1. It's the principle of understanding without having to agree.
Plus it means if you understand a really bad point of view, that means you can truly call it really bad, since you know precisely why it is.
2. It's also to show that customer perception cannot be ignored or downplayed, when it comes to why they don't buy your product. If people think the game is something they don't like, they won't buy it, and you can't make them do it. Blaming them won't get you back the sales you lost either.
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.^^^ Man I so woulda replied to those arguments if you hadn't posted that disclaimer at the beginning...
"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."Also, that's part of why I say it was the wrong direction. This is the essence of the phrase "The Customer is Always Right", not in the Unsatisfiable Customer way, but that if they don't like the product, you've lost their sales.
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.^ There's several references to events that occurred in Super Metroid. The game makes it very clear that we are between Super and Fusion on the timeline.
It even opens with a flashback to the Baby Metroid's sacrifice.
edited 5th Oct '10 5:18:38 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.My apologies for the double post, but this seemed a bit extensive for an edit.
I've been mulling over the controversial Ridley scene for a while now, listening to what everyone's saying about it, and I think I'm starting to understand what they were trying to do with it. I think the core problem is simply that it was too long; too much time was spent on Ridley fluttering around, being intimidating. I think, for what they were trying to accomplish, both characters would have been better served if Ridley had attacked right off the bat.
The intent is solid; Samus is so shocked at seeing fluffy rabbit chicken monster that she was expecting to fight turn out to be RIDLEY, back from the dead and rising like a phoenix from the magma, powered by PURE MALICE, that she hesitates when she shouldn't, and gets nailed for it. That much is solid.
I think it might just be too long. Cut out that middle part, where Ridley's acting threatening and Samus is refusing to fire, and then turns into a Visual Metaphor for a traumatized child. Instead, put Ridley attacking Samus right off, and the scene turns into "Samus hesitates out of shock and gets nailed for it" instead of "Samus becomes paralyzed by abject terror, visually reduced to a frightened little girl in the face of the absolute horror that is Ridley". The former is how many of its defenders see it already.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I only dare to post here because I think, from a writing perspective, Tobias has it right.
...And now to slink into the sea and never set eyes on this thread again.
"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~MadrugadaWhile technically Brawl isn't a Metroid game, they've already done a scene very similar to what Tobias described during the Subspace Emissary, amped up to 11 and requiring Pikachu to get her out of it.
Strangely, nobody complained, though on the other hand, it shows less of Samus being caught off guard or having a character moment (which I think the Other M scene was really trying to accomplish) and more of a "HOLY SHIT! WHERE DID THAT FUCKER COME FROM!?" moment.
edited 5th Oct '10 1:41:01 PM by Rebochan
I just thought of something about Ridley. More specifically, whether or not she freaks out every when she sees him. She does.
What's the general "strategy" for defeating Ridley? Shoot him so he reveals his weakpoint like Kraid? Patiently wait for him to drop his guard like Phantoon? No, we, and Samus, panic and fire everything we have at him with reckless abandon. Missiles, Super Missiles, everything. In our case, its because we know he has no weak spot, and we have to kill him before he kills us. But what could cause the normally calm Samus to react like that? How about something like "OH GOD IT'S HIM DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!"
Also, when would be the only other time Samus would have a reason to believe Ridley to be gone for good? The beginning of the first Metroid Prime (she didn't know about the Space Pirates' cloning techniques back then). The beginning of Prime also happens to be the only other time she doesn't attack him despite having a clear opening, and in that case he wasn't even trying to intimidate her.
She's always been terrified of Ridley. This is just the first time they made it obvious.
They could have cut Samus freezing up shorter though, like Tobias said. Personally, If it had been me, I'd have changed the Ridley scene to, after the brief pause, have her fire everything she has like the player does, only to miss wildly (just like the player will often do), just to hit closer to home.
Any other "character derailment" moments, I'll chalk up to "Samus was having a bad day, she was on her period, et cetera and so forth."
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^ and v: That probably has to do with Ridley pulling a sneak attack. You can't fault someone for falling for a sneak attack he/she wasn't expecting.
edited 5th Oct '10 2:25:23 PM by CandyCrazy
^^ People don't seem to mind that their bad-ass female space marine is saved by a cute tiny mouse that generates electricity though.
"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."Brawl wasn't story-driven. It also wasn't canon. I don't think anyone went into Brawl looking for characterization.
edited 5th Oct '10 2:28:40 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Hey, ROB, Pikachu, and...some other character got some characterization.
