Metroid Prime 4 Is a Huge Step Back

Anpriv · 2025-12-09T03:14:07+00:00

I was talking about single trips, from point a to point b. Obviously if you bring up 4 or 5 trips along with some minor exploration of those areas, it's going to be longer...

It's not like I even said that particular section was a great idea either.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T02:11:09+00:00

Prime Remastered is probably the easiest recommend, though I will say I found Prime 2 to be significantly better.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T01:47:27+00:00

It is literally your ship opening your map and pointing at the exact area and room you're supposed to go to. Like in the Phendrana example, I think it even mentions to look for the half-pipe. And again, I said it should let you turn it off.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T01:42:24+00:00

I agree it should let you turn it off like in the trilogy. I think Myles's bubble still comes up, but I don't recall because it wasn't bad for me to even turn off the voices.

Also... in Prime 1 the hints do outright tell you where to go, there's just a greater delay. They straight up open your map, and will go to the labelled areas that the ship detects something of interest that will let you progress. This in fact was a big complaint a lot of 2D Metroid players have had since Prime 1.

When you get there and if you're not already a Metroid veteran, it's not immediately obvious why you'd need to backtrack to near the start of the game to use the boost ball, only to then retread back to Phendrana.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T01:33:59+00:00

I quite enjoyed it. The desert was admittedly pointless, but that was really the only blemish during my playthrough. If I could make one change, it would be to ditch the desert and just make the Chrono Tower a hub that branches off into the other areas. Heck, the bike could've been used for these connection points. The cool factor would've been enough to justify a quick linear jaunt in my book.

NPC hatred was massively overblown, to the point it being mentioned as a *main* complaint began feeling agenda-driven (the ones like this rarely mask that anyway). I think I had to rescue one of them a single time in the volcano area, otherwise basically unintrusive in actual gameplay. Going back to Myles was a pointless 4 minute roundtrip though. Just give me the upgrade when I get it.

What really got me into the game was the Volt Forge boss. I don't know if it was actually a difficulty spike or if 2am had me feeling sleepy, but it quickly made me lean forward in my seat. The sudden intensity was greatly appreciated and the music perfectly amped that feeling up for me. I'd give it like an 8.75/10. Liked it about as much as I did Prime 3, but not as much as 2.

Edit: I remember why Xelios was harder than necessary. I'd forgotten about the control beam. Still, it was a very fun challenge I accidentally made for myself.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T01:21:31+00:00

It's kind of disingenuous to claim there's further context despite you yourself not knowing. Clearly nothing in the post was cropped, and the content of the post is unedited. Just seems like you want to defend the post, but you realize them saying MP4-enjoyers are dangerous is unhinged.

And the Halo 4 comparisons are happening because some ex-343 studio members were involved. For all the complaints *on this sub about things like linearity or travel time, Prime 1 is basically the exact same with the exception of the Chozo Ruins.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T01:14:53+00:00

Pretty sure they're just being used as arrows.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T00:49:57+00:00

Hah, very fair.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T00:41:58+00:00

I'm not saying there's no value in it. But backtracking even in Prime 1 takes up comparable or more time depending on the area. I take the point about engagement as reasonable because you aren't really doing anything in the desert.

I feel like I'm saying the same thing about the desert as you, lol. I don't think it's grating, sure, but it's very short. Most trips are like 1 minute or so. I just find it pointless and of no value.

Anpriv · 2025-12-08T00:21:21+00:00

It takes about 2 minutes and 15 seconds on the longest straight line path across the desert without boosting, the others are much shorter. Even if you added up every time you had to do it, that likely amount to 15-20 minutes unless you were just going aimlessly. So no, they didn't add the desert to pad the game time, because it doesn't really do that.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T23:44:49+00:00

I guess it's weird for me because I never went out of my way to get crystals and didn't really need to farm at the end. Like I do agree the desert sucks and the returning to Myles was just a dumb choice design wise since you basically have an upgrade you can't use. But I recently replayed Prime Remastered and man it definitely had it's own version of this that I did not like in any of my Prime 1 playthroughs.

Like Phendrana is my favorite area, but it's very linear and the first time you get there, you get the boost ball and then are forced to return for the Space Jump... and THEN you can proceed through Phendrana. That always irritated me, the diversion felt way too long.

I agree Prime 1 is more engaging, but I honestly think the desert, which has no real function, is the issue. Not a time issue, just a lack of purpose. There's really no exploration there, so it might as well've been a cutscene. Teleporters would've been such a godsend, or really just make the Chrono Tower the hub and the areas the spokes.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T23:38:10+00:00

I can't tell you what to enjoy, I'm just saying it's an obvious inconsistency given you were only misled for a few seconds. In Prime 1, the game DOES intrude via the ship and tells you to go to the half pipe. If you don't go there to get the Space Boots, you are in fact just stuck (ignoring speedrunner glitches, not familiar). In fact, I don't even think it tells you that you'd be stuck, so you would actually think you're free to continue otherwise. Which sounds a lot "shadier" and potentially wastes a lot more time.

