MGS Playing Order Dilema

jdunne08

MGS newcomer (I played MGS 4 when It came out, dont really remember it tho) So I want to catch up before I Play The Phantom Pain.

I decided to play them in chronological order (to quickly catch up on the story for TPP) so I started with MGS 3 and finished it today but im now reading that everyone recommends order of release so I think ill do that but since I've played MGS 3 first will that mess things up ?

SeantheMan

jdunne08 wrote: »

MGS newcomer (I played MGS 4 when It came out, dont really remember it tho) So I want to catch up before I Play The Phantom Pain.

I decided to play them in chronological order (to quickly catch up on the story for TPP) so I started with MGS 3 and finished it today but im now reading that everyone recommends order of release so I think ill do that but since I've played MGS 3 first will that mess things up ?

No, you'll be fine.
If you are going for Chronological order it's
-Snake Eater
-Portable Ops or PeaceWalker next
-Then Ground Zeroes and the new game..Phantom Pain

-Then you have the 2 that came out on the NES, might just wanna skip them and read the story instead.

-Then you are into the PS1 Metal Gear Solid games
-Metal Gear
-Sons of Liberty
-Metal Gear 4
-Rising


Playing in whatever order won't do anything to weaken the story or the games.

I'd suggest playing whatever you have handiest on hand next.

MGS3 and MGS4, which you've both played...are different characters.

So , If you want to set up that character before Phantom Pain, which is what it seems you want to do......then it's the first list.
-MGS3 Snake Eater
-Peacewalker
-The new games...Zero and Phantom.

You can always play 'Snakes' story and his games later.

jdunne08

SeantheMan wrote: »

No, you'll be fine.
If you are going for Chronological order it's
-Snake Eater
-Portable Ops or PeaceWalker next
-Then Ground Zeroes and the new game..Phantom Pain

-Then you have the 2 that came out on the NES, might just wanna skip them and read the story instead.

-Then you are into the PS1 Metal Gear Solid games
-Metal Gear
-Sons of Liberty
-Metal Gear 4
-Rising


Playing in whatever order won't do anything to weaken the story or the games.

I'd suggest playing whatever you have handiest on hand next.

MGS3 and MGS4, which you've both played...are different characters.

So , If you want to set up that character before Phantom Pain, which is what it seems you want to do......then it's the first list.
-MGS3 Snake Eater
-Peacewalker
-The new games...Zero and Phantom.

You can always play 'Snakes' story and his games later.

which do you recommend? Im after getting v. confused on what to do.

So what I have now is : MGS 3, PW, GZ & TPP (To play chronologically)

I Have the Legacy collection in the post as i planned to continue in chronological order but peoples comments are changing my mind. did you play in release order??

so playing 3 then going back to 1,2,..release order wont be weird/mess it up?

(time isnt an issue anymore, i will hold off on TPP till whenever its best to be played)

SeantheMan

jdunne08 wrote: »

which do you recommend? Im after getting v. confused on what to do.

So what I have now is : MGS 3, PW, GZ & TPP (To play chronologically)

I Have the Legacy collection in the post as i planned to continue in chronological order but peoples comments are changing my mind. did you play in release order??

so playing 3 then going back to 1,2,..release order wont be weird/mess it up?

(time isnt an issue anymore, i will hold off on TPP till whenever its best to be played)

I played in release order, as with most people I probably grew up anticipating each new MGS game after MGS came out on PS1

You have 5, so go ahead and stick with that storyline I'd say.
You finished 3, go onto Peacewalker (or skip it and read the story , but it's a good game....but bear in mind it will be a graphical dip from MGS3)
Then go and play the lastest 2 games....GZ and TPP.

By doing this you are not only.... A. Sticking to 1 character and following his story but B. Also playing in the correct chronlogical order.

After you finish TPP....go back...do Meatal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty and MGS4 (I wouldn't go back and play the NES ones...I'd just read up on the story)

Unearthly

MGS 3 and 5 are prequels, but like all prequels they have nods to upcoming events that you will remember from mgs games based in the future.

Overall though the games have tones of exposition so they explain everything in fine detail

Retr0gamer

Just play any order you want. The story is a total mess so it's not really important to your enjoyment to follow it in chronological order and even if you play out of order each one is sort of self contained.

As for the NES game, it's not a real metal gear and is a steaming pile of poo anyway. The MSX versions of Metal Gear 1 and 2 are excellent however and should be on MGS3 subsistance and the legacy/HD collections.

