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[godhandiscen]

lol, I dropped Ori after 5 hours as I couldn't stand the amount of annoying platforming.

Ori's platforming was enjoyable, I mastered it midway through the first game. Meanwhile the little bits of platforming on Metroid Dread are awful. In Metroid Dread there is a section right after you get the double jump in which you have to jump over disappearing platforms, and the whole thing irritated me incredibly. Metroid Dread isn't a worse game than Ori 1/2 though, there are many aspects that Metroid Dread does much better than Ori, such as only having meaningful abilities and doing away with a pointless skill tree. I think Ori 2 particularly failed there.

Edit: Oh and swinging from jumps using the laser that adheres to blue markers is completely broken in Metroid due to the aim requirement. There is little platforming in Metroid Dread, but the little bits that exist aren't my cup of tea.

 

[Cutty Flam]

How did you guys feel about the ending?

Spoiler

I loved it. The one thing I would improve though is maybe to have selected a better way of voicing Samus' triumphant overpowering of Raven Beak. It could have been a lot sharper, her voice and the struggle and power within that moment if the voice were different

 

[J3nga]

Ori's platforming was enjoyable. Meanwhile the little bits of platforming on Metroid Dread are awful. In Metroid Dread there is section right after you get the double jump in which you have to jump over disappearing platforms, and the whole thing irritated me incredibly. There are things that Metroid Dread does much better than Ori, such as only having meaningful abilities and doing away with a pointless skill tree. I think Ori 2 particularly failed there.

Edit: Oh and swinging from jumps using the laser that adheres to blue markers is completely broken in Metroid due to the aim requirement. There is little platforming in Metroid Dread, but the little bits that exist aren't my cup of tea.

That section in metroid was indeed bad, I just don't like platforming in general and Ori's emphasis is on platforming IMO with occasional battles.

 

[Punished Miku]

Had to go out of town and work a ton so I finally got 100% and beat it. That ending is totally insane lol. Wow. Goty and its just not even close. Best action game since Ninja Gaiden 2. On to hard mode.

 

[godhandiscen]

Boss after boss after boss. One of the worst parts of the game for sure. Just let me explore please. This is still one of the best games I have played but the absurd difficulty spikes and SNES era boss designs just drive me nuts.

 

[Punished Miku]

How did you guys feel about the ending?

Spoiler

I loved it. The one thing I would improve though is maybe to have selected a better way of voicing Samus' triumphant overpowering of Raven Beak. It could have been a lot sharper, her voice and the struggle and power within that moment if the voice were different

Rewatched the ending and finally got what the -

Spoiler

x parasite at the end is. What an awesome call back to Super Metroid. An x clones the dead body of the last kind Chozo and becomes a nice x parasite, helping her out like at the end of super, and proving theyre not inherently evil.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Finished! I had no time to play lately, was 100% items and at the last boss, so tonight I was a bit rusted on the controls to fight this boss, but a few attempts later I beat him.

This is a top tier Metroid, equal to Super Metroid in my mind. Especially now after looking at the brilliant map design and weapon progression you can do in this game when you go off-roads. Kudos to Mercurysteam, they have a classic under their belt now.

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

E.M.M.I's ruin the pacing and any tension of this game whatsoever. It's fun and thrilling the first time you're being hunted, but the minute you fuck up all that tension goes and it just turns to frustration. I especially dislike that the latter ones seemingly hang around for an AGE before moving away.

Other than that, this is a phenomenal game. Has been a blast playing a new Metroid.

 

[carlosrox]

I believe I'm at the last boss/general climax of the game. Holy shit I hardly have any idea how to hit this thing! This is gonna be a toughie.

I'm sad the game's almost over and it almost feels a bit abrupt but at the same time goddamn I've enjoyed this experience, the game is an instant classic, and I just generally need more of this.

I believe I guessed/hoped accurately about some of the story stuff! Pretty surprising! Love it. Need some time to process it.

Looking forward to actually finishing it and then starting my second game on hard.

