Metroid: Other M - The CAG Thread

It has nothing to do with being a FPS or not. Having dual analog to control movement and aiming is much more convenient. Samus' beam is supposed to stack anyway.
 
Her beams didn't stack in the first 2 Prime games, and when they did in both Corruption and Other M, people complained about it (why?). I personally prefer Beam stacking myself.
 
I didn't mind Beam stacking. I was a little surprised at first in Other M when just shooting would suffice, but I got used to it quickly. I think switching worked for Prime because it added some strategy and variety for combat.
 
Beat this last night. I loved this game. Other games need to take a page from this game in that it was difficult but I never got frustrated enough to throw my wiimote (I'm looking at you SMG2)
 
[quote name='Lone_Prodigy']I didn't mind Beam stacking. I was a little surprised at first in Other M when just shooting would suffice, but I got used to it quickly. I think switching worked for Prime because it added some strategy and variety for combat.[/QUOTE]

The combat wasn't the problem. The problem was switching between the 3 beams to open doors over and over again. When I hit them once, they should revert to regular blue doors like they did in Super. This becomes increasingly more noticeable in the Wii version.

I'd like to brag a moment if I may with a video. Only click it if you've beaten everything in Other M.
It's a simple speed run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO2fPrczGMQ
 
For the first jump I've tried it both ways, but I think it's a tiny bit faster that way because you eventually have to come back across. And as far as I know, no one's beaten the time, or come close. That'll change though since I posted a video.
 
Got 100% today. Wasn't too hard: the ones that took the longest were
the one where you're sliding down a ramp and have to super missile the ceiling, and the one in the Bioweapon part where you have to wall-jump.

The last item in the long corridor in Sector 2 (where you shinespark up into the pipe for 2 items) was amusing. I had already gotten both pipe items so I just dropped a Power Bomb in the pipe which accidentally released the Guardian below. I noticed the music change and dropped down to take care of it.

Decided to try the last bit again (the gauntlet corridor is LONG) and couldn't find a way to Lethal Strike/Overblast Phantoon. Every time I got close his arms would swipe me, plus his health bar seemed to glitch out.
 
This isn't gameplay related, but I finally got to reading the newest Game Informer issue, and they rip Metroid: Other M. They give it a 6.25 out of 10.

Their biggest complaints were the long cutscenes and that Samus recalls her "Thumbs down" happy past.

It's funny how the one review they did of a Wii title they nitpicked it apart but could not really give any reasoning behind giving other games (NHL 11, etc) amazing scores (9+).
 
I'm not really going to delve into that one except to say it's Game Informer. That should tell you how I feel about them. The length of the cutscenes pail in comparison to anything Metal Gear Solid has done.
 
Oh, it's about what I expected from them. I don't take their reviews to heart at all. I just found it pretty bad. Their biggest complaint was two sections where the storyline repeats itself for all of about 5 seconds, and the way that Samus recounts her past.

I didn't think the game was GOTY or anything, but it's still pretty good. It's a solid mid 8/80s.
 
That's what I'd give it. I wouldn't give the game below an 8. I've played much worse games, and I've played better games, some of which I don't like as much as Other M. I get the feeling this was pushed out the door before it was done though, especially in hindsight with what Team Ninja's involved with now.
 
There certainly are parts of the game that seemed like they were not quite complete. I can't help but think that Team Ninja could have made the 1st person mode better by allowing Samus to move or something, but it's not like that makes or breaks the game. Every game has their quirks.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as GI did and say that it's Nintendo's worst publishing efforts in a long time and will harm Metroid's reputation for years.

But it's like you said: It's Game Informer. I honestly don't expect much for them, and sadly they still managed to disappoint. I think only them and G4 have ripped Other M for quite possibly the two stupidest things possible.
 
The game is controversial. Extremely controversial. Not in the mainstream sense like GTA, but the gaming community at large. People are saying it's character assassination and blah blah blah, etc. While Samus isn't necessarily portrayed in the strongest light in this game, she's still pretty strong for all that happens to her. This game kicks her butt to hell and back again. Of course the cutscenes don't show a ton of that ass-kickery as much as the gameplay does it for her. But again, people ignore the gameplay here while acknowledging it in other games, which is how people got the idea of what type of character she might have been.

