# How Many of you know what Earthbound/Mother is



## KingAsix (Apr 10, 2014)

Me and some guy were having a discussion and it was said that if I asked 1000 people that 10 or so would know what Earthbound/Mother is....so here we go. Do you know what Mother/Earthbound is


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## Thomas83Lin (Apr 10, 2014)

I've never even played it and I still know what it is


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## 3bbb7 (Apr 10, 2014)

maybe it'd be better if you asked a non-gaming forum.

I'm sure most people here know what earthbound is


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## KingAsix (Apr 10, 2014)

Nope this was the guys comment

"That doesn't mean that the game has an identity. You could ask about 1000 gamers what "Earthbound" is and only about 10 or so would be able to tell you."


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## FAST6191 (Apr 10, 2014)

I know what it is but that is because 
a) I help out on a flash cart/emulator happy forum where the Mother/Earthbound games are ones that have been known to cause trouble for those playing in such circles.
b) I occasionally like to look through "best game" lists.
c) I was curious what the hell a Ness was when I played a super smash brothers game one time so I went and looked it up.

I can well believe not so many games types are aware of them. More so in Europe considering the only entry outside Japan was on the NES and did not come out in Europe, at least not until the virtual console some time last year.
Beyond that I will slag you off if you have not played Doom and certain arcade games and claim to have a knowledge of game history; I will not even blink if you have never heard of mother/earthbound and would not suggest you go back and play it either, save perhaps if we are having a discussion of Japanese role playing type things but not in a generic fantasy world.


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## Hells Malice (Apr 10, 2014)

Never played, but I know what it is.

I assume a large portion of people know Earthbound simply from Smash Bros alone. But it is mentioned around here at times too.
It's a very iconic series, whoever you were talking is an idiot.


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## Arras (Apr 10, 2014)

JinTrigger said:


> Nope this was the guys comment
> 
> "That doesn't mean that the game has an identity. You could ask about 1000 gamers what "Earthbound" is and only about 10 or so would be able to tell you."


This is a Nintendo based site, you're far more likely to get a positive response here. That said I never knew what it was before I tried to find out what Ness and Lucas were from.


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## CompassNorth (Apr 10, 2014)

JinTrigger said:


> Nope this was the guys comment
> 
> "That doesn't mean that the game has an identity. You could ask about 1000 gamers what "Earthbound" is and only about 10 or so would be able to tell you."


Lol what?
He sounds like the type of guy who thinks certain games are obscure because they don't compete with AAA games.

Eartbound has a unique style, so yes it has an identity, and tons of people know about it which is why it's achieved a cult status within the gaming community.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 10, 2014)

I think everybody knows what Earthbound is - its fans keep talking about it on and on. I heard about it, I read the story excerpts, I saw the gameplay... No. I can't get over the style of the series, it's not my cup of tea.


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## jumpman1229 (Apr 10, 2014)

Ha! Your friend doesn't know what he's talking about. He may have a valid argument if Smash Bros. never existed


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## Gahars (Apr 10, 2014)

_Does anybody remember THIS gem?_

Well, of course we're all going to know about it - this is a Nintendo-oriented gaming forum, after all.

Take this question to a forum for, say, car repairs, and your friend's prediction would probably pan out better.


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## Guild McCommunist (Apr 10, 2014)

Can we just rename this "The Earthbound circlejerk thread" and have everyone orgasm and be done with it?

I swear we always get a really annoying Earthbound thread once every few months and every post is just filled with the sound of my continued sighing.


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## tbgtbg (Apr 10, 2014)

Mr. T told me about how much he loves his Mother.


But seriously, this poll isn't going to prove anything to your friend, as it's basically one step below going to a Mother/EB fan site and asking if they know what it is. Of course most people here know, and I'm not convinced that people saying they don't might not just be messin witcha. 

Even if the original argument was about gamers, there's still a sizable fanbase for that series here, not surprising since it's a Nintendo game. You need to ask somewhere like IGN or (ugh) GameFAQS.


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## Ozito (Apr 10, 2014)

Sure do, but just like the answer of others, I haven't played and I'm unsure if I will anytime soon.


