Metroid: Dread - October 8th

[Cyhwuhx]

2 hours ago, Scratchy Bollock said:

Oh man, I finally bought this and was loving every second of it, up until I acquired the Spin Jump. I am finding the control of this fucking double jump to be so wildly inconsistent it is causing me to have proper Mario Kart 8 Blue Shell levels of rage. I cannot figure out where I'm going wrong with it, but it seems to work one moment and just not respond a moment later. Any tips, other than just timing?

 

Like in Super you need to time it around the apex of a jump: when you start to go down jump again.

[Steven]

Coming towards the end of this, I suspect. Probably tied with Fusion as my favourite Metroid now. Fusion did the 'being hunted' element better by having it present but not getting in the way of the exploration and bosses (both of which have been sublime in this).

 

 

[Cyhwuhx]

4 minutes ago, Steven said:

Coming towards the end of this, I suspect. Probably tied with Fusion as my favourite Metroid now. Fusion did the 'being hunted' element better by having it present but not getting in the way of the exploration and bosses (which have both been sublime in this).

 

 

 

Yeah, I'd agree with that. It's a good game, but it's a weird retread of Fusion in a way. Which is doubly odd as Fusion's story/setting was kind of recycled for Other M, making this the 3rd time they tried the setup. And then there's Dread starting out as a possible sequel to Fusion, so it kind of feels like Sakamoto needed to get something out of his system.

[Scratchy Bollock]

Well I just completed it and managed to collect all of the items. Absolutely phenomenal. Even when I had moments of immense frustration which would usually culminate in me dramatically rage quitting, I'd pick it up again two minutes later to have another go. The atmosphere, animation and general polish are all on another level. 

 

I thought I'd hate the E.M.M.I sections but I really enjoyed them and there's something extra rewarding about being able to freely explore these areas later on.

 

It's very difficult in places, but if you persist, it's amazing how something that seems impossible at first, soon becomes manageable. Funnily enough I didn't find the last boss too tricky, but I did find Experiment Z 57 just ridiculously hard. But then I've always struggled with giant bosses as I'm never too sure where to move around.

 

My only gripe is really with the controls. At first, they're perfect. But as the game progresses and you grow more powerful, they do become a bit fiddly. The Speed Booster and Shinespark controls are really awkward and not intuitive at all. And to complete some puzzles, you need to chain, something that is never explained in the game and probably set me back a good hour and half until I finally had to check online to figure out what I was doing wrong. The speed Booster challenge on Burenia is possibly one of the most frustrating things I've ever done, mostly due to how tricky the controls are for this bit. 

 

But aside from that, I thought it was pretty much perfect. It really is so nice playing a Metroid game again. Roll on Metroid Prime!

 

[Eighthours]

Third time trying to get into this and I've finally managed it, probably helped by how I've carved out the time to play it regularly. I'm only on the second area (and had half an hour where I stupidly didn't shoot all the blocks I could at the start of that area to proceed, so ran around the first area wondering how to get back to the places I could no longer reach!), but am now really liking it. Helped by DAT SCREEN of my new Switch OLED, which is making me want to play handheld. I hope I don't have to travel between areas too much, though - the loading times are really painful after playing Series X and PS5 games.

[Steven]

19 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

 I hope I don't have to travel between areas too much, though - the loading times are really painful after playing Series X and PS5 games.

 

There's quite a bit of that. I know what you mean coming from PS5 - thought the thing had crashed a couple of times when using the teleporters.

[HarMGM]

For those keeping score, earlier today Nintendo accounced that Metroid Dread has sold/shipped 2.74 million units. Becoming the second best selling Metroid title to date. 

 

For reference, here's the LTD of every Metroid title so far:

Metroid Prime (GC): 2.84 million
(NEW) Metroid Dread (NSW): 2.74 million
Metroid (NES): 2.73 million
Metroid 2 Return of Samus (GB): 1.72 million
Metroid Fusion (GBA): 1.60 million
Super Metroid (SNES): 1.42 million
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption (Wii): 1.41 million
Metroid Prime 2 (GC): 1.10 million
Metroid Prime Hunters (DS): 1.08 million

Below 1 million:
Metroid Zero Mission (GBA) (482K in USA, 85K in Japan)
Metroid Other M (Wii) (349K in USA, 76K in Japan)
Metroid Samus Returns (3DS) (42K in Japan)
Metroid Prime Pinball (DS) (172K in USA, 15K in Japan)
Metroid Prime Federation Force (3DS) (6K in Japan)

 

Onwards to beating the fabled 3 million barrier!

