I played Hollow Knight in the summer evening one night outside with the fireflies IRL with headphones on, and it was so immersive and beautiful a feeling it became the “way to play” going forward.
I also really enjoyed playing Into The Breach in a “tabletop” mode with split Joy-Cons with my morning coffee, and will probably do the same if I end up to picking up Advance Wars.
@gojiguy How am I wrong? Tell me how credits in video games are enshrined in law, policy, or are even standardized in the way it is in film or television.
@Mahatma I see what you’re saying, but from an apolitical perspective, this is the case with every niche genre title be it shmups, fighters, point-and-click adventure games, etc., and I don’t think coverage should be based on mass appeal... we’d all be stuck talking about Mario Kart and Marvel movies.
I know what you mean by the Kotaku/resetera audience, but NeoGAF has a lot of love for this game too.
@Xansies As much as I love Steins;Gate, this is absolutely true. I've watched and read and the VN is impactfully better, but I honestly recommend the VN or the anime solely based on the person's tolerance for either medium.
@gaga64 "I guess my question (and it’s not really a question, more of a ponderance (new word, patent pending)) is whether the game is itself intrinsically good, or whether it’s entirely dependent on the reader projecting themselves onto it."
This is interesting. I think media, particularly gaming media fails at this consideration for unchallenging works and popular genres, let alone challenging or divisive material.
I'd say there's enough 10/10 reviews and near unanimous praise for the game in user reviews (before the metacritic score beame "a thing" at least) that the answer is pretty obvious, but the genre itself presents obstacles that no content will be good enough for gamers to overcome, and rare is the outlet that will stick it's neck out for it.
I'd also say I didn't need to be an Irish woman to feel the impact of "Sophie's Choice", and there's no way to know if I would have felt it more or less as a native or a tourist. I think if it required something of the audience more than it could manifest itself, you'd see a lot more mixed reviews like you do for great games in other niche genres.
I also have a feeling there's something about the genre, the content, or maybe even the "diary-style" of the review making you probe in a very careful way, am I'm very curious why that is. Do you feel that way too or am I off-base? I feel like this kind of questioning is very appropriate for games, and of reviewers, but I've never heard it put so delicately.
I am looking forward to the review however, and seeing just what this 4-month long experiment of a process was.
@Daniel36 Steins;Gate is one of the best works of science fiction full stop. Many novels, especially genre works that have been infected with YA structure and tropes, should be flattered by the comparison. I haven't played Fata (and probably won't, it sounds brutal) but from the years of reviews it sounds like it's in that territory.
@Chamver That's not strictly true. Choose You Own Adventure books are games, and many VNs are "video" adaptations of that. There are some zero-interaction VNs that are really just digital comics, I agree, but why the "hot take" generalization?
@Mahatma Do you think that VNs are only for LGBTQ people? The genre has a decades old history as old as computer games coming from Japanese, magna which has been comfortable talking about issues and perspectives around sexuality and identity way before the LGBTQ movement was a twinkle in an activist's eye. I understand how it could look that way from a modern, Western lens, but you're way off base here.
@nessisonett True, but there is not a lot of "cream" at the top. It's Fata and Stein's Gate, then the VN-likes like Danganronpa, Nonary Games and Ace Attorney, then it goes off a cliff into niche anime erotica and softcore. Even the meme-worthy Doki Doki really only lands for genre fans.
It's a potent genre, but for whatever reason, and despite some luminaries, it's never had it's "Gone Home" or "Binding of Isaac" breakthrough. I don't blame anyone for avoiding them.
@pathtracer Fair enough, but my bias for Nintendo is based on the very "creator control" philosophy so I think I'm more of an apologist than a rationalizer.
I still disagree, but I like how we disagree, and I'm glad I can understand where and why we do:) Hope you feel the same.
@gojiguy There's no reason to put them in the credits. It's not a law. There's no union that demands it. Credits are a tip-of-the-hat to cinema that became a thing as games tried to be more like movies, and only even make sense in games with endings — which many games don't have!
There is also are valid reason not to have them included in the credits:
1) Traditionally, credits are done by department in alphabetical order. Should the person who animated turrets get top billing in the animation department over the brilliant work of the Samus animators because their last name is Alvarez? Some people deserve more credit than others, surely.
2) The player has to watch these things! Metroid has a "stinger-esque" tradition of showing a clear screen and a bonus image. I appreciate the primacy of the player experience here over the feelings of a handful of contractors who didn't do as much as the people listed. It's essentially a cut scene, and the brevity is appreciated.
I'm not too convinced this counts as "abuse". They literally say that project was cut in scope because they don't do crunch.
Translated from the article: "They punish workers who don't do things the way the studio wants them to a lot". Really? You don't say.
"The Human Resources department does not want to negotiate or deal with any problems with the workers." Ummm... have these people ever had a job before? That may as well be the definition of an HR department.
What would change my mind is some disclosure about who this article is quoting. Fact is — and I don't love it, but it is what it is — is that there is a very small "core" team who stays with the company through projects, and many, if not most, are contract workers who come in as development increases in scope, and are let go as production winds down. They were treated like second-class employees because they were.
It also sounds like MercurySteam created a path to request a transfer from the other project to Metroid by paying them less. Maybe it's not the best solution, but they took the deal.
It sounds like the trouble MercurySteam had was the expectation that Nintendo wrote a blank check that would fund both projects at MercurySteam — and good for them for trying, maybe it worked with Konami — but when Dread itself got cut in scope, it made a wave through the company.
Honestly, this sounds like an "Aziz Ansari" situation... a bad date is not assault, and a bad job is not abuse. I am very pro-labor, and these kinds of problems are part the awful way game development contracts out work, not of a particularly "abusive culture" at MercurySteam.
I'll admit I'm biased because I love Metroid Dread, but I'm also very relieved to hear the complaints are not substantive and sound more like a bad experience job at worst, and sour grapes at best.
SIDE NOTE: thank God for Nintendo's intervention because they nailed the balance on story. 120+ cinematics sounds miserable.
