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Earthbound: whats that all about?

G

Grug

Member
Help me out here, I really, really want to like this game but I am not sure where the quality is...

Keep in mind I am only 90 mins or so in...

- I have no problems with games being aimed at all ages but this just feels like an edutainment title in the way it plays and is designed.

- The battle system is beyond basic...

This isn't a troll, I just want to know what I am in for if I keep playing... does it become funny or something? Does the battle system open up?

To put it simply, what endears this game to millions?

Anyone who turns this into a troll thread can **** off.
 
What is earthbound anyway? Is that the game with the Nes kid from SSBM in it?
 
But what is the game meant to be?

Is it just a simple little RPG with a touch of charm?

Is it a biting social satire?

Is it a post-genre experience to be enjoyed with vegan burritos?
 
It's all about WONDERFUL GOODNESS AND HAPPINESS AND VIDEOGAME ENJOYMENT.

If you fail to adhere to this factual information you forfeit your rights to play and enjoy video games, and must henceforth quit gaming forever.
 
- I have no problems with games being aimed at all ages but this just feels like an edutainment title in the way it plays and is designed.

- The battle system is beyond basic...
Click to expand...

It was perfect in my case. It was the first RPG I was exposed to outside of FF1.


Keep going. After you leave Twoson (the town after Onette), it starts to get a little difficult and keeps escalating.

Also, I thought managing you inventory kicked ass. Unlike Final Fantasy games you can't carry 99 of every item. You need to real careful, especially if your experience is low and you don't have 4 people in your party.

The appeal of Earthbound is the humor and how different it is from every other RPG. If you're worried about it being something else all the little touches will fly over your head. If I had the time I'd replay it then import Mother 3.
 
It's been a while since I've played it, but isn't the gameplay almost an exact clone of the old Dragon Quest games? I remember battles and inventory management being pretty much identical.
 
It's Dragon Quest in an insane wacky version of modern day.
 
Mikazuki said:
Also, I thought managing you inventory kicked ass. Unlike Final Fantasy games you can't carry 99 of every item. You need to real careful, especially if your experience is low and you don't have 4 people in your party..
Click to expand...

I find managing the inventory to be a real pain. Mainly because enemies like to leave items after being defeated and by the end of the dungeon you keep getting the "do you want to drop an item" message at the end of every battle. About every 10 mins in the game I just drop all the HP recover/PP recovery items so I don't have to see that stupid message and add an extra few seconds to the battle system.

What's even worse is that you can only drop off 3 items at a time and there's no "drop off everything" item box. So each time I get to a new town I end up calling that place like 3-5 times and dumping the majority of my inventory. It's especially annoying how shops wont even BUY BACK Jeff's old weapons so they just take up space until you can call the delivery service.

Limited inventory is a fair idea, but the inventories are so small in Earthbound and the enemies drop items at such a high percentage that it's annoying especially when you need to take a story key item and your inventory is full so you have to drop something and then talk to the person again.
 
Earthbound is in a word, mixed.

On one hand, it is the first jRPG in a modern (sub)urban setting and very different from your typical medieval RPG. And on the other, it is incredibly archaic in its system. The person who said it's modern day Dragon Quest is not too far off. Both games sport the bare minimum in battle systems & display.

I respect it for what it is, when placed in context of when it was released. In fact, there are some nifty shortcut systems to the game that even current RPGs don't employ. For instance, one that I really liked is when your party is at a decent level above the enemies you are to fight, they don't even bother going into combat. They automatically GIVE you experience points because it's obvious you'll win. No reason to beat around the bush. So there are some streamlined systems like that.

But when pitted against everything RPGs have to offer, Earthbound is really not that special. It's downright crappy in most departments, but the modern setting and writing does have its charm.
 
One thing I have yet to see in any other RPG is the rolling HP counter - I remember countless battles where I was dealt a huge amount of damage, but survived because my next blow killed the enemy before my HP rolled down to zero. It doesn't go down super slowly (it's actually pretty fast), but it still gives you a little bit of time to get that last hit in and win the battle. :-)

~Cris
 
crisdecuba said:
One thing I have yet to see in any other RPG is the rolling HP counter - I remember countless battles where I was dealt a huge amount of damage, but survived because my next blow killed the enemy before my HP rolled down to zero. It doesn't go down super slowly (it's actually pretty fast), but it still gives you a little bit of time to get that last hit in and win the battle. :-)

~Cris
Click to expand...

That is kinda cool. Other games have rolling counters, but they are just an illusion. You are actually at 0 HP even before the counter catches up.
 
Scrolling life counters and guts prevent the battle system from being overly simple. (See exploding enemies and the strategy revolving around fighting them.)
I will admit, though, that the times you are down to 1 character, the battle system does get a little simpler, but that's to be expected.
 
Exactly, and as you gain more HP, you're able to get maybe 2 or 3 hits in before dying - it's great and adds some last minute tension to certain battles. :-)

I also remember the difficulty with the enemies always ramping up
in the mall where the lights go out and Paula gets abducted - you have to fight your way through some aliens or something to get her back
and both times I've played through the game I've been underpowered to face those enemies.
 
