Nintendo Puzzled Over Other M's Poor Performance

[TheWwwizard]

Because they didn't fully understand what the fans wanted.

 

[JediMB]

ex-boyfriend(?)

Former, and sort of current, commanding officer in the Galactic Federation Army.

I'd re-post my problems with Other M from Kotaku, if not for Kotaku mysteriously rejecting my comments. But I will say that waiting for permission to activate weapons makes sense, but needing permission to activate purely defensive abilities does not.

It does if you see that Samus is blindly loyal to Adam.

And if you note that Adam is a cold, bitter man and doesn't want her to ever disobey even once.

But that's not the reality of the situation.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

ex-boyfriend(?)

Former, and sort of current, commanding officer in the Galactic Federation Army.

I'd re-post my problems with Other M from Kotaku, if not for Kotaku mysteriously rejecting my comments. But I will say that waiting for permission to activate weapons makes sense, but needing permission to activate purely defensive abilities does not.

It does if you see that Samus is blindly loyal to Adam.

And if you note that Adam is a cold, bitter man and doesn't want her to ever disobey even once.

But that's not the reality of the situation.

If it isn't, then Sakamoto needs to stop writing stories, as he's very bad at it.

Who honestly can say they'd shoot someone they 'care' about in the back with the chance of killing them, to stop them from going forward, rather then shouting at them to stop when your in close enough range for them to hear you and up 'till now, they've followed every order you ever made, wether they had to or not, even ones they didn't want to.

 

[JediMB]

If it isn't, then Sakamoto needs to stop writing stories, as he's very bad at it.

Oh, he very much is. There's no other way to explain how the game completely undermined Metroid Fusion's plot.

The series needs a more competent writer/director, and possibly a complete reboot.

 

[Blimey]

Team Ninja fucked it right up the butt on this one. Instead of developing a game like the Metroid Prime series. (That is to say, a long and refreshing action/puzzle/platformer with appropriately epic boss fights.) They decided to make a bland, boring platformer. They also proved to me why having full voice acting in a Metroid game is stupid. It sucks. The whole point of the Metroid series is that you are all alone, traversing a planet with just your gun, and about 10,000 things that want to eat you.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

If it isn't, then Sakamoto needs to stop writing stories, as he's very bad at it.

Oh, he very much is. There's no other way to explain how the game completely undermined Metroid Fusion's plot.

The series needs a more competent writer/director, and possibly a complete reboot.

Sadly, it sounds like we can expect his 'story' telling to appear in the next Metroid game.

Wich seems like a real shame as this story felt like he didn't know what he was doing with the characters, and didn't know how to show what he wanted in story, let alone parts of his story didn't mesh with the gameplay.

 

[Folio]

Maybe Nintendo should~ I dunno... READ THE REACTIONS THE FANS MAKE.

Fils Aime said it himself: "I read the blogs and the forum posts." Why don't you watch the reviews? Why don't you read about this one?

Metroid Fans are actually fan of just one game: Super Metroid. Some are so stubborn that they don't want to give Metroid Fusion a try because it's not the same. (well, it was short, but had the same feel.) I saw what they did in Other M, adding bosses of other Metroid games (I recognised Nightmare so easily.)

Nothing has beaten the gameplay and feel of Super Metroid. Nintendo tries to be hyper realistic with their shiny new graphics. Seeing Samus without her suit was a reward (a shallow reward) but now it's just fanservice.

I think Metroid is dying like Sonic is. 3D just doesn't cut it. New gimmicks are just ruining the play. New stories are churned out even though it's rehashed. Where did it go wrong?

 

[For.I.Am.Mad]

'What's past....is prologue.' I blame that line in the horrible commercial for the lack of sales. Also a teen game on Wii and Samus's ass hanging out doesn't help either.

 

[Dectilon]

So what people disliked the most was the story and Samus' characterization. What was featured most heavily in commercials for the game? The story and Samus' characterization.

What did people dislike about Metroid Fusion? Adam and his unending monologues. Some would say it's also partly because the pace is slow in the beginning with very little exploration available, but to be fair the same thing applied to Super Metroid. It only feels way more constrained because even very short sections in the beginning are broken up by long text feeds from Adam.

When this Reggie character is done with his ostrich impression, let us know.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Hey Nintendo, GET OVER YOURSELF! not every game you develop is gold even if you think they are the greatest things since slice bread. You fucked up. You thought more ppl cared about Metroid than there actually was.

move along and release another Zelda or Mario game already. Or dig up corpses like Donkey Kong or Kirby. Not like your any good at coming up with NEW IPs anyways (at least any that are any good.)

