/vr/ - Retro Games

To be fair, I'm 30, I'm alone, and I'm jaded—so the game probably never stood a chance. EarthBound fans, consider me jealous. I really wish I could see what you guys apparently do, but I just don't.

all jrpgs are like this

>>9566983
Things don't pick up. You either enjoy the summer vacation walkabout against ghost aliens or you don't. I personally didn't find the battle mechanics or story that compelling but liked the area design.
>to gain a cult following in the mid '90s, all you had to do was put in Le Epin Quirky Humor
isn't this still true today?

>>9566986
Indeed. You can't be jaded.
You have to be yearning.

>>9566983
I always tell people that it's not a game for everyone, it only got hyped due to smash etc.
You play EB for unique comfy atmosphere of suburban America with a touch of "slice of life", quirky characters, music and graphics.
You DON'T play EB if you expect it to be FF / DQ, if you want story, deep gameplay, actually funny humor, or anything that wasn't done by a Dragon Quest game past DQ2.
and YES, it IS a Peanuts strip of a game. whether you like it or hate it is up to you.

Personally I think the combat really picks up once Jeff gets his good machines, particularly the Heavy Bazooka, which is an infinite use attack which hits one target and both targets next to him for splash damage.
It changes the way battles are fought and it makes you kinda wish they'd thought of doing stuff like that much sooner.
Which, I suspect, is exactly why Duster has all his tools pretty much right from the beginning in Mother 3.

Anyone who claims Duster is useless, is doing it wrong.

Ah, the daily "Earthbound is shit" thread, gotta love em.

>>9567001
>Nintendo makes an interesting but flawed game
>obscure for 20 years because no one cares
>eventually explodes due to rereleases and Undertale
>suddenly every balding Ninty fan is screaming "OH MY GOD 11/10 BEST GAMERINO EVER"
>shillcon 1
>hype it everywhere as some lost Nintendo masterpiece and best RPG ever
>people come with high expectations only to realize it's an interesting but flawed game

>>9567006
>eventually explodes due to rereleases
No. Nononono.
Shut up you dumbass zoomer. Sit your goofy ass down and shut the fuck up.
It was obscure for a single digit number of years, until Smash 64 came out. "Ness? Who?" Then it exploded with interest permanently. Same thing happened with Melee and Fire Emblem.

>>9567015
Dude I was there. Played EB in 2007 or so. Back then it was mostly small cult reserved to Starmen.net. It was still hardly known by most people until EB Beginnings released, but it only truly exploded with Undertale, when your average normie heard about it.

>>9567018
>It was still hardly known by most people
Retro gaming wasn't even a widespread hobby yet in 2007. Of course your average Joe didn't know about a random RPG that didn't sell well in his country.

>>9567006
Importantly:
Everyone who discovered EarthBound when it got the Smash Bump was a child.
Children like RPGs because they have all the time in the fucking world.
Adults with responsibilities will always struggle to enjoy RPGs because every waking moment of the gameplay experience feels like a colossal waste of your increasingly limited time on this earth, where you could be working out or having sex or learning an instrument or writing a novel or learning a language something.
But no, instead of all that, you're having your 67th imaginary fight with an imaginary fire hydrant.

>>9567018
No. *I* was there you fagaloon. Earthbound became a collossal hit after Smash 64. The end. Starmen had little to no impact upon that part.
>>9567031
Emulators were already everywhere by the late 90s.

>>9567031
No, I mean in comparison, from what I saw, Chrono Trigger and FFVI were considered the absolute best SNES games, but EB wasn't even known by most. It wasn't on "best RPG lists", 9 out of 10 people you asked didn't know about it, and there'd be one person who heard about it but didn't play.

>>9567034
EB feels like a waste of time because the best part about the game is exploring the first 4 towns and talking to characters. When you leave them and go outside to the next town or dungeon, you walk into surprisingly boring and samey woods and caves, with pretty stale gameplay. Once you leave Fourside, the game jumps the shark and gives you mostly filler until the end.

>>9567036
>No. *I* was there you fagaloon. Earthbound became a collossal hit after Smash 64. The end.
Maybe in your circle this was a thing, I'm just telling you what I saw in around 2007 on forums etc. Not everyone even played Smash 64 to begin with.
>Starmen had little to no impact upon that part.
I never said it did.

>>9567034
this is true for any videogame you absolutely fucking moron

>>9567101
Nope, not even close to true. You can reasonably beat any action games, platformer, or any other actually good single player genre game in a handful of days or even one sitting. Even action-adventures may only take you a couple weeks tops.

>>9567198
tldr - you don't like reading. We get it. For those of us who read above a third grade level, Earthbound is only a 27 hour game.

yeah i cherish this game but i doubt i would care if i hadnt played it as a kid

>>9567034
>Adults with responsibilities will always struggle to enjoy RPGs
Yeah, CRPGs sold quite well to adults. Fallout 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Planescape: Torment, etc.

>>9567217
>Earthbound is only a 27 hour game.
so, about 17 hours longer than any game should be?
thanks for admitting i'm right i guess

>>9567217
No, reading the fun part because of the quirky dialogue and the neat character moments.
What makes it a slog is the gameplay, you nonce.

>>9567045
>the best part about the game is exploring the first 4 towns and talking to characters
This is sadly true more or less, the game's charm rapidly diminishes around Fourside and becomes more of a dungeon crawler. It still has some moments but it's not the same

>>9566983
Earthbound is miserable to play, unfun, unfunny, bland and beyond a bright colorful look never manages to deliver any impact. It's the ultimate poser game. "It's expensive!" even though it's not remotely rare (over 150k copies in circulation.) "It's a quirky game!" not remotely, with its awkward characters and shoe horned in pop culture bits. "The music is sooo...good?" it's farty, dull and monotonous.

It captures none of what it's like to live in 90s america, doesn't deliver a fun stereotyped angle, doesn't feel like american suburbs or cities, none of the praise of honest. There are better games to play if you want that.

>>9567250
>more content for your dollar is bad
Cry me a river.
>>9567252
The gameplay is fine; and if you don't like it they even made an auto mode for retards like you.

>>9567272
>if you don't like it they even made an auto mode for retards like you.
that makes it worse, not better
why not just design a good game instead? ever think about that?

>>9567257
What game is that, anon?

>>9567281
GOD Pure

>>9567257
Sorry that your charm receptors seem to be malfunctioning.

>>9567283
so charmful and not unfunny and gay...

>>9567287
based macho anon

>>9567287
>beatles reference
no wonder that faggot mac demarco loves this game

>>9567287
if you can't appreciate a cheeky little throwaway gag like this, i genuinely think you should end your life
you are incapable of joy

The game is a huge improvement over mother 1. It looks good, has a good interface, and a lot of though was put into the world. But for me it is boring as fuck. Don’t know what people see in this game.

