Current Events > Finally got around to playing and (almost) beating Metroid Dread *SPOILERS*

(+) Yeah! (+)

(Please tag any ending spoilers. I reasonably assume that Raven Beak is the final boss and that there might be a traditional timed escape sequence after that; but if the game pulls a Zero Mission or anything similar, please don't say or hint as such)

Fought Raven Beak for about a half-hour last night; ended up getting frustrated and looking up how to get past his invincibility phase; I was then made aware that I hadn't even cracked the 1st phase of the 3-phase fight, and decided that I needed a lot more time and a loooot more patience to get through this. So I thought I'd jot down some of my impressions so far:

PROS
1) The game is gorgeous, and lavishly detailed. I really enjoy some of the details going on in the background, such as ocean life swimming around in the distance, or that giant alien getting poked and prodded (isn't that the alien that comes back as the boss in the magma reactor area?).

2) Some of the item puzzles are genuinely fun and creative. I like that you can keep the Speed Boost going even by sliding and bouncing off walls, that was pretty cool; and even though it was frustrating getting the timing down for some of them, they did give that all-important sense of genuine satisfaction when overcoming them.

3) Story's pretty good. Basically carries over Fusion's story structure, which I liked in both games. Unfortunately a meme I saw about a year vaguely spoiled the plot twist (I knew Samus learned something fucked-up about her parentage in this game, and about halfway through it was becoming more and more obvious that Raven Beak would turn out to be her father / creator). So the 'would you kindly' twist didn't have the impact it might have, but it was still serviceable.

4) I like how they handled Samus' characterization throughout the game; particularly that she has only a single spoken line of dialogue, but they smartly had it spoken in an alien language. Lets her maintain her stoicism and not ruin her character while elevating her slightly beyond a stock mute protagonist. It's ultimately a minor detail, but still, whichever dev thought it up deserves an extra back-pat for it. (Really hope the ending cutscene doesn't somehow ruin this)

CONS
1) EMMIs are...well, I don't want to say that they're flat-out bad, but they're easily the weakest part of the game. They were clearly trying to recapture the 'dread' (oh-ho-ho) of encountering the SA-X, but they went about it the wrong way: first by having designated 'chase zones' that remove all sense of surprise and suspense created by suddenly finding yourself face-to-face with the SA-X; and second by making the EMMIs insta-kill chodes that can catch you simply by brushing against your foot, but also immediately putting you right back in the action after being caught, which turns the encounters into an absolute chore. Compounding this is the repetitive nature of obtaining the super-beam and defeating them (fun the first time, mind-numbing the subsequent five times), which quickly turns besting an EMMI from a satisfied 'YES!' to a disgusted 'Ugh, finally!' Incidentally, the stealth mechanic is a joke in this game if the EMMI is still going to crawl / climb straight to where you are hiding; it's like someone from Bethesda broke into Nintendo's office one night and designed this segment of the game when no one was looking.

2) Parrying / Countering fucking sucks. It is a bag of shit. I hated it in Cuphead, I hate it in this game, and if Samus Returns is supposedly the game that introduced this to the franchise, I think I'll continue to skip that particular entry. Countering particularly pisses me off by being, like Cuphead, that thing that's optional right up until the point where it very much isn't; I am not a pixel-perfect gamer, and I despise any mechanic that leads me to whooping a boss's ass right up until the point I didn't press a single button at the perfect moment. Apparently countering (and without an obvious cue) is the key to breaking Raven Beak's invincibility, and I'm genuinely concerned that I'm gonna have another King Dice situation on my hands where I lose the motivation to actually beat the game after arriving at the finish line.

3) Repetitive Bosses. The game starts strong in this regard with the alien-scorpion boss and the triumphant return of Kraid, but eventually devolves to the point where uninspired repeats of the Chozo Robots and Hornet...er, excuse me, Chozo Soldiers are the norm rather than the exception. They irritated the hell out of me the first time I fought them, and I ain't exactly warming to them the fourth time around.

4) It's a minor nitpick, but 'Raven Beak' is the kind of villain name I would expect to see in a Sonic fanfic. "Nothing personnel, daughter."

So overall, I'd rate it a 9.3, it's has a little something for everyone!

Nice tc I am happy for you

At least you don't need EMMI precision countering to beat Raven Beak

While I don't love the feature, I'd argue that the required countering you have to do is very generous with its timing. Nothing like the countering needed to survive an EMMI.

