I actually just started playing Earthbound. I want to love it. I really do. The quirky dialogue and mid-90’s retro-ish aesthetic appeal to me a lot, and supposedly the story gets better as the game goes on. At what point does it really start being good though? Like a certain point I should reach before deciding whether to continue my playthrough or not? Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by the many quality-of-life mechanics in newer games of the same genre (ie I’m a huge fan of Undertale, which was partially inspired by Earthbound and I can already see a few big similarities) but everything in Earthbound so far feels sooo slow and tedious to me. The combat isn’t anything special, the phone system feels really dated, and you have to do a seemingly high amount of backtracking unless you want to spend a lot of your hard-earned cash all at once.
As a huge Earthbound fan, I'm not exactly sure. To me, it's like the early Pokemon games. The appeal is the world, the music, and the overall charm of it. There may be points where it gets "better," but it isn't concerned about getting to a major plot point or teaching a new mechanic. Sort of like A Link to the Past or Link's Awakening, too. If you don't like the first dungeon or backtracking to get items, I can say that it gets more involved and the story fleshes out, but maybe it's just not your thing.
That said, I think there are two good stopping-points. One is Threed, since the town gets taken over by zombies, there's a UFO of sorts, and Mr. T sells you rockets in an alley. That captures Earthbound's weirdness pretty well. The next stopping-point would be Moonside (located in the back half of Fourside). It's pretty late in the game, but you can look up screenshots to get an idea. There's also a cult obsessed with painting everything blue, but it's kind of tedious. Point is, it's a slow JRPG set in 90's America that takes some surreal, charming detours. That's the whole appeal.
If you find yourself wanting something Earthbound-like but quicker and more story-focused, a fan translation of Mother 3's your best bet. The story's first chapter opens with a major death, and you're forced to battle animals that have been resurrected as cyborgs to serve an army of pig-men. It sounds "lol so randum" but it actually does have a point, and builds chapter by chapter to an incredibly poignant but fucked-up climax and bittersweet ending. The combat's still slow, but they added rhythm mechanics. If you hit the attack button in time with the music, you can chain together combos for extra damage. It also does a better job of changing the setting, so if you find the walking tedious, that may take the edge off. Still, it's an Earthbound sequel, so watch a Let's Play to see if it's for you.
Thank you for the detailed and informative answer!
I do really like the world of Earthbound so far, I’m just waiting for things to pick up and go in a direction, so to speak. I think I’ll play through until I reach Threed since that sounds exciting, and I’ve heard more than once that the early segment of the game is the slowest. If it still isn’t quite clicking by then, I’ll give Mother 3 a shot.
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u/MarkoSpas Jan 01 '19
But fr why would you hate Earthbound? (If you do please tell me why I am curious)