Metroid Dread

[OptOut | 8,883]

I was so impressed with my play-through of Metroid Dread, that the day after I finished it I decided to finally download Samus Returns!

I really like this game too, you can definitely see how the DNA of this game was reincorporated into Dread!

The pace of the game is quite a bit slower, but then I've always been a big fan of the original Metroid II, so actually I'm really loving this as a casual kind of pick up and play experience!

[phart010 | 1,707]

19 hours ago, OptOut said:

I was so impressed with my play-through of Metroid Dread, that the day after I finished it I decided to finally download Samus Returns!

I really like this game too, you can definitely see how the DNA of this game was reincorporated into Dread!

The pace of the game is quite a bit slower, but then I've always been a big fan of the original Metroid II, so actually I'm really loving this as a casual kind of pick up and play experience!

Only thing I didn’t like was that they forced you to use the 3DS analog stick. It is a kind of crappy analog stick.

[Estil | 1,264]

20 hours ago, OptOut said:

I was so impressed with my play-through of Metroid Dread, that the day after I finished it I decided to finally download Samus Returns!

I really like this game too, you can definitely see how the DNA of this game was reincorporated into Dread!

The pace of the game is quite a bit slower, but then I've always been a big fan of the original Metroid II, so actually I'm really loving this as a casual kind of pick up and play experience!

That's probably to go with the feel/pacing of the original Metroid 2...that really did need a full color GBC version...

[Tanooki | 4,933]

4 hours ago, Estil said:

That's probably to go with the feel/pacing of the original Metroid 2...that really did need a full color GBC version...

Ehh yeah and someone else did it for them years ago, Metroid II DX, very nice job of it as well.  And yeah AM2R for PC too which Nintendo slammed shut we figured just to troll at the time, but aligning dates and development times knew they had that turd on 3DS in development.

[Estil | 1,264]

17 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Ehh yeah and someone else did it for them years ago, Metroid II DX, very nice job of it as well.  And yeah AM2R for PC too which Nintendo slammed shut we figured just to troll at the time, but aligning dates and development times knew they had that turd on 3DS in development.

Copyright Nazis...

EDIT: Okay, I guess on this one I'll give them a pass as they did indeed make an official "Metroid Second Mission" sort of deal and did do a good job on it.  It's just that way more often than not they are Copyright Nazis, like wasn't there an incident a few years ago where they were trying to take down playthroughs or something?

Edited November 7, 2021 by Estil

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

15 hours ago, Estil said:

Copyright Nazis...

I mean, imagine developing a Mickey Mouse, Halo, or God of War game, and not accepting that there might be major risks...

[Gloves | 11,777]

2 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I mean, imagine developing a Mickey Mouse, Halo, or God of War game, and not accepting that there might be major risks...

Imagine if someone started up a Twitter account or something under the name "Estil", and in the profile said "Estil from NA/VGS" and went around tweeting a bunch of things Estil disagreed with. That Twitter account gets like super popular, too, lots of big fans agreeing with all the really ugly shit it was saying (ugly in actual Estil's eyes). 

I'm sure Estil would have no problem with that. 

[Estil | 1,264]

36 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Imagine if someone started up a Twitter account or something under the name "Estil", and in the profile said "Estil from NA/VGS" and went around tweeting a bunch of things Estil disagreed with. That Twitter account gets like super popular, too, lots of big fans agreeing with all the really ugly shit it was saying (ugly in actual Estil's eyes). 

I'm sure Estil would have no problem with that. 

That's called libel and/or slander.  And that'd be against one mild mannered individual, not some giant billion dollar company with a dream team of lawyers and such round the clock.  BIG difference.

[Gloves | 11,777]

2 minutes ago, Estil said:

That's called libel and/or slander.  And that'd be against one mild mannered individual, not some giant billion dollar company with a dream team of lawyers and such round the clock.  BIG difference.

Not a big difference in principle, however. You're implying it's morally okay to do infringe on the rights of the Metroid designers just because they're part of a big company, while doing the same to you would be wrong. Rules are rules; if you wanna make a cool game my suggestion is to come up with your own story/protagonist, etc.. Else you're basically just leeching off the creativity of others. 

[Estil | 1,264]

20 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Not a big difference in principle, however. You're implying it's morally okay to do infringe on the rights of the Metroid designers just because they're part of a big company, while doing the same to you would be wrong. Rules are rules; if you wanna make a cool game my suggestion is to come up with your own story/protagonist, etc.. Else you're basically just leeching off the creativity of others. 

Like I said in my edited post, I'll give them this one.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

27 minutes ago, Estil said:

And that'd be against one mild mannered individual, not some giant billion dollar company with a dream team of lawyers and such round the clock.  BIG difference.

How very liberal of you.

[Estil | 1,264]

5 hours ago, Tulpa said:

How very liberal of you.

Since when was that a liberal vs conservative or any other political kind of thing?  Isn't that something that could happen to most anyone?

I kid you not, in my first year or two of college I honestly thought I was in a political identity crisis!  

Edited November 8, 2021 by Estil

[Tulpa | 3,492]

11 minutes ago, Estil said:

Since when was that a liberal vs conservative or any other political kind of thing?  Isn't that something that could happen to most anyone?

The idea that a corporation can't have the same rights as an individual is a liberal position. Conservatives tend to take the opposite (especially when it comes to campaign donations by corporations, at least.)

But don't worry, we still love you. Even if you are a pinko commie.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Tulpa

[Estil | 1,264]

5 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

The idea that a corporation can't have the same rights as an individual is a liberal position. Conservatives tend to take the opposite (especially when it comes to campaign donations by corporations, at least.)

But don't worry, we still love you. Even if you are a Plinko commie.

Oh great, now we're bringing a Pricing Game into all this...

Hey I'm all for corporations for having rights like anyone else...I just don't like seeing anyone take unfair advantage against someone in a flagrantly UNfair matchup so to speak.

Yeah, someone who's been a registered Republican his whole life (thought believe it or not I actually did vote NO on the "marriage is only one man, one woman amendment"...in 2004) is a Plinko commie...sure.  I would think someone like you and the other leftist here would be accusing me of being a card carrying member of the John Birch Society (if they're still around)!!

[fox | 1,667]

I enjoyed Dread.  It stays very true to Metroid formula and lore, so fans of the series can breath a sigh of relief.  The controls have never been tighter, and this allows for some fluid fast game play.  The bosses are killer, tough but after a couple tries you should be able to figure out their patterns.

The visuals are fine, but the art design is a bit dull.  Every area feels kind very samey, space station with a bit a planet stuff going on, nothing too alien.  The soundtrack is forgettable, and that is disappointing how iconic some of the series music is.

Exploration is handled in an interesting way as the game likes to burn the bridge behind several times, in order to keep in a certain level until you find the correct upgrade.  The map is huge, so this keeps on from straying too far from where you need to be without directly telling you where to go.

I think the larger issue is the collectables are pretty boring and unneeded.  Most are just plus missiles, which you never run out of (even at a boss since bosses drop them like candy), or the rare energy tank (which are now split into 1/4ths), or the super bombs (which is the last upgrade you get).  It felt like it wasn't even worth tracking these down because by the time the game really opens up and allows you to go off the rails and explore, you already have the screw attack which one or two shots every normal enemy, so forget shooting and bombing, just keep endlessly jumping and spinning.  I know they want to stick by the old standards, but if you were able to discover and play around with some different hidden weapon or armor loadouts, that would have made exploration more rewarding.

[phart010 | 1,707]

5 hours ago, fox said:

I enjoyed Dread.  It stays very true to Metroid formula and lore, so fans of the series can breath a sigh of relief.  The controls have never been tighter, and this allows for some fluid fast game play.  The bosses are killer, tough but after a couple tries you should be able to figure out their patterns.

The visuals are fine, but the art design is a bit dull.  Every area feels kind very samey, space station with a bit a planet stuff going on, nothing too alien.  The soundtrack is forgettable, and that is disappointing how iconic some of the series music is.

Exploration is handled in an interesting way as the game likes to burn the bridge behind several times, in order to keep in a certain level until you find the correct upgrade.  The map is huge, so this keeps on from straying too far from where you need to be without directly telling you where to go.

I think the larger issue is the collectables are pretty boring and unneeded.  Most are just plus missiles, which you never run out of (even at a boss since bosses drop them like candy), or the rare energy tank (which are now split into 1/4ths), or the super bombs (which is the last upgrade you get).  It felt like it wasn't even worth tracking these down because by the time the game really opens up and allows you to go off the rails and explore, you already have the screw attack which one or two shots every normal enemy, so forget shooting and bombing, just keep endlessly jumping and spinning.  I know they want to stick by the old standards, but if you were able to discover and play around with some different hidden weapon or armor loadouts, that would have made exploration more rewarding.

Yea I was disappointed the power bomb was at the end of the game. You basically only use it to find hidden items, it’s rarely used in the mandatory playthrough. Compared to Super Metroid, where you get it like 1/3rd of the way through the game and it it is needed to be used more often.

There is something to be said about pixel art. The item pickups in Super Metroid looked very cool. I would always stare at them for a moment before picking them up (maybe that’s me just being ADD). This made me feel like I just found a piece of treasure. The items in Dread were not special looking, they were just generic looking 3D objects.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

Yeah that confused me too when they did the power bomb little justice, also the super missile is a weird setup too, it's like a set of button combos to fire it, not just like the old days of select missile, push or hold and it just does the green vs red shot.  Dread on the whole is fine, a few questionable button juggling moments in the nastier bosses of the game making them harder than necessary because of that design vs the boss design actual challenge.  I don't know if I'd go back to it any time soon, rather probably play an older one again as I do feel this isn't one of the better versions.  I know I will probably get knocked for it, but being the new game after like 15 years people are riding a nostalgia come back high so that's hard to compete with.  I'd largely put 1(zero mission specifically) 3, and I think even 4(fusion) over it and I never finished 4 and gripe about it yet I feel it has tighter smoother design to the game.  Dread is good, just had some annoyances against it.

I will give Mercury Steam some dues, the 2 remake was fairly crappy and they went a long way from there to Dread making it less bland, less button kung fu juggling happy, just less stale all around compared to that 3DS mess.  I'd put Dread over the original 8 bit pair, placing the 3DS turd dead last so it's a middling game.  If AM2R counted though as legit, I'd put it higher, such a stunning well done job bringing 2 up to 3's standards more or less.

[phart010 | 1,707]

5 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

If AM2R counted though as legit, I'd put it higher, such a stunning well done job bringing 2 up to 3's standards more or less.

I really enjoyed AM2R, almost as much as Super Metroid. It’s hard to say if I liked I better than Dread… obviously Dread is way more polished. But there is something special in AM2R

[Tanooki | 4,933]

2 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I really enjoyed AM2R, almost as much as Super Metroid. It’s hard to say if I liked I better than Dread… obviously Dread is way more polished. But there is something special in AM2R

Well yeah I guess, polished is relative.  You can only polish up something so much depending on your team size, finances and other assets behind it.  One is a multi-million dollar legit release, the other a freebie pet project done in the shadows knowing likely they'd get (and did get) curb stomped by the IP holder.  AM2R fixed all the problems the old Gameboy game had and made it a lot of fun, something so simple as just a little better control and a usable map screen is a world of difference between a challenge and confusing going in circles frustration.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

I'm just here to say Metroid Samus Returns is a good game.

 

Carry on.

[phart010 | 1,707]

1 minute ago, Tanooki said:

Well yeah I guess, polished is relative.  You can only polish up something so much depending on your team size, finances and other assets behind it.  One is a multi-million dollar legit release, the other a freebie pet project done in the shadows knowing likely they'd get (and did get) curb stomped by the IP holder.  AM2R fixed all the problems the old Gameboy game had and made it a lot of fun, something so simple as just a little better control and a usable map screen is a world of difference between a challenge and confusing going in circles frustration.

I personally didn’t get lost in the original gameboy game. And played it through when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. The thing to remember is that each area is isolated from all the others, they are only connected by the main tunnel. And the main tunnel goes down. If you are going down, your getting closer to the end of the game. If your going up, then your going back to the beginning.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

@phart010 I guess I was maybe 3-4 years older but it happened, going in circles a lot, despite it being obvious you had to go lower.  I think part of it was Gameboy limitation of less view area coupled with most areas looking too similar largely due to the lack of color and the view space.  I finished it eventually, but it ground my cares down enough I've never done it again in all these years.  The little upgraded touches that remaster that genius did giving it a Super Metroid upgrade to it turned a lacking game into something special.

[fox | 1,667]

I guess I’ve mastered the claw grip, because I didn’t have trouble with the controls.  

[RH | 4,903]

16 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I'm just here to say Metroid Samus Returns is a good game.

 

Carry on.

 

16 hours ago, phart010 said:

I personally didn’t get lost in the original gameboy game. And played it through when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old. The thing to remember is that each area is isolated from all the others, they are only connected by the main tunnel. And the main tunnel goes down. If you are going down, your getting closer to the end of the game. If your going up, then your going back to the beginning.

Metroid 2 id the only original GB game I give s perfect 10. I'll spare the gushing but I didn't find it difficult as a kid. With no help, I beat it snd a few years after that, I beat it 100% with no guides.

The trick is to always follow the ground and continue your path along it as you have access. What I mean is if you follow the ground moving right, you start descending then see a door across the corridor on the right, ignore it if you keep descending. Eventually you'll double-back if you just follow the floor/walls. Start over in your general area, and old areas when you get back to them, once a power up is discovered. Following-the-boundaries pretty much led me to everything, though you do end up dropping a looooot of morph bombs in the process, which is slow and tedious, but does work.

[ifightdragons | 234]

1 hour ago, RH said:

 

Metroid 2 id the only original GB game I give s perfect 10. I'll spare the gushing but I didn't find it difficult as a kid. With no help, I beat it snd a few years after that, I beat it 100% with no guides.

The trick is to always follow the ground and continue your path along it as you have access. What I mean is if you follow the ground moving right, you start descending then see a door across the corridor on the right, ignore it if you keep descending. Eventually you'll double-back if you just follow the floor/walls. Start over in your general area, and old areas when you get back to them, once a power up is discovered. Following-the-boundaries pretty much led me to everything, though you do end up dropping a looooot of morph bombs in the process, which is slow and tedious, but does work.

That's funny, because you literally just said it's a perfect 10, then go on to describe how the game is arguably kind of flawed/tedious. That doesn't make much sense.

I'd be a bit moderate and say it's a very good Game Boy game, with its obvious flaws and shortcomings.