 |
| Register | Login | |||||
 |
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| Calendar
| Chat
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | ACS | Stats | Color Chart | Search | Photo album |
|
| | ||
|
| Register | Login | |||||
|
Main
| Memberlist
| Active users
| Calendar
| Chat
| Online users Ranks | FAQ | ACS | Stats | Color Chart | Search | Photo album |
|
| | ||
| Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - - Posts by Kaleb.G |
| User | Post | ||
Kaleb.G               Since: 07-11-06 Last post: 6645 days Last view: 6645 days |
| ||
| Drew, I've been playing SMR on and off since I found out about it late last week. At the current moment, I have defeated Kraid and made my way to Norfair (at "Hell's Run"). It's great to play a mod with such an original, fleshed-out map. However, my feelings are mixed. I appreciate your work, but the majority of this feedback is criticism of the negative variety. I don't intend to attack you, but hopefully some of this post can actually be of use to you.
Well, first off, I found it slightly odd that neither the title screen nor world map were modified in any way, despite this mod having a lot of differences from the original version, but that's not important. OK, so near the beginning of the game, things are a bit more difficult than in the original version, but it's a good challenge; nothing bad. The space colony now only gives you 30 seconds to evacuate, and the trip from your ship to the Morph Ball/Missiles to Brinstar (all with no extra energy tanks) will keep you on your toes. The level design is pretty good so far (the spikes in Crateria caught me off guard), but it's still rather modest. But then things become a real pain for me on route to the Wall Jump Boots. Maybe it's just because I'm not leet enough, or because I haven't played it for a while, but I got raped. I mean, I only had 99 energy, and with all of the enemies and spikes, it was driving me up the wall. Those sidehoppers devastated me, mostly because I often found it hard to aim my missiles on target. I cursed like a sailor because I had to do this whole entire sequence (including the following parts) with no save points in between. I didn't want to use any state saves, and I shouldn't have to. Then the Spore Spawn. It wasn't even that it was overly difficult, because I don't recall taking too many attempts to kill him. It was the fact that I didn't even need to kill him right then. I mean, I thought that it might be a possibility, given that you can leave the room through the bottom. However, I foolishly thought that killing the Spore Spawn would give me some sort or new item. Wrong. I still needed the Wall Jump Boots and the Bombs to get what was up there. Now, maybe the Spore Spawn's defeat opened up a silver door, but that brings me to a major problem I have with this mod. In Super Metroid, the silver doors were fine; you pretty much just needed to do something in your local area to get it open, often in the very room you stand. In this mod, I never know what causes the doors to open up, because the triggers are too spread out over the map. As a result, I have no explicit way of knowing when I activate a trigger, and even if I do, I still have to go around to random silver doors to see which ones opened up. It's simply unintuitive. However, the hardship continues as I get the Wall Jump Boots. Did you have to make the path out of that room one of the hardest wall jumping sequences I've come across so far? I mean, maybe it was just because I was still getting used to the wall jumping, but the walls are a little uneven, so often times I would hit the lip of the ledge at the top and fall down. And the bunch of spikes at the bottom that I would fall and die on surely were not helping. ...then I still have to make my way to the first energy tank. But OK, things are better now. I have my first energy tank, so I can breathe easy while fighting enemies. Wall jumping is a good way to get around, and I do like the fact that the act was made into an item. I head back up to the top of Crateria. The platforming sections are well done here, and I pull things off before I reach the point of throwing down the controller. I didn't expect to have to use the single wall jump at that one point; I sorta just did it out of curiosity, but it worked. Good stuff overall. I continue to press forward... ...and I reach the save point at the bottom of a vertical corridor filled with enemies. It asks me if I want to save, but oops, I pressed cancel by mistake. Now I have to go all the way up past the damn enemies, go through the door, come back, and try it all again. Poor design choice there. But then, nothing can compare to the acid room. I didn't even have a problem figuring out what the reflector does. I knew the moment I saw it. I even saw it reflecting some of my beam shots I fired at it. The problem I had was that it is aiming at absolutely nothing; just the rocky ground. So, I had no way of knowing there was even anything down there to activate. On that note, I also didn't know it requires a missile, which also requires dead-on contact with the reflector's center, and even sometimes fails to activate the bridge when it hits the ground. If you had put something like a pipe connecting from the point of impact to the compacted bridge (I didn't even know that's what it was at first), it would have made things much more logical. It was my attempt to get past the last pool of acid that really put things in perspective. I saw the narrow passage up top, but I knew I would need Bombs or possibly the Spring Ball to get up there. The only option I could see was running trough the acid. And