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An Earthbound LP? Fine by me, it's my favorite game of all time. I've been a big fan since it was released in 1995. Now it's on Virtual Console, and it's been such a success that it even outsold an NES game that was being sold for 30 cents around the time of its re-release. They even officially released Mother 1 (Earthbound Beginnings) on VC for the first time outside of Japan just last year, and Reggie Fils-Aime said that he hasn't ruled out an official translation of Mother 3 in the future if people keep buying both games. In fact, a couple of unofficial sources have said that they will be releasing Mother 3 later this year. With all that being said, it's easy to forget that there was once a time where it felt like Nintendo simply didn't give a poo poo about the game to ever give it another time in the sun. The speculation was that there was so much borrowed licensed music (by the way, this game has one of the best soundtracks on the SNES) that there would be a flood of copyright lawsuits if they ever brought it back. It turns out that for the longest time, Nintendo of Japan simply had no idea that Earthbound had this cult following in America. It was a long 18 years for them to acknowledge its fans, but it was worth the wait. Most indie RPGs have been inspired by Earthbound, including Undertale. Sorry for the raving. I just love this game.
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Feb 6, 2016 11:02
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Ceraph posted:Rave all you want! Earthbound is a wonderful game and more people should know about it. I would be all over Mother 3 if it came out in the west. Maybe I should go buy some more copies of Earthbound on the VC just to be sure... Edit: There are so many cool little facts about the making of this game that I'll probably provide links to, but Iwata's involvement was one of my favorite tidbits. Specifically, I think he helped put them a year ahead of schedule in fixing it up the problems that Nintendo faced. Edit 2: I didn't know that pop culture reference to the Mr. Baseball Cap. There's a lot of them in Earthbound, especially Beatles ones. In Mother 2, you have the option of naming Ness "John," Paula "Yoko," Jeff "Paul," and Poo "George." Naturally, Ringo is one of the names you can give your dog. Edit 3: The Sharks don't strike me as blackfaced so much as they do amateur gimp suit S&M types. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Feb 7, 2016 |
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Feb 7, 2016 02:41
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Flash Alpha only inflicts crying (which is far less effective on enemies than it is on your party members) and feeling strange (harder to measure effectiveness with enemies because it makes them hit any target, but it feels less effective). I've never used that level of Flash for that reason. In fact, there are quite a few PSI powers in this game that I never use on the average playthrough. Hypnosis is far more effective if you use it on an enemy in a group that's weak to it while you fight the rest of the party, but in one-enemy battles, it's kinda useless.
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Feb 9, 2016 08:16
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Testikles posted:True story. On my first play through of the game I forgot about Mondo Mole and another upcoming boss until later in the game. I came back severely overpowered and basically one-shot him.
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Feb 13, 2016 10:26
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I already posted a link to a different source backing up the rumor. I know it's not gonna be official until we see Nintendo confirm it, but they won't do that until a day before it's actually released. That's what they did with Earthbound Beginnings in the form of a YouTube video. A few things about the LP (I'm completely caught up as of this last edit): 1. The line where Paula says "if you didn't come, I'd have to bust out of here" was changed from the Japanese version. There, she says, "If you didn't come, I would have started to cry."  2. What I've done in more recent playthroughs of Earthbound is withdraw money to buy things, buy the things that I need to, then deposit all of my remaining money except for a few bucks. That way, a game over hardly wipes out any of your money. 3. You're better off fighting the Insane Cultists instead of running away from them. They're far weaker than the Peaceful Rest Valley enemies, their paint attacks do pitiful damage if you've got the Hard Hat equipped, and their reinforcements aren't nearly as devastating as the Black Antoids and Skate Punks earlier in the game. Plus, they give a good amount of experience. Fighting three of them will give you over 1000 exp. 4. Battle Against a Strange Enemy (the music that plays when you fight Coil Snake, Mr. Batty, and many other enemies) is supposedly based off of a Prince song. 5. If my old issues of Nintendo Power are correct (and they probably are since they were the official Nintendo magazine), Ness and pals are 13, not 11. Smash Bros. does make him sound 11, though. And yes, "Pokey" is the same as "Porky." The reason why he's Pokey in Earthbound is because of a translation error. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 04:20
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There was an incredible article I read about all the weird little touches that the translator (Marcus Lindblom) put into the English-language version of Earthbound. I don't think either of these are the one that I read, but there are a lot of cool facts in them. The translation is more or less a ton of executive decisions on his part, like the iron pencils and erasers. When you get the Picnic Lunch, there's another thing that he changed in the item description. http://kotaku.com/the-man-who-wrote-earthbound-1188669175 http://www.wired.com/2013/07/marcus-lindblom-earthbound/ get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 06:13 on Feb 15, 2016 |
