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    Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

    Game » consists of 14 releases. Released Mar 18, 2014

    The stand-alone prelude to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, giving players a taste of the new open-world gameplay mechanics while setting up the main game's story, as Snake (Big Boss) must infiltrate a prison camp to rescue his comrades.

    Can I play MGS V without playing the other ones?

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    MadMadHasCrashd

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    I'm a PC-only gamer (#PCMasterRace) and I thought about buying MGSV. The bad thing is that I've never played ANY of the other Metal Gear Solid games, do I miss out on a big portion of the game for that reason?

    PS: Sorry if I wrote something wrong, I don't speak English (I'm Chilean)

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    Corevi

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    #2  Edited By Corevi

    You could but I wouldn't recommend it. The Metal Gear series is very self referential.

    The main story would be understandable but most of the side stuff will go completely over your head.

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    Captain_Insano

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    You will have very little idea as to what the hell is going on (but then, even people who've played all the Metal Gear games are confused).

    I'd advise at the very least reading a wiki, or finding a youtube explanation.

    Better yet, pay for a subscription here on Giantbomb and watch all of Metal Gear Scanlon.

    I'm planning on picking up the Legacy collection and going through it, almost as a refresher and also because I never finished MGS3 or 4 - got most of the way through but for one reason or another I didn't complete them.

    Also not a bad idea to find out if you actually like Metal Gear Games as they're always...different.

    So I'd advise yes.

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    Shindig

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    Maybe. I wonder if MGS V will fill the blanks with some in-menu backstory like MGS1 and MGS 2 but my best bet would be to experience it first hand. There's no guarantee they'll fill in the blanks for you.

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    LiquidSaiyan3

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    You can do anything you put your mind to!

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    cornbredx

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    #6  Edited By cornbredx

    Ya, probably. Based on the timeline. Although you'll miss out on some stuff story wise.

    All the games are crazy, though, and self contained so even if you don't know the history of things you'll still be able to follow the story (well, follow in the same way anyone else can follow a Metal gear Solid story =P) no matter what game you played first. None of them require you to know anything going in.

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    FrostyRyan

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    I don't recommend anyone play the MGS games out of order.

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    slayers_bernie

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    There is a pc version of mgs1 at least. Maybe watch lets plays of the others first?

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    Ghostiet

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    Ya, probably. Based on the timeline. Although you'll miss out on some stuff story wise.

    All the games are crazy, though, and self contained so even if you don't know the history of things you'll still be able to follow the story (well, follow in the same way anyone else can follow a Metal gear Solid story =P) no matter what game you played first. None of them require you to know anything going in.

    I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this at all. MGS4 especially requires you to know the previous games - it's 90% callbacks to previous entries, and the already bizantine ending might be even harder to follow. Hell, MGS2 makes little sense if you aren't familiar with 1, due to the way that game parodies to concepts of sequelization and power fantasies.

    V might be the most standalone so far in terms of direct sequels, but I'd say you're missing a lot of context if you don't see Big Boss' origin in 3 and subsequent foreshadowing of his descent to villainy in Peace Walker - especially when you go into everything around the Boss.

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    rethla

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    #10  Edited By rethla

    Are you talking about ground zero or the actual MGSV becouse there is a world of difference. Noone has played MGSV and can answear your question but if MGSV follows the concept of the other games in the series you better play them in order or not at all. MGS1 is also the best game so far so no matter what you are best of starting with that one.

    Ground zero is an entirely different thing as its like 30min of gameplay and another 10h of challanges if youre into that and its gameplay very well stand on its own. As far as the story goes if you want to enjoy anything of it just play from the beginning of the metal gear solid franchise.

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    FLStyle

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    I'm a PC-only gamer (#PCMasterRace) and I thought about buying MGSV. The bad thing is that I've never played ANY of the other Metal Gear Solid games, do I miss out on a big portion of the game for that reason?

