Topic: Metroid Prime 4: The Long(er) Wait

@Bolt_Strike The Chozo Ruins in the first Prime were pretty reminiscent of a desert region, and while I'll grant there's never been a proper swamp before, Tallon Overworld has more than a few similarities to the bog. What made the regions stand out was the exotic architecture (when previously we've seen mostly Chozo), particularly in the Temple Grounds and Sanctuary Fortress.

@Haru17 The return of Chibi style Metroid

I didn't play MP2 much last night as most of my gaming time was spent with ALBW, but I did go up against Chykka. I managed to beat it (her?) without dying, though near the end I was in the orange for a bit. Good thing that it switched back to its dark phase and provided me with some of its spawn from which to glean some much-needed health. This was a unique fight, I liked how the boss was presented in stages. What I didn't like was how long it dragged on.

I put the Dark Visor to use, and it reminds me a lot of the visor that you could use in Prime 1 (can't think of what it's called atm). The ability to use it to put the Seeker Missiles to use is also enjoyable. I ended the game and saved after transferring the Dark Torvus Temple's energy back to its home source.

I did play for quite a while this morning, too (longer than I meant to, really). I entered the Sanctuary Fortress area and did quite a bit of exploring. My impressions:

• First of all, I LOVE the skybox (ground box?) effect in this area. I knew that the Luminoth are still around (though U-Mos is the only living one not in stasis), but I wasn't expecting to find a sort of cityscape below. A lot of it is likely abandoned, but still...seeing the world lit up far below was kind of awe-inspiring.
• The Luminoth architecture and technology in this area in general is pretty cool.
• Quads...ugh. UGH. [Insert many expletives here. Trust me, there were many during these fights....] It took me a bit to work out (even from fully reading the scan entries) how to beat these things; I thought "concussive force" meant bombing the undersides of them. The dark versions, if possible, are even worse; I almost died in the area where you first meet them due to not being able to always boost properly or to the camera going into weird angles while I was rolling around in Morph Ball mode.
• The Spider Ball Guardian was actually a refreshing fight, more of a puzzle than a shoot-em-up (which suited me fine after Chykka). The final stage of the fight was borderline frustrating, though; it was hard to get the timing just right, even with the Spring Ball functionality of MPT. I can only imagine how much more...erm...FUN this fight was on the GameCube.
• I'm glad to have the Spider Ball back; it was one of my favorite power-ups in MP1. Those tracks all over the place can no longer mock me! I've already used my new ability to pick up a couple of Missile Expansions and another Energy Tank.
• While picking up one of the Expansions above, I got to fight two lovely Ing Smashers (I think that's what they're called). These weren't as bad as the Quads, but I remember passing through the area before and guessing that I'd have to deal with these guys. Turns out I was right.

I finally saved and stopped near the map station for this area after downloading them. I had intended to stop about an hour before I quit playing. XD

@Tyranexx I can tell that you're not going to like Ing Hive's Temple Guardian.

Also yeah, some of Prime 2's "unique" abilities are just reskins of some Prime 1 abilities.

Dark Beam = Ice Beam
Light Beam = Plasma Beam
Dark Visor = Thermal Visor
Echo Visor = X-Ray Visor
Annihilator Beam = Wave Beam

@Tyranexx I'm pretty sure bombs do work on Quad MBs (Main Body)? But only when their weak point is exposed, usually after boosting into them during their spin attack. You're not wrong about the camera being your worst enemy here; the only control you have over it is pressing the lock-on button to center it behind you.

It's kind of a toss-up as to whether destroying the head before the body or vice-versa is better. The former is usually quicker, but puts you more at risk of damage. The latter doesn't since the head's shots are easy to dodge and it shoots rarely, but it wastes a bit more ammo with it's shield.

The Dark Visor isn't just good for seeing invisible enemies, by the way. It also lets you lock on to enemies even when they're in states that normally prevent you from doing so, such as Inglets/Warrior Ing in puddle form, or Hunter Ing while they're phasing (still can't hurt them, though). Haven't tested it on Rezbits in energy phase, though.

@Grumblevolcano Federation Force away!

