mZuzek said:
AngryLittleAlchemist said:
Hate to be that guy but Fusion is a pretty awfully written game too to be honest. Even as text, the monologues in that game suck ass. The "twist" near the end is bad. SA-X's final fight is disappointing as hell (which sort of counts as story-related given how Metroid as a series operates), and the retread of Super's ending isn't nearly as clever or interesting as the developers probably thought. I mean, I still like it about as much as the other 2D Metroid games, but even that story kind of sucks. Which is sad because it has the best concept for a Metroid game yet. It looks like Dread is taking some of the elements that worked in Fusion though and delivering on them more thoroughly, so that's neat. |
That's your opinion, so you're free to be "that guy" all you want. Personally I think Fusion has a fantastic story, the way it creates and retains tension throughout is awesome, love some of the foreshadowing with certain late game bosses, and I love how it starts all very robotic and structured with you making routine visits to each numbered sector from the same hub area, but ends with everything going to shit and you're just finding your way wherever you can survive amidst an insanity of boss fights and SA-X chasing you everywhere. However, I agree with you on the ending being bad, the final SA-X battle is underwhelming and the Super Metroid callback at the end felt very forced. But everything up until that point was fantastic. Given how Samus Returns handled open-ended exploration (not well), and how Sakamoto hasn't made a Metroid with really good exploration since 1994 (and then he wasn't exactly the only head of the series), I'm putting my hopes on Dread delivering a good story again. Already lots of promise on that front. |
I don't really disagree with any of the positives you're listing of the game. Those are all great parts of the game. My issue with it, and again it's just my personal opinion like you said, is that that's probably 50% of the game's story, and only like 25% of how it's presented in in-game length. The monologues just don't seem well written to me - and that's a lot of the story. The A.I. dialogue tends to be bad, and again that twist is awful. The parts that are good are the parts that Metroid always did well - the narrative through gameplay - and even that is somehow fucked up with both the final boss and the final SA-X fight.
Maybe calling it "awfully written" is a bit far but that's kind of the issue. The concept is so amazing and yet it feels so poorly delivered on, except for the narrative through gameplay stuff that other games already delivered on. It's like they added an extra layer of depth to the series but didn't even do it that well. I will say that the SA-X stuff before the final encounter is very inventive, I definitely give the game credit for that, that's one new element they did well. It's certainly a game of peaks and valleys story-wise. Not gameplay wise though, it always has great gameplay.