>>9567298
>lol dude, references!!!
i hope a giant nigger breaks into your home and violently rapes you and beats you to death with your rick and morty vinyl figurine you worthless queer

>>9567301
Probably the price tag and hipster cred associated with it. There's really nothing worth talking about in the game, the story is rote and uninteresting, there's no real characters in it, the music and gameplay are boring as fuck and the theming is all over the place.

>>9567307
except it's not the reference, it's the wordplay
also, you must be 18 to use this board, lil bro

I had the similar history with this game.

I tried to play it for the first time some 15-18 years ago and I didn't get it, I barely made it past the intro. I tried again some 5 years later and went further along the game but quickly got bored, again.

It's only in the recent years that I enjoyed it. I fell in like with Dragon Quest, following that I played Earthbound Beginnings which I adored. After beating that, I finally playthrough through Earthbound and enjoyed it, but coming from the first game it's a huge disappointment.
There are many things in the second game that are there "just so it is like the first game", such as the whole melody thing, except it doesn't fit in Earthbound and doesn't have an explanation. The first game also had more freedom, more exploration, and more importantly, more challenge, which is why Earthbound was still a disappointment.
However, the first game lacked in dungeons and in actual bosses (starting half way through the game, you're given a freebie against every boss, and they're not numerous to begin with). In comparison the second game shined in that regard: many and varied dungeons, many bosses.

>>9567309
>except it's not the reference
yeah, it's the reference.
>wordplay
flit terminology
>also, you must be 18 to use this board, lil bro
damn sick burn, you seem pretty cool. can i get your MSN?

>>9567316
>yeah, it's the reference.
well, i'm glad you liked the reference, but for me, i find the silly play on words amusing. it reminds me of stupid jokes and puns i would come up with and share with my mother as a child. it's not "laugh out loud" funny but it makes me smile.
sorry, i guess smiling is probably fruit behavior to you or something

>>9566986
Unfortunately you were infected by hype. If you had just appreciated it as a comfy suburban jrpg kids adventure fighting aliens, kooky monsters and sprinkled with an old jap mans understanding of Americana, you may have liked it.

I always took the condiment mechanic as representative of Earthbound as a whole. It's an extremely clever idea, but the fact that they're consumed automatically whenever you use a healing item makes them more fun on paper than they actually are.

>>9567332
>but for me, i find the silly play on words amusing.
it's called autism
>it reminds me of stupid jokes and puns i would come up with and share with my mother as a child. it's not "laugh out loud" funny but it makes me smile.
>sorry, i guess smiling is probably fruit behavior to you or something
gay and retarded is no way to go through life bro

>>9567294
>some guy is the only person on earth who likes The Beatles
neo /vr/ really is something.

>>9567343
>gay and retarded is no way to go through life bro
please tell me how to cure my autism, retardation, and homosexuality

>>9567198
Yet those same dead adults come home, flop down and mindlessly watch tv to unwind.

>>9567350
>please tell me how to cure my autism, retardation, and homosexuality

Maybe it's because I didn't wait so long to play this game (though I still played it rather late in relation to when it was released). Although I'm not the kind of person to let others influence what I should like or not, positively or negatively, but I should mention I'm not the biggest RPG fan or non-action games in general (though I did enjoy some classic ones like Dragon Quest III).
I don't know what people like OP expect from this game, but I was pleased with Earthbound: seeing enemies on the map and even being able to sneak behind them/instakill weaker enemies was a pretty welcome change from most other RPGs, that alone made me enjoy it more than most.
The HP rolling mechanic made the turn based menu combat somewhat a bit more dynamic than in other games, too.
The limited inventory was, I think, clever on the dev's parts as it encourages actually spending items instead of hoarding like a scrub.
I actually played this game because of Keiichi Suzuki's music, as I love his band Moonriders and his other many music projects, he's a legend. And Shigesato Itoi's writing is also a nice condiment.
I was also drawn in by the simple, colorful art direction, it's very quintessential 16-bit.
Again not sure what people like OP expect, but I thought it was above average for sure.

>>9567345
>some guy is the only person on earth who likes The Beatles
who said this? you aren't making shit up because you're mad, are you?

>>9567357
i don't think shooting you would really solve anything, satisfying as it may be

>>9567365
No, but it's weird that the first thing that came to your mind was some guy. The Beatles are as universal as it gets.

>>9567364
>I actually played this game because of Keiichi Suzuki's music, as I love his band Moonriders and his other many music projects, he's a legend.
Neat. Wished more people would listen to his non-Mother stuff.
Anyways, I enjoyed EB too. I don't pay a lot of attention to what it influenced, though that's not any fault of the game itself nor its team

>>9567373
it's weird that you have reading comprehension issues despite being a terminally online permavirg

>>9567364
>The limited inventory was, I think, clever on the dev's parts as it encourages actually spending items instead of hoarding like a scrub.
I love this aspect of the game too, but it's the management of those items that can get annoying. Needing a free slot open at all times in order to pick up or switch items between two party members is just annoying to deal with. I understand the point and merits of having limited inventory, I just think it could've been handled more smoothly

>>9567364
>The limited inventory was, I think, clever on the dev's parts as it encourages actually spending items instead of hoarding like a scrub.

That's just very standard for the time

>>9567379
>terminally online permavirg
Careful with that projection, anon.
Also, not any bad reading compehension, it was a joke relating to you having some guy rent free in your mind by a mere mention of The Beatles.

>>9567307
most pathetic post on /vr/ this month. gg

>>9567402
what's even more pathetic is that it made you seethe

>>9567401
>projection
hello redd*t
>not any bad reading compehension
hello ESL

>>9567409
hello, EOP projector.
Anyway, really, we could keep at it with personal attacks and what not, but reality is that you're the one who has some guy rent free inside of your mind because you saw a reference to the fucking Beatles, the most famous band on the planet.

>>9567412
>Anyway, really, we could keep at it with personal attacks and what not, but reality is that you're the one who has some guy rent free inside of your mind because you saw a reference to the fucking Beatles, the most famous band on the planet.
spectrum disorder moment

>>9567364
I swear action game faggot are always the biggest retards.

>>9567412
He's obviously going through some shit IRL. Dad's beating him, he's failing out of college, dog died, etc. and has to take out it out internet strangers. I get it, I've been there.

>>9567419
>replying to yourself
>admitting your dad beat you and you failed out of college

>>9567426
This is how I know I'm right. I hope things turn around for you Anon, and that you find a healthier way to relieve your frustrations.

>>9567430
>This is how I know I'm right.
by replying to yourself and reliving memories of your dad beating you and failing in school?

