Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 239: Metroid: Other M

(+) Yeah! (+)

Todays game is Metroid: Other M. How would you rate the story on a scale from 1-10?

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them. Games need at least four votes to count for the list.

Previous Results:
Planescape: Torment - 9.85 (13 votes)
Clannad - 9.75 (4 votes)
Omori - 9.67 (6 votes)
Outer Wilds - 9.61 (22 votes)
Silent Hill 2 - 9.5 (20 votes)
Higurashi When They Cry - 9.5 (9 votes)
Deus Ex - 9.32 (12 votes)
428: Shibuya Scramble - 9.27 (9 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - 9.2 (20 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.19 (35 votes)
Last Window: The Secret of Cape West - 9.15 (10 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
The House in Fata Morgana - 9.06 (11 votes)
Yakuza 0 - 9.03 (13 votes)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9 (8 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 8.95 (31 votes)
Steins;Gate - 8.94 (9 votes)
Mother 3 - 8.91 (15 votes)
Umineko When They Cry - 8.89 (14 votes)
Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - 8.88 (21 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.85 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8.83 (6 votes)
Suikoden II - 8.8 (11 votes)
Persona 3 - 8.76 (22 votes)
Grim Fandango - 8.75 (14 votes)
Xenogears - 8.73 (24 votes)

Tales of Berseria - 8.71 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.67 (27 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (28 votes)
Pyre - 8.64 (7 votes)
Portal 2 - 8.64 (19 votes)
Bastion - 8.63 (12 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.63 (32 votes)
Dragon Quest V - 8.6 (15 votes)
AI: The Somnium Files - 8.59 (13 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.58 (6 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask - 8.57 (28 votes)
Persona 4 - 8.56 (32 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.56 (17 votes)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - 8.53 (18 votes)
SOMA - 8.5 (6 votes)
Fate/Stay Night - 8.48 (12 votes)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 8.47 (16 votes)
Undertale - 8.45 (42 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.44 (29 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - 8.42 (12 votes)
What Remains of Edith Finch - 8.41 (19 votes)
Chrono Trigger - 8.4 (41 votes)
Snatcher - 8.33 (6 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.31 (56 votes)
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - 8.31 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy VII - 8.29 (38 votes)
South Park: The Stick of Truth - 8.25 (18 votes)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - 8.23 (6 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - 8.21 (19 votes)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor - 8.2 (10 votes)
Parasite Eve - 8.19 (9 votes)
Dragon Quest XI - 8.19 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy VI - 8.19 (43 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.19 (43 votes)
The Walking Dead Season 1 - 8.16 (22 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - 8.15 (17 votes)
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 8.14 (7 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.13 (35 votes)
Conkers Bad Fur Day - 8.11 (9 votes)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals - 8.11 (9 votes)
The Wolf Among Us - 8.11 (15 votes)
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 8.06 (18 votes)
Silent Hill - 8.04 (14 votes)
Portal - 8 (26 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 8 (18 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles - 7.98 (28 votes)
Hades - 7.96 (22 votes)
Tsukihime - 7.94 (7 votes)
Persona 5 - 7.92 (27 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.92 (32 votes)
Spec Ops: The Line - 7.9 (17 votes)
Bloodborne - 7.88 (20 votes)
Kid Icarus: Uprising - 7.86 (13 votes)
Psychonauts - 7.79 (7 votes)
Deadly Premonition - 7.77 (11 votes)
Final Fantasy IX - 7.77 (26 votes)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - 7.75 (14 votes)
Mario & Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story - 7.75 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 3 - 7.75 (8 votes)
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - 7.75 (6 votes)
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - 7.75 (4 votes)
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - 7.73 (32 votes)
The Sexy Brutale - 7.7 (5 votes)
Bioshock - 7.65 (24 votes)
Skies of Arcadia - 7.63 (15 votes)
Paper Mario: The Origami King - 7.63 (6 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.61 (28 votes)
Celeste - 7.56 (26 votes)
Half-Life 2 - 7.55 (10 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.51 (31 votes)
The Last Story - 7.47 (6 votes)
Mortal Kombat (2011) - 7.46 (13 votes)
Marvels Spider-Man - 7.43 (16 votes)
Tales of Symphonia - 7.42 (30 votes)
Earthbound - 7.37 (20 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.33 (29 votes)
Batman: Arkham Asylum - 7.33 (23 votes)
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - 7.27 (20 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.25 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Red Dead Redemption - 7.23 (11 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.21 (30 votes)
Devil May Cry 3: Dantes Awakening - 7.21 (12 votes)
Resident Evil 4 - 7.19 (25 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (25 votes)
Mass Effect 3 - 7.16 (21 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 7.11 (23 votes)
The Stanley Parable - 7.11 (14 votes)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 7.1 (30 votes)
Broken Age - 7.1 (5 votes)
The Last of Us Part II - 7.09 (16 votes)
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal - 7.08 (6 votes)
To the Moon - 7.07 (7 votes)
INSIDE - 7.06 (16 votes)
Warcraft III (overall) - 7.06 (8 votes)
Assassins Creed II - 7.04 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy VIII - 7.01 (31 votes)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 7 (6 votes)

Oh boy

Not voting because I haven't played it but everything I've seen about it makes me think I'd rate it very low

Nominate Sonic Adventure

I haven't played it but I watched a full playthrough so I feel confidant with my

1

Partners in Time: 9

It does slow down sometimes but I love how actually threatening the alien invasion is. The past and future Bowsers teaming up to fight you is amazing and totally justified the time travel for me.