@NintendoJunkie I appreciate your perspective, but film and television is "transient" too. I'd give a lot more weight to someone in a union in one of those industries than someone who isn't that doesn't see that value of organizing labor.
@CharlieGirl It’s HIGHLY improbable. Like, why would anyone ever do that when they can make a phone call or send an email.
The only circumstance I could even imagine is like if I had a billion dollars and just played through Metroid Dread, I’d probably want to get in touch with the Head Level Designer, but again... if I had a billion dollars I would have someone else find out and make a phone call.
“Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, not being credited properly is arguably harmful to someone's career.“
This is true! I can’t tell you the amount of times I got someone’s CV, beat the game they worked on, and didn’t even find their name in the credits!
@CharlieGirl
Seriously though... the only reason that movies are credited they way they are is becuase of unions. The main credits are called “above-the-line” credits and everything past that is out of obligations.
Games only have credits as a homage to film. It’s not mandatory or necessary. If this borrowed tradition is becoming a problem in the industry, union up, because the “my feelings” twitter argumentation doesn’t fly.
@HarvestGoddess What do you mean, like color blindness issues or the controls?
I’m actually really refreshed about the lack of options — I get OCD fiddling with stuff and prefer a crafted experience — but of course I get to overlook most accessibility issues.
@pathtracer I actually like that analogy... I’d point to Christopher Nolan who caught heat for not wanting his movie to premiere on HBO Max, as he intended it for theaters. It’s “anti-consumer”, but “pro-creator”. Even if it means that I lose a chance to watch it how I might want to, I think it was an awesome stance to take and I accept and support it. Again, we’re talking the 1s and 0s of distribution versus experience.
In a former life I was a music artist, and if I could have prevented people from listening to my music on smartphone speakers, I would have done it in a heartbeat.
Honestly, I think both positions have value and it should be examined on a case by case basis... and in that regard I will admit to having bias towards Nintendo as that kind of creator. If we we’re having this conversation about most Sony games, I’d likely agree with you completely.
@pathtracer I understand where you’re coming from, and probably agree with the same principle in different places if I think about it.
Where I’ll go to bat for Nintendo, and consoles in general, is in the idea that they are curating the entirety of the experience. You are — and not incorrectly — looking as a game at set of 1s and 0s that, with the proper interpretation and interface, can be played in any way on any device. That is true and makes complete sense.
I think it also makes sense to look at it from the POV as an experience and it’s a different philosophy. Nintendo places a value on curating the experience from start to finish, from the “meta” game space to the feel of your thumbs on the controller to the rewards programs for buying your games to the licensing of the characters for merchandise. To play Metroid Dread on an XBox 360 controller and be messing around with display drivers and settings is no longer the experience they created — wether it’s better or worse — and I on some deep level agree that they have a right to maintain the integrity of the experience they set out to create.
If you were the brand manager of, say, White Castle, and believed in the experience of getting a White Castle hamburger, you would have never allowed it to go into the supermarket freezer. Sure, it’s a “1s and 0s” recipe that could be made anywhere and could be sold anywhere and it’s, from a narrow perspective “better” for the consumer to have more options and opportunities to consume it, but — if you believed in the experience — that going to the drive-thru and having the bag stink up your car and eating some on the way home had a value, you would never let that brand go in the freezer because it has now devalued both channels.
I’m using White Castle a bit tongue in cheek (and for the nobody keeping track of my long and storied history of fast food analogies in posts), but also to illustrate that even a sub-standard experience can have a tangible value if you look at things differently.
Now I don’t know if I could make this case as well for Sony or Microsoft (or Apple or Google), especially as their hardware is becoming less and less distinguishable from a PC with a walled garden storefront— but with Nintendo it’s more clear they are looking at things from a larger perspective of which the literal software is a part, and I while I think your perspective is entirely coherent and makes sense from your personal POV and as a consumer and gamer advocate, I hope you can consider how it doesn’t make the same sense looking at it as Nintendo might, managing global brands and properties.
@pathtracer Listen, I'm all about that hardware emulation... I'm looking forward to the possibility of playing Dread on PC in the future, and also considering looking into Wii emulation now for some of the games I have and can't be bothered to hook up and squint through 480p to play... it's not enough p's in 2021!!!
I'm looking at it more like the perspective of piracy in China. Nintendo could not combat piracy in China because, well, China, but also because they had difficulty actually getting into the market, i.e. partnering with a Chinese company. Eventually they did with iQue, and that's it's own story.
I guess it sounds to me like the way you're saying it is like PC gamers are like China, as if they are somehow really stranded from Nintendo's legal market, and from my perspective, that doesn't make sense because there's no really good reason they couldn't also buy a Switch to play Nintendo games... at least from Nintendo's POV, but I agree too. If we were talking about a country that had PC games and Nintendo was not in that market I could see the "Nintendo has no right to complain"... but here they do, and you only need to zoom out from the platform's digital marketplace to the hardware marketplace, or from the PC market to the broader gaming market, and you can literally put a Nintendo Switch in the same shopping cart as your graphics card so that can't be the rationale from a user perspective.
@pathtracer I agree with you as far as emulation and piracy being different, but I still don’t see the fact that Nintendo doesn’t release on PC making a difference. Their right to “complain” is based on intellectual property rights, not some sort of consumer’s right to access.
@pathtracer I don’t know.. I get what your saying, and I’m thankful for emulation to preserve games since so many generations of hardware have been abandoned, but I don’t get the “Nintendo abandons PC every time they don’t release a game on it” at all... I really don’t understand the justification for piracy here. Is piracy not justified when companies release games onto the PC platform? What about games like Nier Automata and Batman Arkham City that are broken PC ports?
I didn’t even know you could emulate Switch hardware already! I dropped out of the emulation scene after I failed to get a Saturn emulator to run over a decade ago.
I’m kind of grateful that in 5 years from now, when I get the itch to return to Dread (playing my second run on Hard Mode now <3) , I can spend some time figuring out how to set up an emulator rather than port beg a game I already own for Switch 2.
I totally agree with your point from a consumer perspective... nobody has the perspective to say what $60 is worth to someone else. Sure, electricity and food, but also for drugs or gambling. It’s not our place to say what value is in that sense.
