Metroid Prime 3: Corruption [Archive] - Armageddon Games Forums

Rijuhn

08-29-2007, 12:05 PM

===[ BEGIN TRANSMISSION ]===

Greetings fellow AGNers.

Two days ago (August 27, 2007) while I was driving around my local shopping area I decided to check on the status of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (MP3:C) in hopes of purchasing the game. While I had recently decided that I was going to hold off purchasing any video games until a few months from now for financial reasons I drove by Game Stop and I just couldn’t resist. (Possible gaming addiction :)) I briskly walked into the store and went right up front where I had to wait for some customer to finish talking about branches of military service before I could make my purchase.

“What can you tell me about MP3:C?” I asked the Game Stop employee.

His reply was, “What do you want to know?”

After some brief dialogue, and paying in full for a copy of MP3:C I was then made aware that I could demo the game at the store’s kiosk. After familiarizing myself with the controls and the intro to the game I was glad that my hopes were not shattered. Then yesterday, after going to the dentist for two fillings, I picked up my copy of MP3:C, YAY!

Rest assured everyone, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has sweet controls and I could never play another FPS with dual joysticks again, but it’s not like I ever liked using dual joysticks in the first place. True, the accuracy isn’t as good as a mouse, but it comes close to using one, and considering this is new technology I’m impressed. Retro Studios was also able to take everything that I liked about the other two games in the series and improve upon them.

I look forward to everyone else’s response.

Sincerely,

Rijuhn

[EDIT] TO EVERYONE WHO HAS THIS GAME: Let's help each other share friend vouchers.

My Wii Number is: 2399 1339 8269 5334

vegeta1215: 4630 6618 5274 9687

===[ END TRANSMISSION ]===

erm2003

08-29-2007, 01:45 PM

I think I am going to be picking up a copy sometime this afternoon. It's nice to hear some good reviews. I will have to post more once I have the chance to play it a bit.

mrz84

08-29-2007, 02:34 PM

I read about it and after playing the earlier Primes, I wanted to get it. Sadly my wallet is has a disorder that involves money. No Wii = no MP3:C for me. :sweat:

MottZilla

08-29-2007, 02:40 PM

I might play it someday, but I'm part of the crowd that doesn't find the Wiimote + Nunchuck combination for FPS very interesting or appealing. I like 2 analog sticks.

Also I should mention while I liked Metroid Prime, I only finished playing through it once, never played very far through MP2. I liked MP at first but eventually got bored. Part of why I'm not big on playing MP3.

Masamune

08-29-2007, 03:30 PM

The Metroid Prime series never appealed to me much in the first place.

Modus Ponens

08-29-2007, 03:36 PM

I just got MP3 and it is amazing. Of course I love its gameplay and it has me wanting to play it every moment of my life, the same way that many new releases do in the first few days of owning them, and that's a fun feeling, kind of like a weaker version of new love, but also its level of immersion and simulation is surprising and exciting. When Samus is sitting there in her cockpit, making decisions about which landing site of which planet to go to, it really feels like I'm in the cockpit, pressing buttons. Way back when the original Metroid Prime was announced as a first-person game, I was a little worried that it wouldn't be as fun as it could be because of that fact, but I quickly reversed my position, and this game is just further proof of how wrong I was. And now we have stuff like actual character interaction! Besides just killing! It's absolutely fantastic. I love this game.

Petoe

08-29-2007, 03:58 PM

I will get this game in October when it comes to this backward bum hick land. :(

Anyhoo, I expect MP3 to become one of my favorite games ever. If it truly is the best game in the Prime series as every review tells me, then it will be a spectacular game.

Pineconn

08-29-2007, 04:57 PM

I might play it someday, but I'm part of the crowd that doesn't find the Wiimote + Nunchuck combination for FPS very interesting or appealing. I like 2 analog sticks.

That must be a very small crowd.

I've heard very good things about the game, and Nintendo Power gave it a perfect 10 out of 10 (note that TP got a 9.5). Naturally, GameSpot did what they're best at doing* and give it an 85 out of 100.

1
*That is, rating big games poorly.

SpykStorm

08-29-2007, 06:12 PM

I haft to get a Wii first, then MP3 Corruption. I'v played and beaten the other MP games and loved them!:D

MottZilla

08-29-2007, 08:07 PM

That must be a very small crowd.

I've heard very good things about the game, and Nintendo Power gave it a perfect 10 out of 10 (note that TP got a 9.5). Naturally, GameSpot did what they're best at doing* and give it an 85 out of 100.

1
*That is, rating big games poorly.

Actually, it's quite a big crowd as the Wiimote + Nunchuck sucks for FPS gaming. While a keyboard and mouse is considered ideal, the dual analog stick setup works well, but the Wiimote and Nunchuck leave ALOT to be desired. You're fooling yourself if you believe everybody loves the Wiimote + Nunchuck for FPS idea.

vegeta1215

08-29-2007, 08:11 PM

I picked it up yesterday and played for a couple hours. (I just landed on Bryyo) I'm still trying to get used to the controls though, it feels weird. It probably doesn't help that I have a small TV - Advanced aiming is far too sensitive for me to use, so I'm using Standard. I think I'll get used to it though, at least I hope so. If this game can't convince me of the Wii's potential, I don't think anything will.

Still, one thing that keeps me from enjoying the game is being the complentionist I am, I don't want to miss scans, so I constantly have the scan visor on. (this has nothing to do with Wii of course) I'll probably post more impressions as I play. Right now though the game feels very un-metroid-ish because of all the other characters in the game. I haven't been isolated yet, which is what Metroid is about.

Warlock

08-29-2007, 08:33 PM

Actually, it's quite a big crowd as the Wiimote + Nunchuck sucks for FPS gaming. While a keyboard and mouse is considered ideal, the dual analog stick setup works well, but the Wiimote and Nunchuck leave ALOT to be desired. You're fooling yourself if you believe everybody loves the Wiimote + Nunchuck for FPS idea.

You're basing this on what? Red Steel? That game is a POS.

Anyways, I have Metroid Prime 3. The control works great. It's honestly about as close to real PC FPS control as you're going to get on the Wii. My only complaint so far has had more to do with my setup I think. Wii's sensor bar has always been an issue for me, and I'm constantly finding my cursor off-screen (I got the "Point the Wiimote at the screen" message in Zelda a lot). I think it has to do with the fact I'm so close to it (small room, huge widescreen TV). So that can get annoying at times. But if I manage it (i.e. point it at the small window), the control scheme does work great. But definately turn on Advanced control, that one is the best.

Nfiend

08-29-2007, 08:41 PM

Although I must say that nintendo made an excellent choice with the Wii, I will never, ever buy it. Prime 3 looks awesome, and the level of innovativity is brilliant. But it just isn't for me. :/

Daarkseid

08-29-2007, 08:43 PM

You're basing this on what? Red Steel? That game is a POS.

Yeah, I first played RE4(which admittedly is a third-person game, but uses the wii-mote to aim, beautifully) and then played Red Steel.

Ugh.

erm2003

08-29-2007, 09:37 PM

I played through the opening sequences of MP3 and I do have to say the controls work very well. The game is great so far and the first couple major battles (which are well done) are almost a tease of what I expect to see later on. They really did do a great job using the Wii controls to their potential. I can't wait to see what is coming up.

MottZilla

08-29-2007, 09:55 PM

You're basing this on what? Red Steel? That game is a POS.

Yes Red Steel is a POS. No, that's not what I'm basing my opinion on. The pointing function of the Wii like you just said, has issues. For serious shooters, there's no room for controller issues. Having the aiming disappear or become unresponsive or just not work the way you need when you need it would be extremely irritating. While Daark mentioned RE4, that game doesn't have the issue so much with the pointer because of the game pace and the fact that you can't shoot while moving.

I don't see the Wiimote&Nunchuck as some ultimate FPS setup cause it isn't. Sure it's different and some people will like it for that. But just the same there are other people that won't like it, and don't think it helps the FPS genre at all.

And shooters, I play alot of them. I couldn't see using the Wiimote&Nunchuck in any of them. It'd just be a disaster. You really have to have the right type of game for it to work, and a frantic fast paced FPS definitely isn't the right type.

vegeta1215

08-29-2007, 10:26 PM

Just got done playing a little more. I'm starting to get used to the controls and it's working out pretty well. Disabling the free look while locked on has helped, and makes the combat feel more like the old Primes, which is fine by me. The controls aren't as good as a mouse (I don't think anything will ever be quite that good) but they are close. I tried a few games on the 360 with the dual stick aiming/moving, and I just can't get used to it.

Glenn the Great

08-30-2007, 09:13 AM

I can certainly say that I'd never want to use the Wiimote to play a FPS against other players. I've been a heavy player of FPS's for most of my life, and I understand how in frantic firefights, all it takes, even with a mouse, is a millisecond's worth of control failure to find yourself dead with some punk on the other end saying "lol n00b".

I imagine that Wiimote aiming is really suited to more casual games where there isn't such a demand for rapid and precise aiming, especially in the middle of movement.

Pineconn

08-30-2007, 03:20 PM

Put it this way. Both dual sticks and the Wii controls are very precise. But in different ways.

I never got to used dual analog stick gaming since all the FPS games I played were N64 ones. The dual analog stick, which I'll call DAS, style is no way as natural or as accurately represented by how you would aim a gun/etc. in real life. However, it is of course very precise in its own way.

With the Wii, it takes real life factors into consideration, like moving your arm too much = missing your target. It can be very precise with practice. If you pick up any weapon that you've never shot before, you won't be able to get bull's-eyes every time you shoot. So therefore the Wii is more natural in this sense and still maintains its precision, but you'll need to master it. Just like you've learned to master the DAS aiming.

Can you honestly tell me that the first time you played a DAS aiming game that you were dead on every time? Not me; I was not used to it. But I'm sure that if I would have practiced and used it more than that hour I played, I would have improved. These complaints about the "inaccuracy" of the Wii are based on old-style gamers using a brand new style of aiming that they've never used.

*pants*

Darth Marsden

08-30-2007, 03:47 PM

I'm gonna pick this up when I get a Wii. Still don't have one, but the reasons for grabbing one are building up...

