This is the whole point. They expanded on her untold story and you simply don't like it, while I do.

Its a great game and an interesting story on Samus' past. A past you don't like because you think it makes her weak, but a past nonetheless that I think fits her solo-career perfectly fine and definitely does not make her a weak character, just human.

Your continuous ignoring of point 4 and your unwillingness to address it is going to be taken as a concession starting.... now.

"Expanding on" a story requires that there be elements in place which already suggest such a thing. There were none. This is drastic enough that it borders on a retcon - which the game might as well be anyway, since it pretends the Prime games never happened.

Your equation of femininity with weakness is still problematic.

That was not what I was trying to say.  The dialog in MoM is IMHO z-grade.  When I mentioned the PS3 I was referring to the movie like games that are liked by it's fans. My mistake sorry for the confusion. 

The second part is my opinion I do not like melodramatic cutscenes that are not well written.  And that is my opinion and I am not alone in this. IMHO I play games to play and get caught in the action not watch a movie. My opinion is movie experience and video games do not mix well.   So it is not a matter of right or wrong it is a matter of opinion. The inner monologues are cringe inducing and monotonous. IMO.

You like C-S and I don't it is opinion though.  A story can be told without gameplay stopping.

My opinion was not against you it was against the esteemed Sakamoto and his ruining of the game. I am upset by what he has done to this game.  I'm mad that I bought this game which nintendo takes as a thumbs up from me.The fact that he ripped on the much superior Prime makes me shake my head. I wanted a classic  sidescrolling  metriod and I get this instead. 

But it neither overwrote nor contradicts the Prime games (at least not directly. There's the implication that the Space Pirates were extinct after Zebes fell, but given that their homeworld was occupied in Prime 3, it falls in line neatly). There's a difference between not incorporating any of Prime's story and pretending they never happened, which largely falls in with the question of how could the game have incorporated Prime, story-wise?

(and he certainly acknowledges them to a point. Kinetic Orb Cannon, free Morph Ball jump as a standard feature, and multi-seeker-missiles)

I did discuss 4 numerous times. You just don't accept that its just the game mechanics that all Metroid games have shared. Excluding the original, every game has had some rather silly reason for Samus to lose all her abilities. For some reason she no longer has a billion energy tanks and missiles and suits, etc. Its all just some crazy initial exploit that gives the new game the ability to acquire it all over again. I agree that OM does it in a poor fashion when considering the suits, but I also think the other ways in which she has lost her abilities in previous games is just as gimmicky and with that I just accept it as part of the Metroid universe just as I accept that Peach will always get captured by Bowser. Its just the game.

Samus' story at this point is simply the lack of any story. OM fills in what does not exist and you simply don't like this version as it doesn't fit with your vision of this fictional character. I disagree with that and think it fits just fine based on the backstory presented.

My equation with feminity with weakness is that that automatic relation shouldn't exist. Too many people are upset that she is ... well a she. That now that her personality and history is explored it details that while she is a very competent soldier, she is also a woman with a soft voice and strong emotions. This does not bother me a bit and I think it adds a characterization of a female soldier that is far too often ignored for the tough bitch you described earlier and much more common in our fictional culture.

Had she come out all gunho and said, "no adam, we're doing this my way", most of you would have been all hurrah! yet it would then make her simply a big-headed asshole and fit the typical female soldier that acts more like 'one of the boys'. Instead they characterized her as a level headed person with a strong past that includes a emotional issue she has never truly overcome. This game allows her to overcome that issue and become stronger as a person.

I would rather continue her unique history by actually making her more unique. Someone who one person may meet and think she is this completely non-military woman who could clearly rip your lips out through your asshole with an electric grappling hook.

Also, how does this ignore the Prime games?

"how does this ignore the Prime games?"

Sakamoto said he kinda had to disregard the Prime series due to design philosophy. There is also the token dialogue of Samus saying "This was my first joint operation since becoming a bounty hunter" despite the fact that she worked with the GF during Prime 3

holy crap, If some of you guys didnt like the backstory then why did you keep playing.??? Go make a fanfic or something, also im pretty sure that Chun-Li is gaming's greastest heroine.

I think the Prime games were as relevant as the first Metroid was, and that got mentioned.

I don't think that gameplay elements count as canonical... canonization

Stop pretending that everyone who is dissatisfied with the direction of this game holds some homogeneous opinion about what the "proper" Metroid experience is. I couldn't possibly disagree more with Demotruk or (especially) Soleron than I do about what's acceptable in games. The only commonality between us in this respect is that we don't find Samus's characterization acceptable. Even that's not for all the same reasons. You do a disservice to your argument and to the people you're arguing with when you pretend they're a single monolithic counter-culture.

As to point 4: you are treating it as a necessity of mechanics. It isn't. The story or the mechanics needed to change in order to make sense ofr Samus's character. Mr Khan acknowledges this reasonably, because the Authorization system is idiotic from a narrative viewpoint even when it functions well as a game mechanic. As a narrative point it is idiotic.

Samus's story was not a lack of story. Fusion had plenty of characterization and managed to do so without compromising her character as it had been established up to that point: and sales reflected this! Fusion sold in line with Super Metroid, and Other M will breathe a sigh of relief when it sells 70% that much.

The problem here is that you're creating a false dichotomy where all female soldiers are either "tough bitches" or absolute pushover creampuffs. That's not the case. Samus did not previously fit in either of those niches, and I'm just as disappointed with this direction as I would be with the other. Either one is terrible, pointlessly reductive, and sexist.

And no, introducing emotional issues out of the blue is not good characterization for an established character! That is not good storytelling.

I would rather they not introduce extraneous elements that have nothing to do with her established characterization, and if they have to build on narrative I would prefer they do it with the world around her, which has worked fabulously for the past twenty freaking years.

It ignores the Prime games in that it ignores the events in them, particularly in Corruption, in pretending that Samus hasn't worked directly with the Federation since leaving Adam's unit (in spite of fighting alongside the Federation in Corruption). Also, you know, saying all pirates are Zebesians.

@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?