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## Paarish (Apr 10, 2014)

You're posting this on a video game forum. Not only that but a video game forum which has a Nintendo handheld as it's name. People here are gonna know what Earthbound is. I'm sure your friend meant a more neutral ground 
I know what Earthbound but have never played though to answer your question.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Apr 10, 2014)

No, I've never heard about Earthbound. Especially here on GBATemp, the site full of Nin10yearolds that circlejerk on practically every obscure Nin10doh game.


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## KingAsix (Apr 10, 2014)

Once again he himself said if I asked "gamers" not just anyone....I just did this to prove a point to myself cause I am that kinda guy (today). Ok yeah I guess I did ask on a Nintendo oriented forum but the statement said if I asked 1000 GAMERS that would not know what Earthbound was (only 10 or so would)...not played or liked but knew what Eathbound was.



Guild McCommunist said:


> Can we just rename this "The Earthbound circlejerk thread" and have everyone orgasm and be done with it?
> 
> I swear we always get a really annoying Earthbound thread once every few months and every post is just filled with the sound of my continued sighing.


 
If it annoys you so much then go post elsewhere....No one told you to come even read this. If Earthbound post annoy you then when you read the thread title you should have moved on...jeez


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## GameWinner (Apr 10, 2014)

It's an extremely niche JRPG that fans want to return. It will never happen though.


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## emigre (Apr 10, 2014)

On the subject of Earthbound, it's a pretty overrated series.


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## Taleweaver (Apr 12, 2014)

I would never have heard about it if it wasn't for gbatemp. Oh, and that I regularly watch/read 'top 100'-rated (retro) games. It's in pretty much all of those lists, so...it's probably better to use THAT as an argument to your friend rather than asking about it on a site that would probably have been named earthboundtemp if gbatemp or badpuntemp wasn't taken.


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## grossaffe (Apr 12, 2014)

Even a gaming website isn't an accurate gauge of how well known gaming things are among gamers because people on here are the most dedicated of the gamers, plus you have to ask how many people who _don't_ know what earthbound is are even going to bother entering the thread.


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## Guild McCommunist (Apr 12, 2014)

JinTrigger said:


> If it annoys you so much then go post elsewhere....No one told you to come even read this. If Earthbound post annoy you then when you read the thread title you should have moved on...jeez


 

Earthbound posts don't annoy me, Earthbound fans do. They're almost up there with Smash Bros. fans in terms of annoyance and overpraising of their franchise.

Besides I think the point of the statement that spawned this whole thread is that Earthbound is not a big name which is absolutely true. I'm sure a decent amount of people have heard about it, but out of all those people, less have played it, and out of those people, less give a shit about it. I played Earthbound and just didn't give a shit. It's not that entertaining. I've played much better RPGs in my lifetime.

Earthbound is only notable because Mother 3 got one of the more "publicized" fan translations, that's basically it. Also because some people saw Ness in Smash Bros. and went "WHO IS THIS I AM THE NINTENDO MASTER I MUST KNOW EVERY FRANCHISE", Googled him, and then forced themselves into playing Earthbound and think it's "le great hidden gem".


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## anhminh (Apr 12, 2014)

I only know it name thought some Nintendo direct, when some crazy guy keep shouting "Plz release Earthbound, Nintendo!"


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## Augusta (Apr 12, 2014)

Guild McCommunist said:


> *Earthbound posts don't annoy me, Earthbound fans do. They're almost up there with Smash Bros. fans in terms of annoyance and overpraising of their franchise.*
> 
> Besides I think the point of the statement that spawned this whole thread is that Earthbound is not a big name which is absolutely true. I'm sure a decent amount of people have heard about it, but out of all those people, less have played it, and out of those people, less give a [email protected]#$%^&* about it.* I played Earthbound and just didn't give a [email protected]#$%^&*. It's not that entertaining. I've played much better RPGs in my lifetime.*
> 
> Earthbound is only notable because Mother 3 got one of the more "publicized" fan translations, that's basically it. Also because some people saw Ness in Smash Bros. and went "WHO IS THIS I AM THE NINTENDO MASTER I MUST KNOW EVERY FRANCHISE", Googled him, and then forced themselves into playing Earthbound and think it's "le great hidden gem".


 
Earthbound...entertaining?
I'm sorry I just don't understand what bag of goods you were sold when you decided to play it but 'entertaining' doesn't even fit to begin with.
The game, heck the series is one that has a solemn tone throughout. 

