Topic: Metroid Other M

[Ian Sane]

With Sakamoto calling the shots this will be exactly what Nintendo wants out of Metroid.  If it we don't like it it will be because Sakamoto turned out to be a videogame George Lucas and his vision for Metroid turned out to be vastly different than what the fans expected.

[KDR_11k]

If it we don't like it it will be because Sakamoto turned out to be a videogame George Lucas and his vision for Metroid turned out to be vastly different than what the fans expected.

I think his "vision" may have changed over the years anyway. When you deal with a fictional universe for that long you get all kinds of ideas about what could happen there and might grow attached to those ideas. That's how developers keep wanting to add more story to later entries in a series.

[mantidor]

With Sakamoto calling the shots this will be exactly what Nintendo wants out of Metroid.  If it we don't like it it will be because Sakamoto turned out to be a videogame George Lucas and his vision for Metroid turned out to be vastly different than what the fans expected.

More like he already is. Fusion and Zero Mission have portrayed a Samus plenty of fans do'nt like that much. I actually plain hate her and pretend she doesn't exist

With Other M it seems my avoidance will be impossible, I'll end up loving the gameplay, as I've always do, and dismissing her as a character, which is such a damn shame because she was really high in the list of characters I just loved and thought were too cool for words.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I like when a character is given a more feminine slant, people hate. Hmmm wonder why? It is only the ones that act like guys which the average gamer (Or even movie viewer) likes. Sexism is alive and well says I!

[mantidor]

what feminine slant is there in this Samus? she's a cheap character now, acting every negative stereotype of women possible, she's now weak, immature, way too emotional, way too dependent of other people, specially men, and way too self-absorbed, those monologues are cringe worthy. And yes, I know I'm jumping to conclusions but the things they have decided to showcase are terrible, just terrible.

This has nothing to with the exploitation of Samus sex appeal, which is appalling, but anyway...Samus for me was in the same rank as Karan Sjet from Homeworld, a woman who ironically is actually naked in the two games, but her sexiness is never played or mentioned, at all, despite her being obviously beautiful and easy on the eyes, as it happens with pretty much any female character in video games. She's strong, determined and a great leader, and very feminine to boot, she's motherly and tender, yet she doesn't let emotions on the way of doing what's best for her people. And she's damn smart, she starts as a neurologist, how many women in videogames, or any medium for that matter, are as awesome as that? The homeworld games are never as condescending as Nintendo is being with Samus, despite many tragic events that happen in the game.

We had this image of an awesome space mercenary with a terrible past but strong enough to put it behind her and just kick ass and take names across the whole universe. She was independent, determined and known across the galaxy as the one who always got the job done. Unfortunately that is destroyed now, I guess some of us overestimated way too much the character.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Why isn't this a CAPTAIN FALCON game instead?

"Any objections, my hero?"
*Falcon Punches him out of the building*
"I'll take that as a yeeeeeessssss--" *SPLAT*

"I was so awesome. Awesome and cool."
*puts hand on glass, looks out window*

*entire city bursts into flames*

"FALCON: Other F(ist)"

THAT IS A GAME I CAN GET BEHIND. Get the NEW Infinity Ward to make it.

Special thanks to Infernal Monkey and Mario for re-writing the trailer and the title.

[Adrock]

Wow, mantidor. I agree for the most part.

I preferred not knowing too much about Samus, mostly because I didn't need to. What it seems like they're doing with Other M is showing Samus mature so maybe the point is that we'll see Samus grow out of all those negative stereotypes that mantidor mentioned. Well, that's great and all, but Other M's placement in the timeline is questionable so it seems like a step back in terms of character.

I suppose the problem with expanding on a series' storyline and characterization is that if you're not good at it, it shows. The only Nintendo character recently I felt drawn to enough to know more about was Midna from Twilight Princess, but even then, Nintendo's execution failed. She actually became a less interesting character. Midna was a much more entertaining character when she was mysterious, mischievous, and bitchy. Nintendo dropped the ball on her character arc and I just didn't care by the end of the game so wonder if we'll see the same in Other M.

[Dirk Temporo]

I like when a character is given a more feminine slant, people hate. Hmmm wonder why? It is only the ones that act like guys which the average gamer (Or even movie viewer) likes. Sexism is alive and well says I!

So wanting a woman to be more than what women are traditionally expected to be is sexist? That's funny, I thought it was the opposite.

[NWR_insanolord]

But she is more than what women are expected to be. If I remember correctly, last year's E3 trailer included footage of her with a dragon in a headlock. The complaints seem to be stemming from the fact that she also has a more feminine side, that she's not just a badass bounty hunter, and I'd concur with GP that expecting a female to have no feminine characteristics is sexist.

[KDR_11k]

It's more that we don't want her to be a total anime cliché.

