Metroid: Dread - October 8th

[Alex W.]

10 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Why not also give repeat and constantly posting of the same thing over and over a rest? It’s pretty much windmilling in a thread. 

I’m sorry, next time I’m posting in a live stream thread I’ll wait until the very end to say anything so that none of my comments are repeated.

 

Didn’t you whine about people saying negative things in that thread already? Shouldn’t you go off and give yourself forty lashes or whatever punishment this hideous crime calls for?

[gizmo1990]

I'm a graphics whore by profession but, I don't think it looks too bad? Certainly not as bad as some here are saying. Sure, it would have been far (far) better to have had a small team go the pixel route but Nintendo don't roll that way unfortunately. What's hurting it the most currently imo, is the muted colour palette  and too much use of flat tonal surfaces. Hopefully that is just down to them showing one specific area from the game so far.

[Hitcher]

1 hour ago, gizmo1990 said:

Hopefully that is just down to them showing one specific area from the game so far.

I think this is the reason - they don't want to give too much away, thankfully.

[HarryBizzle]

Was not expecting Nintendo to release the most Xboxy-brown game of the show.

[Kevvy Metal]

8 minutes ago, Alex W. said:

I’m sorry, next time I’m posting in a live stream thread I’ll wait until the very end to say anything so that none of my comments are repeated.

 

Didn’t you whine about people saying negative things in that thread already? Shouldn’t you go off and give yourself forty lashes or whatever punishment this hideous crime calls for?

I can assure you it is absolutely infuriating having this running commentary of just dunking on things over and over - and I was not the only one to point that out! 

[Alex W.]

Just now, HarryBizzle said:

Was not expecting Nintendo to release the most Xboxy-brown game of the show.

 

[Gotters]

I don't think this looks bad but watching what has been shown so far it doesn't look like Metroid, even when Zelda does a wholesale overhaul of the art style it always manages to look like Zelda still.

 

My immediate thought was the Rise of the Robots renders when Edge were jizzing their pants over that game for years

[Alex W.]

4 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

I can assure you it is absolutely infuriating having this running commentary of just dunking on things over and over - and I was not the only one to point that out! 

Yes it must be hideous to have someone posting their extemporaneous thoughts in a discussion thread on a live event. It’s just not what discussion forums or live events are for.

 

Terrible for both of you.

[Alex W.]

Could we get someone complaining about me complaining about Kev complaining about me complaining? If we put another layer on this I think we can sell it to Nolan.

[Kevvy Metal]

3 minutes ago, Alex W. said:

Could we get someone complaining about me complaining about Kev complaining about me complaining? If we put another layer on this I think we can sell it to Nolan.

Is this all really necessary? 

[Alex W.]

Move on, Kev.

 

(Are jokes necessary?!)

[deKay]

13 hours ago, Fallows said:

 

It's fine. Especially considering you're being constantly hunted down by a predatory rogue A.I.

Those were the best parts in Fusion.

 

Also, Metroid 5 has been called that for years. It was openly in development for a time before it was canned.

 

This is Metroid 6 though. Which one are they forgetting?

[Calashnikov]

I think people are complaining about things looking too sterile and clinical, I agree that is the impression I get, but I suspect that’s a particular design decision for that particular area of the game. The hunter robot (EMMI, was it?) is this cold killing machine. It bleeps and warbles without emotion. The environments seems like an extension of that. Sometimes the clinical and sterile can be more unnerving and unsettling than the overtly foreboding and gothic.

[Alex W.]

6 minutes ago, Calashnikov said:

I think people are complaining about things looking too sterile and clinical, I agree that is the impression I get, but I suspect that’s a particular design decision for that particular area of the game. The hunter robot (EMMI, was it?) is this cold killing machine. It bleeps and warbles without emotion. Sometimes the clinical and sterile can be more unnerving than the overtly foreboding and gothic.

