~Beyond the Border~ > Akyu's Arcade
Metroid discussion thread
Drake:
Besides MercurySteam, the team seems to be directed by Sakamoto, which gives some decent chance for success. From the loads of Treehouse footage, the game looks pretty good so far. Some of the features like the map pins are something I've been looking for in Metroid for ages (maybe they stole it from AM2R lol). Speaking of AM2R, this makes it much more obvious as to why Nintendo C&D'd it so hard (besides "being Nintendo"). They were literally lining up the same game themselves.
As a story-related thing, I also appreciate the switch of the mysterious earthquakes in M2 to the more concrete Chozo-built gates. As far as I'm seeing it gives the implication that the Chozo (as they do) used this technology to perhaps lock the Metroids (and the X) inside the planet. It being Metroid DNA that unlocks the gates also ties in nicely to Fusion.
I also don't think it was mentioned here yet, but Retro is confirmed to not be working on Prime 4. This makes me slightly uneasy for obvious reasons, but it's been stated that it's a new development team working on it, which although it doesn't give the security and reliability of Retro, it's a lot more interesting and has the potential to be very good. Much better than using a dev team with a poor history. It's also being directed by Tanabe of course, whether that's seen as a good thing or not.
Jq1790:
Why the heck even make it a Prime game then? What's even left other than trying to make a cashgrab from fans chomping at the bit for another game of that ilk?
I will withhold judgement until actual gameplay is revealed, but this makes me uncomfortable.
ふねん1:
I'm also curious about there being another Prime game at all since Phazon should be completely eradicated from the universe at this point (Phazon was the defining element of that series, after all). Unless they plan to retcon something about the end of Prime 3, which did admittedly feel like a pretty sudden resolution to everything, so maybe there's room there for something like that. Haven't seen too much of the Metroid 2 reveal just yet, but even as someone who mainly only played the Prime games, I'm looking forward to this one and hope it does well.
dosboot:
I missed the gameplay demos so I didn't hear about them replacing the earthquakes. I do like the speculation about Metroid DNA though.
--- Quote from: Drake on June 14, 2017, 02:35:43 AM ---I also don't think it was mentioned here yet, but Retro is confirmed to not be working on Prime 4. This makes me slightly uneasy for obvious reasons, but it's been stated that it's a new development team working on it, which although it doesn't give the security and reliability of Retro, it's a lot more interesting and has the potential to be very good. Much better than using a dev team with a poor history. It's also being directed by Tanabe of course, whether that's seen as a good thing or not.
--- End quote ---
I would agree that there is something intriguing about the potential of a brand new team working on 3D Metroid. It suggests taking out a blank sheet of paper, and we are reminded of the relatively unknown Retro circa 2000. Ever since Zelda: BOTW I've heard people pitch "open air Metroid on a new planet", and that's not the only direction one can imagine Metroid going.
This also means Retro's secret project is still secret, and I have hopes for a 3rd revival from them...
Drake:
--- Quote from: ふねん1 on June 14, 2017, 02:59:49 AM ---I'm also curious about there being another Prime game at all since Phazon should be completely eradicated from the universe at this point (Phazon was the defining element of that series, after all).
--- End quote ---
Lack of Phazon is a good point, but as far as I'm taking it, it being "Prime 4" is mostly a project title and something more useful to show the aesthetic and feel of what the game aims to be, which are the things the fans are excited for. When I hear "Prime" I think 3D first-person with Prime-like controls, focus on scan visor and gleaning information from it, the kind of platforming we expect from Prime, etc. I don't think the plot is an important factor at all at this point.
--- Quote from: Jq1790 on June 14, 2017, 02:50:44 AM ---Why the heck even make it a Prime game then? What's even left other than trying to make a cashgrab from fans chomping at the bit for another game of that ilk?
--- End quote ---
So if Retro doesn't do it then it's a cashgrab? I totally feel the uneasy sentiment of "what if it's bad" from the lack of security in the team, but suggesting it's just a cashgrab seems totally backwards to me. Federation Force was abuse of the Prime title, but the reason for that is because it doesn't evoke the same elements of Prime to begin with. Given literally the only information shown was that it's going to be Prime 4, I expect that is what they are going for.
Heck, given the age of the Prime series at this point, this team could easily be made up of people who grew up playing and appreciating the games.