[NWR_insanolord]

And I'd argue that we haven't seen nearly enough to come to any conclusions on that.

[Chozo Ghost]

Maybe Samus should have some makeup accessories she can collect and add to her suit to increase her feminine power. Perhaps she could find Chozo statues that teach her how to cook and clean.

[Armak88]

Cooking Mamma: Marinating Metroids

[rbtr]

It's more that we don't want her to be a total anime cliché.

Wasn't she already?  Silent, bad-ass bounty hunter is a pretty big cliché.  She was a female Boba Fett, and now she might get to be more. 

The trailer looked nice, the voice acting wasn't terrible (nothing great, but not "jill sandwich" bad).  Samus is one of my favorite game characters, but I didn't start to get attached until they started to, well, characterize her.  I liked the stealth part of Zero Mission, and the design choices in fusion always felt like decisions to make it more hand held friendly.  As for her sex appeal in SSBB, it was fan service, in a game that's all about fan service.  Was is "distasteful"?  Well yeah, that was the point!

I remember reading ages ago that it would be cool to put Samus in a metropolis, and then build on a feeling of anxiety.  So instead of being totally alone and surrounded by nothing.  You would feel totally alone and lost DESPITE being surrounded by people.  Metroid, to me, has always been about that feeling of isolation, and then the joy of discovery.  Samus' character hes always been second, but I like what they are doing to it.  She's become more than the scantly clad reward at the end of the game!  She's an actual character, and even if its not what you like I'd say its Nintendo's first real attempt at even trying to make their characters have a personality.

Furthermore  the story is flashbacks.  Not everyone started out awesome, it would take some time for the orphan to become the warrior.


All that said, this would make an awesome Captain Falcon game.

[Kairon]

Furthermore  the story is flashbacks.  Not everyone started out awesome, it would take some time for the orphan to become the warrior.

Really? So these story cut scenes will just be short flashback interruptions in present day Samus being awesome? Hmmm...

Generally, I'm with Mantidor on this. And KDR too, since what we've seen storywise so far is way too internal monologue, telling us her feelings instead of showing them. But of course, this is all based on so little data, and the game isn't out until June. Still, I'm just so shocked by my initial reactions that I need to voice them somehow.

Given videogame's trackrecord, I don't think a female Boba Fett is a bad place to end up.

[rbtr]

I may be wrong about flashbacks...but I read that somewhere, but feel free to correct me.

I like Samus a lot, so I'm worried about how they treat her.  But I think the way that they've been treating her is better than how they used to.  Which is to say, she was simply a reward for beating the game quickly.  There's an attempt at making her into something that has actual character.  Nintendo is attempting to take one of their characters, and give them character.  Which is something they have never really done.  There's a difference between "being a character" and "having character".  Character's are called characters because they usally represent a particular characteristic of the human psyche..  Link is a character, he's a brave hero, and that's it.  Mario is a character, he's brave hero, a clown sometimes, but that's it.  Samus was a character, a "femme fatale", but they are trying to make her more.  Which is good!  It means that Nintendo is NOT okay with doing the same thing over and over.  They are trying new things, which they need to do, lest we end up with another twilight princess.  Which was very good, but also very formulaic.  And god forbid a Nintendo character get SOME development, almost every character they've made is very two dimensional, flat and lifeless.  And well a puppet for the player to use.  WHICH IS ALL WELL AND GOOD, but sometimes they need to try new stuff.  They've got to appeal to different markets, they want to keep expanding.

tl;dr Nintendo makes lifeless charactes, and is trying to inject a character with life.  They are trying something new, which means growth in the company.  They are doing this to try to appeal to different audiences.

This game is in my "hopeful optimism" pile.

And it could never be the worst Metroid game, Hunters already got that one.

[Kairon]

I think you've convinced me to not go jumping off any more bridges yet rbtr. Nintendo is trying something utterly alien to them, and throw Team Ninja into the mix and it's obvious that the end product will be so different to what I'm expecting from a mainline Nintendo franchise. Wow... Team Ninja... I don't know what to expect.

It means that Nintendo is NOT okay with doing the same thing over and over.  They are trying new things, which they need to do, lest we end up with another twilight princess.

I like the cut of your jib!

And it could never be the worst Metroid game, Hunters already got that one.

Poor Hunters! T_T

[Chozo Ghost]

One thing I hate about old games like this getting perfect graphics and voice-acting is that it leaves less and less to the imagination. With the original Metroid (and Mario, Zelda, etc.) they were all 8-bit and pixelated so you couldn't have enough detail to handle detailed facial characteristics like eyes, noses, cheek-bones, ears, hair, moles, etc. It was jsut some blocky pixelated distortion that could have been a super-model or a hideous freak, but you couldn't tell because of the blur of pixelation. Sure, you saw Samus semi-nude at the end of the games which let you know she was actually a woman, but that was pixelated like I'm pointing out, and there was of course no voice-acting so you didn't know how she sounded.

