Other M in extra credits

[KingBroly]

The Extra Credits guy thinks it was apparently.

But I think the idea that no game story can take an entirely negative look at a character is not really something gamers should stray away from. The problem here is that it's the first for this particular character, and since it's a female character makes it a lot worse since there aren't many female protagonists. Also, we as a society are overly negative and overly politically correct about everything. I don't mean we as gamers either, I mean western culture in general.

[Cosake_Solrac]

There is also all the other bosses Samus fought.

If she's truly weak, how in the world did she defeat them? that honestly, to this day, mindboggles me.

Same case on the Ridley boss battle.

Story and gameplay segregation. Cutscene Samus is rescued from certain death on three seperate occasions. Cutscene Samus slows to a crawl whenever she's within running distance of an antagonist. Gameplay Samus kicks ass and looks awesome doing it. Gameplay Samus makes Ridley her bitch.

Wow, that was easy. Consider your mind unboggled.

Nope, because one has to consider all gameplay segments from other Metroid games, uncanon.

So yeah, i'm still mindboggled at how people can't just put two and two together, but whatever, i'm completely wrong, and you're completely right, let's leave it at that.

[cross307]

As far as this guy being a journalist, he's not. He just makes videos. A real journalist/writer can see the gaping flaws in any argument, whether they write it or read it.

They might not be journalist but they kind of work in the videogame industry
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2216-Mailbag-1
I think the video was well made, it has valid points. at least they try to make something constructive out of M:OM instead of just complain.

speaking of motherhood in gaming I think there was a survival horror game for the wii about a mother protecting her child from monsters but is was cancelled.
http://www.unseen64.net/2010/04/16/sadness-wii-cancelled/

As to how Other M handled the maternity issues? Very poorly. It never even attempts to touch upon the empowering aspects of mothermood, focusing instead completely on how it weakens a character. Samus Aran and Madeline Bergman are, with no subtlety whatsoever, the mothers in the story, and both are weakened by their role. Samus loses basically all her self-confidence and independence, and Madeline basically causes the entire disaster by encouraging the Mother Brain android to identify as her daughter and then failing to stand up for or protect her when that identity is challenged.

Motherhood can also be empowering. That's an aspect Sakamoto never attempted to explore. Yeah, Samus kicking Mother Brain's ass back in Super Metroid totally counts, but that's Super Metroid. Not Other M. Well, apart from a flashback.

Is weird how a game that take so many aspects from the alien movies doesn´t consider maternity a empowering aspect (remember that in aliens Ripley takes the role of Newt´s surrogate mother to the point of going to the aliens nest alone and later fighting the queen in order to protect her)

Great now I want to se aliens again

[KingBroly]

That sounds empowering actually. Or maybe the point is 'you do things you don't like to do?'

From Samus' POV in Other M, it's about loss and how she copes with loss. Of course...it doesn't sound like she's coped with it just yet, even in Fusion. I mean she loses Adam and the baby in Other M, but in Fusion she gets them back from a matter of speaking.

[cross307]

Maybe what samus needs is her own newt. The baby doesn`t count beacuse is hard to find a flying jellyfish cute

[Apothem]

You kidding me? Metroids are ADORABLE!

[Emperor Ing]

Why does everyone on this forum hate on Sylux and Mental's blog article?

You might disagree with it, but that's no reason to call it some farce, or a giant joke, or a piece of shit, or whatever. It's surprising to hear people say that about arguably the two people most well-versed in Metroid lore on the whole damn forum.

[Apothem]

[Not Authorised]

Nope, because one has to consider all gameplay segments from other Metroid games, uncanon.

So yeah, i'm still mindboggled at how people can't just put two and two together, but whatever, i'm completely wrong, and you're completely right, let's leave it at that.

I'm afraid you're right. Canonically Samus defeated Kraid, but canon won't state that she did it before he could even smash the ceiling by exploiting a damage count glitch. Or that she epically trounced Ridley with minimal ammo items while doing a sub-15% run (that epic I'm not, but I've seen it done on youtube).

Gameplay is canonically what she did, but not how she did it. And hey, even a Samus with weakened emotional strength can still kick ass...provided the cutscene ends with a boss fight.

Does my inability to put two and two together still boggle thy mind, squire?


cross307: You are so right, and now I wanna see Aliens again, too. Great movie.

[Cosake_Solrac]

Nope, because one has to consider all gameplay segments from other Metroid games, uncanon.

So yeah, i'm still mindboggled at how people can't just put two and two together, but whatever, i'm completely wrong, and you're completely right, let's leave it at that.

