Zodi Streams: Metroid Prime Remastered (That's Just Prime... Again!)

Metroid Prime is one of my favorite games of all time. Released on the Gamecube way back when, I remember picking it up on the back of knowing Samus from Metroid 2 and Smash Brothers, with no expectations for what it would be. It was one of the best games I'd ever played, and arguably still one of the best games out there even today. An easy way to get into FPS titles, an evolution from 2D to 3D that lacked any of the common problems that sort of thing presents, and one of the best looking and sounding environments that little purple cube could muster.

So to say I was excited when the Remaster was announced, and we got to see how... gorgeous it was, is a bit of an understatement. I've been wanting to play this one for awhile, and while I wasn't INTENDING to stream this yet, this was always something that was in the cards. It was one of my first bigger LPs back in the day- though I've pretty much removed all those- so it'll be nice to revisit an old favorite with a fresh coat of paint and a fresh outlook on things. I've experienced a lot, will Prime 1 hold up to the test of time?

Yes obviously. What are you even asking that for.

Like always, I'll be streaming this one on Thursdays, seemingly with Yza and Robin also being there, shooting for 100% completion... with the only chance of this going on pause being when Thousand Year Door remake comes out in a month, but it should be fine. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Zodi Streams: Metroid Prime Remastered [1] Eragone With The Wind

Video Length: 3:48:57

We start off a bit slow on my part, but that's partly because I feel like this is a game you really want to just, soak in, especially this opening tutorial area. The Frigate Orpheon introduces us to all the most basic mechanics of the game- your movin', your shootin', your scannin', the works. The atmosphere is to die for, it truly does feel like you are walking into a place that has just about been destroyed, with only the barest chance of survival... and you being there has made those odds drastic go down, as they say. The only real threat here is the Parasite Queen herself, which... well, as you see, we kind of obliterate instantly. So much for "threat" huh?

Following our escape sequence- wherein we meet up with the new design for Meta Ridley and lose all our starting gear- we land on Tallon IV, our new playground. And what a playground it is, with many varied biomes that are all outright gorgeous to look at. The flora and fauna of the planet are a bit more hostile than one would like, but for someone like Samus Aran they aren't much of an issue. Our first stop is the Tallon Ruins, a desiccated region full of sand, dead trees, and a nasty amount of bugs. What was once a flourishing civilization of druidic Chozo has been laid low by some mysterious Great Poison, and it seems our fate is to stop the dang thing.

There's some minibosses here and there (Plated Beetle, the two drones and their hives) but the real centerpiece of the Tallon Ruins is at the top of it, within the sunchamber; Flaaghra, a massive insectoid plant mutated by the Great Poison into this solar power chugging monstrosity. It's the first REAL challenge you've got ahead of you, especially since it can fix any of the flipped up solar panels. Defeating it gets you the varia suit, and access to the horrifically humid Magmoor Caverns.

Thankfully for us, there isn't much of real relevance in Magmoor. It's the one zone in the game without a major boss (though cut content revealed there could have been a Mecha-Kraid, and given it has Norfair's music...) and as such doesn't really have much purpose beyond a place to find collectables and to serve as an underground network connecting all the other various regions. Fantastic music though, no notes on that one.

Finally for our excursion today we have the Phendrana Drifts, an icy tundra. It is full of nasty little creatures that require missiles or energy we don't have access to or that will go extinct preventing you from 100%ing the game. Luckily we can at least avoid that last one... we also get the Boost Ball here, so Samus can do some sick skateboard trips in ball form.

Next time... we'll maybe solve one of those other problems the little critters in Phendrana are causing us.

Raz, don't compare Samus to Master Chief.

Samus would sneeze and it would kill MC.

Probably literally, given that in the canonical prequel manga that details her backstory, she's depicted as diving off a cliff, doing a whole bunch of borderline impossible aerial acrobatics, hitting the ground in a three-point landing hard enough to leave a crater, and then happily skipping off the ripe old age of five.

...Old Bird and Gray Voice did not **** around. Her Bird Dads gave her Chozo blood infusions and other mods to help her survive on Zebes and that is exactly what they did. I guarantee you that if they could have given her laser eyes they would have.

I'm surprised thats what your commenting on Rater, but whatever. it was just a joke about people comparing MC and Samus and didn't really mean anything. its more likely that MC given his green armor and shooter origin, was probably more inspired by Doom than by Metroid, because every shooter takes inspiration from Doom, all modern shooters are descended from it, its just that influential. like, being trapped in a remote place with nothing but guns and shooting all the enemies in something non-metroidvania esque, thats probably more inspired by the Doom games, just change demons to aliens and some robots and your good. Metroid Prime is really just this weird coincidence that it came out a year after Halo 1 (2001 for halo 1, 2002 for Metroid Prime), when previously Metroid series was just a 2-D metroidvania, I don't remember of the metroid prime retrospective I watched, but I do remember from a LoZ retrospective that the gamecube wasn't actually the best times for Nintendo? like, Sony/the competition was outselling it at the time, and Nintendo was getting a bit experimental to try and catch up, it was actually a pretty weird time where they were trying to be more "adult" in some ways before the Wii came along and started printing money so they decided to never take risks ever again.

