Dark Aether

[Cloral]

This is a bit dated, but I was thinking the other day about why Metroid Prime 2 ended up disappointing me. And I think the answer was how dark Aether was handled. Remember the first time you got to dark aether in the agon wastes? It was dark and foreboding, and a very dangerous place. You had to plan your moves carefully or the atmosphere would quickly eat your health. You really didn't have time to look around and notice that the landscape was kinda drab.
But as time went on, dark aether became less thretening. Once you got the dark suit, the dark atmosphere was no longer a threat, but more of a nuisance. You no longer had to plan your moves or worry about your health draining. You had more time to look around and notice that there really wasn't much to see there. The dark side was no longer threatening, and really became rather boring.
Then you got to the Sanctuary Fortress. The dark side of the fortress was called The Hive, and was supposedly the Ing stronghold. But when you transfered over there, there really wasn't much at all. It certainly didn't feel like their stronghold, as if it was, the Ing should've been swarming all over you. In fact, the light side was almost more dangerous than the dark side. I think it would've been a good atmospheric idea to leave the light side mostly devoid of enemies - maybe a few of the security droids and those annoying floating orb enemies. But when you went to the dark side, the enemies swarmed. If they did that though, they would've probably had to redesign the area to keep your travels in the dark side relatively short. But that would've created a great atmosphere that would really match the story of that area. You see a portal, take a beath, and dive in - just hoping to emerge alive at the other end.

So while I thought MP2 was quite good, this one aspect was quite poorly handled. It truely is a shame, as it could've been the game's strongest point had it been handled well.

[Blonde799]

And the water. Everytime I got into the water, I couldn't spend very much time in it, because I'd go color blind from all the purple.:p Most of the world was a bit dull looking, wouldn't have minded some areas looking like their light counterparts, but a lot darker.

[Warlock]

I think game developers just need to get off the "dark world" concept. It's like damn, ever since LTTP did it everyone and their mother had to copy them. Come up with something original. I mean, OoT dealt with time, which while sort of the same deal, was at least different. But even then, Wind Waker didn't have a "crazy alternate universe" in it. It was still good.

Dark Aether was a disappointment, definately. I mean, it was what, 1/8th the size of the Light World? You'd find a portal and it's be like 2 rooms with the rest of the passages blocked off. Lazy much? I mean, if you are going to do this thing at least have the balls to do the WHOLE thing. LTTP didn't cut any freakin' corners (unless you want to count Zora Falls which I don't). I mean, you didn't come to a point in OoT where you try to go somewhere you went as a kid and suddenly there is a big mass of worm things covering the door. And then, there was really nothing to do in Dark Aether. There were a couple bosses, but it was really just a "grab whatever items you can find and get the hell out" place which is boring. No real puzzles, no real story progression. Just black blob things shooting the hell out of you.

I mean, here are things I would have done to make it cooler:
-After certain major events (boss battles) the Light World starts to become more unstable in places. Suddenly portions of Dark Aether are seeping into the Light World. Or something like this.
-Make some real use of Samus' visors. I mean, what do you get half of them in the last half of the game? How often do you use the echo visor? And the other one was WORTHLESS. "Oh wow! I can see two enemies I couldn't see before!" It was like a ghetto lens of truth. The only use it had was for finding the stupid key things that were invisible. It had no other "puzzle" aspect involved except for platforms that were usually supplimented by grapple hooks anyways so even if you didn't realize they were there, you could grapple across. A couple of the bosses use the visors but not much. Metroid Prime did some real cool stuff with visors, like in the final battle w/ Metroid Prime.
-I hated the weapons personally. There were three, all with limited ammo. Metroid Prime had four with unlimited ammo. This seems more like a step backwards. I mean, the limited ammo thing was a neat idea but not for every weapon. At least give us Wave Beam or something! This doesn't have much to do with Dark Aether but it was something that bugged me ;p
-More scripted events in general. I mean, stuff where the action stops for a second and you see a little in-game cutscene. There was hardly anything like that, esp in Dark Aether. Metroid Prime had a lot of things like this. They just have a cool sense of story to them even if they contain no words. But also in that vein, some noticeable changes/consequences. Like, if you look at Metroid Fusion, you might be taking the elevator when suddenly you hear an explosion and the power is out. Or you kill this one boss, but that allows all these other bug things to evolve into bad bee things. I mean, couldn't they add stuff like that? You recharge those energy thingys and it has absolutely no effect on anything other than making that dude happy. It seems pointless.

