Metroid Topic

[Gregzilla]

The Deleter subplot would have been a bit more interesting if the teammates themselves were likable in any capacity. If they were enjoyable, well-developed characters, I might have been more invested in wanting to figure out who is killing them off, and why.

Of course, it still wouldn't have made up for the fact that the writers forgot to resolve this conflict. I suppose one could argue that they wanted the player to figure it out for themselves, but that's asking way too much of the player in such a poorly-made plot. So there are two possibilities: they just forgot, or they had their heads up their ass and wanted to create a mystery for the players to solve themselves. Take yer pick!

The only characters that I liked in this game were Anthony and MB.

You liked MB? Huh. She was one of the characters I hated the most in that game, personally. I found her backstory uninteresting, her personality unlikable, and overall I just think

putting the mindset of Mother Brain, one of the most iconic villains of the franchise, into a generic blond woman was just a stupid idea.

[Soniman]

Not to mention MB amounted to nothing in the end, her entire story was one of the biggest anti-climaxes I seen in a long time.

[Old dead account]

But what would it add to anything?

I don't know but it could have been more drama done right at least. Like Samus saving Adam from him at the last second...they'd have to make adam likeable though.

MB fight was shit since she was killed by random grunts, they could have resurrected the MB T-rex since they already went ahead and rehashed 3 other big bosses (Ridley is excusable)

Also, I just realized:

[Octarine]

The game seemed like it couldn't decide what it wanted to do with MB; all of the information we learn about her is saved for an infodump at the very end and the scant interaction with her before that was all basically a lie, so the game was clearly betting everything on the big "twist", but

she's not even really Mother Brain, exactly, just sort of like Mother Brain, so saving her entire identity up for the twist was pointless. She doesn't seem to have any of Mother Brain's memories, she doesn't mock Samus over the deaths of THE BABY or the Chozo or anything, she's just a sad psychic robot clone girl whose entire life story is told in a seven-minute infodump.

As far as I recall, anyway; it's only been about a month and a half since I finished Other M, but the story's already become sort of a greasy blur.

...also, in a game that's the most story-heavy entry in the series and that's full of flashbacks to and monologues about Samus' pre-bounty hunter days, would it have killed them to mention the Chozo even once? Y'know, the guys who raised Samus from preschool age, gave her training and genetic superpowers, entrusted her with her trademark ancient holy power armour and created the Metroids? It didn't occur to anyone that being a superhero space messiah who was raised by giant bird aliens might have been a better reason for Samus to have felt distant from her squadmates than... sexism, because apparently there are no regular female soldiers in the GF military?

[Gregzilla]

Not only does the lack of Chozo references severely hinder the story's potential in the series, it really contributes to the lifeless feel the game has. Previous areas of the series were rich with Chozo artifacts and lore, at times making the game lean heavily towards fantasy in addition to sci-fi. Take away that element, and you're left with something far less interesting. The game simply becomes a space action game, not a mystical journey across an engrossing world.

What I love about the good Metroid games is their ability to seamlessly mix the ancient elements like the Chozo with futuristic elements like the Space Pirate technology. Both compliment each other wonderfully to create a truly memorable experience. One without the other is like separating the chocolate and the peanut butter from a Reese's cup. Both parts might still be enjoyable on their own, but their missing that special something that they can only achieve as one whole.

[Semi-colon e]

Yeah I thought MB was bland as well. I see what they were trying to do, but the whole personality change was just lame to me, and didn't really have any depth. It was just "oh no they're trying to take my consciousness but rather than the plot actually exploring that, I'm just gonna become generically evil and human hating".

I kind of liked the real Madeline Bergman though, I kind of like how she was really scared of Samus and then Samus was all socially awkward yet trying to help. Also she actually managed to survive everything, that's a pretty good bonus. You can tell she's clearly met with a lot of regret about what happened on the Bottle Ship, it's too bad it was an expodump. Too little, too late.

And the other guys were pointless just because none of them were developed. It wasn't the lack of development alone though, I mean even Anthony didn't have much, it's that you barely saw them and they all died so quickly it was worthless.