But! A big part of the sentiment is that Metroid Dread is not worth $60 because of what it is. Be that it’s an AAA title in an indie dominated genre, it’s single playthrough clock, it’s 2D perspective, it’s graphics or art direction, or whatever the complaint is...
It gets personal when people are going after the content.. Metroid Dread is more than likely my game of the year, I got more than my money’s worth, and I’m very happy with my purchase. It’s the first full price game I’ve bought since 2019. I’m so, so glad I did.
I’m not saying that it will be that way for everyone, but I’m testifying that it has that quality and that capacity to be great for and valuable to someone. If you want to argue it should be cheaper, I will argue it should be more expensive, and we’d both have valid, but utterly useless and misguided points.
If you frame it as: would you pay $60 — if you could afford it — for your favorite game of the year? Who is going to say no?
If you frame it as: if you can only afford 1 $60 game, would you want/need it to last longer than 15 hours? Who’s going to say no?
My point is, these are not the right questions to ask when criticizing content. They are the right questions to ask when we are criticizing purchases... and I don’t think we should be criticizing each other’s purchases. I think you agree.
People are trying to justify their decisions with some kind of objective analysis which is being laundered as subjective opinion. I agree with @Zag_Man that when these personal reasons become criticisms, they no longer should have the “protected class” status of an opinion. Good reasons for me may be bad reasons for you, and bad reasons should be called out.
@BloodNinja I could see that, and I was worried at first, but from my first playthrough, after the 3 hour mark the game was wide open and nothing felt like an unwelcome interruption... it's really a "soft" tutorial up until that point, and — like me — you were probably thinking this is Samus Returns on Switch. The first time you get "lost" and "found" is what really harkened back to Super and the best games of the genre. The bosses get better and better and as much as things feel forced, they're not... on my second playthrough on Hard and blow through EMMI zones just from having a better handle on the encounters and the flow of those sections — the instinct is to plod through like a Metal Gear or survival horror game and find all the nooks and crannies under this tense stalking, but it also works more like Dead Cells where you're just making snap decisions in a branching map at the speed of your traversal. It's more Pac-Man than Mr. X if you get my drift.
Give it until the 5-6 hour mark if you ever feel so inclined... once it opens up, you've got the controls relatively nailed in muscle memory and you've integrate the flow/anti-flow feel of the map design, the game's got a real ass on it;)
@BloodNinja I was looking for you in these comments! Not chiming in on the price — to each their own — but remember our conversation around the announcement — we both are dyed in the wool Metroid fans who didn’t like Samus Returns much at all — but I think Dread is the real deal. It’s hard for me to believe it’s the same team who made both games. I’m not saying pay $60 bucks if you don’t want to, but don’t sleep on it if you get the chance... I think you’ll dig it.
@Scollurio I’m embarrassed to say how impressed I am by that. It was like a little tingle of that “next-gen” awe when we feel a game can’t be doing that. Though I know most 2D game are actually 3D, they usually take a lot of shortcuts thanks to the fixed perspective. The seamless of the camera from the fixed perspective to dramatic angles was masterfully done and never got old, and if you use the Pulse Scan you can see the 360 degree nature of it, all the geometry in the background is to scale... it’s really a more amazing effect than it ought to be.
@UltimateOtaku91 Normal, and then after beating it, Hard.
The bosses are really, really fun and lean heavily to the “pattern recognition” side of things over reflexes and reaction times. It’s a really good feeling challenge ramp. Plus the checkpoints are right at the boss doors, so this is hardly Souls.
“Hard” meant I it took maybe 5, maybe ten attempts, but I never got overly frustrated and really... like the final boss seemed impossible the first time I encountered it, than by the third try I could beat their first phase without taking a hit.
@Beaucine I’m not knocking Super Metroid, but when I’ playing Dread and thinking “this is how good it felt to play Super Metroid back in the day”, and the I play Super Metroid after finishing Dread... it just evaporated my rose-tinted glasses is all.
@Jimmy_G_Buckets I think Hollow Knight spoiled people for content, but I think if you look at expectations for the series and not the genre, the content is in depth and replay.
Every Metroid game has different ending based on clear time. That really signals what the series is about, especially as the Metroidvania genre has sprouted and blossomed around it. “Content” is really favored on the “-Vania” side of the genre which is sometimes really good like Hollow Knight or Bloodstained, but more often it’s just padding, extended backtracks, and lame RPG-lite grinds.
@hypnotoad I love Metroid Prime... one of the GOATs in all gaming, but I love the faster gameplay of the 2D games and even M:OM also. Different, complementary vibes.
And yeah I went back to Super immediately after beating Dread and it was so sluggish and awkward to control. Nostalgia is a powerful thing haha.
I hope that Prime 4 can reach the heights of Dread and we can look forward to both branches being developed in tandem in the future: Prime/Fusion, Dread/Prime 4, then Metroid 6/Prime 5 on Switch 2!?
@hypnotoad They’re so different it’s hard to compare apples to apples... I’m happy to say (at this point). Top 3 Metroid games are Super, Prime, and Dread, and hit shuffle on what is the best for what you want to play or talk about at the time.
@Richnj Completely agree. Reviews are not opinion pieces. If they want to write “just their opinion...” put it in the comment section with the rest of our unpaid amateur takes.
@luckiernut Personal taste, but it definitely deserves to be in the conversation. Hollow Knight is my all-time favorite in the genre, and I’m going to have to replay both before I make up my mind which is better. Hollow Knight has more content and a higher skill ceiling and payoff for it, but Dread is a more layered experience, better pacing .. I think pacing in Metroidvanias can be described as “box of freedom”. the developer expands and contracts around the player and Dread has the edge IMO. Dread has a broader palette of tone than Hollow Knight, or really any game in the genre.
At the end of the day, it’s not a grudge match, and what makes one better of the other are interesting differences and choices by the developers. If you’re a fan of the genre I think it’s an absolute must-play if/when you can afford it.
@Cathousemaster I did not like Samus Returns at all and loved Dread. After a few hours you’ll totally forget about these games were made by the same team.
