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Metroid: Other M


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Maybe women get up in arms about female portrayals because it's a big freaking deal and extremely important and the fact that you don't see it from your privileged position doesn't change that?

Look, where Samus' portayal in this game is concerned, I'm talking in hypotheticals until I see it for myself. But assuming she has been negative female stereotyped, this example would be a single grain of sand. Insignificant in and of itself and wholly unworthy of comment. But it would be joined by the millions of grains from other games, books, movies, TV shows, print ads, commercials, and attitudes in homes and on the street to form one hell of a smothering mass of misogyny that half the population of the world has to live under. So if some of us uppity women get annoyed and speak out on the subject, you'll just have to forgive our extreme rudeness at harshing your male privileged vibe.

It was pointed out that men suffer from stereotypes too. That's part of the exact same problem, but even so, these problems are not equal. Being the butt of a joke is a lot easier to shrug off when you're standing on the top level of society. When your competency, capability, reliability, independence, attitude, hire-ability, promote-ability, and so forth isn't scrutinized and questioned based on your sex and when everything associated with your sex isn't automatically placed on a lower tier of social importance.

Look, I don't want to hijack this thread and turn a discussion about Metroid into one on feminism. But ask yourself this. If a female gamer points at something in a game and says "I think that's sexist and here's why", what do you gain by arguing that her experience is somehow wrong? How does it hurt or threaten you?

The statement that "these days, nobody's that misogynistic" is sadly very wrong. Most of that hatred and inequality isn't overt. Rather, it seethes beneath the surface, a subtle attitude of society that reveals itself in a million tiny ways. This makes it seem normal, and any harmful attitude normalized becomes all the more dangerous to its victims.

I've said my piece. If you feel like telling me I'm wrong (or shock the hell out of me and actually accept that I'm on to something here), do it in a private message.

Where Other M in concerned, I'm a bit worried. The makers of this game have every right to design their game and portray their characters as they wish but that does not excuse them from criticism. I haven't been impressed with some of what I've seen so far and frankly, I find a bit of the reasoning pretty off (like the determination not to resort to the analog stick). Maybe the sense of it all will become clear when I finally play the game. I intend to go into it with as clean a slate as I can. This is the prelaunch and the general attitude is a pretty negative one. Here's hoping there's a sea change after this Tuesday.

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how about we go back to chat about how metroid other m is a great game

Can't, it has to prove itself first. Oh, I figure it will at least be as good as Fusion. Fusion is my least favorite in the series based on what I've played (haven't played Hunters). But it's still a good game. Anyway, expressing concerns about how the experiments tried in a new chapter in a beloved series isn't hating on it. I'm just not going to give it a free pass because Metroid is my favorite series.

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If a female gamer points at something in a game and says "I think that's sexist and here's why", what do you gain by arguing that her experience is somehow wrong?

being female does not make someone automatically understand sexism

that being said you sure did write a long post that has nothing to do with metroid

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No. No no no no no no. This is the same Hollywood pitfall other games and series have fallen into, and I do not want it to happen to Metroid. Metroid's awesome BECAUSE there is minimal story, BECAUSE it's all isolated exploration. That's why I'm not buying Other M (I'll borrow it and try it out first instead).

I realize I'm a bit of an extremist, but I loved Metroid, Super Metroid, and Metroid Prime because you were alone completely, no one to interfere. Sure, it feels empty, that's the point. Can you imagine the opening room of Phendrana Drifts if some idiot Galactic Federation trooper were there to welcome you? Even Prime 2 felt like it had a tad too much interaction, with having to go back to U-Mos every once in a while, but it was acceptable. Prime 3 was fun, but definitely not a Metroid game in the more strict definition (read: SERIOUS GAMERS LIKE MYSELF, WHO TAKE GAMES SERIOUSLY BECAUSE WE ARE SERIOUS GAMERS you get the point).

I totally respect your opinion! Most people Love Sonic, Metroid, Mario and Zelda for the same reason, that they keep it simple. To me though Metroid wasn't quite that kind of game, I always thought it looked like something more, that wasn't explored, so to me, getting a big story in a Metroid game is a dream coming true. BUT, if they don't give it a full effort, it's a horrible choice to go that way.

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how about we go back to chat about how metroid other m is a great game

Arek just how great is this game?

Actually, how do you feel about the third- to first-person switching? Does it feel intuitive enough or is there some getting used to it? Also being that there are only a few buttons on the Wiimote, how is weapon/item/morphball switching done?

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She's right you know, well for the most part, I can understand that POV.

Anyway about this, played it last night and I already got kind of "wtf" at the dialogue... It's just... not needed... When did Metroid become Final Fantasy VIII? It's like all of Hollywood, taking forever to explain everything... I realize that everyone thinks everybody is stupid but...No... not with my Metroid :(

Pretty game though, weird controls so far.

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you are right lets go back to you using this thread as an excuse for you to express your views on something that has nothing really to do with metroid

Read my full statement Sir Kneejerk. You said "let's write about how great a game it is". I'm saying We don't know how great a game it is yet. The haters who reject anything different the series dares do and the eternal defenders who will praise any idea no matter how questionable because the developers can do no wrong are equally annoying. I say wait and see and give it a fair shake.

(and I said that explicitly to move back on topic, any allusion to previous discussion matter will be ignored unless it's put into a PM, since I recognize it's an unwelcome tangent)

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Well after 6 years lurking OCR I have finally joined the forum.

Jesus Christ people, I have been playing the game since Wednesday [neighbor is manager at the local Bloackbuster, the perks are endless] and my god is it amazing, its not everything I expected it to be but face it this is the video game worldthat doesn't cater to fanboys who overly criticizes EVERYFUCKINGTHING before the game even comes out its sa.. damming the game before it even comes out, the only thing that bother me more then over critique is spoiled brats which is what a lot of you are acting like.