I think I'm clocking in at just around the 18 hour mark, with a pretty low percentage like 50%. Some of these items I can't even figure out how the fuck you get a speed boost/shinespark somewhere. Huh???

Incredible game, and it pretty much just got better as it went. Samus with all the abilities is immensely satisfying to control.

It's so weird cuz I got mini lost a few more times but would then end up finding the way and wasn't even really sure how. I coulda easily seen myself getting even more lost. Really hard to find your way back to very specific spots sometimes.

Anyways this is definitely my GOTY so far along with RE8 but I'm not gonna make the claim I've played every big release on all the consoles or anything. Don't have the time to play everything these days, gotta backlog tons and can't play everything I want to

Metroid Dread is just an instant classic. Love it to pieces. Legitimately so happy this game exists and just...is the way it is. Doesn't feel like something that is made too often these days and especially from Nintendo. Metroid is definitely Nintendo's darkest series in tone and everything. This game isn't really a happy one. It has this tone that's pretty sad. I'll discuss it further in a different post.

 

[Beer Baelly]

Raven Beak is one of the baddest motherfuckers Ninty has ever created.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I don't get the complains about using the analog stick. This game controls perfectly with it. I was actually amazed at how they even made the Speed Booster work so well.

 

[Javthusiast]

Yeah I tried the demo and analog stick works fine.

 

[Guilhermegrg]

Have you guys noticed than there is also a animation where only the leg over the platform bends???




Nice details!

Also, finally finished the game. But I'm sure this was more like 18 or 20 hours or so.

 

[Punished Miku]

FYI, Amazon had the Dread Amiibos up yesterday for normal price so I snagged it. Forgot to mention it on here. There's one listing that was twice as expensive, and another listing with 10 left that was normal price.

 

[Aldric]

Raven Beak is one of the baddest motherfuckers Ninty has ever created.

Best final boss in a Nintendo game and I don't see anyone else being close to his level. Maybe DJ Octavio from the first Splatoon campaign.

 

[Punished Miku]

Best final boss in a Nintendo game and I don't see anyone else being close to his level. Maybe DJ Octavio from the first Splatoon campaign.

100% nailed it.

 

[dcx4610]

There is a learning curves with the controls. After a short while I realized why they went with the control stick. Using the free aim is basically necessary.

also for the EMMI after a few key upgrades the sections become much more interesting. Plus they are temporary.

Haven't had a lot of time to play but I just beat my 2nd EMMI and it's clicking now. I do think it's the hardest Metroid since the NES game though. That's not a bad thing but it's a little shocking to me coming from a modern Nintendo. I still wish there was a d-pad control scheme but as you mentioned, those free aim sections would be a little tough. I think you could have used the right stick for those segments though.

One other minor complaint is the map. I loooooove the classic Super Metroid/Symphony of the Night map. Every time I see a Metroidvania game recommended, if I see that kind of map system, I'm in. There's just something fufilling about it. In Dread, it doesn't fill the blocks in well. You pretty much have to jump into thin air to clear blocks. That just feels silly and while most people wouldn't even bother, I like seeing the map filled in.

 

[Fbh]

Borrowed it from a friend and finished it Yesterday.

As someone who isn't that hardcore into Metroid (only played super Metroid and the Prime Trilogy) I thought it was a great game but would't really put it above other good metroidvanias (I still like SoTN, Ori and Hollow Knight better).

It plays nice, the level design is solid and some of the puzzles to get the optional upgrades were great. I'll also eat crow as one of the people who initially said it "looks like a 3DS game" because that's definitely BS. It looks pretty damn nice and considering its (mostly) running at 60fps it's easily one of the nicest looking games on the system. It looked slightly soft but still great on my 55" TV.

