I've beaten the game on normal last year, and since MGS4 is coming out, I decided to replay all of the MGS games. I'm curently playing on the extreme difficulty mode, and it's quite frustrating at some point's...

IE, once I enter a guarded area I HAVE to get through without being seen.. As soon as a guard spots me and enters Alert mode, I immediatly pop a fake death pill, press continue and start playing the area over... It's just I feel like I have to get trough an area without alerting any guard, and if I don't, I don't feel as fulfilled lol Feels like cheating. I mostly get caught a lot until I memorize where all of the guards are standing. I keep doing it until I clear the area without being spotted. Some areas I clear fast, some are hard and I keep forgetting the placement of the guards etc...

So how do you approach MGS3? Do you try to beat the game on the hardest difficulty, no matter how many alerts, continues etc.. or if you don't beat the game without sneaking through everybody you're not satisfied? Or you don't care and beat the game on whatever difficulty you're comfortable with.

I'm a sneaking purist, if I get seen I load up the nearest save file and do it all again.

No guns, no explosions and no encounters. If it gets that far that I absolutely have to act I get the best camo index I can get and sneak up behind and slit the neck.

I play it the way it was designed to be played.

^Agreed. MGS3 is a stealth game, and stealth is what I want to practice when I play it. Of course I always have a spare save file with stealth, infinity face paint and all weapons just to have fun, but when I play for the story I use stealth and CQC.

What difficulty guys?

European Extreme most of the time. No point in having it easy.

But Normal if I want to whiz through to the cutscenes.

Though I confess with every new MGS game I always play it through on Very Easy first.

I've never tried European extreme. Is it the same as extreme? Despite the fact that once you get seen you lose...

It's pretty much the same as 'normal' Extreme, but it's a totally different experience compared to any other difficulty level.

I try to go through as stealthily as possible as often as possible, but when I get caught I sometimes just pull out the M37 and have some fun.

I just started playing Snake Eater two days ago, and it was the first time in over two years. I unknowingly sold my memory card that had all of my MGS data on it so Extreme wasn't yet unlocked, so I started on Hard. I tried to sneak through unseen, but my CQC was so rusty that the first guy I snuck up on I punched him instead of threw him to the ground, and then I tried to put him in the chokehold and just kept punching and kicking him, so of course a bunch of guards started swarming me. Right away I was angry and wanted to restart, but I didn't. I continued until I got to the research lab where Sokolov was that, got caught again, died a few times, then decided to restart.

When I restarted I (shamefully so) put it on Very Easy just because I wanted to get through it quickly and unlock Extreme, plus I wanted to get used to using CQC and other techniques before trying out the harder difficulties. Still, even on Very Easy, I didn't go through it stealthily at all. I kept making tiny, stupid mistakes and just said 'forget it' and started blasting people.

I beat it last night and I plan on going through it again, starting sometime tonight. Again, I'll be approaching it steathily (on Extreme) but I'm sure I'll make a lot of mistakes. I may just create some save points after I get past a few points so I can restart it whenever I mess up.

@ Heli, any time I play through an MGS game for the first time I do it on Very Easy as well ^_^ That's just how I get the most enjoyment out of it when playing it for the first time.

I noticed that the harder the difficulty, the harder it is to concentrate on the story and plot. The hardest difficulties being a drag and not so fun, if you keep dying every two steps you take.

I played through MGS2, 3 on very easy at first. MGS2 being my first MGS game, I was scared of the guards, until I realized their vison only ranges to like 3 meters. I played MGS1 on Normal which was kinda hard on the boss battles.

Anyway, I'm past The Pain, and just gave The End a headshot with my SVD, so I won't have to battle him on Extreme... I'm not going for a no-kill, no alert run, but if i'm seen I restart the area with a fake death pill. Stupid mistakes get me killed, since I tend forget about the other guards while I focus on one sometimes.

I've always thought that Euro Extreme is just for the challenge. Because Snake get's spotted like a million times in the cut-scenes, so it doesn't make any sense to lose a game when being seen. It's not like the guard's don't know you're there..

