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As someone that has played Mother and knows this game like the back of my hand, I played this patch to determine whether I could recommend this or not to friends of mine that haven't played Mother yet. I can firmly say that I do NOT recommend this patch at all. Believe me, I went into this play through with keeping a first-time player in mind, but even then it was hard for me to justify and recommend the changes this patch makes.
Mother 25th Anniversary Edition aims to fix some of the main issues players experienced when playing the original version of the game, such as the random encounter rate, the vagueness of the overworld map, navigating areas such as Duncan's Factory, and the sprite designs. While a majority of first time players seem to like these changes, I find a majority of them a major flaw in this patch and it doesn't even really feel like a Mother game to me.
To start, let me give some credit where it's due on some things. I'll say that the random encounter rate is a major setback that I think almost everyone that's played the original Mother game can agree on. There's been times where I haven't even moved a pixel and I ˆstillˆget into a battle, which is lame as hell. I do appreciate that this patch tweaked the encounter rate to where it's not so bad. Personally I don't think the original encounter rate is unbearable to play by any means, but I do understand where other players would put the game down entirely for this reason alone. That said, it almost felt like there weren't enough enemies this time around, and that encounters were scarce. For example, I hardly ran into any zombies in the Cemetery or Rosemary's House, making these areas feel more barren and useless than the original.
This patch also adds additional XP and money during battles, making leveling up easier to achieve as the game progresses. On some level, I do think the XP boost is a bit too hand-holdy for first time players in the sense that battles go by a lot quicker, and I didn't feel that this patch provides a decent challenge for the player to feel rewarded after defeating tougher enemies. I'm also someone that believes that the original game isn't as grind-focused or "insanely difficult" as other players say it is and that players don't need to spend hours grinding for XP in order to progress, so that's why I feel the XP boost makes the battle system more dumbed-down than it should be. Maybe part of it stems from the Starmen.net walkthrough advising to grind to ridiculously high levels of XP to progress, or maybe some people haven't played other NES/Famicom RPGs enough to realize that (excluding Mt. Itoi) Mother isn't so brutal... but who knows.
One other benefit of this patch is that it applies Tomato's translation of Mother's script from the original Famicom version of the game, which falls in line more with the quirky script that players are familiar with when they play Earthbound and Mother 3. Personally I like both Tomato's and Phil Sandhop's English translations all the same, but I know there's some players that find Sandhop's translation a bit dull or dry. Tomato's translation captures the essence of what makes the Mother series so entertaining and sometimes heartwrenching, and for that I can't complain.
With my positive points listed above, unfortunately the con's I have definitely outweigh the pros. For starters, the graphic overhaul. Mother absolutely did not need updated graphics to match the clay models, and the colors are oversaturated & harsh compared to the OG's muted tones. Again this is a major personal preference of mine, but I think the Peanuts-esque designs of the original character sprites are super charming and synonymous with the world taking place in America. Even the lettering in this version is too chunky and awkward to read. I don't mean to be harsh to whomever did the updated graphics and sprites since I know they want people to experience Mother as much as myself, but why fix something that isn't broken?
Another con is that the overworld map feels too simplified & hand-holdy at times, and I find that the shortcuts take away some of the exploration and curiosity from the original game. Like, a big factor in a RPG is exploring the environment around you, and this patch takes away that factor by adding obvious shortcuts to areas that you would otherwise need to explore, such as adding a direct shortcut from Ninten's house to the Zoo, or adding path tiles and extra trees to the entrance of Mt. Itoi. The original didn't feel super vague with where Ninten and the crew needed to travel to, and this patch feels like the player is too inept to travel beyond a clear path is laid out. The only time where this simplification is beneficial is when Ninten goes to Duncan's Lab, but anywhere else it's not needed. Also, I don't understand why the Cemetery or Snowman got expanded, considering neither area is hard to navigate in the first place. If it was added to give the player more area to explore, I still wouldn't understand why due to the fact that you're not in these areas for a long time.
