Metroid Series Catch-All

trueheart78 wrote:

Well, I figured out how to enjoy this game s’more… I ended up buying some 3rd party joycon replacements that are not only much more comfortable, but that also have turbo mode available. Auto turbo (no need to hold a button down) made that second boss a piece of cake. IMAGE(https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/240/emojidex/112/shortcake_1f370.png)

Do they have any limitations versus the official ones? I see they have a charger, do they need to be charged separately?

EvilDead wrote:
trueheart78 wrote:

Well, I figured out how to enjoy this game s’more… I ended up buying some 3rd party joycon replacements that are not only much more comfortable, but that also have turbo mode available. Auto turbo (no need to hold a button down) made that second boss a piece of cake. IMAGE(https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/240/emojidex/112/shortcake_1f370.png)

Do they have any limitations versus the official ones? I see they have a charger, do they need to be charged separately?

Posted in the Switch thread with limitations.

What is the point of 900 hp if this boss just takes 200 away with a single swipe? Like, hp bonuses and armor improvements don’t help if damage just scales alongside as well.

Oh, and phase shift seems to be the ability I’m forgetting about the most.

Well, that was really unexpected… spoilers for later on, on the surface, after getting the

Spoiler:

Wave beam

Spoiler:

I really wasn’t expecting the (what I assume is the last) EMMI fight to go that way. Um, really wondering what is happening to Samus. She seemed surprised too. Maybe someone with more lore knowledge can say if the hand thing is something new, but it sure feels new to me. And makes me wonder if there’s even more going on than we know about.

But it really feels close to the end now—I feel like I’ve got all my powers after the power bomb and wave beam. But there are power ups locked behind power bomb blocks to go get. Wonder if there will be reason to backtrack other than to just get-em-all. Or if it’s bee-line to the big bad boss now.

Antichulius wrote:

Well, that was really unexpected… spoilers for later on, on the surface, after getting the

Spoiler:

Wave beam

Spoiler:

I really wasn’t expecting the (what I assume is the last) EMMI fight to go that way. Um, really wondering what is happening to Samus. She seemed surprised too. Maybe someone with more lore knowledge can say if the hand thing is something new, but it sure feels new to me. And makes me wonder if there’s even more going on than we know about.

But it really feels close to the end now—I feel like I’ve got all my powers after the power bomb and wave beam. But there are power ups locked behind power bomb blocks to go get. Wonder if there will be reason to backtrack other than to just get-em-all. Or if it’s bee-line to the big bad boss now.

Spoiler:

Yeah, you're right at the end. If you continue forward, you'll have a brief interlude and then you'll get to the final boss. There's more exposition about what's happening and what has happened.

Antichulius wrote:

Oh, and phase shift seems to be the ability I’m forgetting about the most.

Phase shift has been absolutely crucial for me in some of these fights, especially now that I've, uh... hit a pretty big moment. Some old friends have entered the fray.

Spoiler:

X, specifically.

I got the plasma beam far earlier than expected. I also got what I'm supposing was a power bomb expansion ahead of time, and was amused when the game told me "Sorry, you don't have the upgrade necessary for this yet". All I had to do to "sequence break" it was to wall jump up to a ledge, I'm pretty sure.

Tonight was the first time I died on some of these bosses, though.

Spoiler:

I died to the first Chozo warrior, as he barely uses the ability necessary to counter him. However, he ultimately ended up being pretty easy to cheese once I got used to the pattern. Just keep jumping up to the platform above, wait for him to keep following, then drop down, and launch a bunch of missiles at him as he drops. Once he's turned, jump away, and phase shift in necessary. The second Chozo Warrior in gold was just as easy to cheese, as was the X Chozo once I got his patterns down.

It was the tentacled cephalopod that gave me a couple deaths at first, but that was a fault of my own lack of observation. I didn't realize there were generators on either side for me to shoot, and once I spotted that I came to understand the fight's pattern better. Still, he did over a single energy tank of damage with a single strike, so it was certainly rough.

On the whole I've been fine with the game's difficulty, but I can see how it would be off-putting to others. I feel that a free Casual/Story/Exploration difficulty DLC would be wise for them to include (and can even imagine other players wanting a harder difficulty after playing the game enough).

Yeah ccesarano last spoiler boss I fought last night too. Forgot to mention it because it was pretty easy once I figured it out.

Had the same problem as cc...

Spoiler:

not realizing there was a button on both sides. But also I tried to grapple up to the spider grip and shoot the top tentacle the first 1 times instead of just aiming from the ground. Those balls he shoots absolutely destroyed me.

