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MTZehvor on 22 July 2014
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spemanig said:
MTZehvor said:

Nope.

OT: I agree with some of the things on the list, although I can't say I support going for all of this on the very next Metroid game. After the screw up that Other M was, Metroid needs to absolutely nail the next title, and trying to go for a back to basics exploration atmospheric old Metroidy style game, while simultaneously focusing on voice acting and creating a city type world for Samus to explore, AND making functional online multiplayer, AND trying to balance gameplay segments switching between the zero suit and power suit sounds like WAY too much for a game that will most likely be about redeeming the series for the majority of the series' fanbase. Trying to cram all of this into the next game, and have it work as well, is a recipe for disaster.

Think of it this way; the next Metroid game will likely be the Dual Destinies of the Metroid series to follow the Apollo Justice that was Other M, if Apollo Justice had ruined all of its characters and completely forgotten what kind of a game it was supposed to be. You can't expect all of this from a game that will likely be spending most of its time picking up the pieces from the previous failures.

As a wishlist for the future of the Metroid series, I don't have many complaints; I personally preferred reading the lores in Prime to having them spoken to me in games like Bioshock, but I guess that's preference. As a wishlist for the next game in the series, I vehemently disagree with the majority of this. Metroid needs to take a game, focus entirely on the "Metroid-esque" elements that have made it the success it's been pre-Other M, and then, if it shows it still can do that well, we can move on to adding other things, like multiplayer or adding an optional city exploration element. Until it recovers from Other M, though, I will be completely opposed to any development being spent on something besides the core Metroid experience, so to speak.


I completely disagree. I think that if all the next Metroid does is play it safe and try to replicate past success, it'll be as much of a failure as Twilight Princess. There's no reason they can't get all of this right the first time. They just need to take the right steps. If all we get is Prime HD, I'll be extremely pissed.

There's a difference between what I'm advocating and simply "playing it safe." Playing it safe would be making another Prime game, set in first person, exploring a planet that had been struck by a mysterious meteorite, uncovering the mysteries underneath, and ending with a fetch quest for a set of keys of some sort to unlock the final area.

Meanwhile, a 3D Metroid set in third person with a decent control scheme would already be a big advancement. Putting that game in a seamless open world would be another huge step forward, and then combining that with a new series of powerups, enemies, and an entirely new story is more than enough for a sequel. All of this is well beyond "playing it safe."

You're correct in that there is no definitive law of video game nature that prevents a company from getting this much right on the first try; but that said, there's a very good reason why no company ever has. Trying to introduce what essentially amounts to an entirely new style of gameplay from a perspective standpoint to a series is a difficult enough task as it stands, but then putting an extra load on said company and trying to introduce several other new elements on top of that is a recipe for disaster.

Despite how much (usually justified) hate series like  Mario and Call of Duty get for not innovating, it's important to remember that trying to do too much is just as dangerous. Games like Assassin's Creed 3, Dark Void, and Murdered: Soul Suspect all have lots of interesting elements, but ultimately fail because they never focus on any one element long enough to actually make it stand out. Instead, you just wind up with a mess of a game that tries to innovate in plenty of ways but fails at making any of them interesting. The same aspect applies here; trying to work in a successful optional hub area that's somehow meaningful, along with worthwhile out of armor segments, and then on top of that fully realize a third person 3D Metroid game is simply too many new elements for one game to handle.

Basically think of it this way; imagine if the original Prime had tried to implement segments where Samus was out of her suit, as well as a fully realized NPC colony, along with functional local multiplayer. The final product would have been nowhere near as neat and cohesive as it was, and that's a best case scenario. A developer trying to tackle this many elements needs to make sure it's got experience with at least some of these, and as no one save for Team Ninja has any experience with the gameplay of a 3rd person 3D Metroid (and I'm assuming we're not bringing them back), then it'd be nice to at least get that bit down first. If you're going to learn how to juggle, you don't start by testing out how well you do with a flaming baton, a chainsaw, and a baby crocodile.

 

Also, perhaps as a nitpick story wise, if we're going with the "she's a fugitive running from the Federation" story element, then it doesn't make much sense for her to be walking around in broad daylight in a colony where any number of Federation spies could be looking for her.