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Feb 15, 2016 05:49
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You missed two photo ops that I'm fairly sure are available only when Jeff/Alex is on his own. One is at the center of Stonehenge, and the other is just a little bit north of the peninsula where the Bubble Monkey summons Tessie. I guess the photo ops are the closest thing this game has to 100% completion, but they're just fun little things. You'll see what they're used for at the end of the game. I can't say I've ever gotten the "you've been playing too long" phone call at this point of the game, though. Those Cave Boys always drop a Picnic Lunch if you beat them, and I think they have a much higher chance of missing with their attacks than a normal enemy when you encounter them here (obviously you will be returning to Stonehenge to get the shining spot). You just got unlucky. The player's guide has a unique way of warning you about the point where you lose Bubble Monkey. Something like, "On your travels, you may encounter monkeys of the opposite sex. Travelers who don't have their pet monkeys on a leash may lose them." I'm glad they included a digital version of the guide with the Virtual Console re-release.There are a lot of funny little touches like that in it.
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Feb 17, 2016 05:46
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Goddamn backspace outside of the text box backed me up multiple pages and ate my entire post and I'm not gonna type all that up again. The Hand-Aid is a full heal, but it's useless. Lifeup does the job just as well. Defense Sprays are too, in my view, but they sell for $250 a pop. Also, give the Backstage Pass and Bad Key Machine to Escargo Express. You won't be needing them anymore. The frogs and crocodiles have high defense and attack, respectively, and they're best handled with Freeze. Losing Paula was really bad luck, because outside of mice enemies, the Annoying Old Party Man, and its palette-swapped upgrade (must be the booze for those other two), enemy SMAAAAAASH attacks are quite rare. Those ghosts possess you, and you can be ambushed by them when you walk through doors in the underground tunnel, so you were right to not fight them. Being possessed creates a Tiny Lil Ghost in your party, and that deals minor damage to your party members or solidifies one member for a turn. More often than not, I end up having one possessed party member in the tunnel.
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Feb 19, 2016 04:12
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Jeff most certainly is not the worst character in combat. He can fix an item that's better than any weapon he can equip because it's an infinite supply of Super Bombs, and there's a third Bottle Rocket item that's insanely powerful. You get them much later on, but once you get to that point, he's a force to be reckoned with. That empty room you walk in is a Magic Butterfly room. Very handy if you want to keep squishing Foppies for experience. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Feb 20, 2016 |
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Feb 20, 2016 06:49
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The coffee break also has really good music, as does much of Earthbound. It's definitely a top 5 SNES soundtrack, in my opinion. For future reference, when you shoot an enemy with a shield (as opposed to bashing one), it deals full damage as well as decreasing the shield's strength by one. A SMAAAAAASH attack will eliminate a shield entirely no matter how many layers a shield has. And I've always pronounced "Trillionage" like "trillion age," as in, it's a really old plant. It's a good thing that the eerie eye glare didn't work, because if it hits, it diamondizes a party member, which is as good as being KO'd. I think Jeff has the IQ to fix the Broken Laser, so by all means, give it to him. And the Coin of Slumber is also equippable, but it's not as good as the Mr. Saturn Coin. Still solid, as it increases Luck (which increases the chance of enemy attacks missing you).
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Feb 24, 2016 07:04
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Magic Butterflies aren't worth chasing around in the desert, since you'll very likely run into nasty enemies while you catch it, including the dreaded Smiling Sphere. That enemy uses Fire Alpha and also explodes when you kill it. The Criminal Caterpillars, though, are always worth going for, since they're weak enough to instantly win if you sneak up on them with your entire party and give you lots of exp. Luckily you didn't have to chase it far. The black sesame seed gives you a photo op when you talk to it. There are a lot of good items scattered around the desert, but you'll have to risk enemy encounters and sunstroke to get them. And I believe the Dusty Dunes Desert population is 5 people in the guide. After Onett and its gimp suit gang, Peaceful Rest Valley and its blue KKK-esque cult, and Threed and its zombie army led by a sentient pile of puke, Fourside's problem is pretty mundane. Corrupt mayors in cahoots with police, lawyers, and monied interests are a dime a dozen. The hospital in Fourside is home to one of my favorite bits of NPC dialog- there's an old woman who asks if you, a 13 year old boy, have grandchildren. You can say yes and she says, "At your age? The youth of today shock me."
