Have your thoughts on the series changed over the years?

[Aragorn]

What surprised me the most though is Peace Walker. It's honestly become one of my favorite Metal Gear games and I used to be really down on it for a lot of reasons. But what I realized is it's a game with a ton of content that's really replayable and just as gratifying to zero trace as it is to go guns blazing. I prefer human bosses and was disappointed by the lack of stealth in any of the boss fights but like the MGS4 fights, I can't deny that they're at least fun encounters. I think the games short burst nature works in its favor, but so does having some genuinely good level design that makes sneaking around and zero tracing feel so good. I also love the sheer variety of different levels the game has. From jungles, mountains, fortresses, plantations, military bases and underground facilities. There's a shocking amount of variety and it comes back to just feeling good to bypass enemies. But also having dozens of unique toys to play with for messing around with enemies too. Or having some fun bonus missions to mess around with it.

You all cooked me when I said it was my favorite game never forget!

In all honesty, I look back at the series with a lot of fondness but it's hard to draw the line between how much of it is driven by the games itself, and how much of it is because of MGSF and the big part it played in my life. I know it sounds like a strange and silly distinction; but what i'm mainly referring to is it's hard for me to say if my old criticisms are still there or weather I feel softer towards all of them because MGS and what it stood for collectively (including its community) is a bygone, formative memory at this point.

I got the HD collection and I tried replaying 3 but honestly these games really didn't withstand the test of time with the control scheme. I got past the intro and kind of fell off because actively fighting the game's control scheme is not something I felt like doing in big 2025; and while I understand that there is an argument to be made for frustrating controls being a driver of tension - there are significantly better ways to balance your stealth game than that.

I really really liked MGSV when it first came out and was an ardent defender but looking back it had issues, and Ground Zeroes really was the best part of that experience in isolation even though it was an effective rip off - and while MGS V has great potential as a stealth action sandbox; its level design let it down in that regard as you'll spend a lot of time in big empty areas. FOX is right - it needed more interiors and carefully curated sequences that allow you to get creative in ways that aren't just ''do you snipe with bullets or tranquilizers'' as the optimal engagement method.