Oh wow I definitely enjoyed this game a lot more. I didn't have most of these complaints, and watching a GT review of this game makes me think this is definitely something I'll replay in the future.
For what it's worth, I just finished watching a YouTube LP of Metroid Prime and Samus's body language right before and right after the fight against Meta Ridley seem to be the exact same as in Other M - and it's the same body language for a good number of boss battles. And yet, in Metroid Prime, Samus knows that Ridley is alive, whereas in Other M, Ridley being alive hits Samus like a stack of bricks. Just take away Samus's PTSD, Anthony Higgs, and the dialogue from Other M's cutscene, and you more or less get Metroid Prime's version. Hell, in both games, Ridley attacks Samus in the cutscene right before the actual boss fight (in Prime Samus narrowly dodges Ridley's projectile, though).
Why people are upset with Samus's characterization in Other M is even more beyond me than ever before. For god's sake, METROID PRIME foreshadowed it!
It's really a mixed back, however, as by and large, Metroid Prime did make Other M look pretty bad - the latter game doesn't have any ruins or pirate bases, and only has grass, fire, and ice areas - AWFULLY CLICHE, and the game has some painfully bland areas while Metroid Prime has none - Other M is an insult to the series, in other words, in that respect. Ouch. The whole time I was watching the LP, I was thinking "Other M is part of the same series?" - and I had the opposite thought when watching GT's review of Other M. It probably really says something that episodes from a TV drama series reminded me of MOM far more than footage from actual Metroid games do.
Harkening back to the body language thing, Samus's body language is shown before most of the game's boss battles, whereas I don't remember it happening very often in Other M. Are we faced with the idea that Metroid Prime does a better job characterizing Samus than Other M does?
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!!!
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Currently Playing - StarCraft: Brood War