 

[Rect Pola]

Let's see.
- The strickly sideways control not only had the occasional issue with 3D, but forced a truly awkward missile mode.
- Only one option for control:
You say "universal and efficent" (only need to design one scheme)
I say "arrogant" (your design was flawed and we couldn't do a thing about it)
- The voice acting; just look at Yahtzee's review. I'm glad you went that way (people were starting to talk) but give the woman some life.
- Fleshing out a character we ALL already have preconcieved notions of? Did nobody see the mine field this would be?

 

[toastmastah_extravaganzah]

This game shows us Samus is just a regular girl inside of her Chozo power suit.

(snip)

A lot of people hate the characterization. I didn't. Go back to Gears of War.

You know, there are, or at the very least there should be, a way to avoid Gears of War's machisimo *without* making Samus into a Stepford Housewife.

M:OM does not make Samus into a character, they reinvent her as a Yamato Nadeshiko archetype, putting in all the traits that *they* find appealing in women: Submissiveness, shyness, motherhood, obeying male authority to the point of ridiculousness. I'm not saying that these are necessarily evil traits that shouldn't be present in female characters, EDIT:Motherhood has been a part of Samus' character for years, but when you bring all of those at the same time, the result is not a personality, but idealised womanhood, put high up on a pedestal to be worshipped as an otherworldly angel.

TL;DR: M:OM lets Samus be fully defined by her gender to the point where it forces out any possibility of individuality.

 

[10BIT]

A lot of people hate the characterization. I didn't.

So you like your women continuously beaten and pining for more [http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html]? I'm sorry but if you honestly liked the characterisation, you are a monster and I make sure I avoid *checks GoldenShadow's profile* Austen Texus. *Sigh* Should have guessed it. Nine times out of ten, whenever I hear an American with backwards views on women, they're from that area.

Only insecure juveniles would see the Ridley scene and be embarrassed.

Or how about those that have been fighting Ridley with Samus since the beginning? For her to suddenly break down into tears, endangering not only her life but the lives of those around her, for no reason whatsoever, is very jarring and annoying.

 

[BrunDeign]

I haven't played Other M yet so I won't judge it. However I never liked the idea of giving Metroid to anyone outside Nintendo besides Retro (Metroid Prime 3).

Also what's the deal with people saying things about Samus freaking out or being a wuss?

I'm hearing things about Samus freaking out when coming into contact with Ridley and that makes complete sense to me.

That sounds very similar to something along the lines of PTSD. Ridley a) Killed her parents and friends (when she was what 10?), b)burned her home to the ground, and c) has tried to kill her at every meeting since. Also he seems to have this knack for never dying. I'm not saying that to try and be funny. The space pirates always have some method for bringing him back. Oh and d) he is a giant dinosaur with many rows of sharp teeth, barbed tail, and wings. Yeah I'd freak out no matter how many times you see him. I mean think about it. You'll freak out when coming face to face with a great white shark (which would be a helluva lot less scary than a real life Ridley) no matter how many times you've seen one that close, even if every time you meet that SAME SHARK WITH THE SCAR ABOVE THE EYE THAT HAS A KNACK FOR TRACKING YOU EVERYWHERE (like how Ridley has a knack to always be where Samus is) you manage to kill it. Imagine that shark coming back the next time your in the ocean, despite you obviously killing it the first time, except this time it is a ROBO SHARK WITH FREAKING LASER BEAMS. That may sound like an exaggeration but in real life you'd all be crapping your pants. That's basically what Samus goes through with Ridley except, you know, WORSE. And even though she freaks out she still gets over it enough to fight him again (I would think but I haven't played Other M so I don't know). Unless I had the things she had (Space suit, laser arm cannon, heat-seeking missiles, GIGANTIC balls) I would probably freeze up out of fear or, at best, try to frantically swim away. And I bet all of you would do the same (Robo shark or not).

 

[Monsterfurby]

Now, I have never been a fan of the Metroid series, nor will I ever be. Shooter/Jump n Run - combinations just aren't my cup of tea.

However, it seems that many people here are enjoying the "dude, the plot was so bad, they made Samus into a crybaby, waaah!" bandwagon way too much. Yes, it appears that this is pretty much how it was publicly received. However, just judging from the responses in this thread, as an outside party, I would say that those arguing that Samus' character has, in fact, not been altered but only emphasized along the originally intended lines, are the only ones to provide somewhat solid evidence and a foundation to their argument.

