How to enjoy Metal Gear Solid

[Novan Leon]

I'd like to ask a serious question for those people who love the Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid series of games.

Like many I've heard a lot about the popular Metal Gear games, but haven't had much actual gaming experience with these games. Back when MGS2 came out I decided to buy it in order to give it a try, and I did not enjoy it. The camera irritated me, the number and length of the cutscenes drove me crazy, I found the plot confusing and ridiculous, reminiscent of a typical poorly-written/poorly-translated anime, and the fact that I had to play through the game as a whiney pretty-boy was the final stab-and-twist. So all in all, I wasn't impressed.

Skip ahead several years to today. With the release of MGS4 I've recently had renewed interest in giving the series another shot. I would like to get a copy of every Metal Gear game made and start from the first game and work my way forward. I figure that if I start from the beginning and patiently work my way through the games, maybe I'll realize what people are so hyped up over. In order to do this I just bought the Essentials pack, only to find out that it didn't include the original MG and MG2 games (any idea where I can find these?). Anyhow, that's my vague intention, now for my question(s).

- What is the best way to enjoy each of the Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid games to it's maximum?
- Is there a certain "mood" I need to get in to in order to appreciate them the most?
- On what difficulty setting should I play each game in? Is each game different in this respect?
- Are there any other options I should set?
- Is there anything I should realize ahead of time so I'm not disappointed? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)
- How would you recommend a guy like me approach the series in order to get the most out of it?

I guess these questions are obviously for those who enjoy the games, but anyone is free to respond I guess.

 

[stevesan]

Here is my formula for really enjoying an MGS game: First, play on easy/normal, and watch the cutscenes. Run through the levels, don't bother sneaking around much (unless you're in the mood to). Your goal on the first play through is to just finish the damn thing ASAP, and watch the cool cutscenes (and they are cool). Use a walk through if you need to.

This will unlock the hardest difficulty mode, where any alert means game over. This is where MGS really starts in terms of game play. My first play through of MGS3 was horrible. I thought the game was crap. And then I re-played on Euro Extreme mode, and it's easily one of my favorite games of all time.

Obviously, it's gonna be frikkin hard to beat on the Extreme modes. So there will be lots of trial and error, memorization. You need to be patient. It's gonna be hard as nails, so just be ready. Obviously, I hope you like stealth gameplay.

Some tips on extreme mode play: Become very good at the controls. Get good at tranq'ing, CQC, covering (ie. pressing against the wall). You'll need all these skills to sneak around and take the bosses down (which will be a huge *****. But very rewarding).

So that's what worked for me.

 

[stevesan]

On the non-gameplay elements: The plot is always confusing as hell. Don't worry about it too much.

However, do appreciate the characters. Pretty much all the characters are well-done, with complex personalities and motives.

 

[Novan Leon]

On the non-gameplay elements: The plot is always confusing as hell. Don't worry about it too much.

However, do appreciate the characters. Pretty much all the characters are well-done, with complex personalities and motives.

Yeah, this part worries me. Since the plot and cut scenes are at least 50% of the game, if these segments don't make any sense, I'm afraid this will blow it for me. I've been around for long enough not to be satisfied with macho badguys and badass characters who's actions are macho and badass but don't make a lick of sense. I require some intellectual stimulation, that's partly why I was hoping that starting from scratch would give me the opportunity to understand the story and allow me to enjoy the cut scenes more.

Good pointers though.

 

[shin enzyme]

I wouldn't say there's that much of the "macho badguys and badass characters who's actions are macho and badass", as stevesan said, they all have their motivations and personalities - even snake himself is anything but badass for the sake of being badass.

Plotwise, if you already have a PS3 and need to fill in any gaps, there's the free MGS Database (released last week everywhere else, yesterday in the EU) that covers the earlier games (and 4 but that's locked until you provide a game clear save from MGS4). Of course, if you want to start at the beginning, it's massively spoiler laden so be careful.

There's also a lot of plot strands left unanswered untl MGS4 from the earlier games, so if you do play through them all, don't expect everything to be answered per game - it's more like Lost imo in that each season (game) is semi-selfcontained and may expand upon previously raised elements and raise new questions as well as answer existing ones.

 

[kaplahworm]

You realy do need to play MSG [1] as it is the best.
From what ive seen 4 can be played in 2 ways
Properly [high dificulty very sneaky]
Or Easly [low difculty gun ho]

I recoman playing it on easy first
It plays more like a interactive story than a game and is realy quite good. Its also quite nice when you need to rest for a while and stops you geting stressed at the game.
Ive done this and the story tho complex is good
Then play it on harder difuclty to get the whole Sneaking part of the game which realy isnt needed on easy but is realy fun, allthough you do become sick of snakes arse.

Also to have any fun playing this game you realy do need to have played MGS 1, 2 and 3
There is so much backstory and plot twists that you probaly dont even relise are plot twists.
That and if you end up becoming a fan boy [which most people do become] You can have a little chuckle about the simerlarties between all of the boss's in MGS1 and 2 and in MGS4.