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Feb 26, 2016 05:00
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You're so much better off using Freeze against the snakes and ants. Paula has more PP to spare than Ness.
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Feb 27, 2016 05:19
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The Mad Taxi isn't an enemy in Smash Run, the Devil Car is. That's from Earthbound Beginnings. In that game, the exhaust fumes give Ninten asthma, but here, it just makes a party member cry. I never gave the "third strongest mole" thing any thought, besides the fact that it's a silly joke in a silly game. Also, after you beat all of them, the enemies clear out and you can raid the mine of its considerable loot without any worries. I hope that Jackie isn't asleep for the next update, also for "reasons" related to giving Jeff the Platinum Band. Magic Fanatic posted:These stats (I believe) cap out at 99, with exception of Guts to 255, but you have to be careful, since there's no overflow error protection, and will make these stats roll around to 1 if you level up and increase those stats. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Mar 1, 2016 |
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Mar 1, 2016 10:09
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Magic Fanatic posted:My earlier post is worth editing a bit due to personal misinformation - testing this is very, very slow. Earthbound also has one of the greatest anti-piracy measures ever. Before you start phase 2 of the final fight, it checks to see if your copy of Earthbound isn't pirated. If it is, the game freezes, and when you restart or turn the SNES on or off, it erases all of your save data. It doesn't work on ROMs, though. End-of-game spoilers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmyoV1bkXNI get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Mar 2, 2016 |
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Mar 2, 2016 04:25
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I've never used Super Bombs in the blacked-out department store before. Maybe I should, because the enemies there are brutal. Musica's sleeping melody is especially unfair against Mystical Records. Their charge takes off nearly 100 HP. Not all of the alcohol references have been scrubbed from Earthbound. The track that plays in Jackie's Cafe is called "Boris's Cocktail." I guess the bartender is named Boris? Oh those Enraged Fire Plugs can do plenty of damage. You just got lucky. The Robo-Pump is one of two enemies in the game that follows a set pattern in its attacks. After it counts down, it throws a Bomb. If it stays alive for one more turn, it fully heals itself, then repeats its pattern. And I don't think the Dali's Clock is breaking any copyrights, unless that painting and Salvador Dali's name is trademarked. Moonside is Earthbound's weirdness in its most concentrated form. The Dinosaur Museum has one of my favorite lines in the game.
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Mar 3, 2016 05:50
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Ceraph posted:It's time to finish up our brief stint in Moonside, unfortunately it looks like we missed the dialogue in the dinosaur museum that Y-Hat was talking about. I recently figured out that the NPCs who warp you around Moonside only take you to the sailor looking for the unibrow gold tooth guy until you talk to him. After that, it triggers the warp men sending you to the doorless room. You got very lucky with the Evil Mani-Mani fight. It has Paralysis, which causes numbness. This can only be cured by a Secret Herb, Cup of Lifenoodles, or Healing Gamma. It prevents a character from attacking or using items, but they can still use PSI abilities. It also sticks around after battle (the healer's "restore feeling" cures numbness). So it's not a good thing to have. Mani-Mani can also emit a glorious light, which I think is equivalent to Flash Gamma. Any character without a Night Pendant will get a high chance of numbness or even a one-shot KO. I never get the Broken Pipe in Dr. Andonut's lab. Jeff fixes it around this point in the game, but Neutralizer nukes shields at a 100% rate while the Shield Killer doesn't.
