AlonditeFE

Since we're only talking Nintendo systems and unfortunately Clair Obscur hasn't come to Switch 2, it's between Hundred Line and Metroid Prime 4 for me.

Metroid Prime 4 is definitely a more action focused entry in the series than any other of the games and the closest to an actual FPS the series has ever been which keeps it from being up there with the original Prime and Echoes for me, but it still has been a blast to play.

I really need to go back and play more of the endings of Hundred Line and actually get ANSWERS and a GOOD ending, but even without that it has amazingly fun SRPG mechanics and fun and memorable characters.

"the greatest SRPG ever made"

Booooo! As a big fan of the genre and a fan of Fire Emblem in particular, I definitely take issue with that statement. Final Fantasy Tactics cannot match the mechanics and beloved characters present in several of the Fire Emblem games.

I don't think Metacritic scores are the end all of rating games but I'm still going to use them to illustrate my point: Four Fire Emblem games are rated higher in both Critic and User scores than Final Fantasy Tactics.

@luke88 So you are saying a game can be great even though one aspect of it might be "unimpressive"? Hopefully that will be the case with MP4 as well.

@luke88 I have no problem imagining that since Ocarina of Time is still just as great of a game as it was 27 years ago, and a somewhat empty hub area of the game and an annoying side character do nothing to diminish it.

I didn't read that as saying "it's great, but.." He says it is certainly up there with the best Metroids. That implies that the other great Metroids are around the same quality: 9s. So, if that's what he believes, he is "beyond" help.

NB: I don't think he actually believes the original Prime is a 9 and I don't actually think something is wrong with you if you don't think Prime 1 is above a 9 (well not completely anyway).

@MrStark If you look a that same Metacritic score you reference, 53 out of 69 reviews are 8 or above. 16 have been below 8. 15 gave it a 9 or above.

Why do you assume the negative 16 reviews are somehow more correct than the 15 who loved it? A game can be both loved and disliked at the same time. It's almost like people have differing opinions or something.

@PinderSchloss When I started reading this, I thought for sure it was going to be a 10.

"What Retro Studios has delivered might well be the studio’s finest work yet, and it’s certainly up there as one of the very best Metroid games of all time"

So it MIGHT be Retro's best work, but it's a 9?! I don't have a problem with whatever they score this game, but if you're going to write THAT it better be a 10 out of 10 game.

That sentence only makes sense if you consider the original Prime as less than a 9. And if that's your argument, I say good day to you, sir.

@BrokenCiv The problem is that maintaining an audience's attention has become a real challenge these days.

I watched one of the hands-on with MP4 where someone was playing it and reached a puzzle that gave a very distinct visual cue to hint to the player what they were supposed to do. The guy who was playing it got stuck and frustrated on this puzzle. In the voice-over for the video, recorded later, the guy admitted that he had been looking at his phone and had missed the visual cue.

So the challenge is keeping THOSE gamers, whose money is just as important to developers as ours, engaged so that they don't just quit the game in frustration (which people are far more apt to do these days), while also providing an adequate experience for those of us who don't want their hands held.

Granted, I haven't played the game myself, and maybe I'll think differently once I do, but after reading some of the most negative reviews: imagine giving Ocarina of Time a 6 because Navi is annoying and Hyrule Field is boring.

@swoose I'm curious about that "linear structure" criticism. Metroid Prime games have always been pretty linear (you have a concrete set of objectives that you do in order). You backtrack a lot to open up new areas or get hidden items within the areas you have already been in, but the path is still very linear.

@OmnitronVariant Hey, my opinion might be completely different once I play it myself. I was originally disappointed with Prime 3 when it was released, but have grown to appreciate it.

BUT, if in a few years if this game gets referred to as a "flawed gem" or "underappreciated" just remember that I told you so. Haha!

@The_Nintendo_Expat I'm exactly the same way. I prefer to read reviews. I would have missed it myself if not for someone else in the comments referencing it.

@The_Nintendo_Expat Alex gives a second opinion in the video. He disliked the NPCs far more than Ollie, but was still glowing about the game.

@OmnitronVariant Ok. I obviously disagree on the 7/10 thing and wrote a long-winded response about it, but it was ultimately pointless, so I edited out and will rather say: I understand where you're coming from.

