Poll: Metroid: Other M killed Samus

[Caligulove]

I wouldn't say that they killed her, it's just that... wow did they make her boring and uninteresting.
Not to mention look like any other randomly generated B-Grade anime girl.
Her personality just seemed to clash with the way the character was (sparsely) written before now

But that's all under the armor. Samus, as a whole, with the suit and all the powers and what she's still known for, is still very much alive. I just like to forget about Other M, or at least focus on some of the gameplay that was good, because the story definitely wasn't doing anything for me. I am glad they're trying something new, though. More than you can say for other Nintendo standbys like Mario and Zelda

 

[Outright Villainy]

Well, it does sound like they did an awful job characterising her. If I were a Metroid fan I'd be pissed.

 

[Mistermixmaster]

They didn't kill her, but they did ruin her character a lot. I mean, the Volcano part? WHY would she not want to activate the Varia Suit before the order? And WHY did she not use other powers like the grapple beam until authorized? She was only ordered not to use the Power Bomb and Super Missiles if my memory serves correct.

Oh, and the Riddley part? WHAT. THE. HELL?! Samus was scared of a boss she had defeated before, and back then she wasn't scared of him at all...

They had so much potential to make the character for Samus more awesome, but instead they gave us a scared little girl that will obey orders to a fault... *sigh*

Wow, that was quite the rant... Anyhow, that's just my opinion on this matter, and here's hoping for a better Metroid game later on.

 

[sunburst]

Fine, let's ignore characterization through gameplay and assume we knew nothing about Samus the character before now so whatever personality they decided to go with is the real Samus. Samus Aran is officially an emotionally frail girl and not a badass bounty hunter who happens to be female. She is not and never should have been an icon of feminine strength in gaming. The badass we thought we knew was just a phantom created when we filled in the blanks with things that were never actually stated. She's simply another roadblock standing in the way of strong female characterization in the games industry. Is that what you want?

Seriously, are you listening to yourselves? What does it matter if the character we thought we knew was never beaten over our heads? How does that excuse taking an icon of strong, independent women and turning her into a submissive little girl? It's great if they want to turn Samus into a deeper character with more personality than a pistol, but they still made her into a shitty character. If they want to give Samus depth that doesn't suck, I will be behind them 100%. It's great that she's flawed and has emotions other than grim determination. It's not great that those flaws paralyze her and completely drown out any other characteristics she may have. There's really not much else I can say that hasn't already been said at least as eloquently. I will note that I know quite a few female gamers who were rabidly anticipating Other M. Every single one of them was royally pissed off when they finished it. No matter what your perspective on this is, that proves Nintendo did something wrong.

Now this leads to my second point which covers both quotees: Samus Aran as a strong female character.

So most of you are complaining that she's being a over-sensative, insecure person who cries and feels fear in the face of danger. Excuse me, but when did Duke Nukem with boobs become the only acceptable form of a strong female character? In fact, when did Duke Nukem become the pinicle of strong male characters? Don't get me wrong, always bet on the Duke, but I can't help but feel that what you're portraying is a sense that anyone with any sort of "weak" traits to them is a terrible person and shouldn't be represented as a strong character in media.

I only skimmed past here because you clearly either didn't read what I wrote or failed pretty hard at comprehension. What part of, "It's great that she's flawed and has emotions other than grim determination," makes it seem like I want her to be Duke Nukem with boobs? The problem is that those flaws and (negative) emotions completely overshadowed any other character traits to make it seem like that was all she had.

And let's be clear, they didn't make her a 3 dimensional character. They made her two separate and conflicting 1 dimensional characters. One was a cold and efficient killing machine during gameplay while the other was a terrified girl overwhelmed by self-doubt during any other time. The second personality becomes 2 dimensional at best towards the end of game, but she's never successfully married to the gameplay character to create that 3 dimensional human (chozo) being we might be looking for. Even if it had, the character arc was still grossly out of place because she's been a badass bounty hunter (destroyer of worlds) for over a decade at this point. If this were a prequel to the whole series, it just might have worked. As is, it failed in nearly every way characterization can.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

Nope. It's Samus minus anonymity, but otherwise, it's how I picture Samus if she had a voice. I just find it hilarious how people just went OMGZORZ WE WANT JENNIFER HALE BACK! For what? To grunt and make sounds when ever she gets hurt or jumps off of a high place again?