Also I understand why they didn't have a full fight with MB (because the Queen Metroid was the actual final boss, and one of the most fun in the game aside from not telling you that the Power Bombs have been activated) but it was still retarded. Maybe it MB was actually Mother Brain and there was a personal thing between her and Samus going on, then they had a final fight of sorts, that would have been cool. It's like everything that could have had a really interesting or cool climax was just dropped. The deleter plot was dropped. All the characters died before anything happened. MB was bland as shit. Madeline Bergman was introduced far too late to be worth anything. Adam's death was neutralised by the fact he was horribly written (I'm convinced Adam isn't a villain or some shit, it's just Sakamoto wrote him retardedly).

Edited September 8, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Emmett L. Brown]

To me the only genuinely enjoyable part of Other M is the brief period where Adam is missing, presumed dead, and Samus decides she's had it up to here with the stupid authorisation thing and starts activating suit functions without permission. That was the one part where I was going "Yes, finally! Samus is acting like Samus for the first time in the game!"

...and then the shot in the back happened.

Now I wanna talk about that specific event. Samus Aran, whose Chozo designed power suit has made her the ultimate warrior in the galaxy, capable of withstanding direct exposure to lava, being frozen solid, any amount of laser fire and ballistic weapons...is shut down with ONE. SHOT.

The pinnacle of Chozo technology, far surpassing anything the Federation or Space Pirates could manufacture, is rendered inoperable by a single blast from Adam's gun. You could say that "Oh, you see Samus's suit is tied to her confidence so seeing Adam betray her made it weaken" but that's bullshit because Samus doesn't see who shoots her until her Power Suit is offline.

Just the fact that there exists a weapon in the Metroid verse that can effectively kill Samus with 2 shots really undermines what's supposed to be the entire point of the series: Namely that Samus is the one and only person capable of dealing with the Metroid menace alone - that when the Federation fails to deal with a Space Pirate fortress they send Samus Aran and call it a day.

One shot.

What the hell!?

[\gunther]

Metroid is a series that I always enjoyed but haven't gotten too into until recently.

My first game from the series was Zero Mission, which I played when it came out. I got stuck at some point, and then I stopped playing and the cart vanished. Other than a few instances where I played friends' copies of the Prime games, that was my only real extensive exposure to the series until recently.

Being that I got my 3DS on launch day like the Nintendo bitch I am, I was given the Ambassador Titles. Among them was Metroid Fusion, which I beat early last month. I gotta say, it's among the most fun games that I've played recently (I can't begin to gush about how effective of a villain the SA-X is). I think that the slightly more linear nature of the game (compared to the other titles) really helped hook me, and since beating it, I now I have an incredible interest in getting to know the series a lot more. I've been reading up on the series' backstory (which is a fuckton more extensive than I originally thought) and just beat Zero Mission (which I enjoyed about as much as Fusion).

I think it's safe to say that the series is close to securing a place in my favorite franchises. I've got a Japanese version of Super Metroid coming in the mail in a few days, and I'm also attempting to find the Prime Trilogy compilation for a decent price (which is harder than it sounds orz). Can't wait until I can bitch about Other M like the rest of the internet~!

Also I own this now

Edited September 8, 2012 by Grandpa Anime Lord

[Solkia]

^that figure reminds me

Where were the nubs on Samus's stupid ball things in Other M?

[Blue Wisp]

Holy crap that's the Figma figure of Samus. REALLY sweet.

Also, what nubs?

[Solkia]

Holy crap that's the Figma figure of Samus. REALLY sweet.

Also, what nubs?

Type in Samus Aran in Google Images and look at the shoulders, since I can't fucking post the pictures for some reason.

[Kuzu]

Type in Samus Aran in Google Images and look at the shoulders, since I can't fucking post the pictures for some reason.

You mean those orbs? That's the Varia Suit, it's basically her default armor since Prime 1.

[Blue Wisp]

Type in Samus Aran in Google Images and look at the shoulders

Oh yeah I see them now. They're missing in the Other M model apparently.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Blue Wisp

[Solkia]

You mean those orbs? That's the Varia Suit, it's basically her default armor since Prime 1.

I know that, I'm saying it's missing the nub things from previous installments :U

[Old dead account]

You mean these right?

I rather liked those

[Kuzu]

I guess they wanted to make it look more like the original suit.

