Moloth - The M-Forums

I need to get a GBA cart someday so I can play it.

The MOTHER 3 Handbook, shipping next year, looks wonderful.

I've only barely begun, but I'm already impressed in what I've played so far. The translation team spent a lot of time not only in the accuracy, but also really making the dialogue polished and very much Earthbound-like, which makes for an experience that is very quirky in the spirit of Earthbound. Also like Earthbound, the fourth wall is routinely broken and traditional RPG elements are challenged and lampooned.

In other words, this translation was a long time coming, but I think it's worth the wait. MOTHER 3 seems to be a genuinely well made game, improving on many elements from EarthBound, including the battle system, which was admittedly somewhat awkward in EarthBound. There also seems to be a bigger emphasis on storytelling and character development.

So after a good long while I am finally, really playing MOTHER 3. I didn't get very far when it got released, mostly because it's a very slow game at first. But now that I'm deep into it, wow it's good. Every bit at least as good as EarthBound, if not better.

The game is much more story-driven than EarthBound, in fact it's divided up into chapters. By about Chapter 3 I was hooked. It's a completely new story with new characters, also there are some parallels to EarthBound (and even a few of the same characters). There's a lot more playable characters who come in and out of your party, and the world is much more vast.

Battle-wise, things are largely the same. With one exception, if you tap the A button in time with the music playing, you can get in extra attacks. I've done as much as 8-hit combos this way. Each enemy has their own music and some have trickier beats than others. Another trick I learned is if you put them to sleep, you can hear their heartbeat, which will be the beat you tap A to. It adds a little bit of fun to the battles instead of tediously attacking time after time.

Also new is a dash ability, if you hold B and release, your party will run forward. You can change direction with the D-pad. This comes in handy when traveling, and you can even defeat some lower-level enemies by dashing into them. You don't earn experience but it's a great way to avoid a fight sometimes.

Instead of learning new PSI abilities as you level up, your characters will periodically "feel feverish". During this time you can't dash, but after a little while you will get better and realize a new PSI ability. Frogs take the place of phoning your dad and ATMs. They appear all over the place so you can save your game and withdraw cash. Graphically, the game retains the same simplistic art style as EarthBound, but the graphics are improved in some places. Animations are smoother and some scenes are more detailed, cut scenes are more cinematic.

I've got about 18 hours of gameplay so far and I'm halfway through the second to last chapter. Everything you could possibly love about EarthBound is here, so don't worry. I heartily recommend playing it if you haven't yet.

OH AND THERE'S A MONKEY.

Last edited by Russ (7/11/10 1:02 am)