Perhaps my biggest complaint falls back slightly on my previous point about the XP system, but this is in regards to how characters level up. This patch levels up Ninten's crew by some extra points when they join the team, which feels like overkill when you factor in that this patch already gives you an additional XP boost. In fact, Teddy is already level 25 when he joins the party, whereas in the original he was at level 18. Teddy is the strongest playable character in the game (aside from Pippi), and leveling him up in the original game was already quick and easy... so this additional leveling boost feels pointless & again takes away the feeling of a decent challenge in gameplay. In turn, it also renders the plot of Mother as weak and uninspired.
By the time I got to Giegue/Giygas, it felt like my play through was just one big slop to trek through with little to no reward. Mt. Itoi, famously known to be untested by the time of Mother's release, was not nearly the death trap it was in the original & I felt no sense of accomplishment for my party when they won battles. Again, I strongly feel this takes away the point of having these kids overcome the things that they feared in order to save America from Giegue's plans. How can the gang feel empowered to face Giegue and save America when everyone in the party basically had a cakewalk getting from Mother's Day to Mt. Itoi? I find this especially irritating when you consider Lloyd's perspective of being bullied as a weakling, but in my playthrough of this patch Lloyd had too many bottle rockets that didn't even really need to be used, since the XP boost made it easier for him to hit enemies without addition weapons. Lloyd was anything but weak in this patch despite me not even grinding much in the first place, and it made his arc in the story feel pointless. Granted, the overarching theme of Mother explores feelings of abandonment by a maternal figure (see, Ana, Giegue, and to an extent Ninten with his father), but it also teaches Ninten, Lloyd, Ana and Teddy to overcome their individual setbacks by earning the strength to fight back... which is to say, there really wasn't much of a fight in the first place in this patch.
I can't imagine a first-time player experiencing much of these themes when the game more often than not hands you a victory on a silver platter, and it's for this reason alone that I wouldn't suggest the Mother 25th Anniversary Edition patch to someone that wants to play Mother for the first time. Like I mentioned, the graphics and shortcuts are more of a preference-based complaint, but when the game loses the challenge that it prides itself in... that's where you lose me. At the very least, play the original Mother rom or play the GBA port (which I will review at another point in time) before playing this patch. If you're still having to use the Starmen.net guide to get you through this patch... I really don't know what to tell you lol.
Mother 25th Anniversary Edition aims to fix some of the main issues players experienced when playing the original version of the game, such as the random encounter rate, the vagueness of the overworld map, navigating areas such as Duncan's Factory, and the sprite designs. While a majority of first time players seem to like these changes, I find a majority of them a major flaw in this patch and it doesn't even really feel like a Mother game to me.
To start, let me give some credit where it's due on some things. I'll say that the random encounter rate is a major setback that I think almost everyone that's played the original Mother game can agree on. There's been times where I haven't even moved a pixel and I ˆstillˆget into a battle, which is lame as hell. I do appreciate that this patch tweaked the encounter rate to where it's not so bad. Personally I don't think the original encounter rate is unbearable to play by any means, but I do understand where other players would put the game down entirely for this reason alone. That said, it almost felt like there weren't enough enemies this time around, and that encounters were scarce. For example, I hardly ran into any zombies in the Cemetery or Rosemary's House, making these areas feel more barren and useless than the original.
This patch also adds additional XP and money during battles, making leveling up easier to achieve as the game progresses. On some level, I do think the XP boost is a bit too hand-holdy for first time players in the sense that battles go by a lot quicker, and I didn't feel that this patch provides a decent challenge for the player to feel rewarded after defeating tougher enemies. I'm also someone that believes that the original game isn't as grind-focused or "insanely difficult" as other players say it is and that players don't need to spend hours grinding for XP in order to progress, so that's why I feel the XP boost makes the battle system more dumbed-down than it should be. Maybe part of it stems from the Starmen.net walkthrough advising to grind to ridiculously high levels of XP to progress, or maybe some people haven't played other NES/Famicom RPGs enough to realize that (excluding Mt. Itoi) Mother isn't so brutal... but who knows.
