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Yeah, I loved that one too. (Of course, the fact that there's a little fire symbol above the turret only makes it better.) I could totally see GLADOS saying that at some point regarding the situation, which is the beauty of it.
Hope they have those kinds of smaller jokes in there a lot, but I'm guessing I won't have to worry after seeing some of GLADOS' quotes.
Quote from tomatobob:
Getting back to Portal 2 for a moment, I'd like to mention that "Thermally Discouraged" is a fantastic combination of words. Totally sold on the game for that alone.
Yeah, I loved that one too. (Of course, the fact that there's a little fire symbol above the turret only makes it better.) I could totally see GLADOS saying that at some point regarding the situation, which is the beauty of it.
Hope they have those kinds of smaller jokes in there a lot, but I'm guessing I won't have to worry after seeing some of GLADOS' quotes.
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Indeed. I agree completely with that, Quietus.
You've come too far now to not see this through. Keep going!
Quote from Quietus:
The niece sounds like one more reason to win the fight, Opium. We're all rootin' for ya!
Indeed. I agree completely with that, Quietus.
You've come too far now to not see this through. Keep going!
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Relevant text:Oh wow, this sounds like it's going to be awesome. I love the little bits of humor thrown into this article in the images showing off the new gameplay elements. (Such as the CONFIDENTIAL bit on the Thermal Discouragement Beam image) If they can keep up the magic that was in the first game for the entire way, and I'd like to think they can because it's Valve, this is going to be pure gold in the end. Plus, everything I read about during this article makes me think they're already well on their way to achieving that goal.
Now I have a game to look forward to this fall.
Up until now, Other M looked to be the last game I knew I was going to get this year (Unless Zelda/StarCraft II do end up coming out, that is.) but now there's Portal 2.
Oh, and that set of images with the bedroom are definitely priceless if you read what's going on in them.
Now I have a game to look forward to this fall.
Oh, and that set of images with the bedroom are definitely priceless if you read what's going on in them.
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Relevant text:Doesn't normally say that, does it? I don't remember ever coming across that before.
Still, if they added it in because they knew something like this could happen, that's kinda cool in a way.
Still, if they added it in because they knew something like this could happen, that's kinda cool in a way.
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Relevant text:Sweet, you can set up the tabs at the top to go to individual topics too. (Granted, unless I'm missing something it goes to the first post on the first page, but it could still be quicker than other means.)
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Uh... yeah. That's a complete understatement once you get to the area I'm at now. (Just about to fight the Area 7 boss.) Right about when you reach the 4th boss, the game decides that it would be better off by having EVERYTHING shoot as many projectiles at you as possible. Bosses, normal enemies - you see it, chances are you're going to be under heavy fire.
But despite that, I'm still having a blast with this game. Controls aren't as bad as I expected after hearing all about them before I got the game, and it's definitely easy to get lost even with the map, as Opium said. While I'm enjoying the boss battles, and there's some clever designs to some of them, the fact that the game is starting to become a "let's throw everything we can at the player!" kind of uphill battle is starting to wear thin with me. I'll admit that I got extremely lucky and was able to practically max out all of my weapons due to lucky drops from the minions that the 4th boss spawns (And at this point the only one of those I still have at max is the missile), which helped me for a while until the enemies started ganging up on me.
Love the additions to the SOPHIA they have this time around, although a few of them feel like they're only used for getting to the next area and that's basically it. Don't know what everyone means by the fact that it doesn't handle as well as the NES counterpart, because once I got used to how the tools work I've been zooming around the world with few problems.
Quote from Opium:
OK this game is getting ridiculous now. There are so many projectiles on the screen at one time that they make up the majority of the screen, and the windows you have in which to dodge them are so tiny. Add in the fact that you are looking downwards at what appears to be a 60 degree angle, and you are practically guessing at whether or not they are going to hit you. Ugh.
Uh... yeah. That's a complete understatement once you get to the area I'm at now. (Just about to fight the Area 7 boss.) Right about when you reach the 4th boss, the game decides that it would be better off by having EVERYTHING shoot as many projectiles at you as possible. Bosses, normal enemies - you see it, chances are you're going to be under heavy fire.
