No Crying Until the End: Ninten for Smash Ultimate!

[TheBeastHimself]

So the 11th direct turned out to be bunk. You guys think there could be a direct on Monday? It's Reggie's last day on the 15th.

Maybe it would have a prerecorded message that's him giving us Mother 3.

Okay now I'm really sad, I didn't realize how little time we have left with Reggie. If he were to announce Mother 3 on Monday, I would buy a plane ticket to Washington, somehow find him, and praise him. Plain and simple. Seriously though, Reggie is the man and although he never really helped out the Mother fanbase, I'm sure he did what he could and the reasons we never saw a localized Mother 3 are valid.

Think about this guys. Let's say they do have a localized Mother 3 ready to announce. Right now, an officially localized version of Mother 3 could exist...

 

[Dib]

My guess is that, even if Reggie is not able to bring Mother 3 or announce a Mother remake, he will leave a huge request on Bowser to make it happen for him.

 

[Specs64z]

I'd be surprised if we don't get a direct sometime soon. The stage builder leak may suggest that there was supposed to be one before that ad happened, but it has been delayed for some reason. Perhaps they wanted to commemorate Reggie's last day, or maybe Atlus wants to hold off on Persona news until their event on the 25th.

Of course, it's entirely possible they screwed up so royally that the stage builder got leaked more than a month in advance... but that seems unlikely to me.

 

[Deleted member]

Okay now I'm really sad, I didn't realize how little time we have left with Reggie. If he were to announce Mother 3 on Monday, I would buy a plane ticket to Washington, somehow find him, and praise him. Plain and simple. Seriously though, Reggie is the man and although he never really helped out the Mother fanbase, I'm sure he did what he could and the reasons we never saw a localized Mother 3 are valid.

Think about this guys. Let's say they do have a localized Mother 3 ready to announce. Right now, an officially localized version of Mother 3 could exist...

Or, even better, a Mother trilogy remake.

It's all or nothing boys and gals.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

Found these beauties

 

[Dib]

OH! OH! OH! I FORGOT THAT I WANTED TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU GUYS!

Would be awesome if they made Ninten to only use his canon abilities in Smash Bros. That would also be a great way to implement a new Mother character!

 

[The Anigriffin]

Found these beauties

Not even kidding, I think I have that bottom one saved on my other computer somewhere.

OH! OH! OH! I FORGOT THAT I WANTED TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU GUYS!

Would be awesome if they made Ninten to only use his canon abilities in Smash Bros. That would also be a great way to implement a new Mother character!
View attachment 206993

That's a killer gif.

 

[Deleted member]

Found these beauties

First of all, I love these.

OH! OH! OH! I FORGOT THAT I WANTED TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU GUYS!

Would be awesome if they made Ninten to only use his canon abilities in Smash Bros. That would also be a great way to implement a new Mother character!
View attachment 206993

D-did you make this!???

It's so awesome, I have no words...

 

[Dib]

First of all, I love these.



D-did you make this!???

It's so awesome, I have no words...

No, I didn't make this. But I definitely plan on getting there eventually! (and it has a similar art style to that of mine)
I have a hard time animating. x.x

In fact, even with this old mouse, it's kinda difficult to make pixel art cuz it's so tiny compared to my previous one. Been a while since I've made art as well, heh...

Still, this is still one of the best fanart that I've ever seen! Kinda starting to preffer the blue shirt with thin yellow stripes now. XD

 

[Deleted member]

No, I didn't make this. But I definitely plan on getting there eventually! (and it has a similar art style to that of mine)
I have a hard time animating. x.x

In fact, even with this old mouse, it's kinda difficult to make pixel art cuz it's so tiny compared to my previous one. Been a while since I've made art as well, heh...

Still, this is still one of the best fanart that I've ever seen! Kinda starting to preffer the blue shirt with thin yellow stripes now. XD

Ah, okay lol.

But hey, I can't animate at all, so good luck getting there

 

[The Anigriffin]

Man it’s hard to believe that we’re 11 days into April and we still don’t have a set date for 3.0 and Joker.

Gettin kinda ansty. Please may there be a Direct next week.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

Man it’s hard to believe that we’re 11 days into April and we still don’t have a set date for 3.0 and Joker.

Gettin kinda ansty. Please may there be a Direct next week.