The Xbox was just this weird third thing that like, I doubt either Nintendo or Sony expected to take off at the time because they've seen other people try to make consoles that weren't them before and they outcompeted them. and development times being what they are, would be years to make a game even then, so I doubt Halo had Metroid in its inspiration because guy fighting aliens with guns is generic enough to be from anywhere and Metroid didn't dip their toes into the shooter genre until a year later. so....MC probably more of a Doomclone than Samusclone if I'm being honest. and Samus dipping her toes into shooters around time was probably just coincidental with the fact that Halo even became a thing at all.

I only just got to watching the stream, needed to make a tracking post, and wanted an excuse to bring up how absolutely bull**** Samus's mods are.

Speaking of which; Qwerty needed some RNR, so instead we did another Metroid Prime! Qwerty guesting in the background as she does personal stuff, Robin and later Yza joining.

Zodi Streams: Metroid Prime Remastered [2] Funny Rock (Evil)

Video Length: 3:47:09

Content Warning: Extreme motion blur induced by Thermo-Viser, sudden very bright flashes of light during Thardus fight.

In this episode we... do a bit more wandering around trying to find out where to go as I'd like, but it's all in the spirit of Metroid exploration so it works and it all funnels out to us doing what we need to do anyway so its all good. The main bulk of this episode is carving our way through Phendrana Drifts, obtaining the Wave Beam from an ancient Chozo temple, then raiding the Space Pirate lab and forward operating base of all they've got. We also have our first introduction to Tallon Metroids, Metroids of raised on Tallon IV and mutated with this mysterious substance known as Phazon to make them no longer function exactly as we may be familiar with. It's all pretty neat stuff.

The pirate lab and FOB are some of my favorite areas in the game from a scanning stand point. They really grow the atmosphere of the world, making it feel like a real, lived in space. It even has hints towards future bosses, which aren't entirely necessary because scanning the boss itself will reveal those same things but also it feels "right" for this stuff to exist, and it is very cool as a result. We also get our first real big instance of Pirate Lore... though I'm thinking we miiight have missed some stuff on the Frigate in the opening? Because there's some stuff- not required lore- that I think we didn't see and where supposed to, but I may be thinking of a different area. We'll see, a lot of pirate zones kiiinda look the same even with the differences in colour tone and activity.

The Thermo-Viser and the surrounding Gameplay Event that happens is perhaps one of the more... controversial segments of the game. It is tense and quite a bit of a difficulty jump and involves using a non-standard method of sight and I would say that if they removed the realistic motion blur this would be probably a lot better, though still very nerve-wracking. You can probably tell I was having a bad time (positive) by the end of it, and while I do think it is ultimately a good segment of video game I think it can be a little too punishing given there is NO save point before OR after it.

As for the boss we face- it kinda suffers from the same potential problems the Thermo-Viser introduces, in addition with "sudden burst of light extremely in your face" when you bust up any of its rocks. Quite a rude bastard! It ultimately isn't that difficult a boss, the rollout move being the most threatening in any real capacity, but if you're not careful it can take awhile to chip down, especially if you run out of missiles like I did. Thankfully I ran out near the end...

As an aside, I recently encountered an argument that the original Prime Trilogy is a metaphor for cancer.

Like, Phazon is radioactive and radiation is a "theme" in a lot of works made either in japan or with Japanese input, but Prime was made by an American company and we don't put so much stock in radistion that it counts as a theme in it's own right.

But Phazon is also corruptive and mutagenic. It gets in you and it changes you into something else. It steals and twists your body, turning it against you, and the way Samus looks near the end of the third game when she's almost completely corrupted when you get glimpses of her eyes at least... Yeah.

Spoiler

Show

Planet Phaze itself is even basically a metastasized tumor, a malignant mass that sends off bits of itself to infect, corrupt, and take over other bodies by means of reproduction.

So Phazon is cancer... And Metroid Prime is a the fear of cancer: She starts out in a very crablike form, of course, before trying to take over Samus' body and eventually twisting into a corrupted, dark mirror of Samus. In short, what will happen to her if the phazon corruption runs it's course.

Edit: When I was in middle school, some people compared my laugh to the Joker. This was just when The Dark Knight came out.

Edit 2: I am so far behind on Metroid but regarding the Wheel of Time discussion, "Gendered Magic" is a thing in a lot of folklore mythology... But Wheel of Times gets it wrong.

Cultures with gendered magic tended to depict individuals who we would now call transgendered, intersex, or nonbinary as being especially magically powerful because they're capable of using both, and magically powerful figures are sometimes depicted as blurring the lines.

I recall reading that there exist older versions of Arthurian legend that depict the prototype-Merlin as not an old man but a slender, waifish figure and the proto-Morgan as a bearded but otherwise feminine woman as shorthands for their magical power.

Naturally, such things tend to get buried.

Also, I keep thinking about the beginning segment and how shocked/angry Samus is to see Ridley... And how she's not on a mission in this game, she was just responding to the distress beacon. So the bit about how her ship tracked the target to Tallon IV... She's on this planet solely to try and kill Ridley.

Given that Ridley is canonically the one entity that Samus legitimately hates (at least until she meets Ravenbeak) and also the only thing she's afraid of... Yeah.

