LogFAQs > #962720523

Just as a preface, please don't spoil Earthbound for me because I haven't played it. I made sure to play Beginnings first both because it's the first game in the series, and so that any high points of later games remain high and I don't have to potentially take a dip in quality later on.

I think this is a very impressive RPG for its time. Not perfect by any means, but the world map is massive, the music is pretty good, the humour is very distinct and unique and the game lacks a lot of the rigidity that plagues NES era games. Mother 1 is within a style of its own, and it occupies a truly unique niche in the RPG space.

The issue is that Earthbound blows it out of the water according to the wider fanbase, and because Earthbound is the only one of these games that was ever officially localised, fuckin every English speaking player in the world has played Mother 2 before Mother 1. So going back to EBB is a pain in the ass, because the game isn't perfect. Graphical fidelity is pretty good for the NES, but being a NES game, it's never going to meet Earthbound's visuals. The story is offbeat and takes a different approach to RPG storytelling, skewing away from slaying the dragon to collecting melodies for a sad, amnesiac queen of some kind of dream realm to cease her nightmares and make her happy again. It's post-modern in an era where games like Mario were trying to define modernity in the medium or where games like Dragon Quest were trying to capture the romantic, empowering ideals of the fantasy genre. Earthbound apparently takes that concept a step further still.

So Earthbound Beginnings, as it exists in the west today, is at something of a handicap. But that doesn't mean that it isn't impressive or good, or that its legacy is insignificant because EarthBound/Mother 2 did it better. Earthbound Beginnings set a standard for emotional storytelling in a roleplaying game, and it set the mold for every imitator, every copycat, every game inspired by both its and Earthbound's offbeat and emotional tone and story.

Like on top of potentially getting a cold as a dehabilitating status effect from speaking to random NPCs and having to go out of your way to return a baby canary chick to a canary village, or using telepathy to figure out the answer to a riddle that hasn't been made up yet, you also have moments like fighting a gargantuan alien robot in a tank, or uncovering a village of panicked and upset children whose parents were all abducted by aliens - played surprisingly straight, and sold pretty well - or the male lead and sole female party member sharing a dance on the eve of their final ascent of Mt. Itoi before she confesses her affection to him.

This is the game where you sing to the final boss to get him to leave you alone. It's a game where you can unintentionally kill off a family of five birdmen as a way to improve your own chances of survival. It's a game where you have to telepathically communicate with a magic conch shell to get transported to a heaven-like realm ruled by a fairy queen. Earthbound Beginnings, if nothing else, sets expectations for the next two games and establishes a high bar of narrative, emotional and musical quality relative to its contemporaries. What it offers is ridiculously good, held back only by the limitations of its time and less of a budget than the true cream of the JRPG crop.

I kinda don't like that it'll always be defined by its sequels, because its flaws will always shine brighter in the shadow of Earthbound. The same way that it's hard to return to Pokemon gens 1 and 2 once you play 3, at least on a mechanical level. The same way it's hard to go back to the Harry Potter GBC turn-based roleplaying game once you start playing Final Fantasy.

I dunno. Honestly, by the time I finished this game, I was kinda fed up with it. It's a slog, I won't deny that. And that last area is a kick in the nuts. But I have an affinity for what Mother 1 represents, for what it led to. It's an oddball and a true underdog. And I think playing it before Earthbound was the best choice, because I wanted to enjoy it at face value without Earthbound ruining it for me - and I did. I have no doubt in my mind that Earthbound is gonna fuck hard, so I'm glad I got Earthbound Beginnings as an appetizer.

So yeah, it's old and janky and it suffers by it essentially being the first of its kind. But the humor, the passion, the emotional and informative intelligence is there. The surprisingly effective storytelling, when you run into it, is there. And by playing it first, I made it easier to experience something that feels original and weirdly subversive for its time, without any of the baggage from what comes after. Earthbound Beginnings is a game that benefits sorely from a guide, and you will be frustrated with it. This is for the folks who play old JRPGs from the dawn of the genre, who either grew up with this standard of gaming or for dumbass babby-mode enthusiasts like me who enjoy both the simplicity of the gameplay and the ability to fast-forward past the dated parts. I rewound like a motherfucker - sue me.

I dunno. There's an innocence to it all, a pureness to it. A lack of outright cynicism, but with an emotional edge to it that's hard to define. It's hard to swallow, but it's honest.

Final thoughts? I'm sure that Earthbound is so beloved as a sequel for building on what the first game started, and improving the parts of it that weren't as appealing. So to experience this game through fresh eyes was a treat, and despite being frustrating and almost unbearably dated in certain respects, what it establishes on an aesthetic level is truly unique and very enjoyable. Use savestates, and use a guide - and be prepared to slog through, because the game is non-linear and it's very easy to get sidetracked with the amount of freedom you have. But I'd recommend playing it if you have a long weekend to blow on bruteforcing a 33 year old NES-era RPG.