#metroid is my special interest and that is why

[kef-meister]

Metroidposting

I have an immense urge to start digging into Japanese television in the 1960's/70's/80's for the sole reason of finding out what the hell could have inspired Metroid and everything in it.

The only reasons I haven't yet are that I do not understand Japanese at all, and I am afraid of disappearing for months down a rabbit-hole without a spade.

...

Sure, John Carpenter's "The Thing" could explain the X Parasites - since the movie's known as "The Thing From Planet X" in Japan and a number of other staggering similarities.

But how did they decide on "high-science birdpeople got tired of conquering so hard they started inventing a hungry jellyfish to save the ecosystem" ????

[the-larxist-manifesto]

GameGirl28 ~ Wario Land 3

When deciding the first set of games to play for this challenge, I just HAD to make Wario Land my first heavy-hitter game. As a lifelong fan of the Mario extended universe, platformers, and quirky games in general, this series always spoke to me. The problem is... most of the games are stuck on the GameBoy!!!! So actually, I haven't played very many of them at all! Thankfully, I've outlined this challenge so that I hit all three of the GB games (after which I plan, outside of this challenge, to play Wario Land 4 and Shake it).

Why am I playing the 3rd one first? Erm.... anyway, moving on...

Wario is such a fucking creature, dude. I love how much they lean into that angle for him in this game. The entire tone of Wario Land 3 basically reads "shakily drawn feral comic book characters get into Looney Tunes shenanigans together." I'll be saying this a lot throughout the challenge, but for a GameBoy game, I was so charmed by this game's art style and presentation. Pictures are favored in the exchange rate with words, so let me just showcase a scrapbook of my faves

Like in Mario 3, this sun will swoop down and attack you. But since Wario is invincible in this game, your ass just gets set running on fire

Wario can destroy the natural landscapes around him in a multitude of violent and absurd ways

Don't fuck with Wario or he WILL turn you into one of those worm on a strings....

~A competent platformer~

Aside from just being pretty, I think the developers objectively made very efficient use of the small screen real estate. The objects, enemies, and Wario himself are blown up quite large to make room for detail and style, while also increasing the legibility for platforming and squashing enemies. I've played games on a WIDE SCREEN HD TV and had more trouble seeing ahead of me. In Wario Land 3, I almost never struggled to see jumps or areas of interest ahead of me.

This game is, after all, all about exploring. On this particular adventure, Wario is transported to a whimsical island contained inside a magic music box. His aim is to escape, but not without nabbing every goblet and gold doubloon he can. Search every nook of this unfamiliar land, find every giant key to open the treasure chests, and help restore the power of the music box deity in order to go back home with your pockets lined $$$$

The gameplay loop consists of essentially three phases:

One: Metroid-vania style level progression. You enter the first level sorta unable to do much at first. It's kinda funny playing as this worthless fat old man just wandering around the forest, until you just HAPPEN upon one of these giant chests which hold little powerups for Wario. As he powers up, he resembles the tough-and-tumble brawler we know Wario to be, and can start busting through blocks and climbing up cliffs that he could not when you first visited the level. When blocked off areas become accessible, the levels evolve into wide-open platforming sandboxes. It makes the adventure feel vast, despite the size of the console!

Two: Boss battles. Like most platformers, you will encounter bad guys way huger and eviler than the other ones, and you will have to defeat them set to special battle music. All bosses, save for the final boss, follow the rules of Three Hits and Hit the Glowing Part of their Body. Each one is a unique creature with some fun arena gimmick, making them a nice change of pace after all the jumping and smash attacking.

This soccer rabbit was a particularly memorable fight. Whoever can kick a ball-ified version of the other into the net three times wins

Three: Mini games. Well, actually, there's just one mini game. Golf! For a 2D golf game, I found it fun to master power adjustment and spin to conquer the various courses. There's even a secret course you unlock by collecting the special music coins! I LOVE me a classic unlockable, especially unnecessary ones thrown in as a fun extra goodie

... Para-Goom? Is that, like, a relative of the Goomba? I was not ready to be introduced to a Darwin-esque Mario universe evolutionary tree

~Reading the enclosed instruction booklet~

OKAY TIME FOR A BRIEF SIDE TANGENT!! Given how strange and arbitrary as some of the "puzzles" were in Alone in the dark, I ended up using a GameFAQs guide at certain points. As with most old video games, console limitations and lack of in-game tutorials make it tricky to blindly play GameBoy games. Sometimes, it makes them a matter of pure trial and error. I don't find that particularly fun, personally... so when it came to some obscure bits of Wario Land (what levels to visit next after triggering an event, how certain transformations worked, etc.), I felt a sense of annoyance growing in me. What were the devs THINKING? Surely they didn't make a game THIS OBSCURE and expect children to be able to beat it??

In that moment, I tapped into my very empathetic mind and remembered... game devs may not have invented tutorials yet, but they DID include manuals with every single game! That's right! Those little booklets used to be good for something. Really quite important, actually!!

With that, I researched to find an online PDF scan of the game's original manual. That way, without the need of external guides, I could understand the full context of the game! And I am not exaggerating when I say that this guide HELPED. A LOT. It's not like the game was impossible to play without it... but it was, quite simply, a worse game. I learned how to quickly replay event cutscenes, instantly check the next level to explore, the full capabilities of every transformation, and more! Stuff that was programmed into the game but that I simply didn't know existed. Neither me nor the devs would have wanted me to continue without knowing all this!!

As you've seen from some of my previous screenshots, the manual has lots of little lore tidbits and cool official art scattered throughout. It's like a little love letter to the game, stitched together by the developers to go, "Lookie! Look at this cool thing we made! Have fun!!! :D"

With this discovery, I have decided that I will be locating and reading the official instruction booklet for every single game in this challenge from now on. Not only is it helpful, but it's fun! Manuals have always been one of my favorite parts of video game collecting, so it totally enhances this challenge and gives me even more to look forward to as I go!!

~Conclusion~

My only criticisms of this game stem from my own bias against Metroidvania-type games. I don't consider it super fun to wander around the giant ass levels over and over, struggling to find one random block you couldn't break before. But I will admit, it's an economical way to maximize the gameplay in a modest number of levels and maintain a fairly high play time! That is, without abusing artificial difficulty or unfair level design... (looking at YOU, Dr. Wily's revenge....)

Aside from that: the levels look so good, the music is so catchy, and the powering up is so addictive, I can easily forgive a little repetition in exchange for the feeling of absolutely BASHING ENEMIES SKULLS IN and KNOCKING THEIR BONES TOGETHER LIKE PINBALLS with how absolutely beefed up Wario becomes later on

It's a classic for a reason. I am definitely turned on to the Wario Land series now, and I can't wait to see how they all build off each other as a franchise! Shame Wario only seems to star in minigame collections now... which only serve to kill our chances at a new Rhythm heaven game..... >:{

((jk I luh waryo where <3))

Check out this lil medley of the game's soundtrack, made by our very own SiIvaGunner team! :D

Phew, that was a long one...

[limitiz-nk]

As a metroid fan, I definitely like Samus.

But somehow, I don't like her. Her characterization is not enough.

Dread Samus must be heavily inspired by the style of Prime series, and I do believe they are how Samus shows her personality throughout the franchise, especially Corruption. Even though Corruption's story is my favorite one, I still see too little about her.

I can understand why people like that for the bounty hunter's coldness that I am a fan of this, too. But sometimes what special a character thought was important. Fusion tried to do this job to fulfill it but not perfect, and even too repeated when she mentioned Adam stuff.

Therefore Samus is totally a saint. She sufferred a great pain of losing parents, reborn with a firm heart with the help of Thoha Chozo. However how she overcame it and managed to become a saint is definitely sketched through, and information of manga doesn't satisfy me.

