Metroid: Other M

[Bleck]

There's no character to ruin.

uh Samus has a pretty well developed character

also I am not looking forward to cutscenes and character development because this is not really a thing that Team Ninja has ever been good at

[EC2151]

Team Ninja is not doing that, though. Sakamoto is doing that, and he (along with Gunpei) are basically the co-creators of Metroid.

Team Ninja handled the combat/other aspects of gameplay, Sakamoto and his Metroid crew handled game design, and D-Rockets handled cinematography and character models, I believe.

I also heard rumors that the guy who wrote that Infendo review admitted he didn't even finish the game.

I am getting this game delivered to me on Wednesday, with Amazon's 20-dollar bonus attached to it (to go towards my purchase of Sin and Punishment 2, another game i have been looking forward to, but not as much).

I've been a HUGE Metroid fan since I got hooked on the series with Metroid Prime (though my first Metroid game was MII: Return of Samus), and since have beaten every Metroid game. Just about everywhere else on the internet my username is "Emperor Ing", 'cuz he was a pretty cool boss fight.

I won't lie and say I'm not worried about the direction of the game regarding cutscenes, but from most impressions and most videos I've read, I have a feeling that this game will be a lot like a much bigger and more enriching version of Metroid Fusion, a game which I also really enjoyed.

And yeah I like to think Samus DOES have a well-developed character at least in the context of the series, though I will freely admit that Sakamoto is no master-writer, and that sometimes the huge plot holes between the Prime series and the regular series boggle my mind at points.

But that's all besides the point; more than anything, I've been waiting for a 'classic' Metroid game since Zero Mission and really hope at the very least the game sells well. Metroid has this bad propensity to A) not get good marketing or any marketing at ALL and most perplexingly not sell very well. At least good sales might deter another 8 year gap inbetween games, if that's even possible anymore.

[Toadofsky]

Bumping this old topic rather than making a new one.

So this is due out in a few days. Infendo did a review of it which I just read through. I'll still be picking this up, but I think I'll be sharing the reviewers views. Limited 1st person controls in comparison to Prime, Cut Scenes galore, and character development that the metroid-verse isn't akin to.

Anyone picking this up on Tuesday?

Rental. But seeing as how I can't skip the cutscenes, that frustrates me even more, I may just skip this game entirely.

And I called it on the crappy voicing months ago. When I started hearing trailers with Samus' "emo" voice, I knew something was wrong. Thanks Sakamoto, for forcing us to have to listen to Samus have "maternal issues".

Game designers REALLY need to quit trying to act like movie story tellers, some are not as talented as they think they are.

This just proves Retro understood Metroid better than Sakamoto with the first Metroid Prime.

Good luck to the poor chaps wasting their money on this game, if you enjoy it fine, don't be suprised if there's a lot that won't...

And it won't suprise me after the "newness" of the game has worn off, to hear people talk how bad this game really was in the long run...

[EC2151]

Retro may have understood Metroid pretty darn well at Metroid Prime, but I think we can all agree as the series progressed that understanding grew less and less...

Honestly, I think with Corruption, I think Retro should have fired most of their writing staff and given their salaries to the art staff.

And I'm kinda tired of every single hot-dog with a blogspot out there on the internet keeps on complaining about how this game will be different than the Prime series or how things are all changed from Prime and this is a point of complaint.

It's like these folk forgot there were other Metroid games before the Prime series. I'll be looking for comparisons to the 'main' series a whole lot more than I'll be looking for any indication of the Prime series.

[Tensei]

Gotta love how Prime-series Samus was voiced by motherfucking Jennifer Hale (one of the best VAs in the industry) and she only got to do a few grunts and screams whereas now when she has actual lines they pick some nobody.

I've watched the first 20 minutes of it and the whole baby schtick is really hamfisted and starts getting old quickly. At least the gameplay looks like fun.

[Arek the Absolute]

For some reason, Nintendo of America does not like to get quality voice actors.

FE PoR and FE RD are really good examples. I still don't know what they were thinking.

[liquid wind]

the dialogue seems very cheesy and there's supposed to be a lot of it, additionally, this uses sideways wii remote

other M is almost a lock to be the most disappointing game in the series

and yet samus doing CQC remains awesome...

[Toadofsky]

Retro may have understood Metroid pretty darn well at Metroid Prime, but I think we can all agree as the series progressed that understanding grew less and less...

Honestly, I think with Corruption, I think Retro should have fired most of their writing staff and given their salaries to the art staff.

And I'm kinda tired of every single hot-dog with a blogspot out there on the internet keeps on complaining about how this game will be different than the Prime series or how things are all changed from Prime and this is a point of complaint.

