Jump to content

METROID DREAD - October 8th!


Recommended Posts

Being reminded of that makes me more curious how Fusion’s hard mode would’ve been had it not been a Japan exclusive feature. The main difference with Dread’s hard mode I found is just having to respect the boss’s attacks more and being less greedy. Probably was much of the same with Fusion’s, but I liked how those difficulty spikes alone kept me on my toes at the time.

Link to comment
8 minutes ago, Art_de_Cat said:

So quick question....

 

  Hide contents

I am past boss fight after meeting QR.  Ive been directed to Burenia to go through open path and reached the water boss.  Should I already have gravity suit before fighting it?

 

 

Spoiler

No.

 

Gravity Suit comes after Space Jump.

 

Link to comment

9 minutes too late to hit the threshold for the best ending on my second run. I know I can hit the time though as I spent time trying to learn the underwater bomb jump in Ghavoran and was not sure how to go about progressing once I got the Gravity Suit early. Next run hopefully I will get the last ending for Normal and then I'll apply that to Hard Mode, so that I'll have Dread fully complete.

 

Contact damage didn't bug me as much as it did when I played Samus Returns the second time, but I've realized now, that's an issue I have with 2D Metroid in general. It's absurd to me given the character I know I'm playing as. They're top notch when it comes to pace though, movement through the environments. Dread probably is third for me in that aspect behind both Hunters and Super. I love Flash Shift and grappling to the magnet walls, but I think the mapping of Speed Booster and Shinespark is less than ideal compared to previous iterations and swinging with the Grapple Beam I feel is spotty (might be why there are not much instances of that compared to Samus Returns, which also had bad swinging). 

 

Dread's bosses are what could make the game my go to for the "traditional" experience in the series. It felt good to get passed many of them during the first run, and the experience has made them even better. Dread may offer the most overall satisfaction for me from those entries. Super is a great time, but doesn't end on the note that Dread does. Outside of Ridley, I don't think Super's line-up, as iconic as it is, hits the sweet spot that Dread's does. The Raven Beak fight is incredibly satisfying to wrap up in one take. 

Link to comment
1 hour ago, Ithrak Utopia said:

9 minutes too late to hit the threshold for the best ending on my second run. I know I can hit the time though as I spent time trying to learn the underwater bomb jump in Ghavoran and was not sure how to go about progressing once I got the Gravity Suit early. Next run hopefully I will get the last ending for Normal and then I'll apply that to Hard Mode, so that I'll have Dread fully complete.

 

Contact damage didn't bug me as much as it did when I played Samus Returns the second time, but I've realized now, that's an issue I have with 2D Metroid in general. It's absurd to me given the character I know I'm playing as. They're top notch when it comes to pace though, movement through the environments. Dread probably is third for me in that aspect behind both Hunters and Super. I love Flash Shift and grappling to the magnet walls, but I think the mapping of Speed Booster and Shinespark is less than ideal compared to previous iterations and swinging with the Grapple Beam I feel is spotty (might be why there are not much instances of that compared to Samus Returns, which also had bad swinging). 

 

Dread's bosses are what could make the game my go to for the "traditional" experience in the series. It felt good to get passed many of them during the first run, and the experience has made them even better. Dread may offer the most overall satisfaction for me from those entries. Super is a great time, but doesn't end on the note that Dread does. Outside of Ridley, I don't think Super's line-up, as iconic as it is, hits the sweet spot that Dread's does. The Raven Beak fight is incredibly satisfying to wrap up in one take. 

 

While I was tempted at first, I did without the sequence break tricks during the 4 and 8 hour speedruns for normal and hard. Will dabble with them during my eventual next playthroughs though, but had taken a break after finishing the ending gallery.

 

Dread's grapple beam caught on for me pretty quick, but I guess I can understand it taking some getting used to for others. Think it's fair to say that mechanically, Dread has the most evolved form of the Shinespark/Speedbooster in general, between being able to use it while wall-jumping, sliding, and the ballspark that was introduced in Samus Returns, but Dread's maps you can argue don't give you as much freedom with the Shinesparking as in other games.