>>9567437
No, my traumas are neither academic or parental

>>9567415
oy me speccy!

>>9567441
>Dad's beating him, he's failing out of college
>I get it, I've been there.
sounds like you're repressing trauma.

all I wanted was to post a screenshot of GOD Pure and I made some fags fight
I own

>>9567454
congrats bro

>>9567448
Those were generic examples, obviously, but I know you're just trying to desperately grasp at any information I give you

>>9567457
>Those were generic examples, obviously,
obviously
>I know you're just trying to desperately grasp at any information I give you
and poo poo pee pee to you too, my guy.

>>9567459
take care bud

>>9567461

>>9567256
the problem is also that it's a very shitty dungeon crawler. I'd be fine with it if the game actually was challenging and rewarded good use of magic / items, like Mother 1. but 90% of the time it is just tedious, dungeons are boring, and there's little point in using anything but basic attack and healing.

>>9567287
Wow, a 1995 game where half the jokes were made up by the translator isn't all that funny! I don't know, what did you expect

>>9567467
The game was never meant to be fucking Wizardry you dumb fuck. It is supposed to be a wholesome and cute parody of an RPG, you dumb fucking horseshit eating trailer trash fuckface rerard. Kys.

>>9567489
okay you've made your point, i apologize :(

What EB did good:
>enemy encounters visible on the map instead of random encounters means you can actually tell if you need to heal before you reach an exit or not
>also allows you to see new enemies in areas before you fight them
>rolling HP counters allow for recovery from fatal attacks if you can get some healing in fast enough, adding a rare sense of urgency to turn-based combat
>sister's storage system is a direct upgrade from normal item bank systems, since it can be accessed anywhere you can find a phone
>phones acting as save points and item storage access points means you have frequent access to both, including inside of dungeons
>L-button acting as a 2nd A button allows you to play mostly one-handed for easy grinding or walking around and talking to NPCs
>auto-win mechanic speeds up grinding since you don't have to fight weak enemies at all
>built-in optional hint system for new players to prevent them from getting stuck
What EB did bad:
>condiment system might as well not exist, better to have a full load of healing items instead of half a load of slightly buffed healing items
>prayer might as well not exist, since Paula's attack magic is far more reliable and less dangerous to the party
>pizza delivery serves no point, since you can buy better healing items without having to wait
>homesickness mechanic is pure tedium and only serves to slow the game down
>combat direction encounter system is rarely used as on paper, instead it's mostly grey head-on encounters, the rare red when caught while trying to run away, and the green against weaker enemies that run away and you corner
>last half of the game has a lot of backtracking, and the final area is just a level check with a healing/save point so you can grind until you can pass it
>mushroom status has annoying interface screw effect on map which just slows things down
>bicycle is completely worthless the moment you get Paula until you drop her off at home at the end of the game

>>9567489
Then why the fuck is the second half of the game consists predominantly of dungeons? If they're making a "parody" that isn't a serious RPG, they don't have good combat, no classes / skills / etc., and they can't make dungeons for shit, they shouldn't make so many shitty dungeons. Should've just focused on comfy towns and characters instead, you can throw away half the dungeons like sewers / swamp and lose nothing.

>>9567496
good post

>>9567501
Because Mother 1 was exactly that. Almost no dungeons, just a couple enemies here and there and some story related bosses with lots of npc interactions and story, but you would knew that if you didn't skip it like some pampered basedfaced faggot. For Mother 2 they obviously took feedback from somewhere to flesh out the dungeons while still keeping the simpleness of it all. And yes, they did focus on the comfy towns compared to the first game. Next time, play a franchise in fucking release order, or stop complaining like some stupid dumb fucking bitch.

>>9567501
I guess it was the idea of progression from being kids going from town to town, to going on a world journey to deserts and jungles and exploring old caves. To me it felt like the game fell off hard after you left Summers, but I can see what they were trying to do.

>>9567526
I played Mother 1 you retard, several times too.
The point I was making is that EB is all about towns and characters. The first half is great as it provides exactly that, though the dungeons in between are just average.
However, the 2nd half of the game doesn't have towns that are nearly as comfy, or chars that are nearly as interesting. After Summers, the plot jumps the shark. The game breaks its own setting of modern America and goes into cliched Egypt, jungle, really pointless prehistoric world, fire location, and so on.
But it also goes all out on dungeons, that are at best average, while the game is nowhere near as fun to grind in as Mother 1.
Mother 1 manages to be both more interesting to play, and have a far more whole setting and story. The NPCs are by far better in EB, but that's the point, they're all in the first half of the game. The 2nd half is just filler.

>>9566983
As far as I can tell, what set it apart from other 90's JRPG's is that the setting was modern day instead of Japan's usual interpretation of a Tolkien-like fantasy land. Beyond that, it was your typical jarpig as far as I could tell. I didn't get very far past Twosun myself because I just got bored with the game, much like with most jarpigs that I've tried.

>>9567558
I understand where you are coming from, but can't have it all, mate. EB made enough of an impact to respect it regardless.

>>9567583
I'm not saying it's a bad game, the highs in it are very high, arguably higher than any game that tried a similar concept. But at the end of the day, a good game needs to be fun to play. EB is great to experience once, at least from Onett to Fourside/Summers, but it's not a game I'd want to replay again.

>>9567613
>a good game need to be fun to play
This meme again.
I disagree, the best games I ever played never held my hand. Same principle applies to books.

>>9567621
you can't just conflate having fun with hand-holding as if that makes any sense

>>9567621
>game is fun to play is a meme now
ok I guess, don't have fun? how the fuck is this related to handholding? M1 is more fun and holds your hand way less.

>>9567625
>>9567632
Why does it trigger you so much? What you call "Fun" is just a superficial hedonism driven dopamin rush, the real and pure enjoyment goes way beyond that.

>>9567648
>the real and pure enjoyment goes way beyond that.
no, i would call what you're attempting to describe here "fun" too

>>9567034
30 + manchild here
why the fuck would i want to do any of those things when i could be gaming

>>9567667
no one cares fuck off

>>9567658
No, anon. There is the monumental difference between joy and bliss

>>9567648
>What you call "Fun" is just a superficial hedonism driven dopamin rush, the real and pure enjoyment goes way beyond that.
ok, you do you pal. your messages are funnier than EB NPCs

>>9567678
I will tell you something funny
People are different
and so is their worth
Some are more than others
Pearls and swine, my friend

>>9567697
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Earthbound

>>9567731
I know you don't, otherwise it wouldn't have been so stupidly popular. But hating on it because it wasn't fun enough is sub average IQ I would say

>>9567764
Earthbound has never at any time been stupidly popular

>>9567796
Sir you are living under a rock

>>9566983
>Complaining that a JRPG has a boring, retarded plot that's about 3 times as long as it should be.
JRPGs just aren't for you, anon
And that's a good thing

>>9567621
I had no idea journalists posted here.
kys faggot

>>9567830
I had no idea BING BONG WAHOOs posted here

>>9566983
+1
It’s a chore to play, and a handful of ‘charming’ moments can’t fix that. I’m glad some people enjoy it, but it’s completely undeserving of any praise it gets.

