Earthbound

As you can probably tell, I recently played Earthbound and simply fell in love with it. This game, which appears to be another SNES RPG on the outside...it ended up being a lot more than that. It's not some franchise Nintendo has milked, like Mario or Zelda, which are meant to be fun-to-play cashgrabs...it's a game that tells a story that very much relates to real life. Going out into the world by yourself to conquer the transition from childhood to adulthood, and feeling alone at first, but then you realize that despite your face-to-face battles with enemies, that you aren't alone and that everyone is rooting for you. More people join you on your journey, supporting you in reaching your goal. 

In actuality, this game succeeded in drawing me in due to its sheer level of personality. In your typical RPGs, many NPCs say meaningless jibjab that doesn't really add to the experience, but every one of Earthbound's NPCs says something humorous or helpful, while still being subtle about it. The game goes from Ness' bright and happy hometown, Onett, to Twoson, a distant town full of greenery, and then immediately throws you into the somber city of Threed. The colors used in the game really help to set the tone, and the music, which is brilliantly composed, only adds to it. In addition to overworld themes, most being catchy and memorable, most enemies have their own theme that really adds to the game's personality.

The game leaves you with a very powerful and energetic final battle, after which you return home, where everything is much calmer than before. Why am I seemingly overhyping this game? I'm not. I've been with Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Pokemon...for years, since I was a child, and Earthbound in itself has influenced me more than all of those games combined. Earthbound is the only game that I could sympathize with its main character. If video games could be considered works of art, Earthbound is exactly that.

If you haven't played this game, you should really give it a go and play it to the end. However, its distribution isn't very good - the only place you can buy it without spending a lot is on the Wii U eShop for around $10.

It does a poor job in the actual RPG part though. The battle system is just weird, and I won't lie when I say I had to level grind within the first hour of playing.

Reyn wrote:It does a poor job in the actual RPG part though. The battle system is just weird, and I won't lie when I say I had to level grind within the first hour of playing.

It's not that weird. The menus are kinda strange at first but eventually you get used to navigating them. The game would probably benefit on 3DS by having the menus on the bottom screen. Grinding, well, I don't know what to tell you, because that's in literally every RPG.

Sure, grinding is a staple of a lot of RPGs. But it's a pretty bad sign when it shows up before you even get out of the first area.

The only place I had to grind was in the Cave of the Past. I really didn't have to grind at other points at all.

Cloud wrote:The only place I had to grind was in the Cave of the Past. I really didn't have to grind at other points at all.

Really? I'm in Onett, and I have to grind; I'm level five, equipped with the Baseball cap and some bat I bought from the store, and the sharks kill me in 3 hits. I have to kill them one by one, run around, kill another shark, one by one, run in a building, fight more sharks, repeat. I can't fight them in gangs or I get mauled.

Earthbound zero (AKA MOther) Was really a Grind fet, even A team made a translation, and an Easy mnode where you get Twice XP, If you ask me....I can't say anything More than Mother, I didn't play Mother 2 nor 3...but i get the point, it has Grinding, and everyone hates grinding.

The reason you keep dying in three hits is because you didn't get the copper bracelet FIRST.

That thing is a necessity.

I only grinded up to Dalaam, and THAT is only because I learned of an epic grinding trick after beating the 6th sanctuary boss and only because I took advantage of it.  I've never found the need to grind beyond leveling up other characters.


The ORIGINAL Mother game, though, THAT requires grinding.  The freaking first enemies can be a threat, particularly the hippies.