I figured this would be the case, that we'd have to end up waiting. Not sure what the reason is. Maybe Joker isn't 100% complete yet? Or the 3.0 update isn't working properly yet? Otherwise, they might just be stalling so they can space out each DLC reveal, assuming we'd be getting one this month.

 

[The Anigriffin]

I figured this would be the case, that we'd have to end up waiting. Not sure what the reason is. Maybe Joker isn't 100% complete yet? Or the 3.0 update isn't working properly yet? Otherwise, they might just be stalling so they can space out each DLC reveal, assuming we'd be getting one this month.

Just kinda wish we got like a date you know? Maybe they're waiting for a specific day to drop it. That ad leak to me implies that the update is either within the next few weeks or the update got pushed back.

Well, it's been four months since a DLC character was announced, waiting half of a year is just... A bit much to me.

 

[ninjahmos]

Man it’s hard to believe that we’re 11 days into April and we still don’t have a set date for 3.0 and Joker.

Gettin kinda ansty. Please may there be a Direct next week.

How do you think Joker will play? And who will be next to join the roster as DLC?

 

[Deleted member]

Man it’s hard to believe that we’re 11 days into April and we still don’t have a set date for 3.0 and Joker.

Gettin kinda ansty. Please may there be a Direct next week.

I figured this would be the case, that we'd have to end up waiting. Not sure what the reason is. Maybe Joker isn't 100% complete yet? Or the 3.0 update isn't working properly yet? Otherwise, they might just be stalling so they can space out each DLC reveal, assuming we'd be getting one this month.

Just kinda wish we got like a date you know? Maybe they're waiting for a specific day to drop it. That ad leak to me implies that the update is either within the next few weeks or the update got pushed back.

Well, it's been four months since a DLC character was announced, waiting half of a year is just... A bit much to me.

I think they're waiting until the end of April like they said they would. If we don't get anything by the end of April though I will be surprised.

How do you think Joker will play? And who will be next to join the roster as DLC?

I think Joker will play like a light, speedy, mobile character, and, at this point, I'm not sure who the second DLC character is lol. I think Ninten will be revealed at E3, but I'm pretty sure we're getting a character before then, though I don't know who I'd predict for it.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

I got a question... if Tessie is in Porky's Memory Room from Mother 3, does that mean Porky went to Winters, somehow kidnapped Tessie, and traveled across space and time with the creature? I'm finding this idea quite amusing!

 

[The Anigriffin]

I think they're waiting until the end of April like they said they would. If we don't get anything by the end of April though I will be surprised.



I think Joker will play like a light, speedy, mobile character, and, at this point, I'm not sure who the second DLC character is lol. I think Ninten will be revealed at E3, but I'm pretty sure we're getting a character before then, though I don't know who I'd predict for it.

To be fair they said before the end of April but I don’t think anyone knows at this point. I have everything unlocked in SSBU so I’m really craving more content. It really needs a Smash Run or an Adventure Mode or something.

I got a question... if Tessie is in Porky's Memory Room from Mother 3, does that mean Porky went to Winters, somehow kidnapped Tessie, and traveled across space and time with the creature? I'm finding this idea quite amusing!

I looked at this pic staring at the house for a full minute and it hit me that for some reason...

Porky didn’t just snatch Ness’s Yo-Yo.

 

[Dib]

I got a question... if Tessie is in Porky's Memory Room from Mother 3, does that mean Porky went to Winters, somehow kidnapped Tessie, and traveled across space and time with the creature? I'm finding this idea quite amusing!

For all we know, most of these might be replicas. I've been playing Earthbound and I remember how someone said they were sure Tessie was just a model that they put in the water. I like to believe that it could be that one while the real Tessie stayed.

But we don't know. It would be cool if they actually revealed that in a Mother trilogy remake!

 

[Deleted member]

I got a question... if Tessie is in Porky's Memory Room from Mother 3, does that mean Porky went to Winters, somehow kidnapped Tessie, and traveled across space and time with the creature? I'm finding this idea quite amusing!

To be fair they said before the end of April but I don’t think anyone knows at this point. I have everything unlocked in SSBU so I’m really craving more content. It really needs a Smash Run or an Adventure Mode or something.



I looked at this pic staring at the house for a full minute and it hit me that for some reason...

View attachment 207308

Porky didn’t just snatch Ness’s Yo-Yo.