It's like these folk forgot there were other Metroid games before the Prime series. I'll be looking for comparisons to the 'main' series a whole lot more than I'll be looking for any indication of the Prime series.

I wrote about this new game on my Destructoid blog, I know other games of Metroid existed, Super Metroid is still one of my personal favorites.

As Retro went on with the Prime series IT DID get worse. Corruption was waaay too much like Fusion, in telling you were to go, and what you need to do.

There's a reason this game is coming out at the tail end of summer, because Nintendo wants it out of the way for a better game this winter, DKC Returns. It's like 1994 all over again.

[Deep Thought]

It's like 1994 all over again.

Woah. Was it that bad then, because I was way too young to remember that far back. I do remember SMW though.

[Schwaltzvald]

Some of us are pretty old, I remember being estatic being able to choose between duck hunt and SMB way back; hell the zapper I have stowed in the closet is fucking GREY, way before they decided to make it an obnoxious orange.

That said I remember picking up Super Metroid around May of '94 then Donkey Kong Country around December of '94. DKC was a bigger deal compared to SM as I remembered.

Nonetheless I loved them both.

What Toadofsky is saying is that Metroid: Other M is being released at possibly the worse time possible. It's being shuffled out asap so they can focus on DKC:R among other things. The same thing happened to Super Metroid way back in the late summer of '94.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Cyril the Wolf]

I'm such a fan boy.

Dammit.

I want Other: M to not suck so badly. (read: be as great as Super Metroid or Metroid Prime)

[Deep Thought]

Wow, I definitely need to read up on my Console Wars history. All I remember is growing up with my older bro's SNES and Genesis/Sega CD.

[Arek the Absolute]

YAAAAAAAAAAR

So, after engaging in some lengthy Other M play, I am really digging it. Team Ninja did a nice job with the combat and the story still feels like it fits *at least for how far I am in currently*. Learned a lot more about Adam, which is a nice thing.

Also, interestingly enough, I actually really like Samus's voice. It seems to fit.

[Schwaltzvald]

Wow, I definitely need to read up on my Console Wars history. All I remember is growing up with my older bro's SNES and Genesis/Sega CD.

It was not about the console wars during the mid 90's to mid 2000s. It was just bad timing all around. Think of it as releasing a movie in between after a release of a hugely successful film and another film that is coming around the corner that is expected to also be a huge deal.

Despite a positive critical reaction, the game sold poorly in Japan, but fared better in North America and Europe.

When the game launched in Japan, GamesRadar noted that it was released "at the wrong place, at the wrong time". Struggling against more commercially popular games, such as Donkey Kong Country in 1994, along with the launch of the PlayStation and Sega Saturn video game consoles, Super Metroid sold poorly in Japan. With the help of strong marketing from Nintendo, Super Metroid sold better in North America and Europe. However, all three games in the Metroid series up to that point did not reach the level of commercial success that both the Mario and The Legend of Zelda series reached, leading Nintendo to stop creating new games for the series, until the release of Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion on the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance, respectively, in 2002, eight years later

~ Super Metroid Article on Wikipedia

Metroid: Other M is seemingly looking to repeat history once again. Whether that would be the game is actually very good or initially flop remains to be seen as of this post.

Edit*

So, after engaging in some lengthy Other M play, I am really digging it. Team Ninja did a nice job with the combat and the story still feels like it fits *at least for how far I am in currently*. Learned a lot more about Adam, which is a nice thing.

Also, interestingly enough, I actually really like Samus's voice. It seems to fit.

This is good to hear~!

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Some of us are pretty old, I remember being estatic being able to choose between duck hunt and SMB way back; hell the zapper I have stowed in the closet is fucking GREY, way before they decided to make it an obnoxious orange.

That said I remember picking up Super Metroid around May of '94 then Donkey Kong Country around December of '94. DKC was a bigger deal compared to SM as I remembered.

Nonetheless I loved them both.

What Toadofsky is saying is that Metroid: Other M is being released at possibly the worse time possible. It's being shuffled out asap so they can focus on DKC:R among other things. The same thing happened to Super Metroid way back in the late summer of '94.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

And yet which game had more staying power years later?

I think Metroid Other M is gonna do just fine.

[Schwaltzvald]

And yet which game had more staying power years later?

I think Metroid Other M is gonna do just fine.

Oh I'm not arguing that it would fail, I'm stating that it's deja vu for some of us, myself included

[HoopyFrood]

I know I'm probably in the minority here but there's just something off putting to me about Samus doing CQC.

I don't know what it is but it just feels (to me anyway) wrong in a Metroid game.

