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Copy Clerk Posts: 125 Joined: 10 Dec 2007 | |
Muckraker Posts: 297 Joined: 31 Oct 2006 | Here is my formula for really enjoying an MGS game: First, play on easy/normal, and watch the cutscenes. Run through the levels, don't bother sneaking around much (unless you're in the mood to). Your goal on the first play through is to just finish the damn thing ASAP, and watch the cool cutscenes (and they are cool). Use a walk through if you need to. This will unlock the hardest difficulty mode, where any alert means game over. This is where MGS really starts in terms of game play. My first play through of MGS3 was horrible. I thought the game was crap. And then I re-played on Euro Extreme mode, and it's easily one of my favorite games of all time. Obviously, it's gonna be frikkin hard to beat on the Extreme modes. So there will be lots of trial and error, memorization. You need to be patient. It's gonna be hard as nails, so just be ready. Obviously, I hope you like stealth gameplay. Some tips on extreme mode play: Become very good at the controls. Get good at tranq'ing, CQC, covering (ie. pressing against the wall). You'll need all these skills to sneak around and take the bosses down (which will be a huge bitch. But very rewarding). So that's what worked for me. |
Muckraker Posts: 297 Joined: 31 Oct 2006 | On the non-gameplay elements: The plot is always confusing as hell. Don't worry about it too much. However, do appreciate the characters. Pretty much all the characters are well-done, with complex personalities and motives. |
Copy Clerk Posts: 125 Joined: 10 Dec 2007 |
Yeah, this part worries me. Since the plot and cut scenes are at least 50% of the game, if these segments don't make any sense, I'm afraid this will blow it for me. I've been around for long enough not to be satisfied with macho badguys and badass characters who's actions are macho and badass but don't make a lick of sense. I require some intellectual stimulation, that's partly why I was hoping that starting from scratch would give me the opportunity to understand the story and allow me to enjoy the cut scenes more. Good pointers though. |
Anonymous Source Posts: 2 Joined: 27 Jun 2008 | I wouldn't say there's that much of the "macho badguys and badass characters who's actions are macho and badass", as stevesan said, they all have their motivations and personalities - even snake himself is anything but badass for the sake of being badass. Plotwise, if you already have a PS3 and need to fill in any gaps, there's the free MGS Database (released last week everywhere else, yesterday in the EU) that covers the earlier games (and 4 but that's locked until you provide a game clear save from MGS4). Of course, if you want to start at the beginning, it's massively spoiler laden so be careful. There's also a lot of plot strands left unanswered untl MGS4 from the earlier games, so if you do play through them all, don't expect everything to be answered per game - it's more like Lost imo in that each season (game) is semi-selfcontained and may expand upon previously raised elements and raise new questions as well as answer existing ones. |
Anonymous Source Posts: 5 Joined: 27 Jun 2008 | You realy do need to play MSG [1] as it is the best. I recoman playing it on easy first Also to have any fun playing this game you realy do need to have played MGS 1, 2 and 3 Its basicly the cap on the end of the story which hoepfuly will stop hido geting more death threts to make a new MGS game. But yea |
Muckraker Posts: 288 Joined: 21 Feb 2008 | On the easier difficulties it's hard not to just ignore the stealth aspect and just run and gun, so you want to kind of force yourself to use all of the different stealth aspects of the game, or else play on the harder difficulties. Also, these games really require you to suspend your disbelief. More so than you do with a game about an alien invasion in fact. The game tries to stick to real world but it gets so ridiculous at times that you think it's Star Trek "science".
