I've heard of the series but never played it, hell I always thought it was a PlayStation exclusive... I bought that one Ground Zero for XB1 back in a sale when it was really cheap, (now it's free, lol) and never even started it... figured I'd get around to it, I haven't... now the big one, V is on for pre-sale/load.

Like I said never really followed or understood the series but I do love open world, tactical decision games... so...

What's the story? Do I need to go back and play 1 to 4 to understand what's going on, which I won't BTW.

Do I need to complete the ground zero one to understand this 5 (V)?

any comments/feedback?

I played the first one when it was released on PC way back in the early 2000s and I liked it. Played about 75% of MGS4. It can at times be a very convoluted story with sometimes really shoddy dialogue (or Japanese to English translation) and they like to hit you in the head with story themes. I don't know if you've seen pictures but the title character in Phantom Pain, Big Boss, has a piece of shrapnel in his forehead which represents a devils horn because he's a bit of a anti-hero, because his actions in cinematics aren't enough the creators believe. And there's some really weird Japanese humor, in 4 there was this merc/spec ops guy who went around and farted...yeah.

You could always fire up Wikipedia and read story synopsis on the previous games, I think Peace Walker is the one you should read because Phantom Pain follows Peace Walker. Peace Walker takes place in the 70s I believe and Phantom Pain in the 80s. The other games are more modern time.

Ground Zero is more of a demo you had to pay money for. I downloaded it now when it was free and I think it will give you a grasp of how to play the game. See it as a prequel, but I can't tell you if you need to play it.

Oh, and one of your sidekicks is a scantily clad woman in a bikini who is well-endowed. With breasts physics to because you know, Japanese creators.

You can have a dog who can detect enemies and attack them. You ought to like that.

Go to Youtube and search for the E3 2015 40 minute gameplay presentation, I like what I see. They play around with the dog.

MGS 5 is a free Game for Xbox One Gold Members Right now

Magnum, I would definitely recommend you check out MGS Ground Zeroes which is free on XBL now for this month, I picked it up on sale for $9 last year and really enjoyed it even though it was a small preview of what Metal Gear Solid V will be.

Very tactical FPS, and many different ways to solve the mission, lots of replayability.

I didn't play the earlier games so don't really know all the Metalgear story and stuff but the gameplay was really great, I plan to pick up MGS Solid V eventually once it comes on sales and I'll probably look up on youtube the story.

Its a very cool game franchise. High production value meaning each entry to come out by Hideo Kojima really pushed the cinematic presentation and graphics of that current generation hardware which was usually a Playstation exclusive.

I confess I do get very confused with the story-lines at times but at the same time I find it very interesting. The way I would describe the story is like a convoluted, political, special ops, conspiracy, stealth, tactical, CQC, historical fiction, opera. There are some silly things in it and sometimes weird like mentioned above, with perhaps Japanese cultured humor that we might not get or appreciate.

But the attention to detail is wonderfully insane in my opinion. One minute you might be caught up in one of the more soap opera-like conversations and drama of the story but then the next your handler might give you or you might read about a particular weapon in extreme detail. Accurate or not, it emphasizes military and warfare subjects.

If you like 3rd person, stealth tactical games such as Splinter Cell, I think you would really like MGSV. It has my favorite control scheme because its next-gen and has very fluid animations and motion capture and tight controls. Better than SC Blacklist in my opinion. And this is the first MGS game to be open world. Ground Zeroes is a prologue, not a demo. Its a complete package on its own and not limited by time or disabled features that keep it from being playable. I have over twenty hours in just Ground Zeroes. Some folks blew through it in two hours but then that's not the point is it for a slower-paced, 3rd person tactical stealth shooter. When you complete the Ground Zeroes mission,(and there are other things to find during that mission) more missions open up such as sabotaging the base's AAA sites or dispatching two, Vietnam snipers who are "bad guys" as far as the story presents them and who are off the grid and hiding at the Cuban base. Its a mission I really enjoy to play especially since its an open ended map and approach albeit a small map. Phantom Pain is supposed to be huge.

