miffy495

Metroid: Other M

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I know I need to stop getting my hopes up about wii games on this forum, but it's been out for over a week now and I was wondering if anyone else was playing it. I've put about 4 hours in now, and after adjusting to the controls, I'm really liking it a lot. The story so far isn't terrible, though the acting most certainly is. Samus herself sounds like a text-to-speech program, and your best buddy "I'm a black stereotype written by a Japanese man" McGee is mildly offensive at best, but the story isn't really why you come to a Metroid game anyway, is it? It gets the atmosphere really well. Not as good as the Prime games, but about on par with the feelings evoked by the GBA entries, Fusion and Zero Mission. The combat is actually really nice once you adapt yourself to the weird controls, though I do find myself wishing for an analogue stick more often than I'm sure Nintendo or Team Ninja hoped. While we're on the subject of Team Ninja, it's really fucking nice to play a game they made where I don't feel like a pervert for playing it. Samus is almost always in full armour, which is a huge relief after worrying about what they may do with the Zero Suit. For some reason, her armour disintegrates when you die, leaving you staring at a collapsed Zero Suit Samus with a "GAME OVER" written on your screen, but that's about it. All things considered, Smash Bros Brawl was more pervy than this, and that's a weird thing to realize. Aside from horrible voice acting, I'm liking this game WAY more than I thought I would. So yeah, anyone else playing? Any thoughts on things?

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I'm planning to play it, but I'm in the middle of Red Steel 1 & 2 right now for Wii.

So time to play Metroid Other M will come, but I just need to try and do things in order now.

I've heard and read lots of good news about the game so I'm pretty excited to get to play it at some point. I'm not exactly a hardcore Metroid player as previously I've only played the two GBA Metroid games and Metroid Prime: Hunters for DS. I've only once tried out Metroid Prime at a friend's place. I've never even played Super Metroid which is a shame. That is also on my list for the future.

I have a good feeling about the game, I like the idea to go away from the FPS gaming and back to the roots Metroid series as "a sideways scroller" even though it's not exactly like that I think.

I liked all the commercials for Metroid: Other M and it's been really funny to follow the internet's reaction that "Nintendo is copying Microsoft/Sony/whatever by making live action commercial for their game" even though Nintendo did live action commercials about Metroid already in the beginning of 90's.

I watched from the European Nintendo channel the about 20 minute long video discussion from the developers, it gave a lot of information why they chose to do things like they did in Metroid: Other M. The story video for Metroid: Other M that was released a few weeks ago was also really cool. As I haven't played the game I don't really know about the voice acting, but at least in the videos the actress voicing Samus seems ok enough.

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Oh man, she's awful. It's so bad that I'm not even convinced she understands English. She sounds like she actually has no idea what the words she's saying mean. Everyone else is competent, if stereotypical and flat, but she is completely terrible. I've usually had a decent tolerance for bad VO in games, but this one is ridiculous. Every time there's a cutscene, I end up laughing. That can't be what they intended.

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Its definitely on my "to buy" list. I've played through the 3 primes and since then bought fusion on GBA and downloaded Super metroid on the virtual console, so I suppose I'm abit of a hardcore metroid fan :P(all I'm missing is one of those PVC metroid figure's which is like $200 or something).

I've purposely not actually read any reviews on it so that I don't spoil the game once I do get it. All I've watched is the first trailer that came out when it was shown at E3 I think.

not looking forward to the cut scenes though... or am I ;)

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Its definitely on my "to buy" list. I've played through the 3 primes and since then bought fusion on GBA and downloaded Super metroid on the virtual console, so I suppose I'm abit of a hardcore metroid fan :P(all I'm missing is one of those PVC metroid figure's which is like $200 or something).

...and Metroid 1, 2, Zero Mission, Prime Pinball, Hunters, and a copy of the Prime Hunters Demo that came packed in with launch DSes. I may be too much the Metroid fan, I guess. I don't know why I held on to that demo, but it's a level that didn't make it into the final game, so I can't bear to let go of it. Also, the pinball game is surprisingly good.

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I really don't know if I'm going to get this game or not... The story seems just dreadful.... You guys know the Ridley thing, right? That doesn't make sense at all, you can't go from being frozen with fear at the mere thought of him in one game and then being cool as cucumber when you meet him in the rest....:shifty:

If the made a version without motion control, I'd probably but it, but the motions controls made me despise Metroid Prime on the Wii and if you combine that with the dreadful story and acting... Yeah...:blink:

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Actually, I haven't seen a single thing that uses motion control yet. It uses the sensor to know if you're holding the remote vertically (in order to recharge your missiles) but the only time the Wiimote is actually used as anything more than an NES style pad is when you're manually aiming your missiles. I don't actually know the Ridley thing, but if he's anything like how he was in MP1, I'd be fucking terrified to fight him too. That was one of the hardest boss fights ever. If they're saying that Samus is paralyzed with fear to fight him, they're catching how I would feel pretty accurately.

