I fail to see how that effects anything

You fail to see that the word "always" implies you cannot turn it off, when that factually is incorrect? Furthermore, the Prime games don't have just one path for every destination (although admittedly the third game did that the most).

Echoes was pretty similar in regards to that, it may just be that you didn't play the game long/often enough to notice them all.

Corruption had certainly less of those shortcuts, but the game had a different structure. Instead of elevators you used the ship which usually meant that you weren't passing through the same corridors and rooms several times, thus the need for such shortcuts wasn't really necessary in most instances. Out of the three games, Corruption by far has the most sections you only go through once.

You don't even know what sequence breaking is. It describes intentionally breaking the set path of the game by picking up key items long before you are supposed to get them. Metroid Prime does have a set path, it's just that the game at times makes you go back and forth a lot, but that is intentional design. You are supposed to reach Phendrana Drifts without the Super Missile and the Boost Ball the first time. Hell, the Super Missile and Boost Ball ARE both located in Phendrana Drifts, so how is this supposed to be a good example? No offense, but ridiculously stupid would be more fitting. Now I am going to tell you how similar Super and Prime actually are.

Phendrana Drifts is one area you will revisit a lot of times. The first time you'll collect the Boost Ball, go back to Tallon Overworld for the Space Jump only to go back to Phendrana again to gain the Wave Beam. That's followed by collecting the Super Missile and the Thermal Visor and beating Thardus (all located in Phendrana). After getting the Spider Ball from Thardus you go to Chozo Ruins to find the Ice Beam which you are going to use in Phendrana again in order to get the Gravity Suit which you need in Tallon Overworld to make it through the Wrecked Ship. Later on you return to Phendrana for your fourth visit overall to collect the Chozo artifacts.

Norfair is one area you will revisit a lot of times. The first time you'll collect the Hi-Jump Boots, go back to Brinstar to defeat Kraid for the Varia Suit. Back to Norfair to collect the Speed Booster and Ice Beam only to got back to Brinstar again to find the Power Bombs. Immediately back to Norfair to find the Grapple Beam which you need to access the Wrecked Ship where the Gravity Suit is located. Once you've gotten the Space Jump from Maridia you go to Norfair for the fourth time in order to access the depths where Ridley is located.

You see, there isn't much of a difference in terms of roadblocks and "going out of your way" between Super Metroid and Metroid Prime. Just like it doesn't take long in both games to reach Norfair and Phendrana Drifts for the first time, it takes long and repeated trips in both games until you've done everything important in these two areas.

Metroid Prime's main path consists of going back and forth, just like is the case with Super Metroid. The reason why you find Prime confusing and not Super, is because you played the latter much more often.

The beam upgrades in Other M are just as important as Prime.  Some areas you can't even progress without the Ice or Diffusion Beams.  Or are you going to tell me you would have been able to fight the Hive Boss in Sector 1 without the Diffusion beam killing 5 enemies at once.  Or you'd enjoy running through Sector 3 without the Ice Beam freezing all the maga enemies.  I thought not.

Also, like Mr. Kahn said, I didn't play the game on hard mode, so I don't feel the same as you.  But you could easily make the same argument for Nina Gaiden on hard.  Yet no one is complaining about 'limited gameplay and dodging all day' in that game.  Because its SUPPOSE to be hard.

And frankly, I'm tired of hearing about how Prime is a godly game because it has the most exploration of any of the games.  I already explained how it detracted from my experience, while in Super (and yes, even the original), there is a general path you are suppose to go, even if you want to explore outside that path.  Prime was like sitting in a giant 3D world constantly going 'Should I go in that room *scan everything*.....no, I don't have Grapple beam yet.  How about this room *scan everything*...no, I don't have super bombs.  How about this room *scan everything*...no, I don't have Spider ball yet....'  That's not fun exploration.  That's forced exploration that just makes you frustrated.  It gets old real fast.

Also, as I keep saying, I'm not going to say Other M was the best in progression or item finding.  But you people always take it to the extreme saying 'Zero Pick up items'.  You lose all credibility when you take something to such an extreme that even casual players of the game know you're wrong.  There was even NEW pick up items in this game, including energy parts, 'Accel Charge' to speed up the charging of your Charge Beam and 'E-Recovery units' to improve your concentration.  Yes, they felt easier to find, but please stop trying to claim there's nothing there.  Especially compared to Prime, which is missing key items and basically came down to collecting nothing but Missle Upgrades and Energy Packs outside of the main items.

No, what I wanted to say was that I didn't enjoy the Metroid Prime games. I tried Prime 1 and Corruption, and they're just not for me. I don't like the first person perspective, and the depressing atmosphere, and the scanning and everything. Other M is the kind of Metroid game I'd play.

Maybe it's because Prime 1-3 were made outside of Japan. I found that I prefer Japan made Nintendo games. Not a fan of outsourcing to the US. I haven't tried DKCR yet, though.

I can't really argue with this point since I never played Other M on hard mode either, but I was just wondering what gave you the impression that hard mode was closer to the developer's vision than normal mode?

If the developer did indeed say as much then I would go back and try the game on hard mode so I could get a better idea of where you're coming from. From what I've heard about that mode (no pick-ups etc) it would indeed sound less like a Metroid game and more like a regular action game like DMC...

Yeah, because 'lets play' videos aren't bias in any way....

I will admit, Other M is nowhere near the best Metroid game.  But the gameplay and design was still good.  Its just the story and forced real-time events that hurt the game.  If the story was handled more like Fusion, it probably would have been much better.

How can it have alienated you if you didn't play it...

And that brings up another point.  Most of the people I see say the game was horrible was people who either didn't play it or had a negative opinion about it before they did.

I won't deny the series took a backwards step from what the fanbase wants.  But that doesn't mean the entire series is crap just because you didn't like (or didn't play) one game in the series.  That's like saying all Future Zelda games are bad because of Twilight Princess or all Mario games are bad because of Mario Sunshine.  Sometimes Nintendo tries something new and it doesn't work.

Sure, I didn't play it, but looking at the videos, and you can find ones where the guy just plays, no commentary, I saw 3 things which just shouldn't be here: an over-reliance on missiles, it's almost as if it was the standard beam it's used that much; the cutscenes with the characterisation of Samus. The quicker they get rid of this and forget about it, the better. And finally, you're exploring a metallic hub ship or whatnot. It is boring, very boring. In metroiod and the prime games, I'm actually exploring a planet, which offers such diverse locations, I was in awe when I played them, especially prime 1. Here, it's just "meh, some slightly different metal pieces".

I also don't think the entire series is crap, just that this game is horrible, and it looks that it's not going to get much better from this.