@BlackenedHalo Not everything has to be revolutionary (though I think Dread is very innovative for the series). It will be argued by many for years to come as one of the greatest games in the series, and in the genre.
The story / cutscenes are front-loaded. I was worried too, but it smooth sailing after the intro:)
I couldn’t get into Samus Returns at all after multiple attempts, so my expectations were... tempered. I just finished my first run (13 hours), and I am simply blown away.
Gameplay, pacing, story (!), tone, atmosphere... everything was just nailed. MercurySteam over promised and over delivered. I’ve always been lukewarm on the studio — but Metroid Dread is a masterclass of game design and they have honed their craft to a diamond sharp degree.
They way MercurySteam expands and contracts the box of freedom around the player is a remarkable achievement in the genre. I can’t think of a game save maybe Hollow Knight that does it better.
I’m an unapologetic fan of Other M — but Sakimoto and MercurySteam deftly did a great job of doing “reverse fan service”, establishing Samus as closer to the consensus fan “head canon”. She is absolutely fantastic. She has one line of dialogue, and it is in Chozo. Brilliant. Without spoiling anything there are moments that feel like that “Doom 2016” tone-setting intro that, even as fan of Other M I really, really appreciated.
Top 3 Metroid of all time, no doubt.
Top 5 Metroidvania game... deserves to be in the conversation with Super Metroid, Symphony, Hollow Knight, and anyone’s favorite.
Will it surpass Super Metroid? Time will tell. Right now, in the afterglow of it, and a few hours knocking around in Super Metroid again, I think it will for me personally. I can not wait to go back to ZDR in Hard Mode, and chip away at 100% items on my clear file.
Nintendo... fund this studio!!!!
2021 GOTY.
If Metroid Prime 4 comes even close to this great, Metroid is the franchise of the generation. I wouldn’t be surprised if they canned Prime 4 after seeing Dread — the bar for the series is officially raised. This game is a dream come true, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to all Metroid fans as soon as they can get their hands on it.
Mashing on the ‘Continue?’ screen to finish your review is not “1 hour of content”. It takes dozens of not hundreds of hours to craft a mastered 1CC playthrough of a good arcade/old-school game. If you don’t have the patience for it, that’s one thing. To confuse gameplay for “content” is another.
@Sjmaster No place for short, repeatable games in 2021? You’re attitude is more like 2003, when the arcades were dead and there was no digital marketplace on console.
People like you assumed that 2D was dead, that the arcade style was dead, that there was no place in the market for games like that anymore.
In 2021, there’s space for so many games. Leave that kind of judgement in the past where it belongs.
@Hwatt Also on TeamDaysOfRuin... pinnacle of the series gameplay wise, and I loved the abrupt shift of tone from the overcooked (but wonderful as a celebration of the series) Dual Strike.
At first blush I’d say it’s a bit too stripped down, but after playing the very charming and oddly addictive Voice of Cards, I’m not going to dismiss it.
@TYRANACLES How so? Technically Donkey Kong Country is a spin-off, and if you think Donkey Kong ‘94 is a port, you haven’t played it.
I understand that Jungle Beat and Konga were gimmicky, and the Paon handheld games were, well, trash, but my point is the franchise can accommodate a lot of experimentation and obviously the “Country” platformers have run their course.
@Crockin It will be interesting to see which way DK goes going forward, East, West, or a new partnership. Crazy take.. give it to Sakurai! I think Smash may have the best feeling Donkey Kong of any title.
@Crockin I would be too. At this point, anything besides “Mario, but a monkey” would be great.
I’m stereotyping, but generally I think Western studios tend to miss the point when rebooting Japanese IP (Mercury Steam’s Castlevania, Ninja Theory’s DmC, GRiN’s Bionic Commando) — with the notable exception of Retro Studios — or you have the WayForward style which is so slavishly dedicated to the original that they just make (really good) fan-games.
@Crockin Totally agree. Donkey King does have a rich history of experimental games (Donkey Kong Jr., DK3, ‘94, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, King of Swing, MvDK March of the Minis, Konga, Jungle Beat) and I agree they should return to that spirit, especially if they’re not progressing with the stalwart “Country” series in any meaningful way.
I think first and foremost, the development needs to return to Japan.
Comments 1,194
Re: Talking Point: Do You Have A 'Way' You Play Certain Switch Games?
I played Hollow Knight in the summer evening one night outside with the fireflies IRL with headphones on, and it was so immersive and beautiful a feeling it became the “way to play” going forward.
I also really enjoyed playing Into The Breach in a “tabletop” mode with split Joy-Cons with my morning coffee, and will probably do the same if I end up to picking up Advance Wars.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@gojiguy How am I wrong? Tell me how credits in video games are enshrined in law, policy, or are even standardized in the way it is in film or television.
Examples:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/delivery/credits-branding-trademarks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGA_screenwriting_credit_system
https://www.documentary.org/sites/default/files/images/articles/DPACreditingGuidelines.pdf
There's nothing like this in games, and never will be without unions.
Re: Feature: We Finally Finished The Game With An Almost-Perfect Metascore
@Mahatma I see what you’re saying, but from an apolitical perspective, this is the case with every niche genre title be it shmups, fighters, point-and-click adventure games, etc., and I don’t think coverage should be based on mass appeal... we’d all be stuck talking about Mario Kart and Marvel movies.
I know what you mean by the Kotaku/resetera audience, but NeoGAF has a lot of love for this game too.
Re: Feature: We Finally Finished The Game With An Almost-Perfect Metascore
@Xansies As much as I love Steins;Gate, this is absolutely true. I've watched and read and the VN is impactfully better, but I honestly recommend the VN or the anime solely based on the person's tolerance for either medium.
Re: Feature: We Finally Finished The Game With An Almost-Perfect Metascore
@gaga64 "I guess my question (and it’s not really a question, more of a ponderance (new word, patent pending)) is whether the game is itself intrinsically good, or whether it’s entirely dependent on the reader projecting themselves onto it."
This is interesting. I think media, particularly gaming media fails at this consideration for unchallenging works and popular genres, let alone challenging or divisive material.
