if i had to really nag on one thing about earthbound, and for the purposes of reviews, i always do, it would be that the fact that it was a JRPG felt secondary to it. i don't remember many specific fights, and with everyone but jeff having access to PSI, it never felt like there were any real challenges.
so, i was very pleasantly surprised to see mother 3 approach the topic of being a JRPG and do it well. i actually feel like a lot of consideration and balance modifying went into the gameplay systems here. making it so that only lucas and kumatora can use PSI really balances the playing field in regards strategy. instead of everyone basically being able to nuke or support, now lucas and kumatora have much more specialized roles as white mage and black mage respectively.
the boss fights are much more memorable in both design and execution as well. i felt multiple times that i had to strategize and do more than just pelt bosses with attacks, which is what i did in earthbound. i actually felt motivated to buff and debuff and keep my item inventory structured specifically amongst characters. this game demands more from you than earthbound, and that's a splendid thing. earthbound was afraid to ask too much of the player, but mother 3 is perfectly willing to give you an obstacle and expect you to overcome it. i can clearly remember many of the boss fights in this game because of how satisfying it felt to overcome them, and, to me, that's one of the best feelings a game can give you.
i haven't really touched the subject of the game's plot and characters because i feel no real need to. they're fantastic, one of the best parts of the game, and there's a very strong chance that you already knew this before reading this review. the word of mouth this game has gotten honestly made me very wary and worried that it would never live up to the hype, and 2020 is nothing if not a year of surprises, because it surpassed those expectations. even if you know the plot and the twists, there's still a lot to analyze and unpack here. this is a narrative with complexity and depth worth appreciating, along with interesting characters.
the biggest flaws i have with the game are honestly in those interesting characters, though. fassad is the only middle eastern coded character in the game, and he's unambiguously evil and sadistic. then you have the mag*psies (censored because it's a slur against romani people), who are homophobic and transmisogynist caricatures. lastly, we have the game's tendency to make pedophilia jokes, which REALLY rubs me the wrong way. none of these are dealbreakers for me, obviously, but it's very jarring to see all of this, because it comes off as like, infowars level hateful stereotyping.
i will end this review by saying that it's very funny to me that nintendo continually refuses to localize this game when it's one of the best works to ever be attached to their name. i've heard rumors and assertions that there's too much dark content in the game to justify a localization (the final boss being often cited), but i disagree. i think the dark material in this game is structured in a way that would be consumable and acceptable for a younger audience and would likely touch them in a way that many games would fail to do. i wish i had played this game when i was younger, both unspoiled and unaware of what to expect. i have a feeling that this game would be in my top 5 if i had.
so, i was very pleasantly surprised to see mother 3 approach the topic of being a JRPG and do it well. i actually feel like a lot of consideration and balance modifying went into the gameplay systems here. making it so that only lucas and kumatora can use PSI really balances the playing field in regards strategy. instead of everyone basically being able to nuke or support, now lucas and kumatora have much more specialized roles as white mage and black mage respectively.
the boss fights are much more memorable in both design and execution as well. i felt multiple times that i had to strategize and do more than just pelt bosses with attacks, which is what i did in earthbound. i actually felt motivated to buff and debuff and keep my item inventory structured specifically amongst characters. this game demands more from you than earthbound, and that's a splendid thing. earthbound was afraid to ask too much of the player, but mother 3 is perfectly willing to give you an obstacle and expect you to overcome it. i can clearly remember many of the boss fights in this game because of how satisfying it felt to overcome them, and, to me, that's one of the best feelings a game can give you.
i haven't really touched the subject of the game's plot and characters because i feel no real need to. they're fantastic, one of the best parts of the game, and there's a very strong chance that you already knew this before reading this review. the word of mouth this game has gotten honestly made me very wary and worried that it would never live up to the hype, and 2020 is nothing if not a year of surprises, because it surpassed those expectations. even if you know the plot and the twists, there's still a lot to analyze and unpack here. this is a narrative with complexity and depth worth appreciating, along with interesting characters.
the biggest flaws i have with the game are honestly in those interesting characters, though. fassad is the only middle eastern coded character in the game, and he's unambiguously evil and sadistic. then you have the mag*psies (censored because it's a slur against romani people), who are homophobic and transmisogynist caricatures. lastly, we have the game's tendency to make pedophilia jokes, which REALLY rubs me the wrong way. none of these are dealbreakers for me, obviously, but it's very jarring to see all of this, because it comes off as like, infowars level hateful stereotyping.
i will end this review by saying that it's very funny to me that nintendo continually refuses to localize this game when it's one of the best works to ever be attached to their name. i've heard rumors and assertions that there's too much dark content in the game to justify a localization (the final boss being often cited), but i disagree. i think the dark material in this game is structured in a way that would be consumable and acceptable for a younger audience and would likely touch them in a way that many games would fail to do. i wish i had played this game when i was younger, both unspoiled and unaware of what to expect. i have a feeling that this game would be in my top 5 if i had.
2 Comments
it's implied that the magpsy rapes lucas when teaching him PSI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap2ZZ7Czeio in case you're unaware of or fuzzy on the moment i'm talking about). i know you can argue that the magpsy was actually just drowning him, but all the dialogue leading up to it implies rape, including the fact that lucas' sprite is deliberately turned away from them before it happens. it's in very poor taste, ESPECIALLY when you consider the fact that it codes the only queer character as predatory, even for a "joke".
ConsultorIvone
3 years ago
how