I just felt Ninja Team just went batshit insane over the whole Humanize thing more than anything, and put way too much of it in. Samus should've been like say... I dunno, the Master Chief? She speaks, yeah, but she doesn't speak too much. But unlike the Chief, every time she talks, you get to know more about her. She isn't a blank slate, and the game will actually make her sound like a strong willed heroine as opposed to a teenager.

 

[RikSharp]

the character in other m just does not jive with the character in ANY other metroid game.
therefore, i voted yes they ruined her.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

I don't usually enjoy Metroid games, but I seriously considered giving 'Other M' a try.

Now that I know there is a story as well, I'm heading out tonight to buy it.

 

[Warachia]

Let's not be so specific. Fans can never be pleased in general.

Well that is just a stupid thing to say, because it so obviously is not true.

Hardcore Metroid fans LOVED the Metroid Prime series to spite it being hugely different and from a new developer pre-release it was heaped with so much scorn but the thing was it was done RIGHT!

If you truly believe fans can NEVER be pleased in general then you are pretty naive and don't know what you are talking about. Clearly your mind for some reason tunes out all the times that fans praise work and only focus on the rare times they are disappointed. A strong fixation on the negative.

(obviously when you say "in general" you cannot use that to imply "every single one of millions are pleased".)

But Other M is not just bad for the fans, it is bad IN AND OF ITSELF! The fans just have extra reason to be disappointed about it.

I'd ask you to stop repeating such nonsense generalisations about fans as it spreads the false impression that it is the fan's opinion which is the one opinion that people should NOT listen to which couldn't be farther from the truth. These are the reason for the franchise's continued relevance and they key to the new releases success.

I never said that, hobo_welf said that and you screwed up on your quoting.

EDIT: also, I agree with you.

 

[TLatshaw]

A single game can't "ruin" a character. Neither can several: Just ask Sonic.

If a certain title portrays a character unfavorably to a player, the bright spot is that the next game may be completely different. I don't see why some people have so much difficulty viewing Other M as another director's interpretation of a character.

sonic.. is not a good example XD, he hasent made good games since he was 2d XD
says me, a big time sonic fanboy of old XD ( hell i grew up with the old cartoons with SONIC SAYS! in them XD )

He has bad games, but does that ruin how good his original games were? Is the sole concept of Sonic as a character destroyed, or can a new, better game bring back the old mindset? It's at least arguable. Also:

 

[cahtush]

i thought that before i saw this video by moviebob
http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-40-Heavens-to-Metroid

 

[DaBozz]

oh come on really? voice acting finally being used in a nintendo game and someone moans its ruined it well excuse me princess!
that aside I think its good that nintendo are finally catching up with the times, now we just need to see some other famous characters get a proper voice:

Yes I'm looking at you buddy....

your kidding.

you... fucking... OH MY GOD. hes SILENT. that IS his character. he is the adventure boy. the kid you control and don't pay attention to. he isnt the only one is much better silent. whats wrong with silent protagonists? look at the doomguy. I wouldnt change a thing to him. there is a character there: he likes to kill monsters. there. good enough. silent protagonists work. have a couple things point to what they are, but for the love of god, DONT MAKE THE PLAYER CHARACTER TALK.

Everything is wrong with Silent protagonists dude, they are gone dead, only nintendo/Valve fanboys cling to the Mute character now, to qoute Yahtzee "Nowadays people are used to protagonists with more depth than a spoon" and I agree with that, its the person your playing as, you meant to care if they die...how can you care about a character that doesn't talk and has NO plot Development at all? the truth is; you can't.

Snip

See above.

Riiiiiigh. So IMMEDIATELY after Nintendo monumentally fucks up giving a voice to one of their star silent protagonists, you expect them to repeat the mistake? Also, you are using a fallacious straw man argument that people are disappointed JUST BECAUSE they speak.

No. Fuck no.

People are pissed for WHAT she says! Beyond mere fan expectation, looking at her objectively what she now says and does makes her an incredibly unlike-able and un-endearing character.

Dude, this is the first time nintendo have made a protagonist speak, of course its going to be awful, and of course all the people who grew up with Metroid will whine, but for fuck sake if nintendo don't start catching up with the times in the year 2020 we will still have them producing mute Protagonists with no depth or plot. so let them make her talk, what she says might be rubbish, but everyone is so used to games like eg: final fantasy (or even god of war) where the story of the protagonist is frankly amazing this to them is a step back.

Short summery, stop whining, stop clinging to childhood memories, and lets see where nintendo go with this.

 

[sunburst]

i thought that before i saw this video by moviebob
http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-40-Heavens-to-Metroid

Why do people keep linking that video saying things like this? Are you guys proud of the fact that one video can completely change your perception of a subject, especially when that video is made by an admitted Nintendo fanboy and FPS hater about a new Metroid side-scroller?

 

[hobo_welf]

snip

I'm not debating even slightly whether or not Other M was a good Metroid game, hell I haven't even played it, and your argument has pretty much removed the very minimal interest I have in it, thanks

My argument is about whether or not the series is ruined by a single game, which is where I brought in the fanboy argument. And it still applies. A critic (like yourself perhaps) would look at the game and cite the large amount of exposition and gap between cutscene Samus and in game Samus as reasons why the game sucks. A fanboy will look at the game being changed in a fundamental way and either like it and get upset when the next game is not similar, or hate it and make a poll on the Escapist questioning whether the entire series is ruined.

 

[S-Unleashed]

HAHA. No. No it didn't.
It's just that Nintendo can't win when you think about it. People wanted Nintendo to add voice acting and emotion to their franchises. They listen and the fans hate it.

Ruined? No, it added character to an otherwise uninteresting character.

Other M made the series much more interesting and I hope to see more Metroid titles like it.

Thank you.

Glad I saved you a bit of opinion typing. It's sad how fickle many fans can be, the same fans who praised OoT as the best game ever and comparing every following Zelda game to it saying they were not as good criticized Twilight Princess for trying to be like OoT. I kinda feel bad for Nintendo, no matter how much they listen to their fans they just can't seem to please them.

That children is what we call a fandum.

 

[Ranorak]

i thought that before i saw this video by moviebob
http://screwattack.com/videos/TGO-Episode-40-Heavens-to-Metroid

Why do people keep linking that video saying things like this? Are you guys proud of the fact that one video can completely change your perception of a subject, especially when that video is made by an admitted Nintendo fanboy and FPS hater about a new Metroid side-scroller?

No, it's mostly because he has a point.

And don't get me wrong, I'm a huge metroid fan, and so far, I am really enjoying Metroid Other M.

 

[hobo_welf]

Let's not be so specific. Fans can never be pleased in general.

Well that is just a stupid thing to say, because it so obviously is not true.

Hardcore Metroid fans LOVED the Metroid Prime series to spite it being hugely different and from a new developer pre-release it was heaped with so much scorn but the thing was it was done RIGHT!

If you truly believe fans can NEVER be pleased in general then you are pretty naive and don't know what you are talking about. Clearly your mind for some reason tunes out all the times that fans praise work and only focus on the rare times they are disappointed. A strong fixation on the negative.

(obviously when you say "in general" you cannot use that to imply "every single one of millions are pleased".)

But Other M is not just bad for the fans, it is bad IN AND OF ITSELF! The fans just have extra reason to be disappointed about it.

I'd ask you to stop repeating such nonsense generalisations about fans as it spreads the false impression that it is the fan's opinion which is the one opinion that people should NOT listen to which couldn't be farther from the truth. These are the reason for the franchise's continued relevance and they key to the new releases success.

I never said that, hobo_welf said that and you screwed up on your quoting.

EDIT: also, I agree with you.

Well curse my double posting. I'm of the firm opinion that fan input needs to be extraordinarily careful. For instance, on WoW, game balance was originally pretty good, but as patches come out increasing the power of certain classes, people flood the forums upset about the way their classes are no longer relevant, so Blizzard listens and buffs a class and nerfs another class, and viola, WoW is a game I haven't played in ages simply because everything changes so often. Due to fan input.

OoT was one of the most highly praised Zelda games Nintendo ever made, but when Twilight Princess was modeled similarly, it tanked. Albeit the game was retardedly easy, but I hope you see what I'm getting at here. When a developer sticks to their idea of what the game should be, and it's a good game from the start, they generally make decisions that are at least in the best interest of the game.

