Stumbling through Super Metroid - Part 7

[davidn]

RavenWorks: OH MY GOD DAVID
NewtonXDavid: YES
RavenWorks: the firebug ice thing!
RavenWorks: ARE YOU SOME KIND OF IDIOT SAVANT
NewtonXDavid: YOU'RE HALF RIGHT
This is one of my favourite episodes in a while! Perhaps mostly because I don't start or end it completely stuck, in contrast to many of the other recent ones. This time, there's a lot of forward progress in an hour of gameplay mostly around the wrecked ship, and I also discover a lot of other things - mostly by accident. Namely, I defeat the third boss, acquire a new outfit and learn a new ability from a punk flamingo - it's interesting that as part of the game's completely silent narration, some skills are passed on through teaching by example like this rather than actually unlocking them.

And as a side note, look how buttery-silky-smooth the video is now! I've switched over to FRAPS as a screen recorder because I'm planning to do a couple of more demanding games soon and the performance difference is so large it's insane - most of that is due to the way that it doesn't attempt to compress on the fly, therefore producing 10GB-per-hour videos that you have to compress manually later, but I have the hard drive space to work with it. I also had some desynchronization issues at first and went back to making a simultaneous audio recording on the Pod X3, but in this video I'm using the audio that FRAPS recorded with the screen and it seems happy enough after all.

http://youtu.be/Mq1SJ4UESCc

Comments

[crassadon.livejournal.com]

I admire your finesse when fighting the ghost of the wrecked ship. I've always thought of it as the hardest boss. . . except for the next one. . . and also besides the first one, who guards the morph ball bombs!

As I've said before, I enjoy watching you--as someone who hasn't played this game before--appropriately, stumble around, doing things without already knowing the correct path. I find it interesting how you, despite frequently exploring the same areas several times to find the right way to go, have actually managed to miss more than one thing that I go after as fast as I can. It's just really kind of weird!

[davidn]

I'm glad to provide such entertainment :) It's quite a strange position I'm in, not having experienced all these games that people know inside-out... and it must be strange in turn to see someone who doesn't know what he's doing by now in them.

[kjorteo]

Add to what Crassadon said that I'm only getting more and more impressed at your ability to figure out this game! I was afraid you would get stuck at that one statue, or that you wouldn't instantly recognize what the Gravity Suit does and why that's actually a pretty big deal, but here you are being downright good at this game. :)

[davidn]

Some cues are easier than others :) I knew that there was no way it would have asked me to cross the spikes for nothing, though there was always that nagging feeling that I might just not have the ability yet. As for the gravity suit... I really admire the layout of the game, arranging that door to unexpectedly drop you right in the water and discover first-hand that it affects your movement like that.

[kjorteo]

The game does have its moments of ingenious design like that! (And they're all lost on the people who couldn't figure out how to use the Bombs they had barely just received to go through the only way out of that pit in which they had just received them.) I figured that you'd probably notice as soon as you entered water, I just forgot that the game makes it a point to reintroduce you to it so quickly.

And speaking of you figuring out things as soon as you notice them, I told you you'd figure out the Shinespark once you saw the demonstration! (I also told you that I'd eat my hat if you figured it out before then, so I suppose I'm safe.) You are officially no longer merely stumbling through this game.

[crassadon.livejournal.com]

Also, you don't have worry about getting a hat :3

[xaq.livejournal.com]

Congrats on figuring out the Shinespark!

HISTORY LESSON: The term comes from the anime "Getter Robo," from one of the titular mecha's techniques.

I'll let Super Robot Wars demonstrate. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zJgEn68oYE)

[rakarr.livejournal.com]

I thought it was dramatic when Samus did it, but this takes the cake!