Topic: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

@JaxonH Oh man do I appreciate the checkpoints. This was nice in Dread where you had a checkpoint just before the boss if you die (which I did, often many times), so it was something I was more used to since Dread is my most recently played Metroid. It's nice to not have to do a super big trek back just because a battle went sideways or something.

Metroid Prime 4 Beyond looks cool from what I’ve seen online about it. It comes out on December 4, 2025. I hope to get it for Christmas. It’s on my list.

Great game so far. As others have said, boy, it sure does look nice!
I'm taking my sweet time with it. Only just got to the second save station with Mr Myles in tow.

I don't have the game myself but have been reading as many reviews as possible to gauge whether it was worth buying the game. However multiple reviewers have definitely stated no music in the desert without amiibo so perhaps you already have a amiibo linked to your system and the other is you get about a good 3 hours of gameplay I think before it all starts going wrong. It's like the game was incredibly short and the motorbike sections became the extra padding to add more hours to it. A bit like how Halo extended the hours of gameplay with repetition too. My overall impression is its not a bad game but its not a great game either. It seems a technical showcase for the original Switch though. Super impressive on that older format but sadly gameplay nots so great. I've seen comments that Metroid Prime remastered on Switch is a far better game and that has a metacritic score of 94 compared to 80 for this game.

It feels like the pricing isn't justified to me, its not that good a game and considering how many games I have yet to start on various formats I feel I will put this on the backburner for a while hoping Nintendo patch the game to make it a better overall experience like they are doing with Mario Kart World. I don't have a Switch 2 I'm only considering buying for the Switch version but did intend to buy the Switch 2 cartridge so I have it ready for when I buy a Switch 2. I shall probably buy it secondhand in a few months, post Christmas when people need to start paying for Christmas and sell stuff they aren't too bothered about.

@BonzoBanana I have played the game and there is music in the desert without needing to use an Amiibo. Like I said, it's ambient and quite different to the rest of the soundtrack, but it's definitely there. The Amiibo unlocks a radio that allows you to change the music and listen to other tracks, that's all.

If you still don't believe me, maybe watch this video here, which also clears up a few other misconceptions about the area.

Any "reviewer" who tells you that it doesn't isn't to be trusted and quite possibly hasn't even played the game properly. I've not seen any professional reviewers who claim that, but I wouldn't put it past some YouTubers to lie about it for engagement.

@JaxonH
MP4 is the best entry point for new players? I didn't have any problem starting from MP1 though. I'm kind of worried no one asks for tips or anything for Prime 4. It makes me think the game is so easy you never get stuck?

I'm starting to not really know what I feel about Prime 4 now. I just got done with the entire Volcano area tonight, and I feel like I'm starting to lose favor with the game after the Ice Belt. I think this is where the actual backtracking part of the game comes into play- and I'm starting to realize how the areas don't really feel the greatest to go back through after you play through them once or so. Even though there's a lot of sealed off rooms or areas that you can't get to unless you have specific equipment to do so- the levels are more structured like dungeons from the Zelda series. A lot of long and extremely linear halls that make it feel like I'm not going through a maze, but rather just putting my brain on autopilot while I try to get to the small fraction of new content I originally missed out upon. It also doesn't help that there's no fast travel to these locations (which I wouldn't mind if the world was designed in a way that felt engaging). Instead you have to traverse over the endless expanses of nothingness in order to get to each and every location- weaving back and forth and to and from. After a while it becomes more of a chore, and it makes me really wish that the devs would have made it to where the locations were placed closer together.. or to where they got rid of the backtracking and made more new areas to explore for the first time.

I also don't think I really like how the NPC quest in the volcano was handled. There was a point where I became more frustrated because of how they were attempting yet another escort mission like the first one in Fury Greens- but this time they threw some of the hardest hitting enemies into the mix. It got to a point where I kept dying over and over again on the bridge leading into the control room with the turret- all because the Ai for the Sergeant was awful and he kept standing in the middle of the turret's firing range. I eventually got past it, but it still didn't change the fact that the Ai for the NPCs ended up handing me some extremely unnecessary deaths.

I think the final gripe I have so far is that the way they handle telling the story sucks a lot of the fun out of it for me. The game sells you on this mystery revolving around the planet and what happened to the people who once used to reside over it- only for it to tell you flat out in the form of statues. Maybe I'm used to Hollow Knight and how it uses the environment to tell it's story rather than outright stating it to you. Maybe Metroid Prime tends to spell out their stories a bit more- or the lore a bit more. However- this just feels like it isn't as engaging to me. It feels like I'm not really having to think all that much about what happened on this planet because the game flat out tells you through statues right outside of the larger story locations. The volcano has a whole statue that explains to the player that the green rain comes from inside of the factory- and why they did what they did.. rather than just letting you piece it together through looking at everything within the volcano. The Forge has a statue that explains more plot elements to you as well.

@Cia I think Prime 4 is the best entry for people who've never played the games before- but that's because it's ultimately frictionless. There's some moments where the game doesn't tell you where to go and has you figure things out- but for the most part you always have someone whispering in your ear and pointing you within a certain direction. It does an effective job at teaching the basics of the mechanics for the series though.

So far I think its very dissapointing, but I am just in the Fury green. So far its corridor after corridor, very lineair.

@VoidofLight
It's weird because, while I can't deny you are right, and I acknowledge that backtracking, it's easy to forget how mind numbing it was in previous entries. And I don't mean to say that to denigrate the prior trilogy- they're all 10's in my book despite that, and that's kinda how I feel about this one too.