MottZilla

08-30-2007, 04:24 PM

I doubt you've ever used a firearm in your entire life if you believe the Wiimote is similar. The Wiimote is aimed at 2 infrared dots in the sensor bar, perhaps with an offset for top or bottom of the screen positioning. So pointing at a point on the screen is stupid, instead you have to see where the cursor is and change where its pointing off that which is slow and tedious compared to a mouse which has far greater percision and you can actually get used to a DPI setting so you are always spot on with your movements. Similarly you can get used to sensitivity settings on analog sticks to max out your performance. But the Wiimote you'll always be having to get your point or origin and then moving off that. Plus I find it annoying to constantly be holding the Wiimote pointing.

Also, if you pickup a weapon you've never used before you can too get a "bull's-eye". If the weapon is properly sighted and you are an experienced shooter, there's no reason you can't pickup any decent weapon and shoot with a high degree of accuracy. Honestly the Wii doesn't add any realism. It's different, that's about it. You either like it or don't, and I don't and you do.

I was skeptical about the dual analog sticks back when they were new for FPS games. I prefered 4 face buttons for movement and 1 analog for freelook. But it works out. I gave the Wiimote a chance too and as I said, the aiming doesn't work well enough for alot of gametypes.

Grasshopper

08-30-2007, 04:39 PM

I was skeptical about the dual analog sticks back when they were new for FPS games. I prefered 4 face buttons for movement and 1 analog for freelook. But it works out.Not for me.

MottZilla

08-30-2007, 06:27 PM

Not for me.

Everything isn't suitable for everyone. :p

I prefer the Analog, if you prefer the Wiimote that's fine. The Wiimote doesn't work for the gametypes I enjoy most. However I imagine it works rather well for Metroid Prime Corruption in that it's FPS but more of an Adventure than your typical FPS.

Glenn the Great

08-30-2007, 08:42 PM

I've never been able to get the hang of using dual analog. The difference between keyboard+mouse and dual analog is like the difference between writing with my right hand versus my left. I can play with dual analog if I have to, but I feel very detached and out of control, while with a mouse I feel like I have a direct mind-to-character link that transcends the controls.

MottZilla

08-31-2007, 12:08 AM

Curious, have you tried swapping the purpose of the sticks and what game were you playing? For me I prefer to use the left stick to aim and the right for movement. The other way around and then I'm just like you said, I can play but it's no where near fun.

Grasshopper

08-31-2007, 08:15 AM

I don't prefer the Wii Remote because I've not played MP3, or any FPS game on the Wii yet.

Glenn the Great

08-31-2007, 11:59 AM

Pineconn

08-31-2007, 01:50 PM

Daarkseid

08-31-2007, 05:09 PM

Anyway, some prefer 1 analog stick + 4 buttons, some prefer 2 analog sticks, some prefer the mouse, and some prefer the Wiimote. Simple as that.

Mottzilla's making a speculative claim that the wii-mote can't be responsive enough for fast paced FPS games, particularly in multiplayer.

None of us really know for sure how accurate that is without having played a FPS under those conditions with wii-mote aiming.

I'd think however if dual-analog sticks can make playable FPS(and they can) compared to the old Mouse+Keyboard, then the same could be applied to the Wii-mote+nunchuck. It would require the user be versed in the game and the control scheme, but the same is true for dual-analog sticks. I was pretty retarded with the dual-analog sticks on Red Faction years ago to start(and seriously thought there was no way this control scheme works well for FPS), but I got the hang of it and wound up doing pretty spectacularly in a multiplayer session.

Not that this will convince people who are perfectly fine with dual-analog controls for FPS. I just think its overly dismissive to make those claims about the wii-mote without actual real experience in the settings described. Or its overly fanboy-ish.

vegeta1215

08-31-2007, 06:43 PM

There's an article on IGN about Medal of Honor Heroes 2, and it talks about how it's shaping up to give MP3 a run for it's money in terms of FPS controls, partly due to the extensible options. (and imo the more configuration options the better) Should be interesting to see.

MottZilla

08-31-2007, 08:10 PM

Mottzilla's making a speculative claim that the wii-mote can't be responsive enough for fast paced FPS games, particularly in multiplayer.

None of us really know for sure how accurate that is without having played a FPS under those conditions with wii-mote aiming.

The Wiimote if used for freelook would be quite tedious. If you use it so that the analog stick on the nunchuck controls left and right turn and forward and back motion, you lose strafing. And then would you use the Wiimote for look adjustments for vertical pitch? Then you'd have the freelook issues again. So you could do it but lose strafe unless you incorperate the requirement to hold a button down as a modifier which is ancient and annoying, plus you lose an action button then. I've thought about this and don't see the Wiimote working very well.

Daarkseid

08-31-2007, 09:27 PM

The Wiimote if used for freelook would be quite tedious.

I usually have my wii-mote hand resting on my knee, so moving the wii-mote is little more than a wrist movement. Almost exactly like a mouse. So the wii-mote would be free look, analog stick simply forward/back and strafing.

I don't think the idea is unworkable for a FPS yet, not without a game demonstrating it.

Warlock

08-31-2007, 09:31 PM

Right, it basically controls like Daarkseid said. The only issue with the setup is on the sides of the screen. This is exactly why you have Z-targetting. It centers the camera on what you are fighting. The only real issues are in-between. And that's just running and soforth. And those issues are minor as it is.

Honestly I think you just need to try it. Don't say it sucks without ever even using it.

Modus Ponens

08-31-2007, 11:18 PM

Honestly I think you just need to try it. Don't say it sucks without ever even using it.

Hear, hear. I don't know what Mottzilla meant by "tedious", but I will say that the Wiimote aiming is intuitive and effective, though I must admit that my wrist tends to get a little tired from supporting the weight of my hand plus a Wiimote for so long, but I might just emerge from this experience with stronger wrists (or maybe carpal tunnel syndrome. Is that how you get it? I don't know. Further research is warranted).

But yeah, I've been strafing around and aiming like a semi-pro, and it all came pretty quickly. 1 13/16 thumbs up.

vegeta1215

09-01-2007, 12:29 AM

Warlock

09-01-2007, 01:38 AM

I'm having fun playing the game so far, but some things I'm not crazy about. I just landed on Elysia (sp?), and so far the game has been very linear, not to mention I don't like being told what to do by the Olympus Aurora unit. I no longer feel stranded and scared like most Metroid games make me feel (which is a good thing). Also, all the powerups are almost right out in the open, or not hidden very well. The game also reminds me a lot of Metroid Hunters in that you travel to different planets, the game is more combat oriented, and also the feeling I have getting used to the controls.

The controls are great, but without them I feel like this would be a shallow game so far. Just not getting the Metroid vibe. I'm going to keep playing, but I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed just like I was with Twilight Princess.

There is the option to turn off hints, that might shut the Aurora unit up :P

I will say though that with the multiple planets it might be hard otherwise to let the player know exactly where they're supposed to go. I mean, with the others, it's like "Ok, Norfair is full of ice beam doors, so I need the ice beam" or something. Here, you can pretty much go to any of the planets and waste a lot of time there before you realize you screwed up. I did that at first with the jungle area of that one planet, because I couldn't figure out where to go on the fire side (how the hell was I supposed to know those worm thingys would actually make my morph ball fly?).

I'll agree though in general it holds your hand too much. I was actually thinking this game reminds me a hell of a lot of Metroid Fusion, which had a very similar "hand holding", objective-based linear story. Maybe it will get less linear later on.

P.S. - But speaking of GBA Metroids, I really wish they'd do another 2d Metroid along the same lines of what they did with Zero Mission. That game was absolutely amazing - probably the best Metroid since Super Metroid by far. Shows that the team's still got it. At the very least, they aught to remake Metroid II the same way. That one is almost unbearable to play anymore just due to the limitations of the original Gameboy.

Edit: And wow, speak of the devil:
http://ds.ign.com/articles/815/815899p1.html

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/815/815899/metroid-dread-rumored-20070827041640058.jpg

Maybe it wasn't a rumor afterall?

vegeta1215

09-01-2007, 11:32 AM

P.S. - But speaking of GBA Metroids, I really wish they'd do another 2d Metroid along the same lines of what they did with Zero Mission. That game was absolutely amazing - probably the best Metroid since Super Metroid by far. Shows that the team's still got it. At the very least, they aught to remake Metroid II the same way. That one is almost unbearable to play anymore just due to the limitations of the original Gameboy.

Edit: And wow, speak of the devil:
http://ds.ign.com/articles/815/815899p1.html

http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/815/815899/metroid-dread-rumored-20070827041640058.jpg

Maybe it wasn't a rumor afterall?

I haven't gotten far enough to see that, but people aren't sure whether it's for real or just a tease. :shrug:

I know without the hints in the first Metroid Prime I would've been really lost, but in that game the places you needed to check out were pretty far away and you had to figure out for yourself how to get there. In MP3 it's like walking a straight line.

MottZilla

09-01-2007, 01:38 PM

I'm not talking about Metroid Prime 3, I'm talking about your typical FPS which is face paced and against other human players. No Z-Targeting for you there. I never said the control scheme wouldn't work for MP3, I said because of the style and pace it would.

DarkDragoonX

09-01-2007, 03:08 PM

I nabbed Prime 3 just yesterday, and the controls are actually pretty good. Now, I DO have to agree with Mott that the Wiimote is NOT ideal for fast paced, high-motion firefights. Freelook with the Wiimote is a bit of a hassle, and the button placement is not ideal for fast weapon switching... I find it rather awkward whenever I launch missiles, as I have to slightly shift my grip on the 'mote. On the plus side, the 'mote is light years ahead of dual analog control when it comes to actually aiming. Once i have a target onscreen, I can aim and hit far more quickly and efficiently than I ever could with dual analog. It's almost like using a light gun. Not quite as good as a mouse, but so much better than aiming with analog it isn't even funny. Both analog and 'mote still fall far short of WASD in the end, though.

Nonetheless, I think you could make an engaging multiplayer shooter for the Wii. It wouldn't be as fast paced as most FPS games, which is admittedly a turn-off. Still, at a more measured pace, you could definitely pull off a good multiplayer FPS experience.

In the end, both control schemes have their perks. The 'mote is better at fast, precision shooting. Dual analog is better at movement and button functionality. I do agree with Mott that dual analog remains superior in a traditional FPS environment, but the 'mote has enough strengths to make it a valid control scheme.

Glenn the Great

09-01-2007, 06:05 PM

Maybe what they should do with the Wii is make it so that while the nunchuck's analog causes you to make strafing motions, then actual Wiimote can be positioned with it's length parallel to the ground, and then moved in mouse-like motions with the accelerometers picking up movement as if you were using a mouse.

