EC2151

But see then you have games like Half Life 2, and Portal... And Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, all which integrate story and gameplay flawlessly.

Final Fantasy V is my personal favorite of all the FFs, in terms of gameplay, characters, villains, and sidequests, it is the absolute most enjoyable to me. The SNES FFs are my favorite by far (along with FF1 and FF3), but V is the one that to me most personifies the series and what it should be: a grand adventure. The characters are cheesy but well-loved, the premise is absurd (a tree in a suit of armor?), and it's full of humor with just the right touch of drama to keep it from being some pretend sob-fest. I could go on all day about how much this game rocks (specifically the GBA translation of the game; which in my opinion is THE version of FFV to play, bar none). I'm glad (and surprised) to see this game getting the loving touch its amazing score deserves. Downloaded, and I eagerly await the next releases!

Exdeath is without a doubt the best Final Fantasy villain in the series. He's just so goofy, over-the-top, and stupidly cliche'd, that you can't help BUT love him. I mean, he's so corny, he starts off EVERY statement with "Mwah hah hah hah!" In fact, that can be mainly said of FFV in general. Instead of the moody FFIV and the operatic/melodramatic gem that is VI, this game just tries to have as much fun as possible, and succeeds in being THE most fun FF in the entire series. This is a great mix for a great and lovably stupid villain, with an equally cheesy and stupid name.

protip: Mute the trailer, and play it with this instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYdSLaVu9p4 Suddenly and quite magically, the game seems incredible.

To tell the truth, if Sakamoto would have, like, visited any Metroid fan forum, he would have found scores of fanfic writers who understood the series just as well (if not better lol) than him. But Japanese people just have this funny idea in their head that they are good story-tellers!

In an interview, Sakamoto said he is just as excited about looking at the bad impressions of the game as he is looking at the good impressions, so he can get a feel for what to continue and what to drop. To tell the truth, didn't the same thing happen with Fusion? Some folks complained, and as a result, we got Zero Mission. IE, one of the best games in the series (but Fusion was pretty great; better than ZM. ZM is still endlessly playable; it's my most played of the Metroid games). I know and can feel that this story-driven idea didn't necessarily work out, and it doesn't jive with the Samus that's seen in the rest of the series, but I have to believe and hope that Sakamoto is receptive to criticism just as much as he is praise, and will make a better game for it. That being said, I'm still playing Other M and I'm still wandering around Sector 1 wondering how the fuck i'm supposed to get some of these items. Plus that one expansion in Main Sector. You know which one. With the broken elevator. FUCK that expansion to death.

I doubt this is the last we've seen of Metroid games considering that this game is selling very damn well. Considering that it's topping sales charts all around.... Hey, nintendo, you see what happens when you ADVERTISE a fucking METROID TITLE?

I'd agree about the story, mostly. When it concerns Samus. I actually really liked the whole mystery regarding the Bottle Ship, the Deleter, and Madeline Bergman. I thought that was pretty exciting and always looked forward to each new plot development. The problem is that that plot took a backseat the monologuing.

To reiterate Bleck pages back: Samus actually has a pretty good character as established in the Metroid series. M2, Super, Prime, Fusion, Echoes... these all show Samus has some character and personality traits... As well as the fact that the gameplay shows Samus doing incredibly badass things constantly. So it's unfair to say that she has little character. It's not like Link, where there is quite literally NOTHING to go off of (outside of say, maybe Wind Waker). You know, I've been thinking: Most of Samus' dialogues in this game do not show any character whatsoever. She's usually just monologuing on stuff that had just happened. Or exposition. That's not exactly character development. EDIT: interesting topic on the infamous Ridley scene: http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/81909/ptsd-or-weakness-real-experts-on-why-samus-didnt-shoot/

The story for the most part works, outside of the S-0 scene for me, but it could have been written better, imo. Higgs is the best character of the game. He should be henceforth referred to only as MANthony Higgs. You mean END MAGNUS? NEVER HEARD OF IT BEFORE -evil smirk- and KILL HIM IF HE LIVES. HE WILL BE A THREAT TO MY EMPIRE

More specifically, the story was handled by Sakamoto, the creator of the series. Basically, a guy whose amount of dialogue he's written in past games can fit on a napkin. And boy does it show sometimes.

I'll admit, this is pretty great; I had a wonderful time listening to this track. I like Monsteropolis better, but only because i like Air Man's theme more than Quick Man's theme. They're both great, though, and I love the dedication the Megas put into their work.