What another character just said?? Sorry, had to do it. |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 730 Joined: 9 Jan 2008 | You can't force yourself to enjoy something. I wanted to enjoy Jumper, but it was still a shit film. But this is how to get the best shot of enjoying the series. Read up on MG and MG2 because they are very difficult to play to todays standards. Then get MGS1, the original, the remake was terrable. After completing that get MGS 2; play that on a normal setting, try your best to understand the story (just ask if you want an explanation) also bearing in mind that it is the worst of the series even though it is still pretty amazing. Then get MGS3, the plot is pretty easy to get first time and it's a fooking brilliant game, play that on normal. Now you will understand the enire lifespan of Solidus, Big Boss, The Boss, E.E, The Wisemens Comitee (Philosiphers) etc. Make sure you know all this, because you will need to know it in order to fully understand and enjoy MGS4 to the fullest extent. MGS4 is an interactive movie, long cutscenes are it's trademark. Listen to the story as if it were a film not a game. This should also help you enjoy the game. |
Muckraker Posts: 297 Joined: 31 Oct 2006 |
It's fun trying to understand the story, but don't sweat it if you can't keep track of what's going on. Cuz like I said, I think the important thing to enjoy and appreciate are the characters. Through the cutscenes and codec conversations, you will get to know some very interesting and deep characters. You may not understand what the hell they're talking about, but their personalities come through in spite of. And, to truly appreciate all the character development that goes on through the series, you should play the games all in order (just on easy at first, if you're pressed for time). |
Muckraker Posts: 297 Joined: 31 Oct 2006 |
Had to do it? Can't be! |
Paperboy Posts: 50 Joined: 2 Dec 2007 | Well the most key point is to play MGS1. Nothing else matters as much as that - it gives a very good introduction to Snake and Otacon and their deep personalities, and of course to Snake's relationship with Liquid and other characters. It also explains (or at least introduces) many of the odd story elements that may seem confusing in MGS4 - Foxdie and the like. It doesn't have too many long cutscenes and has a lot of enjoyable gameplay, as well as a fun story. It also gives enough detail about the older games (MG1 & 2) that you can get by without playing them. After that you can play MGS2 again to understand it better, but if you've been through it all before you may well have had enough of Raiden. Maybe just review some of the top cut-scenes on Youtube. MGS3 is a brilliant game, but if you're keen to get stuck into MGS4 then in terms of story it can be avoided - MGS4 goes back over many things from it (albeit in quite a boring way at times). But really, to be able to fully enjoy MGS4 you have to accept that there will be long cut-scenes, and some of them will seem painfully drawn out with utterly irrelevant conversations and repetitive dialogue. But then some of those scenes will also be extremely compelling and will keep you really glued to the screen. I'd say overall that the mission briefings are the worst - they tend to explain little that hasn't already been said, and contain much of the cheesiest and most pointless character interactions. If they get too dull for you don't be afraid to skip those. (Why oh why are these the only scenes we can review from the main menu? I'd love to be able to rewatch many of the other cut-scenes with ease.) Remember that these simply may not be your sort of games. I think they're awesome, I absolutely love them, but I'm not blind to the fact that others would easily find them to be horrendously unplayable. And that's not due to any stupidity or narrow-mindedness as some hard-core fans would claim - it's simply different tastes. Edit: And use codecs a lot, you'd be surprised the extra info and especially amusing dialogue you get from them. MGS4 unfortunately doesn't excel as much on this front - I was mostly disappointed with its attempts at humour. |
Muckraker Posts: 310 Joined: 27 Jun 2008 | Ok, this is why MGS is not a very good gaming franchise. |
Paperboy Posts: 37 Joined: 8 May 2008 | havent played mgs4 yet either, but pieeater makes a very good point. a game shouldnt require a guide to be fun, it should be fun from the get go. a game that isnt fun isnt a game at all, it's shit. however i'll reserve my final judgement for mgs4 when i actually rent and play the game (i dont buy any game until ive rented first, no matter how many 10s it gets) |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 3235 Joined: 24 Apr 2008 |
/facepalm. The trick to enjoying MGS? realise it is MGS and it likes to give a bick fat middle finger to convention. "i'm not like other games" it says boldly "so shut the hell up or buy me!" Realising that MGS is and always will be MGS is the way i find i can get most hardcore haters to appreciate it. |