Halo is an extraordinarily popular game, but if you look at the game mechanics, it's like watching Cuddy and House on Fox. Will they or won't they?! It's a mystery! Will they use dual wielding this game? Will there be recharging health or medpacks? Armor abilities or equipment? Every game changes mechanics due to fan input.

At the other end of the spectrum you have the somewhat less popular TF2, which has more than doubled in size since it was originally released, and some of that content is fan suggested! But by and large, most fan input is placed aside, in the best interest of the game! Now if Team Ninja had thought about the BEST INTEREST of the game in addition to listening to FAN INPUT, we might have ended up with a Metroid game filled with cutscenes about Samus kicking peoples asses in!

 

[TerribleAssassin]

Yes and no.


While it sort of deletes the mystery of Samus, it does give her some character.

 

[fluffybunny937]

I watched the G4 review of other M and well, Morgan Webb got way to emotional about it. Seriously half the review is her complaining about a boring character trying to be made interesting and then she goes off on a thing about the health system. It's a video game, the health system never makes sense. What should Samus have to walk over food or a health pack to instantly grab and use it? Or should she have to take cover for a few seconds to regain health?
The day G4 goes back and changes the reviews of games such as Mass Effect 2 to lower their score for their health system I will then not believe Morgan Webb just wanted something else to hate about it.

 

[HellsingerAngel]

Spoiler: Story Part #1

Alright, so we start with the fight with Mother Brain and the loss of baby. It's a sad moment to relive, I know, but we'll live on... somehow. After the battle with Mother Brain we find out that Samus was having a flashback to that moment in her life, obviously traumatized by the event. Now, I need to pull a quote here because I need to stress this: "And the explosion that follow destroyed planet Zebes, along with the remains of Mother Brain, the Space Pirates, and my long-standing nemesis, Ridley." This clearly states that all the Space Pirates are now dead, including Ridley, as well as Mother Brain, because of the explosion of Planet Zebes. Samus then has a little bit of training in the test room, to which the scientist comments on how powerful she's become. There's some lementing over the lost Metroid baby, as she realises her great deed of redemption in trying to save it in her second visit, as well as her misplaced attachment to motherhood were quashed by Mother Brain.

Time passes and Samus finds a Baby's Cry signal coming from a space station. She alters course, noting how amusing the anaolgy is given that her last large mission had involved a more literal sense of the term. Speeding off to the rescue, she also notes that she has no hesitation to help those in need when the signal pops up, as if she had originally planned on being there. Upon arrival, she notices that the Galactic Federation already has a hand in the situation from a transport ship being docked in the same bay as her own starship. We then quickly find out that two of Samus's former associates, Anthony and Adam, are both aboard the space station, investigating the distress call.

Some important facts to note here are that Adam seems very callous and defensive by Samus's sudden presence, while Anthony seems very upbeat and happy to see a long lost friend. It denotes, as well a Samus hinting towards it, that she left on poor terms with her former superior officer. With some not so sly prompting from Anthony, Samus blows open the door they had been trying to breach and they continue to a small room. A dead body reveals that the entire space station is most likely void of any life signs and also reveals a small, purple bug, which is hurridly disposed of by one of the marines. Just before Samus can offer her services to assist the marines, they're all swarmed by a massive infestation of these purple bugs and are forced to fight. Freeze guns are authorized by Adam.

Spoiler: Story Part #2

Adam quickly takes charge of the situation by commanding both his squad and Samus in a joint effort to destroy the bug monster. Samus follows orders as if she had been born to and the group disposes of the monster fairly efficiently. Adam then "asks" for Samus's co-operation, also saying that she will have to be under his command if she wishes to help. This triggers a flashback, going back to one of her old mission briefings. The soliloquy explains, in detail, ow her squad treated her and that Adam was a man of very precise vocabulary, never using words that he didn't mean. It also goes into explaining the "twofold responce" of her thumbs-down to Adam after his traditional "Any objections, Lady?" questioning. It also breaths life into the relationships with her commanding officer as an endearing one, the relationship with her squadmates as a competative one and her relationship with her past as one of resentment at her childish behaviour before passage into adulthood. At the end of the flashback, we can also see some regret of going out on her own the face the horrors of space alone and that her reflection on this is probably due to all of the time she spent void of human contact, saying she was so "young and naive" in her responce to how she feels about leaving the only person that understood her, with "chances being slim that I would ever find anyone who understood me like Adam."

