Do you need to play the other Metal Gear games to understand 4?

I haven't played any Metal Gear Solid games before but I'm thinking about picking up MGS4.

Is it very confusing to go in cold or do they fill you in on the characters?

Thanks gang!

I played 4 first and still liked it alot, i was confused alot of the times but it didnt matter. I went back and bought the HD collection later.

you could play every mgs created and still be confused :D but yeah play at least 2 but 1 and 3 if you can, there all brilliant games

Yep. I'd say it's an absolute must. MGS4 is pretty much trying to cover up the mess they made in MGS2.funsohng

This, if you want to follow the storyline, MGS 4 will mindfvck you for the rest of your days if you aren't familiar with the previous games...

Only Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2. Definitely play Metal Gear Solid 2, it's the best in the series.

Yep. I'd say it's an absolute must. MGS4 is pretty much trying to cover up the mess they made in MGS2.funsohng

What was wrong with Metal Gear Solid 2s story? The last 3rd of the game was nothing short of mindblowing.

Well i played em all and still didn't know wtf was going on in MGS4.

[QUOTE="funsohng"]Yep. I'd say it's an absolute must. MGS4 is pretty much trying to cover up the mess they made in MGS2.Peredith

What was wrong with Metal Gear Solid 2s story? The last 3rd of the game was nothing short of mindblowing.

MGS4 is pointless without playing the other ones. MGS series is not an easy series to get into because more than half the games are just super long cut-scenes and if you don't know the characters and stuff then you will not give a crap about the game and you will just get bored of it and drop it.

No, No, No you don't. Just download the MGS4 database and you'll be fine. Look up anything that you don't understand and spare yourself the sh!tty camera and abysmal control schemes that are in the previous versions. MGS4 has the best controls and camera in the entire series.

I haven't played any Metal Gear Solid games before but I'm thinking about picking up MGS4.

Is it very confusing to go in cold or do they fill you in on the characters?

Thanks gang!

biggest_loser

If you just play MGS4 right now, you'll think it sucks and isn't a big deal. This one was primarily developed for the fans, a 'final' entry chock full with references from the previous entries. And you'll appreciated it a heck of a lot more if you play the previous entries aswell.

I highly recommend you pick up Metal Gear Solid 1 instead on PSN, it's the second best in the series. It has the perfect balance between cutscenes and gameplay in the entire series (from MGS2 onwards they really screwed up that balanced by making cutscenes infinitely longer), memorable bosses, a easy story to understand and very satisfying to finish, and ridiculously easy gameplay, albeit a little clunky.

Then, go with MGS2, which is great (but pales compared to the first one), and ofcourse MGS3 which is the best in the series.

I've played the entire series for the first time (minus the portable ones) in a MGS Marathon a couple of years ago, and it would be a damn shame to ignore the previous entries. Afterall, MGS1 and MGS3 are unarguably the best in the series.

No, No, No you don't. Just download the MGS4 database and you'll be fine. Look up anything that you don't understand and spare yourself the sh!tty camera and abysmal control schemes that are in the previous versions. MGS4 has the best controls and camera in the entire series.

heretrix

From what paralel universe did you appear? .. What kind of a f*ck of a issue could warrant the previous games a 'sh*tty/abysmal' label to its camera/controls?

Because i'm not seeing anything.

If you want to get into the Story line then Yes.. you have to play all the others.. I mean all of them...... the Main villain and a large part of the story comes from Part 1... some character and important events refer to MGS2 and a lot of the characters and their background comes from MGS3... overall... it is it's own game so it has it's own story.. however the story is following it's earlier games.

[QUOTE="funsohng"]Yep. I'd say it's an absolute must. MGS4 is pretty much trying to cover up the mess they made in MGS2.tarzanell

He's not calling MGS2 a mess. He just saying that MGS4 wraps up the many loose ends of MGS2 storywise.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

No, No, No you don't. Just download the MGS4 database and you'll be fine. Look up anything that you don't understand and spare yourself the sh!tty camera and abysmal control schemes that are in the previous versions. MGS4 has the best controls and camera in the entire series.

Lucianu

From what paralel universe did you appear? .. What kind of a f*ck of a issue could warrant the previous games a 'sh*tty/abysmal' label to its camera/controls?

Because i'm not seeing anything.

I'm really picky about cameras and controls. It's probably my most severe pet peeve in gaming. I understand that lots of people have more patience than I do about this, but when it interferes with my enjoyment of the game, it really pisses me off. Thus abysmal, sh!tty. comprende?

I'd say yes, because I played MGS4 without playing the others and I was kinda lost in alot of places. I understood the general plot but there were alot of references I didn't understand.

I'd say yes, because I played MGS4 without playing the others and I was kinda lost in alot of places. I understood the general plot but there were alot of references I didn't understand.

PhazonBlazer

I haven't played any Metal Gear Solid games before but I'm thinking about picking up MGS4.

Is it very confusing to go in cold or do they fill you in on the characters?