I'm only half-serious about this, as I don't have a very in-depth knowledge of the controller's dynamics. A better option would be to create a mouse controller for your Wii, but Nintendo probably wouldn't do such a thing, as it would go against the experience Nintendo is trying to make for its players.

vegeta1215

09-01-2007, 07:02 PM

Okay, I'm starting to really get into MP3 now. Like some website reviewers have said, it's going to be hard to go back and play the old Prime games after using the Wii-remote. The game itself is just like I'd expect for a Prime sequel, but the Wii-remote does make it more fun and engaging. All the motion things like grappling enemy shields off, opening special locks and using switches that require motion, and now welding ciruits with the plasma beam, don't feel gimicky to me like I thought they would. Plus I REALLY like being able to jump in morph ball form by flicking the Wii-remote up (think spring ball)

I turned off the hint system, and although you still get some guidance due to story progression, it feels better (though I'm not really sure how much is different). I think I just don't like much combat - for a few parts there was a lot of it. But exploration is taking over, and the story is getting interesting. I just got the Screw Attack, and the part leading up to it is great. The Screw Attack itself is much improved from Echoes - wall jumps are easier, and you can slowly steer when jumping around a la the space jump. The bosses have been okay, but not all that hard. The one in the Bryyo Leviathon seed took FOREVER to beat though.

I will say some rooms or pieces of rooms get re-used, which is kind of annoying when you're trying to figure out where you are. Some of the Skytown chambers with the lifts for instance. Also some rooms resemble rooms from the original Prime, save for different walls. The first landing pad for Skytown and it's connecting rooms remind me a lot of the Impact Crater portal from Metroid Prime where you fight Meta-Ridley. (but, that maybe be because the Skytown was built by the Chozo, and there's a big Chozo bust above)

I think I need to take a break though. I've played like 5 hours today. Game keeps getting better.

Aegix Drakan

09-01-2007, 10:28 PM

Just played a bit of MP3 at a friend's, and dman the beginning was breathtaking. It IS hard to get used to the new control setup, but once you get the hang of it, it's prety good.

also coming from someone who plays a LOT of Geist (a gamecube FPS) I can honestly make the following statement:

For fast target switching, and accuracy, the wii-mote is great.

But for consistent aiming, and moving-while-dodging-and-shooting, Dual analog is better.

My only real problem so far has been the slight delay that's caused whenever the curssor leaves the screen. Having a sudden itch while fighting a boss, and then the camera lock of for a few seconds = not friendly.

Warlock

09-01-2007, 10:51 PM

The bosses have been okay, but not all that hard. The one in the Bryyo Leviathon seed took FOREVER to beat though.

OMG no kidding. The fact that he requires hyperbeam to kill makes it more annoying because that uses up your life. And then you have to run around getting energy pellets to use it again, miss, and repeat.. took forever.

DarkDragoonX

09-01-2007, 11:30 PM

He has a few spots in his attack pattern where his orbs slots open up for a longer period of time... if you charge up your hypermode blaster to max and unload it all on the orb, you can generally take one out in one attack (But the fight STILL takes forever... my arm was a bit sore by the time it was over). Also, make use of corrupt hypermode. You can squeeze a lot more attacks out of your energy that way.

I actually really like the implementation of hypermode. The energy tank drain is significant enough to prevent a player from using it for every fight, but not so costly that you feel like you need to "save it for when you really need it," which is a problem many games with a "super mode" have. I use it regularly, without a second thought... very fun.

Oh and also... am I the only person who really, really, REALLY likes fighting the enemies you can just tear apart with the grapple beam? Because I don't think I'll ever get bored of that.

Rijuhn

09-02-2007, 12:03 AM

Hey everyone, it's your friendly thread starter here. I just wanted to remind everyone to post their Wii Numbers so wii can trade some friend vouchers.

MP3 update: I'm exploring Elysia with some sweet upgrades ;)

I'm so glad I bought this game when it came out instead of waiting until Christmas.

vegeta1215

09-02-2007, 02:00 AM

I haven't played with the different credits to unlock anything yet, but I was thinking the same thing. (I may take some time to update the Wii number list stickied in GGD) Speaking of which, do any of you know how the friend vouchers/credits work? Is there a limit to how many you can swap with each person on your list? I think I have about 8 vouchers right now.

btw, some of the ways you get credits are fun. Here's a cool one I found:

-=SPOILER=-

erm2003

09-02-2007, 02:24 AM

Another great credit you can get:

-=SPOILER=-

I am quite far at this point. I don't want to give details out to avoid spoilers. I am loving every minute of it though.

Saffith

09-02-2007, 01:45 PM

Not enough of a spoiler to warrant tags, I don't think:
Check your settings again after you get the boost ball. You can aim it now, but that's disabled by default.

Cloral

09-02-2007, 01:47 PM

I just picked this up over the weekend, so I'm only as far as the first reactor right now. I have to say what I really like about it so far is the sense that stuff is really going on around you in the world. One of the things that bothered me about the first MP was how it felt like the pirates were passively waiting for you to come into their bases, instead of actively hunting you down. Of course one of the consequences of having a more story-driven game is a greater linearity to the game, but when you think about it, the other MPs were also quite linear - every time you got a new piece of equipment, there was somewhere specific you were supposed to go with it. And now I feel like there's a direct, specific reason for me to go to my next target, rather than simply there being another piece of equipment for me to go collect.

vegeta1215

09-02-2007, 07:39 PM

Another cool credit (and slight spoiler):

-=SPOILER=-

Hey Rijuhn, you can put me on that list: 4630 6618 5274 9687 I haven't added any names to my Wii list yet, but I want to add everyone who has MP3 to trade friend vouchers.

DarkFlameWolf

09-04-2007, 05:06 PM

I have MP3 and my friend code is:
7580 6335 3133 0124

Vegeta, I added you, so add me and we'll swap vouchers. How many you want!? :D

vegeta1215

09-04-2007, 06:19 PM

I want to eventually get enough to purchase all the extras. I have 19 to give (I sent one to Rijuhn already as a test) but I'd like to spread them out to AGNers if possible before giving a huge lot to one person.

btw to anyone with MP3 who wants to trade friend vouchers, you have to enable the option in the MP3 settings under Wii Connect 24 Options (At first I didn't look at it because I thought it was a system settings thing)

DarkFlameWolf

09-04-2007, 07:26 PM

Yeah, when I checked about an hour ago, it said you had NO MP3 save files. I'd like to have five friend vouchers if you got them to spare and I'll send five in return, how does that sound Vegeta?

vegeta1215

09-04-2007, 11:18 PM

You got it. Not sure how fast the transfer is, but 5 are headed your way. Now, I think I will play with the new bobble head in my ship ::bobble:: :D

btw, the X-Ray visor + Nova Beam combo is AWESOME! Use it on Phazon Metroids (even the big Hatcher Metroids!) and Pirate Commandos for insta-kills! I wish I had known that sooner! I'm about to head to the final planet. Anyone know if it's a one-way trip? I have 100% of the items, and all the scans I can get so far, but I don't want to save in the last area and not be able to go back and explore.

Oh yeah, for those looking for more yellow credits, Red Phazoids = your friend. In addition to DFW, I sent 5 friend vouchers to Rijuhn (awaiting his response) and have 11 remaining.

erm2003

09-05-2007, 05:37 AM

I have some extra friend vouchers too. I won't be on until the weekend (maybe) but I can send some around soon. I may have 4 or 5 still at this point and I still have to finish up the pirate area. I am at 90% so far.

DarkFlameWolf

09-05-2007, 07:46 AM

I'd like 5 more erm2003, I'm willing to send 5 of my own if you want. ^_^
And yes, I love my bobble head!
btw, erm, I've added you to my friends list.

erm2003

09-05-2007, 07:36 PM

I'd like 5 more erm2003, I'm willing to send 5 of my own if you want. ^_^

Sounds great! I just sent my 5 over.

I still have one left for now until I play a little more this weekend.

DarkFlameWolf

09-05-2007, 08:50 PM

Vegeta, if you have 5 more to spare, I'm ready and willing to spare 5 your way as well, what say you? (you can respond either here, or by sending 5 and I'll receive them and will know of your reply anyway! XD)

DarkDragoonX

09-05-2007, 09:42 PM

Bleh, I figure I may as well get in on this as well. I have 12 vouchers I'm sitting on currently, and my friend code is: 4107 3012 9725 0266

Anybody who still has some leftover vouchers and wants to trade, let me know, eh?

vegeta1215

09-05-2007, 11:30 PM

I added you DDX. I'll swap some with you.

I may start the game again, this time on a harder difficulty. Hopefully I can earn more vouchers in the process. I wanna wait a bit more before swapping with you again DFW. I wanna spread the friendship around :)

DarkDragoonX

09-05-2007, 11:52 PM

Sounds good... added your number. How many are you looking to swap? I'd be willing to go up to 5, saving some for anyone else who might want to trade.

DarkFlameWolf

09-06-2007, 07:07 AM

Dark Dragoon, I'm willing t6 swap 5 for 5 with you. Added you.

DarkDragoonX

09-06-2007, 10:32 AM

Alright, added you, sent one out to you as a test this morning... assuming you receive it, I'll send the other four out once I get back from work.

DarkFlameWolf

09-06-2007, 01:34 PM

sent 5 your way, test worked :)

DarkDragoonX

09-06-2007, 03:59 PM

Sent the remaining four... y'know, though I feel compelled to unlock all the bonus features regardless, am I the only person who thinks that requiring an internet connection and a friends list to unlock bonus features in a single-player game is retarded in new and creative ways?

DarkFlameWolf

09-06-2007, 06:14 PM

yes, I do agree, but I guess it was a way to make friends with fellow MP3 players and generate 'talk' and 'strategies' amongst the friends on your Wiis about the game. But I do agree, unlocking is a bit dumb in this one.
Anyhoo, I had an extra one to spare so I sent it Vegeta's way, so if you'd shoot one back to make even, I'll call it a day until I manage to get more friend vouchers.

vegeta1215

09-06-2007, 06:16 PM

Usually I hate the idea of not being able to unlock everything in a game by myself, but I kind of like this. I had never used the Wii message board or Mii parade before, so it's kind of fun. Oh, I beat MP3 yesterday. Cool ending, great last bosses (Dark Samus was the best). I'll probably start Veteran mode soon - Normal was just too easy, and should've been labeled as such.

btw, I was reading some posts at the gamefaqs boards, did you know there is a way to "mark" a room on your map? I totally did not know that. I think that would've helped a great deal had I known.