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I also heard that you need it to scan the are for clue or something?

You didn't hear about it? It's the main complain about the game! I don't mind that Samus has feelings and all that rot and I wouldn't have minded if she feared an enemy... that was exclusive to this game! If she was really that afraid of him, she would some some reaction in the other games, but she doesn't so this doesn't make sense! :erm:

Imagine they made a Sonic 0 in which Sonic was more afraid of Robotnik than Scooby of a ghost, could really believe this is the same Sonic that taunts Robotnik everytime he meets him?

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Having read all of that, I have to say that so far what I have seen that G4 is calling sexism I would simply call bad writing. In Fusion, there was a lot of dialogue about the almost father/daughter relationship between Samus and Adam Malkovich, so having that played up by Other M feels more to me like ham-fisted expansion on what was already established. He was the only person she respected during her time in the service, and having that reciprocated was important to her. Saying that she has become subservient and is simply waiting on a man to give her the word to do something seems to be an oversimplification of the relationship they had established in previous games. Again, that's not to say that Other M portrays this well, but from the context of the series I can understand Samus' motivations in that regard. As I said before, I'm actually impressed with the amount of restraint Team Ninja has shown with this, as Samus remains covered and a badass throughout (at least the 4 hours I've played so far of) the game. That said, I still found it amazingly stupid when I was taking heat damage from the environment for 20 minutes before getting a radio transmission telling me to "activate my Varia suit functionality to prevent damage from heat." What the fuck? As for the Ridley thing, I haven't run into it yet, and the first I'd heard of it was from Tanukitsune. I'll probably just have my eyes gloss over as another terrible cutscene happens like every time. And again, after the fight in MP, I can completely understand being terrified of Ridley. Dude kicked my ass more times than I can count.

Tanu, the scanning thing is horrible, but still not a motion sensor thing. I've run into it 3 times now. The game shows a cutscene, then stops while you do a pixel-hunt with the pointer until you find whatever it wants you to look at, then another cutscene happens. It's pretty damn weird, and breaks flow terribly, but not a motion sensor thing and rare enough so far that I can look past it.

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What saddens me are all the moronic, kneejerk reactions from the people in the comments, most of which amount to, KEEP YOUR DAMN DIRTY POLITICS/CRITICISM TO YOURSELF, WHORE. WE WANT YOU TO COUNT POLYGONS AND TELL US HOW MANY LEVELS THE GAME HAS, NOT INTERPRET THINGS AND RUMINATE ON IMPLICATIONS OF CREATIVE DECISIONS.

_:pan:

:gaming:_________:tdown::(

Fucking video gamers, how do they work? I can't even comment on shit like this any more. It makes me so fucking livid. There is nothing constructive worth saying on the matter. Fuck G4 and their fucking readers, fuckerly fuckering fuck.

:fart:;( ;( ;(

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Yeah, keep in mind this is coming from someone who tries to be pretty conscious of sexism in games. If I weren't so into the Metroid story and knew all the background crap, I probably would be on board with the G4 reviewer. As it is, I see the narrative reasons for why Samus is deferring to Adam. Still, I'd much rather see someone bring this up when it is worth discussing (as it is in this case I think) than have them "keep their dirty politics to themself." That shit sucks, and is why I never read comments on any site ever, with the exception of Idle Thumbs posters on this forum. Again, in this case I see it more as bad writing in general than sexism, but there is certainly a point to be debated here.

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What saddens me are all the moronic, kneejerk reactions from the people in the comments, most of which amount to, KEEP YOUR DAMN DIRTY POLITICS/CRITICISM TO YOURSELF, WHORE. WE WANT YOU TO COUNT POLYGONS AND TELL US HOW MANY LEVELS THE GAME HAS, NOT INTERPRET THINGS AND RUMINATE ON IMPLICATIONS OF CREATIVE DECISIONS.

_:pan:

:gaming:_________:tdown::(

Fucking video gamers, how do they work? I can't even comment on shit like this any more. It makes me so fucking livid. There is nothing constructive worth saying on the matter. Fuck G4 and their fucking readers, fuckerly fuckering fuck.

