So, I'm playing Earthbound...

[Sasquatch]

Yup, yesterday I downloaded the ROM (I don't have a Wii U, so please don't ask why I didn't just get it off VC) and I've put about five hours into it so far. I must say, I'm enjoying it so far, though you really have to put about two hours into it to really get into it. I was bit worried about being disappointed because the game is overhyped, but it is really good.

Also, has anyone played Mother 1 aka Earthbound Zero aka Earthbound Beginnings (whether on an emulator or the Wii U)?

[Leet]

I've played the game boy advance fan translation for MOTHER 1 which is much, much better than Nintendo's subpar prototype translation that they decided to release on the wii u without touching up at all for some reason.

amazing game

[noterday]

The Mother serie is probably my favorite video game series and my username comes from a joke at the start of Earthbound.

I played mother 1 in english on a NES emulator in a ds flashcart. It's the only game that I played on that emulator and I couldn't get saves to work so I had to use the one savestate available to save the game. I accidentally wasted my savestate on the title screen one day and lost my save. I had almost finished the game and I only had to grind a bit to beat the final boss so I just watched the ending on youtube.

Also the Mother 4 fangame is looking really good from what they've shown so far!

[Money]

Mother 1 is... let's just say it's age shows and leave it at that.
Earthbound is a really nice, engaging game that unfortunately suffers from some really weird pacing and difficulty spikes (the beginning of the game is also the hardest part), but it has a ton of flavor and in general is good. I've played most of it but have never actually beaten it. I really need to one of these days.
Mother 3 though... God. I fucking love Mother 3. It's so good. The story's better, the pacing's better, the spritework is better (not that Earthbound's was bad, but the animations show tons of love in them), the music is amazing, the gameplay is great (whoever's idea the combo system was, I thank. It really takes a lot of tedium out of battles) and just... God. It's a beautiful game. One of my favorites, for sure.

[Zha Hong Lang]

Now that I've played all three games...

Incoming walls of text

In terms of gameplay, MOTHER 1 is the best to go. It has a really nice, open atmosphere that feels like the entire world is truly connected. It doesn't feel like a bunch of assembled parts, which is the vibe I got from both MOTHER 2 and 3. The difficulty curve is probably what I'd say to be the best in the series, though you'd still need to know what you're doing at any given point in the game. (especially when to use the Onyx Hook or not) I will admit the graphics are subpar even for the NES, and the traveling gets pretty tedious at times, but I really like the way things were done in those categories moreso than the other games outside MOTHER. (at least, given the era it was released in) Also, I think that the music is pretty nice, though some things still bug me. Like, I love how nearly every single area got its own music, but there are some tracks that I really wish just... weren't there at all. For example, Pollyanna plays when Ninten roams the overworld by himself, but once you pick up ANYBODY there's a less appealing tune that plays on the overworld, and apparently there's no way to change it.

(Also, maybe it's just me, but I don't get why people say Duncan factory is so hard. Sure, it's long, but the difficulty is about the same as the region outside it. All you have to do really is just to get Lloyd to the big rocket, then onyx hook your way to safety. In my opinion, the really hard region is Roly Loly Mountain, where you have to explore a really confusing maze, then go outside to a region where the monster REALLY stack up in difficulty)



MOTHER 2... Right off the bat, I'm just gonna say I don't really like how much this game is over-praised. I mean, it's over-praised enough that some people will praise it for themes common across all three games, but then say that the other two games are inferior and won't even express why. It's NOT really the best game in the series, definitely not enough that it just goes without saying. I mean, after five years of development, the game's graphics are really mixed up and don't have a lot of consistency. Some parts are really detailed and obviously have a lot of effort built into it, (like the deep darkness) and then other parts you can tell were slapped together in a short amount of time. (like the pyramid, or summers... really, pillowshaded signs?) Some enemies are really badly-drawn as well, and it would've been better if they at least used the enemy graphics from the first MOTHER as a reference. Don't get me wrong... I won't blame the game just because the graphics aren't as high-quality, but here's that's not exactly the case. There's just lack of skill being spread all across the board. MOTHER 2 has a rushed feeling with its graphics, even though it had a development span of over five years.

