How do you feel about the (radical) changes in Metroid:Other M?

[Demotruk]

Khuutra said:

Demotruk said:

Khuutra said:
You're not actually pointing out any core Metroid values that are hurt by the inclusion of somewhat lengthy introductory cutscenes (of which Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion also had, for the time).

The flow of the game. That's what will be hurt by cut scenes, assuming they're skippable. If they're not skippable, then it's much worse.

 

As for Super Metroid and Fusion, if you look at the sales of the series over time, the ones that had the least narrative elements were the most successful (Metroid, Metroid 2 and Metroid Prime). Fusion did outdo Super Metroid, but it's follow up sold so bad that it doesn't seem Fusion was well received by those who bought it.

The reason I included the "introductory" qualifier is that we have no idea as to whether or not the cutscenes will hold to that length throughout the game, or whether they would be a more standard Metroid-sized affair (which at this point is basically defined by the Primes). There is no indication as to whether or not this will affect the game's pacing in the long term.

Your second paragraph is faulty on two points: firstly, you're grouping Metroid 2 with the higher tier rather than the lower tier, even though it's only 200k away from the next-lowest selling game but it's like 700k away from Metroid. Metroid had the advantage of being totally unique at the time and Metroid Prime enjoyed not only a radical change to the series appealing to an underserved demographic on the Gamecube, but also benefited from aggressive bundling in North America during the first six months of its release. I should know: I was one of the people for whom Prime was their first Metroid!

Secondly, Metroid Prime had far more narrative, both mandatory and not, than did Super Metroid - you did more reading just finding the Chozo keys in Metroid Prime than you did during the entirety of Super Metroid or even Metroid Zero Mission, and the Chozo keys were not the only parts of the game that you had to read in order to progress.

Lastly, Zero Mission was not a follow-up to Metroid Fusion, it was a well-publicized remake of the original Metroid and it was known as such at the time. Its sales are its own - especially since it was hailed as being closer to Super Metroid than Fusion was. Also: we have no sales data on Zero Mission!

Again, I don't think this is an argument.

I don't consider optional background story to be narrative. Narrative is direction in a story, someone telling you something particular and expecting you to listen/read. There was nothing in Metroid Prime that you had to read beyond game instructions. There were mandatory things to scan (that functioned as buttons/keys), but you could just let go of the button immediately and not have to read anything you're not interested in, that was the point of the design.

Fine, I'm sure you can find alternative answers for why the best selling games happen to be the ones with the least narrative, but the point remains that the ones that add narrative underperformed in comparison. And yes we have sales data on Zero Mission, this isn't the only site you can find sales on:

 

"Metroid: Zero Mission was ranked the best-selling Game Boy Advance game in the United States in its debut month of February 2004, selling 151,807 units, and it was the 3rd best-selling game across all video game systems in that month.^[23] In May 2004, the game's sales dropped to 7th among Game Boy Advance games, with 31,619 copies sold and $938,681 in revenue.^[24] By February 2005, the game had sold over 439,000 units in the United States and 69,000 in Japan.^[25] The game was ranked the 46th best game for any Nintendo system in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.^[26] Metroid: Zero Mission was voted IGN's Game Boy Advance Game of the Month for February 2004,^[27] and the website's staff picked the game as both the Best Game Boy Adventure Game of 2004,^[28] and the 9th Best Game Boy Advance Game.^[29] Electronic Gaming Monthly also picked it as the Best Handheld Game of 2004.^[30] Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 94th in a list of the best Nintendo games.^[31]"