And yeah, the Sanctuary Fortress is definitely a landmark for the series' world development through visuals. Prime 1 was a lot of rock walls and enclosed areas, while Echoes and especially Corruption have tons of skyboxes to absorb. They both have a good mix of claustrophobic interiors and exteriors with grand views and long, Halo-style death falls into unknowable scifi cogwork. I love those huge kinetic orb canon areas in Echoes that just feel so big. They remind me of Myst almost. The third one that had such a huge scale in these alien, strangely baroque environments.

I always destroy the head first. The head is pretty long, annoying, and has that light/dark shield. The body is pretty easy to deal with solo though, the trick is when it's spinning around in top form, you can boost into it to stun it and expose its weakness (which you can then boost into again).

@Bolt_Strike: First thing's first, about the next temple guardian...:

The Dark Visor seems like a combination of the Thermal Visor and X-Ray Visor from MP1. It's fun to use.

@meleebrawler: I had little problem destroying the head my first time facing a Quad, and that's still how I handle them a majority of the time. The problem was that I thought you had to bomb their underside while they weren't in spinning top mode; it took me a bit to work out that I had to boost into them. Then I learned that boosting again is what finished them off, though I may try laying bombs from now on. It was the second boost that made the fight against the Dark Quads such a pain since I couldn't speed up quite enough half the time to pull it off.

Thanks for the additional tip on the Dark Visor. I wondered if there wasn't a way to target the Ing in different ways down the line.

@Haru17: You can fall off the edges then? I've been tempted more than once to try to jump into Aether's free space, but I've always backed down at the last second. XD I wasn't sure if the game had some collision or fail-safe in place to prevent that.

I do love the orb cannons; not only are they fun, but there's an extra degree of freedom and space when they're used in outdoor areas.

You also mentioned the interesting environs of the Save Stations at one point; my favorite station in MP2 so far has been one that's floating out alone on a platform in the Fortress Sanctuary area, with the cityscape below.

@Tyranexx I wanted to post this image back when I wrote that post, but it was spoilers then. I like the view as you're walking back in too. IIRC it's this weird Deus Ex-y fractal polygon thing, just a very striking use of the Gamecube's technical prowess. There are some really intricate save spots on the third planet in Corruption too — I definitely got a Myst 2/3/4 vibe from that place.

And just to be clear, yes, you can fall off. It respawns you like Zelda or Paper Mario, but instantly as if nothing had happened. The Prime games have good loading.

All falling off a cliff does is respawn you back at the top and take 20 units of damage. There's nothing stopping you in those areas.

@Bolt_Strike Yeah that is the "ideal" method, but oftentimes in cramped corridors it's difficult to get enough space from the approaching body, putting you at risk of being swiped, and then you also have to wrestle with the camera. And considering you can always soften up the head before breaking the body, it should only take one shield and a session of point-blank firing from the Dark Beam to do it in.

Eh, I'm kind of stingy with ammo, especially Beam ammo which is difficult to refill. I'd rather take the hit from the body and find Energy elsewhere than use Beam ammo that I won't be able to properly refill without an Ammo station.

@Bolt_Strike Buddy, there's boxes you can break for ammo practically everywhere. The main elevator between the upper and lower levels of Sanctuary has like 20 of them alone (if you break them individually from the top), to say nothing of the corridor that leads to the second encounter with Dark Samus.

Putting aside the OCD need to have everything maxed out, you should rarely have concerns with beam ammo outside the early Agon Wastes, long boss fights or you make liberal use of the beam combos.

Well this is me, so yeah.

We've waited this long already... what? 10 years since the last true Metroid game... what's another year or two?

Oh boy, this thread's turned into the 2016 Breath of the Wild thread hasn't it.

@Dezzy Gotta have hope.

Also, try like 2014, 'cause this puppy won't be out for a while.

^Lol. So true. Now let's wait for no news and the eventual delay to the nonexistant release date.

@Dezzy That's a very good point, this'll be the first time we see Metroid universe grass in HD!

All Nintendo games should just use the new Zelda grass tbh. It's the best video game grass.