Nazulu said:
You are making assumptions there, I didn't say anything sucks, but I don't expect it to hit that high note that is Super Metroid.
However, lost their way is a good way to describe it. The focus for Super Metroid was the design and atmosphere of being alone and mysterious. As the series keeps getting more sequels it feels it's lost all of that. The boring anime Zero Suit design was a good sign that they'd focus more on the character inside among other things, because it looked like something good for sexual advertising, and one thing I've never known Nintendo for is their story writing.
I liked Metroid Prime and Fusion, but they really fucked up in some spots. The scanning in Prime surprised me when I found myself enjoying it, but that's when I first heard her lame predictable story, and the design started to become a pain as you couldn't move around quickly. While the story in Fusion I couldn't care for in the slightest, including I also don't care for having to press through text all the time, when it was better uncovering a story through actions, and I'm not fond for the design and style of Fusion either as it all feels mishmash. The rest are even worse.
The magic in the series is dead, and as long as they keep focusing on so many areas, it won't be the cold mean Metroid that made me love it in the first place.
I apologize if I came off as a bit too angrily inquisitive. I just read your post assuming that you felt the Zero Suit was the only reason you feel as though the series peaked at Super Metroid.
Reading your post, I feel like the Zero Suit isn't your biggest problem, but rather the way the other games handle story and gameplay. I certainly won't argue, as you laid out your issues, and gave your personal reasoning. I agree that the less time I spend in story cutscenes in Metroid, the better.
For me the Zero Suit was never a problem because it was really a non issue in the games outside of Zero Mission when Samus loses her power suit. Maybe it's unnecessarily sexy, but if one is playing Metroid to see the Zero Suit, they are playing it for the wrong reason. I figure no one really does that anyway, at least I hope not anyway.