We only see her fighting monsters, hardly seeing other faces of her, which is why I think her character is somehow too "flat". And as a protagonist, she doesn't have a clear objective. Keeping the galaxy in peace might count one, but I feel it is more a daily subject for her now.

That's why I somehow prefer fan-non Samus in some good AO3 articles(Allow me to pick my favourite two now--Ansegth and Electrochromism）. These Samus are neither saint nor protagonist, while they have a more vivid picture as a person. And their interactions with other characters are interesting and wonderful.

I won't urge Nintendo to make Samus like other game's do and I don't have a hope. But I do really want she could have progress on her personality in Prime 4, at least as good as or better than Corruption.

Back to my own plan, people already did a plenty of jobs for their Samus, so I decided to focus on another character--Dark Samus, who also waste her potential to expand my versions.

[miloscat]

[Review] Darksiders (PS4)

Meh-siders.

After playing through Darksiders Genesis with my brother, I decided to try out the rest of the series. I’ve been told the other entries are more combat-heavy 3D Zelda-likes, which sounds like something I’d be into. The problem is, for me to really get into something it has to be really good, or interesting, or weird, or bad in a fun way, or hilariously stupid. Darksiders is none of these; it’s simply fine.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic Earth filled with fantasy demonic guff, Darksiders has you slap your way through demons and angels as War, of the four horsemen (the other three are not seen at all but you get some of their weapons for some reason). There’s a lot of mediocre character action-style battling, some puzzles, and lots of slow walking. War is heavy and plodding, and his dash has huge ending lag so getting around is a real drag, especially when you’re required to backtrack through the connected world.

It has the Zelda (or Metroid Prime)-like accumulation of tools to enable new interactions, and you’re supposed to unlock more combat options. I ended up deciding that most of them were wimpy and the most efficient way to deal with things was to focus on basic sword attacks, which is a shame. Using the tools to solve puzzles can sometimes be cool, like the late-game dip into portal technology, but often they’re just finicky. The platforming too feels unsatisfying, as War has no (or even negative?) coyote time, and his ledge grab only works some of the time.

At those later stages the game’s pace slows to a crawl with long, involved dungeons and a last-minute scavenger hunt, like Wind Waker’s Triforce pieces or Metroid Prime’s Chozo artifacts. This is also the point where the plot ramps up and becomes even more incoherent than it was before; I played through the whole game in the last week and couldn’t really tell you what happens in it or why. The tone is also so dour and self-serious, with every single character just grumbling at each other with no quippy comic relief like Strife to puncture the grim gloom. Even Vernon Wells as Samael is more heightened and so didn’t delight me this time as he did in Genesis.

Being a 2010 game originally, it strongly feels like an exemplar of seventh gen mediocrity. Even with the remastering process it looks dated, it feels bland and a bit clunky, it’s got the underdeveloped upgrade systems and quick time events that you would expect from the time. I wish I could find something to praise about it, but the truth is it’s just a game. It’s competent enough to not be a disaster, but doesn’t excel enough to be anything special. Here’s hoping the sequels pull their finger out.

[dumpsterfirepropaganda]

So a while back, I decided to make a spreadsheet listing all of the franchises/series/properties/etc. that I have a special attachment to, along with specific elements/aspects that I particularly enjoy in the media I consume, in order to see if there was any one variable all of them had in common.

It ended up looking like this:

I added the year I got interested in each property as well, and it’s been funny to see the progression - you can see how it starts with the movies my parents showed me at the beginning, then the video games my friends introduced me to (or that I fortuitously found out about after skipping vacation bible school one day but the full version of that story is for another time), then my special interests growing out of a mix of those...then that little stretch in 2020-2021 where I started dipping my toes into things out of morbid curiosity and getting genuinely invested in them whoops

 Anyway, I wanted to share this in case anyone else is interested in creating something like this. I think it’d be so fun to see what other people consider to be the most appealing aspects of the things they’re into, as well as how their tastes evolved over time! 

(Zoomed in versions of the spreadsheet under the cut for easy reading, as well as abbreviated explanations of how I got into everything on this list, if you’re interested.)

Jurassic Park - I was obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid. My parents were like, “Hmm, she might like this - we’ll just make her cover her eyes for the scene where the T-rex eats that guy off of the toilet.”

Star Wars - Parents bought me Lego Star Wars for the Wii because THEY liked Star Wars but I had no clue what was going on, walked in on them watching Episode V and they let me stick around

Pokémon - All my closest friends were into it but I wasn’t allowed to play until finally my parents caved and let me get a DS and a copy of Platinum. Easily the franchise I am the most invested in ahaha

Sonic - Went to the phone store with my mom and they had a mobile version of Sonic 2 on one of the demo phones. Went home and got it on virtual console, literally defined how I play video games now

Mega Man - Picked up a copy of Nintendo Power (RIP) because it had Mewtwo on the cover. Featured character was Zero. His design activated all the neurons in my brain so I read everything I could about him and eventually got into the games, and now Mega Man characters own the deed to my house and my firstborn child

FNAF - Friend showed me a video of a playthrough at my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. Scared the pants off of me. Couldn’t stop watching it.

Alien/Aliens - The Great Movie Ride at Disney, but specifically the waiting room where they play the trailers for the movies (I closed my eyes during the actual Alien section of the ride because it freaked me the heck out). That trailer stuck in my brain and one day I just decided I wanted to watch it. I’ve never mentioned them before but I need y’all to understand that these are my favorite movies of all time and I literally wrote a college essay about why they are so good

Metroid - Saw Samus in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and thought she was super cool. Got an SNES Classic for Christmas and tried out Super Metroid...instantly hooked. One of the most amazing games in the universe you guys

The Thing - Dad was like, “Oh yeah I watched that in theaters when I was 12 it’s great let’s watch it.” I couldn’t look my own dog in the eyes for three days.

Terminator - Wanted to check out more 80′s sci-fi. Plus Michael Biehn. Love Michael Biehn.

Twilight - Me and a close friend (neither of whom had grown up reading these) decided to watch the first one as a joke. Got invested. Ended up watching them all. Now I write Mega Man/Twilight fanfiction. Beware what you do ironically, folks.

Homestuck - Was vaguely aware of it for years but (like most people) had no clue what it was about until the Sarah Z video. Decided to give it a try.

It checks almost every single box on this spreadsheet, so...there’s my defense for that, I guess.

The Locked Tomb - Everybody kept posting weird things about this book series and it sounded too crazy NOT to read

Subnautica - I love the ocean. I love space. I love aliens. I couldn’t get a copy of Pokémon Violet at Wal-Mart and wanted something new to play and it happened to be on the shelf.

[atwas-gaming]

30-something Christian gamer girl.  HUGE gaming theorist and analyst.  May also blog about theories related to other media, as well (books, movies, TV).  Eclectic tastes, I never know what I will or won’t like until I get into it.

I'm on Twitch! Stream schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday; starts at 4:30p, usually runs 2-4 hours. Yeah, I know, lousy schedule, but it's what fits my life.

Current Twitch schedule:

Monday: TBD

Wednesday: Backpack Hero

Friday: Ori and the Blind Forest, Normal Mode, 100% completion

I have a Kofi! Come support me and my stream!

Check out my "game journal" tag to see updates on games as I play them. Many of these games are probably old and their fan bases are mostly dead, but I don't care, I'm having fun XD

Favorite genres: plaftormers, RPG’s, adventure, puzzle, “casual,” and Metroidvania.  And anything with a storyline that appeals to me.  Not too big on most shooters.  I don’t have anything against them, I just suck at shooters.  Solo player, mostly- my brain works like the brain of a cat, i.e., I like to repeat things until I memorize the patterns so I can “git gud,” or at least get better.  As a result, I don’t do so well when playing against the unexpected randomness of human nature. Again, nothing against it, I just suck at it.

