Game 25 - Earthbound (Unknown play time, probably about 30 hours)This game was really really great, but just
barely sits below Mother 3 in my book. It’s going against tough competition since Mother 3 is one of my top games of all time, but I still really enjoyed it. I’m really going all out with usual +/- of this game, so watch out!
+ Obviously one of the biggest strengths to Earthbound (and the whole series in general) is the setting. It’s one of the few RPGs to be set in a world that’s not fantasy, with somewhat Earthly enemies, locations and gadgets/weapons. Couple that with the quirky dialogue, music and situations, and it makes this game incredibly unique and charming with a great overall atmosphere. The game looks great, it’s a blast to play, and the battles and enemies are interesting. I never felt like I needed to grind, and the auto-battle feature is really nice too. It probably does this a little better than Mother 3, but…
- The biggest thing that Earthbound is missing for me personally is an engaging story. One of my favorite things about Mother 3 is the duality of dark and serious story moments combined with the quirky over-world, dialogue and settings, as I’ve mentioned above. For me, Earthbound misses that largely - the main story is at it's core only about 4 kids trying to stop Giygas who’s trying to destroy the world for… some reason. And most of the time even
that story takes a back seat: I’d say 80% of the game consists of entering a town, solving whatever local problems the people have, then getting the cue to move on to the next area, rinse and repeat. It really lacks the focus/drive that Mother 3 has: and while it’s certainly not bad that Earthbound does this, it’s not my personal preference when looking at the two side by side.
Just one more game until I reach my personal goal!