Metroid Prime Hunters - Retrospective

The Metroid series has always been one of my favorites from the gaming universe. I'd heard a lot about the game from friends, and even though it was a launch title for the DS, I never got around to playing it until just this month.

Overall, I found the game enjoyable, but it lacked the level of polish that the other Prime games have. While some of this can be attributed to the smaller screen and lack of processing power on the DS, the rest is actually a fundamental flaw with the game itself.

There are a total of 3 bosses in the entire game, 2 of which you fight 4 times apiece. While the bosses change slightly each time in order to seem harder, the learning curve built into the game doesn't adapt as fast as the player; Every version of the boss is actually slightly easier than the one before it.

I admit I'm not the greatest gamer in the world, especially when it comes to FPS games. Even so, I didn't run into any points in this game where I simply could not continue due to difficulty. On the one hand, this was helpful in keeping me interested in the game, but I can't help feel like better players will end up getting bored quickly.

But no reviewer worth his salt will talk about Metroid Prime Hunters without mentioning the multiplayer. This is where the game truly shines. Some would say it's the only reason to actually own the game. In a way, I'd compare it to Super Smash Bros: Single player is fun for a while, but multiplayer is fun forever. But as a primarily solo player, I can't help but think the game would benefit from being able to play as the other 6 hunters in the regular story mode.

The Good:

• Shockingly good graphics and online gameplay for a handheld title, especially an early generation DS title.
• 6 new bounty hunters vastly expand the game universe.

The Bad:

• No way to play as the other 6 hunters outside of multiplayer.
• Controlling the game on a DS Lite results in cramps in the left hand after only a few minutes of intense combat.

Defining Moment:

• Finding out I beat Slench 4 before Slench 3, and discovering that it was actually far easier than Slench 3.

Burning Questions:

• So, the great power in the Alimbic cluster was just a big powerful monster that killed everyone?
• Why doesn't Nintendo make a sequel to this game for the Wii with online play? It could easily be their answer to Halo. They could have multiple story lines for each of the 7 hunters, essentially septupling the single player mode's life.

Progress for August 28, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters - COMPLETED!

Well, this was unexpected. I beat it! Even after my last post, I got bored while watching TV and decided to pick up my DS and make some more progress. I didn't expect to go all the way to the end, or even to defeat Gorea on only my second attempt.

I had a prediction what kind of battle I'd be up against after reading the scanned information from the Alimbic Phantoms or whatever they're called. A large creature that changes color and powers depending on its vulnerability. Gee, how original! I've never seen that in a game before! (other than Mega Man, Metroid Prime, Kirby 64, Final Fantasy IV DS, Super Mario RPG...)

As with last time, I'll be posting my retrospective tomorrow. G'night everybody!

Progress for August 28, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters

Now the endgame begins. I have 7 of the 8 octoliths, and 2 of the 3 cube thingies to get the last one.
I just wish I could remember which level I found those 2 on. At least there are only 4 of them; not too many I have to check. I'm a little curious what the last Slench will look like; the third one was actually considerably easier than the first 2 simply because of his easier to avoid movement pattern.

I expect I'll be done with this game by the end of the week. Any suggestions for the next game? I want to do something console-based so I can use my pinnacle capture device to record game footage and get more people interested in my blog. Gaming videos are really popular on youtube.

Complete: 61%
Octoliths: 87%

Progress for August 27, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters

Trace headbutted me out of the map!

Now, I've worked in QA, and I realize that it's impossible to get all of the bugs out of a game. So this caught me more off guard than anything else. I fell into the abyss and hit the failsafe built into most 3D games: death. What really surprised me was the announcement that the hunter had taken an octolith. I'd never died to another hunter before (I didn't die this time, technically) but I didn't want to do whatever I assumed I'd have to do to get it back, so I just quit without saving.

Anywho, I'm up to 5 octoliths. I almost died when trying to escape Alinos after claiming the fifth octolith (Trace held me up here as well) I made it to the ship with 1.03 seconds remaining. This leads me into my next complaint.

Now, I understand the need for the doors to hide loading times, but this should NEVER be at the cost of gameplay. I just don't understand why they have to have TWO between every room. It takes a billion years to get through them.

