>>8570016
>Ugly and lazy sprite work
- Almost no cohesive thought put into enemies
- These are found in the same area:
- A lot of the designs are very sloppy
>Awful difficulty spikes
- New areas produce powerful enemies and promote grinding
- Some areas, like the Dept. Store in Foursome, have annoying difficulty spikes
>Tragic Status ailments
- Many of Earthbound's status ailments are poorly implemented
- Enemies tend to spam statuses like crying, poison, or cold.
- The worst status/gameplay mechanic is arguably "homesickness."
- Homesickness is unpredictable and can be detrimental if it occurs during a boss fight.
- The mushroom status ailment is another annoying part of the game.
>The story is ridiculous
- The more Earthbound goes on, the more absurd it becomes.
- Earthbound could have been great farce, but it seems more "made up as you go" since it tries to take itself serious at times.
>The game does not flow well
- Earthbound is plagued with numerous things that break its pacing.
- The annoying delay of the camera man, switching character perspectives, deaths from difficulty spikes, enemies rushing to initiate battles, backtracking...amongst other things.
I am not surprised Earthbound was a flop when it released, and I am also not surprised Nintendo refused to release Mother 3 outside of Japan. While Earthbound is charming at times, it is still a terrible game, and if this is what Itoi was going for... yikes.