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[GravityMan]

MGS is one of the only series on any platform that IMO has a strong story, great characters, lore, humor (despite having a serious story, the games never take themselves too seriously) AND great gameplay. Not quite the "best ever" in any of those areas, but still great-to-outstanding. The mainline games are the complete package, which has historically been a very rare achievement in this industry.

That is why many people who don't "get" Metal Gear Solid still enjoy actually playing the games. And that's also why many people who aren't big fans of MGS's gameplay still like the series for its story.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I have to admit, I tolerate aspects of MGS that would turn me off of most games completely. I was lured in with the original and reset my expectations with MGS 2. MGS 3 has all the ridiculousness of MGS 2 but with a more straight forward plot and less attempts at circumventing expectations. After all the dust settled, I find MGS 4 to be hilarious in the ways it tried to explain virtually every loose thread, including threads that seemed to be left loose intentionally. For all the twisting and bending and retcons and character changes it came up with to explain every stupid thing, it was still an amusing roller coaster ride, with tons of fan service and easy emotional tricks. It's a unique series that I let get away with a lot just because I need to know what insanity there is to see.

 

[Beelzebufo]

Yup, I think CoD and madden are horrible and yet millions love it. Just because you're not into a game doesn't take the genius behind it at least that's what I think. For instance bloodborne is amazing however it's just isn't for me.

But where's the genius in trying to turn video games into terrible movies?

 

[TGO]

This is like the most pretentious thing ever. "You didn't understand it" is what pretentious people say when other people point out that their bad thing was bad. It's a justification their deluded brain makes in order to avoid being depressed. It's pretty pathetic really.

I did say I didn't know how to say it without sounding like that and not to take it the wrong way, like you did.
Somethings just don't click with people and others it does.

 

[Red Blaster]

As I said in a previous thread, if you want to assign a greater value to the 'meta' aspect of the game, that's fine. But even so, all the silly garbage that surrounds it cheapens the impact of any of the seriousness that the game tries to push on you. Ambition is all great, too, but what it amounts to is little more than a man tripping over his own feet, then getting up and yelling "TA-DA!"

This happens about 50 times in a row, and gets less entertaining with each successive fall.

im not a fucking mind reader dude, what specific parts of mgs2 are you referring to?

 

[MichaelFassbender]

im not a fucking mind reader dude, what specific parts of mgs2 are you referring to?

Most to all of it.

edit: I mean, if you really want, we can go on down the line with the game's script and just pull out REAMS of godawful lines.

 

[Dr. Buni]

I played the first one (MGS) and I found it an enjoyable game (mechanics-wise), but the story didn't make much sense to me, so I can't say I understand the appeal. Overall I can safely say it's not a series that resonates with me, especially because of how sexist it is (especially MGS V).

 

[NinjamicWZ]

all the silly garbage that surrounds it cheapens the impact of any of the seriousness that the game tries to push on you.

This is the key difference between people who enjoy it and people who don't. Some people are receptive to what's presented and the presentation, or so inclined, and don't feel that any pretension or pedantry is being "pushed" on them, so they take no issue with it. Others might find attempts to subvert their expectations or challenge their views to be automatically obnoxious and offensive, so they demand an unprecedented level of inscrutable perfection from the perpetrator. If there is any room to criticize a perceived assault on the sensibilities - whether it be levity, gamification, the validity of the entire medium itself, or referencing a study of writing, theater, history and political editorial - the wall will stand.

 

[RedSwirl]

MGS2's delivery is crazy as fuck and possibly long-winded, but it at least had something pretty interesting to say, especially looking back at it from 2015.

 

[EvilKatarn]

I love MGS and take the story seriously and think it's legitimately good. : )

Miles ahead of the oscarbait trash that's normally touted as the best of video game stories.

 

[MichaelFassbender]

This is the key difference between people who enjoy it and people who don't. Some people are receptive to what's presented and the presentation, or so inclined, and don't feel that "pretension" and "pedantry" are being "pushed" on them, so they take no issue with it. Others might find attempts to subvert their expectations or challenge their views to be automatically obnoxious and offensive, so they demand an unprecedented level of inscrutable perfection from the perpetrator. If there is any room to criticize a perceived assault on the sensibilities - whether it be levity, gamification, the validity of the entire medium itself, or breaking out past study of writing, history and political editorial - the wall will stand.

It's not necessarily an 'assault' though. Just hackneyed nothings which are conveyed with a pseudo-seriousness that ultimately amount to an artless charade stretching into a franchise.

Still, the gameplay is fun from moment to moment, so there's that.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

What are you talking about!? Shitloads of people don't like Metal Gear. The stealth genre isn't as big as other genres, the story is ridiculously nonsensical (even if in an endearing way), there are hours upon hours of cutscenes in every game... These are all things that turn certain players away from the series.

