Originally posted by Ushgarak
Well, I am surprised at you, thinking that such a mess makes any form of realistic or developed plot at all. I like plots- I just don't like shit ones. In action games, you can live without it. Metroid has done very well on unobtrusive plots before now. They should have stuck with it. So ignore the crappy plotline and you can try and enjoy the actual gaming part of it.All that tired old stuff you put in there about her being full of anger and pain etc. is something shoehorned in by this game and this game only- it has not been an indication of how she is in any other game- quite the opposite. You are engaged in circular justifcation, using this own game to justify itself. No, the point is that they have abruptly introduced this new, weaker side to her that DOES NOT EXIST IN THE OTHER GAMES, and in turn used that to justify these horrible plot contrivances throughout. The idea, in any case, that Samus magically becomes more realistic because of this being haunted by her past gibberish is equally weird. How, exactly, is that more realistic? What was unrealistic before that is changed now? Sometimes I think people just use these words without thinking about what they mean. Don't confuse complication for realism.
It is not realistic because it is not consistent. Samus might have been rather slight as a character before, but she did have a personality that was built up over the games and it was consistent from game to game. In breaking that, you introduce unrealism. Hence a claim to realism here is laughable, based as it is entirely, once more, on circular justification introduced by this game alone. Even saying she was that wound up about the baby Metroid is circular. Sure, it was an 'ahhhh' moment but it is hardly as if she'd spent more than about five minutes with it. There was never any reason to think she cared, especially as she'd given it away as soon as she could. But suddenly in this game it is made out to be a really big deal- again, just so the game can be so drawn out and maudlin about the way she acts.
Based on all the other games, then absolutely 100% what I would expect her to do... is start fighting without hesitation. He's already come back from total defeat many times in her career- this is old news. She never acted like that with him before. She never should now. If she was going to be someone who freezes, she would have done it the first time she saw him in the series- or the second, third or fourth. Not when he comes back AGAIN in this game. We have absolutely, 100% established that she is not the sort of person who freezes at... pretty much ANY threat, let alone Ridley. For her to do so is just plain wrong, no matter what bullshit reasons this game tries to introduce. The Samus that would just open fire- that is the character Samus from the other Metrod games. That's not even supposition; it is literally true, as that is precisely what happens in the other games. The Samus we see here is NOT that Samus- it is an abortion of a new version created by poor writing. Meanwhile., it might add a layer of complication to the character, but it is poor complication. Saying it makes her more interesting is hysterical- Samus as the stalwart silent female non-nonsense killer bounty hunter was actually very distinctive. Turning her into a weak, hesitant woman haunted by her past in such a way just makes her into the exact same angst-ridden nonsense you get in nearly all action genres. More interesting? Insanity talking. It is actively more boring; they have taken something quite unique and made it generic.
Samus is a professional. If this was a prequel, it at least would have made narrative sense, though it still would have messed up the character. But put here, near the end of the time line,, after everything else she has done without ever flinching... atrocious.
Saying that reasonable people should expect her to act as she does game does just one thing- it puts you in the realm of the unreasonable. The basic plotting in this game is extremely poor- it fails basic rules of storytelling (plot holes, a major storyline introduced and then forgotten about, cringe inducing script writing). The quality of the characterisation follows- i.e. appalling.
I have active contempt for the plotline and the characterisation in this game. I think you should be very wary of letting your critical faculties be swayed by your like for the franchise.
Oh come now, namecalling and hyperbolic insults? Surely you can debate without those crutches.
The fact Samus is a human woman with emotions is not something created just for Other M. This characterization has been in plain sight for 8 years now, and implied since the ending of Metroid II. Samus is incredibly introspective and thoughtful in Fusion in how she narrates the game, and this continues in Zero Mission. Note Samus' look of shock and, dare I say it, fear as Ridley appears. Samus reacts this way for no other boss, not even Mother Brain. Clearly they were showing a moment of fear just from seeing him, and she already knew Ridley would be present when she took on the mission. I would say that Super Metroid is the odd one out, and that because she was out for revenge and looking for him.
It is entirely consistent with how Samus has been portrayed for years. I think you are mistaking yourself for the core audience in your dismissal of the manga, as well. Considering the manga managed two volumes and an animated online revival on Metroid's official site years later tells me that the manga not only was intended to be a piece of the story, but did well financially and therefore reached the core Metroid audience, that is, the Metroid players in Japan. It is similar to the olden days when all a game's story was contained in a few pages of the manual. Your casual dismissal makes you come off as perhaps a bit arrogant, as if everything properly Metroid is only properly so because it has your personal stamp of approval.
Further, your dismissal of the baby Metroid is extremely distressing for your stance. The very fact that Samus keeps the baby Metroid alive at all, instead of simply killing it as she had so many others of its kind, is an act of attachment and perhaps even remorse. In Fusion also, Samus speaks at length about how she owes the baby Metroid her life twice over and that she had felt a connection with it. You seem to be ignoring inconvenient parts of even the games themselves to support your faulty opinion.
Your biggest problem is that you are mistaking a sparseness of characterization in the earlier games and Prime as a personality. This is the exact same error for which you faulted people who like Revan. This hypocrisy makes me curious: do you actually accept Samus as a character in herself, or are you simply inserting your own ideals into a mostly blank slate, and then complaining that the actual vision does not match your personal own? I wonder.
And out of curiosity, what are the plotholes and forgotten story of which you speak? I have no doubt they tie directly into the canon you personally choose to ignore.
I think you should be very careful before you blow off my opinion as that of a series fanboy. As a long-time fan, I have the most to lose from this so-called "character assassination," so perhaps it is you whose critical faculties are biased.