Metroid Dread

[Helmsly]

 

[S.C.G]

Here's the text from the support page relating to that error, as it contains potentially useful information...

Spoiler

The information in this article can help if, near the end of the Metroid Dread game, you receive the message, “The software was closed because an error occurred,” and the game forcibly closes.

We are aware of an error in the Metroid Dread game that prevents the player from proceeding when the specific sequence below is followed near the end of the game. We are preparing a software update to prevent this error, which should be available in October 2021.

Near the end of the game, if the player destroys a door while a map marker for that specific door is displayed on the map, the game will forcibly close and the following message will appear: "The software was closed because an error occurred."

We apologize for the inconvenience. If you are experiencing this error, please follow the steps below.

What to do

Restart the game and, before playing through this sequence, remove the door icon map marker to prevent this error from occurring.

Once the October 2021 software update is available, update the game.

Essentially, it seems that this error will only occur near the end of the game, and only if you have used a door icon map marker, or... if you have the map cursor over a door icon perhaps? It's not completely clear from the description, but if it's related to using the coloured map markers, this seems to be avoidable by just not using them, at least until the update is available.

After a quick bit of research, it does seem that this will only occur if you place a map marker, on a specific door and then when you destroy the door with the marker present, it just crashes the game, preventing progress, but even if this does happen, all you need to do is restart the game, remove the marker before destroying the door at a certain point in the game, and it should be fine.

That's not so bad, at least the issue has been spotted, and the patch should be available soon.

Edited October 15, 2021 by S.C.G

[MindFreak]

Damn those nullPointerExceptions!

[Ike]

16 hours ago, LazyBoy said:

Got about 5 hours in, and this just oozes quality - really loving it. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is the physical characterisation of Samus - casually charging the beam when a boss appears, or standing shoulders back, and the way she ‘relaxes’ in one particular cutscene (you’ll know it when you see it) - I really feel the human behind the suit. Top, top stuff

Yeah they are great. Love her casual "I'm gonna blast you in the face now" pose.

[MindFreak]

I couldn't undertand how people were able to complete this game in about 7 hours until I closed the game and started it again. My save file said 8 hours, 59 % items. However, if I look at the parental app, it said 11 hours. 

Now I've reached the final boss and have gone back to pick up lost items. I don't really find getting them particularly fun, it just requires quick reflexes in most cases which gets a bit boring, and getting +2 missiles is just not really worth any effort.

[Glen-i]

37 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

I couldn't undertand how people were able to complete this game in about 7 hours until I closed the game and started it again. My save file said 8 hours, 59 % items. However, if I look at the parental app, it said 11 hours.

I imagine every time you die, the time spent in between the last checkpoint and your death is made null and void.

Also, Metroid games generally pause the timer whenever you open a menu. I suspect it's no different here.

[MindFreak]

I have spent a lot of time looking at the map. That may explain it. And yes, I also expected that the time between a checkpoint and a death is not counted. 

[Jonnas]

Hello! You may have noticed I didn't really give many of my impressions beyond the initial ones. That might have to do with the fact that I've been working on putting all of the opinion onto a single document:

Metroid Dread  - The N-Europe Review

That's right, a brand new review of Metroid Dread. It's got it all: words, paragraphs, opinions, clarifications... And you won't believe the amount of controversies! Click the image to find out!

On a more serious note, if you're on the fence about Metroid Dread, or wish to know some more about the game before you buy, check my review. It's my longest review yet, it's pretty comprehensive, it is almost entirely spoiler-free (I only reveal a smidge of the opening sequence) and I'm fairly proud of it. So please, take a look.

Edited October 17, 2021 by Jonnas

[Aneres11]

I've been loving this game. Like game of the year for sure material. 

But one thing really starting to piss me off now is the encounters with EMMI. 

I feel like I'm pretty far in, and I'm bored of them. I'm sick of replaying them time and time again. I appreciate I could just be better at them to avoid me replaying them, but when all you have is... 

Spoiler

The invisible suit to navigate you through, which stops you jumping or running, it renders it pretty much useless. The fact the doors shut to get you out of an EMMI zone when you've been spotted is also a little cheap. I liked these to begin with, but there seems too many now for my tastes and it's definitely dampening the whole experience. 

 

[Aperson]

Regarding the EMMI I think they did a fair job of making each one feel unique. Some of them had different abilities to freshen things up a bit. I also hear that you can just rush these sections of you want to which I'm sure speedrunners will no doubt be trying to do a lot.

 

Should probably mention I've finished the game. Ending was really good though it did post a question.

 

Spoiler

For how long has Raven Beak been posing as Adam? At what point did this start to become a thing or was he always impersonating your computer?

 

Also all the people who call Samus "Metroid" are going to be vindicated by this ending lol.

 

[Aneres11]

12 minutes ago, Aperson said:

Regarding the EMMI I think they did a fair job of making each one feel unique. Some of them had different abilities to make them even more annoying. I also hear that you can just rush these sections of you want to which I'm sure speedrunners will no doubt be trying to do a lot.

