Topic: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

@NintendoByNature
Keep in mind there's psychic spiderball tracks that are invisible until you scan them. Those are hard to find. I stumbled upon one in Ice Belt at the very deepest point in the facility. But I also discovered a short cut from the snipers nest room that essentially takes you all the way down to floor 3, though I didn't discover it until I was going back up and it let me skip all 3 levels.

I thought I had scanned everything and found everything for the most part (I wasn't rigidly going for 100%), but I only scanned 89% and found 81% of items. Which was kind of surprising to me, actually. There must be some really well hidden stuff in this game. And how did I miss 11% scans? I mean, I think I missed a 3rd type scan of a boss here and there but overall I was expecting to see 98% scanned and like 97% items.

Just finished the game yesterday. Loved it. Mfiest time since BoTW arrived and played a game for many hours on end.

Not gonna challenge other people’s opinions on what they saw as negatives, but few if any of those held any weight for me.

If I had a criticism it was that some of the “free aim” controls felt wonky. But not a big deal.

Anyways, really happy I chose not to listen to the naysayers.

Also… thought I played on normal difficulty settings the entire game, I had to dial it back to casual for the final boss.

@moevot138
The final boss gave me flashbacks to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes final boss, the Emperor Ing. It was ROUGH, and I love it 😀

The free aiming, I agree actually. But there's a fix. Activate gyro aiming under "CAMERA" but disable gyro under "CURSOR", then toggle free-aim to "Revised" so that when you're locked on, gyro can't throw you off target, but the right stick can be used for sub-targets.

The ONLY TIME this needs to be changed is Phase 2 of the Sylux boss battle, since that inter-dimensional tunnel fight is exclusively in free-aim mode, which without gyro is a serious pain. So for that phase I'd enable gyro under "CURSOR" then disable it again for phase 3.

And ya, I have no problem with those who didn't love it as much as I did (I think it's one of the best games I've played- I'd put it in my "Top 5 All-Time Favorite Games" list), but I do have a problem with some who are disingenuous. There were people claiming to have beaten it like 48 hrs after release, and using that as leverage to make their claims of it being "horrible" seem more credible. And there have been some who clearly aren't judging it fairly based on what it is, but rather this imaginary concept of what they think it should be, which I don't think is fair in any way. But if someone just says "hey, it was pretty good but I wish it didn't have Sol Valley" or "I liked the game but wasn't a fan of the other characters", or "The game was fun but I found it too linear for my liking", I take no issue with that.

So glad you enjoyed it like I did, though. It's truly one of the best experiences I've had with a video game in quite a while.

I would grant that a game being "too short" is a valid complaint. However, saying something like "I beat it 48 hours later!" is deceptive at best. How long a game is should be measured in hours of play, not days of time, because that is what determines how long a game actually is. How many days, or weeks, or months, it takes to beat a game is primarily dependent on how much a person plays in an average day. If you beat a game in "48 hours!", because you played it 12+ hours each of those days? It does not make the game short, it simply means you played obsessively.

I don't think it's that different to the other Metroid Prime games in length. They're all in that 15-25 hours bracket, depending upon how keen you are to do absolutely everything or not.

It's more a case of quality time. The backtracking across the desert and crystal grinding feel rather like padding to me, but then again the earlier games will waste some of your time too with exploring dead ends and they've all got their late-game fetch quests.

As ever, it's just a bit of a divisive game, and mileage may vary. Those who aren't feeling that satisfied by it generally might find it rather short, but for those where it's scratching the Metroid Prime itch, it'll probably feel long enough.

@JaxonH

How exactly does the motor bike work, or can you tell me

@Ninfan
Hold ZR to go, ZL to break and sharply drift or change direction. B will boost and subsequently pressing B immediately after boosting does a slide attack.

You even fight a boss in Sol Valley while on the bike, which is just as rad as it sounds.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this so much is that I really struggle with the first-person perspective in games- in the sense I struggle with navigating surroundings.

I know some folks have felt that this game was “dumbed-down”, but this is certainly the most playable FP game I have ever played.

