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Discussion [Take From Kotaku] Dear Metroid Dread: Samus Doesn’t Need To Be An Emotionless Robot To Be Badass

I would expect someone in that position to let her guard down a bit and ask a few questions, maybe even crack a smile
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Literally a "smile more" take. I thought it was just subtext, but nope, they actually say it. Smfh.
 
Lichtsang said:
I only ignore Other M though? You really confuse me. I'm sorry that I don't think Adam is a character the world needs to see more off.
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Other M and Fusion, the two games with a story that can't be summed up in one sentence.

Adam and Samus's relationship is the emotional core of Fusion. The climax of story is Adam saving Samus's life by making a plan that won't result in her killing herself.
 
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Going from telling people how to pirate the game to then saying the female main character has to smile more. Oh Kotaku.
 
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Brock Reiher said:
I don't think it is, but maybe I'm misremembering. That makes it even weirder that she never has another monologue, which is I guess why they wrote in a reason for her to be out of character.
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Samus not talking is not out of character, it is a narrative conveyance choice. She never talks out loud in Other M or Fusion, either, she just thinks to herself

The only difference is that in Dread we don't hear her thoughts

That's, again, not a characterization thing. It's a narrative one
 
Jimmy Joe said:
Samus not talking is not out of character, it is a narrative conveyance choice. She never talks out loud in Other M or Fusion, either, she just thinks to herself

The only difference is that in Dread we don't hear her thoughts

That's, again, not a characterization thing. It's a narrative one
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In Dread she is particularly animalistic and bloodthirsty, this is explained at the end when it's revealed that Raven Beak awakened her Metroid Mode. In previous games back to and including Metroid II she is known for her kindness.

Now that I think about it, Adam is the only one to snap her out of it in Dread, too.
 
Brock Reiher said:
In Dread she is particularly animalistic and bloodthirsty, this is explained at the end when it's revealed that Raven Beak awakened her Metroid Mode. In previous games back to and including Metroid II she is known for her kindness.

Now that I think about it, Adam is the only one to snap her out of it in Dread, too.
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Samus is not animalistic and bloodthirsty in this game, she is simply very efficient at killing

She does have more violent tendencies that come out when she begins to undergo the last stages of her Metroid transformation, which are most pronounced when she nearly kills that charging enemy by grabbing it with her hand—but she fights that instinct and kills it with her gun

She finds the change in her, physiological and behavioral, disturbing. It's why she spends so long quietly staring at herself. It's not a matter of not being in character—it's a matter of being subjecting to a new form of stress that she's never had to deal with before, which is exactly the kind of thing that Sakamoto likes to expand Samus's character by doing

And it's not Adam who "snaps her out of it"—he does prevent her from draining the ship, but it's Quiet Robe, her uncle, her kin, who calms her and gives her full control over herself and her abilities
 
Jimmy Joe said:
Samus is not animalistic and bloodthirsty in this game, she is simply very efficient at killing

She does have more violent tendencies that come out when she begins to undergo the last stages of her Metroid transformation, which are most pronounced when she nearly kills that charging enemy by grabbing it with her hand—but she fights that instinct and kills it with her gun

She finds the change in her, physiological and behavioral, disturbing. It's why she spends so long quietly staring at herself. It's not a matter of not being in character—it's a matter of being subjecting to a new form of stress that she's never had to deal with before, which is exactly the kind of thing that Sakamoto likes to expand Samus's character by doing

And it's not Adam who "snaps her out of it"—he does prevent her from draining the ship, but it's Quiet Robe, her uncle, her kin, who calms her and gives her full control over herself and her abilities
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The transformation starts almost immediately, that's why she can utilize the Omega beam. Stopping her from draining/destroying at the point where she is too far gone is snapping her out of it. Adam is the one who snaps her out of it mentally, as she has more of an emotional connection to her. The chozo cures her physically because they have a bigger physical connection.

She is out of character, but that's the point of the story. It kind of like black suit Spider Man.
 
Jimmy Joe said:
Samus is not animalistic and bloodthirsty in this game, she is simply very efficient at killing

She does have more violent tendencies that come out when she begins to undergo the last stages of her Metroid transformation, which are most pronounced when she nearly kills that charging enemy by grabbing it with her hand—but she fights that instinct and kills it with her gun

She finds the change in her, physiological and behavioral, disturbing. It's why she spends so long quietly staring at herself. It's not a matter of not being in character—it's a matter of being subjecting to a new form of stress that she's never had to deal with before, which is exactly the kind of thing that Sakamoto likes to expand Samus's character by doing

And it's not Adam who "snaps her out of it"—he does prevent her from draining the ship, but it's Quiet Robe, her uncle, her kin, who calms her and gives her full control over herself and her abilities
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Yeah, ADAM stopping her at touching the console of her ship has nothing to do with her emotional bond, but of her still being aware of herself and stopping because otherwise she would doom herself. At no point during her transformation was implied that she got bloothirstry and started acting in instincts, cause otherwise she would have drained the X as Quiet Robe.
 