 

Fixed for you.

[Ike]

That final boss is pretty tough. Curious what the implications of the events of the game will have in future games. Hoping it's not too long before we get Metroid VI.

Spoiler

Was Bird Beak (or whatever) Adam the whole time?

 

Funny how Samus is now the thing she destroyed. Regardless, never make Samus Aran angry. 

 

[Jonnas]

So, I'd like to give my thoughts on some spoilers:

Spoiler

It's really cool that the Chozo get so much focus in this game. They had always been a tad too elusive for me to fully care about them, and now we have a sympathetic guy in Quiet Robe, as well as a villainous warrior Chozo in Raven Beak. I was unsure if he'd be able to stand up to series classics like Ridley, Dark Samus, Mother Brain, but I truly think he pulled it off. I love that he even has his own spin on Metroid staples like the Arm Cannon or the Speed Booster.

I did notice ADAM was strange when he started to talk about the E.M.M.I. and how to destroy them in excessive detail. I felt that was too much knowledge for him to have, and he seemed to eager to have Samus kill them. I just figured it was an inelegant tutorial and moved on. If I had thought about it more, I could have also noticed how he stopped caring about returning to the ship at some point, or how he kept bringing up Raven Beak as the crux of the mission, and I definitely would've figured it out the moment he said "Fulfill your destiny". As it turns out, it was all actually very subtle foreshadowing, and it caught me by surprise, and I loved it.

(By the way, best sentence has to be "Blowing up the planet wouldn't be a good idea, Samus. It's just not deadly enough!" Like, he brought the idea out of the blue like it's something they consider frequently, and the best part, it's true! It's even better when you consider Raven Beak said it, which suggests that blowing up planets seems to be a common thing for the Chozo)

The reveal that Samus has Metroid powers, and her using it on the Chozo guards and the E.M.M.I. was incredibly cathartic, and all kinds of awesome. I'm really hoping Metroid VI can build up on this, and make it into a gameplay mechanic.

Finally, I love the Chozo language, and how consistent it is. They say things like "Mahthroid" or "Tamus Ahran", which shows they have their own accent. I could swear the voice actors have Spanish accents, but that might be me hearing what I'm expecting to hear. Best part is Samus breaking her silence exclusively to say a couple of Chozo sentences. So goddamn good.

Still pretty buzzed with this game.

[BowserBasher]

So I’ve made it to Raven Beak and he kicked my butt so I’ve gone back through the areas collecting as much as I can, going to the places I haven’t been and basically “painting” the whole map (as in covering every inch of it). I’ve found some of the boost puzzles to be challenging, but I’ve managed to pull them off. Samus with all her abilities somehow seems over powered compared to the start of the game, the screw attack pretty much makes her invincible but this is great for exploring every inch of the planet. 
I’ll be covering more of the maps before I head back up to have another go at Raven Beak again. Hopefully he doesn’t put up too much of a challenge. 

[Mokong]

6 hours ago, Ike said:

That final boss is pretty tough. Curious what the implications of the events of the game will have in future games. Hoping it's not too long before we get Metroid VI.

  Ending (Reveal hidden contents)

Was Bird Beak (or whatever) Adam the whole time?

 

Funny how Samus is now the thing she destroyed. Regardless, never make Samus Aran angry. 

 

Spoiler

Looking back I can't believe I didn't spot it sooner. There's an obvious give away that I never copped. From the veey first Network Point where you talk to "ADAM" he calls Samus by name. But in the whole intro cut scene he always refers to her a "Lady".

 

I've just beaten the second boss in my Hard mode play through. Not getting as much play time as when first got the game but I was off work when first got it

Similar to the first boss, I thought I'd get through the 2nd quicker than I did. Even though I could remember what to do from my first play and tiny mistake and hit takes off a ton of health on Hard mode.

Not looking forward to some of the later enemies and bosses haha. Be surprised if I can manage to beat hard mode haha.

[Aperson]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/10/metroid-dread-developer-leaves-names-out-of-credits-ex-staffers-say/

 

Looks like some people aren't particularly happy about not being credited...

[MindFreak]

Got all items yesterday and had a go at the final boss. That didn't end well for me but got it to phase two. Will try again tonight.

4 hours ago, Aperson said:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/10/metroid-dread-developer-leaves-names-out-of-credits-ex-staffers-say/

Looks like some people aren't particularly happy about not being credited...

That's understandable, if you worked on the game, you are in the credits - period.

[Dufniall]

Going to throw my impressions into spoiler tags as I'll be talking about bosses and items and whatnot.
 

Spoiler

 

So after 8 hours ingame time the credits rolled, with 47% item completion. I'm guessing my real time is a bit longer, as for example I spend at least 2 hours at Raven Beak! Overall I really enjoyed the game. It looks great, the 2D environments with the 3D backgrounds and the occasional shift to 3D (during boss battles and cutscenes) gives it a lot of dynamic. The soundtrack hasn't really stuck but it did a good job in setting the atmosphere.