I'd say there's enough 10/10 reviews and near unanimous praise for the game in user reviews (before the metacritic score beame "a thing" at least) that the answer is pretty obvious, but the genre itself presents obstacles that no content will be good enough for gamers to overcome, and rare is the outlet that will stick it's neck out for it.
I'd also say I didn't need to be an Irish woman to feel the impact of "Sophie's Choice", and there's no way to know if I would have felt it more or less as a native or a tourist. I think if it required something of the audience more than it could manifest itself, you'd see a lot more mixed reviews like you do for great games in other niche genres.
I also have a feeling there's something about the genre, the content, or maybe even the "diary-style" of the review making you probe in a very careful way, am I'm very curious why that is. Do you feel that way too or am I off-base? I feel like this kind of questioning is very appropriate for games, and of reviewers, but I've never heard it put so delicately.
I am looking forward to the review however, and seeing just what this 4-month long experiment of a process was.
Re: Feature: We Finally Finished The Game With An Almost-Perfect Metascore
@Daniel36 Steins;Gate is one of the best works of science fiction full stop. Many novels, especially genre works that have been infected with YA structure and tropes, should be flattered by the comparison. I haven't played Fata (and probably won't, it sounds brutal) but from the years of reviews it sounds like it's in that territory.
Re: Feature: We Finally Finished The Game With An Almost-Perfect Metascore
@Chamver That's not strictly true. Choose You Own Adventure books are games, and many VNs are "video" adaptations of that. There are some zero-interaction VNs that are really just digital comics, I agree, but why the "hot take" generalization?
@Mahatma Do you think that VNs are only for LGBTQ people? The genre has a decades old history as old as computer games coming from Japanese, magna which has been comfortable talking about issues and perspectives around sexuality and identity way before the LGBTQ movement was a twinkle in an activist's eye. I understand how it could look that way from a modern, Western lens, but you're way off base here.
Re: Feature: We Finally Finished The Game With An Almost-Perfect Metascore
@nessisonett True, but there is not a lot of "cream" at the top. It's Fata and Stein's Gate, then the VN-likes like Danganronpa, Nonary Games and Ace Attorney, then it goes off a cliff into niche anime erotica and softcore. Even the meme-worthy Doki Doki really only lands for genre fans.
It's a potent genre, but for whatever reason, and despite some luminaries, it's never had it's "Gone Home" or "Binding of Isaac" breakthrough. I don't blame anyone for avoiding them.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@NintendoJunkie Please do! That could be very illuminating for the conversation here.
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@pathtracer Fair enough, but my bias for Nintendo is based on the very "creator control" philosophy so I think I'm more of an apologist than a rationalizer.
I still disagree, but I like how we disagree, and I'm glad I can understand where and why we do:) Hope you feel the same.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@gojiguy There's no reason to put them in the credits. It's not a law. There's no union that demands it. Credits are a tip-of-the-hat to cinema that became a thing as games tried to be more like movies, and only even make sense in games with endings — which many games don't have!
There is also are valid reason not to have them included in the credits:
1) Traditionally, credits are done by department in alphabetical order. Should the person who animated turrets get top billing in the animation department over the brilliant work of the Samus animators because their last name is Alvarez? Some people deserve more credit than others, surely.
2) The player has to watch these things! Metroid has a "stinger-esque" tradition of showing a clear screen and a bonus image. I appreciate the primacy of the player experience here over the feelings of a handful of contractors who didn't do as much as the people listed. It's essentially a cut scene, and the brevity is appreciated.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@nessisonett Thanks.
I'm not too convinced this counts as "abuse". They literally say that project was cut in scope because they don't do crunch.
Translated from the article: "They punish workers who don't do things the way the studio wants them to a lot". Really? You don't say.
"The Human Resources department does not want to negotiate or deal with any problems with the workers." Ummm... have these people ever had a job before? That may as well be the definition of an HR department.
What would change my mind is some disclosure about who this article is quoting. Fact is — and I don't love it, but it is what it is — is that there is a very small "core" team who stays with the company through projects, and many, if not most, are contract workers who come in as development increases in scope, and are let go as production winds down. They were treated like second-class employees because they were.
It also sounds like MercurySteam created a path to request a transfer from the other project to Metroid by paying them less. Maybe it's not the best solution, but they took the deal.
It sounds like the trouble MercurySteam had was the expectation that Nintendo wrote a blank check that would fund both projects at MercurySteam — and good for them for trying, maybe it worked with Konami — but when Dread itself got cut in scope, it made a wave through the company.
Honestly, this sounds like an "Aziz Ansari" situation... a bad date is not assault, and a bad job is not abuse. I am very pro-labor, and these kinds of problems are part the awful way game development contracts out work, not of a particularly "abusive culture" at MercurySteam.
I'll admit I'm biased because I love Metroid Dread, but I'm also very relieved to hear the complaints are not substantive and sound more like a bad experience job at worst, and sour grapes at best.
SIDE NOTE: thank God for Nintendo's intervention because they nailed the balance on story. 120+ cinematics sounds miserable.
@NintendoJunkie I appreciate your perspective, but film and television is "transient" too. I'd give a lot more weight to someone in a union in one of those industries than someone who isn't that doesn't see that value of organizing labor.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 16th)
DREAD!!! Second playthrough. The game has consumed me. GOTY, might be the best in the series and the genre.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@CharlieGirl I totally agree! Unions would solve so many problems we hear about in the industry.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@CharlieGirl It’s HIGHLY improbable. Like, why would anyone ever do that when they can make a phone call or send an email.
The only circumstance I could even imagine is like if I had a billion dollars and just played through Metroid Dread, I’d probably want to get in touch with the Head Level Designer, but again... if I had a billion dollars I would have someone else find out and make a phone call.
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
@nessisonett What? You got receipts for that purchase?
Re: Talking Point: The Metroid Dread Credits Debate Is Sadly Common
“Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, not being credited properly is arguably harmful to someone's career.“
This is true! I can’t tell you the amount of times I got someone’s CV, beat the game they worked on, and didn’t even find their name in the credits!
@CharlieGirl
Seriously though... the only reason that movies are credited they way they are is becuase of unions. The main credits are called “above-the-line” credits and everything past that is out of obligations.
Games only have credits as a homage to film. It’s not mandatory or necessary. If this borrowed tradition is becoming a problem in the industry, union up, because the “my feelings” twitter argumentation doesn’t fly.
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@HarvestGoddess What do you mean, like color blindness issues or the controls?
I’m actually really refreshed about the lack of options — I get OCD fiddling with stuff and prefer a crafted experience — but of course I get to overlook most accessibility issues.
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@pathtracer I actually like that analogy... I’d point to Christopher Nolan who caught heat for not wanting his movie to premiere on HBO Max, as he intended it for theaters. It’s “anti-consumer”, but “pro-creator”. Even if it means that I lose a chance to watch it how I might want to, I think it was an awesome stance to take and I accept and support it. Again, we’re talking the 1s and 0s of distribution versus experience.
In a former life I was a music artist, and if I could have prevented people from listening to my music on smartphone speakers, I would have done it in a heartbeat.
Honestly, I think both positions have value and it should be examined on a case by case basis... and in that regard I will admit to having bias towards Nintendo as that kind of creator. If we we’re having this conversation about most Sony games, I’d likely agree with you completely.
EDIT: you might find this interesting: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/05/01/Nintendo-wins-antitrust-suit/4471704692800/
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@pathtracer I understand where you’re coming from, and probably agree with the same principle in different places if I think about it.
Where I’ll go to bat for Nintendo, and consoles in general, is in the idea that they are curating the entirety of the experience. You are — and not incorrectly — looking as a game at set of 1s and 0s that, with the proper interpretation and interface, can be played in any way on any device. That is true and makes complete sense.
I think it also makes sense to look at it from the POV as an experience and it’s a different philosophy. Nintendo places a value on curating the experience from start to finish, from the “meta” game space to the feel of your thumbs on the controller to the rewards programs for buying your games to the licensing of the characters for merchandise. To play Metroid Dread on an XBox 360 controller and be messing around with display drivers and settings is no longer the experience they created — wether it’s better or worse — and I on some deep level agree that they have a right to maintain the integrity of the experience they set out to create.
If you were the brand manager of, say, White Castle, and believed in the experience of getting a White Castle hamburger, you would have never allowed it to go into the supermarket freezer. Sure, it’s a “1s and 0s” recipe that could be made anywhere and could be sold anywhere and it’s, from a narrow perspective “better” for the consumer to have more options and opportunities to consume it, but — if you believed in the experience — that going to the drive-thru and having the bag stink up your car and eating some on the way home had a value, you would never let that brand go in the freezer because it has now devalued both channels.
I’m using White Castle a bit tongue in cheek (and for the nobody keeping track of my long and storied history of fast food analogies in posts), but also to illustrate that even a sub-standard experience can have a tangible value if you look at things differently.
Now I don’t know if I could make this case as well for Sony or Microsoft (or Apple or Google), especially as their hardware is becoming less and less distinguishable from a PC with a walled garden storefront— but with Nintendo it’s more clear they are looking at things from a larger perspective of which the literal software is a part, and I while I think your perspective is entirely coherent and makes sense from your personal POV and as a consumer and gamer advocate, I hope you can consider how it doesn’t make the same sense looking at it as Nintendo might, managing global brands and properties.
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@pathtracer Listen, I'm all about that hardware emulation... I'm looking forward to the possibility of playing Dread on PC in the future, and also considering looking into Wii emulation now for some of the games I have and can't be bothered to hook up and squint through 480p to play... it's not enough p's in 2021!!!
I'm looking at it more like the perspective of piracy in China. Nintendo could not combat piracy in China because, well, China, but also because they had difficulty actually getting into the market, i.e. partnering with a Chinese company. Eventually they did with iQue, and that's it's own story.
I guess it sounds to me like the way you're saying it is like PC gamers are like China, as if they are somehow really stranded from Nintendo's legal market, and from my perspective, that doesn't make sense because there's no really good reason they couldn't also buy a Switch to play Nintendo games... at least from Nintendo's POV, but I agree too. If we were talking about a country that had PC games and Nintendo was not in that market I could see the "Nintendo has no right to complain"... but here they do, and you only need to zoom out from the platform's digital marketplace to the hardware marketplace, or from the PC market to the broader gaming market, and you can literally put a Nintendo Switch in the same shopping cart as your graphics card so that can't be the rationale from a user perspective.
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@pathtracer I agree with you as far as emulation and piracy being different, but I still don’t see the fact that Nintendo doesn’t release on PC making a difference. Their right to “complain” is based on intellectual property rights, not some sort of consumer’s right to access.
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
@pathtracer I don’t know.. I get what your saying, and I’m thankful for emulation to preserve games since so many generations of hardware have been abandoned, but I don’t get the “Nintendo abandons PC every time they don’t release a game on it” at all... I really don’t understand the justification for piracy here. Is piracy not justified when companies release games onto the PC platform? What about games like Nier Automata and Batman Arkham City that are broken PC ports?
Re: Nintendo's Switch Exclusive Metroid Dread Is Already Being Emulated On PC
I didn’t even know you could emulate Switch hardware already! I dropped out of the emulation scene after I failed to get a Saturn emulator to run over a decade ago.
I’m kind of grateful that in 5 years from now, when I get the itch to return to Dread (playing my second run on Hard Mode now <3) , I can spend some time figuring out how to set up an emulator rather than port beg a game I already own for Switch 2.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
I totally agree with your point from a consumer perspective... nobody has the perspective to say what $60 is worth to someone else. Sure, electricity and food, but also for drugs or gambling. It’s not our place to say what value is in that sense.
But! A big part of the sentiment is that Metroid Dread is not worth $60 because of what it is. Be that it’s an AAA title in an indie dominated genre, it’s single playthrough clock, it’s 2D perspective, it’s graphics or art direction, or whatever the complaint is...
