New to the MGS series.

Everyone's been raving about the storyline in the Metal Gear Solid series and I'm typically a narrative gamer; my favorite genres have always been RPG's as in my opinion, they would have the most fleshed out characters and emotional plotlines that would pull on my heart strings.

SO, having been recommended MGS 4, and then realizing that I would have to play all the MGS's to essentially understand the basis of theplotline,in what order do I play the games? Now, I am COMPLETELY new to MGS but I also have fond memories of watching my father play the first one on the PS1...other than that I have no idea where to start or what to do.

,in what order do I play the games?

HerGuitar

play the main releases in numerical order. the portable versions are only supplementary as far as i can tell since i havent played them and can say that the main series stands on its own just fine.LoG-Sacrament

The portable ones just build on 3 so really theyre not a requirement.

A couple of people have suggested that I play Metal Gear 3 first. Bad idea? I'm also a bit confused; there's MGS 3: Subsistence and MGS 3: Snake Eater. Which is the main MGS?

[QUOTE="HerGuitar"]

A couple of people have suggested that I play Metal Gear 3 first. Bad idea? I'm also a bit confused; there's MGS 3: Subsistence and MGS 3: Snake Eater. Which is the main MGS?

Slashkice

It technically occurs first in the storyline, but I still say you should play them in the order they were released. Subsistence is Snake Eater, but with improvements and extra content. It's like Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, but for 3. If you buy the Essentials Collection you'll get Subsistence though it's missing the second disk, but that only had the online (dead) and the Ape Escape mini-game I think.

Gah, this is quite confusing. What are the core titles I would have to pick up then? Do I bother with Snake Eater?