It certainly is a Famicom/NES-era rpg. However dis-similarly to other RPGs I've played from that era, this one runs a much wider range of interest throughout its runtime -in turn working for and against it. Obviously, its setting and general core is immediately more interesting as most people that know anything about the mother series will understand its more 'modern' take on the rpg setting. In addition to this, I wasn't too surprised but was entertained that even with this being the first game, much of the dry and offbeat humor wasn't absent throughout most of it. In fact I was glad that this game was the start/precursor to a good amount of mechanics/design choices I enjoyed from later games. For example: When you die, you lose money and are just sent back to the last phone you saved at rather than losing time progress, teleport is present in this game, and even distinct exploits in this game like the 'Onyx Hook' allowing you to immediately teleport back to magicant for free healing was certainly welcome. Hell, one point this does have over later games is your equipped items wont count towards inventory, wasting space.
Outside of this and the general premise being neat enough, I can't say I readily recommend this game. Beyond many of the quirks being a product of its nature like with Earthbound, there's just some bizarre design decisions I don't understand. Like, equipment/item upkeep in general is kinda tossed out after Magicant (your first visit being at the end of the first 1/3rd of the game). After you get access to boomerangs that's you main weapon for (almost) every party member until the final dungeon and magicant's shops sell every piece of armor in the game except last hour upgrades. This leads into the fact you'll just have tons of money to not spend on anything by the end of the game.
The game's macguffins are just placed sporadically throughout the world, including a canary in a village off the beaten path, a singing monkey and a random cactus. The game does give hints and there's even an npc once you reach the end of the game that'll let you know where the missing melodies are but this is such a bizarre way of doing this. Also the locations of hospitals/hotels/etc. is really inconsistent, certain towns won't have a hotel even if they're next to a dungeon (e.g. Spokane) and you'll have to travel back to either Magicant or Merrysville for heals.
Lastly and most pertinent to this game would be battling. Earthbound doesn't have the most interesting battle system I'll admit but I think there's at least enough there to make it stand out and its designed in a way that works pretty well despite its jank. It's pretty easy to pick up and play, despite Earthbound's age and some difficulty bumps at the start. Mother 1 is kind of piss easy and damn rough at the same time, I can't really say I understood where I was difficulty-progression wise when playing. Probably the best example of this is the end of the game where you cannot and are not going to beat most of the enemy encounters unless you grind like crazy. Don't grind here, just escape and get to final boss around level ~28-30 for Ninten, and beat the final boss since its practically on rails with how easy he is. That said, you will need to grind a ton in the early sections of the game because good lord some of these dungeons can be rough as hell.
Battling isn't helped by the fact that enemy encounters are just as sporadic as much of the other game's elements. Sometimes you'll step 3 tiles and get in another fight, sometimes you'll walk 30 tiles and not get in one. This also isn't helped by the fact that you can pretty much auto your way through most fights. If you play this game patched I think you'd be getting the most out of this game since combat is its weakest link, otherwise it bogs down what would otherwise be one of the neater rpgs on the system.
Outside of this and the general premise being neat enough, I can't say I readily recommend this game. Beyond many of the quirks being a product of its nature like with Earthbound, there's just some bizarre design decisions I don't understand. Like, equipment/item upkeep in general is kinda tossed out after Magicant (your first visit being at the end of the first 1/3rd of the game). After you get access to boomerangs that's you main weapon for (almost) every party member until the final dungeon and magicant's shops sell every piece of armor in the game except last hour upgrades. This leads into the fact you'll just have tons of money to not spend on anything by the end of the game.
The game's macguffins are just placed sporadically throughout the world, including a canary in a village off the beaten path, a singing monkey and a random cactus. The game does give hints and there's even an npc once you reach the end of the game that'll let you know where the missing melodies are but this is such a bizarre way of doing this. Also the locations of hospitals/hotels/etc. is really inconsistent, certain towns won't have a hotel even if they're next to a dungeon (e.g. Spokane) and you'll have to travel back to either Magicant or Merrysville for heals.
Lastly and most pertinent to this game would be battling. Earthbound doesn't have the most interesting battle system I'll admit but I think there's at least enough there to make it stand out and its designed in a way that works pretty well despite its jank. It's pretty easy to pick up and play, despite Earthbound's age and some difficulty bumps at the start. Mother 1 is kind of piss easy and damn rough at the same time, I can't really say I understood where I was difficulty-progression wise when playing. Probably the best example of this is the end of the game where you cannot and are not going to beat most of the enemy encounters unless you grind like crazy. Don't grind here, just escape and get to final boss around level ~28-30 for Ninten, and beat the final boss since its practically on rails with how easy he is. That said, you will need to grind a ton in the early sections of the game because good lord some of these dungeons can be rough as hell.
Battling isn't helped by the fact that enemy encounters are just as sporadic as much of the other game's elements. Sometimes you'll step 3 tiles and get in another fight, sometimes you'll walk 30 tiles and not get in one. This also isn't helped by the fact that you can pretty much auto your way through most fights. If you play this game patched I think you'd be getting the most out of this game since combat is its weakest link, otherwise it bogs down what would otherwise be one of the neater rpgs on the system.