Metroid: Other M

[Starkiller]

I'm pretty deep into it. I don't care for it nearly as much as the Prime series, but it's still Metroid and I am very much enjoying it for what it is. The narration, voice acting, and little helpless Samus with daddy issues isn't exactly cutting it for me though.

I think the story is fine, it's the way the characters act and behave that is the downfall. It's Samus constant mumbling and drawn out obvious statements assuming that we the player have no idea what is going on. And the rather still acting at times.

At times the characters remind me of Final Fantasy characters more so than Metroid. It's all very Japanese and once again I have no idea how to take it or have yet to see any real people ever interact like this except in an over-the-top & grandiose FF game. Those odd unnatural gestures, smirks, odd movements, and that traditional gasp with wide eyes female protagonist, all try to convey emotion but end up making me scratch my head.

It reminds me very much of Tidus, Yuna, and Wakka from FFX. Which leaves me even more confused.

 

[cr0w]

I had to trade this in today. I spent about 6 hours trying to enjoy it, but I just couldn't go any farther. I kept thinking about how much I'd rather be playing Prime.

As the game gets more complicated, the controls start finding ways to actively ____ you. I understand what they were doing and trying to accomplish with the game, but Team Ninja needs to handle their own properties and never ____ up another company's property again. The story is absolutely ridiculous, and they managed to ____ Samus up and completely do a 180 from how Nintendo had established her. It used to not matter that she was a woman...she was just good at what she does, and that fact was never dwelled upon. Now they made that fact more important than anything else and turned her into a petulant child and, more offensively, your stereotypical woman who feels she needs to prove herself in a man's world. It was ____ing Grey's Anatomy in space. And I'm not really the type to care about stories in games all that much. But this just killed me.

The switching perspectives destroyed the gameplay almost as much as the lack of analog control. For the life of me, I can't understand why they went with just the d-pad, as you spend more time accidentally dodging than doing what you want to do. Then there's the camera, which leads to you getting killed by things you can't even see or missing jumps because the angle just sucks.

Then there's the lack of health or item pick-ups, ditched in favor of a regeneration system that does not work when you need it to, because if you're low on health and have to pause in a battle, you almost always will be interrupted and end up dying.

I can honestly say I've never hated a Nintendo game until this point. I understand they wanted to try something different, but they failed. Team Ninja failed. They somehow managed to take everything bad about Ninja Gaiden (story, camera angles, platforming) and increase it tenfold.

 

[FQRizzo]

I had to trade this in today. I spent about 6 hours trying to enjoy it, but I just couldn't go any farther. I kept thinking about how much I'd rather be playing Prime.

As the game gets more complicated, the controls start finding ways to actively ____ you. I understand what they were doing and trying to accomplish with the game, but Team Ninja needs to handle their own properties and never ____ up another company's property again. The story is absolutely ridiculous, and they managed to ____ Samus up and completely do a 180 from how Nintendo had established her. It used to not matter that she was a woman...she was just good at what she does, and that fact was never dwelled upon. Now they made that fact more important than anything else and turned her into a petulant child and, more offensively, your stereotypical woman who feels she needs to prove herself in a man's world. It was ____ing Grey's Anatomy in space. And I'm not really the type to care about stories in games all that much. But this just killed me.

The switching perspectives destroyed the gameplay almost as much as the lack of analog control. For the life of me, I can't understand why they went with just the d-pad, as you spend more time accidentally dodging than doing what you want to do. Then there's the camera, which leads to you getting killed by things you can't even see or missing jumps because the angle just sucks.

Then there's the lack of health or item pick-ups, ditched in favor of a regeneration system that does not work when you need it to, because if you're low on health and have to pause in a battle, you almost always will be interrupted and end up dying.

I can honestly say I've never hated a Nintendo game until this point. I understand they wanted to try something different, but they failed. Team Ninja failed. They somehow managed to take everything bad about Ninja Gaiden (story, camera angles, platforming) and increase it tenfold.

How much did you get for it?

 

[cr0w]

$27.50 with the Edge card 10% bonus.

I consider it a bargain, because I was almost ready to take a lighter to the disc.

 

[FQRizzo]

I never had problems with the controls. I was surprised how well the d-pad worked in 3D. Also, the camera was pretty solid IMO.

 

[cr0w]

Some people really have had no problems with them. Unfortunately, I just couldn't really deal with the constant switching back and forth, especially in a fast-paced battle or boss fight. They were just frustrating to me.

 

[Starkiller]

I had to trade this in today. I spent about 6 hours trying to enjoy it, but I just couldn't go any farther. I kept thinking about how much I'd rather be playing Prime.