[Emmett L. Brown]

I'm halfway through the Phazon mines of Metroid Prime now and I'd forgotten the amazing amount of flavour text that goes into the game. Space Pirates aren't allowed to have pets because they're susceptible to Phazon Madness; the giant mushrooms in the quarantine caves were deliberately engineered to serve as food for Elite Pirates; and of course the hilarious details of Space Pirate test subjects who were horribly mutilated when trying to use replicated morph ball technology.

More than that, it's the thought that goes into patching each plot hole that really gets me.

Q: Why are there no Space Pirates in the Chozo Ruins?

A: Because the Chozo Ghosts attacked and killed off most of the pirates that tried to venture there.

Q: Why don't the Space Pirates try going after Samus's spaceship?

A: They do. They literally can't find it, because it's apparently got some special cloaking system that makes it undetectable to them.

Q: Why do the Space Pirates develop Heat Detection and X-Ray visors?

A: To search for particularly choice concentrations of Phazon, and to locate the hidden Chozo Artifacts, respectively.

Q: Why are the Elite and Omega Pirates kept in giant freeze tanks?

A: Because the Phazon infusion reduces their lifespan so significantly that they have to be kept in suspended animation until they're needed to fight.

Q: Why do the Space Pirates leave all their info available out in the open?

A: They don't. It's heavily encrypted. Your scan visor is just that awesome, and the pirates predictably freak out when they realise that.

Q: Why can't the Space Pirates find any of the Chozo Artifacts when the locations are stated right on the temple pillars?

A: Because they can't read a word of Chozo. Your scan visor is either that awesome, again, or Samus just knows the language from being raised by those cool birds.

...and so on. Somebody actually went through the entire plot and settings and went to work finding everything that didn't make sense and then explaining it.

[Blue Wisp]

I'm halfway through the Phazon mines of Metroid Prime now and I'd forgotten the amazing amount of flavour text that goes into the game. Space Pirates aren't allowed to have pets because they're susceptible to Phazon Madness; the giant mushrooms in the quarantine caves were deliberately engineered to serve as food for Elite Pirates; and of course the hilarious details of Space Pirate test subjects who were horribly mutilated when trying to use replicated morph ball technology.

More than that, it's the thought that goes into patching each plot hole that really gets me.

Q: Why are there no Space Pirates in the Chozo Ruins?

A: Because the Chozo Ghosts attacked and killed off most of the pirates that tried to venture there.

Q: Why don't the Space Pirates try going after Samus's spaceship?

A: They do. They literally can't find it, because it's apparently got some special cloaking system that makes it undetectable to them.

Q: Why do the Space Pirates develop Heat Detection and X-Ray visors?

A: To search for particularly choice concentrations of Phazon, and to locate the hidden Chozo Artifacts, respectively.

Q: Why are the Elite and Omega Pirates kept in giant freeze tanks?

A: Because the Phazon infusion reduces their lifespan so significantly that they have to be kept in suspended animation until they're needed to fight.

Q: Why do the Space Pirates leave all their info available out in the open?

A: They don't. It's heavily encrypted. Your scan visor is just that awesome, and the pirates predictably freak out when they realise that.

Q: Why can't the Space Pirates find any of the Chozo Artifacts when the locations are stated right on the temple pillars?

A: Because they can't read a word of Chozo. Your scan visor is either that awesome, again, or Samus just knows the language from being raised by those cool birds.

...and so on. Somebody actually went through the entire plot and settings and went to work finding everything that didn't make sense and then explaining it.

And this is why the Metroid Prime series is so indubitably awesome. I kind of wish we got another Metroid Prime game, I don't see how it'd work but they could find a way to do it.

[Gregzilla]

Goddammit, Retro, I love you. But another thing about Metroid Prime is that, like Super Metroid (only with more detail), the majority of the story is told through the environment. This really adds to the air of mystery that the game has. If you don't read any of the extra scanned information, you're missing out on a lot of details, but you still have a goal to reach and the game still works perfectly fine. The depth of the story depends on how much time the player wants to personally put in to discover it.

And for this reason, I actually didn't even think about any of those potentially plot-hole-inducing questions. They didn't even cross my mind, because the game felt like it was supposed to be mysterious. The fact that Retro took the time to resolve these little extra details just shows how much love they put in to their project.