Back in the present, Adam is going over the mission briefing and getting Samus and his squad up to speed with their current situation. We get a quick summary of the situation at hand, as well as the specializations of each soldier on the squad when they recieve their assignments. Samus is tasked with restoring power to the facility and is given a strict order that only her bombs have been authorized for use (hinting at some higher power that puppets Adma, most likely the Galactic Federation) but that all of her other weapons have been restricted until the situation can be further assesed. Pure speculation here, but this speaks volumes on how much of a threat Samus poses if most of her equipment would be sanctioned as outlawed or unusable on basic mission within the Galactic Federation. In any case, Adam gives a nice little explination of how Power Bombs are much like mini-nukes. The really important part, however, is the end of the briefing, where Samus feel both a sense of surrealness and happiness from getting orders from her former commanding officer, noting that this is the first joint operation since becoming a bounty hunter, reinforcing that "lonely" feeling within the character. After her orders are given Samus responds with an affirmative but chooses to respond in the more adult manner of "Understood, Adam. No objections, of course." instead of her thumbs-down, showing obvious growth as a person from last they met.

After restoring power to the facility, Samus is ordered to explore Sector 1 while Lyle, one of the marines, is reassigned to investigate a particular facility of interest within the same Sector. As she explores her new mission area, Samus stumbles upon a researcher's corpse, noting that whatever killed him was not the same as the creature that killed the first researcher they found in the infested room. She also notes something of a "Dark Presence" in the room. Upon further inspection of the surrounding area reveals a small, fuzzy creature that is attempting to get a pice of fruit. However, this moment is interuppted by Adam in which he presses Samus to continue. As she does, she's stopped by the lingering presence of the creature, now staring her down maliciously before she continues on ahead as ordered.

A little further on, Samus encounters a hive of bug-like creatures. After a prolonged battle, Samus expertly dispatches of the hive, as well as the queen and soldiers inside with the epxertise we have come to expect. After the battle, Samus examines the creature she had seen ebfore feasting upon and empty honeycomb from the destroyed hive. Unlike its calm fecade before, it now is a ravenous beast that insasibly feeds upon the sweet necter inside the comb. The bounty hunter regards this with curiosity, as well as a little fear, but quickly dismisses the creature as her new objective is given. Without hesitation, Samus is off again to her next area. Upon arrival she is greated by the other squad members. Maurice starts working on getting information extracted for a large CPU, while the other squad members head off to search for other clues as to what might have happened.

Spoiler: Story Part #3

While the crew is inspecting the surrounding area, Samus stumbles upon cybernetically enhanced Zebesians, however, there's no time to examine this as Maurice finds something important. Apparently, The Galactic Federation was experimenting with bioweapons, which is strictly prohibited within the galaxy. This gives some introspection for Samus as she reflects on bringing the baby Metroid back to be experimented on, as well as giving us information that Adam is a strong advocate agaisnt the use of bioweapons and bioweapons research. Samus finds herself worrying about his opinion of her once more, feeling it a jarring experience and questioning why she cares so much.

The crew decides to do more gumshoe work to search for a Madeline Bergman, the supposed highest authority on the space station. Within minutes of going back to the location in which she found the cybernetically enhanced Zebesian, Samus is attacked by multiple hostiles of the same nature. Both Adam and Samus agree that she is best suited at combating them and is sealed within the room to dispatch of them, which she does so without trouble. After the battle, she quickly realises another fight has broken out outside of the research facility. Joining the fray, she's ambushed by a fairly large monster while the other squad members are equally distracted by the sudden appearence of more aliens. After dodging the striking tasil of the large purple lizard'like alien, Samus is saved by Anthony from a wlel aimed plasma blast. The xenos quickly disperse after this. A small exchange happens between Anthony and Samus, with her giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder as he tells her that she probably won't need the next plasma bolt he's saving to cover her again.