One other benefit of this patch is that it applies Tomato's translation of Mother's script from the original Famicom version of the game, which falls in line more with the quirky script that players are familiar with when they play Earthbound and Mother 3. Personally I like both Tomato's and Phil Sandhop's English translations all the same, but I know there's some players that find Sandhop's translation a bit dull or dry. Tomato's translation captures the essence of what makes the Mother series so entertaining and sometimes heartwrenching, and for that I can't complain.
With my positive points listed above, unfortunately the con's I have definitely outweigh the pros. For starters, the graphic overhaul. Mother absolutely did not need updated graphics to match the clay models, and the colors are oversaturated & harsh compared to the OG's muted tones. Again this is a major personal preference of mine, but I think the Peanuts-esque designs of the original character sprites are super charming and synonymous with the world taking place in America. Even the lettering in this version is too chunky and awkward to read. I don't mean to be harsh to whomever did the updated graphics and sprites since I know they want people to experience Mother as much as myself, but why fix something that isn't broken?
Another con is that the overworld map feels too simplified & hand-holdy at times, and I find that the shortcuts take away some of the exploration and curiosity from the original game. Like, a big factor in a RPG is exploring the environment around you, and this patch takes away that factor by adding obvious shortcuts to areas that you would otherwise need to explore, such as adding a direct shortcut from Ninten's house to the Zoo, or adding path tiles and extra trees to the entrance of Mt. Itoi. The original didn't feel super vague with where Ninten and the crew needed to travel to, and this patch feels like the player is too inept to travel beyond a clear path is laid out. The only time where this simplification is beneficial is when Ninten goes to Duncan's Lab, but anywhere else it's not needed. Also, I don't understand why the Cemetery or Snowman got expanded, considering neither area is hard to navigate in the first place. If it was added to give the player more area to explore, I still wouldn't understand why due to the fact that you're not in these areas for a long time.
Perhaps my biggest complaint falls back slightly on my previous point about the XP system, but this is in regards to how characters level up. This patch levels up Ninten's crew by some extra points when they join the team, which feels like overkill when you factor in that this patch already gives you an additional XP boost. In fact, Teddy is already level 25 when he joins the party, whereas in the original he was at level 18. Teddy is the strongest playable character in the game (aside from Pippi), and leveling him up in the original game was already quick and easy... so this additional leveling boost feels pointless & again takes away the feeling of a decent challenge in gameplay. In turn, it also renders the plot of Mother as weak and uninspired.
By the time I got to Giegue/Giygas, it felt like my play through was just one big slop to trek through with little to no reward. Mt. Itoi, famously known to be untested by the time of Mother's release, was not nearly the death trap it was in the original & I felt no sense of accomplishment for my party when they won battles. Again, I strongly feel this takes away the point of having these kids overcome the things that they feared in order to save America from Giegue's plans. How can the gang feel empowered to face Giegue and save America when everyone in the party basically had a cakewalk getting from Mother's Day to Mt. Itoi? I find this especially irritating when you consider Lloyd's perspective of being bullied as a weakling, but in my playthrough of this patch Lloyd had too many bottle rockets that didn't even really need to be used, since the XP boost made it easier for him to hit enemies without addition weapons. Lloyd was anything but weak in this patch despite me not even grinding much in the first place, and it made his arc in the story feel pointless. Granted, the overarching theme of Mother explores feelings of abandonment by a maternal figure (see, Ana, Giegue, and to an extent Ninten with his father), but it also teaches Ninten, Lloyd, Ana and Teddy to overcome their individual setbacks by earning the strength to fight back... which is to say, there really wasn't much of a fight in the first place in this patch.
I can't imagine a first-time player experiencing much of these themes when the game more often than not hands you a victory on a silver platter, and it's for this reason alone that I wouldn't suggest the Mother 25th Anniversary Edition patch to someone that wants to play Mother for the first time. Like I mentioned, the graphics and shortcuts are more of a preference-based complaint, but when the game loses the challenge that it prides itself in... that's where you lose me. At the very least, play the original Mother rom or play the GBA port (which I will review at another point in time) before playing this patch. If you're still having to use the Starmen.net guide to get you through this patch... I really don't know what to tell you lol.