I'm about a quarter of the way through [pulled babysitting duty which hampered my playthrough so far] and its safe top say that I'll be getting this on Tuesday so I can mount it on top of my entertainment stand and never open it, WiiFlow is a great ally in preserving games, lol never having to open them if you can get your hands on another copy.

As for the controls as somebody asked previous

A = Morph Ball Mode

D-Pad = Move [derp]

B = Engages you Neck to move around when in FP Mode

1 = Fire/Charge Beam[Hold]/Morph Ball Bomb/Charge for Power Bomb[Hold]

2 = Jump

Point Mote Up + A = Recharge Missiles and if under 20 overall health fills stock energy tank

There are enemy specific kills, certain enemys you can jump on and samus auto charges her gun and OHKO's some enemys which is cool, I have marked out many a time in the 5 or so hours I've been able to give this game.

and thats all I can remember right now [Hungover from a UFC party] but for those damming the game right off the bat, you should be ashamed for yourselfs thats just as bad as those graphic whores damming Alan Wake on the 360 [because it didnt run 100% in 1080p in certain parts of the game but then again what runs in full 1080p all the time?

And one last thing before I go, since I use USB Launching for my games I get the benefit to see how big the game is content wise and it is the largest game on the Wii I've seen this side of Brawl [which was 6.4GB IIRC] and this is nearly pushing 8GB on a dual layer DVD which is probably going to start the "LOL cinematics" complaints.

But yeah, Game of the Year? I think not. But a well designed and played out Metroid game? Hells Fucking Yes!

Qwit yer bitchin' and play the fucking game.

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Pretty much all the reviews I've read rate the gameplay as either pretty good or only decent, and EVERYONE panned the cutscenes for being absolute shit. Which is good, we shouldn't have cutscenes and Sakamoto should be limited to three lines of dialogue in every game he makes until he proves himself.

Definitely not buying. I might borrow, but hey, I'd rather see Nintendo go, "hey look, a cinematic Metroid didn't do well," with poor sales numbers to back it up than for them to go, "hey look, a cinematic Metroid got panned for its cinematics, but sold like hotcakes."

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It's getting hard to wait for the game. I read elsewhere that the division of pre-release opinion is only upping the anticipation and I have to agree with this statement. I foolishly passed up my chance for a review copy and now I'm bitter that I haven't already played it ;-)

But going back and appreciating the older games in the series is a great way to pass the time. If you don't have time to play them yourself or just can't get enough Metroid, then head on over here to read my count down to release articles dedicated to the Metroid series. We also have our Other M review up.

The review is a safe read, but warning on the Looking Back series, it's in depth and full of spoilers.

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Unless you're just referring to the switching system itself, which I didn't really mind.

That is what I meant, yes.

I didn't mind it so much when I first played it, but it did get pretty annoying by the end of the game. The control scheme in Fusion and Zero Mission worked so much better, that Super Metroid is hard to go back to now.

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Yay for buddies with connections! I went on a good ole fashioned gaming binge today and finished the game in about 8 and a half hours with 50% item collection.

For a frame of reference, I'm new to Metroid. First game in the series I played was Prime. Played through Prime 2 and Corruption just lost my interest about 3/4s through.

TLDR version: Plays like a watered down Ninja Gaiden. Combat and exploration is fun, dialog/writing is horrible.

In depth:

First off, the cut scenes are pretty bad =\. That said, you only have to sit through it in the begining and end of the game. The writing is just... not good. Things are hammered at you over and over and over again. You know the trend games have been having where they highlight keywords so you don't miss something? It's like that, but very over the top. Voice acting is good, they just weren't given a lot to work with. Samus seems baby crazy towards the start of the game and her inner monologue gets old fast. I personally don't see her as purely cold hearted and emotionless. I felt the times where she did "let loose" were called for, but a little over the top. The story seemed pretty generic. Music was okay. Pretty atmospheric, nothing I'll be humming for days though.

Gameplay is great. Mario Galaxy 1&2 were the last games to pull me in this much. Combat is just plain fun. The one little hick-up is the switch to first person. There's that window where you don't really know where the wiimote is pointed in relation to the screen. It's almost a non issue if you're trying to lock onto something. I really only used it when it was necessary to look around for secrets, and shooting missiles. Overall it was a pretty easy game (and I don't flex my gaming muscles much these days either). I had to restart a few boss fights after learning their tricks, but it was overall it wasn't too hard. (I still need to grab all the items though).

Minor Spoilers:

The weapon system is kinda lame. You don't find your gear, it get's unlocked when deemed nessasary. The upgrades just stack onto your default weapon. So once you get the freeze beam, it's always active even after you get the next weapon. Combat gets pretty easy if you use the quick dodge system since it instantly charges your shot to full. It boils down to hold 1, dodge, release. Rinse repeat.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the game. Felt a little short... Was not expecting to beat it in one, albeit long, sitting. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 8.5. If the writing were polished more, a 9. It's hard for me to get excited about gaming these days, but this game did it.

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but for those damming the game right off the bat, you should be ashamed for yourselfs thats just as bad as those graphic whores damming Alan Wake on the 360 [because it didnt run 100% in 1080p in certain parts of the game but then again what runs in full 1080p all the time?

I will not be ashamed for "damming" a game that is not as good as it could and should be

and actually no it's nothing like that

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I don't quite understand the sexism sentiment. Granted, I'm not very far into the game, however, so far it seems as though they are doing a nice job of showing Samus as a person. It seems to be indicating that she feels conflicted as shown in the beginning where she both relishes and hates being called "lady".

I feel that the FMVs are down right silly in their execution though. I respect their try, but it is very awkward.

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