Metroid Prime Trilogy thread (Metroid Prime 2 in progress)

I wasn’t expecting Prime 2 to be way more cinematic than the first game

I beat the game’s first boss and met that Luminoth guy after that. Wasn’t expecting dialogue from npcs either.

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It is now possible to beat Super Metroid in less than 41 minutes

the WR for this game has been getting beaten almost every other week of this year, and it's just the same two guys (zoast and behemoth) beating each other's records back and forth, back and forth, with the third best player being 21 seconds away (which is a lot)

no major new strategies have developed since the 2000s, either; it's purely just a playing of the game better

Bump before this thread gets locked.

Haven't been able to play because I haven't had that much time and the time I did have time I was playing the MCC.

I'll try to get back in tonight when I get home from work.

Alright I finally had the time to play some more and get back into it.

The whole fantasy elements that the game has thrown so far is confusing to me right now. Maybe the game will explain it a little better as I progress further.

I’m also a little disappointed with the game’s soundtrack at this point as nothing has stood out except for the remixed Space Pirate theme. I’m hoping it gets better and provides some bangers like the first game here soon.

I do like the fact that there’s so much more stuff to scan and read in this game compared to Metroid Prime 1. I’m bringing out the Scan Visor every 30 seconds to see if there’s new items to scan and read about. I don’t even think I’ve read all of those Marine logs yet.

Edit: There’s a creature called a “Sandigger” LMAO

disappointed with the game’s soundtrack at this point as nothing has stood out except for the remixed Space Pirate theme. I’m hoping it gets better and provides some bangers like the first game here soon.

The hell, man? Prime 2 has the single best Title Theme in the history of forever.

disappointed with the game’s soundtrack at this point as nothing has stood out except for the remixed Space Pirate theme. I’m hoping it gets better and provides some bangers like the first game here soon.

The hell, man? Prime 2 has the single best Title Theme in the history of forever.

I know this game has the darker atmosphere and tone compared to Prime 1, but the music I've heard in-game so far hasn't really interested me.

The first game had the Chozo Ruins with a great exploring track, and Phendrana Drifts had the greatest snow environment music I've ever heard.

Like I said, I'm hoping the music gets better.

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Went to Dark Aether for the first time and I gotta say, having the torches as the only safe spots for Samus is pretty cool.

Having to shoot the beacons to light up more of them and having those creatures walk around with that shield around them was a nice twist on making the torches more interesting and makes Dark Aether a more intimidating place. I also like the sound effects for these shields. They sound very ominous and alien.

The boss fight to get the Jump Boots was also a nice twist as you can only stay inside of the shield that's there while the Jump Guardian attacks you. Kinda sad that this boss was super easy to kill.

I was just getting back into this other game I've been trying to finish for the PSP when the damn thing broke on me. It's a fixable issue, but it's also not something I want to put up with at the moment, so I've decided to play something else in the meantime: Metroid Prime. I haven't played this game since I initially stopped playing over ten years ago because of my ardent anti-FPS phase.

I only made it as far as defeating the Parasite Queen and escaping the frigate, but I can already see how very, very wrong I was to stop that initial run. The visuals, the music, the atmosphere—everything I loved about Super Metroid is very much intact, and I can't get enough of it.

Scanning shit for data is such a cool way to implement the game's story and lore in the most unobtrusive way. A fair share of genuinely unsettling shit can be discovered this way, particularly in those creepy phazon infusion rooms. One alien is sealed shut and out of sight, but you can still hear it roar as it furiously tries to pound its way out from the other side.

There's also dead bodies of space pirates, where you get these intense and graphic descriptions of how each one of them got killed, which is extremely un-Nintendo in the best way possible. It's not graphic for the sake of being graphic, and it's never gratuitous; it's mainly for reconnaissance and giving you an idea of what to look out for as you continue exploring the frigate, and the creep-factor is merely ancillary. Either way, it's awesome.

It's also a clever excuse to have weaker enemies for the first part of the game. The enemies are weaker NOT just because it's the beginning, but because they're literally half-dead (or just wounded) after being ravaged by parasites, so it actually makes sense, and provides players with the perfect opportunity to teach themselves the ins and outs of basic combat.

I also adore the immersive visor effects. Such an amazing little touch that you pretty much never see anywhere else, as far as I'm aware. Already, this game is everything that I wanted Halo CE's campaign to be, and it blows it out of the water in the first ten minutes.

I only have a few minor nitpicky issues:

- The controls (on GameCube) are weird, and will definitely take getting used to. I'm willing to forgive them on the basis that the game is almost 20 years old, and were designed prior to the standardization of FPS controls. It could just be a byproduct of every other FPS game playing the exact same way and never trying anything unique, but having to hold R just to look up and down (even when scanning) is just a little bit clunky and makes me jealous of the Trilogy's motion controls.