>>9567807
i just think you don't really know what stupidly popular means. undertale is like a thousand times bigger than earthbound could ever be

>>9567868
You shouldn't go after sales numbers, since the majority of EB fans never bought, emulated or even played the actual game. If you would ask on twitter or reddit, if people knew about EB they would quickly say "yes it's one of my favorites"
The modern vocal audience of both EB and Undertale overlap substantially, even if they never played any of them. These people get the vast majority of their vidya knowledge from avatar fagging youtube channels. They are all fake.

>>9566983
>cult classic
>it's just because of quirkiness
It was a single translator, and he did a spectacular job.
The game itself is also very bright, both visually and literally.
The music is catchy, cheerful, and fits the environment's mood it is played during.

Children play RPGs (J or otherwise) for the fun that comes with playing. Not for the medal that comes with getting to the credits at the end. Don't like it? Don't play it.

>>9567101
Contra III takes 40 minutes to beat, start-to-finish.
It's a great SNES game.
https://youtu.be/PPaZ9IzOFoQ?t=46

>>9567279
>why not just design a good game instead?
They did. Hundreds of millions of gamers agree Earthbound is a good game.
You're not asking for a "good game."
You're asking for a game, already made more than 20 years ago, to pander to your minute-to-minute endorphine rush... and screaming when it doesn't.

Rather than be an adult and admit to yourself, "I don't enjoy this video game; I'll be sure to consider my interests more, next time," you decided to connect to the internet and shout into its abyss that you're angry.

We call your action "complaining" and it's something we associate with children and women.

>>9567467
I'm replaying this. Just finished moonside. Next is monkey cave and then monotoli tower and... idk man. I don't think I want to. Think I'll put this game away for a while

>>9566991
>isn't this still true today?
No, because now everything is that way.
You'd probably get a cult following nowadays by creating something genuine, emotional, and serious, because nowadays everything is just gay fucking marvel quips, 4th wall breaks, and joking about sentimentality being lame.

>>9567496
>>homesickness mechanic is pure tedium and only serves to slow the game down
Disagree with this one, homesickness status is pure soul.

>>9568473
when he talks to mumsy and feels better it brings a tear to my eye

>>9568473
complaining about "slowing the game" down in a game like earthbound is just silly. some games are about stopping to smell the flowers even if stopping to smell the flowers is not objectively good optimized content consumption

>>9566983
>If things don't start picking up
if you're waiting for things to "start picking up" in fucking Earthbound, you're playing the wrong game. it's not for you. move on.
its a game that you play to enjoy the charming atmosphere, quirky music, cute artwork, and get invested in the story. if you can't understand that or don't enjoy it go play Contra or Mortal Kombat whatever CoD they're on now.

>>9566983
It was probably different for people who went in with no expectations. I couldn't get into it either. Mother 3 was really good though.

>>9568568
If you care more about the experience than playing the game, then having to abort your current quest just to find a phone to make your main fighter stop being worthless during combat isn't bad. If you just want to play the game, then it's needless backtracking that suddenly kicks in at level 16 since you can't prevent it from happening by talking to Ness's mom whenever you're near a phone.
>a game like earthbound
It's an RPG. I judge it by other RPGs. I'm not gonna give it it's own "special quirky snowflake" genre to judge it by. Random tedium thrown into an RPG doesn't improve things, no matter how in-character or how much it might fit the plot/theme.

>>9569169
>I fucking hate having to roleplay in a roleplaying game
Anon I have some unfortunate news for you...

>>9566983
its a cool DQ clone, good enough for me

i also love lufia 2

>>9567037
That's not really true at all though, this game became pretty popular once snes emulators were decent, i mean not like final fantasy or whatever but basically every jrpg fan knew about it and most at least tried it.

>>9568448
See, that's what I meant. The 2nd half is just filler, except for Magicant.
>>9569536
Alright, I was just telling what I saw back in 2007. None of the people I knew heard about EB. I tried to hook them up on it, but they politely declined. I can see that maybe JRPG types would know about it, and that due to Smash it would have some recognition. But aside from that, most people didn't care about it at all.
Back then, I was still reading blogs like Kotaku. And when there were news about Mother 3 translation or potential Mother for DS, most of the comments were "literally who?". When Contact for DS came out, only few people seemed to understand how it was similar to EB. Starmen.net seemed like this cult community who were desperate to spread the word about the game to the masses. And in general, the game had a pretty big cult around it, but outside of it few seemed to care.
I recall the game wasn't that expensive either, but I wasn't a collectorfag so I might remember wrong.

>>9569616
Literally all rpgs were like that back then, even ff7 wasn't well known among normies.

>>9567496
I honestly wish this game got a hack to change some things
- remove / shorten / redesign some tedious parts like jungle swamp, sewers, and dungeon man
- rebalance combat to force players to actually use different abilities instead of spamming attack (e.g. raise defense of certain enemies to make magic the better choice)
- more focus on elemental weaknesses, let Paula get double damage with the right spell; also make PSI Flash more likely to instakill certain foes
- more reason to actually try different foods
- make bicycle actually useful

>>9569651
I guess I need to clarify
there are normies (non-gamers and those with surface level interest in games), there are general gamers / Nintendo fans (people who know and have played Mario / Zelda / FF / Chrono Trigger), there are more "hardcore" gamers (those who know about more rare games or are knowledgeable in one niche like RPGs), and the EB cult
back in 2007 it was like: normies haven't heard about EB, general gamers mostly haven't heard about it or saw Ness somewhere, hardcore gamers might have heard and played it, but not all of them.
today it's like: normies are buying EB copies, general Nintendo fans say "EB is the best RPG ever", hardcore gamers say "this game is overrated".

>>9569669
no normie is buying physical copies of a snes game, nintendo fags jerk off xenoblade and everyone that cares about jrpgs at this point has played it

>>9569690
I literally saw some soiface guy in a check shirt brag he got his copy for insane amount of $$$ on Instagram. Was posted here before, but I can't find the pic now.

>>9566983
>Le Epin Quirky Humor.
Kill yourself

>>9567479
>half the jokes were made up by the translator
What is this bullshit?
They're all the same jokes as the Japanese version but adapted for English-speaking audiences

The Japanese version of that was the same joke but the question was about Heidi.