[Popo]

How depressing to think that so few people have played Super.

[Alex W.]

I doubt it counts the Virtual Consoles, Switch Online, SNES Mini etc.

[Cyhwuhx]

1 hour ago, Popo said:

How depressing to think that so few people have played Super.

Not nearly as depressing as Zero Mission. 😩

[merrychan]

1 hour ago, Popo said:

How depressing to think that so few people have played Super.

Even when Super Metroid was a contemporary game loads more folk would have played it since swap shop and part exchanging games was the default way for people to experience a wider selection of games.

[R0b]

Let's not forget SNES emulators were a huge part of soooo many peoples' lives - SM was always top of the lists. 

[Eighthours]

The music is pretty bad in this, which is disappointing after the fantastic scores in Super and Prime. Dread would be pushed over the top if the atmosphere was enhanced by the music as much as in the earlier games. I’m really enjoying it, though - it plays fantastically. Just got the Morph Bomb. 

[dumpster]

New Rookie mode has been patched in.  You can't change difficulty mid game so a new save file has been started and I'll get back to the final boss eventually.  Glad they have done this.

[dumpster]

You also get more info and stats upon completing the game now, but it only applies to games that were started after the patch. 

[sinky72]

On 11/02/2022 at 21:18, dumpster said:

New Rookie mode has been patched in.  You can't change difficulty mid game so a new save file has been started and I'll get back to the final boss eventually.  Glad they have done this.

I'm glad they have done this too.  It might be time for me to pick it up now 🙂

[Protocol Penguin]

On 11/02/2022 at 21:18, dumpster said:

New Rookie mode has been patched in.  You can't change difficulty mid game so a new save file has been started and I'll get back to the final boss eventually.  Glad they have done this.

Ulp. Don't want the ordeal of playing through this again just to reach the final boss, but also not willing to spend three or four hours trying fruitlessly to defeat the final boss. Trade-in it is, then.

[dumpster]

On 13/02/2022 at 16:51, Protocol Penguin said:

Ulp. Don't want the ordeal of playing through this again just to reach the final boss, but also not willing to spend three or four hours trying fruitlessly to defeat the final boss. Trade-in it is, then.

Thats exactly my thoughts...  The games difficulty on the main map and bosses is fine. It's a challenge but each time you play you get that bit better.  There's a real satisfaction when you beat a boss. 

 

BUT

 

The last boss is insane.  So this doesn't make a big impact for me because I'm still stuck. Can I be bothered starting over?  Not really.

 

[Number 28]

Did you guys try watching a YouTube video for tips? I find it helps a lot.

[CheekyMonkey]

2 hours ago, dumpster said:

Thats exactly my thoughts...  The games difficulty on the main map and bosses is fine. It's a challenge but each time you play you get that bit better.  There's a real satisfaction when you beat a boss.  The last boss is insane.  So this doesn't make a big impact for me because I'm still stuck. Can I be bothered starting over?  Not really.

 

 

I definitely went through this pain... If you looks at my posts back on page 59 I almost quit at the last boss. All I can say is keep trying, he does have patterns and they are recognisable - I got very frustrated because I felt my reactions just weren't quick enough, but the more you go back and retry, the easier it gets. I think when I did eventually beat him I did it taking hardly any hits - and it was VERY satisfying. 🙂

[DeciderVT]

Just beat this in 10 hours and 47 minutes. Only half the items collected but I didn't care about that. I echo the encouragement not to give up!

 

Got to the final boss yesterday and he wiped the floor with me at first. I had 145 missiles, 5 power bombs and I think about 7 energy tanks. I considered breaking off play to collect more missiles and health but I was determined to beat him with what I already had.

 

Spoiler

Phase 1 seemed impossible, then phase 2... phase 3 just seemed comical. Then phase 1 got incredibly easy when I realised that he has two opportunities to open him up to counters- morph ball to duck under the wide red beam he fills the room with, then another counter after he turns gold and taunts you. I managed to get phase 1 down to a couple of minutes with this, exiting into phase 2 with full health and full missiles.

 

Phase 2... and that bloody machine gun. He's just a missile sponge in this phase too. I learnt to space jump above the machine gun, double back over him with the flash shift, quickly drop to safety and repeat. Don't bother locking on with missiles all the time, just keep yourself mobile and hammer him when he's not firing. Slide under his melee attack and keep pounding him with missiles. Eventually I was polishing him off in phase 2 with almost full energy tanks left.

