[Sway]

What do you think of the G4 review?

Also... yeah, this is fucking stupid. (Spoilers pertaining to my above spoilered story gripe.)

[Gold_TSG]

I feel terrible for spoiling myself, but holy FUCK.

[NiGHTS Noob]

???????, on 28 August 2010 - 10:58 PM, said:

Okay, so I read another review that says item hunting actually occurs. Dammit, which the fuck is it?!

The Destructoid guy said that items become visible on the map after killing every enemy in the room and that there was little room for exploration while the IGN dude is suggesting that you'll probably not find everything on your first go. I'm wondering, did that Destructoid reviewer even get 100% or is this IGN guy just crappy? I'm inclined to believe the Destructoid guy simply because he's apparently a big Metroid fan as well.

My guess is a little circle or something shows up on the map for that square like in Super onward, however, there's no/very few hidden rooms or anything like that so it's just a matter of poking around where you already know it is until it pops up.

[???????]

Just picked up my copy and the "art folio" to come along with it. Holy shit are there a lot of cards here...

I probably won't actually be playing the game until later today because I haven't been to sleep yet. Although I don't think anybody but Gold and perhaps NiGHTS Noob will actually play nor care about anything I'd have to say about the game, I thought I'd throw that out there anyway.

I'm definitely not looking forward to that scene Sway brought up. I haven't actually watched it yet since I'm expecting myself to enjoy the story and don't wanna spoil it for myself, even if the reviewers say it can be predictable at times.

[Sway]

I watched some playthrough footage on YouTube since I don't own a Wii and out of two friends I have that I absolutely know own Wiis, neither is a Metroid fan. I'll give them this, it really looks like Metroid in my opinion -- the environments are great -- and it looks like it's good enough to control in third person. Oh, and the melee attacks look B.A. But, I definitely have some criticisms, even from just watching.

[???????]

From now on, if it takes me more than two minutes to find something when I'm forced into first person view, I'm just gonna cheat because, holy shit, you're given absolutely no clue as to where to find things. If they were highlighted like they were in the Prime games, it'd be much easier.

As for my opinion on the game outside of that so far... Well, tons of isolation except at specific points; I was (and still am) expecting way more story. Very similar to Fusion, except that there are less areas to explore (although you will find yourself revisiting many of the older rooms to pick up new items) and way more heavily combat based, although the individual puzzles in many of the rooms remind me of the Zelda games. Come to think of it, so do the "kill all enemies" portions. I'm still not completely used to switching between third and first person views and wish missiles could be used in third person view, although they seem much more useful in combat this time around, so I can understand the restriction. Combat ranges from fun to annoying, usually depending on how often I have to switch views, which is heavily influenced by how fast and the enemy is (I can't wait until I get my Varia Suit, which might actually happen in a bit).

Until I cheated and watched somebody else do it, I was running around in circles for a really long time because somebody didn't see fit to allow you to lock onto and label a spot that can be broken by a bomb (it was in midair and I kept shooting missiles at it). I hate it when the camera is suddenly forced behind Samus, because she can't attack (unless in first person at specific times, although this isn't really bothersome because I really have no reason to attack at those times) and, although, mainly because she moves at a snail's pace and there's no way to speed her up.

Oh, and the map is fucking horrible and I'm surprised I've heard nobody complain about it yet. The mini map shown at the top right corner of the screen actually shows what part and level of a room you're in while the map in the menu only shows a general layout of the area from the top view, so it's not very helpful and sometimes even misleading. From the looks of it, there's no way to force it to display the actually-useful-most-of-the-time-but-very-small map that appears the the top right corner during actual gameplay. Man, I really miss the 3D maps of the Prime subseries.

Oh, and Samus' voice sounds dull or depressing a lot of the time, but I got used to it.

Despite all that, I'm enjoying myself. Would be a lot better if not for those things, but, when they're not getting in the way, I'm having fun. I'd be much further if I didn't begin this game just earlier today.