I found the EMMI encounters kinda annoying and repetitive though, and after the high praise for the bosses I was disappointed that I only found the last 2 ones really good (some people were saying this has some of the best bosses in gaming..¿what?).
Also considering the price I'd have expected it to be a bit longer and with a bit more variety (specially regarding some repeated mini bosses and repetitive EMMI encounters)

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

Joy-Con were not made for Shinesparking

Change my mind.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Joy-Con were not made for Shinesparking

Change my mind.

Did it without too much hassle.
80% of my time with Dread was with Joycons.

 

[Eevee86]

 

[daveonezero]

Joy-Con were not made for Shinesparking

Change my mind.

I’ve gone back and forth between joycons with a grip and pro controller.

the short sticks are almost better but everything else is better on the pro controller.

some encounters I needed to use the pro others it was easier to use the cons.

 

[carlosrox]

I'm a genius. I totally called the story bit at the end.

Spoiler: ENDING SPOILERS

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

Did it without too much hassle.
80% of my time with Dread was with Joycons.

I'm not sure what it is, but everything seems much easier to me on the Pro Controller.

 

[Fredrik]

100% on all maps! Time to finish the fight and wander off into the sunset with my first 100% playthrough of this amazing game

 

[Roufianos]

Finished it, absolutely loved it. One of the best Nintendo games I've ever played.

Kind of makes me want to check out another Metroidvania, never really played one before unless Control and Arkham Asylum count.

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

Finished it, absolutely loved it. One of the best Nintendo games I've ever played.

Kind of makes me want to check out another Metroidvania, never really played one before unless Control and Arkham Asylum count.

Do yourself a favour and play Castlevania Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight. I'd argue both the pinnacle of the "MetroidVania" genre.

Hell, give Super Metroid or any of the Prime Trilogyy a go too. It's a genre that's stacked with great experiences.

 

[Phase]

Finished it, absolutely loved it. One of the best Nintendo games I've ever played.

Kind of makes me want to check out another Metroidvania, never really played one before unless Control and Arkham Asylum count.

Ender Lilies
F.I.S.T.
Ori 1 and 2
Hollow Knight
Castlevania's
the Metroid's

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

So I finally finished up my first play through yesterday. I went at a very leisurely pace, playing a few hours a day, and exploring to get 100%. I wanted to savor it. When Prime 3 came out I was so excited I beat it in a day and half and felt a little empty afterwards. I did the same thing with Other M, and that game was a mess of emotions for me, so I didn’t know what to think after blasting through it. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again with Dread.

I have to say it’s pretty great. Already started a Hard run, and also watched a Speedrun. I’ll probably try some sequence breaking this play through, then do an actual Speedrun afterwards.

There’s one aspect I found particularly disappointing though, and that’s the lack of Bosses. To elaborate (Wall of Text): There’s only like 3 Major Bosses. Kraid, Corpious (which gets reused with a different move set later), and Raven Beak. The EMMI’s are more like puzzles than bosses, which I actually like, and I liked the EMMIs a lot more than I thought I would. The Chozo Warrior boss gets repeated too much with not enough variation to each version, so it really ends up feeling more like a mini boss. The few other insectoid bosses are also very lame and just suped up versions of regular enemies. The way the game reuses enemies just feels really cheap, and indicative that Nintendo still doesn’t want to spend so much on Metroid after Other M flopped.

Which is a damn shame because everything else in this game is top notch. Graphics and Performance for the Switch are great, the controls are great, the abilities are the best they’ve been, and it nails the Metroid feel. It just feels on par with Zero Mission in the Boss department, which had like 3 real bosses and a bunch of mini bosses. And that was a GBA remake of an NES game. It’s 2021 and a new Metroid should offer more. I was really hoping it would have a plethora of memorable bosses like Super, Fusion, or the Prime games.

I’m sure some will argue that the bosses I’m counting more as mini bosses are real bosses, but faceless bugs and copy paste chozo soldiers are not memorable enough to count in my opinion. Kraid, Corpious, and Raven Beak are all memorable, great boss fights.