It just brings me back to that one critic said about projection of her, that there's a whole lot of it going on for her, and even the slightest change makes us rage into a frenzy. What I got out of it was that Samus in Other M is a slightly less mature version of what we see of her in Fusion (big shock there, right?). But I doubt many people played Fusion as they did the Primes, or at the very least put much thought into it and how she is in that in comparison to Other M.

I wish they limited how Concentration worked for Missiles so they could have drops in the game from enemies. I get the idea of not having to farm enemies for energy and concentration is a cool idea, but when they make getting missiles and fighting enemies worthless after a while it becomes a problem. When you can go from 2 to 80 missiles at the drop of the hat, something is off.
 
Just finished the game last night. I was mostly on board with the story and pretty interested when they reveal what's actually going on on the Bottle Ship. I was a little turned off by the overly-complicated +5 minute cutscenes where
Madeline Bergman was explaining the sentient android nonsense, and then MB started raging, throwing people and throwing her hands in the air to channel energy like some Dragon Ball Z character.
Way too Japanese for me - it's not the kind of storytelling I want in a Metroid game. Keep in mind, I'm not saying the story itself is the problem - just it's execution.


[quote name='KingBroly']The game is controversial. Extremely controversial. Not in the mainstream sense like GTA, but the gaming community at large. People are saying it's character assassination and blah blah blah, etc. While Samus isn't necessarily portrayed in the strongest light in this game, she's still pretty strong for all that happens to her. This game kicks her butt to hell and back again. Of course the cutscenes don't show a ton of that ass-kickery as much as the gameplay does it for her. But again, people ignore the gameplay here while acknowledging it in other games, which is how people got the idea of what type of character she might have been.
[/QUOTE]

I think they portray Samus as overly weak in the beginning of the game, partially due to a poor lack of characterization of Adam. That's one thing I fully agreed with in Morgan Webb's review - Adam is the most boring guy ever. He has no personality and it's impossible to identify with Samus' fondness of him. She says he was like a father but we never really SEE that, but she's still overly concerned with his opinion of her.

The flashback scene where Adam orders them to
destroy the unit that his brother is in to save the rest of the crew (and Samus flips out) fleshes things out a little, the fact she's embarrassed for the way she acted and wants to demonstrate she can keep her cool and make hard choices now (that's how I understood it anyway).
It's really unfortunate that that scene is so late in the game because by then I was just annoyed with her characterization, but by the time she locates
Sector Zero
and we've seen her interact with a few survivors, I was feeling better about it. And, when Adam
abruptly walks to his death, I gotta say I did feel empathy for Samus, and the whole point seemed to be that she grew up a lot seeing his sacrifice and how far he was willing to go. She made her peace with her past and seems to want to carry on his legacy, and make sure he didn't die for nothing.
The biggest problem is that this particular plot device should be in a prequel to the original Metroid, not a SEQUEL to Super Metroid, where she's been a bounty hunter for years and presumably is older and should be a bit tougher. I have trouble believing that after Metroid 1-3 and the Prime games sandwiched in there, she's still this little girl with something to prove.

It just brings me back to that one critic said about projection of her, that there's a whole lot of it going on for her, and even the slightest change makes us rage into a frenzy. What I got out of it was that Samus in Other M is a slightly less mature version of what we see of her in Fusion (big shock there, right?). But I doubt many people played Fusion as they did the Primes, or at the very least put much thought into it and how she is in that in comparison to Other M.
Click to expand...

I think one of the biggest problems is that the Prime series does offer SOME characterization but they still maintain the tough, few-words protagonist angle. Having the series switch hands to such drastically different developers is half the problem - if you gave Halo to a Japanese developer, I'm sure Master Chief would be talking about his feelings in 10 minute cutscenes too. That, and I'm not overly surprised that the male-dominated Japanese culture has done a poor job portraying a balanced female character.

