Tendo City

So who else is gonna be playing Echoes tonight? WOO!!! Talk about how awesome it is in here*!




*stupid people who don't have the game are not allowed to post in this thread

I may not have Echoes yet, but I did get to play the demo of Hunters on the DS...which is more than I can say for SOME people here! Also I got to play a demo of RE4, and let me tell you the graphics in that game are incredibly awesome and since the viewpoint is changed the control scheme works a lot better.

I'm going to try to not play a DS until I buy one. The experience will be better that way.

*totally pwned Johnny right there*

Quote:The experience will be better that way.

No it won't! *totally pwned Danny with that comeback*

Besides, I've played RE4, which I'm instantly cooler than all the people out there that haven't and since I'm already pretty cool because I'm such an awesome person that makes me 100X cooler than everyone on the planet except the awesome people at Williams Street...and Shigeru Miyamoto...and the guy that invented the internet...

Quote:No it won't!

...

This thread doesn't have a handy acronym like the MEAT does.

Echoes...eh. Low on my priority list. DS, MSG3, and others com before it...if I even get it at all.

Quote:if I even get it at all.

Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there. Get out. Now! And don't let the door hit your edenAsster on the way out!

Jerk.

Quote:if I even get it at all.

Whoa, that's a big huge there, EM. I mean a decision like that, it's important to rethink a decision like that...while you still have your health.

Own3dB1... heh... :)

I never said that there was no chance of me getting it...but a DS and MGS3 are just more important :D.

:shake:

Voices do help, so I'd agree that Nintendo's stance mostly against them is strange and not in their best intrest...

I got MP2 today. *goes back to playing MP2*

The Boost Guardian was hard, but after a few attempts I finally figured it out and blasted him into a million pieces, although I did cut it pretty close, coming out of the battles with only about 23 health. No pressure.

MP2 is a great game, one of the best on the GC. However, I can't help but feel that MP1 is still the better of the two games, I may feel different after I get farther into Echoes, but that's the way I feel right now. One reason being that so far I have no encounter an area of Echoes that can match Phendrana Drifts in MP1. I loved that level.

Currently at: 32%

Wait until you see the last level. :)

Pendrana Drifts is a really cool area, but every single one of Echoes' areas looks so much better than the rest of Prime's levels in terms of architecture and design. The artists really outdid themselves this time. Also, the game is more challenging in terms of puzzles and bosses.

Yeah I heard that area is amazing. I can't wait to get to it.

What are you doing? Working? Sanctuary Fortress is more important than petty stuff like that!!

That and then trying to finish MGS3. I should have it done by tonight. Then I'll be able to fully concentrate on Echoes!

So what has been the most difficult boss for you so far?

The boost ball boss has taken the most tries, but I'd say the caterpillar thing that turns into a giant moth [two forms] was the most frustrating, mainly because of how long the battles was. I still beat that boss in one try, though.

Oh really? Well that's good to hear. The Boost Guardian only took a couple of tries from me and I was expecting crazy tough bosses after that.

Remember, if you're fighting bosses in Dark Aether, the light crystals are you're best friends.

So far I haven't encountered any that are crazy tough, but they certaintly aren't easy. The spider ball boss was tough, I almost died fighting him but managed to kill him with just a small amoung of health left. Some of the bosses though, even a few of the later ones have been fairly easy, though some people might think that they're hard.

Any of them as hard as Prime?

And I just had a fight with light crystals, so please don't mention them again. They insulted Bo Jackson!

Quote:Any of them as hard as Prime?

You mean the final boss of MP? Well, the fight with the moth thing got pretty close near the end, but it wasn't that hard. But, none so far are THAT hard.

Ok good.

I think on average, though, the bosses in Echoes have been harder than in the first game. I'm already getting nervous about facing the final boss of Echoes...

I heard it's not too bad.

Huh.

Well, not too bad compared to the other bosses. Still tough though.

Ok I'm about 11 or 12 hours into the game and recently beat the spider ball guardian in Sanctuary Fortress, so here are some more impressions:

It's both better and worse than Metroid Prime. The better points are: graphics, architecture, art, music, and difficulty. The graphics are a bit better than Prime on a technical level, but because of the much-improved art and designs of the environments it's definitely the prettier game. The music is also a lot better overall, with some great SM remixes and some original ones as well. This is the best Metroid soundtrack after Super. The higher difficulty is also great, as it has been just the right toughness without being cheap.