Mazzle said:
Yeah, ADAM stopping her at touching the console of her ship has nothing to do with her emotional bond, but of her still being aware of herself and stopping because otherwise she would doom herself. At no point during her transformation was implied that she got bloothirstry and started acting in instincts, cause otherwise she would have drained the X as Quiet Robe.
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She would have done that if Adam, her closest confidant in the universe, hadn't given her a brief moment of clarity.
 
Brock Reiher said:
She would have done that if Adam, her closest confidant in the universe, hadn't given her a brief moment of clarity.
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It could have been any AI, any board computer to stop her there. Again, at no point was it made a thing that she wasn't herself. She knew she had to go, she knew how to control her ship to get away from this planet, but she stopped because her board computer stopped her, of rushing things, since she was in a hurry and not thinking about her draining abilities. She also didn't just drain Quiet Robe when she saw him, but pointed her gun at him and lowerd the beam once he bowed down. There was no special ADAM stuff going on.
 
Mazzle said:
It could have been any AI, any board computer to stop her there. Again, at no point was it made a thing that she wasn't herself. She knew she had to go, she knew how to control her ship to get away from this planet, but she stopped because her board computer stopped her, of rushing things, since she was in a hurry and not thinking about her draining abilities. She also didn't just drain Quiet Robe when she saw him, but pointed her gun at him and lowerd the beam once he bowed down. There was no special ADAM stuff going on.
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I think that's a bad read. They call attention to her change in attitude multiple times but it really explicit with the
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
scene.
 
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Brock Reiher said:
The transformation starts almost immediately, that's why she can utilize the Omega beam. Stopping her from draining/destroying at the point where she is too far gone is snapping her out of it. Adam is the one who snaps her out of it mentally, as she has more of an emotional connection to her. The chozo cures her physically because they have a bigger physical connection.

She is out of character, but that's the point of the story. It kind of like black suit Spider Man.
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That just means that Samus was still in control. The transformation does start early, yes, but the behavioral effect of it doesn't start coming up until just before she fights the last E.M.M.I.

If she wasn't in control, she would have eaten the Raven Beak X. If she wasn't in control, a single word spoken by a computerized voice, which she's been associating with Raven Beak for the entire course of the adventure, wouldn't have stopped her. No text-to-speech "Yamero" is gonna stop her when she's really going

It is Quiet Robe, her family, who gives back her fullest control of herself; her conneciton to her kin is why her theme plays when she speaks to him, and why her only spoken words in the game are toward him, her family

And she isn't out of character if it's consistent with previous characterizations, but resulting in new behavior based on new stressors. That's in-character. She's just developing
 
Did they play the game? Samus actions spoke much louder than words. She also has so much more personality than last games. That's what's every set piece was for. Smh!!! The author missed the whole point of the cutscenes!!
 
Jimmy Joe said:
That just means that Samus was still in control. The transformation does start early, yes, but the behavioral effect of it doesn't start coming up until just before she fights the last E.M.M.I.

If she wasn't in control, she would have eaten the Raven Beak X. If she wasn't in control, a single word spoken by a computerized voice, which she's been associating with Raven Beak for the entire course of the adventure, wouldn't have stopped her. No text-to-speech "Yamero" is gonna stop her when she's really going

It is Quiet Robe, her family, who gives back her fullest control of herself; her conneciton to her kin is why her theme plays when she speaks to him, and why her only spoken words in the game are toward him, her family

And she isn't out of character if it's consistent with previous characterizations, but resulting in new behavior based on new stressors. That's in-character. She's just developing
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She doesn't absorb the X because she's in full murder mode. She trusts Adam's voice, she trusts Adam. He's more her family than some Chozo she never met.
 
To be clear, Adam is not the second-most improtant character in Metroid. That's probably the Metroid Hatchling

Then her two bird dads

Then Adam
 
I don't really care too much about their take. I think giving them attention and being riled up is part of what they want. But I get people can't control emotions and given how good Dread is I can understand being frustrated. I'm just hoping at most all this attention on the game extends legs even if just a little.
 
Brock Reiher said:
She doesn't absorb the X because she's in full murder mode. She trusts Adam's voice, she trusts Adam. He's more her family than some Chozo she never met.
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That isn't Adam's voice. She doesn't recognize the AI by its voice, which is just text-to-speech. She recognizes it by its sentence structure, which doesn't come into play here

You are badly overselling how important Adam is to Samus in Fusion or in Dread. Other M is the outlier, here, not the other games
 
Jimmy Joe said:
To be clear, Adam is not the second-most improtant character in Metroid. That's probably the Metroid Hatchling

Then her two bird dads

Then Adam
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The metroid hatchling is arguable, but the bird dads don't even appear in the games and Samus doesn't think about them at all as far as we know.
 
I want Samus to have Micheal Fletcher Haunting of Hill House/Midnight Mass style monologues :p
 
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Jimmy Joe said:
That isn't Adam's voice. She doesn't recognize the AI by its voice, which is just text-to-speech. She recognizes it by its sentence structure, which doesn't come into play here

You are badly overselling how important Adam is to Samus in Fusion or in Dread. Other M is the outlier, here, not the other games
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Again Adam and Samus's relationship is the emotional core of Fusion and she would have killed herself if he didn't stop her.
 