I've noticed that people who trash this game or hate the praise it gets are the people who expect this game to be *gameplay* driven or care very little for story.
I could ask you which RPG's you say are better and they would all have better gameplay I'd imagine, but fall short in the story department.


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## Guild McCommunist (Apr 12, 2014)

Augusta said:


> Earthbound...entertaining?
> I'm sorry I just don't understand what bag of goods you were sold when you decided to play it but 'entertaining' doesn't even fit to begin with.
> The game, heck the series is one that has a solemn tone throughout.
> 
> ...


 

The story isn't good either, spoiler alert.

Also almost all the RPGs I enjoyed I did because of the story much more than the gameplay. I think the only exception for stories in RPGs I take is Pokemon but even then I got real sick of their shit in recent years.

I don't like Earthbound because it's not good. The gameplay isn't fun. The story isn't interesting. It's just a le quirky aesthetic crammed with a Nintendo logo so people have a big ol' wank over it.

Also I have a huge wank over Spec Ops: The Line so I don't need a lecture on story vs. gameplay.


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## Augusta (Apr 12, 2014)

Guild McCommunist said:


> The story isn't good either, spoiler alert.
> 
> Also almost all the RPGs I enjoyed I did because of the story much more than the gameplay. I think the only exception for stories in RPGs I take is Pokemon but even then I got real sick of their [email protected]#$%^&* in recent years.
> 
> ...


 
I'm curious, what are some RPG's you put above Earthbound or the Mother series in general?
You mentioned *Pokemon*. I'm not sure if you're putting Spec Ops in the same category or not, but anything else?


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## Chary (Apr 12, 2014)

I heard of it's hype a few years ago, so I tried out the english GBA translation. It was okay, nothing about it made me want to finish it, though.


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## TyBlood13 (Apr 12, 2014)

As an owner of a CIB copy of Mother 2, I'd say so.

Damn Guild, no need to shit on this game. I can agree with you that about 90% of the "fans" are annoying as fuck though. I think Ninty only released the VC version on Wii U to shut them up since a good percentage of YouTube comments of Nintendo Directs was "RELEASEZ EB FOR VC PLZ!!!!1!111111"


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## CompassNorth (Apr 12, 2014)

Augusta said:


> Earthbound...entertaining?
> I'm sorry I just don't understand what bag of goods you were sold when you decided to play it but 'entertaining' doesn't even fit to begin with.
> The game, heck the series is one that has a solemn tone throughout.
> 
> I've noticed that people who trash this game or hate the praise it gets are the people who expect this game to be *gameplay* driven or care very little for story.


Two of my favorite RPG series are Dragon Quest and I like Etrian Odyssey both series tend to get a bad rep from reviewers for not having a fleshed out story and repetitive gameplay due to "grinding". I also have no problem playing older games that have minimal story and simple gameplay like the original Phantasy Star.

To be completely honest, Earthbound honestly is one of the most overrated games along with Chrono Trigger. As you said the series stands out due to it's unique theme, but the story is just average at best, and the thing that confused me is that I found the gameplay really repetitive. I really don't know how Earthbound screwed that up since I can play the RPGs I've listed above for hours.



Augusta said:


> I could ask you which RPG's you say are better and they would all have better gameplay I'd imagine, but fall short in the story department.


The entire Dragon Quest series
Etrian Oddyssey III (The series in general too)
Phantasy Star
Phantasy Star II
Final Fantasy V
Lufia
I can go on and on


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## Augusta (Apr 12, 2014)

CompassNorth said:


> Two of my favorite RPG series are Dragon Quest and I like Etrian Odyssey both series tend to get a bad rep from reviewers for not having a fleshed out story and repetitive gameplay due to "grinding".


 
And rightfully so.
If you have no concern for story and care more about gameplay, it's assumed that you won't like Earthbound. I don't think anyone plays Earthbound for the gameplay and that's a huge misconception people have when they pick it up. They expect something completely different from what the game offers.



CompassNorth said:


> To be completely honest, Earthbound honestly is one of the most overrated games along with Chrono Trigger. As you said the series stands out due to it's unique theme, but the story is just average at best, and the thing that confused me is that I found the gameplay really repetitive. I really don't know how Earthbound screwed that up since I can play the RPGs I've listed above for hours.


 
Earthbound is story driven.
If you expect gameplay from Earthbound, it goes without saying that you will be disappointed.