I wish they limited how Concentration worked for Missiles so they could have drops in the game from enemies. I get the idea of not having to farm enemies for energy and concentration is a cool idea, but when they make getting missiles and fighting enemies worthless after a while it becomes a problem. When you can go from 2 to 80 missiles at the drop of the hat, something is off.
Click to expand...

I realized that towards the end of the game - I didn't care about killing enemies at all because there was absolutely no incentive to. It felt like an after-thought, like it was inconvenient for them to have enemies drop items with the game design they'd developed, so they decided to have health and missiles just regenerate. WTF? I was impressed with what a good job the Prime games did with this, and the ability to draw health towards you by charging, everything they did in those games made it feel like a true Metroid game which just happened to be in 3D. Other M feels like it wanted really badly to be a Metroid game but falls just short of it in a few areas, storytelling aside. I'd give it a 7/10.
 
i was kind of bummed in the pacing of the game. I didn't like how the first hour gives you 10% of the story, then you play 8 and half more hours till you get te last 90% of the story in the last hour.

I enjoyed it but I hated how the hardest boss was now even in the main game.
even if the epilogue was only an hour and a half long, Im still thankful it was there. It would of been 15 bucks on PSN or Xbox Live.
 
[quote name='crunchewy'] The game is designed for her to get use of her equipment as you go. Either she gets authorization or ... oh look... there's my super bombs! I was wondering where I left them!

It's just a game mechanic. When it comes to video games, making sense is not always a good thing.[/QUOTE]

Finding equipment again is on the level of things like regenerating health or not dying from one bullet in games. It's a game and you accept some things need to be tweaked.

Having ALL of your equipment and not using it (and even risking your life) because you're told you can't? Stupid.

What I'd like to see is giving you all your abilities to use, then give you brand new, even better abilities to find.

[quote name='KingBroly']I find it ironic after all the uproars over games like GTA, Gears of War, and Manhunt, Nintendo manages to outshine them all in terms of controversy[/QUOTE]

Not even close to being the same thing.
 
I don't know, I like the game the way it is. It seems like (based off my often horrible recollection) that Metroid games are based off Samus losing her abilities in the beginning of the game and then gaining them back over time.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']I think they portray Samus as overly weak in the beginning of the game, partially due to a poor lack of characterization of Adam. That's one thing I fully agreed with in Morgan Webb's review - Adam is the most boring guy ever. He has no personality and it's impossible to identify with Samus' fondness of him. She says he was like a father but we never really SEE that, but she's still overly concerned with his opinion of her.[/quote]

I thought about it, and the more I did I thought it was like an unspoken bond sorta thing. I don't know why, but at least the way they portrayed it was like 'Just cuz'. While extremely lazy, it does work somehow.

The flashback scene where Adam orders them to
destroy the unit that his brother is in to save the rest of the crew (and Samus flips out) fleshes things out a little, the fact she's embarrassed for the way she acted and wants to demonstrate she can keep her cool and make hard choices now (that's how I understood it anyway).
It's really unfortunate that that scene is so late in the game because by then I was just annoyed with her characterization, but by the time she locates
Sector Zero
and we've seen her interact with a few survivors, I was feeling better about it. And, when Adam
abruptly walks to his death, I gotta say I did feel empathy for Samus, and the whole point seemed to be that she grew up a lot seeing his sacrifice and how far he was willing to go. She made her peace with her past and seems to want to carry on his legacy, and make sure he didn't die for nothing.
The biggest problem is that this particular plot device should be in a prequel to the original Metroid, not a SEQUEL to Super Metroid, where she's been a bounty hunter for years and presumably is older and should be a bit tougher. I have trouble believing that after Metroid 1-3 and the Prime games sandwiched in there, she's still this little girl with something to prove.
Click to expand...

But if it was a prequel to the original Metroid, it would retcon Metroid since that was her "Zero Mission" as it has been put. Again, it's a "one of those days" storylines in games. Bad thing happens, mission to get back in the groove of things, old pasts come to haunt her, shit ensues. It's not like she escaped Zebes or any other mission with ease. All of them pretty much ended the same way: By the skin of her teeth.

