Is Earthbound Beginnings/Mother 1 worth playing?

There's ways around the difficulty of the game with patches. I think one of the versions gives you a ring at the beginning that helps you level up a lot faster. I used it for the start of the game and then i took it off so it didnt completely destroy any kind of possible challenge. Had a really good time playing this game actually.

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>>3993449
Play with the easy ring patch if it worries you that much. In my 10+ playthroughes I never found it too bad but there are four crucial points where I grind.
>Ninten leaving his house for the first time
>Ninten entering magican for the first time
>Loid joining your party
>Ana joining your party
After grinding Ana you should be fine. Also some tips.
>bread as a item, not a healing item, can be used as a way to instantly teleport back somewhere
>all your armor upgrades can be found in magicant. Just grind as you can buy the best armor as soon as you go there
>the onyx hook is helpful if you feel stuck in a dungeon and don't want to game over
>Ana's PSI is extremely powerful in this game, don't hoard MP as bosses are few and most are cutscenes
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any questions if you're curious on something.

>>3993519
How does this compare to other 8- bit RPGs like Phantasy Star, the FFs, and DQs.

>>3993449
It's a alright game, feels like a prototype of Mother 2 in many points, in fact, they could had named Mother 2 something like "Mother: But done right this time".
It's only recommended for those that played 2 and 3, but still wants to make sure that they know everything about the series.

Also, don't think that all 8-bit RPGs are uninteresting, games like Dragon Quest 3 and Digital Devil Story 2 are incridible.

>>3993525
I feel it offers enough to be worth a playthrough. It's pretty unlinear and the movement isn't grid based so it definitely feels different. Another thing is the overworld and towns/dungeons aren't separate so it really makes the world feel large. I would say it actually has relatively fine balance, some kinda bullshit enemies but for an 8 bit rpg this kind of the norm. Itoi has said DQ was his biggest inspiration and of the three mother games it feels the closest to it.

>>3993449
Play the 25th anniversary hack, it's a far greater version of the game and is a lot more fun

>>3993597
Skip this advice, it looks like shit and ruins the atmosphere.

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>>3993449
it's really excellent, easily on par with the rest of the MOTHER series, if not better. If you've played the other two, you're doing yourself a disservice by ignoring it. Oh, and play the unmodified prototype, every other 'hack' ruins the game.

>>3993597
There's not a single thing about it that's 'greater'. The art is absolute garbage, and it uses a truncated fan-translation.
>>3993608
this guy knows whats up

play the retranslated 1+2 patch, only decent translation of the game. avoid 25th anniversary like the plague.

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>>3993519
This man knows what he's talking about

>>3994024
I think the prototype translation is great. Tomato's is good too, but the GBA port of the game is pretty bad.

>>3994057
what makes it a bad port?

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>>3994112
Not him but smaller screen resolution and worse sound.
Since it isn't an action game, the screen crop isn't that bad IMO. The sound is not as good as the NES, but it's not terrible either.
It's a decent port all things considered. At the very least it has a run button with fixed speed for the NPCs, so it has 1 advantage over any other version.

>>3994112
Not him but when being ported to the gba the sound, color, and screen size were changed. There does exist a color restoration patch and honestly for this game I don't feel the smaller screen matters too much but the worse sound does kind of sucks. If someone made a sound restoration patch it would be the best version.

I don't get the hate for Mother 1 and NES rpgs in general. There's grinding but if you enjoy turn based combat they're fun, in the NES dragon warriors random encounters could actually fuck your shit up hard, they feel like the actual game play focus rather than hours of padding between story scenes.

Chrono Trigger is my favorite 16 bit rpg for that reason. It's a short game but feels as satisfying as any 40 hour game because they aren't padding it out with hours of grinding. In DW2, shit is on the fucking line if you get jumped in a cave by enemies that can cast sleep. I like the challenge. M1 is probably the best jrpg on the system, maybe second to DW3

It has the best story in the series so yeah
But it will probably fly over your head like with most people

>>3993449

Its extremely important in order to understand the real story of the series and its lore

>>3994170
>There's grinding but if you enjoy turn based combat they're fun
>press A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Yeah, so much fun.

>>3994698
This isn't a God of War game.

>>3994653

Agreed, I really hated how Giegue got turned into Giygas in EB, and there was no way to save him/ you killed him by 'lol-praying'
A letdown after M1.

>>3993573

The only bullshit part I found was near the end, and you have a insta-win robot with you for most of it. When she dies you just 4-D slip outta everything and get to Giegue

>>3994760
It's more braindead than a hack and slash

>>3994120
>>3994124
The sound is better imo, at least for the first Mother, it has more instruments and feels less crude.
They butchered the Mother 2 soundtrack with this port, though.

>>3994653
>It has the best story in the series so yeah
Tell me what "story" is this that makes it better than M2 and M3.

The bit about Giegue origins and Magicant is nice, I give you that, but still really far to be enough to outshine the sequels.

>>3994112
>>3994120 and >>3994124 pretty much nailed it. They also got rid of the tile-based movement, which makes it feel like a flash game to me.

>>3994851
That's simply untrue. There aren't 'more instruments' at all, it's quite literally the NES soundtrack's 4 channels played back on hardware that manages to make it sound even more crude.