For all we know, most of these might be replicas. I've been playing Earthbound and I remember how someone said they were sure Tessie was just a model that they put in the water. I like to believe that it could be that one while the real Tessie stayed.

But we don't know. It would be cool if they actually revealed that in a Mother trilogy remake!

W-wow....this is really mysterious lol. I never really took the time to think about that haha.

And yes, it would be awesome if they revealed this in a Mother trilogy remake. I think it would also be awesome if they added more of a twist at the end of Mother 1. At the end of Earthbound, we know the letter showed that Porky was screwing around with time, and ended up somewhere random in time, which was then revealed in Mother 3 to be the time where Lucas existed. I'd like there to be an ending for Mother 1 that strengthens the connection between Mother 1 and Earthbound.

 

[TheBeastHimself]

I'd like there to be an ending for Mother 1 that strengthens the connection between Mother 1 and Earthbound.

I wholeheartedly agree. At the end of Mother 1, it is assumed that Giygas encounters the Apple of Enlightenment and learns of his defeat at the hands of Ness. But what I don't understand is why Ness is that kid who defeats Giygas, and not Ninten. How does Ness fit into this? I feel it would've made more sense for Ninten to be the one to take Giygas out, not some random kid. Then again, there was that cutscene towards the end of EarthBound where mention Ness having psychic powers since early childhood, and that just leads to even more questions.

Part of me wants answers, but at the same time, maybe I should respect the vagueness Itoi instilled. If he wanted to answer these questions, he would have.

 

[The Anigriffin]

I wholeheartedly agree. At the end of Mother 1, it is assumed that Giygas encounters the Apple of Enlightenment and learns of his defeat at the hands of Ness. But what I don't understand is why Ness is that kid who defeats Giygas, and not Ninten. How does Ness fit into this? I feel it would've made more sense for Ninten to be the one to take Giygas out, not some random kid. Then again, there was that cutscene towards the end of EarthBound where mention Ness having psychic powers since early childhood, and that just leads to even more questions.

Part of me wants answers, but at the same time, maybe I should respect the vagueness Itoi instilled. If he wanted to answer these questions, he would have.

I sorta have a theory for that but it would probably take 10 years to explain since I haven’t fine tuned it and it ties into my Ninten and Ness are half brothers theory.

I overthink things a lot in case that wasn’t already obvious heh.

 

[Dib]

Okay people, I've gone back to finally work on my Ninten visual moveset idea thing!

I had my mouse but I had one of those moods where I just didn't want to do anything art-related. Now I'm feeling all down to do it so we'll see how long it takes me to make some good progress!

I really liked that animated Ninten so much that I took some elements here and there like the hat.
Also, since you all know how indecisive I am, choose which of these Ninten designs you wanna see demonstrating the whole moveset!
I used to lean 100% onto the second one, but now I like all of these ideas that I want you guys to vote! After all, I'm doing this for fun and to show it to you guys when it's done! :3

So yeh, please tell me which one these four designs you wanna see cuz I'll spend hours deciding which one I want myself.

Also, if you guys don't like this or that color and wanna see it changed to a different hue or something then tell me!

I wholeheartedly agree. At the end of Mother 1, it is assumed that Giygas encounters the Apple of Enlightenment and learns of his defeat at the hands of Ness. But what I don't understand is why Ness is that kid who defeats Giygas, and not Ninten. How does Ness fit into this? I feel it would've made more sense for Ninten to be the one to take Giygas out, not some random kid. Then again, there was that cutscene towards the end of EarthBound where mention Ness having psychic powers since early childhood, and that just leads to even more questions.

Part of me wants answers, but at the same time, maybe I should respect the vagueness Itoi instilled. If he wanted to answer these questions, he would have.

NOW I'M ALSO QUESTIONING THIS!
I at least would like a vague explanation as to Ninten and Ness' connection. I think it would be cool if they at least did that. For all we know, Giegue traveled into time and space when he transformed into Giygas and the "Ninten" of that time is Ness. Really interesting to think about the posibilities of the what and why of things when it comes to connecting Mother 1 with Mother 2.
Call me MatPat cuz I'm about to dunk some theories up here if I don't stop right now. xD

 

[Deleted member]

Okay people, I've gone back to finally work on my Ninten visual moveset idea thing!

