Earthbound

So the classic rpg has finally playable in europe through the wiiu's vc for 6.99. And the time of posting this shooting up the bestsellers chart. I'm yet to download myself but will be any day.

BUY IT PLAY IT FINISH IT LOVE IT REPLAY IT.

It's one of my favourite games of all time. It's pretty zany and out there, but it's a very refreshing RPG. Compared to Mother 3, the story isn't up to much cop but you'll have a blast playing it and will likely laugh a lot at the mental enemies and the dialogue, which is just so out there at times. It's difficult to fully put into words the appeal of this title as on the surface it probably seems like just another RPG - but it's definitely not. One to be experienced to get why it's so damn good.

That's the sort of endorsement I need. However, I'll hold fire for the time being, as I've already got my bi-annual RPG on the go (the superb Dream Team Bros) and there's the small matter of Pikmin 3 in a week's time.

On another note, I'm looking at Twitter, and seeing that you can split the comments regarding the game three ways: by those celebrating it's re-release; by those whinging that it isn't on 3DS and by those whinging that it costs tenner dollars to download. 'This is why we can't have nice things'.

Possibly the main reason I dislike Twitter (did you know that I dislike Twitter?) is that the rapid-fire nature of the posts lends itself to people saying things without thinking about them and posting them up for all to see.  I imagine that even nice people can go on in a fit of pique and come off looking liking scum.

Anyway, I am keen on playing this, even if I'm worried that it'll seem clunky compared to the masterpiece that was Mother 3; but I'm in the Phillips camp of having enough to get on with at the moment.

I'm surprised at the MOTHER3 love here, if only because the game seems to be hated by MOTHER fans in Japan. Still doesn't put me off wanting the special edition GameBoy Micro and an ability to play the game if it ever gets translated for Wii U Virtual Console.

As for Earthbound, I'm really enjoying this. It's so refreshing to play, and even the most expected of RPG mechanics are done in ways that never feels workmanlike. I actually had to stop and think about where I should go to heal my party members. That's awesome.

I for one have never understood the wingeing over high virtual console prices for the timeless games -- how are these games not worth their asking price? The complainers' logic seems to stem from how apparently all Nintendo do is upload a ROM of the game (which isn't actually the case, a lot more work goes into it), but even then that's not how things work. Especially when videogames are a creative artform and entertainment medium.

Fair enough if it's a virtual console game that hasn't retained any sort of perceived quality or value, as I've mentioned before it'd be amazing if Nintendo offered us a subscription service for these games.

I'd happily pay £10 for a game that was never released over here. Playing it on a TV would be much much better than playing it through an emulator.

Surprising to read that Mother 3 hate. I can guess I understand it if they were looking for something quirky in the same vein as Earthbound's story and general atmosphere, as whilst that's still there in M3, it's definitely dialed back in favour of a more melancholy and fleshed out tale.

Are you finding the game amusing, The Artist Formerly Known as Sporkhead?

Just assume that the internet is full of tw*ts. Then play Earthbound, where said tw*ts are the bad guys.

JayMoyles wrote:

I'd happily pay £10 for a game that was never released over here. Playing it on a TV would be much much better than playing it through an emulator.

This, very much. I've never played a game through an emulator on a PC, though I did the translation for a mate who was playing through A Link To The Past in French. Yes. 

Kinda going off the topic of earthbound, but VC is interesting to me I've bought all the 30p games and do feel a bit ripped of with mario&yoshi plus i doubt i'll ever play donkey kong but it's only 30p. But take super mario world i would buy and play that but i think that's over priced I'd sooner pay £5 more and get a used copy on the SNES (I'm not playing emulations or anything). Earthbound being 1st time available in europe and being so expensive for a NTSC copy on the SNES is great value at £6.99 even if i don't like it (not played yet), if there's more games like that coming to wiiu's vc then that's great. The only other vc game I've got is kirby super star as it was on offer if you have kirby's adventure more deal's like that would be great, cross-play would also be great as i could earthbound would be great on the 3DS or something like psn+.

Yeah - and if it leads to a translation of Mother 3 getting put out on the 3DS VC, then you're in for a real treat as that's possibly in my top 10 favourite games.

I'm glad folk are enjoying this but it just isn't my kind of game.

How come Jas?

It's mainly the menu driven battles (that you see in most RPGs) it demands you to be either completely lucky or grind your character to a ridiculous level to brush enemies aside, both of those options are just a bit boring.

It can be a real shame sometimes as I'll often see a game that's has a interesting setting but will be instantly put off if it has that kind of battle system.

Haven't (re)started it myself, but watched my sister start her go. I'm not an RPG fan either, but the RPG bit is so refreshingly different from any other po-faced JRPG that I love it. And pretty much every piece of dialog gets a smirk from me. Happy.

The_Jaster wrote:

It's mainly the menu driven battles (that you see in most RPGs) it demands you to be either completely lucky or grind your character to a ridiculous level to brush enemies aside, both of those options are just a bit boring.

Hmm, that's fair. Earthbound can be pretty tricky because of its battle system. But it's just so satisfying when you have a party of four and you're crushing everything with ease and you know that you got yourself to that stage, I reckon that's where the appeal is for me.

This has been a class act so far, 12 hours in. I just love how complete the game's world feels, plenty of nice flourishes to make sure any illusions aren't shattered.

Worth noting there's a new Miiverse announcement community.

Several forums are already heralding it as a sign Mother 3 is on its way.

We can but hope.

In the meantime, I've finally purchased this, and have just witnessed Buzz Buzz's tragic death. Having to select "talk/check" every time is going to get old quickly, but everything else is great. The sprites, the characters, the speech, and especially the music and ambience. Nintendo did a good job of making me feel very out of my depth initially with their sirens and alien noises.

Balladeer wrote:

We can but hope.

In the meantime, I've finally purchased this, and have just witnessed Buzz Buzz's tragic death.  Having to select "talk/check" every time is going to get old quickly, but everything else is great.  The sprites, the characters, the speech, and especially the music and ambience.  Nintendo did a good job of making me feel very out of my depth initially with their sirens and alien noises.

Ah wait Balla - press L instead of A. This automatically talks/checks without having to use the menu.

Everyone misses this (I did for the first hour)

Jimbob! My hero. I'd have taken far longer about things had I not known that L button trick. I've made it to the first boss and he is consistently kicking my ass. Can't decide whether to grind or refine tactics...

Buy defensive items, then grind. I was level six and kitted out with the best the drugstore can buy (the ATM mechanic is still a bit annoying), and it was still close.

I like the ATM mechanic - adds a bit of kooky real world feel to everything, and the way they shoehorn them in later on in the more fantastical areas is hilarious.

I love this game. Consistently makes me laugh and offers loads of text from helpful to insanic ramblings. I quite like the difficulty to, I fainted alot at Onett but since then the greater variants of PSI have kept battles interesting. I am currently at Threed, something seems off...

The game's pretty unforgiving, especially early on when you're just on your tod and the enemies constantly wail on only Ness. Bit easier as more party members pop up.

Ant down! Time to take on Onett's police and scrap their roadblocks.