Metroid other M story plot discussion

[ultraviolet]

AuroraUnitComplex, I wish there was an "applause" smiley - bravo good sir

Amen

[LesserChozo]

OMG! ALL U GUYS ARE OTHER M HATERS AND U SUCK! crap, that's going to be taken out of context.

I'm just going to throw this out there.

Samus was orphaned at a young age, and raised by an alien race. Perhaps her first real experience with human civilization was in the military. I won't go into excessive detail about her past that has already been repeated ad nauseum, but, given her history, she might have gone either of two ways; strongly desiring human interaction, or isolating herself from society in favor of self-preservation.

Then she meets Adam, who appears, to her, to be strong, collected, and commanding respect. His approach to command, apparently, is to isolate himself from his team; no doubt in an effort to maintain objectivity. This is clearly evidenced not only in the way he handled the mission, but also in the photo of Samus and Ian on Adam's desk, and the flashback involving Ian. Seems to me that this was something that Samus aspired to; a power suit for her emotions, if you will. Unfortunately, this conflicted with her feelings of loss and longing.

When things start going wrong on the Bottle Ship, I think it's a harsh realization, finally, for Adam. Samus was always so willing to sacrifice herself for others, while he always had to remain in control. The conversation outside Sector 0 was, in part, his way of telling her that she was right and he was wrong; that she can't shut people out, or ignore her feelings.

I guess what I'm saying is that Other M is more about Adam than Samus, but, through Adam, Samus realizes her own mistakes. At the end of the story we see Anthony greeting Samus in the hall. Instead of brushing him off this time, like she did at the beginning, she accepts his affections warmly.

I haven't really checked this to be sure, but I think if you compare Samus's characterization from previous games to what we see in Fusion, you may notice a shift, albeit subtle.


Anyway, I'm not sure how well I articulated my point, but there it is.

[rondus18]

Furthermore, I don’t see much point in complaining about straw arguments if you’re also going to make silly exaggerated claims that Samus didn’t show any genuine signs of humanity in the game.

Fundamentally these are two different things. One is a conclusion about Samus' character and the other is a straw man where someone tells other people what they wanted from her character. I didn't find Samus' portrayal to be necessarily sexist, but if you did, that's fine, that's how you saw it. But don't tell me what I wanted.

Because she's not a human being.

I can complain about a number of things about the characters' presentation, and I'm sure we agree on several of them, but I think your final conclusion is way too harsh.

Not really, no. It's just a fictional character in a game. What are the consequences of being too harsh?

As far as Ridley is concerned, I don’t see why Samus can’t simultaneously be great at beating up Ridley (which she did in Other M), and also have to break a sweat and struggle when fighting him. He is supposed to be her nemesis afterall. Now we could have this be a one-sided conflict where Samus is completely bored about fighting this pest, since he’s so easy to destroy with her hand tied behind her back, but I personally think it’s more interesting when Samus has to go up against something that’s more threatening and challenging, and she does have to overcome some momentary flaws/challenges. Other M might not have properly demonstrated this, but I would prefer they try to make Ridley a more meaningful enemy, than continuing with just the same ol’ ‘here he is again, oh now he’s dead again, missiles to the face, poof’ just for the sake of people’s preconceived notions.

I think you've missed the point of what I said before and you seem to be suggesting that if the fight was not done the particular way it was done, then the only alternative would have been nothing at all beyond the standard Ridley fight. The way it was done was bad, because it was not consistent with the portrayal of Samus we've gotten so far. Samus is good at killing Ridley. Retroactively changing that to create tension is the worst, laziest way to do that. If Samus is capable of going catatonic when encountering Ridley, then we have two questions.

1. Did she have the same problem when encountering him in the past and if so, without Anthony there to help her, how did she survive?
2. If she didn't then why does she do it now? The one time she goes catatonic is also the one time she has backup. Lucky her.

You see? Either way it's stupid. If you use my suggestion for example, then there is no continuity problem with the previous fights because there was never anyone else around to get hurt until now so it was never a problem. You still have a man vs. man conflict with man vs. self underneath. You'd also still have Ridley be able to affect Samus in a way that no other Metroid enemy can so he's uniquely threatening and you'd still have Anthony be in danger even though he is next the walking tank that is Samus so there is still tension, but without making every previous fight she's ever had not make sense.