The thing that I don't understand however is that Earthbound is an RPG.
Why are people expecting amazing gameplay from an RPG? A SNES RPG for that matter?
People who can't get through the game because of the 'graphics'...it makes me wonder. Although I was once like this.

It's like people who won't watch certain anime because the drawing is 'bad'.
It seems that gameplay and asthetics are so high on people's lists that they forget the most important aspect of RPG's, the *story*.
I'm not insinuating that all RPG's put story at the top (Tales for example) but alot of people need to see Earthbound for what it is...and what it isn't. Guild doesn't seem to grasp that at this point in time.



CompassNorth said:


> The entire Dragon Quest series
> Etrian Oddyssey III (The series in general too)
> Phantasy Star
> Phantasy Star II
> ...


 
Granted, I just feel like people should understand what type of game they're getting themselves into before that bash it.
Guild's reasons for bashing Earthbound cause me to question if he even finished the game. Putting a game like Pokemon in the same category as Earthbound makes me wonder if he has any idea which categories fit into what. I can only hope he's bashing out of ignorance because spouting memes only hurt his case...


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## Gahars (Apr 12, 2014)

Earthbound fans sure can be a special kind of pretentious. 



Augusta said:


> *quote*


 

I'm all for story-driven games, but a game is a game first and foremost. I can forgive a lot of faults and flaws, but if the gameplay is utter shit, I don't care how good your story is. Gameplay is the defining, central element of a game. If you're not interested in making a game, then tell your story through some other medium.

A cartoon with a bad artstyle and bad animation is a bad cartoon, plain and simple, the same way a song performed by people who can't play instruments and someone who can't sing is a bad song no matter how nice the lyrics are.

It's not just about how good a story is. It's about how well you tell that story. "It's just an RPG!" is just a weak excuse all around..

Besides, telling him "It's all about the story!" only hurts your argument when he's already said he didn't like the story, so...


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## FoxObsession (Apr 12, 2014)

I've played the original Earthbound a bit. 

Now to look for a Mother 3 English ROM/patch


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## GHANMI (Apr 12, 2014)

How about this...
How many of you know about the *Tengai Makyou* series? They exactly play like the Mother series (minus the Itoi writing, sure, but the wackiness, the humour and the sheer number of new ideas make up for it) but none of them were released outside Japan.
They are mostly set in a Japanese setting though, but *Tengai Makyou IV* is set in the (fictional) US, and is hilarious all around.







A terrible pop singer that makes the youth of Seattle turn into werewolves during Satanic rituals, that in turn maul an Indian tribe chief when he does his "I'm a friend to all living things, for example this doggy..." speech... to coerce him to abandon his village so that she can build a giant cat-girl themed dome city where corrupt values thrive. And she's dressed like a stripper, and thus accordingly offers her body to the hero (who's a demon hunter who hunts demons in America) when they meet
A cannibalistic pig woman that promotes obesity as a sign of manhood, and incidentally collects flesh for the Dark Cult (she and Candy -the stripper singer, actually they're named the Apostles of the Dark Cult, and yes, they HAVE a church where said stripper's photograph are hanged with a homosexual crook mechant (who has a secret identity- leads the rituals) - they both do fully voiced musicals before the mid-boss battle). She attacks with her belly for massive damage.
An immortal monkey that proclaimed himself the ruler of Lake Tahoe (renaming it Lake Aho aka Stupid)
A film producer that kills actors casually and aspires you inside movies to battle their tormented souls before imprisoning you in Alcatraz and then challenging to a duel you and your Geisha Mecha Robo against the aforementioned immortal monkey

A book that turns everyone who reds it blue (even the NPCs) and to remedy this you have to create a party member: you draw him, you name him (and he reads his name aloud! 7 years before Tetra Trackers and 17 before Tomodachi Life) and then you enter the book that's a dungeon exactly like Paper Mario only better aesthetically
NPCs and battles are fully animated anime that take up the whole screen, battles depend on the timing of your key press (in the PSP version at least)

There's much more, but I don't want to spoil it 

The plot is ridiculous, especially how you find out your soon-to-be party members are Chosen Heroes of Fire, and where the marks of the heroes are on their body 
And any sense of political correctness is thrown out of the window.. besides the above, there's a black man who joins your party who has chains dangling from his arms for whatever reason. Oh, and he's the Jamaican coach for the (now zombified thanks to the Dark Cult) Mexican bobsleigh team.

