Zero Punctuation: EarthBound - Not Your Typical JRPG

[Something Amyss]

I wanted Earthbound when it came out, but between poor reviews and the cost (we got the Australia tax without the nice beaches), I couldn't justify it at the time. If I ever get a Wii U I am so getting this.

That ending seems to be the result of supressed memories, also when are you going to review Fantasy World Dizzy?
We deserve to know its greatness!

Fantasy World Dizzy needs no review!

 

[KDR_11k]

I remember a similar battle skip think in Paper Mario TTYD but that required beating the optional extra dungeon.

 

[Yossarian1507]

Well... Since I never had SNES, I never played Earthbound, and the premise didn't solve me on this one to pick it up when I had the opportunity later. This review didn't change that. Games that Yahtzee likes usually at least pick my interest because "Damn, if this guy liked it, even if he rips to shred 99% of games he reviews, there might be something to it", but not this time. It seems that the game hasn't age well, and that "child fantasy story" charm might be lost on me.

As a side note - I'm honestly surprised, that Yahtzee went for a retro review, when there is a perfectly serviceable Divinity: Original Sin to play and review. Are isometric RPG's on the same black list as RTS for him?

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[Liquidprid3]

Yahtzee reviews my favorite RPG of all time.

Am I in fucking heaven?

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Yahtzee review Divinity Original Sin next? That's a lenghty and good RPG to tide you through July.

Other than that I can't say much about Earthbound since I never played it.

 

[corronchilejano]

Well... Since I never had SNES, I never played Earthbound, and the premise didn't solve me on this one to pick it up when I had the opportunity later. This review didn't change that. Games that Yahtzee likes usually at least pick my interest because "Damn, if this guy liked it, even if he rips to shred 99% of games he reviews, there might be something to it", but not this time. It seems that the game hasn't age well, and that "child fantasy story" charm might be lost on me.

Saying "the game hasn't aged well" doesn't do it justice, because even though the battle system itself was already old and simple when it came out, it's the ambience the whole reason to play the game, and its still unique in its own way. Sure, it has a few references here and there, but most of it is self contained humor.

Everyone sees something different in the game. I wholeheartedly recommend you think about playing it. It's a unique experience.

 

[prats93]

Earthbound and it's sequel Mother 3 are the closest games will ever get to literature.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Seeing as yahtzee has nothing new to play, how about a ZP on The Wolf Among Us now that ep 5 has been released?

Or Transistor for that matter?

Considering how much Yathzee went on about the ending of Bastion you'd think he would have picked up Transistor by now.

Could it be that Transistor just is not bad enough to review?

That's not how Yahtzee works. He's not the friggin' Nostalgia Critic. He reviews whatever's out, and aside from games he does for his Let's Plays, he rarely even plays games that he's not planning to cover in some way because he doesn't have a lot of time.

 

[Optimystic]

Not that I want to be 'that guy', especially since Yahtzee's particular stance on JRPGs has been well-known for many years, but it really does rub me the wrong way when people brush all JRPGs with a single stroke. It'd be like saying all first-person shooters are like Call of Duty, or all fantasy novels are like The Lord of the Rings.

The irony here is that you are doing the exact same thing to MMOs and getting upset when he does it to JRPGs.

His biggest problem with MMOs - the each side autoattacks and "whoever showed up with the biggest boots wins" - is not present in WildStar. So yes, I am curious as to his take on it.

And he clearly has nothing more pressing to review on his plate - he's even run out of indie games.

 

[JoJo]

Hm, I have been tempted to download this game while it's on offer on the Wii U, maybe I'll bite now as you've sold it pretty well Mr Yahtzee.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

I guess this means no WildStar review. It's been weeks now.

You must be new here. Yathzee doesn't do mutiplayer unless he's forced to(or it's something huge like Titanfall), and when he does, he takes great pleasure at talking about how much he hates playing with other people.


Or to quote his Halo 3 review from way back when "I don't give a shit about the multiplayer and I know a lot of people don't either"

Then again he kind of anti social. He isnt like Jim who occasionally interacts with us. Yahtzee just drops an article and leaves.

 

[shrekfan246]

Not that I want to be 'that guy', especially since Yahtzee's particular stance on JRPGs has been well-known for many years, but it really does rub me the wrong way when people brush all JRPGs with a single stroke. It'd be like saying all first-person shooters are like Call of Duty, or all fantasy novels are like The Lord of the Rings.

The irony here is that you are doing the exact same thing to MMOs and getting upset when he does it to JRPGs.

No, I'm not.

I'm making the educated guess that, based off of 95% of the other reviews of multiplayer-centric titles Yahtzee has ever covered, his opinion is going to align very similarly with what he said of every other MMO he's criticized. Therefore, you could get the same end by rewatching any of those videos.

His biggest problem with MMOs - the each side autoattacks and "whoever showed up with the biggest boots wins" - is not present in WildStar. So yes, I am curious as to his take on it.

Because he was so in love with Guild Wars 2, right? He's got a laundry list of issues with MMOs and the way they do things which extends far beyond the basic combat (just look at his review for The Witcher); and from everything I've heard, Wildstar hasn't made a big splash within even the community of people who do like MMOs. Hell, I didn't even know it had finally launched, and I'm around this website and follow many Youtube gaming personalities almost every day. Considering the hype it had leading up to its release, it should've had a more resounding impact.

And he clearly has nothing more pressing to review on his plate - he's even run out of indie games.

