[Ekskom]

I only just started MGSV today and only finished the first Metal Gear Solid on PSX 20 something years ago and it's awesome already even if the story doesn't make sense after just a short time playing. Will go back to MGS2 if I finish this one hopefully.

Can't wait to keep playing this.

[Profile Name]

Originally posted by ####:

time has no true bearing on how good a game is. if a game could be thoroughly enjoyed at some point in time it can be enjoyed anytime. people like new games because we already know what we have and we don't know what we don't have, the newest game has the potential to be the greatest game.

Apologies if I sounded obtuse earlier. The internet is hard to carry intent.
Makes sense.
I think we are both on agreement.

It would appear we have two camps. One where Metal Gear is best experienced a certain order, easing the player into the story.

Another camps says fudge it, do what you want.

I'm in the latter, so my opinion needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Metal Gear is entertaining! Even the second game (on the Playstation 2,) asks if you have tried the first one. Already they have thought ahead to make games playable without needing to know anything about the franchise.
They stand on their own, and this is good.

[Mountain Man]

I have very little knowledge of Metal Gear's infamously convoluted story line, so I'm basically approaching Metal Gear Solid V as more or less a stand alone stealth/action game, and I'm enjoying it. As the game progresses, you get access to audio logs that fill you in on some of the backstory (although i wish they had transcripts so I could quickly read through them instead), but it seems more optional than required.

I suppose if you really care about the story then start with the first game and play them in order. Otherwise, don't worry about it and just play whichever one you want.