04-03-2010, 02:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-03-2010, 03:25 AM by PrettyNier.)
uh
the argument isn't "super metroid"; he asked what I thought was a good metroid game - and I responded.
Super is the epitome of the series, for many reasons ranging from its thoughtful progression, flowing and interesting level design, concise and deep control, the attention to detail in all respects and the cohesiveness of all of its "parts", including the narrative (amusingly enough most people would say SUPER METROID DOESN'T HAVE A NARRATIVE). The game can be tackled from so many different perspectives and in many different ways and rarely will the game be "broken" by these differences. It is both hyper-technical and euphorically wonderful - appreciatable by both the type who like to wander around and explore a game and sink in, absorb its world, and by those who like to condense the game into a technical "objectively best" (or so they believe, until later someone creates an even better route: unlike zero mission, there is no pre-designed idealistic objective "best" speed-run route) path comprised of split second actions and reactions. It is a game to spend hours in wandering the waters of maridia, and a game to spend minutes in speeding through it in a hyper technical frenzy; and it approaches both sides with the same kind of consideration and attention to detail. Its level design was made intentionally to satisfy both ends.
in other words - the experience of playing the game (I would say "gameplay" but thats a retarded word and doesn't convey what it should convey), which is indirectly tied to every aspect of its creation, is a cohesive whole. The music is good because it is good music and because it compliments the areas it is used in. The sound effects are good because they compliment the actions that create them; missile explosions sound "crunchy", flipping through the air has a whirl to it, Kraid and Crocomire howl with a frightening, alien air to them. The visuals are good because they tie into and relate everything else in the game - they set the tone, they convey the environments (and as a result the level design), they compliment and create the context for the music and the sound effects; explosions do more than sound chunky, they look chunky - every time you fire a super missile that collides into something, the screen will shake. etc. etc. etc. etc.
I suppose the best way to put it is, Super Metroid is not a collection of purely self-sufficient things created to be what they are and then left at that, put together because "well, thats what you're supposed to do"; Super Metroid is a messy pool of mud. A conglomeration of things all diluted into eachother. Everything is designed to reflect everything but themselves - they are designed to accentuate every other factor of the game. The level design is not a series of obstacles, the level design is a natural extension of the environments themselves - which are natural extentions of the music, sound effects, and visuals - and the context for the character itself. Thats another factor. The character.
In too many of the Castlevania games as of late, Portrait of Ruin being the biggest offender, you are a demigod that can do countless things from shooting straight up into the air, flying, dashing, sliding, double jumping, what-have-you. its all meaningless when placed into the context of the game itself. The "level design" generally consists of meaningless boxes with a platform or two, occasionally one that is too high so you need to double jump, and enemies with behavioral patterns that have not evolved since Super Castlevania IV or Rondo of Blood. You literally plow through everything because nothing is really designed to account for your new-found abilities except for a few long vertical shafts, higher than normal platforms, and the usual one-hit-wonder ability of the game - like DoS's puppet master soul, or Portrait of Ruin's slide ability, Frog and Owl transformations, and the oddity of jumping on your partners back to gain a slight boost in jump height. They're all ultimately useless and basically serve the same function as a "key" from Zelda.
Super Metroid doesn't suffer from this. Everything in the game is designed to account for the abilities that you have - nothing is useless, save for possibly the spring ball and - if you're talented enough - the grappling beam. The environments (level design, and the enemies which are often extensions of the environments) are just as connected to - and dare I say, reliant upon - your capabilities as your capabilities are to the environment, and there are no "one hit wonders". everything can adequately be used; you almost never have to be reminded that you can do something, and the only ability that is truly excessive, that is, infringing upon another abilities function, is the spin jump. But honestly, I usually feel more comfortable wall-jumping. You can shine-spark up a room, or you can walljump, or you can freeze enemies and hop up them - you can probably even bomb-jump up, if you wanted. Maybe you can even use the grappling beam to swing yourself up and around. Almost all of the rooms have multiple functions and multiple "routes" to get through them like this.