And I learned to like the EMMIs more when I realized they were largely just a movement puzzle to be solved. Especially the final bit where you had to solve where the proper area to use the super laser on them. Once I started thinking in those terms compared to seeing them as a boss fight or an enemy encounter, they got a lot better.

how did you like the scene where

samus spoke chozo

I mean, it should go without saying that I despise countering primarily because I suck at it. It is my Achille's heel. And of course (like Cuphead), when said mechanic is persistently pushed yet still optional in a manner eerily similar to a YouTube premium subscription, of course I'm gonna ignore it. So when the super-cool new mechanic eventually hits that point where it's mandatory, I suck even more at it because I haven't been practicing.

I should also mention that, because I'm old and me brain no work, I really struggle to keep track of all the button combos in the game. Hold R and press Y for the Grapple Beam. Press down, Hold Y (or Z?), and release after 3 seconds for the Power Bomb. Hold Y, Press Z twice, jump three times and touch your toes to activate the Floozle Beam. Hopefully this'll eventually fade if I end up liking the game enough for repeat playthroughs, but any time I have to stop in combat and remember what button combos produce what, I'm probably gonna die.

i beat it once in normal. played again in hard but i gave up when i reached the last boss... lol >_>

the "do it right, dammit!" bosses really do suck the fun out of the game.

Game was fantastic, but I do understand the complaints about the counter. It's fine if it's completely optional but they absolutely do require it on some bosses. Samus Returns was worse about this because enemies usually attacked you as soon as they came up on-screen and essentially required you to use the counter at all times since they took so much punishment otherwise.

I didn't mind countering because I remember how awful it was in Samus Returns. Countering an EMMI was harder, but I don't remember really focusing on countering with them.

I'm sure gamers far more skilled than me would disagree, but I view countering an EMMI as a random bonus; one of those 'oh cool, I actually pulled it off' moments. Hell, out of the 3-4 times I actually succeeded at countering an EMMI, I was so surprised that I didn't know what to do with myself, and just got caught a few seconds later anyway.

I like Compsognathus' idea of viewing them as puzzles rather than enemies, but I don't know if I could do that. While the EMMIs aren't particularly intense or intimidating, there's still something personal about an impervious insta-kill twerp always getting in my face, pinning me to the ground and jabbing me that gets under my skin way too much to disassociate them. Plus most if not all of the game's more elaborate puzzles are optional; as much as I liked the first 3 or 4 speed boost-based puzzles, by the fifth one I was like 'nah, fuck it, I'm out.' Getting around or defeating an EMMI can't be shrugged off so easily.

My big issue with the game was how it liked to block off the path behind you and force you forward. Seemed counter-intuitive for a Metroid game to guide me forward all the time. It was my biggest issue with it.

masterpug53 posted...

Hell, out of the 3-4 times I actually succeeded at countering an EMMI, I was so surprised that I didn't know what to do with myself, and just got caught a few seconds later anyway.

I once did this after consecutive parries on the same EMMI. Like I was just dumbfounded over what I accomplished and proceeded to die. Also I fucking love Raven Beak, he's probably my favorite boss in the series. Personally I can't decide if I like Dread or Super more but they are my favorite Metroid titles for sure. If I could have some weird Super remake with Dread's gameplay and approach to bosses it would be perfect in my eyes.

Kaldrenthebold posted...

Seemed counter-intuitive for a Metroid game to guide me forward all the time.

As soon I got that "oh shit, this is Fusion all over again" feeling, I shelved it and played something else.

AceMos posted...

how did you like the scene where

samus spoke chozo

That was actually point 4 in my PROs list. tl;dr - I liked it very much.

Incidentally, I was avoiding your post up until now simply because I didn't want to risk discussing seeing anything about the ending (since spoilers up to the Raven Beak fight are already welcome and untagged). But when I quoted your post to explain that I forgot that doing so automatically reveals said spoiler text anyway, lol.

Questionmarktarius posted...

As soon I got that "oh shit, this is Fusion all over again" feeling, I shelved it and played something else.

Yeaaaah, that was my notice as well. I did beat it, and it is a good game, but I still prefer Super and Prime over it by far.

Kaldrenthebold posted...

I did beat it, and it is a good game, but I still prefer Super and Prime over it by far.

Tell me you didn't skip MZM.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Tell me you didn't skip MZM.

Of course not, I've played all of them except Prime 3 I think, though I do have the Trilogy and I should just play that one.

Even played Other M *shudder*

Kaldrenthebold posted...

Even played Other M *shudder*

The engine is pretty decent, outside of maybe the awkward missile bits and the dumb "squat-heal" thing.
Too bad the rest of the game is just awful.

Questionmarktarius posted...

The engine is pretty decent, outside of maybe the awkward missile bits and the dumb "squat-heal" thing.
Too bad the rest of the game is just awful.

The gameplay wasn't bad, just very flashy and ass-basic. But yes, everything else was such a dumpster fire. ThE bAbYyYy~~~