Backtracking in Prime, walking tip to tail through 2 or 3 areas was, in all honesty, worse than Prime 4. The reason I say that is because I can literally drive across Sol Valley in 60 seconds. It absolutely does not take long at all to get from Flare Pool to Fury Green. Whereas in a previous game, it could take you 15 minutes.

There is one thing you said that I really agree with, and that is that they are more like Zelda dungeons, and I think that's a fine way to put it. But once you're in the area, they don't feel any different than the zones from previous games to me. And what's nice is, take Fury Green for example- as soon as you enter you can activate that fast travel cannon to shoot you through the air and land right outside base camp, or bypass it and go downstairs where you'll come out on the other end of Fury Green. Things like that make backtracking so much less tedious than in previous games.

Having said that, I never really minded the backtracking in previous games because I just loved the game so much. It could get dull, but I was having so much fun playing the game it just never bothered me much. But I am thankful for the backtracking taking less time than in the prior trilogy.

Furthermore, there's less need for voluntary backtracking. Unlike Prime 1, for example, they don't block off half the area in each map until later in the game. There are some blocked off areas you'll come back to but not nearly as much- mostly it's blocked off secrets. Whether that's good or bad, Idk, just an observation really. Blocking off more of the areas to come back to would, I suspect, just anger people like you who already take issue with backtracking. I don't think I'd mind it, but it's never really bothered me.

I've got three separate playthroughs going on right now lol.

My main run is on my NSW2. Then I have a separate run on my chipped NSW OLED, where I just got Viola, and a third run on my chipped custom Switch Lite OLED. I love the game so much, and the NSW1 version looks really good on a 6" OLED when rendering the docked image. Not as good as the NSW2 version mind you, even despite it being on an 8" screen, but there's something about having this game on a tiny little pocketable OLED device that causes my heart to flutter 😊

My NSW2 says I've been playing for 15 hours already (I'm sloooow and love to toy around in areas and just scan everything, extensively charting out Sol Valley and crunching into every last crystal I can find), and I've probably put in another 5 hours on my NSW OLED and NSW Lite OLED.

@Henmii I wouldn't call it disappointing. Don't jump on the hate wagon. The critisizm is valid though, imo but there is definitely fun to be had.

@JaxonH wait! You bought three copies? Why?

@SuperEndriu If it's a digital copy of the game it can run on two Switches at once if you tweak your virtual game card settings..

@FishyS oh... Didn't know...

@JaxonH Usually for me, I tend to like backtracking in these sorts of games. I loved doing it in the original Hollow Knight- and love it in Silksong as well. I think it's just the lack of the areas being wholly interconnected that makes it harder for me here- since part of the fun of backtracking in these games tends to be finding another route to one of the previous areas.

I just wanted to mention how much I appreciate all these level-headed comments and details on what people feel is and and is not working, such as those by @VoidofLight and @Araquanid . I'll still be getting it soon, but having a better idea of how linear, enemy-diversity-free, clunky, and unsuccessful a lot of the game seems to be, alongside some amazing art direction, is very helpful to know ahead of time.

@VoidofLight
I see.

I'm gonna be honest- I gave up on both Hollow Knight and Silksong because of the lack of save points, particularly before bosses or long, arduous stretches. And I kickstarted the games for Wii U over a decade ago.

But ya, I get your preference. I don't think I have one actually. I just go with the flow with whatever design is presented. Some are all interconnected like Prince of Persia Lost Crown (THE best 2D Metroidvania of all time- I'll die on this hill), Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime 1, or with a hub like Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime 4. I like em all.

It's so sad we'll never see a Prince of Persia Lost Crown sequel from Ubisoft. Just like Trials Rising (also one of the best games I've ever played), we get a banger and they just abandon it. I am grateful Metroid will at least carry the torch, not just for 2D with a Dread sequel but for 3D also with an eventual Prime 5.

Technically the NSW OLED and Switch Lite OLED are chipped so I can play them in a server-free sandbox where they don't require an online check, but ya, even if they weren't, you can still play on as many systems as you want as long as it's not at the same time (due to the online check)

I believe you can play precisely two at the same time for people with normal Switches/2s. Though one of the two has to have an online check.

Had anyone taken the time to read all the logbook entries?

I find this game's depiction of the Galactic Federation Troopers fascinating. I've always wanted a deeper focus on the world and lore of the Galactic Federation- the way this game gives faces and personalities and makes you care about them is a bold a step forward for the franchise.

I appreciate the attempt made with Federation Force solely focusing on playing as Galactic Federation Troopers, but they had no personality. If that game had released on NSW2, with the graphics of Metroid Prime 4, featuring Myles McKenzy, Ezra Duke, Nora Armstrong and Reger Takabi as the playable characters to choose from, with proper dual analog aiming, I think it would have been a banger.

I want more of this going forward. I want to see new characters introduced, with actual names and distinct personalities. They don't have to feature a prominent role. They can do it like Prime 4 and just kind of build out the story in a way they get a little time in the spotlight.

What I especially like in this game about the GF troops is the new design for their armor suits. It's so much better than in Prime 3. And I like how the GF troops with names and personalities all have bespoke armor designs with various titles like Engineer, Corporal, Private, etc.

@FishyS
Right. That's what I meant. The primary doesn't need a check.