I had my mouse but I had one of those moods where I just didn't want to do anything art-related. Now I'm feeling all down to do it so we'll see how long it takes me to make some good progress!

I really liked that animated Ninten so much that I took some elements here and there like the hat.
Also, since you all know how indecisive I am, choose which of these Ninten designs you wanna see demonstrating the whole moveset!
I used to lean 100% onto the second one, but now I like all of these ideas that I want you guys to vote! After all, I'm doing this for fun and to show it to you guys when it's done! :3

So yeh, please tell me which one these four designs you wanna see cuz I'll spend hours deciding which one I want myself.
View attachment 207391

Also, if you guys don't like this or that color and wanna see it changed to a different hue or something then tell me!



NOW I'M ALSO QUESTIONING THIS!
I at least would like a vague explanation as to Ninten and Ness' connection. I think it would be cool if they at least did that. For all we know, Giegue traveled into time and space when he transformed into Giygas and the "Ninten" of that time is Ness. Really interesting to think about the posibilities of the what and why of things when it comes to connecting Mother 1 with Mother 2.
Call me MatPat cuz I'm about to dunk some theories up here if I don't stop right now. xD

I have to say man, keep up the awesome work on your sprite animations.

And I vote for the first one btw

 

[Mad Duck]

I wholeheartedly agree. At the end of Mother 1, it is assumed that Giygas encounters the Apple of Enlightenment and learns of his defeat at the hands of Ness. But what I don't understand is why Ness is that kid who defeats Giygas, and not Ninten. How does Ness fit into this? I feel it would've made more sense for Ninten to be the one to take Giygas out, not some random kid. Then again, there was that cutscene towards the end of EarthBound where mention Ness having psychic powers since early childhood, and that just leads to even more questions.

Part of me wants answers, but at the same time, maybe I should respect the vagueness Itoi instilled. If he wanted to answer these questions, he would have.

I think the prophecy contents are a little ambiguous because of Buzz Buzz's death,maybe that's why it's vague in itself.

Also Giygas did not believed in the prophecy at first (probably because of that same reason,just some random kids would defeat him).
I love the apple of enlightenment,I find it very interesting, I'd love to hear you guys theories.

 

[The Anigriffin]

Okay people, I've gone back to finally work on my Ninten visual moveset idea thing!

I had my mouse but I had one of those moods where I just didn't want to do anything art-related. Now I'm feeling all down to do it so we'll see how long it takes me to make some good progress!

I really liked that animated Ninten so much that I took some elements here and there like the hat.
Also, since you all know how indecisive I am, choose which of these Ninten designs you wanna see demonstrating the whole moveset!
I used to lean 100% onto the second one, but now I like all of these ideas that I want you guys to vote! After all, I'm doing this for fun and to show it to you guys when it's done! :3

So yeh, please tell me which one these four designs you wanna see cuz I'll spend hours deciding which one I want myself.
View attachment 207391

Also, if you guys don't like this or that color and wanna see it changed to a different hue or something then tell me!

Awe these are adorable! The red white and blue shirts might be better to contrast from Ness in game, but I’m super biased towards this one.

The red bandana works with the shirt so well. It’s why I chose that version to cosplay actually.

So I guess my vote is for no. 3?

 

[ninjahmos]

In case anybody’s interested, I just happened to stumble upon a petition for Ninten to get into Smash! Here it is: https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-ninten-as-smash-ultimate-dlc

 

[AdmN30]

Okay people, I've gone back to finally work on my Ninten visual moveset idea thing!

I had my mouse but I had one of those moods where I just didn't want to do anything art-related. Now I'm feeling all down to do it so we'll see how long it takes me to make some good progress!

I really liked that animated Ninten so much that I took some elements here and there like the hat.
Also, since you all know how indecisive I am, choose which of these Ninten designs you wanna see demonstrating the whole moveset!
I used to lean 100% onto the second one, but now I like all of these ideas that I want you guys to vote! After all, I'm doing this for fun and to show it to you guys when it's done! :3

So yeh, please tell me which one these four designs you wanna see cuz I'll spend hours deciding which one I want myself.
View attachment 207391

Also, if you guys don't like this or that color and wanna see it changed to a different hue or something then tell me!

I think the first one looks the best.

 

[Deleted member]

Imagine The Dragon in Mother 1 in 3D and HD.

