Mother: Cognitive Dissonance
released on Dec 31, 2009
Cognitive Dissonance is a fan game set in the universe of the EarthBound series (also known as Mother). It takes place between the first and second games in the series: after Giegue's first defeat yet before Ness's adventure. It tells a story of Giegue's descent into madness and the wandering band of aliens who once protected the Apple of Enlightenment, in a chapter-based format similar to Mother 3. This newly revised and rebuilt edition includes mountains of overhauled graphics, an original soundtrack, and many new and expanded areas to explore.
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You can give Giygas the fate they truly deserved. Too pure for this world.
Surprisingly really well made for a 2009 fan game. Of course since it's an rpg maker game there are some issues I find with it, but overall I think this game is really cool and would recommend it to any mother fan.
This review contains spoilers
Since I played Undertale Yellow, I wanted to try out the well known fan game from my favourite franchise, which in turn inspired Undertale.
I have to say, the game can get a bit tedious (especially coming from UY which had a run button and diagonal movement... Or even Mother 1 US version which had a run button) which made me put it in 3x during grinding sessions in the EasyRPG Player in Android, and the early game doesn't have an interesting story since you are not going through a journey of maturity like the rest of the Mother games but instead it feels like a more standard RPG, just that with quirkier characters than usual and a space setting where you go through the solar system and land in the different planets.
The moments where backstory information is revealed throught the game can become a bit redundant as well and remove the mystery that was explored in Mother 1, which would be fine if the developers want it to be played by people who hadn't played a Mother game, but then it presents some plot elements that aren't explained (like everything involving Greyface), that would require you to have played Mother 2 and 3 to understand.
And because it's the story that Mother 2 told through backstory explanation, it would have had to involve time travelling in some fashion as well. I'm not a fan of time travel stories at all, and when Mother 2 only utilized time travel just to kickstart the story and at the very end (which feels more like they are locating someone who can't be found and required the adventure itself to happen just to go there), the last third of CogDis involves lots of time travelling to the point it can become very confusing to follow, though it does present a limitation to the use of the machine that allows for it so it isn't utilized whenever the writers want to.
The characters apart from the main villain (whose backstory is taken from Mother 1 and 2 anyway) aren't too special either, but they are likable. Their dephts, though not explored too much, are briefly shown in their respective Magicants (their own inner psyche). The leader through the game is a dude who was cast aside through his whole life for biological issues, but has retained a kind attitude through his life especially when he is taking his role to fullfill the central prophecy with a lot of resignation. A Starman robot discovers the past of his people, victim of war, and is worried about his feeling of being defective. And then there's a bug piloting a UFO, who is revealed at the end to be the emissary of warning to the kids that save the world in Earthbound. Oh, there's a Mr. Saturn joining your team but he's just there to look goofy. And also there's the villain's dissociated good side, who is trying to get him to stop destroying his mind.
They are likeable characters and you feel sad at the end because even if you get the better endings that their efforts only amount to slowing down the villain and at best helping him get rid of the chaos in his mind (while that chaos still persists in the past and is what Ness and friends are going to face in Mother 2), and that the insect will die at the beginning of Mother 2 without having returned home. But that's the catch, you need the references to that game to understand the melancholy at play here.
But well, beyond all those complications, at its core the game does present the Mother brand of witty writing with tons of personality (though this time it can get a bit spicy for my taste with unfiltered references to drug use) and funny enemies that range from psychopaths who pretend to be psychics to sentient newspapers who have an attack called "Fear of the Government" that inflicts a "dumb" status effect; and the emphasis put in exploring the history of some events in the past (like the Mars section) and the emphasis put in each characters' Magicants at the end of the adventure can make for that surreal atmposhere that gives chills as usual like with the professional games. I did enjoy the title due to the spirit and ambition it has, but I wonder if instead of so much time spent travelling through the solar system they could have gone like Toby Fox's Halloween Hack and gone full psychological and surreal with the hardships these characters are asked to endure.