Hm, if you're going to suicide everytime you're caught you might as well play Euro Extreme.

Anyways, I only use stealth when I'm trying to unlock something, such as the Stealth Camo. After that, the TNT is my only weapon. Sometimes I still try using stealth just for fun though.

The most trouble I'm going to have when going for the stealth camo is getting past the part after the Shagohod fight/just before the fight with The Boss where you have to escort Eva through the jungle. I've never really given it my best shot at going through that area undetected, but I'm always being seen by guards there and never having a clue where they're at.

What? Ah, cummon don't do that. :P Don't you want a challenge the first time you experience it?

Hm, that part IS pretty hard. I usually just toss a smoke grenade and shoot them with the Thermal Goggles. The hardest part is still after you escape from the prison though.

I play on European Extreme exclusively now. The Boss battles are just to easy after going through duel mode now so if its not on that level, its to easy.

I play it stealthily, unless it's impossible like after the prison in Graznyj Grad. My favorite to sneak around is near the cabin part in Svyatogornyj East (I think) where the cabin is to your right. I always sneak around everyone there and snipe people from the roof of the cabin, lol. Sometimes after the GRU guard goes back inside the cabin door, I plop down from the roof and slow creep up behind him. Then I kill him silently, then go through the hole at the bottom in the bakc of the cabin. Then I whip WP grenades a few times near the enemies at the turret guns. Instant win for me. =)

I'm mixed i do both i'll sneak as my main approach but then i'll save wear the kabuki mask with no shirt and kill everyone lol ^_^ (it's my war camo). But mostly yeah go for sneaking thinking of what i can do with everything i have.

I always play a game through on Normal first (the only exception to this rule was Devil May Cry 3, it's just that damn hard) and with MGS3 that's my optimum play difficulty- I only save European Extreme for FOXHOUND runs and the like. I don't think I've passed MGS3 on Easy or Very Easy, I did with MGS2 and 1 though, for the Dog Tags.

As for how I play, I still disagree with you Heli- I believe there is no 'right' way to play, it's up to the player to do as he sees fit. I've read that Hideo has said that Snake was just an in-game representation of the player's ego, how you handle the circumstances the game throws at you is entirely up to your discretion. But in any case, ich calls it 'role-playing' but whatever- I usually play how I imagine Snake would handle the situation, for example Peeking out from corners/trees etc even if I know there's no guards there- Snake doesn't. Awesome fun. Stealthy, but can handle himself if things go sour.

@skywalker: I agree, heh, the bosses are pretty easy if you apply Duel to them (The Fear in 20 seconds :P) so I usualy give them a chance to run away, I don't press the attack.

MAN...

I've been playing on Extreme all day today and I'm having no luck whatsoever. I watch some of you guys playing on E-Extreme on the speed runs and I really don't understand how you do it now. The guards see me from like 75 feet away with 80% camo. I've tried doing a few things exactly as I've seen them done in a few speed runs and I don't even come close to getting away with it, lol.

I'm starting to realize how badly I suck. I'll get it eventually, it's just going to take some time. I went through the virtuous mission with little trouble, but I haven't made it much further than that.

i usually play on Normal difficulty first... but in the case of MGS3 i found it too easy so i bumped it up to Hard.

9 times out of 10 i'll play it stealthy, no kills, no alerts, and (if i fell like a challenge) no weapons and no "!" or "?" either...

and once i know the story a bit better i'll focus and refine the gameplay, i always play on E.Extreme except for the first time/story time.

stealthing is hard in the groznyj grad prison break, but i do the 'johnny+cig spray' trick, then use copious amounts of stun and smoke grenades to get to the sewers. smoke grenades are useful against the dobermans (dobermen?), blocks their senses for a critical few seconds.

and the march to Rojokov Bereg is fixed by placing books down at the beginning, and waiting up at the top of the hill to the left of the start for any stray guards.