Edit:

Forgot to mention that insta-deaths are possible. So far, I've died twice that way, one of which was completely my fault, especially since I considered that I'd kill myself if I wasn't more careful. The second insta-death was a bunch of bullshit, though. The only other time I got killed was during a boss fight where I was expected to switch to first person view while being shot at a bunch of times.

Edit 2:

Also forgot to mention that they really should've given this game a great soundtrack. There's hardly any music playing. The Metroid games are known for their awesome themes, so this game not really having much of a soundtrack bothers me... I was at least expecting a bunch of remixes from Super and Fusion.

This post has been edited by ???????: 01 September 2010 - 02:51 PM

[???????]

I feel the need to double post because people annoy the shit out of me:

I would like to shank anybody who calls Other M sexist in any way. They need to die a slow and painful death. The reasons are fucking retarded and all of the things bitched are justifiable. Only one scene was awkward as hell (the scene Sway brought up) and that had nothing to do with gender at all, but people still tried to make it.

Also, I enjoyed the game. I was really pissed at the end until the credits rolled. What happens after nearly totally makes up for the way the game ended, in terms of gameplay.

[Sway]

Nah, from what I've seen and heard, there is some definite, passive sexism going on. It's overblown, true, but it's there. Samus being eager to defer to a masculine authority figure, going into uncontrollable hysterics, and losing emotional control over due to postpartum depression over her dead pet seem like pretty unenlightened gender politics to me. Pretend Samus is a man, and check out the story again -- think of the impact the issues portrayed would have on, say, Master Chief, which is who Samus basically was up until this game. And also the zero suit has fucking heels, are you kidding me?

This doesn't surprise me, coming from a producer that got into game design well before story was an important aspect (and therefore has no training in that sort of thing), and a studio that, without irony, created Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

[Gold_TSG]

Marx pretty much did most of the bitching I was gonna do.

I just beat Ridley (awesome fight) and now am chasing that mystery dude. It took some getting used to, but the controls are pretty OK. I was pretty surprised behind the story about Ridley, to be honest. Was not expecting that.

Fuck the map, fuck the lack of music, and fuck death traps. Otherwise, it's fairly enjoyable.

Edit: Might as well get this out there. I'm not a fan of the lack of stronger hints on what to do, namely when locked in first person. It got progressively less problematic after the bombing of that wall, but that doesn't really justify making things hard to figure out. I miss Prime's scanning mechanic when it tells you "Hey buddy! Use a Morph Ball Bomb!"

This post has been edited by Gold_TSG: 03 September 2010 - 04:26 AM

[???????]

You know, the game actually got way more fun as it went on. The first visit to the Biosphere was definitely not the strongest point in the game.

Sway, on 02 September 2010 - 04:03 PM, said:

Nah, from what I've seen and heard, there is some definite, passive sexism going on. It's overblown, true, but it's there. Samus being eager to defer to a masculine authority figure, going into uncontrollable hysterics, and losing emotional control over due to postpartum depression over her dead pet seem like pretty unenlightened gender politics to me. Pretend Samus is a man, and check out the story again -- think of the impact the issues portrayed would have on, say, Master Chief, which is who Samus basically was up until this game. And also the zero suit has fucking heels, are you kidding me?

This doesn't surprise me, coming from a producer that got into game design well before story was an important aspect (and therefore has no training in that sort of thing), and a studio that, without irony, created Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

Samus wasn't eager to take orders from just any masculine figure, though; this figure was a like a father to her whom she's stated to have a deep respect for many times (and has done so in Fusion as well, so this isn't something they're just pulling out of their asses). Plus, she lost his trust. Actually, she wasn't eager to take orders at all, which she specifically made note of. Not wanting there to be a conflict with the others and regain his trust, she begrudgingly chooses to follow his command. You know, I didn't see anybody crying sexism when Samus, although getting paid, chose to take orders from Admiral Dane in Corruption. I gotta say that, though, from the story's perspective, not using her Varia nor Gravity Suits from the beginning, seeing how those features have no attacking capability, was silly. There should've been a better excuse there.