Anyways current thoughts on it I’d say it’s and 8.5/10. I’ll have too see if a few more play throughs change my perspective at all.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Been taking my time going through this as i want to savor it, and also i'm playing multiple games too lol

I got to the

Spoiler

Kraid fight

over the weekend and honestly it was ridiculously easy once you learned the pattern. This game is ridiculously good!!!

 

[Fredrik]

There’s only like 3 Major Bosses. Kraid, Corpious (which gets reused with a different move set later), and Raven Beak.

You didn’t think Experiment Z 57 was a major boss?
It was one of the cooler ones in my opinion, multiple phases and one of the harder ones as well. Loved it!

But Drogyga (tentacle thing), Escue (flying shell thing), Golzuna (crab) might’ve been more like mini bosses though, only 2 phases iirc, but they still needed some strategic thinking.

I saw a list where 10 was the total number with all of them included.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

You didn’t think Experiment Z 57 was a major boss?
It was one of the cooler ones in my opinion, multiple phases and one of the harder ones as well. Loved it!

But Drogyga (tentacle thing), Escue (flying shell thing), Golzuna (crab) might’ve been more like mini bosses though, only 2 phases iirc, but they still needed some strategic thinking.

I saw a list where 10 was the total number with all of them included.

Z57 is just the X version of Corpious that guards the Thermal Reactor right? That was a fun fight but it has mostly the same design as Corpious which is why on an aesthetic level I count them as the same thing as it reuses assets. My main complaint is the bosses seem really cheap and it’s obvious they couldn’t put as much budget into them and had to save it for three great designs.

 

[Eevee86]

Z57 is just the X version of Corpious that guards the Thermal Reactor right? That was a fun fight but it has mostly the same design as Corpious which is why on an aesthetic level I count them as the same thing as it reuses assets. My main complaint is the bosses seem really cheap and it’s obvious they couldn’t put as much budget into them and had to save it for three great designs.

No, you run past its corpse early on and it's getting experimented on.

 

[Fredrik]

Z57 is just the X version of Corpious that guards the Thermal Reactor right? That was a fun fight but it has mostly the same design as Corpious which is why on an aesthetic level I count them as the same thing as it reuses assets. My main complaint is the bosses seem really cheap and it’s obvious they couldn’t put as much budget into them and had to save it for three great designs.

It’s on the reactor but completely different. One of my fav boss fights, extremely varied.

 

[carlosrox]

Yeah that's not the same creature at all. I didn't even think it looked the same.

(Wait I'm confused, is it supposed to be the same or not? I had no reason to think it was, it even fades away after it dies)

 

[Matchew]

Finished the game. I think the difficulty is perfect. The bosses were hard, but learning the patterns and coming back to beat it on the 5th try or so was a great feeling. I also love that they put checkpoints right before the bosses so the player didn't have to back track to the boss. Couple of negatives though. First, the map is a mess. So much so that I finished the game at 47% (I think) items and did not want to go back to find items because the map is just a mess. Second, I didn't understand the ending. I haven't played Fusion since release, so maybe I'm missing something. Anyone have a good lore video they like?

 

[Thaedolus]

ENDING

Spoiler

I thought Samus' Dragon Ball Z chargeup scream was hype as fuck. I liked that they voiced her, but sparingly and only in Chozo or fuck you scream languages. She conveys so much with just her body language in this game, if there was a VGA for animation this game should win the last te years.

 

[Punished Miku]

Finished the game. I think the difficulty is perfect. The bosses were hard, but learning the patterns and coming back to beat it on the 5th try or so was a great feeling. I also love that they put checkpoints right before the bosses so the player didn't have to back track to the boss. Couple of negatives though. First, the map is a mess. So much so that I finished the game at 47% (I think) items and did not want to go back to find items because the map is just a mess. Second, I didn't understand the ending. I haven't played Fusion since release, so maybe I'm missing something. Anyone have a good lore video they like?

Ending explanation

Spoiler

In Super Metroid the baby Metroid saves her. In this, you see that at the very end the friendly Chozo helps her on the ship, then turns into an X-Parasite. What does this mean? This means that an X-Parasite cloned the dead body of that Chozo, and actually absorbed his memories and personality. This caused the X-Parasite to take his form and help her out, just like the Metroid helped her out in Super Metroid. This proves that the X are not an evil lifeform, but rather just amoral competitors biologically, and they can be good under certain circumstances.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

No, you run past its corpse early on and it's getting experimented on.

It’s on the reactor but completely different. One of my fav boss fights, extremely varied.

Same type of Head different body. Z-57 is some type of Corpious experiment. Not the same Corpious from before correct. But it was done to reuse the cool Head asset. It’s tweaked just enough to be different but the overall head design is pretty much the same. It’s still cool but the game really could’ve used more varied designs. It would’ve made it God-tier.

 

[Fredrik]

It’s still cool but the game really could’ve used more varied designs. It would’ve made it God-tier.

For me it already is. Just finished my 100% run, felt awesome that I managed to beat the final boss and do the sprint without any deaths this time, first time I must’ve died 30 times.
The counter stopped at ~20 hours.

Now that I can fully reflect on it all I would say that it’s not quite as good as Super Metroid, which is my personal choice for the best game of all time. Lots of things are better, the bosses are better, the controls are better, but I think it was too easy to find all secrets. The shinespark puzzles were mostly annoying tbh and there are too many visual indicators on breakable blocks and on the map, which makes the exploration less rewarding compared to Super Metroid. The music was not as memorable either.

But it’s still a 10/10 and I would place it at #3 on my best game of all time list.

#1 Super Metroid
#2 Zelda Breath of the Wild
#3 Metroid Dread

And I hope Nintendo plans to buy Mercury Steam because it would be horrible to see another Microsoft-Moon-Ori scenario happen where the dev just wander away and leave the IP to wither away. These guys needs to keep making Metroid games, I don’t think anybody else could’ve pulled this off, not even Retro Studios.

 

[Eevee86]

Same type of Head different body. Z-57 is some type of Corpious experiment. Not the same Corpious from before correct. But it was done to reuse the cool Head asset. It’s tweaked just enough to be different but the overall head design is pretty much the same. It’s still cool but the game really could’ve used more varied designs. It would’ve made it God-tier.

There's clearly some type of species connection between them but they have differences. Possibly one is male and the other is female. The experiment doesn't have a long tail like Corpius and the experiment has several pairs of legs.

 

[Thaedolus]

One thing about Super Metroid is I felt like the graphics were pretty much timeless. Yes, SNES sprites but very well done and played to the system’s strengths etc. It never felt dated like Metroid or even some of the GBA games felt with their tinny audio, etc.

Then I was watching some oatsngoats after playing dread and holy shit, it was jarring. All the sudden it looked…its age

 

[PhoenixTank]

I went from 12 and a half hours normal mode to under 5 on hard. Really had to nail the counters on the bosses to survive - I hadn't seen some of them play out until this run through, which was a treat!
Not sure where I could shave off the extra time to get sub 4 hours.
Around 50% items I think - basically just going from A to B to C as the game guided me and grabbing items almost entirely on the path. I did faff about a little with a couple shinesparks that gave me missile+ upgrades, but not for 45 minutes!
Stripping back much further and I fear the boss fights would be beyond me so I'm happy with this.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

4 Hours in. I stopped playing on Switch and Gravitated towards Yuzu. 4k/60FPS locked. Pure fucking fire. Even use my Pro Controller, so shit is legit. I'll beat it on Switch after I beat it on Yuzu, LOL.
I just got the Wave cannon and killed one of the mimis.

Music is nice, ambiance, too. Gameplay is tight. When I die, I feel it's totally ME. No complaints, so far.

 

[Dr Bass]

One thing about Super Metroid is I felt like the graphics were pretty much timeless. Yes, SNES sprites but very well done and played to the system’s strengths etc. It never felt dated like Metroid or even some of the GBA games felt with their tinny audio, etc.