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Mar 5, 2016 07:24
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I'm not big on the Greek alphabet, but you got Lifeup Gamma, not Psi. It's a full HP restore for one party member, which is perfect for Ness right now, because his HP is getting up there. And once again, you had some bad luck on the Sentry Robots. They usually just fire beams against me, and occasionally call for help or shoot a Bottle Rocket. Their "tick-tock" is just them wasting a turn. More annoying things about the Clumsy Robot: it comes equipped with a psychic shield to start the battle. But even if you use the Neutralizer or Shield Killer, PSI Smash/Rockin/etc. usually does no damage to it. Bottle Rockets also completely ineffective. Lucky is kind of a dick for saying that it was so easy to stop. There are a lot of good items in the Dusty Dunes Desert, but the enemies there are brutal. The buffalo are powerful, the Desert Wolves can poison you, and the Smilin' Spheres explode when you kill them and use PSI Fire. The Skelpions have low HP, but they can also poison you and they're fast enough to always get the first attack. Another parallel between Skull Kid and Pokey: they're also being used by a force that can destroy the world. Ceraph posted:On a side note, I unfortunately have to take a bit of a break posting updates. I ran out of footage but I’m getting together with Alden, Alex, and Jackie this weekend to record more so it shouldn’t be long. I expect to be able to post episode 20 by Monday the 21st.
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Mar 11, 2016 05:48
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Sudden Guts Pill doubles your Guts for a single battle, but I think they sell for $500, so I just sell them when I get them. There actually is a way to get your in-game stats to wrap around, but we haven't seen the item responsible for it yet. It also gives condiments (specifically, one of the condiments) a use. You really gotta deal with Shroooom! quickly before it wrecks your party with spores, but if you bring a Big Bottle Rocket or two, that's not hard to do. Ness and Paula should just use Smash! and Fire. I was wondering why you used PSI Shield Sigma to start, and then I remembered that you can wreck yourself with your own PSI if one of your party members gets Mushroomized. Good call. And is Mighty Bear Seven supposed to be a reference to something? The Sanchez Brothers's friend is named Tomas Jefferson. He tells you that if you talk to him in the desert. Summers has some of the best NPC dialog in the game, but the expensive food items aren't worth it. Lifeup does all of your healing at this point in the game.
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Mar 23, 2016 02:54
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You joked about the Magic Cake lady's husband, but the sailor you didn't talk to is actually her husband. He tells you that she keeps hanging out at the Stoic Club and she doesn't care about her business anymore.
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Mar 25, 2016 06:35
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Oh, I forgot to mention: the Brain Stone is useless. Only a few enemies can prevent characters from using PSI, and that attack misses a lot. You also can't get rid of it by selling it or throwing it away. It has to be taken by Escargo Express. Lifeup becomes more important than ever with Poo, because most food items cause him to only recover 6 HP. There are exceptions: Bottle of Water causes him to recover 10 PP rather than 1 for Paula and Ness, and there's another item that does this even further. The Brain Food Lunch is also a full HP and PP recovery for Poo. When Poo is in your party, the woman who says her mind is a blank has different dialog. She says, "Asian kid, you're so cool... don't look at me like that." As you might expect, you can't say "no" to the museum guy you bribed, since he takes the Tiny Ruby anyway and thanks you for the "cookie." I didn't know that you could fight Kraken right after getting Poo (also I've never seen that bit on the boat about being a mama's boy). You need him around in order read the hieroglyphs in the Summers museum, which opens up a different event. "It could only cost you your life, and you got that for free" is probably my favorite bit of text in the game, and the sailing music and Kraken battle theme are excellent tracks. The music for Earthbound is really, really good, but it doesn't show off well in a commentary LP. You don't want to give the Piggy Nose to Poo. Also stock Jeff with a couple of Big Bottle Rockets.
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Mar 27, 2016 00:21
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Poo is your versatile jack of all trades party member. His attack goes up enough that you don't really need his weapon, but unlike the ultimate weapons for the other party members, I recommend getting it anyway. His defense gets good with his three unique equipment items, two of which are quite easy to get and one of which is a little out of the way. Unfortunately, he never gets full protection from Fire, Flash, and Freeze like the other party members. I'm pretty sure he's also your party's fastest character, especially when he's wearing one of his defensive equipment items. His PSI abilities are mostly worth it, although plain shields aren't much help at this point (but there is an upcoming fight where Shield Sigma could be put to good use). The Bottle of Water and DX Water restore 10 PP and 40 PP, respectively, when he drinks it, while it only restores 1 PP for Ness and Paula. Overall he's a great guy to have around. While you did beat the Kraken earlier than most players do, leveling up against the desert's enemies is a good decision. The enemies in the next Sanctuary area are all brutal for an underleveled Poo, and he'll need all the experience and stat boosts he can get. I always like trying to fight Tough Guys even though beach enemies are rare (you'll also find the Over Zealous Cop there, which is a Captain Strong palette swap). They have a 1-in-8 chance of dropping a Chick. See what they did there? Counter PSI-Unit, as you probably gathered from the description, is useless. You had the right idea with that and the Hieroglyph Copy. There really are a lot of unnecessary items in Earthbound, but it's such a charming game that you'll be able to overlook that flaw. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Mar 29, 2016 |
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Mar 29, 2016 03:12
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Those first two minutes really set the tone for the video, didn't it? Forget my qualifying statement about the sewer enemies: they're just tough to deal with in general. It really helps to know in advance which rooms you should go into and which ones you should skip so that you can fight as few of them as possible. I think the room you ran away from to avoid fighting the second Stinky Ghost is a Magic Butterfly room- you can enter and re-enter to refill your PP as needed. Another room has a broken item that becomes an infinite supply of Super Bombs for Jeff, AKA his best weapon.
