Question: Which version of MGO was your favourite?

[Dirty Duck]

Since the Master Collection is once again missing an entry of Metal Gear Online I got to wondering which of the iterations was most popular on the site-I think MGO2 is most popular in general but I know a lot of us here played MPO and I played MGO3 with a fair share of you.

So which of them is your favourite and why? Is there an entry you didn't get to play but wish you did? I never played MGO1 but I was always kind of baffled it was on the PS2. Must have been nuts playing it back in the day.

[Departed]

I adored MGO1 when it first launched but back then, there was no way to really combat hackers. Once the hacks started, that game was just about dead because the hackers made it impossible to just have a regular match. It also had a lot of fun ideas no other MGO game utilized, like cameras that you could check at any point, or a flamethrower.

I'd say objectively, the best was probably MGO2 because with all the DLC's, it had the most meat on its bones, but in that games case, the players themselves ruined it for me. They were abusive, angry nerds who kicked you all the time, and rewards were way too stingy.

MGO3 was great but ruined by the fact that Konami gave it zero support and the dev team behind the game was really demoralized by all accounts once the game launched.

So I guess I'd vote for Fox Hunt.

To me, Fox Hunt is exactly the kind of multiplayer mode a Metal Gear game should have and was incredibly fun for what it was. Like MGO3, it was undone by Konami just giving it zero support after launch, which is absurd because more maps, more skins and more modes would've worked wonders for that kind of MGO. But despite that, it's probably the most raw fun I ever had playing an MGO game, and probably the only one I was genuinely good at because it emphasized stealth over combat or combat exploits like MGO2.

[NateDog]

MGO2 for me. It was well supported for its lifespan by Konami with some new modes and great DLC expansions, maps were generally really good and were very varied. The Konami ID / login system was dastardly and stuff like boxpopping exploits were annoying (along with plenty of assholes in Survival that cheated), but I've never played anything else like it in my life.

MGO3 just didn't do it for me unfortunately, I tried multiple times including when I had periods where I really missed MGO2 but it never landed with me. Honestly I've always felt a lot of it was down to the maps, I thought they were awful and didn't really suit teamplay, part of that is down to MGSV's gameplay though and it enabling players to feel more free to lone wolf it. If Konami supported it I believe they could have potentially turned it around but unfortunately it was destined for disaster because of the Kojima fallout.

Fox Hunt had some great ideas but no support whatsoever by Konami alongside no crossplay meant it died an extremely quick death. Could have seen myself still playing it now if they did what they needed to but they sent it out to die.

[Kimidaki]

Same as NateDog. Love MGO2. Everything else pales in comparison.

Its unique blend of stealth, fighter and shooter mechanics meant it had some strange design choices that mesh unexpectedly well.

Firstly, there are invulnerability frames everywhere.
Land a torso or limb shot? 0.23 seconds of invulnerability
Deal a headshot but it was beyond the effective range of the weapon? 0.6 seconds.
Send a guy hurtling across the room by ramming into them with a cardboard box? 1.97 seconds.

This meant spraying people down with high fire rate weapons took longer than expected and wasted ammo. Being accurate and landing a single bullet on the head within the effective range of your weapon was the most efficient attack method. Anything less would open you up to being countered.

This also slowed the pace of the game long enough to allow CQC to function. Combined with the SOP system locking your firearm for 4 seconds if you shot a friendly who was being held hostage by an enemy. You couldn't just throw a grenade into a CQC fight and expect to continue fighting afterwards. Precision shooting or jumping into a CQC fight yourself was the optimal strategy.

Then you had the support weapons. Magazine traps, sleeping gas mines, C4 explosives, stun and smoke grenades. Your options to cause chaos and distract long enough to utilise stealth was plentiful.

And I'm not talking about stealth camouflage as an equip. I mean actual, walk slowly so your footsteps are silent to enemies and move behind cover to flank sort of stealth. If you run around firing weapons, you have deafened yourself to the guy behind your lines with an SOP Scanner in hand and the intent to hack into your team's data and reveal everyone's location for the next minute. Scary stuff, soldier.

Players got good. Real good. You knew names. The guy who was a wizard with knives and was a deadly phantom in Team Sneaking. The people who would so much as see you leave cover and pop your head instantly. The resident riot shield bulwarks. The trap enthusiasts who like to steal your data and your weapons and leave you sleeping and unarmed for a chunk of the battle. The local shotgun menace that held down corners and made sure you never got to infiltrate the lines and accomplish the game mode goals. The sinister sniper you can't get to because they're at the back end of the map behind their entire team making sure that one pivotal patch of land across the map will never see a living enemy soldier in it.

The game is full of knowledge checks and the new player experience is brutal if you're not against fellow newbies, but the folks that stick it out and build up their knowledge and skill with their chosen weapon can make a name for themselves with enough practice.