 

The bosses I feel get better upon replays compared to the first time facing them. It's satisfying seeing how much better you are at parrying their attacks (some of which I did not get to do so with during my first playthrough) when you get to know the game more. Out of the bosses, Drogyga could've easily been Draygon, but I guess they didn't want to rely on the past too much beyond Kraid. Escue was the only boss in Dread I truly hated fighting, though I understand sequence breaking to get the Screw Attack early makes it easier, but did not like how Esque was designed, the problems of which I had were amplified on hard mode. Experiment Z-57 was nice though, and yeah, Raven Beak was a great way to end things on though. To be fair to Super Metroid though, the whole Hyper Beam with final boss thing and later absorbing it and using it to finish said final boss and during the escape sequence was done in Super first. The Hyper Beam didn't wow me at this point after seeing it enough times, but the Metroid Suit made up for it. Oh, and I will say I'm glad the Hyper Beam was actually dodgable this time. Guess the main reason it wasn't in Super Metroid was because you were in a small enclosed room with Mother Brain, besides them wanting the hatchling to save the day.

 

That all said, I enjoyed Proteus Ridley in Samus Returns and Raven Beak in Dread about the same as final bosses. Both were epic three phase fights that MercurySteam did a fantastic job on and going all out with, and Raven during the 2nd phase even had some aerial melee attacks that felt like a homage to Ridley (the stomp and such), which made up for Ridley not being in Dread on top of the ending gallery cameos.

Edited by Ridley Prime
Link to comment
2 hours ago, Ridley Prime said:

 

While I was tempted at first, I did without the sequence break tricks during the 4 and 8 hour speedruns for normal and hard. Will dabble with them during my eventual next playthroughs though, but had taken a break after finishing the ending gallery.

 

Dread's grapple beam caught on for me pretty quick, but I guess I can understand it taking some getting used to for others. Think it's fair to say that mechanically, Dread has the most evolved form of the Shinespark/Speedbooster in general, between being able to use it while wall-jumping, sliding, and the ballspark that was introduced in Samus Returns, but Dread's maps you can argue don't give you as much freedom with the Shinesparking as in other games.

 

The bosses I feel get better upon replays compared to the first time facing them. It's satisfying seeing how much better you are at parrying their attacks (some of which I did not get to do so with during my first playthrough) when you get to know the game more. Out of the bosses, Drogyga could've easily been Draygon, but I guess they didn't want to rely on the past too much beyond Kraid. Escue was the only boss in Dread I truly hated fighting, though I understand sequence breaking to get the Screw Attack early makes it easier, but did not like how Esque was designed, the problems of which I had were amplified on hard mode. Experiment Z-57 was nice though, and yeah, Raven Beak was a great way to end things on though. To be fair to Super Metroid though, the whole Hyper Beam with final boss thing and later absorbing it and using it to finish said final boss and during the escape sequence was done in Super first. The Hyper Beam didn't wow me at this point after seeing it enough times, but the Metroid Suit made up for it. Oh, and I will say I'm glad the Hyper Beam was actually dodgable this time. Guess the main reason it wasn't in Super Metroid was because you were in a small enclosed room with Mother Brain, besides them wanting the hatchling to save the day.

 

That all said, I enjoyed Proteus Ridley in Samus Returns and Raven Beak in Dread about the same as final bosses. Both were epic three phase fights that MercurySteam did a fantastic job on and going all out with, and Raven during the 2nd phase even had some aerial melee attacks that felt like a homage to Ridley (the stomp and such), which made up for Ridley not being in Dread on top of the ending gallery cameos.

 

The free aim is what makes swinging with the Grapple Beam more difficult for me. With Super, I know what I'm getting when aiming at a grapple point as it'll be aimed diagonally. In Samus Returns, I recall falling a number of times whenever I needed to swing across multiple points. Same experience with Dread except Dread hardly asks the player to swing across multiple points. There's so little when it comes to swinging that I wonder why they decided to include it in at all. I don't think keeping a traditional element is worth it with how awkward swinging is relative to all the other uses of the Grapple Beam in Dread. For instance, next to the elevator to Burenia in Ghavoran, there's a room with grapple points that a player (unless they have/go back with Space Jump) would need to swing across to reach an expansion. I would've removed those points in favor of spaced out Spider Magnet panels that a player can grapple to and between to get the expansion. 

 

Mechanically, the Speed Booster and Shinespark is amazing in Dread, but I think it became the casualty of a busy game in terms of controls and abilities. In all likelihood, an ability was going to need to be mapped to pressing in the left stick, and unfortunately it just happened to be Speed Booster and the Shinespark. In general, especially on the Joy-Cons, I think pressing in on the sticks isn't great, especially with drifting being a known issue with the controllers. I play Dread mostly on a pro controller, but even with that it doesn't feel quite right compared to the momentum based activation in Other M/Zero and having it tied with the dash button in Super. That said, I don't know what they could have done without giving the player the option to customize the controls. I wouldn't want to remove an ability from Dread to free up the controls for a better input. 

