@crimsonavenger: If you're not trolling then...
I don't see why people like 2D Metroid so much
I like 2D Metroid because it's all about exploring an atmospheric, moody, and dangerous world in search of things that will allow you to open up even more areas of the game, providing a world that seamlessly transitions between areas. These games start with very basic mechanics and reward you for being able to use them well by giving you another mechanic to play with. Yes, this can be done in 3D (and was done quite well three times in a row), but the 2D games manage to build a world that leaves a lot to thought and imagination.
Metroid Prime's story is really rather fascinating. Samus Aran was raised by Chozo on Zebes, so she's not entirely an alien on Tallon IV - but you, the player, are. The Chozo on Tallon IV basically experienced something that we put in our post-apocalyptic stories, only for them, they didn't survive. They fought and fought and fought and still died out, and all that's left are their logs and their ruined civilization. The story is never blatantly and bluntly delivered to you by talking to characters, you have to seek it out, and much of it is still left to imagination and your own conclusions. It's the same thing with the Space Pirates and their business on Tallon IV. The comparison to Halo isn't even a valid one - if you want to compare Metroid Prime's storytelling to anything, compare it to Dark Souls.
Everything you've said about Metroid leads me to conclude that you just haven't given the series much thought. The things you have written about the series make it sound like you played maybe an hour of Super Metroid and a little more of Metroid Prime and just concluded that these games are not for you, therefore, they must be bad. Instead, why not consider other factors that may not appeal to you specifically, but may appeal to others? As an example, I don't like Red Dead Redemption all that much, but I understand that people love how wonderfully that game recreates the atmosphere of old Spaghetti Westerns. It looks, sounds, and plays more to that particular aesthetic better than anything else ever released.
Nintendo needs to do the legwork and finally create a universe for Samus to inhabit. Metroid is about isolation, but it's impossible to keep making games that exist with no contextual understanding of the outside world.
I'd make a game that has 3 planets for Samus to explore and a space Bar that acts as a hub world. The bar is full of seedy space people for Samus to interact with and get a feel for sentient alien lifeforms and the culture of her world. The bar could even get attacked by Metroids in the last third fo the game so you can see what it would be like for a Metroid outbreak to actually happen.
Someone above pointed out that Metroid Prime 3 does a lot to expand the universe, as does Metroid Other M. Other M is very widely disliked, especially for its story, so I won't bring that up much. But part of the reason I've never actually been able to make myself finish Prime 3 is the expanded focus on filling in the universe's details. Metroid is a series I've grown up with and one of the things that has always kept it relevant to me is how little we know about the universe in which it all takes place. We're only given snippets instead of a full picture - we know only what we need to know to continue on. One of my favorite things about Metroid Prime and Super Metroid is the sense of isolation, the knowledge that there's a bigger world out there but it's irrelevant to what I'm doing and the game I'm playing.
Plus, I don't like visiting other planets in Metroid games. It means that the world and the areas don't interconnect and the levels just become isolated. Makes it easier on the level designers but it also means that you don't get on an elevator and then come out in a place you left three hours ago. Also, it means more loading screens.
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