Anonymous Source Posts: 1 Joined: 19 Jun 2008 | Don't forget to play the old version (Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 : Solid Snake) for the complete story. Not only the PS1, PS2 and PS3 games. Available on MGS Subsistance. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2264 Joined: 20 Dec 2007 |
I didn't need a guide - for any of them. Nor did a lot of people. |
Paperboy Posts: 24 Joined: 6 Mar 2008 |
Is pieeater maybe referring to this guide to enjoy the game? Because it's perfectly alright to ask for guidance or an explanation in order to further enjoy other (yes I'm going to say it) art forms - novels, paintings, poetry, films, drama etcetera. Yes, yes I know it's not what games are supposed to do (i.e. remind you that you are in fact a MAN with big BALLS despite the fact that you are sat alone in a darkened room drooling at the AMAZING frame rate and the GOBSMAKING graphics while your friends go out and have sex with GIRLS) I for one love that punch-bag aspect of gaming, but the MGS series is not, and has never pretended to be, a conventional game. I rate most things - novels, poetry, drama, pigeons, women - not on what they are, but whether they are what they say they are - you wouldn't criticise the Rocky films for being an unfair representation of modern American culture in the same way you wouldn't criticise a female-male transsexual for being un-lady-like. |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 730 Joined: 9 Jan 2008 |
Point 1 is untrue. Playing a quadrilogy up to the 3rd game is like watching a 2-hour movie for 45 minutes. The story is incomplete. What you have done is precisely that. So shut the fuck up. Point 2 is completely opinionated. Whether you like or dislike the game mechanics is down to you, it's not fact. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it's just that yours is stupid." Point 3. Again, complete bullshit. I have played through the entire series without a guide or walk through and enjoyed it. Reiteration is not needed, because some people want to know the best ways to enjoy a series while others just enjoy it from the beginning. You may have disliked the series apart from 4 obviously, but that doesn't stop the fact that you are talking complete and utter shit. Not once have you even had the consideration on others to elaborate on any of your points to the extent that we have a detailed explanation as to why you hated the controls and the sneaking so much. Not once have you had a valid argument. So why not think again? |
Press Junketeer Posts: 385 Joined: 12 Sep 2007 | Here's the secret: Everyone talks about the complexity of Metal Gear. They talk about how complex the plot is (wrong, it's just convoluted). They talk about how complex the characters are (wrong, they're paper-thin stock characters with extremely superficial motivations). Everyone talks about how badass Snake is. Like most videogame characters, he can take a bullet and not slow down, which makes him vastly more badass than any real human being, but he's really no more so than any typical videogame hero who can ignore wounds. In fact, he spends just as much time angsting and complaining as the hated Raiden, but fans tolerate it when Snake does it because he talks through clenched teeth. And he's not blond. Everyone talks about the stealth gameplay. But MGS is only one-third game. It's also one-third radio play (codec conversations) and one-third movie (cutscenes). So two-thirds of the whole experience have absolutely nothing to do with gameplay and everything to do with... melodrama. Melodrama is really what MGS is about. It's about bosses who deliver 15-minute long death speeches. It's about plot twists whose only purpose is to make things more angsty for the protagonist. It's about SHOCKING BETRAYALS! It's about high romance and high tragedy. It's theatrical, not cinematic. To enjoy MGS, you have to get yourself into a mindset that is prepared to accept these things. Suspend your disbelief. Yeah, real people don't talk like that, but this is the land of Metal Gear, which borders on the lands of 1940s radio plays and penny dreadful novels. It's pulpy, it's soapy, it's massively exaggerated and way, way over the top. It's Metal Gear. That's just how it is. Either you can enjoy that or you can't. Most can't, and that's nothing to feel bad about. Matter of taste. You're not necessarily missing anything if you can't get into it. Let us know how it turns out for you. |
Copy Clerk Posts: 114 Joined: 25 Jun 2008 | The best I can say to you Novan Leon is to just give it a try. A game is meant to be played and understood the way you want it. Personally, Metal Gear is a love/hate kind of game. It's to be expected as its not a FPS or a GTA-like game. If you don't like it that's fine it's all a matter of taste, it's not like we're gonna hold it against you. Heck, if you don't like it play Splinter Cell. (Though I've heard Double Agent sucked.) Personally, I needed no guide for Metal Gear. I fell in love with it immediately. While the story is not for everyone, I enjoyed its comic book/b-movie feel to it. It may not be Oscar-worthy, but it sure is entertaining. (like the Ironman movie) |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2337 Joined: 10 Mar 2008 |