The reunion is quickly broken up with the marines finding Lyle's corpse within the bushes. Samus is, however, much more interested in a trail of blood leading away from his corpse. She follows it to find the creature from earlier as a shell for something that's evolved. Beofre nay other details cna be gleaned from the moment, Adam gives orders to Samus to follow the purple lizard into Sector 3.

As she follows the creature into a lava filled area, she comes across another large alien that is bent on killing her. Adma authorizes use of her Varia feature and she quickly dispatches the alien with this, coupled with her Ice Beam feature. A little while later she stumbles upon a frozen metroid, noting that it would be impossible for a metroid to exist her because of the cold climate, as well as that the baby was the last of metroid kind. You can tell the reflection brings a small sadness to her.

Further along we find Maurice frozen and dead within the snow and a quick glimps of a woman looking out at Samus and the late Maurice from a facility near-by. Samus races to engage the researcher and as she persues the woman, the researcher tells Samus that Maurice was killed by another federation solider. Before further questioning can be done, a large robot attack them both, clearly operated by a Federation soldier as well. However, once the robot is incapacitated, the pilot is no where to be found.

Spoiler: Story Part #4

Samus has little time for reflection as Adam now gives the order to keep pursuit of the alien hot. However, it is determined that there is clearly a traitor amongst them. Some more introspection along the way to her target gives some much need summarization of what's transpired, as well as giving one key note on Samus's personality. Instead of naming names of who the traitor could possibly be, she gives the assassin a nickname to disassociate him from the potential that he could be either Adam or Anthony. She also reflects on how the woman she saved could be Madeline Bergman, but that she would need to be protected.

Furhter along Samus encoutners Anthony under attack. After disposing of the creature, as well as being authorized to use the grapple beam, the two make quick work and force the xeno to retreat. Anthony then elaborates on the fact that they were to move as a unit now and were supposed to meet up at a near-by location, but that no one else had shown up. The goal was to restore power to this sector of the facility and though Anthony questions Adam's use of all troops to do so, that his commander must have had good reasoning.

Queue flashback as Samus reflects upon a particularly traumatic moment in her life. Something malfunctions on a mission and Adam is forced to sacrifice his own brother of the safety of his squad. Samus protests saying thats he could save him if only Adam would give the order, but Adam orders her instead to stand down and they abandon his brother to his inevitable death. Upon reflection, Samus believes she had acted childish and that Adma had been correct in his judgement. However, she also notes that even if Adam was correct in his judgement, given the same scenario, she would still question it and try to save whomever was in danger again, despite the personal risk. Epic foreshadowing much?

Another boss fight ensues and, assuredly enough, Samus kicks ass and dispatches of her foe. Not too much further along is the now empty husk of the alien she had been chasing, evolving much like that of the fluffy creature she had first encountered. Easily recognisable that the two aliens are one in the same. Further along we come to one of the marquee points in the discussion: Ridley

Now here's the thing: yes, Samus does freeze up. Considering that this guy just came in like a bat out of Hell after he had died on planet Zebes (remember that was mentioned in the first cutscene?) would be a pretty big shock. As I've said before, Samus has no weaponry that could effectively outright kill Ridley, unlike most of the other monsters and aliens she faces. Add on top of that fact that she displayed both flashbacks to her childhood and feelings of helplessness when she realised she really had very little chance against Ridley if he could survive the Zebes incident and you've got a cocktail for instant hesistation. However, and this is a big however, when the chips are down and Anthony is in trouble, Samus has absolutely no issues with staring Ridley down with her Plasma Cannon an inch from his face and ready to scrap. The fact is no matter how many times you stare death in the face, in a realistic sense of character portrayal, someone who's spread so much anguish and terror into Samus's life like Ridley has is going to have a profound effect on her. Honestly, I would even go as far to say that Prime got it wrong! This sole reaction humanises Samus in a whole new light but also puts her on a higher pedistal for overcoming that fear of her past tormenter time and time again to get the job done. These are some of the traits -compelling backstory, emotional responce to said backstory and growth to overcome deep seeded emotions- that define a three-dimensional character as well as a strong female in gaming today. And wouldn't you know it, Ridley isn't even stopped by that large scale battle and looking like he'd had a once over in a plasma vent! Sort of proves that "nigh indestructable" theory, doesn't it?