UPDATE: Sent you one DWF. Sent four to DDX. I think I only need about 9 more total to have enough friend credits to get everything (I still need more red/blue/yellow though, esp yellow) I am waiting to see if Rijuhn and/or DDX can send me any, and I am sitting on 6 still.

DarkFlameWolf

09-06-2007, 07:22 PM

Yes, there seems to be a very limited amount of yellow and red phazooids aren't going to cut it unless they regenerate.....

Oh, I 'think' I need about 3 more friend credits before I can have enough to 'unlock' everything.

DarkDragoonX

09-06-2007, 07:51 PM

Sent 4 back your way, vegeta. And no, I had no idea you could mark rooms on your map... that could come in handy.

I'm actuaklly only at 51% completion right now... I've been juggling MP3 along with Persona 3 and Wild Arms 5. Fortuantely, I've nearly finished the two RPGs, which will free up time for the next .hack game that drops this coming week, which I have to finish in time to start Growlanser: Heritage of War, which I have to complete before I start etc, etc... ugh, the fall season is rough on my gaming time.

DarkFlameWolf

09-07-2007, 06:48 AM

Anyone know how to eliminate the Phazon harvester in the Phazon harvesting room in the Mining Site? (that big floating thing with the nova beam of death)
Apparently, there are two gold credits to be earned from killing it, one for killing it, another for killing it on veteran difficulty. But problem is...how the hell?!

DarkFlameWolf

09-07-2007, 10:23 AM

Cloral

09-07-2007, 03:53 PM

I've been juggling MP3 along with Persona 3 and Wild Arms 5.

I was waiting for WA5 and lost track of when it was coming out. Thanks for letting me know it's out. I'll have to make a trip to the game store over the weekend. But between this and Bioshock I have no idea when I'm going to have time to play it.

I'd post my listing for friend vouchers, but I haven't gotten far enough to get any yet. Yeah, I haven't gotten very far. What sorts of things do you unlock with the vouchers? Are they really worth getting, or are they more for the sense of completing everything?

vegeta1215

09-07-2007, 06:38 PM

Nevermind, you kill it with a bombing run with your ship, but now, before I head to Phaaze, I'm missing some scans:

Classification: Space Pirate (enemies)
Missing the one under Assault Shield Trooper and above Berserker Knight
Missing the one under Crawltank and above Gandrayda

Classification: Phazon (enemies)
Missing the two under Hopping Metroid and above Liquid Phazon
Missing two under Phazon Pillbug and above Red Phaazoid
Missing one under Red Phaazoid

Classification: Research
Missing the one under Acid Rain and above Blast Shield
Missing the one under Multi-lock Blast shield and above Phazon Fungus

Classification: Lore (skytown)
Missing the one under Loss and above Invader

Any help would be appreciated.

Damn, I wish I had thought of using my ship's missiles to destroy that thing. I just ran like heck :)

As for the scans, there are scans you can only get on Phaaze. Two are in the research category, and the others are enemies. If you want some more help, or want to see if you missed some that you can't get anymore, go here: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=928517&topic=37983583

I'd post my listing for friend vouchers, but I haven't gotten far enough to get any yet. Yeah, I haven't gotten very far. What sorts of things do you unlock with the vouchers? Are they really worth getting, or are they more for the sense of completing everything?

You can get friend vouchers any time - they are usually earned as a result of a special event. Like, I think you get some in the beginning for saving a few Marines when the Space Pirates attack the Olympus.

You use them to unlock some of the normal extras like storyboards and soundtracks, but you need more of them to unlock a few new extras like the screenshot tool, bumper stickers, and mii bobble head.

EDIT: I just restarted the game in Veteran mode, and I got the rest of the scans I needed (Fleet Captain Dane, Gandrayda, and Rundus), but I missed one blue credit that requires you to save a marine on the way to your ship. Does anyone know if it's possible to restart this game? Or do I have to beat it again?

Warlock

09-08-2007, 07:54 PM

FYI, stumbled across this on GameFAQs boards. These are all the ways to get friend vouchers:

So far, there are 26, and I think that might be the limit.

Friend Vouchers:
1. Juggle 20 Training Drones (GFS Olympus-Docking Bay S)
2. Quickly hit emergency lock button and save trooper (GFS Olympus-Lab Access)
3. Escape from Meta Ridley in Morphball tunnel without getting hit or touching him. (Norion-Cargo Dock C)
4. Use Shortcut (Bryyo-Gel Cavern)
5. Freeze a Reptilicus after it throws it's boomerang so that it kills itself (Bryyo)
6. Throw all three switches without an Aerotrooper resetting one (Dryyo: Thorn Jungle-North Jungle Court)
7. Cross bridge without killing a Steambot, then drop it (Elysia: Skytown West-Skybridge Hera)
8. Bowl over three or more Tinbots with Boostball (Elysia)
9. Rip Jetpack from an Aerotrooper with Grapple Lasso after lighting it on fire (Any where with an Aerotrooper)
10. Discover New Area (Bryyo: Ice-Warp Site Bravo)
11. Discover New Area (Elysia: Skytown East-Skytram East)
12. Activate Secret Aurora Unit 313 Dialogue, type 78356 (GFS Valhalla-Control Room)
13. Destroy Phazon Harvester Drone (Pirate Homeworld: Mining Site-Phazon Harvesting)
14. Kill 20 Commando Pirates (Pirate Homeworld: Command Center-Any Room)
15. Kill all creatures at Seed Landing Site (Any Leviathan Seed)
16. Repeatedly shoot Eye-like Above Leviathan Terminal (Pirate Homeworld: Command Center-Leviathan Battleship)
17. Kill 100 Enemies (Anywhere)
18. Kill 200 Enemies (Anywhere)
19. Kill 300 Enemies (Anywhere)
20. Kill 400 Enemies (Anywhere)
21. Kill 500 Enemies (Anywhere)
22. Kill 600 Enemies (Anywhere)
23. Kill 700 Enemies (Anywhere)
24. Kill 800 Enemies (Anywhere)
25. Kill 900 Enemies (Anywhere)
26. Kill 1000 Enemies (Anywhere)

To kill the Phazon Harvester Drone, drop the Pirate Homeworld's defense shield then call your ship in to strike it.

AtmaWeapon

09-08-2007, 08:33 PM

I just got this game and I must admit it's very fun, but the whole usage of the wiimote thing proves kind of uncomfortable as apparently my futon is not set up well for it. It's definitely better than it was in my dorm room where I was only about 2 feet from the TV, but holding my arm aloft for hours on end just doesn't work.

I like the whole "unlock stuff for achievements" thing but I'm not sure how I like some of the friend voucher things. I am weak and got the players' guide with the game but it was all "Save these soldiers" and I was like "What soldiers?" and then I was like "Oh probably that guy that just died." It was kind of mean for them to put two or three knee-jerk achievements so early in the game when you're still getting the hang of the controls.

I don't know if I like the wiimote better; I'm not good with precision and Mott has a point when he says the wiimote is not exactly like a mouse. The primary failure here is I just can't seem to turn fast enough, but so far the game designers seem to be cognizant of this and have limited combat to relatively tight spaces where stuff can't sneak up behind you. This is both good and bad: DOOM used this formula to overcome the fact that you only had digital buttons to turn and was very good. However, it would be nice to have combat in some relatively open areas like in Quake IV, where hiding behind a crate means you must first make sure nothing else can see you from that angle.

That's really always been my beef with the MP series I think. I got through 90% of MP and then Christmas holidays sent me away from my gamecube and I just never picked it up again, but it had similar deficiencies. Here's what a good layout for a throwdown in an FPS is like:

http://www.atmaweapon.org/images/mp/greatlayout.png

In this layout, I can hide behind all three crates, and if the enemies are spread out I can take the indicated circular path and always be shielded from fire from one direction. However, it seems that the MP designers preferred layouts like this:

http://www.atmaweapon.org/images/mp/whoops.png

The larger columns restrict the range of your motion to a cramped area in the center, and the boxes are laid out such that there's no good path around them. All attempts at circular strafing end up bouncing off of a box at points 1, 2, and 3. Hiding behind columns sucks because while you are hiding the enemies set up behind the crates. It ultimately forces you to fight at close-range, which means you pretty much can't avoid the enemy's fire.

I don't know how many times this happened to me in MP; every complicated fight was frustrating because I was always having my strafing interrupted by the room's complicated geometry. The only time this didn't happen was when you were in a giant open room with no cover at all, and that's also no fun because you don't have options for hiding. I think this kind of design is an attempt to compensate for the fact that despite being extremely agile, Samus turns like a U-Haul pulling an H3.

Still, I'm practically just leaving the prologue to the game (it seems like the whole first planet is just an extended tutorial) so I may be pleasantly surprised later.

My Wii code is below by the way thanks to the dudes who already sent friend vouchers my way, I have reciprocated :) :
5557 5428 7363 2688

:toast:

vegeta1215

09-08-2007, 08:56 PM

It took me a few hours to get used to the controls. Many people online suggested using the Advanced setting for aiming, but I found that way too senstive - having a small TV probably doesn't help. So I use the Standard setting. I can't turn fast, but I rarely need to. It feels like the previous MP games, which is fine with me. I also didn't like the Lock on/free aim - when I lock on I want to kill that one thing I'm locking on to! So I turned that off too. btw you have the ability to free aim while locked on during any boss fight no matter what setting you choose.

Thanks for the list Warlock. I think I got all of those except for the Meta Ridley one, the three switches one, the Harvester drone one, and the Eye ball one from the Leviation ship (I did repeatedly shoot one eye in there, I guess it was the wrong one) I have you on my list Warlock and will add Atma soon. I only need 5 more friend credits, and have 7 to give away.

Dark Nation

09-08-2007, 10:34 PM

Warlock

09-08-2007, 10:53 PM

Need some help... I'm in the Federation Landing Site on Bryyo (where you are supposed to upgrade your ship), but it won't let me call the ship because there is something in the way, apparently. I've already gone to the top floor and moved the control over (where you have to tilt the Wii controller) and have gotten the power cell. What else do I need to be doing?