And yes, the water sucked. I just didn't like how much it hurt you.. you'd always fall in and then you have to hear that annoying sfx.. it was like falling in the lava in Metroid 2 (I think.. it has been awhile since I played Prime2 now). But ya, the color sucked too.

But overall, I think the whole game felt "less" than Prime 1. It almost felt incomplete, at least for a Nintendo licenced product. I mean, if Metroid Prime 1 was a thick, juicy steak this was a small, thin porkchop... a porkchop that is burnt on one side..

[Grasshopper]

I didn't really like the cutscenes at all. The first major cutscene you see where the guys battle the creatures... Not a single gasp, moan, or scream. If they don't want to use voices thats fine, but if thousands of creatures are killing off the crew members, you think there would be a little more sound then a few beam effects. Where is the epic feeling, that makes it feel like a battle? Talk about drab.

That was just one though, I haven't really played it beyond the point of being able to travel to Dark Aether the first time. Maybe the cutscenes get better. :shrug:

[vegeta1215]

I think if Dark Aether were just as big as Light Aether, it would have been a real chore to explore it since they look pretty much the same. I like what they did with it. Plus, Dark Aether had it's share of tough enemies. I especially hated those ones with the tendrils that turned invisible. That and Dark Aether was home to many of the hardest bosses in the game.

The beams system was very different, but I liked it. In Metroid Prime once you found the beams you were set - in MP2 once you had the beams you had to use a little bit of strategy so you wouldn't run out of ammo when you needed it most. Certainly Metroid Prime's system feels more "Metroid-like", because it's similar to what we've seen in previous Metroid titles. I don't think either way is better, just different.

btw, I can't believe some of you are griping about the atmosphere in MP2 not being as challenging after you get the Dark Suit and Light Suit. I can't tell you how many complaints I've read online about how much people hated standing under the light bubbles to refill their health when they only had the Varia. Of course it's easy once you get the Light Suit, but that's the end of the game! You're supposed to be able to destroy everything at that point! Light Suit/Annihilator Beam == Phazon Suit/Plazma Beam.

I do agree that I wished the Echo Visor could've been used for more than just seeing a few inivisible enemies and shooting those orange locks open. I did find it very fun and cool to walk around the world with the Echo Visor on though. And I definitely used the Echo Visor against Dark Samus at the end.

[Cloral]

Yes it was annoying to sit in the light pools when you first got to the dark side. But the damage the atmosphere did to you created a real sense of danger that was lost when you got the dark suit. What they needed to do was to compensate this with an increase of enemies in order to ensure that the dark side remained dangerous. And a new type of Ing - I mean, the Ing were supposed to be the main enemy, but there were only 3 types of them and they were all pretty easy.

Maybe they could've handled the atmosphere a bit differently. Like it takes time to eat through your suit, but once it does it does damage very quickly. Then when you stepped into the light pools, instead of gaining health your suit restores itself in a very short period of time so you can go out in the atmosphere again. If this were the case, the dark suit could've just been a measure to increase the amount of time it takes to eat through your suit. This would've kept the dark side dangerous since you'd still have to look for the light pools to keep your suit in good condition.

[Dart Zaidyer]

I think they spent more time on graphics and finding ways to force the player onto a set path for Echoes.

I agree about Dark Aether. The music and general lack of enemy forces just makes it feel lonely and abandoned, rather than a source of great evil.
But what I REALLY don't like is the fact that this game had nothing to do with Metroids. They're just peripheral enemies in this game, it's the Ing who you're supposed to be exterminating.

[vegeta1215]

I think they spent more time on graphics and finding ways to force the player onto a set path for Echoes.

...but what I REALLY don't like is the fact that this game had nothing to do with Metroids. They're just peripheral enemies in this game, it's the Ing who you're supposed to be exterminating.

The same could be said about Metroid Prime, where you are also on a set path. I think the feeling is just more emphasized in MP2 since you are specifically searching for the temple keys to open the way forward. The original Metroid is the only Metroid where you truely have a lot of freedom.

I like how they extended the story of Metroid Prime, with the Space Pirates continuing to use Metroids in experiments, hence justifying their (the Metroids) presence on Aether. At the same time they managed to add a new story in.