I'm afraid you're right. Canonically Samus defeated Kraid, but canon won't state that she did it before he could even smash the ceiling by exploiting a damage count glitch. Or that she epically trounced Ridley with minimal ammo items while doing a sub-15% run (that epic I'm not, but I've seen it done on youtube).

Gameplay is canonically what she did, but not how she did it. And hey, even a Samus with weakened emotional strength can still kick ass...provided the cutscene ends with a boss fight.

Does my inability to put two and two together still boggle thy mind, squire?


cross307: You are so right, and now I wanna see Aliens again, too. Great movie.

Why yes, shining knight. I may have to traverse the lands of Zyphuzio to recover the physical realm of my mind. Before the tempered black hole begins the essence that is the Big Bang.

Or...something.

I don't know to be honest, for all I know, there never is a strong person that ever had 'a weak moment'.

[Not Authorised]

I don't know to be honest, for all I know, there never is a strong person that ever had 'a weak moment'.

Well, have you played any Japanese role playing game in the last twenty years? They pretty much all have that plot twist. Even Zidane of FFIX, whose defining characteristic was that for once the hero wasn't an emo twit but a likeable lecher who enjoyed life to the fullest, had to go through an emotional breakdown and act completely out of character at about the 80% mark of the story. Fortunately his only lasted ten minutes instead of a the majority of a game installment.

Best thing you can say about Other M is that Samus goes back to normal after that whole Sector Zero business.

[KingBroly]

Why does everyone on this forum hate on Sylux and Mental's blog article?

You might disagree with it, but that's no reason to call it some farce, or a giant joke, or a piece of shit, or whatever. It's surprising to hear people say that about arguably the two people most well-versed in Metroid lore on the whole damn forum.

If you look around other forums people's reactions go from shock to anger to Sakamoto's an idiot, and kinda brush off the article as a joke. But the more you read into the game's story the more you realize the article is somewhat spot on. I think it is a well written article, but there are problems with their argument that go un-addressed.

I also don't think a lot of people know (on other forums) that they are well-versed in Metroid lore. But the article basically concludes with a 'we have to wait and see.' It also does get a bit chippy in some places which makes it sound a bit unprofessional.

[CapCom]

In the end, the sad part about MOM, despite of its good and bad points, is it's completely divided this community. And I doubt we'll ever recover from it.

Come back in 10 years and we'll all laugh at the past 8 months.

I don't know to be honest, for all I know, there never is a strong person that ever had 'a weak moment'.

And in Final Fantasy VII, Cloud has it for the whole first 2/3 of the game

"I dunno. I don't care."

I don't know to be honest, for all I know, there never is a strong person that ever had 'a weak moment'.

All characters have weak moments. Each character has a flaw, an Achilles heel. That's what makes them human, and that's what makes them interesting.

Why does everyone on this forum hate on Sylux and Mental's blog article?

I didn't hate it. I just ignored it. I don't see a point in reading through 10 pages of fan response. Actually, there are few games I would read 10 pages about. I'm not going to watch Extra Credits either.

Now if you're summation is basically what they're saying (gameplay does not match with story), then that's the old cutscene fallacy, ergo a pistol in a cutscene can kill a guy in one shot, but it takes 20 hits to do so in-game. If you want to talk about emotional response and how that is at odds with the gameplay, I don't see it as an issue.

Gameplay is canonically what she did, but not how she did it.

This is the limitation of narrative in games exactly, and one of the best things I've read on this forum since I joined. Games are about actions, not people. Stories are about people. Games simulate a narrow range of actions. In the case of Metroid, that's basically running, shooting, dodging, and sense moves. And item collection and exploration. The gameplay isn't about character, it's about Samus doing things. Story is merely the vehicle that transports the gameplay and hopefully keeps the player interested. The action personalizes the story to give you YOUR interpretation of events.

Basically, story can communicate character. Gameplay cannot, or at least not how it was done in this game. So story is regulated to character. Hence the perceived lack of consistency. It's not that Samus is inconsistent, it's just that this gameplay doesn't communicate what she's thinking.

Super Metroid, made 15 years earlier, does a far better job of telling a story without words in the Mother Brain battle alone.

[KingBroly]

Well...Other M seems to have nothing but achilles' heels for Samus (Dem heels?). Ridley, Adam, emotional stress, etc. People want to know what makes Samus strong besides her suit.

[Not Authorised]

Well...Other M seems to have nothing but achilles' heels for Samus (Dem heels?). Ridley, Adam, emotional stress, etc. People want to know what makes Samus strong besides her suit.

Well, she's been genetically altered by the Chozo, making her physically superior to any normal human being in combat situations. Which would've been a GREAT aspect to point out during Samus's military flashbacks instead of the significance of her thumb and how sweet her ass looks while criticising Adam's decisions. Showing her in the classic power suit was pretty neat, though.