As the game gets more complicated, the controls start finding ways to actively ____ you. I understand what they were doing and trying to accomplish with the game, but Team Ninja needs to handle their own properties and never ____ up another company's property again. The story is absolutely ridiculous, and they managed to ____ Samus up and completely do a 180 from how Nintendo had established her. It used to not matter that she was a woman...she was just good at what she does, and that fact was never dwelled upon. Now they made that fact more important than anything else and turned her into a petulant child and, more offensively, your stereotypical woman who feels she needs to prove herself in a man's world. It was ____ing Grey's Anatomy in space. And I'm not really the type to care about stories in games all that much. But this just killed me.

The switching perspectives destroyed the gameplay almost as much as the lack of analog control. For the life of me, I can't understand why they went with just the d-pad, as you spend more time accidentally dodging than doing what you want to do. Then there's the camera, which leads to you getting killed by things you can't even see or missing jumps because the angle just sucks.

Then there's the lack of health or item pick-ups, ditched in favor of a regeneration system that does not work when you need it to, because if you're low on health and have to pause in a battle, you almost always will be interrupted and end up dying.

I can honestly say I've never hated a Nintendo game until this point. I understand they wanted to try something different, but they failed. Team Ninja failed. They somehow managed to take everything bad about Ninja Gaiden (story, camera angles, platforming) and increase it tenfold.

How far did you get in to it? While I agree that Samus' characterization isn't true to the character, the story does get better as the game progresses.

The controls I found to be pretty natural once you get the hang of it, switching between both was and is quite easy. The only time they gave me problems was a couple of times they would switch themselves even if I was holding the controller sideways.

There are a lot of pick ups, upgrades, and energy tanks, you just need to know where to find them...I think I have about 6 energy tanks right now and only 30 some missiles, as I need to back and collect them all. Plus the camera angle always seems to work rather well and switches rather nicely with the planes and environment, I never found myself dying from an off screen enemy, because I always know where they were whether with the camera or by going into first person mode.

It does have it short comings, but a lot of the points you just made I countered. For I feel it's the poor worker that blames his tools, or in this case the gamer blames the game.

 

[plasmid303]

I'm 6-ish hours in. Almost done, I think. On the ladder of Metroid games, I rank Metroid: Other M thusly:

top to bottom.

Super Metroid
Metroid Prime
Metroid
Metroid: Zero Mission
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (neck and neck with Prime 2)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Fusion
Metroid II: The Return of Samus


Metroid Prime: Hunters
Metroid Pinball








Metroid: Other M

 

[cr0w]

How far did you get in to it? While I agree that Samus' characterization isn't true to the character, the story does get better as the game progresses.

The controls I found to be pretty natural once you get the hang of it, switching between both was and is quite easy. The only time they gave me problems was a couple of times they would switch themselves even if I was holding the controller sideways.

There are a lot of pick ups, upgrades, and energy tanks, you just need to know where to find them...I think I have about 6 energy tanks right now and only 30 some missiles, as I need to back and collect them all. Plus the camera angle always seems to work rather well and switches rather nicely with the planes and environment, I never found myself dying from an off screen enemy, because I always know where they were whether with the camera or by going into first person mode.

It does have it short comings, but a lot of the points you just made I countered. For I feel it's the poor worker that blames his tools, or in this case the gamer blames the game.

What I meant by pickups was the classic Metroid staple of fallen enemies giving you item refreshments.

You can claim to counter whatever you want, but you just really offered your own opinions based on your experience with the game. I don't have a problem with the tools most games offer me...hell, I made it through both Ninja Gaidens, for Christ's sake. But this one didn't offer you anything whatsoever except for Team Ninja trying to do too much. It had all the problems of the Ninja Gaiden games with the added frustration of gimmicky motion controls.

 

[cr0w]

And let me clarify that I'm not discounting your opinions at all, but when the vast consensus is that a game's controls are clunky and cause you to have to readjust every 10 seconds or so, it's generally not the user's fault. There were a lot of the same issues in the Ninja Gaiden series, but they were less troublesome because the combat and analog controls were very refined. The use of the nunchuk would have greatly alleviated many of the problems I and others have with it.

This is the first Wii game that I've struggled with controls in, and I'll reiterate my opinion that they tried to do too much with too little, and that goes back to my nunchuk argument.

Because of the constant perspective switching, it can be tough to tell where enemies are at times, especially in boss fights. Same with the health system. It's nearly impossible to regen health because there's so much going on.

I'm not even touching on the way they ruined Samus or the contrived bull____ they used to keep her from having all her powers at the start. That's a whole other argument.

The bottom line is that, as much as you may want to say it's the user and not the tool...if something is a lemon with a defective engine, no matter how skillful the user, it's the engine that's the problem.

 

[Kabukiman]

I always love the "you opinions are invalid because I don't feel the same way" arguments.