And heck, imagine the New Age Retro Hippie in 3D and HD.

And the Mad, Psycho, and Maniac trucks in 3D and HD.

And all the other enemies.

And bosses.

In the whole trilogy.

In 3D and HD.

*starts drooling*

 

[Mad Duck]

Imagine The Dragon in Mother 1 in 3D and HD.

And heck, imagine the New Age Retro Hippie in 3D and HD.

And the Mad, Psycho, and Maniac trucks in 3D and HD.

And all the other enemies.

And bosses.

In the whole trilogy.

In 3D and HD.

*starts drooling*

If a Mother remake happens it'd be great if they put the Pippi unused battle into the remake,also the pillow.

 

[Dib]

If a Mother remake happens it'd be great if they put the Pippi unused battle into the remake,also the pillow.

I think a good way to implement it would be that, since it's dark and she's LITERALLY inside a coffin. She would inmediatly think that the person opening the coffin is one of the Zombies, so she fights you for three turns before realizing you don't look like a zombie at all.

As for the pillow, I think it would be a neat secret boss after the poltergeist in Ninten's house. Giving quiet a good ammount of experience for being curious enough to go back to your room!
Speaking of Ninten's room, remember when we once talked about having some events where Ninten just hangs out with his companions? It would be really cool if Ninten nowadays had a Nintendo Switch connected to his TV and that you would be able to decide to play on it, and watch a little cutscene of Ninten, Lloyd, Ana and Teddy playing Nintendo games.
(And yes, that's a reference to one of the NPC's in Earthbound telling Ness that kids like him should be playing Nintendo games)


On a different note, Youtube recommended me this video again and it gave me nostalgia cuz this is the remake of an older video that I watched years ago xD
Maybe some of you guys have already watched this version and the original version, but still. I thought I would share this anyway!

I love Ninten at the end xD
PK Oof

 

[Deleted member]

A small thing, but I think it'd be cool if they gave The Lamp some sort of light flash attack, and The Doll a kind of screaming attack in a Mother 1 remake.

 

[Dib]

A small thing, but I think it'd be cool if they gave The Lamp some sort of light flash attack, and The Doll a kind of screaming attack in a Mother 1 remake.

They could reuse the lamp a few times as well! Specially if they're making pretty much every place actually have rooms to show that people live in these buildings.
Not saying EVERY room should have these enemies, but it would be a cool surprise if, by checking some lamps in some rooms (like 3 out of 10 rooms with lamps), a face would form in the lamp and it would attack you. Maybe even along some other inanimate objects like books, plushies, paintings, pillows and other things that you would find in a bedroom.

 

[GoodGrief741]

They could reuse the lamp a few times as well! Specially if they're making pretty much every place actually have rooms to show that people live in these buildings.
Not saying EVERY room should have these enemies, but it would be a cool surprise if, by checking some lamps in some rooms (like 3 out of 10 rooms with lamps), a face would form in the lamp and it would attack you. Maybe even along some other inanimate objects like books, plushies, paintings, pillows and other things that you would find in a bedroom.

I'm sorry but I like the idea of a lamp being a boss in a videogame instead of a common enemy. Keep Lamp special please.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I finally got around to starting Earthbound today after saying I would about a week and a half ago, I got distracted by some senior celebrations, a thesis defense, and weirdly enough, watching my first Wrestlemania after my roommate convinced me to join him (lol).

That said, I've played about 3 hours of Earthbound so far and I've been getting the feel for it. I feel like things can hurt so much more than they should and the minor stat changes between levels seriously impact your damage and resistance to damage. It's weird, I've generally never seen such a drastic change between levels, though again, I must emphasize I really don't play as many RPGs as I should these days. Frank definitely kicked my ass a couple of times until I remembered Ness had learned hypnosis a couple levels earlier. I just finished up exploring Twoson and I was about to head out to search for Paula when I decided to take a break.

Really enjoying the unconventional world and some of the humor. It's not really laugh out loud, but I have been cracking a few smiles. While the leveling feels a little weird, I LOVE the way it handles enemy encounters. Every RPG that lets me see enemies instead of random encounters is already doing something awesome in my eyes, and this game takes things even further. I love being able to instantly defeat a low-leveled enemy without having to enter battle and I also like how lower level enemies straight up run away from you. That really helps cut down on tedium and make me more willing to back track. I've also enjoyed quite a bit of the music.