after several attempts, I made it across, with only 1 energy remaining, and then immediately got destroyed by the Space Pirate. I tried again, and finally got the Bombs, only to end up taking it from behind by the Torizo guardian. I almost just quit right there. I went to go read some info on what I was supposed to do... That's when I discovered I actually could get through that narrow passage. "Just jump, and morph while going up." What the hell? Are you serious? I never even knew this was possible! In all of my time playing Super Metroid, I have never done this. I don't even recall doing this in any of the future Metroid games. It was at that point where I agreed with dwmyers17's quote: "This hack isn't for people who enjoyed Super Metroid; it's for crazy people who have been playing it for 10 years nonstop and want to continue for another 20." I actually agree with him more now that I've reached Norfair, though at the same time, I like this mod more then I did back at ye olde acid room. So, back to the game, that morph jump was actually fairly easy to pull off. I was both pleased at learning this new maneuver, and disappointed at the expectation for me to know this even though there was never any prior need. I get the Bombs, drop kick the Torizo, and set off to explore the map. With my Bombs, I'm now able to find some real secrets, which pleases me. I acquire the Super Missiles and the Charge Beam. Getting new things is fun, and I have some enjoyment. I waste my time fighting the giant sidehoppers only to get dissed by the unobtainable Power Bomb. Fine, I can deal. I think about where I should go next, and decide on the top east corridor in Brinstar. Bad decision that was. After making it past all of the spikes and crap, I drop down into a pit of spikes from which there's no escape. Brilliant. What's even better is that I tried trekking all this way before I even had my Wall Jump Boots, only to get stopped by the dumb pipe. Talk about foreplay without the payoff. Yes, this is my fault, but it's still a very misleading path. I explore elsewhere, eventually finding the Chozo statue in Maridia that requires you to deactivate 12 guardians in order to proceed. "Very cool," I thought. This is the new kind of stuff I like to see. Instantly, my opinion of this mod becomes a lot more optimistic. After further exploring, I take the proper route through the center of Brinstar, and I find my first Brinstar save point. I go off to acquire the nearby missile expansion. It's pretty damn hard to get out alive after doing so, but after multiple attempts, I finally pull it off. Time to go save. Wait, what's this? I need to step out of the room again to use it? OK, let me just use this door right here...oh shit, the other side of the door is silver, and now I can't get back! Damn you, Drew! Now I suspect you're just being an asshole. So obviously I die before reaching the next save point, requiring me to get the missile expansion all over again (and use a different door for which to reset the save pod). Afterward, I take the path to the left, through the floor, and past the magenta door (a nice touch for requiring missiles, by the way). I start entering some watery sections and progress into East Brinstar. I have to say the visual and physical design up to and past this area is great; sometimes maddingly difficult, but great nonetheless. Skimming the details, all I can say is that I ended up taking a wrong turn. I reach the room with the giant teethed flowers, but it has already been too much of a journey for me. I rely on my first state save. The other save points are just too far away. In order to get to the closest save point, I actually have to get past Kraid. Maybe I'm just too much of a noob, but I can't deal with this difficulty due to lack of save points. On the bright side, I get to pick up a hidden E-tank in the room to the left. You know, it's funny, because in the first room leading to Kraid (the one with the spikes, Space Pirates, and mini-Kraid), I actually died once. However, I defeated Kraid on my first try. What's with Kraid being so easy? So, then I save, backtrack westward to where I'm supposed to go (Norfair), and that just about leads me up to where I am now: "Hell's Run". That's what the mod has been like for me so far, plain and simple. I'll keep playing, but I don't know if I can ever survive Hell's Run with only three extra E-tanks. Perhaps I will post further experiences later on. P.S. I've taken a bunch of screenshots up to the point of acquiring the Charge Beam. If anyone wants them, let me know. They include some map/item/puzzle spoilers though. |
|||
|
Kaleb.G Since: 07-11-06 Last post: 6645 days Last view: 6645 days |
| ||
Originally posted by Drewseph Yes, and I am thankful for that. But even that didn't prevent me from getting killed off. Perhaps I just needed more patience. Originally posted by Drewseph Point taken, but then couldn't you have just put the save points in their own rooms like the original game? Originally posted by Drewseph Yeah, I already learned the morph jump maneuver from these boards, which is how I got past that section without dropping to very low energy. When I said "I knew I would need Bombs or possibly the Spring Ball to get up there", that's what I was thinking before I learned of this maneuver. Sorry for misleading you. 
Originally posted by Drewseph Okay, I will do that now. Thanks! Originally posted by Drewseph Well, I guess I'm just an unobservant moron. 
Thanks for the reply, Drew. Also, thank you MasterTenor for the info, and thank you Megaman-Omega for the compliment.  |
| Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - - Posts by Kaleb.G |
