What is this Wannabe Metroid Shit?

[Super Mario]

I know for sure Ridley directed Alien and some other films.

 

[Hisako]

fail.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Having now beaten and 100%'d Other M, let me please say 'Shut your bitchin'

Samus respecting Adam's orders to not unleash her arsenal is a lot better gimmick than 'LOL lost them all again!', Yes, Adam could have been a bit quicker on the uptake, but Samus deciding to to follow orders out of respect fits what has already been established.

As for the other plot point folks are bitching about- Ridley's always been Samus's Bogeyman. Even after conquering your fear, having your personal bogeyman RETURN FROM THE DEAD can shake your resolve.

Samus is still a hero, but she's a Valiant hero, rather than a stoic one. Samus is still going to rise to the challenges facing her, whatever they are, but despite her fear, not because she lacks it.
Really, Samus as portrayed here is the same Samus we've been getting for the last six games, the games where they've gone into her characterization at all.

I will say straight out, this game is just as good as Metroid, Return of Samus, Zero Mission, or Fusion. It was too short to be worthy of the Prime games (other than hunters. It's better than hunters), but it's still more game than the vast majority of the series.

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

Having now beaten and 100%'d Other M, let me please say 'Shut your bitchin'

LEAVE THE OTHER M ALONE!

As for the other plot point folks are bitching about- Ridley's always been Samus's Bogeyman. Even after conquering your fear, having your personal bogeyman RETURN FROM THE DEAD can shake your resolve.

Samus is still a hero, but she's a Valiant hero, rather than a stoic one. Samus is still going to rise to the challenges facing her, whatever they are, but despite her fear, not because she lacks it.
Really, Samus as portrayed here is the same Samus we've been getting for the last six games, the games where they've gone into her characterization at all.

Except that official manga says she has risen past her fears and would have been able to face this head on, she's a fucking bounty hunter for pete's sake.

I also don't care for this zero suit nonsense, but that's just me.

I will say straight out, this game is just as good as Metroid, Return of Samus, Zero Mission, or Fusion. It was too short to be worthy of the Prime games (other than hunters. It's better than hunters), but it's still more game than the vast majority of the series.

So Samus waiting for some dude to tell her she can use her powers=same kickass Samus that fought Mother Brain with nary a blink?

The gameplay cannot be a real reason to play it, as you have to run around dodging attacks while you wait to go to first person mode so that you can actually hit something. The only foreseeable reason for playing this game, so far as I am aware, is Samus' ass and tits.

 

[Ryushikaze]

LEAVE THE OTHER M ALONE!

Opening with a character attack does not do you any credit, given that you are the one coming off as whiny here.

Except that official manga says she has risen past her fears and would have been able to face this head on, she's a fucking bounty hunter for pete's sake.

Yes. And Ridley is her oldest nemesis and bogeyman, now risen from the dead.
Also, the manga might not be canon. It's only an assumption. Given that there are multiple Metroid Manga, one or more might be a la Electric Tale of Pikachu.

I also don't care for this zero suit nonsense, but that's just me.

What's so objectionable about it? She's always had a skin tight suit on under there, even from the very first game.
Not that I said a damn thing about the Zero Suit.

So Samus waiting for some dude to tell her she can use her powers=same kickass Samus that fought Mother Brain with nary a blink?

Yes. Because she agreed to listen to the orders of her former Commanding Officer, the man she respects most in the world. That's not at odds with her personality at all. She does respect authority.

The gameplay cannot be a real reason to play it, as you have to run around dodging attacks while you wait to go to first person mode so that you can actually hit something. The only foreseeable reason for playing this game, so far as I am aware, is Samus' ass and tits.

ITT: People bitch about things they do not understand nor have tried to understand.

The third person battle mode is entirely viable for combat. First person mode gives you extra oomph with missiles and super missiles, but is hardly a necessity. And you can dodge and move in FPS mode too.

 

[Max Payne]

'Shut your bitchin'

Let me please say, fuck you son.

The writing for Samus in Other is everything writers have done wrong with female protagonists. She's just another female protagonist with an emphasis on being female, which was never an issue for Metroid until now. I say fuck that and I will continue "bitching" as long as I can about such dumb fuck decisions.

