What Video Games Are You Playing Right Now?

[kyrt]

I'm getting rather interested in the Metal Gear series after looking at The Phantom Pain.  Is there a good order to play the games in?  Just wondering, since I don't like diving into a series without playing the previous games.

Chronologically it goes Metal Gear Solid 3, Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes, Phantom Pain, Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, Metal Gear Solid 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4.

Release order: Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2 (both 1 and 2 are somewhat difficult for people to play so you can skip these if need be), Metal Gear Solid 1, Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes, and finally Phantom Pain.

 

Phantom Pain is apparently the game that bridges the gap. Technically you can easily start at MGS3 and just play Peace Walker, GZ, and then Phantom Pain. It depends on how you would want to try the series. Hope that helps.

 

For those that care I'm playing XCOM, Witcher 3, and Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain, and very rarely Fallout 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition at the moment...all games which will last a long while. (hopefully until Fallout 4 releases).

[monkeysrumble]

Been having a bit of a gaming block lately. I really want to try and get into the MGS series because of Phantom Pain so I'm thinking about playing through MGS1 since I have a copy of it on my PS3. However I've been inspired to play Hyperdimension Neptunia because of her:

 

Will probably try MGS1 first and switch around between the two.

[Deep Blue]

Tried to play Metal Gear, except I spent 20 minutes trying and failing to get past the first section.  No thank you.

 

Downloaded the first MGS ISO and ordered the HD Collection for the 360 off of Amazon.  Now I just gotta clean the dust out of it, and I'll be golden.  Not gonna be able to play MGS4, though, unfortunately.  I'll just be waiting for a PS3 emulator...

yep that's what usually happens when you play mg for the first time, you fail fail fail fail until you get used to those awkward controls xD

[Decay]

I would recommend the games in release order. You can go in chronological order if you want, but even in the modern setting games they work with the backstory quite a bit and the prequels expect you to know a lot of those plot details.

 

Metal Gear 1 and 2 are interesting games but they probably aren't very playable by today's standard. Nor is the story particularly important. They adequately explain everything in the other games. Main thing you need to know: Big Boss was a big baddie and double crossed you, Solid Snake, hoping to build his ultimate mercenary empire, outer heaven. He manufactured conflicts, recruited child soldiers, the works. At the end of MG2 you melt his face with a lighter and aerosol spray. 

 

Metal Gear Solid is practically a 3D remake of MG2 but with a new story and a ton of cinematic flair. The gameplay and controls are almost identical, interestingly enough, as are many of the encounters and boss fights. I guess that means the controls are pretty awkward for a PS1 game. It was an extremely groundbreaking game that laid a path for cinematic storytelling that many followed. But maybe not super great to actually play unless you're very patient. Twin Snakes is also an acceptable version to play if you want to  go that route.

 

Metal Gear Solid 2 is probably the first "playable" MG game by modern standards, although it also has a really weird control scheme. Still, it's very good. It's absolutely absurd in many ways and is possibly the weirdest MGS game, but that works to its benefit. I found it to be a highly entertaining and thrilling title from start to finish, although I did first play it over a decade ago.

 

MGS3 is my favorite in the series, telling story full of memorable characters, thrilling plot twists, and even some touching moments. All without ever taking itself too seriously (one of the bosses is a man who can control bees. He makes a gun out of bees that shoot bee bullets). Also I really enjoyed its brand of stealth.

 

MGS4 I never actually played since I never had a PS3, but I did watch an LP of it. It actually controlled halfway decently and had a ton of options for guns and that kind of thing, while still staying true to the stealth gameplay. It seemed solid, but the story also kind of got up its own ass. The plotlines of the MGS series are inherently absurd, that's part of the fun. They've always been a little self aware, but only a little. It was a fine balance that allowed it to tell some incredibly bizarre but entertaining tales with a straight face. But MGS4 kind of messed that balance up. It's still good, but like I said, it just felt like it was a little too up its own ass. Also a lot of very, VERY long cutscenes.

 

Peace Walker brought itself back to a much more gameplay focused experience. There was still a bit of a crazy plot with some really entertaining moments, but there was also a whole lot of side missions, a base management system was added where you recruit and manage soldiers, and a lot of other neat gameplay features. It was cool and good. 

 

MGS5 I'm still playing, but I like it a lot. It's very different from most other MGS games. It's reasonably similar to Peace Walker with the mission structure and side missions and research and base management and all that, but there are also a lot of differences. It's very much a gameplay focused experience. The story is sporadic but at least it's still delightfully bizarre and full of twists. The protagonist is a lot less chatty than usual, which feels a bit weird at first but it kind of fits what the character has become. The gameplay is fantastic, though. I really love it. For the first time, an MGS game controls and plays really, really well. And all of the gameplay systems are very polished and work like you would expect. The disparate mechanics like base building, research, and the gameplay in the field all fit together surprisingly well. It's a pretty great experience so far.

 

So yeah, that's my take on the MGS series. I'm glad you're giving it a shot, Zeno, and I hope you stick with it. It's very much a worthwhile endeavor. If you do, after you finish MGS3, I suggest watching a LP of MGS4, I guess it may not be absolutely plot critical since nothing but Revengeance takes palce after that (and Revengeance isn't really relevant, although it's very entertaining and worth playing as well), but it's good to know a lot of the backstory they delve into in order to flesh out the events of MGS5. Suggested LP: 

 

edit: wow that was a long post. I have a lot of things to say about metal gear solid, apparently.

[HotTrax]

The subject of Metal Gear brings out your inner crazy,

[Desert35]

Finished Final Fantasy type 0 HD and damn I didn't expect it to end like this at all!!! It was so freaking awesome and sad at the same time

I didn't think that a FF could finish like this but it was really great and I'll play the NG+ with pleasure!