Play the OG game first.
i fucked up the virtual console inject
La tendresse, ultime rempart de notre humanité ?
What a surprise this was!
I couldn't get into the original Mother game, I found it to be one of the worst examples of NES difficulty I've ever seen. With this version though, every issue I had is fixed now! I had a comfortable and fun experience.
When you take away all the annoying grinding and absurd difficulty, I'm actually really impressed with how much was done here for an NES game. The game lets you explore how you want, you can change how things play out by going about events in a different order. The combat system is pretty in-depth for its time, and there are so many fun areas to explore! I like all the characters in the party, and as you explore you'll come across some really funny writing from NPC dialogue. This game (and Earthbound as well) leave so much up to the imagination when you play, I love it. No other games give quite the feeling that the Mother games do.
The final section of the game, Mt Itoi, was infamously difficult in the original game. And while bits of that are still here (looking at you PK Beam Gamma, why can enemies have an instant kill move), it mostly felt like a good final challenge, with some character moments I absolutely loved. And without spoilers, I absolutely love the ending of this game, final boss included. It's amazing.
The game does still have its quirks though. For one, it's terrible at guiding you. It can be fun to explore around and find the 8 melodies on your own, but some of these are pretty obtuse if you ask me. Some areas are also just not designed well to the point where it's easy to get lost. The second factory and the cave underneath Magicant come to mind. So there were unfortunately a few bits where I had to use the internet to help me out. It didn't bring the experience down for me too much, but it's still worth bringing up.
Overall though, yeah I really liked this game! Or at least, this version of the game. I'm glad I got to experience it, it's not just a neat little piece of Nintendo history, although yes it is that, but it's also a really memorable and fun experience in its own right.
I couldn't get into the original Mother game, I found it to be one of the worst examples of NES difficulty I've ever seen. With this version though, every issue I had is fixed now! I had a comfortable and fun experience.
When you take away all the annoying grinding and absurd difficulty, I'm actually really impressed with how much was done here for an NES game. The game lets you explore how you want, you can change how things play out by going about events in a different order. The combat system is pretty in-depth for its time, and there are so many fun areas to explore! I like all the characters in the party, and as you explore you'll come across some really funny writing from NPC dialogue. This game (and Earthbound as well) leave so much up to the imagination when you play, I love it. No other games give quite the feeling that the Mother games do.
The final section of the game, Mt Itoi, was infamously difficult in the original game. And while bits of that are still here (looking at you PK Beam Gamma, why can enemies have an instant kill move), it mostly felt like a good final challenge, with some character moments I absolutely loved. And without spoilers, I absolutely love the ending of this game, final boss included. It's amazing.
The game does still have its quirks though. For one, it's terrible at guiding you. It can be fun to explore around and find the 8 melodies on your own, but some of these are pretty obtuse if you ask me. Some areas are also just not designed well to the point where it's easy to get lost. The second factory and the cave underneath Magicant come to mind. So there were unfortunately a few bits where I had to use the internet to help me out. It didn't bring the experience down for me too much, but it's still worth bringing up.
Overall though, yeah I really liked this game! Or at least, this version of the game. I'm glad I got to experience it, it's not just a neat little piece of Nintendo history, although yes it is that, but it's also a really memorable and fun experience in its own right.
The joy of Mother is in the interstitial - it's the heartbeat after an NPC aside, when what seemed trivial is - on reflection - kind of profound.
It's in the small things. Anything that can remove the frustration that lies between the small things is a service.
This hack doesn't do enough. You'll still need a guide in parts, you'll need dungeon maps, liberal use of a speedup button on your emulator.
But it does enough to let those small moments shine through.
It's in the small things. Anything that can remove the frustration that lies between the small things is a service.
This hack doesn't do enough. You'll still need a guide in parts, you'll need dungeon maps, liberal use of a speedup button on your emulator.
But it does enough to let those small moments shine through.