Metroid General Thread - The Queen of Video Land - The Bear and Badger

monkey

I thought Captain Ironpants was enough of an amalgam to indicate I didn’t really mean a specific film. But why’s there a man flying around in a metal suit? People just know he’s Ironman? what’s that thing in his heart? who’s that girl, wait he was in space? Was that in the last one? I doubt any of that affects your understanding of the film but it could well affect how much you enjoy it. I don’t know who’s going into that film having no idea about the others though. Who knows?

LivDiv

monkey wrote:

who’s that girl,

Eve's that giiiirl

regmcfly

Metroid is a good thing. Let's go back to that. Fucking hell.

monkey

MCU Police on the scene early. Good work officer. A regrettable incident.

regmcfly

Only Hawkeye down.

No one cares.

retroking1981

regmcfly wrote:

Metroid is a good thing. Let's go back to that. Fucking hell.

Yes, and Samus is a lonely bounty hunter who builds her powers from nothing in an expanding but contained world.

That's all we want. There's nothing wrong with more of the same.

regmcfly

There's also nothing wrong with continuing the story of Samus as they have done over multiple games. Don't dismiss people who are invested in the story. It might not be you, but given the overall small fanbase, one can only imagine how invested they may be.

Tempy

I refreshed myself on the premise of Corruption last night, and whilst the execution was a mistake, I don’t think following the Phazon stuff to its conclusion was an issue. Given you spend a lot of time scanning mysterious life forms and learning about their life cycles and so on, it was cool to learn about why Phazon had started occurring in various places.

retroking1981

regmcfly wrote:

There's also nothing wrong with continuing the story of Samus as they have done over multiple games. Don't dismiss people who are invested in the story. It might not be you, but given the overall small fanbase, one can only imagine how invested they may be.

I agree, but they can also be played independently without having to be invested in it if the player chooses. That was the whole point of bringing up Bond and the Marvel Universe.

Tempy

I think every Metroid game has been strong enough to stand alone. Even Corruption told you enough about what was going on and demonstrated the stakes for failure well enough to work, it was just a nice bit of story telling to expand on the origins of Phazon.

retroking1981

What's everyone's thoughts on Other M?

regmcfly

retroking1981 wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

There's also nothing wrong with continuing the story of Samus as they have done over multiple games. Don't dismiss people who are invested in the story. It might not be you, but given the overall small fanbase, one can only imagine how invested they may be.

But they can be played individually without having to be invested in it if the player chooses. That was the whole point of bringing up Bond and the Marvel Universe.

The chief difference here is that Bond and MCU have massive casual fanbases, where the brand is known but the ins and outs aren't. Where we are with Metroid now, realistically, is where there is a much smaller but devoted fan base. It's not that off to think of it more as a "cult" hit.

regmcfly

retroking1981 wrote:

What's everyone's thoughts on Other M?

Fine functionally, awful otherwise.

LivDiv

Other M failed to grasp the core concepts behind Metroid.
There are lots of ways to skin a Varia suit but isolation and exploration are what define Metroid. Both must be there.

retroking1981

regmcfly wrote:

There's also nothing wrong with continuing the story of Samus as they have done over multiple games. Don't dismiss people who are invested in the story. It might not be you, but given the overall small fanbase, one can only imagine how invested they may be.

But they can be played individually without having to be invested in it if the player chooses. That was the whole point of bringing up Bond and the Marvel Universe.

The chief difference here is that Bond and MCU have massive casual fanbases, where the brand is known but the ins and outs aren't. Where we are with Metroid now, realistically, is where there is a much smaller but devoted fan base. It's not that off to think of it more as a "cult" hit.

I think we're going off topic a bit much here.

Plots in games are fine, I enjoy them whilst I play them but for the most part they're self contained window dressing as @b0ris stated on the previous page. In Resident Evil 4 your on a mission to rescue the presidents daughter, that's not a million miles away from the plot of Bad Dudes VS Dragon Ninja. Now there's more to it, if you want to get deeper into it, that's up to the individual.

Vela put it well...

Vela wrote:

The other problem with overarching stories is that they inevitably wind up painting themselves into a narrative corner (witness the absurd story twists, retcons, double crosses and revisionist framing of events in Halo and Metal Gear games - let alone the cross media bullshit of ARGs and novels). I like the Zelda approach of distinct games with suggestions of connections, or enough time between them to have it not matter so much. They can still be played independent of another even when they directly follow on from others (Wind Waker, Majora, Link Between Worlds).

Like he said about Zelda, I applaud Nintendo for what they've managed with Metroid. They hit the sweet spot of having a bigger story for those that want it whilst not alienating people who only play the odd game.

Hence, more of the same please.

mistercrayon

LivDiv wrote:

Other M failed to grasp the core concepts behind Metroid.
There are lots of ways to skin a Varia suit but isolation and exploration are what define Metroid. Both must be there.

Except - fusion was decent.

Tempy

I was sort of rambling about Corruption on my own rather than responding to your points Retro, my bad.

b0r1s

My original point was more about improving or taking the game forward. They could do that by carefully adding and play testing one more power/weapons/thingummyjig. This extra ability would obviously add a nuance to how the map unlocks layering up the complexity slightly without changing what makes Metroid great. And despite my lack of interest in the stories that support these games they could even weave this new ability into the story.

Tempy

Most of the games tend to add a bunch of new abilities and stuff, Prime, Echoes and Corruption all had different move sets they were testing you on by the end.

They should do what the new Ace Combat does, take abilities away over the course of the game and make you master the basics in situations where you'd have relied on more powerful systems.

RamSteelwood

Tempy wrote:

They should do what the new Ace Combat does, take abilities away over the course of the game and make you master the basics in situations where you'd have relied on more powerful systems.

I could get behind this idea, it's a neat twist. The bounty hunter smashing around a mysterious planet until the powers are stripped away and it becomes a struggle to survive and get away....
More games should do something like this, like a handicap in golf. Games often seen to neutralise themselves by having the player level up to match increasing challenge, instead of testing raw skill more as you get better.
They can also copy titanfall2 style wall running as the new ability.
Job done, game designed, where's our money?

Nina

Retro just posted a Tech Artist opening, I told B to apply but not sure if we wanna trade CA for TX to be honest (also I don't think he'll apply). Would be a hell of a title to have on your resume though, if it turns out to be good.