/vr/ - Retro Games

poo

Are there any RPGs with party members that you would consider redundant?

I feel like Poo is redundant in Earthbound. He doesn't really do very much that the other characters can't do. His physical stats don't compare to Ness's, he can't really even out-damage Jeff either and that's not even considering Jeff has Bottle Rockets and the Heavy Bazooka which eclipse everything Poo can do short of Starstorm. Paula has better level up PSI moves and gets better shields. Poo's Brainshock isn't very useful and PSI Thunder Gamma (the only "normal" PSI attack Paula doesn't get) is garbage that's not worth using.
His PP pool is also bad and he is reliant on water for replenishing it, which is kind of a poor gimmick. Mirror is also a bad gimmick move and it isn't useful even to a really bad player. He also has the food gimmick which is weird, because by the time you'll get him in the game healing PSI is vastly superior to most food items.

And a minor personal complaint for me is that with the rolling HP meter, having another character menu is a huge pain in the ass to click through. And especially when this comes after having only Ness, Paula and Jeff for so long.

>Paula goes missing from the party for like five hours of play time right in the middle of the game
>Poo leaves the party almost right after you get him (even worse if you forget to do Magnet Hill and Pink Cloud before Scaraba)
>"Ness lost the will to battle"

ugh