So my gripe today is the high-rez graphics and all that leave far less to the imagination, and to me that kinda sucks because there is some appeal in not knowing.  Samus' blue spandex form-fitting suit is so revealing that she almost might as well be completely nude, because you can see perfectly how her body is shaped. Inside the suit you just couldn't tell if she looked like that, or if she was some butch female space marine, or whatever.

There was a time when Samus' seemed to have a different hair-color with each game, and now its just boiled down to a predictable and overdone blond color. Princess Peach, Zelda, etc. are all also blondes. Why couldn't Samus have had another color, like red for a change? In fact, since she is an alien, she could have had green hair or something. Why did Nintendo make her into just another Barbie clone? We have too many barbie clones in the world as it is!

One of the last remaining mysteries was her voice, and it seems now we're losing that as well...

/cry

[Dirk Temporo]

One thing I hate about old games like this getting perfect graphics and voice-acting is that it leaves less and less to the imagination.

See, people say things like "Well if I wanted a story and good writing, I'd read a book."

Now it's my turn to tell you that if you want to use your imagination, read a book.

Or just, you know, use your imagination.

[TJ Spyke]

In fact, since she is an alien, she could have had green hair or something.

Samus is not an alien. She is a human, born on the Earth colony of KL-2. She may have later been infused with Chozo DNA (and then later with Metroid DNA), but she is still human. I know that if this was a anime then it wouldn't matter (since in animes it is normal for humans to have blue hair or green hair or any other weird combo).

As for her blue suit, who freaking cares? Hell, the reward for beating the first game was getting to see Samus in a bikini.

[mantidor]

I agree with Chozo Ghost, part of her appeal as a character was not knowing about her, and before it was rare to see her outside the suit. It's also the change, Samus before was more westernized, and now is more a japanese character, which I think is the thing that shocks me the most, I prefered the more westernized Samus because japanese style tends to make everyone look almost childlike for some reason, specially women, even if they are supposed to be adults, and thats honestly damn creepy.

[Chozo Ghost]

Look at what Nintendo has done with the Star Fox franchise. Star Fox is (or was) a cool space shooter franchise that had animal pilots, but the games didn't revolve around these animal pilots and they didn't really have much depth, so you could imagine them to be however you liked. But then in the GC era Nintendo gave us "Star Fox Adventures" and from that moment on the Star Fox franchise has never been the same. It "jumped the shark", so to speak.

That is a possible danger that could happen to the Metroid franchise as well. Once key details about a character's background are established they are basically set in stone and it is very difficult or impossible to change those things. You lose the mystery of their background, and that can never be restored. That is especially bad for the sort of game Metroid is, because it involves a lot of mystery, puzzle-solving, and exploration. How much fun will it be once you know all there is to know about the character you're playing?

So its not just about Samus' appearance and voice. Knowing her entire bio is also an issue. I remember games like Mortal Kombat had bios of the different characters saying where they were from and so forth. The characters from backgrounds we are familiar were less interesting than the characters whose bios said "Origin: Unknown" It meant there was a mystery about who they are and where they came from, so you could start to wonder and imagine. You also had the characters with the masks, and you couldn't help but wonder what was underneath that mask, or why they were wearing it.

[NWR_insanolord]

That is a possible danger that could happen to the Metroid franchise as well. Once key details about a character's background are established they are basically set in stone and it is very difficult or impossible to change those things. You lose the mystery of their background, and that can never be restored. That is especially bad for the sort of game Metroid is, because it involves a lot of mystery, puzzle-solving, and exploration. How much fun will it be once you know all there is to know about the character you're playing?

I find the fact that you think Nintendo gives a damn about maintaining continuity amusing. Sure, they may stay somewhat consistent, but, after what they've done with Zelda, it's obvious that nothing is "set in stone" or "impossible to change."

[TJ Spyke]

Except they have said for over 20 years that every Link and Zelda is a different one (although they are in the same universe; the events of Wind Waker, for example, happen about 100 years after Ocarina of Time). They have been very careful with Metroid continuity. Most of Samus's background is unknown though, so there is not much of a chance that Metroid: Other M will contradict anything.

[NWR_insanolord]

Except they have said for over 20 years that every Link and Zelda is a different one (although they are in the same universe; the events of Wind Waker, for example, happen about 100 years after Ocarina of Time). They have been very careful with Metroid continuity. Most of Samus's background is unknown though, so there is not much of a chance that Metroid: Other M will contradict anything.

I'm fairly certain Nintendo at one point also said Twilight Princess took place 100 years after Ocarina of Time.