I don't remember exactly what you need to do, other than there is a control there. Once you can power the control, it looks something like this:

___ ___ ___
|/ | | | | \|
|> | | ^ | |< |
|\ | |/=\| | /|
|__| |___| |__|

Or something (my ascii sucks). The middle one is the upgrade, and the left and right ones unclamp the thingys. So you have to press the side ones first, then you can land your ship and press the middle one.

Edit:

Haha, I found this video over at 1up:
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/14572

It's a "review for parents" of the game. That lady cracks me up, she is so weird (in a "too perky" way).

Dark Nation

09-08-2007, 11:18 PM

I saw that. The left one raises the platforms so you can get to the upper rooms and the right one lowers them. Or are you talking about a different control?

Warlock

09-08-2007, 11:30 PM

Ah yes, that's right.. you have to raise them, do something (I forget) and then lower them for your ship to land.

DarkFlameWolf

09-09-2007, 01:21 PM

Okay, I thought you get extra gold credits for beating bosses again on Veteran mode, but...um...I'm not. Did they mistake it and they actually mean Hypermode?
Furthermore, Friend Voucher 16 with the shooting the eye multiple times in the leviathan. Which eye? If its the main one above the terminal that doesn't react at all, I've shot at it repeatedly for over 5 mins and nothing. Is there something I'm missing?

Warlock

09-09-2007, 04:17 PM

I have no idea.. I haven't actually tried that one.

You can get more Gold Tokens though. I was in Skytown doing some stuff (getting Spider Ball, etc) and those annoying friggin' Phazon Orbs were everywhere. So eventually I started killing them, and one split into a Red Phazon Orb. Killing that dropped a Gold Token (looks like the Samus "(S)" symbol used for suit upgrades, but gold). I found two of them there, one on that series of platforms out over the open sky where there is a huge spiderball ramp and a lore bot (there is a Ship Missile Upgrade there as well), and one in the area with several wall jump walls that's outside (I believe there is also a spider ball track which leads to a missile pack out there). Don't know if their locations are constant or not though, it might just be a random occurance when you kill those Phazon Orb things.

Master Maniac

09-09-2007, 04:56 PM

OK people i also need friend points so please PLEASE wii me...

my wii # is:
2161-5804-1529-1259

vegeta1215

09-09-2007, 05:16 PM

Near the end of the game you see those Phazoid's everywhere. Splitting into Red Phazoids seems to be random, but I don't know if there's a limited number of Gold Credits you can get by defeating them. I know I got like 3-4.

I'm gonna send you some Friend Vouchers later Warlock. If you could send me some too, that would be great.

Master Maniac

09-09-2007, 08:00 PM

Oh and i forgot to say, i have 9 vouchers to send so if anyone wants to trade up, tell me.

oh and yes the final phazon planet is a one-way trip, however after you beat the game you wont be able to go back like normal because the game will automatically start over when you select the file again. but you at least get to keep all your scan data.

Rijuhn

09-11-2007, 01:54 PM

Cloral

09-11-2007, 05:23 PM

How do all of you hold your Wiimote? I've found that after playing for 45mins to an hour my hand starts to get rather sore, seemingly because the 'mote isn't big enough for my hand to hold properly in that direction. I tried playing with my hand resting on my thigh, but it didn't make any difference.

vegeta1215

09-11-2007, 06:37 PM

I just beat the game and I'm glad that I DIDN'T die in the final battle and have to replay the whole cinema-sequence and such all over again. I ended up getting 96% rating. It took me 18.5 hours to finish, which isn't bad compared to what IGN (or was that nintendoworldreport?) said took them 17 hours for 100%.

All in all I think the game was worthy, and the best of the Metroid Prime series. Yet, I feel like all the Metroid Prime games lacked a little something that could've made them spectacular, especially MP2: Echoes. It's like some extra polish that all the Miyamoto-driven games seem to have. This isn't a complaint, but rather a realization on my part.

Now I need to eventually beat the game on veteran and hypermode...shouldn't be too hard. ;P

Hey VEGETA1215, I sent you 3 friend vouchers last night, hope they help you out.

I think it took me between 17 and 18 hours to beat with 100% item collection, which isn't bad. I only missed 3 scans too. I think MP3 is a great game, and is a good way to end the trilogy, but it is the worst of the Prime games imo (I'm not counting MP: Hunters - that game is the worst Metroid game period) The first Prime was huge because of the leap to 3D, and will always be, just as Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time were. Personally, I loved Echoes, and I think it's better than the original in many respects. MP3 made some improvements, but overall had less of a Metroid feeling to me, if that makes sense.

Normal mode was too easy - Veteran mode brings the difficulty up to par with the other Primes' difficulty on normal.

Thanks for the vouchers! :) I think I only need one more now. I have 4 to give still.

How do all of you hold your Wiimote? I've found that after playing for 45mins to an hour my hand starts to get rather sore, seemingly because the 'mote isn't big enough for my hand to hold properly in that direction. I tried playing with my hand resting on my thigh, but it didn't make any difference.

I played in a relaxed almost laying down position. I rest my wrist on my right thigh. My arm never hurt from holding the remote up, but my wrist did from aiming.

erm2003

09-11-2007, 06:37 PM

I have been fine resting my hand with the Wiimote on my thigh, but then I find myself raising it in any big battle sequences. I haven't had a problem using the controls at all, not even over a long period of time.

Radium

09-11-2007, 07:41 PM

This game reinvents first person shooters. Damn the first *big* boss!

Warlock

09-11-2007, 10:15 PM

Echoes was terrible.. *that* was by far the worst Prime game. I liked this one a lot (though first is still the best).

DarkFlameWolf

09-12-2007, 07:06 AM

but you have to admit, fighting a 4-story tall robot Quadraxis in Echoes was awesome. XD

Cloral

09-12-2007, 01:21 PM

Actually, the part that boss was in was the part I liked the least. It was supposed to be 'the hive', the home base of the bad guys, but it was really sparsely populated. And by that point in time the darkness did so little damage to you, the dark sides no longer had a scary, dangerous feel to them (and lets face it, the first time you went to the dark side and had to run for your life through the dark regions, that was pretty tense). Instead, they just were bland looking and really quite boring.

Banon

09-12-2007, 01:59 PM

Echoes was horrible, because it was like you had to beat each level twice with the dark world, and when you have to do the backtracking for twice as long it just gets tedious. They solved the problem in MP3 with the use of the ship.

JP Blanchette

09-12-2007, 06:41 PM

I'm just starting playing MP3. It is challenging to control Samus using the Wii Remote.

vegeta1215

09-12-2007, 07:42 PM

Echoes was awesome, but I'm sure it doesn't surprise many people that I think that - me always favoring the darker sequels such as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.

btw, I only need one more friend credit, and I still have four to give (will have two more in the future once I get near the end of this Veteran mode play) Let me know who wants to trade.

DarkFlameWolf

09-12-2007, 09:31 PM

I may just send some over for the hell of it. But I'm always running low on gold credits. Always.

AtmaWeapon

09-12-2007, 09:48 PM

I'd love to send you one vegeta but you aren't on my list for some reason? I added you but you aren't there.

vegeta1215

09-12-2007, 10:03 PM

I'd love to send you one vegeta but you aren't on my list for some reason? I added you but you aren't there.

I added you to my address book and your name appears in black now, so that means we're both registered. I haven't checked on the MP3 list yet, but sometimes it takes a little bit to register in there that you have a MP3 save. Be sure to go to the Wii Connect 24 options in the MP3 and turn on that you want to participate in the process though - I almost totally overlooked that.

AtmaWeapon

09-12-2007, 11:42 PM

vegeta1215

09-13-2007, 08:38 PM

It seems like it was Nintendo's lame "keep the internet safe" strategy; you probably can't show up in my list unless I am registered.

You know, in case I want to do something harmful like send you friend vouchers without your permission or something.

All each of us has to do is put each others' Wii Friend Code in our address book, and go into our MP3 settings and turn on the feature to let us "share save data", allowing friend vouchers to be sent. (like, you don't have to add your friends from the Wii message board to the list in MP3 - it's done automatically) It's pretty easy, it's just not instantaneous. Plus it's heck of a lot better than having a separate code per game like the DS wifi games have.

UPDATE: Just checked my game, thanks for the voucher. I sent you 3 - I hope you can use them. I think if you don't want to turn them into friend credits, you can just keep them as vouchers. I have 1 more left to give, and I think there are 3 more I can get in the game.

DarkFlameWolf

09-13-2007, 08:59 PM

Start a new save file and voila, more friend vouchers to get! XD

Warlock

09-13-2007, 09:29 PM

Hey vegeta, do you still need credits? I haven't had the chance to play since the weekend so I haven't gotten around to sending you some back yet (I honestly haven't even looked at how many you sent me :P)

vegeta1215

09-13-2007, 11:18 PM

I have all I need. You only need 15 friend credits total, anything after that is extra. I still have one friend voucher, and I think I can get two more by the end of my veteran run plus and one more if I play hypermode difficulty and get past Ridley in those tubes without taking damage (sounds hard).

AtmaWeapon

09-14-2007, 09:54 PM

Whoa you only need 15? I thought it was 23. I'm almost there then, I think I have 11.

Also can we discuss spoilers yet the last boss fight was the first time I've dropped below two energy tanks and I only won during my suicide rush off of the last energy tank. Also I've already looked ahead in the player's guide so it's not like I'll be angry if you reveal something :)

To me the journey is the fun, not the destination. (Also Samus was hotter in MP than in this game now her face is all weird)

DarkFlameWolf

09-14-2007, 11:08 PM

Well, how could you tell how many energy tanks you had at the end? Esp. since all you have is that yellow bar meter. x_X
Anyhoo, I agree, the more 'mature', 30's looking Samus in the original Prime was exactly how I pictured Samus to look like. When they changed her horribly in Echoes and now Corruption to fit the depiction of her in Fusion. It was an awful switch. Disgustingly so.

AtmaWeapon

09-15-2007, 02:19 AM

I've been curious about how damage is dealt while in hypermode; once I pop into SSJ I don't really dodge much and focus on dealing out rhythmic blasts of phazon, and it seems like I often take a horrific beating, but then when it wears off it seems as if I took no damage.

