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Arnieboy

Earthbound

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I'm currently playing through this gem of a game and was wondering how many other people here have been lucky enough to play it.

 

I'm currently in Summers and i'm loving it immensely. The characters, story, humour, graphics (charming in their own way), the awesome music and the quirkiness really make this different from any other rpg I have ever played. It's just a shame that the Mother series doesn't get the exposure it deserves as this is easily up there with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy.

 

As for how i'm playing it - in it's purest form on a US SNES with a complete boxed copy (wasn't cheap either!) but most definately worth it.

 

The only frustrating experience i've had with it thus far is a run in with a mighty bear and two cavemen enemies, 8 attempts at running away failed horribly. :(

 

 

But yeah, who else has played it? And if you did, did you enjoy it?

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I think Earthbound was the first RPG I ever finished back when I had just discovered SNES emulators.

 

I actually finished Mother 3 for the first time just a couple of weeks ago. It's a pretty great series, even if I'm not too fond of the first game.

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I think Earthbound is overrated. It has charm, yes, but that charm was the only thing keeping me going until the end. I did like the way the game handled lethal damage, though.

 

Mother 3 is a different story, though. It had a very good story to accompany the charm, and the battle system was very much improved with the addition of the "beats".

Mother 3 is one of the best RPGs of all time, I believe.

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I've played Eathbound, but I have never completed it.

 

I will try to one day.

 

I have played and completed Mother 3 though, that game is one of the best I've ever played.

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Seem to be nearing the end now, so much fun.

 

I always heard that people loved Mother 3 as well and you all seem to agree, may have to play that then at some point.

 

@Magnus: I very much doubt i'll ever play Mother 1 for more than 5 minutes as NES rpgs are way too unforgiving for my tastes and due to limitation of the NES, lack the charm that SNES rpgs give. NES rpgs seem to be more of 'you had to play them at the time to appreciate them.'

Edited by Arnieboy

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Earthbound feels like the game they wanted to make when they made Mother, anyway. Just... better and more developed. What killed it for me was the high difficulty level and the constant level grinding.

 

You're right about NES RPGs. I don't see myself ever playing another one. :blank:

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Mother 3 is such a good game. I can't believe Nintendo blatantly ignore the series as far as bringing it to the west goes. Sticking Ness and Lucas into Smash Bros does not compensate.

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Mother 3 is such a good game. I can't believe Nintendo blatantly ignore the series as far as bringing it to the west goes. Sticking Ness and Lucas into Smash Bros does not compensate.

 

You obviously have half your head stuck in the mud for being ignorant as to WHY Mother 3 would be almost impossible to bring out over here, Nintendo would love for the game to come out in the west, but the amount of content they would have to cut out and edit would make Mother 3 a completely different game to that of the original Mother 3. Seriously, they had enough hard time bringing earthbound out here, and thanks to the glorious internet, if Mother 2 came out right now, we would never had earthbound because of copyright issues.

 

Mother series is all about the magic and the creative genius that Itoi put into the game, without his touch the game is average at best.

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I played through this back when it was readily available on the SNES. It was a nice departure from the usual fantasy/medieval setting but the game was average on the whole.

 

It didn't take long to get sick of those trippy backgrounds during battle either.

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You obviously have half your head stuck in the mud for being ignorant as to WHY Mother 3 would be almost impossible to bring out over here,

 

Struth, I'm well aware dude.

 

Nintendo could find a way to do it if they want, other games have been localised in ways that they lose their original meaning but still work for their target audience. They've had long enough to figure it out by now. Heck, they are probably rich enough to buy their way around all the licensing issues if they wanted.

 

I would post more... but... I'm drowning in mud...

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Localising it would be hard yes, but it could be done. Although a lot of the charm would be lost, I agree.

 

The main reason that Earthbound hasn't seen a VC release is apparently music copyright issues.

 

Also, if it was rereleased now they'd probably drop the knives that Frank was holding for obvious reasons.

 

Shame really, it would be nice to see the whole series made up for a DS release over here, but it isn't going to happen. :\

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So for my new project I chose EARTHBOUND :D

 

Finally found a proper emulator and whatnot and am playing it om my laptop.

 

I've got to say, this game is hard if you don't level up properly. Otherwise, you just end up with too little HP to even survive a hit or 2.

 

Made it to Twoson (named so because they weren't the first:laughing:) and I'm enjoying its quirkiness and dialogue and . . . music? Quite strange battle tunes now and then, but it enhances the flavour of the game.

The battle system is quite unusual though, and not at all what I was expecting. It's just so basic.

 

Anyway, I hope I can get my hands on Mother 3 when I finish this.

 

Stay tuned for more updates as you venture through this game with ol' Fusedy :D

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How hard is it to find a proper emulator? I must have played it on an emulator at least a decade ago. :p

 

But yeah, Earthbound is pretty great. Probably my favorite game in the series, though Mother 3 is good too.

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Earthbound works pretty well as a Dragon Quest parody. It means the battle system is quite basic, yes, but there is an aspect of it that's actually quite clever: lethal damage may not be lethal. I sorely miss that in other games.

 

In general, I still stand by my previous comment. Earthbound is overrated, but it is memorable.

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I remember palying this on emulator back in the day.. I only played as far as to walking up to the police near the meteor and not understanding what I was supposed to do though lol =p

 

Sat down with my mate about a month ago and we started playing it. And man did I miss out. This game is amazing. I can't believe how such a great game can be overlooked by NoA/NoE just because they messed up the initial US release.

 

Also it baffles me how it seems no other RPGs since have borrowed many of the genius game mechanics from it.. Such as the instant death system, the fact that you don't have to enter battles that you are too powerfull for, and that you actually see the enemies sneak up on you. I know some games do use some of these features, but way too few do if you ask me.

 

Anyways, I'm still playing it and I recently got to the dark town with the circus tent.

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Now here's something, maybe? It states that they are working on Mother-series, but not Mother 4. Instead, they are trying to make Mother "playable", whatever it means.

 

My guess is that they are going for some 3DS re-release scheme. Or maybe not.

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I've wanted to play these 3 games for years and years. I've held out hope that they'll all get a proper re-release at some point down the line (I refuse to pay the ludicrous eBay prices for the Earthbound cartridge (especially when the other 2 games are impossible for me to play legally - and I also refuse to play a substandard version of Mother 1 or 3 through crappy emulation or an unofficial fan translation)

 

This is the most positive sign I have ever seen about this ever happening. Don't let me down Nintendo!

Edited by Dcubed

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Personally, I'm on the fence. I tried the NES game once and didn't really enjoy it. Altough if Nintendo were to release a trilogy in Europe, I might get it, if just to support more localisations.

 

Interesting news, nevertheless.

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Seeing how Mother (1) was really horribly balanced, I think a re-realese of some sort would make sense. Readjust everything in the game, up the graphics a bit and release it worldwide...

 

Aaaand now I'm just dreaming. Stoked to see what Mr. Itoi has up his sleeves though.

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