What are y'alls top 3 wants for MP4?
For me, I'd have to go with:
- Atmosphere above all else. I hope this game immerses me in its world.
- New inventive abilities / gameplay. Give me something new other than the typical wave, ice, and plasma beams.
- Multiple paths to take. While the lock and key format is essential for Metroid, I think it would be nice to have some options on where to go next, as opposed to there only ever being one right way to go.
I'm just going to write as many uses that can come to mind that aren't too overtly obvious (i.e. atmospheric, exploration, being good lol)
1.
Multiple ways to achieve goals
There's been a lot of trends in Nintendo's games that have been iffy to me this gen and very much good only on a case-by-case basis, but this is one that's hit pretty much every time they've tried it. It worked in Breath of the Wild, it worked in Super Mario Odyssey, and it even worked in the recent Pikmin 4, which is even a game based around different tools with specific uses (if you can get behind men being tools with specific uses). I think it's time for there to be multiple ways to tackle problems in the Prime games. Crucially, I don't think this should take away ability gating completely, just expand the usefulness of abilities. I also don't want this to just be for speedrunning, Metroid Dread's exploration only being multi-faceted due to sequence breaking was disappoionting.
2.
Larger environments / More mobility
So this one kind of just goes back to 1 to me in a lot of ways - I don't particularly see a point in larger environments if we don't also get things like more mobility or multiple ways to achieve goals. But uh, I'll just put this here just in case. I don't want this to be open world, but I do think each area being a hub in itself - sort of like an evolution of what Prime 1 and 2 were already starting - would be cool!
3.
Better story
It feels weird saying this, but I really want a better story, and one that actually matters this time. As someone who got into Metroid later than most, I think it's kind of lame that the Prime story retrospectively matters so little, and honestly after playing the 2D games the storyline almost feels like borderline fanfiction when you realize how ambitious the mainline games can get. It sucks, because I think my preferred writing style is actually with the Prime games - which generally show a more nuanced Metroid world, just one that has holes in it compared to the mainlines. Come on Retro work your magic!
4.
Better combat
After replaying Metroid Prime with the remaster ... yeah ... the combat is ... Prime 2 is a little better but not much, and I've never played Prime 3. I almost want to put this below the top 3 because it's hard to make many suggestions on this front, since the first person is holding back a bit here I think. But there's definitely some things they can do to improve it. I think it would be really cool to have a deflector that you can charge from your arm that bounces back projectiles at enemies if you time its release correctly. There's probably more you can do, but that's not my job.
5.
Scan log overhaul / Radio Character
As much as I like whipping it out and scanning everything in my immediate vicinity, I can't help but think that there's something more natural than pulling out the scan visor every 2 seconds and interrupting gameplay. It doesn't bother me much, personally, but it would be a weird conceit to continue on forward in such a gameplay heavy series like Metroid. Apparently AM2R has a scan log system where things in your immediate vicinity get logged? Not sure how that works, but that would be cool!
Also this is going to be a really unpopular suggestion - but I'd kind of like some sort of companion radio character for Samus over the course of the game. Maybe even one that reads your scan logs for you (optionally). I think having a radio companion could strike a nice balance between isolation and storytelling, even if that might seem too similar to another space marine.
Lastly, I don't want there to be fast travel in the game that constitutes actual teleportation. I'd prefer something atmospheric, even if it's silly, like a giant cannon shooting the morph ball from one region all the way to the other side of the map. I think the use of teleporters has gotten really lazy, to be honest.
And please. If you're going to include colored doors, only have them require the specific beam one time! (Actually, there should probably just be a beam overhaul in general, but I'm too lazy to go into that too...)