Made by the same people behind the Sakura Taisen series.

PLAY IT. Learn Japanese for it, or use a walkthrough. The PSP version is the best one, even though it's missing some frames on bosses and finisher animations and some 3D animations (it's a mostly 2D game, doesn't matter.

Tengai Makyou Zero is one of the best games on the Super Famicom and is worth it, even though it's less humorous.
Manjimaru is a classic but you'll really need good knowledge of Japanese (it has a DS port), and its spin-off doesn't disappoint; but they haven't aged that well graphically. If you can bear FF4/5 spirites though, give those two a go.


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## EZ-Megaman (Apr 12, 2014)

GHANMI said:


> How about this...
> Tengai Makyou Zero is one of the best games on the Super Famicom and is worth it, even though it's less humorous.
> Manjimaru is a classic but you'll really need good knowledge of Japanese (it has a DS port), and its spin-off doesn't disappoint; but they haven't aged that well graphically. If you can bear FF4/5 spirites though, give those two a go.



I heard that Far East of Eden is a good series and is close to Moon n terms of humour, but is the first really worth playing? It sounds lacking compared to the sequels.


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## Clydefrosch (Apr 12, 2014)

earthbound is that one game with ness which everyone knows about that ever played smash bros.
while i like it for that one mechanic where you just auto win battles against weak monsters without having to sit through the actual battle, i never played it very far


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## Augusta (Apr 12, 2014)

Gahars said:


> Earthbound fans sure can be a special kind of pretentious.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
This whole post defines the problem with our society today.

In essence, someone can have a compelling argument but that wouldn't matter to you. The person's voice is monotone, no sense of emotion or appeal, therefore it's a *BAD ARGUMENT*.
It's the person that yells the loudest, that person has the better argument. It's obvious, can you sense the passion in his voice? His charisma...unmatched!

It truly is a shame how much stuff you'll miss out on with this kind of logic. It's almost a kind of laziness if anything.
People don't understand the praise Earthbound gets because they don't want to.
This post is a prime example of that.

EDIT:


> Gameplay is the defining, central element of a game.


Statements like this are absolutely absurd.
At least state it as an opinion.


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## Gahars (Apr 12, 2014)

Augusta said:


> Y-you just don't understand, that's all!


 

Okay, boss.



> Gameplay is the defining, central element of a game.


 


Augusta said:


> Statements like this are absolutely absurd.


 
It's absurd to say that *game*play makes a game?

Welp.


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## RPG_Lover (Apr 12, 2014)

I enjoyed Earthbound and have played through it a number of times. I own the SNES cart, the Super Famicom cart (complete in box - got a great deal at a flea market on it), and the VC release on the Wii U since the battery in my carts are dead & I've yet to replace them. Greatest game/series ever? No, but it's fun to me - which in my living room is all that matters.


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## Nathan Drake (Apr 12, 2014)

Augusta said:


> This whole post defines the problem with our society today.
> 
> In essence, someone can have a compelling argument but that wouldn't matter to you. The person's voice is monotone, no sense of emotion or appeal, therefore it's a *BAD ARGUMENT*.


An argument is not compelling if the delivery is lacking. Compelling defines the interest, and unless you are a very special kind of person, monotone is always boring.



> It's the person that yells the loudest, that person has the better argument. It's obvious, can you sense the passion in his voice? His charisma...unmatched!


I don't believe that you understand what charisma is. I don't think you know what half of the words you're trying to use to make your point mean.

Also, gameplay isn't the defining characteristic of a game? Maybe for one or two genres, but Earthbound does not claim to be a visual novel, so, essentially, you are wrong. It isn't even a matter of opinion. You are blatantly, unmistakably wrong.

To the OP: You realize, you only validate a person's argument when you have to desperately run off and prove something like this, right? Like you're so scared that they're right, that first you need to prove your point to yourself. Even with the numbers, his point will still stand that Earthbound and the Mother series as a whole is relatively obscure outside of a small handful of places. You still aren't right, though, if this somehow helps you to sleep better at night, I guess keep inciting the single most unbearable fanbase that can be found on this website.


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## GHANMI (Apr 12, 2014)

EZ-Megaman said:


> I heard that Far East of Eden is a good series and is close to Moon n terms of humour, but is the first really worth playing? It sounds lacking compared to the sequels.