Edit: Raz, conisder the reason Jenova didn't take off as the breakout character was because most people don't have my brain bug?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rater202

As an aside, I recently encountered an argument that the original Prime Trilogy is a metaphor for cancer.

Like, Phazon is radioactive and radiation is a "theme" in a lot of works made either in japan or with Japanese input, but Prime was made by an American company and we don't put so much stock in radistion that it counts as a theme in it's own right.

But Phazon is also corruptive and mutagenic. It gets in you and it changes you into something else. It steals and twists your body, turning it against you, and the way Samus looks near the end of the third game when she's almost completely corrupted when you get glimpses of her eyes at least... Yeah.

Spoiler

Show

Planet Phaze itself is even basically a metastasized tumor, a malignant mass that sends off bits of itself to infect, corrupt, and take over other bodies by means of reproduction.

So Phazon is cancer... And Metroid Prime is a the fear of cancer: She starts out in a very crablike form, of course, before trying to take over Samus' body and eventually twisting into a corrupted, dark mirror of Samus. In short, what will happen to her if the phazon corruption runs it's course.

Edit: When I was in middle school, some people compared my laugh to the Joker. This was just when The Dark Knight came out.

Edit 2: I am so far behind on Metroid but regarding the Wheel of Time discussion, "Gendered Magic" is a thing in a lot of folklore mythology... But Wheel of Times gets it wrong.

Cultures with gendered magic tended to depict individuals who we would now call transgendered, intersex, or nonbinary as being especially magically powerful because they're capable of using both, and magically powerful figures are sometimes depicted as blurring the lines.

I recall reading that there exist older versions of Arthurian legend that depict the prototype-Merlin as not an old man but a slender, waifish figure and the proto-Morgan as a bearded but otherwise feminine woman as shorthands for their magical power.

Naturally, such things tend to get buried.

Also, I keep thinking about the beginning segment and how shocked/angry Samus is to see Ridley... And how she's not on a mission in this game, she was just responding to the distress beacon. So the bit about how her ship tracked the target to Tallon IV... She's on this planet solely to try and kill Ridley.

Given that Ridley is canonically the one entity that Samus legitimately hates (at least until she meets Ravenbeak) and also the only thing she's afraid of... Yeah.

Edit: Raz, conisder the reason Jenova didn't take off as the breakout character was because most people don't have my brain bug?

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I really like this cancer idea you've presented.

I'd actually heard about that RE gendered magic, and I quite like it as well!

Anway, new stream happened.

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Zodi Streams: Metroid Prime Remastered [3.1] Goasts

Video Length: 2:06:13

[3.2] Engage Normal Drive

Video Length: 1:19:32

What happens when a lady who's forgotten much of the critical path ends up having to fumble her way through it, a resurfacing fear of under-water, and just general tiredness due to insufficient meals? Streams like this.

... god it really is just like old times. None of y'all where even there way back when, I think.

Anyway, actually talking about the stream! We get the Ice Beam and the Gravity Suit and god that's really it huh. We get a few missiles and at least two energy tanks so that's good, and we're RET2GO for the next chunk of the game. Not much otherwise, but still a good one I think. At least as near I can tell everyone had fun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rater202

Edit: Raz, conisder the reason Jenova didn't take off as the breakout character was because most people don't have my brain bug?

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oh that wasn't my real answer. the real answer is that if Jenova was more popular, more people would be horny for her own whole domme alien mind control mutation deal rather than horny for Sephiroth's bishounen deal, I just didn't say that because Robin was there.

Still far behind but regarding the "Biology" segment a the start of the second Stream and your comments that the Power Suit isn't biology...

Chozo technology includes both bio-mechanics and techno-organics, that is to say, biology treated like technology and technology that behaves like it's alive.

The Chozo powersuit is confirmed to be partially organic and has, in fact, been shown absorbing or copying traits from organic organisms in the past even before the one-two punch of Samus's X-infection and Metroid cellular graft fuses it to her body and thus gains the ability to partake of her X-assimilation abilities.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rater202

Still far behind but regarding the "Biology" segment a the start of the second Stream and your comments that the Power Suit isn't biology...

Chozo technology includes both bio-mechanics and techno-organics, that is to say, biology treated like technology and technology that behaves like it's alive.

The Chozo powersuit is confirmed to be partially organic and has, in fact, been shown absorbing or copying traits from organic organisms in the past even before the one-two punch of Samus's X-infection and Metroid cellular graft fuses it to her body and thus gains the ability to partake of her X-assimilation abilities.

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What moments are those because I can't remember'em.

Also this gets brought up in the third stream but that raises a question; IS it likely that the Gunship has a Moya equivalent in it?

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Originally Posted by LaZodiac

What moments are those because I can't remember'em.

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Well the most well known is probably when it gets supercharged by the remains of the Baby at the end of Super Metroid.

Getting a bit ahead of where you are now, in Prime Three Samus gets the Ice Missiles by copying the inborn cryokinetic abilities of another Hunter.

I will answer the gunship question when I get to it.

...AlsoTell Robin that I too immediately thought of Steamed Hams at the words "localized entirely."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rater202

Well the most well known is probably when it gets supercharged by the remains of the Baby at the end of Super Metroid.