:fart:;( ;( ;(

I think a loooooot of people share in your frustration. It's tough to not become jaded and have a growing resentment for Video game players. It's communities like this that make me go "You know, it's not so bad". Though it seems places like this are utterly rare.

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For some reason I don't have this yet. I chalk it up to school. I have a gift card to cover the purchase too.

I can't add anything to the conversation yet, really, but I can say that a few really negative reviews haven't made much difference to me. The game has always had me excited from the very first Flippy-McTwist-Kick trailer at that one E3. The whole critical reception to me is just a classic case of 'you can't please everyone'.

Should Samus talk or not?

Should games in a series use completely new mechanics or just refine old familiar ones?

Should Samus lose her powers at the beginning of the game or be authorized to use them?

About the motion controls, isn't there some motion? Miffy, can you jump in morph ball mode with a controller shake a la Prime 3/Trilogy? Or do you just press the jump button?

Also, I've read about dodging out of first person view, which gives you a full charge shot. Now the info I've seen about how exactly to do that is conflicting, do you shake the controller for that, or merely move the pointer off screen at the right moment? This seems to be the toughest thing to grasp in the game.

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About the motion controls, isn't there some motion? Miffy, can you jump in morph ball mode with a controller shake a la Prime 3/Trilogy? Or do you just press the jump button?

Also, I've read about dodging out of first person view, which gives you a full charge shot. Now the info I've seen about how exactly to do that is conflicting, do you shake the controller for that, or merely move the pointer off screen at the right moment? This seems to be the toughest thing to grasp in the game.

Morph ball jump is the jump button, charge shot can be instantly filled by hitting and holding the fire button at the right time during a dodge move (not just out of first person). I'm not actually sure if you can dodge in first-person, as it's done by tapping the d-pad. The dodges I've done coming out of that mode are by turning the controller back sideways at the right moment, then tapping to the side to roll out of the way. It's weird how people have been so conditioned to expect bad motion controls in a Wii game that their mind puts them in there even when they don't exist...

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Oh man, Orvidos and Miffy. I kind of want you guys to duplicate post those in the threads for the games just for reference. I don't know if that's allowed, but sometimes when I finish a game late, I search Thumbs for the thread and read what everyone said a way before.

Ask and ye shall receive:

Just finished Metroid: Other M this afternoon. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. It was actually a really good game, and the story turned out to be really interesting and develop the Metroid universe quite a bit. At the same time, this good story was almost completely ruined by goddamned horrible voice acting. It's kind of telling that the credits listed Nate Bihldorf and Leslie Swan as actors. For those that play a lot of first-party Nintendo games, those names may sound familiar. That's because they're two of Nintendo's in-house localization managers. The people who do the translating were the ones doing the acting. What the hell? If you're going to have voices in one of your big marquee franchises, you should probably get actual actors to do it. The fact that the story is actually pretty good (aside from one really irritating thing that I'll spoiler out), especially by sci-fi game standards, makes the voice acting even more frustrating.

So, how about a good points/bad points breakdown?

The good:

- The visuals. Holy hell is this game a looker. I didn't know the Wii could put out graphics of this calibre. There are jaggies here and there due to the fact that it only goes up to 480p, but with the hardware they had they made an amazing looking game. It looks as good if not better than some 360 games I've played recently. I don't know how they did it, but this game is simply beautiful.

- The controls. Yeah, the controls. I was sceptical at first about using the NES-style wiimote as the only means of control, but they made it work. I never felt like the controls were holding me back from enjoying the game, which was something I had been very worried about. Frankly, I can't imagine playing the game a different way after completing it. Let's face it, as gamers, our thumbs move fucking fast. Having the thumbs do all the work felt way more natural than having my left thumb on a nunchuck and my right thumb and forefinger alternating for attack and jump. Even switching to morph ball was great. In older Metroids, you'd have to double-tap down on the dpad. Now you slide your left thumb over a bit and tap A. It's the same thumb, so it still feels natural, and because it's a single tap to get it to work, it's actually more responsive and accurate. Great work on the controls.

- The story. It's interesting, though not particularly deep, and does some cool things with the Metroid fiction in general. My one issue with this is

during the Ridley fight Samus flips out and regresses into being a little girl remembering Ridley ransacking her home planet when she was a child. As a result, an ally gets tossed into a lava pit. What the fuck? Ok, so that had been established before in earlier games, but since when does Samus freak out and go all fetal-position at the sight of Ridley? By this point, she's blasted him to smithereens at least twice, so why choose now?