However, at the same time is does things worse than Prime. The main problem I have with the game is not that it's very similar to Prime in almost every respect, but that the progression is flawed. One of the best parts of the Metroid series is the feeling of progression that you have throughout the entire experience. You start off with minimum armor, weapons, and abilities, and gradually gain new stuff which allows you to reach new areas in the game, and make you feel like a badass. All of the Metroid games do that wonderfully, all of them except for Echoes. I'm not far from the end of the game and I've only gotten one new visor (just an hour or two ago), one new suit (early in the game), two new weapons (early in the game), and a couple of suit/jump upgrades. I expect to see one more suit, one more weapon, and one more visor. As well as the screw attack. The problem isn't just that there are fewer upgrades than previous Metroid titles, but that they are spread out so unevenly. The sense of progression is messed up because of that. And to make matters worse the two extra beams that I have require ammo, which means that I can't use them very often. Much of this is because of the light/dark world theme of the game, and I think that if they nixed that idea the progression would have been much better. The whole collecting keys/artifacts thing isn't really necessary, either. There shouldn't be collecting junk, just gaining new items and abilities to gain access to new areas.

Prime 1 also had a bit of a problem with the beam system, as you had to switch between them non-stop. Echoes doesn't make you do that very often. A much better system would be the 2D Metroid way, where the upgrades literally just add to your current weapon. No tedious beam-switching. When more beam types are added to your single beam, it makes you feel like you're actually adding to your old weapon instead of replacing that. I hope Retro realizes this and fixes it for Metroid Revolution.

So while Echoes is a terrific game much like Prime, Retro Studios has much that they can improve upon and fix in order to make the ultimate 3D Metroid game.

And it's still too early to tell if this is the better game than Prime.

The collecting of the keys was a bit odd, since the previous Metroid games never had anything like that. I thought, however, that it added to the overall difficulty of the game by forcing you to scour the light world for new portals and the dark world for the keys. Also, the progression was certainly different from the previous titles, but I didn't really think it hurt the game overall.

Since it's a Metroid game and that's one of the most fun parts of Metroid games, I definitely think it hurt the game.

And about the dumb collecting, it really isn't necessary. Making the game work like Super Metroid would have been perfectly fine. The cool thing about Metroid is that in order to progress in the games you don't just collect useless keys to open up new areas, but rather awesome new abilities that more realistically allow you to progress. Instead of putting a big door with a lock blocking a new area they make it so that you need to get a certain ability or upgrade to get through it.

Quote:Instead of putting a big door with a lock blocking a new area they make it so that you need to get a certain ability or upgrade to get through it.

It's not like they didn't do plenty of that. Besides, it's not like your were constantly collecting keys and many times you'd find keys while searching for others and anyway, most of the keys were obtained by using the new skills that you'd found.

Yeah I know, it wasn't a massive issue, but I stand by my opinion that it was completely unecessary.

For me, it was simply anothe reason to explore every nook in the two worlds...and then get frustrated and go to GameFaqs, but anyway, the keys had no really value yes, but they did force you to put your new equipment to the test just the same as searching for anything else.

But there was no real reward from getting them like you would get from a power-up. The problem with Echoes is that the upgrades are so few and far between and you don't get to take advantage of them enough. I've only got a few hours left yet I still haven't gotten the echoes visor or the screw attack. That just sucks. And the whole beam thing is messed up, but there's no other solution with this light/dark thing.

Well that sucks. Do you still want to marry your beloved keys??! HUH?!! DO YA!!??!

Lots of keys in a Metroid game? That does sound annoying...

It's not like Zelda or most 3D platformers though.

Quote:Well that sucks. Do you still want to marry your beloved keys??! HUH?!! DO YA!!??!

I never said that the keys were some great aspect of the game that made it hundred times better. I just said that I didn't have any problem with them being in the game, mabye I'll change my mind after I have to find nine more...

WHY DON'T YOU MARRY THEM IF YOU LOVE THEM SO DAMN MUCH!!

Because only crazy people and hobos marry inanimate objects.

...


Touché.

and lonely people :(

Like this guy.

Or this guy: