Encountered a soft-lock right near the end of the demo but still experienced about 90% of what was there. I'm not going to rate this anything by nature of it being a demo anyways, but I just wanted to take some time to talk about MOTHER Encore. I don't talk about it all that much on Backloggd, but MOTHER and I have very lengthy history - I was around for the Starmen.net heyday, I distinctly recall the Fangamer merch releasing for the first time, I cosplayed Ninten and Ness at a bunch of cons as a pre-teen: point being, I was there. EarthBound and the first MOTHER in particular are games I hold really close to my heart and care about deeply. At another point in my life, I also really cared deeply for the fan-community and all of the exciting projects that popped up left and right in those days.
With that said, I absolutely want to congratulate the MOTHER Encore team on releasing a demo that so clearly envisions a new, fresh take on MOTHER - a game that they clearly love as much as I do - and for said demo to have already garnered the attention that it has. A great MOTHER fan work releasing is a victory for the fans overall. I see the confidence all across this demo and I'm confident that this team will absolutely deliver on this promise and make the game they see the potential for this to be.
... With that said, I'm also not really sure that we look at the original MOTHER the same way. The team's interpretation of this game seems to be a melding of the blueprint of MOTHER with the latter entries' - particularly 3's general bombast and loudness of its presentation (compared to 1 and 2) in a way that feels... dissonant from what the original game's tone and model was going for? The original MOTHER, and to an extent MOTHER2, have this sort of feeling about them, a sort of ambience that hangs over the experience, a sense of adventure with a tinge of melancholy that doesn't come necessarily from the dramatic story beats of 3, but more just a simple presence of unease, or nostalgia, or just a wordless something. It's a good deal of why, despite liking MOTHER3 a lot, I see it as a strong divide from the first two games and don't quite hold it so personally these days. MOTHER, more so than any RPG I've ever played, just captures the spirit of adventure. It's a desolate but expansive world, and things look samey but spread out - you can wander aimlessly and find train stations, or zoos, or accidentally encounter enemies and plot beats you're not prepared for. But that's in the name of adventure. It's in the name of the spacey, weird feeling that comes with being a kid, walking around alone outside for hours, and just feeling slightly apart from the world.
Encore by and large feels too busy to ever quite hit that tone. For that matter, I think basically every game MOTHER inspired does too, by and large. That's part of what makes the original game so unique. That's part of why I question this alleged necessity for a remake. It's not a perfect game but I question how much it's appreciated on its own terms.
All the best to the Encore team, and as another ages-old fan - I really hope the best for this project and chances are I'll be there to play the whole thing. That Starmen.net is still in me. You let me hit the lamp. With my hand. Basically, I'm appalled at the lack of Ninten Oreo references here.
With that said, I absolutely want to congratulate the MOTHER Encore team on releasing a demo that so clearly envisions a new, fresh take on MOTHER - a game that they clearly love as much as I do - and for said demo to have already garnered the attention that it has. A great MOTHER fan work releasing is a victory for the fans overall. I see the confidence all across this demo and I'm confident that this team will absolutely deliver on this promise and make the game they see the potential for this to be.
... With that said, I'm also not really sure that we look at the original MOTHER the same way. The team's interpretation of this game seems to be a melding of the blueprint of MOTHER with the latter entries' - particularly 3's general bombast and loudness of its presentation (compared to 1 and 2) in a way that feels... dissonant from what the original game's tone and model was going for? The original MOTHER, and to an extent MOTHER2, have this sort of feeling about them, a sort of ambience that hangs over the experience, a sense of adventure with a tinge of melancholy that doesn't come necessarily from the dramatic story beats of 3, but more just a simple presence of unease, or nostalgia, or just a wordless something. It's a good deal of why, despite liking MOTHER3 a lot, I see it as a strong divide from the first two games and don't quite hold it so personally these days. MOTHER, more so than any RPG I've ever played, just captures the spirit of adventure. It's a desolate but expansive world, and things look samey but spread out - you can wander aimlessly and find train stations, or zoos, or accidentally encounter enemies and plot beats you're not prepared for. But that's in the name of adventure. It's in the name of the spacey, weird feeling that comes with being a kid, walking around alone outside for hours, and just feeling slightly apart from the world.
Encore by and large feels too busy to ever quite hit that tone. For that matter, I think basically every game MOTHER inspired does too, by and large. That's part of what makes the original game so unique. That's part of why I question this alleged necessity for a remake. It's not a perfect game but I question how much it's appreciated on its own terms.
All the best to the Encore team, and as another ages-old fan - I really hope the best for this project and chances are I'll be there to play the whole thing. That Starmen.net is still in me. You let me hit the lamp. With my hand. Basically, I'm appalled at the lack of Ninten Oreo references here.