I've played MGS1, 2, 3 and 4, but I missed out on Peace Walker. Given that it seems to be set in a time period just before Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain, I'm wondering if it's worth getting the digital PSN version and playing through that before Ground Zeroes launch.

I know no one here has actually played Ground Zeroes yet, but I would like to know from those who have played it, how vital do they feel it is to the overall MGS story? Is it worth $20 for the HD version of the game?

Thanks

I'd say extremely

but most would say not at all, because the don't like the game.

I'd say everything after MGS3 can be ignored.

i think if you go look for a physical copy you might find one cheaper than 20 bucks

I came across this tweet earlier today. I'm in the same boat as you so I should probably play or read about Peace Walker before Ground Zeroes comes out.

The overall story of Big Boss forming his mercenary army is pretty vital to MGS5 but the actual plot itself is pretty unnecessary. It is a fun game though. Just read a wiki if you can't be bothered playing through it, you won't miss a whole lot. Definitely worth 20 dollars though.

Metal Gear Solid is a story about a soldier who killed his twin brother. Solid Snake's real name is David. If you want to know anything else just ask me, I'm an expert.

Nothing happened in Peace Walker, but I didn't play it so I can't be sure. I'll just say nothing happened because I didn't play it.

You should at least read a summary of Peace Walker. I don't think it's worth one's time to play though.

Snake developed his appreciation for Mountain Dew, Doritos, and Axe body spray. It really informs what happens later in the timeline.

I hear the story is pretty good but I just got bored when I played the HD version. I think I tried watching all the cutscenes on youtube a while back, I should probably go finish that before GZ hits.

Look what I found on the internet:

If you have not played MGS Peace Walker before or just want to see the epic game again? Then this video might be for you. In this video you see all the epic mgs Peace Walker moments and story. The Movie version includes important gameplay sections, radio calls and every cutscenes. This video has also been edited so it is like movie. Hope you enjoy!

Set in 1974 in Central America, the game follows the exploits of returning protagonist Naked Snake, now known as Big Boss, as he runs a mercenary unit using the resources he acquired from Gene at the end of Portable Ops, four years before. The game also adds more information behind the founding of the military state Outer Heaven.

I would love to do this, but I live in The Bahamas so buying physical games here is a little tricky unless it's a big time AAA release (CoD, NBA2K, etc). Couple that with the cost of shipping and import duties and price wise it may not be much different than the $20 to just download it.

Maybe I'll just have to find a playthrough of it on Youtube and watch a bit of it to see what I'd be getting into. Either way I'll make sure I at least learn the story before GZ. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Ive been thinking about going through Peace Walker as well and was wondering if the controls would be alright on the Vita since its a psp game or if i should just go with the hd verson.

@cale: Thank you good sir!

@thebunnyhunter said:

No idea about the Vita, but the HD console release is a great version of the game to play. I'd dare say it's the best one. I'm pretty sure many PSP owners would agree.

@yevinorion: As far as how important Peace Walker is to the "overall" MGS myth arc; not very. Consider that I refer to the "myth arc" as being the games that dealt with Solid Snake. So MGS1-4, in other words. Peace Walker is however incredibly important to Big Boss's story. Peace Walker is the canon sequel to MGS3, and it is treated as such. MGS5 is the canon sequel to Peace Walker and deals primarily with characters introduced in Peace Walker in a meaningful capacity.

So yeah, play it. You can burn through the main ops fairly quickly (something like 10-12 hours or less), or you can do what I did and get completely lost in base management, side ops, and maybe dabble a bit in deniable ops (I forget the proper name, but it's kind of a rudimentary turn-based strategy game). You should really play Peace Walker if you just like Metal Gear. There's hours and hours of optional content that includes really in depth (and at times frivolous) exposition in the form of debriefing tapes. Peace Walker is a AAA Metal Gear game in everything but graphical power.

@oldirtybearon: Thanks much for the detailed description. It does sound pretty damn good. I honestly haven't played an MGS game since 2008 with MGS4, so I feel like I may need something to get me back into the MGS mythos before I look to pick up GZ. I'll have a look at a bit of the gameplay on Youtube, but I am very strongly leaning towards just buying it on PSN.

As a huge fan of the MGS series, Peace Walker at best is a decent side story I found to be infinitely forced. There is just nothing interesting about it. What Peace Walker lacks in narrative is made up by it's fun gameplay, although I'm not sure if it would really be good on the console, it was a great portable game. That said, Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain seem to be a direct continuation of PW, so if you're going to be playing those games, it's probably worth going through PW to get familiar with some of the "important" characters.

It's really important, but you can get what you need by watching the cutscenes on the internet.

@cale: Thanks, I was hoping a Youtube "movie" version existed.

Not at all vital, but it's a good game that you should play.

You could just read a plot summary and skip playing it, but you could say that about any game really. A lot of the supporting characters from Peace Walker are returning, but I don't know how much of the actual plot will be continued in Ground Zeroes. There's a plot thread left open at the end of Peace Walker that I'm sure will return, but they'll probably contextualize it in Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain at some point, and being familiar with the rest of the series should be enough to piece together what/who they're talking about. I'd say it's worth playing mainly because it's a good game, not because of the story. One of the best in the series, and leagues beyond the trainwreck that was Metal Gear Solid 4.