    PS: Sorry if I wrote something wrong, I don't speak English (I'm Chilean)

    The game you want to play is split in 2 time-zones. MGSV: Ground Zeroes takes place in 1975 (and is not a full game, in-case you didn't know), but MGSV: The Phantom Pain takes place 9 years later in 1984.

    • 1964 – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
    • 1970 – Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
    • 1974 – Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
    • 1975 – Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
    • 1984 – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
    • 1995 – Metal Gear
    • 1999 – Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
    • 2005 – Metal Gear Solid
    • 2007/09 – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
    • 2014 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
    • 2018 – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

    Good luck!

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    tuxfool

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    #12  Edited By tuxfool

    Oddly enough, this game continues on from Peace Walker, which was the least played of any Metal Gear game barring the MSX games. I suspect that it is almost a given that they will summarize the broad strokes of the plot with some kind tape entry or journal.

    Ground Zeroes already does that to a certain degree with things like Paz's diary entries. Those tended somewhat to flavour but probably supplement any broad strokes kind of document.

    It won't help cement any notion of timeline, which might be fairly important for somebody to get the most out of the story.

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    BigBoss1911

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    I would at least play MGS 3 and read up on peace walkers story before playing it.

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    spiceninja

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    You have plenty of time to play through the series before 5 is out. It's not that big of a time sink.

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    shiftymagician

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    Don't worry about it and just go in and have fun. If you find a story bit that you feel is confusing because they are implying you played an earlier game to understand it, decide for yourself if you should google it up and get that piece of info. The Steam overlay is pretty useful to open up a quick browser session to get a little info without alt-tabbing if you need it.

    Here's hoping MGS V has some sort of back-story section to cater specifically for those that just want to dive right in. Would make a lot of sense if they plan to release a fifth game in the main series to the PC and (for the time being) do not consider porting the earlier titles in the near future (wishful thinking at the moment but I'd buy it in a heartbeat should they announce and release them with reasonable quality).

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    Humanity

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    InsidiousTuna

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    @madmadhascrashd: I'd really recommend at least watching playthroughs of MGS 1-4. The best way to do that would be to subscribe to Giant Bomb Premium and watch Metal Gear Scanlon, but I'm sure there's plenty of video out there of those games. Drew and Dan have committed to playing MGS3 in the new year, and I imagine they'll do 4 as well. If you don't play or at least watch videos of the previous main games in the series, MGSV won't make any sense, not even if you read detailed wiki pages. They're just too dense and weird, and you really need to see what's happening to understand it. I've played 3, 4, and Ground Zeroes, and despite my best efforts to understand what is going on, I didn't really know much about 1 or 2 until I watched Metal Gear Scanlon.

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    stonyman65

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    Probably not. That story is SO DEEP with crazy lore and an amazing amount of double/triple crosses that it's hard for even fans of the series to keep straight. Going in without knowing the story at this point would be pretty much useless. You'd be completely lost.

    My suggestion would be to track down some lore or Lets play videos on Youtube and watch them from the beginning, and maybe spend some time on the Metal Gear Wiki reading the plot synopsis of the games and all of the major character bios. That will at least give you the basics.

    The best way though is to either play through the games or watch Lets Plays on Youtube. You can probably skip Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 because Metal Gear Solid does a really good job of explaining what happened, but you at least need to be familiar of the events in Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Metal Gear Solid 4 to really get the picture.

    If you are looking for what games to play based on the story timeline to keep things straight forward, I would watch/play the games in this order

    • Metal Gear Solid 3
    • Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (optional)
    • Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
    • Metal Gear (optional)
    • Metal Gear 2 (optional)
    • Metal Gear Solid
    • Metal Gear Solid 2
    • Metal Gear Solid 4

    If you want to experience it the way we did and have the total mindfuck of trying to figure it all out, then watch/play them in this order

    • Metal Gear (optional)
    • Metal Gear 2 (optional)
    • Metal Gear Solid
    • Metal Gear Solid 2
    • Metal Gear Solid 3
    • Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (optional)
    • Metal Gear Solid 4
    • Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
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    The_Big_Rough

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    might as well.......sounds like half the people that played all the Metal Gear don't know what the fuck is going on.

