Poll: What is your opinion on the Metal Gear Solid storylines?

[Frotality]

hmm.. i like the comparison to women.

half the time...okay most of the time, it makes no logical sense. often its just completely nonsensical; occasionally it actively tries to make me confused. sometimes i find it to be quite pretentious, thinking that a the soul of a dead man can posses someone thru a grafted arm. it has somethings i will never like (raiden), but i learn to accept them, because for some inexplicable reason, i just cant help but be attracted to it. for all its problems, something about is just so cinematic, deep, philosophical, and enthralling, even if its quite possible im just making up those parts and imprinting them into context in the game in a psychological attempt to keep myself liking it.

considering ive never owned a playstation-anything and have only experienced the series through playing other people's copies, it is also like women in that i can never have any to call my own. im going to stop this analogy before it gets any freakier...

 

[Nomanslander]

I think Hideo Kojima is capable of brilliance, but a lot like George Lucas (at least in the 70s and early 80s, forget now), he needs people supervising his work and keeping him in check.

 

[LogicNProportion]

I love how this thread, much like Vamp, just won't fucking die. xD

I may have posted here before, but I'll say it again:

I love the SHIT out of MGS.

MGS3 is one of my favorite games of all time, no question.

 

[Lusulpher]

The story is poorly told, constantly repeated to make sure you got it, explained 600 different ways while Kojima was still deciding which versions to retcon out, and really at the end of the day wasn't all that special.

Gamers generally accept this because we're not used to stories taking place in games. Sure, we have "action movie" or "generic space opera" stories a fair amount, but it's rare to get anything more complex, so people fawn over MGS's storyline as the Sophie's Choice of our medium. The problem therein being, as already expressed, that Kojima had (at its bones) a relatively simple storyline going, but he's so bad at telling it that the complexity goes off the scale.

So no, I didn't care for it. You get the same "epic" moments in a bankrupt storyline game like Gears of War, with the added advantage of getting to spend most of the game playing the game. If you have to spend over seven hours explaining something that I could break down in twenty minutes, you're doing it wrong.

- J

Thank you.

Also, Final Fantasy....garbage, ALL of them.

 

[Dragonforce525]

MGS for the PS1 is one of my favorite games, MGS2, 3 & 4 on the hand ehhh, I found the "story" to be just a big mess. If I continue I'll just be repeating what Yahtzee said in his review of MGS4, so rewatch that and you'll know my basic opinion on the story.

 

[Vibhor]

I have only played the first and the second part and itsy bits of MGS4
Never completed them both because they felt awkward.
Firstly they push me into complex conspiracy theme and then they just start tossing piss and naked dudes at you.
I totally quit MGS2 when I had to sneak through the facility as raiden while being naked.
After that I forgot about MGS completely until MGS 4 was released.
As far as I know they sold MGS4 as a stealth game but what I got were some blabbermouth idiots and an old guy that can kill an army single handedly.

 

[Sephychu]

I think finishing Metal Gear Solid 2 for what was about the third time and finally getting all the plot odds and ends, it all making sense in my head, was one of the happiest moments of my life. I love the story, I think it flows and I love the way it is told.

Metal Gear Rex vs. Ray was a genius move.

 

[traineesword]

My favourite Metal Gear game is Peace-Walker for the PSP. Though it had obvious flaws (how in the 1970's could they have possibly a better A.I. system than we can create in 2010? and why aren't these implemented into other games), they were pretty much eclipsed by the excellent gameplay.
The story was... a bit weird for me though. it all seemed very unnecessary. i'm assuming a thread based upon the plot of a game doesn't need spoiler tags, so i'll go on without using them.

It was almost as if the game was trying its very hardest to make me feel sorry for "the boss"... the female bad-ass you kill in MGS3 to become big-boss? as if it wasn't enough at the 'climactic end' that the A.I simulating her behaviour sings and drowns itself to prevent destroying Big Boss or the world or America or whatever, again sacrificing herself and her honour and her purpose for others... but then to give us tapes that were optional to listen to (but really, why would you not?) from 'EVA'... explaining about how tragic 'the boss'es life and role had been. It just felt like it tried a little too hard to make me feel pity on a character who wasn't real and whose voice actor just reminds me of Family Guy. Sure, If i am feeling empathy to video-game characters, then your game is immersive and good. But you don't do that by spelling out every part of her life, attempting to make it as tragic and horrific as possible.

I haven't played MGS4, but i've looked up some of the character names and it annoyed me ¬_¬ "screaming Mantis", "Laughing Octopus", "raging raven", "crying wolf"... c'mon guys, you tried to re-enact the Shadow Moses incident in Metal Gear Solid 2, and even then you thought up original names for the characters to try give it a little subtelty... or maybe i've got the whole story wrong >.>

 

[The Night Shade]

I like MGS and i don't really care if the storyline is confusing because i can understand it all its not so hard

 

[Nico4]

Like, but complicated as hell

 

[Smooth Operator]

The overall stories are good, but the cutscenes... oh dear god make them add a fast forward feature.
It's quite strange because I do like most animes, where the stories are essentially from the same Japanese over the top drama class, but I get those on DVD or some streaming site so I can always skip ahead when they start to bore me.

 

[Zeema]

Well you know what [Cutscene Trigger's] [I dont like talking over things] Never Mind i Hate MGS's Long Cutscene nice Gameplay Thou

 

[Robert Ewing]

I absolutely love em'. They are wacky and crazy but totally try to be serious. MGS2 was the weakest in the series. I'll give MGS1 a break, since it was just starting out for reals, and the continuum wasn't all there yet.

Best games ever imo.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Hell ya, but 2 and 4 are so fucking confusing towards the end