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Frogger on 25 September 2017
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MTZehvor said:
spemanig said:

Whats funny is that boss fights are the one area where i don't mind the counter because I actually don't need to use it, and bossed don't exclusively spam counterable moves.

Enemies in metroid games are mostly wildlife. They arent meant to be obstacles. They are set dressing. Bosses and enemies like the space pirates are. Even so, enemies die in one hit with the counter, which is just an easy to execute QTE. In what way does that make the world feel dangerous? Enemies in SR are mindless annoyances that all react in the exact same way.

Moved and aimed diagonally all the time in Super. And even if it was rarely, it absolutely eclipses the amount of times that being rooted to the ground was more useful, which is a resounding never. And aiming diagonally down absolutely was cumbersome in those games. The solution isnt then to make a worse, infinitely less useful aiming option. It's to go back to what worked before. I'd infinitely rather not be able to aim comfortably in one direction, the least useful direction, while still having perfect mobility with an attack that is actually useful in literally every scanario than SR's implementation.

Previous metroids required you to move to hit an enemy at the very most. Thats it. Heaven forbid a metroid game forces the player to be mobile. There's nothing awkward about that. The idea that free aiming as it's implemented now offers more freedom is an objectively false one, for reasons I've already argued. SR trades literally every other freedom the previous way offered for the "freedom" of not having to take one step forward to hit an enemy. Absolutely not worth it.

Agree and disagree with this. Enemies in previous Metroid games have largely just been set dressing (although I'd argue Fusion is a major exception to this), but that doesn't mean they should stay that way. If the game wants to make them more of a threat like Fusion, or (as they are in this game) use them as a way to get the player used to a major mechanic of the game, in this case, the counter system, then go for it. Regular enemies shouldn't be restricted to this one, small role of just being target practice. 

Being able to aim in any direction, even if it means being rooted to the ground, is absolutely useful. Being able to precisely aim at enemies from long distances away, especially Metroids, was something I found to be extremely helpful. Losing diagonal aiming while standing still does suck, but you can do it while running, simply by holding the stick to the right and slightly up. The only thing I think really adversely affected gameplay was the grapple beam at points; doing multiple consecutive grapples without a button for diagonal aiming isn't as easy.

I'd agree that fusion is the exception, but that made sense narratively. I'm fine with the change in Fusion, a game that is my least favorite in the 2D series. (Well, SR is now) In SR it doesn't work because it make enemies more annoying and somehow less interesting to fight to force a mechanic that sucks while restricting a mechanic that used to work fine.

Also, I may have been unclear. I know you can aim diagonally while moving forward. It just sucks to aim this way. Like the controls suck. That's why the button exists in Super/ZM/Fusion in the first place. And you can aim diagonally still in SR while standing still. I'm not at all saying that aiming while standing still using free aim is inferior in ease of control to the older way.

With the grapple beam, its easier and harder. The real difference isnt the aiming though, it's the the amount of grapple points. SR has fewer per platforming challenge. I should also take this time to say that I think the implementation here is one of the only instances where SR expands on what was there before. There are things i don't like about it, but the grapple beam has much more utility than it ever has in a 2D Metroid. It's not even close. I'd want the implementation next time to be less systematic and more naturalistic, as it feels way too game-y as it is now, but the ideas are good and welcome.