/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.6200139]

It's actually a pretty terrible game.

[Anonymous No.6200161]

Sounds like you never played it.

[Anonymous No.6200215]

Aside from the many quirks of its story and setting, it's pretty much a normal JRPG. And the story elements of it are more interesting than in the average JRPG of the time. So it's pretty weird and silly to single this game out as being "pretty terrible". If it's terrible then all JRPGs of its time are terrible. You might want to claim that, and fair enough if you do, but there's no good reason to pick on this one in particular. You're probably just doing it because you want to troll.

[Anonymous No.6200230]

>>6200161
I've actually played it several times, but I'm not giving up this time because autis... completion.
It has a busted encounter rate, awful balance, idiotic dungeon design, and there's a lot of better RPG on famicom.
But the soundtrack is great.

[Anonymous No.6200347]

>>6200215
>If it's terrible then all JRPGs of its time are terrible.
This is absolutely true though. Don't ask me why it took so long for devs to realise how incredibly irritating grinding and high encounter rates are. Shit, even the significantly easier GBA version of FF1 becomes basically unplayable after the first few hours because they kept the encounter rate the same as the original. Getting in a fight with a trash mob every two steps is a great way of alienating all but the most autistic of players. It's one of the most frustrating gaming experiences you can subject yourself to.

[Anonymous No.6200348]

>>6200139
It is. Many games are actually terrible, but people think having a good story, good music or a nice aesthetic makes them good. It doesn't. Mother was a never good videogames, what it should have been instead is a nice, charming anime.

[Anonymous No.6200357]

>>6200347
Exactly. The reason this was the case is because 80s JRPGs were very long for the limited amount of content they offered. I quit the first three Dragon Quest games because they were an exercise in grinding and patience, but patience is usually rewarded in ways other than "you beat the game".

Dragon Quest IV was more interesting and I managed to pull through the experience, then again I had played DQV before so seeing the floating castle and so on was cool.

[Anonymous No.6200453]

It's not terrible, the gameplay is just regular 8-bit RPG/Wizardry style battles. If you think those are terrible, that's fine, other people might get enjoyment out of it.
IMO 8-bit turn based combat is the most tolerable one because of how short they are. Battling in Dragon Quest or Mother doesn't bother me because I can end a battle in seconds, provided I know what to do with the enemies and don't fuck up. In later gen RPGs, especially 5th gen, the long animations and loading times became a chore, but not a problem on older ones.
Mother gives you enough tools to go through the game, even though some enemies will kill you, which is normal in games, you don't lose any exp points. Like DQ.

[Anonymous No.6200526]

>>6200139
I've literally JUST been playing it blind, started Monday and have 6/8 melodies and probably completed a decent chunk of the game. At times I'm really enjoying it-- somehow I was able to get into it quicker than Earthbound which I stopped at for the time being really early on-- but I also think I might be literally retarded when it comes to playing/navigating it. And between my retardation and some of the features of the game, at times it just started to feel like a huge fucking slog, despite me enjoying the experience when it's going well, and so I ended up stopping it for now too.

Why I'm retarded: I've done so much stupid shit so many times that it's resulted in me inadvertently grinding to the point where I'm like 10 levels above what I've seen people say you're supposed to be at endgame, and I'm not even there yet. Inadvertently in that I didn't intend to grind; I've just retraced my goddamn fucking steps and gotten lost so many times that I'm overleveled. Like 50% of my progress to this point was apparently in the order you're supposed to do it, but now I'm just fucking around the huge fucking map trying to see what I missed. Which was a lot even though I tried really hard and really obsessively to explore all of it.

And part of that's because of the map. It feels too big or some shit. And I guess I don't really mean the map itself, as in the size of the game, but like there's too much space on the screen and the characters are too small. I end up pacing around back and forth and trying to shove myself into trees and shit just to make sure I'm not missing out on any CRAZY HIDDEN MOTHER SECRETS. Even though I already have. It's just so fucking big and confusingly laid out with all the long-ass hills and identical trees everywhere that if I start playing it again soon I'll have to draw a fucking map of the entire game as I play.