But despite that, I'm still having a blast with this game. Controls aren't as bad as I expected after hearing all about them before I got the game, and it's definitely easy to get lost even with the map, as Opium said. While I'm enjoying the boss battles, and there's some clever designs to some of them, the fact that the game is starting to become a "let's throw everything we can at the player!" kind of uphill battle is starting to wear thin with me. I'll admit that I got extremely lucky and was able to practically max out all of my weapons due to lucky drops from the minions that the 4th boss spawns (And at this point the only one of those I still have at max is the missile), which helped me for a while until the enemies started ganging up on me.
Love the additions to the SOPHIA they have this time around, although a few of them feel like they're only used for getting to the next area and that's basically it. Don't know what everyone means by the fact that it doesn't handle as well as the NES counterpart, because once I got used to how the tools work I've been zooming around the world with few problems.
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I'd rather have them do this with a game set inside Samus' dreams/nightmares than this cutscene-heavy melodrama that it looks like we're getting.
No one wants another American Super Mario World 2.
I'm assuming you mean Super Mario Bros 2 (The one with Wart at the end), because Yoshi's Island is awesome.
It seems natural to me that Samus would be emotionally broken (at least a little) after everything she's been through in her life up to this point, which could also be part of the reason why I'm not having any problems with where they're taking her character. I've certainly come to realize that means I'm in the minority around here from what I can tell, but I don't care. I do understand why some of you wouldn't want to see Samus like this, though, after the way she's been presented to us throughout the entire series.
Quote from sabata2:
Quote from RT-55J:
Quote from Prime Hunter:
I'm in the "I want to see more of Samus' backstory/personality" camp
I'd rather have them do this with a game set inside Samus' dreams/nightmares than this cutscene-heavy melodrama that it looks like we're getting.
No one wants another American Super Mario World 2.
I'm assuming you mean Super Mario Bros 2 (The one with Wart at the end), because Yoshi's Island is awesome.
It seems natural to me that Samus would be emotionally broken (at least a little) after everything she's been through in her life up to this point, which could also be part of the reason why I'm not having any problems with where they're taking her character. I've certainly come to realize that means I'm in the minority around here from what I can tell, but I don't care. I do understand why some of you wouldn't want to see Samus like this, though, after the way she's been presented to us throughout the entire series.
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Relevant text:For me, graphics aren't AS important as they are to others, which is kind of odd seeing as I'm an artist and you'd think it would be one of my higher priorities in a game. I still play NES and old school PC games just fine, and they still look great in my mind. Yet I also play games like Metal Gear Solid, Uncharted, and Mass Effect, which are more recent with "higher quality" visuals, and think they look great as well. I guess for me it's entirely situational as far as graphics go. In the end, does the game, its world, and its characters look appealing? If yes, then it doesn't really matter how realistic or cartoon-like the graphics are as long as they work within the game world that has been presented to me. Obviously I like some styles better than others, but you get my point. I do have one exception to this: If the world or its characters are based on real world counterparts (Professional athletes in sports games, for example) then I want them to look as close to their source material/the real thing as possible.
A game can look absolutely gorgeous, the story could be incredible (as far as game stories go), and the music could pull at my emotions every time, but if I'm not having fun with the game, why bother with it? And as I've said in the past, I seem to be able to play games that I enjoy a lot more often than most, since I rarely get tired of them no matter now many times I replay them. But again, if I don't have fun, everything else could be the at the top of their fields and I still wouldn't go back. (I can't think of any exceptions, but there's always the possibility I'm forgetting one.)
A game can look absolutely gorgeous, the story could be incredible (as far as game stories go), and the music could pull at my emotions every time, but if I'm not having fun with the game, why bother with it? And as I've said in the past, I seem to be able to play games that I enjoy a lot more often than most, since I rarely get tired of them no matter now many times I replay them. But again, if I don't have fun, everything else could be the at the top of their fields and I still wouldn't go back. (I can't think of any exceptions, but there's always the possibility I'm forgetting one.)
