---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------
Beat the Omega Pirate on my first (re)try today with relative ease so perhaps I was just having an 'off day'. The biggest change from my last runs was focusing more on the enemies that spawn while the boss is cloaked and only checking once I hear them laugh. Some RNG is involved because thermal & ice troopers are easier to deal with than the others. Emerging victorious with the 'Phazon Suit' they introduce Fission Metroids; the last variant on the log. They behave like regular Metroids except upon taking enough damage they split into two, each with a specific beam weakness similar to the troopers (yay...).
With this; I've reached the notorious endgame fetch-quest; something that I was aware of years before playing as it's frequently brought up in discussion. Thankfully, I'd already collected majority of the artifacts during my scenic ventures (I was lost) so finding the last remaining 4 was relatively easy.
However, considering I'm nearing the end of the game I figured "Might as well find ALL the items!". This proved to be significantly more frustrating as there is no means of tracking individual area completion on the map, and previously found items aren't even marked. I would scour the entire map only to give up and search for answers online to then be greeted with the realization that there wasn't anything left to find in the area I was. I adopted a rule that if nothing was found in 40 minutes I would go and look up where the items were because personally at that point it just isn't fun. I'm not asking for Samus to start talking to herself like "Hmm... maybe a super missile could break that pillar" but a simple percentage for single areas would've been welcome QoL.
To end on a more funny and embarrassing note. At some point after obtaining the power bombs I had come to the logic that they only destroyed wreckages and boulders not connecting that 'Bendezium' indicated which structures could be blown up. This means that I've unknowingly walked past several items that I assumed weren't obtainable yet.