Favorite games/franchises: Undertale/Deltarune (I include Undertale Yellow in this list and I will die on that mountain), Sonic, Axiom Verge, Zelda, Metroid (in that order). (Currently super-obsessed with UTY.)

Also Celeste, Stardew Valley, Ori, American McGee's Alice, Dark Souls, Witcher, and a bunch of others.  I’m bad at a lot of them, but I love them, anyway.

I believe that gaming is a sport and game design is art- which means both making and playing games takes skill and talent. I also believe that God is with us all the time, even in video games. So the purpose of this blog is to show all the ways that God reveals Himself in even the games we play.

I also want to encourage Christian gamers not to let other people tell them whether or not to play games, or even which games to play. God calls each of us differently. For instance, I have no interest in GTA, but if God called you to spread His love in the GTA community, go for it. It's between you and God to decide where He wants you to go. Just make sure you stay close to Him along the way.

From time to time, I'll post what I call "praise reports." These are where I brag about an accomplishment in a game- but I call them "praise reports" because I like to think that God plays games with me, and that when I get stuck, He helps me get through it. Sounds strange, I suppose, to say that God helps me with a game... But I figure, if I can trust Him with the big things, like food and money and my job, then why can't I ask Him for help in little things like beating a boss monster? (In fact, sometimes I feel like it's the other way 'round- like His help in beating a boss reminds me that He can and will help when the car breaks down or something.)

I also like to look at everything and compare it to what God says and ask, "Do I see any Biblical parallels in this?" Which leads to me saying things like, "Hylia giving up her divinity to become a human is like what Jesus did when He left heaven to be born in a manger," or "Sonic walking towards his death to take on his friends' corruption on Rhea Island reminds me of how Jesus carried His own cross to take our sins upon Himself." *shrug* Some people think it's weird. A lot of Christians says it's sacrilegious. I feel like it's just God showing Himself to the world in ways that everyday people will understand.

I am starting to use a special tag for these things: #Biblical parallels. I also have other tags for Bible references, Bible verses, etc. And I try to mark things as religious posts if they mention God or the Bible and I don't have another tag to fit them. Because I am a Christian and I do like to talk about God. But I also know that's not everyone's cup of tea.

I have four other blogs:

atwas-meme-ing, mentioned above

the-unrelated-theorist, which is nothing but Undertale/Deltarune theories. If you're into that, plz check it out.

sans-joke-book is for puns and bad jokes.

atwas-creations, which is where I will upload my fanart, fanfics, and fan games (when I finally get around to making them probably 50 years from now, but I'm working on it, anyway).

just-bible-musings, which is where I will post some of my deep thoughts about the Bible.

uty-timeline, which is all Undertale Yellow

[zippdementia]

Metroid Retrospective: Samus Returns

Metroid 2: Samus Returns (3DS)

Completion time: 11 hrs (96% item completion)

Samus Returns marks not only the return of the titular heroine for the only OFFICIAL remake of Metroid 2, but also the triumphant return of developer Mercury Steam after their absolutely disastrous release of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. I always rather liked the company's output and so was glad that a failure which would send so many companies into bankruptcy didn't end their talent.

And indeed, Samus Returns shows nothing if not innovation and talent. It marks a reinvention in the way Metroid games feel to play, finally achieving turning Metroid into an action-exploration game in a way that was a bit frenetic in Zero Mission and unwieldy in Metroid: Other M (which I probably won't get a chance to revisit for this retrospective, as no one has any interest in rereleasing it).

The Samus who lands on the surface of SR388 this time around feels plucked less from Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion and more from the arenas of Super Smash Brothers, with fast movement and melee attacks. She acrobatically leaps around the caverns of the Metroid home planet, knocking around enemies with ever-increasing power as she delves deeper and deeper. Most notable is the 360 degree aiming system, which feels natural and addictive, allowing you a level of shot precision we have never seen before.

I can easily say that this is, so far, the Metroid game I've found the most fun to control and play. Oddly, I can also say it is one of the least memorable.

That juxtaposition took me some time to come to grips with. This is a Metroid game I played nearly to 100% completion without any complaint and without minding backtracking to find hidden items -- indeed, a new "sonar" power makes finding the items less of a chore and puts more focus on solving the navigational and platforming puzzles related to getting the items, rather than search-bombing every square inch of the planet. I often found myself thinking "just one more item," or "one more Metroid" for up to an hour after deciding it was time to retire for the evening. So why is it that I am already finding the experience to be fading from my memory?

An answer can be found in this truth about Metroid games (and maybe about all Metroidvania games): they are works of dueling personalities. You have the personality of the protagonist and the personality of the setting that both vie for attention. For most of her games, Samus herself has been on the losing side of this equation (heck, the series isn't even named for her).

She began life as a "twist" character, a reveal meant to challenge sexist assumptions about who heroes are. By the time Metroid: Samus Returns was released (2017), a few attempts had been made to give her more personality, usually in the form of elongated story sections (Fusion and Other M). Yet Samus Returns is the first time that her personality is integrated into the gameplay, with her wide move set and special attack animations mixing well with clearly casual and unconcerned behavior during boss cut scenes, making her feel stronger and more confident than she ever has.

And yet, the same personality can't be found in the planet itself.

It is not for lack of trying. The 3-dimensional backgrounds are stuffed with various... rock and mechanical things... but I am struggling to be more specific than that. Really, despite the depth the backgrounds offer, the only two areas that stand out in my memory as more than "another rocky cavern" are the hydro-dam area and the jungle area, both of which get a much needed color palette break from the browns and reds of the rest of the game. There was so much emphasis placed on tight gameplay and specific navigational puzzles that the world feels less natural and spontaneous. It feels very crafted to elicit a specific play style and encourage a specific approach.

As a result, Metroid 2: Samus Returns is an excellent game, but not a memorable one.

1) Super Metroid 2) Metroid Fusion 3) Metroid: Samus Returns 4) AM2R 5) Metroid 2 (original) 6) Metroid Zero Mission 7) Metroid Prime Pinball 8.) Metroid (original)

[0m3g45n1p3r4lph4]

Hello ^.^ for the metroid ask game:

5, 6, 15, 26, and 45?

The Ask Game in question!

I have a lot to say so I'm putting this under a readmore xD

5: Favourite Suit design(s)?

Dread. The Dread Power and Varia are absolute peak, the only complaint I could even *think* of being pedantic enough to suggest is that the Dread power shoulders be more angular than round, and that's nitpicking to the highest degree. I'm not as big as fan of the Gravity - I've always been of the opinion that the Varia should hold title as the bulkiest suit, being specifically an armour barrier, while the Gravity suit is mainly focused on environmental factors and movement unrestriction. Dread's Gravity being thicker and more armored makes sense for the narrative of her suit regenerating armour, but still. Plus I miss the blue lights. Why did we walk back on that.

ESPECIALLY AFTER MERCURYSTEAM DESIGNED THE BEST GRAVITY SUIT IN THE HISTORY OF GRAVITY SUITS WITH SAMUS RETURNS! MULTIPLE SHADES OF PURPLE, DRAMATIC ANGULAR BLUE LIGHTS, WEIRD LOOKING GREEBLING AND MACHINE BITS, 20/10 EASY

Special mention to the Zero Mission base Power Suit, doesn't get enough credit and hardly gets justice in the other games. And also to the specific depiction of the Prime Trilogy Varia in Hunters with the exception of the Arm Cannon. For those unfamiliar, Hunters uses the same suit as in Prime 2 and 3, but the same gunship and arm cannon as in Prime 1, to sell the game being between Prime and Echoes. It's a great detail I love, but I especially adore the promotional artwork showing Samus in battle poses - if you look really closely, you can faintly see her face through the visor. I love that detail and look for it every time.

