Metroid dread reviews are coming in at 6 a.m. Pacific time, let us have a thread about the game.
- Thread starter Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)
- Start date
A fair point, but I would also like to point that as the medium grew so did the sales for most of Nintendo's major franchises, while Metroid more or less stagnated, arguably even trending towards decline post Prime.Of course, Metroid basically didn't get any new games in a decade, that doesn't help.
It's kind of like Kirby, another one of Nintendo's B-tier franchises that started out with a strong seller (for its time), but never really reached high ground afterwards. Also, Zelda LttP sold about 4,5m on SNES, 6,5m if adding the GBA port. Probably more if including VC.
You can't really compare sales over long period of time either, Zelda LttP continue to sell well because more zelda game are being made (even a pseudo sequel to LttP), drawing new fan in which will naturally look for older game that they haven't played. While barely any metroid game have been made (and of dubious quality, looking at you other M) so the fan base can't grow. To me it just seems liek a self fullfilling prophecy, nintendo neglect metroid so metroid game do poorly and then they claim that they were right to neglect metroid game since they do poorly.
Well, good news, seems Metroid Dread is bucking at least one trend: that of Switch titles, even 1st party, not running brilliantly. Word around is it's quite good from a technical standpoint considering the hardware it's on and the visual fidelity on display.
I have never played a Metroid in my life. I think I should pick this up and give them a try for a change. Plus if I can unlock hot zero suit samus that would be a nice bonus
Yeah, that's kinda what I meant when I said Metroid is like John Carpenter's career. There's a lot of people who know Metroid, know Samus, and have strong opinions about both who've never picked up a Metroid game.
Which is fine, I have a lot of opinions about Pokémon despite not playing more than an hour of anything released since a decade ago. But like John Carpenter said when asked what he thought about his films being cult classics: "I get any extra pay for that?"
Like, how many people running around posting They Live memes or sexy zero suit fan art have actually seen or played the media those came from? (You should absolutely watch They Live, it's fantastic)
Dread's got the reviews, hopefully it gets the sales to match.
Which is fine, I have a lot of opinions about Pokémon despite not playing more than an hour of anything released since a decade ago. But like John Carpenter said when asked what he thought about his films being cult classics: "I get any extra pay for that?"
Like, how many people running around posting They Live memes or sexy zero suit fan art have actually seen or played the media those came from? (You should absolutely watch They Live, it's fantastic)
Dread's got the reviews, hopefully it gets the sales to match.
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Well looks like I'm one of the first people here to complete the game so I will just discuss non-spoiler stuff.
Overall I think it's a fantastic game, definitely better than Return of Samus. As I mentioned before it's also probably one of the hardest Metroid games but for the most part it's fair difficulty. But there's 3 complaints I want to state.
I miss the teleporters from Return of Samus. Mainly because they helped a lot with cleanup, and the maps are huge. I know that there are teleporters but they only go to and from two areas. I understand for the structure of the game why the return of Samus teleporters are not there but I kind of wish the safe rooms became teleporters rooms at the end game.
The manual aiming can be quite tricky. One particular moment that was kind of infuriating because of it.
I hate the shine sparking puzzles, I understand a lot of Metroid fans love them but they're quite infuriating to me and have to be done pixel perfect. Especially when I'm doing all this shit for just 1 missile tank.
Overall I think it's a fantastic game, definitely better than Return of Samus. As I mentioned before it's also probably one of the hardest Metroid games but for the most part it's fair difficulty. But there's 3 complaints I want to state.
I miss the teleporters from Return of Samus. Mainly because they helped a lot with cleanup, and the maps are huge. I know that there are teleporters but they only go to and from two areas. I understand for the structure of the game why the return of Samus teleporters are not there but I kind of wish the safe rooms became teleporters rooms at the end game.
The manual aiming can be quite tricky. One particular moment that was kind of infuriating because of it.
I hate the shine sparking puzzles, I understand a lot of Metroid fans love them but they're quite infuriating to me and have to be done pixel perfect. Especially when I'm doing all this shit for just 1 missile tank.
Gonna pick this up this week. Can't wait to play it, and really glad reviews are positive.
I really enjoyed Samus Returns, so that bodes well if it shares some elements.
I really enjoyed Samus Returns, so that bodes well if it shares some elements.
I am blown away by how much I love this game so far. I knew I would enjoy it but I didn't expect it to dominate my thoughts while not playing it like it's doing right now.
Only complaint I have so far is that the E.M.M.I. busting arm canon attack is really wonky with its aiming.
The game is pretty tough, but it's fair. It's very lenient with checkpoints before E.M.M.I. rooms too, which makes dealing with them slightly less frustrating.
Only complaint I have so far is that the E.M.M.I. busting arm canon attack is really wonky with its aiming.
The game is pretty tough, but it's fair. It's very lenient with checkpoints before E.M.M.I. rooms too, which makes dealing with them slightly less frustrating.
There's one E.M.M.I. fight where the aiming is at its worst. One of the few times where I thought the game was poorly designed rather than difficult.
Without those checkpoints, the game would be way more frustrating.
