GOTD 6/23/2016: Mother 3 (GBA)

[celerystalker]

The main game I've been playing in my vacation downtime has been the english translation of Mother 3. I first beat it in japanese some ten years ago when it first came out, and found it to be one of the easier RPGs I've played through in japanese, as its structure made objectives fairly obvious, items have icons next to them when looked at to tell what they do, and the soundtrack and animation go hand in hand to give a good amount of context to aid in understanding the story. Playing now in english, I'm getting the confirmation that what I thought was happening was correct, but now can enjoy those little details and nuances that make the series so unique.

If for some reason someone doesn't have any familiarity with the franchise somehow, Mother 3 is a JRPG very much in the Dragon Warrior mold. Battles are fought in turns from menus, and you walk around the world tapping "A" to interact with NPCs and objects. What has always set the Mother games apart has been their attention to detail, and Mother 3 is no exception. Most interesting objects can be examined for a thoughtful or amusing description, enemies are usually creative and have a reason to exist, and their actions are described in brief detail that engages the player's imagination not unlike a pen and paper RPG does. Every item has a detailed or amusing description, every sign a message or pun, and NPCs are written to often have their own perspectives, even if their entire purpose is to set up a joke or break the fourth wall to serve a game mechanic function. It's all designed to be cohesive, provocative, and above all, entertaining.

Mother 3 preserves most of the intetesting mechanics from Earthbound, from the rolling (slower here) HP meter, no random encounters, the trippy backgrounds, etc., while bringing some new ideas to the table as well. The biggest one here is probably in battling, wherein you can time button presses rhythmically to the music in order to do extra hits, up to 16. This is utterly optional, as you can still grind up some levels and stockpile equipment, but it adds another active layer to the combat for players who like that, also adding an interesting level of urgency if you're trying to speed through actions to heal a dying party member.

There are major structural and tonal changes to Mother 3 as well, as the game is now structured into chapters. The first several are quite brief, setting up a very localized part of the world and then altering it and its inhabitants with changes brought about by the plot. This makes the first half of the game more linear and compartmentalized, but it does open up wide at the end, almost akin to Dragon Warrior 4 if you have the frame of reference. Also, the game world is actually pretty small and focused here, but every inch of it makes sense, and the way it all intertwines makes for a game that uses all of its real estate pretty thoroughly, revisiting areas from new angles and perspectives, which helps the player attach to what's happening to the world.

Attachment is important, because the tone is far more somber here than in the other two Mother games. Where Earthbound was more wide-eyed and playful, Mother 3 is smiling through sadness, with characters all looking to cope and find happiness in the face of change and adversity. It does still very much have a sense of humor, but has less of the wild sense of adventure from Earthbound and more of a reflective tone. It works well, though, and was likely a good idea, as Earthbound was not going to be something that could be formulaically replicated, so striking off in its own direction in this sequel retains the series' identity without compromising on trying to create a unique game.

Mother 3 might be my favorire portable RPG at this point. I like Earthbound and its jovial nature far better, but playing through it this second time, I have trouble imagining a better way to follow that game, and can understand why Shigesato Itoi says he is done making them. It's a great, polished, thoughtful game with a lot more personality, care, and originality infused than most games get, and very much a worthwhile playthrough. I really enjoy it, and am glad to see how well it's held up for me.

Played it?

[eskobar]

For some reason I haven't played the Mother 3 english translation being a fan of Mother 2 / Earthbound ... its time to buy a chinese cart to play it on my GBA SP.

[Tanooki]

Played it, disliked it after some hours. Sure it looks and does sound like Mother 1 and 2, but damn does it not play like it really and it's kind of boring, and definitely disjointed how the story is all over the board by chapter. The thing that ultimately shit the bed for me was crippling the game with a micro version of rhythm heaven in the combat engine. You have to have an ear for music and a beat, and if you can tap A along with the beat you can score up to a 14x bonus (each hit just adding a few points) but without it you'll be grinding in sparse boring ass places to make up for the inability to listen to or carry a tune (which I have no timing for in music tapping type games, gitaroo man/ff theaterhythm I'm fine in.) I ended up being bored grinding since I could never hear the beat since the battle music was random each fight so I sold it.

I tried it a year later when I got another version of it, tried to be open again and still argh. Mother died for me on SNES and should have stayed dead.

[Alianger]

Excellent game. It's been a few years so I can't add anything specific, but Tanooki is right about its battle system discriminating against white people.

[Edmond Dantes]

Bumping this years-old topic because after years, I'm finally playing Mother 3.

Earlier this year I suddenly had a desire to go through Earthbound again, having forgotten a lot of what made it great and realizing some things for the first time... and then decided you know what? It's time I caught up with the rest of the series. I at first waffled between whether to go with the NES one or go straight to Mother 3 (since Earthbound is Mother 2). Ultimately I decided to play Mother 3.

My feelings were admittedly mixed at first. I'll admit (and this probably surprises absolutely nobody) that I'm not good at adapting to change, and at first Mother 3 was very off-putting. You save by talking to frogs? You only play as Lucas for ten minutes before the next hour is spent as a cowboy dude who looks a lot like Lucky Luke? The whole game (note: I haven't beaten it) seems to take place in some rural country village thus eschewing the modern aesthetic that made Earthbound stand out? There seems initially to be no money mechanic instead you trade nuts (which take up inventory space) for items?

At first I thought I was gonna hate it, but.... I had to stick with it, and... well.... things changed, and I'm thinking I might like it after all.

But I also wish I had Earthbound Zero to go to once this is over, as I will probably desire something more familiar once I'm done (hence my topic in the Buying and Selling forum)