Thread by @MetalGear_OOC, Why you should play Metal Gear Solid 4 after Peace Walker and [...]

Why you should play Metal Gear Solid 4 after Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V.

(Why MGS4 should be the last game you play)

[A (long) thread]

1. Gameplay
Gameplay wise, MGS4 isn't all that different from PW/V. In fact, Peace Walker plays more like an easier MGS4, which makes the difficulty dip rather jarring. 4 offers more options in CQC, different weapons, and more exciting set pieces than PW in general. 1/6

The gameplay loop of PW and V is repetitive and can be intrusive to the story's pacing, especially since these are supposedly supposed to tie up loose ends in a meta sense. 2/6

As for MGSV, because it has way more player freedom and stealth options than MGS4, that makes it an excellent predecessor gameplay-wise since Old Snake isn't as young and agile as Venom Snake is. V makes for a juxtaposition that shows what a young Snake would infiltrate like- 3/6

while 4 showcases how an old and tired Snake would deal with infiltration in an old body. For example, 4 introduced crouch walking, however if you stay still for too long, Old Snake will feel his back, as a reminder of how old and breaking he is. 4/6

If you play PW and V beforehand, you'll get to play around with crouch walking as characters that don't have back problems, which as a result conditions the player into seeing what crouch walking looks like in it's prime. Once the player gets to 4, they see the reversal- 5/6

of this mechanic by adding in an animation that says "Snake isn't in his prime anymore, you've played as Snake for too long". (It's also more fitting the final Snake you play as is Solid Snake, since he's the first playable Snake). 6/6

2. Story
Story-wise, Peace Walker is more of a sequel to MGS3 than a successor to MGS4. Whereas 3 works as a an ending to the series because of it's definitive conclusion, PW's story 1/8

continues what 3 (and PO) started, and doesn't exactly seem to accomplish much in it's story outside of establishing Big Boss' life as the leader of MSF. If there were a way to put it, PW feels like a filler anime character arc, that at best sets up the events in V, and 2/8

laments on the events of MGS3. It has absolutely no call forwards to what happens in MGS4 outside of the idea of creating a borderless nation (and some stuff with Zero), which is already a different nation from the one in MGS4 anyway. 3/8

Even MGSV, which sort of works as a meta end of the series, doesn't work as well as a conclusive final chapter. Most of V's story is practically disconnected from the rest of the pre-established MGS story, which makes it seem superfluous at times with how long the game can be 4/8

In MGS4, characters from MGS1, 2, 3, and even the MSX games are present or mentioned. While in MGSV, aside from Kaz, Ocelot, Paz, Eli, and Mantis, there are barely any legacy characters featured in it at all; 4 feels like what the series was building up to, while PW/V feel 5/8

like yet another chapter within an expansive story.
(Btw, I think V's story is great for being disconnected from the other games, it makes for an excellent entry point that I will elaborate further on in another thread) 6/8

While V's story deals with the problems of a never before mentioned language parasite, MGS4 deals with the pursuit of Liquid Ocelot and the Patriots, which was built up to in every preceding game in some form or fashion.
The only real conclusive punch that V has is the 7/8

very final level, which is just replaying the first level again but now there's more context given. The exact final cutscene of Venom Snake looking at the mirror is the only full circle aspect of the game. The rest of V might as well be a slice of life Diamond Dogs anime. 8/8

3. Characters
MGS4 never has time to rest and linger on plot points for too long, since it's always moving the plot forward with each moment. The only new character in 4 that is disconnected from the legacy cast is Drebin, which works well given his "off the system" nature. 1/6

PW/V add so many new characters. Kaz, Huey, and Strangelove make sense as additions as they are related to legacy characters, but aside from them, there are a bunch of new characters that are barely given any screentime out of tape recordings, like Cecile, Amanda, and Chico. 2/6

And V introduces Venom, Quiet, Skull Face, and Code Talker. Besides them, the legacy characters brought back don't really do much in the story. Volgin as the Man on Fire barely even plays a part in the story outside of being a big bad to defeat. 3/6

Eli (Young Liquid) barely does much outside of being an elaborate Lord of the Flies reference. Young Mantis just floats around and does anything he kinda wants to. We see nothing of his backstory he talks about in MGS1, as he just of floats around and causes chaos. 4/6

Mantis even returns in MGS4 as a ghost, as a way to comment on how far gaming console technology became. Mantis in MGSV doesn't even say a word, he might as well be a different character all together. MGSV almost passively showcases the past of MGS, while MGS4 embraces it- 5/6

in the most literal way, which just works more as a finale to a long running series than something that seems so distant from what it's named after. (I am NOT saying V is a bad story, I'm saying it's a bad finale) 6/6

Final ramblings:
Would you rather the last MGS game you play be the one with a final boss that plays music from the previous games, or would you rather the final game you play be a game with a repeated level and no final boss?

While MGS4's ending feels like an exclamation mark, with a long paragraph and a period, MGSV's ending feels like a big question mark, with several asterisks at the end of it.

Now yes, I am aware of the end of MGSV bringing up the events of MGS4. I don't think that should invalidate my argument though, as you can tell someone prematurely to skip them. MGSV is a massive game, and I don't think some bullet points at the exact end of the game

should be the end all be all of what this series built up to.

Just gonna put this here too. https://twitter.com/MetalGear_OOC/status/1349449946622173184?s=19

https://twitter.com/MetalGear_OOC/status/1349449946622173184?s=19

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