 

Escue gave me fits on my first playthrough, and then I had the Screw Attack second go around and gave it fits. :P I also did a Shinespark right at the start just to make sure I fully bullied that boss. Aside from Raven Beak, Escue might have been the most difficult boss for me on my first run having to regularly avoid its Storm Missile attack. If I didn't have Screw Attack on my second run, it probably would've been the most difficult boss as I'm use to the patterns of the final boss. 

 

Visually, Super's Hyper Beam > Dread's Hyper Beam > Corruption's Hyper Beam in my opinion, so I wasn't as wowed by this iteration either. What I was wowed by and what overshadowed all of them is this game's Metroid Suit reveal and controlling Samus in that state. Also, completely obliterating Raven Beak-X with those new powers felt very satisfying after one of the toughest boss battles in the series. No real effort involved, but that moment is an exclamation point. 

Link to comment
22 minutes ago, Link, the Hero of Dreams said:

Oh my god. I effectively softlockod myself from beating this game. 

  

After I got the Space Jump, I went to Burneria. There was a section I was unable to go to, but I made it happen using said technique. Then, after traveling a bit, there's a part where they force the player to use the Power Bomb.   Big problem: I don't have that yet. And because no other part of that area allows me escape, I'm trapped. 

 

Thus, I might have to start over. FU...

 

You don't get the Power Bombs until almost the end of the game.

 

You're not stuck. You just haven't figured out the way forward yet. Don't be a game journalist! Try shooting any walls that seem suspicious.

Link to comment
1 hour ago, Link, the Hero of Dreams said:

Yeah, I did. I even used that feature to help me. 

 

And this isn't a Cuphead moment. I'm genuinely stuck on a moment of oversight. 

 

If you have the same specific things I do at this moment, see how impossible my situation is. Go to the underwater gap between the Green Teleportal and the Energy Recharge Station on its left in Burenia.  Then see how baffling that is. Me? I might have to start over and take a break for today.  
 
The Power Bomb was my only chance of proceeding. And I didn’t get it in time.

 

Spoiler

IMG_3741.thumb.JPG.2efb540dbe4b09505d85b68c5e8ad225.JPG

 

Is that the gap you're referring to where my cursor is? 

Link to comment
13 minutes ago, Link, the Hero of Dreams said:

Yes. 

 

You should be able to climb back up from the platforms with your current upgrades. It's what I usually end up having to do to reach the Flash Shift above this area. You want to head back up toward the teleporter, but Space Jump across to the platform below the research station. Below should work to get you on track to your next upgrade:

 

Spoiler

route.thumb.png.a9861e441e2038601b5f17f6ad03b43f.png

 

The sky blue is where you want to Space Jump across. You might be able to do that from the lower ledge to reach the other side too. 

Edited by Ithrak Utopia
Link to comment

Oh yeah, I was surprised at the lack of suitless Samus fanservice this time around with Dread, tho to be fair, Mercury went all out with that in the Samus Returns endings; that was a first though, where instead, the ending gallery simply gave you screenshots of all the past non-Prime games. I was kinda wanting to see how Samus had matured outside the suit again if you will; by the time of Fusion, you can see how she had aged/matured compared to the beginning of her adventures, but I guess it helped Samus retain some of her mystique again, in addition to giving her only one line to speak in a different language.

 

Btw, am I the only one who likes the Zordon looking concept art for Adam? Can see why they didn't go with it in the end though.

 

 

Edited by Ridley Prime
Link to comment
12 hours ago, Ridley Prime said:

Oh yeah, I was surprised at the lack of suitless Samus fanservice this time around with Dread, tho to be fair, Mercury went all out with that in the Samus Returns endings; that was a first though, where instead, the ending gallery simply gave you screenshots of all the past non-Prime games. I was kinda wanting to see how Samus had matured outside the suit again if you will; by the time of Fusion, you can see how she had aged/matured compared to the beginning of her adventures, but I guess it helped Samus retain some of her mystique again, in addition to giving her only one line to speak in a different language.

 

 

Kinda makes me curious about how much time passes between games.

 

*Zero Mission happens concurrently with the final chapter of the manga.

*Corruption takes place six months after Echoes, and features a one-month timeskip during which Samus is unconscious.

*Super takes place immediately after Samus Returns.

*Other M takes place soon enough after Super that Samus still has monster guts all over her suit.

*Fusion takes place long enough after Other M for Adam's brain to be turned into a computer.

 

But for all we know, Fusion and Dread could take place within a week of each other.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...