But regardless, none of that has to do with my original point. Before Dragon's Dogma was released the entire narrative was about how Capcom, a Japanese company, was trying to make "a Skyrim". It was pilloried as derivative and depicted as an example of how Japanese developers didn't know how to make games for contemporary western audiences BEFORE it was even released. The entire Japanese games industry was being bashed at that time. This view was prevalent throughout the "games journalism" scene.

These journalist are often like kids on a playground, afraid to think something is "cool" that the other kids might think is "uncool". This is what is happening with MP4. And my original point was: Just wait. Because when the cool kids decide "Hey, MP4 actually WAS cool all along, they will all jump right onboard (just as they have with Dragon's Dogma) and call MP4 a "cult classic" and "underappreciated".

Sorry. I know that was STILL a lot of words.

@OmnitronVariant Oh, I agree with you. The story is completely convoluted and non-sensical, but you love the game, right? I'm guessing you would also give the game above the 6s and 7s that Dragon's Dogma was widely getting base on that excellent gameplay alone.

A poor story doesn't normally drop a game with great gameplay (like, say, Bayonetta) down 2 rating points, but Dragon's Dogma had a similar thing going as MP4 pre-release where every preview of it had an overwhelmingly negative tone.

@Metazoxan "Sounds more like just a one time "Hey just so you know, this is where you'll want to head when you're ready"."

And every Prime game has had this. It was silent in MP1 and MP2, but still forced you to open up your map and direct you to each new objective. In MP3 you had a talking AI to tell you what every new objective was.

I do think you could turn it off in those games though.

@Altaria_97 This was my worry with releasing in December. If your game isn't a game that is likely to be gifted (such as Pokemon or Mario, but not Metroid I would assume), you are putting it out to compete against the rest of people's cash-strapping holiday spending.

I'm ecstatic to have the game this week, but I think it might have been better for the series to release in January. Hopefully those people who might have bought it but can't afford it now still buy it as soon as they can.

@JaxonH I'm willing to bet that in 5 years all those other writers will be referring to the game as an underappreciated gem.

I've seen this cycle before. The example that first comes to mind is Dragon's Dogma. That game was bashed before it was even released by the circle-jerking "games journalists" as the narrative going was that Capcom and Japanese games in general were on the decline. The reviews of the game reflected a narrative about the game that the reviewers had already written before even playing it. Now the game is a "cult classic" and widely loved.

@Brady1138 I'm going to assume you didn't read the article and are confusing Jennifer Hale with the original Bayonetta voice actress who caused all the trouble, because if you aren't, it's completely absurd to say that Hale threw herself under the bus by simply taking a job.

@B3RTAY I said it's not for me and that disappoints me, not that it shouldn't exist. I also said nothing about the quality of the game.

Their are some games that are clearly high-quality that I have absolutely no interest in playing. That isn't a knock on those games, and I'm not knocking Duskbloods. It may end up being a great game, and I hope it is, for the people that it appeals to, but it doesn't appeal to me.

Someone might not like horror films or games because they don't like jump scares. A horror film may come along that is regarded as an amazing film. That film is STILL not going to appeal to the person who doesn't like horror.

For me, that is how I feel about multiplayer focused games. I'm an introvert. Interacting with people is exhausting to me. Their are specific reasons I am not interested in the genre. Duskbloods, even if it is extremely well-crafted, isn't going to overcome those obstacles for me.

So once again, that is NOT negativity. Their are REASONS that many people don't want to play multiplayer. Those reasons are more varied than my particular reasons. But prejudging a game for being multiplayer focused has nothing to do with the quality of the games, because the quality of the game does not matter. The whole genre is not an enjoyable experience for me, and I'm not alone in that.

So why is it not understandable why I would be disappointed? This is one of my favorite developers FINALLY making a game specifically for my preferred gaming platform and...I have no interest in it.

I don't need to wait and try it to know it's not for me. It's like offering a person who doesn't like pickles, a different type of relish that has pickles in it and then thinking their is something wrong with them because they won't try it. No matter what else is in the relish, it still has pickles in it.

(I love pickles by the way. It was just the first food that many people don't like that came to mind).