I thought the robots had a lot of personality, there’s obviously a fair bit of Alien in how they’re stalking around. Vibes of:

 

 

I don’t know about clinical but it is quite a clean aesthetic, which I think is an interesting way of updating a pixel-art series. Samus Returns had a lot going on but it could also feel kind of cluttered as a result. There was a stillness to Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion that was very effective and it’ll be interesting to see if they capture that.

[Alex W.]

6 minutes ago, deKay said:

 

This is Metroid 6 though. Which one are they forgetting?

Show your working plz.

[scottcr]

It’s pretty obvious we’re seeing somewhere at the beginning of the game… and the environments will become more varied. It’s Metroid ffs!

 

it looks fast. The moving melee attack looks fucking ace as does the slide. Wall jumping straight from the get go but not infuriatingly difficult like Super Metroid.

 

And I prefer Samus not being bright orange. 

 

 

[deKay]

Just now, Alex W. said:

Show your working plz.

 

Metroid (and Zero Mission) - Metroid 1

Metroid II (and Samus Returns) - Metroid 2

Super Metroid - Metroid 3

Metroid Fusion - Metroid 4

Metroid Other M (although set before Fusion) - Metroid 5

Metroid Dread - Metroid 6

[Alex W.]

Ah, but:

 

Metroid (and Zero Mission) - Metroid 1

Metroid Prime - Metroid 2

Metroid Prime 2 - Metroid 3

Metroid Prime Hunters - Metroid 4

Metroid Prime 3 - Metroid 5

Metroid II (and Samus Returns) - Metroid 6

Super Metroid - Metroid 7

Metroid Fusion - Metroid 8

Metroid Other M (although set before Fusion) - Metroid 9

Metroid Dread - Metroid 10

[deKay]

3 minutes ago, Alex W. said:

Ah, but:

 

Metroid (and Zero Mission) - Metroid 1

Metroid Prime - Metroid 2

Metroid Prime 2 - Metroid 3

Metroid Prime Hunters - Metroid 4

Metroid Prime 3 - Metroid 5

Metroid II (and Samus Returns) - Metroid 6

Super Metroid - Metroid 7

Metroid Fusion - Metroid 8

Metroid Other M (although set before Fusion) - Metroid 9

Metroid Dread - Metroid 10

 

Nintendo say the Prime series are their own series. Yes, they fit in the timeline, but not the numbering scheme.

 

You missed out Pinball anyway.

[phresh]

Gameplay looks more Guacamelee than Axiom / Hollow Knight, and that's no bad thing in my book, I preferred it to those two.

[Alex W.]

Hmm, and in that case Other M does need to be in the main timeline because it ties so closely in to the Adam and Galactic Federation storylines. Interesting.

[Dig Dug]

Other M is a side story game. Metroid 3.5.

[scottcr]

50 minutes ago, phresh said:

Gameplay looks more Guacamelee than Axiom / Hollow Knight, and that's no bad thing in my book, I preferred it to those two.

 

yes - please don't make Metroid like Hollow Knight.  I want to be able to enjoy it... and not break my switch in fury.

 

 

[dataDave]

Fucking hell.

 

Anyone who's played any Metroid before knows that after a few hours in Samus is going to have a glowing purple-green suit firing off blue missiles in an ice world environment.

 

They've probably only shown content from the first fifteen minutes of the game.

[scottcr]

4 minutes ago, Fallows said:

Fucking hell.

 

Anyone who's played any Metroid before knows that after a few hours in Samus is going to have a glowing purple-green suit firing off blue missiles in an ice world environment.

 

They've probably only shown content from the first fifteen minutes of the game.