Its basicly the cap on the end of the story which hoepfuly will stop hido geting more death threts to make a new MGS game.

But yea
its dam good
and funny.
But playing all 4 games you WILL get sick of Snake[the colective term cos there all called it] Being an complete idiot and most of his lines in the game are repeating what another charector just said

 

[stevesan]

On the non-gameplay elements: The plot is always confusing as hell. Don't worry about it too much.

However, do appreciate the characters. Pretty much all the characters are well-done, with complex personalities and motives.

Yeah, this part worries me. Since the plot and cut scenes are at least 50% of the game, if these segments don't make any sense, I'm afraid this will blow it for me. I've been around for long enough not to be satisfied with macho badguys and badass characters who's actions are macho and badass but don't make a lick of sense. I require some intellectual stimulation, that's partly why I was hoping that starting from scratch would give me the opportunity to understand the story and allow me to enjoy the cut scenes more.

Good pointers though.

It's fun trying to understand the story, but don't sweat it if you can't keep track of what's going on. Cuz like I said, I think the important thing to enjoy and appreciate are the characters. Through the cutscenes and codec conversations, you will get to know some very interesting and deep characters. You may not understand what the hell they're talking about, but their personalities come through in spite of.

And, to truly appreciate all the character development that goes on through the series, you should play the games all in order (just on easy at first, if you're pressed for time).

 

[stevesan]

On the easier difficulties it's hard not to just ignore the stealth aspect and just run and gun, so you want to kind of force yourself to use all of the different stealth aspects of the game, or else play on the harder difficulties.

Also, these games really require you to suspend your disbelief. More so than you do with a game about an alien invasion in fact. The game tries to stick to real world but it gets so ridiculous at times that you think it's Star Trek "science".

But playing all 4 games you WILL get sick of Snake[the colective term cos there all called it] Being an complete idiot and most of his lines in the game are repeating what another charector just said

What another character just said??

Sorry, had to do it.

Had to do it? Can't be!

 

[Darren Grey]

Well the most key point is to play MGS1. Nothing else matters as much as that - it gives a very good introduction to Snake and Otacon and their deep personalities, and of course to Snake's relationship with Liquid and other characters. It also explains (or at least introduces) many of the odd story elements that may seem confusing in MGS4 - Foxdie and the like. It doesn't have too many long cutscenes and has a lot of enjoyable gameplay, as well as a fun story. It also gives enough detail about the older games (MG1 & 2) that you can get by without playing them.

After that you can play MGS2 again to understand it better, but if you've been through it all before you may well have had enough of Raiden. Maybe just review some of the top cut-scenes on Youtube. MGS3 is a brilliant game, but if you're keen to get stuck into MGS4 then in terms of story it can be avoided - MGS4 goes back over many things from it (albeit in quite a boring way at times).

But really, to be able to fully enjoy MGS4 you have to accept that there will be long cut-scenes, and some of them will seem painfully drawn out with utterly irrelevant conversations and repetitive dialogue. But then some of those scenes will also be extremely compelling and will keep you really glued to the screen. I'd say overall that the mission briefings are the worst - they tend to explain little that hasn't already been said, and contain much of the cheesiest and most pointless character interactions. If they get too dull for you don't be afraid to skip those. (Why oh why are these the only scenes we can review from the main menu? I'd love to be able to rewatch many of the other cut-scenes with ease.)

Remember that these simply may not be your sort of games. I think they're awesome, I absolutely love them, but I'm not blind to the fact that others would easily find them to be horrendously unplayable. And that's not due to any stupidity or narrow-mindedness as some hard-core fans would claim - it's simply different tastes.

Edit: And use codecs a lot, you'd be surprised the extra info and especially amusing dialogue you get from them. MGS4 unfortunately doesn't excel as much on this front - I was mostly disappointed with its attempts at humour.

 

[pieeater911]

Ok, this is why MGS is not a very good gaming franchise.
1. Because the story makes no sense (no I haven't played MGS4 yet, and I know it is supposed to tie up the story nicely, shut up)
2. The gameplay isn't good. The sneaking is unintuitive and the shooting is horrible.
3. You need a GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME! Let me reiterate: YOU NEED A GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME.If fanboys have to make a guide on a certain way to play a game to make a game enjoyable, then all is not well. The game should be fun on the get-go. I usually give games about an hour, maybe two if the story is good for the gameplay to get fun. But come on! The whole game controls terribly and the story couldn't even draw me in enough to care! And yes, I have played all of them except 4 all the way through.

 

[bustns]

havent played mgs4 yet either, but pieeater makes a very good point. a game shouldnt require a guide to be fun, it should be fun from the get go. a game that isnt fun isnt a game at all, it's shit. however i'll reserve my final judgement for mgs4 when i actually rent and play the game (i dont buy any game until ive rented first, no matter how many 10s it gets)

 

[Ultrajoe]

Ok, this is why MGS is not a very good gaming franchise.
1. Because the story makes no sense (no I haven't played MGS4 yet, and I know it is supposed to tie up the story nicely, shut up)
2. The gameplay isn't good. The sneaking is unintuitive and the shooting is horrible.
3. You need a GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME! Let me reiterate: YOU NEED A GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME.If fanboys have to make a guide on a certain way to play a game to make a game enjoyable, then all is not well. The game should be fun on the get-go. I usually give games about an hour, maybe two if the story is good for the gameplay to get fun. But come on! The whole game controls terribly and the story couldn't even draw me in enough to care! And yes, I have played all of them except 4 all the way through.