[Anonymous No.6200536]

>>6200526
Pro tip: the secrets you might find in the game appear marked on the map as dots. For example there's a hidden house near the village with the haunted mansion, you can find it if you go in the direction of the isolated dot that appears on the map there.
Also what level are you?

[Anonymous No.6200546]

>>6200536
Like 41/37/28 or something. I just really quickly glanced at the stats of other people doing blind LPs by the end and they're all like 10 levels lower.

I did notice the dots and suspected it might be something like that, but I haven't been using the map much and it's honestly my own fault. I think I'm just really terrible with directions. I can't even figure out the immediate screen I'm on what feels like half the time and don't feel I'd be much better translating the overworld etc. to the map.

Also I'm currently in the process of constructing another post or two venting about my experience and partially some aspects of the game, so maybe my stupidity will become clearer.

[Anonymous No.6200554]

>>6200536
Also: honestly not sure if I found the hidden house you're referring or not. Not looking at the game right now.

>>6200526
>>6200546
Stupid shit I have done so far, and this probably isn't even comprehensive:
>missed the fucking canary outside of the fucking canary village like five times; checked every one inside the fence like TEN
>didn't make the connection between the obvious out-of-place statue and the canary being outside right in front of it; realized both were significant but thought they were for two different things
>once I realized the canary was outside, walked over the entire map up to that point before noticing the statue
>didn't realize you were supposed to try stepping into the holes to the underground in Magicant; fucking checked every one like three times before I thought "hey maybe I can go in these things"
>got lost and died on some random stretch of fucking mountain, twice; did not find or was aware of the desert or swamp except by stumbling across the right stretch of fucking mountain by pure coincidence just now. Still have not reached Valentine/Ellay
>spent like 3 hours in the factory and made like 3 different shitty maps before I found a system that worked for me. I actually accomplished what I was supposed to do there pretty early on, but I just had to comb over the whole place to make sure I hadn't missed a hidden item or something else important
>yeah, a huge part of the problem is that I might be doing this too obsessively for my own good. Somehow I was too obsessive with the little things and not enough for the overworld

Part of my problem with the overworld is also the encounter rates. I'm not bothered by RPGs having random encounters etc. but I really wish there were more obvious ways to avoid them (yeah there's at least one item for that but I either haven't seen or didn't buy it) or an indication on the overworld before they happen.

[Anonymous No.6200556]

>>6200546
Jeez anon, even on my first playthrough I ended the game at the low 30's

[Anonymous No.6200575]

>>6200554
>>6200526
NOT EVEN DONE

They also start the encounters really damn close to the borders of the towns. Like fucking inside the towns in many places. Towns literally overrun with monsters. Fuck. I barely feel like I can check anything out and a lot of the time it feels like the game's trying to punish you for exploring.

Yeah, I could run away, but just the fight starting is already enough to take me out of whatever I'm trying to do and I'm so overleveled compared to much of what I encounter that it only takes like 10 seconds anyway. It just gets repetitive/tedious when you're as bad at this game as I am and trying to puzzle out the map of a place.

ALL THAT SAID

I think I'm doing decent enough with the actual fighting and figuring out what I'm supposed to do storywise, outside of apparently literally everything related to navigation and some of the above stupid shit. Just the size of the overworld, how samey it all looks, and the encounters every half second or so are starting to grate on me recently even though I like most everything else.

I don't even think it's a bad game. I'm liking it. Most of this is my own fault. I just wanted to bitch but didn't want to make a whole thread of me bitching and so as I saw this thread I just had to temporarily lose my fucking mind here.

I think that's it.

