indigozeal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigozeal) wrote2012-06-22 10:37 pm
indigozeal) wrote2012-06-22 10:37 pm
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A few early thoughts on Earthbound
I finally lucked past that boss and am now in Twoson, so some brief thoughts so far:
1) I was turned off from the title at the time of the game's initial release by the its U.S. marketing campaign, which can be summed up as: "hey, a Nintendo game has fart jokes now." While most of the NPCs are indeed not worth your breath, the game's premise and small-town-USA milieu has more merit than for which the ads gave it credit: sneaking off as a kid from your backyard in the middle of the night for an adventure under the stars really resonates in a primal way.
2) That said, this really is kind of a hipster game before hipsterism was in full swing. This is most evident in the combat scenes, with their no-effort backgrounds and willfully dreadful music - "ha ha, look how stupid this combat is!" - and even the 8-bit retro look (though it does have real work and art put into it) can be said to be offered in a similar spirit. A little more charm for its own sake and a lot less self-conscious Wackiness would go a long way.
3) The towns are a bit much sizewise. It's like an entire itinerary of Meribias. (I like Meribia, don't get me wrong - it's well laid-out, and you get a satisfying bang for your buck - but it is a big bite to swallow, particularly with the similarly-huge infodump of Vane/Vheen coming directly after it. Sorry, this is turning into another Lunar entry.) The game lets you rent bicycles to get around town more quickly, that tells you how big they are. The vapidness of NPC dialogue doesn't exactly provide a carrot for all that wandering. It makes me appreciate Phantasy Star, particularly II, a bit more; that series (except III, but when are we not excepting III, really) had town size down, I think. I appreciate what Earthbound is doing with its Mana-like seamlessly-interconnected, stroll-around world map, though; it further fosters the concept of "kid roaming around neighborhood high on his own imagination."
Sources say this game takes about twenty hours to complete, which is a relief. Too many RPGs, particularly modern ones, don't know the value of restraint. I look at Xenoblade and its ninety-hour playtime and can only gape.
.
1) I was turned off from the title at the time of the game's initial release by the its U.S. marketing campaign, which can be summed up as: "hey, a Nintendo game has fart jokes now." While most of the NPCs are indeed not worth your breath, the game's premise and small-town-USA milieu has more merit than for which the ads gave it credit: sneaking off as a kid from your backyard in the middle of the night for an adventure under the stars really resonates in a primal way.
2) That said, this really is kind of a hipster game before hipsterism was in full swing. This is most evident in the combat scenes, with their no-effort backgrounds and willfully dreadful music - "ha ha, look how stupid this combat is!" - and even the 8-bit retro look (though it does have real work and art put into it) can be said to be offered in a similar spirit. A little more charm for its own sake and a lot less self-conscious Wackiness would go a long way.
3) The towns are a bit much sizewise. It's like an entire itinerary of Meribias. (I like Meribia, don't get me wrong - it's well laid-out, and you get a satisfying bang for your buck - but it is a big bite to swallow, particularly with the similarly-huge infodump of Vane/Vheen coming directly after it. Sorry, this is turning into another Lunar entry.) The game lets you rent bicycles to get around town more quickly, that tells you how big they are. The vapidness of NPC dialogue doesn't exactly provide a carrot for all that wandering. It makes me appreciate Phantasy Star, particularly II, a bit more; that series (except III, but when are we not excepting III, really) had town size down, I think. I appreciate what Earthbound is doing with its Mana-like seamlessly-interconnected, stroll-around world map, though; it further fosters the concept of "kid roaming around neighborhood high on his own imagination."
Sources say this game takes about twenty hours to complete, which is a relief. Too many RPGs, particularly modern ones, don't know the value of restraint. I look at Xenoblade and its ninety-hour playtime and can only gape.
.