Ok so that purple EMMI can promptly go to hell.
Currently stuck on that part and almost rage quit this morning. It's the one part of the game where I feel like the challenge isn't very fair.
Also turns out the aiming for the Omega Canon was wonky because I wasn't using it right. I was trying to gently move the stick up but would get frustrated that it seemed Samus can only aim it at 45 degree angles.
Turns out you have to be holding the stick in the direction you're facing and roll the stick up and down from that position. I was kicking myself when I found that out last night.
Currently stuck on that part and almost rage quit this morning. It's the one part of the game where I feel like the challenge isn't very fair.
Also turns out the aiming for the Omega Canon was wonky because I wasn't using it right. I was trying to gently move the stick up but would get frustrated that it seemed Samus can only aim it at 45 degree angles.
Turns out you have to be holding the stick in the direction you're facing and roll the stick up and down from that position. I was kicking myself when I found that out last night.
Pretty much this. Except that whole "suit materializes/dematerializes and is technically part of her physiology" thing, along with being hybridized with chozo DNA (which just to remind everyone is not a Dread spoiler, that's been part of Samus' established backstory since before Prime and Zero Mission made it "official"), calls into question exactly what happens to her body when she activates the suit -- or the untold body horror/unspeakable contortionism that must result from shifting in and out of morph ball. Given certain events of Fusion and Dread, it's more likely that instead of "activating" the suit "around" her, she literally just morphs her body into it like a robot werewolf or some shit.
Bare minimum, the suit has to be at least biomechanical opposed to purely mechanical to some degree, for the X to have infested, fully assimilated, and reproduced it.
I'm not a huge fan of Metroid but I have played 2 games in the series, therefore I feel justified in posting:
I'm near the end of the game now and don't really like it. The EMMI are just annoying since they instakill and escaping when caught is nearly impossible. (At least the game itself tells you that) The SA-X was scarier since on your first playthrough you didn't know where it was going to show up, and you know it would destroy you if it spotted you. With the EMMI you know they are going to spot you, you have to know where they are going to be before they even go there, and you simply lose if caught.
Plus the bosses are badly balanced what with being able to knock off 2 energy tanks in a single hit when you only have 6 or 7 of them.
On top of it, she won't jump properly often enough nor will she fire another weapon she gets later on when I tell her to. I have a hard time aiming, the controls keep giving me issues in general.
Basically, the game isn't too fun overall. How did Nintendo think this was ok? If these devs make any other games, even Metroid, I'm not touching it.
Plus the bosses are badly balanced what with being able to knock off 2 energy tanks in a single hit when you only have 6 or 7 of them.
On top of it, she won't jump properly often enough nor will she fire another weapon she gets later on when I tell her to. I have a hard time aiming, the controls keep giving me issues in general.
Basically, the game isn't too fun overall. How did Nintendo think this was ok? If these devs make any other games, even Metroid, I'm not touching it.
I, and many other strange internet people, would be perfectly okay with Guyver Samus. Her Fusion suit looks like it pulled a lot of inspiration from it, looking back. Dunno why I didn't consider it before.
Also makes the "does Samus have a cloaca" argument funnier
Samus's Chozo modifications were probably voluntary, hence trans people sticking to her like glue, but her subsequent Federation modifications were definitely not consensual even if they saved her life. Probably got a lot of complicated feelings there. Between those and the Federation's continued meddling with her personal traumas/dangerous and unpredictable weapons technology, I'd like to see Samus taking them to task at some point.
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Okay I have completed the game three times now and when I usually play something a second time the flaws become more apparent but no... I feel the need to take back some of my complaints although with some minor issue still attached.
Shine sparking is a lot more enjoyable then I give it credit for and extremely rewarding to pull off. The problem and the issue still with it is I only found it more enjoyable when I actually understood how to do it. Did you know you could slide or go into the morph ball and still keep the momentum of the sparking? did you know you could walljump and keep the sparking momentum? Did you know if you shine Spark on a slope it will reset your speed boost? None of these things are told to the player which was the reason I was getting frustrated, the problem isn't so much the shine sparking but the game's poor Communications of its full mechanics.
Same goes for the teleporters, the teleporters become interconnected after you go to the final area and I think destroy something. Once again the game doesn't tell you to do this but once you know it's extremely nice to have them for clean up.
I still think the aiming is a little bit finicky but I got used to it in my second and third playthrough.
My third playthrough I decided to sequence break a bit and it's surprisingly well thought out, some bosses get absolutely wrecked if you get some items early.
Some examples are...
There are probably another few examples that I don't know about. It does tell me the developers intentionally had this design philosophy of sequence breaking in mind. There is even an interesting point of sequence breaking.
Overall I fucking love this game. I don't know if this is the best Metroid, I need to play all of them again. But I feel like Mercury took the complaints from Return of Samus and made a well-crafted, difficult and enjoyable experience.
Also 1 bit from the story I want to talk about.