Pretty solid first real impression now that I've started it. I don't want to clutter up this board with the tales of my playthrough, but I'm glad to finally be playing this gem. I've also heard its on the shorter side for RPGs, so if that's true, I'll also really appreciate it. RPGs tend to overstay their welcome for me, but part of that seems inherent in random encounter design...

Also, wanted to ask, should I be using a guide for this game? Nothing too far has seemed to difficult to figure out and I've been trying to see a lot of different stuff, but seeing as the game is still a 90s RPG, I feel like there are a bunch of stuff that you can miss on playthroughs and never get in you miss them the first go around.

 

[ninjahmos]

In the Mother/EarthBound remakes, they should get Shogo Sakai to remake/arrange the unused song, Taitsumairi Village, and compose new music for EarthBound 64 (Part 1)

 

[ninjahmos]

I think a good way to implement it would be that, since it's dark and she's LITERALLY inside a coffin. She would inmediatly think that the person opening the coffin is one of the Zombies, so she fights you for three turns before realizing you don't look like a zombie at all.

As for the pillow, I think it would be a neat secret boss after the poltergeist in Ninten's house. Giving quiet a good ammount of experience for being curious enough to go back to your room!
Speaking of Ninten's room, remember when we once talked about having some events where Ninten just hangs out with his companions? It would be really cool if Ninten nowadays had a Nintendo Switch connected to his TV and that you would be able to decide to play on it, and watch a little cutscene of Ninten, Lloyd, Ana and Teddy playing Nintendo games.
(And yes, that's a reference to one of the NPC's in Earthbound telling Ness that kids like him should be playing Nintendo games)


On a different note, Youtube recommended me this video again and it gave me nostalgia cuz this is the remake of an older video that I watched years ago xD
Maybe some of you guys have already watched this version and the original version, but still. I thought I would share this anyway!

I love Ninten at the end xD
PK Oof

Poor Ninten lol

 

[Deleted member]

They could reuse the lamp a few times as well! Specially if they're making pretty much every place actually have rooms to show that people live in these buildings.
Not saying EVERY room should have these enemies, but it would be a cool surprise if, by checking some lamps in some rooms (like 3 out of 10 rooms with lamps), a face would form in the lamp and it would attack you. Maybe even along some other inanimate objects like books, plushies, paintings, pillows and other things that you would find in a bedroom.

I'm sorry but I like the idea of a lamp being a boss in a videogame instead of a common enemy. Keep Lamp special please.

On one hand, I like the idea of The Lamp being a common enemy, but on the other, yeah, I like it kinda just as a boss more lol.

I finally got around to starting Earthbound today after saying I would about a week and a half ago, I got distracted by some senior celebrations, a thesis defense, and weirdly enough, watching my first Wrestlemania after my roommate convinced me to join him (lol).

That said, I've played about 3 hours of Earthbound so far and I've been getting the feel for it. I feel like things can hurt so much more than they should and the minor stat changes between levels seriously impact your damage and resistance to damage. It's weird, I've generally never seen such a drastic change between levels, though again, I must emphasize I really don't play as many RPGs as I should these days. Frank definitely kicked my *** a couple of times until I remembered Ness had learned hypnosis a couple levels earlier. I just finished up exploring Twoson and I was about to head out to search for Paula when I decided to take a break.

Really enjoying the unconventional world and some of the humor. It's not really laugh out loud, but I have been cracking a few smiles. While the leveling feels a little weird, I LOVE the way it handles enemy encounters. Every RPG that lets me see enemies instead of random encounters is already doing something awesome in my eyes, and this game takes things even further. I love being able to instantly defeat a low-leveled enemy without having to enter battle and I also like how lower level enemies straight up run away from you. That really helps cut down on tedium and make me more willing to back track. I've also enjoyed quite a bit of the music.

Pretty solid first real impression now that I've started it. I don't want to clutter up this board with the tales of my playthrough, but I'm glad to finally be playing this gem. I've also heard its on the shorter side for RPGs, so if that's true, I'll also really appreciate it. RPGs tend to overstay their welcome for me, but part of that seems inherent in random encounter design...

