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.
Hi