Metroid Topic

[SuperStingray]

You're gonna enjoy Prime 2.

I really don't know what's so tedious about the keys in Prime 2. Between the ENORMOUS shortcut with the light suit, the chance to open up more of the older areas with new moves and the fact there's even less keys than artifacts in Prime 1 and you don't have to return to the gate for hints, it goes by much faster and gives you the chance to go back to get items you wanted to get but were too out of the way. If you interpret the hints right and take a straightforward path, you could easily blast through it in under an hour.

Edited September 21, 2012 by SuperStingray

[Diogenes]

and the fact there's even less keys than artifacts in Prime 1

Except that you have to collect keys throughout Prime 2. The game is keys. By the time you're ready to get the last set of keys you're fucking sick of keys.

and you don't have to return to the gate for hints

No, but you've got to go to the dark temple to get the scans for hints to the locations of the corpses that you need to scan to get the hints to the keys.

[Solkia]

I watched SomecallmeJohnny's review of Prime 2.

I'd rather buy it on the trilogy so it comes with 2 other games that I already know are good.

[Kuzu]

I really don't know what's so tedious about the keys in Prime 2. Between the ENORMOUS shortcut with the light suit, the chance to open up more of the older areas with new moves and the fact there's even less keys than artifacts in Prime 1 and you don't have to return to the gate for hints, it goes by much faster and gives you the chance to go back to get items you wanted to get but were too out of the way. If you interpret the hints right and take a straightforward path, you could easily blast through it in under an hour.

Throughout the entire game you're collecting Keys, even before the Sky Temple, you are collecting keys, its a pain in the ass, especially after I beat the Ing Hive, I was told I needed MORE keys. And like you said, you need the Light Suit to get most of them, and you don't get that until after you've beaten the first three temples, its ass.

I mean shit, at least with the Valhalla you could collect the keys before the aforementioned area, and you don't need all of them to get the objective done.

I watched SomecallmeJohnny's review of Prime 2.

I'd rather buy it on the trilogy so it comes with 2 other games that I already know are good.

It's not a bad game, it's just an inferior version of Prime 1, with LOTS of backtracking.

[Solkia]

It's not a bad game, it's just an inferior version of Prime 1, with LOTS of backtracking.

That's what I'm skeptical about. I don't mind backtracking as long as it's still fun, like in Fusion, but from the way he talked about it, it sounded like it's all the game consists of.

[Kuzu]

That's what I'm skeptical about. I don't mind backtracking as long as it's still fun, like in Fusion, but from the way he talked about it, it sounded like it's all the game consists of.

Well as far as I remember, the only backtracking consists of collecting keys, and maybe one or two power ups, but nothing major. But then again, you spend the bulk of the game collecting keys.......

[Old dead account]

I remember Prime 1 having much more backtracking than 2. The only real backtracking I remember from 2 was leaving Torvus to go back for seeker missiles and going from sky sanctuary all the way back to the depths of dark torvus for the power bombs. Other than that I really don't remember to much backtracking.

[Emmett L. Brown]

The positive thing about going after Sky Temple Keys for me is getting to explore with the Light Suit. All Metroid games have tons of backtracking, but one of the strengths of the series is that they'll introduce an enemy that's somewhat taxing to defeat, and then when you've gained an upgrade that let's you more easily beat it the game steers you back into the path of that enemy, really letting you experience how much more powerful you've become. So being able to go through Dark Aether immune to the atmosphere and able to kill off all the annoying enemies in a snap by using super-crystals is really satisfying.

Still tedious, though.

[SuperStingray]

The sky temple keys are the only ones that use much backtracking, though. The rest of the keys are distributed in environments you would be exploring anyway, so those ones are closer to wandering a Banjo Tooie level for Jiggies than a bona fide fetch quest.

Edited September 21, 2012 by SuperStingray

[Solkia]

Well, I got all the artifacts except the one in the temple itself. Really should have collected them as I was progressing :I.

I saved in my ship, so I'll finish Prime off tomorrow.

[ChaosXVI]

While Prime 2 is certainly more difficult to get around than the other Primes, it's still an amazing game, and if you think Prime 1's bosses are epic, you just wait, Prime 2 is home to some of the best in the entire series.

