So I'm 25 and up until now I have never played a MGS title.

It totally past by me as I was probably a wee bit young to play the original when it came out. I do have some fond memories of my big brother owning a copy and I even probably had a go on MGS 2 on an old demo disc!

Anyway, I purchased MGS on the Vita and plan on getting the Remastered collection for 2 and 3.

This all stems from the huge praise for Phantom Pain and of course Drews recent run through of the series (I only got to watch the first few episodes before I left to go travelling around Australia).

On the whole the story is unspoiled for me although I do know a couple of things from listening to podcasts and having general knowledge of games as a whole. Like Raiden (whoever he is) in 2. It is pretty unescapable after all!

I have so far played just up to defeating Psycho Mantis in the Commanders Room. What a guy!

I am looking forward to working my way through the titles over the coming months...years? And would love to hear some spoiler free stories from others who may have joined the series late like myself too.

Also do 2 and 3 control okay on the Vita? I hate having to use the back panel on it so have already shifted R2 and L2 to the left and right thumbsticks.

Cheers GB community.

always go for S rank enemies on the battlefield

That sounds like sarcasm haha!

Well good luck to you; there was definitely an influx of people starting the series before MGSV came out, but that's died down a lot.

It still amazes me how many people decided to play the games on Vita, as you still need a PS3 to play MGS4 if you plan on going that far.

Do take a break between 2 and 3, you don't want to burn yourself out

@flstyle: @kasaioni:

Yeah the only real reason I am playing on the Vita is because I am still living in Australia with no home console.

Taking a break is probably a good idea as well thanks. Going to try and watch the MG Scanlon as I play along too to hear Dans comments on the overall story and Drews reactions!

Okay people. I've just completed MGS2 and I am having a blast. Been watching Drew play through it as well which has been great to recap what is actually going on. I totally understand why Dan would have had flow charts to keep track of all the double crossing!

Just a great game. I'll have a short break before diving into 3. This really is uncharted territory for me as all I knew about MGS before starting this endeavour was that Raiden is the main character in 2.

FWIW I got the Elephant Rank.

@hughesie27: I'm glad you came out of 2 positive, because at the time the response was so mixed. Not so much the gameplay, but the realization of what Metal Gear actually is.

3 is a more grounded game (relatively speaking) and kicks off a whole new era in the story. My favorite, despite some clunkiness, and the game that got me back into games during college. When I assumed I was too old and busy.

I played them for the first time two years ago and I just fell in love. I personally thought they held up well for the most part (a lot of discussion I've read seems otherwise?) and the MGS is easily my number one favorite series. I own multiple copies (hd collection digital on ps3 and vita, legacy collection physical for ps3, ground zeroes physical + digital) and don't regret it at all. I do find them a tad difficult to play on the vita but I may just not be used to shooters/stealth games on it.

I didn't find the story difficult to understand at all if you pay enough attention, and I find the 'nanomachines' meme about 4 to be way overblown, and just loved every single thing about them.

Have fun with MGS3, it's easily my favorite of the series!

Just wondering... Did you already play MGS5? Honestly, it'd be better if you just did that, because playing the MGS games prior to five, (while I like the gameplay well enough) is mostly to be experienced for its story (and, I'd say setting/characters), and expecting to get something good out of five in comparison, you'll probably be disappointed (plus, the major story stuff deals with what happens in the original Metal Gear, so you'll get the most out of it if you know what happens in that game). I would never recommend anyone with excitement for five, to play the originals, unless they're just doing it to get the experience of what the series has been, i.e. not for any particular aspect. Just saying, in the end, don't go in expecting the same experience. Also, I recommend Peace Walker. Only issue with it is how long it takes to upgrade. I beat the game solo, and it took longer than ideal to upgrade weapons well enough to take the bosses down, otherwise I think it's a superb game. Lastly, if you're going to play the first three, you should find a way to play four.

@hughesie27: They're all really cool games so good on you. I remember Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation was like a profound experience for me. Up until that point I had been gaming only on PC and it made me realize consoles can have equally outstanding games in their own right.

I hope you will be playing the updated version of MGS3 as the original doesn't have camera control which when combined with the top down view and no soliton radar can make for some grueling sneaking that boils down to crawling on your belly very slowly and popping up above the grass every 5 feet to scope out the territory in first person view like some weird human submarine going up periscope.

