Funny thing is, it was my first MGS game. So actually it didn't bother me in that respect. What bothered me was him, compounded by the obviously more awesome guy I played as in the first chapter, the incredibly annoying escort missions, but ultimately how it made no fucking sense to the point where they spent most of MGS4 trying to make it make sense with retcons. And also trying to make Raiden cool, which just made him even more obnoxious by turning him into the worst aspects of 90s edgelordiness all wrapped into one.
The only reason I even played the others is because I already had them in a bundle, and the only reason I didn't play MGS1 first was because I couldn't find a PS1 memory card. MGS3 gave me reason to eventually get the means to play 1, and then later 4 and 5.