Spoiler: Story Part #5

Samus deeply regrets having turned on Anthony when he had pointed his cannon seemingly at her shoulder. This "redemption" sequence really pins how disassociated with humanity Samus truly is and shows her instinctual emotion that everyone is out to get her and that she truly is alone in the universe and how much she regrets being that way. More reflection on the situation and her relationship with Adam comes in the form of reflecting on why he hadn't communicated with her, given that he seems to do so about eveyr five minutes. She proposes the thought that the Deleter would have pegged Adam as a high priority target and most likely went for him. She also notes that Adam probably already knew about the assassin and had his guard up the entire time. Also, notice the subtle fist clench at the mention of Adam being attacked, specifically on the "let his guard down" part. Another subtle reference to how she prized having her guard up so much, yet having a conflict with it interfearing with her interactions with others. She then notes how much her uncontrolled thoughts about Adam were annoying her.

A chase then ensues of her following who is presumed to be the Deleter. She follows him a fair distance and finally comes to a road block with her currently activated abilities. Now, here's a key point for the argument with her needing Adam to tell her what to do. When faced with the destroyed bridged, she very well knows that the Screw Attack would easily get her across and even goes as far as to mock Adam by asking if he has any objections to using this ability. Seriously, people are complaining about her being under the thumb of a man when she openly mocks how he's controlling her use of her weapons systems? Could it jsut be me or is she A) Growing as a character -or- B) Never really enjoyed limiting authority, even when it is "daddy" giving her the limitations?

The chase scene ends with Samus loosing the Deleter, but finding Madeline. Big reveal is that the facility was actually a harvesting ground for Metroids and the culminations of an elite bioweapons group not disimilar to that of the Space Pirates. Ridley evolved from the purple lizard, which evolved from the little fluffy thing that Samus had suspected of being some dark entity earlier on that she actually helped grow into what it is now. Hevay. Stuff. So what does this mean? Well, for starters, this means Ridley can't be killed both literally and figuratively. Samus will never be rid of him because he can just grow again, apparently with the same hatred for Samus as ever. This means that there's absolutely no way of getting resolution for her parents being killed throug the destruction of Ridley. This means that this deep seeded fear of Ridley coming to eat her up is even more so because this will be happening for the rest of her life! Most of us outgrew the concept of a boogeyman, but unfortunately for Miss. Aran that is a reality of life. Ridley will always be in the shadows, waiting to gobble her up like a snack and she always has to have that guard up.

Speaking of, notice how she barely flinched at this news? That emotional shield she has up is quite strong. It's as if she's an independant female working out her own problems by herself. Really though, I think what we can take away from this is that Samus has always been able to operate without Adam, regardless of what you may want to believe all those orders are. He's apart of the armed forces of that era, that's what soldiers do. Samus is still a civilian, no matter what way you want to slice it. She just gets paid for shooting badguys on private contracts.

Spoiler: Story Part #6

If only for my sanity, I'm going to try and ignore msot of the main story unless relevant. This is getting to be really long.

Another boss fight. After Samus expertly obliterates this foul creature, she stumbled upon a Metroid. Yes, finally. She immediately has flashbacks of when she first found Baby within planet Zebes. However, this particular Metroid seems to be a little more sinister, for as soon as Samus is rendered defensless from a Freeze Blast to the back, the Metroid becomes hostile. Her would-be killer does save her from the Metroid. Not interestingly enough, Adam was the shooter. He subdued Samus as not to be able to interupt him from a suicidal mission to detatch Sector Zero and self-destruct the labratories to kill MB and the Metroids. Remember that epic foreshadowing? Yeah, right here. Given ehr chance at redemption, Samus pleads Adam to let her go instead, claiming that she's the only one who has a chance of destroying the Metroids. Adam retorts by saying that with the self-destruct program, he stands a chance against Metroids, but against Ridley he'd be killed. Inevtiably, Adam heads off and Samus breaks down into calling out for Adam. However, Adam does turn back and ask Samus "No objections, right, Lady?" to which Samus respectfully gives a thumbs-down, solidifying the their bod with the symbol that started it all.