Also, wanted to ask, should I be using a guide for this game? Nothing too far has seemed to difficult to figure out and I've been trying to see a lot of different stuff, but seeing as the game is still a 90s RPG, I feel like there are a bunch of stuff that you can miss on playthroughs and never get in you miss them the first go around.

Yeah, my first playthrough of Earthbound, I literally game-overed on Frank three times. He's tough lol.

And, actually, we'd love to hear about your Earthbound experience throughout your playthrough of it. In the Geno thread (during the last winter break), I kept spamming the thread with things happening in my third playthrough of SMRPG, so, again, we're definitely open to hearing your experience.

As for the guide, I honestly think you should do without it. That's how I played it the first time, and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

 

[GoodGrief741]

I used a guide to play Earthbound, but honestly I'm terrible at RPGs and I often need to be told what level I should be and what items I should get. If you're halfway decent you will probably do well without one, it's not really a cryptic game.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I can figure out what to do in most RPGs with a little exploration, I just hate missing certain things you can only get under certain circumstances that aren't more obvious. I remember having a particularly bad time with Skyrim and that sort of thing in which I'd have locked myself out of a quest or item and not even realized it because it was so distantly related as a choice.

I don't think Earthbound would be as bad since it's obviously older with less systems and a much more overall tailored experience, but I don't want to miss really cool items haha.

 

[Dib]

I finally got around to starting Earthbound today after saying I would about a week and a half ago, I got distracted by some senior celebrations, a thesis defense, and weirdly enough, watching my first Wrestlemania after my roommate convinced me to join him (lol).

That said, I've played about 3 hours of Earthbound so far and I've been getting the feel for it. I feel like things can hurt so much more than they should and the minor stat changes between levels seriously impact your damage and resistance to damage. It's weird, I've generally never seen such a drastic change between levels, though again, I must emphasize I really don't play as many RPGs as I should these days. Frank definitely kicked my *** a couple of times until I remembered Ness had learned hypnosis a couple levels earlier. I just finished up exploring Twoson and I was about to head out to search for Paula when I decided to take a break.

Really enjoying the unconventional world and some of the humor. It's not really laugh out loud, but I have been cracking a few smiles. While the leveling feels a little weird, I LOVE the way it handles enemy encounters. Every RPG that lets me see enemies instead of random encounters is already doing something awesome in my eyes, and this game takes things even further. I love being able to instantly defeat a low-leveled enemy without having to enter battle and I also like how lower level enemies straight up run away from you. That really helps cut down on tedium and make me more willing to back track. I've also enjoyed quite a bit of the music.

Pretty solid first real impression now that I've started it. I don't want to clutter up this board with the tales of my playthrough, but I'm glad to finally be playing this gem. I've also heard its on the shorter side for RPGs, so if that's true, I'll also really appreciate it. RPGs tend to overstay their welcome for me, but part of that seems inherent in random encounter design...

Also, wanted to ask, should I be using a guide for this game? Nothing too far has seemed to difficult to figure out and I've been trying to see a lot of different stuff, but seeing as the game is still a 90s RPG, I feel like there are a bunch of stuff that you can miss on playthroughs and never get in you miss them the first go around.

Welcome back! Glad you're enjoying Earthbound/Mother 2 so far!

Don't worry about it, feel free to comment anything you wanna share with us! We've made comments that were WAY longer, after all. xD

As I always do, if you're not having a hard time so far and you're finding how to progress on your own then I don't see the reason to use a guide. As I once said, when I played Mother 1 / Earthbound Zero I just used a guide when I was not sure where to go, but this was after trying to figure it out on my own.
Still, don't feel discourage if that time ever comes!
Other than making sure your party members are leveled up and properly equipped, there's nothing you should worry about!
The only times that I remember the 90's RPG energy hitting me hard was when, for example, I had Paula unequipped and underleveled and I proceeded without taking the time to fight some enemies to level her up and to get her some gear.
So far, you're not missing anything so don't worry about it, and as far as I know, most of the cool items are given to you if you're curious enough to take different paths in caves and all that, as they tend to be in presents. Though I do admit that I do not remember if this applies for Earthbound, but given that this pretty much applies for Mother 1 and Mother 3 then I bet it does to a good extent! (correct me if I'm wrong)
I also happen to be playing the game here and there and I'm just slightly ahead from where you left it!

In any case, I wish ya good luck in your playthrough and that you keep having a great time playing the game!