Kenryoku_Maxis said:
As someone already said, Other M fixed a lot of what made Prime less of a Metroid game. Let's not kid ourselves, Prime was not a 'traditional' Metroid game. And to use my own analogy similar to your own, its like playing Ocarina of Time always in first person, no ability to run and half of your powers taken away.
But aside from these points, Prime probably is the better game compared to Other M. Other M was fun, but it was in no way the pinnacle of the series. And while it was much closer to a traditional Metroid game than Prime, it also suffered from some things that made that 'traditional' gameplay feel forced. Such as the quick time events, story events (if Anthony or other characters die in certain scenes its game over), and of course the poorly acted and written story.
Now, I'm not going to defend the story of Other M. It was pretty chessy. I will say that its no worse than a Resident Evil or MGS game for how over-the-top it was. Plus, many common plot devices were used as those games. I still contend that the story we see was Sakamoto trying to appeal to a larger fanbase (such as those who like RE and MGS). But what we found is people didn't want that for Metroid. However, I also think a lot of the reason it seems so poorly done is a rather weak translation by Nintendo of America. I mean, have you read those 'mission briefing' scenes when loading a save file? Talk about run-on sentences and horrible grammar. Not to mention stuff like using 'and' three times in one sentence or tons of fragments.
But sadly, a bad translation can't get around the main story points. And this is where I think Other M should have changed some things. It kind of forced 'the baby' and 'I gotta prove myself to Adam' down your throat. But more than this, it was just the monologue 'I am Samus, hear me whine' approach. People probably would have accepted any story that was given to them, as long as Samus wasn't acting like a FF hero whining about their role in life and 'what could have been'.
In the end, Other M was a good experiment. I have actually been waiting since the N64/PSX days for someone to do that type of game engine where you can run and fight in a 3D area with just a D-Pad. But it probably wasn't the best choice to make that kind of game today where joysticks and 10 button controllers are standard. Still, all story aside, I had fun with the game. At the very least, I loved Team Ninjas role in the game and actually like the gameplay more than the on-rails and dumbed down gameplay of Ninja Gaiden 2.
This. I swear, all the people who are calling for Sakamoto's head, you're more of the problem than Sakmoto. Would you do the same thing if Miyamoto suddenly directed a Zelda or Mario game and it didn't do what you liked? No, you'd probably defend him and say 'oh well, just one bad game out of a thousand'. But Sakamoto tries his hand at both appeasing the fanbase and trying to take Metroid to a new level, and you're out for his blood. Nevermind the fact that he directed four of the best Metroid games prior (Metroid, Super, Fusion and Zero Mission) and is the co-creator.
There's a laundry list of possible reasons for why Other M had problems, including the fact that most of the people who previously worked on Metroid, like Makoto Kano and Kenji Yamamoto, weren't there. If they returned for a new game, I'm sure it would be that much better. But considering they haven't worked on a Metroid game since Super and Prime, they probably can't or won't in the future.
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