But just standing in the corner and shooting up angle at the tentacle I would destroy one or 2 balls and usually the tentacle before the other ball hit me. So that was much more effective. Once I did that and went to both sides, I beat him the next try, in just 3 cycles.

At the end boss, but sadly can’t beat him before bed, which means I’m going to have to die a bunch tomorrow to get back into the rhythm of all I learned in my first 20 deaths or so today. Ah well, tomorrow’s the day.

Anti, thanks for the weapon spoiler before the spoiler. I'll read the rest when I get to that point tomorrow probably.

Spoiler:

Sigh, not sure what to do at this point. I am stuck where really I need to defeat Corpius(I have 1 energy tank and the charge beam and 25 missiles, 2 EMMI downed) and he owns me, freezing cold section, or heat section. Not sure what to do at this point.

farley3k wrote:

I like the Wanderbots channel

A New Gold Standard For The Genre! - Let's Play Metroid Dread - Switch Gameplay Part 1

Not watching that because I intend to play the game soon. I was just watching the end of a different series he did last night and was thinking about how I enjoy his recap thoughts at the end of a series while the credits roll. He's been a bit of flux lately not finishing as many games, but also lamented that fact while collecting his thoughts.

Thank you everyone else for keeping things in spoiler tags. Looking forward to jumping in, probably a month from now, which will be well after everyone here is moved on, but oh well.

I dunno, I might replay it again after this first (and overlapping) second go. I played RE Village three times in a row and up until now that was unquestionably my game of the year. This is making a pretty solid case to come and claim that crown.

I was expecting to have a good time with this, but I have been pleasantly surprised by just how firmly it has captured my attention. In an age where high-quality Metroidvanias are coming out all the time, I'm thrilled that a new Metroid is still up with the best. I've mostly skimmed this thread for fear of spoilers, but just as a measure of my progress thus far, the last upgrade I acquired was Flash Shift.

I expect to play again to go for either 100% or better time. I did with Samus Returns as well. Better to do it while the main route and bosses are fresh in your mind.

Rainsmercy wrote:
Spoiler:

Sigh, not sure what to do at this point. I am stuck where really I need to defeat Corpius(I have 1 energy tank and the charge beam and 25 missiles, 2 EMMI downed) and he owns me, freezing cold section, or heat section. Not sure what to do at this point.

Probably have to beat the boss. I don't remember any extra energy tanks before him. There's a counter you can do that really pummels him. Watch for the big flash. It's been since Friday and I've already forgotten specifics, but most bosses have a projectile you can shoot to refill a bit of energy/missiles during the fight. And I do remember sliding on that boss to avoid some attacks.

ccesarano wrote:
Antichulius wrote:

Oh, and phase shift seems to be the ability I’m forgetting about the most.

Phase shift has been absolutely crucial for me in some of these fights, especially now that I've, uh... hit a pretty big moment. Some old friends have entered the fray.

Spoiler:

X, specifically.

I got the plasma beam far earlier than expected. I also got what I'm supposing was a power bomb expansion ahead of time, and was amused when the game told me "Sorry, you don't have the upgrade necessary for this yet". All I had to do to "sequence break" it was to wall jump up to a ledge, I'm pretty sure.

I did the same. It seemed within the realm of possibility that it was intended until I got that pickup. IMAGE(https://emojipedia-us.s3.amazonaws.com/source/skype/289/face-with-hand-over-mouth_1f92d.png)

Fantastic! Glad to know more breaks can be done but I just didn't find them yet.

Edit: I've seen some people really shocked on Twitter. Things like talking about maybe they changed item order but left this alternate thing in. I don't think those people remember Super Metroid. Grappling hook is not required. And it's definitely not required before Draygon. But if you do have it, there's that alternate way to kill him

Damn, that's awesome.

Antichulius wrote:

The quest for the gravity suit

Spoiler:

Me: this should be the gravity suit

Game: haha, no

Me: then this one for sure

Game: wrong again

Me: but this area is all water, certainly now it’s the gravity suit

Game: ummm, nope

Me: you gave me ***** **** before the gravity suit?

Game: yeah. : )

Me: well, now I’m stuck, I’m underwater and I can’t go anywhere else

Game: shoot everything, but not just shoot—power shoot everything

Me: ugh

Game: don’t worry, here’s a gravity suit

Me: FREEDOM!

Finally got it at lunch today. Yeah there were definitely a couple of moments... This is it, no wait, what?

Spoiler:

Space jump before gravity?!

Although that did lead to some interesting underwater maneuvers.

I also wanted to circle around and try to complete the loop in the area I was in after getting gravity suit, but I found an elevator and went to another zone instead. But seemed like a cutscene when I entered... Had to stop there though.