[Version 2.0d]
I have to say, the game can get a bit tedious (especially coming from UY which had a run button and diagonal movement... Or even Mother 1 US version which had a run button) which made me put it in 3x during grinding sessions in the EasyRPG Player in Android, and the early game doesn't have an interesting story since you are not going through a journey of maturity like the rest of the Mother games but instead it feels like a more standard RPG, just that with quirkier characters than usual and a space setting where you go through the solar system and land in the different planets.
The moments where backstory information is revealed throught the game can become a bit redundant as well and remove the mystery that was explored in Mother 1, which would be fine if the developers want it to be played by people who hadn't played a Mother game, but then it presents some plot elements that aren't explained (like everything involving Greyface), that would require you to have played Mother 2 and 3 to understand.
And because it's the story that Mother 2 told through backstory explanation, it would have had to involve time travelling in some fashion as well. I'm not a fan of time travel stories at all, and when Mother 2 only utilized time travel just to kickstart the story and at the very end (which feels more like they are locating someone who can't be found and required the adventure itself to happen just to go there), the last third of CogDis involves lots of time travelling to the point it can become very confusing to follow, though it does present a limitation to the use of the machine that allows for it so it isn't utilized whenever the writers want to.
The characters apart from the main villain (whose backstory is taken from Mother 1 and 2 anyway) aren't too special either, but they are likable. Their dephts, though not explored too much, are briefly shown in their respective Magicants (their own inner psyche). The leader through the game is a dude who was cast aside through his whole life for biological issues, but has retained a kind attitude through his life especially when he is taking his role to fullfill the central prophecy with a lot of resignation. A Starman robot discovers the past of his people, victim of war, and is worried about his feeling of being defective. And then there's a bug piloting a UFO, who is revealed at the end to be the emissary of warning to the kids that save the world in Earthbound. Oh, there's a Mr. Saturn joining your team but he's just there to look goofy. And also there's the villain's dissociated good side, who is trying to get him to stop destroying his mind.
They are likeable characters and you feel sad at the end because even if you get the better endings that their efforts only amount to slowing down the villain and at best helping him get rid of the chaos in his mind (while that chaos still persists in the past and is what Ness and friends are going to face in Mother 2), and that the insect will die at the beginning of Mother 2 without having returned home. But that's the catch, you need the references to that game to understand the melancholy at play here.
But well, beyond all those complications, at its core the game does present the Mother brand of witty writing with tons of personality (though this time it can get a bit spicy for my taste with unfiltered references to drug use) and funny enemies that range from psychopaths who pretend to be psychics to sentient newspapers who have an attack called "Fear of the Government" that inflicts a "dumb" status effect; and the emphasis put in exploring the history of some events in the past (like the Mars section) and the emphasis put in each characters' Magicants at the end of the adventure can make for that surreal atmposhere that gives chills as usual like with the professional games. I did enjoy the title due to the spirit and ambition it has, but I wonder if instead of so much time spent travelling through the solar system they could have gone like Toby Fox's Halloween Hack and gone full psychological and surreal with the hardships these characters are asked to endure.
[Version 2.0d]
Incredible. I'm biased as a complete Mother fangirl, but this game was just fantastic. It has a couple issues I'll acknowledge, movement kind of sucks, the early game is a bit boring, and sometimes things can be a little obscure, mainly optional content. But dude, this game is freaking EPIC! The story is really cool and clever in how it builds up the series. The writing is consistently quirky and hilarious. The combat, while time-based is not my preference, is still really fun and honestly way better than a lot of RPG Maker games. The world of this game is just crazy, there's so much in it with tons and tons of optional side quests, added context to things like races in the game, and LORE. This was just such a trip as a Mother fan and when I wasn't geeking out, there was awesome original stuff just around the corner. Loved this all the way through.
CogDis is the best fan game I have ever played, and probably will ever play. No canonical issues, fun gameplay, extremely extensive content, fantastic Ideas, this is something that I would recommend to every fan of the MOTHER series.