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Metroid Prime.
Yeah, Prime is definitely a good reason to love the Cube, and I certainly love the game, but one game isn't going to automatically make one generation better than another for me, not even Prime.
That's the main reason I'd say I love the SNES era the most - It has a lot of those games that I simply love to play even 15+ years after they came out, a lot of which are among my favorites on any platform. And part of it probably has something to do with the fact that the 90s was when I could play games with my friends and family fairly often. I have many great memories of playing SMB3, SMW, Sonic 2, the DKC series, Goldeneye, etc., with my cousins that will always be there and influence my viewpoint on the matter. (I know two of those aren't from the era, but they're close enough to that time frame.)
But like I told Ark, that doesn't mean I hate the other generations at all, because all of them have something to offer me.
Quote from tomatobob:
Quote from Prime Hunter:
Any particular reason I'm forgetting for why the Cube era is #1?
Metroid Prime.
Yeah, Prime is definitely a good reason to love the Cube, and I certainly love the game, but one game isn't going to automatically make one generation better than another for me, not even Prime.
That's the main reason I'd say I love the SNES era the most - It has a lot of those games that I simply love to play even 15+ years after they came out, a lot of which are among my favorites on any platform. And part of it probably has something to do with the fact that the 90s was when I could play games with my friends and family fairly often. I have many great memories of playing SMB3, SMW, Sonic 2, the DKC series, Goldeneye, etc., with my cousins that will always be there and influence my viewpoint on the matter. (I know two of those aren't from the era, but they're close enough to that time frame.)
But like I told Ark, that doesn't mean I hate the other generations at all, because all of them have something to offer me.
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Relevant text:Now that I think about it, my favorites kind of span most of the gaming generations anyway, so it's hard for me to pin down one specific set of years as the best. But even with that, I'd probably still say the same thing in the end and put the SNES era on top as far as I'm concerned.
Any particular reason I'm forgetting for why the Cube era is #1? (I will admit that there are a lot of high quality games that came out 5-10 years ago and a bunch of my favorites fall into that time frame as well, so it'd probably rank #2 for me if I had to put them in order.)
Any particular reason I'm forgetting for why the Cube era is #1? (I will admit that there are a lot of high quality games that came out 5-10 years ago and a bunch of my favorites fall into that time frame as well, so it'd probably rank #2 for me if I had to put them in order.)
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Yeah, no kidding.
"Yes, we deliberately made it so that you have no save feature in order to increase the challenge! Oh, and you can only fire THIS many shots at once and in THIS many directions on top of that! Wait, you say you're stuck on a (cheap) boss because you only have a handful of actions you can take, none of which can protect you from their overwhelming attack? Too bad! Good luck, gamers!"
I could go on with that, but you get the idea.
As far as which era had the best lineup, I'd probably argue for the SNES/early-to-mid 90s seeing as a lot of my favorites are from that time frame. Either way, each generation has their share of gold to go along with the duds, so depending on who you talk to you're going to probably see every system being supported to a degree.
Quote from tomatobob:
Ignoring the fact the limitations of the NES had just as much to do with the difficulty as the developers.
Yeah, no kidding.
"Yes, we deliberately made it so that you have no save feature in order to increase the challenge! Oh, and you can only fire THIS many shots at once and in THIS many directions on top of that! Wait, you say you're stuck on a (cheap) boss because you only have a handful of actions you can take, none of which can protect you from their overwhelming attack? Too bad! Good luck, gamers!"
I could go on with that, but you get the idea.
As far as which era had the best lineup, I'd probably argue for the SNES/early-to-mid 90s seeing as a lot of my favorites are from that time frame. Either way, each generation has their share of gold to go along with the duds, so depending on who you talk to you're going to probably see every system being supported to a degree.
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Relevant text:That caught me off guard the first time I did that fight. I expected the standard 3 energy tank loss from MB, but instead ended up dying because it's closer to 5 that you lose if I saw right.
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Relevant text:As much as I love Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, if I could only have one, I'd probably go with X-COM: UFO Defense. Basically for the same reasons tomatobob put for Heroes 3, since I can never get enough of blasting aliens due to how unpredictable the game can be and yet still be fun and challenging at the same time.