The million dollar question is what do her flaws mean. And the answer is nothing, nothing whatsoever. Her character flaws are completely inconsequential. Samus learns nothing throughout the course of this game. Samus does not grow as a character in this game. She starts at A, goes on this huge adventure where revelations are relived, deceptions are made, and almost everyone around her dies, and then she ends at A. Right where she started. Because she's not a human being.

I disagree on multiple levels, but let me use the Baby metroid as an example. The whole thing about the story of the hatchling, is that Other M shows the entire progression of how Samus went from initially deciding to exterminate all of the metroids on SR388, to having a change of heart, and then coming back full circle to realize that they couldn’t be spared (even if they might be able to save someone’s life). It was mentioned multiple times in Other M about how huge it was that she violated the whole premise of her Metroid II contract and mission. She went on a killing spree, spared a metroid hoping it might lead to good, eventually had that metroid physically save her life, lamented its sacrifice, and was then presented with yet another choice in OM to exterminate a baby metroid (and a whole host of them) and being torn about whether she could do it or not.

So the character development in Other M was to undo the character development in the past games? She goes from wanting to kill then all, to having a more nuanced perspective, to wanting to kill then all again? Okay, that makes Other M so much worse. That's not character development that's regression. What is the point of this anyways? To setup a minor conflict in Other M that isn't anything more than subtext the game doesn't focus on much? This is just bad writing.

You say that she hadn’t progressed or learned anything at all since the start of Other M, and I don’t think that could be further from the truth here. She went from deciding to spare the supposed last metroid, and being sad about its death throughout the whole beginning of the game (a scene everyone seems to poke fun of), to coming around at the very end and realizing that she couldn’t let sentimentality get in the way anymore.…the metroids, including the baby ones, were a threat that needed to all be eliminated. The final boss battle of the mission was none other than a Queen metroid along with some young metroids as well, and she proved her resolve. There was no hesitation about the metroids in this concluding battle, no flashbacks of the Baby (instead it was of the humans who sacrificed their lives for her: Adam, Anthony), and we had Samus finally taking care of business and resolutely eliminating the potential bio-weapon threat. She continued on this path in Fusion, and promptly exterminated every metroid in the hidden lab without even blinking. Maybe you were looking for something else, but if that’s not a meaningful character progression, I don’t know what is.

I'm not looking for something else, I'm looking at what's there and what's there is something that was poorly executed and not well thought out so I criticize it for being poorly executed and not well thought out. You're the one who seems to be looking for something else and you found it in your own interpretation of things that were not in the game. There's nothing in Other M that establishes she wouldn't have killed the Queen Metroid until she realized all Metroids must die. And for that matter when exactly did she realize this? If this is the character arc for Samus, then the moment where she changes her tune should be a colossally huge one in the story. So where was it? Was it the whole sector zero thing? Adam kind of upstaged that. So I guess the game didn't really care about it. If the game doesn't care about it then why should I? So even if you're right it's still poorly executed and not well thought out. Not that I'm convinced. She kills hostile Metroids and doesn't kill the ones that aren't. Where are you getting all of this extra subtext from? Samus wastes a bunch of Metroids in Super before the Hatchling shows up again. She didn't seem to have any problems there. For that matter for all she knew any one of those Metroids could have been the Hatchling. Didn't seem to bother her.

If there is character development like you say and this decision to eliminate or spare the Metroids is at the crux of it then that means Samus would not have tried to kill the Queen Metroid and it's spawn had she encountered it at the beginning of the game. I don't see how this could be true. Samus would have killed it like every other hostile enemy she's ever encountered in any Metroid game. If you want to prove there is character development then all you have to do is prove that she would have acted differently towards the Queen Metroid had she encountered it at the beginning.

[Zynux]

I can see the smoke from the outside is everyone alright?

rondus you forgot to mention the part where Adam's perfect military mind gets his whole squad wiped out in one mission.

Something has been bothering me. It is to my understanding that Adam had suspicions that an assassin may have been in his ranks. If that is true, then why did he order everyone to split up? Because splitting up would give the Deleter ample opportunity to not only mess with potential evidence unchecked but also be able to take out other witnesses easier. Sticking together would have been easier to look after all the soldiers and monitor any suspicious activity.

Speaking of monitoring, couldn't Adam see into the helmets of all the soldiers including Samus (somehow...)? Or was it just Samus? Because if he could see into everyone's helmet, then how could he not know who the Deleter was?

Another thing was how immediately pointless it was for Samus to retrieve Adam's helmet. To the audience, its sentimental effect was pretty much null since we already know in fusion that the A.I. of Adam's mind is alive (and seemingly with Samus), so having the helmet as some sort of memento to him is completely pointless for anyone who has played Fusion. This is why you have to be careful with prequels.