[Funyarinpa]

Finished Final Fantasy type 0 HD and damn I didn't expect it to end like this at all!!! It was so freaking awesome and sad at the same time

I didn't think that a FF could finish like this but it was really great and I'll play the NG+ with pleasure!

still pissed as fuck that that isn't on Vita

[Thunderbro]

I got and finished DanganRonpa Another. It was a pretty fun game and I enjoyed the story a lot. Now to replay the game to get all of the collectibles I missed. 

[SilverLi]

Nabunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence. I have no idea what I am doing. But apparently a huge war begun between me and another dominant power. 

[Kurisu-Chan]

I'm also playing that game, what do i have to do? 

[monkeysrumble]

The original MGS has me pretty impressed so far actually. I'm not a huge fan of using the d-pad to move around though but so far the stealth has been pretty great. I noticed that the game doesn't give a tutorial right when you start it so I finished the training room exercise's. On the tank boss right now but decided to take a break.

[Deep Blue]

if you want to play mg5 (or any other mg) you just need to see this

 

[HotTrax]

Metal Gear Solid V has been taking all my gaming time. I just unlocked Quiet as a buddy. She is awesome both as a character and as a buddy in combat. 

These moments are pretty great. 

[Decay]

Yeah, I tried to play the original Metal Gear, and basically wandered around, losing more and more health because of those damn dogs before dying and repeating the same parts.  By the time I figured out where to go, I was irritated enough to never want to play it again.  Don't really want to play either of the two non-Solid Metal Gear games. 

 

I started to play MGS1 on ePSXe, and then found out that it requires pressure sensitive buttons (only have a 360 controller), so I gave up and just bought the Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection off of Amazon.  Still have a PS2, a PS1 memory card and a few controllers, so I can cope.  Still kinda pissed that the HD Collection doesn't have MGS1, though.  #FucKonami

 

Thanks for the summaries and the MGS4 Let's Play link!     Never would have thought of looking up a LP, honestly, even though it should have been an obvious idea.  I'm probably going to love MGS3, since I love absurd stuff like that.  Would the boss that can control bees happen to be...DR. BEES (NSFW language)?

 

By the way, are you playing TPP on a PC?  I've heard that it's optimized pretty well, and that even a rig that's lower quality than mine can get 60 FPS at high settings.  If that's true, then I'll cry tears of joy.

 

Glad I could be of some use. I'm playing TPP on PC, and I have a Phenom II x4 935 and a GeForce 680 GT, which is on the low end of the midrange power spectrum, and I get a consistent 60FPS with max settings. It looks gorgeous and runs amazingly well. Every once in a while I'll get a scene that dips to 45FPS but I don't really notice unless I'm staring at the framerate counter, since it's a pretty slow-paced game. The game has some audio glitching if it runs below 30FPS but this has only happened to me like three or four times in 45 hours of gameplay, at random moments (I think my system started doing things on its own, outside of the game). Long story short, it's super well optimized, probably the smoothest running PC game of its caliber ever. It's incredible how well optimized it is.

 

Anyways, onto what I've been playing... MGS5. The amount of options this game gives you for any given mission is pretty incredible. Seriously, never feel tied down to what Kaz tells you to do. Think outside the box, and try to approach the missions in creative ways, and most likely the game will reward you for doing so. 

[SilverLi]

I'm also playing that game, what do i have to do? 

[Deep Blue]

be careful using Quiet, konami said that using her on certain missions causes a bug that corrupts the save files, so until they patch it (next week probably) you shouldn't use her.

[Rose]

Also playing TPP, just on the PS4 though. I thought about streaming it at first but I'm too bad at it, I don't want the shame.

[HotTrax]

I love mods lol. 

(MGSV)

[Decay]

I love mods lol. 

(MGSV)

[Darklord Rooke]

Avernum - Escape from the Pit is amazing, it really is. This and the sequel will keep me entertained for the next couple of months or so, which should be about the time Trails in the Sky SC will be released :3

[Deep Blue]

Avernum - Escape from the Pit is amazing, it really is. This and the sequel will keep me entertained for the next couple of months or so, which should be about the time Trails in the Sky SC will be released :3

[Darklord Rooke]

Thnx for the heads up . It's going to take me a while to beat just Escape from the Pit so I won't have to worry about it for a while, though

[HotTrax]

Took break from MGSV, I find small burst of game play to be the sweet spot for me, and started up The Vanishing of Ethan Carter since it got the long awaited UE4 update.

Goddamn, this game looks incredible. I like me a good atmospheric mystery game. 

Best looking pebbles I've ever seen. 

[Funyarinpa]

Since I have to at least come close to adhering to the 1.5 hour of daily gaming limit my doctor set me, I don't think I will be playing many RPGs for a while. Playing OoT3D, Soul Sacrifice and Alien: Isolation right now, once I finish A;I I think I will start The Witcher. I'm sad about this whole computer limit thing

[Tawm]

Finished up MGSV. After 100 side-ops, it was a struggle to finish the game. In the end, if you care about rank, the gameplay comes down to "knock out, fulton, knock out, fulton, knock out, fulton, find prisoner, fulton." For future players, I'd recommend focusing entirely on story, and if you're still not sick of the repetitive nature of the game, go ahead and do the side-ops.

 

Started playing Dragon Age: Inquistion again now that all of the expansions are out. Still has those obnoxious DirectX errors and crashes on Nvidia GPUs. While I can play the game at a consistent 60 fps with everything maxed out, it doesn't take more than 15 minutes for the game to decide to crash. Some say it's actually Origin fighting with your computer's resources for control of the game. It's sad when you have to use cracks on a game you legitimately own just to avoid crashing.