So with all the talk of this game in GOTY and with it being on sale on Steam for $40 I'm thinking of getting it. However, I have no idea what Metal Gear is. I have never played any of the games. I thought 3 looked cool but never got it. I've seen some stuff like the psycho mantis boss fight and other things that have been in random videos but as far as I know nothing integral to the plot of the games.

So my question is: should I play this game? I could always watch Drew play through them but honestly I don't really have time to watch all of it anytime soon. Anyone else just dive right into 5?

V is by far the least story heavy game in the series.

The main one that influences it is the prologue, Ground Zeroes (which I imagine is on sale at the moment too). Metal Gear Solid 3 and Peace Walker also factor into it but you'll be fine reading summaries for those if you did want to know that background. The other games in the series take place after V so you don't really need to know the story in them.

Definitely give the game a shot. And just google any story information you want to know of as and when you want to know more.

The story is kind of meaningless garbage compared to the rest of the games anyways, so don't sweat it if some of that story doesn't make sense. It's a cool game, like an open world Splinter Cell where you do all kinds of weird approaches to missions. Give it a shot.

@triple07: In a way, MGS V benefits from not being at all familiar with the franchise as much as it suffers from it.

You won't get the enjoyment of small callbacks here and there, but you also won't have any lofty expectations going in.

You could absolutely play this game without ever having played a Metal Gear before. I'd recommend playing Ground Zeroes first which is on sale for $8, but even that isn't necessary if you're just in it for the gameplay.

MGSV is in my opinion the best and funnest game that came out in 2015. If that was the only issue, I would say "Of course, you should play it!!" In terms of this story, you are probably fine, if you listen to the cassette tapes.

Here's some more information if you want it:

Since this is a Metal Gear game, I will say this. It is in the middle of a very long story and probably one of the more convoluted stories in popular videogames. That said, there are plenty of cassette tapes that detail the backstory. For example, one character will tell your character the story of how they met, in a way no real person would actually say. The plus side is, for somebody like you, you can listen to it and say "Oh ok, that's who he is." Compared to the other games, they were not nearly as kind, in my opinion. For example, the first MGS game I saw was Metal Gear Solid 2, and characters reference the core events of the previous game, without any context. People just said "Shadow Moses?!?" and that's that. MGS1 is even worse, because it references a relatively obscure game that came out like 10 years ago. If we were talking about MGS4, the answer would be HELL NO, because it references so many things. MGSV tones it way back and actually explains the things that need explaining.

If you do play it, make sure you listen to all of the cassette tapes given to you, since they fill you in on some of the events in MGS3 and Peace Walker. Another option, if you have the time, is watch Metal Gear Scanlon 1 through 4. That's really time consuming, since that series ran for almost an entire year. You may or may not also want to pick up Ground Zeroes, but you can probably just watch a YouTube or something. There's so little story that is probably not essential, but it does provide context.

I'd say watch 3 as a cut together movie on YouTube if you have the time, it's pretty fun and enjoyable. Then watch Dan and Drew watching Peacewalker, then play Ground Zeroes, it doesn't take very long at all. Then play V if you want, it's worth it.

But really this is a plug for watching 3. That's what I did, and I'm really glad I invested the time.

Well the people who have played the other games hated it so I would say you're better off going in cold.

Watch MGScanlon for 3 and PW? Or just watch the edited MGS "Movies". That is the easiest way to get ready for MGSV.

You might be better off, even. I mean, I'm not one of those people who felt the story was a travesty or ruined the whole MGS series, but even I think the story is the weakest part of the experience.

Maybe play Ground Zeroes first? It's small, short, gives you the basic feel for the shooting mechanics, and sets up the only relevant part of the plot going into MGSV.

Is Konami still doing that thing where you get Ground Zeroes for free if you buy Phantom Pain or was that a pre-order thing?

The plot in V is so pointless and aggravating I think going in blind would be a lot better.

Ok thanks guys, I went ahead and picked it up along with Ground Zeroes and I may go back to see the rest of the metal gear story later on.

You can enjoy this one without playing the others however if you plan on playing the others there will be spoilers in this one.

It's the best stealth game made with the worst Metal Gear story yet.

I could and just might say that playing this game first and seeing the spoilers might make experiencing the other games more enjoyable because you'd have a better understanding of what's going on. Personally, there are a lot of times I enjoy understanding (spoilered) an experience more than the reveal of the spoiler itself.

@clagnaught: "But you yourself, in Zanzibar Land!" "I know, he was supposed to be dead..." Every westerner in 1998: "What?"

They do actually have a backstory for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake in the menus somewhere though.

yes, it plays so good and it's really quite crazy in it's surprises and the amount of variety

MGS V would be as good a game if you mute dialogue and remove subtitles, imho! :)

Just don't buy Ground Zeroes. Konami have removed the first mission from the main game and released it as a standalone game just to generate more money from Kojima's last project.

You could watch it on YouTube and it won't take more than an hour.

Really interested to hear your reactions after you play a bit of it. Curious how someone that has never played any of those games before would take it all in at face value.

You actually might like it more considering that many (but certainly not all) of its flaws are flaws by virtue of its name