Other M: 3. Mostly I was just bored by Samus's lifeless voice acting and the long stretches of time where nothing happens. The few moments that do stand out aren't good ones.

3 sounds right

I don't have the issues with this that a lot of other people do, but that just means I have other, different issues. The big one is that a bunch of subplots just go nowhere or are dropped completely. Also, it's a complete retread of Fusion, but doesn't replace Fusion in the chronology? I dunno, it's just amateurish.

1

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - 2

1

Crazy to see someone fail to understand their own work this badly.

1

Not even entertainingly bad. Just no joy to find, here.

Oh wow a topic I can give an honest

1

TheArkOfTurus posted...

1

Not even entertainingly bad. Just no joy to find, here.

I think this is the best way to describe MOM. It's not the worst-written story I've ever seen but it has zero value to offer in any capacity.

1

1

Imagine if it actually dethornes Plumbers Dont Wear Ties

I wish I could remember more of it to critique but I remember it being uh not good

3

1 but if I could give it a negative number it would be minus a gazillion.

Kenri posted...

3 sounds right

I don't have the issues with this that a lot of other people do, but that just means I have other, different issues. The big one is that a bunch of subplots just go nowhere or are dropped completely. Also, it's a complete retread of Fusion, but doesn't replace Fusion in the chronology? I dunno, it's just amateurish.

I think this sums up my opinions pretty well. 3.

I sat there, writing my review, staring at the keys. How would I voice myself? Voice... something established when we grow. When we develop language, to communicate, to transmit our thoughts between one another. That was something that The Baby never had. Yet it still communicated to me. A voiceless bond. A silent cry. That is the gift that is left to me. I was a hunter, solitary and alone. Even with companions, I was alone. This is the situation I found myself in now. Among soldiers, among those who I'd fought with... but alone. That is my silent voice calling out.

1

Like, even taking the character portrayal and delivery aside, it's got a script so redundant it'd make Persona blush it's so redundant, combined with utterly glacial pacing in the actual storytelling. There are ideas here that aren't terrible and add a bit to the Metroid world and lore, but its presentation absolutely kneecaps it at every single opportunity. It's pretty fun to make fun of, but it's a great example on how to avoid telling a story beyond anything else.

2/10

Oh boy. I'm tempted to give it a 1/10, but when I originally played it, the story didn't bother me THAT much. It wasn't until I saw loads of hate coming from the internet that I realized how bad it was.

Samus being downgraded from intergalactic badass to squeamish girl with PTSD could've been interesting if handled well, but in this case it wasn't.

The supporting cast was largely forgettable, and most of the memorable moments are gameplay-related or fanservicey stuff that has nothing to do with the actual story ("Oh, cool there's Phantoon! Oh cool, there's the Queen Metroid!").

Nominate Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Don't remember if I did this already but speaking of really bad Nintendo stories

Nomatine Super Mario Sunshine

2.5

There's... a couple of alright ideas buried away in there. I don't hate the Ridley stuff in theory. But it's all executed terribly, there's a major plot thread entirely abandoned (I know you can work out the Deleter identity yourself but it really should have been given a proper conclusion >_>), and above all else the destruction of Samus as a character makes the story unsalvageable.

And the terrible dialogue, obviously.

1

Terrible story

andylt posted...

I don't hate the Ridley stuff in theory.

Me neither. His evolution from chick to adult Ridley could've be interesting with better use of mystery and suspense elements (especially considering that Metroid draws tons of inspiration from the Alien movies).

2

I think we need the world's foremost Other M expert to weigh in on this.
@LinkMarioSamus

AxemRedRanger posted...

I think we need the world's foremost Other M expert to weigh in on this.

He will ruin it with a 10 score

plasmabeam posted...

Samus being downgraded from intergalactic badass to squeamish girl with PTSD

Not trying to be mean but these kinds of takes were bad in 2008 and they're really really bad in 2022

4

None of the ideas are necessarily bad, but what a mess this is. Unfortunate implications are only the tip of the iceberg.

That said, I'm a little shocked at the beatdown here but I shouldn't after what happened to Fusion. That game's story actually makes a lick of sense, so how about death by a million tiny plot holes? The bad scores are completely deserved, but IMO most of the problem is in the storytelling itself and not in the plot so much.

Kenri posted...

Not trying to be mean but these kinds of takes were bad in 2008 and they're really really bad in 2022

You're not being mean. You're spot-on... I could've phrased that one better.

Uh oh, I have to agree with LMS about Other M, for the score anyway.

4/10.

Its bad, but not worth the hysterical reaction it gets either. I will defend the Ridley scene, I think it is pretty bad from the audience that a portrayal of mental illness is seen as weakness or ruining the character, and it does set up some interesting plotlines that go nowhere. With that said the script is bad, the relationship with Adam is beyond toxic, and for all the talk of it expanding the lore or ruining the lore the whole story is mainly just it relitigating Fusion, rendering the whole affair pointless.

So its not the calamity it gets memed as but it is poor overall.

People who think mental illness = weakness don't have a respectable opinion, but I'd say there are other reasons to criticize that scene. It relies on knowledge from another source to make sense, so a player who isn't familiar with that will have no idea why Samus is disturbed by Ridley this one time only.

I think the scene could've been received well if it could stand on its own, or if the game used some of its hours of bland monologuing to build it up more. But just looking at it in context it's delivered pretty badly.

TBH no individual scene really stands out to me anymore, the whole thing is just rotten. Its like Nintendos Battlefield Earth or something. Though I will say that Other Ms story is Shakespearean compared to, say, Batman & Robins.

Samus running through the lava sector without a Varia Suit because it wasn't authorised yet is the silliest scene.