Now, a lot of people are up in arms about this scene. To all those that think this destroys the reputation of Samus Aran, let me give you a scenario. Think about the person you cherish most in this world. It can be a friend, a parent, your significant other; just the signular person that you cherish most on this Earth. Now, imagine them saying to you "I have to die so you can live" and having to watch them walk off while you're helpless to stop them. Would that not make you an emotional wreck? In terms of being human, Samus acted perfectly natural to the situation. She became human once more. However, she also became something more than that when she realised that what Adam did was for the betterment of both her and the universe. She became a bigger person because of it and grew as a character. God forbid that had to be done through a tearful, emotion filled scene but that's how it was done. The death of the closest person to her made her resolve that much greater to achieve her one goal: make Ridley pay!

Spoiler: Story Part #7

So during one of the biggest fights yet against the Metroid Queen, we get another flashback. One that gives us a sense that she feels that as the countdown finalizes, it was all for naught. she had failed Adam and her last orders by not being able to stop the ship. However, Deus Ex Machina kicks in and the ship stops.Not as terribly as important that most other scenes, but it does give the sense that, yes, Samus does care about Adam and wants to make him proud like a good daughter would to a father. If the relationship between the two wasn't solidified between the two already, it has to be now.

The other interesting scene is the one where the real Madeline, Melissa and Samus all unite. Why is this so important? Well, it's the telling of Melissa's story that's so thought provoking. She was an emotionless robot up until the point where the first baby Metroid had been born. Suddenly, after experiencing the joys of motherhood, the android was filled with emotions, thoughts and opinions. She was a fountain of humanity personified and couldn't help but try to protect the Metroids and look out for their well being despite what anyone else wanted. This didn't, however, make her opposed to experimentation on Metroids, so long as they weren't injured in the process. Wow, kinda sounds familiar, doesn't it? The uncanny resemblence between Melissa and Samus is by no mistake and certainly personifies who Samus is as a person. It also shows that unlike Melissa, Samus has learned to have a lot of restraint when it comes to these matter, conducting herself in a very professional manner in most cases.

Both scene 8 and scene 9 are fairly void of anything that hasn't already been said. Shadow Ops group moves in and captures all the Metroids after a big shoot out, Samus is congratulated but doesn't succeed in killing the Metroids and a certain someone comes back after his Deux Ex Machina moment of stopping the ship. All in all, I suppose my point wasn't to prove that the story was good, but seriously, that's a pretty bad ass story as far as video games go. No, it wasn't deep, the themes were largely based upon the extinction of one race to save another as well as the dangers of A.I., but as far as an action title goes I'd say it's pretty damn good.

Now, the big issue was "is Samus ruined" and I really have to stick with "no!" Most of the things people complain about are false or hyperbole. Samus had two emotional scenes throughout the entire game: one where she cried and for a justifiable reason because the only person that understood her sacrificed himself so she could live and the other was a moment of paralyzing fear, also completely justified given her past with Ridley and what he just came back from, as well as the fact that she redeems that moment by sticking her plasma cannon right in his God damned face thirty seconds later! The rest is just either introspection on who she is as a person, who she was as a person, comparing the two, or just general problem solving and sleuthing to figure out what happened aboard the space station.

In conclusion, the hype of her being a total sellout to her badass bounty hunter roots is a total myth. It's hyperbole upon two moments which, whether you like it or not, make her more human and less immortal badass which actually gives her great character depth. She still kicks ass, she still takes names, she's still outta gum while doing it, she just sheds a few tears for the people that die along the way now. And really, is that such a bad thing?

TL;DR- There is no TL;DR. Stop being lazy a read the damn thing!

 

[thahat]

A single game can't "ruin" a character. Neither can several: Just ask Sonic.

If a certain title portrays a character unfavorably to a player, the bright spot is that the next game may be completely different. I don't see why some people have so much difficulty viewing Other M as another director's interpretation of a character.

sonic.. is not a good example XD, he hasent made good games since he was 2d XD
says me, a big time sonic fanboy of old XD ( hell i grew up with the old cartoons with SONIC SAYS! in them XD )

He has bad games, but does that ruin how good his original games were? Is the sole concept of Sonic as a character destroyed, or can a new, better game bring back the old mindset? It's at least arguable. Also:

hmm if they would suddenly make a GOOD sonic game, hell, then indeed i would take back my words, and sonic might be revived.

also: sonic says! smoking isent cool