*edit* Also every game I hate metroids more and more

DarkFlameWolf

09-15-2007, 09:43 AM

Oh, you take no damage it seems when in Hypermode. (if any, its VERY little), the damage you do take is the amount of damage you deal out. Every shot of Phazon drains reserves from your energy tank.

AtmaWeapon

09-15-2007, 12:47 PM

Oh, you take no damage it seems when in Hypermode. (if any, its VERY little), the damage you do take is the amount of damage you deal out. Every shot of Phazon drains reserves from your energy tank.Ahhh I think that explains the endgame mechanic then; I'm not sure because I haven't quite made it there yet but I'm making good progress.

DarkDragoonX

09-15-2007, 01:56 PM

Every shot of Phazon drains reserves from your energy tank.

No, it's a static 1 energy tank loss to activate hypermode. How much you fire your weapons while in hypermode is completely irrelevant. As a result, it is almost always a good idea to let yourself fall into corrupt hypermode before you use all your phazon... you can let your phazon recharge that way and get many more attacks out of it.

Since you take virtually no damage and deal significantly more damage, there is no reason whatsoever not to drag it out as long as you can.

Cloral

09-15-2007, 02:17 PM

Actually if you end hypermode without using all your phazon, the left over energy is transferred back to you. So you can use hypermode and end up using a lot less than a full energy tank if you switch in, do a couple quick shots, and then switch back out again.

PS: I only just finished Bryyo, so please don't post any spoilers outside of the spoiler tag. I have to be very careful reading this topic. :)

DarkFlameWolf

09-15-2007, 03:23 PM

DarkDragoonX

09-15-2007, 06:29 PM

vegeta1215

09-15-2007, 06:32 PM

Metroid Prime had the Omega Pirate as the 'big boss' where if you beat him, the rest of the game was fairly easy.
Metroid Prime 2 had the Boost Ball Guardian as that 'boss' that once he was beat, you can breath easier knowing nothing beyond him was as tough.
Now Metroid Prime 3 has Mogenar in the First Seed as that 'one boss' where any after it is a breeze.

I have to disagree with you. Meta-Ridley and Metroid Prime are very challenging bosses, esp on hard mode. In fact I think the only way I was able to beat Meta-Ridley on hard mode was using the wave beam combo, which is kind of a cheap way to beat him. (plus it uses A LOT of missiles)

The Boost Ball guardian was tough, but once you figure out how to avoid taking so much damage, he's not as bad. The Spider Ball Guardian and Chykka however are a different story. The Spider Guardian requires precision morph ball movement/bomb jumping, and Chykka is just plan hard to kill once it reaches it's adult (flying) stage. The rest that follow were tough too, though I think Quadraxis wasn't quite as hard the second time as he was the first time.

I'm looking forward to trying Hyper Mode on MP3 - it will be nice to have a decent challenge, cause normal mode was laughably easy, and veteran hasn't been very hard so far.

DarkFlameWolf

09-15-2007, 11:06 PM

Um, Meta-Ridley in Prime 1 is always easy to me. I will admit, the first form of Prime was a bit rough, but not near as hard as the trouble I had with the Omega Pirate.

Spiderball Guardian, I'll give you that one. But the Chyyka battle is plain easy as hell. Gimmie pointers on Boost Ball.

vegeta1215

09-16-2007, 12:27 AM

I thought the Adult Cykka was hard because the part where you have to swing around and seeker missile his wings from the back is tricky, you have to be really fast. Also the part following where you have to shoot his egg sack with the Light Beam, it's really easy to run out in hard mode, and it takes a while to replenish it (and in the mean time you're dying)

For Boost Ball guardian, the part where he speeds around I think you can stop him by bombing, but I know at one point I just double jumped around to avoid getting hit. Besides that you just have to work to recover as much energy as you can from the Inglings, and make sure the big energy that comes when the guardian knocks those posts down (I think there are four) are not wasted.

btw, I'm halfway through veteran mode on MP3:
-=SPOILER=-

Warlock

09-16-2007, 09:12 PM

If anyone is curious, I managed to get the eyeball "achievement". What you need to do is go to the Leviathan Ship orbiting the Pirate Homeworld (not to be confused with the one you have to fight the boss on - it's the one where you activate the wormhole to the last area). There are some eyeballs there that when you scan them say "sensitive to weapons fire". Shoot one of them a ton and you've got it.

DarkFlameWolf

09-17-2007, 09:04 AM

Nice, they kept saying to shoot the main eye above the terminal. Stupid faqs.
and define 'a ton.'

Cloral

09-17-2007, 12:34 PM

Metroid Prime had the Omega Pirate as the 'big boss' where if you beat him, the rest of the game was fairly easy.
Metroid Prime 2 had the Boost Ball Guardian as that 'boss' that once he was beat, you can breath easier knowing nothing beyond him was as tough.
Now Metroid Prime 3 has Mogenar in the First Seed as that 'one boss' where any after it is a breeze.

Hmmm. I just played through MP1 again not too long ago and found the Omega Pirate to be rather easy. You just gotta make sure that when he goes invisible to heal himself, you hit him with a super missile every time he appears. And ignore the smaller pirates that come running in, as they just get in the way of hurting the boss and will die anyway when he does his seismic wave attack. Then again I think I had a lot more trouble against him the first time I played through, so knowing what he was going to do and how to counter it probably made a huge difference.

I have to agree with you though on the boost ball boss from MP2. The worst part was you were stuck in the darkness with him, so it was basically a race against time to kill him before you ran out of health. The one other boss in that game that gave me some trouble was the spider ball boss. For some reason I seemed to have a lot of trouble avoiding him and the electric shocks while setting off the switches.

Glenn the Great

09-17-2007, 03:10 PM

I was able to play MP3 for a few hours at a friend's house. I started a new game on Veteran mode, and saved right after killing Rundas.

I'm very impressed with the game to say the least. The Wiimote definitely gives better control in a Metroid Prime game than the Gamecube controller did. The big issue with it, like others have mentioned, is what happens when you accidently move the Wiimote off the screen. I died a few times at Rundas because my vision got locked up for this reason when it didn't need to be. This would be very frustrating against other people.

So, you are actually required to have friends to unlock everything in this game? Are these friend unlockables something you have to achieve to see the best ending? If so, I think it is unforgiveably gay.

Cloral

09-17-2007, 03:53 PM

No, I think its just to get extras, like art galleries and a sound test. I think the ending just depends on clear speed and clear percentage (which is just the % of in-game items you found).

Glenn the Great

09-17-2007, 05:36 PM

I really like how the game actually has events with NPCs and tells a story. It really gives the game a more epic feel to it. I was upset at first to see these 3 other hunters going around with me, and I wasn't welcoming them at all. Rundas was very rude, and he kept interfering with what I was doing, acting like he was somehow better than me. He kind of reminded me of Zero from MegamanX in this regard. It seems that Nintendo realized I would feel this way about the other Hunters though, because you get to kill them all, and that put me totally at ease.

I really appreciated the fuel puzzles in Bryyo. It looks like Nintendo has gotten really creative with forming new puzzle dynamics for the Prime series to keep it from getting stale. I heard that you get to weld things with the plasma beam, and I think that could hold a lot of potential.

I'm not going to buy a Wii though. I simply do not want to pay money for a console, and then pay separately for a game. That's $300 to play one game. I should just pay $50 for one game. If I could pay $50 for the game, put it in my computer, and have the controller connect to my computer, that is totally what I would do. I refuse to buy a console though. It is totally unnecessary when I have another device that has the computing abilities to run the game. It's called redundancy and inefficiency.

Warlock

09-17-2007, 07:26 PM

No, I think its just to get extras, like art galleries and a sound test. I think the ending just depends on clear speed and clear percentage (which is just the % of in-game items you found).

The ending only depends on item collection. You can take 100 hours and still get the best ending if you collect 100% items.

I'm not going to buy a Wii though. I simply do not want to pay money for a console, and then pay separately for a game. That's $300 to play one game. I should just pay $50 for one game. If I could pay $50 for the game, put it in my computer, and have the controller connect to my computer, that is totally what I would do. I refuse to buy a console though. It is totally unnecessary when I have another device that has the computing abilities to run the game. It's called redundancy and inefficiency.

???? What system do you *not* do this? You did pay for your PC afterall, and believe me you'll be paying for it again once the graphics card, memory, disk space, sound card, OS, speakers, etc etc go obsolete in a few years. Consoles are almost cheaper in the long run :P

Or I suppose you can buy TV plug-in Atari games :P

Glenn the Great

09-17-2007, 10:50 PM

???? What system do you *not* do this? You did pay for your PC afterall, and believe me you'll be paying for it again once the graphics card, memory, disk space, sound card, OS, speakers, etc etc go obsolete in a few years. Consoles are almost cheaper in the long run :P

Or I suppose you can buy TV plug-in Atari games :P

Well, I already bought the PC, and I already know that I'm going to buy future upgrades for it regardless. The computer does many things, and the console just does a single thing. Thus, the PC trumps the console.

You can dress it up however you want, but when it comes to the bottom line, if things were my way as opposed to how they are now, I'd be $250 richer.

DarkFlameWolf

09-18-2007, 08:03 AM

Well, its official, getting that gold credit by evading Ridley with not a single point of damage in the morph ball tube is near impossible. Its insanely hard. Any tips?

DarkFlameWolf

09-18-2007, 06:01 PM

GAH, I knew it, Getting past Ridley unscathed is only a friend voucher, not a gold credit. Guides are wrong again!
Anyhoo, its taken all the way to Hypermode for me to fully realize the full potential of 'Hypermode'
It only uses one tank as its 'energy bar' you have to work with. Any leftover energy is given back to you in the form of life units for that tank that was utilized.
While you're in hypermode, you are INVINCIBLE. ABSOLUTELY! No shit.
And going into corrupt mode is actually a very good blessing. Because it refills your phazon meter to near full. (don't let it go too full or you'll die instantly) But regardless of how many times you near empty your phazon guage only to let it fill up again. It still uses ONLY THAT ONE ENERGY TANK!
Let that sink in. The corruption is a GOOD thing. (sort of) It makes you near invincible and an unlimited supply of the best ammo in the game. Unfortunately, the 25 second 'safety-thing' kicks in and boots you out of hyper mode after too long. So that sucks, but you can get RIGHT back into the corruption. On the bright side, if you were corrupted and the 25 seconds are almost up, let the corruption fill your meter to 'near full' but not 'instant death' full and once it kicks out out of hypermode, its as if you hardly used any life units at all!
This makes me look at fighting bosses in a whole new light! Mogenar is going to be trampled baby! Who else is using this lovely new technique of battling?
Got quite a few friend vouchers I can pass around for those interested.

vegeta1215

09-18-2007, 09:02 PM

Who else is using this lovely new technique of battling?