Even though there might be control and game design issues, as well as maybe a story that is not told all too well (or so it appears), at least the thing about Samus' character seems to be blown way out of proportion. Get a grip, people!

 

[Eatbrainz]

I didn't like Samus in that one. She went all....."girly". Ugh.
Where was the badass that I've come to love?

She died a long, long time ago. Just like Sonic.

 

[WaderiAAA]

Hard to say why it failed really. Sure, the game was crap, but most people don't discover that until after they have bought it themselves. I think sales are more related to how good people thought it would be than how good it was, so being a bad game can't be the whole explanation.

Well, if you look at the marketing, then it seemed pretty clear that it was made for the fans rather than the mainstream, and many of the fans would be turned off by it not being in first person. Also, that it was supposed to be so story based could alienate someone.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Exactly. They should of used Jennifer Hale again, yet I can only assume they didn't to cut even more costs from the game.

THANK YOU.

God, I was worried that I was the only person who was upset by this travesty. If they had Jennifer Hale voice Aran, MAYBE the game would have been bearable. MAYBE. I can understand the cost-cutting thing, but dear God, who could possibly have thought that the talentless hack they chose should play anything more than a bit-part NPC?

/end Jennifer Hale-nerdrage

 

[Electrogecko]

The Wii is the reason that I have not bought it. You're telling me I have to change my grip on the controller every time I want to shoot something? Yeah, no.

The switch is instantaneous for anybody who has any experience with a Wii remote. The game also slows down for a few moments during the transition to help you get your bearings and keeps your character's orientation constant. It was an incredibly good idea that was implemented perfectly. Neither me, nor any of the people I've talked to (that actually PLAYED it) had any trouble with this aspect of the game.

Is this really that hard to figure out? Other M did poorly because it was a shitty game! I don't think I need to embellish on that, we've been all around the mulberry bush on that one.

Get the hell out of here. (seriously, what the hell was that?) The game wasn't shitty- it was exceptional. For fans of the series, it was a letdown mainly for it's linearity and the cutscenes. It may have been one of the worst games in the series (unless you're looking for an action-combat game) and one of the worst 1st party games in the last 5 years, but it was still an excellent game that was unfairly judged (by people like you who've never played it and talk trash about it) because it had the Metroid name to live up to. The game was a much better single player experience than Halo ever was. It had several new and inventive ideas. Some of them worked, some of them didn't, but all of them deserved to be tried. Besides, we're trying to figure out why upwards of 500,000 people didn't buy the game, and I seriously doubt that many people had their decision changed by stuff on the internet.
If the game had been a new IP, nobody would've thought poorly of it....unless they're stupid.

 

[GoldenShadow]

A lot of people hate the characterization. I didn't.

So you like your women continuously beaten and pining for more [http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html]? I'm sorry but if you honestly liked the characterisation, you are a monster and I make sure I avoid *checks GoldenShadow's profile* Austen Texus. *Sigh* Should have guessed it. Nine times out of ten, whenever I hear an American with backwards views on women, they're from that area.

Only insecure juveniles would see the Ridley scene and be embarrassed.

Or how about those that have been fighting Ridley with Samus since the beginning? For her to suddenly break down into tears, endangering not only her life but the lives of those around her, for no reason whatsoever, is very jarring and annoying.

The stereotypical Texan cowboy would probably not be a Metroid Fan. But also this area is a rich cultural melting pot. You probably have a picture of me in your mind and you don't even know what race, ethnic group or age I am. All based on my profile's location. Good job.

The arguement that Samus has been fighting Ridley previously and wasn't affected has no punch. Just read into them closer.

In Metroid (and Zero Mission) Samus infiltrated Zebes with the Intent to destroy Ridley from the beginning. He was no surprise. She was mentally prepared to face him.

In Prime, she stumbled upon the ressurected Ridley on the space station, the emotional impact causes her to lose concentration and a mere explosion causes her suit to malfunction and lose her upgrades. If She hadn't seen Ridley there, that explosion wouldn't have devastated her like that. Once Samus has regained her composure she proceeds to kick ass.

In Super Metroid Samus encounters Ridley on Ceres station. She is unprepared and is unable to prevent the theft of the larval metroid. Once Samus has regained her composure she proceeds to kick ass.

In Other M, Samus encounters Ridley and because she is mentally unprepared, she freaks out for a minute. Her inaction managed to almost get Anthony killed. Once Samus has regained her composure she proceeds to kick ass.

The only difference in Other M is the FMV cutscene to show us great detail which a lot of people can't handle for being too insecure themselves.