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Relevant text:The way I saw it was Samus talking about her days in the Federation, before she did anything from the games.
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Relevant text:True, although after hearing it once or twice more, it's starting to grow on me just like Samus' has. I think it was more unexpected than dislike. Granted, I should have expected that his voice would change seeing as Samus' had from the original E3 trailer.
Edit: Yeah, I just watched it again to listen for his voice, and it didn't change all that much from the E3 trailer. Not sure what I heard the first time around, as I don't have any problems with it whatsoever now.
Edit: Yeah, I just watched it again to listen for his voice, and it didn't change all that much from the E3 trailer. Not sure what I heard the first time around, as I don't have any problems with it whatsoever now.
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Relevant text:Yeah, I mentioned in the topic specifically about the teaser that I like her voice this way more than the leaked intro version. There's more emotion here, and if she sounds like this once the game arrives in June, I'll probably be happy with that.
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Sure, if I had to choose one era over the other I'd definitely go with the SNES/Genesis, because you're right. Most games in that age are SO much better than the majority of those on the NES. But there are still gems to be found, and those are the ones that keep me coming back. I've played my fair share of those horrible NES games in the past, and unlike games such as Blaster Master, there is little worth going back to them for. And half the time they were practically broken as far as the difficulty goes, to the point where it was insane to try to finish them. (Although you could probably put Battletoads into that category based on the description I just gave, but I still kept coming back and eventually beat it regardless because I was still having fun with it.)
And I absolutely hate cheap deaths, I'll agree with you there. I remember playing through Ninja Gaiden on the Virtual Console (Never finished it - Still have a save at the last world because I couldn't defeat the final boss.) and one of my biggest complaints with that game is the random bats/birds that fly in and knock you out mid jump so that you fall into the abyss. Those kinds of deaths are what turn me off from a game if they are everywhere. But deaths that were brought on by the player, such as not dodging an enemy's attack or taking too many hits during a boss battle, those are the type I learned to accept from that era and have few problems with. (Might get frustrated with those though, such as I am now with the final boss on Blaster Master since I can't dodge all of the boulders he keeps shooting at me and will have to restart the game from the beginning due to running out of continues.)
I'll also agree that difficulty doesn't always make the game better. Depends on what type of game I'm playing without a doubt, but even then it comes down to whether or not I'm enjoying the experience, difficult or not. A game could be the easiest thing in the world, but if I still have fun playing it, I'll keep playing it long after I finish it the first time around.
Quote from tomatobob:
I love older games play more of them than new ones myself, but I leave most of the NES titles alone because 99% were actually crap and the SNES/Genesis era was a million times better.
Sure, if I had to choose one era over the other I'd definitely go with the SNES/Genesis, because you're right. Most games in that age are SO much better than the majority of those on the NES. But there are still gems to be found, and those are the ones that keep me coming back. I've played my fair share of those horrible NES games in the past, and unlike games such as Blaster Master, there is little worth going back to them for. And half the time they were practically broken as far as the difficulty goes, to the point where it was insane to try to finish them. (Although you could probably put Battletoads into that category based on the description I just gave, but I still kept coming back and eventually beat it regardless because I was still having fun with it.)
And I absolutely hate cheap deaths, I'll agree with you there. I remember playing through Ninja Gaiden on the Virtual Console (Never finished it - Still have a save at the last world because I couldn't defeat the final boss.) and one of my biggest complaints with that game is the random bats/birds that fly in and knock you out mid jump so that you fall into the abyss. Those kinds of deaths are what turn me off from a game if they are everywhere. But deaths that were brought on by the player, such as not dodging an enemy's attack or taking too many hits during a boss battle, those are the type I learned to accept from that era and have few problems with. (Might get frustrated with those though, such as I am now with the final boss on Blaster Master since I can't dodge all of the boulders he keeps shooting at me and will have to restart the game from the beginning due to running out of continues.)