It gets personal when people are going after the content.. Metroid Dread is more than likely my game of the year, I got more than my money’s worth, and I’m very happy with my purchase. It’s the first full price game I’ve bought since 2019. I’m so, so glad I did.
I’m not saying that it will be that way for everyone, but I’m testifying that it has that quality and that capacity to be great for and valuable to someone. If you want to argue it should be cheaper, I will argue it should be more expensive, and we’d both have valid, but utterly useless and misguided points.
If you frame it as: would you pay $60 — if you could afford it — for your favorite game of the year? Who is going to say no?
If you frame it as: if you can only afford 1 $60 game, would you want/need it to last longer than 15 hours? Who’s going to say no?
My point is, these are not the right questions to ask when criticizing content. They are the right questions to ask when we are criticizing purchases... and I don’t think we should be criticizing each other’s purchases. I think you agree.
People are trying to justify their decisions with some kind of objective analysis which is being laundered as subjective opinion. I agree with @Zag_Man that when these personal reasons become criticisms, they no longer should have the “protected class” status of an opinion. Good reasons for me may be bad reasons for you, and bad reasons should be called out.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@BloodNinja I could see that, and I was worried at first, but from my first playthrough, after the 3 hour mark the game was wide open and nothing felt like an unwelcome interruption... it's really a "soft" tutorial up until that point, and — like me — you were probably thinking this is Samus Returns on Switch. The first time you get "lost" and "found" is what really harkened back to Super and the best games of the genre. The bosses get better and better and as much as things feel forced, they're not... on my second playthrough on Hard and blow through EMMI zones just from having a better handle on the encounters and the flow of those sections — the instinct is to plod through like a Metal Gear or survival horror game and find all the nooks and crannies under this tense stalking, but it also works more like Dead Cells where you're just making snap decisions in a branching map at the speed of your traversal. It's more Pac-Man than Mr. X if you get my drift.
Give it until the 5-6 hour mark if you ever feel so inclined... once it opens up, you've got the controls relatively nailed in muscle memory and you've integrate the flow/anti-flow feel of the map design, the game's got a real ass on it;)
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@BloodNinja I was looking for you in these comments! Not chiming in on the price — to each their own — but remember our conversation around the announcement — we both are dyed in the wool Metroid fans who didn’t like Samus Returns much at all — but I think Dread is the real deal. It’s hard for me to believe it’s the same team who made both games. I’m not saying pay $60 bucks if you don’t want to, but don’t sleep on it if you get the chance... I think you’ll dig it.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@Scollurio I’m embarrassed to say how impressed I am by that. It was like a little tingle of that “next-gen” awe when we feel a game can’t be doing that. Though I know most 2D game are actually 3D, they usually take a lot of shortcuts thanks to the fixed perspective. The seamless of the camera from the fixed perspective to dramatic angles was masterfully done and never got old, and if you use the Pulse Scan you can see the 360 degree nature of it, all the geometry in the background is to scale... it’s really a more amazing effect than it ought to be.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@UltimateOtaku91 Normal, and then after beating it, Hard.
The bosses are really, really fun and lean heavily to the “pattern recognition” side of things over reflexes and reaction times. It’s a really good feeling challenge ramp. Plus the checkpoints are right at the boss doors, so this is hardly Souls.
“Hard” meant I it took maybe 5, maybe ten attempts, but I never got overly frustrated and really... like the final boss seemed impossible the first time I encountered it, than by the third try I could beat their first phase without taking a hit.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@Beaucine I’m not knocking Super Metroid, but when I’ playing Dread and thinking “this is how good it felt to play Super Metroid back in the day”, and the I play Super Metroid after finishing Dread... it just evaporated my rose-tinted glasses is all.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@Jimmy_G_Buckets I think Hollow Knight spoiled people for content, but I think if you look at expectations for the series and not the genre, the content is in depth and replay.
Every Metroid game has different ending based on clear time. That really signals what the series is about, especially as the Metroidvania genre has sprouted and blossomed around it. “Content” is really favored on the “-Vania” side of the genre which is sometimes really good like Hollow Knight or Bloodstained, but more often it’s just padding, extended backtracks, and lame RPG-lite grinds.
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@hypnotoad I love Metroid Prime... one of the GOATs in all gaming, but I love the faster gameplay of the 2D games and even M:OM also. Different, complementary vibes.
And yeah I went back to Super immediately after beating Dread and it was so sluggish and awkward to control. Nostalgia is a powerful thing haha.
I hope that Prime 4 can reach the heights of Dread and we can look forward to both branches being developed in tandem in the future: Prime/Fusion, Dread/Prime 4, then Metroid 6/Prime 5 on Switch 2!?
Re: Random: Players Are Already Scarily Good At Controlling Samus In Metroid Dread
@hypnotoad They’re so different it’s hard to compare apples to apples... I’m happy to say (at this point). Top 3 Metroid games are Super, Prime, and Dread, and hit shuffle on what is the best for what you want to play or talk about at the time.
Re: Review: Metroid Dread - Quite Possibly The Best Metroid Game Ever Made
@Rin-go huh? Did you mean to @ me?
Re: Review: Astria Ascending - A Solid JRPG Salvaged With The Help Of Final Fantasy Veterans
@The-Chosen-one Japanese VO option on PC (thank god!). not 100% sure on Switch.
Re: Review: Metroid Dread - Quite Possibly The Best Metroid Game Ever Made
@Richnj Completely agree. Reviews are not opinion pieces. If they want to write “just their opinion...” put it in the comment section with the rest of our unpaid amateur takes.
Re: Review: Metroid Dread - Quite Possibly The Best Metroid Game Ever Made
@luckiernut Personal taste, but it definitely deserves to be in the conversation. Hollow Knight is my all-time favorite in the genre, and I’m going to have to replay both before I make up my mind which is better. Hollow Knight has more content and a higher skill ceiling and payoff for it, but Dread is a more layered experience, better pacing .. I think pacing in Metroidvanias can be described as “box of freedom”. the developer expands and contracts around the player and Dread has the edge IMO. Dread has a broader palette of tone than Hollow Knight, or really any game in the genre.