I actually like Prime 2's difficulty, both in terms of overall game design and progression. It starts you out as absolutely susceptible to the world, and results with you being virtually invincible to it. Though I can see why some would find it annoying, especially the hunt for the 9 Sky Temple Keys.

[Emmett L. Brown]

While Prime 2 is certainly more difficult to get around than the other Primes, it's still an amazing game, and if you think Prime 1's bosses are epic, you just wait, Prime 2 is home to some of the best in the entire series.

Oh hells yes! It's the only game to have proper Morph Ball bosses, and not just one but TWO! Not only that, but every single boss challenges you to master the new abilities you've gained since the last boss. Quadraxis is still my favourite boss of the series for challenging you to combine your run-and-gun and morph ball skills in the same fight. It locked on to you with its giant laser!! Quickly, use the Boost Ball to get clear of the shot! and You disabled the head portion! Now, while it's stunned, use Spider Ball to climb up the wrecked main body and air boost onto the head to drop bombs in its weak spot!

And the Dark Samus boss fights are just pretty awesome.

[Kuzu]

Because the Boost Guardian and Spider Guardian are just amazing bosses that aren't cheap in the slightest...

[Semi-colon e]

And Dark Samus 3, horrid times will be had. And Chykka with it's marathon boss bullshit. There are more good bosses than bad though.

The issue with the keys though is that the Sky Temple Keys are often only obtainable once you've gotten the Light Suit as you need to go into a ray of light or go into the Dark Water or something. In Prime 1 and Prime 3 a lot of those items are easier to get along the way. In Prime 3 you don't even need to get the Hyper Grapple (the last upgrade) to get any items in the game. I always do Valhalla before the awesome section where you storm the pirate base, meaning I have 99% items and the Hyper Grapple is the last.

Personally though I don't mind the item hunts at the end, but that's mostly because I'm the guy who will get 100% items in a Metroid game or fill the entire map in any Castlevania game.

Also the Spider Guardian never gave me anywhere near as much trouble as either the Boost Guardian or Dark Samus 3.

The final boss sequence on Hyper Mode in Prime 3, on the other hand, is one of the most bullshit sections in the entire trilogy. Dark Samus is ridiculously durable and summons literally so much shit you cannot avoid it all really. And then you've got the AU313, the first part of which takes fucking forever, especially if you try and get more anti-phazon units so you don't die. And then on the last part, which is pretty quick, there are NO anti-phazon units. It's not too bad on Veteran, but on Hyper Mode it's ludicrous.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Old dead account]

Emperor Ing can be a bitch as well. If you have the beam ammo expensions then you can just spam him with the annihilator beam though.

Also, Quadraxis is brilliantly designed

[Blue Wisp]

Wait a second, are people hating on Metroid Prime 2 here? D:

Metroid Prime 2 is my favourite game from the trilogy, it felt more epic and more "badass" than Prime 1 and was less(ish) complicated and more challenging than Prime 3. Not to mention that the Luminoth are awesome and Dark Samus is a creepy motherwisper in this game. Also, Quadraxis is awesome and the Spider Ball Guardian is fucking annoying.

Also this is awesome.

[Solkia]

It'll probably end up being my favorite since people hate it. That's how it seems to work for me :I

[Semi-colon e]

I don't think most people hate it, a lot of people just consider it weaker than Prime 1. I like Prime 1 the most but 2 and 3 aren't far behind. I think I like 3 more than 2 because it feels like it's more original and trying something new in terms of how the game plays in the Metroid series and it's progression with all the different planets and the more story driven thing.

Dark Aether was creepy though, it was like Sonic 06's End of the World before 06.

Oh and personally? I don't really want another Metroid Prime game. I don't want the series to just ride on Prime's success. Or Super's, for that matter I want a new 2D game which tries something new without sucking. It's been so long since the Prime series ended that I can imagine if they went back to it they'd just try and rehash what made it great, which would make a technically great game but nothing groundbreaking anymore.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[Emmett L. Brown]

Spider Ball Guardian has a notorious reputation, but I've only played the Metroid Prime Trilogy version, which was significantly toned down, I'm told. I found the boss to be relatively easy, mildly challenging, and fun.