6: Least favourite Suit design?

As a Base Power Suit fan, I don't like how it's depicted in either Prime or Other M. The shoulders in Prime are so weirdly disconnected from the arms and solidly bolted to the chestplate. It feels wrong and lanky, as though it's incomplete without the Varia. I get why they might do so, but the Base Power Suit is the original Suit. The Chozo wouldn't make it completely shit on purpose. This then goes the opposite way with Other M - there is a decent Base Power Suit model in the game used for a single flashback cutscene of her time with the Federation, and the game uses a recolored Varia Suit like in Zero Mission after getting the Fully Powered Suit. Not a single piece of Metroid media supports this depiction - Super, Prime, or Samus Returns, and ZM doesn't officially let you disable Varia Suit to find out.

Special credit to Samus Returns for my least favourite Varia though - in contrast to Other M's hyper-smooth aesthetic, the SR Varia feels... overdesigned. And the proportions even more dramatically exaggerated, though it looks worse in promotional art than in-game. (Plus there's some details of Gravity I wish carried into Varia, but again pedantic about how Nintendo should handle their suits)

15: Most atmospheric game?

"Atmosphere" is such a tough word to quantify, because some folks are going to be more interested in or cognizant of certain atmospheres, but if I had to pick a single one? Return of Samus

I actually really like the atmosphere in M2RoS - the soundscape exists almost entirely for the idea of an alien world, getting quieter and more unsettling as you venture deeper into SR-388 and see firsthand how their predatory hunting without a balance destroys the environment, a fact I much lament the lack of in Samus Returns. The walk with the Baby and seeing the stars shining little beacons of hope for the future, the dramatic shift in music when you realize the Metroid Hive is inside a Chozo Laboratory, hinting at their connected narrative earlier than anything else would; and of course that ramping in intensity as the Metroid counter rises and some infants mature into adolescent Larva. Vastly underappreciated game, both for its time and still holding up now if you're willing to soak into it.

Special mention to Echoes though, every part of that game helps to immerse in the Luminoth's world, emphasize their struggles through it all and the care it once held. Retro cooked with scan logs, and having additional context to sit with and really feel an area and it's history is so good that I feel it missing from Dread. Lemme scan animals and know what they're called.

I like my worlds feeling alive, and that either needs animal behaviors and living habits (big kudos to Dread for pulling this off even without Scans though like I adore how they made different animals have different degrees of agression *to the point where the Melee Tutorial Muzby is protecting the eggs in thw background hence her heightened agression from the rest of her otherwise neutral species*) or context for developments (scan logs provide so much for the Chozo Ruins, not to say they wouldn't still interest without them).

26: Least favourite Area or Sub-Area?

Damn. Maridia quicksand sucks. They managed to make fear of water level with Wrecked Ship's entryway, alleviate it with Gravity Suit, and then make the water level bad with impossible to escape quicksand. It feels like there's a 50/50 chance you jump normally based on specific frame alternation?? Something stupid I should look up.

Special credits to Sector Zero though lmao getting me all hyped up for GFed Tourian akin to Fusion, only to -*mic cuts away before The Other M Rant begins*

45: Best vs. Worst Final Boss

Gonna real quick separate Final Boss from True Final Bosses, there's a distinction there. A Final Boss is the last challenge of your abilities. The True Final Boss is a glorified story beat. FB in Fusion would be SA-X testing skills and having all the buildup, TFB is the Omega that defies previous canon and contains our first chain of Super Metroid sacrifice references. FB in Dread is Raven Beak, with the buildup and test of skill, while TFB RB-X is a story beat where you basically get free win. I wanted to rip it's arm off, not just -*the mic is once again taken before this becomes the Metroid Dread ending rant*

Best Final Boss goes to Raven Beak from Metroid Dread. Just about every final boss has good story feel, so Raven Beak wins out through sheer combat. This guy wants you dead for defying him and he's still somehow going easy on you. How many bosses will try to bait out certain dodges and punish with combos? Raven Beak does. It makes me wish the counter was more involved, but again that takes me into my How To Further Improve Melee Counter rant. Even now being able to kick his ass feels like a great rush of adrenaline. I should really be trying to beat more Dread randomizers, see how well I can handle him without 100% equipment or extra modifiers.

Special bonus points for Dark Samus 4 in Echoes. I love how she becomes more like the Metroid Prime Essence as she overindulges in Phazon, and it's honestly a shame that didn't happen at all in Corruption.

Worst Final Boss is easily MB, who behaves like an exaggerated TFB. Look at her and someone else takes the kill instantly. Phantoon has more depth and I've beaten that guy without loading his health bar and skipping the dramatic finish by accident, because how fast I was charging beams.

Special bad loser points for every Mother Brain in the series I guess. (Sorry Super MB isn't a super fun fight, it's mostly just spectacle and story drama. I love those of it but there's a reason randomizers let you skip the fight.

That's all of them! Thanks so much for the ask!

[faithisforthetranspeople]

Hex's 2021 Media Thread Archive (2021 Part 2)

SSSS.Dynazenon was a fun watch I decided to pick up because I had some friends who were really about it. I had watched Gridman before and that one had a slow start but I loved the heart put into it during the later half with Anti and other characters getting some big moments. This sequel was a lot better overall, although I must regret I don't really remember much about it at this point in time so it didn't stick with me that hard. Like most trigger works for me it's a good and fun watch but won't leave me thinking about it forever :P.

Kamen Rider Blade was a really great watch! Every now and then I'll just binge a Kamen Rider for the hell of it which is how I've gotten a decent knowledge on the series (my favorite is OOO if you were curious) and this one is real special. It introduces maybe my least favorite rider ever who just sucks shit all the time in Mutsuki, who imo doesn't even get that great a resolution, but it also introduces one of my favorite riders ever with Hajime aka Chalice. It's a real slow burn with a lot of ups and downs but the ending is something really special and I just love the suits and belt gimmick of this one :).

Lobotomy Corporation made me really need to get one after playing it. Because this is Tumblr and my friends are LGBT or allies I don't need to talk too in depth about why I love this game because there's hundreds of other women who will snarl and froth over it. If you're curious my favorite Abnormality is Knight of Despair and my favorite character was either Netzach or Chesed.

Lobotomy Corporation: Wonderlab. Even more proof I'm definitely normal, I read this entire thing in a day after finishing Lobcorp. I love and adore the designs in this comic and it's really tragic they ended it so soon. But I'd definitely recommend it if you loved the game!

Blaster Master Zero 3 is one of my favorite games that Inticreates has made. I picked a wonderful time to get into this series as the third game was only a couple months away after I had finished the previous two and it was so exciting actually playing a game the second it released again and going through it all 100% in one sitting. Everything about it just plays so good and I love how well they mixed mechanics with narrative in this one. Also if you know the source of my icon you can tell a certain scene had a big impact on me.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is a great way to play FF1 if you don't want any of the bonus content from the GBA/PSP releases but still want some quality of life such as a minimap and generally easier battles. I think when I go for my inevitable FF1 replays I'll probably aim for PSP just cause I actually like the extra content but this is definitely one of the better deals for the pixel remasters if you're interested in checking the series out :).

Metroid Prime is one of my favorite games I played growing up, and in 2021 I experienced it again using a specific emulator set up to emulate the trilogy and bind your camera movement to the mouse, turning the game into a Mouse and Keyboard style game. While I think the Prime trilogy actually feels like one of the better FPS series to play with controller it was still a fun and easily accessible way to trek through a game I've played before.