Shine sparking is a lot more enjoyable then I give it credit for and extremely rewarding to pull off. The problem and the issue still with it is I only found it more enjoyable when I actually understood how to do it. Did you know you could slide or go into the morph ball and still keep the momentum of the sparking? did you know you could walljump and keep the sparking momentum? Did you know if you shine Spark on a slope it will reset your speed boost? None of these things are told to the player which was the reason I was getting frustrated, the problem isn't so much the shine sparking but the game's poor Communications of its full mechanics.
Same goes for the teleporters, the teleporters become interconnected after you go to the final area and I think destroy something. Once again the game doesn't tell you to do this but once you know it's extremely nice to have them for clean up.
I still think the aiming is a little bit finicky but I got used to it in my second and third playthrough.
My third playthrough I decided to sequence break a bit and it's surprisingly well thought out, some bosses get absolutely wrecked if you get some items early.
Some examples are...
Kraid can be murdered pretty easily in the second phase with morph bomb.
The ScrewAttack destroys that missile Beetle asshole, I killed him in 10 to 5 Seconds.
The ScrewAttack destroys that missile Beetle asshole, I killed him in 10 to 5 Seconds.
you can get the various suit early by doing some tricky shine sparking but It ultimately railroads you into the experiment boss without a way to get the space jump or storm missile which makes that boss more difficult but it is still quite possible. But if you can manage it you get the various suit and the screw attack earlier. And yes having the screw attack with no space jump is very bizarre.
Overall I fucking love this game. I don't know if this is the best Metroid, I need to play all of them again. But I feel like Mercury took the complaints from Return of Samus and made a well-crafted, difficult and enjoyable experience.
Also 1 bit from the story I want to talk about.
the extremely brilliantly crafted twist that the main bad guy Raven beak was actually impersonating Adam, I'm curious how many people guessed it on their first playthrough. The funny thing is I noticed one of the biggest signs, that he doesn't call you lady throughout but I chalk that up to the writers just deciding not to do that because it would be repetitive, I feel like a dumbass
Also playing a second time it becomes hilarious basically every time Adam talks about how amazing Raven beak is it's actually Raven hyping himself up to Samus, like he's making a Chuck Norris list for himself definitely made the story enjoyable to go back to.
Also playing a second time it becomes hilarious basically every time Adam talks about how amazing Raven beak is it's actually Raven hyping himself up to Samus, like he's making a Chuck Norris list for himself definitely made the story enjoyable to go back to.
Yes, I did know. Or rather, I knew these techniques existed in Super and/or Zero Mission, and I tried doing them first time I got the requisite abilities just to see if you could. Also, infinite bomb jumping. But no Crystal Flash. Pretty sure walljumping while speedboosting is new tho.
In a sense, it's very typical, most of the other games don't explain the advanced techniques either, possibly to keep in the spirit of discovering stuff by yourself, possibly because they're not actually needed to get to the credits, just for 100%. Same for the sequence breaking. And some bosses becoming cakewalks if you have certain abilities early. Those are all very 'classic" Metroid qualities. And I'm sure it's all intentional. It's fan service of the best kind.
I don't know about best overall, but imo definitely best since Zero Mission.
I have never played a Metroid in my life. I think I should pick this up and give them a try for a change. Plus if I can unlock hot zero suit samus that would be a nice bonus
If you don’t mind retro’ing it up these days, then Super Metroid is pretty much a must play. Also has pixelated zero suit Samus reward for doing the goodest.
End game spoilers below do not click unless you beat the game.
I noticed that and found it odd, but, yeah, I just chalked it up to the writers doing their own thing. But there were a few cues that got me curious, like how "You are finally ready to take on Raven Beak" and I'm like "... I didn't get anything massively important that tipped the scales, why now?" But as soon as I heard the voice say "fulfill your destiny" I IMMEDIATELY knew something was fucky. Adam is not the type to be talking about "destiny" as far as I've known. After hearing that, I knew something was weird with this "Adam"
That's sorta the thing though... Once you know where the SA-X appears, then it loses a huge degree of its initial tension on repeat playthroughs. But the EMMI behave and appear in places much more erratically than the SA-X, making them a constant wild card when entering their areas. While they're maybe not as cool or well done as the SA-X, I feel they serve their purpose of giving you something to be tense about each time you know one's coming (Or something to Dread about? Huehuehuehue)
2 energy tanks is maybe a bit much, yeah. Though, a lot of games I find have a bad habit of giving you absurd amounts of HP and making enemies do NOTHING to it. The Legend of Zelda is a good example. You get 20 full heart containers, all divided into quarter sections, and by end game enemies are still doing... half a heart. And the final bosses are maybe doing 1 heart at most half the time. I guess Zelda's not exactly hardcore or anything, but there's gotta be a balance (Which thankfully I feel BotW fixed decently enough). Dread requires a little bit of a higher skill ceiling than other games, sure, it's not afraid to throw a punch or two. But I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with that.
Are your JoyCons working properly? Besides the rhythm of the space jump being a bit of a bugger, I wonder if your inputs are being read correctly.
I dunno, it seems to be working well for a majority of players. Dread definitely isn't Star Fox Zero levels of quirky
