A look back at: Earthbound

You know the drill by now, me talking about my more enhanced experiences on a game I just played, everything I can think about that I don't say in a full review, gah, so much to say at times.

Again, Earthbound is quite obviously Dragon Quest in a modern setting, enhanced for the SNES and given some pretty neat innovations. Naturally despite those it really wasn't all that different to a seasoned RPG player, and is mostly famous for the inclusion of Ness to the Super Smash Bros series. That boy is a lucky bastard to have been an original Smash Bros character. Regardless, Earthbound is pretty much your average charming turn-based linear RPG, do subplots until you get to the evil that is Giygas, which is ultimately defeated in a similar way to Giegue from the first game. While that is memorable, I honestly liked fighting Pokey more, to finally get that fat guy at the end was great, even if he decides to leave without hardly feeling defeated at all.

The game is rife with things like numerous status ailments that could happen anywhere (homesickness, sunstroke) to NPCs that break the fourth wall or have petty humor, to neat little sprite shows of characters performing on stage, to worms that are worth loads in experience, to a random photographer that won't stop showing up at times and making me think the game froze or something, to high encounter rates at sanctuary locations. Earthbound puts a lot on the plate. At times, it can get rough, even when I over-level with the caterpillars, but there was still some enjoyment to be had with the proper strategies being employed and what to do next. The early game when Ness is alone, not so much. Dude is so slow enemies always go before him, and he barely gains speed so much that all other characters you get will always be faster than him. Then you conquer your nightmare for an extreme stat boost, what?

Arguably the best thing about this game is the auto-kill feature, a great time-saver that prevents super weak enemies from battling the stronger characters. At that point they'd be running, yes, but it's good because having to input commands to finish off easy battles will make the game even more boring. If only games which HAVE random encounters did this, so I don't waste time with returning to easy areas, I'd actually like them more. It's a neat innovation that stays for Mother 3, and should've been adapted for other games as well.