I’m not entirely sure what made it feels so much more accessible (perhaps the linearity) but I rarely felt lost in the game, which made it much more enjoyable in the whole.

While I loved Prime 1 (the only other FP game I have ever completed) I was often frustrated with feeling lost- and this was a spatial awareness thing more than it being a maze of sorts.

This, coupled with some of the other things people have knocked the game for, makes me suspect that Nintendo/Retro were trying to cast a wider net with Beyond.

I know many people have faulted some of the design decisions, but in this case I love it.

My mom is 73. We attended a Christmas concert with a symphony at Calvary Baptist yesterday evening.

When we came back I set up a dock for her TV, plopped my Switch 2 in and started a new game in Metroid Prime 4, and told her this is the game that kept my brother from coming with us (he works a lot too so). Said, "behold the wonder" and proceeded to play all the way up through getting Vi-O-La. I've never seen her so mesmerized by a video game 😀

Told her I used to watch my brother play the original all day 20 years ago- it's just so interesting to watch.

@JaxonH

Well, my Metroid prime 4 Switch 2 edition works pretty fine. Only the initial loading of the save-file takes long, but I can live with that.

I won't be downloading my Nintendo Switch 2 digital First-party games, because of all the used memory-space and the need for using expensive Express microsd cards. Yes, from now on I might go for the Switch 2 physical editions, even if the boxes are ugly. But it depends on the price. I bought the Switch version because I wasn't sure of buying a Switch 2 in time for the game, but when I went for a Switch 2 I also downloaded the upgrade-pack. As a whole it did cost me 60 Euro, the Switch 2 physical edition would have costed me more!

I mainly bought the physical edition because, with Nintendo's pricing policy and some healthy retail competition here, it worked out at thirty dollars cheaper.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/puzzles/crosswor... samus was in the crossword

I truly believe that 10 years from now, when people look back on Metroid Prime 4, it's going to be regarded as one of the most underrated games of its generation.

It's wild to me how almost every game that lands on my list of all time faves, is underrated. Consider the following:

Metroid Prime 4 was "critically" assessed to be no better than Metroid Other M. That is absolutely wild to me. Even those who regard the game as flawed in their eyes can't convince me they actually think Metroid Other M is just as good. It's not happening. Anyone with sense can see that's not even remotely true.

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is widely regarded as the best 2D platformer of all time. And I completely agree. Yet the "critical response" barely ranked it better than your average Pokemon or Hyrule Warriors game.

Prince of Persia Lost Crown is the best 2D metroidvania I've ever played. Even better than Metroid Dread. And yet its "critical response" would have you believe it's worse, and not even in the top 10 of highest rated games in the genre.

Trials Rising doesn't really have a genre, but it's one of the finest video games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. I literally beat the game twice on 2 separate platforms, and am halfway to beating it a 3rd time. And I never replay games like that. It's utter perfection! Yet again, the "critical response" wants you to think it's on par with Metroid Other M, Pokemon Legends Z-A and Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment. Don't get me wrong, those are all good games, but Trials Rising is an exceptional game.

Pikmin 4 is another one- absolutely stellar game I feel doesn't get the recognition it deserves. "Critical response" is good, don't get me wrong. But this is better than just "good".

Splatoon 3... yet another one. Easily in my top 10 faves of all time. "Critical response" says not even as good as all those other generic shooters.

I just don't get it. There are some games where I feel the critical reaponse was right in line (Xenoblade 3, for example, and the Zelda BotW/TotK releases). But more times than not I find all the best games are somehow not recognized as such. It's wild.

Not that it matters. It's not like these games are any less enjoyable as a result. It's just odd that aboht 2/3rds of the best games I've ever played, you wouldnt know it based on the people whose job it is to communicate how fun they are. Maybe I'm just unique with my preferences. But I don't think so. My brother agrees with me for all of these games, except Pikmin because he hasn't played it yet.