 

[Mogwai]

This is the key difference between people who enjoy it and people who don't. Some people are receptive to what's presented and the presentation, or so inclined, and don't feel that any pretension or pedantry is being "pushed" on them, so they take no issue with it. Others might find attempts to subvert their expectations or challenge their views to be automatically obnoxious and offensive, so they demand an unprecedented level of inscrutable perfection from the perpetrator. If there is any room to criticize a perceived assault on the sensibilities - whether it be levity, gamification, the validity of the entire medium itself, or referencing a study of writing, theater, history and political editorial - the wall will stand.

Can I read your PhD thesis?

 

[Beelzebufo]

I did say I didn't know how to say it without sounding like that and not to take it the wrong way, like you did.
Somethings just don't click with people and others it does.

You couldn't think of another way to say it because there is no other way to say it. The idea is wrong haha

 

[RangerBAD]

Of course others feel this way. MGSV is just a massive release for the diehards and the people who have been asking for some changes to the MGS formula.

Better analogy would be wrestling stories.

 

[Haunted]

nah plenty of people think it's shit

 

[Breads]

As a person who dislikes stealth games I have to thank MGS for letting me able to appreciate a game beyond their actual gameplay when necessary. It helped me appreciate games like Deadly Premonition and the new wave of Telltale adventure games and laugh at how bad of an experience games that take themselves way too seriously are like Beyond: Two Souls which although having similarly ridiculous stories felt unpalatable due to how much it wanted to impress instead of entertain me which, ironically enough, is why I dislike MGS4.

 

[Caronte]

Just going by its sales it's obvious most people don't get it.

 

[Peterthumpa]

Loved 1 and 2, finished both. Move to "open-world" from 3 onward made the game less appealing to me. I still can't enjoy GZ since it's so open that I don't know where to really focus. Instead of the supposedly so many ways of tackling the same situation, I'm left with few approaches that actually makes sense from a real-world perspective. At least the first two games tried to be less real and more "gamer" with the isometric viewpoint, IMO.

Maybe I'm just not getting MGS either. Base management in MGSV is even a negative in my book, but I'm still planning to buy and give it a chance.

 

[quickwhips]

I think the series is boring but I like mgs1. Splinter cell I do like though. Opinions.

 

[billy beane]

It's ok OP. Metal Gear is probably my second favorite game series of all time and I still don't understand it.

 

[LapinAgile]

MGS2 represents everything wrong with videogame storytelling. MGS4 makes it worse, but at least it's a good game.

MGS2 is one of the best stories told in a game. If you wanted things more simplified or laid out for you I could understand that argument but I had a blast discussing and deconstructing the events of the game with my friends.

 

[koryuken]

Solid Snake and Raiden are some of the best written characters in gaming but they are surrounded by a story that people equate with "confusing therefore it must be stupid" when the storyline isn't hard to follow at all. Really Ocelot's motivations are probably the hardest thing to follow in the series, but most of the other characters have very clear goals and motivations.

Solid Snake constantly struggles against his soldier genes and his pacifist nature. He tries to retire from the battlefield after every mission, but then returns to stop his brothers and other such forces from doing evil deeds because he knows he's probably the only person in the world who has a chance of stopping them.

Raiden has to come to terms with the fact that he never had his own identity, even his own physical body was taken away from him to be used as a tool of war. Solid Snake was the first person to really judge him as a person and not as a gun with legs, which is why Raiden respects and looks up to Snake. And in MGS4 Raiden finally had his chance to protect his hero in his time of need. Snake kept telling him not to take his path, he did not want Raiden to become like him but Raiden really couldn't help himself.

But no, "lol this series is too goofy to take seriously" is usually what people post

You forgot the LALILULELO.

 

[John Kowalski]

The last few hours of the game. I just didn't get what the fuck was going on lol, maybe it's due to my english but after coming from mgs1 I had a certain expectation of the game and it was fine, I didn't even mind Raiden that much, until Arsenal Gear, then it goes fucking mental. Waves of codec calls and cutscenes for mindless exposition. All the stuff about Raiden and Rose, him being the adopted son of the president, Liquid still being alive in an arm, the crap about Selection for Societal Sanity etc. It was sort of genius but not what I wanted and laid the groundwork for the awfulness of mgs4.

It wasn't messy, it was all very carefully put together specifically to disrupt any comfort you might have accrued from playing the first game. And it didn't lay any groundwork, it was purposefully designed to eliminate any standing canonical truths. The franchise continued, much to the chagrin of MGS2's attempts to deconstruct itself, the first game, and the franchise as a whole.

 

[Funyarinpa]

I also just can't like this series. Kept trying to play the first, but the gameplay sucked HARD and the story wasn't all that great.

 

[Slixshot]

Never played a Metal Gear game through until Ground Zeroes. Started solid last year but just didn't get it. Loved the story though! Looked up the Metal Gear timeline and now I get most of it.

Spoiler

Nanomachines.

