No I started with the first Metal Gear Solid. I'm not the kind of person who holds on to nostalgia or anything, I don't hold on to things like, because otherwise I think it would hold me back as a person. I also put MGS2 above it, so I don't know where you're getting that. Metal Gear Solid 4's story made me like MGS and MGS2's story much more, so at first I liked it more, but after playing, I applied what I learned from that story to them. I wish there was somewhat of a romantic relationship with Snake. That would made MGS4 so much better for me. I was upset that she married Johnny, but I still love it.
Anyways, MGS2 improved everything gameplay wise for me, although I still love the first game, but all those little touches just from the beginning of the game like the battle with Olga, shooting the breezing flap that's blocking your view, shooting on the spot light, the draw distance between enemies, dragging enemies, cinematically, first person view, tranquilizers, taking photos while avoiding the guards' glances when they were acting naturally to their instructor, but coincidentally tied into gameplay, chin ups to improve grip, slipping on bird poop, freezing the bombs, etc. It blows me away everytime you use the sword, and I think it's an awesome gameplay mechanic! I love the Metal Gear Solid story, but MGS2's story was far more interesting to me. I loved all the twists, revelation on Raiden's past, using Raiden's perspective made Snake seem so legendary-"That is not Solid Snake" was one of the best showings of it, the conspiracies of the Patriots and the elections, Snake's empowering speech about faith and purpose at the end, etc. I love it all the way through, unlike MGS1, I like, but it only gets good to me once Psycho Mantis appears. A lot of it is cheesy and derivative to me. I still like it though. I love the game, but you're asking me why I like it better. I also don't want to repeat what happened, because I'm sure you played the games. I'll just say with MGS3, I was heavily invested in the Big Boss, the Boss, Eva, and Ocelot relationships, and while I wasn't a fan of the Cobra unit and other characters, unlike MGS and MGS2 where I liked pretty much all the characters, those characters were just that more interesting for me, so much so that my heart broke for Big Boss, and I almost teared up. I've never done that for anything other than the scene in the Batman Mask of the Phantasm movie, where Bruce is begging at his parents grave and telling them he never counted on being happy. It's also my favorite setting and I like the time period much more. I loved CQC and the various survival techniques. Also, no Otacon!
Hopefully, that's what you wanted. The Metal Gear Solid franchise has my favorite story in any media viewed as a complete story.