I don't think the game is sexist, per se, but some of the hardest of the hardcore Metroid fans I associate with have had their faith in Sakamoto and Metroid's mythos severely shaken with the supposed sexism in the game. Mainly the sexist moments come from The scene where Adam shoots Samus from behind to disallow her in S-0, and this was completely in surprise and as a first resort. These guys argue (and probably rightly so) that considering how Samus slavishly followed Adam's orders the whole game (even to her own detriment), there was no need to shoot her. I mean, when Samus begged to go rescue Ian in the past and Adam said no, she still followed orders. Shooting her in this context may not have been intended to be sexist, but it certainly can come off that way. What they complain about is that the game actually wants you to celebrate the fact that a man just came out of nowhere, pot-shot Samus in cold-blood, left her weak and vulnerable, and brushes it off like it was nothing. Of course, I don't entirely see it that way, but I think that scene was not really written as well as it could have been. The other main moment is complaining that Samus' one act of independence from Adam, namely, leaving to become an independent bounty hunter, is seen in a negative light, as something she has to atone for (leaving the supervision of her male CO). Basically, every one of her actions is based off what Adam would think of her, and she is emotionally unstable in his presence. Again, I don't really see it that way, but I have a hard time sometimes disagreeing with SOME of the points being made (mainly the S-0 scene for me). Also, I don't mind Samus getting emotional every now and then; I mean, she has a tender side, but I always think the badass planet-destroyer should be first and foremost in the eyes of the gamer.

Ok, ok, point taken. However, can we still compare other artists to MJ?

I've heard of people getting the glitch, but it never happened to me. That kind of shit sucks, man.

A better handling of that scene would have been if he swooped in and surprised the shit out of her. And then did something like hold her arm cannon back. We'd have our respect for Samus and Anthony Higgs would have his best damn moment in the game. HEY! HEY PUNK! THAT'S NOT HOW YOU TREAT A LADY! As for her emotional state, the way I see it is that she only ever really opened up to her mentor, a few close friends, and the Hatchling. Seeing all three of them together would open up old wounds (though admittedly aspects of this were not handled as well as they could have been), which i accept and understand. Which is why her emotional state is so much more cool and collected in Fusion: she's doing what she's always been doing- going solo and bounty hunting.

The ONE thing I'll give to Hunters is that its soundtrack (except for the Hunters' themes/Guardian battles) was not too shabby. Each of the four times I completely finished its single-player rubbed me the wrong way immediately after you get done with the four planets the first time. The game design takes a HUGE nose-dive once you have to revisit the planets and have to fight Guardians in every major room. EDIT: As far as the Spoony review goes, he's right in some aspects, and not right in others. I think this game was made/designed around a deeper look into the Metroid mythos, for better or for worse. For someone to come in not very familiar with the Metroid series (and he admits he didn't beat it), it won't really be the same. I don't think the Samus character is as bad as he makes it out to be, as irreparably damaged. Far from it. Annoying in some aspects? You betcha. But ruined? No.

Though I don't want to start a ratings discussion, I think I'd rate the Metroid games (with Other M, though I REALLY need to get back to my dorm and replay it to better form my opinion) something like this: Super Metroid Metroid Prime (.1 off from SM) Metroid Fusion Metroid Prime 2 Echoes Metroid Zero Mission Metroid: Other M Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Metroid Metroid II Metroid Prime Pinball Hunters doesn't exist I mean, to put that in perspective, I LOVE Echoes (nearly every other forum my username is "Emperor Ing", my all-time favorite boss from the series). At the same time, I really enjoy playing through the original Metroid and have beaten it numerous times. And Prime Pinball is a shitload of fun and the best pinball game I've ever played. So it's by far not the best game in the series, but it's still a pretty damned good game in my eyes.

I love the series and really like the game, but that's pretty much what I'd recommend too.

After completing Other M, it's nice to play through Fusion and see how things I had previously thought true are now seen in a very different light. Like the aforementioned presence of Space Pirates. I had thought previously that they were there in Fusion because they were trying to rescue their leader (whose presence was also baffling). The truth is much worse, though. It's also interesting to see that after you kicked the total shit out of Nightmare in Other M, when you fight him in Fusion he's actually all busted up with broken machinery, and missing half of his body.

Remember to keep spoilers spoiler'd, pl0x. Also, my first run throughs of Prime 1 and Prime 2 took roughly 20 hours each (24 on the first, 22 on the second), with my first run of Corruption being 13 hours (never did a second run, but I'm working on it). Some spoilers concerning Fusion: A lot of folks are arguing that given the events in this game, Samus should have reacted WAY differently to the Metroid breeding program in Fusion or something, but I find it interesting that on playing Fusion again, she doesn't have a lot to say. Specifically, when she finds out about the Fusion breeding program, her line is "..." She gets REALLY upset when ADAM tells her that the GFEDs want to start cloning and utilizing the SA-X and the X-Parasite. Just something I thought I'd bring up. There isn't really much dialogue that sways Samus' reactions one way or the other. Like upon finding Nightmare, or stuff like that.

What a shocker!

You must stop her before she starts judging the humans.

Hm, I suppose that makes sense given the events of the game. Like I said, it'd be pretty gay to shit all over what the Prime series added to the mythos (which is a LOT).