Continuing from the music thread...
I'm guessing the choice of Agon Wastes as your OST of choice for that post was a pointed one given the desert?
Yeah, the desert boggles the mind. I was willing to give it a chance because I didn't want to be prejudicial, and we've already had a slight unconventional means of connecting areas what with the gunship in Prime 3. But the desert is just really dull. It's not bad or horrible to trek through (if anything I actually like how the motorcycle controls), but it's just...there.
I do really like Agon Wastes at least, it's very atmospheric and matches the game's tone perfectly! Meanwhile the ambiance in the MP4
(not the file format) desert perfectly captures the crushing sense of
V O I D you get while traversing it.
Yeah Agon Wastes, even if I do find it to be the blandest of the Prime 2 areas, does have the benefit of actually being a Metroid area. Plus it's got the Pirate Base to spruce things up. Sol Valley is just featureless and bland in comparison. Honestly I don't know if I'd like it even if it were more lively though to be honest, it's inherently antithetical to Metroid design in being an open space. Labyrinthine design is the point, and having a vast open space is antithetical to that. I also wasn't fond of the wide open area that was in the entrance to another area, it felt like it was just there for the one setpiece and then was just a waste of space afterwards. (And considering there was a Kinetic Orb Cannon - or whatever Prime 4's name for it is - to get over that space when leaving, I feel like the dev knew that too).
At least the MP3
(still not a file format) gunship was basically Metroid's take on Ratchet & Clank's planet transitions for the most part and it didn't felt out of place in such a sci-fi universe, even if a downgrade after the first two games... But the desert and the motorcycle, however... what are they even doing here? Who decided this, and why?...
I would joke about the guy being also responsible for the BotW motorcycle, but clearly, whoever at Nintendo decided that didn't understand at all why it actually worked in a game like Breath of the Wild (or Mario Kart 8 )!
Considering the game's development started (or rather was rebooted) in 2019, and thus saw the entirety of BoTW's lifecycle. I do wonder if it was an influence. And if so, I feel like that was a big misstep. Nintendo's main franchises have tried to embrace a more open space design philosophy, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that...provided their formulae can fit it. Zelda can (although I'd argue there's a sizeable contingent who bemoan the fact that the BoTW formula has supplanted the old-school dungeon and overworld design of classic 3D Zelda). Mario can (Odyssey was a very fun game). Pokemon can (although frankly they need time and budget to make it look and play good).
Metroid can't. At least not something that feels like Metroid. People say Metroid is about exploring, which is true...but I'd say it's about pathfinding and a sense of things opening up as you progress. It's very very difficult to constrain someone in an open space without something arbitrary blocking or dissuading you. And unless you're sequence breaking, Metroid games are actually pretty linear, but give the illusion of openness. That's the balance. I don't know how well an Open-World game can do that while still not making you feel like you're just completing missions on a map.
Or maybe I'm just rambling again. I'll say I'm glad it wasn't completely open-world, but just...Sol Valley should've been a Temple Grounds. It would've been perfect as Temple Grounds. Honestly Prime 4 had the perfect template in what it was trying to do, in Prime 2. You had an ancient civilisation that had fallen, but still could interact with you in a fashion. You had a central area, and each other area connecting to it, much like how Temple Grounds connected to each other area in Prime 2. And you could've easily linked up each other area through elevators, trams or other transports. And as for the areas themselves...make em more organic. There's way too much in the way of corridors, and very little in the way of more intricately shaped rooms. Volt Forge was a fun area, but it is soo simplistic in its level layout compared to similar facility...say Sanctuary Fortress (I'm very deliberately comparing to Prime 2 xD).
Prime 3's areas I think also got pretty corridorry as well, but I don't think it felt as substantial as it did in Prime 4. And I'm gonna stop there otherwise I'll spend an eternity griping and nitpicking Prime 4 further. To be clear, I did enjoy Prime 4. But god almighty do I feel it could've been so much more.