First time I ever tried playing it was back on my PSP in like 2005 when emulators first started showing up for it. I enjoyed it but never finished it. Then towards the end of 2016 I actually beat it, and I enjoyed it just as much. I guess since I already knew what I was in for I didn’t have inflated expectations for it.

It is pretty disappointing to hear that anons can’t enjoy it for what it is. I think the game’s aesthetic and quirkiness are extremely charming and it has a lot of emotionally gripping points here and there. That alone is usually enough to sell me on a game, even if the gameplay is lackluster at best.

>>9569759
ok, if that's true then my bad. I know for sure that a lot of references were untranslatable, so the translator basically had to improvise—I just didn't know to what extent. I read a small piece of an interview with the guy long time ago where he basically said how he had to rewrite a lot of jokes in a short period of time.

>>9567558
>The game breaks its own setting of modern America
No it doesn't you tremendous faggot
Earthbound is set throughout the world, not just America like in Mother 1.
Winters isn't even in America but in Britain hence the reference to Stonehenge. How pretentious can you possibly be?
And the Egyptian part and how Earthbound does it is far from generic.
I'll give it you that the Lava location is pretty boring and the Prehistric world is just there for like half an hour.
That said the game was in development hell for years so the fact it turned out as good as it did is a miracle.

>>9569786
Earthbound's translation is famous for being one of the best and most faithful ones out there considering how hard it would normally be to translate a game like this barring legal changes(Red Cross being removed, Coca Cola trucks being changed, Grateful Dead Valley being changed Peaceful Rest Valley, Naked Ness being censored, Monopoly tournmanent being changed to Strip Poker etc.) and some stupid shit the translator changed such as Paula's line about how she "would have started crying" if Ness didn't show up to save her because the translator was a soiboy feiminist(this inadvertently ruins the RPG satire about how LV1 Paula is weak and powers up throughout the game).

But overall it's a fantastic localization and recently somebody did a hack called "Mother 2 Perfect Edition" which for the most part keeps his script and just fixes the shit that needed fixing and it shows how well the original translation holds up.
Only thing I have against Perfect Edition is that they still kept the name "Giygas" and didn't change it to the proper "Gyiyg". This stupid fanboy shit really annoys me because I've seen many people who think that Gyiyg(or Giegue) from Mother 1 and Giygas are two different entities when they are clearly the same villain and Itoi literally even makes it clear in a 1992 preview for Mother 2 saying that "Gyiyg attacked them again".
People still get confused to this day due to the names being different in the translations.

>>9569786
>Nintendo of America's Dan Owsen began the English localization project and converted about ten percent of the script before moving to another project.[14] Marcus Lindblom filled Owsen's position around January 1995.[34] Lindblom credits Owsen with coining some of the game's "most iconic phrases", such as "say fuzzy pickles".[14] Lindblom himself was given liberties to make the script "as weird as [he] wanted", as Nintendo wanted the script to be more American than a direct translation would be.[34] He worked alone and with great latitude due to no divisional hierarchies.[17][nb 10] Lindblom was aided by Japanese writer Masayuki Miura, who translated the Japanese script and contextualized its tone,[14] which Lindblom positively described as "a glass half full".[34]

Lindblom was challenged by the task of culturally translating "an outsider's view of the U.S." for an American audience.[34] He also sought to stay true to the original text, though he never met or spoke with Itoi.[34] In addition to reworking the original puns and humor, Lindblom added private jokes and American cultural allusions to Bugs Bunny, comedian Benny Hill, and This Is Spinal Tap.[34] Apart from the dialogue, he wrote the rest of the game's text, including combat, prompts and item names.[14] As one of several Easter eggs, he named a non-player character for his daughter, Nico, who was born during development. While Lindblom took the day off for her birth,[34] he proceeded to work 14-hour days[14] without weekends for the next month.[34]

>>9569792
>No it doesn't you tremendous faggot
you talk like you're underage
>Earthbound is set throughout the world, not just America like in Mother 1.
I know. And that's the pointless part. It's just a dumb gimmick to make it feel like an "epic adventure". what I mean is, the game is built like:
>you start in a small American town with its town hall, mayor, arcade, police station, etc, building up this perfect atmosphere of a real town
>you go into next town through the road, all of it feels interconnected, building up the world further, introducing cult-ish leaders, Blues Bros-like band and other characters evoking 20th century America
>following towns aren't quite as detailed, but still feel like one place that feels real
>suddenly, you travel to Summers, and it breaks the line from Onett to Fourside, though it is still reminiscent of places like Miami
>then you're wind up in Dalaam, completely breaking this line for good
>then Scaraba, going through Pyramids, jungle, visiting a fucking Stonehenge, going to prehistoric world, etc., going on some silly world tour to visit replicas of the world's landmarks
>there's not even half as many interesting characters there as in the first half of the game, the atmosphere feels half-assed
>all this virtually puts a cross on all the atmosphere, characters and plot built in Onett - Fourside
>all of that to learn that Giygas is not even there and you need to turn into a robot to go into the past as the one final gimmick
gee, I wonder, at which point did the game get worse?

>>9569858
No shit. They were building from the first game so they exapnded the concepts of the first game and then they added on top of that. There's nothing wrong with that.
>>9569858
>suddenly, you travel to Summers, and it breaks the line from Onett to Fourside, though it is still reminiscent of places like Miami
It's not Miami though. Summers is in FoggyLand. Summers is most likely a reference to France and Toto probably a reference to Italy.

>>9569858
>there's not even half as many interesting characters there as in the first half of the game, the atmosphere feels half-assed
It'd be boring if the whole game was the same but realistically there was only so much space in the cartridge and Earthbound was already upgraded twice since it first started development as an 8Mbit game then got upgraded to 16megs and then finally 24.

And I don't see why you're complaining so much about Scaraba, Dalaam and the Prehistoric World since none of them last that long. Scaraba doesn't last that long + it winds up connecting to Summers in the story AND it also has Dungeon Man/Brickroad going for it.
And the Deep Darkness Jungle is obviously meant to be a contrast to the rest of the location and is where you find Monotoli's helicopter.

I think most can agree that the first half of the game is better but the second half is by no mean bad and while the middle portions of the game are weaker the game does end in a strong note.

>>9569858
No shit. They were building from the first game so they exapnded the concepts of the first game and then they added on top of that. There's nothing wrong with that.
>>9569858
>suddenly, you travel to Summers, and it breaks the line from Onett to Fourside, though it is still reminiscent of places like Miami
It's not Miami though. Summers is in FoggyLand. Summers is most likely a reference to France and Toto probably a reference to Italy.

>>9569858
>there's not even half as many interesting characters there as in the first half of the game, the atmosphere feels half-assed
It'd be boring if the whole game was the same but realistically there was only so much space in the cartridge and Earthbound was already upgraded twice since it first started development as an 8Mbit game then got upgraded to 16megs and then finally 24.