I would just like to emphasize on what Crap_haT said: !. I agree with C_h on this one, playing only 3 games in the quadrillogy and saying the story doesn't make any sense is like watching a 2 hour movie for 45 minutes. I have not played a single MGS game before the 4th one and i understood the plot almost perfectly. I bet even if i didn't read a couple of character synopsis or some background information, i would still know what's going on. And even some of the information was already known, like about Liquid and Ocelot and of course i already knew about Metal Gear. @. Extremely opinionated. During the short playthrough of MGS in MGS4 (later on in the game) the only reason why i sucked at it was because i was used to the controls in MGS4 and not in the previous games. It was still fun doing it though. #. I played through MGS4 without a guide (excluding 2 boss fights. They scared the crap out of me and i probably would have known how to beat them if i thought a bit though). I'd say that the game is even better if you complete it without a guide. |
Copy Clerk Posts: 114 Joined: 25 Jun 2008 |
Your movie analogy is flawed, it would be watching a hour and a half of a two hour flick. 3/4 of 2 hours. |
Muckraker Posts: 291 Joined: 13 Jan 2008 | To play the original MG and MG@ games get MGS3 Subsistence (the later released edition of the game with bonus content discs). It had the original games on it and you can play them on your PS2. I didn't have much luck with them though, Kinda tricky and I was pre-occupied with re-playing the glory of MGS3. |
Copy Clerk Posts: 114 Joined: 25 Jun 2008 |
Your movie analogy is flawed, it would be watching a hour and a half of a two hour flick. 3/4 of 2 hours. |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 979 Joined: 29 Nov 2007 | Just pretend you're playing hide and go seek. |
Muckraker Posts: 310 Joined: 27 Jun 2008 | "/facepalm. The trick to enjoying MGS? realise it is MGS and it likes to give a bick fat middle finger to convention. "i'm not like other games" it says boldly "so shut the hell up or buy me!" Realising that MGS is and always will be MGS is the way i find i can get most hardcore haters to appreciate it." I appreciate the fact that it is trying to be different. We all know that they are too many unoriginal games flooding the industry. But trying to "realise it is MGS and it likes to give a bick(?) fat middle finger to convention" doesn't stop it having bad shooting mechanics. Just because it is different does not necessarily make it good. "Realising that MGS is and always will be MGS is the way i find i can get most hardcore haters to appreciate it." What the hell does that even mean? Metal Gear Solid is Metal Gear Solid?.... Well, that defiantly is the title. Just because you say the title is the title does not make "haters" "appreciate" it. |
Copy Clerk Posts: 96 Joined: 12 Mar 2008 | I remember playing MGS1 and how impressed and enthralled I was that the game had 15 minutes of videos and dialo |
I'd like to ask a serious question for those people who love the Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid series of games.
Like many I've heard a lot about the popular Metal Gear games, but haven't had much actual gaming experience with these games. Back when MGS2 came out I decided to buy it in order to give it a try, and I did not enjoy it. The camera irritated me, the number and length of the cutscenes drove me crazy, I found the plot confusing and ridiculous, reminiscent of a typical poorly-written/poorly-translated anime, and the fact that I had to play through the game as a whiney pretty-boy was the final stab-and-twist. So all in all, I wasn't impressed.
Skip ahead several years to today. With the release of MGS4 I've recently had renewed interest in giving the series another shot. I would like to get a copy of every Metal Gear game made and start from the first game and work my way forward. I figure that if I start from the beginning and patiently work my way through the games, maybe I'll realize what people are so hyped up over. In order to do this I just bought the Essentials pack, only to find out that it didn't include the original MG and MG2 games (any idea where I can find these?). Anyhow, that's my vague intention, now for my question(s).
- What is the best way to enjoy each of the Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid games to it's maximum?
- Is there a certain "mood" I need to get in to in order to appreciate them the most?
- On what difficulty setting should I play each game in? Is each game different in this respect?
- Are there any other options I should set?
- Is there anything I should realize ahead of time so I'm not disappointed? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)
- How would you recommend a guy like me approach the series in order to get the most out of it?
I guess these questions are obviously for those who enjoy the games, but anyone is free to respond I guess.