Mother

[Warlock]

I've tried a couple times to get into the Mother/Earthbound series and failed; circumstances have conspired, however, to make me think I should try it again.

Is the NES Mother/Earthbound Zero worth playing, or should I skip straight to the SNES game?

- HC

[Vireo Gilvus]

Skip the first game; it's essentially a half-baked Dragon Quest clone set in pseudo-modern times, and everything it does, the second game does much better. You may want to read a synopsis of the first game's plot, perhaps on Wikipedia, in order to better acquaint yourself with the series before starting Earthbound. But it's not necessary, since you can play Earthbound and understand everything in the story fairly well regardless of whether you've played Mother 1/"Earthbound Zero".

Earthbound, on the other hand, is a 16-bit tour de force that plays with, lampshades, subverts, and deconstructs numerous JRPG tropes. On top of that, it's a genuinely fun retro RPG, with tons of interesting things to see and do. And its music is definitely my favorite SNES soundtrack from a non-Square game. (No wonder it has so many remixes.)

After playing Earthbound, I highly recommend you give Mother 3 a try. Released in 2006 for the Game Boy Advance after years of planning and development hell, it was given a complete English translation two years later by Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin and his crew. Although Mother 3 features the same general aesthetics and storytelling style as its Super Nintendo predecessor, it focuses more on the characters and less on exploration and battle. Its music is awesome, too; it has my favorite GBA soundtrack from a game that's not a port or a remake.

If you need help locating the ROMs and emulators, I can hook you up. I have them all, and play them regularly. It's one of my favorite RPG franchises, although I could give or take the first game in the series.

[Warlock]

I tried to get into the series a couple times when I first discovered emulation and failed- as I recall, I was unhappy with the shallowness of the combat system and the amount of grinding involved. I've heard that whether you like the series tends to hinge on how you feel about the look-and-feel of the games; in retrospect I suspect that teenage me was too old to appreciate them at face value and too young to appreciate them as subversive statements.

I've got the Earthbound ROM kicking around; if I enjoy it enough to play Mother 3, I'll drop you a line.

- HC

[Vireo Gilvus]

Tell you what. Since I haven't played Earthbound in a few years, I'll start a new game file and offer some helpful tips along the way. Earthbound is one of my favorite games, and I'll be glad to give you some assistance.

* In the earliest areas, you start out very weak, and the weapon you find in your sister's room won't help you all that much against the enemies you face in the first area. Crows always leave behind Cookies, which heal you by 6 or 7 HP, so use them if you're in need of an HP boost. Sometimes Crows steal Cookies from you instead of attacking, but they can't take this action if you have no Cookies to begin with. Whenever you're running low on HP (and let's face it, any battle at this point could be a make-or-break situation), return to your house and talk to your mom.

* Once day breaks and you're allowed to explore more areas of the first town, search the woods behind the library (to the northwest of the building's entrance). There should be a secret passage that leads to a clubhouse. Talk to all the kids inside the clubhouse, and one of them will give you a "Mr. Baseball Cap". This offers a better defense boost than the Baseball Cap sold in the town's general store, and it's free, so what's not to like?

* Be careful when exploring the southern part of town. That's where the gang members hang out, and they're much stronger than the animals in the north side. I recommend you raise your level to about 8-10, and buy all the equipment upgrades, before proceeding.

Let me know when you reach the second town, because I have some tips for you concerning that part of the game, but I don't want to spoil things.

[Warlock]

199X was a difficult year for the world, between the alien invasions, marauding robots, and the three separate, nonconsecutive nuclear armageddons.

- HC

[Warlock]

So, started this one last night (my previous post being inspired in the "sometime in 199X" intro. Combat is as brutal as I remember; I wiped between my house and the meteor once even before morning. The penalty for dying is light, at least, if you're not carrying a lot of cash with you... Meeting more than one Shark in combat at once is essentially still certain death at this point. I did just upgrade to the best equipment available now, which hopefully will help.

Haven't gotten to play as much as I would have liked; hopefully I'll finish up the "sharks" subquest tonight or tomorrow.

- HC

[Vireo Gilvus]

Yeah, combat is brutal in the earlier stages. You don't get a lot to start with, stats-wise. The key is to stay close to a recovery/save point, and play conservatively (don't take too many risks by wandering into areas with tougher opponents unless you're confident in your battle skills). The battles get fairer later on, trust me. (There are several difficulty humps, though, like the first battlefield after the second town. But there's a trick for surviving in that enemy-infested stretch.)

Also, to minimize your (inevitable) losses in battle, never carry cash with you unless you're in a city, since ATMs are prevalent, and often in the same buildings as stores.

Did you find the Mr. Baseball Cap? When I got it in the playthrough I started yesterday, my defense increased by over double. And remember, don't try fighting the boss of the Sharks until your level is around 9.

[Warlock]

Yeah, I know- that most of your cash is safe in the ATM is one of the mitigating factors to the difficulty of combat. That I'm more used to the whole level-grinding thing now than when I first tried EB is one of the reasons I think this will be more successful than my first couple tries through.

