The first one is an ok game with a somewhat-but-not-too-bonkers plot.

The second is an ok game with an absolutely pants-on-head bonkers plot.

The third is an ok game with...actually a relatively grounded plot, excluding the boss powers.

The forth was pants-shittginly bad gameplay with equally pants-shittingly bonkers plot. (that one really was walk two feet, get cut scene, repeat)

Peacewalker was a total joke but with apparently a hugely important plot to the fifth.

And the fifth is one of the best action games I've ever played, and the plot barely matters anymore.

My point, however, is that each of the Metal Gear games has something going for it. For me, it's the "What crazy bullshit will happen next" factor of most of them.

The enjoyment comes where you find it. Low expectations help.

What made the first one enjoyable for me was they kept the wacky shit totally separated from the main plot. Goofy stuff was kept tucked away in incidental gameplay sections and optional codec conversations.

Starting from the 2nd game all that shity was front in center in the main plot and it was painful. It also gave rise to the "anime pauses" in all the cutscenes. Constant 10 second pauses that served no purpose. The fourth game was the worst with this I had seen. Look up any random cutscene from that game and count the number of worthless pause seconds compared to the number of seconds where things actually happen.

You are right, nominal, and my reaction to that anime nutzo bullshit mixing in with the main lot was negative at first as well.

That said, I for since come to enjoy it due to how fucking ridiculous it all is. Metal Gear Solid, as a series, is perhaps the most unique (good or ill) series in all video games. Nothing really touches it. and that is something I can appreciate greatly, while understanding that others aren't going to like it, and not liking it is a totally valid opinion.

I advice watching a let's play series called Metal Gear Scanlon where two game critics from Giant Bomb, one that loves the series and one that never played it, plays all of them through the past year. It was great, a better primer/refresher than actually playing the games were. Plus, you get to see how the series would drive a newcomer to it absolutely nuts but still win him over.

I love this stupid, retarded gameish thing. I love it all.

Sort of, except this is kinda funny.

Snake, and you've got your timeline twisted. The soldiers going GM plot was in MGS4; this is a clip from MGS2. What's more, the new game, MGSV, takes place prior to the events of Metal Gear (NES), making it chronologically the second of the major entries into the series, after MGS3 but before MG1.

This isn't rocket science, Oddeye, keep up!

but is he or isn't he modified then? Does he or doesn't he have special powers?