MGS V

[Rare White Ape]

Definitely by release date. The newer games build upon plot hints in the previous ones, and the in-jokes pretty much require it. You've got a month of flat-out gameplay ahead of you to catch up!

I'd even play 4 before starting on PW, as stuff in the last chronological game is hinted to in the second chronological game.

That said, PW so far for me is still a very good standalone game in itself. MGSV continues on from that.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, that's pretty much the answer I got when looking around the web. Another consideration was gameplay. Going backwards in the mechanics and gameplay of the series can be difficult. I played MGS2 last night for about 45 minutes, so yeah, some cut-scenes and about 10 minutes of actual playing But that's kinda what I love about the MGS series. It's like participating in a movie.

It's a nice bit of nostalgia. I loved my first play throughs of MGS and MGS2 back in the day. I have an emulation of MGS on my old laptop, I might even go back and try that out before continuing with MGS2. Or maybe I could watch a fast playthrough online or something.