Rant ahead. Apologies.

Hello, friends. Normally, I would never ever ever create my own thread; but after finishing Earthbound a few hours ago, my disappointment left me with such a wry feeling that I decided to make the plunge and lose my topic creation virginity.  

I love the SNES. I think it is the best home console ever along with the PS2. It has most of the best games and rpgs that I have ever played. Thus, I have always wanted to play Earthbound, a somewhat talked-about cult classic known for its uniqueness and high cost for a physical copy. I downloaded the game on my WiiU via club nintendo and started it up a few weeks ago. 

Long story short, the game is just not fun to play. Not one bit.

• The menu and item managements are terrible for 1994 standards. There are so many stupid items (foods, useless junk) that leave you with a sense of frustration for not knowing whether or not they need to be thrown away (since, again, you can hold very few items). This also extends to key items: you never know when you are actually done with one and able to store it, also leading to a mess of an inventory. The process of calling your sister to withdraw and deposit items (which is also limited) is tedious and slow and becomes a bother after the 5th time.    

• Moreover, the gameplay is very polarizing. Essentialy, it's your basic Dragon Quest set-up and battle system. Unlike in DQ games, I always felt very inadequate compared to the enemies I would face. My team was frequently missing attacks (even with good equipment), whereas enemies would miss theirs probably half as much. The turn-order was also very arbitrary. One round, Paula would attack first, Jeff third, and Ness last. Next turn, Paula attacks second, Ness first, Jeff fourth, ad infinitum. Even when I gave Ness a rabbit foot accessory to increase his speed above everyone else's, the turn order would still be messed up. This ruined any potential strategy I ever wanted to implement.

This leads to the difficulty. I found this game harder than a low-level Dark Souls 2 Covenant of Champions run. I died all the time. But unlike From Software's recent hit titles, in which almost all of my deaths were due to my carelessness or inadequecy, I never felt like I learned anything from what Earthbound's undeserved and unfair deaths from enemies that hit like trucks and rarely miss. 

Also, the phone system quickly grows tiresome. Calling your mom and dad over and over and over to hear the same few lines of dialogue is so damn annoying and flawed. Remember quickly saving at a save point in Chrono Trigger? It's all I could think about while playing EB. 

The game is also praised for being quirky and humorous and original. To some extent, the praise is valid. Some NPCs have funny, albeit random dialogue; enemies have funny names and actions; Moonside was kinda cool;much of the music is very unique and cool (Brick Road, Deep Darkness, Cave of the Past, some battle themes, etc.); the rolling health meters is a very unique and interesting concept that I liked, as was the "beating an enemy without needing to fight them" mechanic. However, this was quickly forgotten during the disappointing final battle, in which you win by praying with Paula a bunch of times. That was really fun and engrossing. Glad I stocked up on all of those bottle rockets /s. damn.

Lastly, the playable characters are terribly contrived and boring. Jeff and Poo basically appear out of nowhere. There is barely any dialogue between the characters, barring some at the ending, some when characters first meet, and some when Jeff fixes a machine or is made fun of by his neglectful father. The character development is this game is non-existant and left me with no affinity or feelings for anything or anyone. 

All in all, I am very disappointed with what was likely the last game I will be able to play before starting med school in a few weeks. I am now shocked that this game is mentioned alongside classic rpgs like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 4 and 6, Seiken Densetsu 3, Tales of Phantasia, etc.

On the plus side, I am very thrilled that I did not purchase this game on ebay last year. One of the best decsions I have ever made. 

If anyone felt similar, please let me know. I hope I am not the only one.

People either really seem to hate Earthbound, or they love it. I can see why you feel the way you do. It's not a perfect game by any means, not even close, but I still liked it quite a bit :)
Different PK Strokes for different PK Folks.

I definitely share some of the same sentiments on the game as you do. Now, it has been 6 years since I last beat Earthbound so some of my arguments may be invalid but the game wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I don't consider it to be one of the best SNES RPGs ever made, let alone one of the best RPGs period. I liked the art-style and the soundtrack and tbh, the cities and the atmosphere was different but quirky and serviceable.

I didn't find the gameplay too hard but it was somewhat shallow and the plot could've been better. I thought there was a lack of character development as well and I was surprised at how late you get the final party member. One of the things I did like however, was the instant win(s) that you would get when you encountered low level enemies. That saved a lot of time and tedium.

All in all, I think EB is a perfectly fine game but I don't see how it's one of the best RPGs ever. I just think it's an alright and somewhat fun game that has flaws and other RPGs on SNES far outclass it, imo.