I'll also agree that difficulty doesn't always make the game better. Depends on what type of game I'm playing without a doubt, but even then it comes down to whether or not I'm enjoying the experience, difficult or not. A game could be the easiest thing in the world, but if I still have fun playing it, I'll keep playing it long after I finish it the first time around.
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Relevant text:Would definitely be nice to see some gameplay footage, but I'll take anything I can get from Nintendo these days.
As far as the trailer itself, I actually liked it. Granted, I'm in the "I want to see more of Samus' backstory/personality" camp, so that obviously influences my opinion on the matter. Samus' voice sounds a lot better here than it did in the leaked intro to me, and if she's more like that than the "read off of the script" version I'll be happy. (There's more emotion here, which is good.) Not sure about the change they made to Adam's voice though. Have to hear more from him before I can say otherwise.
As far as the trailer itself, I actually liked it. Granted, I'm in the "I want to see more of Samus' backstory/personality" camp, so that obviously influences my opinion on the matter. Samus' voice sounds a lot better here than it did in the leaked intro to me, and if she's more like that than the "read off of the script" version I'll be happy. (There's more emotion here, which is good.) Not sure about the change they made to Adam's voice though. Have to hear more from him before I can say otherwise.
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Relevant text:Huh... I've never been inside this area before, and yet I somehow knew EXACTLY where the boss was. Both in the overworld and inside his interior area. One shot and I took him out. (Didn't hurt that I went in with a lvl 7 gun and ended up with a 3 or 4 by the end.) Now to find the lava area and see what that has in store for me. (Oh, and I realized I wasn't completely right with my comment before - I've seen the bosses and some late game footage, but not the entire layout of the final three areas, so I'm still flying blind for pretty much the rest of the game.)
But yeah, I kind of miss that in some ways. As long as the difficulty is fair and most of the problems you will come up against lie in the player themselves screwing up, I can live with that for the most part. Some are definitely more unforgiving than others (Battletoads comes to mind here) but there's a magic to some of those games as well because they keep bringing us back to them no matter how many times we fail. How many games these days can do that with this kind of difficulty curve? I'd guess that a lot of players would probably give up after a few tries, or at least those who weren't born in the NES era or earlier where this was very common.
Because now that you mention it, Blaster Master and Battletoads are two of the most "notorious" NES games as far as this type of difficulty is concerned, and yet they're definitely within my top 5/top 10 favorite NES games, no question.
Edit: And now... the Frog Mk II.
Edit 2: Wow, that Frog battle was intense, even with having a fully charged gun practically given to you as you made your way to him. But now I'm entering Area 8, the Tourian of Blaster Master in a way. And yet I still feel unprepared for this, since I have next to no additional weapons other than my blaster for SOPHIA heading into here.
Edit 3:
ARG!
I was going in circles in Area 8, pretty sure I wasn't far in at all either. There's this one room I found that looks like it would be more of an exit than the path I needed, but it was the only road I could see. (Looked like I needed to hover over a patch of spikes to get to the other side of the room and the next transition.) So I ran back to the first interior area I saw looking for supplies. I saw what I needed (I'm pretty sure) in the last room of the place, and DIED because I got too close to an enemy! Next I know, the title screen is staring me in the face.
There's a perfect example of what we were just talking about: Because I screwed up royally, I killed my own chances. At least now I know what to expect from the other 90% of the game though, so hopefully I can get back here relatively easily next time. (The Crab and Frog Mk II are without a doubt the hardest points in the entire game until I arrived in Area 8.)
But yeah, I kind of miss that in some ways. As long as the difficulty is fair and most of the problems you will come up against lie in the player themselves screwing up, I can live with that for the most part. Some are definitely more unforgiving than others (Battletoads comes to mind here) but there's a magic to some of those games as well because they keep bringing us back to them no matter how many times we fail. How many games these days can do that with this kind of difficulty curve? I'd guess that a lot of players would probably give up after a few tries, or at least those who weren't born in the NES era or earlier where this was very common.
Because now that you mention it, Blaster Master and Battletoads are two of the most "notorious" NES games as far as this type of difficulty is concerned, and yet they're definitely within my top 5/top 10 favorite NES games, no question.
Edit: And now... the Frog Mk II.
Edit 2: Wow, that Frog battle was intense, even with having a fully charged gun practically given to you as you made your way to him. But now I'm entering Area 8, the Tourian of Blaster Master in a way. And yet I still feel unprepared for this, since I have next to no additional weapons other than my blaster for SOPHIA heading into here.
Edit 3:
I was going in circles in Area 8, pretty sure I wasn't far in at all either. There's this one room I found that looks like it would be more of an exit than the path I needed, but it was the only road I could see. (Looked like I needed to hover over a patch of spikes to get to the other side of the room and the next transition.) So I ran back to the first interior area I saw looking for supplies. I saw what I needed (I'm pretty sure) in the last room of the place, and DIED because I got too close to an enemy! Next I know, the title screen is staring me in the face.
There's a perfect example of what we were just talking about: Because I screwed up royally, I killed my own chances. At least now I know what to expect from the other 90% of the game though, so hopefully I can get back here relatively easily next time. (The Crab and Frog Mk II are without a doubt the hardest points in the entire game until I arrived in Area 8.)
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Relevant text:MAN, that felt good! Fully Charged Gun + Crab Boss of Area 5 = Die Crab, Die!
Now I can finally move onto the ice world of Area 6 for the first time in Blaster Master. And I've only used one continue so far, so I'm very thrilled with my progress right now. Of course, I'm finally back in uncharted territory, so I have a bad feeling I'm going to screw myself over any second now since I have NO idea what's coming.
Now I can finally move onto the ice world of Area 6 for the first time in Blaster Master. And I've only used one continue so far, so I'm very thrilled with my progress right now. Of course, I'm finally back in uncharted territory, so I have a bad feeling I'm going to screw myself over any second now since I have NO idea what's coming.
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Relevant text:And once again... I get to the same spot I always get to these days in Blaster Master before dying a horrible death. That crab in area 5 is the bane of my Blaster Master runs. 
Have never gotten past him yet.
Oh a happier note though, I've got enough points now to buy Overdrive later, so I'll probably be playing that pretty soon.
Oh a happier note though, I've got enough points now to buy Overdrive later, so I'll probably be playing that pretty soon.
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Relevant text:I'm terrible at 100% runs, but yeah, there are certainly other options. (Like difficulties, low% runs... all kinds of combinations.)
Wow... since when is combinations a misspelled word, Firefox?
Wow... since when is combinations a misspelled word, Firefox?
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Relevant text:Wait... NONE? This is going to be the first one on SDA?
Well, if anything gets people motivated, I'd like to think seeing a run like this is the best way to do so. Either that, or it's the fastest way to drive people off after they realize it will take them ages to come anywhere close to the record.
Might get me motivated to play this one again, at least.
Well, if anything gets people motivated, I'd like to think seeing a run like this is the best way to do so. Either that, or it's the fastest way to drive people off after they realize it will take them ages to come anywhere close to the record.
Might get me motivated to play this one again, at least.
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Relevant text:A FIVE minute Phaaze??? This I've got to see. Outstanding work all around!
Ouch, the world was suddenly against you at the end huh? It's almost as if everything knew how well you were doing and attempted to stop you from getting that time. (But on a serious note, that's not good because all of that together, while not overly expensive, is still going to cost you a bit to replace if that's what it comes down to in the end.)
Ouch, the world was suddenly against you at the end huh? It's almost as if everything knew how well you were doing and attempted to stop you from getting that time.
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I was trying to compare the differences they were able to make with nearly a 20 year jump in technology. Zero Mission is certainly based on the original in many ways, but yeah, the room setups are vastly different, even if they are placed in roughly the same areas and shaped roughly the same way as in the original. Though it's funny I say that, because if I'm remembering this right I was able to use what little knowledge I had of the original game's layout when I played Zero Mission for the first time to get around Zebes and have a general sense of where things were (Such as the items and bosses.), so in that respect things were the same.
