How should I go about playing the MGS series?

[Gundam Eclipse]

I have only ever played Peace Walker, meaning obviously I understood nothing and besides gameplay it felt kinda dull, probably due to not playing past games.
Seeing all the games I am confused how and in which order to play em >>;
Got a good enough PC and a PSP, is that enough for the series? Or are there any PS3 exclusives or something? D:

 

[emigre]

I suggest playing them in order of release for the sake of simplicity. MGS can be played on PSP or you can play the PC version. MGS2 has a PC version if I remember correctly. MGS3 I guess you look to emulate it on your PC if your PC is good enough, I can't comment much on this as I really don't know much about PS2 emulation. MGS4 is PS3 exclusive.

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[Gundam Eclipse]

I suggest playing them in order of release for the sake of simplicity. MGS can be played on PSP or you can play the PC version. MGS2 has a PC version if I remember correctly. MGS3 I guess you look to emulate it on your PC if your PC is good enough, I can't comment much on this as I really don't know much about PS2 emulation. MGS4 is PS3 exclusive.

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Gotcha, I will do that. And yeah, I am fairly certain I will be able to emulate MGS3 perfectly, all games I have thrown at it have worked on it nearly perfectly except for some very small issues, though that's mostly due to the emulator itself :V
Shame that MGS4 is PS3 exclusive, I have no plans to buy one and/or can't due to several issues :C welp, if I am lucky it will eventually appear on the PC some day down the line or something. Prolly gonna watch a playthrough of it or something till then.
Thanks! :V

 

[rehevkor]

The PC version of MGS2 is annoyingly buggy, at least on modern systems.

 

[Foxi4]

Go chronologically. Start with Metal Gear Solid 3 (Subsistance edition or wait for the HD or 3D one), then move on to Peace Walker, then play Metal Gear and Metal Gear: Solid Snake (if you like retro gaming, otherwise ignore them), then Metal Gear Solid 1 (Twin Snakes is recommended), Metal Gear Solid 2 (Substance edition), finally Metal Gear Solid 4.

You can put the spin-off titles such as Ac!d or Ghost Babel in-between of playthrough's (It is recommended to play them after Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes as to avoid spoilers).

 

[adamshinoda]

MGS 1 on PC or Twin Snakes on GC (actually they're one) are must-play games in MGS series, to me MGS 1 is the best, even better than MGS 4.
To emigre: There's a MGS 2 port on PC, you remember it right. Konami was so stingy that they released for PC only MGS 1 and 2.

 

[xist]

Metal Gear Solid 1 (Twin Snakes is recommended),

Ignoring sequencing (i'd say release order rather than story dates) i'd argue that the "improvements" made to the game in Twin Snakes are actually more detrimental to the game than they are beneficial (i.e. the added first person view breaks things, the additional cutscene sequences seem at odds with some of the storytelling). In my book the original MGS on the Playstation is basically a perfect release for the platform.

 

[Foxi4]

Metal Gear Solid 1 (Twin Snakes is recommended),

Ignoring sequencing (i'd say release order rather than story dates) i'd argue that the "improvements" made to the game in Twin Snakes are actually more detrimental to the game than they are beneficial (i.e. the added first person view breaks things, the additional cutscene sequences seem at odds with some of the storytelling). In my book the original MGS on the Playstation is basically a perfect release for the platform.

To be honest, after playing those two I simply found Twin Snakes to be more enjoyable. The cutscenes in that remake are absolutely spectacular and I thought that the changes in game mechanics were mostly spot-on. Where the original seemed stiff the remake was more fluid and I'd take it over the original any day, however a true fan should play both.

 

[xist]

however a true fan should play both.

Can't argue with that.

 

[Foxi4]

MGS 1 on PC or Twin Snakes on GC (actually they're one) are must-play games in MGS series

Two different games.

to me MGS 1 is the best, even better than MGS 4.

Oh yeah, definatelly. The first Metal Gear Solid was well thought-through, the next installments were just glued to it as extensions of the storyline.

To emigre: There's a MGS 2 port on PC, you remember it right. Konami was so stingy that they released for PC only MGS 1 and 2.

Didn't sell, was buggy, why bother?

 

[Midna]

Go chronologically. Start with Metal Gear Solid 3 (Subsistance edition or wait for the HD or 3D one), then move on to Peace Walker, then play Metal Gear and Metal Gear: Solid Snake (if you like retro gaming, otherwise ignore them), then Metal Gear Solid 1 (Twin Snakes is recommended), Metal Gear Solid 2 (Substance edition), finally Metal Gear Solid 4.

You can put the spin-off titles such as Ac!d or Ghost Babel in-between of playthrough's (It is recommended to play them after Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes as to avoid spoilers).

That's a horrible idea. Prequels are not meant as "oh, we should have made this one first" games. They provide backstory for the earlier games in the series and often contain a lot of references to future events. Games are, 9 times out of 10, designed to be played in order of release.

 

[Foxi4]

Go chronologically. Start with Metal Gear Solid 3 (Subsistance edition or wait for the HD or 3D one), then move on to Peace Walker, then play Metal Gear and Metal Gear: Solid Snake (if you like retro gaming, otherwise ignore them), then Metal Gear Solid 1 (Twin Snakes is recommended), Metal Gear Solid 2 (Substance edition), finally Metal Gear Solid 4.

You can put the spin-off titles such as Ac!d or Ghost Babel in-between of playthrough's (It is recommended to play them after Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes as to avoid spoilers).

That's a horrible idea. Prequels are not meant as "oh, we should have made this one first" games. They provide backstory for the earlier games in the series and often contain a lot of references to future events. Games are, 9 times out of 10, designed to be played in order of release.

That is correct, and this is why I recommended playing spin-off's after MGS 1. After playing through Peace Walker I can't say I've seen anything that'd reference to the future games. That said, both, chronology of in-game story and order of release are good choices, you just have to pick your angle yourself.

 

[adamshinoda]

MGS 1 on PC or Twin Snakes on GC (actually they're one) are must-play games in MGS series

Two different games.

to me MGS 1 is the best, even better than MGS 4.

Oh yeah, definatelly. The first Metal Gear Solid was well thought-through, the next installments were just glued to it as extensions of the storyline.

To emigre: There's a MGS 2 port on PC, you remember it right. Konami was so stingy that they released for PC only MGS 1 and 2.

Didn't sell, was buggy, why bother?

The storyline and settings of the game were unchanged, the gameplay was changed a bit to match that of MGS 2.

 

[Joe88]

to me MGS 1 is the best, even better than MGS 4

as a person who cried ( yes I admit it ) multiple times while playing MGS4, I would say other wise
its hard to explain but MGS4 just made you want to care out the characters and what they are felling, something MGS1 did not do or failed to do anyway, the whole game is just an emotional roller coaster

 

[prowler]

Go chronologically. Start with Metal Gear Solid 3 (Subsistance edition or wait for the HD or 3D one), then move on to Peace Walker, then play Metal Gear and Metal Gear: Solid Snake (if you like retro gaming, otherwise ignore them), then Metal Gear Solid 1 (Twin Snakes is recommended), Metal Gear Solid 2 (Substance edition), finally Metal Gear Solid 4.

you missed Portable Ops.

and don't play chronologically, it just messes things up. you're supposed to know what happens in MGS1 before starting MGS3.