 
The humour is similar indeed, but the first FEotE is lacking. It's a DQ clone that's taking itself too seriously, and the graphics are much less appealing and expressive. It did however, believe it or not, manage to be the first CD-based and voice acted RPG ever, and is influent enough it inspired Orochimaru, Jiraya and Tsunade's names in Naruto. If you want to play it so bad you can check on the better X360 remake.

About Moon (the same developers went on to make lots of other games, including ones that were localized or translated in some capacity like Giftpia/CaptainRainbow/Chulip/Tingle DS1/Tingle DS2) their wackiness is imo on a whole another level than either Mother or Tengai Makyou, I wouldn't compare it with those


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## Fishaman P (Apr 13, 2014)

I have an NES repro of Earthbound Zero custom-made just for me.
So yeah, you could say I know what it is.


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## frogboy (Apr 13, 2014)

Played Earthbound, got bored in an hour, put it down.
Played Mother 3, and I'm now about halfway through.

But to be honest, I only found out about Earthbound through the original Super Smash Bros.


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## Sterling (Apr 13, 2014)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Can we just rename this "The Earthbound circlejerk thread" and have everyone orgasm and be done with it?
> 
> I swear we always get a really annoying Earthbound thread once every few months and every post is just filled with the sound of my continued sighing.


 
Except, as far as I can see it, there's no Earthbound circle jerk. I do see the naysayers have been startled though.

EDIT: The funny thing is how the naysayers put the fans on high alert and defense mode, and then still claim that it's a circle jerk on their part. Haha. That's too funny.

Word of advice, if people like the game for the story, then who are you to say it's shit without backing up your opinion. Go on, wow me with your hand. As a person who's never played any of the games, please convince me why the story is shit, and the gameplay lackluster. I don't care about spoilers, so lay it all on me.

I'm serious. Let's make this a topic about what makes Earthbound bad or good and get this over with quick.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 13, 2014)

Sterling said:


> Except, as far as I can see it, there's no Earthbound circle jerk. I do see the naysayers have been startled though.


It will inevitably lead to a circle jerk in due time, don't worry.

I've skim-read the thread and the moment I reached the magical conclusion that _"*game*play is not something to be expected from a story-driven *game*"_, I lost hope. Some people think that elevating one aspect of a video game and completely downplaying all the others is a good thing - it's not. What makes a good game is the overall balance of its constituent elements, favoring the ones that are specific to a given genre. Favoring, not _"forgetting about the rest"_.

A video game is a _game_ first and foremost, it's designed with an intention to be played. Similarly, a movie is filmed with an intention to be watched and a book is written with the intention to be read. When your product fails at its most basic, fundamental purpose, your produt is bad. A video game has to be carried by its gameplay, no matter how you look at it. You can have the best _*insert element*_ you could possibly imagine, but if the game simply isn't fun and feels like a chore, people won't play it - they have other, more productive projects they could work on.

To elaborate on this point, these days we often see people complaining about _"games that look gorgeous but play like crap/have a poor story/have lackluster features"_ - this is because one element of the overall product was given far too much attention, making other elements suffer. It's all about the balance, guys.


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## The Real Jdbye (Apr 13, 2014)

JinTrigger said:


> Me and some guy were having a discussion and it was said that if I asked 1000 people that 10 or so would know what Earthbound/Mother is....so here we go. Do you know what Mother/Earthbound is


Did he say anything about what type of people to ask?
I imagine if you went up to 1000 completely random people on the street, of all ages, 99% of them probably wouldn't know what it was.
But this being a gaming community there's bound to be more than 1% who actually know.


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## Sterling (Apr 13, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> It will inevitably lead to a circle jerk in due time, don't worry.
> 
> I've skim-read the thread and the moment I reached the magical conclusion that _"*game*play is not something to be expected from a story-driven *game*"_, I lost hope. Some people think that elevating one aspect of a video game and completely downplaying all the others is a good thing - it's not. What makes a good game is the overall balance of its constituent elements, favoring the ones that are specific to a given genre. Favoring, not _"forgetting about the rest"_.
> 
> ...


 
Unfortunately, I have never played the game, so I can't say either way if it's good or bad on the gameplay. You said it wasn't your cup of tea, but you didn't say it was shit.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 13, 2014)

Sterling said:


> Unfortunately, I have never played the game, so I can't say either way if it's good or bad on the gameplay. You said it wasn't your cup of tea, but you didn't say it was shit.