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Mar 31, 2016 07:20
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When you talk to your mom with a full party after you rest at home, she has different dialog where she uses outdated slang. Also, you could have bought the $7500 house while you were back in Onett. You'll have another opportunity to do both of these things, though. The
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Apr 2, 2016 02:41
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PSI Thunder has a better chance of hitting if there are more enemies to target, and it goes after them randomly. You're better off using any other PSI attack. This applies to enemies too, so if you have a full party, enemy Thunder will almost always hit. The hieroglyph enemies that move from the wall will always be there until you kill them, after which they won't reappear at that spot ever again. Some do spawn randomly, though. Mirror only works on certain enemies- if Poo fails to turn into an enemy, it will never work on them. In spite of its name, the Fierce Shattered Man is weaker than the regular Shattered Man in all aspects. The Guardian General isn't that tough- you were better off using a Big Bottle Rocket instead of the Bag of Dragonite. The Beatles naming scheme is a Japan exclusive, I believe. Also that was some really nerdy commentary.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:31
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That item you missed was a Diamond Band. Jeff could have used that since he has to settle for Platinum. Switching from the Night Pendant to the Crystal Charm is a good move, but you'll probably want to give it back to Ness/Alden for the next Sanctuary Dungeon, whenever you get to that. You could have done it after Magnet Hill. You can find $500 and $1000 in a couple of presents in the Dusty Dunes Desert. There are a lot of good items that are hard to get because the enemies are brutal there. The sign prohibiting flash photography is just a way of saying that the photographer won't appear inside Dungeon Man, but there is one you can get immediately after this. If Jeff has the proper IQ level, just spam sleeping on the bench until he fixes the Broken Bazooka. You'll never have to attack normally with him again.
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Apr 7, 2016 05:10
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Aw, you missed the bathroom inside Dungeon Man. Just like the other bathrooms in Earthbound, though, you can't enter it.
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Apr 9, 2016 06:27
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That's the wrong way to use Rock Candy. You're supposed to stock one party member with condiments (preferably the Packet of Sugar), then put the Rock Candy at the end of that member's inventory, and use it in battle. The condiment will disappear, but the Rock Candy won't, so you get infinite stat boosts as long as you keep buying condiments. The Casey Bat is mostly useless, but the one use it has will be coming up soon. I think the Deep Darkness has the most enemies of any place in the game. You encountered most of them, but you didn't fight the Zap Eel (even though you avoided it on the overworld) or the Manly Fish and Manly Fish's Brother. Zap Eel just uses electric attacks equivalent to Thunder Beta, and the Manly Fish hits you with its spear. Manly Fish's Brother, however, is stronger and has some nasty PSI abilities. And the Demonic Petunia can induce sleep and numbness, and it also has a spray attack that's equivalent to Fire Gamma. Mostly, though, it edges towards you.
