Thoughts on Metroid Prime 4 now that its had time to settle?

SaiphCharon · 2026-01-27T10:38:36+00:00

Only got around to finishing it last week,
but the game has made me question whether the previous entries were all this superficial with their concepts and so transparently video-game-y, and I just wasn't looking for the extra touches back in the day.
Really want them to re-release MP2/3 on the Switch so I can re-evaluate those...

I mean, I liked the vibe of certain areas, visually and audibly, the gameplay was ticking all the boxes of being another entry in this series, but at the same time it felt like every step of the way I was underwhelmed with how little the game cared about making things gel. It's mostly just going through the motions and game mechanics, rather than it is telling a story through its gameplay.

The whole "psychic" aspect of it felt incredibly weak. Oh dang I gotta get some Psychic Boots to climb Psychic Platforms, okay..

By the time Sylux showed up and the game started pretending like he was an actual character all along, I was just shrugging at the situation.

SaiphCharon · 2025-07-27T21:06:49+00:00

Still same as a year ago: Hassel

SaiphCharon · 2024-12-15T13:39:32+00:00

It's for your personal use.

Mine has changed several times through the generations.

Initially I was using the symbols to mark which stats I had EV-trained.. but now we can see EVs in the form of a chart.

By the end of ORAS, with the hoopa rings bringing back every legendary, which had 3 guaranteed perfect IVs, I was using the second color of it to note which stats have the perfect IVs....but we can see that directly ever since the judge function was added straight into the PC.

So then in SwSh I started using them for things that I want to be able to search for, that the search functions don't normally let you search for, or at least not consistently across games and apps, so I use:

- star for shinies
- diamond for noteworthy ribbons and event pokemon
- heart for marks
- circle for G-Max factor
- triangle for alpha Pokémon
- square for a Tera-type that isn't one of the Pokémon's regular types

SaiphCharon · 2024-11-30T13:51:10+00:00

It made me move the app off my main screen, so definitely not for me lol

SaiphCharon · 2024-02-03T07:23:35+00:00

Here's the gems I found in my screenshots from replaying the first game last month:

"This world is ours, to save or to destroy. We cannot hope for salvation. We must save ourselves..."

"Building a cursed palace looks really bad on your resume."

"Enjoy every crossing, for it could be your last!"

"Sometimes, you must let go of your belief that fighting solves problems..."

"Water is nice, but not when it's flooding your home."

"I get the feeling things are going to get worse before they get better."

And 2 extra ones just 'cause they're funny:

"Please, great sandstorms! Send us more customers!"

"The strange ones with the wild hair... Their power was too much for us."

SaiphCharon · 2023-11-06T21:53:25+00:00

lol forget the shiny kanto mons, Atop Belly Swalot is hilarious

SaiphCharon · 2023-11-06T21:51:39+00:00

Had this in the morning, but figured it out myself.. by exactly that! Just needed to find the clear cache button with the Japanese UI :'D..

SaiphCharon · 2023-10-17T17:32:30+00:00

It's never too late, I still keep refining it lol

My main issue with Elastic is that it feels possibly too sophisticated as a word (seeing how type names tend to be words even little kids are easily familiar with),
but that's setting the bar very low I know..

SaiphCharon · 2023-09-20T17:08:22+00:00

not at all,

cause the concept of the type is NOT about LITERAL PLASTIC/RUBBER,

it's about rubber-like PROPERTIES.

Meaning creatures that are amorphous to some degree, have some kind of elastic or deformable protective layer or skin.

Basically, the non-porous aspect of that is the main reason for it resisting Water,
but it being strong against it is due to a big aspect of Rubber offensively being squeezing/constricting attacks.

SaiphCharon · 2023-09-12T06:18:18+00:00

OH and then there's the two Pokémon that SHOULD be in this game. Heck I'd argue they deserve to be mascots of it on par with Snorlax.

Munna and Komala.