Spoiler

The only "uncontrollable hysteria" I remember her experiencing was in the scene with Ridley and, although dumb considering their past encounters, again, that had nothing to do with gender. If when she encountered him, there was a flashback to their first fight, back when Samus was still young and inexperienced, and then attacked him in a fit, that would've been way more fitting. Despite their past fights, there's at least a (rather weak considering its place in the time line) reason for her freaking out like that. I could see if he was just some random creature she encountered, but Ridley is the guy who completely fucked over her childhood.

I... don't remember her losing emotional control over the hatchling. She referenced it a lot, but I don't exactly remember her being overly emotional about anything in this game save the aforementioned scene with Ridley and the flashbacks to her younger self, the latter of which is justifiable. Elaborate.

I did not notice that the Zero Suit had heels. I wasn't paying attention to her appearance that hard. That is pretty fucking senseless, though.

Now, here are a couple of actual problems I had with the story:

There are some definite changes I'd make to the story.

Spoiler

There are many things that could've been done better, but some things just needed to be changed completely/included. Like, say, there should've been better flashbacks to support this like, say, her not working well with teams and her screwing up on big time on a mission being behind the reason she left and the reason Adam doesn't trust her anymore. The Chozo also needed to be mentioned since they are a HUGE part of the Metroid series.

This game didn't have nearly as much story as I was anticipating and, for that, I'm actually disappointed. If it wasn't going to have as much story as advertised, then the game should've given you much more freedom to move around and explore.

Edit:

Spoiler

Oh, and Sector Zero. What the hell, guys? You couldn't have let us explore that area at least a little bit?

This post has been edited by ???????: 03 September 2010 - 04:57 AM

[Gold_TSG]

Just beat the game. I was surprised with the final boss and the plot twist, and the "bonus boss" caught me completely by surprise.

I agree with Marx about there not being enough story. Too much was left in the dark, and not enough of what WAS told was fleshed out enough. I still enjoyed the game, regardless, and now I can connect with Samus on a deeper level, thus raising my respect for the character.

[???????]

Hey, you know, the theater mode doesn't actually show full fights... I watched the final and bonus boss fights in there and much of those fights was skimmed over. I hope it doesn't do that for the normal gameplay segments.

Say, Gold, do you plan on doing a Hard Mode run anytime soon? Word has it that you're stuck with the amount of energy and missiles you start out with for the entire game. All expansions have been removed. Nothing about whether or not damage taken is increased or if damage done is lessened...

There are already many instances where enemies can knock off a full energy tank, especially those moments where you're meant to dodge right as a cutscene ends, so the amount of insta-death moments will increase a hell of a lot. Then there's the beginning of Sector 3...

I think I may start the mode either tomorrow or Sunday.

Edit:

Goddammit! There's no postgame in hard mode! That means no bonus boss fight... Actually, there are absolutely no rewards for beating Hard Mode at all based on what I just read.

Also, all but one of Ridley's attacks are insta-kills.

This post has been edited by ???????: 03 September 2010 - 07:57 PM

[Gold_TSG]

I honestly won't be bothering unlocking/beating hard mode. There's hard mode, then there's Ninja Gaiden normal mode (which is what Other M's hard mode is). I suffered enough in NG, thanks.

[NiGHTS Noob]

Really? Normal mode wasn't too bad in NG, although I am currently getting my ass handed too me all the way through hard mode. Although when I do bust it out I usually make it through a chapter each time so I can't ever say I'm stuck, just dying a lot. I died a lot in the NES ones too during the later stages though, so it doesn't bother me.

This post has been edited by NiGHTS Noob: 04 September 2010 - 12:31 PM

[Muzzy Roberto]

Ninja Gaiden only gets harder. Much, MUCH harder.

[NiGHTS Noob]

Oh, I know. I generally only die 3 or 4 times per stage now on hard, but I know it really ups the ante on the two levels harder than that.

[KennEH!]

I have yet attempt past chapter one in Master Ninja. Just thinking about it gives me the willies.