Thanks gang!

biggest_loser

No need to get mental about it. It's my opinion about the controls. compared to other 3rd person perspective games they are sh!t, IMO. I'll admit by Snake Eater they were better but it took them way too long bring them up to speed to something like Splinter cell which had fantastic controls and camera from it's inception. I've always loved the ideas and world building in the Metal Gear games more than I did playing them. That was until MGS 4 which was the only MGS game that I felt was entirely playable. (aside from the asinine amount of cutscenes)

I'm really picky about cameras and controls. It's probably my most severe pet peeve in gaming. I understand that lots of people have more patience than I do about this, but when it interferes with my enjoyment of the game, it really pisses me off. Thus abysmal, sh!tty. comprende?

heretrix

I was mearly surprised, but it was pretty stupid of me to forget how diverse preferance and in general opinions can be, yeah.

The first and the second barely play like a 3rd person game, i could never compare that camera to something like Splinter Cell. The first mostly plays like MG2 in a top down perspective, obvious exceptions sprinkled around the playtrough (such as wen you push against the wall to cover, or in 2 wen you use that crappy 1st person mode to shot) with simple as hell controls.

Now in MGS3, that's actually were i didn't like the controls as much. They kept the same layout and just added another layer of unneeded complexity to hinder my enjoyment. The camera is more standard tho.

And now i think i'm going to replay the entire series again, i am really in the mood, damn.

[QUOTE="heretrix"]

No need to get mental about it. It's my opinion about the controls. compared to other 3rd person perspective games they are sh!t, IMO. I'll admit by Snake Eater they were better but it took them way too long bring them up to speed to something like Splinter cell which had fantastic controls and camera from it's inception. I've always loved the ideas and world building in the Metal Gear games more than I did playing them. That was until MGS 4 which was the only MGS game that I felt was entirely playable. (aside from the asinine amount of cutscenes)

I'm really picky about cameras and controls. It's probably my most severe pet peeve in gaming. I understand that lots of people have more patience than I do about this, but when it interferes with my enjoyment of the game, it really pisses me off. Thus abysmal, sh!tty. comprende?

Lucianu

I was mearly surprised, but it was pretty stupid of me to forget how diverse preferance and in general opinions can be, yeah.

The first and the second barely play like a 3rd person game, i could never compare that camera to something like Splinter Cell.

I understand that some people enjoy when developers screw with the controls for whatever their purpose is (like in Resident Evil), I just think that because it's your primary means of interfacing with the game they should be tight as hell, otherwise you have a situation where the fighting with the controls will cause extra difficulty, and I hate that sh!t. I can take a challenging game, but when your controls are sloppy or intentionally nerfed I feel cheated.

You should probably play 1 and 3. 2 is skippable because MGS4 retcons most of it out of existence.

[QUOTE="Peredith"]

[QUOTE="funsohng"]Yep. I'd say it's an absolute must. MGS4 is pretty much trying to cover up the mess they made in MGS2.nervmeister

What was wrong with Metal Gear Solid 2s story? The last 3rd of the game was nothing short of mindblowing.

One does not simply "understand" Metal Gear Solid 4...

No, No, No you don't. Just download the MGS4 database and you'll be fine.

heretrix

Came in here to say this. Even then, most people seem to have a hard time following. This'll make it less wtf if you're one of them.

As others have said, it's needlessly confusing and drawn out, and you could easily play all the games multiple times and still be lost. I'd say play all the games anyway, because they're great, but if you really want to understand the story, you should also find a good summary/synopsis online. I'm sure plenty of people have written up explanations. As for the other games, you can get the HD collection for PS3, but it doesn't come with MGS1, and I don't know which version of MGS3 it has. Maybe someone can confirm, does the HD collection come with MGS3 Snake Eater, or Subsistence? I ask because I'm not a huge fan of the fixed, top-down camera of old school MGS, and I loved that you got a real third person camera in Subsistence. I wouldn't play MGS3 again without it. Then there's MGS1, which I believe can be found as a downloadable title on PSN (someone correct me if I'm wrong on that one). There's also the expanded version MGS Integral, which can be found for PC, actually. Although, IMO, the definitive version of MGS1 is Twin Snakes, the gamecube-exclusive remake with the MGS2 graphics/gameplay engine. It's waaaaaay too good.

I suggest you do to avoid or at least reduce WTFery. Chronologically go MGS 3 -> MGS: Peace Walker -> play or read the plots of Metal Gear 1 & 2 online -> MGS 1 -> MGS 2 then MGS4.Floppy_Jim

No man release order is better than chronological. The whole point of metal gear solid 3 is to demonstrate the differences between history and reality. The game works so well becuase have heard of the legend of Big Boss over and over in MGS1 and 2 so that sets up a lot of false expectations that cause the final revelations of the game to be so much more clever.

One does not simply "understand" Metal Gear Solid 4...

TonyKoeffler

Nice.

You should play the other games first, at the very least MGS2 and do yourself a favor and play MGS3.

It would certainly be a good idea. Or at least read the wikia fir the Metal Gear series.

Bleh.

I gave up in MGS after 3. It must be a Japanese thing to have huge plot holes and explain everything away as "magic robots" in a decidedly non-magical world based closely on our own. Then again maybe it's just Kojima. ZOE1 and 2 were equally nonsensical.

[QUOTE="funsohng"]Yep. I'd say it's an absolute must. MGS4 is pretty much trying to cover up the mess they made in MGS2.Eddie-Vedder

I also don't get why a lot of people were butthurt that for a lot of the game you plaid as Raiden.

Even if you do play the previous Metal Gear games, MGS4 will still be confusing.

Just play all of them, people are exaggerating how "confusing" it really is and then we have the flip flopers who restrospectively hate MGS4 now because they take internet forums too seriously.