At the end of the day, it’s not a grudge match, and what makes one better of the other are interesting differences and choices by the developers. If you’re a fan of the genre I think it’s an absolute must-play if/when you can afford it.
Re: Review: Metroid Dread - Quite Possibly The Best Metroid Game Ever Made
@Cathousemaster I did not like Samus Returns at all and loved Dread. After a few hours you’ll totally forget about these games were made by the same team.
Re: Review: Metroid Dread - Quite Possibly The Best Metroid Game Ever Made
@BlackenedHalo Not everything has to be revolutionary (though I think Dread is very innovative for the series). It will be argued by many for years to come as one of the greatest games in the series, and in the genre.
The story / cutscenes are front-loaded. I was worried too, but it smooth sailing after the intro:)
Re: Review: Metroid Dread - Quite Possibly The Best Metroid Game Ever Made
I couldn’t get into Samus Returns at all after multiple attempts, so my expectations were... tempered. I just finished my first run (13 hours), and I am simply blown away.
Gameplay, pacing, story (!), tone, atmosphere... everything was just nailed. MercurySteam over promised and over delivered. I’ve always been lukewarm on the studio — but Metroid Dread is a masterclass of game design and they have honed their craft to a diamond sharp degree.
They way MercurySteam expands and contracts the box of freedom around the player is a remarkable achievement in the genre. I can’t think of a game save maybe Hollow Knight that does it better.
I’m an unapologetic fan of Other M — but Sakimoto and MercurySteam deftly did a great job of doing “reverse fan service”, establishing Samus as closer to the consensus fan “head canon”. She is absolutely fantastic. She has one line of dialogue, and it is in Chozo. Brilliant. Without spoiling anything there are moments that feel like that “Doom 2016” tone-setting intro that, even as fan of Other M I really, really appreciated.
Top 3 Metroid of all time, no doubt.
Top 5 Metroidvania game... deserves to be in the conversation with Super Metroid, Symphony, Hollow Knight, and anyone’s favorite.
Will it surpass Super Metroid? Time will tell. Right now, in the afterglow of it, and a few hours knocking around in Super Metroid again, I think it will for me personally. I can not wait to go back to ZDR in Hard Mode, and chip away at 100% items on my clear file.
Nintendo... fund this studio!!!!
2021 GOTY.
If Metroid Prime 4 comes even close to this great, Metroid is the franchise of the generation. I wouldn’t be surprised if they canned Prime 4 after seeing Dread — the bar for the series is officially raised. This game is a dream come true, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to all Metroid fans as soon as they can get their hands on it.
Re: Teardown Suggests The Switch OLED Dock Is 4K 60fps-Ready And 'Future Proof'
This supports my theory that OLED Switch was a salvage project of a cancelled or postponed “Pro”/Switch 2.
Re: Review: Steel Assault - A Quick Bite To Savour With Classic Castlevania Flavour
@LikelySatan It looks more like the “32-bit” Game Boy Advance aesthetic, like Gunstar Super Heroes and SEGA’s Astro Boy.
Also, yeesh yourself!
Re: Review: Steel Assault - A Quick Bite To Savour With Classic Castlevania Flavour
Mashing on the ‘Continue?’ screen to finish your review is not “1 hour of content”. It takes dozens of not hundreds of hours to craft a mastered 1CC playthrough of a good arcade/old-school game. If you don’t have the patience for it, that’s one thing. To confuse gameplay for “content” is another.
@Sjmaster No place for short, repeatable games in 2021? You’re attitude is more like 2003, when the arcades were dead and there was no digital marketplace on console.
People like you assumed that 2D was dead, that the arcade style was dead, that there was no place in the market for games like that anymore.
In 2021, there’s space for so many games. Leave that kind of judgement in the past where it belongs.
Re: Advance Wars' Switch Box Art Recreates The Original GBA Cover
@Hwatt Also on TeamDaysOfRuin... pinnacle of the series gameplay wise, and I loved the abrupt shift of tone from the overcooked (but wonderful as a celebration of the series) Dual Strike.
Re: Square Enix Unveils Dungeon Encounters, Directed By Hiroyuki Ito
@RudyC3 I loved that game. Voice of Cards is gave me a very similar vibe. Did you try the demo?
Re: Square Enix Unveils Dungeon Encounters, Directed By Hiroyuki Ito
At first blush I’d say it’s a bit too stripped down, but after playing the very charming and oddly addictive Voice of Cards, I’m not going to dismiss it.
Re: Nintendo Shows Off Splatoon 3's 'Eeltail Alley' And That Awesome Crab Tank
@TYRANACLES How so? Technically Donkey Kong Country is a spin-off, and if you think Donkey Kong ‘94 is a port, you haven’t played it.
I understand that Jungle Beat and Konga were gimmicky, and the Paon handheld games were, well, trash, but my point is the franchise can accommodate a lot of experimentation and obviously the “Country” platformers have run their course.
Re: The Donkey Kong Series Has Surpassed 65 Million Sales Worldwide
@Crockin It will be interesting to see which way DK goes going forward, East, West, or a new partnership. Crazy take.. give it to Sakurai! I think Smash may have the best feeling Donkey Kong of any title.
Re: The Donkey Kong Series Has Surpassed 65 Million Sales Worldwide
@Crockin I would be too. At this point, anything besides “Mario, but a monkey” would be great.
I’m stereotyping, but generally I think Western studios tend to miss the point when rebooting Japanese IP (Mercury Steam’s Castlevania, Ninja Theory’s DmC, GRiN’s Bionic Commando) — with the notable exception of Retro Studios — or you have the WayForward style which is so slavishly dedicated to the original that they just make (really good) fan-games.
Re: The Donkey Kong Series Has Surpassed 65 Million Sales Worldwide
@Crockin Totally agree. Donkey King does have a rich history of experimental games (Donkey Kong Jr., DK3, ‘94, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, King of Swing, MvDK March of the Minis, Konga, Jungle Beat) and I agree they should return to that spirit, especially if they’re not progressing with the stalwart “Country” series in any meaningful way.
I think first and foremost, the development needs to return to Japan.