 

I just kept blasting him with lock-on missiles in phase 3, breaking only to set a power bomb to kill his sun weapon. Avoiding his melee attacks and exploiting the drops from the shadow sphere were key. Eventually he folded and I missed the first QTE that would've finished him off! I kept hitting him with missiles until it triggered the QTE again and cracked it. Game done!

 

As with most bosses in this, after the initial failures I went to bed and slept on it. Came back 24 hours later, calmer and emboldened by the progress I'd made with each attempt. I'm not a particularly good games player but I had him beaten in under two hours of playtime, just through perseverance and a slow building of skill. It's worth another try, every time.

[dumpster]

I can do phase 1 without taking any damage now. Then phase 2 kills me so quickly that I don't learn anything for next time.  To be honest I can't be bothered any more.  I must have tried it 50 times by now.

[chris on the moon]

I finished this today. I got 100% of items to make the last boss as easy as possible. I only died eighty six times!
I really liked the way Samus moves to begin with. In the end though, the controls were a bit finicky and confusing. There were probably too many similar power-ups.
The story was laughable.
The bosses were too hard, and a total pain in the ass. Really didn't appreciate how often the mini-boss things were re-used.

Spoiler

One of the bosses was flappy bird?

I didn't really understand the combat, and am a bit bemused by how combat-focused this series has become. It reminds me a bit of a fighting game or something rather than a shooter.
QTE cutscenes still don't really make sense.
Music was unremarkable but the ambient sound was brilliant. It sounded really organic and convincing.
Graphics were nice for a switch game.
I really didn't like the map/game structure. When I found out I wasn't getting instructions to go to a specific area I was very excited! But then it turned out that there's pretty much only one path that the game invisibly leads you through, and you just run into impassible obstacles if you try to explore.  
Hate stealth games, hated EMMIs. Yes, I know you're supposed to keep moving. I tried, I couldn't.
Overall it was fine I guess.

 

 

[Marlowe]

I had COVID last week so spent most of Easter weekend in bed playing this on the OLED. 

 

Have cleared it 3 times now. First time a 100% Normal run, then cleared Hard mode, then cleared Normal again in 3:30. Just leaves an under 4 hour Hard run to do but I think I'll leave that one for another day!

 

It's definitely more in the Fusion than Super mould in its linearity, so I can see why it has disappointed people looking for more of the latter kind of experience. I love both types of Metroid though so can take it on its merits. As an action game it's sublime. The controls, mechanics, enemies and bosses are a huge step up from anything else in the 2D series. 

 

I hated EMMIs to begin with! They demand a certain mastery of the moveset and an awareness of all of the basic level design concepts. Makes it trial and error to begin with but enjoyable once you've mastered the game. 

[teddymeow]

Finally started this having done the Uncharted Legacy Collection on PS5.

 

Loving it so far, just full of atmosphere.

 

Load times are bloody annoying though!!

[teddymeow]

Okay, I reached the final boss on this last night, hoping to finish it before selling it on.

 

All the goodwill and feeling the game had earned from me got shat up the wall after half an hour of trying, dying and retrying (repeatedly) to beat the bastard!! On ROOKIE difficulty!!!!!

 

I mean, I don't remember and other Metroid game being this crushingly difficult. Or, I'm just getting old ..😥

 

I'll try again tonight but, if I don't do it, that's another game added to the abandoned pile with Horizon 2.

[Ninja Doctor]

Samus returns is the same. Some crazy difficulty spikes on the bosses. 

[MikeBeaver]

2 hours ago, teddymeow said:

Okay, I reached the final boss on this last night, hoping to finish it before selling it on.

 

All the goodwill and feeling the game had earned from me got shat up the wall after half an hour of trying, dying and retrying (repeatedly) to beat the bastard!! On ROOKIE difficulty!!!!!

 

I mean, I don't remember and other Metroid game being this crushingly difficult. Or, I'm just getting old ..😥

 

I'll try again tonight but, if I don't do it, that's another game added to the abandoned pile with Horizon 2.

I did the same, came in here, whinged about how hard the stupid, twat boss was, and asked if I should just watch the ending.

 

 

I was convinced to put it down and come back later.

I did, I put it down, went home, came back to it the next day... beat the boss first time

 

Was well worth it for the sense of achievement.

[teddymeow]

1 hour ago, Ninja Doctor said:

Samus returns is the same. Some crazy difficulty spikes on the bosses. 

 

It must be a Mercury steam thing.

 

Their Castlevania game was the same.

[teddymeow]

Nope, another hour. Got to the second phase then died. No way am I stressing about this.