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Let's discuss: Earthbound / Mother
(beehaw.org)
The format of these posts is simple: let's discuss a specific game or series!
Let's discuss the Mother series. What is your favorite game in the series? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn't work for you? Are there other games that gave you similar feelings? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let's get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
I remember trying to play Earthbound when I was younger. The story is fascinating, I really want to love the game, but the actual gameplay didn't really grab me. I remember getting to the first major town area and getting my ass beat by the gangsters or whoever that you need to fight there. Never made it past that point.
Any tips, if I wanted to pick it up again? Is this a game that expects you to grind? I found the early game to be really difficult, and I'm not usually one to be turned off by that but I really felt like I was hitting a brick wall and I think I must have missed something fundamental.
Yeah, you do have to grind a bit. Nowhere near as much as some games (looking at you, basically every Final Fantasy game) but the leveling is designed around you doing some extra fights for XP. Every new area generally has a "grind spot" that is moderately to incredibly obvious, typically some grouping of enemies that are enough to fight but not enough to overwhelm you, placed within reasonable walking distance of a bed, hotel, or other way to refill your HP/MP for cheap/free.
For the first town, before you take on the punks roaming the streets you should get some levels fighting crows, dogs, and snakes up near your house. Once you can kill them in two turns or less head into town and try taking on a single punk. If you survive that fight without being nearly dead, keep fighting punks. If you almost die, go heal up and farm a little more. And if you DO die... well you only lose half the money you have on you, so as long as you keep most of it in the ATM you haven't lost much of anything.
There's a double XP romhack.
"Skip the grind" romhacks are the only way I play a lot of JRPGs. I don't want to mindlessly battle to advance in the game. I have better things to do with my time, like playing a wider selection of games. I don't need games' length padded!
Not sure if it's needed for Earthbound, but I'd probably just use it anyway. Most games set up a good leveling curve, so double XP shouldn't break the game even if it's unnecessary.
If you want to bypass grinding entirely then you'd need something like that, but it might trivialize certain parts of the game. Won't trivialize all of it though since several of the key fights rely on strategy.
I was curious, so I looked it up: Earthbound has a fairly gentle XP curve. Double XP takes you from level 33 to 40, assuming you play the same.
I haven't played Earthbound enough to remember if there's grinding, so idk if it's necessary. In general, I tend to find the existence of double XP romhacks is usually enough to indicate that I'd rather use them, based on my playstyle preferences. Someone thought it was beneficial enough to put hours of work into!