@superchunk: What is it about a trope that automatically removes it from critical analysis/discussion? Simply saying 'gameplay is different from story' is lazy, disingenuous and willfully limiting of what can be expressed in video games.
Moreover, you still don't get to the heart of the issue to which Khuutra is referring. Samus as a character was not affected - did not suffer - in any other game because she lost her abilities. Here, it is vital to her characterization. In a way, this is exactly what many video game designers wish for - the synthesis of fiction and gameplay - the problem is that here it is so poorly construed that it ruins the character as we knew her and runs contrary to both the story's internal logic and the series as a whole.
I am in agreement with Khuutra on just about everything he has said so far in this thread. What ails Other M the most is not the obtuse writing, but the fact that this writing is inconsistent with the fictional world of Metroid as previously established.
PS. Khuutra, I hope you will forgive me if I found your first post in this thread a little bit humorous in light of Sakamoto's aforementioned ignorance of the Prime series.
Would you say that he, given his position, has a greater responsibility than you towards the series?