Psychonauts 2 is probably one of the games that's closest to being a perfect sequel that I've ever played. Most the time with these revivals of old IPs you have to temper some expectations after so many years have passed and accept some flaws from the process of making a newer more modern entry but for me this game feels exactly like what I'd want from a Psychonauts sequel and it doesn't lose the heart that made the first game (which is one of my favorite games ever) such a special experience. The narrative was really touching and they really knocked all the different level themes out of the park in such a satisfying way. Please play both of these games if you haven't and can tolerate a 3d platformer with some collectathon elements.

No More Heroes 3 is a game I don't know how to go about describing why it's so cool and fun to anyone who doesn't know the series and already get the appeal. Instead of spending forever explaining all that I'll just say the bosses in this one are probably the best in the series in terms of overall quality with no super aggressive difficulty spikes but some can still get you if you're careless. In particular my favorite is the "RPG" boss fight the dialogue is so goofy in that one.

Touhou Luna Nights doesn't try to hide it's inspirations (like all Touhou fangames really) and instead creates a really unique Castlevania-themed game focused around throwing a megaton of knives in various ways and finding out how to interact with everything using time slowdown/stop mechanics. The game can be pretty tricky trying to learn how to manage all your resources but after enough upgrades and time spent it's extremely easy to shred through enemies (and even bosses) in a very satisfying way. Any game where you can stop time and stand on your own knives as platforms will always be cool.

Warioware Get it Together was a fun timesink and had pretty good systems in place to get you to replay a bunch of microgames with its online elements, but unfortunately I never really spent as much time with it as I wanted to. It was very fun with so many ways to complete every microgame with all these characters who play differently and I hope they keep this series going!

Touhou Puppet Dance Performance - Shard of Dreams (Extended) - is the last game I'm going to put on this archive post and it's a real special one. While I adore pokemon as a series and am probably one of the people who can't bring myself to dislike an entry in the series, this game combines it with one of my biggest interests in such a special way that it's probably my favorite Touhou fangame as well as my favorite Pokemon fangame. Even with official content only there's characters from Every Single Game (and even the books!) from Touhou 1 all the way to 12 (15 with shard of dreams), and there's a very high quality mod in SoD Extended that adds in all the missing characters so you can play with all of them, as well as balancing trainers around all the new content they add for these characters and making the game less of a stomp and sometimes an actual real challenge. The customization of a puppets EVs (and eventually IVs) along with being able to freely switch natures and learn/forget moves as long as you have enough points means that there's a very high chance no two playthroughs will ever feel alike, and the typing chart fits in really well with no types feeling too powerful compared to the other cause no matter what there will always be a trainer that just folds one of your puppets out of nowhere. As a bonus while I sign this post off, for my playthrough I used a gimmick team where I could only have one puppet from every 3 games (ex: if i choose sakuya i can't use any other puppets from 4-6, if i choose nazrin that's 10-12, etc.) and it ended up being both a bit of a challenge but also very fun to try and get good type coverage. See y'all in the next archive which should be the final one for 2021!

[scientist-bryan-wolfsbane]

this question is for the admin but what games do you play that aren’t Pokémon? What’s your favorite game?

If we're talking Nintendo, I love the Mario Rabbids series, with Mario Rabbids Sparks of Hope being my favorite game overall (it was Kingdom Battle but, you know, better sequel). Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright games, and of course the crossover. The usual Smash, Mario Party, Mario Kart, and I did play Metroid Dread when it came out!

If you're talking NOT Nintendo, if it wasn't obvious, God of War Ragnarok is my favorite non Nintendo game. Legit such a beautiful game and the music always makes my heart hurt. Guardians of the Galaxy is amazing too, I also play the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Now for some lesser known games that I highly recommend to people as I absolutely love them. Blacksad: Under the Skin, Chicken Police: Paint it Red, Coffee Talk, and Darq. If people are interested I can go into more detail about why exactly I love them but I don't want this post to go on forever.

Thank you Anon, I've always wanted to talk about some other games I love (though Pokemon still holds a special place in my heart)

[gamesception]

Metroid games traditionally have been more about gameplay and tone rather than about story and lore. Story has certainly been more relevant in the more recent games, which try to retroactively graft an overarching setting mythology and narrative onto a franchise that didn't really want or need one.

The Prime games have pretty much their own separate story and timeline, and should more or less be considered a separate continuity. I do recommend playing the prime games in order for anyone who wants to try them. Familiarity with rhe main aeries is optional there.

As for the main line games, you can start with any of them (except for Other M), and if there's a bunch of story stuff you don't understand about random bird people & alien dna just reassure yourself that it's not that important. That said, some jumping on points are a bit better than others.

I'd like to recommend the whole series in release order so you can see how much of the framework was there from the beginning and how that framework developed over time and evolved to fit different platforms.

If you have a high tolerance for retro 8 bit games then that's the way to go, but the nes and game boy games are very dated at this point, & the nes game in particular suffers from some critical design flaws (most notably not refilling your health & missles on death), so if you do start there absolutely feel free to abuse save states or employ rom hacks that sand off some of the rougher edges.

For most people I'd recommend starting with Super Metroid, then proceeding in release order from there, going back to try the nes & game boy installments later if you decide you're a fan of the franchise & want to see where it started.

Other M is a special note in that it's uniquely kind of bad. It's an important franchise artefact in so far as it effectively demonstrates why the series isn't and shouldn't be about surface level narrative & character stuff. But it can be safely skipped entirely, and certainly shouldn't be anyone's first metroid game.

Fusion is an interesting starting point. It's a good game. Some genre fans will criticize it for breaking up its interconnected worlds into much smaller zones that it only lets you explore one at a time, but it was originally released on a handheld and thus meant for shorter game sessions. The segregated areas are an attempt to give players a bite size taste of classic metroid exploration while limiting the available places to go to ensure you can make meaningful progress in short play sessions. Metroid 2 on the gameboy did something similar, as did zero mission and the 3ds game 'Samus Returns'. This 'bite-size' design make any of the handheld games a decent starting point, at least mechanically.

So Fusion could be considered a good introductory metroid game. But while I turn up my nose at the narratives in the franchise, the themes are another matter, and the themes of Fusion are better appreciated if you're already familiar with the games that came before it. It's sort of a deliberate subversion & even inversion of the prior games' themes.

It's still fine to start with fusion, but I encourage anyone who does to go back and re-play it again later, after they've played the earlier games, to see if it hits different.

currently playing fusion, should I play the Prime games before getting onto Dread? If so, what's the best way to play them?

Honestly you could do them in either order (Dread doesn't *textually* reference the Prime games) but I would personally recommend that you play through the Primes first, since then you can have a little "hey wait I recognize that" moment in Dread.

Best way rn is to grab the Prime Trilogy ISO from Vimm's Lair and play it using PrimeHack, which is a custom emulator fork that gives them all regular FPS controls and widescreen support.

The Prime remaster on Switch is extremely good though but I'd still recommend PrimeHack just for ease of access, until they at least remaster Prime 2.

[rollflasher]

My current thoughts on Sonic Frontiers

With the unstoppable courage Get a fire pow- Oh wait, wrong Frontier.

So, almost a week ago we got a new trailer for Sonic Frontiers and...my thoughts are pretty mixed, so I’ll just get out of the way what I thought of the trailer itself.

To be frank, I actually loved it! My main critique is the obvious lack of gameplay, which is a red flag considering SEGA’s own confidence in the project. I think it can’t be stressed enough the fact that by this point we SHOULD have some footage of actual gameplay, granted what we say wasn’t all CGI but we shouldn’t have to wait more to see how Sonic plays in this game. I just hope that SEGA is indeed doing this for the sake of giving a surprise to the audience instead of more unfortunate reasons like a lack of confidence or progress.

