This is a ramble post. I promise you won't hurt my feelings if you don't read it all.

Spoilers obviously.

So I started playing through the MGS series (skipped Metal Gear 1 and 2 because they're too old for me to get into) and so far I haven't been super blown away by anything but it's been good so far. MGS1 was a pain in the ass to play because the controls felt so bad. The craziness of the story and not wanting to be lost was enough for me to power through it.

I started MGS2 the next day, already a huge improvement in controls, although they're still not perfect, so playing through it was much easier although I suck ass at the game. I already knew about the whole Raiden thing thanks to Metal Gear Rising (my first actual Metal Gear game) and the plot was kinda just more MGS up until the last three hours. If you've played the game then you know what I'm talking about.

Now I'm starting to get hooked, but actually playing the games is still a bit of a slog because I'm bad at them and the controls feel really outdated. But next is MGS3, the one I've heard the most about, the one where half the memes come from, the ladder song, the one I see people say is their favorite. I gotta keep going.

I start MGS3 like a week after I beat MGS2 and I play up until the part where Snake meets Eva for the first time and you fight the GRU guys. I don't know why, but I'm just not feeling it. I thought Volgin is a really stupid villain (particularly his design), Ocelot is kinda dumb, no one has a Russian accent and it takes me out of it, and Snake always seems to be staring at Eva's titties in every scene. Now I know why people say Kojima can't write women. Maybe I'm just getting burnt out at this point but I'm not feeling this game so far.

Like four or fives months later, I just feel like playing again out of nowhere. I really don't knoq what's different this time but it finally just clicks. I blaze through the beginning and I'm actually playing really well and the story is just hitting right (Volgin and the titty pov are still dumb). Outside of the boss fights that require you to run and gun a little like Ocelot or the Pain, I'm having a lot of fun. Way more fun than I had in the last two games.

The story is a little dumber than 2 because Kojima read some Wikipedia articles about the Cold War or something so there's a lot of times where they'll say something about the Soviet Union and I can't help but think like "that makes no sense why would they do that." But I went in knowing there was gonna be dumb radlib stuff because Kojima is a radlib who read two or three books and wants to put it in his game. The Boss' motivations are also EXTREMELY unclear until the very last cutscene in the game so I ended up wondering if things were happening just to happen. But despite all that, I was still invested.

After finally beating at 19 hours, I can say this is one of my favorite games ever, and one of my favorite final bosses in any games ever. I admit I cried at the cemetery cutscene. Also I think the Boss is super hot.

So now I'm gonna take another month long break before I play MGS4. Can't wait to play what many people seem to consider the worst game in the series after the best one!

  • jack [he/him, comrade/them]M
    ·
    4 years ago

    There's not a bad game in the series. MGS4 is awesome in its own strange way. When you get to it, think of everything from Snake's perspective: an old man who's absolutely sick of this shit but knows he's gotta do it. That's Snake, that's Kojima, that's you.

    Peace Walker is the all-around best game in the series.

    MGSV is the most fun game in the series by far, and you should embrace the sandbox. The story has some interesting themes and a few great moments, but is clearly unfinished. Still worth it though.

    And then you gotta play Death Stranding, which isn't really like MGS at all, but is extremely Kojima and I absolutely adore it. Like MGS, it requires a very particular headspace. If you can get into the slow pace, it's an experience like no other.

    • FunnyUsername [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Peace Walker is the all-around best game in the series

      This is actually the first time I've heard someone express this opinion. Peace Walker usually gets shit on from what I've seen. I was gonna play it after MGS4 regardless because it's included in the HD collection.

      And then you gotta play Death Stranding

      I played about three hours of Death Stranding before I played any of the MGS games and I couldn't really get into it but after playing these games and hearing people talk about all the ways traversal becomes much easier later on, I think I'll give it another shot when I'm through with this series.

      • jack [he/him, comrade/them]M
        ·
        4 years ago

        IMO, Peace Walker has the best classic MGS gameplay (MGSV is a whole different beast), the most interesting personal story, and the best politics.

        Death Stranding is very much a not-for-everyone sort of game. Traversal becomes easier because you make it easier, but if you didn't like the challenge of climbing over rocks and wading through streams I'm not sure DS is the game for you.

      • throwawaylemmy2 [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I played about three hours of Death Stranding before I played any of the MGS games and I couldn’t really get into it but after playing these games and hearing people talk about all the ways traversal becomes much easier later on, I think I’ll give it another shot when I’m through with this series.

        That really depends on if people are still playing, if not you should expect to have to grind materials/farm materials to build roads (the second "Act"/area is the biggest in the game) to make travel easier. Otherwise you'll be hoofing it or motorcycling it across the land by yourself. The whole "gimmick" of Death Stranding and Kojima's point was that people need to work together (hence the "strand system" he made where things YOU [or others build] is put into YOUR [or THEIR] game on logging into the servers for you to help upgrade/manage or use with the "likes" system giving likes if you sue someones stuff).

        It's very divisive, so it's not for everyone. But if you've played Euro Truck Simulator 2/American Truck Simulator and like delivering things while zoning out, it'll be good with Kojima's typical batshit storyness for you.

        • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I just beat it, people are definitely still playing. I will say that it's not gonna appeal to everyone. Personally I loved slowly exploring a pretty, empty landscape and trying not to fracture sam's tailbone getting up a mountain and looking at BB swim around the hot spring and reading rambling emails making dubious claims about ancient egypt.

          • throwawaylemmy2 [none/use name]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Yeah, there was a lot of backlash from PS4 players on release because it wasn't MGS-2:Spiritual Sequelaloo. But PC players have played ETS2/ATS to where they know if that style of gameplay is for them.

            I enjoyed it in a slow-burn way, but there is a LOT of extraneous deliveries that you don't really need to do if you just want to go through for Kojima's filmic batshittery story.