Ummm...yeah, of course :tongue:

I've only exploited the corruption some on veteran mode, but I can see how it would really come in handy in hyper mode. Your other weapons just suck, basically. Without a big damage dealing shot from a super missle, it just takes far too long to kill enemies without using hyper mode. Even shooting 5 seeker missles at one enemy doesn't really phase them it seems.

btw, DWF, which difficulty were you playing when you got the Ridley friend voucher? I missed my chance to get it in normal and veteran difficulty, and I'm worried hyper mode will just be too hard - but that's my only chance unless I want to play the game through again after that.

DarkDragoonX

09-18-2007, 10:02 PM

I found that even in normal mode, the blaster was like a pea shooter until you got the final beam upgrade... corrupt hypermode is the only way to go (though I figured the health I came away with was due to the pickups I got off of dead bodies, not regen via phazon meter... oh well, same effect in the end).

DarkFlameWolf

09-18-2007, 10:10 PM

Its the same difficulty in hypermode for the ridley ball tube, just more damage if you get hurt.

vegeta1215

09-23-2007, 10:18 PM

Anyone get the yellow credit for safely escorting all 12 demolition men to the gate? I am able to make it to the last room without any of them dying, but once the Commander Pirate (the guy in red with a pointy head) summons the Elite Pirates (which can go invisible), I lose one or two of them.

The Elite Pirates are usually easy at this point because when you use the X-Ray visor and Nova beam, you can one-hit KO them, but when I tried to do that I just get a lot of static interference and can't see a thing. I tried to kill them by going Hyper, but it's not fast enough.

Any tips?

AtmaWeapon

09-24-2007, 12:38 AM

Yarrr this post has spoilers and I think the "don't spoil things" limitation on this thread has expired anyway.

Anyone get the yellow credit for safely escorting all 12 demolition men to the gate? I am able to make it to the last room without any of them dying, but once the Commander Pirate (the guy in red with a pointy head) summons the Elite Pirates (which can go invisible), I lose one or two of them.

The Elite Pirates are usually easy at this point because when you use the X-Ray visor and Nova beam, you can one-hit KO them, but when I tried to do that I just get a lot of static interference and can't see a thing. I tried to kill them by going Hyper, but it's not fast enough.

Any tips?That part. That part.

I had 12/12 until the berserker knight appeared. "Oh your shots go right through his mask don't worry it'll be easy" said the player's guide. Then one of those stupid demolition soldiers got the notion that he'd take the berserker knight on. 3 seconds into that fight I saw the first guy go down; 2 seconds later the second guy got the same idea with the same results. Somehow I lost 2 other guys in that fight, but I never saw them and it wasn't the berserker knight that killed them.

That particular area was annoying because they had those "knock-you-out-of -hypermode" grenades. The problem was intensified because for some reason you lose your radar in hypermode. The pirate commander was particularly annoying because it involves keeping track of 3 different entities that are able to quickly move in circles, meanwhile Samus turns like the 18-wheeler in that Super FX chip racing game for the SNES. A simple "180 degree turn" key + gesture combo would have gone a long way to making that fight more winnable. As it is I don't even know how I killed the commander; I just started engaging hypermode and shooting anything that moved and at some point a cutscene started.

It was only during the fight with Omega Ridley that I had a revelation and stumbled upon the mindset that is key to being invincible in that game: missiles are useless and hyper missiles' primary function is to get rid of a lot of phazon really fast. If you mash the A button super fast, your damage output is something on par with missiles, what with the ~1.5 second delay for your gun to "transform" to missile mode, then the delay for the missile to reach its target, then the high probability that whatever enemy you are shooting at can dodge missiles. I could put out 10-15 beam shots in the time it took me to fire one missile, and on a small, fast-moving target like a boss's weak point the odds that I'll actually hit it are much higher.

I smoked Omega Ridley and only used 3 hyper missiles. Dark Samus was a joke since she wasn't using the techniques that made the Gandrayda version of Samus difficult. I maybe hit her with 2 hyper missiles, but won the battle in maybe 2 or 3 minutes with a relentless river of phazon. The aurora unit? Please. Try hitting the antennae with a missile, much less the little yellow spot that flashes for a second. Once again, once I got the weak spot open the strategy was the same as for Ridley:

Relentless stream of phazon beam as I get lined up for a clear shot
Hyper Missile
While (boss is not moving)
Relentless stream of phazon beam
Something about making you practically invincible for the final boss fight really took a lot out of it.

Maybe it's better on harder difficulties but this was kind of disappointing for a Metroid game. I'm used to getting beaten within an inch of my life by Metroid bosses because I tend to be better at focusing on one thing rather than a lot; the Metroid 1 Kraid and Ridley were practically impossible for me; balancing 6 projectiles and moving platforms while waiting for Kraid to open his mouth was a ridiculous challenge for me. Any multi-participant combat in this game cost me a lot of health due to poor level layout, Samus's inability to turn, and the fact that I can really only dodge projectiles that I can see. What really took the fun out of it though was when I figured out it was easier to hit hypermode and lose an energy tank than it was to spend 5 minutes killing 8 dudes that were going to cost me more than that one energy tank.

I finished with 97% pickups, and probably could have got 100% because I didn't feel like backtracking the Pirate Homeworld for gold credits, missiles that were difficult to use, and gunship missile expansions that honestly didn't do anything at all for the game anyway. It was midnight and I was stoked to get into the final battle, forget an hour of fighting stupid red phazoids for a cutscene I can watch on Youtube.

I don't think I'll go back for the gold credits I missed; all I missed was the "don't take damage from Ridley" one, the "save these soldiers from the pirates" ones, and the "protect all 12 demolition soldiers" one. The first three I failed because I wasn't used to the controls and half the time by the time I saw the pirates the soldiers were dead. None of the first challenges are close enough to a save point to make me feel like it's worth going back to do it. The final challenge is at the tail end of the game, and that berserker knight pissed me off so much I think I'll just pass. Up until that point so long as you stay in front of the demolition dudes and rain fire upon anything you can keep the fire drawn to you instead of them. I cannot stand the fact that I was forced to watch a cutscene where I let them burst into the room ahead of me, giving me 2 seconds to distract the gigantic berserker knight from turning them into meat because they decided they could so take that guy in melee.

Also I wonder what my completion time would have been if I didn't have to wait 30 seconds for doors to open?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the game, and once I learned the other bounty hunters were targets rather than companions I had a delightful time murdering them all. Some of the puzzles were clever and enjoyable, and I really enjoyed a lot of the spider ball stuff. They did a good job with your first phazon metroid encounter, so far every game I play makes me hate metroids that much more. I want them all dead, and then possibly Samus too since after Fusion she is technically part metroid and some wiseguy scientist could clone a metroid from her.

I just found some elements of the controls particularly frustrating when combined with the cramped corridors. Metroid is still a 2-D game, and I'd love to see more 2-D incarnations.

I'm curious how the sequel is going to roll; the timeline is getting kind of cluttered and we're running out of enemies.

By the way, I need 4 friend vouchers but I'm uncertain how many I have to give out in return. I am pretty sure I have at least 2 because I hit 800 and 900 kills in my last run. If anyone feels like sharing the wealth, I'll do what I can to reciprocate.

DarkDragoonX

09-24-2007, 01:42 AM

I'm curious how the sequel is going to roll; the timeline is getting kind of cluttered and we're running out of enemies.

Samus murders the entire federation for continuously being sent on insane, complex, galaxy-saving missions, and not getting paid enough to retire yet.

AtmaWeapon

09-24-2007, 02:49 AM

That element of the plot also kind of bothers me, in fact the more the Prime series progresses the worse this gets.

Metroid is a game about being a lonely person in a metal suit deep within the bowels of an alien planet and the only way anyone will ever find out about your fate is they assume if you don't come back within a week you're dead. No one is ever going to find your remains or any evidence of your fate because they'll be too busy getting murdered or oppressed if you fail, and no one is going to thank you if you succeed.

In previous incarnations, the "Federation" was just a plot entity that existed to ask Samus to bail them out. One could kind of explain that they sent Samus instead of an army because they didn't know how serious the problem was, and it just so happened that Samus was extraordinarily talented and lucky to have her Chozo suit.

From what I remember of Prime 1, the Federation was there but still kind of detached. Samus was still a bounty hunter, and really only sent because she had expertise with the Space Pirates. Now, it's more like Samus is a soldier in the Federation Army the way she just shows up for a briefing and does what the general says.

I like the Metroid Prime series, but I don't like what it is doing to the Metroid franchise. I used to feel like a freelance mercenary who got caught up in an epic struggle; in the later series I feel more like an enlisted marine being dispatched to accomplish this or that directive.

Also while the level design was certainly not uninspired, I felt like the game was a bit too linear. The only unessential items were missile upgrades; everything else must be obtained to progress. Twilight Princess had a similar problem; it seems like the more complex the presentation of the game becomes the more we lose the ability to explore the game in a non-linear fashion.

DarkFlameWolf

09-24-2007, 08:45 AM

heh, Mogenar is as hard as I feared him to be on Hypermode. However, knowing the trick that you can evade damage in hypermode while in morphball form while dropping bombs to elimimate his phazon-laced boots has done wonders for my health during those phases. I never take damage anymore during those phases. Good times.

And Mogenar bites the dust in hypermode, awesome.
And now I'm having trouble with an unlikely candidate: Steamlord.

vegeta1215

09-24-2007, 08:26 PM

Atma, what difficulty did you play in when you smoked Dark Samus and the Aurora Unit? Normal mode was cake, but Veteran is providing the kind of challenge I would expect from a Prime game (the Defense Drone and Gandrayda were really close calls). I'm sure Hyper difficulty will be great fun.

In the 3rd room in the "escort the demolition soldiers" part, the Berzerker Lord was easy. Use the X-Ray visor/Nova Beam and nail him with a charged shot right when he breaks through the wall. He won't even touch you. After him you have to worry about the 2 pirates right around the corner, and finally the 3 pirates that the leader summons that go invisible (those are the ones that always kill my guys). I think you're right about just using regular shots on them - Hyper Missiles take too long and could miss, and charged shots in Hyper mode are slow too. I will say charged Hyper mode shots are the way to go for clearing the first two rooms, mainly cause it homes in on the nearest foe once you kill the one you're aiming at.