I won't go so far as to accuse the writing of being sexist as many women already have, but it's still bad writing. The story on the whole is the same animu bullshit that's been plaguing games for years now.Other M didn't need a gimmick and Samus didn't need to lose all her powers again for a new adventure. That's just more evidence of bad game design. Not only that, but it doesn't excuse the sheer stupidity of Samus kowtowing to such a ludicrous premise.

The only thing I like about the game is the combat. I otherwise hate the linearity and retardation of having to go into FP to use missles and how clunky that whole mechanic is.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Samus's story in other M really wasn't about being a woman. Yes, there was the 'I felt like I was being patronized because I was a woman' in the backstory, but fuck, sub another reason in, the story works the same for a guy too.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Other M is the Golden Blowjob of Metroids. It has issues. What I am saying, is that it is pretty good, hardly the worst game in the series, and does not ruin Samus's character.

 

[Max Payne]

I think it ruins a great deal of Samus' appeal by taking what was a badass take no bullshit bounty hunter/space warrior into just another female character who gets way too overcome by FEELINGS because she's a woman.

CONFESSION TIME. I mean come the fuck on. I'm just not feeling that shit.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Samus gets the job done, even with feelings. What's the issue?

And Samus has demonstrated her feelings on several prior occasions. All we get now is some actual introspection instead of implication. It's a different way of displaying what was already there. You can certainly dislike how it was shown, but this is hardly the first indication we've seen of Samus showing self doubt, sorrow, or camaraderie.

 

[Max Payne]

Samus gets the job done, even with feelings. What's the issue?

And Samus has demonstrated her feelings on several prior occasions. All we get now is some actual introspection instead of implication. It's a different way of displaying what was already there. You can certainly dislike how it was shown, but this is hardly the first indication we've seen of Samus showing self doubt, sorrow, or camaraderie.

No, this is the first time we've seen it presented to such a ridiculous degree that you can't help but feel that it's been exaggerated simply because she's a woman. I mean every time you turn around she's narrating in some ridiculous air headed tone that it's less tongue in cheek and more foot in mouth.

 

[Max Payne]

Oh, and WHY IS SHE SO FUCKING INSECURE ABOUT EVERYTHING

 

[looneymoon]

sub another reason in, the story works the same for a guy too.

This makes me think you're missing the point entirely.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Samus's story in other M really wasn't about being a woman. Yes, there was the 'I felt like I was being patronized because I was a woman' in the backstory, but fuck, sub another reason in, the story works the same for a guy too.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Other M is the Golden Blowjob of Metroids. It has issues. What I am saying, is that it is pretty good, hardly the worst game in the series, and does not ruin Samus's character.

The entire collection of metroid games focuses on samus being an amazing bounty hunter, this game just shits on the franchise and tries to make it look like some scared lil girl got thrown into combat.
Just like dacon said, the entire game is a steaming pile of shit that seems to try and ruin a perfectly good series by emphasising too much on samus being a woman.

 

[Hisako]

NEWSFLASH:

Core Nintendo Series Feared To Be In Danger Of Stagnating After Several Decades of Inspired Writing And Innovation

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Samus + Mario in.
Bowser's elongated toenail!

 

[Hisako]

Bowser's haemorrhoids must be drained by pressing A and B in the correct rhythm to get Mario and Luigi syringe the fluid out in the correct spots
or some stupid shit like that

 

[Ryushikaze]

This makes me think you're missing the point entirely.

Makes me think you're all trying to make a mountain of a molehill.
Samus's issues with the GF military had to do with her being a woman and perceiving them as patronizing her because of it. That single note of the story is the only part that would have to be changed were the story to star a male. That and Samus's nicknames. All the other story points work the same male or female.

Dac, you don't like the presentation, fair enough. But Samus as more than a monolithic persona is something we've been getting since Super, and got in detail in Fusion. We even got it in the Prime series.
Less overt, it was there. It's nothing new. Hate the presentation, fine, but again, it's been around for some time.