@B3RTAY The gist of the article doesn't change the fact that those, like me, who don't like multiplayer focused games aren't going to be very interested in this game.

I love From games, but I'm the type that has played all their games in offline mode. I have no interest in playing with other people. I just want to explore a dark and daunting world ON MY OWN (like I have done in King's Field, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring). Nothing in these quotes changes the fact that this won't be that type of game.

That's not negativity. That just means this game won't be for me, which is disappointing.

It might not be for a good portion of the rest of the From fanbase as well.

I really think that the source of the constant negativity of, not just this game, but so much else recently are factors outside of the control of devs. Life is overwhelming for so many people these days, and there is this underlying level of DREAD (not the awesome Metroid kind) that permeates everything we do. People surround themselves with that negativity like its some sort of shield, but it only makes the things you experience as unsatisfying as you expect them to be.

I know I feel it, at least. I replayed Breath of the Wild and found myself irritated and frustrated with a game I absolutely ADORED 8 years ago.

I'm not sure the last time I actually enthusiastically LOVED a game. I've liked many games I've played, but I just don't feel the same unbridled enthusiasm for them that I used to.

My guess is their are many others who have had similar experiences over the past few years because of LIFE getting in the way of our enjoyment of things.

I don't get why DK wasn't nominated for Best Action Game. It's the only GOTY nominee not to be also nominated in it's genre.

"Family Game" is not a genre.

@Friendly Indiana Jones being snubbed isn't surprising. That ALWAYS happens to December releases. Expect the same thing to happen next year with Metroid Prime 4 (if it is as good as I hope).

@PikaPhantom I loved Clair Obscur. It is a beautiful game, but I think it's funny how it's a game that is inspired by JRPGs and uses the mechanics of JRPGs, but if it actually was a Japanese game it would never sniff the awards and accolades it has gotten.

@Waluigi451 @PinderSchloss

Other than Zelda's blue tunic, what are you guys seeing that makes you think Breath of the Wild? If that's Impa (and I believe it is) she looks more like a warrior than the scholarly-type figure she was in BOTW. That looks more like Ocarina's Impa than BOTW's Impa (IF that's Impa). So at the very least, to me, this looks like it might be a mix of different versions of the characters.

Also, I doubt that they would base it off of BOTW, due to the 100 year time jump and most of the important characters only appearing in flashbacks. Link and Zelda are never even together in the present in BOTW.

What is there to worry about with the script? It's Inazuma Eleven. It has ALWAYS been ridiculous and corny. I doubt there are many people who are fans of the games for their writing and plot.

What is worrying is the $70 price tag for a Switch 1 game with an extra $2.50 Switch 2 upgrade fee. Charging a premium price for a series that hasn't been around for 10 years and still needs to establish an audience (at least here in the US where none of the games except a digital-only 3DS port of the first game have been released) seems like setting a game up for failure.

Persona 4: Golden. Nanako is just too cute.

@WiltonRoots It says something when YouTube (YouTube!) has a more positive comment section. The comments on the trailer are actually very positive over on that place where you usually find comment sections that will make you lose your faith in humanity.

@Metazoxan I see 5-6 different biomes OTHER than the desert in that trailer alone. People acting like this must be an open world game just because they've shown snippets of bike traversal sections just doesn't make sense to me.

I'm with you. I think it's going to be a glorified elevator or something like the gummi ship sections in Kingdom Hearts (I wasn't a fan of those sections in the original Kingdom Hearts, but it didn't affect the overall game just like I'm guessing the bike won't in this game).

@Bolt_Strike Like I just said, negative people feed on each other's negativity, so "look at this comment section and you don't really see positive comments" doesn't really mean much to me. Sure the bike thing MIGHT be bad. But I'm going to be open-minded about it and judge it when I PERSONALLY play it. That's not "copium" that's being RATIONAL.

Personally, I didn't like that MP3 took place over different planets, I like having a small interconnected world to explore, but, overall, that was a small problem that was overshadowed by the good parts of the game (some of the same things that looked like positives in the demo of MP4: the combat, boss fights, and my love of scanning enemies). The bike might similarly be a negative, but I won't know until I TRY IT.