Everyone also ignores the Gameboy Colour metal gear game which imo is one of the very best games in the series. It might not be canonical but it's an absolute classic and shouldn't be missed.

jdunne08

SeantheMan wrote: »

I played in release order, as with most people I probably grew up anticipating each new MGS game after MGS came out on PS1

You have 5, so go ahead and stick with that storyline I'd say.
You finished 3, go onto Peacewalker (or skip it and read the story , but it's a good game....but bear in mind it will be a graphical dip from MGS3)
Then go and play the lastest 2 games....GZ and TPP.

By doing this you are not only.... A. Sticking to 1 character and following his story but B. Also playing in the correct chronlogical order.

After you finish TPP....go back...do Meatal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty and MGS4 (I wouldn't go back and play the NES ones...I'd just read up on the story)

I was going with your advice to continue as I am, but Im just seriously confused lmao. I think ill play it as release order but im concerned that playing MGS 1, 2 going back in time in MGS 3, forward for MGS 4, back again for PW, gz and TPP is will be confusing to get the story

jdunne08

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Just play any order you want. The story is a total mess so it's not really important to your enjoyment to follow it in chronological order and even if you play out of order each one is sort of self contained.

As for the NES game, it's not a real metal gear and is a steaming pile of poo anyway. The MSX versions of Metal Gear 1 and 2 are excellent however and should be on MGS3 subsistance and the legacy/HD collections.

Everyone also ignores the Gameboy Colour metal gear game which imo is one of the very best games in the series. It might not be canonical but it's an absolute classic and shouldn't be missed.

Im confused on what order I should do, really confused. lol. my comment to sean will explain.

Whats the difference between the NES and the MSX versions??

Retr0gamer

jdunne08 wrote: »

Im confused on what order I should do, really confused. lol. my comment to sean will explain.

Whats the difference between the NES and the MSX versions??

Again the story isn't that great so need to follow it in order, you'll pick it up no matter what way you play them and each game has its own self contained themes and story which is far more interesting than the overall arc which is just absolute nonsense imo. Just play them and enjoy the crazy, the game story really isn't so well constructed that it really matters in the end.

As for the 8-bit games, basically Kojima and his team worked on Metal Gear on the MSX, it was converted to the NES by another team who changed a lot about the game including the structure. They made a lot of the areas more like annoying mazes, took out huge chunks of the story and bosses (you don't even fight metal gear at the end) and overall it's a much poorer game, I'd go so far as to say the NES game is crap. The second NES game, Snake's Revenge is a bit of a stinker and again wasn't handled by Kojima and his team. It's considered non-canon as well. Kojima and his team went ahead and made Metal Gear 2 on the MSX which is a completely different game. In fact MGS1 is a near shot for shot remake of Metal Gear 2.

The 8-bit MSX games are old but once you get used to them they are well worth playing. The first is great but the second is an absolute classic

Azza

Play them in the order the games came out.

Metal Gear
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Son's of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Mal-Adjusted

or in chronological order which is...
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Metal Gear
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid 2: Son's of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

There is also the two Metal Gear Acid games but i'm pretty sure they don't count...

either way it doesn't really matter. Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots are the only ones that really need to be played in order

Captain Chaos

I wouldn't include Metal Gear Rising as part of the Metal Gear canon, it's more of a spin off.

Corvo

Is there any Youtube vids doing a chrono order of the story?

Retr0gamer

Captain Chaos wrote: »

I wouldn't include Metal Gear Rising as part of the Metal Gear canon, it's more of a spin off.

Maybe. But then on the other hand it's one of the greatest action games ever and needs to be played!

SeantheMan

I've started playing PeaceWalker on PS3...to brush up on the story before MGS5 .

The game is by far the easiest MG I've ever played...that is until the boss battles...which are ridiculously difficult alone...especially if you haven't grinded up the right weapons.

Being that it's an old game, and im in Asia...it's hard to get people for co-op

thorbarry

or just play MGSV as it will take you a long time to get through the old ones!! I dont really think you need to ave played any of the games to enjoy it. Play them after and you will still enjoy them

wendell borton

jdunne08 wrote: »

Im confused on what order I should do, really confused. lol. my comment to sean will explain.

Whats the difference between the NES and the MSX versions??

The second MG game on NES was made without Kojima's knowledge while he was working on a sequel that came out on the MSX.