I realized that towards the end of the game - I didn't care about killing enemies at all because there was absolutely no incentive to. It felt like an after-thought, like it was inconvenient for them to have enemies drop items with the game design they'd developed, so they decided to have health and missiles just regenerate. WTF? I was impressed with what a good job the Prime games did with this, and the ability to draw health towards you by charging, everything they did in those games made it feel like a true Metroid game which just happened to be in 3D.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on this. Concentration is a "Good idea" and it does work for boss fights when things get tough, but they made Missile regeneration too easy. If they limited the amount you could regeneration and when, it becomes a better mechanic. And at that point you can add health regeneration. Fighting enemies is supposed to reward you, and while this game does that, it becomes meaningless if you go for 100% in the post-game. There's a way to keep both IMO, and if they just limited missile regeneration, they probably could've.
 
I guess I'm in the minority, but I like the regeneration feature. When your in a battle and have to find some form of momentary calm to regenerate, which always seems to take just a bit too much time to do, that's damned exciting, and risky! There's no excitement in killing weak enemies for drops. That's just a chore. I don't get the love for that at all.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']I guess I'm in the minority, but I like the regeneration feature. When your in a battle and have to find some form of momentary calm to regenerate, which always seems to take just a bit too much time to do, that's damned exciting, and risky! There's no excitement in killing weak enemies for drops. That's just a chore. I don't get the love for that at all.[/QUOTE]

No doubt, when used correctly in the right boss fight, it adds tension because you can't just regenerate health on a whim. But otherwise it's too convenient, and allows for sloppy gameplay while exploring the ship. There's no incentive to do all that well knowing you can regenerate your health any time it gets below 50.

An emergency reserve tank like in Super Metroid would have been better. Anything to balance it out. It's like they copied the regenerative health that's the standard in FPS' now (much to my dismay) only didn't even try to make it's use strategic.
 
It's actually below 25. On Hard Mode
the fire boss can hit you twice before you die. Unfortunately you can't regenerate health because 2 hits will take you to 26 health.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']No doubt, when used correctly in the right boss fight, it adds tension because you can't just regenerate health on a whim. But otherwise it's too convenient, and allows for sloppy gameplay while exploring the ship. There's no incentive to do all that well knowing you can regenerate your health any time it gets below 50.

An emergency reserve tank like in Super Metroid would have been better. Anything to balance it out. It's like they copied the regenerative health that's the standard in FPS' now (much to my dismay) only didn't even try to make it's use strategic.[/QUOTE]

I don't really see how backtracking and killing easy enemies over and over is either better or more fun. I'd rather just play the game. I think that's the approach they've take here - let the player play the game, not perform chores. Also, I'm pretty sure the regeneration of health does not regenerate energy tanks, only your last one, so it's not a cure-all. Also, it's definitely not 50%, rather much lower. 25% I guess. Seems lower to me, but I'm not sure. Last but not least, I don't find this game easy at all.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']I don't really see how backtracking and killing easy enemies over and over is either better or more fun. I'd rather just play the game. I think that's the approach they've take here - let the player play the game, not perform chores. Also, I'm pretty sure the regeneration of health does not regenerate energy tanks, only your last one, so it's not a cure-all. Also, it's definitely not 50%, rather much lower. 25% I guess. Seems lower to me, but I'm not sure. Last but not least, I don't find this game easy at all.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I almost think having drops would make the game easier. Usually when I'm in a position to need concentration to regenerate health, I'm usually in the middle of a fight where the enemy doesn't give me enough time to do it. Also, as you say, it doesn't regenerate energy tanks.

I haven't gotten far enough to see if I agree with KingBroly's assertion about concentration and missiles.
 
Well some people's problem was that in the late game you become so powerful that fighting enemies is basically pointless, especially when you've gotten all the items in a specific room. Fighting them becomes a chore with no reward. If they restricted regeneration of missiles in the same way they did for Health, they could probably do both ways of restoration.

My idea:
You can only regenerate missiles when you're empty, and initially only 5. For each
E-Recovery Tank
you get, you can recharge an additional 5.

Oh, and maybe Save stations shouldn't recharge missiles as well as health.
 