Conversely, having such questionable moments in Other M just doesn't work. The game was designed around spoon-feeding exposition to you, so if some things didn't add up, it just made the plot seem that much more poorly constructed.

[Old dead account]

Interesting things in those prime plothole fillers. I also like the ones from Prime 2 & 3, outlining Luminoth history, and in Prime 3 you had the history of Bryyo with the lords of science vs the nature people, the history of Elysia's robot people race created by the chozo and all the lore on the pirate homeworld explaining how they started off fighting dark Samus and then when she corrupted them how they started seeing the error of their ways how they all praise her like a god now. I don't remember whether it wxplains Ridley's new comeback though.

[Gregzilla]

Speaking of Ridley's comebacks, I wish they would stop with the death and resurrection thing. Killing your worst enemy doesn't hold much weight when he never stays dead. I think they should just have him get defeated without dying every now and then, so when the time comes when he finally gets killed, it actually is significant.

I suppose Ridley-X counts, since that was the last game chronologically and he hasn't come back, but could that really qualify as fighting Ridley? My favorite thing about fighting Ridley in the Prime games was that you knew you were fighting the one responsible for the death of your parents and the leader of the evil Space Pirates, your worst nemesis. But in Other M it was a clone, and in Fusion it was an X-infected version of that clone. I want to think that the clone keeps the personality and memories of the original Ridley, because otherwise fighting him doesn't seem as cool.

[Candescence]

Speaking of Ridley, I know everyone hates the whole scene before his fight in Other M because it's apparently so out of character for Samus, but I've also heard the argument that it's a textbook case of PTSD, and even been described as such by someone who actually suffers from it. I know it's a clone and all, but considering the last time Samus fought Ridley she obliterated him completely along with Zebes, so I can't possibly be the only one thinking that perhaps Samus really was wondering if it was impossible for her to kill that son of a bitch once and for all, because no matter what she tries the bastard KEEPS COMING BACK. I mean, fuck me, you'd think some people would actually lose hope from that kind of realization.

[Emmett L. Brown]

Well, there's the thing. If a character is acting out of character due to an in-story reason, you have to actually point that out in-story. All we've got is a partial flashback to an event that's never been mentioned or referenced in the entire game series (that Ridley killed Samus's parents when she was a child in a manga that's condradictory even to Other M), and Samus freezing up.

Since Samus spends so much of the game talking and talking and talking about her feelings and everything we just saw in a cutscene twenty seconds ago, it'd pretty much be mandatory for us to swallow that freeze-up that she actually give us some explanation "Seeing Ridley caused me to freeze up because of..." What?

Comic books have a line that's very useful for this. You have a side-character talk about the main character and say "He/she hasn't been himself lately." Correct use of that line tells the reader that the writers are aware that said main character has been acting unusually and that they're going somewhere with it. Other M never gives the viewer any indication that this characterisation of Samus Aran is deviant from how she's been throughout the rest of the series. Hell, in Sakamoto's twisted imagination it's probably dead-on.

[VO.SUPER]

But she was reacting in fear. A more appropriate reaction would be if she was simply frozen in place, or sent into a bloodrage against the clone.

But noooooo, the scene needed to show Samus as a child to show that she's still afraid of Ridley on the same level as she was as a child. That's something for a first or second reencounter, but not the 4th or 5th.

[Gregzilla]

Plus, for more casual players, they might not even be aware that Ridley is responsible for so much pain and suffering in Samus' life. If they didn't know the history of their rivalry, they would probably be pretty confused as to why she's suddenly pissing herself. Especially the shot where Samus reverts to her 3-year-old self. It's supposed to be like a flashback, but since the background doesn't change at all, it's like she's just turning into a crying baby right then and there. People unfamiliar with her childhood backstory would probably find this very weird.

Being familiar with Metroid lore, the scene made a bit more sense, but they still went way overboard with it. I can understand maybe freezing for a second or being short on breath, but going so far as to lose control of her power suit and leave herself vulnerable was just ridiculous.

But wait, I know most of the comic is contradicted by Other M, but wasn't the scene where Ridley killed her parents still left intact? I assumed the PTSD scene was calling back to it in some capacity. I thought that was always somewhat official.