I'm just commenting on the overall aura of the thread. I don't think a video game can _"fly"_ solely on story - that makes it a good story and a terrible video game. Again, Earthbound/Mother is not my cup of tea - I always wanted to try it out but I could never force myself to play something that's giving me all the signs that I won't like it... so I watched some gameplay footage instead and read the story, I didn't fancy either so I called it quits.


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## grossaffe (Apr 13, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> I'm just commenting on the overall aura of the thread. I don't think a video game can _"fly"_ solely on story - that makes it a good story and a terrible video game. Again, Earthbound/Mother is not my cup of tea - I always wanted to try it out but I could never force myself to play something that's giving me all the signs that I won't like it... so I watched some gameplay footage instead and read the story which I didn't particularly fancy.


The Last Of Us seemed to do quite well relying just on story.

edit: Just playing Devil's advocate here.  I didn't really care for Earthbound, personally, and the lack of gameplay in TLOU led me to the conclusion that it was a great movie but not much of a game.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 13, 2014)

grossaffe said:


> The Last Of Us seemed to do quite well relying just on story.


That's false and you know it. The Last of Us _"flies"_ because of its gorgeous visuals, great use of sound and lighting, solid _(albeit not really inspired)_ story and fun gameplay - it's a good balance.


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## grossaffe (Apr 13, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> That's false and you know it. The Last of Us _"flies"_ because of its gorgeous visuals, great use of sound and lighting, solid _(albeit not really inspired)_ story and fun gameplay - it's a good balance.


I found the gameplay to be quite bland. Storytelling was great, but I was not a fan of the gameplay.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 13, 2014)

grossaffe said:


> I found the gameplay to be quite bland. Story/Storytelling were great, but I was not a fan of the gameplay.


Alright, that's your opinion. Still, you have other elements that support the story such as graphics, aesthetics and sound which all build the correct tone and atmosphere, allowing the story to have a more profound impact on you. The exact same story wouldn't be nearly as gripping if the game didn't convey the urgency of your situation by showing you a destroyed, dilapidated landscape full of clicking noise - that noise alone built tension as you traversed buildings or underground passages. Again, there's more to games than just the story. The story was the meat in the sandwich, sure, but without all the other elements, you'd just be eating a slice of ham, not an actual sandwich.


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## Yepi69 (Apr 13, 2014)

I'm an EarthBound/Mother freak myself.

I love the series and everything related to them.





Guild McCommunist said:


> Can we just rename this "The Earthbound circlejerk thread" and have everyone orgasm and be done with it?
> 
> I swear we always get a really annoying Earthbound thread once every few months and every post is just filled with the sound of my continued sighing.


 
It beats having Gateway threads all the time.


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## grossaffe (Apr 13, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> Alright, that's your opinion. Still, you have other elements that support the story such as graphics, aesthetics and sound which all build the correct tone and atmosphere, allowing the story to have a more profound impact on you. The exact same story wouldn't be nearly as gripping if the game didn't convey the urgency of your situation by showing you a destroyed, dilapidated landscape full of clicking noise - that noise alone built tension as you traversed buildings or underground passages. Again, there's more to games than just the story.


I'm certainly not arguing against any of that, well except for the tension, because I never felt that immersed in the gameplay.  Clickers especially annoyed me not because they were scary or hard, but because they cheated with their auto-kill animation that would fire off even sometimes when you were in the process of bashing their head in with a brick.  If clickers were about, it just became a process of moving slowly, which didn't really feel tense to me.  If I got caught, I have to suffer through the annoying auto-kill animation and then I'm sent back to just before he got me.

Everything else about the graphics, sound, atmosphere, etc. goes back to my initial statement that it was a great movie.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 13, 2014)

grossaffe said:


> Everything else about the graphics, sound, atmosphere, etc. goes back to my initial statement that it was a great movie.


I can see how you'd say that if you didn't like the gameplay - that's precisely my point. A _game_ with poor _game_play feels like less of a game and more something else... so yes, I agree fully.

But we're getting terribly off-topic, let's get back to Earthbound and how everybody/nobody has ever heard about it.