Getting a bit ahead of where you are now, in Prime Three Samus gets the Ice Missiles by copying the inborn cryokinetic abilities of another Hunter.

I will answer the gunship question when I get to it.

...AlsoTell Robin that I too immediately thought of Steamed Hams at the words "localized entirely."

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Okay so, MY input on the baby is that it's not a property of Samus's suit so much as it is a property of the Metroid- it gave all that energy it drained from Mother Brain to Samus and it super charged her beam and then it was Time To Go and the Mother Brain got her face blasted through.

It has admittedly been a long time since I've played Prime 3 so I don't remember how she gets the ice missiles from ol' Rundus.

I will do so! Her response was "good" and I am imagining it in the Zelda Faces of Evil "good : )" voice clip, just for comedy's sake.

Having done a bit more double checking

Spoiler: End game spoilers

Show

The Phaozon suit in this game isn't technological, but the result of the Power Suit being "Virally infected" by the Phazon-mutated Omega Pirate.

So that's a clear-cut case of the Power Sit just straight up eating something biological that it was exposed to to upgrade itself.

Edit: Zodi, you didn't post the "horror happens despite smart choices" examples in the thread.

@Raz: Consider that in a lot of situations, if smart choices were made there'd be no movie. There's a reason why slashers tend to go after drunken, horny, pot-smoking teens.

Though I do recall Halloween 4 where when word gets out that Michael Meyers is in town the general response is to not only protect his likely main target but to call the state troopers and form a mob to hunt him down and kill him. Didn't work out too hot, he got a couple of people, the state troopers took their sweet time getting into town, and the mob killed a dud due to mistaken identity but come the climax of the film the mob, the sheriff, and the state troopers converge on Michael's location and proceeded to dust the bitch.

@ Rater: which is great Rater, stupid choices explains a lot. But consider: if you COULD make a horror that terrifies you despite all the smart choices taken, wouldn't that be MORE terrifying than ones that require stupid choices to be made? The horror of all your best choices being irrelevant?

Anyways, I missed this day's stream, you might as well know why: because I watching this interesting Elden Ring lore video person called The Tarnished Archaeologist, who is different from other lore video people because he actually uses archaeology, science real world inspirations and so to break down various things and explain concepts about Elden Ring that make it feel like he is uncovering more than most, and really do think his perspective is incredibly valuable for understanding the game's lore. it delves into things like botany, geology, architecture, and other real world stuff that helps inform what Elden Ring's referencing, I'm learning things I've never known before because of it.

on Metroidvania:
I view the term as being similar to "Roguelike" or "Soulslike", you can't sum up what it does so shortly so you have to name it by the game that it did it first because the combination of elements thats archetypical of it. a roguelike for example has to distinguish itself from a normal rpg as a term because normal rpgs don't have you retry the whole thing over again with randomized elements repeatedly, while a soulslike has to distinguish itself from a normal action/beat em up game by emphasizing the precision and slower nature of its combat as well as its lethality. you can technically see how the genres are similar to something else, but they're different enough that you can't really sum up the differences easily. same with Metroidvania which is like normal 2D platformers, but has significant differences enough that you can't play it the same way as you do Mario or whatnot.

thinking about it, the way to kill Samus is not while she's on a mission. she'd be too on guard, too combat-ready. if the Space Pirates really want to kill her, they'd have to do something like set up a trap in her ship to kill her in like the middle of space or while she is taking a break or something. or at least, the better idea than engaging her directly is destroy her ship so she can't go anywhere, thus stranding her on whatever dangerous planet she has found herself on.

Don't worry Zodi. No one cares about 100% runs like these unless they're speedruns, so there is no one here that really cares if you screw up the scans, and therefore no one to say your not cool. and speedrunners and challenge runners go through dozens to hundreds failed runs on streams before they get the run they actually put as a youtube video or WR record, and they have fans, so really if anything the way to get the hardcore challenge crowd is to be willing to fail a lot rather than get it first try. if anything showing the failures is a good way for them to ensure honesty and to demonstrate their perseverance to get the challenge right rather than being a cheater. so don't worry about failing, I bet you anyone who truly earns any WR in any game or whatever has failed far more times than you and even shown those failures to more people than you. so, really if you think about it any failure you make isn't that bad in comparison. and for any non-challenge runner lets player, failure is pretty much expected due to streamer luck and so on and good moments for the viewer to laugh at the player anyways since its either a first time reaction or the person has the playthrough so planned any mistake is standout moment in something otherwise competently executed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rater202

Edit: Zodi, you didn't post the "horror happens despite smart choices" examples in the thread.

@Raz: Consider that in a lot of situations, if smart choices were made there'd be no movie. There's a reason why slashers tend to go after drunken, horny, pot-smoking teens.

Though I do recall Halloween 4 where when word gets out that Michael Meyers is in town the general response is to not only protect his likely main target but to call the state troopers and form a mob to hunt him down and kill him. Didn't work out too hot, he got a couple of people, the state troopers took their sweet time getting into town, and the mob killed a dud due to mistaken identity but come the climax of the film the mob, the sheriff, and the state troopers converge on Michael's location and proceeded to dust the bitch.

