A look back at: MOTHER 3

Only 13 days? Even I'm genuinely surprised by how quickly I managed to beat MOTHER 3. I was all looking at this being quite a long one, but in actuality the game was quite short. However, being short means that it would have a deciding fun factor to it, and MOTHER 3 delivered. Memorable characters, funny NPC dialogue, heartbreaking moments, familiar tunes and characters, a beat-themed battle system, frustrations and fun were had when they were had.

Growing up, I've taken interest in a few things I never thought I'd take interest in, most notably politics and the economy. MOTHER 3 surprisingly does well in molding just how corruptible society is with the introduction of wealth to a backwater village (in Chapter 3) as well as promises of happiness. It's so crazy how this subliminal political message makes a statement so well. Tazmily in the beginning was just a nice village without worry, then Fassad comes in with the promise of happiness and wealth, Tazmily evolves, and residents become more cynical. It's truly maddening. Then they all migrate in the end, reaching a richer city of riches, leaving their old homes behind.

That isn't the only cool thing MOTHER 3 manages to convey. The heartbreaking loss of Hinawa has a huge effect on the rest of the family, the horrible tortures Salsa has to put up with, the always messed-up ambitions Porky has, it all makes the experience so much more memorable. And while the fabled exposition dumps that other RPGs have tend to bore players to death, the one offered by Leder in the final chapter is something that is not boring. It is actually interesting, calling back what I said earlier about how corruptible humans are, as well as the loss of memory and the greed Porky so gleefully displays. The fact that an exposition dump manages to be interesting is truly a high mark for the game.

If there's only one thing I can say I don't really like that much in MOTHER 3, it's trying to time my button presses to the beat of the background music. Of course, it's not really necessary, but it does make battles faster. I'm never really a fan of action command-centric gameplay all that much anymore. It did not detriment this game enough for me to put it out of at least the Top 20 in my opinion though.

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.

A look back at: Earthbound ZERO

The more I look back at Earthbound games, the more I realize just how UNPOPULAR everything that isn't Earthbound is. And yes, cult classics aren't really what are popular. Regardless, Ness, and then later Lucas, end up being in the Smash Bros series, with Ness from the very first game. And here I am playing the game involving Ninten. You know, these names are quite prophetic, Ness standing for NES in some ways, while Ninten, you can just go from there.

Earthbound ZERO of course is referring to a game known as Earthbound Beginnings, often also called Mother 1 due to being the first of its kind, the version I played is in fact called Earthbound ZERO due to its title, and the fact that putting this on also prevented copy protection from sticking its ugly head into people's business. And of course, the similarities to the Dragon Warrior franchise cannot be understated.

Honestly though, this game is basically an easier game than the Dragon Warrior games are, with the idea of a modern setting also offering something unseen at the time. Psychic abilities aren't the same as magic in this case, you run into modern enemies like primitive robots or aliens*. You have places in-game that really do resemble downtown areas.

Tidbits to note are the scattering of eight melodies to remember, the recruitable flying men characters who can only attack and can't be controlled at all (meaning they die permanently when killed), the actual inclusion of an enemy actually called a Mook (whereas the term is used for weak enemies, the Mooks in this game are quite powerful), some powerful robots, and a character-specific status ailment. These little tidbits are pretty nice touches if you ask me, although they aren't too amazing for the game as a whole. As a whole, yes, you still have to grind, but it's less arduous than Dragon Warrior, thank god. It's another RPG you can actually play through fairly quickly.

*Then again, this is semi-futuristic, since aliens and robots are more geared towards such settings. But it's not super futuristic or worse, a clash between fantasy kingdom and futuristic, so that's neat.