Yes, the summer drought has struck once again. I still wouldn't expect Yahtzee to look at yet another MMO any time soon, and I wouldn't get my hopes up for it to be positive if he did.

 

[Xman490]

It's also a timely subject not only because of Smash Bros. since people are wondering whether or not Earthbound and/or Mother 3 protagonists Ness and Lucas (see also: SSB Brawl, for goodness' sake) will return after Earthbound came out on Wii U - on the download shop's front page, no less - and Mother 3 is gazing hopefully at the Game Boy Advance game parade there.

But Earthbound is also relevant because it's a Club Nintendo Platinum reward, among NES Remix (also good, if you like arcade-y NES games), Game & Wario (very hit-and-miss), and the 3DS port of Donkey Kong Country Returns. FYI, Platinum rewards are for getting 6 registered and surveyed-about big games' worth (some downloads count as more, such as NES Remixes and Shovel Knight) of points.

 

[Rblade]

I found the last cock line way to funny. maby I'm a little tired, or I'm extremely childish but I literally broke out laughing my ass off.

 

[Optimystic]

No, I'm not.

I'm making the educated guess that, based off of 95% of the other reviews of multiplayer-centric titles Yahtzee has ever covered, his opinion is going to align very similarly with what he said of every other MMO he's criticized. Therefore, you could get the same end by rewatching any of those videos.

And again, I can make the exact same educated guess about 95% of JRPGs he has played. Yes, it is the same. But just as Earthbound was the exception here, maybe a sci-fi MMO where he isn't a space quantity surveyor (a la Eve) will be the 5% there too.

Or maybe it won't. But it would still be entertaining regardless.

Because he was so in love with Guild Wars 2, right? He's got a laundry list of issues with MMOs and the way they do things which extends far beyond the basic combat (just look at his review for The Witcher); and from everything I've heard, Wildstar hasn't made a big splash within even the community of people who do like MMOs. Hell, I didn't even know it had finally launched, and I'm around this website and follow many Youtube gaming personalities almost every day. Considering the hype it had leading up to its release, it should've had a more resounding impact.

As much as you claim to be around though, did you miss that it advertised on the Escapist when it launched? Indeed, around Yahtzee's own videos?

If you missed it because you're blocking commercials on the site, I'd like to refer you to Jim's great video on the subject. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/8854-The-Adblock-Episode]

Yes, the summer drought has struck once again. I still wouldn't expect Yahtzee to look at yet another MMO any time soon, and I wouldn't get my hopes up for it to be positive if he did.

I don't expect any of his reviews to be positive - he's a Caustic Critic [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CausticCritic] after all. But he is fair about pointing out the things they do that work.

 

[blaziken386]

In regards to the other Mother games, if you ever feel the desire to review them, or just play them for fun, I recommend playing Mother 3. (There's no official translation, but there IS an incredibly well put together fan-made one.)
From what I've seen/heard of Mother 1, it's really not that good. I believe Mother 1 is similar to Earthbound, just not as good; while most people that've played Mother 3 enjoyed it immensely.

 

[Erttheking]

Yeah, apparently the screwed up scenes towards the end were inspired by the creative director's experience as a child. Where he accidentally stumbled into an adult movie theater as a child and thought that the sex scene was someone getting raped...weird uncle Peter ain't got nothing on that.

 

[lastjustice]

I remember Earthbound having a really really huge box compared to rest of the games at the time. (it's because it include this massive manual that had some art in it.) You could rent it from blockbuster at the time, but I had little interest in it. Everything about it just scream too quirky/zany for my sensibilities at the time. My best friend's younger brother was an Rpg nut, and played it, but he didn't love it or recommend I play it.

I've played my share of rpgs, and I can grind with the best of them if I like a game. During early 2000s when you could get roms easily for anything from the 16 bit or 8 bit era , I finally played Earthbound, and I just couldn't get into it. It was archaic even when it came out, as it had as much animation as the dragon warrior/quest series. I give it props for being one of the few rpgs in a modern setting at the time, because overwhelming majority are Medieval fantasy or occasional sci fi fantasy setting. I still am not going back to try it again.

 

[Yossarian1507]

Saying "the game hasn't aged well" doesn't do it justice, because even though the battle system itself was already old and simple when it came out, it's the ambience the whole reason to play the game, and its still unique in its own way. Sure, it has a few references here and there, but most of it is self contained humor.

Everyone sees something different in the game. I wholeheartedly recommend you think about playing it. It's a unique experience.

I believe you it's a unique experience, I really do... Just I don't think it's for me.

I have no problem with "quirky" or "weird" games, especially from Japan. Whenever someone asks me to explain why I enjoy Japanese games or animations, I tell them, that I have to change my mindset, and accept the "rules of the game". The villain is using a black/white teddy bear as his avatar? There is a school accepting only "Ultimate Students" in one category, even if some of them are idiotic like "Ultimate Fanfic Creator"? Half of the characters look like they have no sense of fashion? As long as I'll answer "sure, why not, I accept that" for those doubting questions, I can get past those oddities and enjoy myself with a cool story and interesting mechanics (also - yes, I am replaying Danganronpa for the third time right now, how did you guess?). But in Earthbound's case... I cannot. I simply cannot convince myself to accept the premise, and I don't want to play a game while questioning everything that happens on the screen, and this review clearly told me, that's going to be the case (little kids fighting road signs and cosmic horrors?). Maybe someday, when I'll be more positive toward it (when I'll have my own kids perhaps?) I'll give it a go, but right now I'm pretty sure its charm will bounce off of me, and I don't want to spoil the experience with my own attitude.