"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."I Ridley had done that in Other M, grabbing Samus so she doesn't have a chance to counterattack, and then Anthony doing what he did to get her free, that would have worked. It wouldn't have made Samus seem weaker, it would have made Ridley stronger, and then Samus even stronger for then taking him down anyway.
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.^^^ Granted. My hypothetical scene would be a bit longer than that for that part; Ridley should still get to make an appearance. Since the purpose of Other M is to build character, Samus SHOULD get to have her shocked moment of realization, but with Ridley attacking immediately after that.
^ It would also improve the, ahem, "scared suitless" moment, I think, because the implication that Samus has simply taken so much damage that the suit can't sustain itself and needs to recover, vs. the unpleasant implication of "She is so terrified that she can't even hold her suit anymore,". The scene itself is ambiguous and can be interpreted either way; having a more sudden and vicious attack would tilt the scales towards the former.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.You know what should have been done? When she sees Ridley, she has a flashback to when she's part of the army. Then she has another flashback to the first time she saw Ridley as a little girl. So being the first time she's seen him since then, it's understandable that she's scared out of her mind, and her fellow soldiers have to help her get over it and fight.
Then flash back to the present, someone remarks this must be another clone, Samus nods, is still a little shaken, but readies her gun. Cut the battle.
edited 5th Oct '10 3:11:51 PM by DragonQuestZ
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.Mmm...that doesn't have quite the emotional punch. Where the scene as it is now has too much emotional punch. It needs to strike a balance.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Well I was also thinking the whole game could be like that, flashing back to her as a younger, less sure self, so that we could compare with the Samus as we know her. Heck, past Samus could do far more talking than present Samus, to show how she has changed.
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.I just want to say that last night I had a dream about Samus/Metroid and I'm blaming Dragon Quest Z on that.
Helpful Scripts and Stylesheets here.lol, for a minute there, I thought you were talking about Dragon Ball Z.
"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Before I address your points, just remember I'm just stating why people think this is sexist. Do not argue with my on why it's not sexist. I'm stating why it seems that way to others, fair or not. My own opinions are mainly that the execution of this characterization isn't sexist, but still blows chunks.
"Dude, she still managed to beat Ridley's ass."
It doesn't matter what happened afterwards. Seeing her freak out when she never did so reminds people of the Screaming Woman in movies that needs a man to save her from the monster.
Personally, I agree with a lot of people that doing it as a prequel would have been a hell of a lot better.
"She's still a one man army. She's more capable than her [[Halo male rip-off/clone]]."
But in the non interactive cut scenes, she isn't really shown that way. By having the male marines do a lot of the big things that matters in the story, it still gives the appearance of weakening Samus in favor of the males.
Personally, I hate it when any game let's you be Hero McKickass in the gameplay, but a total wuss in the cut scenes (like every time an RPG has you surrender to guards that you turn out to be three levels higher than in the inevitable breakout sequence, where you take on five times as many as the game made you wuss out on), so I hate Samus getting weaker in cut scenes for that reason instead.
"I believe that she's plenty strong enough already. No need to make her even more invincible."
It's not that she isn't invincible. It's that, as mentioned, she has to be saved. It doesn't matter what context you try to give. Samus can get in trouble, but it looks sexist that getting out of trouble was by a man's help. If Master Chief is a fucking epic badass, then having Samus downgraded from a fucking epic badass seems sexist. Heck, the Devil May Cry games have male protagonists, and make their heroes stronger in cut scenes (probably a major reason Bayonetta didn't get this much flack, since that heroine is badass in all of the game).
Personally, the game itself can make the hero not invincible. That's the point of good difficulty in the first place. Samus was badass in the first games only when you played them like badasses. But those first games were Nintendo Hard, so you almost had no choice but to be a badass.
"People loved her even when she was saved by PIKACHU!"
Samus was still otherwise an asskicker in Smash Bros. If she had suddenly freaked out at a battle she didn't flinch at in the first couple Smash games, there would be the same problem.
"And I still fail to see what's so evil about giving some feminine traits to a female character."
Why are you assuming that being feminine is the sole reason for these complaints? It's about giving traits that appear to be the archaic traits of femininity, from the days of Stay in the Kitchen.
edited 4th Oct '10 11:50:43 PM by DragonQuestZ
I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.