The way Ground Zeroes played was enough to get me to preorder. ^_^

 

[blue5]

I've learned in my short time on this Earth that you are rarely the "only one" about anything.

Either way, if you ignore the story the gameplay in MGS is still pretty good in most of the games. This is actually coming from someone who enjoys Portable Ops and Portable Ops Plus over any of the main series games.

 

[ZOONAMI]

Metal Gear Solid 2 has a terrible story?

Hm. Okay.

Right. MGS2 is up there with the best video game stories of all time imo, and is actually much more coherent than the rest of the series, or at least mgs4.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Right. MGS2 is up there with the best video game stories of all time imo, and is actually much more coherent than the rest of the series, or at least mgs4.

I love MGS2, but coherent is not what I'd describe it. MGS1 is the most coherent and tightest in terms of plotting, MGS2 is the most convoluted. But that's okay to me, since I like convoluted. MGS3 is really simple in comparison. MGS4 is just a hot mess. Peace Walker is just plain bad (outside the cassettes) and disappointing.

 

[chemicals]

Metal Gear Solid is magic.

There's just something unique about Kojima's addiction to detail. If you don't appreciate that, then you won't "get" MGS. Different strokes.

 

[outunderthestars]

I find the series to be clunky and incredibly dumb. I'll just be happy when the dozen or so MGS V threads end up in the Community subforum.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Yes, terrible. Let's throw in Vamp, an immortal character with no explanation into the mix. LA LI LU LE LO. fission mailed... Fortune not having any actual powers but believing that she did her whole life. Should I keep going?

Fortune did have powers. And everything else you mentioned is part of the awesomeness. Not saying you are wrong for disliking it just that you're wrong about fortune and I love all that other nonsense too

 

[xxracerxx]

Pfft, way late bro. I already posted that on the second page.

 

[RangerBAD]

Pfft, way late bro. I already posted that on the second page.

I figured that would be the case. lol

 

[aeolist]

I find the series to be clunky and incredibly dumb. I'll just be happy when the dozen or so MGS V threads end up in the Community subforum.

don't kid yourself, one way or another there's going to be at least one MGS thread on the front page of gaming for the next year

e. what can the last of us 2 learn from metal gear solid 5?

 

[Shaanyboi]

Metal Gear Solid 2 has a terrible story?

Hm. Okay.

Yes. Kojima is a garbage writer.

 

[LegalEagleMike]

I have also tried to like this series multiple times but it has never clicked with me. Same with Persona.

 

[partyphone]

Yes. Kojima is a garbage writer.

yep! most gamers really need to read some books.

 

[Maxrunner]

I only liked the first one...the 4th one was like a weird kind of cringeworthy comedy...

 

[Scientist Supreme!]

don't kid yourself, one way or another there's going to be at least one MGS thread on the front page of gaming for the next year

e. what can the last of us 2 learn from metal gear solid 5?

Man, you don't like these games do you?
Nothing wrong with that, I'm just saying I find it a little weird.

 

[Etnos]

I feel you, I tried to like MGS to many times... It always put me away with:

- Cheesy story line Kojima seems to just randomly write with each iteration
- BS twist can be reduced to, it was a clone, it was an IA, it was nano machines
- Awkward controls
- Tedious stealth
- Too anime for my taste

Said so, I'm giving MGS5 a chance mostly because I got it free with a extra 960 I bought for a second build. And because people said gameplay is actually good in this one.

 

[Bollocks]

I feel like I'm the only gamer that doesn't get Metal Gear Solid

maybe you're not a gamer after all?

 

[Scientist Supreme!]

yep! most gamers really need to read some books.

Its fine to disagree but why do insult people in doing so?

 

[Markitron]

I think I was in the same boat as the OP maybe a year ago. I never played the original MGS so MGS2 was my first game in the series, and I didn't like it much. After that I played Twin Snakes and fucking loved it, I skipped MGS 3 and thought 4 was OK.

The series didn't really click for me until I finally played MGS3 last year. An amazing game in every possible way.

 

[MichaelFassbender]

Its fine to disagree but why do insult people in doing so?

People do need to read some books though. It's not really an insult.

Why not check out your local library?

 

[Caronte]

Its fine to disagree but why do insult people in doing so?

That's not an insult.

 

[partyphone]

Its fine to disagree but why do insult people in doing so?

READ A BOOK

 

[Etnos]

Its fine to disagree but why do insult people in doing so?

Call me crazy. But, People should read books sounds more like a wise advise than an insult

 

[Opiate]

How do you understand what is going on in normal games, let alone MGS?

I'm so confused as to how you could be a habitual cutscene skipper and still play games.

What games are you speaking of where the cutscenes explain the game mechanics? I've seen early parts of games where they do this, but I have never seen cutscenes used to explain the basic functions of the game.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

People do need to read some books though. It's not really an insult.

Why not check out your local library?

Because books are lame. I'd rather have other people read books for me and then translate their influences into more entertaining mediums.