Earthbound was the first rpg I ever played (snes one) and I remember I fall in love with the game because of its simple yet epic story. I liked how instead of magic wands and spells, you used baseball bats and rocks to defeat enemies. I loved the difficulty level, it was challenging but not frustrating, and I also loved the music.
 
No way, the battle system is great, and features one of the greatest last boss battles in the history of ever. :-) I totally did not see that coming.

~Cris
 
Himuro said:
The battle system is the number one reason I didn't like it.
Click to expand...

A shame. Like the game it looks simple, but has a lot more to it.
 
crisdecuba said:
One thing I have yet to see in any other RPG is the rolling HP counter - I remember countless battles where I was dealt a huge amount of damage, but survived because my next blow killed the enemy before my HP rolled down to zero. It doesn't go down super slowly (it's actually pretty fast), but it still gives you a little bit of time to get that last hit in and win the battle. :-)
Click to expand...
Whoa, that sounds really cool. I guess I didn't get far enough in the game to see that.
 
Himuro said:
Whenever I see a first person battle system at any time I'm immediately turned off. I don't really know why.
Click to expand...

Again, a shame. You're missing out on some of the best RPGs ever then.
 
Parallax Scroll said:
Whoa, that sounds really cool. I guess I didn't get far enough in the game to see that.
Click to expand...

Another thing that plays in with the rolling HP is your GUTS stat. Higher it is, better chance you have of surviving a death blow with 1 HP. Sure, not terribly unique, but it makes for some tense moments.
 
Himuro said:
I'll have to give it a try...hopefully Mother 3 isn't first person.
Click to expand...

Your hopes surely will be dashed.
Seriously though, what's the difference? Or do you just like seeing your characters?
 
RevenantKioku said:
Another thing that plays in with the rolling HP is your GUTS stat. Higher it is, better chance you have of surviving a death blow with 1 HP. Sure, not terribly unique, but it makes for some tense moments.
Click to expand...
Damn it that sounds cool too
 
This game is awesome. Like everyone else said, just get to Threed. The game starts to own majorly then. And the battle system is not really that simple once you get into it. This was probably (and still is) my favorite RPG.

MOTHER THREE BETTER COME OUT IN NORTH AMERICA!
 
RevenantKioku said:
Your hopes surely will be dashed.
Seriously though, what's the difference? Or do you just like seeing your characters?
Click to expand...
I'm kind of the same, because I like seeing my characters or just battles from a more interesting point of view. At first Dragon Quest VIII threw me off because I wasn't used to it, but I liked that one because I could still see my character's actions.
 
Himuro said:
I can't tell you why. I like seeing characters, and just seeing a little slash or something when you attack an enemy is so fucking boring.
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I give up, haha.
I dunno, I get more peeved at only having the one character on the screen when walking around the map as opposed to seeing them in battle or not.
 
I always loved the whacky battle music and crazy tie dye backgrounds in battles, and I loved the art style. It's just so...nutty.

I played Earthbound when it first came out and loved it. I just started playing through it again, and I still love it. Maybe I'm weird, though.

Himuro said:
No really. I tried out Dragon Quest V recently (or rather 3 months or so ago) because Dragon Quest VIII was my first DQ. Right off the bat I was turned off. The way the battle system flows...it just ain't for me.
Click to expand...

I had always assumed that most hardcore RPGers actually start playing RPGs because of Dragon Warrior for NES. Perhaps it's because of that that so many RPG battle systems tend to gel with me, and I tend not to nitpick about things like views and visible teammates.
 
EB is a game you needed to experience when it came out. It was such a shift from the norm, it made the game 100x better than what it is/was.
 
ToxicAdam said:
EB is a game you needed to experience when it came out. It was such a shift from the norm, it made the game 100x better than what it is/was.
Click to expand...

I think even in the context of today's RPGs, minus the simplicity of the battle system, it's still a huge shift from the RPG norm. There still aren't enough RPGs set in the modern day. Persona 2 is the best one I can think of, outside of EB.
 
Himuro said:
No really. I tried out Dragon Quest V recently (or rather 3 months or so ago) because Dragon Quest VIII was my first DQ. Right off the bat I was turned off. The way the battle system flows...it just ain't for me.
Click to expand...

So you can't play FFI-III or Suikoden games either, eh? Or does the seeing of the characters fix it for you? I just find that super bizarre.
 
Himuro said:
I can play FFI-III but I don't really like them. Suikoden battle systems are completely different from DQ. Don't understand that comparison.
Click to expand...
You said "flow" and the flow of Suikoden battles aren't that off from DQ and the early FF games.

It's definitely seeing the characters. Pretty nubish I guess, but then I'm a product of FFVII wanking so I'm used to a certain style.
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Well, there's only so much I can do then! I started with a friend's copy of Dragon Warrior about when it came out.
 
I like seeing dudes jump forward and slash, but I can deal with first person as long as the game is good.