@ntm: I had not played any MGS game before starting MGS1 and would feel like I was missing out on any story beats if I just jumped into 5. I also wanted to get a feel for How the games mechanics worked too.

I'm also travelling around Australia right now and it is great to have a big game series to keep me occupied when I have some down time.

@hughesie27: You're doing it right. Going chronologically through a series lets you see how it evolves. And although the time stuff shifts, each game sort of builds on the lore from the previous ones.

Well, then, to @ntm's point, expect barely any of whatever you play to be present in MGS5. It's a fantastic game but only on its own terms. It is neither a MGS game in terms of narrative depth nor gameplay simplicity/variety. And I meant variety in the sense that prior MGS games were very much built on a new mechanic appearing every few rooms, whereas MGS5 is mostly built on RPG mechanics and fairly generalized (though, again, fantastic).

@humanity: im playing through the Vita HD collection so it should be the updated version I presume!?

Yep. Really, the only positive thing you're getting out of it (well, from my perspective), is that you'll know the history of MGS, so going into five, you can say 'hey, I know this character and what he does!' That's about it. Playing the game, it's more about taking what's in your arsenal, and using it creatively; at least, that's what most people got out of it from what I understand, and why I didn't keep playing it for hundreds of hours, beyond what it takes to do the main missions, and all the side missions (minus the 'hard' modes of all of them), though believe it's a great stealth/action game nonetheless. To get the most out of it, you shouldn't go into it expecting the MGS story you'd want from the other ones, but focus on how the game plays, and what you can do in that sandbox.

Not sure about you or anyone else, when it comes to the games setting, something that I love in all the MGS games, minus five, was that they had an interesting setting, be it Shadow Moses, Big Shell, and even the more varied places you go to in three, four, and even Peace Walker (though Peace Walker to somewhat less of an extent). Five in this case is not that good, and so again, the focus is put on what you can do in that place, rather than the details of the place itself. To sum it up, MGS5 is all about gameplay, and less about what the previous games were special for. I played MGS5 for around 60 hours, I think it has superb gameplay, but it was also disappointing to me. The complaint isn't that the focus was on gameplay (everyone would agree that that's a good thing), the complaint is that the focus was taken off other areas that I loved from the previous ones.

I understand why you'd want to jump into the previous ones, because heck, I'd do it myself despite a warning, but this may be the biggest case of where I would suggest playing the previous games in the series is not needed. That said, it's cool you're playing them, and that you're enjoying them.

@ntm: There is quit a a lot of stuff in the tapes that people who don't have knowledge of the previous game won't get.

@kasaioni: Eh. It's not that major. The only major ones are the ones you get once you finish the story, otherwise you're getting tapes of Miller trying to give the code talker a hamburger.

@ntm: There are a lot of hints throughout at what certain characters are doing/have done that as a big Metal Gear fan I found really interesting to know. But if you're not invested in the d33p lore than it won't matter to you.

@kasaioni: I'm a big fan of that stuff, it's a big part of what makes me interested in MGS, but I personally didn't find most of it that interestingly revelatory, and there really wasn't an abundance of that stuff. Also, do you know if the Metal Gear Solid novel by Raymond Benson is canon? I remember reading something in it, and MGS5 contradicts it. I always thought it was, until I beat five.

@ntm: I'm not sure to be honest, as I never gave much attention to the novelizations. However, from what I can tell, the novelizations are those author's specific take or interpretation of the Metal Gear universe, so I don't think I'd call them canon. Kojima also said in an interview, when asked about Portable Ops' canon status, that the only things that he considers "canon" are the Metal Gear stories he's written; so that would exclude novelizations, PO, Rising, NES MG etc.

Really good insight people. Cheers. In going to watch the rest os Drew run through 2 this evening. It's quite surreal that the last 90 minutes or so are basically just cutscenes with a short boss battle.

That was actually a bit of a negative for me from 2. The boss fights were easy, too few and not consistent with the characters introductions (I'm looking at you Vamp). Fatman was probably the best out of the lot!

@ntm: Thanks again. The way the GB guys spoke about 5 made me want to start this whole series. I really live stealth games that give you a lot of freedom. The only thing holding me back from 4 on PS3 was the story I would be missing out on from not playing the older games.

yeah five was a let down on story compared to the others especially 4 which was so great. I liked the earlier ones much more...

Completed 3 a few hours ago. Another really good game. It felt shorter and a lot less story in it. Perhaps just a story that was easier to follow anyway. Currently have 4 downloading to the PS3 so this will be the first time I've actually played MGS on a console!

Will be really interesting to see how the storyline pans out in the end. I do know about the very final scene where Snake doesn't pull the trigger and I also know that the Naomi character from the first game ends up dead I believe but I have no idea how it all plays out! I also just realised that Raiden is in it after watching a trailer!

Should hopefully have it completed over Xmas.

@hughesie27: Don't forget to grab that statue's dick in the first chapter

Your age isn't an excuse! I'm only 2 years older than you and followed the series from the beginning!
Anyway :P, awesome that you're checking out all the major games in the series, i don't use portables for "involved" games but from what i hear the Vita is pretty good at that sort of thing, i'd of course recommend the HD collection on a console.

Thanks lads! Yeah I have no idea how I never got into MGS when I was younger as I am sure my older brothers would have played at least 1 of the games. The story would have went right over my head obviously though!

Buzzed to get into 4 now.

@hughesie27: They're all really great games for different reasons. You get a ton of diversity in gameplay when going through that series. I remember replaying through MGS4 a few years back for some reason and man that game is really bizarre in a lot of ways and in a lot of ways it's barely a game - but put together it's a fun experience.

@hughesie27: The even numbered games have more wild stories, in my opinion.

Just completed Act 2 so getting into it.

Clearly a much different game from the previous entries with cut scenes dotted fairly regularly after short bits of gameplay. It's enjoyable though. Seems to be ramping the story up for a pretty climactic ending!

Act 3 done and dusted. Plenty of story to think about in that one! Really liked the Big Mama story twist. I think the only gameplay I played in those 3 hours was tracking the resistance guy (which was a bit of a nightmare) and the boss fight V Raging Raven. I don;t really get where these Beauty and Beast boss fights come into the story. They seem fairly latched on for the sake of boss fights.

Will hopefully get this finished before Christmas!

@hughesie27: Opinion spoilers: I think the first two acts of MGS4 are the only ones that have good gameplay - you're right that Act 3's "tail a guy" objective is pretty lame, and the whole act is really an excuse to meet Big Mama. The rest of the game also has some gameplay I'm not very fond of. The rest of the game sure does have some wild story, though.

Other opinion spoiler: only MGS1 and MGS3 have good boss fights. MGS2's boss fights are derpy and few and far between, Beauty and the Beast fights in MGS4 seem totally phoned in and are really boring characters totally unrelated to Liquid Ocelot and they all just have really excessive back stories where they were screwed over by the military industrial complex/war economy. MGS5 has poor boss fights for reasons similar to 2.

Just the final act to go so will have it completed tomorrow at some point. I think I knew that you got to fight inside a metal gear at some point too but it was much better than I expected it to be!

Also glad Naomi died the way she did as I would have been pretty disappointed it if was meant to be an emotional scene (despite Otocons best efforts).

Embarrassingly I had to use the codec to figure out what on earth I was meant to do to defeat Vamp. I must have "killed" him about 7 times before I clicked that something wasn't right. I would have never guessed to use the syringe.

Looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up. Kojima is clearly a lunatic though.

Hmm I'm 25 and I've played about every Metal Gear I could get my hands on, even the Ac!d ones.

It's a great series I hope you enjoy it. MGS1-3 being wrapped up by 4 is a masterpiece in direction if you don't mind a little less gameplay.

Finished it yesterday. Amazing game and ties up the story very well. Especially the scene after the credits!

Onto MGS V at some point.

I am now a convert. I love this series!

@hughesie27: After all these games you're in for a really awesome ride purely from a gameplay perspective. Finally all those things you wanted to do in Metal Gear, and they always felt a little clunky, well finally it all plays butter smooth! The story.. well.. I mean yah, but man is it a fun game to just play.

Although to be honest, with the way they patched the heck out of Phantom Pain, I seriously don't know what kind of experience someone might have in the single player portion. One of the few times buying a game near release was probably a little more beneficial than waiting it out, as they bolted on a whole heaping ton of weird online systems later on.