That aside, Samus is written as a strong, competent woman who will fuck you up if you cross her. Actually, it's kind of neat that the majority (read 3 of 5) of the principal characters in this game are female, and I can't recall a time when they get all sexed-up. That's pretty fucking cool, and really unexpected considering this is Team Ninja we're dealing with.

- The feel. I'm not sure how else to put this. The game feels like Metroid. Even though there are other people on the station, with only a few exceptions you're mostly just discovering their corpses. When I read that Samus gets incorporated into a military squad to search a research station for survivors, I got worried that there would be too much interaction, not enough exploration. This is incorrect. The exploration is toned down a bit, but not too much. I'd say you're given about as much direction as you were in Metroid Fusion. That is, you're told there's something in Sector whatever, you go to sector whatever and get locked in, but then you go all over that sector. There's a good deal of backtracking, and one of your abilities you don't get until the final boss fight, so I'll be heading back in for some post-credits exploration now that the whole station is open to me. In short, it gets the exploration and isolation about as well as Metroid Fusion. As Fusion was my personal introduction to the series, I'm happy with that.

- The combat. What can I say? Fighting feels right. Charge shots, wave beam, gravity suit, screw attack, etc. They're all here and they all work just like you want them to.

The bad:

- The acting. Oh my fucking god this is the worst thing in the game by miles. When a character is (vague, hopefully not tag-worthy spoiler)

revealed to be an android in the late-game, it caused me to wonder if maybe everyone is a robot just because that's how they sound.

(spoiler complete) It's just bloody awful. Those lines didn't have to be terrible, but the delivery made them worse than as written. Given that the story is good, it felt kind of like watching a grade-school dramatic production of a pretty good sci-fi play. Just baffling how that could get through. Did no one on the production staff have ears?

- The final boss. So you're playing this really good, challenging in all the right places game for about 8 hours (that was my completion time, anyway) and it's really fun. Suddenly you get to the last boss, which is a great idea in principle. It really does a good fake-out, making you think you're going off to fight one thing and then having you fight something totally different, and surprising, but also appropriate and cool. Then this fight is way harder than anything you've encountered to this point (to the point where after my sixth try I turned off the game for a day) and forces a level of precision on you that the controls aren't actually up to. The only problem with the controls is that it can be a bit sluggish when you want to switch to first-person, but up to the final boss, this has been masked by the game never requiring you to do this particularly quickly. Suddenly, the final boss is totally dependent on this ability. Said boss also has three phases. The first is mind-numbingly twitchy and frustrating, the second is easy as hell, and the third is impossible if you're not aware of something very specific that the game never informs you of. I'm going to write it here without spoiler tags so that everyone may know. Up to this point in the game, you've been gradually unlocking Samus' abilities, and every time that one of them is unlocked you are given a notification onscreen that you have to button through. Going into the final boss, you still don't have your power bombs. They are required to defeat the final boss. They unlock, without fucking telling you, when the third phase begins. They also don't tell you how to use them, so go into morph ball and hold down the 1 button until you're charged up, then release. It would have been fucking nice if the game had told me this in the first place. I had to look it up online. Any boss fight which requires one to consult a FAQ is automatically terrible, let alone when the reason is because the game doesn't let you know that you can do the thing that you need to do to defeat it.

Man, I should have put the good points second, as there are way more of them. That bad just looks overwheming right now. Let it be know that Metroid Other M is a fucking great game, and it is only the final boss fight and abysmal voice acting that keep it from being a part of my top 5 of last year. It's rad, check it out.

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I am eyeing a doublewhammy of Metroid Prime Trilogy and Metroid: Other M for 36 euros. Is it worth it?

I think it's very much worth to go for it.

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As a big Metroid fan, Trilogy is not my favorite version of the Prime games.

It introduces a couple log-related bugs into Corruption and changes a whole lot of things in the first game. A bunch of visual effects are pulled out of Metroid Prime for whatever reason, stuff like the 3d water ripples and some other cool little touches are missing.

It's fun playing those games with the motion control scheme from Corruption though, that element works great, and the second game was actually rebalanced and is much more enjoyable because of it. There are some bosses in Echoes that are a little bit fucked in its original version.

As for Other M.

I really like that game, i think it's generally been underrated, but it does makes some pretty offensive and ruinous choices for Samus' characterization.

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My thoughts on Other M are earlier in the thread. Long story short, I liked it a bunch but found specific things frustrating. The prime games are the prime games, so do it. Get the pack.

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