I actually liked MGS4 a lot, but I was never a diehard fan of the series. One summer in high school I just decided to pirate MGS2+3 and play them on my modded PS2 and thought they were fun, so I borrowed 4 from a friend to continue the series. Never played 1
honestly I imagine how excited for and ultimately disappointed I was by 5 is how people who were fans from the beginning felt about 4 when it came out, kek