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Right yes I'd actually forgotten that!

The horror movies I can think of where the horror still happens despite smart choices include....

Alien: This is a classic for a reason, basically every bad horror trope is avoided due to this particular haunted house being in space.
Predator: Another classic, one of my favorite films. The set up of "action film interrupted by alien" justifies basically everything that happens.
Get Out: One of the smartest horror films I've ever seen. The main character is genuinely very smart, gets the exact vibe of "oh I should just ****ing leave" anyone in a horror movie situation would have, and the only reason he CAN'T is because... well, watch the film. It all works.
Nope: Likewise to Get Out, with the edition that the only actions in the film I'd consider miiiight qualify for "stupid" are actions that are reasonable mistakes anyone in the situation would make, not horror movie stupidity.
Cabin in the Woods: This might seem like an odd choice on the face of it, given the discussion is "horror movies that happen despite the protagonists being smart" but I feel like the tone and vibe this film has going for it makes it work. No spoilers if you haven't seen it.

Just a small smattering of horror films that I think fit this criteria. Also some of my favorite films, incidentally, so give'em a look for me!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Raziere

@ Rater: which is great Rater, stupid choices explains a lot. But consider: if you COULD make a horror that terrifies you despite all the smart choices taken, wouldn't that be MORE terrifying than ones that require stupid choices to be made? The horror of all your best choices being irrelevant?

Anyways, I missed this day's stream, you might as well know why: because I watching this interesting Elden Ring lore video person called The Tarnished Archaeologist, who is different from other lore video people because he actually uses archaeology, science real world inspirations and so to break down various things and explain concepts about Elden Ring that make it feel like he is uncovering more than most, and really do think his perspective is incredibly valuable for understanding the game's lore. it delves into things like botany, geology, architecture, and other real world stuff that helps inform what Elden Ring's referencing, I'm learning things I've never known before because of it.

on Metroidvania:
I view the term as being similar to "Roguelike" or "Soulslike", you can't sum up what it does so shortly so you have to name it by the game that it did it first because the combination of elements thats archetypical of it. a roguelike for example has to distinguish itself from a normal rpg as a term because normal rpgs don't have you retry the whole thing over again with randomized elements repeatedly, while a soulslike has to distinguish itself from a normal action/beat em up game by emphasizing the precision and slower nature of its combat as well as its lethality. you can technically see how the genres are similar to something else, but they're different enough that you can't really sum up the differences easily. same with Metroidvania which is like normal 2D platformers, but has significant differences enough that you can't play it the same way as you do Mario or whatnot.

thinking about it, the way to kill Samus is not while she's on a mission. she'd be too on guard, too combat-ready. if the Space Pirates really want to kill her, they'd have to do something like set up a trap in her ship to kill her in like the middle of space or while she is taking a break or something. or at least, the better idea than engaging her directly is destroy her ship so she can't go anywhere, thus stranding her on whatever dangerous planet she has found herself on.

Don't worry Zodi. No one cares about 100% runs like these unless they're speedruns, so there is no one here that really cares if you screw up the scans, and therefore no one to say your not cool. and speedrunners and challenge runners go through dozens to hundreds failed runs on streams before they get the run they actually put as a youtube video or WR record, and they have fans, so really if anything the way to get the hardcore challenge crowd is to be willing to fail a lot rather than get it first try. if anything showing the failures is a good way for them to ensure honesty and to demonstrate their perseverance to get the challenge right rather than being a cheater. so don't worry about failing, I bet you anyone who truly earns any WR in any game or whatever has failed far more times than you and even shown those failures to more people than you. so, really if you think about it any failure you make isn't that bad in comparison. and for any non-challenge runner lets player, failure is pretty much expected due to streamer luck and so on and good moments for the viewer to laugh at the player anyways since its either a first time reaction or the person has the playthrough so planned any mistake is standout moment in something otherwise competently executed.

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Oh that sounds cool!

Yeah, agreed on the term Roguelike. It's a catchall term that exists to inform a certain vibe, mechanical gameplay loop, and industry tropes all at once. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact nature of what it is, but if you've played it you get it, instinctively. The problem is that a lot of the indicators show up in a wide variety of genre of games, like vestigial DNA markers akin to snakes with bone-growths that indicate a place where legs should be, it can be a bit rough a term to get a grasp on. It feels a little ridiculous to say like, Slay the Spire and The Binding of Isaac are the same genre, but they ARE, functionally, despite one being a card-building RPG and the other being a crass Zelda-dungeon twin-stick shooter.

I feel like attacking Samus while she's in the middle of a break, while possibly leaving her open and thus more vulnerable, is also a way to make the end of your existence the most painful it could possibly be. Samus is uniquely framed among Nintendo heroes as a character motivated by rage, revenge, and a full willingness to kill with extreme firepower. This is a woman with a vulnerable, gentle core surrounded by years of anger that has built up into a finely tuned, deadly weapon that has allowed her to genuinely, literally, actually and actively exterminate at least two species, destroy three, maybe four planets, and eradicate an entire alternate form of reality. This is stuff she does when she's on the job. Attacking her when she's on her day off means it is going to be slow and painful. So like- you're right, attacking her when she's most vulnerable IS the smartest plan. Pray to god you don't miss though.