Another thing is that in 3rd person you see little numbers pop above their heads when you do damage so you immeadiately know how much damage you did. In 1st person you have to read the line "X did X amount of damage". I guess one of the major downpoints about 1st person is that it feels like playing a dice game or reading a book because it's just a list of zork like "PLAYER DID ATTACK A FOR X DAMAGE. ENEMY TRIED TO ATTACK PLAYER B AND MISSED".

It's more fun seeing that actually happen. Like watching the enemy swing and miss rather than reading about it.

But yeah, I still enjoy DQ despite the 1st person.
 
Himuro said:
It's definitely seeing the characters. Pretty nubish I guess, but then I'm a product of FFVII wanking so I'm used to a certain style.
Click to expand...

That's a shame. You'd probably be more accustomed if you had started with Dragon Warrior like myself and Kioku.
 
I don't understand why pacman is so popular. The story sucks, the controls are primitive, the graphics are outdated. </sarcasm>

When you play a game that's from 1994 today, you can't expect it to be up to par to today's standards. The game rocked back then and I'm not even an RPG fan. A lot of games have copied parts of it so it makes it look "been-there-done-that" now.
 
Parallax Scroll said:
Well it is a role-playing game, after all.
Click to expand...

I like the illusion that rpgs have nothing to do with pen and paper rpgs of old. Deep down at the core mechanics they are all just rolling stats, but I like that modern rpgs do a lot to hide that fact.
 
koam said:
I don't understand why pacman is so popular. The story sucks, the controls are primitive, the graphics are outdated. </sarcasm>

When you play a game that's from 1994 today, you can't expect it to be up to par to today's standards. The game rocked back then and I'm not even an RPG fan. A lot of games have copied parts of it so it makes it look "been-there-done-that" now.
Click to expand...

Even then, there are some older games that stand the test of time, and in my opinion, Earthbound is one of them. Then again, unlike Bebpo, I love retro gaming.
 
Bebpo said:
Another thing is that in 3rd person you see little numbers pop above their heads when you do damage so you immeadiately know how much damage you did. In 1st person you have to read the line "X did X amount of damage". I guess one of the major downpoints about 1st person is that it feels like playing a dice game or reading a book because it's just a list of zork like "PLAYER DID ATTACK A FOR X DAMAGE. ENEMY TRIED TO ATTACK PLAYER B AND MISSED".
Click to expand...

Eh, but it's not like EarthBound is devoid of variation in this respect. Ducks spinning things around and so on.
But this probably gets into a whole feelings on reading bit and I'm not gonna touch that.
 
At first i was a bit turned off about the battles but it gets better as you play through the game.
What i remember of Earthbound is the world that is very special and soundtrack. That is what made this game special to me. The story wasn't bad at all too.
 
Focusing on Earthbound's battle system is missing the forest from the trees. I agree pretty much with every criticism Bepbo's leveled against it but even so I feel nothing is taken away from what the game is about: imagination, charm and oh yeah, fuzzy pickles.

Anyway, the battle screen is just a built-in excuse to get your smoke on, really. :)
 
I love the adorable simplicity of its battle system. The game concentrated on the endearing world, rather than the battle system, which is what many modern RPGs don't seem to get.
 
Lets not forget the green/black/red swirls and skippable fights. GENIUS.
 
TheTrin said:
I love the adorable simplicity of its battle system. The game concentrated on the endearing world, rather than the battle system, which is what many modern RPGs don't seem to get.
Click to expand...

Heavens forbid that Role Playing Games are susceptible to the same expectations of gameplay as other genres.

Earthbound has its charms, but combat is not one if its stronger suits. Even in your terms, the combat is tedious and drawn out and detracts from what the endearing world had to offer.
 
TheTrin said:
I love the adorable simplicity of its battle system. The game concentrated on the endearing world, rather than the battle system, which is what many modern RPGs don't seem to get.
Click to expand...

Very true...well kinda. Earthbound is good because world = great so battles don't have to be.

But I actually I still enjoy rpgs focusing on battle systems over creating endearing worlds if the battle systems are deep and rewarding. I like about 50% of my rpgs to have story > battle system and 50% to have battle system > story. It keeps things varied.
 
Tsubaki said:
Heavens forbid that Role Playing Games are susceptible to the same expectations of gameplay as other genres.

Earthbound has its charms, but combat is not one if its stronger suits. Even in your terms, the combat is tedious and drawn out and detracts from what the endearing world had to offer.
Click to expand...

I dunno. Tedious? Thanks to the on screen enemies and skippable fights, I don't know if I ever thought that about EB.

Bebpo said:
It keeps things varied.
Click to expand...
Amen to that.
 
Tsubaki said:
Heavens forbid that Role Playing Games are susceptible to the same expectations of gameplay as other genres.

Earthbound has its charms, but combat is not one if its stronger suits. Even in your terms, the combat is tedious and drawn out and detracts from what the endearing world had to offer.
Click to expand...
I remember combat was really quick. Didn't really have to fight lots of battles, because leveling up wasn't a priority. It's as good of a fighting system as any, but I think it's better because of the unique features.
 
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