And another thing has been bothering me, maybe the most important thing of all:

How the hell can there be Geothermal Power Plant on a fucking Spaceship

[DarkPhazonElite]

I can see the smoke from the outside is everyone alright?

I'm good. Oh, and Rondus, I now understand why you were frustrated. I guess I did put words in everyone's mouth with my comments. I guess when I was making those arguments about "Vegeta with a vagina" I was thinking of the person on here who "re-wrote" Other M, know what I'm referring to? The story he did was pretty good but I did not like how Samus was portrayed in that. I would like to see a different character than what we got, but I want her to still be nice. Does that make sense?

What I'm saying now is I'm sorry, no hard feelings?

Something has been bothering me. It is to my understanding that Adam had suspicions that an assassin may have been in his ranks. If that is true, then why did he order everyone to split up? Because splitting up would give the Deleter ample opportunity to not only mess with potential evidence unchecked but also be able to take out other witnesses easier. Sticking together would have been easier to look after all the soldiers and monitor any suspicious activity.

I remember after Samus helped Anthony fight off Rhedogian he mentioned that Adam wanted them all to go to the Geothermal Core together, and he said he wasn't sure why "but he's the Commander!" I don't remember if it was mentioned that he knew from the get go. That I do not know.

Speaking of monitoring, couldn't Adam see into the helmets of all the soldiers including Samus (somehow...)? Or was it just Samus? Because if he could see into everyone's helmet, then how could he not know who the Deleter was?

During the mission briefing Adam said that the GFeds' Comm systems were not functioning, that they would need to check in at the Navigation Booths. Samus's Chozo-designed Comm system was not affected. (As we all know they were never mentioned...no love for the Chozo, I'm telling ya! )

Another thing was how immediately pointless it was for Samus to retrieve Adam's helmet. To the audience, its sentimental effect was pretty much null since we already know in fusion that the A.I. of Adam's mind is alive (and seemingly with Samus), so having the helmet as some sort of memento to him is completely pointless for anyone who has played Fusion. This is why you have to be careful with prequels.


And another thing has been bothering me, maybe the most important thing of all:

How the hell can there be Geothermal Power Plant on a fucking Spaceship

I've got nothing. You've got me there!

[Dark Samus Aran]

Ridley cant die, hes all like aaaahhhhh and falls into a giant hole or lava. But he always comes back. Samus should just walk away. We all know whos gonna win!

[DarkPhazonElite]

Ridley cant die, hes all like aaaahhhhh and falls into a giant hole or lava. But he always comes back. Samus should just walk away. We all know whos gonna win!

The Metroid Queen, of course! Now that's one tough, nasty broad right there!

[rondus18]

I can see the smoke from the outside is everyone alright?

I'm good. Oh, and Rondus, I now understand why you were frustrated. I guess I did put words in everyone's mouth with my comments. I guess when I was making those arguments about "Vegeta with a vagina" I was thinking of the person on here who "re-wrote" Other M, know what I'm referring to? The story he did was pretty good but I did not like how Samus was portrayed in that. I would like to see a different character than what we got, but I want her to still be nice. Does that make sense?

What I'm saying now is I'm sorry, no hard feelings?

I am furious because it's impossible to disagree with someone and talk about it on the internet without everyone assuming you're the embodiment of rage in human form.

Like I said, I was addressing common arguments that needed to stop, not really personally you. I'm sorry if you felt attacked.

[Tianna]

I am furious because it's impossible to disagree with someone and talk about it on the internet without everyone assuming you're the embodiment of rage in human form.

Like I said, I was addressing common arguments that needed to stop, not really personally you. I'm sorry if you felt attacked.

Personally, a lot of what you said and how you phrased things looked more like your opinion and take on things is the only truth of it and that you cannot accept that other people don't agree. Your opinion is just that. It's an opinion. And it's fine that you have one. But other people are allowed to have one, too. How you phrased things seemed antagonistic/aggressive to me. So maybe it was more how you phrased things, instead of the content itself that makes the hyperbole of "everyone" assuming you're the embodiment of rage in human form.

I'm sure that there are lots of people here who can calmly and respectfully disagree without making such assumptions as long as the other person involved is equally reasonable. Some people (and I'm not necessarily referring to you, Rondus, I mean in general) just get so far up their own asshole with their opinion because they're so convinced that they are right and any other point of view is wrong that they're beyond frustrating to have a civil discussion with. (My younger brother is a lovely example of this.)