Then I was watching some oatsngoats after playing dread and holy shit, it was jarring. All the sudden it looked…its age

I think Super still looks timeless.

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

And I hope Nintendo plans to buy Mercury Steam because it would be horrible to see another Microsoft-Moon-Ori scenario happen where the dev just wander away and leave the IP to wither away. These guys needs to keep making Metroid games, I don’t think anybody else could’ve pulled this off, not even Retro Studios.

I think MS have come into their own, but GC-Wii era Retro were way more accomplished. They succeeded at transitioning Metroid to 3D, and made 2 of the best 2D platformers with the new DKC games. I’m pretty sure they could’ve made a 2.5D Metroid that topped Dread in their prime (pun intended). Nowadays? Who knows. They’ve lost a lot of talent and haven’t been able to get anything off the ground since Tropical Freeze. I’m hoping they still got it and Prime 4 is a banger too.

I also made a really quick tier list of how I would rank Dread amongst the other games.

This me trying to be as objective as possible. TBH it’s hard to rank the games as I’m a huge fan of most of them. Like if someone put a gun to my head and made me choose my favorite Classic 2D pixel Metroid I’d probably say Fusion for it’s atmosphere and nostalgia (it was the first one I played as a kid) alone.

Honestly it’s just nice to talk about Metroid again. Samus Returns was a decent return to form but Dread is a return to glory.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Still haven't beaten the game. I'm savoring it. Last night I got the gravity suit and went through the "everything is frozen" sequence with the boss at the end. And I think I might have broke sequence and got the space jump before the storm missiles?

Storm missiles are pretty great, actually. I basically use them for everything at this point.

I've come around on the EMMI, too. Now I see them as stealth/platforming puzzles. Dealing with the underwater EMMI in Ferenia is tough without the gravity suit, but it's satisfying to use the grapple beam to keep distance.

No, I definitely wouldn't go that far. The music could definitely be better but I still enjoy a lot of it. The worst track I've heard so far (Dairon IMO) isn't even that bad.

Burenia is fucking awesome. The atmospheric stuff is awesome.

They just shouldn't have gone with some of the midi sounding stuff.

Anyways I still need to get further to hear more but again I definitely don't think the music sucks, it could just stand to be better.

I'm torn on the music in Dread. I think it's fitting. Not super memorable, but fitting. Similar to what happened in Fusion.

Some themes have gotten stuck in my head, Cataris in particular.

I really like the ambient sounds though. They nailed that aspect.

 

[dcx4610]

Getting better and better. I don't think it's the best Metroid game I've ever played but I do like it a lot. I've really come around to the graphics. My main complaint is still the map. It's confusing and feels more like Ori than Metroid. I also wish the music was a little more noticeable. Super Metroid had one of the all time great soundtracks and ever since then, it seems like they've decided to go ambient. It works but I miss the great tunes.

Certainly one of the better Metroidvania games I've played but I still prefer Super Metroid, Zero and Fusion. At least so far.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Getting better and better. I don't think it's the best Metroid game I've ever played but I do like it a lot. I've really come around to the graphics.

Honestly, I love how Metroid Dread looks.

The graphics aren't hyper detailed all the time, but I like to describe them as "evocative." I really get the feel of the areas from a visual design standpoint. The atmosphere hits. The lighting and colors are well done.

You're basically zipping through these areas, so it's not like everything has to be hyper detailed. Like with classic games, you can use your imagination to fill in the blanks. Some people would say Ferenia looks sterilized but I appreciate that there's just enough visual information to express what running around a Chozo temple is like.

Ghavoran and Burenia are particularly gorgeous, and even have some very nice looking hand-drawn backdrops.

I don't think Dread looks cheap, sterile, or soulless. It just has a deliberate style.

 

[kingwingin]

Tore this game up all day, made it to the final boss and he has whooped my ass for the last hour. The difficulty spike on him is insane.

Also fuck that purple emmi

Edit: beat it, phenomenal!