    Dan should make a 5 min summary video that goes on for a hour

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    friendlypossum

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    This is basically my problem as well. I knew nothing of metal gear till dan and drew started playing. ..now im really into it. I want mg5 but I foresee problems with menot uunderstanding characters/lore if I don't play the other games....is the 3DS version worth my time? I travel alot so was thinking of picking it up.

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    Steadying

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    I highly recommend you do not do this.

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    JDDrewes

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    I just finished Metal Gear Scanlon and decided to pick up this game for the steam sale. Now I'm hoping I didn't make a big mistake...

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    obcdexter

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    My personal advice as someone who has all those games under his belt: Wait for Metal Gear Scanlon 3 to finish before you tackle GZ. I can't imagine it being a great experience going into the Phantom Pain's prologue (which GZ is, let's not fool ourselves here) without knowing any of these characters. In fact, everyone appearing in that little game except Snake/Big Boss is either straight out of Peace Walker (which I don't mind, since I loved that game) or a new character altogether.
    It might sound like a hassle to catch up on so much stuff, but if you enjoyed Dan and Drew's journey up to this point, you really should continue going along in order. And thinking about it, these games aren't THAT long after all.

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    GunstarRed

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    As much as I'd recommend playing the other games in the series, I'm sure you'd be fine. I bet this will probably be a better starting point than 4.

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    MooseyMcMan

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    You could definitely enjoy the game, but you wouldn't have any idea as to what was going on in the story.

    I'd recommend doing something like watching all the cut-scenes of the other games on YouTube. Or, if you don't mind paying Giant Bomb money, you could subscribe and watch the Metal Gear Scanlon series and get some "insightful" commentary on top of it.

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    Underscore_Underscore

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    You should be fine if you just play through MGS3 and peace walker first. Or read up the wikis on those two games. Also, you might want to read up on MG 1 and 2 to understand what Big Boss will become after 5

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    Jorbit

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    @corevi said:

    You could but I wouldn't recommend it. The Metal Gear series is very self referential.

    The main story would be understandable but most of the side stuff will go completely over your head.

    I have never played a Metal Gear game, so I'm just watching Drew play through it and experiencing it like that. Then I think I'll buy MGSV and give it a go. Hopefully that's enough.

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    ottoman673

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    #28  Edited By ottoman673

    I played Ground Zeroes never having played a metal gear game, and all it did was make me want to go play the others. I'm eventually gonna have to get a PS3, though

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    Ketta

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    @jddrewes: You'll probably be fine for Ground Zeroes just because there isn't a whole lot of story there, but note that Ground Zeroes is not the MGS5 that we are talking about here.

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    Corevi

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    #30  Edited By Corevi
    @lunnington said:
    @corevi said:

    You could but I wouldn't recommend it. The Metal Gear series is very self referential.

    The main story would be understandable but most of the side stuff will go completely over your head.

    I have never played a Metal Gear game, so I'm just watching Drew play through it and experiencing it like that. Then I think I'll buy MGSV and give it a go. Hopefully that's enough.

    I don't know if Metal Gear Scanlon will be done by the time MGS5 comes out though.

    Also they most likely won't be doing Peace Walker which 5 is a direct sequel to.

    I recommend this Let's Play of Peace Walker. He also has playthroughs of every other canon Metal Gear game but hopefully you won't need them.

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    bwheeeler

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    People saying to play in chronological story order are nuts. Play them in the order the games were released.

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    UitDeToekomst

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    I did that very thing shortly after it came out, and didn't enjoy it one bit. I have never played a Metal Gear game before, so I don't know if the fact that I haven't made the MGSV experience bad, or if it is just not my type of game (i'm leaning toward the latter).

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