It will suck if this game turns out not to be great. Metroid, especially the Prime series, is my second favorite game series, and it "cannot afford a failure" like you said earlier. But going in with ANY expectations of the game (that it will suck OR that it will be amazing) would only hurt my enjoyment. If you expect something to suck, you will find reasons that your expectations were correct. If you expect something to be amazing, it will never live up to your hopes. So just WAIT AND SEE!

@Bolt_Strike You're talking like you already know what the quality of the game is. You don't know it will be "a dud like this", and anticipating that it will be a dud will only hurt your own enjoyment of the game, if you even bother to give it a chance.

People who played the demo of the game earlier this year came away very positive. Nintendo isn't doing anything to "make the core fans hesitate to want this", people's negativity is doing that (this isn't just about Metroid Prime 4, a vocal number of people are negative about EVERYTHING these last few years, and they only feed off each other).

Will all of you that are complaining about the bike (or anything else about the game) just flipping wait until the game is released or reviews are in before forming an opinion! If this is a game that you even remotely might WANT to play (as opposed to the ever-present number of people who just want to hate on anything other people like), you're doing yourself and the rest of us no favors by prejudging something you haven't experienced for yourself. If you go into anything expecting the worse, you WILL find the worst. And the constant negativity can affect the sales of a game that can ill afford it. If the game is bad, we'll know it in a month. No need to decide now.

@stungun He already did elaborate in the comments, but it's pretty clear "if it gets remade" implies it hasn't been remade YET. The point is that there were rumors that the entire trilogy was remastered when the first game was remastered, the word "if" would definitely imply that wasn't the case.

@BrokenCiv Huh? You call @Arawn93 biased and then basically agree with their assessment that these devices (Steam Deck/ROG Ally) are not competitors of the Switch.

As for WHO is saying they are competitors, watch basically any YouTube reviews of the Steam Deck from the last few years and you'll find myriads of internet commentators depicting them as direct competitors.

I agree they aren't competitors and I have a Steam Deck myself, but it's obvious Arawn93 is referring to an oft-repeated, tired, stupid narrative about how the Steam Deck or any number of other handheld devices are going to replace or "kill' the Switch.

The review I read didn't even mention that this new "Windows Gaming Experience" still can't suspend games on sleep and let you instantly restart them when you wake the device. That's an essential feature for a handheld device, if you ask me.

It's something Nintendo did with the DS 20 YEARS AGO and Microsoft still can't get there OS to do it?!

That makes that $1000 device worthless, especially in comparison to the Switch and Steam OS devices that you can purchase for hundreds of dollars cheaper and actually use them for PORTABLE gaming.

@jojobar
Yeah, I understand concern. I get anxious before the release of any game in a series I love, worrying that it might not be as good as I hope. Quite a few people hear are taking it far farther than that though: declaring the game a bust based on wild assumptions from very limited information.

@JimmyFleck
I don't get that sense. Metroid just isn't a big series for Nintendo and they have never treated it as such in their marketing and reveals. That hasn't stopped the teams who work on them from pouring their love of the series into the games when they actually GET the opportunity to make them. The hands-ons with the game I've seen have all been positive and I loved the little clips of the game that were shown on Nintendo Today, so Retro is at least getting important parts of the game right.

I worry about the exploration aspect of the game (whether we will have an interconnected world to explore), but Retro had already diminished that with Prime 3 with its travel between worlds and that was still a good game (although my least favorite of the trilogy).

We'll see in December!

The only things I wanted from this direct going in was a Metroid Prime release date and some sort of Fire Emblem announcement. As the direct went along and got closer to the hour mark, I kept thinking, "we're not going to get a Fire Emblem, are we?" I didn't think they would use Fire Emblem as a "one more thing." It so awesome that they did!

I can't believe how far this series has come: from worrying whether Awakening would even get a western release (unlike New Mystery of the Emblem) after it was announced to the series being the closing feature of the direct. So glad to see so many people excited for my favorite game series!

Man, reading this comment section is sure bringing back Wind Waker memories. So many people rush to judgment. You know, you don't need to make up your mind about a game BEFORE it is released. You can actually wait for the game and/or reviews.