[Anonymous No.6200865]

>>6200526
>And part of that's because of the map. It feels too big or some shit. And I guess I don't really mean the map itself, as in the size of the game, but like there's too much space on the screen and the characters are too small.
There's a massive problem with the field of view in this game. You can't see very far an since everything look the same (very few landmarks) the map is fuckhuge, and there's random encounters every 10 seconds, it's a recipe for disaster and you'll get lost as soon as you don't pay attention. See the infamous Duncan Factory.
>>6200575
>They also start the encounters really damn close to the borders of the towns. Like fucking inside the towns in many places.
The first time I visited Merrysville I was attacked by a truck, got asthma, and died (before saving). It's pretty funny, but I wasn't laughing at all when it happened.

[Anonymous No.6200907]

>>6200554
Anon it sounds like you're actually really getting the full experience from this game and you should know that most of those things are supposed to happen to someone by design. You are actually getting the best experience this game can give a person if you're actually playing it without spoilers.

only way it could have been better is to play it with a friend or family member

[Anonymous No.6200934]

>>6200865
you guys keep describing these ludonarrative design features that almost break the 4th wall like they're a bad thing

Ninten is so strong he can beat up a car and seemingly has the psychic powers to do everything on his own

but he has asthma, and its actually extremely dangerous for him to be alone sometimes

there's a canary, that you the player have to help ninten find by realizing you're playing a videogame that follows a logical perspective rule of simulated 3d space on a 2d plane

its amazing

[Anonymous No.6200958]

>>6200934
It does have a lot of amazing design. The ridiculous grind and encounter rate really hurt it however. It’s an early RPG but there’s a good reason mods really change those aspects of it.

[Anonymous No.6201065]

>>6200139
Fuck you OP

[Anonymous No.6201072]

>>6200934
wow, you have some really low standards

[Anonymous No.6201121]

>>6200139
Bait thread?
>>6200230
Bait thread.
>muh encounters
>muh balance
You left your zoom on.

[Anonymous No.6201124]

>>6200161
fpbp

[Anonymous No.6201132]

>>6200526
Sounds like a blast, man. This is the kind of retardedly excessive grind that OP will never be able to appreciate. I 100% sincerely mean it when I say that you’ll look back fondly on this experience—the getting lost, exploring every nook and cranny, getting your characters to overpowered levels. Too many kids today don’t appreciate that NES RPGs were supposed to kick your ass. The value was in the experience and the feeling of gratification of when you can finally breeze through battles.

[Anonymous No.6201142]

>>6200934
Good take. I agree.

[Anonymous No.6201151]

>>6200139
Haha the earth's the O in mother. Mother earth I get it haha.

[Anonymous No.6201173]

>>6201151
Holy shit.

[Anonymous No.6201191]

>>6200865
Glad it's not just me.

>>6200907
>>6201132
Yeah, I really am enjoying the game more than my posts here may sound like. And one thing I wanted to say there but forgot to mention until now is that I do really appreciate the satisfaction of just getting through certain parts and figuring stuff out. I guess it's not as entirely blind as I'd like it to be re: the entire game just because I sorta knew going in where the plot goes through osmosis and some stuff's easy to guess, but I'm definitely not looking up any guides or maps or basically anything telling me how to actually do specific gameplay stuff. Besides stuff like this thread, after the fact.

I did sort of feel like giving up on it for a while recently just through being annoyed with wasting so much time being lost and becoming overleveled, but I think at that point I was just annoyed with the stuff I've already complained about.

Trying to continue through it right now and feeling more optimistic. Just found Teleport probably later than I should have because I somehow missed it the first time, so getting around should be somewhat easier.

[Anonymous No.6201416]

>>6200526
>I've done so much stupid shit so many times that it's resulted in me inadvertently grinding to the point where I'm like 10 levels above what I've seen people say you're supposed to be at endgame
That's literally how you're supposed to level up in this unclear, encounter-heavey old RPGs. If you knew exactly where to go you'd be way underleveled once reaching your destination and have to aimlessly grind. At least this way you're still exploring/continuing forward while grinding instead of hitting a wall and having to stop everything and grind.