/facepalm.

The trick to enjoying MGS? realise it is MGS and it likes to give a bick fat middle finger to convention.

"i'm not like other games" it says boldly "so shut the hell up or buy me!"

Realising that MGS is and always will be MGS is the way i find i can get most hardcore haters to appreciate it.

 

[RickSkorpio]

Don't forget to play the old version (Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 : Solid Snake) for the complete story. Not only the PS1, PS2 and PS3 games. Available on MGS Subsistance.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

3. You need a GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME! Let me reiterate: YOU NEED A GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME.If fanboys have to make a guide on a certain way to play a game to make a game enjoyable, then all is not well. The game should be fun on the get-go. I usually give games about an hour, maybe two if the story is good for the gameplay to get fun. But come on! The whole game controls terribly and the story couldn't even draw me in enough to care! And yes, I have played all of them except 4 all the way through.

I didn't need a guide - for any of them. Nor did a lot of people.

 

[dontlooknow]

3. You need a GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME! Let me reiterate: YOU NEED A GUIDE ON HOW TO ENJOY THE GAME.If fanboys have to make a guide on a certain way to play a game to make a game enjoyable, then all is not well. The game should be fun on the get-go. I usually give games about an hour, maybe two if the story is good for the gameplay to get fun. But come on! The whole game controls terribly and the story couldn't even draw me in enough to care! And yes, I have played all of them except 4 all the way through.

I didn't need a guide - for any of them. Nor did a lot of people.

Is pieeater maybe referring to this guide to enjoy the game? Because it?s perfectly alright to ask for guidance or an explanation in order to further enjoy other (yes I?m going to say it) art forms ? novels, paintings, poetry, films, drama etcetera.

Yes, yes I know it?s not what games are supposed to do (i.e. remind you that you are in fact a MAN with big BALLS despite the fact that you are sat alone in a darkened room drooling at the AMAZING frame rate and the GOBSMAKING graphics while your friends go out and have sex with GIRLS) I for one love that punch-bag aspect of gaming, but the MGS series is not, and has never pretended to be, a conventional game. I rate most things ? novels, poetry, drama, pigeons, women ? not on what they are, but whether they are what they say they are ? you wouldn?t criticise the Rocky films for being an unfair representation of modern American culture in the same way you wouldn?t criticise a female-male transsexual for being un-lady-like.

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

Here's the secret:
Metal Gear is all about melodrama.

Everyone talks about the complexity of Metal Gear. They talk about how complex the plot is (wrong, it's just convoluted). They talk about how complex the characters are (wrong, they're paper-thin stock characters with extremely superficial motivations).

Everyone talks about how badass Snake is. Like most videogame characters, he can take a bullet and not slow down, which makes him vastly more badass than any real human being, but he's really no more so than any typical videogame hero who can ignore wounds. In fact, he spends just as much time angsting and complaining as the hated Raiden, but fans tolerate it when Snake does it because he talks through clenched teeth. And he's not blond.

Everyone talks about the stealth gameplay. But MGS is only one-third game. It's also one-third radio play (codec conversations) and one-third movie (cutscenes). So two-thirds of the whole experience have absolutely nothing to do with gameplay and everything to do with... melodrama.

Melodrama is really what MGS is about. It's about bosses who deliver 15-minute long death speeches. It's about plot twists whose only purpose is to make things more angsty for the protagonist. It's about SHOCKING BETRAYALS! It's about high romance and high tragedy. It's theatrical, not cinematic.

To enjoy MGS, you have to get yourself into a mindset that is prepared to accept these things. Suspend your disbelief. Yeah, real people don't talk like that, but this is the land of Metal Gear, which borders on the lands of 1940s radio plays and penny dreadful novels. It's pulpy, it's soapy, it's massively exaggerated and way, way over the top.

It's Metal Gear. That's just how it is.

Either you can enjoy that or you can't. Most can't, and that's nothing to feel bad about. Matter of taste. You're not necessarily missing anything if you can't get into it. Let us know how it turns out for you.

 

[Proto Cloud]

The best I can say to you Novan Leon is to just give it a try. A game is meant to be played and understood the way you want it. Personally, Metal Gear is a love/hate kind of game. It's to be expected as its not a FPS or a GTA-like game. If you don't like it that's fine it's all a matter of taste, it's not like we're gonna hold it against you. Heck, if you don't like it play Splinter Cell. (Though I've heard Double Agent sucked.)

Personally, I needed no guide for Metal Gear. I fell in love with it immediately. While the story is not for everyone, I enjoyed its comic book/b-movie feel to it. It may not be Oscar-worthy, but it sure is entertaining. (like the Ironman movie)