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## grossaffe (Apr 13, 2014)

Foxi4 said:


> I can see how you'd say that if you didn't like the gameplay - that's precisely my point. A _game_ with poor _game_play feels like less of a game and more something else... so yes, I agree fully.
> 
> But we're getting terribly off-topic, let's get back to Earthbound and how everybody/nobody has ever heard about it.


I was just trying to draw a parallel.  As for Earthbound, I thought the story was overrated; maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had played it when I was younger.  Gameplay-wise it was like JRPGs of the era with it's own twist here and there.  It didn't have random-encounters but rather you actually have to walk into them, much like Chrono Trigger, but with an added element where if you approach an enemy from behind, you get a in an extra attack at the start of the battle (and vice versa if he sneaks up on you).  I didn't much care for the combat in it because there wasn't much you could do strategically to defeat tougher enemies, so there was a bit of grinding.

If the combat were a bit better, I could have seen myself enjoying the game, but it really started to wear on me by the end of the game.


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## EarthBound 2 (Apr 13, 2014)

According to Super Smash Bros. Direct there's no famous game EarthBound like Pokemon series are so.

All which starts MOTHER Saga is Shigesato Itoi's incident on Cinema when his 13 watched Military Policemen & Dismembered Beauty.Phil Sandhop wanted to announce EarthBound Zero as SpaceBound,EarthBound had finally its release on Europe,EarthBound 2/MOTHER 3 has first prototype on Superfamicom-canceled,second on N64DD(switched on N64 like Majora's Mask)as EarthBound 64-canceled,final port first phrase was suppose to have beta sprites was MOTHER 3 Beta in 2001,second attempt was at 2006 as final GBA game in 2006.Two years later Itoi said there will be no MOTHER 4.


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## Foxi4 (Apr 21, 2014)

EarthBound 2 said:


> According to Super Smash Bros. Direct there's no famous game EarthBound like Pokemon series are so.
> 
> All which starts MOTHER Saga is Shigesato Itoi's incident on Cinema when his 13 watched Military Policemen & Dismembered Beauty.Phil Sandhop wanted to announce EarthBound Zero as SpaceBound,EarthBound had finally its release on Europe,EarthBound 2/MOTHER 3 has first prototype on Superfamicom-canceled,second on N64DD(switched on N64 like Majora's Mask)as EarthBound 64-canceled,final port first phrase was suppose to have beta sprites was MOTHER 3 Beta in 2001,second attempt was at 2006 as final GBA game in 2006.Two years later Itoi said there will be no MOTHER 4.


Pretty sure that gave him the idea for the final boss in Earthbound, not for the whole series. As far as fame is concerned, everybody and their dog knows Pokemon, gamer or not. Earthbound/Mother? Not so much.


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## Augusta (Apr 29, 2014)

Nathan Drake said:


> An argument is not compelling if the delivery is lacking. Compelling defines the interest, and unless you are a very special kind of person, monotone is always boring.


 
Thank you for proving my point.

Even in your response, you don't seem to understand the argument or see the bigger picture. It seems that the majority of the people here don't even understand that games are put into categories because of how broad the term is today. The majority can't even accept this realization and as a result, are so arrogant that they use *their* preconceived idea of a game to bash others that don't fit their mold.

I could replace the name of a game like The Last of Us with Mother and the same arguments another poster used to defend TTLU would stick.

It truly is sad that people can't see things *objectively*.

Your response only gives credence to my entire post.
*This whole post defines the problem with our society today.*


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## Gahars (Apr 29, 2014)

Augusta said:


> Thank you for proving my point.
> 
> Even in your response, you don't seem to understand the argument or see the bigger picture. It seems that the majority of the people here don't even understand that games are put into categories because of how broad the term is today. The majority can't even accept this realization and as a result, are so arrogant that they use *their* preconceived idea of a game to bash others that don't fit their mold.
> 
> ...


 

17 days and this is the best you can manage?

2/10, see me after class


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## Jayro (Apr 29, 2014)

I played Earthbound on the SNES... and found it was nothing special. :|

The fandom for these games is as overhyped as ever.


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## DinohScene (Apr 29, 2014)

Hardly played it, know what it is.


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## Black-Ice (Apr 29, 2014)

That random game Ness and Lucas from smash bros are from.


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## chavosaur (Apr 29, 2014)

An overrated franchise with Fans that have a bigger wank over it then Hipsters and things from the 90's.


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