Btw, good luck in med school!

I thought I'd like it since it plays similar to my fave game series, Dragon Quest. So when I got it I thought: Oh cool, a DQ set in modern times! ..It was sorta that... I guess...

The problem is, like you said, I didnt care for any of the characters -the dialogue is slow and simple stuff like saving or buying items is tedious as hell.
Also Ness is the slowest child on earth. Sure you see enemies on screen which is progressive for its time, but it's no better than 99% of RPGs at the time when you can rarely outrun them e.e

I also agree with battles. Jesus Christ, Ness and the other party members miss attacks as if they were drunk or on something -its really annoying and drags out battles way too long. And those enemies hit hard and I ended up dying a ton. In DQ you get messages that say you missed occasionally but this is every single battle.. v.v

Most of the dialogue is decent I guess. Havent gotten myself to beat it though since the game itself has really turned me off from it.

I am definitely not an EB fan at all o~o I'll never understand the praise it gets. But if someone likes the game then theyre allowed to do so, I wouldn't want my opinion to hurt their view of the game. My advice to anyone reading this is to play it yourself and see if you like it.

Earthbound is one of my favorite games, in honesty, but I do see some of your complaints as being very valid, and at times agreeing with them. One of the reasons EB is one of my favorite games isn't because it's not the best as an RPG, (I think gameplay-wise, Chrono Trigger is much better as a game in general) but because it's a great game as an experience. It doesn't have the best mechanics, true, it doesn't have the best story for any snes RPG, true, but because it's such unique experience that sticks with you long after playing the game. You can't look at EB as a game from the critic's point of view while playing it, you need to play it like a small child, who just got his Super Nintendo and started playing this game on Christmas. You make memories with this game, and that's why so many people love it. I understand that this sort of game isn't your cup of tea, and you have made that clear to me. But please, before you dismiss this game as a disappointment, please look at it from a different angle.

Well the one thing I will say that - like dragon quest- Earthbound is a grind heavy game. If you are just two levels above enemies you won't miss and encounters auto lose if you are any more than that. Gear matters a little bit, but not as much as levels. For that matter its combat is basic. The appeal of Earthbound though is its atmosphere. It is a satire of American suburbia from the perspective of a kid with many dark dramatic undertones in the background, and a decent back story. Mother 3, for example, fixes a lot of the issues you described and also has similar themes, but isn't as impactful in my opinion.

Never played Earthbound. Might stay away from it now.

One things for sure, the game is incredibly quirky, and it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Some of the items are silly, but that's kid of the whole point, but I will agree that the items are kind of my one complaint with the game, a lot of items are pretty useless, imo, and they can end up taking a lot of your inventory.

I actually liked the phone system, and while being homesick was a little annoying at times, it kinda helped bring a little immersion into the game.

As for the characters, I personally think they're all simple, yet entertaining. Each character is unique in their own ways, all in personality, appearance, and the way they battle (though I could argue that Paula and Poo feel similar in battle.) I do agree that there should've been more dialogue between the characters, and I don't think Ness should've gone the silent protagonist route.

Finally, maybe it's just me, and I don't wanna sound like I know everything, but I don't think the game was that hard, if anything, it was a relatively smooth experience.

You mentioned how your characters miss a lot, that could be because of the weapons you're using. I know there's a weapon called the Casey Bat for Ness, which has a lot of offense power, but extremely low accuracy. With that said, I guess I can also agree that the menus aren't the greatest either, mainly when it comes to equiping weapons. I wish it could show how a weapon affects your accuracy on the equip screen.

EarthBound isn't for everyone, and no game is perfect, but I still think EarthBound is one of the best games I ever played. I can respect your opinion, and if you didn't think EarthBound was great, then hey, more power to you.

Hard? Earthbound is freaking easy. You even have a specific enemy you can use to power level in a few minutes (you can instant kill him if you grab him from the back). You don't even need it though... the game is easy but I guess not everyone can be a pro player like me.

Agree with you on the item managment, it's very tedious.

The characters are fine. They don't have to be developed like a normal RPG, we are talking about a bunch of kids here. And the overall "light-hearted" tone of the game doesn't demand "character development" so I think they are fine.

You went into the game expecting too much. In my opinion it's one of the best RPG's on the SNES.

PS: Git gud.

Honestly, I don't think the game was all that difficult. I played through the first half of the game so many times as a kid and I don't remember fussing about how hard it was.