And I don't see why you're complaining so much about Scaraba, Dalaam and the Prehistoric World since none of them last that long. Scaraba doesn't last that long + it winds up connecting to Summers in the story AND it also has Dungeon Man/Brickroad going for it.
And the Deep Darkness Jungle is obviously meant to be a contrast to the rest of the location and is where you find Monotoli's helicopter.

I think most can agree that the first half of the game is better but the second half is by no mean bad and while the middle portions of the game are weaker the game does end in a strong note.

>>9568593
Not the same anon, but I thought it picked up after you get to Twoson, personally.

>>9569894
I knew the argument would be "but they made the world bigger". With what, gimmicky half-assed locations that break the setting? Oh I know, it's not "just" Egypt, it's le quirky Egypt. OK. What does it have to do with modern day America? This breaks the whole "everyday life / modernity / aliens" setting of EB.
More importantly, this is far closer to cliche locations in video games. Yeah, give us more sewers with bats, ice world, lava world, etc. Because that's why people play Earthbound, to play a generic RPG with half-assed mechanics.
>And I don't see why you're complaining so much about Scaraba, Dalaam and the Prehistoric World since none of them last that long.
Just because they're short doesn't mean they are good. And jumping locations every time breaks any sense of continuity.
I simply believe that something needs to tie things together. Winters is at least tied into plot because Jeff lives there, there's a cast of characters there that make you feel some sort of connection to the place.
In a perfect world, I'd make Summers a part of Eagleland, and you go there either by bus or by plane to keep with the "modern life" theme. Expand it and make it into a parody of 80s Miami or Cali, with pastel suits, cops, etc. I'd take 1 actually well-written location vs 5 half-assed ones.
Then instead of going on world tour, how about going somewhere else in America? Again, just as an example, a parody of famous places like Hollywood, Las Vegas, and so on. Tie old characters into it, like Blues Bros landing a movie deal, then blowing all their cash in casinos. And finally going back to your small home town to contrast it with the "big world".
That's how you get a far more cohesive atmosphere that makes sense. Mother 1 managed to reach peak cohesion, as everything was part of 1 big map. That said, it didn't focus on plot or atmosphere that much, but regardless, the cohesion is 10/10 for a NES RPG.

>>9569934
to add to this, I often think that the ideal Mother game would merge the story, characters, detail and atmosphere of M2 with gameplay and huge open world map like in M1.
Too bad that while M3 was certainly a huge step forward in plot and narrative, it got even more linear and largely lost the comfy atmosphere.

>>9569934
>gimmicky half-assed locations that break the setting
Dude shut the fuck up already.
The setting is the World not America.

>Just because they're short doesn't mean they are good.
They're too short to be considered bad you massive faggot.
You're shitting on the game based on what is 10% of the game at best.

>Winters is at least tied into plot because Jeff lives there, there's a cast of characters there that make you feel some sort of connection to the place.
Not every location is gonna be inhabited by a lot of people.
It'd be boring and pointless if every location was the same.
What's next? Complaining about Dusty Dunes Desert just having a couple of Drugstores and not much else?

>Then instead of going on world tour, how about going somewhere else in America?
Dude, enough of this stupid crap.
The setting was the World not America like the first game.

>a parody of famous places like Hollywood, Las Vegas, and so on. Tie old characters into it, like Blues Bros landing a movie deal, then blowing all their cash in casinos.
That would be so cliche.

>And finally going back to your small home town to contrast it with the "big world".
That's literally what happens at the end of Earthbound.

All of your incessant whining seems to be about you being upset that Mother 2 isn't Mother 1.

>>9570007
what's the point of answering if you're going to write stupid shit like this? thanks for wasting my time, I guess

>>9566983
This isnt a pro or con. But Earthbound really does make you feel like a kid going on a big adventure. A weird answer, but everyone I've disscussed this game with agrees with said sentiment.

Regardless, Mother 3 is better.

>>9570015
Cope hipster

>>9570025
>Mother 3 is better
Yikes

>>9567496
>What EB did bad:
>>condiment system might as well not exist, better to have a full load of healing items instead of half a load of slightly buffed healing items
>>prayer might as well not exist, since Paula's attack magic is far more reliable and less dangerous to the party
>>pizza delivery serves no point, since you can buy better healing items without having to wait
>>homesickness mechanic is pure tedium and only serves to slow the game down
>>mushroom status has annoying interface screw effect on map which just slows things down
>>bicycle is completely worthless the moment you get Paula until you drop her off at home at the end of the game

>DUDE LET'S JUST REMOVE ALL THE SOUL FROM THE GAME
I'm so glad you didn't make this game

I always get bored of this game by time you reach Onett. Just awful to me, can't endure it.

>>9569657
>make bicycle actually useful
No, you stupid cunt.
The bicycle being useless was an intentional joke.

>>9570037
If every bad design is a joke then every game is a 10/10

>>9570030
Alright, I'll bite: why do you disagree?

If you don't like it when you've already gotten to Summers, I'm amazed you've stuck with it this far. I find the first two cities to be the most off-putting part of the game. If the aesthetics and writing didn't get you past the difficulty humps, what did?

>>9566983
guaranteed replies.

>>9569813
>(this inadvertently ruins the RPG satire about how LV1 Paula is weak and powers up throughout the game).
I don't think playing a trope straight counts as satire, anon

earthbound's reputation is a curse. it has a plethora of ideas and solid execution. but the constant memes, imitations, and online chatter about the game has distorted it.

>>9566983
I played Earthbound on ZSNES about the time Mother 3 was being translated. My opinion at the time was that it had that comfy Super Nintendo vibe, a little simplistic but enjoyable to play. The atmosphere of each new location kept me going even though the combat was mostly bashing through everything. They made it feel less tedious than Earthbound Zero and progressing through the game was more rewarding too. Although the story in general is emotionally flat and they expect a big payoff out of nowhere when everything leading up to the ending is mostly nonsense.

https://youtu.be/n2iATlS4mUE

Then I played Mother 3 which is one of my favorite video games. Shorter than Earthbound but everything has more depth. Bosses require strategy. Characters feel like real people. An actual story with layers. Beautifully composed music. Detailed sprite animations. And the same moment to moment goodness that kept me playing Earthbound but even more compelling. They put a lot of personality and humanity into Mother 3, it really feels alive. If you don't like it I don't care what you like.

>>9566983
Literally the most magical game of a time. If you played this growing up pre internet as I did, you would feel much different.