I did pick up the Mr. Baseball Cap, but not until after I'd already bought a cap... The former is only one point better than the latter. :/ One point is still one point, though, so I'm not complaining.

- HC

[Warlock]

Really? I didn't have any trouble with Frank and the Sharks at level 6. 'course, I'd gotten pretty lucky with a couple levels before that...

And now, off to Giant Step!

- HC


ETA: Besides finding magic butterflies, how can I restore my PP on the cheap?

[Vireo Gilvus]

Oct 8, 2013 5:26:54 GMT -5 Warlock said:

Really? I didn't have any trouble with Frank and the Sharks at level 6. 'course, I'd gotten pretty lucky with a couple levels before that...

And now, off to Giant Step!

- HC


ETA: Besides finding magic butterflies, how can I restore my PP on the cheap?

You can't. Items that restore PP are on the rare side (you can buy them later on, but the buyable ones don't restore that much PP for the point where you find them), so your only other option is walking back to your house on the northeast corner of town. There are a few "free inns" in the game later on, however.

Trivia: "Giant Step" is one of many modern music references in the game. The landmark was named after a famous cool jazz song by saxophonist John Coltrane.

Congrats on beating the Sharks!

[Warlock]

Oct 8, 2013 14:49:24 GMT -5 Vireo Gilvus said:

Trivia: "Giant Step" is one of many modern music references in the game. The landmark was named after a famous cool jazz song by saxophonist John Coltrane.

I'd ask if they sneak in the obvious one, but it's probably a little too metal for the series.

- HC

[Vireo Gilvus]

It's also a little too new. Almost all of the game's music references are from between the '50s and '70s (Chuck Berry, Beatles, Beach Boys, etc.), when the staff members grew up.

The series itself was named after the song "Mother" by John Lennon, whom the series' writer/director, Shigesato Itoi, called a major inspiration.

[Warlock]

Glenn Danzing's best work was really his little-known collaboration with Shakira (kinda NSFW), anyway.

- HC



ETA: beat the Titanic Ant and opened the road to Twoson. Woot.

[Vireo Gilvus]

Congrats! Those crooked cops sure are merciless. Something tells me that the somewhat lighthearted portrayal of police brutality was one of many reasons why the game has never seen a re-release in America.

Now that your next destination is Twoson, here are some tips:

* Keep at least one food item on you at all times. (It doesn't matter which one.) You will have to donate it to a prominent NPC in exchange for his undying loyalty. You will also need to donate $200.

* If you get "mushroomized" by one of the mushroom enemies you'll no doubt find on the path between Onett and Twoson, go to a hospital and speak to the healer (a blue-haired man who usually appears in the lobby). Instead of charging you for his service of curing that annoying and deadly status ailment, he'll actually pay you $50! "Mushroomized" causes you to sometimes take random actions during battle, and sometimes even harm yourself, like "Confuse" in many other RPGs. Also, outside of battle, it screws up your control scheme, so pressing Right may make you walk up, pressing Up may make you walk left, etc. (The control scheme changes randomly every 10-30 seconds or so, I believe.)

* Despite the abundance of shops, there are only two items in Twoson worth buying. One is the Copper Bracelet, which costs $349. (The Caribbean-accented man in Burglin Park sells it.) The second item is the Teddy Bear, which costs $178 and acts as a decoy during battle, causing enemies to leave Ness alone and attack the bear instead. Unfortunately, Teddy Bears can only take so much punishment before they are destroyed. You will want at least three of these before entering the battlefield to the east of Twoson, which is your next destination. You can find a free Teddy Bear in Paula's room, upstairs at the Polestar Preschool.

* Don't invest in Orange Kid's inventions. It's a scam.

* You may want to keep some Cold Remedies on hand. Two of the enemies in the battlefield east of Twoson, "Li'l UFO" and "Spinning Robo", have a special technique that causes the Cold status ailment. This works similarly to Poison in most RPGs (periodically draining HP both inside and outside of battle), and it's possible to die from it if your HP runs out. Ness' Healing Alpha spell can cure Cold if you don't have any Cold Remedies, but it may be better to save your PP. (Note that Earthbound also has a "Poison" status ailment which will be introduced later; it's essentially a more damaging version of Cold.)

* One of the presents in the battlefield east of Twoson is a headgear upgrade for Ness. Find it at all costs; its defense boost will help you greatly.

* If you still feel like you need to gain more levels and money, return to Giant Step for some easy and quick grinding. Whenever you defeat the boss of a Sanctuary dungeon, the enemies in that dungeon will run away from you on the field, allowing you to easily score a sneak attack and possibly destroy the enemies instantly.

[Warlock]

The cops weren't too bad; I did have to try twice, but mostly because I got unlucky right at the end the first time around (ate two criticals in a row without the chance to heal inbetween, and I wasn't at max life to begin with).

I do hear, BTW, that Earthbound has finally hit the VC here in the US. No word on an official port of Mother 3, though...

I dig the Titanic Ant boss theme and the groovy Black Antion/Spiteful Crow battle music.

- HC