Brock Reiher said:
The metroid hatchling is arguable, but the bird dads don't even appear in the games and Samus doesn't think about them at all as far as we know.
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I'm sorry, but the entirety of Metroid Dread is about Samus's relationship with her Chozo family and heritage. Old Bird and Grey Voice's presences loom large over this game, even if they're only sorta-visible in one shot

It's just handly more deftly than her relationship with Adam was
 
I would say the most important character in the Metroid franchise bseides Samus is
Ridley
 
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I mean, she doesn't really have to act more human cause she isn't fully human anymore...I feel like anyone's attitude would be changed significantly after being infused with a completely different species like....three times I think?
 
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Dear Kotaku: Shut up.
Everyone lambasted Another M cause of the “fake ptsd” during Ridley fight. And now they complain that she is hardened enough to no care about small things like that.
 
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Brock Reiher said:
Again Adam and Samus's relationship is the emotional core of Fusion and she would have killed herself if he didn't stop her.
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The emotional core of Fusion is the relationship the player has with the BSL station, and with the SA-X

I think you're letting your investment in Adam's character colour your reading of the other games too much
 
Jimmy Joe said:
I'm sorry, but the entirety of Metroid Dread is about Samus's relationship with her Chozo family and heritage. Old Bird and Grey Voice's presences loom large over this game, even if they're only sorta-visible in one shot

It's just handly more deftly than her relationship with Adam was
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Well yeah, Dread takes the story in a new direction. She still never thinks of them as far as we know, and
Raven Beak doesn't try to gain Samus's trust by pretending to be them.
 
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Jimmy Joe said:
The emotional core of Fusion is the relationship the player has with the BSL station, and with the SA-X

I think you're letting your investment in Adam's character colour your reading of the other games too much
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Emotional relationship with a space station...? Even Dread knows to copy the "Samus eyes wide" scene from Fusion, it's iconic.
 
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kimbo99 said:
Did they play the game? Samus actions spoke much louder than words. She also has so much more personality than last games. That's what's every set piece was for. Smh!!! The author missed the whole point of the cutscenes!!
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Her body language is great. Both the cases she goes from high alert to, oh.. its just you, you can hear the sigh or the sneer.
And then the whole ending sequences too. Actions talk louder than words
 
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Fuck Kotaku and their continued attempts at relevancy with these bad hot takes – between this and the emulation stuff, their journalistic integrity has gone from zero to into the negative. So much for that new editor in chief.
 
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Mazzle said:
Our all love interest Jeff Grubb wrote about Samus in Dread and how the game showed what kind of a character she is
and what she had to deal with her entire life.

I think this piece is much much better (SPOILER WARNING):
venturebeat.com

Samus Aran chooses not to speak in Metroid Dread, and that makes all the difference

Samus Aran conveys so much more about herself and her games through her silence and her expressive body language.
venturebeat.com venturebeat.com
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Was just about to link this. It almost feels like he wrote this specifically in response to the Kotaku article.
 
Skittzo said:
Was just about to link this. It almost feels like he wrote this specifically in response to the Kotaku article.
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You can be sure that he wrote this in response, since he liked a few tweet today that referenced that piece
 
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Not sure what’s going with Kotaku. I used to love them until a few years ago. They were more fun and goofy and enjoyed all their articles not just on games but the weirder or funnier sides of fandoms. And not just their series of hot take s lately. Not just towards Nintendo, but everything. They’ve also just have been doing very mean spirited or extremely snarky articles lately.
 
I have no idea what keeps compelling Kotaku to write awful articles about Dread. This and the emulation one are really bad.
 
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mazi said:
kotaku really on a roll with these terrible dread articles.

no, samus doesn't need to be anything. she is what she is, it's not her fault people are used to annoying MCs who can't shut up and constantly talk to themselves.
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What can Metroid learn from Bubsy.
 
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Clix said:
Not sure what’s going with Kotaku. I used to love them until a few years ago. They were more fun and goofy and enjoyed all their articles not just on games but the weirder or funnier sides of fandoms. And not just their series of hot take s lately. Not just towards Nintendo, but everything. They’ve also just have been doing very mean spirited or extremely snarky articles lately.
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I went through this a few years ago with their sister site Jalopnik. Used to be a bunch of fun, weird people who loved cars giving interesting stories about international car culture and quirky, nerdy info on the technical side of the industry. There was a major, immediately noticable shift when their old editor-in-chief Ray Wert left, and then as the years went on the takes got worse and worse until it seemed like every other article had a "well ACkShUaLLy" vibe. I had to take them off my rss feed because reading their stuff was making me feel more irritable than informed, and I'm about to get there with Kotaku. 😑
 
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Oh, this is the guy who called CoD developer's research "a nice vacation" too lol.

Guess they gotta keep someone around to write the controversy-creating bad faith clickbait to keep their name in people's mouths.
 
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