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):
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
Regarding your timeline,
Despite being a big Metroid fan, I've never actually read the manga, I just know the lore from it. I'll just have to finally rectify that. From what I can tell, though, your understanding of things is quite accurate, with only a couple potential mistakes (?):
1.) Did the Thoha really create the Metroids after Samus had already grown up and become a bounty hunter? I was under the impression that they were older than that, but if they were, it would mean Raven Beak had to have been working for quite some time to contain the pandemic. Even if the Metroids were created that recently, though, it still took him awhile to get a hold on things, being that Samus went on multiple successful missions, during that timeframe. I guess it makes sense, being that we know how deadly the X are, and that Raven Beak didn't have the benefit of a Metroid vaccine, the way Samus did, so he had to be extra cautious.
2.) I don't think Raven Beak had any involvement with Ridley, or the Space Pirates. If he did, we don't know that for certain, as the game doesn't tell us. It actually seems more likely he had nothing to do with them, as Kraid is one of the high ranking members of the organization, yet the Mawkin have him restrained like a wild animal. It seems that, as of Super, and the aftermath of those events depicted in Fusion and Dread, the Space Pirates have been quite thoroughly decimated. Mother Brain and Ridley are permadead, Zebes is gone, and Samus did a great job thinning Space Pirate numbers across the galaxy in the Prime games, as well. I'm excited for a new type of villain, in Sylux!
2) Yeah, I think I was trying to connect why Kraid was on ZDR and restrained by the Mawkin. I figured there must've been some connection between Raven Beak and the space pirates/Mother Brain...?
Play time
Also love these two captures I took, who said Samus doesn’t express emotion?
it’s not a big deal actually. You get the grav suit, then immediately shinespark up and out of the water, then you’re on to the frozen Artaria and Z-57.
Makes me seethe over that Kotaku article even more!Her scream during that bit from the first screenshot, like damn. More Samus rage please and thank you
Right?! It takes serious effort to miss the point that hardMakes me seethe over that Kotaku article even more!
The surest way to get to the ability to beat the game in under 4 hours, without having to invest a lot of time in memorizing minutia and arcana and sequence breaking, is to just play the game's critical path and only stop to grab whatever powerups are within easy reachOkay.
I want to get through the game in under 4 hours on Normal. What are some basic surefire tips, or a link to said tips?
Am I dumb for attempting this having never tried to get through a Metroid game fast before?
Died at the final boss the other night after a few attempts. Made it through 2 forms easily after a few deaths, but then it was nearly instant death, so I decided I’d collect some items first and try later. Now I’m down to only one damn item in Artaria. No clue where it is…
Nope. There have honestly been several times where the map didn’t flash where I found a hidden block. Remember, I’m at 100% on all areas but one.A section of the map should be flashing.
Nope. There have honestly been several times where the map didn’t flash where I found a hidden block. Remember, I’m at 100% on all areas but one.
I know. It’s driving me nuts! Lol. I’ll take another look tonight. It also seems it won’t flash if the entrance to the area is far away from the item itself.That means you haven't actually been to the place where the power up is. Look for large places where there could be more map.
It also won't flash if you haven't filled in the part of the map where the item is on a smaller scaleI know. It’s driving me nuts! Lol. I’ll take another look tonight. It also seems it won’t flash if the entrance to the area is far away from the item itself.
There were no shadows I could see but yeah, I had a similar issue with one area. I needed to bomb a small square by a teleporter but since it then takes you down a winding path and through a few areas until you get to the room with the item, there was no flashing since the area with the item wasn’t on the map. Ended up figuring it out basically by accident after a mega bomb destroyed the bomb block not near me but close enough that it appeared on my mapIt also won't flash if you haven't filled in the part of the map where the item is on a smaller scale
There was an item in Dairon that was like this for me, where I hadn't walked over to the corner of one room and so the spot had never counted as discovered. Now, granted, the item wasn't ultimately in a hidden block, but the same might be true here
Be sure to look for any large-ish rooms where you have some corners in shadow, once you've determined there are no big sections of the map missing
Iirc there's one speedbooster puzzle in Artaria that doesn't show up flashing on the map and isn't in a shadowed areaDied at the final boss the other night after a few attempts. Made it through 2 forms easily after a few deaths, but then it was nearly instant death, so I decided I’d collect some items first and try later. Now I’m down to only one damn item in Artaria. No clue where it is…
Have you played a 2D Metroid before Dread?If any of this is spoilery, please let me know and I can spoiler-tag it, but I am not approaching this as spoiler-filled impressions.
I beat the game in just under 9 hours. It didn't take me 6 hours to defeat the final boss. It was a good fight though.
I would rate the game a 8/10, with two demerits for the following reasons:
1. Game is too short. I wanted a much more comprehensive adventure and was disappointed I didn't get it. Despite the game on the map looking massive and sprawling, I found the progression to be extremely linear. Power-ups obtained too close together. Not enough major bosses. This really does feel like half a game. Feels unfinished.
2. Too many hard-to-obtain extras - even at full power. I like to be rewarded for the difficulty of FINDING certain items, rather than rewarded for destroying my time and fingers trying to execute moves to obtain them. If that is Metroid, then I hate Metroid.
I really, really HATE theShinespark
If any of this is spoilery, please let me know and I can spoiler-tag it, but I am not approaching this as spoiler-filled impressions.
I beat the game in just under 9 hours. It didn't take me 6 hours to defeat the final boss. It was a good fight though.
I would rate the game a 8/10, with two demerits for the following reasons:
1. Game is too short. I wanted a much more comprehensive adventure and was disappointed I didn't get it. Despite the game on the map looking massive and sprawling, I found the progression to be extremely linear. Power-ups obtained too close together. Not enough major bosses. This really does feel like half a game. Feels unfinished.
2. Too many hard-to-obtain extras - even at full power. I like to be rewarded for the difficulty of FINDING certain items, rather than rewarded for destroying my time and fingers trying to execute moves to obtain them. If that is Metroid, then I hate Metroid.
I really, really HATE theShinespark
You are the best!Iirc there's one speedbooster puzzle in Artaria that doesn't show up flashing on the map and isn't in a shadowed area
It's in a sloping hallway where there's two of the poison worm enemies wandering about. It's tricky to realize because the hallway already has another speedbooster puzzle where you enter a morph ball at the end of the hallway. If instead at the very beginning of the hallway you jump to the ledge right above it, there's another pickup. Maybe you already found it, but I recall that one annoying me since as far as I could tell there's no real indication that it's there (I just thought that wall looked suspicious and missiled it to find out)