I don't know why we, as gamers, have decided to simply put up with this. The NES had a 1 mhz processor, and there were never any obtrusive loading times. Books don't load. TV shows don't load. DVD movies don't load between chapters. Why have we allowed games like this to tease us for 20 seconds at a time?

Complete: 54%
Octoliths: 62%

Who the fuck cheats at Tetris?

simplekid, that's who. I was playing against him in standard mode and every single piece he got was a straight I block. Needless to say I didn't bother with a rematch. Bastard. I really wish there were a way to report abuse from random worldwide wifi battles, but all I got was his display name.

Progress for August 24, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters

Instant death puzzles have no place in a Metroid game. Acid pools, 300-foot falls that make you have to climb all the way up again, deadly spike plants, these are all standard Metroid fare.

Instant death puzzles are not.

Anywho... I'm stuck now. I've been to all four planets/space stations and collected the 4 octoliths there. I'll keep exploring; there's probably something I missed, but I was expecting something a bit more climactic for the halfway point.

Complete 46%
Octoliths 50%

Nobody cares

Nobody really cares, but I haven't been playing Hunters much lately. I've been addicted to Tetris DS online play since I got my wi-fi working. I've got a solid 5800 score right now, still trying to break 6000.

If you want to play against me, my number is 700-964-917-235

Progress for August 21, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters

Magmaul get!

I've started to have to backtrack to several other planets now before finding where I'm supposed to go. I'm not even sure I'm doing things in the right order, or if there even is a correct order this time; although if more open gameplay is what the developers are going for, it's probably something revolutionary for the Metroid series.

You know what I'm talking about.

Complete: 39%
Octoliths: 25%

Progress for August 19, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters

Nothing much to report, other than I expect the game will open up considerably very soon. I just got the Battlehammer, so all of the green doors are accessible to me now. I also fought Sylux, so that leaves only Noxus and Trace to run into now.

On a side note, I love the names and designs of the other hunters. They all seem plausible and just as unique as Samus herself, giving a good cross-section of backgrounds and abilities and a feeling that Samus really isn't alone in the search for the great power. The developers could probably have gotten away with just creating 6 variations of Samus' power suit with different color schemes and called them the new hunters, but they went above and beyond. Kudos to you, Retro Studios. Kudos.

Complete: 29%
Octoliths: 25%

Progress for August 18, 2008 - Metroid Prime Hunters

New game - Start!

So far, the game is pretty straightforward. Enter planet, navigate a small maze, fight a hunter, fight the boss for the octolith, beat a hasty retreat before the planet explodes, (I'm assuming that's what'll happen. I haven't run out of time yet.) I've already come across Kanden, Spire, and Weavel, having visited 2 planets so far. I would have preferred very much a control scheme closer to Metroid Prime, but without an analog stick, that's not going to happen. I suppose the stylus works alright, but it makes my left hand numb after playing for a while.

Complete: 19%
Octoliths: 25%

Final Fantasy IV - Retrospective

Final Fantasy II was one of my favorite games for the SNES. I never beat it as a kid; Not until years later when I played the translated Famicom version on an emulator. Final Fantasy IV is a classic-era RPG in all respects: Travel through dungeons, visit towns, fight monsters to gain levels, rinse, repeat. There isn't any chocobo racing, no monster breeding programs, city development simulators, or card battle minigames; Just pure RPG goodness from start to finish.

I already HAVE racing games and card battle games for my DS; I don't want to have to master an entire new game mechanic just to find some special items. This is how Final Fantasy VI shines compared to so-called modern RPGs. There is nothing extraneous to take away from the simple joy of watching your characters grow from weak young adventurers afraid of floating eyes to nigh-godly heroes that can dispatch 25-foot-tall killer robots with ease.

If you're used to RPGs with lots of go anywhere/do anything wide-open gameplay, there is a good chance you will find Final Fantasy 4 very limiting. But for the rest of you who are just looking for an excellent story perfectly told, (With freaking amazing music) Final Fantasy IV may be the answer.