I hope that can maybe help to get a fresh perspective on where others are coming from.

Another thing was how immediately pointless it was for Samus to retrieve Adam's helmet. To the audience, its sentimental effect was pretty much null since we already know in fusion that the A.I. of Adam's mind is alive (and seemingly with Samus), so having the helmet as some sort of memento to him is completely pointless for anyone who has played Fusion. This is why you have to be careful with prequels.

Well, that's the thing. This happens before Fusion, so she would have no idea that the Adam AI was coming in her future. Considering her past relationship with him and holding him in such high regard, why would it be pointless? It's a characterization thing. And from a storyteller's standpoint, it could have been the excuse they needed for the Phantoon encounter and have it tie into the story. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this, I haven't actually beat the game, I just know the basic idea of that part and watched the Phantoon fight and the following sequence on YouTube.) From my perspective as a part of the audience, I thought it was a good sentimental touch, regardless of the events in Fusion. So personally, I didn't think it was nullified or pointless. And yes, I did play Fusion.

[DarkPhazonElite]

I am furious because it's impossible to disagree with someone and talk about it on the internet without everyone assuming you're the embodiment of rage in human form.

Like I said, I was addressing common arguments that needed to stop, not really personally you. I'm sorry if you felt attacked.

That's the thing, tone is hard to establish on the internet. Things can come off snarky and/or angry when they clearly were not meant that way. I definitely didn't mean to sound pissed or snotty. I just took your reply the wrong way. But it's all good on my end.

Tianna, I know what you mean, my husband's dad and brothers can not agree to disagree. They get so pompous and heated that you just dismiss them and think "wow, you've got problems far greater than disagreeing with someone."

But anyways, I'd much prefer having pleasant discussions on the games we DO agree on, whatever they may be!

[Zynux]

During the mission briefing Adam said that the GFeds' Comm systems were not functioning, that they would need to check in at the Navigation Booths. Samus's Chozo-designed Comm system was not affected. (As we all know they were never mentioned...no love for the Chozo, I'm telling ya! )

Ah I see, I'm surprised I missed that.

Another thing was how immediately pointless it was for Samus to retrieve Adam's helmet. To the audience, its sentimental effect was pretty much null since we already know in fusion that the A.I. of Adam's mind is alive (and seemingly with Samus), so having the helmet as some sort of memento to him is completely pointless for anyone who has played Fusion. This is why you have to be careful with prequels.

Well, that's the thing. This happens before Fusion, so she would have no idea that the Adam AI was coming in her future. Considering her past relationship with him and holding him in such high regard, why would it be pointless? It's a characterization thing. And from a storyteller's standpoint, it could have been the excuse they needed for the Phantoon encounter and have it tie into the story. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this, I haven't actually beat the game, I just know the basic idea of that part and watched the Phantoon fight and the following sequence on YouTube.) From my perspective as a part of the audience, I thought it was a good sentimental touch, regardless of the events in Fusion. So personally, I didn't think it was nullified or pointless. And yes, I did play Fusion.

Of course it wouldn't be pointless for Samus (obviously, she thought he was permanently dead), but the whole scene is trying to paint a picture of "I just lost my father figure...I'm going to risk my life to retain his helmet as an everlasting memento." This would be fine if Adam stayed dead. But then Fusion happened, and now (for me at least) the scene really falls flat and it just seems like "fluff," because Adam is revived and she's reunited with him again. So, not in the perspective of Samus but in perspective of the narrative as a whole it kind of does raise the question of what really was the point of all that. You spent the entire end game depressed of Adam's death (well, i certaintly wasn't depressed but that's for another discussion ), and risked your life going back to the Bottle Ship and escaped the explosion... only to find out that's hes actually "alive", you save the galaxy together, and you ride off in the "sunset" (of course there's no sunset in space...).

You honestly see nothing wrong with that (this isn't rhetoric, I'm generally asking)? It pretty much effectively rendered the core plot of Other M meaningless because you didn't really accomplish anything nor because we were already exposed to the fact that he comes back "with a bang" and therefore we don't really need to care for him dying or anything. Usually my motto when it comes to prequels when the outcome is clear is that "the voyage, as in how we get there is more important" but since IMHO the game did not have a compelling plot in the slightest it just doesn't work. If Other M came out first, then it would have worked. But since Fusion came out first, it doesn't.