The most important thing is Dread does what a good Metroidvania should do: Change you from an almost helpless character to an unstoppable powerhouse. The reason you lost your abilities feels a bit cheap (physical amnesia?), but I guess you need a reason to set you back to square 1.

Samus controls amazing, apart from 2 niggles. I'm not keen on the missile mode, and would have preferred a dedicated missile button. I also had some trouble with the Space Jump. The game does have quite an elaborate control scheme, and fully powered up there is a lot you have to take into account and virtually every button on your controller is used. I think the game would have been more interesting if they scrapped a couple of abilities for the means to keep it simple and focus more on other abilities. The cross bomb for example feels completely obsolete bar 2 or 3 times the game requires you to use it. Same for the Storm Missile (although that at least packs a ton of damage).

I'm also not that big of a fan of the Shinespark/Speed Boost gauntlets. It makes collecting items a bit of a chore and although it does test your abilities, I would have liked a bit more variation (more morph ball puzzles, or enemy gauntlets instead of mostly relying on the Speed Boost).

I had to get used to the pace of the game, Samus is fast! But I love how you can blitz through areas. The world itself is interesting enough, nice to see a good variety of enemies and the way they change after the X is introduced is great. Bosses are spectacular, could have done with a couple more! The areas, although different in setting, don't have the impact of really stepping in another environment like the Prime games have.

The EMMI bits I actually enjoyed, although I hardly used the stealth but just ran like mad to get away from them. They did offer a nice change of pace. It's curious the story doesn't explain much about the mini Mother Brains you require to take down the EMMIs, wonder what's the story behind them.

As far as the plot goes it's good, love Samus's development at the end. I disliked the voice of ADAM (in a world that heavy on tech surely AI doesn't sound like an 80s movies robot)?

But despite these points of critics I loved blasting through it. The Metroid universe is a great one to explore, Samus is surely one of Nintendo's most interesting (if not the most interesting) characters and MercurySteam did a great job here. I hope this leads to a Metroid: Other M kind of sequel, that would be great to see.

 

 

[BowserBasher]

So as many Metroid players know the game is a great one for expert players to sequence break, getting items early and getting to section early. Well it seems this game is no different and people are already doing that. However the best part Is that the developers put something in the game for those that are finding this. Gonna put it in spoiler tags just in case. 
 

Spoiler

Ok so one item that can be got early are the morph ball and bombs as such it seems that if you can do this you can use them on Kraid to pretty much insakill him  

I’m sure many more are going to be found too. I’ve even read that the cutscenes where you go from area to area where actually done each time with each suit for Samus so that if people did get to them early then it would still show up right. They are pre-rendered cutscenes.

 

[Aperson]

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/10/metroid-dread-studio-hit-with-allegations-of-poor-organisation-and-management?fbclid=IwAR1EmC2qOmZTdekFVSWVPnRmu_sj_pbJK3vFPlNusV_TCUdEXIiBnxQl3co

 

The MercurySteam controversy continues...

[MindFreak]

And done. 11 hours, 39 minutes. 

Quite a decent game, I had fun most of the time and even though better Metroidvania games have been released, this is still really solid. Story is a bit weak as a stand alone game, it could explain a bit more or be served go you in a better way. A lot of the time you don't interact with the story at all. 

I did find the "puzzles" (if you can even call them that) quite weak and rather boring. It all came down to fast reflexes and quick fingers which is fine but more variation is appreciated, especially since the controls are complicated and I often just hit the wrong button - that's totally on me but still, not that fun to spend time on. Furthermore, the final upgrade was rather useless, only used about once to actually progress.

I'm torn between 8 or 9 on this. I'll have to think more about it, I think. 

[Mokong]

Ok I think I've hit my hard mode wall around mid game.

Spoiler

  The first Chozo Robot Warrior Boss, after you meat Quite Robe.

He kills me in 3 hits ffs. :'(

 

 

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Story is a bit weak as a stand alone game, it could explain a bit more or be served go you in a better way. A lot of the time you don't interact with the story at all. 

Now I haven't played Dread yet, but...

I guarantee that the internet's exaggerated vitriol towards Other M is the reason why plot has taken a real backseat in Samus Returns and Dread.

Don't get me wrong, Other M's plot is really dumb at times, but it's a shame it seems to have scared Sakamoto into not focusing on it.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Glen-i

[Aneres11]

I think I'm nearing the end of the game now based on my play time and everyone elses.

I know I was a bit annoyed with the EMMI encounters, but that aside I don't really want it to end.

I feel like this game has breathed new life into the switch for me and it's long overdue. It's the kind of big release it has been severely lacking IMO in a sea of remakes and remasters. 

[MindFreak]

17 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

I feel like this game has breathed new life into the switch for me and it's long overdue. It's the kind of big release it has been severely lacking IMO in a sea of remakes and remasters. 

Yes. Bar Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (a remake), this is actually the first Nintendo game I've got since Paper Mario: The Origami King (July 2020!).