Today I played on TV for the first time. It looks great! But I noticed multiple times that rooms were slow to load. Black screen pausing for a full second or more as I went through doors. Don't think I saw that on handheld all weekend or I would have noticed. Anybody else see that difference?

Stele wrote:

Today I played on TV for the first time. It looks great! But I noticed multiple times that rooms were slow to load. Black screen pausing for a full second or more as I went through doors. Don't think I saw that on handheld all weekend or I would have noticed. Anybody else see that difference?

Longer loads probably due to 1080p assets on tv vs 720p in handheld. As for the black screen… no idea. Have played 99% on tv and haven’t seen that.

Yeah I was thinking higher resolution but guess I thought the Switch ran a little better docked and plugged in. But it's not like a laptop with different power profiles. Hmm guess I'll try to record if it does it again.

I have played exclusively docked and haven't noticed anything like that, Stele. Outside of loading between new zones, the only noticeable load has been moving to EMMI zones after acquiring the Omega Blaster. For whatever reason, I get a black screen for a few seconds there.

Stele wrote:

Edit: I've seen some people really shocked on Twitter. Things like talking about maybe they changed item order but left this alternate thing in. I don't think those people remember Super Metroid. Grappling hook is not required. And it's definitely not required before Draygon. But if you do have it, there's that alternate way to kill him

I saw that, too. I don't think people are aware that a lot of Metroidvania developers are such fans of the genre that they themselves include sequence breaks at times. Shadow Complex itself did it, though some of it was locked away to New Game + I believe. There's definitely a critical path, but MercurySteam themselves are the sort of devs that are going to throw little tricks in there intentionally.

Only a bit over an hour of time into it so far and I am freakin' loving it. In some ways, it feels like what Fusion was trying to accomplish without being quite so brute-force about it.

Also, the counter-melee thing feels a lot more natural and less forced than it did in the Samus Returns remake on the 3DS. Heck, controls in general just feel super snappy and precise.

Here's my tweet with video of the slow loading I'm talking about. Lots of black screen for room transition.

Here's one in handheld. I know, different room. But I feel like this is how every room loads in handheld. And I noticed multiple rooms docked taking longer. It's not huge but it's something.

Hopefully clock isn't ticking towards end time during that.

Stele wrote:

Anti, thanks for the weapon spoiler before the spoiler. I'll read the rest when I get to that point tomorrow probably.

Caught up to that weapon spoiler,

Spoiler:

wave beam

after you return to the surface for the first time. Very interesting.

Spoiler:

Wave beam replaced plasma beam in Samus menu. I guess it's additive like in Zero, Fusion and Returns, not replace or toggle like original and Super.

I was very surprised by the new cross bomb. And I think I remember one speed boost block that maybe I can get now. But I knew I had seen power bomb blocks so I was surprised by another bomb. And also wondering how PB will toggle? I guess it could be zR like grapple.

Anyway I don't have PB yet obviously. I stopped right after wave and there's one EMMI left.

Definitely feels like I'm getting close. But I have a lot of things marked to go back for.

Oh yeah the last couple of bosses have been pretty interesting too. Both had easy patterns I thought, but I just couldn't execute a couple of times. And the 2nd randomly pinned and killed me twice.

Spoiler:

Experiment No. Z-57

Spoiler:

To get the fire going again. I remembered my dash pretty quick and used it between heat rays to switch sides of the room. The big arm sweeps were very telegraphed. But then he did the third one with both arms and that killed me twice before I figured it out. He can hit you as he raises the arms and again when swinging. Lots of space jumping to dodge.

The speed section I never successfully dodged completely. But I wasn't sure if I was supposed to trigger speed boost for jumps or just gravity between them. Kind of odd.

Charging the missiles while dodging was good. Then when his head came back in the foreground, the missile lock was a good signal and helped me unload.

and

Golzuna

Spoiler:

What a jerk. Phase 1, 1 charge beam. Phase 2, one full lock of charge missiles on his back.

Phase 3...I was trying to space/screw jump over him too much. My successful run was after I started using dash in the air more.

A couple times I clipped the top of his claws, got knocked back and couldn't jump out. He pummeled me into the wall. I know if you get stuck he raises up and you can slide under. But this was different, just claw walking me into the wall. Very annoying because the couple times that happened was after I figured out a good rhythm for dodging his little auto lasers or whatever.

When he shoots out the grid of 4 diagonal ones behind him, it's best to just jump and get back in front. Couldn't find a good dodge for those.

But mostly I used charge missiles here too. Could lock 4 or 5 on his tail area and shoot before he turns around. Or lock, then shoot while dodging those individual + laser beams.

All in all some nice variety.

