I started with MGS3 (PS2) a few years ago, I tried it a few times and could not get into it at all although it is claimed as one of the best in series if not the best. I have also tried MGS2 (PS3) and Peace Walker (PSP). I could put up with the awkward controls if the games were enjoyable but they aren't. The extremely slow interface alone drives me mad. Voice acting of Snake sounds retarded, I was rolling eyes when I first heard. I cannot say one good thing about MGS games, they are entirely and completely broken to me. I love other universally loved stealth games like Thief (1998) and Splinter Cell (2002-2006). If MGS are games of their time and need to be played on day one, they age terribly, while I still to this day play Thief fan missions and they are as good as in 1998. Now MGS5 comes out and seems like everyone is hyped out of their mind like gaming has been saved, it makes me dislike this series even more because I admit I don't get it.

Ok, but what exactly has this to do with Bethesda joining GOG.com?

I kinda agree MGS games feel like an "acquired taste" to me, but so do many other games too I guess, like the Alone in the Dark or Resident Evil games.

I think the problem you have is you're not playing it from the start. The original MGS is a master piece of the ps1 days. To this day it still looks pretty good. The art style and voice work are incredible. The story could be a blockbuster movie. The controls are unusual by today standards but do their job perfectly. Not much to complain about there.

A little bit of an acquired taste without a doubt. I wouldn't imagine Nintendo kids getting into it. But from a technical perspective, it's brilliant.

What's so special about X?

It's a decent enough stealth action game with a very interesting complex story. Complex story does require you to get into it (such as starting from the beginning), and the 3rd one I remember having a terribly slow start, but it's quite nice overall.

Not sure what you mean about it being special though. Special how?

Fixed.

Unpopular opinion puffin here, but I could say the exact same thing about Final Fantasy.

ha I love Ocelot. That dude is cool! MEOW!!! um... good things about Final Fantasy. You got me there. ;P

I've actually never played the PS2 or other MGS games, but I can recommed the MGS for PS1, of which I think there's a remake as well. It's a solid espionage style game, with some pretty fun game play and clever design choices. I played it through again a year ago with my old crumbling PS1 and I though the game still holds up pretty well despite some a tad too melodramatic (which is kind of a stable mark for the series I guess) moments.

It has a really weird, mysterious plot where you think you've only just scratched the surface based on what the game tells you. Like there's multiple levels of conspiracies and secrets.

The first game is my favorite, personally, and it also serves to highlight the changes the series has undergone since it began. Just look up videos of the cutscenes in the Twin Snakes remake and compare them to those of the PS1 first game and you can see the move toward more absurd situations and characters. As far as I'm concerned, MGS4 (and beyond) was a self-parody designed to mock the once-great series by drowning it in stupidity.

But some people still love it. I don't understand why, but I supose there's no accounting for taste. I'd still recommend trying the first game if you were turned off by later games, though, if only because it's the most coherent and stand-alone entry.

I've never been excited about a MGS game either but I understand the appeal [I think]; they are like a fusion of Japanese and Western action games. Visually the games look rather Western but the storylines and narrative remind me more of Japanese games and anime. Ultimately though they come across as parodies of action games and movies. In this way they are closer to games like GTA than to "serious" games like Splinter Cell and Thief. Just my impression.

I'm actually much more interested in the upcoming Mad Max game than MGS5.

People who don't really game like Final Fantasy. I'm a huge jRPG fan and find them generally pretty terrible. Hell, even Japan loves Dragon Quest a lot more.

Don't forget the original game on the MSX!

I think the special thing about the Metal Gear Solid series is that, at the time, it had a lot of cutscenes and a somewhat hard to follow plot combined with actual gameplay once in a while.

Does it make it the world's best stealth game ever? Not by a long shot. It's pretty good, still somewhat enjoyable if you don't mind the overly drawn out exposition and the rather weird controls (the control scheme was laid out before third person action game controls were anywhere near standardized).

Add to that the fact that MGS1 and MGS2 were really pinnacles of graphics at the time of release (MGS2 still looks pretty good, and that was one of the earlier PS2 games)

I played through MGS1 and MGS2, found them okay. Tried to play MGS3 but that game really annoys me with the ambiguous stealth system (so if I have the right camo that guy might not see me even if he's looking this way, but if I don't he might see me before my camera gives me a chance to see he's there? Sounds perfectly fine...no wait it doesn't). Didn't make it better that the PS2 had rather horrendous load times to enter menus to heal or change camo.

As it stands, it's rather okay with a silly obtuse plot. Personally I'd prefer to play Thief or Splinter Cell, and I think even Monaco does the stealth action concept better (note I really like Monaco, but it's hardly focused on stealth)


Edit: Oh and it gave us Vision Cones on a minimap. Something I rather like when it comes to stealth, at least considering the camera might obscure something you wanted to see. More games need vision cones. Like this attached image of Stealth combat...apparently a stealth game with tanks...I'd love to see a stealthy tank. According to the box it might evolve into an RTS...So an RTS stealth tank thing...wow.