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

Makes me think you're all trying to make a mountain of a molehill.
Samus's issues with the GF military had to do with her being a woman and perceiving them as patronizing her because of it. That single note of the story is the only part that would have to be changed were the story to star a male. That and Samus's nicknames. All the other story points work the same male or female.

So you can honestly say that you wouldn't find it ridiculous at all to hear some guy spend most of the game discussing his feelings, freaking out and needing to be rescued by his former crewmates (I would have totally understood thinking he was dead and being utterly freaked out that he's alive, but she didn't freak out entirely until after he grabbed her instead of idk shooting him in the face), and not using his power-ups solely because his commanding officer didn't request it? Really?

 

[Ryushikaze]

So you can honestly say that you wouldn't find it ridiculous at all to hear some guy spend most of the game discussing his feelings, freaking out and needing to be rescued by his former crewmates (I would have totally understood thinking he was dead and being utterly freaked out that he's alive, but she didn't freak out entirely until after he grabbed her instead of idk shooting him in the face), and not using his power-ups solely because his commanding officer didn't request it? Really?

No. Whether or not it's ridiculous has nothing to do with gender.
Listen, some of the best male heroes have a running introspective, and are even better badasses for it. Harry Dresden, for one.
And the not a full arsenal because a person he respected and who was actually granting this male a legal authority he would technically not otherwise have actually wouldn't bother me at all.
Samus is responding to a distress call, yes, but it's on GalFed property and the GalFed team's authority makes her presence unnecessary and Adam could have ordered her to leave at any time and she would have been on the ship illegally and possibly flagged as an enemy combatant. Obeying his rules as a condition of allowing her presence where she has no authority does not strike me as off for Samus nor would it strike me as off for a male.

 

[looneymoon]

All the other story points work the same male or female.

You're still... missing the point.

You can't just ignore gender when discussing the writing of a character. I say this because double standard or not, certain characteristics are sexualized, racialized, genderized etc. You're obviously going judge a character (and how that character is written) based on those standards.

I admit, I'm not the biggest Metroid fan, but from the looks of it, this Samus is given generic, stereotypical characterization that a lot of female characters fall prey to. Characteristics that writers like to give female characters in order to feign depth. Especially when said writers don't really know how to write from female characters. Samus is well-liked because she was the opposite of that stereotype. She's a generic video game action hero, not a generic female video game action hero. It's simply part of her appeal. You could argue that these traits were always there, but Other M has tipped the scale. It makes Samus more "sexualized" than she's ever been.

I don't think this kind of writing is sexist. If this were any other character I doubt anyone would have an issue. Had this game not been placed near the end of the Metroid timeline I doubt there'd be as much of an issue. The way it is though, it just makes for badly thought out writing.

 

[Hisako]

imo, just watching all the vids: It was a nice idea on paper, to give her a bit more as a character, but they just made the change in personality way too obvious.

I guess that pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I've yet to play a metroid game other than this that seemingly puts any true premise or plot development on samus being a woman.
They push on the fact she is an ass kicking bounty hunter, but then again she still never flinches or awaits permission to use her abilities.

 

[Ryushikaze]

You're still... missing the point.

You can't just ignore gender when discussing the writing of a character. I say this because double standard or not, certain characteristics are sexualized, racialized, genderized etc. You're obviously going judge a character (and how that character is written) based on those standards.

I'm not ignoring her gender. My point is that her gender is largely irrelevant to the issues she's facing in this game, that those issues would work or fail equally well with a male protaganist.

I admit, I'm not the biggest Metroid fan, but from the looks of it, this Samus is given generic, stereotypical characterization that a lot of female characters fall prey to. Characteristics that writers like to give female characters in order to feign depth. Especially when said writers don't really know how to write from female characters. Samus is well-liked because she was the opposite of that stereotype. She's a generic video game action hero, not a generic female video game action hero. It's simply part of her appeal. You could argue that these traits were always there, but Other M has tipped the scale. It makes Samus more "sexualized" than she's ever been.

What sexualizes her? No, really, what specifically makes her sexualized in this game that wouldn't 'work' for a male character?

I don't think this kind of writing is sexist. If this were any other character I doubt anyone would have an issue. Had this game not been placed near the end of the Metroid timeline I doubt there'd be as much of an issue. The way it is though, it just makes for badly thought out writing.