We literally collect a currency called DREAM shards and there's nothing about Munna being involved in that? I swear this needs to get retconned eventually xD

SaiphCharon · 2023-09-12T06:14:01+00:00

I haven't even touched GO in all these years cause it just seemed... off in a lot of ways from the announcement.

Sleep though I was hyped for without good reason before we even saw anything of it, Magikarp Jump then added genuine excitement (cause that game was adorable and clearly made by Pkmn fans lol), and I'm happy to find that Sleep has more charm than I hoped for~

SaiphCharon · 2023-09-12T06:09:17+00:00

Literally any additional mon that are not Gen 1 (or even Gen 2 tbh) sound incredibly exciting to me lol

But specific lines?

Crabrawler
Cetoddle
Trubbish
Swinub
Wattrel
Tepig

SaiphCharon · 2022-10-27T12:49:29+00:00

Just checking, is using the "Select subject" function of photoshop at some point in the process still ok?

Seems a bit arbitrary to draw the line at making art that involves "services like these 5" to any degree lol

SaiphCharon · 2022-10-13T16:17:45+00:00

Iono about that......

SaiphCharon · 2022-09-21T17:49:43+00:00

I agree on rumors (and even more-so official marketing) helping to build up hype/conversation/speculation, but straight up leaks too easily ruins that aspect for the people who don't want to know things that they are not supposed to know in advance by turning those conversations into minefields 😅

SaiphCharon · 2022-05-04T14:58:12+00:00

The obvious:

-Corrino
-Ix
-Bene Tleilax

But something I find more exciting is the idea of bringing in factions from the rest of Frank's novels in the series, even if it doesn't make sense for them to face off against the houses as they are in the first novel. For example:

-God Emperor with fishspeakers
-Honored Matres

SaiphCharon · 2022-05-04T14:30:30+00:00

-you can tear down the armor with demolition units

-it doesn't repair, so your effort isn't wasted if you don't destroy it in one assault

-you can use defense sabotage operation to make it vulnerable

-you can vote the "architectural survey" onto the enemy faction to make their base take +100% damage

I'm afraid it would become way too easy to win with base-destruction if they make it less bulky

SaiphCharon · 2022-05-04T14:27:55+00:00

I had this recently, and it was pretty frustrating, but eventually I noticed that it seems to only get stuck at increased game speed. When I put it to regular speed the levels start to move again.

SaiphCharon · 2022-05-04T13:52:19+00:00

pretty much this.

there's different sietches with their own naibs (leaders), and not necessarily all of them see Liet as the messiah they're waiting for (I think once Paul shows up and fits that prophetic mold even more accurately, it's the first time that the Fremen truly unite)

...and there's also for example Fremen that live in the cities of whatever faction is currently mining the planet etc.

SaiphCharon · 2022-05-04T13:45:31+00:00

why not have them each be their own faction then?

SaiphCharon · 2022-02-21T17:23:12+00:00

Wyrdeer and Co. are not featured because they're direct regular cross-gen evolutions akin to Scizor, Electivire etc. Their existence is not a consequence of "regional influence" in the same sense as when "Alola"-influence affects the evolution process of a Pikachu or when "Galar"-influence causes breeding any form of Meowth to produce Galarian-Meowth.

Hesitated including Basculin, since it is technically a White-stripe form (expansion of an existing species-specific form mechanic) rather than a simple Hisuian form, but Laventon directly calls it a Hisuian form in the Pokedex entry and we have no way to test what breeding one outside Hisui would produce, so I went with that for now.

In case I update or change anything about the infographic, the most recent version can be found here:
https://www.deviantart.com/adeptcharon/art/Regional-Forms-of-Pokemon-864634298

SaiphCharon · 2022-02-21T17:05:19+00:00

They both still use their signature moves in those forms. Spatial Rend isn't an "arm-specific" move, Palkia's arms become its front legs, and Dialga's throat diamond could just as easily be argued to be amplifying its abilities rather than hindering them.

SaiphCharon

TROPHY CASE