I can't remember ever running out of missiles besides the
last part when you had to scan MB
. Almost everything was susceptible to charged shots anyway.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']No doubt, when used correctly in the right boss fight, it adds tension because you can't just regenerate health on a whim. But otherwise it's too convenient, and allows for sloppy gameplay while exploring the ship. There's no incentive to do all that well knowing you can regenerate your health any time it gets below 50.

An emergency reserve tank like in Super Metroid would have been better. Anything to balance it out. It's like they copied the regenerative health that's the standard in FPS' now (much to my dismay) only didn't even try to make it's use strategic.[/QUOTE]


But the flip side is also true. If you're low on health (or missiles) with item drops, you're often rewarded by making it through difficult fights. With concentration, it's not as apparent. Sure the tension is there since you may not have a spare moment to recharge, but the reward is otherwise meaningless other than defeating enemies to go from point A to point B. You can otherwise use concentration anytime you're at low health.

I'm not arguing over concentration and drops, the game would be too easy. But I'd clearly prefer item drops over concentration any day. At least there's some point of killing weak enemies in that situation.

Personally I find concentration cumbersome and unrewarding. To regenerate I have to sit still for a few seconds and hold the remote vertically? What's the fun in that?
 
Well, I like the recharging. :)

I didn't have a lot of time for gaming this past weekend, but did fit in an hour or so of Other M. I'm at that part
after you get the shot that goes through glass - can't remember what it's called - and you get to the angled elevator thingy. Do you love that description? :) :) Anyway, that enemy you have to fight on there is tough. I'm not looking for a hint, just chatting, and whining about having so little time to game. :) Well, I wouldn't mind a hint as to how far along in the game I am. ?

EDIT: Hey - where's Strell in all this? What's your thoughts on this game, Strell... if you're out there....
 
I'm honestly halfway tempted to do that just to see where it'd lead.

I'm working on my 100% run, hopefully I'll get it under 5 hours, because I've gotten really close. Also, the cutscenes add up to 103 minutes.
 
This has become my second favorite Metroid game after Super Metroid. I've enjoyed it more than I did the Prime series because of the quicker pacing along with perspective changing mechanic. It's also nice that the quality of the game visually is on the level of a game like Mario Galaxy, maybe even a little better especially when it transitioned from the opening cinema to game play for the first time.

I also enjoyed the tension from the recovery system along with the added tension of not knowing if I ever was going to encounter the glitch because although I knew about it, I never read when it occurs since I was trying to avoid about spoilers :lol: I thought I encountered it at least 4 times.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']Um...
30-40% somewhere in that range. I'm not sure.
[/QUOTE]

Nice. So I've got plenty more to play. I'm a slow poke. :)

Regarding the game killing bug, is it correct that if I use multiple saves I'd be able to revert to my backup save and then continue? Is there any way to save to a different save file while in-game? I think the answer is no.

Really makes me anxious for Nintendo to get their sequel to the Wii out - they desperately need the ability to deliver game patches, at the very least. Then again, the ability to deliver game patches is a double-edged sword - see all the buggy at release games on the other platforms. Developers seem to use it as an excuse to release games in a sorry state, then only fix them if the games are a success.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Nice. So I've got plenty more to play. I'm a slow poke. :)

Regarding the game killing bug, is it correct that if I use multiple saves I'd be able to revert to my backup save and then continue? Is there any way to save to a different save file while in-game? I think the answer is no.

Really makes me anxious for Nintendo to get their sequel to the Wii out - they desperately need the ability to deliver game patches, at the very least. Then again, the ability to deliver game patches is a double-edged sword - see all the buggy at release games on the other platforms. Developers seem to use it as an excuse to release games in a sorry state, then only fix them if the games are a success.[/QUOTE]

As long as you keep going forward after beating that boss you'll be fine. I honestly don't see how people got into that situation given that the trigger for the glitch is long before you face that boss.
 
Well guys, I've tried so hard, but I just don't like this game. From my perspective, it's the worst Metroid game yet. The controls just seem so unpolished. I'm about 5 hours, but I doubt I'll go any further before I trade it in at GS.
 
