Have you played it? If you want a good understanding of it, take Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Fusion, then mix it in a 3D blender. Not only is it "Metroid" in 3D, it even takes from all the Prime games in gameplay (such as charging your beam to fire a super missile which costs 5 missiles). The whole package is genius, it slowly takes you away from the group until its just you alone on a huge space station, the feeling of isolation is intense, to the point that when you hit a main elevator you take a sigh of relief. So, its perfect? Quite frankly yes. It's exactly what Metroid should be. I'm on my phone so I can't go In to huge detail, but the haters of this game (calling it sexist) have no idea what they're even saying. Other M is the Kubrickian patchwork of the Metroid series made whole. In the first it was so subdued it was transparent, in Zero mission the Zebesians flew around in sperm shaped vehicles. Just a BIT over the top in Its hidden meaning (of lack of) but got the job done. There's a big reason the phonetic sound of Samus Aran is Same As A Man and that you fight "Ridley" as in the director of alien - a story about a woman fighting a man's world. The cross of Aran's fascination of the 'baby' to Bergman's fascination of Melissa proves an awesome point. The relationship with Adam has nothing to do with sexism or women being told what to do. Adam is, for the role he fulfills, Samus Aran's father.
Man its hard making paragraphs. So before my browser force closes on me I want everyone to know that the resident Metroid guru is in love with this game. Not as much replay as the prime games and doesnt feel as big but eh, for what its offering its more than enough. Get ready for a gameplay twist that melds survival horror elements with classic Metroid. Disappointments? Sure:
Kraid is no where to be seen, there's a lack of 'natural' fauna but that becomes a plot point. The real difficulty curve just isn't there, even the items are bizarrely easy to find. Zero challenge. And don't look for intense shinespark puzzles because other than SHINESPARK HERE there's no thinking involved. Having said that the combat and mechanics is magical, if Nintendo released a remake of the original Metroid and Metroid 2 and hell Super Metroid with this format I'd be fine with it though theyd all 3 need tweaking in order to work, especially for the 'real' spiderball or X-ray.
Bottom line - don't pass judgement on this game, tear a part the story and trust me you will be impressed. Silent hill 2 levels of being impressed maybe even more so. Watch for some creatures getting angry/frustrated when they can't get to you and experiment with killing methods on every enemy. I don't see how anyone can be let down by this game other than its lacking replay or difficulty, both can be found in the 'hard' mode though (unlocked after beating it)
And for some reason, my icon is angry.
The story/writing/voice acting are suck on toast, but that's just the first item on the list, unfortunately.
Differing opinions, on MY forum? Its more likely than you think!
I haven't played it, but based on what I've read about the story (which is a good amount), the sexism charge sure seems incontestable.
GR hasn't a clue of what he speaks of. The voice acting is either better or on par with any Squaresoft/Enix, Capcom, Konami, Bethesda, Rockstar, Bungie, Id or BioWare game and the story is pretty spectacular if Japanese. Melissa was a stroke of genius but hey maybe I'm just enjoying the sci-fi of, yunno, the sci-fi game. Other than the Silent Hill games I've never wanted to play just to uncover the plot until now with Other M. The writing itself is often clunky as with any any heavily engineered script. It's not the words being spoken, its the meaning of why theyre being spoken. I can't believe the stupidity of people complaining: someone took Metroid and did something completely new and everyone wants what they JUST played in Metroid Prime only... Again. This isn't Mario or Zelda where you just make an excuse to set the reason to showcase new gameplay, its an ongoing saga that was set since Return of Samus.
I saw people complaining about her reaction to Ridley in other M. Does anyone realize that Ridley EXPLODED? DIED, EXISTED NO MORE, WAS A PILE OF THINGS, etc in Super Metroid? The fact that he exists again is a huge shock to Samus who JUST dealt with the idea that she has KILLED what led the attack on K12 murdering her parents. The general Ridley of the Zebesians was RESURRECTED so yeah, id be filling my pants too. Later on in Prime she finds a cyborg Ridley, which she already fought a version of in her zero mission. This is the only time she fought actual Ridley since Super Metroid. Not a genetic manipulation, not mechanical, actual pissed off super intelligent Ridley who hates Aran's guts. That scene was incredibly well written and gets the blood pumping before the battle.
The whole thing is talking about creation, life and death and human connections to our creations. Parenting, the thing that Samus lacks and takes pity upon anything that also lacks it. Even a Metroid. It's fucking brilliant.
