Should I play through MGS originals, or HD collection?

[Visual Hudson]

So, with all of the MGS: V - The Phantom Pain stuff coming out recently, it's been making me itch to actually fully play-through the MGS series. Now, I actually do own MGS on PS1 (which I recently found, I've had atleast a copy of it since probably the late 90s; though a few years ago I picked up an original copy). I also own MGS 2: Substance, MGS 3: Subsistence, MGS 4, as well as Portable Ops & Peacewalker for PSP. I've never actually completed a Metal Gear game though. I got a fair bit into the Plant Chapter of MGS: 2, but then never finished it. I got quite a bit into MGS 3, I think to either The Sorrow or The Fury, but again never completed it. Portable Ops I've played a little, though didn't get too much into it. MGS 1 & 4 although I've owned for years, I've never actually played either of them at all. MGS4 is still in the original packaging I bought it in actually, haha. Infact, I think Peacewalker might be too! Furthermore, I've never really played any of the older Metal Gear games, like the ones of MSX or whatever. I may've messed about with the SNES one on an emulator, but never properly played any of them that's for sure.

Saying all that though, I do very much like & enjoy the whole sort-of Metal Gear world. as you might've been able to tell by the fact of me owning virtually all the games. With that, I would very much like to play through [atleast the main] series, however I'm undecided as to how to go about doing it. Should I just play through the copies I've got, on their respective consoles? Or, should I go purchase the HD Collection, play MGS 1 on my PS1, then go through the HD Collection (probably on my Xbox), & then over to my PS3 for MGS4? Though, saying that, I've seen that there is now a "Legacy Collection" exclusively coming to PS3 soon with all of the games on. I could go for that, but then I heard that the copy of MGS it includes is just a downloadable PSN voucher, which then seems a bit pointless for me. 

Or, even, there's the path I could take of purchasing a copy of The Twin Snakes, playing through MGS 1 on my Gamecube, then playing through the rest of the games either through the ones I already own, or the HD Collection? 

As I say, ignorantly, I'm not too fussed with playing through the older Metal Gear games but I suppose I could still play them if I wanted through being included in Subsistence. 

What do you guys think I should do? What'd you suggest? As far I understand the HD Collection is pretty much just Substance, Subsistence & Peacewalker all with a HD skin, but is there anything else I might be missing out on by playing the originals? Are the graphics that improved, or not really? I suppose a HD version of Peacewalker is pushing me to buy the HD Collection, instead of me playing it on my PSP, but does the one game itself justify the purchase of the whole collection? Please help......

[Artorias]

Get the HD collection just for the sake of better graphics, imo.

[KaareKanin]

The graphics are most def. better. And if you've got a PS3, you can get MGS1 on PSN, that way you can play them all on one console. If you're going for originals, you'll have to go for ps2 :P I own a copy of Twin Snakes, but I haven't got any console to play it on, so I've got no experience to to share.

I don't think Portable Ops. comes with the HD collection, but Peace Walker does, and I have tried it on PSP and PS3, and the PS3 version is much more enjoyable. If it's not too expensive, I'd say go HD!

Edit: I would play MGS3 Snake Eater at least once before going on to Subsistence, real men play MGS with fixed camera! :P Also, if possible, get MGS1 Integral

[Nexus]

It doesnt really matter what console you play the games on as long as you play them. The metal gear story line is complex and confusing at times, but it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Ive never actually played the psp games (but i have read everything about them on wikipedia because im sad and have no life) so they are not essentially to understand everything in the game.

 

Whatever you do, i know you will have a fantastic experience with many up highlights and epic moments as well as a few that make you cry (REAL MEN ADMIT CRYING AT THE END OF MGS3)

[Dudenstein]

I totally skipped the early games and watched the MGS anthology videos thing on gametrailers to get the backstory and then jumped into MGS 5 hahaha it worked but the story is so intertwined and tough to follow at times

[Visual Hudson]

The graphics are most def. better. And if you've got a PS3, you can get MGS1 on PSN, that way you can play them all on one console. If you're going for originals, you'll have to go for ps2 :P I own a copy of Twin Snakes, but I haven't got any console to play it on, so I've got no experience to to share.

I don't think Portable Ops. comes with the HD collection, but Peace Walker does, and I have tried it on PSP and PS3, and the PS3 version is much more enjoyable. If it's not too expensive, I'd say go HD!

Edit: I would play MGS3 Snake Eater at least once before going on to Subsistence, real men play MGS with fixed camera! :P Also, if possible, get MGS1 Integral

Well the situation is, that I do own a PS3 but similar to how Slick has for a long-time borrowed Linus', I've also actually let someone borrow mine. Now, I am going to have to claim it back soon anyway, because I wanna play The Last Of Us & finally play Heavy Rain, as well as MGS4 when I get to it. Suppose if I did get the HD Collection for PS4, I could then also just use one my MGS1 PS1 discs to play it all on one console, instead of downloading it from the PSN. 

All that being said, there's the hassle of trying to get it back haha. I've already got my PS1, 2 PS2's here, & my original Xbox, which I could easily now just use to play through the series until I actually need the PS3. 

Yeah, afaik Portable Ops doesn't come with the HD Collection, but as you say I would imagine that PeaceWalker would be alot more enjoyable on a console as opposed to playing it on my PSP-1000. 

And lmao, although I haven't actually played MGS3 with the fixed do definitely remember enjoying it so much more than the bloody fixed camera in MGS2. I ain't back-tracking there, haha. Will have to look up MGS1: Integral though...

 

It doesnt really matter what console you play the games on as long as you play them. The metal gear story line is complex and confusing at times, but it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Ive never actually played the psp games (but i have read everything about them on wikipedia because im sad and have no life) so they are not essentially to understand everything in the game.

 

Whatever you do, i know you will have a fantastic experience with many up highlights and epic moments as well as a few that make you cry (REAL MEN ADMIT CRYING AT THE END OF MGS3)

 

Yeah, no, I definitely do want to play through them. Like I say, I have partly played through the games, just never to completion. Heck I had a PS2 demo disc, might even still have it, from when MGS2 came out that was basically a large portion of the Tanker Chapter & I played through that a ton. And yeah whilst the PSP / other games aren't mandatory to understand everything,if I already own them I kinda feel as though I might as well play through them if I am going to do this huge task. 

 

I totally skipped the early games and watched the MGS anthology videos thing on gametrailers to get the backstory and then jumped into MGS 5 hahaha it worked but the story is so intertwined and tough to follow at times

You watched the MGS Anthology, then played through The Phantom Pain?! Woahhh. o_0

I'm sure you meant MGS4, in that case, I think I might have actually watched through those in the past. But, I don't quite remember. Saying that though, I wouldn't want to sit through them instead of playing the games, I'm not THAT lazy. Would be infinitely more enjoyable to actually play them myself, obviously. Heck, I could even sit through MGS3 as a movie in it's entirety with owning Subsistence, but I'm not actually gonna do that either. Do want to actually play through the games, haha.

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Now one thing that has come up that seems like it's probably the biggest issue of getting the HD Collection is that the Xbox 360 doesn't have pressure-sensitive face buttons, where the MGS games quite heavily rely on them. I read a whole bunch of complaints yesterday from people who were having some trouble with the game without the pressure-sensative buttons. That, & there were some missing features, like Guy Savage nightmare / mini-game, & a few other small probably insignificant things. However, the games do run at 720p at 60fps which is quite appealing. 

Now it does seem as though if I am going to get the HD Collection, I'm going to have to get it on Playstation 3, but is it really worth it for what would solely just be texture updates & a higher frame rate? I can't decide.

[KaareKanin]

Either way, the experience is going to be great ;) and I'm just trolling about the the fixed camera, mostly because I played through MGS3 w/ fixed camera before I bought subsistence :P

 

The main thing with Integral is that you get the VR missions, but I'm not certain whether you need to get the Integral edition or if its possible to get the VR missions in a different way. I do have MGS1 from PSN, but I can't recall whether it is included there. MGS1 is also available for PC, I think that one contains the VR missions

 

http://us.playstation.com/games/metal-gear-solid-ps3-psp.html

[Askew]

I whole heartedly suggest that you play the original Metal Gear Solid as it is, either from PSN (if NTSC account, don't get the PAL version) or on disc (NTSC) and then pick up the HD Collection for the PS3, the reason I say PS3 is because it has pressure sensitive buttons, and when you perform hold ups on enemies, you can just lift off the button to release the trigger of your gun without firing, and automatic weapons can be used for hold ups without firing more easily by half cocking the button like you would on a camera. This method of input feels more natural than the multi press needed to do the same thing on Xbox 360.

Of course the original games for the PS2 feature the pressure sensitivity too.

 

The HD collection runs at 60fps, something that adds even more fluidity to the experience, and is worth it for that feature alone in my opinion. It also has the best version of MGS 2 and 3, 2 comes with all the extras from Substance, and 3 comes with everything from Subsistence, most importantly the Free Camera view mode, the original fixed camera was cripping and really ruined the game for me, Subsistence on PS2 and the HD collections on both formats have the Free Camera, the original title does not.
You also get Metal Gear, and Metal Gear II on the disc as part of MGS3. There is the addition of peace walker too.

I really hope you can enjoy these games as much as I do, my number 1 reason for owning a console is Metal Gear Solid titles :)

[Visual Hudson]

Out of curiosity, why would say not to get the PAL version of the original MGS game? 

[Askew]

Out of curiosity, why would say not to get the PAL version of the original MGS game?

Because analog PAL titles, ran at 25fps, and ran bordered because of the line arrangement. Minus the very few that were speed optimized for PAL, they were all as a rule squashed into a letterbox image, and about 17% slower running, so to be clear, it would take around 17% longer to complete a playthrough of Final Fantasy VII on a PAL PS1, than it would an identical playthrough on an NTSC unit.

The versions of all the PS1 and PS2 classics on European PSN accounts, are ALL PAL versions, I have a US account on PSN to ensure I receive the full speed NTSC versions of PSX games on my system.

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article with a bit more detail on the issue, scroll to the "Criticism of PAL region video games" paragraph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL_region