>>9569169
>Random tedium thrown into an RPG doesn't improve things, no matter how in-character or how much it might fit the plot/theme.
if it fits the plot/theme and is in-character, then yes it does improve an RPG. I'm sorry you're so obsessed with fresh content that you want roleplaying removed

>>9567868
>undertale is like a thousand times bigger than earthbound could ever be
cardi b's bigger than brenda russell.

OP here with an update:
You guys are dumb and wrong. The game DOES pick up after Summers. I'm currently at the Brick Road dungeon and having a blast.

>>9567015
this
>>9567018
everyone on the planet had played Melee by then where Ness was just a default unlocked character. Just because the discussion forums were small doesn't mean nobody knew what it was. Although I believe not a ton of people played it since emulation was the only way most people were going to at that point

>>9566986
Try to find your inner kid and look through his eyes while playing the game

I'm playing it now, I'm a bit after Summers. I'm enjoying it. I don't like outside information like hype influence my enjoyment of a game. This in mind, I would say it is over-hyped. It's not a bad game and I would recommend it, but the cult behind it is wrong.

>>9572171
>It's not a bad game and I would recommend it, but the cult behind it is wrong.
many such cases

>>9566983
>The same entertainment value you'd get from reading a Peanuts comic strip
OP if you are implying Peanuts is not a kino comic to read then you really are a fag or you just have no joy in your life to appreciate simpler things.
>>9566986
Oh okay well there you go.

>>9566983
You let other men fill your mental womb with hype cum and make you hype-pregnant. You didn't use protection, so it's your fault, and now you have a responsibility to raise the child.

>>9567018
larping retarded faggot the mother 3 fan translation was a HUGE deal online when it came out in 08, people knew about earthbound

>>9566986
imagine not playing this as one of your first 10 roms in the zsnes days as a kid just stumbling into that shit and recognizing the thumbnail as that kid from smash with scanlines and savestates on
sexy fucking tube monitor too boy

also it was perhaps my first rpg outside of shining force, pokemon and renting smrpg
after something like that as a kid, every subsequent playthrough just builds off of that experience and you just appreciate it further when you learn all the elements and inspirations at play to make this game what it is

fuck undertrans and starmen and their effeminate le quirky community

>>9570081
a gay lack of comfy suburbia

>>9567018
>played EB in 2007
stfu nigger
I played it in 1997
nobody cares what you think
go play with fidget spinners or something

>>9567246
just because you’re 18+ doesn’t mean you’re an adult

>>9566983
welcome to the club of people who actually played the game.

monther 3 has better gameplay but it's also way more soulless. mother 1 is still the best one

>>9567496
>gray encounters
it’s blue

>>9566986
>I'm jaded
yea it's really not anyone's fault that you forgot how to enjoy yourself

>>9573116
Pretty sure blue is Mother 3.

>>9567034
That's all in your own head, fag. Video games are a product of someone else's work and are meant to be enjoyed.

>>9568219
Damn, you cut him right to the core

>>9566989
dangerously based

>>9567034
>Adults with responsibilities will always struggle to enjoy RPGs because every waking moment of the gameplay experience feels like a colossal waste of your increasingly limited time on this earth, where you could be working out or having sex or learning an instrument or writing a novel or learning a language something.
How do I become a kid again bros...

>>9566983
try mother 3, it has more engaging gameplay

>>9567034
For me, NDRIs (if/when they kick in) and prescription amphetamines pretty much do the trick of allowing me to disengage with the mental torture of constantly reminding myself that I am not doing enough to improve my life and enjoy a fucking videogame for a bit.

>>9567006
Fucking dumbass zoomer Earthbound wasn't "obscure for 20 years" and Undertale had no influence on its cult status which was established waaaaay before that game.

>>9567045
earthbound almost got canned but was saved due to the intervention of satoru iwata. i would like to think that over the protracted 5 year development time they were only really able to get up to fourside. when iwata came in he got them into gear and shat out the remainder of the game which is why it feels so different

>>9567034
Oh come on, how many adults spend their time watching Netflix or sports? Video games are a source of entertainment. You don't have to 'binge' everything, you can complete a game in a month or so.
>writing a novel or learning a language something
Please don't, we already have too many untalented people pretending to be artists. Your time is better spent enjoying superficial stuff than doing something that will be of no use to the world except for mental masturbation about how adult and responsible you are.

>>9574553
I'm in the same spot (SSRI's though) and therapy (cognitive behaviour therapy + exposure therapy) has helped me immensely. Don't be a stubborn and find a good therapist. He'll give you the tools to get out of this cycle of misery and escapism (meds are not enough).

>>9566983
The best part of the game is the first three towns. By Summers there's nothing else to look forward to. But on the other hand you're like 80% of the way through the game by then so might as well just finish.

>>9574539
You don't. Childhood is overrated. Sure, you didn't have any responsibilities but also no freedom or agency at all. We tend to overvalue our childhood when we feel bad as adults, but having no responsibilities 24/7 just kills you inside and makes you feel like you don't exist. You gotta find that balance.

>>9574539
The JRPG thing is overstated with regard to having no time as an adult. They're tedious because they've always been tedious. I played platformers and other shit as a kid that sucked too, and enjoyed it, and I play some JRPGs now that are engaging.

>>9574579
Been putting off the finding a therapist for CBT despite knowing how badly I need one, as I know from experience that using meds is not a sustainable lifestyle. It’s pretty amazing how difficult it is to get past the cognitive dissonance and just do these things, though.

>>9567006
It was mostly obscure in the 1990s and then would build up a massive cult following during the 2000s, largely starting with people trying to find out who the fuck Ness was when they unlocked him in Smash, which was probably the best marketing the game ever had, but also via the wide proliferation of emulation, where many people found it online just because they were looking for games and it stood out (like in my case).
By the 2010s, it was fairly well known in 'serious' gaming circles, if you played a lot of JRPGs (or were just into older games), you would almost certainly have some sort of passing mental image of the game just by word of mouth, you most likely had seen screenshots, and plenty sought it out based on its reputation alone. Many argue that its reputation is greatly exaggerated, and that may be true, but fact is that it's an odd game with a quirky charm which stood out, and there was preciously little else like it.

Toby Fox wasn't some sort of turbo hipster seeking out the most elusive games imaginable for inspiration, he was one of a huge number of people who heard about it through word of mouth and gravitated towards it because it sounded appealing to him.
I'll state with confidence that Earthbound has not been obscure for the better part of two decades.
Obscure would be something like Meat Puppet, where it does bear a visual visual style which stands out, but beyond that wasn't really interesting or greatly compelling in any sense, nor was it really that fun to play, and so it went unnoticed by the world, forgotten about, the few who remember certainly not recommending it to other people.

