Hypes wrote:My main gripe with Maridia is the sand. I hate it.
It's coarse, and rough, and irritating - and I'm glad this appears to be a thing and it wasn't just me unable to work out any consistency in jumping out of it!
deathofcows wrote:I also appreciate the way each room is loaded and seen separately because SNES - it plays slower but you also get this feeling of immersion and enclosure throughout.
Yeah I like the door transitions, they keep everything separate, make the map feel larger and the areas more distinct. I don't mind waiting for that transition to play out as it gives a brief moment of respite that helps with the game's rhythm. I was less fond of the elevators between areas, partly because of how they look (I didn't actually immediately know what the first one was) and how Samus flashes semi-transparent while riding them(?), and partly because I'd have preferred a move off-screen fade-to-black transition between the areas.
deathofcows wrote:And OR you mentioned the Tile-Y-ness of Dread's visuals in the initial trailers, and having finished it I think it Does seem more tile-y than Super but wasn't exactly sure why. Now that I'm re-playing Super I can see that the ground tiles are often coloured in a way that makes them look irregular, by having the background/wall colour fringe the edges of the tile irregularly, so even that flatb textures are given an overall sense of being worn and organic. This might seem basic to many but I like it!
Yeah it avoids looking tiled well for the most part, and I think it would do so even better viewed as intended on a CRT. Where tiling becomes more obvious is when using the x-ray scanner and seeing the extra visual effects removed so you just see the tiles alone, especially for those tiles blocks for "destroy with x" in place of the natural scenery. When destroying the scenery too the perfect square blocks make the tiling more obvious, but it kind of works because it's mechanical and related to the player wanting to find those blocks.
deathofcows wrote:Finally OR though I get some of your issues with movement and upgrades and stuff, I always remembered the monkey and bird bits to be great. I've just replayed them and still love them! It adds a lot to the fullness of the world to see some harmless/friendly lifeforms, and the way you observe them going about their own business to learn moves feels playful to me, and even wordlessly communal in this otherwise hostile world? And the monkey things are cute! I love it!
Also it's making you aware part-way through the game of moves that were there all along, instead of being an unlockable. Like Celeste?! And you love Celeste!
Hah, I refrained from mentioning Celeste as a point of comparison in my original post! There are a few things to unpack here I think:
First is the design principle of the animal NPCs being used as tutorials to demonstrate moves. I really like how the rest of the game tutorialises naturally and unobtrusively through clever screen layout and design, so that the player is likely (or certain) to discover a mechanic and prompted just by playing the game to learn something new. Things I mentioned like placing a door on the floor so the player thinks to try and shoot downwards, or making sure the player will get knocked back by a morph ball bomb and notice it has that effect. The animals feel like an admission of failure in designing a layout that could naturally guide the player into learning these moves. With the bird for example a collapsing floor would more naturally guide the player into a fully-charged sprint, just as an idea.
Second is how the sudden friendly NPCs are at odds with the hostile and isolated rest of the game world. I don't think they couldn't work as contrast against that, but them being so sudden and only appearing as move tutors makes them feel ill-fitting to me. I think if they were to be included they would work better more integrated in - imagine if the monkeys had been visible jumping off-screen and leading the way for several screens before culminating in their tutor moment, I think that would have felt a more natural inclusion.
Finally is the Celeste comparison, and I agree it is similar for being moves always in your moveset that the game makes you aware of partway through. I do like that! The difference I feel is how and where they come in the game. In Celeste most of those moments are back-loaded in the post-game B-and-C-sides, like the game is saying "Oh you want to get real? Ok let's get real!" - and then those moves become integral parts of the moveset from the moment they are introduced onwards. In comparison in Super Metroid learning these moves is forced on you mid-game even though they aren't then required at any point afterwards if you're just trying to finish it. I do like the revelation of advanced techniques within the moveset, but I think it would have worked better and been more impactful as a revelation if that was something that likely came in a second playthrough when you are already familiar with the game and looking for greater completion. Imagine again if those monkeys had appeared for several screens leading the way. In your first playthrough you see them wall jump up and away at the end of their segment, but you are able to progress normally to the left or right and think no more on them. Then in a second playthrough you think, wait a second, I bet there is something up there, and you then pay close attention to how they wall jump and teach yourself this advanced technique. That for me would have been a better way of doing it, I think.
If they all came to the Switch (either online like Metroid and Super Metroid) or the most recent versions on the eShop I’d be very happy to drop a handful of money their way!