As for the colored credits, there are just enough red, blue, and yellow in the game to unlock everything, whereas you can get 26 friend vouchers and only need 15 friend credits. The Ridley morph ball escape-with-no-damage actually nets you a friend voucher, the 3 soldiers on the Olympus that you can save yield blue credits, and the demolition squad escort is a yellow one. There are few other yellow credit events aside from bosses, including about 10 from red phaazoids (there are three spots to find red phaazoids on both Bryyo and Elysia, and four on the Pirate home world)

You don't need to have a 1:1 exchange of friend credits. I've given more than I've gotten in return, but it's a kind gesture to reciprocate if someone sends you some. I have two right now, and can get two more on this file. Once I get them all, I'll decide where to send'em ;)

Warlock

09-25-2007, 10:30 PM

FYI regarding the GF:

This game inspired me to go back and replay Metroid Fusion. And as god-aweful as that game is (for a Metroid game anyways), if you can look past the annoyingness the story is actually very interesting.

One thing in particular I liked is that the Galactic Federation is not exactly pictured as the squeaky clean organization they would like to have you believe they are. Samus works to wipe out the Metroid population, and here they are breeding the damn things, "for peaceful applications of course". They've even developed a way to speed their evolution - causing a full larva to Omega mutation in something like a day. On top of this, they were seeking to capture SA-X and the X Parasites to study and use for their own purposes. They purposefully withhold suit upgrades from you just to prevent you from fighting SA-X for this reason.

And so now, Samus is in big trouble. She discovered the Metroid breeding program, she crashed the whole space station into SR388, destroying the X Parasites, and basically completely betrayed the GF. I'm actually really interested to see the next game (in the timeline). I think it'd be pretty interesting if they actually made Samus an outlaw from the GF - could prove a very cool storyline.

P.S. - But oh, hopefully she'll run back to some Chozo world first and replace her damn suit. I do NOT want to walk around in that ugly blue (well now orange) POS again :P

DarkFlameWolf

09-26-2007, 11:30 AM

Well, thanks for spoiling Fusion for me. :P Not that I'll ever finish it. Can never master bomb jumping in that game to save my life to move forward. Regardless....At Helios in the second Seed on Hypermode. Thus far, no 'real' consistent problems with any areas just yet. But I've been hearing horror stories of the last three bosses or more particular, the first of the last three in hypermode. So this should be interesting.

vegeta1215

09-26-2007, 06:27 PM

FYI regarding the GF:

This game inspired me to go back and replay Metroid Fusion. And as god-aweful as that game is (for a Metroid game anyways), if you can look past the annoyingness the story is actually very interesting.

Being told where to go and what to do in Fusion is very un-Metroid like imo (and MP3 reminds of Fusion for that same reason. Plus being able to grabs those green ledges is just like in Fusion), but otherwise I thought it was a really good game. The story is probably one of the best parts about it, but the levels, boss fights, etc are all great. I started a 1% game a long time ago, but could never beat the Spider boss, and I can't even imagine trying to get past the past right after. (you know)

The only Metroid game I would say is awful is Metroid Prime: Hunters. The original Metroid and Metroid II are hard to go back to after playing later games, but they are very good in their own ways.

AtmaWeapon

09-26-2007, 09:28 PM

vegeta I agree with you pretty much. The one thing that has really grated on my nerves about MP3 is how linear the blasted game is, and Twilight Princess had the same thing going for it. You don't even really need the GF to make sure you stay on the right track, because every upgrade that is not missiles is required to progress. You can barely even skip energy cells.

On the other hand, in Super Metroid (which was the best one in my opinion), I always lose several hours because they were careful to make sure that upgrades opened up many different places, only one of which was important for proper progression and some of which could be abused to skip large portions of the game.

To put it another way, I like a game that caters to multiple types of players; the Bartle Test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test) hits on the types of players that pop up in online games, but you only have diamonds, spades, and clubs in most console games. Let's compare how MP3 and Metroid 3 cater to each type of player.

Diamonds
Both games cater to diamonds well. You have a counter at the end of the game that shows how many items you got, and in Metroid 3 you get to see how long it took you. Different (better) endings are given to successful diamonds.

Spades
Both games did fairly well here, but in my opinion Metroid 3 was a little better at hiding things. The single thing Metroid Prime has done to hurt the game for a spade is making sure that if a powerup is in the room you can hear it. Metroid 3 in my opinion went too far marking powerups on the map, but then it also had plenty of secrets tucked away in regions that were not on the map. To completely spade the game you had to pull out the X-Ray visor and examine every wall; in MP3 it's more a matter of wandering around with your scan visor on and the volume up.

Clubs
The club environment in both games is markedly different than in online games; instead of trying to kill each other, players fight to see who can get the lowest percentage, lowest time, or all items with the lowest time. This leads players to hone their skills and try to abuse any trick the game gives them. Every move the player makes, every item that they decide to take, affects their time and percentage which directly affects their bragging rights. Don't want to take item X? Fine, you're going to have to learn how to shinespark really well. Want to skip a good 3 hours of the game? If you do this you get into that room before the game has changed it to this... you get the picture.

How does MP3 facilitate this kind of competition? The lowest number of items required takes no calculation; the list of required items is pretty much every powerup. You can't skip bosses. You can't even charge through a room full of enemies and dodge them because odds are the enemies are there so that it takes you 45+ seconds to kill them and the next room is already loaded when you try to open the door. Try to open it too soon and you'll have to fight the enemies anyway.

Unfortunately for me I am mostly a spade/diamond and I like to be a club after I've finished a game. I'm not very talented, but I like to try and mimic what other people do in speedruns. Metroid Fusion was awesome for this kind of thing; it's almost as if they buillt it for clubs. It sucked as a Metroid game but I have to admit what I have read about the people who play it as clubs it has a lot to offer. MP3, on the other hand, doesn't really seem to encourage this kind of play. Sure, they discourage you from backtracking to pick up items by having Navi--er General Dane remind you that you need to be on the pirate homeworld every time you land, but for a true club experience there should be more than one path through the game, even if it requires glitches.

I still had a lot of fun playing it and it is a very high quality game. Compare MP3 to the games people are playing right now and it's in the cream of the crop. A poor Metroid still beats the snot out of most other games but at the same time it is a disappointment to the Metroid fan.

*edit* Also I found out Retro Studios is in my hometown, what do you think the odds are they take visitors and if they do, should I try to swipe the Samus statue they have?

Warlock

09-26-2007, 10:30 PM

Nah, Metroid: Zero Mission - now that was built for just about everyone. I honestly think it's the best Metroid since Super Metroid. It's pretty much the only one where they actually take sequence breaking into account and design the game around letting people exploit that. Heck, they even have special endings for playing low item games (and doing so is absolutely fun as hell, I have to say).

Whereas, look at Fusion. Wall Jumping was nerfed to become practically useless, bomb jumping was completely removed...

Anyways, Fusion wasn't a *bad* game, but I do think it's one of the worst Metroid games (except Prime 2, that was the worst :P Or maybe Hunters :P). The fact you constantly have to stop at the computer for "instructions" and the linear-ness of the game are both annoying. On top of that, all the environments are extremely small. There's more of them, so that's supposed to "make up for it", but I dunno, I went back and played Super Metroid and I'd take that game's "quality over quantity" approach over Fusion. There's just something about getting lost in big, open environments :P

vegeta1215

09-27-2007, 08:00 PM

Warlock

09-27-2007, 10:50 PM

Maybe Hunters is the worst? Hunters is BY FAR the worst. (and MP2 Echoes was awesome)

Zero Mission was really good, but I felt a little cramped playing that game too. The part at the end when you have to sneak around the Space Pirate ship was my favorite part, and a nice addition to the normal Metroid game style. btw, you can't bomb jump in fusion? Really? I don't remember that...I'll have to check.

Oh Atma, in regards to items in Prime, I honestly never pay attention to the sound the game makes when an item is near. It goes in one ear and out the other. I was actually glad they added the Chozo Observatory in MP3 - if you wanted to know where all the items were, you could use it, if not, you don't have to. I had less than 10 items left to get by the time I could use the observatory, and I wasn't about to trek through the whole game again to find what I missed - I did that with MP1 and MP2 and it was not fun. When you have no clue where to look you have to look EVERYWHERE, and it is exhausting.

Ok, Hunters was the worst but Prime 2 was definately second worst :P Only Metroid that had absolutely no replay value for me - I didn't even want to play it again on hard (but of course, Hunters is the only one I haven't even finished :P)

And yeah, no bomb jumping. You can do one bomb jump, but you can't climb at all - not even once like in the Prime games (or at least Prime 3). The game completely ignores the bomb explosions once you're in the air. It's a shame because Bomb Jumping and Wall Jumping were so friggin' fun in Super Metroid. I am a damn pro at that - and in fact, for kicks, I recently went back and played Super Metroid and with only two energy tanks (one from the part of Brinstar where you get the Morph Ball - gotten by bomb jumping! - and the "first one" you'd normally get) at the beginning of the game I bomb jumped to that secret area above and to the left of the ship - the place where the acid rises and drops - and collected all the crap there. Man was that a pain in the @$! :P Considering you had to bomb a ton of walls with rising acid that can kill you within seconds at that point, and there are those guys that grab you and pull you into the acid :P

To be fair, I thought there was a Power Bomb up there (I may have been thinking of Zero Mission) - I screwed up... only an energy tank and two missile packs. But still fun (though it cost me the best ending by 9 friggin' minutes). It's also fun to get Power Bombs in Brinstar before even heading to Norfair :) Though that cost me too much time as well - unfortunately it's not super beneficial at that point. But hey, killing Kraid without ever setting foot in Norfair for the High Jump Boots is always fun too :)

Anyways, point is, you can't do any of that crap in Fusion. Which sucks. That stuff alone adds so much replayability to both Super Metroid and Zero Mission (getting the "best" endings - < 15% items on hard, < 15% items in under 2 hours, 100% in 2 hours, etc - is a very fun challenge).

P.S. - Agree about Chozo Observatory. I hate it when I'm missing a handful of items and I can't find the friggin' things. So annoying.