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indigozealOK, I'm close to the climax of the happenings at Threed, and further impressions:
- The best way to read Earthbound is in the tone of an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, as the game is obviously Your Childhood Backyard Adventures: The RPG Dramatization. Of course the world map consists of various suburban neighborhoods and your weapons consist of nothing you couldn't find in your old toy chest and candies and cookies aren't candies and cookies but powerful elixirs and restoratives. The problems and their solutions have a childlike stream-of-consciousness nonsensicalness, like catching zombies with Zombie Flypaper in the circus tent in middle of town that's the Anti-Zombie Squad Headquarters.
(I never rename my protagonists, but I am dismayed I didn't have the foresight to create a Pete-Ellen-Pete-Artie party.)
- If Phantasy Star II is so hellishly unplayable nowadays as some claim because Oh My God Walking Speed, then Earthbound is doubly so because Oh My God Luck-Driven Combat and Inventory Problems. Which is to say that I find neither game unplayable, but only mean to point out that we seem to be markedly selective in our recall of the foibles of the classics. Inventory management has been the biggest obstacle in my Earthbound playthrough so far, as you're given so many damn unique items that're either plot-pertinent or possibly quite useful in the future but not useful now that it's difficult to weed out what you can bank and what you're going to need to haul around. Add a need for a wealth of healing items and the requirement that your equipment take up inventory space (and, with the addition of Jeff, a character who relies on item use for his big attacks), and your junk drawer fills up pretty quickly. Perhaps the designers meant for you to use your items as you go instead of saving them up and live off the land and your TP more, but your TP is too limited to really do that. As for the combat, it's heavily up to the luck of the draw whether you'll get by relatively unscathed in encounters or whether they'll utterly wreck you, as there's a pretty wide distribution as to what enemies'll show up in a given area and what attacks they'll use from run to run. Thanks to the enemies being visible on the overworld map, you take evasive action from combat in select situations but not nearly as much as you should be able to do so with such a system - your foes are frighteningly fast.
- I kind of find Paula's turn on the Helpless Frilly Girl intriguing; she's still to an extent in the Girls Trying to Do Stuff Amirite role, but even if she frequently can't directly get herself out of jams, she knows how to summon help and what to do to resolve the situations (even if she can't execute her plans herself) and has the confidence to take control and act on her know-how (or direct others to do so) right away. Not many Magical Girls have true leadership qualities. I also liked how the Mysterious New Future Party Member didn't just show up to help us out of a jam (like Lyle in PSIII) but that we actually took control of our rescuer as the provisional new main character and actively guided him to meet up with the rest of the party.
I haven't fallen in love with Earthbound so far. Despite its clever premise, it's a bit too pleased with itself, its approach to humor a bit too scattershot Wacky. It needs a stronger sense of wonder, maybe? Too much of the game is still Hey Look Fart Jokes.
.
- The best way to read Earthbound is in the tone of an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, as the game is obviously Your Childhood Backyard Adventures: The RPG Dramatization. Of course the world map consists of various suburban neighborhoods and your weapons consist of nothing you couldn't find in your old toy chest and candies and cookies aren't candies and cookies but powerful elixirs and restoratives. The problems and their solutions have a childlike stream-of-consciousness nonsensicalness, like catching zombies with Zombie Flypaper in the circus tent in middle of town that's the Anti-Zombie Squad Headquarters.
(I never rename my protagonists, but I am dismayed I didn't have the foresight to create a Pete-Ellen-Pete-Artie party.)
- If Phantasy Star II is so hellishly unplayable nowadays as some claim because Oh My God Walking Speed, then Earthbound is doubly so because Oh My God Luck-Driven Combat and Inventory Problems. Which is to say that I find neither game unplayable, but only mean to point out that we seem to be markedly selective in our recall of the foibles of the classics. Inventory management has been the biggest obstacle in my Earthbound playthrough so far, as you're given so many damn unique items that're either plot-pertinent or possibly quite useful in the future but not useful now that it's difficult to weed out what you can bank and what you're going to need to haul around. Add a need for a wealth of healing items and the requirement that your equipment take up inventory space (and, with the addition of Jeff, a character who relies on item use for his big attacks), and your junk drawer fills up pretty quickly. Perhaps the designers meant for you to use your items as you go instead of saving them up and live off the land and your TP more, but your TP is too limited to really do that. As for the combat, it's heavily up to the luck of the draw whether you'll get by relatively unscathed in encounters or whether they'll utterly wreck you, as there's a pretty wide distribution as to what enemies'll show up in a given area and what attacks they'll use from run to run. Thanks to the enemies being visible on the overworld map, you take evasive action from combat in select situations but not nearly as much as you should be able to do so with such a system - your foes are frighteningly fast.
- I kind of find Paula's turn on the Helpless Frilly Girl intriguing; she's still to an extent in the Girls Trying to Do Stuff Amirite role, but even if she frequently can't directly get herself out of jams, she knows how to summon help and what to do to resolve the situations (even if she can't execute her plans herself) and has the confidence to take control and act on her know-how (or direct others to do so) right away. Not many Magical Girls have true leadership qualities. I also liked how the Mysterious New Future Party Member didn't just show up to help us out of a jam (like Lyle in PSIII) but that we actually took control of our rescuer as the provisional new main character and actively guided him to meet up with the rest of the party.
I haven't fallen in love with Earthbound so far. Despite its clever premise, it's a bit too pleased with itself, its approach to humor a bit too scattershot Wacky. It needs a stronger sense of wonder, maybe? Too much of the game is still Hey Look Fart Jokes.
.