About the aesthetic itself...if I’m honest, I wanted a less cartoony and whimsical Sonic game for a long time, however I have to point out that the enviroment is guilty of suffering of the ‘’Sonic on Unreal Engine 4 Fan Game’’ syndrome, since at first glance it looks generic and unremarkable. However, I also saw some interesting bits that makes me hope this new enviroment will have a chance to stand out on its own during gameplay. I am aware of the BotW comparisons but let’s be honest, that game was a big hit and it’s impact on other open world games is to be expected, so I don’t see the point in calling this a BotW rip-off. From my perspective at least, it’s like calling a Metroidvania a rip-off of Super Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night...when it has become a standard for games in the genre to use those titles as reference because of the impact they made.

Now here’s the interesting part...the story.

This post might get outdated in days because apparently the plot summaries we got are inaccurate, but I’m still going to give my two scents on what we actually have to work with.

So far the premise we got of the story is that Eggman discovers an ancient technology, installs an AI program to hack it and then it turns out this gets out of his control and now Sonic has to save the day.

I’m going to be frank here...

This premise is absolute garbage.

I’m not usually the one to jump to negative conclusions regarding Sonic, and anyone who follows my blog knows that, but I’m also not going to pretend this is fine and I will quickly explain why.

The reason this premise is so bad is because its yet ANOTHER plot of ‘’Oh, Eggman awakens an ancient monster but he gets upstaged because he can’t control it’’ and to be frank, I don’t even want to give it the benefit of the doubt because this trend should have stayed dead, period. We already have 10 games with this shitty ‘’Eggman gets fucked up’’ plotline, so why do it AGAIN, specially when the post-2010 games, in spite of all their flaws, have moved on from this?

I’m just gonna ask a simple question to illustrate how pointless this trend is.

Why shouldn’t this franchise have new antagonist who don’t need to upstage Eggman to stand out?

I repeat

Why shouldn’t this franchise have new antagonist who don’t need to upstage Eggman to stand out?

And it’s not like they never did this before, the Storybook games had Erazor Djinn and Merlina and it turns out they’re more memorable than the majority of generic villains this series has that had to upstage Eggman to prove their worth.

In fact, with this premise I can be sure that the antagonist is going to have the personality of a cardboard box and I can assure Eggman is going to get upstaged in a stupid way.

Besides, it’s been apparently confirmed that Ian Flynn is writing the script of the game. I know that there are a lot of folks hyped for this but to be honest, Ian shouldn’t be writing for the games since he has proven to be unreliable with his hijinks in the comics, particularly his superficial understanding of the characters and his habit of bending characterization for the sake of plot convenience.

The fact that the Metal Virus arc in the comics ended up with Eggman being upstaged to ‘’raise the stakes’’ is part of the reason I’m sure Flynn will play the premise of ‘’Eggman fucks up because plot needs new villain’’ painfully straight.

I know someone will inevitably say

‘‘But Flynn is better than Pontaff!’‘

And yes, he is...but here’s the big question. Is that enough?

Because really, Pontaff didn’t set the bar high to begin with, and Flynn has more than a decade under his belt repeating the same writing mistakes, to the point that the recent Sonic Encyclo-speed-ia is filled with errors regarding continuity and game events...and if we speculate that Ian probably did this on purpose to fit his headcanons into the canon, then it’s even worse. I find it very ironic that the fandom preaches about not accepting mediocrity in Sonic, and yet it lowered its standards so much that they’re happy to have consistently mediocre writing because ‘’It’s better than Pontaff’’. If the characters are going to be bent whenever the writer sees it fit, then Pontaff and Flynn are interchangable, the only difference is that the later’s writing pretends better to be IC.

Am I really supposed to be hyped about the games’ writing resembling this in the future?

Please bring Maekawa or Nishiyama back instead.

On a side note, Ian writing for the games also worries me in the long run because it means that now he has a more direct influence on the canon, and considering what I just mentioned that’s far from a good thing. Because if Ian doesn’t care about bending the canon if it suits whatever he’s writing at the moment, the results will be incosistencies that will slowly but surely pile on each other until it becomes obvious and I certainly don’t like the sound of that.

I know I’ve been pretty harsh with Ian Flynn but really, I’m just tired of his influence on the franchise as of late. And regardless of the fact that I’m tired of Sonic having western writing, I would be more open minded if not only Ian actually tried to improve from his trademark writing mistakes, but also if his fans stopped excusing every controversial take or writing choice he does, specially considering that apparently he can only do wrong when SEGA is involved according to them.

I don’t think he’s a bad writer per se, but I would definitely take anyone else over him to write for the actual canon games.

Anyway, I hope the actual plot of this game is not another Eggman getting upstaged story, but if it turns out only minor details revealed to us were innacurate, then my grievances still stand. I just hope Frontiers at the very least turns out to be a good enough game to make up for the potential problems its writing might have.

[atwas-meme-ing]

30-something Christian gamer girl.  Also something of a gaming theorist.  May also blog about theories related to other media, as well (books, movies, TV).  Eclectic tastes, I never know what I will or won’t like until I get into it.

I'm on Twitch! Stream schedule: M-Th, starts at 7p, usually runs 2-4 hours. Yeah, I know, lousy schedule, but it's what fits my life.

IMPORTANT! I will be streaming Tears of the Kingdom on Twitch beginning May 12 (unless something goes wrong). I will be posting the videos on my Tumblr. In case I forget to mark something as "spoiler" or "major spoiler"- because I forgot on a few Sonic Frontiers posts- just assume that any TOTK posts I make after May 12 will be spoilery.

Favorite genres: plaftormers, RPG’s, adventure, puzzle, “casual,” and I’m still not sure what defines a Metroidvania, but apparently I like some of those, too.  And anything with a storyline that appeals to me.  Not too big on most shooters.  I don’t have anything against them, I just suck at shooters.  Solo player, mostly- my brain works like the brain of a cat, i.e., I like to repeat things until I memorize the patterns so I can “git gud,” or at least get better.  As a result, I don’t do so well when playing against the unexpected randomness of human nature. Again, nothing against it, I just suck at it.

Favorite games/franchises: Undertale, Sonic, Zelda (in that order)

Also Celeste, Stardew Valley, Ori, American McGee's Alice, Dark Souls, Witcher, Hollow Knight, Metroid Dread, and a bunch of others.  I’m bad at them, but I love them, anyway.

I believe that gaming is a sport and game design is art- which means both making and playing games takes skill and talent. I also believe that God is with us all the time, even in video games. So the purpose of this blog is to show all the ways that God reveals Himself in even the games we play.

I also want to encourage Christian gamers not to let other people tell them whether or not to play games, or even which games to play. God calls each of us differently. For instance, I have no interest in GTA, but if God called you to spread His love in the GTA community, go for it. It's between you and God to decide where He wants you to go. Just make sure you stay close to Him along the way.

From time to time, I'll post what I call "praise reports." These are where I brag about an accomplishment in a game- but I call them "praise reports" because I like to think that God plays games with me, and that when I get stuck, He helps me get through it. Sounds strange, I suppose, to say that God helps me with a game... But I figure, if I can trust Him with the big things, like food and money and my job, then why can't I ask Him for help in little things like beating a boss monster? (In fact, sometimes I feel like it's the other way 'round- like His help in beating a boss reminds me that He can and will help when the car breaks down or something.)