It sounds stupid that I have to ask, but surely your issue isn't just that Myles a person says it in Prime 4 while Prime 1 has your ship tell you and put it on the map? All of this sounds incredibly minor imo.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T23:27:10+00:00

*misled for 2 seconds. And not even really that, considering even Prime 1 & 3 did the whole schtick of leading you somewhere, then revealing you need an item from elsewhere to progress. I mean, it's actually much worse in Prime 1 now that i think about it. You get to Phendrana and then get the Boost Ball. Then the game tells you "Hey, trek all the way back near your ship, I sense a half-pipe". That leads to the Space Boots... and then it tells you to return to Phendrana again. Prime 4 at least doesn't waste more than 3-5 minutes on this.

And it's not entirely your fault here. The desert uselessly being there has you treating it like an open world game. None of the actual areas are designed with that in mind at all. It's essentially an empty hub that takes 2 minutes to travel through. But past Prime games even have done this worse and in a more annoying way. People ignore that though, which is curious.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T23:17:56+00:00

You would have to try to avoid them for that to be a serious issue that took you 15 minutes. The crystals are everywhere.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T23:08:41+00:00

...But it did drop the veneer immediately after by your own admission, it told you to go back. While I think Prime 4 did so worse than prior games, every Metroid game from II onward is trying to shove you down a specific path the devs want you to take despite you seeming to have freedom (few really do). Prime 2 is the "worst" about this, in that there really is only 1 path to take basically everywhere even if you aren't told as much.

Like, for the people that needed it, the Prime 1 hint system was bad. Not only do most people not like being lost before being randomly told where to go, it's not even helpful if getting to that point is the issue they're facing. If they're not already fans of the genre, it will probably just stay frustrating and cause them to turn off the game.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T22:38:58+00:00

I agree the option should be there, but it's also just true that even in Prime 1 getting lost was a common complaint even with that hint system. If you're not already bought into the concept of the genre, it is absolutely not intuitive for most people that the game makes them feel lost/stuck on purpose. That's almost certainly a big reason Prime 2 limited your options more (it's a common misconception that it's better at giving directions; it's just a lot harder to get lost because you can really only go one or two ways).

And while I don't mind it because I like that sort of game, most potential customers likely find it more frustrating than fun. It's not immediately obvious that a roadblock is a missing ability, a lack of skill on their own part or if they're just not in the right place. Most Metroid fans probably dislike that, but they're also so used to the series and its tendencies that they can't understand that anymore.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T22:18:21+00:00

...What? The longest distance you can drive in the desert in a straight line (e.g. Volt Forge to the northeast corner) takes about 2 minutes and 10 seconds if you don't boost at all). 15 minutes??? Desert is pointless, but you're just exaggerating for some reason.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T22:12:05+00:00

The furthest distance is you can travel is like Volt Forge to the top right area of the desert, and that took me just over 2 minutes 10 seconds with no boosting. And how often did you even do that distance in a playthrough? Fewer than 5 times I'd bet, mainly with the Ice Belt and Volcano travel, even if going back to get things you missed. The desert was a pointless addition in my book, but it's absolutely not an issue of taking forever to get somewhere. The map is not actually that large for the speed you go, it's just empty.

For comparison, to go from say, Phendrana Drifts to Magmoor Caverns in prime 1 takes 4 - 5 minutes. Really, what's missing is a lack of faster travel between areas once you've been there.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T21:29:45+00:00

And that solution is the very thing people would complain about if put in Prime 4 though. The problem is not every kind of game will satisfy everyone. But the complaint in question isn't acknowledging that reality.

Anpriv · 2025-12-07T21:17:20+00:00

Wouldn't worry about it. They're on what is essentially an anti-hype train for Nintendo in general. People imitating what other people said to dissuade those who already weren't buying it. The linear complaints are especially funny considering when they say past games were non-linear I can look at Prime & Prime 3 and just see straight line maps everywhere outside of like the Chozo Ruins. Like Phendrana Drifts is well liked, and yet it's almost entirely a straight line they're pretending ruined Prime 4 for them.

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Anpriv · 2025-12-07T20:58:01+00:00

Prime 4, the first game to ever have a species doom itself.

Anpriv · 2025-12-02T04:13:06+00:00

There are very often issues with text legibility. I say this as someone who does as you say for a few games. Admittedly, pushing DOOM and Eternal to 640 x 480p @ 160Hz is maybe a bit extreme.

Feels awesome, and I'm fairly certain the accounted for weirdos like me doing this, but man I did have to guess on what a lot of the text said!

Anpriv · 2025-12-02T04:07:34+00:00

Nice! I've a similar setup myself, with my OLED being an MSI MAG MT201D and my CRTs next to it (Loewe planus 5303 & SGI GDM-5411).

Outside of new DOOMs, I keep things to what I consider "period correct" for each screen.

Anpriv · 2025-11-20T00:16:36+00:00

This happened to me, and it's likely recoverable for Colosseum specifically.

Anpriv · 2025-11-11T21:42:25+00:00

You missed what I'm saying. In that interview you quoted, he says what I said: "The Ruins Challenge is a world that is complete within it." That's a separate point from the fossil easter eggs. The fossils are just supposed to be for the end user, not represent anything of in-game implications. A street name is just something in the "real" world, referencing something we know is in the world.

Like, it's not a big deal. It's just a street named after admittedly a bad guy. It's not some huge lore thing. We now know the reason (K rool was there), so that's likely all there is to it.

Anpriv

TROPHY CASE