I played it because of the PS1 Demo and because all my friends kept telling me I would love it. Ended up coming true. I do think I actually played the original and Snake's Revenge on the NES as well but was too young and dumb to make sense of either of them so they stayed as rentals for me.

I already stated MGS3 is my fave entry, and that MGS4 is my least favorite, despite that, I actually don't hate MGS4, I simply felt it didn't live up to the lofty expectations fans had for it, which is on us I guess. Despite a lot of my issues with the gameplay, the later entries refined a bunch of the ideas so it's not like it's improvements went to waste.

I am surprised by all the hate MGSV gets. Even lacking some of the hallmarks of the franchise such as cutscenes up the wazoo and epic boss battles, the gameplay is unparalleled and I frankly feel the ending was absolutely clever. Even the lack of Episode 51 and some of the game's incomplete elements can't really mar the tight design, and I still feel some of the incomplete elements were intentional.