Imagine you had clairvoyance (let's assume you can confirm its existence 100%). If your loved one "died", but your clairvoyance powers revealed that he didn't actually die and came back, would you really feel his death and going after his helmet for a memento to be all the significant? After all, you already know he's not really dead, but you only thought he was dead because of ignorance and/or a misunderstanding. Of course, you could make the argument that he's just a computer so the effect is still there, but Samus didn't seemed to be bothered at all the fact that he wasn't "really" Adam and just an AI clone (which is kind of odd imo...).

The effect for me just isn't there. I can't care for the death and the whole sentiment surrounding the character's circumstances if I know that said character just returns later to kick ass. This is why I kind of feel the game should have focused more Adam's and Samus' relationship instead of the staple that he died to protect her. But they failed hard on that for a numerous reasons, since their entire relationship was explained through monologue instead of actions. And Adam was just a repulsive character, so me giving a damn about him was almost impossible. Man, I don't think I've hated a character as much I hate him in a long time, though my hate for Adam would just degrade this thread into flames so I won't go any further

[ultraviolet]

I'd like to say sorry as well - a lot of this is my fault. But I thought there was a lot done with the story. And I couldn't help but think that some had just dismissed it as "crap" without actually playing it, or playing it and not paying attention - for every part of the game, I found criticism and that bothered me but that's MY fault. There ARE holes in it, I admit - but I tried to put a positive spin on the whole thing and seemed to have changed Sector 2 into Sector 3.

And rondus does make a number of good points, but I guess I'm trying to say if I believe all of the bad, it would ruin it for me - again, that's MY fault. I'm a depressive, it happens. My intention was to try and help some others see the game in a more positive light, but well, things don't happen the way we expect. I did find things that bothered me, but I could explain them. Who knows if those things are deliberate? They MAY be things that were overlooked, or a mistake. I just think there's an explanation for everything if you think about it. But you have to want to belive them, some are a stretch, some a simple and some are plain Episode 4/2 of Wave Beam

I can't remember who said it, but the traitor thing above: I'm not so sure if Adam knew about the Deleter from the beginning, but when Samus rescues Anthony he speaks of an order to move as a unit and meet in a Sector 3 Navigation Booth. But nobody arrived. You can't tell whether or not that was true either, Samus wasn't given the order specifically but Adam did manipulate Samus' orders so she would be on the same path. Was Anthony lying? There's always another view of it and you can never be 100% that it's right or wrong.

During the Sector 1 facility scenes, the other GF soldiers seemed to have a similar build and height - although I always saw Anthony as bigger (but that could be the plasma gun). And with those suits, they all looked the same. The fact that the Deleter was so obviously [spoiler]James[/spoiler], I'm almost starting to wonder if it wasn't and that what we saw was to divert suspicion so strongly from the one who DID make it out alive... Would it be too hard to leave the plasma gun somewhere and act as the Deleter? We never actually saw concrete evidence it was [spoiler]James[/spoiler] - a LOT of circumstantial evidence, but nothing concrete.

You could also argue that there were more than one, the Deleter never attempts to kill Anthony... by chance or design, we can never be sure. We saw everyone's face who had been killed except for KG (who I thought was the Deleter originally - always the quiet ones) who just plummets into the lava of Sector 3. Did KG recive the order to head to Sector 3 and how did he get there so quickly when he was suppose to sweep the residential block?

Sorry again, I go on a LOT - and maybe I'm over-thinking it

I know it's VERY farfetched, but there were red flags everywhere. It seems deliberate, but who knows?

To speak ill of it in a fair sense, I just could not find an adequate explanation for the Authorisation System - it made me dislike Adam from the start because he seems so cold towards Samus to begin with and withholding vital functions of her suit in the most important moments was the biggest cause of that. You know, it still bothers me - the Varia suit activation. Samus was literally burning in there and out of a sense of loyalty and duty, she kept on burning... So I am definitley not fond of Adam either, there just didn't seem to be a reason for him to be so unforgiving and icy. "Outsider" - ouch. Good to see you again too, Adam. He stayed deadpan when going to his death as well. Fusion gave me the first hints that I may not like him either, even then he was speaking to the "G Man", it just seemed like Samus was nothing more to him than a tool he could use to complete the mission. Just like Other M - he stopped her going into Sector 0 because she would have no chance to defeat the Metroids - which I said - what I didn't say was that it did not seem to matter if she would have died or not, just that there was Ridley to finish off and he could not do that (despite his injured state). Did Ridley look like he could fight in those last moments? He could not even breathe properly.