- The game is very dark to a point where it makes daytime play almost impossible without adjusting the brightness settings, which I personally feel I should never have to do. It's okay, though, because Metroid games are always best played at night anyway.

In the time it took me to type this up, I went ahead and explored (a little bit) of the Chozo Ruins enough to get my missiles back. I'm glad that Chozo lore is actually interesting to read about, because I'm trying to go out of my way to scan every little thing that I can (I forgot to scan the Energy Tank that I found before picking it up, though).

Took out Flaahgra, who was a pretty great boss overall. I loved his eldritch design, and he was animated beautifully. I was actually expecting the frame rate to stutter a bit during this fight, just because of how big and animated he is, but to my surprise, it was completely smooth sailing throughout. I thought that was very impressive. The strategy to beat it was very Zelda-esque, which I liked a lot, and rolling around his arena with the morph ball to dodge his projectile attacks feels super fun and satisfying.

I also appreciate the mechanic where charging up a shot causes enemy drops to gravitate towards you, which really helped during that fight.

However, I cannot say that I'm a huge fan of these runic symbol puzzles. The puzzles themselves are fine, but it's a bit of a chore having to redo the whole thing just because I didn't happen to have the bombs yet. If the first two symbols I found didn't have to be rescanned just because I left the room, that would've been nice, especially when one of them is out of the way and annoying to scan.

I also have an extended nitpick that delves somewhat into the game's logic, mostly because it gives me an opportunity to compare this game to Super Metroid, which of course is my favorite game.

Super Metroid used to have this mechanic where breakable blocks would have imprints of the weapon you're supposed to break them with, which would only get revealed when you tried to break them with another weapon. This doesn't carry over to Metroid Prime—which is okay, because they're clearly trying to go for a little bit more realism and subtlety this time around, but the fact that this game doesn't have anything like that makes it a little bit harder for me to suspend my disbelief when I try to break a little sand block with a Charge Shot or Missile and it doesn't break.

Like, yeah, I get it. But this is the first time a Metroid game has ever had me asking questions like, "Why can't I just use this instead?" which is something I never really found myself asking in Super Metroid. It's not the biggest deal in the world, but it does affect my ability to be immersed in a noticeable way.

To turn this into a compliment sandwich, though, I did enjoy the fight where you encounter your first Plated Beetle. I love the way he slides back and forth, because it encourages you to try that maneuver yourself, and lo and behold—you can do little tactical side hops, as well, if you think to try it. It's my favorite when the game teaches you button mechanics without actually teaching you anything. Classic Metroid.

Currently, everywhere I try to go at this point has all these Spider Ball tracks everywhere, so I guess that's the next thing I need to find. Even though I got the Varia Suit back, I can't even do anything in Magmoor yet, unless there's something I missed. I'm sure I'll figure out where it is soon enough, but I don't see too many other places to go in the Chozo Ruins...

Sorry to steal your thunder, Jono, but I've been making good progress for limiting myself to 45 minutes a day, and these games give me a lot to chew on.

I found an alternate way into Magmoor Caverns that I missed before, so I actually got to explore it more. Still no Spider Ball or Grapple Beam, but I found plenty of Missile Expansions and my fourth Energy Tank (the one that requires you to double bomb jump three straight times, and fucking up the first one puts you in a death pit).

To supplement my previous comments about bomb-able objects, I appreciate that the game implements the Zelda thing, where stabbing a destructible wall makes a different sound than normal. That's what I like to see.

Charge shot item gravitation really is a godsend of a mechanic. Those platforming segments in Magmoor wouldn't have been fun AT ALL without it, no thanks to those crazy turrets.

As much as I like Norfair's music, I kinda wish they had come up with an original theme for this place, or at least put some kind of unique spin on what we've already heard, because they basically ripped it straight from the SNES version.

At least Phendrana Drifts has unique music, and boy is it ever nice to listen to after being trapped in an oppressive lava land. I didn't explore this area much, but I thought it was funny how you could scan the floating platforms in this area, and you'd be given a detailed explanation as to why they're able to do that. No other game would do that.

Of what little I was able to explore of this area, I found the Boost Ball, but I'm struggling to make use of it at the moment. I also find it a little unwieldy to control, as I haven't quite mastered it yet. I only remember seeing one other half-pipe all the way back in the Chozo Ruins. Either way, I saw Ridley flying overhead right after I picked it up, so I guess I'll try following him next time I play.

The Baby Sheegoths are my favorite enemies so far. I like any enemy that activates my Dark Souls instincts, and honestly, I've kinda been waiting for a strong enemy that isn't just completely stationary for a while now, because there's been a lot of those, and none of them have been very threatening. Knowing that this particular enemy is just a baby has me scared for what the adults must be like.