The Good:

• New updated 3D graphics, cutscenes, animations, and voice acting (Edge sounds exactly like he should.)
• Improved translations, especially over the original North American Final Fantasy II release (Edward is still a spoony bard.)
• New game mechanics add replay value and emergent gameplay to the standard game. (The mapping tool, while a cheap game-lengthening device, is still a satisfying way to get free items.)

The Bad:

• Some of the new features seem tacked on and too time-consuming to be useful (I summoned Whyt a grand total of once during the entire game)
• The opening montage of cutscenes, while impressive, is unrepresentative of the actual in-game graphics, and even the in-game cutscenes. (Cocktease!)
• Almost NO new areas to explore. (There's an entire second moon out there.. Optional super-hard dungeon, anyone?)

Defining moments:

• Being able to play as Golbez, (albiet as a child) and learning just how the schism between he and Cecil came to be.
• Learning I'd been pronouncing FuSoYa wrong all these years.

Burning questions:

• What exactly DOES Yang do inside the Tower of Bab-Il control room to stop the cannons?
• Anybody else want to see Rydia and Edge get together? They make such a better couple than Cloud and Aeris. At least they're both, you know, alive.

Progress for August 18, 2008 - FF IV - COMPLETED!

You know, Zeromus is not that hard when your weakest party member is level 92.

Allow me to set the scene for you:

The first time I faced Zeromus, I was on a plane for a 4 hour flight between Atlanta and Los Angeles. I didn't beat him then. I spent the next few days recuperating and relaxing (hence the gap between the last posts) before I finally decided to finish up the game. I spent a good 2 hours just leveling up in the crystal pre-core area before Zemus's lair. Once Cecil hit level 99, I headed out of the cave and finished up some sidequests. Once I had the Safe Travel augment, I knew it was time to finish up.

I started off by berzerking Edge, having Rydia start casting with her Stardust Rod, and having Kain jump before I had Cecil use the crystal. This gave me a good 25,000 damage right off the bat. I continued to jump with Kain, attack with Cecil, and Edge, and cast Stardust with Rydia. when I didn't need her to heal, I had Rosa cast Holy. I was consistenly dealing 9999 damage with everyone, but Zeromus wasn't going to go down that easily. He took out Cecil with a combination of Whirl and Flare, and everyone else went down after a combo of Big Bang and Meteor. Only Kain was left alive, BARELY.

I was sure it was over; I knew I'd have to try again. I had Kain jump again and waited as the battle ran its course. With nobody for Zeromus to attack, we both just sat there and waited for Kain to come down...

CRASH!
9999
*pause*
*flash*
*crackle*
*rumbling as Zeromus dissolves below the battlefield*

Take that, forces of darkness!


I'll post a full review of FF4 tomorrow, including a short retrospective of my experiences with it.

Progress for August 13, 2008 - FF IV

I'm finally back in town. My flight from Atlanta to LAX took about 4 hours, which gave me plenty of time to make it through the final dungeon all the way to Zeromus. He looks... unimpressive to say the least, compared to his appearance as a sprite in the original. I did fairly well against him, but I just hit a stretch of bad luck when Rosa kept dying to Big Bang, leaving her unable to revive the others. Death ensued soon after. I'll try again later (I have to, don't I?) I just have to focus on sleeping to help fend off my cold. Not looking forward to watching that 10 minute cutscene again, but thems the breaks.

Progress for August 10, 2008 - FF IV

The final dungeon is really pissing me off. I've now started my FOURTH attempt at clearing the path to Zemus, every time met with an unnecessary restart.

First time: DS battery died in standby mode.
Second time: Ambushed by a pair of blue dragons (Which I've normally been able to beat rather consistently in the past) who refused to do ANYTHING other than cast Icestorm over and over and over again.
Third time: Ambushed by a single red dragon who kept casting Solar Rays. Son of a bitch.

I'm not messing around this time. This dungeon will pay!

Death in the Family

Today we mourn the loss of one of the greats. My beloved laptop, Wyvern, is dead. It suffered a head crash during a fight with Ghadie Rashal, the boss of Arabia in the emulated NES game 8 Eyes. It went blue screen almost instantly; it did not suffer. The hard drive could not be saved. I lost everything since the last backup. He is survived by his big brother, Tiamat.

I will finish Final Fantasy IV soon. I just need a few days to grieve.