[Calpis]

I felt really apprehensive when seeing the first videos of this game. Over the past year though, I've gotten excited for it. I'm a huge Super Metroid speedrun nut so all the references to the old games look awesome for me. I'm still worried about how the story will turn out, but the gameplay looks like a lot of fun. I actually reserved this game, and I haven't done that since Twilight Princess.

[Tables]

Well I preordered the game already from Amazon so there's no turning back now.

I was a little concerned when news of this game first came around, but only recently I started to have faith in it, what with actual advertising and finally watching a few gameplay videos. That one review was also worrying but reading the comments apparently the reviewer didn't know what he was talking about sometimes when it came to the gameplay. Still, it's too bad the story has to be the way it is (existent).

I'm going to try to have faith though... it's Metroid, right?

What can possibly

okay but they learned from that, right?

p.s Arek, did you meet Black Guy yet? And more importantly, do you remember him?

[Toadofsky]

What Toadofsky is saying is that Metroid: Other M is being released at possibly the worse time possible. It's being shuffled out asap so they can focus on DKC:R among other things. The same thing happened to Super Metroid way back in the late summer of '94.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

That was exactly my point. Even though there is a marketing push for this game, I think Nintendo has little faith in it, or they forgot how badly a few of the Metroid games sold.

[liquid wind]

And yet which game had more staying power years later?

I think Metroid Other M is gonna do just fine.

entirely debatable, DKC is still a classic

(personally I do prefer SM though, prolly in my top 3 games ever)

[EC2151]

A guy I know got hold of a review copy of the game and played it and subsequently wrote a review. This guy is probably a bigger Metroid fan than most (being the head of Metroid Database and all; he certainly writes through the eyes of a long-time admirer ofthe series and not some ding-dong at IGN), and some things to note from his review (he 100%'d it in 15 hours his first playthrough):

-hours go by without a cutscene. The story elements really are only there during the beginning, some stuff in the middle, and the very end

-gameplay is good, though the switch to FP mode takes getting used to. Also, Samus is very fast which also takes getting used to.

-the game is linear on par with Metroid Fusion (much in the same way, Adam loves to just lock doors once again, a trait he seems to have taken with him beyond the grave)

-the ship is HUGE, and there are LOTS of secrets jammed into nearly every room. In fact, the quote is "the best point of gameplay is the exploration"

-there is fan-service thrown in for the ol' diehard Metroid fans, though he wasn't specific as to what that meant. He said it was really enjoyable, but in hindsight it didn't make much sense

-the cutscenes look really good and Samus animates beautifully. You'll either like the voices or not. As for the plot, everything we've seen thus far is really only from the first four hours of the game, but one element of the plot leaves you scratching your head when all is said and done

All in all, he said this game is on par with Metroid Fusion. Not the Ultimate Other Metroid experience or whatever, and it could have gone with a bit more polish, but in the end it was intended ultimately for Metroid fans.

the review be here:

http://www.metroid-database.com/mom/review_Cap.php

This confirms what my suspicions I've had about the game as it has moved closer to launch. At the least I know -I'm- still going to enjoy the hell out of it.

Oh and as an aside, comparatively speaking, DKC was in some ways designed poorly. I think DKC2 was an infinitely better game, and a more fun and memorable one, at least in my opinion. I think Super Metroid is better even than that, but it's close. They're up there for me in that "my favorite games of all time" list.

[Lemonectric]

I'm going to try to have faith though... it's Metroid, right?

What can possibly

[hunters.jpg]

okay but they learned from that, right?

I lol'd. I still haven't finished that, and I probably never will. Too much physical pain to deal with for a mediocre game.

Fusion was my first Metroid, though, so comparisons between Other M and Fusion make me a little happy. Not that I wouldn't prefer something more like Prime or Super Metroid.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

entirely debatable, DKC is still a classic

(personally I do prefer SM though, prolly in my top 3 games ever)

I love me some DKC2(probably moreso than Metroid), but from what I've seen(unscientific), Super Metroid seems to have been the bigger favorite among gamers.

[Arek the Absolute]

Well I preordered the game already from Amazon so there's no turning back now.

I was a little concerned when news of this game first came around, but only recently I started to have faith in it, what with actual advertising and finally watching a few gameplay videos. That one review was also worrying but reading the comments apparently the reviewer didn't know what he was talking about sometimes when it came to the gameplay. Still, it's too bad the story has to be the way it is (existent).

I'm going to try to have faith though... it's Metroid, right?

What can possibly

okay but they learned from that, right?

p.s Arek, did you meet Black Guy yet? And more importantly, do you remember him?

Yes I met the black guy, and no, none of us will remember him when we see him. They do explain who is and why he asked that, though lol.

Also, hunters was a fun game : (