I mean I care if I miss a scan, but I understand the sentiment. Thank you!

Anyway hey yesterday was a stream lets talk about it.

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Zodi Streams: Metroid Prime Remastered [4] What's Mine Is Mine

Video Length: 4:06:21

In today's episode, we (more or less) spend the majority of it within the Phazon Mine, after a brief jaunt into the crashed frigate Orpheon to... I'll be honest I straight up do not remember why we have to go there. To get access to the Mines, essentially.

The Phazon Mines is one of the most challenging areas in the game. It is VERY sparse of save points, more so than any other area in the game, and it actually has a LOT of deadly enemies between you and escaping with your life intact. Not just the Dark Pirates, but the new and improved Beam Troopers, each immune to all damage save for the beam they're the type of- quite the powerful foe. The most threatening are the Mega Turrets though, which shoot effectively super missiles at you, CARVING your health to pieces if you're not careful around them. By that token the minibosses of the area- the Elite Pirates and the Dark Drone- are kind of cakewalks in comparison. Funny how that works.

After digging out way down and out of the mines, we exit with two very important items; the Grapple Beam and the X-Ray Visor! With these we now, essentially, have the last exploratory tools we need to go just about everywhere. There's still one major item remaining mind you, but what it unlocks is less extensive than these. We do a small bit of artifact collecting, panic about scans for a bit, then set ourselves up for our next destination... the second half of Phazon Mines. Oh boy.

So I'm still catching up, I'm at the part where Yza brings up how Samus would reach to messages in Silent Hill and now all I can think of is... What would she be like in Silent Hill?

What would the Town do to her?

She's got Darkness in her past, and trauma but... By Dread she's overcome much of it. Like, Ridley, the one being she hates and fears, is well and truly dead. All that remains of him is in her after she ate the X that ate his fried-drie clone. The space pirates are dead and gone, Kraid was the last of them and Samus's response to unexpectedly running into him on ZDR was basically just "looks like we're doing this" and she just utterly destroyed the X that ate him after she killed him.

Ravenbeak is a new trauma button but he'd dead.

The Metroids are extinct, the X are extinct...

Basically all that' there would be lingering trauma from the Baby, which I think she's over... And Adam.

The way Samus thinks about Adam in Fusion does not line up at all with the way he acts in Other M and even with the worst of Other M being localization errors she still puts up with a lot of **** from this guy. Even AI Adam, in hindsight, seems to think that Meat Adam was kind of a ****.

So it's pretty clear that her cognition of the man is warped.

Given that Samus is much younger than you'd think and was in fact a literal teenager when she served under Adam pre-series, and that she hadn't fully processed her trauma of losing her parents and original home yet, and would ot have had much contact with other humans before joining the Federation. She'd have been emotionally vulnerable.

There is a distinct possibility that he may have capitalized on this in a predatory manner, effectively grooming the veritable, physically godlike supersoldier with access to unique, difficult-to-replicate equipment to submit to his authority.

If true, Silent Hill would likely compel her to confront that the commander she holds in such high regard was an abuser.

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Originally Posted by Rater202

So I'm still catching up, I'm at the part where Yza brings up how Samus would reach to messages in Silent Hill and now all I can think of is... What would she be like in Silent Hill?

What would the Town do to her?

She's got Darkness in her past, and trauma but... By Dread she's overcome much of it. Like, Ridley, the one being she hates and fears, is well and truly dead. All that remains of him is in her after she ate the X that ate his fried-drie clone. The space pirates are dead and gone, Kraid was the last of them and Samus's response to unexpectedly running into him on ZDR was basically just "looks like we're doing this" and she just utterly destroyed the X that ate him after she killed him.

Ravenbeak is a new trauma button but he'd dead.

The Metroids are extinct, the X are extinct...

Basically all that' there would be lingering trauma from the Baby, which I think she's over... And Adam.

The way Samus thinks about Adam in Fusion does not line up at all with the way he acts in Other M and even with the worst of Other M being localization errors she still puts up with a lot of **** from this guy. Even AI Adam, in hindsight, seems to think that Meat Adam was kind of a ****.

So it's pretty clear that her cognition of the man is warped.

Given that Samus is much younger than you'd think and was in fact a literal teenager when she served under Adam pre-series, and that she hadn't fully processed her trauma of losing her parents and original home yet, and would ot have had much contact with other humans before joining the Federation. She'd have been emotionally vulnerable.

There is a distinct possibility that he may have capitalized on this in a predatory manner, effectively grooming the veritable, physically godlike supersoldier with access to unique, difficult-to-replicate equipment to submit to his authority.

If true, Silent Hill would likely compel her to confront that the commander she holds in such high regard was an abuser.

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That, plus I think Silent Hill would play upon the subtle fears of her body revolting against her- seen already with the Sa-X but made more manifest because this time it is not some external being taking over bits that were carved off of her to save her life, but instead something more direct and clearly her, inside.

The Phazon corruption she will experience, then the Metroid DNA, all the X-ified monsters she absorbs, Ridley included, then learning that even the Chozo blood in her isn't perfectly "clean" because of Raven Beak. Sure, she's killed all of these people, even if signs of them still exist within her... but what happens if it starts taking over? If all that built up evil starts to win and the universe is knackered because the only person who could stop her is her own dang self.

