Thoughts on Metroid Prime, hard difficulty (spoilers for those who haven't beaten it on either difficulty)
PostPosted:Sat Dec 07, 2002 3:30 pm
<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>It's definately harder, but not in the ways you'd think. Basically, the early going is much, much harder, cumulating in the battle with Thardus. At that point I'm pretty sure it's not possible to have more than 6 energy tanks, and he will punish you (especially at the mid-way point through the battle, where visibility is shit and you have to be close to him to know if you're in position to hit - there's just not enough time to morph and roll away if he turns into a boulder).
Enemies that were formerly pesky now are somewhat troublesome. Wasps hit hard now, scarabs can easily drain an energy tank if you're not careful, and a few shriekbat hits will knock you down at least half a tank.
Space Pirates become some of the biggest threats in the game. Stealth pirate slashes do about 50 a pop, and they're quick. Regular pirate cannons really hurt, and the specialized troopers are even more dangerous than before (the worst are the wave troopers - it's hard to time the charge attacks to keep them stunned, and they're good about getting a shot or two off if your timing is anywhere near off). Power troopers take two super missiles each, provided they all hit, and they can drain your reserves fast. Ice and plasma are still pretty easy - in fact, one of the saving graces is that any enemy that can be frozen can still be shattered with a single missile blast, which is the best tactic for the middle of the game.
One thing you need to do if you're playing hard is be much more meticiulous. You NEED all 14 energy tanks. You need at least 200 missiles, and you need all the beam combos (well, plasma is a bit unnecessary, since it's much safer to just use the regular beam than try to close the distance to torch enemies - then again, it's really easy to get).
The bosses...the plant guy is a bit more dangerous because he takes more hits to be stunned, so it's a lot harder to stunlock him to prevent him from knocking the mirrors back over. Thardus is a bitch. The Omega Pirate battle is either difficult or extremely difficult, depending on which pirates come to assist - hope for lots of ice troopers, but three pirates shooting at you simultaneously can really run through your energy tanks. Mega Ridley is all about timing - each one of his charge attacks is pretty much half a tank down the drain, and if you've fought him, you know he does a lot of charging at you. And Metroid Prime just comes down to skill at the battle - if you've beaten him a few times on normal, you can do it on hard - just save your missiles for the Super Missile and Ice Spreader combos. Wavebuster eats up too many missiles for the damage, and the moment any metroids spawn in the second half of the battle, roll up to them and drop a power bomb, then make a run for the Phazon.
One thing I noticed is that enemies drop Ultra energies a lot more often on Hard, which does help.
It's a good challenge, and not supremely unfair, but you need to spend that much extra time finding powerups to make sure you're prepared. Now I have to find that last 8% of goodies...</div>
Enemies that were formerly pesky now are somewhat troublesome. Wasps hit hard now, scarabs can easily drain an energy tank if you're not careful, and a few shriekbat hits will knock you down at least half a tank.
Space Pirates become some of the biggest threats in the game. Stealth pirate slashes do about 50 a pop, and they're quick. Regular pirate cannons really hurt, and the specialized troopers are even more dangerous than before (the worst are the wave troopers - it's hard to time the charge attacks to keep them stunned, and they're good about getting a shot or two off if your timing is anywhere near off). Power troopers take two super missiles each, provided they all hit, and they can drain your reserves fast. Ice and plasma are still pretty easy - in fact, one of the saving graces is that any enemy that can be frozen can still be shattered with a single missile blast, which is the best tactic for the middle of the game.
One thing you need to do if you're playing hard is be much more meticiulous. You NEED all 14 energy tanks. You need at least 200 missiles, and you need all the beam combos (well, plasma is a bit unnecessary, since it's much safer to just use the regular beam than try to close the distance to torch enemies - then again, it's really easy to get).
The bosses...the plant guy is a bit more dangerous because he takes more hits to be stunned, so it's a lot harder to stunlock him to prevent him from knocking the mirrors back over. Thardus is a bitch. The Omega Pirate battle is either difficult or extremely difficult, depending on which pirates come to assist - hope for lots of ice troopers, but three pirates shooting at you simultaneously can really run through your energy tanks. Mega Ridley is all about timing - each one of his charge attacks is pretty much half a tank down the drain, and if you've fought him, you know he does a lot of charging at you. And Metroid Prime just comes down to skill at the battle - if you've beaten him a few times on normal, you can do it on hard - just save your missiles for the Super Missile and Ice Spreader combos. Wavebuster eats up too many missiles for the damage, and the moment any metroids spawn in the second half of the battle, roll up to them and drop a power bomb, then make a run for the Phazon.
One thing I noticed is that enemies drop Ultra energies a lot more often on Hard, which does help.
It's a good challenge, and not supremely unfair, but you need to spend that much extra time finding powerups to make sure you're prepared. Now I have to find that last 8% of goodies...</div>