I'll be happy with a Metroid Prime 4 release date and an announced Fire Emblem...which is exactly what I've thought before each direct this year.

If we get an announcement of what Monolith is making on top of that, I'll be over the moon.

For me: All-time Fire Emblem soundtracks ranking:
1. Awakening
2. Path of Radiance
3. Three Houses

I've been really hoping for the Awakening soundtrack to be added. "Don't Speak Her Name!" gives me chills. That chapter with the events that preceded it... Emmeryn

And Divine Decree (Ablaze) too! So Good!

@Darthmoogle A port would be awesome, but the icons weren't for Awakening. They were for The Blazing Blade and you have to play Fire Emblem on NSO to unlock them. Still gives me hope that we will see SOMETHING Fire Emblem related announced this month.

I think the best thing for the game itself would be for it to release in January. It doesn't have the mass appeal to be a big holiday seller, so it wouldn't be smart to release it at a time when people have less disposable income and some of the funds they do have will likely go towards Pokemon.

September would have been ideal, but I don't think they've left themselves enough time to properly market the game.

That said, we know the game is basically done since it's been rated. I just want to play it now!

@KidSparta It also continued the trend of removing past features, in this case the Battle Tower, following after the removal of GTS in Sword/Shield and the National Dex in Sun/Moon. Ultimately the Battle Tower wasn't removed to be included as DLC as I originally suspected, but the previous decisions were made to try to convince people to pay for Pokemon Home. So those series of decisions along with the poor state of the game added to the "cash grab" narrative.

@Flitzpiepe

Yeah, Littlefinger is probably pissed. He really wanted that "Sonic & Amy" dating sim that Nintendo told him was real.

@Willo567

I never said they were permanent. I, personally, buy everything digitally, but I respect that other people prefer not to do that.

My issue was your claim that the same people who have a problem with key cards are buying other games on digital stores when, if you've ever read any gaming message board ever you'd know, there are a whole host of people who prefer to buy physical media, for many different reasons. Why shouldn't they have the right to be upset when a company's decisions directly effect their hobby?

@Willo567

How do you not realize that people who are complaining about key cards DON'T buy their games digitally elsewhere. Gamers are not a monolith. Many buy games digitally but many want all their games to be physical copies. A key card is NOT a physical copy. It's just a different way to buy a digital copy. Thus, those that only buy physically are upset.

@Ryu_Niiyama I just don't think of what you are describing as necessarily a "male power fantasy". Showing perseverance and wielding power are two very different things. If it takes me 20 tries to do something and I love that feeling of accomplishment that I feel after succeeding on that 21st try, is that about power? It doesn't make me feel powerful to be repeatedly frustrated over and over again until I finally get something right. It makes me feel relief more than anything.

I don't know why that appeals to me. I don't know if has anything to do with me being a guy. I definitely don't know enough about everyone else to say. Nevertheless, I don't think it has any of the wish fulfillment/glorification of the playable character's dominance aspect that is central to my understanding of what constitutes a male power fantasy. Without that wish fulfillment/dominance aspect, ANYTHING where you or your character triumphs/succeeds could be considered a "male power fantasy".

I actually don't even think that challenge aspect is why I like the Souls games. I think it's more the exploratory aspect of them that I enjoy. Like I said, those games definitely don't make me feel powerful. They make me feel small, scared, overwhelmed, and overly cautious. I feel dread...and yet I love them.

My tastes tend towards games and genres that have a lot of female representation in their fan base (Zelda, Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Persona, Elder Scrolls), and, personally, when a game lets you create a character (Like the Souls games) I create female characters (even though I'm a guy). It's not about projecting myself onto the character for me. It's about creating a character and making THEM powerful. That is definitely a power fantasy, but I don't think it is what the term "male power fantasy" is intended to capture.

@Ryu_Niiyama Sorry for nitpicking on a single aspect of your well written, well-reasoned post, but how do the Souls games represent a male power fantasy? You are weaker than most of what you fight in those games and fail over and over again. the RPG elements never allow you to become an overpowered beast (and enemies become more powerful on each newgame+). The only thing that allows you to succeed is timing and being patient and methodical. I hardly think that represents a power fantasy (unlike God of War).