I also like to look at everything and compare it to what God says and ask, "Do I see any Biblical parallels in this?" Which leads to me saying things like, "Hylia giving up her divinity to become a human is like what Jesus did when He left heaven to be born in a manger," or "Sonic walking towards his death to take on his friends' corruption on Rhea Island reminds me of how Jesus carried His own cross to take our sins upon Himself." *shrug* Some people think it's weird. A lot of Christians says it's sacrilegious. I feel like it's just God showing Himself to the world in ways that everyday people will understand.

I am starting to use a special tag for these things: #Biblical parallels. I also have other tags for Bible references, Bible verses, etc. And I try to mark things as religious posts if they mention God or the Bible and I don't have another tag to fit them. Because I am a Christian and I do like to talk about God. But I also know that's not everyone's cup of tea.

I have four other blogs:

the-unrelated-theorist, which is nothing but Undertale/Deltarune theories. If you're into that, plz check it out.

sans-joke-book is for puns and bad jokes.

atwas-creations, which is where I will upload my fanart, fanfics, and fan games (when I finally get around to making them probably 50 years from now, but I'm working on it, anyway).

just-bible-musings, which is where I will post some of my deep thoughts about the Bible.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: November 2021

The snow is starting to fall around here and so I’m given even more opportunities to stay indoors and watch/read/play stuff! Here’s how November shaped up.

……….FILM……….

Dune (2021) Refreshing. I know it’s a remake and based off of a book but it still felt like I was watching something...new, you know? Such a sense of grandeur and scale while still feeling very personal. Just a boy and his mum off on a grand adventure. I’m so glad part 2 is a go. 

Heathers (1989) I watched this back at the start of the month when I was trying to find something to keep the Halloween spirit alive. So not as...spooky as I thought, and it took me a bit to adjust to the movie’s tone, but it really grew on me. I think it’s one that I’ll like more upon rewatching as it definitely left an impression.

……….TELEVISION……….

The Bachelorette (episode 18.03 to 18.07) Oof they are just swapping one villain out for the next! But outside of those guys, everyone else is really really great. Good group and great Bachelorette so I guess I’m saying top notch season so far?

Hawkeye (Episode 1.01 to 1.02) This series is based off of one my absolute favourite runs of comics so I’m going into it with a lot of good faith (plus I love the holiday setting). It’s mostly working for me so far but the fight scenes in ep 1 just go on too long and don’t really tell a story. They’re just...people fighting. I zone out. But ep 2 (no fighting! Lots of Kate/Clint banter) is great. More of that.

……….READING……….

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (Page 80 of 371) I’m just getting into the book but already it’s been really insightful. There’s a lot to process but I never feel like anything is going over my head. As someone not versed in ethics or psychology, it just does a really great job of catching you up to speed.

Rinkitink in Oz by L. Frank Baum (Complete) Bilbil is probably my favorite of the new characters. It’s interesting that these later books have less and less to do with Oz (despite the name). I find the books that feel the most natural either feature classic Oz characters or are set in Oz. This has neither and because of it feels like I’m just reading a random story by Baum. Am I being weirdly critical of a story published for children over a hundred years ago? Yes.

The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees Complete) You know when you’re feeling stuck with your clothes? Or you buy something new and it’s not working and you’re like “why?” Same. This book has really helped and in a sensible way. It doesn’t try to push you towards a specific style, rather it makes you look inward to say “what wardrobe is YOU?” while helping you answer that and get on track. Obviously this is for a very specific market/purpose but I can’t recommend it enough.

Dragon Ball: 3-in-1, Volume 4 by Akira Toriyama (Complete) This is where, for me, the series starts to pivot from “fun adventure, a bunch of fighting” to “all fighting, all power levels, all the time”. It’s the transition into what I think of when I remember watching Dragonball Z. It’s...not what I love about the Dragonball world but that’s okay. Only one more volume to go and this is a reread so I know where it’s all heading (and to be honest I do like the “ending” of Dragonball).

……….AUDIO……….

Texis by Sleigh Bells (2021) I love Sleigh Bells’ earlier albums and I think it’s because they have a balance of vocals and instrumentation that works for me. Their later albums leaned more towards vocals and kinda lost me, but this shifts to a balance that I dig. Glad to have them back in the mix.   

……….GAMING……….

Metroid Dread (Nintendo) Just a really special game. After finishing it and giving it a break for a couple weeks I find myself wanting to go back and that...doesn’t usually happen with video games. Loved it thoroughly.

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Back in Neverland after Oztober and lots happened! Alliances with the Mermaids are crumbling and the Party has discovered a secret camp kindly old Nomads! Full session recaps are here in case you want more detail.

And that’s it! As always, let me know if you have anything to recommend and see you in December!

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

I had more thoughts!! (I hope you don’t mind me reblogging this from you! It was actually just easier to find it from your blog than mine...)

Something I was talking to my girlfriend about later as well while we were mulling this all over: I find it interesting how the BOTTLE SHIP specifically calls for damage or failures to cause it to jettison Sector Zero. Even ignoring my headcanon-y thought of Adam feeling like he needs to take the consequence of dying to get rid of this project he set into motion, it seems odd that Sector Zero doesn’t have a remote way of jettisoning and detaching itself (though, again, I haven’t played Other M fully myself, so... I may have missed a stray dialogue somewhere that addresses this. But that’s not as fun as my idea so phooey I’m gonna ignore it!)

From what I understand, Ian - Adam’s brother - died because there was a failure in a drive core that would have led to it causing dangerous destabilization to the rest of the spacefaring vessel they were on, and Ian had gone in to try to remedy it. What if - if Adam was one of the forces behind the BOTTLE SHIP’s construction, behind this project - MOST parts of the BOTTLE SHIP are designed in their own contained sectors such that if there is any catastrophic failure, it will automatically declare an emergency sequence, give anybody within that sector time to leave, then jettison and destroy itself? Designed completely based on what happened with Ian, to prevent such an event from ever happening again, to prevent anyone else from having to make such a heartbreaking call.

What if, Adam going into Sector Zero and allowing himself to die alongside it, was poetic justice in his own right? He made the bitter call for Ian to die in the past, for the good of everyone else, by having him die to that failing drive core. Now, he has made the bitter call to sacrifice himself for the greater good as well, by letting it take his life much in the same way that drive core did Ian’s in the past.

A system he designed specifically to avoid having to lose people to a situation such as this once again, and in an almost ironic twist of fate, he has to go in and manually trigger the jettisoning sequence.

Though, if you go with my more headcanony thought of him intentionally designing them to give people time in those sectors to leave before jettisoning... That means you could have some reeeeally fun angst of Adam having had to sit there for 5-10 minutes, waiting for the jettison, waiting for the end.

...

Also.

Not only did Adam lose Ian that day, but I do love to think about the recognition of how Samus left shortly after that, and Ian’s death majorly influenced her to do so.

Adam didn’t just lose his brother, he lost Samus, too. Regardless of whether you see Adam as more of a fatherly, romantic, or even just platonic figure in her life, it has to just be such a crushing blow to him. He’s a commanding officer, she was someone who relied on him and trusted him and he trusted her, they had a whole thing going on with the “objections, lady?” - and then he pulled that, and she left.

He had to, but she still left. As a fatherly figure, that would feel like him failing his “charges” - Lady, Ian, and all his soldiers. As a romantic figure, it would feel like a cruel, crushing blow, to feel as if you failed the person you loved like that, failed to provide them the ‘safety’ you are expected to offer as a commanding officer, with your experience and knowledge. As a platonic friend, it would still feel like a deep blow, to think you had to make a call that singlehandedly ruined someone’s faith in the cause (the GF) as well as made your friend feel unsafe or uncomfortable working below you.

I wonder if wanting to prove he could in fact be that protective force he meant to be as a commanding officer could influence the decision to start the BOTTLE SHIP project... no matter how you interpret him, I could see it working!