The "gameplay" is what it is supposed to be, but often isn't in games - an interaction between the player and their surrounding context. There is an ever present sense of friction, of responsibility, of cause and effect. If you run straight ahead in a direction, your speed will build up; once it has built up, if you immediately turn around, your speed will not carry over. You will not charge in the other direction at full speed, the speed must be transferred. This friction is part of what makes this game so exciting to play, both when you do - and don't - understand the physics. Walljumping requires that you jump against a wall, and then push against the wall while hitting the jump button nearly simultaneously - it directly corresponds to the action in question. When you use the grappling beam, you have to swing yourself and utilize the phyics, become a part of and understand the to and fro, the push and pull - you don't automatically fly to your destination. Every action is dealt with personally and directly. There are no ludicrous quick time events where you push a single button and fly through a complex series of events and actions that you could never hope to do in-game.
In Super Mario 64, when you grabbed Bowsers tail and swung him around, you had to hold the button (iirc) and spin the joystick in accordance to his motions. Super metroid is kind of like that. In Other M (and as is the case for a lot of games), the entire process appears automated. push a button, watch a series of events unfold - push another button, watch another series of events unfold. its equivalent to turning a page in a book as opposed to being the character in that book.
It's a jarring disconnect between the avatar and the player. It relegates you to an observer, not an arbiter, and ultimately thats the entire point of being a game - an interactive experience. You are an arbiter, you have a direct say in what happens (to a degree), you control a character. You don't play a game to watch a movie, or flip through a slideshow; you play a game to do something, albeit a virtual something; you play a game because it is a proxy for human experience and human emotion. thats what the medium is and that is what it best expresses because there is no other medium that is capable of expressing that - and super metroid is by far one of the best examples of what the medium is capable of doing in this regard.
heh.
no, I'm not really expecting anyone here to actually fully read through that - although I would be delighted and pleasantly surprised if they did (and responded). there is actually a lot that I didn't say, as well. i never really touched on the subject of the visual narrative nor did I really delve into detail and provide specific examples of things like the level design or how you can tackle things from multiple ways and not "break" the game. I also didn't really contrast super metroid with other things in games to emphasize the point that much, or properly define everything I was saying; there's still a lot of context left over.
either way uh
you asked for it django you better read it okay |:
the argument isn't "super metroid"; he asked what I thought was a good metroid game - and I responded.
Super is the epitome of the series, for many reasons ranging from its thoughtful progression, flowing and interesting level design, concise and deep control, the attention to detail in all respects and the cohesiveness of all of its "parts", including the narrative (amusingly enough most people would say SUPER METROID DOESN'T HAVE A NARRATIVE). The game can be tackled from so many different perspectives and in many different ways and rarely will the game be "broken" by these differences. It is both hyper-technical and euphorically wonderful - appreciatable by both the type who like to wander around and explore a game and sink in, absorb its world, and by those who like to condense the game into a technical "objectively best" (or so they believe, until later someone creates an even better route: unlike zero mission, there is no pre-designed idealistic objective "best" speed-run route) path comprised of split second actions and reactions. It is a game to spend hours in wandering the waters of maridia, and a game to spend minutes in speeding through it in a hyper technical frenzy; and it approaches both sides with the same kind of consideration and attention to detail. Its level design was made intentionally to satisfy both ends.
in other words - the experience of playing the game (I would say "gameplay" but thats a retarded word and doesn't convey what it should convey), which is indirectly tied to every aspect of its creation, is a cohesive whole. The music is good because it is good music and because it compliments the areas it is used in. The sound effects are good because they compliment the actions that create them; missile explosions sound "crunchy", flipping through the air has a whirl to it, Kraid and Crocomire howl with a frightening, alien air to them. The visuals are good because they tie into and relate everything else in the game - they set the tone, they convey the environments (and as a result the level design), they compliment and create the context for the music and the sound effects; explosions do more than sound chunky, they look chunky - every time you fire a super missile that collides into something, the screen will shake. etc. etc. etc. etc.
I suppose the best way to put it is, Super Metroid is not a collection of purely self-sufficient things created to be what they are and then left at that, put together because "well, thats what you're supposed to do"; Super Metroid is a messy pool of mud. A conglomeration of things all diluted into eachother. Everything is designed to reflect everything but themselves - they are designed to accentuate every other factor of the game. The level design is not a series of obstacles, the level design is a natural extension of the environments themselves - which are natural extentions of the music, sound effects, and visuals - and the context for the character itself. Thats another factor. The character.