>>9574664
I would have played it before I saw him in Smash, if I hadn't been completely tone deaf to jrpgs at that time. It was featured in Nintendo Power, and had iconic marketing with the Starman box art and the oversized box that came with the strategy guide. You would see the guide in Blockbuster and stuff.

>>9574609
>It’s pretty amazing how difficult it is to get past the cognitive dissonance and just do these things, though.
I know how you feel bro. Trust me, I've been putting it off for years. It works, but you'll have to give it time.

>>9566983
>Le Epin Quirky Humor.
That humour was new and novel at the time. Try paying attention to shifts in culture instead of assuming everything has always been the way it is today zoom zoom

>>9566983
>I'm dropping it for good.
Do it, bitch. The game doesn't need you to play it.

>>9574810
carts for this game were kinda rare. I remember wanting to play this game as a kid but having to emulate it back in the dark ages of snes emulation, before zsnes.

>>9574914
>That humour was new and novel at the time. Try paying attention to shifts in culture instead of assuming everything has always been the way it is today zoom zoom
yaaa these zoom-a-tubbies all have the same retarded critiques: "the graphics are worse than fortnite and the controls are worse cause you can't dance"

>>9567045
Everything up to Fourside feels like this magical suburban Americana adventure with subtle dark sci-fi undertones.

Everything after feels like a cluster fuck psychedelic dungeon crawl

>>9575306
Yeah I see them going for thousands now. Too bad I didn't have the foresight to collect and preserve hardware as a kid.

>>9566983
Well hey, this game did the wacky humor before it was cool. It gets a pass in my book. I just have problems with the fans who masturbate this game like no tomorrow, dispite more than half of them never playing it.

>>9574664
>It was mostly obscure in the 1990s
No, it didn't SELL well in the 90's. Nintendo Power promoted it pretty heavily. It also stood out on the shelves since the included Nintendo Power Guide made the box fuck-heug. Anyone who went to a game store while it was being sold would have seen it standing out like a sore thumb among the other SNES games. I know for a fact I wasn't the only kid to rent it either. It was well known, it just didn't sell that well since it looked like an NES game. Most people don't bother to remember games they decided against buying, or the characters in them.

>>9576451
This, it was in the bargin bin for $5 at one point

>>9576451
The marketing also sucked ("This game stinks") and the box art is pretty ugly if you ask me. In Japan Itoi was already a famous artist, he didn't have that fame in America. Plus people forget to mention the game was never released in Europe, which added to its relative 'obscurity' (until Smash 64 became a hit)

>>9577229
>artist
writer

>>9577269
Writers are artists though but fair enough

>>9577286
Yeah you're right. Anyways I'm not a huge fan of that sort of debate.

>>9566986
Its just a lighthearted JRPG with a charming ascetic.
There isn't anything more to it anon.
The problem is you, thinking a simple piece of media is somehow going to fix you're broken soul.

>>9566983
I think it's pretty good but I found Moonside to pretty unnerving especially since they take Paula away and I became too afraid to continue.

>>9566983
Earthbound was always bad. People like the game because it's unique and funny because they lack the triple digit IQ to enjoy a real game that's well written and has depth in its gameplay.

>>9575646
>Too bad I didn't have the foresight to collect and preserve hardware as a kid.
Implying you don't have one in hand, you might as well get a high-end flashcart for a huge fraction of how much loose genuine copies of the game go for.

The real offender is the shit archaic gameplay. You have to examine stuff through a menu, your inventory is always full with crap and the UI is pure clunk. The first person battle with its ugly backgrounds and cheap effects instantly makes it look like RPG maker.

>>9577269
>writer
Performance artist.

>>9577613
Examine stuff through a menu
Just press the L button.
>Full inventory
Stop hoarding.
>UI is pure clunk
How? It's pretty fast. Nice sound cue too.
>ugly backgrounds
Unpopular opinion, the static sprites I can understand feeling archaic but the "visual drug" bgs are one of the better parts of the game in terms of visual. Show me an rpg maker game with something like that

>>9577613
I don't really have much patience for JRPGs these days, so on the odd occasion that I do give Earthbound a go every couple few years apart, I now tend to just be a cheating fag and give myself infinite money so that I don't need to do as much grinding. I simply prefer challenge in real time gameplay, where I typically have to think on my feet and size up the situation as it develops while reacting fast enough.
Even then I find the inventory management aspect of Earthbound an entertaining one, and I was a little surprised upon making that realization, that it was testing my ability to manage limited inventory space, almost a little like a Resident Evil game, if not as constricting.

Other than that, you can use a quick button press for interacting with objects and characters, and though the battles aren't maybe a complex visual extravaganza, the colored shapes and patterns warping and shifting like they do actually stands out a lot for the time, and even still a very long time after.
I don't remember any version of RPGMaker having that kind of background effect for battles as an option, but I'll also admit that I'm not deeply versed in RPGMaker either.

>>9577647
>performance autist

>>9576451
>it didn't SELL well in the 90's.
This is horseshit honestly
It sold over +140K copies which is about what most RPGs including Final Fantasy did in the US
In Japan it did just +500K copies, it's not like it was a million seller in Japan

>>9570185
What they did is literally what satire is,
It's basically an unstated joke. Paula is stated to have mysterious powers but as she starts out at LV1 she's weak and easily gets defeated in battle due to her poor defense/stats.

>>9566983
>>9566986
You're soulless, dead inside, and looking for answers from mortals that only the divine which you shunned can provide. I give no care to you, will cast no pearls before swine, and will not remember you past the morrow.

>>9572871
maximum kek

>>9578346
>It sold over +140K copies which is about what most RPGs including Final Fantasy did in the US
It SHIPPED 140K copies. You need to realize when looking at sales numbers for physical retail, it's based on units shipped, they aren't contacting all the retailers and asking "Hey, how many copies of our game have you sold so far?" Retailers ordering 140K copies doesn't translate to 140K copies sold.

>>9567496
Every one of thode "bad" things" just immersed me further into the experience even if i only did ot once or twice, the fact is the option was there and it fleshed the world out, this notion that something shouldn't exist bwcause it's not the most efficient is ridiculously narrowminded

>>9579057
Scalpers bought all remaining stock years agon2na2

>>9579115
Well yeah, but that money isn't sales for the devs and publisher, a huge degree of the production is unsold stock which never gave any returns.

>>9567037
>EB wasn't on "best RPG lists"
gee, I wonder why

>>9568210
No one is picking up Contra III for the first time and beating it in 40 minutes. Mastering Contra III to reach the end with minimal deaths/continues would take just as long or longer than a single Earthbound playthrough.

>>9579057
Don't forget that it was in bargain bins for $5.

>>9578354
>she's weak and easily gets defeated in battle due to her poor defense/stats.
Wow can't believe Breath of Fire 3 did the exact same joke.