The gameplay is expanded from the first one quite greatly, though it's also set back a bit. The map doesn't show the entire world anymore, but it does show more specific things than the first one did. (where the hospitals, shops, and hotels are, where to get the the next area, etc) The rolling HP meter is probably one of the best features of the series as well. The PSI skills were a bit more balanced between characters than the other two games, but I still think that four levels of PK flash and two of PK starstorm were unnecessary. The overworld enemy sprites were also a nice addition, but they weren't truly used to the full potential they could have been. 40% or more of MOTHER 2's enemies lack proper overworld sprites, for example, and thus share stupid ones like the diamonds, light balls, or presents. I also don't like how Magicant was changed from a Nexus-like location to a simple pit-stop, similar to nearly all of the other locations in MOTHER 2. It looses its uniqueness, and feels unnecessary, even. (curse you, Saturn Valley... you'll never be anything like Magicant was)

The music is okay, but it's not really anything special. I feel like there wasn't a lot of respect given toward the first MOTHER's music, because the remixes are just there to be there, really. Nothing special is done with them, and some came out worse than the originals, even. (I'm looking at you, Pollyanna and Magicant) There's about two or three tracks natively from MOTHER 2 which I actually liked, but other than that it's not really something special. The instrumentation happens to be some of the worst on the SNES too, even outperformed by Super Mario World, of all things. I'll say that MOTHER 2 was sometimes good at some atmospheric tracks, but the bulk of it leaves something to be desired, in my opinion.

I think that the strong point of MOTHER 2 is its plot. It makes the game feel very centric around the player himself; even though the input for your name is separate from the main character, the game makes it feel like you really are Ness, in almost every way possible. The collection of the eight melodies leads to a very heartwarming climax, one that I'd say actually makes the rest of the game worth it, just for that moment. (it's too bad that the graphics still weren't too amazing, even at that point) I'm NOT talking about anything regarding the camera man, though. In my personal opinion, he's the worst thing that could ever happen to MOTHER 2.



MOTHER 3 is my personal favorite in the series. Unlike MOTHER 2, it has a TON of graphical polish, and the music is very lively and interactive, really bringing the game to life in many ways. Everything has some purpose of some sort, and the characters in this are absolutely amazing. Rather than just making a bunch of random, nameless NPCs, all of the inhabitants of Tazmily have names, individual sprites, and are supported overall by unique personalities. The story is undoubtedly the best in the series, and its portrayal is greatly strengthened by all the aspects mentioned previously. However, I will admit that MOTHER 1 and 2 had more player-centric plots, while this one didn't focus on the player nearly as much. That's the only real setback it has, though there's also the lackluster "end?" section, too. (which I think was worse than the former)

The gameplay of MOTHER 3 is also the most polished out of the series, and makes the game to most enjoyable experience it can be, in my opinion. The difficulty curve really is a difficulty curve, not a bunch of bouncing back and forth like the previous games are sometimes. The music battles were sometimes a bit frustrating, but overall I think it was a great addition to battles, making them much more interactive than before. It also made me pay close attention to which enemy was encountered first.



(this section's for someone who hasn't played MOTHER yet) If you want my personal suggestions on what order to play the games in and how to play them, then I suggest MOTHER 1 for the GBA (the game's actually called MOTHER 1+2, though) with an English translation. You could get Earthbound Beginnings, but that's just a port of the badly translated NES version, from what I know. Then, you could play Earthbound either on PC or Virtual Console. (preferably VC, since that actually supports the localization of MOTHER) Since there's no real way to get a MOTHER 3 cartridge without being really lucky, it's probably all right just to download the ROM and patch it with the English translation.

[Leet]

mother 2 is the worst of the three but its still very amazing of course! i just find it pales in comparison to the other two

i think i already said that in a different thread whoops

[Money]

huh, ive never heard people say mother 1 is better than earthbound before. i definitely disagree, but i can vaguely see why people would say that. i just find mother 1 to be too frustrating and unforgiving to really get too much enjoyment out of, due in no small part to the limitations and general prevalent design philosophies of the day. plus i dunno, it doesn't have nearly as much flavor as earthbound imo.

jayoshi, did you play mother 1 with the 1+2 gba fan translation? and if so, did you use the easy ring? if so, that probably has something to do with your enjoyment, as that item was completely added into the fan translation as a way to make the game more accessible.

also yeah, roly loly mountain/mt itoi is... woo boy. enemies that can do 100 damage with a single blow? an insane difficulty curve within itself (already being far harder than anything to that point, which is saying a lot)? itoi wasn't lying when he said it was hardly tested.

[Leet]

i think the easy ring is like the right way to play tbh. the game is still challenging even with it, just... playable.

[Zha Hong Lang]

jayoshi, did you play mother 1 with the 1+2 gba fan translation? and if so, did you use the easy ring? if so, that probably has something to do with your enjoyment, as that item was completely added into the fan translation as a way to make the game more accessible.

Yes, I used the fan patch, but no, I hadn't equipped the easy ring on any of my characters. I thought about doing it at first, but then I had the idea of "Hey, I wonder what an annoying RPG would be like?" (also, I had seen taigiry comment about the easy ring, which partially influenced my opinion as well) I dunno why I wasn't super frustrated over it, Maybe it's just easier after experiencing NetHack.