[Anonymous No.6201419]

>>6200526
>I've done so much stupid shit so many times that it's resulted in me inadvertently grinding to the point where I'm like 10 levels above what I've seen people say you're supposed to be at endgame
That's literally how you're supposed to level up in these unclear, encounter-heavy oldschool RPGs. If you knew exactly where to go you'd be way under-leveled once reaching your destination and have to aimlessly grind. At least this way you're still exploring/continuing forward while grinding instead of hitting a wall and having to stop everything and grind.

[Anonymous No.6201451]

>>6201121
>if you don't enjoy mindlessly grinding like a down's syndrome you are a zoom

[Anonymous No.6201467]

>>6201173
This had better be bait.

[Based Department No.6201473]

>>6200139
based and repilled
>>6200161
bluepilled and cringe

[Anonymous No.6201495]

Actually, it's one of the best rpgs on the platform, and pretty good even today.

[Anonymous No.6202251]

It really feels like a game made by people who don't know how to make video games, for better or worse. A lot of the quirks or ideas are great, but the implementation, not so much. For exemple getting a cold from a fucking NPC is pretty funny, except it drains your health like crazy. It would make sense to catch it in Snowman where you can buy Mouthwash to heal it, except you'll probably catch it in Merrysville way before and you'll have no idead what the fuck is happening (well, it only takes only two minutes to go treat it at the local hospital). The structure is weird: it starts with simple quests (graveyard, zoo), you're transported to Magicant and you think the game will open up, except you're railroaded into one of the worse part of the game (the fucking factory) where I imagine a bunch of players will give up. And when you beat it half of the map suddenly opens up and you can have fun again.
It's also archaic because it famously went through development hell until Iwata stepped up to rewrite the whole thing entirely.

[Anonymous No.6202275]

>>6200139
>>6201473
samefag
>>6202251
>It's also archaic because it famously went through development hell until Iwata stepped up to rewrite the whole thing entirely.
t. literal retard misapplying information he learned from a DYKG on EarthBound

[Anonymous No.6202587]

>>6202251
>It's also archaic because it famously went through development hell until Iwata stepped up to rewrite the whole thing entirely.
Wasn't that Mother 2?
Mother 1 was coded by the guys who would later become Pax Softnica, they were working for APE at the time (the company that later split into Pax Softnica and Creatures Inc.)

[Anonymous No.6202595]

>>6200139
Oh shit! Zoomer has a hot take! Tell me more about how old games suck because they are old. Whats that? After you finish your round of fortnite?

[Anonymous No.6203102]

>>6200526
Welp, beat the game and it turns out I was mostly being a whiny bitch about the size of the overworld. >>6200554

Literally the only place I found by complete chance was the swamp (the desert too and first since they're close together, but due to NPC dialogue beforehand I at least knew I was supposed to be looking for that one), but because I found those two so haphazardly I assumed there must be more stuff in between the cities I'd just missed. Like on those stupid fucking mountain ridges everywhere or on the train tracks. But that was actually it. I think I'd even done it all in the right order. Just seemed harder than it really was because the locations really are huge and they do throw enemies at you every second.

Once I got through those two points, though, it was all incredibly straightforward to the ending. There was probably some stuff, like items etc., that I missed or could've done better and maybe I rushed through it somewhat, but that was because, like I've been saying, the game really did hook me and I wanted to finish it.

I had fun.

[Anonymous No.6204321]

>It's a pretty terrible game
>Actually I'm just retarded and played it completely wrong

[Anonymous No.6204364]

>>6203102
Im glad you decided to give the game a fair shake, anon. Most people just parrot what they've heard about it being too old, or get filtered at the graveyard. I think Mother is a pretty unique game, it's my personal favorite in the series.

[Anonymous No.6204368]

>>6200348
Mother 3 has good gameplay. Mother 2 had retarded gameplay but muh quirky charm. Mother 1, I haven't played, but it looks like an even bigger chore. I'll bet that Mother 3 would have been horrible to control & play on N64 tho.