The thing about PTSD, something Samus definitely has, is that no matter how good you get, no matter how much you heal... that **** can flare up from time to time. I can imagine Samus having PTSD esque dysphoria when she looks in the mirror and wonders if her canines have always been that sharp, or if her eyes have always had that specific glow to them, or stuff like that.

And to be clear I kinda want this to happen. Metroid has always been a horror series, at its core. The seclusion of being the single human being on a dark, hostile world, hunting and being hunted in equal measure, that **** is choice horror- and sometimes that stuff is preferable to interacting with others, since it is easier to lose that human side of yourself in the emptiness of space. But with the constant companion of an idealized new Adam, and the budding realization that Samus truly is am amalgamation of every pain and trauma she's ever had- pain and trauma that she has beaten to death with her own genetically modified fists- I think there is a grand opportunity for some psychological horror for the next Metroid game, in addition to the standard stuff.

All that to say; they should make a Metroid game that has Signalis vibes.

Ooh, that'd be a cool one even without the crossover element...

Though if that's how it goes... Maybe subvert the Metroidvania conventions: Samus starts with everything she had at the end of Dread and doesn't lose it. Inexplicably, in fact, it all starts getting stronger because Ridley's genes have activated in Samus's gestalt and, since the power suit is part of her body post-fusion, its regen is being augmented by his and kicks into overdrive: In short, her "physical amnesia" is cured and previous bits of technology, biology, or other that had previously been incorporated into her suit end up recreated which due to slight differences in versions of each it results in an overall improvement to the desing as it manifests.

At first, Samus thinks to herself "this is fine. You know, it's a good thing. Ridley owes me this after all the **** he's done" but the worry that other, less beneficial traits could manifest in the future just, you know, it gets to her when she stops to breathe...

But also, um... The threats on this mission are something she's never seen before. Even those upgrades aren't enough, so much like going Phazon Mode in the Prime Games Samus has to periodically tap into her Meroid powers to unleash the mega bull**** laser. This is fine, she's in control, and it's only for a few moments at a time.

...and then, and then... The regeneration recreates the Phazon Suit. There's no Phazon for it to protect her from or channel, not anymore, but it's there. And when she goes Metroid Mode after unlocking that upgrade she catches her on reflection and a Phazon Suit Ultimate Metroid... Would look an awful lot like Dark Samus.

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And to be clear I kinda want this to happen. Metroid has always been a horror series, at its core. The seclusion of being the single human being on a dark, hostile world, hunting and being hunted in equal measure, that **** is choice horror- and sometimes that stuff is preferable to interacting with others, since it is easier to lose that human side of yourself in the emptiness of space. But with the constant companion of an idealized new Adam, and the budding realization that Samus truly is am amalgamation of every pain and trauma she's ever had- pain and trauma that she has beaten to death with her own genetically modified fists- I think there is a grand opportunity for some psychological horror for the next Metroid game, in addition to the standard stuff.

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this gave me an idea for a Metroid game after that one where Samus unlike most games....wakes up in a hospital or some other federation facility, with some doctor informing her that her last outing has caused the Chozo suit to be destroyed and some memory damage to her head and they had to cobble together a replacement, not knowing how the usual one works, but something goes wrong as it turns out there are some screwed up experiments with metroid and phazon DNA going on inside the facility, and since the suit she has now isn't actually the Chozo Suit, her upgrades instead are more....biological as the usual stuff doesn't work and she ends up using more and more alien powers to win against these experiments....and start feeling the aliens predatory/parasitic urges as well, and start hallucinating that normal people are monsters to hunt and kill....

then at the end of the game it'd turn out that the Samus you were playing was a clone and the doctor had made the clone-Samus as a contingency worrying if Samus ever went rogue or died because of the hybrid DNA thing so he made a backup in case the federation needed another hero....that was flawed so the original suddenly comes in with all the upgrades to defeat the clone-Samus, and you play as the original one when you do so.

Still getting caught up, but in regards to the X-Ray proof mushrooms I feel the need to postulate that given the mushroom's proximity to Phazon and th lack of any obvious decaying biomatter deep underground that these may be the Phazon mutated mushrooms that the pirates were harvesting to produce rations for the phazon mutated lite pirates.

Mushrooms that in and of themselves contain phazon.

Conclusion? The mushrooms are, much like Cryptococcus neoformans here on earth, a variety that feeds on radiation. Primarily phazon radiation, hence why they can provide the same to the pirates... But x-rays are also a form of radiation.

Edit: Regarding hand cramps... I can't help but make note of the fact that in Dread, special emphasis is shown in images, when it's explained that Raven Beak was one of Samus's genetic donors, on some trait that she inherited that manifested in the right hand and forearm. Given that she and he are the only two uses of this specific variety of Chozo-powered armor with the arm canons there... I'm now wondering if Ravenbeak's genes weren't used specifically so that Samus wouldn't have to deal with cramps if she decided she wanted to be this kind of warrior when she grew up.

oh yeah, just to let you know:
late into the stream when I stopped commenting in chat my power went out for about two or three hours, thats why that happened, just letting you know in case you were wondering

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Originally Posted by Rater202

Still getting caught up, but in regards to the X-Ray proof mushrooms I feel the need to postulate that given the mushroom's proximity to Phazon and th lack of any obvious decaying biomatter deep underground that these may be the Phazon mutated mushrooms that the pirates were harvesting to produce rations for the phazon mutated lite pirates.

Mushrooms that in and of themselves contain phazon.

Conclusion? The mushrooms are, much like Cryptococcus neoformans here on earth, a variety that feeds on radiation. Primarily phazon radiation, hence why they can provide the same to the pirates... But x-rays are also a form of radiation.

Edit: Regarding hand cramps... I can't help but make note of the fact that in Dread, special emphasis is shown in images, when it's explained that Raven Beak was one of Samus's genetic donors, on some trait that she inherited that manifested in the right hand and forearm. Given that she and he are the only two uses of this specific variety of Chozo-powered armor with the arm canons there... I'm now wondering if Ravenbeak's genes weren't used specifically so that Samus wouldn't have to deal with cramps if she decided she wanted to be this kind of warrior when she grew up.

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Oh damn that's some clever thinking. I was thinking they just kinda shoved all their corpses in the mushroom pit.

... the mental image of Raven Beak grabbing Grey Void and Old Bird by the head going "GO ON! GIVE HER THE GUN ARM! GIVE HER A SHOOTING-ARM! SHE NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO SHOOT GUNS" when she's ****ing three years old is INCREDIBLY funny. He say this toddler and said she had the right to single-hand a hand-cannon. Samus Aran has five dads and they range from "genuinely good gay co-parents" to "dead" to "deranged lunatic who is also dead" and I kind of adore it.

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Originally Posted by Lord Raziere

oh yeah, just to let you know:
late into the stream when I stopped commenting in chat my power went out for about two hours, thats why that happened, just letting you know in case you were wondering

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Ah, that's good to know! I was actually concerned, though 100% completion brain-fog made me not express as such. Relatedly I got my guide so I'll be staking out the missiles and **** I've got left.

I'll post the new video up tomorrow today was a busy day.

Regarding the Phazon Suit: Apparently, it was late in development when they decided on it and they didn't have the time and/or budget to make a whole new model so they took one of the other suits and played around with the shaders and stuff till they got something that looked cool.

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Originally Posted by Rater202

Regarding the Phazon Suit: Apparently, it was late in development when they decided on it and they didn't have the time and/or budget to make a whole new model so they took one of the other suits and played around with the shaders and stuff till they got something that looked cool.

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And they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because the Phazon Suit is SWEET. Such a beautiful, sleek, and well designed suit, it is kind of wild to assume that it IS something they kinda lucked into.

Anyway, Prime time!

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Closing in on the finale of Prime, lets begin!

Zodi Plays: Metroid Prime Remastered [5.1] Mine, All Mine

Video Length: 1:07:27

[5.2] Flamethrower

Video Length: 44:25

[5.3] Artifactual Information

Video Length: 2:09:15

In this exciting- if somewhat disrupted due to ****ty internet- stream, we return once more to the Phazon Mines through the secondary entrance, making our way all the way down to the haunted Phazon mushroom clogged caverns. In its depths, the Omega Pirate- the pinnacle of Pirate Phazon Manipulation. A really cool, stylish boss with many fascinating ways to deal with it, most of which I forgot. I am glad I accidentally learned those beam troopers can be Power Bombed otherwise that might have taken a lot more work...

Our reward is, of course, the ultimate suit of armour; the Phazon Suit, a sleek black-and-red number with a minor disruptive barrier around it that I'm pretty sure makes you a touch more durable on top of just making you immune to radiation. With this, we can easily explore the rest of the world- and it is time to do so, hunting down artifacts, the last scans we need for 100%, and every last missile and power bomb and energy tank.

With all that (save for a few I'll get next time) done, we take our artifacts to the temple... and upon opening the way, who should appear by the mechanized Meta-Ridley, ready to visit upon Samus a ruthless and cruel vengeance. He is a pretty challenging boss for many reasons- not as purely destructive as the Omega Pirate, but far more agile and far more deadly in his precision. He also has no need for reinforcements, instead fighting you tooth and claw, till you bust open his chest, destroy his wings, and rip out his mechanical heart! I'm honestly kinda proud of myself on this one, since this boss tends to rip me to shreds, but I managed to get him in the stun loop at the end and god that was satisfying.

Also regarding th ePhazon suit: I mentioned this before, but in the inventory menu, at least in the original game, the Phazon Suit is described as having been "virally corrupted" by Phazon and, if you recall, some of the early pirate logs make note of how Phazon corruption/mutations seem to spread virally from host to host.

Given that the power suit is partially organic and is able to icomrperate biology as well as tech, it seems to me that what had happened was that the suit absorbed whatever viral pathogen was in the Omega Pirate in order to copy that particular pirate's ability to withstand and gain maximum benefits from the corruptive nature of phazon(and recall earlier notes indicated that deliberate attempts to mutate pirates used a phazon strain that provided mostly beneficial mutations with minimal side effects, so that's what Samus would have been bathed in.)