I personally love this series. I wouldn't call myself a die-hard fan but I've been playing them for a lot of years. My first one was Metal Gear Solid. My friend let me borrow his Play Station and that game. Later I would rent the system and game. I bought a Playstation 2 just for Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty. Once again that game blew me away. I then played MGS Snake Eater. I loved that one in particular. It was my favorite setting and period.(1960s Cold War) It had a horrible camera system that was horrible because it was carried over from MGS2 which was primarily an interior-based game. They later came out with a "Subsistance" version and then the new HD remake both come with a fixed, free camera and a smooth FPS which makes it like a dream to play all over again. I never finished but enjoyed MGS4 which I'm actually playing off and on again. Its the first game to adopt more traditional, 3rd person stealth controls.

I think you know how much I enjoyed Ground Zeroes. I'm playing it again because to me its that good and I can't wait for Phantom Pain. I recommend playing Ground Zeroes. Unless you find yourself really digging the game's story lore and characters I wouldn't recommend necessarily going back and playing the other ones. If anything Snake Eater HD remake for PS3. I recommend getting a basic summary of the game series, history and story lore and then playing Ground Zeroes before Phantom Pain comes out. The previous games have some pretty difficult and sometimes frustrating boss fights which I hate but I put up with them for a Metal Gear Solid game.

I never wrote a game review on Steam until MGSV: Ground Zeroes came out. I've posted about three threads worth here already of Ground Zeroes PS4 and PC. I still get majorly confused with the story sometimes I love this series!

The "Snake" in Ground Zeroes was originally called "Naked Snake" I believe. Anyways he is the character you play as in Snake Eater in the 1960s. There's a character called "The Boss" in that game. She basically is attributed with inventing special forces close quarters combat during WW2 and Snake was her student, she his mentor. After the events of Snake Eater, Snake is given the nickname "Big Boss". Peacewalker was originally a PSP game but came to the HD collection. I've been enjoying that one too. It takes place ten years after Snake Eater. You are now operating in South and Central America as I recall. Ground Zeroes takes place right after Peacewalker as I understand with many of its characters being present and spoken of in Ground Zeroes. GZ takes place in the late 70s. Phantom Pain takes place nine years(early 80s) after the event that takes place at the end of the Ground Zeroes mission.

Later on in the game's lore, two brothers are cloned from Big Boss's dna, essentially making Big Boss their genetic father. "Solid Snake" is the "good" one you play as in the first two games I believe lol. Like I said I still get confused by it and you can imagine I really was when I first started Snake Eater. Why was my "Snake" character sounding the same and looking the same age 40 years earlier in the Cold War setting. Its because its a different character.

Well I hope you give it a try.

Nice one Coot!

Great series. I love the crazy storyline. But yes it can be confusing if you haven't played any of the other games. What I do to refresh myself is watch the game's entire cutscenes on youtube. They are basically movies. Check those out very cool.

I was always a Nintendo kid so I never got to play MGS until they remade MGS on Gamecube. It blew me away. I didn't get to play 2 or 3 until years later when I bought a backwards compatible ps3. 4 I played on my ps3 too, and Ground Zeroes I downloaded for free last month on ps4

Really want to play Peacewalker so I know what's going on more...

I mite give it a try my self
It has a hard core following I vaguely remember my son playing it.
you could knock out the guards and hide them in lockers I thought it was a cool feature

Yep. In Ground Zeros you can sneak up and "hold up" npcs and make them drop their weapon and also make them lay down on the ground. You can interrogate them, choke hold them or kill them with your knife. There's lots of little hidden actions you can do too. You can grab an enemy from cover. You can also disarm them I believe but I forget just now how that's done. Phantom Pain will bring back the wall knock I believe.

Yeah I heard you can even knock out guards, plant C4 on them, and then wake them and when they run off screaming to join the other guards, you can detonate the C4... It always felt too sadistic to try, but pretty cool that it allows those deep kind of tactics.

Oh man Master what a gif! I can't wait for my huskie puppy to go with me in combat.

Just get him a small box and you are good to go!

I like Big Boss. I know he's supposed to go off the deep in if I heard correctly but I hope they don't make me hate him by the time the story is over.

Loved Snake Eater back in the day. I've been replaying the HD remake over the past year. I've been playing some of Peace Walker for some more background. I've really been anticipating MGSV for a long time now.

Okay, here are two MGS "movies" that have been made for Snake Eater and Peace Walker. It looks like they are very well edited movies made up of these game's video and cut scenes. These in particular are relevant to Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain as they are related and both include the main hero/anti-hero Big Boss. Chronologically speaking, its Snake Eater, Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes, then Phantom Pain as far as the story goes.


They are long but if you really are interested in Phantom Pain and MGS games, its valuable to take in some of this gaming lore and digest it prior to playing Phantom Pain. And its not like you have to examine every detail or comprehend it all. I've been playing MGS series for 17 years and I'm still learning it lol. Just relax and have fun. I'm sure you can also supplement these videos with a brief synapsis of these games that I'm sure exist on a wiki page somewhere.





Here's a wiki with some basic game series history and as with wiki, hot links can often lead to more wiki pages related with helpful information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear

Hope it helps out some. I don't think I'm going to watch the Peace Walker video because I'm playing it right now but will watch it if I can't finish it in time for Phantom Pain.

Hope this helps. Its a good start I think. Cheers.

First reviews are up and Gamespot and IGN both gave it a perfect 10 so far.

Past MGS games are good but can be too much with the cutscenes...looks like they really cut back on that aspect this time and is really giving you a true open world to play with.

I think its a must have title.

I've got the PS4 version preordered. I'm hoping Gamestop is also selling the hard back copy of the strategy guide. If the world doesn't totally collapse this September or shortly after and if its still important and on sale, I'll probably get the PC version eventually.

Interesting that the PC version was quickly changed to the 1st like the consoles instead of two weeks later like originally planned. Perhaps those at the top of the pyramid know the banks may take a dump or something and Konami is going to try to make as much profit as they can from Kojima's and their game.

New and final trailer looks pretty cool. Kinda creeped me out. Going to have to read up on some characters and stories again.

Anybody else pick it up yet? I got it the other day and have had about a day plus with it and its awesome. I also got the collectors strategy guide and its extremely well done.

I want it but have too many games to play right now with Forza 6 coming out next week, and Mad Max.

Will definitely pick it up once keys drop in price which I expect should happen soon since it's being offered free with every Nvidia card.

pre-ordered it myself, haven't booted it up yet... still to many other games, but I'm looking forward to getting into it... just trying to finish Witcher first... addicted to that game like crazy.

Yeah I've got the same problem. Witcher 3 and Phantom Pain are my most anticipated games of the year. I just love my games. Probably have over 40 hours in Witcher and still going strong. I'm also finally getting into Batman Arkham Knight and its awesome. But with MGSV that's where my excited focus is on now. I also bought Mad Max today which I'm looking forward to trying too.

I'll post some non-spoiler PP pics here soon. Its Awesome! I suggest that if you aren't very familiar with base lore that you glance it over. Having tons of fun with my horse. Magnum I think you'll like the other "buddy" that you run into not too long after starting the game.

Ya, that's one of the 3 reasons why I bought it day one...yet haven't started it, lol, go fiquer.

1. Open world

2. Getting 10 ratings everywhere

3. and my buddy Shadow returns... virtually.

Here are some pictures I've taken over in the SS forum:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4164956#Post4164956

Picked it up yesterday. I've only gotten through the first portion (escaping from the hospital) so far but I'm blown away by the production values. Graphics, audio, writing, voice-acting are all top-notch.

Really looking forward to playing through this one. Should keep me happy till Battlefront and Fallout 4 hit the shelves in November.

Kiefer Sutherland has to few lines though, there are entire scenes when other characters talk to Big Boss and he's just quiet. Couldn't they afford Sutherland?

Not sure. I was playing the other night and thinking to myself how I had not seen a cinematic cut scene in hours since the game's beginning. Then I hit the end of a main mission and one came. I love the cinematics despite some people complaining about the lengthy nature of them in past games.

I kind of like though that the lines from what I can tell at least now are few. The reason for that is because I'm still having a hard time with Keifer Sutherland's voice. I still cringe a bit because I want and expect to hear David Hayter's voice coming from Big Boss or any "snake" for that matter. To me Hayter's voice is synonymous with MGS and Snake. The same goes for Michael Ironsides and Sam Fischer. I know Hideo had stated he wanted Sutherland because of what he said was his ability as an actor to provide more emotion to the character's voice. I love the game but I don't like that decision. Because he has been apart of the MGS series for so long, Hayter's voice just makes it all the more endearing.

I hate Hayter's voice, especially in MGS4, so I'm all for Sutherland. Just sad they don't use him enough.

lol. Well to each there own but I can understand. I just wish they could have introduced him in a small way somehow in-game. Maybe some mysterious cassette tape you find with him on it.