 

[cr0w]

Yeah nothing I'm saying I'm putting out there as gospel, because when it comes to video games I'm generally contrary to everyone else in the world. I hate multiplayer, can't stand Metal Gear, am annoyed as ____ by Japanese storytelling, get put to sleep by long cut scenes, and generally don't play nearly as much as I used to. That's why I feel so disappointed by this, because I had high, high hopes after the Prime trilogy, even when I was disappointed by Echoes. It still had enough good to make me ignore the horrendous dark world crap, which is what I was hoping would happen when I got farther into Other M.

Unfortunately, it didn't. Again, I'm not saying Starkiller is wrong. In fact, I'm glad he's enjoying the game. But I can't agree when he says my points were all countered when they're legitimate issues others are complaining about as well. It's far too much of a Team Ninja game instead of a Nintendo game, and while, again, the same issues were present in Ninja Gaiden 1 & 2, I at least trudged through because the combat system was really, really good. This one really doesn't have any redeeming qualities in my eyes.

 

[plasmid303]

I finished the game just now, and I do like the final few hours much more than the first 5-6, so with that in mind I'll raise Other M's ranking in the post I made yesterday.

Before:

I'm 6-ish hours in. Almost done, I think. On the ladder of Metroid games, I rank Metroid: Other M thusly:

top to bottom.

Super Metroid
Metroid Prime
Metroid
Metroid: Zero Mission
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (neck and neck with Prime 2)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Fusion
Metroid II: The Return of Samus


Metroid Prime: Hunters
Metroid Pinball








Metroid: Other M

After:

Super Metroid
Metroid Prime
Metroid
Metroid: Zero Mission
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (neck and neck with Prime 2)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Fusion
Metroid: Other M
Metroid II: The Return of Samus


Metroid Prime: Hunters
Metroid Pinball

 

[Starkiller]

I always love the "you opinions are invalid because I don't feel the same way" arguments.

That's not what I'm arguing. I'm not stating opinions on the game I'm stating the facts, the control scheme takes like 5 minutes to get used to then it's really intuitive.

The whole "The switching perspectives destroyed the gameplay almost as much as the lack of analog control...Then there's the camera, which leads to you getting killed by things you can't even see or missing jumps because the angle just sucks." Argument is null.

 

[Starkiller]

I just beat it last night. It's a solid game despite some shortcomings.

Spoiler:

The end boss wasn't very epic, and the ending was a bit too hokey, drawn out, and contrived. But the epilogue is cool is which what I'm playing through now to get 100%.

And I suppose the other M was the other aka fake and or real Madeline Bergman? Or perhaps the other Mother Brain? Or both?

 

[MooMooEgg]

I just beat it last night. It's a solid game despite some shortcomings.

Spoiler:

The end boss wasn't very epic, and the ending was a bit too hokey, drawn out, and contrived. But the epilogue is cool is which what I'm playing through now to get 100%.

And I suppose the other M was the other aka fake and or real Madeline Bergman? Or perhaps the other Mother Brain? Or both?

Spoiler:

Yeah, I suppose it stood for Other Mother Brain. The ending overall was very weak and the whole story, imo, felt very inconsequential.

And I couldn't believe Samus let the black guy push her around (albeit jokingly) at the end of the game. Another depiction of the submissive Japanese female that feels so wrong for Samus' character. Her reaction made me think of the image below.

 

[Starkiller]

Spoiler:

Yeah, I suppose it stood for Other Mother Brain. The ending overall was very weak and the whole story, imo, felt very inconsequential.

And I couldn't believe Samus let the black guy push her around (albeit jokingly) at the end of the game. Another depiction of the submissive Japanese female that feels so wrong for Samus' character. Her reaction made me think of the image below.

Spoiler:

The epilogue was very underwhelming as well, I'm like what could be so important to go back there? In the end it was Anthony's helmet, really? Which she holds close to her chest, pleaseeee. And what wasthe giant octopus thing as a boss and why was it there? It held no purpose nor explanation. And it wasn't even hard but just cheap and annoying with those damn little blue eyeballs floating everywhere...typical team ninja.

The japanese undertones forced unto us and the weak Samus is just dumb. I liked the gameplay, but the story and characters were weak.

 

[Kabukiman]

A friend of mine got fed up with this game and dropped it off for me to play today. Haven't had a chance yet, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I know the story is gonna piss me off, I just hope the gameplay is solid.

 

[cr0w]

The gameplay was almost as frustrating as the story for me.

 

[Starkiller]

Other M is weird because I like parts of it and I hate others. Regardless after I accepted what it was I enjoyed it, it doesn't compare to the Prime series but it was still fun while it lasted...minus the terrible acting, dialogue, story, out of character Samus moments, and the awkward control scheme.