As for the archaicness of the set, I'll say that did bug me at first. However, I did realize that this WAS made in the 1980's, so things weren't going to be as convenient. It was kind of like switching from digital art to traditional art, in my opinion. Overall it was pretty good, but some things were harder to ignore than others. This kind of mentality switch also helped me to appreciate the music over MOTHER 2's, which I was really not expecting at all, to be honest.

also yeah, roly loly mountain/mt itoi is... woo boy. enemies that can do 100 damage with a single blow? an insane difficulty curve within itself (already being far harder than anything to that point, which is saying a lot)? itoi wasn't lying when he said it was hardly tested.

I KNOW!!! Here's the interview he talked about that, for anyone who hasn't seen it:


He talks about Roly Loly specifically at 7:42, or here.

[Money]

Alright, I'm sorry if I was sounding presumptuous or condescending. Again, I just really haven't heard very many people say they prefer Mother 1 to Earthbound. I guess there's something to be said for being able to appreciate 80s era RPGs, but I just don't have the patience for them.

[Zha Hong Lang]

Alright, I'm sorry if I was sounding presumptuous or condescending. Again, I just really haven't heard very many people say they prefer Mother 1 to Earthbound. I guess there's something to be said for being able to appreciate 80s era RPGs, but I just don't have the patience for them.

Oh, you're fine. I probably would have enjoyed MOTHER 1 a lot less as well if it didn't have Magicant. That was the main thing which really "got" me into the game, because almost no other RPG I've played used that concept of having a safe zone you can return to instantly. I had only seen that used in some MMOs, never an RPG, and especially not MOTHER.

[Leet]

I never found the teleport so I had to waaaaalk around everywhere that wasnt Magicant so that was fun...

But in general MOTHER 1 is much more playable than certain other first-entries in weird rpg series taking place in the modern era... *glaring at Persona 1*

[Zha Hong Lang]

I never found the teleport so I had to waaaaalk around everywhere that wasnt Magicant so that was fun...

I hadn't either. I found the Onyx Hook, though, which I used to go back to Magicant specifically.

[Sasquatch]

Alright, I'm sorry if I was sounding presumptuous or condescending. Again, I just really haven't heard very many people say they prefer Mother 1 to Earthbound. I guess there's something to be said for being able to appreciate 80s era RPGs, but I just don't have the patience for them.

Yeah, I'm surprised that several of you actually prefer Mother 1 over Earthbound. I've never played it, of course, so I really can't argue for or against it. I have watched part of an LP of Mother, though, and I had two thoughts about it: this game is ugly, and, the music is really good. I know it's an NES game and so it's wrong to expect a graphical masterpiece, but the game's graphics are very bland and inferior to even Final Fantasy 1. The soundtrack, however, is excellent and I may like it even more than Earthbound. I haven't played the game, though, so I have nothing to say about the difficulty or gameplay. Seeing that I enjoy games like FF1 and Phantasy Star, Mother 1 would probably suit my tastes well. Phantasy Star 1, in particular, has a nasty difficulty curve in the beginning, so I would probably tolerate Mother's high difficulty.

[Zha Hong Lang]

I won't say anything against MOTHER 1 being ugly, because it is. However, like I said before, Earthbound's not the prettiest game either. There were lots of lazy graphical choices done, and things sometimes just looked ugly. (the tenda village, foppys and fobbys, and a lot of the summer village)

[TheFinalSentinel]

Mother 1, in my opinion, is very rough around the edges. It's age certainly shows, as MoneyMan said.
That said, it still has a lot of charm and is certainly worth the experience if you love RPGs and liked Earthbound.

foppys and fobbys

I resent that. Fobbies are too borange to be ugly.
I'm sorry. I'll leave now.

[TheBaddestBatter]

i've played and beaten every single game.
and with the mother 4 fangame coming ovt soon i think i'll be beating that after a few days of being released.

[Tenlade]

Honeslty i always found earthbound/mother 2 the best. Mother1 feels too empty at times with the envoirnement, and 3 a bit too railroady on what paths you can take, and felt like a series of setpeices strung together. Earthbound actually felt like you were in towns and few rpgs that aren't open world never seem to go to that scale.Every town felt like it was full of stuff and every path between them felt very streamlined, though i suppose you could just argue them a series of 2d hallways most of the time.

[Learning-Timebuster]

i attach a lot of value to the story aspect of RPGs because i think that thats kind of what they need to strive to make their selling point (for the most part, anyway). for this reason i kinda dont think very highly of earthbound in comparison to mothers 1 and 3. earthbound places a lot of focus on pop culture references, and this might be because im not an american, but im kind of unable to fully appreciate the game because of that. mother 1 may have a simpler story but in a way it seemed more genuine than earthbound, i guess? like, in earthbound everything just kinda flies in ness' face and he catches lucky breaks left and right, which makes the progression of the story seem forced and fabricated. mother 3 improves on that aspect a lot, what with the very dramatic storyline and all that. out of the three i probably think that mother 1 is still the best even though in many ways i think that mother 3 trumps the other two, maybe because of nostalgia or s/t