Stele, about the speed section of that one boss:

Spoiler:

I played around with speed boost and whatnot and it was a no-go for me. No matter where you start or boosting or not, you’re always blown to the same spot just a few steps beyond the wall. It’s all about learning the pattern and space jump timing

Well I made quite a bit of progress today. I got two classic power-ups that are typically towards the end of the game. Dunno if I should spoil them but let's just say I can now destroy blue blocks.

Once you get a very stormy ability, keep this in mind:

Spoiler:

Keep your finger on R to charge your missiles when fighting bosses. You don't have to be aiming, just hold it down. That way, when you do aim, you fire the Storm Missile, which does a lot more damage than regular Ice Missiles at that point. It may cost 3 missiles, but the amount of damage dealt is so much higher. I died to two Chozo Warriors I had to face at the same time when using the regular ice missile, but then when I kept charging the storm missile, they died in no time at all. I have a feeling this will be valuable for most bosses later on. Sadly, could cause your finger to ache or cramp, too...

In regards to the game world itself:

Spoiler:

I have a feeling the falling temperature in the early zone is one of those ideas that they wanted to mess with for Dread but were never able to get working on the DS or 3DS, in addition to the EMMI. It's neat to see them really playing with the franchise like this.

I guess some random thoughts regarding all the content I played tonight:

Spoiler:

I got lost for the first time after I got the Space Jump, which seemed odd since I had just gotten a double jump. It feels like the double jump is a sort of place holder to get you to where you can get the Space Jump and as a result feels a bit pointless. But as for getting lost, I guess I wasn't sure precisely where to go, but that was also partially my own fault because I discovered a whole portion of map I could access using the new item detector. It really led me away and I kept looking for areas that required that green lock or the space jump, and finally I went back and realized I just needed to take the train back to the jungle zone like the game had led me. Got me a bunch of missiles, at least, and a couple power bombs before I even have the power bomb.

The game does a good job with background details, such as the big scorpion boss being picked at by machinery only to vanish on your way back to the starting zone, which is now frozen and leads you back to the fire zone, where you now fight that very same boss. I died twice to him, and I understand why some folks find the difficulty frustrating. Learning the counter is essential, and in fact learning the patterns really helps, but the real issue is each attack seems to do more than an energy tank of damage, and when you do get that counter off, the amount of health healed is less than a single tank. Early bosses have projectiles you can shoot to heal yourself, but many of these later bosses don't, and thus it feels like there is just a lack of balance in that regard. For repeat playthroughs it will probably be less of an issue (for me, at least), but, again, this game could probably stand for an easier mode for other players.

The only thing that felt unreasonably frustrating to me was the light blue Ice EMMI. In one of the sectors you had to cross using the grapple beam, he just kept spawning so close that he'd frequently freeze me when I was using the grapple beam, knocking me into the water. The timing is completely off for counter once you're submerged, too. It was the first time I found the EMMI truly frustrating, and then finding the best spot to melt his stinking face off was more troublesome than I expected. I hadn't anticipated him crawling across the ceiling! He's the first EMMI that I dread facing on repeat playthroughs, and it required a mixture of good use of the camo and luck.

That should sum up my thoughts for the evening. It's funny because I feel like I still have a lot of game left, but it also feels like there are a lot of powers I've yet to discover. I'm curious to see what they are (and if any of them will shed light on some of the more impossible looking shinespark blockades).

Good stuff, cc. I completely agree with your stormy assessment, and can vouch that yes, it's quite effective for things you're about to face.

And I had the same things as one of your big spoilers, RE: that same EMMI fight. It was a real pain in the ass to navigate, even though I figured out exactly where to go

Spoiler:

grappling the panels

like the 2nd try. That EMMI also had something new that I had never seen from any others, but have seen on one since, and that is what made it so hard.

Spoiler:

When it sights you through the walls, and the alert goes to red, the damn doors lock! I had multiple runs where I was 2-5 steps from the door and got it slammed in my face.

I spent another 10 tries or more getting it right.

And then the opposite with the final part of that encounter. I know the pattern but I couldn't find a good spot with enough distance, over and over. But when I did find it...

Spoiler:

using the spider panel to ride across the ceiling

I was happy but also felt really stupid for not noticing that before. The finish was very easy once I knew where to go. A bit opposite of phase 1.

Also yes, the game should have an Easy mode. They added one to Fusion for Japan release and to Zero Mission for both. They can always have a hard/fusion mode like they did for those games, and Samus Returns for people that want even more challenge or strive to perfect every boss fight. But yeah, these bosses hit like a truck. It's borderline for me. Haven't hit the point of being too frustrated yet, and mostly have figured out the patterns and been able to execute. But have a feeling the final boss or two is going to be a pain.