@JaxonH Remember that score aggregators aren't designed to invite comparisons between games in different genres so much as to provide a quick sense of how a game is faring overall. Trials Rising scoring similarly to, say, a Pokemon game isn't like some collective agreement among those reviewers that they're of similar quality. Also, when it comes to games in niche genres, you're generally going to see lower critical scores overall regardless, just because those games don't impress people as widely as something in a more mainstream friendly genre. It's the same reason, more often than not, you'll see those Sony cinematic action adventure games winning big at TGA (although the last few years have definitely defied that trend), and why Nintendo will never have a chance unless it releases something like Zelda in a given year.

And sometimes you're just gonna have an unpopular opinion. And that's okay. Metroid Prime 4, even once people chill out about certain topics, will probably be regarded as the worst mainline entry in the series for the general structure of the game, the boring crystal hunt near the end/desert driving in general, and the way companions are integrated throughout. And tbh, I've only played the demo for Prince of Persia, and what I played WAS good, but nothing in that demo gripped me nearly to the same extent as Metroid Dread. Sometimes you just play certain games, are totally blown away, and other people don't feel the same way.

Like, for you, Xenoblade 3's 89 metacritic score was 'right in line' with the quality of the game itself, but for me, it's probably the best game I've ever played, and I don't say that lightly. But the metascore puts it in line with NBA 2K3 and New Super Mario Bros. shrug

It's weird, I've constantly felt like the game is gonna be shorter than Prime 1, even though I'm currently 17 hours in and haven't finished yet (not long out of the Mines, been doing some item backtracking, green crystals etc) and I don't think I spent much more time with Prime Remastered in full. It felt like my progression through PR was slower, but the time played doesn't suggest that. Not really sure why that is.

@Ralizah
Good point about niche games. And I know it's not a perfect science. It's just hard for me to understand why the best games I play are generally never received as such.

While I think Prime 4 is the best in the series, I wouldn't find it strange at all if others thought it was the worst in the series. But Metroid Other M? The game with a d-pad for 3D movement, you wanna talk about NPCs and dialog? That game had way more talking than Prime 4. The game that required changing how you hold the controller every time you'd shoot a missile? The game that everyone hated as an "abomination" to the series? The game where I can't name a single thing I'm aware of it did better (be it graphics, controls, dialog, boss fights, combat... maybe map design?) That's just wild to me.

You really should play Prince of Persia The Lost Crown. I didn't think it was the best at first either. But by the time you get your last upgrade and have come to understand just how well designed the maps are and the insanely creative puzzles and perfect pacing of upgrades and fantastic boss fights... I'm telling you it's better than Dread. And I adore Metroid Dread. It's not a knock on Dread. It's just that good. It's like judging Tropical Freeze based on the first island. It's good! But you don't realize the greatness until the 6th island after you've experienced the game in fullness.

Metroid Prime 4 looking like it's gonna have some legs- a nice change for the series!

It's been almost 2 weeks now and it's still #1 on the eShop (plus still getting additional sales on on NS1 eShop around #10) and even on Amazon it's hanging on at #20 overall (includes hardware, Roblox cards etc so #20 is really high).

You know how happy this makes me? Even if it didn't do much in Japan (I mean, it debuted at 3x higher than Metroid Prime Remastered there, but that's not saying much), it seems like it's actually doing very well in the U.S. Is it possible this game could actually outsell Metroid Dread in the long term? Time will tell. I think it'll take longer to hit 3 million but over time, it could catch and surpass Dread.

@eldersnake Maybe it's because of the backtracking? Prime 1 has some pretty long backtracking sequences because of how spread out some of the areas are. I know Prime 4 has some irritating backtracking itself, but it generally just involves going through the desert, aside from that the backtracking didn't take long. But Prime 1 definitely has some segments where your next destination is very far away. Most notably anything involving going to or from Phendrana (which happens frequently because there's multiple instances where you have to go to Phendrana for one upgrade before leaving for another area) takes an eternity because the only way to enter and exit Phendrana is through Magmoor Caverns.

Haven’t been able to play since Saturday as I sliced my left thumb pretty badly. I’m so close to the end, and I wanted to see it through lol. I’ll probably have to wait a few more days unfortunately until this heals up.