[Anonymous No.6204434]

>>6202595
>fortnite
You sound like one of those retards who say modern games are shit but the only modern game you probably played is Fortnite.

[Anonymous No.6204437]

>>6204368
Yeah, I should have said "Mother 1 was never a good videogame" but made a mistake there.

I tried Mother 1 but the encounter rate and the grinding in these JRPGs kill them for me. 1/4 the encounter rates but four times the strategy makes for a much better RPG, which is why I respect SRPGs so much, i.e. they don't waste your time.

[Anonymous No.6204438]

>>6204437
The encounter rate stops being a problem when you realize these battles last literal seconds.
Disliking 8-bit RPGs is a common zoomer mistake, though.

[Anonymous No.6204518]

>>6201151
wow, holy cow. how i didn't realize this?

[Anonymous No.6204552]

>>6204438
>this game is shit but because it's old is good and you are a zoomer

[Anonymous No.6204554]

>>6204438
Not even jarpig fans like 8-bit RPGs.

[Anonymous No.6204556]

>>6204552
>old bad
>frogposting
zoomers

[Anonymous No.6204560]

wow, there are some really hot opinions itt

[Anonymous No.6204562]

>>6204554
That's why 8-bit RPGs are the best, precisely.

[Anonymous No.6204568]

>>6204556
>no reading comprehension
Shouldn't have dropped out of fourth grade to get a job, boomer.

[Anonymous No.6204576]

>>6204568
I understand your opinion, I just don't care about it.

[Anonymous No.6204583]

>>6204576
You cared enough to reply and no, you don't understand it. If a game is shit in 2000 then it is shit, but if a game is shit in 1990 it gets a pass because muh nostalgia and muh "fuck zoomers".

It's really pathetic, and the fact that boomers and pretend boomers (i.e. edgy 15 year olds) only shit on Fortnite is even more ironic as plenty of modern gamers dislike Fortnite (even though the grown up thing to do is to simply not play it).

[Anonymous No.6204584]

>>6204583
>getting this triggered
fuck off zoomer

[Anonymous No.6204640]

>>6204584
The only one seething here is you, grandpa. Enjoy your relics of the past.

[Anonymous No.6204645]

>>6204640
>Enjoy your relics of the past.
Thanks, I will. It's what this board is for.

[Anonymous No.6204763]

>>6201151
breh

[Anonymous No.6205440]

>>6200139
It's pretty fine for what it is. Just doesn't have as much of a soul as Earthbound does. Not saying it doesn't have soul, just Earthbound did what it tried to do a lot better.

[Anonymous No.6206297]

>press action button
>get menu

Yep that's a hard pass for me

[Anonymous No.6206543]

>>6204552
Try out the game and enjoy Magicant, anon. It's still a very easy game, with fun elements that neither of its sequels ever inherited (like Magicant hub world).

[Anonymous No.6206608]

>>6206543
I tried to but the random encounters rub me the wrong way. I used to play a lot of Final Fantasy as a teen, and FFIX was my favorite even though people claim it is the slowest because of the random encounter loading times. But it's been over a decade since that and I've been playing RPGs where random encounters aren't a thing and each encounter has some design behind it, rather than repeating the same two or there encounters time after time.

I do think the game is charming.

[Anonymous No.6206835]

[Anonymous No.6208310]

>>6200139
With what we know now and our standards, is the gameplay bad?
Yes absolutely. It's tedious as all hell: encounters are too high, incentivized to grind in magicant to get new party member's levels up etc.

However the story still helds up as an amazing work of art. It's hard to fully understand the subtleties of Giygas's nature in Earthbound without first playing this, as pretentious as this sounds.

Moreover the setting, a 'modern' world of 198X, was a very fun idea for the time that was used quite well.

[Anonymous No.6208360]

>>6200139
Yeah, Giygas. How's your PTSD?