Topic: Metroid Dread

@Joeynator3000 Ohhh right, these guys! One of the best fights in the whole game! I enjoyed it so much and it was a freaking close one making it even better!

@MrDinosaur The emmis don't feel like puzzles, they are extremely reflex/speed based. They really shouldn't have been put in the game. I remember back in the PS3/X360 era, any time a game put sections including "stealth portions with instant death as the punishment" the reviews would slam those games very hard. I always avoided the games that had stuff like that, as it doesn't really teach you anything about the game and is just padding to increase game length from repetitive deaths/loading screens. I can see why, after dealing with so many emmi sections why they are so annoying.

The other reason I'm struggling with the controls is due to the number of powers the game is already giving me. I keep pushing down+A to slide like any normal human being, but then I remember it's L2, which is right next to the free aim button. Ducking is a toggle, which is insane and the designers should be slapped for going against normal conventions, there. I never notice the stealth doors soon enough, so that's another annoyance to remember. So far, the stealth has been a pointless mechanic, since the emmi just runs into you anyway (unlike the cut scene) and the doors that are locked by the mechanic don't jump out at me until I try to enter and it denies me. Just so many annoyances that are stifling my enjoyment of what could be a really great game. I'm very happy I'm borrowing this from a friend, 'cause if I paid $60 for this game I would be royally pissed off LOL

First couple of EMMIs or so are fine...but now they're just...infuriating more than anything.

@BloodNinja

They’re precisely puzzles. Especially the later EMMI encounters. If you’re relying on reflex, you’re doing it wrong.

You need to pay attention to the mechanics. Maybe show a modicum of patience? You’re posting about it before you’ve even tried to understand it.

@MrDinosaur

I would say consensus disagrees with you on the subjective matter of how difficult - or not - it is.

I found it a challenging game; the flip side being a very rewarding game to complete. While initially, some controls were unintuitive, after spending time with the game I’ve adapted and find it a very precise, responsive game.

@BlueMonk I only reserve my patience for meaningful things, like training olympic weightlifting/martial arts or dealing with people. Video games are not deserving of patience; they are entertainment. If they fail to do that, they are failing at what they initially set out to do. I would be okay with it if there was an obvious tell for parrying the emmi, but it feels very random. Not sure what I'm missing, there. And I've never had parry problems. Metal Gear Revengeance had a great parry system. Souls series has a great parry system. Even bloodborne's parry was learnable for me. I don't think they have nailed the parry mechanic in this game, not one bit. And I still disagree about them being puzzles, since a puzzle has an obvious solution. These things are just there to obstruct progress with loading screens, to pad an otherwise short experience.

@BloodNinja

Well then, you’ll miss out on a lot in life, not just this master class in game design. This isn’t rocket science. Just take a deep breath and think.

@MrDinosaur The armor does have some nice design features. I like when Samus armor looks high tech, I think it was too animalistic.. which is intended based on the plot but I tend to prefer a cybernetic look. Ahh man you didn't like the subtle way the story was told in Super? I'm glad you're enjoying Metroid

Just fought a major boss, and...yeah...it's mainly the minibosses that are irritating me. The huge bosses are just attack patterns that you have to get used to and are kinda like puzzles when you think about it. But stuff like those stupid robot soldier things, I hate them...

I also fought another Chozo spear guy that was harder and actually killed me a couple of times, but at least it was infuriating like those robots. -.-

@Joeynator3000 Hmmm.. I hear ya on the Chozo Robot and Spear dudes. The best way I really got em at the end was to just stay fast, and use Ice Missles and Storm Missles only when you're for sure not gonna take damage. Also, liberal use of that Flash Shift.

@BloodNinja There's nothing "wrong" with the parrying system on this game... why is it that people have to blame the game instead of understanding that not every game will "feel good" fo everyone? It doesn't matter how universally praised it is, no game will click with everyone but it doesn't mean that it has faulty mechanics. Sometimes one has to say "hey this seems great for many, but it just doesn't seem to work for me". Sure, games sometimes do have flawed mechanics but when it really isn't a general opinion, chances are that it's more the person than the game.