Except there's few other moments in the timeline where such events as the Baby metroid giving its life for Samus's occur. That's a major event in the series and the source of much of Samus's introspection. Even the Ridley scene actually works here because of the circumstances of actually killing him properly, with no escape, unlike all the other times. After finally being able to relax now that Ridley's dead, he's back, and Samus COULD HAVE STOPPED IT had she shot the fucking critter when she had the chance.

Largely, though, Samus needs the broil of emotions at a creature that took her as its parent sacrificing itself for her would bring for this sort of scenario to come about.

I've yet to play a metroid game other than this that seemingly puts any true premise or plot development on samus being a woman.
They push on the fact she is an ass kicking bounty hunter, but then again she still never flinches or awaits permission to use her abilities.

Apart from 'I thought they looked down on me because I was a woman' there's not much in the game that puts a premise on Samus being a woman. A male protagonist could have the exact same issues as Samus. The emphasis is on Samus being HUMAN, not on what gender she is.
She flinches. Not as overtly, it's there.
As for the 'waits permission' that's purely out of respect for the scenario of her having no jurisdiction on the mission. All other times, Samus has been authorized to go whole hog ahead of time. This time, she was not, since it started as a rescue mission and escalated from there.
Her allies were similarly restricted by Adam in the beginning.


Let me go back to the 80s. At the end of the original game, everyone was 'Oh fuck, Samus is a woman!' For better or ill that has defined Samus as a badass female, and people have a very rigid set of ideas of how you have to be to be one, it seems, even with shows like Buffy.
In any case, The point of this game is to tell us not that Samus is a woman, but that Samus isn't an emotionless wrecking crew. She's human. She's still a wrecking crew, and a damn good one, but she's human.
Samus is still a fucking badass. She's not less of a badass for having doubts, fears, issues, PTSD. She's more of one. This bigger the hurdle the more impressive the leap.

 

[Max Payne]

I'm not ignoring her gender. My point is that her gender is largely irrelevant to the issues she's facing in this game, that those issues would work or fail equally well with a male protaganist.

Except since she's a woman they're exasperated and more empasis is placed on those kinda feelings because they're supposedly expected from women.

Her gender isn't irrelevant at all and it's kinda silly to pretend it is. She suffers from generic female characterization whether that characterization can be applied to a male successfully doesn't matter in the least. She's a woman and she's falling into the same pitfalls writers throw female characters into and it's made worse by the retarded presentation and the constant monologues that make Samus seem like a depressed schoolgirl mooning over an old man. ESPECIALLY since she was never presented this way before this game, she was always this badass tough as nails chick, sure she had feelings but she didn't seem like she was RULED by them.

What sexualizes her? No, really, what specifically makes her sexualized in this game that wouldn't 'work' for a male character?

How about the ass shots of Samus in the Zero suit?

As for the 'waits permission' that's purely out of respect for the scenario of her having no jurisdiction on the mission. All other times, Samus has been authorized to go whole hog ahead of time. This time, she was not, since it started as a rescue mission and escalated from there.
Her allies were similarly restricted by Adam in the beginning.

It is still a moronic decision made by the plot. HERP LET'S HAVE THIS GUY RESTRICT SAMUS FROM USING THINGS THAT CAN SAVE HER LIFE.

 

[looneymoon]

I'm not saying these traits wouldn't work for a male character. I'm saying that when applied to a female character there's a whole different implication. When a female character starts taking orders from a male superior, there is a gender dynamic. Heck, even if it was male-male or male-female there would still be a gender dynamic, just a different one. The relationship becomes very different if you change the gender.

When you're trying to give an iconic, beloved character like Samus decent character development, it'd be nice if they actually made it somewhat inspired. It's not as if male characters aren't characterized in a similar manner. It's that a buttload of female character tend to be characterized in such a way (to be specific, I'm referring to this continuous notion that it's necessary for a female character to reconcile some sort of conflict concerning a man. A man who is often in a position of power and/or a love interest). It's annoying and it makes the writers come off as lazy. That or they no simply don't how to nuance the writing as to play down that dynamic.