Look, I can appreciate that everyone has their own opinions about things and that we all like and dislike different things to varying degrees, but the voice-acting in Metroid: Other M is not good, particularly the voice-actor for Samus. She has virtually no range at all and delivers every line in a flat monotone; she gets no help from the writing, of course, which drops the word "baby" about a hundred times during the first ten minutes.
I've heard worse, but rarely from something with this much money behind it.
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Flat monotone is how ALL modern movies deliver their lines. Don't you realize expressing emotion in any way is cheesy?
She's a fucking woman in a man-suit repressing her feminine core that only rears its head when she is absolutely beaten over the head with something and usually remains hidden from the audience (literally hidden in her suit) and her monotone voice as an adult compared to the screaming teenager she used to be? Did you WATCH the scenes? Her lax sense is calm and collected, she's also versed and mature. But think outside the box a little, this story takes place on a mobile space station nick named the BOTTLE SHIP where not only are the secrets of the federation bottled, but so is Adam's and Aran's humanity. The entire script is engineered allegory! APPRECIATE IT DAMMIT! IT'S CITIZEN CAIN, IT'S FUCKINF KUBRICKIAN! STOP LOOKING FOR PROBLEMS WITH IT AND STUDY IT AS A MASTERPIECE OF (extremely Japanese) STORY TELLING AND GAMEPLAY DESIGN! WATCH 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY NOTICE THE MONOTONE? GUESS FUCKING WHY.
Even if the writing and story were great [they aren't], the game itself is brain-dead easy, the levels are as linear as friggin' FF13, and it doesn't even have any great ambient music to fall back on.
The phrase "her feminine core" is exactly what sexism is.
Should something like that be too surprising from Lazy, though?
You're right, women don't have a feminine core. Men don't have a masculine one. What was I thinking. Are you people fucking serious? Saying a woman has a feminine side, a feminine core, that's wrong in your little world of pretend? Women are women, men are men, they're different and thank god for it. What's next? If I said a black man should embrace his African/south American roots is that racist in Oz too? I know reality sucks but stop making it worse you fucking twats.
The music is entirely remade from existing Metroid tracks, much in the same way Skyward Sword's theme is Zelda's lullaby reversed and slowed down. Other tracks are lifted straight from Metroid2, Fusion and Super Metroid.
It's linear on purpose, that's not a flaw. Some Metroid games are open exploration (Prime, original, super), some are strictly defined (fusion, zero, mom). All of them obey the powerup to exploration ratio, just like Castlevania. Just because in Super Metroid you could travel to Norfair doesn't mean you could DO anything, that's the fun behind powers. After the fake ending, you can explore the bottle ship anywhere, go to any place and use power bombs effectively re-doing the entire game with all power ups.
It is easy, its a "Wii family accessible game" unfortunately, but it does have a hard mode for just that reason. Have you tried it?
If you said a black person had a "black core", a naturally "black" part of their personality, then yes, that WOULD be racist. A black person is no more obligated to research their past than an Irish person.
What you are talking about is essentially a product of culture, not genetics, and that's where it falls flat. What, do you think female boxers or stay-at-home dads are just living a lie?
The whole sexism argument is, frankly, secondary to the dialog, voice acting, and story simply not be engaging and often just plain annoying.
A boring story packed with symbolism is a poor substitute for a well-told story without pretension.
Unbelievable. A female boxer will put on a dress, feel pretty, think about children and otherwise be a female. That's exactly what im getting at. A stay at home dad WILL feel emasculated and look for ways to be competitive and masculine.
A black man and Irish man are too extremely different ideals. Black people were subdivided and lost their heritage, so if you said a black man amd a native American, or a black man and a Jew, you would be spot on. Hence jews should see Israel, native Americans should reach out to their roots. On that sense, a black person uas a black core because to be black is to carry the weight of the oppression blacks had to endure, the same for Jews, the same for homosexuals, do you see the logic?
Samus is a woman who never got to be one, she was in the military at 12 years old. The idea of a baby is completely foreign to her but magnetic in its ideals hence the Metroid hatchling.
You guys are attempting to say the right things without understanding the context and sounding like inane assholes.
Other M simply isn't compelling, in story or gameplay. I can play for 20 minutes and derive some degree of entertainment from those 20 minutes, but the game doesn't do enough to make me want to play more.
Samus getting all rape flashback whenever Ridley is around isn't very empowering, and in a game where you are a bounty hunter, that's what you want. Hanging onto Adam like he's the only thing that justifies her existence also isn't that great.
What it gets down to though is one thing. At a certain point in those cut scenes, all I can think is:
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It's sad to say but it Other M was Metroid Prime with MOM's camera you would be happier. Someone (the person who directed Super Metroid btw) does something new and all anyone can do is bitch that its different. Actually, people rejected Prime just because it was first person. We really are an industry where rehash is king.
Metroid attempted to push boundaries of video games as a method to create immersion using the available technology, a new genre of shooter with rpg elements. As it grew it tried to move in to literal storytelling like a movie, which when it came to Other M it was a designed as a two sided brain: one company did the gameplay, creatures,scenarios, etc. While another handled the dialogue, cutscenes, etc. The result is a game that plays beautifully with an arguably tension filled story with beautiful cutscenes. It reminds me of another series that hit an evolutionary leap which is Metal Gear.
Dialogue intensive, plot driven, heavy story arcs and classic but refined gameplay. Someone's going to say this so i'll mention that Metal Gear and Metroid are two completely different animals, but when Metal Gear introduced bizarre homophobia in its story everyone accepted it. When Metroid introduced ideas of a woman for the first time, it was scoffed at.
The original Metroid surprised everyone with the reveal at the end that the character youre playing as is a woman and no game in the entire series could.recapture that moment of surprise. Until now with other M, showing us for the first time who this character is, not just the 'what'. A human being, a mature woman who's thoughts showcase intelligence and forethought while still reeling from the events of her past especially when she makes contact with her "father" and her "family", the army. I can't make you guys see the genius of it, nor can I make you appreciate it. But don't tell me its a bad video game and then go back to Call of Duty or fire up Super Metroid with rose colored glasses firmly equipped. This is a solid video game, possibly ahead of its time. Just as the reveal of Samus shook our young social circles with conversation Other M's presentation recaptured that new paradigm to discuss and that was just as purposeful as the added pixels to create the look of long flowing hair and a space bikini. It's Metroid for adults in that respect, a refined Metroid.
I gave Metroid Prime a chance and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a really great game.
I gave Metroid: Other M a chance and was disappointed to find that it was incredibly mediocre and poor continuation of an amazing franchise.
Look, I wanted Other M to be a great game, I wanted to love it. After three Prime games, it was clear that they'd gotten to the point where they'd done everything within that framework that could really be done. It was starting to get stale and a change of pace was needed. Other M was that change of pace and I was quite excited for it when it was initially announced and when media started being released.
The finished product didn't match the hype, unfortunately. Other M isn't the worse game ever made, I've played far, far worse. It's mostly just really disappointing, because too much of the game is just mediocre.
Two things:
One, at least give us the simple dignity of trusting that our opinion is genuinely our's and not some outright rejection of change.
Two, we get the symbolism. This actually goes to every single "artsy" director out there. We get it. It's not "above" us, it never was, it is in fact immediately obvious. Yeah, the kid represents the murderer's last shred of innocence and the monster represents the monster. Stop trying to act like symbolism is the holy grail of story telling and just make compelling characters for a change.
Quote:The original Metroid surprised everyone with the reveal at the end that the character youre playing as is a woman and no game in the entire series could.recapture that moment of surprise.
I was really pissed about this because someone spoiled this for me before I got a chance to play and I spent the first 3 hours trying to find a man who could help me beat the monsters. Or find a kitchen or a laundry basket or SOMETHING.
I love you.
DJ I never said it was above anyone, I. Never implied that either, what I'm saying is tgat its an engineered script to accomplish that hidden meaning which is difficult to do and should be recognized. Just saying the story is bad, hell you could say the story of most Kubrick movies is bad but its part of the art, its the experience. To just pass that off means you're ignoring the entire art piece.
You 3 want to argue the sexism of which there is none, so you create it with the fascination Samus has of her father figure. Imagine the same events with a male chatacter; can you think of an interesting story or two about a son in his fathers shadow? I know its good because I don't have the taint that you guys have, probablu brought on from gypsy cultists or a lack of protein in your diet, whatever ir is, you guys felt inclined to jump on the bandwagon of yellow journalism that berated mom even before you played it. I ran through the Metroid games before playing mom, I also read the original instruction booklets for fun. Mom played on all of it and made something original, something completely unlike the others.
In all seriousness, a side from the weird dislike you have for the character or wtiting, what is it you'd like changed in mom?
Yes, it is all about the experience and the experience is good. Sorry. Everything's heavy-handed, ham-fisted, and shoved right in your face. It has not concept of subtlety or setup, only of repeating its themes [babybabybabybaby] until you're sick of it after the first five minutes.
Has nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with NOT BEING GOOD.
Quote:In all seriousness, a side from the weird dislike you have for the character or wtiting, what is it you'd like changed in mom?
-Chop the cutscenes in half [they drag a lot early on and accomplish very little, MP3 suffered from similar issues]
-More ambient music [there's some, but not enough]
-To not be so incredibly easy [the game is basically My First Ninja Gaiden]
-To not have levels be pathetically linear [exploration is part and parcel of what Metroid is, not "run along this corridor until you get to the end, then something happens]
-Toss out of the first-person view [it's disorienting and doesn't fit well with the overall emphasis on third-person gameplay]
-Bigger location variety [the bottle ship has some neat areas, but overall it's within a framework of metal hallways that's not as interesting as a bizarre alien world]
I just have to reiterate my point. Samus went from being a strong character who had problems with Adam in the past to a weak little girl who can't stand against anyone without big strong Adam's support. She went from being able to stand toe to toe with the biggest bads to going into shock at the sight of Ridley. There's no justifying her reaction at this point. She's killed Ridley countless times by now without this sort of reaction, and suddenly panicking at the sight of him just is aweful.
I could forgive all of that, ALL of it, if it wasn't constantly IN MY FACE the entire game. Say what you will about ignoring the story, but the game won't LET me ignore the story. I've got no choice BUT to watch Samus go from a strong female lead to a crying co-dependent child, and it just makes me angry. No, the whole "mother" thing isn't deep, it's just insulting. Not EVERY woman deeply wants to be a mother, and up until now, Samus seemed completely uninterested in that.
I absolutely HATE the way Samus is portrayed in this game. There's simply no way I'm ever EVER going to like it. It has nothing to do with me just following the crowd.
Lazy, there's a well known psychological phenomenon where people generally assign their own viewpoints as internally generated and the viewpoints of others as externally generated. I think you're falling for that right now. I could very well, and I was initially tempted, to brush off your opinion as "mere fanboyism", but that would be as insulting as brushing off my opinion as mere yellow journalism influence.
The story is just one part of it though. The game just isn't very good. You know what's a better Metroid game that came out recently? Batman Arkham City. That game is amazing.
Thread RESURRECTION!
This got pretty heated didn't it? Well, my opinions on Other M haven't really changed over the years, except that I've grown to dislike the game play as much as GR did. Funny how I recommend Arkham City as a palette cleanser, considering it's got sexist elements too. The best I can say is at least those sexist elements are just slightly more subtle, and the female characters are at least interesting and generally adults (if damaged adults). That's right, the Batman game's portrayal of women is more progressive than Samus' portrayal in Other M.
I've started thinking about the "big reveal" that Samus was a woman at the end of the first Metroid. Now, that was a good move on Nintendo's part, and it was as important as any female lead in video games at the time. However, should that REALLY have shocked us? Think about what it said of the gamers at the time. Some might see that ending and say "oh, so that's what she looks like", but all too many were so utterly shocked that a GIRL could do all those amazing things that it's still considered something utterly amazing. The reason it was such a shock was because it shouldn't have been a shock. That's kinda weird, right? We're talking about the 80's, when cartoons were trying to teach kids that the genders were equals (in some pretty lame ways at times), while other cartoons were pretty much screwing that message up entirely. Frankly, I'm glad I wasn't one of the "shocked" ones, and SJ should feel fortunate as well.
Anyway, never mind about all that for a moment.
Axiom Verge
The best new Metroid game to come out in years, and it's only on PS4 (and later this year, PC). Much like Symphony of the Night scratching that itch during Metroid's absense in the N64/PS1 era, if you want a good Metroid style game, this is what I'd recommend. Considering that Konami seems content to just stop trying to make Castlevania games ever since the lukewarm reception to Lords of Shadow 2, it's a good thing these indie developers are around to keep the dream alive. This game is, so far, very impressive. They also stuck in some familiar elements from Castlevania and even Zelda II. One thing I've got to note is that they solved the "low life beep" problem. Oh, you know that problem. Low life? Beep beep beep beep beep beep... Useful way to let players know they're really in danger, but annoying. Some games have tried making the sound "softer", gentler perhaps, but then people don't pay attention. How'd Axiom Verge do it? They made the beeps an additional back beat for the music. It plays to the beat of the music, changing it's tempo with the change in the music, and even cutting out for brief moments when the music does. Yes, still loud, but I just LOVE this. It's how every single Zelda game from now on should work, and even as a purist I can say that if they altered the older Zelda games with such a system in place (which would, admittedly, take some work), they'd be better for it.
LOL lazys opinion on sexism, racism, or anything remotely political.
I miss that crazy bastard *single tear*
eta: I'll have to check out that castlevania game, my PS4s dead otherwise. And no more Silent Hills :( on my 360 I've gotten in some Bioshock, but I suck at 1st person shooters so it's a slog
eta2: "black core"
Ahahahaha!
Actually, I forgot to mention it, but the Super Metroid comic in Nintendo Power did a much better job of portraying Samus. She was shown to be strong without being turned into the scowling meat heads they stick in FPSs these days, and the one "male interest" was hilariously rebuffed at every chance, at best a friend and ally but never taken seriously as cliche romantic relationship fodder. She actually had real human emotions throughout the thing. Compare and contrast this with her portrayal in Other M. Frankly, I'm pretty sure this comic is where I got my ideas for Samus' personality, but I'd just forgotten the source.
When Nintendo comes back to Metroid, they should go to the comic for guidance. I still would love to see Other M's Samus (and her behavior) explained away as a clone though. Not in a hateful way, they can redeem her whole story arc as I said years ago with the right angle.
Dark Jaguar Wrote:I've started thinking about the "big reveal" that Samus was a woman at the end of the first Metroid. Now, that was a good move on Nintendo's part, and it was as important as any female lead in video games at the time. However, should that REALLY have shocked us? Think about what it said of the gamers at the time. Some might see that ending and say "oh, so that's what she looks like", but all too many were so utterly shocked that a GIRL could do all those amazing things that it's still considered something utterly amazing. The reason it was such a shock was because it shouldn't have been a shock. That's kinda weird, right? We're talking about the 80's, when cartoons were trying to teach kids that the genders were equals (in some pretty lame ways at times), while other cartoons were pretty much screwing that message up entirely. Frankly, I'm glad I wasn't one of the "shocked" ones, and SJ should feel fortunate as well.
This is a great point, that is a good question. I didn't play the game back then, of course, so I don't know what I would have thought..
... Actually, I probably wouldn't have finished the game, so I wouldn't have seen it. Never mind Metroid games, it took me years before I managed to finish Mario Land 1...
Anyway though, my guess for why it was surprising to many in Metroid is the usual gender bias -- like the classic 'doctor riddle' (
http://www.bigriddles.com/riddle/doctor-cant-operate ). In this case, men are expected to be the ones doing fighting and stuff, so of course this space commando is a man even if it hasn't said so...
http://legendsoflocalization.com/what-do...d-other-m/
I have always wondered about what Japanese gamers in general think of Metroid. I know that it's not nearly as popular there as it is here, but there's clearly a small but dedicated audience. That does make sense. After all, Exploration style Castlevania games are VERY popular over there (such as Symphony of the Night, or "Nocturne in the Moonlight" over there), and they're basically the same genre of game. It'd be very strange to find they thought of them as "totally different" over there.
The neat thing is, the small Japanese fanbase of Metroid also didn't like Other M, and for a lot of the same reasons.
After rereading this thread I have to say I almost want to pick up a copy out of morbid curiousity. I don't think it'd be fun for long, though... like putting on one of those "so bad it's good movies" and wondering what the hell I just spent my time doing. I'll never get those 90 minutes of human centipede back D:
I haven't actually played the game, but I got Metroid Other M a while back (last year, was it?), when it was under $4 at Gamestop, and I think there was a buy-2-get-1-free that day too. Checking online it looks like they've raised the price since, but no way would I pay over $5 for that game, so only get it if you find it really cheap. It's considered the game that ruined Metroid for a reason.
Dark Jaguar Wrote:http://legendsoflocalization.com/what-do...d-other-m/
I have always wondered about what Japanese gamers in general think of Metroid. I know that it's not nearly as popular there as it is here, but there's clearly a small but dedicated audience. That does make sense. After all, Exploration style Castlevania games are VERY popular over there (such as Symphony of the Night, or "Nocturne in the Moonlight" over there), and they're basically the same genre of game. It'd be very strange to find they thought of them as "totally different" over there.
The neat thing is, the small Japanese fanbase of Metroid also didn't like Other M, and for a lot of the same reasons.
That's interesting, and it's good to know that those few Japanese Metroid fans were also disappointed.
"So bad it's good" movies are best consumed with a group of friends. Then it isn't a waste.