 

look at how fast she moves through the levels and that's without spin jumping, sprinting, spark jumps etc etc

[shynra]

Nintnedo Uk store pre-orders for special ediiton is live: https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en_gb/metroid-dread-special-edition-P00069.html

[dataDave]

29 minutes ago, scottcr said:

 

look at how fast she moves through the levels and that's without spin jumping, sprinting, spark jumps etc etc

 

Exactly. It's a bit like when Blizzard showed Diablo 4. There's really no point trying to sell a new game by showing some level 6 characters killing three or four zombies with basic attacks. If you play Diablo 3 properly 99%+ of your game time is going to be spent vaulting around as a fiery spectre-like entity explosively cleansing the screen of hordes of mobs with a huge DoDonPachi cone-shaped laser which also spawns homing ghost missiles while your wolf companion goes nuts helping you chain 400 kills together.

[Alex W.]

12 minutes ago, shynra said:

Nintnedo Uk store pre-orders for special ediiton is live: https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en_gb/metroid-dread-special-edition-P00069.html

 

£30 is a lot for a few art cards, a steel book and a mini art book, but the way I see it I've locked in a copy if this doesn't also pop up at Shopto etc.

 

The £60 Legacy Edition of Samus Returns was a bargain.

[scottcr]

Can't recommend the treehouse video enough - takes you all the way up to the first upgrade, so it's obviously very early in game.  They've obviously spent a *lot* of time on movement.  I really like the counter and melee strikes in Samus Returns but agree that they slow it down.  The charge beam spin attack is another great edition.  She literaly bounces all over the screen kicking fuck out of everything, provided you take advantage of her move set.

 

 

[Cyhwuhx]

9 hours ago, HarMGM said:

I'm watching one of the streams and one comment that stands out about the game is that it doesn't look like it's mimicking Super Metroid for the umteempth time. I know many like to dump on Samus Returns & Other M(rightfully so I might add.) but what people tend to forget is that a lot of the problems in those games started in Fusion and carried over to Zero Mission as well. The increased emphasis on story being one thing.

 

But one thing that started in Zero Mission was the outright Canonization of Super Metroid for the blue print in terms of art direction for the series. And thus we get Other M and Samus Returns that try and mimic as many elements from Super. Samus's snot coloured armor from Other M comes to mind. SR going so far as to transform one of the most unique Metroid Entries into as bizarre Frankenstein of Super, Prime and RoS.

 

And then Dread, which seems to be avoiding all of it. Wonderfull breath of fresh air for a series that's been stuck to Super Metroid for so long. The Emmi's are clearly the idea of the SA-X but it seems to expand on the idea rather then just carbon copy it. It has its own visual identity distinct from other entries in the series (though clearly taking inspiration from other games like Portal). Also, no Ridley so far. Let's hope they keep that.

 

Well...

 

This is yet another Metroid (or actually Sakamoto) that tries to pull the "bad guy is chasing you" shtick (Fusion, Zero Mission ending, Echoes, Corruption, Other M (implied, through the traitor), and even Hunters when you squint). Sakamoto clearly took the "Metroid feels like the planet is hunting you" concept to heart. So consider an eyebrow raised at the mention of a breath of fresh air.

 

I'm getting the idea thought, that Nintendo is stuck between an obviously present group of Metroidvania enthusiasts who have moved on (incl. myself) and a Nintendo audience that couldn't care less about Samus apart from her status as important IP within the Smash and greater Nintendo canon. We've seen Samus being modelled after her Smash persona more and more, which is fine, great even. All things considered, the core combat of Other M was actually kind of nice (it had so many issues though). But like Other M and SR, Nintendo is on track to completely leaving the mysterious and subtle labyrinthian aspect behind and focusing more on the combat/encounter spectacle. A bit like how complex dungeons became a sort of persona non grata in BotW in order to facilitate a greater sense of freedom.

 

Is that good? Not for the Metroidvania enthusiasts I'm guessing, but I have no idea if this actually gels with the Nintendo audience either.

 

Story wise I'm completely confused though. Samus seems to be in the good graces of the GaFe, even getting a new suit mod, after destroying their illegal activities, blowing up their weapon research station and source planet, and making off with their spaceship and tactical AI. Que? 💁‍♂️