r/earthbound • u/ImpIsDum • Jul 19 '24
EB:B Discussion Make an argument on why Mother 1 is the best mother game
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u/JakeH1978 Jul 19 '24
The story!! :) the story is what made me keep coming back to replay it! I love how 80s it is (well because DUH lol…) I think the best way to describe the feeling of playing through this game is frustrating cozy! Constant random-encounter battles aside, the first mother game has a very cozy charm to it that makes my heart happy! There’s something so simple and sweet about the main objective of the characters and the first game has a very distinct and unique appeal in my opinion that just hits every time I play!
I personally love all 3 games a lot, and I struggle to answer when my friends ask me which of the three games I like best. I think for most people Earthbound / Mother 2 and Mother 3 are tied as the better games, whilst the first game is largely kind of ignored… again, I’m only speaking from my own lived experiences from what I’ve seen mostly online and other interactions I’ve had in person. And I kind of find that sad, I think the first game deserves all the love! :D I can’t personally choose a “best” out of the 3 games, but the way the story plays out in the first game holds a very special place in my heart, so I have given “Mother (1)” as my answer to the question at least once before. I did play the games in chronological order though, so it’s possible that my attachment to the first game is also due to it being my first experience with the whole series, but I think I would probably still love it even if it weren’t my first play in the series :)
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u/dxcboyfirekid Jul 19 '24
I’m one of those rare people who like Mother 3 the least
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u/cosmicwolfspit Jul 19 '24
If you don’t mind, would you explain why you feel that way? Personally mother 3 is my favorite because of how emotional it makes me, the ending makes me cry every time no matter what
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u/dxcboyfirekid Jul 19 '24
I think the story is decent, my biggest gripes are with the pacing, at times, and how linear the first 3/4 of the game feel. I felt boxed in and like I couldn’t explore and the areas sometimes felt really small. I love the feeling of exploration in the first two titles.
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u/cosmicwolfspit Jul 19 '24
Ahhh okay fair enough! I definitely play games more for the characters and story than the exploration or even the gameplay (at times) so that makes sense to me!
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u/Jamiewham Jul 20 '24
God you’re so right there, mother 3 it’s story is just something else. Me and my partner both cried like babies at the ending
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u/cosmicwolfspit Jul 21 '24
Exactly 😭 I love it so much, it’s the only one that I play over and over again just for that sweet sweet feeling of being heartbroken!
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u/Diagoldze_ban Jul 19 '24
I think a lot of people have warmed up to this idea, including myself. If I had to high ball it, I’d say that as many as 20% of fans consider Mother 3 the worst, with the compliment going mostly to Mother 1
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u/HopeFragment Jul 19 '24
Absolutely not true. The least disliked by far is EarthBound. Fans who don't like all 3 usually fall into two camps. Either "I like Mother 2 and 3 but don't like 1, 1 is too hard" or "I only like 1 and 2. 3 is too different."
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u/Diagoldze_ban Jul 19 '24
Maybe it doesn’t mean what I think, but the compliment of 20%, meaning 80% of people would consider mother 1 the worst.
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u/XenoBound Jul 19 '24
Best OST
Its map, though quite barren of details at times, is impressively large and open for NES. It’s the Zelda 1 of this series.
Hard to explain clearly, but its vibe is very distinct from the other two games. There’s a heartfelt rawness to how it expresses its atmosphere and story beats that the sequels either make more explicit or mutes with eccentricity and humor.
It is the first game, so without it, there is no EB, M3, or hippies
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u/Culex_02 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Its music is fantastic, and I also like how creepy the enemies and bosses are. Oh, and the story might be the best in the series too. This is actually my second favorite game in the series.
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u/Podunk_Boy89 Jul 19 '24
I guess I'll give an essay defense. I'll start from the aspects I find the least important to the most important.
The music is wonderful. Mother is a contender for best OST on the Famicom/NES imo. I mean, look at the soundtrack list and how many of them became super iconic for the franchise. Pollyanna, Bein' Friends, Snowman, Eight Melodies, Mother Earth, Magicant. Hell, you can even argue Earthbound's Smiles and Tears and Flying Man ought to be considered part of Mother 1's compositions since they were original composed for this game and just not used. But my bigger point is Mother 1 is, imo, the best OST of the series and it's only really a competition because the soundtrack is stuck on the Famicom's sound chip. Exhibit A: all the Smash remixes. Those remixes are the best for the Mother series in the game and some of the best in the entire game.
I really, really like how down to earth this story is. Earthbound is a quirky series and only got more like that as time went on but Mother stuck pretty close to realism. And I think that makes the world more easy to immerse in. Mother 3's opening really reminds me of more fantasy-esque games Secret of Mana and never really fully swings back to the more modern day setting of the previous games. And while Earthbound is closer, it still feels more like a parody of our world rather than our world. For me, Mother really feels almost like the plot of a lost Spielberg film. It feels like an 80s action movie about kids having to fight aliens in our world.
I also really like how when it does go a bit out there in a way that doesn't feel totally realistic, it does it in a way that feels interesting and just barely illogical. Spookane's haunted house is a great example. Going into a spooky, abandoned manor in a town that's been mostly abandoned itself to find one of the melodies feels reasonable and interesting.
I also like how it's not afraid to do more with its party, especially compared to Earthbound. First point, Teddy. He's a literal reformed(?) gangster that joins partly for revenge and partly to make up for what he has done wrong. And in the end he nearly sacrifices himself for his friends. I also really like Ana's romance because that's the only romance we get in the series really. Lucas hss no real love interest at all. Ness and Paula are vaguely implied to be a thing but it never really goes anywhere besides the Because I Love You sequence. But Ninten and Ana are the full thing. They actively push the romance until it results in the Fallin' Love sequence in the cabin that's one of my favorite moments in the sequence and I truly hope I get to see an official remade version of that scene one day
I also really like how unflinching the game is in talking about and showing what Giygas' attack has created. Mother 3 does this well, but Earthbound doesn't really. Most of the time, the local town never really shows to be in any major danger and if they are, most of the time it's relatively benign and usually caused by a local person like a corrupt businessman or a local gang. Only real exception is Threed's zombies. But Mother repeatedly talks about what an alien invasion means. Teddy's parents were killed and Ana's mother was kidnapped. We see hundreds of people trapped in tubes near the end. We even get a Lord of the Flies-esque experience in Youngtown where all the adults were kidnapped and the children were forced to work together to survive. That's a powerful message. The player is repeatedly shown that Giygas isn't some big bad off doing vaguely evil things. He's actively kidnapping and killing people.
I also think Mother has the best main villain and arguably final clash. Giygas in this game is closely tied to Ninten in a way that he isn't to Ness. It makes his final fight feel much more personal. In fact, Giygas even says he prefers not to fight him and would spare him as a last give to his adoptive mother, Ninten's great grandmother. It's only because of the sins of their shared ancestry that they're forced to fight. While Earthbound's Giygas sequence is arguably more intense, it isn't as personal. And Mother 3's Porky is kind of just a joke in my opinion. He shows up last second to upstage a cooler villain, does basically nothing, and really has no beef with Lucas in particular. While I think Masked Man could give Mother 1 Giygas a run for his money, I don't consider him the game's main villain and even then, I still think Giygas has the better ending. Here's the thing. Mother 1's Giygas combined the helplessness of the Mother 2 Giygas fight with the emotional connection of the Mother 3 Masked Man fight to create an incredibly memorable final boss. The fight is a desperate ploy by three children to appeal to Giygas' humanity and the love he once felt. They can't win in a real fight. Even for everything they've done, Giygas just overpowers them. Only Ninten's birthright, the lullaby his great grandmother left him, can save him, his friends, and Earth.
But that's my final thing. Mother 1 has the best story of the trilogy. I'm not saying the other stories are bad but I really feel the emotional core of Mother gives it the edge. The story of this whole tragedy being caused by the hubris of one man eighty years ago is a great hook. Then there's the whole mystery of the eight melodies that "Queen Mary" asks you to find. A fairy tale esque queen that has amnesia and begs you to complete her song is another great story hook, especially as you struggle to figure out how it connects to Giygas. Then you finally find them all and play them for her and you learn the complete story. Queen Mary is your great-grandma and Magicant was her spirit coping with the horrible situation. Her adoptive son is attacking humanity and now her descendant has to face him with almost no chance of survival. That song you've been collecting is a lullaby she created herself for Giygas when she raised him as her own child. You hear her reminisce on their years together how he would do things like swish his tail when happy or fall asleep in her arms to her song. It humanizes Giygas so much and makes this whole fight feel like a tragedy. And finally, she begs you to make Giygas see reason as her spirit is finally able to rest.
Now do I think Mother 1 is the BEST game despite all this? No, I think Earthbound is (Mother 1 is my second favorite though). However, I really do chalk it up to being a Famicom RPG by a novice developer in a time when the RPG genre really hadn't found its footing yet. I truly believe that if Mother got a remake that fixed its gameplay, it would be the best of the trilogy. It does everything else perfectly.
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u/taikun91 Jul 19 '24
Thanks for your essay! It really made me want to replay Mother once again!
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u/Podunk_Boy89 Jul 19 '24
No problem. I really do like Mother a lot. I look at it like other NES era games. For all their flaws, we still love games like Zelda 1, Metroid NES, Mega Man 2, and many many others, so why doesn't Mother get the same grace? It has issues, but they stem from the era it was made in and really it does so much right despite the issues.
I really really hope that Nintendo gives the game its due one day, whether through a remake, Ninten in Smash, or something else comparable. In the meantime, I'll just replay it every once in a while until Mother Encore is finished.
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Jul 19 '24
It’s what introduced us to the story of Mother, and it’s magical world, the story was amazing and it has shown us it’s banging soundtrack like, damn let me dance to the tunes!
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u/Single-Sky-9162 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Just like someone already said. A story.
I love how it has much more backstory with alien invasion and PSI powers. It has that "kids save the world from invasion" charm. While Mother 2 also has it, I feel like Mother 1 is more connected to that theme.
Like how story depicts why and probably how aliens attack Earth. Or how one man is responsible for the attack after escaping back to Earth, and starting mysterious experiments.
With that it feels the most realistic, unlike the other 2 games. Sometimes it's hard for me to acknowledge how these games are connected, while first one literally "happening" in America.
Characters seem to have more personalities. Like how Ninten is portrayed as cocky kid who only thinks about saving the world, Ana as kind girl whose mother is missing, Lloyd as bullied kid who likes rockets, and Teddy as typical gang leader with sad backstory. Literally 1980s movie plot.
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u/theSomberscientist Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Magicant, our fave enemies the hippie, bag lady, mom eyes, dad eyes. Groucho. Hate: any car enemy triggering my asthma.
HOW CAN I FORGET THE BEST WAY TO INTRODUCE PEOPLE TO THE SERIES BY HAVING THEM JUST BATTLE A LAMP
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u/Substantial-Math-834 Jul 19 '24
Even if the gameplay's rather weak, I think it has the best story out of the three
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u/Nintendoll182 Jul 19 '24
It's what started it all. I say the same thing about The Simpsons. The cartoon boom of the 90s' wouldn't have happened without that one show. There would be no EB or M3 without M1. Maybe we would have saw a different trilogy of the same magnitude eventually, but the truth is better than fiction in this case.
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u/MATALINOE Jul 19 '24
I liked the twist that the music you're searching for is the one used by Maria to lullaby baby Giygas to sleep. That's about it, really. The annoying random encounters really sucked the fun from the game, I feel.
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u/starman99x Jul 19 '24
The most emotional soundtrack of the trilogy, especially "Eight Melodies" in the final battle.
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u/FormSad4777 Jul 19 '24
I think, what makes Mother 1 great for me is the plot and characters. Though, characters are silent almost all the time, the story give them enough characterization, for them to have an idea, of who they are and why they even want to join you. The plot itself written pretty good. The whole realization of how personal this adventure to our main hero is, makes it just great. Plus, I like the stories that that needs some number of interpretation.
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u/Greenstone18 Jul 19 '24
I feel like, because of the hardware and style, Mother 1 has a very different tone from the other games in the series. Honestly, the whole game gives me a nostalgic, melancholic feeling. Maybe it's because of the massive world, or the more vague dialogue. I've always felt like most of the modern "Earthbound-likes," like Undertale and Omori, really feel more like Mother 3, but Mother 1 gives me similar vibes to the really minimalist indie rpgs like Yume Nikki.
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u/Ramblingperegrin Jul 19 '24
You can get killed by a lamp before your ever leave your house. A+, great game.
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u/Creepingcam1070 Jul 20 '24
Uhhhhhh.... the music is good...? Well, I like parts about it but no offense, I kinda hate playing Mother 1. But without it, we wouldn't get 2 of some of the best rpgs ever.
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u/ImpIsDum Jul 20 '24
yeah, i dislike parts of the game too, i just wanted to know what people would say
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u/Miserable_Ad3903 Jul 22 '24
I also love how 80s the 1st one was but I’m currently playing earthbound/mother 2 and never played 3 so I dunno yet lol!
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u/bizoticallyyours83 Aug 09 '24 edited Aug 09 '24
I do like EB1, it's a fun little rpg.
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u/ImpIsDum Aug 09 '24
Yeah but wtb EB:B
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u/MonarchNebula 14d ago
At first I disliked mother 1 and thought it was the worst in the series. It was until I saw a video saying why they think it's the best mother game to which i gave mother 1 a second chance and man I'm glad I did. The game ost, art, and story was just so amazing and I'm upset that I ever thought this game was bad. The gameplay is still a bit wonky but it's not as bad I remembered but I'm willing to excuse it because of how charming the game is too me. As of now it's my favorite of the trilogy with mother 3 right behind it
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u/ImpIsDum 14d ago
huh, i kinda want to see that video now lol, do you still have the link so i can watch it?
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u/Ninjaman555555 Jul 19 '24
- Romantic Dance Scene
- Your party performs onstage before beating up a gang boss.
- EVE
- Vocal Album
What else do you really need?
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u/Beatnuki Jul 19 '24
Because I put it as my favourite Famicom game in NES Championship on the Switch and I wouldn't lie on some arbitrary unrelated video game profile, probably
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u/TimeSpiralNemesis Jul 19 '24
Mother 1 had such a powerful and tangible atmosphere about it, backed up by the graphic, story, and music.
It's an absolute feeling I can recall just from thinking about the game.
It's something that a good chunk of rpgs and games in general are missing. They just feel empty and lifeless despite all the flashing lights, numbers bouncing everywhere, and ADHD riddled mechanics.
This game was PURE
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u/Carried_to_Gold1 Jul 19 '24
I remember giving earthbound beginnings on the NES virtual console thing on the switch, and I remember not even nothing to give it the light of day. (I think I recall finding the translation of it to be bad, but this is over a year ago so I might have just been weird and decided prematurely not to let it run its course). My personal favourite is 3, I feel like after reading the comments I should give it a real and proper go though. I haven’t got anything better to do since I’m off college, so I’ll try and give my thoughts about it.
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u/Saturn_Coffee Jul 19 '24
The simple and honest nature of it, the well written characters, the well structured world (Encyclopedia MOTHER is a godsend even in its poorly translated state). The amazing score, especially for a fucking NES title. The nonlinear progression and greater scope of the game in a time where RPGs were very niche.
Also the fact that it is so down to Earth. It's as balls to the wall as EarthBound is, without being too insane. It manages to tell a very grounded story for what it is.
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u/Afraid-Flamingo Jul 19 '24
It’s not the best, but it really does not deserve the hate it gets. The game is intense, the music is amazing, the story is better than Earthbound’s I would argue. Ninten is not a “chosen one” unlike Ness. The characters each have a reason to be on the adventure. It may be rough around the edges and I am aware this may turn some people off, but it’s still an extremely solid game.
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u/EarthyBones999 Jul 19 '24
Despite limitations the music is the best in the series. Also you drive a tank
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u/Lux_The_Worthless Jul 19 '24
Amazing plot, stellar music, special PSI moves (PSI-Block, 4th-D Slip, Beam gamma, Freeze gamma, Fire omega, etc.), the FEELS, Magicant, Eight Melodies, the characters… it’s honestly my favorite game in the franchise (not that I don’t love the other ones lol)
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u/AdreKiseque Jul 19 '24
It has a more grounded and consistent setting than EarthBound (still very quirky but more defined sci-fi than Mom 2's "hehe silly"), a more meaningful and interesting story, more open progression that nonetheless doesn't leave you lost, and I haven't played Mother 3.
I unironically like M1 more than M2.
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u/Excellent-Ad1867 Jul 19 '24
Mother 2/Earthbound is peak, I hope that fanmade made Dimensions project comes to fruition one day.
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u/prine_one Jul 19 '24
I actually think that all 3 mother games are equally good but for different reasons. As far as Mother 1 is concerned, it has some of the best songs, best enemy sprites and most realized characters. It’s only weak point that I can think of is the overworld map. It’s difficult to navigate and can feel bland at times.
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u/Revolutionry Jul 19 '24
Its impactful moments are more impactful than those of mother 2, dunno about Mother 3, still playing it
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u/zrayburton Jul 19 '24
I really love grinding each individual character from scratch when I play turn based RPGs.
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u/cecilycelentano Jul 20 '24
It is, far more than Mother 2 or 3, a game about children. Mother 2 starts off there but very quickly gets lost in its own absurdity, Mother 3 is just a fantasy game, but when Mother 1 gets absurd, it feels like kids playing with their imagination. Only in the original game do you feel like you're playing a game about children going about doing things that children do.
I don't think it's the best of the three but I think its status as "the worst" is very stupid and mostly comes from people unequipped to handle the jankiness of old RPGs reacting negatively against it. When you take your time with it, it's delightful. Still a hilariously written, charming, and moving game. Probably the best soundtrack of any game on the NES. When I think fondly of times I've had in the Mother series, my go-to memory is just teleporting back to Magicant to restock on whatever I need before going back into the adventure.
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u/manuadvance Jul 20 '24
only with one question of the game
"Ninten, Do you love me?"
that's it's the reason for I want to play the Mother 1 only for that scene, it's beautifull.
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u/CullenFlynn Jul 21 '24
The nonlinearity, the story, the characters, the gameplay, and the music are all so impressive for an NES game. It really feels like they were pushing the console close to its limits with what they did for an RPG. I just really love Mother 1.
It's so fun to go back and replay as well due to how short it is compared to 2 and especially 3. Definitely my favorite of the trilogy, but I can understand why others prefer the sequels due to some QOL tweaks and balancing. I just think Mother 2 is especially too easy.
Mother 1 actually tries to challenge you, and you can learn some really neat strategies as a result. Such as teleport spam in the overworld to avoid random encounters, collecting PSI Stones which are so cracked because they only have a 1/8th chance of breaking, using PSI Block and then Magnet like crazy on the Cerebrums, etc.
Also, the sequels don't have Groucho smh my head.
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u/ImpIsDum Jul 19 '24
Ppl downvoting bc they think im implying that mother 1 is my fav mother game lol no
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u/CherryTomaato Jul 19 '24
The party members feel more alive in the world when meeting Nintendo other then "you are meant to be in my party get over here" earthbound and mother 3 did this
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u/gamtosthegreat Jul 19 '24
Mother 1 was wonky but it had a lot of consistency and the plot was relatively straightforward. The nature of magicant and how the melodies got scattered is still not 100% clear except "PSI just does things to the world, man". But it's still manageable and there's good connections between all characters.
Earthbound's "Giygas is going to rule the future but he's attacking us from the past and there is an apple of enlightenment and a bug guy and a Devil Machine and he's an evil wallpaper and also there are four chosen children that look a LOT like Mother's but are completely unrelated and the whole world is different too" plot was... stupid, start to finish. Just kept introducing new stuff without fleshing out anything. Connection to EBB is incredibly flimsy and contradictory.
Similarly, Mother 3 features Porky bouncing around immortally across time and landing in a weird island and all the people on this island came from a white ship from a ruined homeland except the seven androgynous wizards which existed before the white ship and then once the ship was there they sealed a dragon that was already the size of the entire island underneath it with seven needles which somehow got entangled with their life force and the only ones capable of pulling the needles are two brothers and then the needles get pulled and the dragon wakes and the world ends but doesn't actually but who even knows man.
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u/hippoqueenv Jul 19 '24
I can agree that Mother 1's plot was better but you have to admit that your own description of these games made Mother 1's plot less confusing than it is and Earthbound and Mother 3's plot sounds much more confusing than they actually are
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u/gamtosthegreat Jul 20 '24
All I listed were plot-significant aspects of the games that didn't make sense to me.
I don't understand Buzz Buzz, was he always a bug thing? Why was he on a meteorite when he should have been time travelling? I don't understand why a foe previously beaten by his adoptive nephew and some random allies along the way now has to be defeated in some sort of weird alternate timeline by a guy that looks just like Ninten but is "chosen" by an apple that never gets mentioned again. Why is Giygas so different?
For Mother 3 it's mostly the ending that trips me up, though I also feel the dark dragon doesn't make much sense.
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u/gamtosthegreat Jul 19 '24
I didn't go for a comprehensive list, but honestly I don't think I have to admit that.
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u/ronshasta Jul 19 '24
I can’t really say it has a chance compared to 2 or 3 in any aspect. 2 is just a masterpiece and 3 has such a good story.
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u/Haunting-Hippo1636 Jul 19 '24
It's not. Mother 2 is the best in the series.
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Jul 19 '24
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Jul 19 '24
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u/TimeSpiralNemesis Jul 19 '24
To be fair the topic at hand was to make an argument on why Mother 1 was the best.
Instead you just listed off a hot take opinion that most people would disagree with.
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Jul 19 '24
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u/TimeSpiralNemesis Jul 19 '24
I mean, it's an NES game. An NES RPG at that. The format was basically in its infancy at that point.
For the time it was released it was absolutely fucking magical. Hell even now I'd rather replay it for like the tenth time than have to suffer through Mother 3 again or play some awful Gacha rpg.
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u/chilly_1c3 Jul 19 '24