Also... Saying that games shouldn't need patience makes no sense, specially when you are giving examples of games that are known for requiring patience. You have mentioned liking Speedrunnning and that requires a tremendous amount of patience, time and practice... Most games, hell, most activities require a certain amount of it.

It's ok for you to say "this isn't for me" and I'm not expecting only praise, but here you are finding trouble with cutscenes, stealth, too many powers and parrying despite of saying that you would be giving it a fair chance and I saw it from miles away... When a person wants to find fault, they will, simple as that.

@BlueMonk I’m not missing out on life if I skip a bad video game, please don’t die on that hill!

@roy130390 I think I’m clearly conveying myself, I don’t need an editor for my online posts LOL

This is my first ever Metroid game (beyond 5 minutes of dabbling with SM on the SNES app) and I am having an absolute blast! My game of the year so far for sure!

It’s actually impressive that Nintendo (albeit codeveloped) can put out a game that’s so satisfyingly challenging (the only comparable thing I can think of is some of the more difficult moons in Odyssey). Plus it managed to strike the perfect balance of not holding your hand and a constant vague sense of being lost, yet at the same time always being able to sort of work out what to do next.

@BongoBongo YES! Welcome to the Metroid fanbase! That's so true, there aren't actually many Nintendo games or franchises as of late that are on the more difficult side. Enjoy Dread man, and Super Metroid after if so inclined

@BloodNinja Your reply makes no sense and that person wasn't just referring to Dread (it was pretty clear) but hey, I've seen that sometimes you really aren't as accesible and open to dialogue as you pretend to me.

@BloodNinja @BlueMonk EMMIs are not meant to be parried in the first place. I take it not only you are not patient but also not a reader as pretty much anytime you die to EMMI the loading screen specifically tells you it parrying an EMMI should be considered act of desparation and is very hard to perform. I like how in one comment you write "I don't reserve patience for videogames" and then contradict yourself by praising (Souls|Blood)borne games which require a great deal of it due to act of repetition. Also maybe it's time to just acknowledge that "entertainment" means various things to various people. EMMIs are great and while each one of them killed me at least once, I don't think any of them took me more than 10 tries to figure out so it's hardly an obstruction.

Whew... finally beat Kraid. Just needed to slow down and take my time on the second phase instead of trying to beat it quickly.

@MrDinosaur even though it is not the first choice it is not like it is impossible to do it, on the 5th emmi I manage to get straight to the weapon while countering it 3 times in a row (even though I was never consistent in doing it)

Yeah, if you’re caught by an EMMI you have a Hail Mary last chance to get out of it. That’s not ideal, obviously.

I am curious to see how random - or lack there of - EMMI encounters are. If they have variation or randomness that could really make speed runs interesting. I don’t generally pay attention to such things but for Dread, exceptions are made.

After death and loading to a checkpoint, EMMI seemed consistent in some cases, more random in others.

The entire game was built around the concept of instilling dread in the player from an enemy they cannot defeat. It's not "padding" when it's the core crux of the game itself. You can like it, you can dislike it, but marginalizing it as a lazy effort to pad is just downright insulting to the devs.

There's no sense getting angry and frustrated that you can't parry something that's not meant to be parried except on a hail mary, one in a hundred tries chance. It's specifically designed to make it so you can't successfully do it. Probably included it because players like having a bit of skill based hope, however slim it may be. Basically, when you get caught, you're dead. That's it. Finito. You goofed. Work on your skill and try again. The parry is just a bone they threw to spice it up a bit on the off chance you may actually escape once in a blue moon. It's not a mechanic to rely on.

So ya, of course nobody's gonna nail the parry mechanic. You're not supposed to. It's why they change the timing, to specifically ensure you can't.

Butting your head against a brick wall that was never meant to be broken and getting frustrated you can't break through isn't the advised way to play a game.

But, there's people who call Mario crap because they fall in the first pit in the game and don't have the patience to learn how to play and develop their skill to not fall in the pit. Gaming, by its very nature, requires patience as you develop skill and learn how to play. If you don't have patience then video games is an extremely poor hobby choice, unless you just want to play something like Animal Crossing where you can't die (no, I take that back- even Animal Crossing requires patience, in fact, probably more than most games).

Anyways, I got my Switch OLED and holy moly, it's so good. Metroid looks and plays so good.