Behind the wackiness of Itoi’s amusing writing is an authenticity which reflects in the eyes of the game's audience, the adolescents. Adolescents who may not fully cognize the world in which they inhabit, their worlds exist simply as impressions of reality, and its Earthbound which exists as physical representation of this impression. Displaying the journey of one such child submerged in a satirical interpretation of western society, maturing through their faceoff with the never ending cycle of corruption we face, and finding the solace that the series’ titular figure endeavors to protect, our Home.
Yet the above paragraph is really only a wish of mine, a wish that Earthbound had really focused on telling that tale, rather than playing up its quirkiness to the extreme. It’s around the halfway mark of the game where its focus begins to fall apart as our slightly humorous adventure through the suburbs and urban streets of Eagland then suddenly shifts to a world round journey of what can only be described as mind numbing insanity. The many gameplay systems of Earthbound such as its combat, leveling, item selection/management, and even menuing simply don’t even hit the base mark necessary for me to casually enjoy the game in any manner. Once you combine that with multiple of what have to be some of the worst designed dungeons I’ve ever played in any RPG, if there were no access to save states or speedup tools my score for this game would’ve had to be one point lower.
Despite partially reclaiming its focus as the game approaches its end through the Magicant section (an area actually acts as a great cohesion point for the narrative) and final boss fight, it isn’t enough to recover from just how mired my experience was for a large portion of it. Regardless, its ambitions didn’t pass me unnoticed, and its legacy is one that I really appreciate as a fan of many of the games which now carry on its many highlights. I look forward to playing Mother 3 in the near future and seeing if Itoi will truly be able to capture me in the way it already has many of you on this site.
Yet the above paragraph is really only a wish of mine, a wish that Earthbound had really focused on telling that tale, rather than playing up its quirkiness to the extreme. It’s around the halfway mark of the game where its focus begins to fall apart as our slightly humorous adventure through the suburbs and urban streets of Eagland then suddenly shifts to a world round journey of what can only be described as mind numbing insanity. The many gameplay systems of Earthbound such as its combat, leveling, item selection/management, and even menuing simply don’t even hit the base mark necessary for me to casually enjoy the game in any manner. Once you combine that with multiple of what have to be some of the worst designed dungeons I’ve ever played in any RPG, if there were no access to save states or speedup tools my score for this game would’ve had to be one point lower.
Despite partially reclaiming its focus as the game approaches its end through the Magicant section (an area actually acts as a great cohesion point for the narrative) and final boss fight, it isn’t enough to recover from just how mired my experience was for a large portion of it. Regardless, its ambitions didn’t pass me unnoticed, and its legacy is one that I really appreciate as a fan of many of the games which now carry on its many highlights. I look forward to playing Mother 3 in the near future and seeing if Itoi will truly be able to capture me in the way it already has many of you on this site.
2 Comments
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i liked this game a lot more, mainly because i was to deal well with the gameplay mechanics (it's the easiest one), but yeah, sometimes i wish the mother series wasn't partially made through the lens of parodying the common jrpg of the time. imo 2 has the weakest narrative in the series, it's not as focused and emotional as 3 and lacks the narrative connections and supplementary lore of the first. in that sense, 3 should be much more to your liking (though 1 is a no go if you had issues with 2's design).
Wynter01
2 years ago