I'm sorry if I'm going too far, but Adam is the biggest frown in the game for me. "Every word from Adam was deliberate" - he says and does some rather cruel things I just cannot find an explanation for, or put a positive spin on. Samus obviously looks on him as a father figure, but he just does not seem to have any feelings for her that can be explained beyond the mission. He didn't even say goodbye when she left the Federation, he did not give her a nod in return, and he kept his back to her. So Fusion made me dislike him, Other M made me hate him.

There were other games where she started with the Varia suit and it did not affect it in any way.

So there ARE bad things, but I try to ignore them. Some things just can't be excused though - I just didn't say so. I'm not the biggest fan of this but I think there's more good than bad - in ignoring it though I came across as VERY biased and had upset a select few - so I'm sorry because it was my doing. I'm actually enjoying the first one more than this at the moment.

I was disappointed with the "Gravity Effect" too - I had hopes to see the Gravity Suit - Prime made it look amazing and we just get a purple aura? But then you open the can of worms of "if I could activate the Varia Suit, why couldn't I just activate the Gravity Suit while I'm at it?" Maybe the Authorisation System could have been reworked a little, it's a good idea on paper considering you just could not miraculously have Chozo Statues on the Bottle Ship. But there could have maybe been other barriers put in place to prevent the use of heavy weapons and armor. Not sure what though...

Arguably another Essay there, but just wanted you to know that I'm not blind to the bad. I did think Samus' character was great though, she at least made sense to me and I loved her voice. Particularly during "The large cage-like booth..." cutscene.

And I cried my eyes out at the end when she sees that Anthony is alive - that heart-warming smile behind the visor gets me every time. All that regret just washes away.
Actually, I think I get the other point now - maybe Anthony's survival puts her back to where she was in the beginning because she regretted "not being able to protect him" and he DID make it. If that WAS the point, but I see that now. She was that happy, she could appear to forget what she learned there.

[DarkPhazonElite]

Interesting points, UV! As far as the authorization goes, this is how I personally see it. While Adam came off as sort of a jackass, he said something along the lines of "I need your cooperation on this mission" and what sounded like "to hopefully insure the best outcome" (don't remember the exact words) that he would authorize on an as-needed basis (which does NOT excuse the Varia Suit incident) and he expected the same of the other GFeds, since he authorized freeze guns for the guys during that purple bug mass fight. I guess if I think of it this way, I don't mind it as much. I do remember all other power-ups being authorized at the right times. I admit that I got a kick out of this line "Any objections, Adam?", which to me personally sounds like she does respect him, but she had her little "rebellious" moment when she really needed the space jump, but she wasn't going to wait around for him to come back after they lost contact. (Again, Varia Suit incident??? Why??????)

[AuroraUnitComplex]

I couldn’t hang around here yesterday (busy celebrating my birthday with relatives), but it looks like we’ve got a lot of different story discussion going on in this thread now.

@rondus18, This post is long enough, so maybe I’ll try to respond to the parts about Ridley later.

Because she's not a human being.

I can complain about a number of things about the characters' presentation, and I'm sure we agree on several of them, but I think your final conclusion is way too harsh.

Not really, no. It's just a fictional character in a game. What are the consequences of being too harsh?

Consequences? I’m not sure why you’re raising that, but I don’t think it’s beneficial to seriously propagate exaggerated criticisms that have significant holes or that the games don’t particularly deserve. You don’t like it when people use straw arguments about fictional characters. I tend not to like it when gaming enthusiasts (and especially “journalists”) feel they have free reign to go overboard in exaggerating a game’s particular flaws just because they have their own opinion. Anyone with a strong sense of journalistic integrity would agree that criticism should strive to be fair, and even within opinionated editorials. There are plenty of areas for critiquing this game, but being too harsh doesn’t improve the overall tenor of the discussion, especially as this is how the game’s been largely dominated in many of the outspoken popular outlets. If we don’t try to be a little different here with the values we encourage in our community, people might as well go and talk about OM at any other place instead.

I'm not looking for something else, I'm looking at what's there and what's there is something that was poorly executed and not well thought out so I criticize it for being poorly executed and not well thought out. […] If the game doesn't care about it then why should I?

Just because something isn’t well-executed doesn’t mean that there isn’t any meaningful values or content to look for slightly beneath the surface. If you’re the type of fan like me, who has always been fascinated by a variety of things about Metroid’s piecewise backstory and content, it’s not a useful attitude to say that you’re only going to care about things when it’s executed wonderfully and displayed front and center. If that’s the case, one could miss out on a whole bunch of interesting details that were under the radar, and maybe required a little more thought or attention.

