I considered Metal Gear Solid my favorite series and finished every game I played. Then I played 5.

[60fps]

I played MGS 1, The Twin Snakes, 3, 4 and the prologue to 5, and I finished all of them, some even more than once.

When MGS 5 came out I spent some good amount of time with it, but for the first time in MGS history I lost interest to play further at some random point in the game.

I think the pacing is way off.

MGS 1 and 3 created an unparalleled sense of urgency to me. In these games I felt like I was constantly out of time, running away from or chasing someone or something - plus these games are seamless experiences without obvious mission structures or breaks.

They essentially offer one big piece of gameplay and story from start to finish and kept me hooked for the entire time.

In MGS 5 I felt none of that.

Story, gameplay, characters, all that is there is decent, but the game has way too much downtime and just isn't interesting to play in my opinion.

You have a home base to develop and this big open world with dedicated missions to choose from yourself, and while I love open world games, the way the game is structured destroyed all sense of urgency to me -
I found running or driving around my base insanely boring, there is simply nothing fun to do in it -
and the open world is so bland and boring that I always felt the most interesting thing to do next was just going to the next mission point anyway - so what's the point of the open world in the first place.

I feel like just by making this thread I give the game attention that it doesn't deserve. Haven't played Death Stranding btw, as I'm waiting for a 60fps version on PS5, so we'll see.

I think the last time I felt so let down and straight up bored by a main entry of such a successful games series was Final Fantasy 13.


Anyway, Happy Holidays and Stay Safe!

 

[Lashley]

Sadly agreed, the gameplay is fantastic but there's nothing there to keep you hooked. A lot of story is told via tapes and the home base is just boring af.

 

[Omar310]

I played the whole mgs series for the first time in anticipation for 5 but to this day I still haven't gotten around to playing it even though I own it. I still want to at some point, but I've definitely lost the motivation for now.

 

[DontHateTheBacon]

I felt like I didn't like V back when I was playing it, but as I reflect back on the story that was there and the gameplay, and emergent stories created based on the sandbox nature of the game...

It's still a great game. Not as good as the first four but it's still a great game.

 

[____]

Welcome to the club brother. It's sad here. We cry and sip each other's tears from shot glasses.

 

[PumpkinPieAddict]

As a giant Metal Gear fan, I don't have much to add to the original post. We're agree on everything. 1 and 3 are the apex of the franchise - 5 feel so out of place.

I will note that you should absolutely go out of your way to play Peace Walker as I noticed it wasn't on your list. Kojima originally wanted this to be called MGS5 but was shot down.

Hot take: Death Stranding is probably Kojima's best video game (story + gameplay) since MGS3. Enjoy it when you get around to playing it.

 

[Deleted member 81119]

Yep, the way the story is told is awful. After FFXV I'm convinced that a strong narrative is impossible with open world. I love games like the Witcher and GTA, but the narrative itself is pretty weak in those games. Not that it's to their detriment.

 

[Alak96]

Same here. The most disappointing game of all time for me, and it killed my love for the franchise.

 

[Radec]

Shouldn't have made it open world. I haven't finished it and i love 1-4.

 

[ratcliffja]

It's the best in the series by far. The gameplay is incredible and the story was good enough . It's not like the story was great in any of the other entries.

 

[DrFunk]

Yeeeep

Awful Metal Gear, passable 3rd person game

 

[Bundy]

Yep. Great gameplay, but the rest.....

 

[N7_Kovalski]

MGS5 is both the greatest third person action game ever made and the worst MGS game ever made.

 

[entremet]

You missed Peace Walker?

Tsk tsk.

So, the reason I mention Peace Walker, is that that game was the clear shift in the series. It's very clear. It's also a Kojima directed game, unlike Portable Ops.

Peace Walker came after 4.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Gameplay is excellent but everything else sucked.

 

[darfox8]

In retrospect, I really wish they went with a Hitman style open "area" that you could remix and revisit. GZ was way more replayable and interesting than MGSV, imo.

 

[ManNR]

Did you skip MGS2?

 

[Makoto Yuki]

Yup, amazing gameplay, the worst MGS story. People hate on 4 but at least it knew it was anime and self-indulgent as fuck.

 

[Sprat]

I played MGS 1, The Twin Snakes, 3, 4 and the prologue to 5, and I finished all of them, sometimes more than once.

When MGS 5 came out I spent some good amount of time with it but for the first time in MGS history I lost interest to play further at some random point in the game.

I think the pacing is way off.

MGS 1 and 3 created an unparalleled sense of urgency to me. In these games I felt like I was constantly out of time, running away from or chasing someone or something - plus these games are seamless experiences without obvious mission structures or breaks.

They essentially offer one big piece of gameplay and story from start to finish and kept me hooked for the whole time.

In MGS 5 I felt none of that.

Story, gameplay, characters, all that is there is decent, but the game has way too much downtime and just isn't interesting to play in my opinion.

You have a home base to develop and this big open world with dedicated missions to choose from yourself, and while I love open world games, the way the game is structured destroyed all sense of urgency to me -
I found running or driving around my base insanely boring, there is simply nothing fun to do in it -
and the open world is so bland and boring that I always felt the most interesting thing to do next was just going to the next mission point anyway - so what's the point of the open world in the first place.

I feel like just by making this thread I give the game attention that it doesn't deserve. Haven't played Death Stranding btw, as I'm waiting for a 60fps version on PS5, so we'll see.

I think the last time I felt so let down and straight up bored by a main entry of such a successful games series was Final Fantasy 13.


Anyway, Happy Holidays and Stay Safe!

Click to shrink...

This is why I much preferred ground zeroes much more cohesive and a far better experience overall for it

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

If you're looking for a tighter narrative with outlandish characters and a cohesive setting Death Stranding will for sure give you that. I liked 5 as an open world game but as a MGS it is for sure too different for my taste

 

[TheGrue]

I thought I was alone! I think about the game all the time because it's the only MGS game I didn't finish. The open world just made it so boring and I dropped it but then wonder if I should go back and suffer through it just to have played the final game in a series I adore.

 

[Niklel]

Yeah, TPP is a huge disappointment. Very unfinished also. Needed to stay in development for a year or two more. And even then I am not sure it would be a good game.

 

[NotVeryFriendly]

MGS4 killed a lot of my interest in the franchise, but played MGS5 a few years after it came out when I got a PS4 and there's not much to add to the original post. The open world detracted from the game, and the main story would have been stronger in a more tightly designed space.

The mission structure is a complete miss, even more-so than in MGS4. That style worked in Peace Walker and Portable Ops due to the nature of the platform, but it doesn't work for a mainline entry in my opinion. The fact that the game feels unfinished also doesn't help.

The one aspect of the game which is positive to me is that the Metal Gear boss fight at the end was technically very impressive to me.

 

[Wesker]

I actually dislike 4 much more than 5, in terms of story.

But I do agree that 5 is lacking in the story department. The gameplay itself was superb though.

 

[Templeusox]

Yea it might be a good something but it's not a good Metal Gear game. I couldn't have been more disappointed as well.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Yeah, I didn't dislike it. But, it's the only MGS that I'll never replay. And it just kinda left me feeling nothing towards the series.

 

[Dog]

5 is still so disappointing to me. I hate how MGS ended.

 

[60fps]

Did you skip MGS2?

Click to shrink...

Yeah I didn't own a PS2 or good enough PC when it came out and once I did I was over it. I bought a PS2 just to play MGS3, that might be the reason, I lost interest by then.

 

[Deleted member 8593]

All I got from this thread is that you just skipped the best one altogether.

 

[Ouroboros]

It's my favorite of all the MGS games in terms of gameplay but the story and characters were horrible.

 

[VirtuaCider]

I've been playing MGSV off and on for years, because it's always fun. But I agree the episode structure constantly puts the brakes on it, along with too much staff and base management, which is why I still haven't finished it.

 

[pj-]

Agreed. Game gets boring after only like 75 hours

 

[Biggersmaller]

Metal Gear is my favorite series. MGSV has the best gameplay of them all and it's not even close. It is so damn fun. It also has the worst story, however. No David Hayter was a big bummer. Kiefer clearly did not give a crap.

 

[jph139]

I barely played MGSV - like maybe ~10 hours or so - before getting bored, but the base building stuff baffled me. I got just far enough to build a second structure, and like, man, it's HUGE. It took forever just to drive over there. But there's nothing to do, really? Just wander around? It's such a strange mechanic to include.

That and the whole "building a team" stuff felt like busywork to me.

 

[shinobi602]

Sadly have to agree, and it's hard to say that because MGS1-4 are genuinely some of my favorite games of all time.

I think MGSV has the best gameplay in the series, at least in terms of controls and fluidity but everything else was just empty. The environments were barren, I did not like the mission design or pacing at all (some of them are literally repeats of each other), so much story via tapes, and like you said, the base just wasn't exciting. Nothing kept me hooked.

 

[Nephilim]

Good thing Kojima finally got around to do other projects outside MGS.
Go play Death Stranding, it's a masterpiece.

 

[zma1013]

It's an awful Metal Gear game. The story has zero bearing on anything else in the Metal Gear franchise. I don't even know why they called it Metal Gear.

 

[Sesha]

I had a similar feeling until I played 4.

 

[ImpendingFoil]

Has the best combat in the series but the least amount of plot and story and what was there is pretty weak. It is easy to see that it was released incomplete.

 

[Akauser]

It was a real shame and in truth it could have been fixed pretty easily. The main story missions should have unlocked one at a time and all side quests should have been made optional becuase in some i stances you had to fo a few to progress the story. If each main story mission fin8shed with a small or long cutscene you should've been able to dive straight into tge next story mission cutscene and all straight after. It was this mishmash of trying to get you to see all and do all that made the game a chore to play.

 

[The Unsent]

Disagree with you saying what story is has is decent. I found it too edgy and intense. Metal Gear is better when it's more tongue in cheek and embraces the farce.

 

[evrythngwastakn]

I just played it like I play so many games these days: ignore all story and world stuff, just enjoy the act of playing the game. Do the missions, try new ways of tackling encounters, different load outs etc. Wish it was titled something other than metal gear.

 

[Butch]

Big fan of the series and It's my favourite one alongside 3. For some reason this game is really addicting to me, still to this date.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I have a weird relationship with MGS5, in that I played like 200 hours of it but I'm not sure I could actually recommend it to people new to the series. Some of the self-contained story missions and challenges are great & endlessly replayable, the gameplay is great, the graphics and music are great, but there is so, soooooo much wrong with the entire package.

 

[bud]

if pp had been like gz, it would've been the goat metal gear game. easily.

i'm really not a fan of the open world structure even though the core gameplay is really good.

as it stands: mgs2 > mgs1 > mgs3 > gz > pp > mgs4.

 

[Noctis]

Skipping MGS2?! Unforgivable.

 

[Nameless]

It's a masterpiece and the 3rd best game in the series. The open world isn't meant to be filled with interesting things to do or see – this isn't an adventure game. There is no exploration-discovery loop here. The world functions as a Military Sandbox. Its purpose is to give players a range of tactical options for every objective or encounter, while fostering emergent gameplay.

Do I want to approach the base stealthily from the East or snipe from the mountains to the North? Maybe I want to cause a curfuffle at a near by base, prompting the objective base to send reinforcments, which will lower their numbers. Maybe I steal a truck, detonate it near the front gate, and sneak in through the back while everyone is distracted.

The "open world was pointless" takes never made sense to me. It's a canvas for unrivaled free form stealth-action gameplay and does its job perfectly.

 

[ManNR]

Yeah I didn't own a PS2 or good enough PC when it came out and once I did I was over it. I bought a PS2 just to play MGS3, that might be the reason, I lost interest by then.

Click to shrink...

Ah. That's a shame. 3 is better but 2 was a mind-blowing game when it came out.

 

[Noctis Winters]

In retrospect, I really wish they went with a Hitman style open "area" that you could remix and revisit. GZ was way more replayable and interesting than MGSV, imo.

Click to shrink...

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.

There is a feeling of character to the setting of Camp Omega much like Shadow Moses, The Big Shell and R.P.D/ Spencer Mansion that MGSV lacks because of the style of game.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

An absolute masterclass in gameplay, which is all that matters to me.

So may open world games have disappointing gameplay, but this shows how it can be done. I'll take TPP over a million Witchers or Red Deads.