[quote name='plasticbathmonki']Well guys, I've tried so hard, but I just don't like this game. From my perspective, it's the worst Metroid game yet. The controls just seem so unpolished. I'm about 5 hours, but I doubt I'll go any further before I trade it in at GS.[/QUOTE]

Well you're entitled to your opinion, but IMO it gets a lot better at the end. It shouldn't take you much longer to beat the game.
 
The more I think about it, the more I attribute this game to Contra without it being insanely difficult.

Also Sense Move = Most Broken Move Ever
 
Finished it earlier today and wanted to voice some thoughts. Before I do, just want to state that my other experiences with Metroid is Prime Pinball, some of Hunters, and finished Prime 3.

I had an overall fun time with Other M. The difficulty was just right for me and I never felt lost when using the map. The control scheme didn't bother me much (if it did, I quickly adapted). I'm not too familiar with the Metroid lore but I was slightly confused on the characters and relationships outside of the main story. I really disliked what I call the Myst pixel hunt stuff and the few moments you went in to RE4 (over the shoulder) mode. I understand that Samus placed herself under Adam's command but she didn't have to wait for his authorization to use any of her weapons/abilities. Also, the very last part of the game where you
had to scan Melissa while fending off those super pirates
was just annoying. That was the only portion of the game that I had to look up info on the web.

I finished it in just under 10 hours including
the optional boss
with 48% item completion. I understand there's a harder mode you can start on but I don't think I'll tackle it.
 
Hard Mode is basically the 'I wanted Metroid Gaiden' mode. 99 energy, 10 missiles, no power-ups to get. You can't even do the optional boss. There's no reward for beating it, either. I don't see how I'd ever beat it even if it was the case though.

In terms of Metroid lore, there's a good chunk of it in there, but there's also a good chunk of it that's not (in relation to Samus, it's probably the most important part)
 
I agree about the "pixel hunt" bits. They just bring the game to a halt for no good reason. So far not many of them, though I'm not nearly done yet.
 
I put in yet another playthrough this morning. It's kinda telling that I can beat the game in a single playthrough with cutscenes in
just over 5 hours after 8 playthroughs.
I've also found that you can do a lot more backtracking in this game than originally thought, particularly in the Main Sector, where I've found a couple of little details that are a bit pointless
When you start the game, you enter a room with crates in a cutscene. If you go back, those crates are still there; if you go there post-game, those crates aren't there. These crates make it a bit easier to get a Missile Tank.

I also like that there are plenty of context sensitive deaths in Other M. I think more games should have them. I hope Castlevania doesn't disappoint, because I really need to stop playing this.
 
Last night finally got a chance to play again. That elevator part I was at before really was a bitch. That enemy I couldn't figure out. Have to confess I looked the technique needed up. It was then that I realized I didn't previously understand the value of sense move as well. It was still a bitch, but I finally got past it.
 
Sense Move is basically Hyper Mode without the risk. Once you learn all the attack patterns, you are basically Superman.
 
Tonight I got to the credits and now I need to be clued in:
After the credits I'm back on the ship and it seems to continue. So did I reach the end of the game, or is that credits sequence just a ruse? Also, I have to say that I didn't like that very last first person bit. Pretty annoying and I had to look it up, and then after I figured out what they were saying to do, it was pretty lame.
In any case I've really enjoyed the game. I've only got something like 28% completion. Does getting 100% just involve finding hidden power ups, or something more?
Perhaps continuing from this point and getting to some other "ending"?
Answer in a spoiler tag, of course.
 
Yes, you did beat the game. You are now in the Epilogue (The best part of the game). Your "goal" is twofold: Get to that dot on the screen and get 100% item completion.
Getting 100% item completion unlocks Hard Mode and an extra "message" of sorts depending on your item completion %.

Yes, and it is glorious.
 
I finished this a couple of nights ago and was really left underwhelmed. The game definitely improved towards the end, but I feel as if it were "too little, too late". I found the ending rather disappointing, and the gameplay more frustrating than rewarding at times. I can't remember, but I think I finished with around 60-70% completion?

By far my least favorite Metroid game that I've played (still need to play Fusion/Prime 2).
 
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