Metroid: Other Mistakes

[Fusion]

Now that seems a backwards move.

So it's just a cameo?  This stage will never have an appearing character to go with it?

Though if Samus were playable, I'd much prefer in-Power Suit versus the typical Team Ninja choice.

[Jmorphman]

Disclaimer: I haven't actually played this yet. Everything I've heard about the way Samus is presented in it really pissed me off as a Metroid fan. But I might play it some time in the near future.

Just got back from a PAX East panel about this review, the reaction to it, and more generally, gender stuff in games. A lot of interesting points were raised and they've all but escaped my mind. I'll just write down some random thoughts.

"Samus was a cipher before this game, and people got angry with Other M because it went against their own personal view of Samus": Samus is a cipher. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But she is also a total badass, and has faced so much crazy shit that whatever happens to her in this game shouldn't give her much pause. And developing her character isn't a bad thing either, it just seems like Other M makes her into a weakling with daddy issues who can't fight Ridley without having a nervous breakdown.

"If Adam was a woman or Samus was a man no one would have any problems with Samus not using her items": I would. Because it is still fucking retarded. WHY DO YOU NEED PERMISSION TO USE THE VARIA SUIT 10 MINUTES AFTER BEING IN A LAVA AREA? It's just a stupid plot point.

[UHMEEEEBA]

Even changing the genders Samus would still be creepily devoted to her father figure and find it "exhilarating".

Heck I'd imagine it'd be even hated more because Samus would come across as a creepy stalker type.

[Jmorphman]

Hey want to read an overly elaborate negative interpretation of this games plot?

...

What. The. Fuck.

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK SAKAMOTO

It's worse than I imagined. But that article did get me thinking about some more stuff from the panel (mostly audience questions that the panelists then refuted, like my last post, which I failed to mention... uhh... so basically, the questions are in quotes and the stuff after them are my thoughts).

"The fight with Ridley shows that Samus is strong by overcoming her fears, courage is showing bravery in the face of fear, not lack of fear": That's all fine and good, but from what I've heard, Samus literally regresses to a child and has a nervous breakdown. And someone dies because of that. If this was the first time she had ever fought Ridley, I might buy that. But I'd still have deep reservations about the comrade dying because she freaked out. But this is at least the third time she has fought Ridley (more if you count that robot version at the end of Zero Mission, and the three times she fought him in the Prime series). It's OK if she had a flashback or got nervous or tensed up a little. That's perfectly understandable, she watched this giant space dragon kill her parents at a very young age. But if you want to show that Samus is strong, she should absolutely not have a nervous breakdown; it's fine if she is still scared of Ridley, but she needs to show that she is strong enough to not let it affect her.

"People were projecting onto Samus whatever personality they wanted and were disappointed her actual characterization didn't fit their own vision of Samus" Like I said before, Samus has basically been a cipher. She never has had deep characterization. But she still had SOME personality, gathered simply by examining her actions. This is a woman who goes deep into enemy territory completely and utterly alone and always come up on top. This is a woman who singlehandedly wiped out an entire species of extremely dangerous bioweapons. Everything she has done before this game paints a picture of a strong, independent, woman. And this game just pisses all over that. She is defined completely by other people in the game: the weird father figure stuff with Adam and the whole Metroid baby thing that makes her really maternal (sidenote: I didn't really see that much about the latter in that article, but I somehow have the impression that the game makes Samus really really really devastated by the baby Metroid's sacrifice; I mean I could understand she'd be upset, but like, having nightmares about it? I don't think so. She barely knew that thing. Yes she should be saddened by what happened but it should not haunt her for the rest of her life.) These are just terrible character decisions that seem like they were made to make Samus more... domesticated, I guess? She is made subservient to a male and is suddenly obsessed with babies, like her maternal instincts kicked into overdrive. It's a disservice to her character.

[UHMEEEEBA]

[spoiler]Someone almost dies from her Ridley shit fit, it's revealed at the last minute of the game he survived by an absurd deus ex machina that involved freezing an enemy.

Samus however does take time to mope about it.

And yeah she is REALLY devastated about the Metroid from Super Metroid, she talks about it all the damn time.[/spoiler]

Edited.

[Fusion]

Not only that, Other M ruins another Metroid game, as mentioned by that article.  It ruins Metroid Fusion.  "He was a close friend that I have the chance to bring back."  now becomes "HE WAS MY DADDY FIGURE AND I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT MY DADDY!"

[UHMEEEEBA]

Among the various Wii 2 rumors, is an unrelated easily missed one, Nintendo is shelfing the Metroid franchise for declining sales since Metroid Prime 1, with Other M being their last straw. They'll still make games but they're no longer treating the franchise as a top seller.

In other words it's been moved from the Mario-Zelda-Pokemon table to go chill out with F-Zero.

Other Mistakes indeed.

[Jmorphman]

Among the various Wii 2 rumors, is an unrelated easily missed one, Nintendo is shelfing the Metroid franchise for declining sales since Metroid Prime 1, with Other M being their last straw. They'll still make games but they're no longer treating the franchise as a top seller.

In other words it's been moved from the Mario-Zelda-Pokemon table to go chill out with F-Zero.

Other Mistakes indeed.

no
no
nononononononononononononononononono


Retro please make another one
or R&D1 but keep Sakamoto away from the story unless you make sure he's back to normal

[UHMEEEEBA]

Retro has stated they never want to touch the Metroid franchise again and instead want to work on other projects (last I recall they want to make what amounts to Super Mario Bros. 2 Returns, no really).

Nintendo still doesn't seem to get WHY Other M failed so I wouldn't expect the franchise to suddenly start being good again.

[Jesuszilla]

The biggest mistake was handing over something to Team Ninja that involves females. Expecting them to know anything other than objectification at this point is simply ludicrous.

[UHMEEEEBA]

Team Ninja have gone on record stating they had nothing to do with the plot which is where most people are taking issue with this game. Not stating Team Ninja isn't what you just said but pretty much all the fault for this one lies with Sakamoto.

[Jmorphman]

so I finally got around to playing this and...

IT IS WORSE THAN I COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED
FUCK YOU TEAM NINJA AND FUCK YOU SAKAMOTO

Team Ninja have gone on record stating they had nothing to do with the plot which is where most people are taking issue with this game. Not stating Team Ninja isn't what you just said but pretty much all the fault for this one lies with Sakamoto.

I really hope that Sakamoto was... I dunno, pushed, isn't the right word... that he was inspired (I guess that kinda works) to shit all over Samus' character because Team Ninja developed it... somehow. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but Sakamoto was previously pretty fucking awesome.

[UHMEEEEBA]

There was an interview where one of the devs said Sakamoto cried because he thought the story was so "emotionally moving". He also called the game the "perfect Metroid experience".

The dudes bat shit crazy and out of touch.

[Fusion]

The dudes bat shit crazy and out of touch.

Well said.  I couldn't add anything else to that other than of course he'd get teary eyed that Nintendo actually permitted a fanfic into canon.

[Jmorphman]

The dudes bat shit crazy and out of touch.

Maybe WarioWare warped his brain.

Well said.  I couldn't add anything else to that other than of course he'd get teary eyed that Nintendo actually permitted a fanfic into canon.

Well, he IS the co-creator of the series, so it can't really be called fanfiction. It's certainly on the same level, quality-wise, though.

Also, I finished it. I thought the gameplay was decent, could've been much better, but it had promise. The story, on the other hand...  ugh. Fuck this game.

(more thoughts to come, so stay tuned to see me talk about "how to brake in space", "the magic of Ridley's retarded new life cycle", and, of course, our featured segment, "boy you can really tell this was written by a Japanese guy")