Where are you getting all of this extra subtext from?

From statements Sakamoto has made, from the dialog and footage, from the way the game kept noting Samus’s strong attachment to the baby Metroid and from the way they kept directly referencing Samus’s violation of protocol in Metroid II and merged it into the story of the Bottle Ship bioweapons…and yes, even Adam’s storyline to a degree.

I didn't need to press Adam about it any further. I knew his mind. Not only was he a strong opponent of bioweapons, he was against the use of living things for unnecessary reasons, period. Life, no matter what form it takes as it's born into this often cruel universe, should not be tampered with... That was Adam's philosophy. In bringing the infant Metroid back, I did something that I know would have gone against his convictions. And, though I might have been left alone, it was a clear and blatant violation of protocol. I wondered what Adam thought of me... Out of nowhere, I suddenly found myself concerned with his opinion again.

Have you ever asked yourself why they kept bringing up Samus’s feelings for the Baby throughout the whole game? Why did they keep doing that if it wasn’t to show something meaningful about her mentality or build up to an event? I’m not saying that all of the game’s character arcs revolve around this (such as Samus’s days in the Federation), but the game apparently does care about it, or else they wouldn’t keep bringing it up. Sakamoto has said on multiple occasions that the story of the Baby Metroid is something that inspired him to make Super Metroid, and is a special feature of the story that he’s tried to preserve/protect over the years and past few games he’s directed.

Other M directly links the whole ethical discussion of metroid bioweapons onboard the Bottle Ship, to Samus’s choice to spare the infant in Metroid II. After the Exam Center, the story shows Samus reflecting about the Baby metroid yet again when Melissa is talking to Samus about the bioweapon threat of Metroids in Sector Zero. At this point, Samus says that’s she going to go and kill all of the metroids there, however, this doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have any sort of potential inner conflicts about doing so.

You're the one who seems to be looking for something else and you found it in your own interpretation of things that were not in the game. There's nothing in Other M that establishes she wouldn't have killed the Queen Metroid until she realized all Metroids must die.

No, you’re misunderstanding me. I didn’t say that Samus wouldn’t have killed the Queen metroid if she met it at the beginning of the game. Regardless of whether she previously killed some metroids in Tourian, or hypothetically at the beginning of Other M, there was still residual doubt, hesitation, and conflict in her mind about shooting the Baby metroid in front of Sector Zero. That was unequivocally shown in Other M’s footage, and they even flashbacked with a cutscene of the end of Metroid II. To repeat myself, my point was that Samus had to overcome the last remnants of her Metroid II sentimentality in this moment, and revaluate whether any metroid could afford to be spared. It’s not so much about the physical act of killing them, but whether she had resolved any of her internal reservations about doing so. People can still kill, but have doubts about what they are doing. Again, Sakamoto is the one who said that he wanted to show Samus having some internal conflicts within this game, and specifically highlighted her decision to spare the infant as one of her bounty hunter “imperfections.” That’s the reason why I’m picking up on this. Re-watch her reaction in the game if you think I’m totally making this all up. The brief in-game story summary also supports my claim that Samus was clearly hesitating and had to muster her resolve to kill it.

Also ask yourself why they would cut specifically back to Metroid II footage while she’s standing right in front of Sector Zero. In this moment, she isn’t just seeing another infant metroid in front of her again, but reliving the same type of circumstances that she was faced with at the end of Metroid II. She’s on her way to slaughter every metroid, and having to decide whether they really pose a threat and if any of them should be spared. If people take the time to think about it, I don’t think the parallels and ethical questions could be any clearer. If you also juxtapose her earlier speculation about how Adam felt about this whole thing, one can only imagine what Adam might think if he comes across Samus showing doubts about whether she can kill baby metroids again. Considering her longstanding history of sparing metroids at the very last moment of her mission, and bringing them back to Federation scientists, it makes intuitive sense why Adam especially wouldn’t want someone like that heading into Sector Zero. He was going to try to stop her from going in there anyway, since it essentially required a suicide mission (which was the definitive reason), but it makes further sense why he wouldn’t want someone in there who had just shown signs of wavering. Her choice to spare the Baby metroid IS the reason why there is a Sector Zero in the first place!