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Googie

>>3995045
*5 channels, mis-typed.

Play it and find out, you stupid faggot.

Is the movement supposed to be unresponsive? Sometime I will press a direction and Ninten won't move. Sometimes he will.

>>3995412
That's how it is in the original game, it's got a weird feel but it is 'normal'.

>>3993573
Not sure if you already knew this, but the original Famicom version is grid based movement. Earth Bound added the ability to move diagonally and more freely, which was then incorporated in the GBA re-release of Mother in Japan.

>>3995553
The NES version is also grid based, the GBA versions movement is completely unlike either MOTHER or the prototype.

>>3994848
Hack and slash? You mean like Diablo?

>>3995412
No, it's not supposed to be unresponsive.
Ninten can move in 8 directions, if he doesn't respond then something might be wrong with your console/cart/ROM/pad

>>3995594
please stop posting

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Goog

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>>3995595
?

>>3995760
The control in MOTHER and the EB prototype is rather unresponsive, it's just how it is. There's a slight delay before any movement happens. You can tap the d-pad in a direction and Ninten eon't moe, but if you hold it, he'll start moving. it's a weird thing, but it's a real thing.

>>3994698
You don't find turn based combat fun. That's okay. I do, and so do other people.

>>3995770
won't move*

>>3995770
I never noticed it really. Not like Mother is an action game, but it works fine to me.
Most other RPGs (especially 8-bit RPGs) are far more restrictive and unresponsive since most of them only take 4-directional inputs, no diagonals.

>>3995823
I don't disagree, but I've noticed a lot of first time players assume something is wrong. I looked into it on hardware and it is indeed funky if you're not used to it.

>>3995823
also sorry for being a dick, one of those days, my bad.

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g

Only mother game worth playing is number 3

in my expert opinion

>>3997915
But then you miss out all the references

It's easily the best game in the series, so yes.

>>3997915

that's your opinion and that should be respected

but no.

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>>3997974

Agreed.

>>3997974
>>3998071
you guys are cool, I never see anyone who loves M1 more than the other 2

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>>3998173

Admittedly in my case, it's been reinforced by my playthroughs of CogDis. Giegue and his adoptive family's story is just too good, and the adventure in M1 just resonate with me in a way that the other two don't.

>>3998192
agreed completely. There's something really special about that game. I actually played 1 first, like over ten years ago, and I'm really glad I did. It enhanced the other games a lot.

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>>3997974
>>3998071
I think really the gameplay holds it back more then anything. Its a shame since it really is incredibly charming but has some weirdly underdeveloped aspects. Some say they find it the darkest but I feel the opposite, its the most innocent. As Itoi got older he seemed to make the games more personal. M2 had a few jabs at certain topics but most were played as laughs. M3 really felt personal, its themes were more serious.

I love all three myself but I have to acknowledge that the reason most don't like M1 is acceptable.

>>3998362

I find myself in agreement, nostalgia can't redeem some of the lacklustre aspects even for me. I wouldn't say it's totally innocent, but in comparison to M3 certainly.

And yes, though I love it to bits I accept all the criticism it gets. I still think that they should take a chance on the story, spoil themselves on that at least; it's the best in my opinion.

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Don't cry until the ending

>>3999540

I cried before the ending

>>3994698
>RTS's are just left/right clicking

>>3999540
I like how the asian child models were all made to stand facing away from the camera so they don't look asian

>>3999983

All games are just button pressing, sure, but if you are strong enough, grinding in an RPG can literally be just brainlessly mashing A to win a fight.

>>3999984
They're not azn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWPoLPNZ8SA

Mother 1 fucking sucks OP, don't bother

>>3993449
It's one of the best RPGs for the NES. Completely shits on every FF game (except maybe 3) and DQ game (because it was purposefully made to be better than DQ)

>>3993449
No not really.

>>3993449
It's pretty good for a NES RPG.

Earthbound itself is garbage.

Mother 1 is great, OP. Play the GBA version with the translation patch. I didn't see the need for the Easy Ring but you might. I didn't think it was anywhere near as grindy as people say it is. The only part where I did need to grind, however, was after getting Loyd. The reason for that is that shortly after recruiting Loyd, you start encountering truck enemies that emit exhaust fumes, and because Ninten has asthma he spends the entirety of those battles coughing, so it's up to Loyd to do the fighting, except he starts at level 1.

I'd seen how horrendous some of the dungeons looked but they're actually not too bad as long as you stock up on bread. If you "Use" bread, you start making a trail of breadcrumbs. Then if you use the breadcrumbs that are now in your inventory, you teleport back to where you first started the trail. It makes exploring dungeons much more convenient as you can either just start a trail at the beginning of the dungeon and warp back to the entrance when shit hits the fan, or start a trail each time you check out a branching path and get back easily if it turns out to be a dead end.

>>4000240
>Completely shits on every DQ game
Dragon Quest 3 and 4 (both NES games) are so much better than Mother 1 that it's not even funny.

>>3998362

That is a fantastic picture. Is it Magicant? Loved that place.

Mother is a good game. I like it more than EB, it has a very strong story and feels more purposeful than EB. It also has one of the best OSTs on the NES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQqipQvtz7w

>>3994839
You didn't kill him by praying you kill him by exploiting his weakness to human emotions

>>4000474
Mechanically