I'm curious, what was it about the un-toned-down version that has so many people sprouting arteries at the thought of it?

[Blue Wisp]

Spider Ball Guardian has a notorious reputation, but I've only played the Metroid Prime Trilogy version, which was significantly toned down, I'm told. I found the boss to be relatively easy, mildly challenging, and fun.

I'm curious, what was it about the un-toned-down version that has so many people sprouting arteries at the thought of it?

You can't Spring Ball in the original, which made the boss considerably harder and more annoying.

[Kuzu]

Once again, I don't hate Prime 2 as a whole, I just find it inferior to its predecessor and successor, it's by no means a bad game though, he'll I played it before I got Prime 1.

[canderson]

Just as most of you said, I find all 3 games to be fantastic, the second game being slightly weaker than the other 2 games.

I find the Boost Guardian miniboss strangely harder than some of the major boss fights in MP2. Not sure if I would say it's cheap.

As for Dark Samus, I really enjoyed the boss fight in Metroid Prime 3, but not as much in Metroid Prime 2, mainly the final time you fight him, which I thought was really boring and just disappointing overall. I wouldn't mind if the final boss fight was the Emperor Ing, which I thought was a well designed fight.

Edited September 21, 2012 by canderson

[Gregzilla]

I completed Prime 3 for the first time the other day. It was an awesome game, but for some reason I felt underwhelmed when it was all over. Maybe it was the incredibly easy final boss fights.

I love how this game had some great atmosphere and a heightened focus on storytelling, and the gameplay controls are fantastic. However, I think its sense of exploration is inferior to its predecessors, and it put a little too much focus on action in my opinion.

[Emmett L. Brown]

I'll admit, MP2 was my least favourite of the Primes at the time I played it. It's only on repeat playthroughs that it's grown to be my favourite. Maybe because unlike MP1 and MP3, I can still forget where I'm supposed to go next.

Metroid games are at their absolute best when you don't know where to go, because that's when you get to explore, and sadly you only get that completely the first time. Just like a classic adventure game like Monkey Island is only at its best when you're still figuring out the puzzles on your own.

Beyond that, it's the great feeling of isolation I get from Aether. In MP1, you're exploring the remains of a Chozo colony world, and you're always accompanied by the Space pirates, and even though they're enemies they're still a familiar component. In MP3, Samus is fighting Space Pirates all along and is always in direct contact with the Federation up until the very final planet. But in MP2, you're really, truly alone (well, until you meet U-Mos, but he can't exactly help you outside of his little fortress), fighting a completely alien threat on a planet Samus has no connections to at all. The Space Pirates become pawns of the Ing, and even Dark Samus has to outmanouver the dark nasties. Meanwhile, your ship is malfunctioning, so you can't leave the planet even if you wanted, and the atmospheric interference makes it impossible to send a signal off-world.

I think Metroid is at its best when you're dealing with something unknown. The early introduction to Phazon works great, as is unraveling the mystery of what the Space pirates are up to and how the Chozo are connected to it all. But in Metroid Prime 3 there's not really a lot of mystery in the main plot. You know Dark Samus is behind everything and is controlling the Space Pirates. Instead, it's the sub-plots of Bryyo's and Elysia's backstory that provide the mystery element, and I have to admit I really enjoyed their respective histories. But, again, in Metroid Prime 2 the mystery is all through the game. You've never heard of the Luminoth or the Ing before, and even finding out that the sequel's story is directly tied to the events of the first game is something you have to discover for yourself.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Grumpy Old Guy

[Old dead account]

The great thing about Prime is that almost nothing was ever really recycled. Weapons, location tropes, even character and item models were revamped. Gameplay mechanics were changed every time, Prime 1 was your basic elemental weapons, 2 was light and dark, 3 was all phazon. It because of this that I would trust Retro with another prime game.

For 2D though, how could they change the formula without seeming too much ortoo little like Super Metroid? I think most people have had enough of space stations, the baby, Adam, and all that.