It's hard to describe what makes Earthbound so special. I've given up on it a long time ago. Whenever I get asked why I like this game or when I get challanged to pitch it I say, "I like Earthbound because the inventory system is fucking awful" and that normally ends that conversation pretty quick, but I really do mean it.
As games become more mainstream they have become almost exclusively designed by fans of video games. We the gamers have drank the koolaid and succumbed to best gaming practices. When it comes to the turn based RPG we know exactly what is to be abstracted and what is not and the player inventory has been standardized. Let my dude carry as much shit as he can and make the access to it convenient. 99 potions, no problem, you probably don't think about it too much. Stray from this accepted formula and you'll be punished.
But the year is 1994 and in comes Shigesato Itoi, a man who seemingly does not give a hoot about video games. He creates this inventory system that is just an absolute nightmare. It is openly antagonistic to the player. You've got 4 seperate small inventories, your characters equipped items and key items take up space, in battle you're limited to whatever that character is holding. A signifigant amount of gameplay is dedicated to just swapping items between each character.
and man. that rules.
Itoi was faced with a question and he did not approach it like a person who plays video games; "how does a video game character hold items" he approached it as a regular ass dude; "how do I hold items" and this is what he came up with. Is it convenient to the player? NOPE! but it's a small part of a big picture full of these quirks that make up Earthbound.
Earthbound is a video game that doesn't know it's a video game.
As games become more mainstream they have become almost exclusively designed by fans of video games. We the gamers have drank the koolaid and succumbed to best gaming practices. When it comes to the turn based RPG we know exactly what is to be abstracted and what is not and the player inventory has been standardized. Let my dude carry as much shit as he can and make the access to it convenient. 99 potions, no problem, you probably don't think about it too much. Stray from this accepted formula and you'll be punished.
But the year is 1994 and in comes Shigesato Itoi, a man who seemingly does not give a hoot about video games. He creates this inventory system that is just an absolute nightmare. It is openly antagonistic to the player. You've got 4 seperate small inventories, your characters equipped items and key items take up space, in battle you're limited to whatever that character is holding. A signifigant amount of gameplay is dedicated to just swapping items between each character.
and man. that rules.
Itoi was faced with a question and he did not approach it like a person who plays video games; "how does a video game character hold items" he approached it as a regular ass dude; "how do I hold items" and this is what he came up with. Is it convenient to the player? NOPE! but it's a small part of a big picture full of these quirks that make up Earthbound.
Earthbound is a video game that doesn't know it's a video game.
NoArrows
2 years ago