In too many of the Castlevania games as of late, Portrait of Ruin being the biggest offender, you are a demigod that can do countless things from shooting straight up into the air, flying, dashing, sliding, double jumping, what-have-you. its all meaningless when placed into the context of the game itself. The "level design" generally consists of meaningless boxes with a platform or two, occasionally one that is too high so you need to double jump, and enemies with behavioral patterns that have not evolved since Super Castlevania IV or Rondo of Blood. You literally plow through everything because nothing is really designed to account for your new-found abilities except for a few long vertical shafts, higher than normal platforms, and the usual one-hit-wonder ability of the game - like DoS's puppet master soul, or Portrait of Ruin's slide ability, Frog and Owl transformations, and the oddity of jumping on your partners back to gain a slight boost in jump height. They're all ultimately useless and basically serve the same function as a "key" from Zelda.
Super Metroid doesn't suffer from this. Everything in the game is designed to account for the abilities that you have - nothing is useless, save for possibly the spring ball and - if you're talented enough - the grappling beam. The environments (level design, and the enemies which are often extensions of the environments) are just as connected to - and dare I say, reliant upon - your capabilities as your capabilities are to the environment, and there are no "one hit wonders". everything can adequately be used; you almost never have to be reminded that you can do something, and the only ability that is truly excessive, that is, infringing upon another abilities function, is the spin jump. But honestly, I usually feel more comfortable wall-jumping. You can shine-spark up a room, or you can walljump, or you can freeze enemies and hop up them - you can probably even bomb-jump up, if you wanted. Maybe you can even use the grappling beam to swing yourself up and around. Almost all of the rooms have multiple functions and multiple "routes" to get through them like this.
The "gameplay" is what it is supposed to be, but often isn't in games - an interaction between the player and their surrounding context. There is an ever present sense of friction, of responsibility, of cause and effect. If you run straight ahead in a direction, your speed will build up; once it has built up, if you immediately turn around, your speed will not carry over. You will not charge in the other direction at full speed, the speed must be transferred. This friction is part of what makes this game so exciting to play, both when you do - and don't - understand the physics. Walljumping requires that you jump against a wall, and then push against the wall while hitting the jump button nearly simultaneously - it directly corresponds to the action in question. When you use the grappling beam, you have to swing yourself and utilize the phyics, become a part of and understand the to and fro, the push and pull - you don't automatically fly to your destination. Every action is dealt with personally and directly. There are no ludicrous quick time events where you push a single button and fly through a complex series of events and actions that you could never hope to do in-game.
In Super Mario 64, when you grabbed Bowsers tail and swung him around, you had to hold the button (iirc) and spin the joystick in accordance to his motions. Super metroid is kind of like that. In Other M (and as is the case for a lot of games), the entire process appears automated. push a button, watch a series of events unfold - push another button, watch another series of events unfold. its equivalent to turning a page in a book as opposed to being the character in that book.
It's a jarring disconnect between the avatar and the player. It relegates you to an observer, not an arbiter, and ultimately thats the entire point of being a game - an interactive experience. You are an arbiter, you have a direct say in what happens (to a degree), you control a character. You don't play a game to watch a movie, or flip through a slideshow; you play a game to do something, albeit a virtual something; you play a game because it is a proxy for human experience and human emotion. thats what the medium is and that is what it best expresses because there is no other medium that is capable of expressing that - and super metroid is by far one of the best examples of what the medium is capable of doing in this regard.
heh.
no, I'm not really expecting anyone here to actually fully read through that - although I would be delighted and pleasantly surprised if they did (and responded). there is actually a lot that I didn't say, as well. i never really touched on the subject of the visual narrative nor did I really delve into detail and provide specific examples of things like the level design or how you can tackle things from multiple ways and not "break" the game. I also didn't really contrast super metroid with other things in games to emphasize the point that much, or properly define everything I was saying; there's still a lot of context left over.
either way uh
you asked for it django you better read it okay |: