Vamp is a complete douchebag who's supposed to be this mystic dude who is a bisexual blodsucker, but he comes off as a poor man's Psycho Mantis. He first shows up in MGS2 and he'll piss you off every time he shows up. That's also where they begin talking about the Patriots. There's no need to know who the Patriots are, since that's the million dollar question of the second game. In all honesty, you should finish the first game then beat the second one. Don't worry, the second game can be beaten in less than a day, and is much less enthralling, you basically play the same game as the first, except with shittier villians, a less than interesting protagonist and a storyline so ridiculous, you end up with more questions than answers. You will probably be left with the feeling of anti-climatic rage, and you wonder why you shelled out $300 for a PS2 and this when it first came out....UGH!!!! ....Sorry.You could skip the third game for the most part, but a few characters do show up from there.

While I do agree that MGS3 is awesome, I don't think it's THAT necessary to continue the story. It probably has the most replayability of the first 3 games, but that's only because you can play through several different ways. I remember the first time, I killed a fuckload of people, so going through The Sorrow's river was a pain in the ass.