Bear with me Tumblr while I go on another unprompted metroid rant

@sablegear0 sorry for the tag but wanted to tag you bc. Some of your stuff inspired these thoughts 🙏

Just thinking about Other M because I LOVE the concepts, HATE the execution

(Disclaimer, I haven't played the full game myself - so take all I say with a slight grain of salt, but still)

I think it would be way more fun if Adam was legitimately part of the splinter cell he mentions later in the game. That he DID legitimately write a report condemning the thought or practice of repurposing metroids as bioweapons, and the Federation at large listened... But as Samus proceeded to save their collective asses again and again, Adam grew anxious, realizing how hinged their survival was on her. Realizing how unfair of a burden that was on her and how unsustainable that was.

Adam was always a very "ends-justify-the-means" person. He proved that with his own brother. So... Running with this thought-

He met up with other likeminded individuals, like Dr. Madeline Bergman, like higher powers in the Federation that maybe provided hush-hush funds to start the BOTTLE SHIP project. His previous report is in fact co-opted as he claimed, once the metroid breeding program starts - by himself. It's used as the project's *bible,* almost, it's warnings taken to heart and addressed systematically. But the biggest threat isn't: once they create these metroids, particularly unfreezable ones, there is no way to guarantee they will never leave Federation clutches, or that the Federation won't abuse them.

And that's what Adam realizes as the project progresses. He realizes that, if he and this splinter cell was capable of forming and operating on such a scale, what's to say more malevolent forces within the Federation couldn't do the same? Forces that wished to behave the same as or *worse* than the Pirates? He has just authorized the creation of weapons he can never guarantee will stay out of their hands. Already having dug this hole for himself, Adam realizes he can't retract his decision, because when he starts to show hesitancy to proceed with the project, he is warned by others in the splinter cell that his name is all over this project. Should he turn it in, they could easily smear it all but entirely on him - many of them would get off nearly freely, meanwhile his life would be destroyed, and the unfreezable metroids and zebesian pirate clones would likely stay in Federation possession.

So, Adam comes to the gutting decision that he will have to destroy the BOTTLE SHIP project on his own, from the inside out, at the cost of his own life, if he must - seeing as his life would be destroyed anyway, once the secret comes to light. When a distress call from the BOTTLE SHIP echoes across the galaxy, Adam jumps at the opportunity to lead the 07th Platoon, and the Federation at large - unaware of the splinter or the BOTTLE SHIP's existence - unwittingly sends the splinter's founder as the team's leader to investigate. James Pierce is part of the splinter as well, unknown to Adam; he vows to ensure Adam doesn't destroy what they've built, no matter the cost.

On the BOTTLE SHIP, Adam is genuinely disturbed when Samus arrives, and his harshness with her - and his order to restrict her abilities in order to join them - are all subtle attempts to simply annoy her into leaving, since he knows he can't just ask her to, as she'll only stubbornly stay, then. Samus, of course, is unbothered and considered this fairly normal for her former, Machiavellian CO.

When James realizes Adam isn't trying to lead the Federation soldiers astray, he begins to pick them off one by one. Adam realizes there's an assassin in their midst, but there's little he can do about it other than try not to be the next one killed, and protect Samus, to ensure he can stop this project.

By the end of it, with MB having rendered the Pirate clones uncontrollable, an inadvertent Ridley clone threatening the universe once more, the looming prospect of unfreezable metroids being released on an unsuspecting galaxy... Adam temporarily stuns Samus with a blast from his weapon at a weak point on her suit. Samus is suspicious, as she is in the game already, but even more so this time. Maybe she even at first thinks Adam, in a terrible moment of panic, is the Deleter - but he puts that thought out of her head.

The conversation goes similarly to in the games, but maybe with it being more obvious Adam isn't telling her the entire truth. He's leaving out details because he can't stand the thought of revealing to her how he let her down - again.

But Samus realizes as he talks. She picks up on the hints. He knows about the splinter cell because he was part of it. He knows about Sector Zero's self destruct process because he was part of the designing process. And he needs her to stop Ridley and divert the BOTTLE SHIP, destroy it if necessary, because after he takes care of the metroids, he won't be around to make sure the rest of the project is destroyed for good, and he is relying on her for that. Samus starts to get angry at him again as her suit starts to regain power, unloading betrayal in bitter words, angry that he would think he can just get away from it all by dying a noble death, but Adam quietly tells her they don't have time, and he can't stop Ridley. He's not doing this to get away from his consequences.

He tells her he's no Galactic savior - and he means it. He's not. He started a terrible thing, and now she has to clean it up, just as she always does. Implied in his words is how he's sorry for trying to match her, for doubting her, and making her life worse in the process of doing so. Implied in his words is how he felt like he wanted to protect her, that she shouldn't have had to be the galactic savior, but he sees now how that was infantilizing of him. She's an adult, she's her own person, she's grown wonderfully - implied is the gentle request for her to go be herself, and for him to be himself. The commander the gives her orders, and the galactic savior that takes his orders as advice rather than gospel.

Despite being furious at him, Samus is still thoroughly upset by watching him enter Sector Zero and yells at him not to, but he goes in anyway. The same "Any objections, lady?" cutscene plays, with her giving a bitter, angry thumbs down and banging on the door one final time.

Maybe instead of blindly honoring him in the resulting dialogue, Samus admits that she still doesn't totally understand why he did everything he did, and that she is deeply hurt that he would do all of that rather than talking to her about what could be done to improve the Federation's forces so they don't rely on her so heavily, but that she could see in the end, he regretted it. That he respected her. And I think that would motivate her to ensure his death means something beyond him atoning for his mistake, by ensuring the projects aboard the BOTTLE SHIP don't survive (or so she believes).

Samus always believed she did her best to put good back into a world wrought with evil forces, but the implied admission behind Adam's declaration of her as the galactic savior would fuel her with determination - and maybe even start seeding a particular kind of hate in her for the Federation, to be large and twisted enough to do this to people.

Maybe she even starts wondering just how different the Federation is from the Space Pirate empire and if she's going to watch them walk a similar path in real time.

[fan-file-stack]

@sunder-the-gold I’ve tried reblogging my response to your Samus: Strong but Silent post twice now, but it keeps eating it. So here it is as it’s own post.

I’ll admit, I’m a little surprised you don’t play D&D. Given the kind of content you reblog, I figured it’d be something you’d like or at least be interested in. Thankfully, this thread is actually the sort of advice I needed; which is part of why I commented on the timing of it in the first place. The second half of your post makes an excellent summary of how Samus’ inner strength defines how she comports herself. That in turn makes it a great reference point for how to characterize her in roleplay.  I had given her characterization some thought, but not nearly as much as how to match the mechanical details of her abilities.

Speaking of mechanics though, here’s a summary of what I came up with. (I’ll probably make a full post covering all the details of this build and the different ways it can be configured later.) I focused on emulating just her most common abilities, using Super Metroid and Prime 1 as a guideline.

Assuming a level 20 character, almost every part of Samus’ kit can be matched by the abilities and spells of the Armorer subclass of Artificer. The subclass gives you access to a suit of armor -the ‘Infiltrator’- that is functionally the Power Suit and Arm Cannon. Most of the suit’s upgrades -short of Morph Ball, Speed Booster & Space Jump/Screw Attack- can be recreated with Infusions (one of Artificer’s special abilities; basically home-made Magic Items). And those previously mentioned abilities can be emulated via spells.

The only thing the Artificer really falls short on is firepower; which is where taking a handful of levels of War Wizard gives access to Beam Weapon Upgrades, Super Missiles, and Power Bombs.

All of this can be further enhanced by what Race, Background, & possible Feats you take, but those are not strictly necessary to have a viable and accurate Samus.