Wasn't really trying to do that. All I meant was that the carvings in the wall are the only hint you're headed in the right direction in the original as far as Kraid and Ridley are concerned. (And the ones in the ceiling right outside of their rooms.) Because yeah, Lower Norfair is very straightforward in Super, and yet it's one of the best parts of the game in my mind because of the atmosphere and music, but we're not talking about those here. The same can be said for the other main bosses though as far as they are on a direct path once you're in their area.
For the most part, I'll agree with that. There's a few spots where you can wander a bit, but in the end the game is setup more like Super with the way paths are blocked until you have the proper item in tow.
Yeah, that tube is definitely one of the least obvious things in the entire game. The only way you'd never have to deal with it is if you go into Maridia the other way from Crateria and loop around to the bottom, right? (There's those loops again.) And again, it's been ages since I first played the game, so I can't remember how well I did with those obstacles and hints. But I'm fairly sure I've heard plenty of times over the years going high above the three hour mark for someone's first time through the game (Not around here as much), so I'm guessing they have to be subtle enough in a lot of cases until you know what to look for.
I'll go with that. Once you hit the map station, most of the time you have the direct path you need to get to the boss laid out for you. Or at least, what looks like the correct path. The map never takes into account what items you need or what obstacles are between you and said boss, but it still gives you the direction to move in. That's still more than the original Metroid does for you.
Quote from Golem:
Zero Mission and Metroid, I'd argue, are almost completely different games.
I was trying to compare the differences they were able to make with nearly a 20 year jump in technology. Zero Mission is certainly based on the original in many ways, but yeah, the room setups are vastly different, even if they are placed in roughly the same areas and shaped roughly the same way as in the original. Though it's funny I say that, because if I'm remembering this right I was able to use what little knowledge I had of the original game's layout when I played Zero Mission for the first time to get around Zebes and have a general sense of where things were (Such as the items and bosses.), so in that respect things were the same.
Quote from Golem:
Also, the lairs in Metroid and Super Metroid don't compare well.
Wasn't really trying to do that. All I meant was that the carvings in the wall are the only hint you're headed in the right direction in the original as far as Kraid and Ridley are concerned. (And the ones in the ceiling right outside of their rooms.) Because yeah, Lower Norfair is very straightforward in Super, and yet it's one of the best parts of the game in my mind because of the atmosphere and music, but we're not talking about those here. The same can be said for the other main bosses though as far as they are on a direct path once you're in their area.
Quote from Golem:
I don't know my Zero Mission so well, but you certainly can't wander Ridley's lair in ZM in the same sense you can in Metroid. I'd argue that holds for the rest of the game.
For the most part, I'll agree with that. There's a few spots where you can wander a bit, but in the end the game is setup more like Super with the way paths are blocked until you have the proper item in tow.
Quote from Golem:
On my first playthrough of Super, I think the hints were obvious enough. Then again, that was a 10 hour game, and 3 or 4 of those hours must've been wandering around because I didn't know you could break the glass tube between Brinstar and Norfair. So, I had lots of time to find and memorize the hints the game gave me--more time than your average player would have. Also, having taken 10 hours suggests that the hints weren't that obvious, since it's more like a 3 hour game. I'm not sure what to think on that matter, either.
Yeah, that tube is definitely one of the least obvious things in the entire game. The only way you'd never have to deal with it is if you go into Maridia the other way from Crateria and loop around to the bottom, right? (There's those loops again.) And again, it's been ages since I first played the game, so I can't remember how well I did with those obstacles and hints. But I'm fairly sure I've heard plenty of times over the years going high above the three hour mark for someone's first time through the game (Not around here as much), so I'm guessing they have to be subtle enough in a lot of cases until you know what to look for.
Quote from "Golem:
I'm not sure about the last paragraph, though... does that mean that the map itself is a hint in Super Metroid? Actually, thinking about it, I think that works well.
I'll go with that. Once you hit the map station, most of the time you have the direct path you need to get to the boss laid out for you. Or at least, what looks like the correct path. The map never takes into account what items you need or what obstacles are between you and said boss, but it still gives you the direction to move in. That's still more than the original Metroid does for you.