I think some of you guys are too distracted and fixated on guessing about how much danger Samus might’ve been in while lying on the ground without her Varia suit. (I think a more interesting question to ponder is why it took Adam so long to shoot the Metroid, since those guns can fire rapidly?) Anyway, the simple fact of the matter is that the other alternative would have been guaranteed death. If Adam hadn’t stopped Samus then and there, she said that she would have tried to go into Sector Zero… and would’ve ultimately died. She tried to follow Adam and stop him from going in there even when she couldn’t reactivate her Varia, so it proves that she would have tried to stop him, and that there was no way he could’ve simply talked her out of it. I can complain about Adam’s lack of character presentation and parts I wish were done differently, but I don’t understand why some people are still so upset about Adam’s decision to stop her. I think it makes rational sense given the circumstances.

[Hawk's Eye]

OMG! ALL U GUYS ARE OTHER M HATERS AND U SUCK! crap, that's going to be taken out of context.

I'm just going to throw this out there.

Samus was orphaned at a young age, and raised by an alien race. Perhaps her first real experience with human civilization was in the military. I won't go into excessive detail about her past that has already been repeated ad nauseum, but, given her history, she might have gone either of two ways; strongly desiring human interaction, or isolating herself from society in favor of self-preservation.

Then she meets Adam, who appears, to her, to be strong, collected, and commanding respect. His approach to command, apparently, is to isolate himself from his team; no doubt in an effort to maintain objectivity. This is clearly evidenced not only in the way he handled the mission, but also in the photo of Samus and Ian on Adam's desk, and the flashback involving Ian. Seems to me that this was something that Samus aspired to; a power suit for her emotions, if you will. Unfortunately, this conflicted with her feelings of loss and longing.

When things start going wrong on the Bottle Ship, I think it's a harsh realization, finally, for Adam. Samus was always so willing to sacrifice herself for others, while he always had to remain in control. The conversation outside Sector 0 was, in part, his way of telling her that she was right and he was wrong; that she can't shut people out, or ignore her feelings.

I guess what I'm saying is that Other M is more about Adam than Samus, but, through Adam, Samus realizes her own mistakes. At the end of the story we see Anthony greeting Samus in the hall. Instead of brushing him off this time, like she did at the beginning, she accepts his affections warmly.

I haven't really checked this to be sure, but I think if you compare Samus's characterization from previous games to what we see in Fusion, you may notice a shift, albeit subtle.


Anyway, I'm not sure how well I articulated my point, but there it is.

Yknow....this is why I love you Lesser Chozo! couldn't have said it better myself.

I think once everyone sees my name has entered this discussion they're gonna groan and say "here we go"

But anyway, As for the whole "shooting Samus" thing; if i have to hear about how Samus likes domestic violence or something....I'm gonna throw a table. In my opinion, while it was dumb of Adam, he just panicked. Now I know society is used to heros in video games and movies and stories being totally perfect and never making a mistake and their partners in the story never making a mistake...but guess what? It happens in real life. And Adam made a stupid mistake because he panicked because he:
A) Didn't want the Metroid to attack her because he wasn't sure if she could kill it.
B) Didn't want her to go into Sector Zero because he wasn't sure she could do it.
C) Was actually aiming for the Metroid and he missed big time jk

Also, for those that think that Samus was dumb for leaving after Ian...It isn't..that dumb. We don't know how space military works and how long you serve or if you can leave and become a bounty hunter or if she actually stayed the full time she signed up for and just....ignored Adam until then. We don't know. But leaving after that whole thing? Yeah...It makes sense. I mean, we're talking about a girl with no real family that she interacted with during crutial, psychological developmental stages in life except for bird aliens. And if you look at the manga, they weren't terribly human-like or attached. I mean..Old Bird was but he still kept his distance. Plus he was a male and that never works when you're a growing *female(. [spoiler]"Old Bird! I just started bleeding! Old Bird: "DUhhh.......go ask Mother Brain." Mother Brain: "I DONT WANT TO KNOW I'M BUSY TALKING TO SPACE PIRATES WHILE NO ONES LOOKING!!"[/spoiler] But that's off subject. So anyway, she finds Adam, a human and Anthony and Ian and somewhat, awkwardly befriends them and becomes attached to them. Then Adam does something that she can't understand why he would do it because she's young and hasn't really been around humans. And it's like the person you looked up did something horrible and your perspective is pretty crushed.

Oh...and for those that think Adam had no emotions about Ian and wasnt upset...have you SEEN the 2009 Star Trek movie?!?! They had an entire scene where Spock had to keep his emotions in check and didn't and there were consequences. Hurr durr!!