What the fuck are you talking about.

I think its essential, as Ground Zeroes literally takes place JUST after Peace Walker. Phantom Pain then builds upon that. I think its the one to play before MGS 5.

Watching the cutscenes is fine though, since I don't think the game is that fun to play.

The later games aren't very good and the stories kind of take away from the saga. I'm already not liking MGS V's story. I'll be playing it for the gameplay.

For the story? Not at all really. You can get the important parts out of a synopsis. Basically Big Boss made his base and team of out of work mercenaries. Giving them a "safe haven" to live.

The rest is arguably the most contrived bullshit out of any Metal Gear game. AND THAT DOES SAY SOMETHING.

EDIT: Might as well add my opinion here. The story in PW is laughably bad. And the characters are less than memorable. But the game itself is a lot of fun and has some fantastic Kojima charm to it. I played through every mission I could in co-op too and that was a fun time. Definitely play it if you want to. It's not a bad game.

I frankly consider it to be a bad game, both for its gameplay and narrative elements. The base-management is at least kinda fun, but everything else surrounding it is simply not enjoyable. So I obviously wouldn't recommend it, but then I'm just one person that's evidently in the minority when it comes to Peace Walker, so take that as you will.

It isn't super important to the entire series(at least so far), but it is REALLY IMPORTANT for MGSV, especially Ground Zeroes. GZ is pretty much a direct sequel, focused on returning characters from PW.

Peacewalker is of pretty high importance, considering you wouldn't really know that much about Kaz Miller otherwise. But at any rate there's an extremely high chance it is a much better game than either MGS V (It's better than everything except MGS3), so you should probably play it.

@yevinorion: Integral link between MGS3 and MGS1

It's also an excellent game, one of a few PSP originals worth owning for that system.

Don't forget how he took down a Rathalos.

I'd let him take down my rat halos any day.

So I've just been reading an interview with Kojima and he talks about something that reminded me of this thread.

He says that non-Japanese people (I assume he means foreign press) often ask him who Chico and Paz are, because a lot of them haven't played PW due to it being on the PSP. However, he think it's totally fine to not know these characters even before playing Ground Zeroes, for the same reason you don't need to know anything about Princess Peach before wanting to save her. He's fine with the there being a disparity between someone who has played 100 hours of PW and cries at the end of GZ, and someone who doesn't really care about what happens, but just knows these 2 characters are being tortured and so you need to go save them. He feels that's all the explanation anyone will need, in other words. He also then goes on to add that there will be conversations and audiotapes over the course of the game that will provide background to Paz and Chico.

Some other interesting/funny things in there. Enjoyable interview.

If you can't play it, I'd definitely recommend reading up on it, or even watching the cut scenes on Youtube. There is a video out there that is about 3 hours long, and has everything you need to know.

Ground Zeroes is about rescuing Chico and Paz. Most of the stories about Chico and Paz are told in PeaceWalker.

Plus it's the best MGS game to date, in terms of gameplay.

Seems important, watched the 3 hour video a couple days ago. Biggest part is further development of Big Boss and coming to terms with who The Boss was to him.

And nuclear war discussion.

Depends on how much you're interested in the MGS story.

• Vital to the overall MGS story, not too much
• Vital to the MGSV story, very much

Paz?! Kaz?!

@basketsnake said:

Peace. ☮✌

I don't know, I'm still making my way through Peace Walker...and man has it been harder than expected. Not that the game is hard, but I think the handheld game design is just not well suited for Metal Gear. The levels are bite sized, and the game is easy to put down. It's just different from other Metal Gear games in that sense. I own it, and I'm playing through it. But, from what I gather it's worth knowing what happens. Even if just reading a summary, or watching the cutscenes on youtube.

Big Boss not wearing a bandanna anymore is kind of a big deal. And I'm assuming it's because of something in Peace Walker.

@dudeglove: it's a Kojima game. That's kinda par for the course. The game play holds up on is own when it comes to the separate games though. I don't know about this specific game but the others have.

Just finished the game, it's vital alright, but there is a "backstory" option on the game menu that recaps Peace Walker story along with the true ending of the game and the setting of Ground Zeroes. Then during the long-ass loading time(probably because I was playing the 360 version), there are several pages of text recaping both Snake Eater and Peace Walker(strangely enough Portable Ops seems to be excluded from the MGS canon, for now)before hints start.

Also Skull Face is revealed to be aiming to kill Major Zero after end credit

Which make the Big Boss arc as if not more convoluted that the Solid Snake arc.

i found the story on par with MGS3, doesn't feel as much of a side story because they do progress Big Boss further loose ends of Snake Eater. The way the story is handled just really refreshing considering how disappointing MGS4 was. Nanomachines without the word "son" after it doesn't help solve everything. That and the whole Latin American culture was handled really well.

It's gonna suck seeing mother base be destroyed for the next game. I worked so hard to build an airport on it.

two pivotal characters in GZ are introduced in Peace Walker. so I guess its kind of important.

*I never finished Peace Walker.

this scene is perfection

considreing Kojima considered Peace Walker to actually have been MGS5, though on a handheld, I think it's rather important.