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Apr 12, 2016 04:13
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I wonder what the Casey Bat was called in Japan. I posted an article here about how the translator for Earthbound had nearly unlimited freedom to Americanize the dialog, so it's probably different there. Edit: This is a good week for undiscovered Easter eggs in old Nintendo games. First the Mike Tyson's Punch-Out Piston Honda trick, now this. I don't have a working second SNES controller, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvC5D9aybOc get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 00:47
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Kiss of Death isn't much to worry about. The "kiss of death" attack it uses just poisons one party member, so it's like a less powerful Tangoo. It's best to deal with Thunder and Storm quickly like you did, because after they use a turn for a deep breath, they use one of two attacks. Either they intertwine with one character and deal a fuckload of physical damage, or they summon a storm that's equivalent to either Flash Beta or Gamma, which is effectively a one-shot KO for everyone not wearing a Night Pendant (edit: it's Flash Beta, but you're still probably gonna lose at least one party member). After that, they go back to the Crashing Boom Bang attack. I think they're on a set attack pattern like the Robo-Pump and another enemy later on in the game. You only have one more Rock Candy to find in this game. Use it wisely. I believe the Rock Candy trick is a glitch, which makes its inclusion in the Player's Guide weird, because Nintendo Power wasn't big on showing off glitches in its games. And another thing to consider: Jeff's Bottle Rocket damage is tied to his Speed, for whatever reason, and later on you'll find a defensive item that increases Speed by 40. Do what you will with that advice. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Apr 14, 2016 |
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Apr 14, 2016 04:11
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Starmen are actually very easy to sneak up on. If you approach them from the front of their sprite, you get a green swirl. You have to time your approach so that they teleport close to you; after that, you can rush in and get the advantage. If you're getting the Sword of Kings (it's better for the LP if you don't since there's a 1-in-128 chance of getting it), this is where the Casey Bat comes in handy. The game calculates an automatic victory based on the total offense of your party vs. the total defense of the enemies. Since the Casey Bat increases Ness's offense by 125, that gives you a big edge. Other than that, though, it's useless. In case you can't tell, enemies in a Sanctuary dungeon automatically run away from you after you beat the Shining Spot boss. That means you can farm them for experience without much of a hassle. Atomic Power Robots are a real bullshit enemy, by the way. You saw that they explode, but they also have the ability to fully restore one enemy's HP, so they put you in a real bind. Your best bet is to run away whenever you're up against one. The trophy description for Ness's PK Starstorm in Brawl says that it's likely that Poo taught Ness the ability to use in Smash Bros., and Paula's trophy description in Melee says the same regarding PK Fire, PK Thunder, and PSI Magnet. Lucas's Starstorm trophy says Kumatora taught him that ability, since she's the one who uses it in Mother 3. And the music for that game is good, but it's not nearly on the level of Earthbound's, mainly because the non-battle music there consists mainly of rearrangements of a handful of themes. Can't wait for 4/20 to see if we get a Western release... and for, uh, other reasons too.
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Apr 16, 2016 03:41
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If you encounter a Starman Super with another enemy, the chances of you getting the Sword of Kings for that battle effectively becomes 1-in-256. The way Earthbound does enemy item drops is that it chooses one enemy in that battle that could drop the item, then it applies the odds of the item drop to that enemy. That's why you're probably going to find a few Super Bombs dropped by Atomic Power Robots when you're grinding for the Sword of Kings, and it's also why a future 1-in-128 equipment item (one that I would say is more essential than this one) is such an incredible pain in the rear end to get, since that enemy never fights alone. Of all the 1-in-128 weapons you can get, the Sword of Kings is the only one I would recommend getting, and even then only if you really want to go through all of that trouble. Jeff's ultimate weapon starts out broken, is dropped by an exploding enemy, and is still irrelevant if you have the Heavy Bazooka; I'd hesitate to call Paula's her ultimate weapon because it reduces her accuracy and gives less of an offensive boost than a weapon you can buy (although you can argue that the +100 guts boost is worth it); and Ness's comes at the very, very end of the game... as in, the enemy only spawns right before the final battle. Best of luck, and I hope you don't hit Level 99 trying to get the Sword. You're right that Starman Super uses PSI, but it doesn't have any offensive skills. It does, however, have Healing Omega, which is a revive with full HP. Always take it out first. Edit: I've never played Undertale, but I assure you that this Papyrus enemy's markings are supposed to be a callback to Starman. Practically every indie RPG out there is influenced by Earthbound. thevoiceofdog made this video outlining these "Earthbound-likes" for his LISA Let's Play that's currently on indefinite hiatus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2uz9t3Uvc get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Apr 19, 2016 |
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Apr 19, 2016 04:45
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I actually once had a save file where I got two Swords of Kings (you can't throw it out, by the way, so no worries about doing that by accident). I got the second one right after the first. When I farm for them, I use Spy when I encounter a Starman Super with a different enemy. If there's no present around, then I run. That prevents me from too much overleveling. Smash/Rockin Omega costs a ton of PP, but it becomes more manageable for Ness to use it by the end of the game. The Starman Deluxe can be a pain in the rear end if you don't use the Monkey's Love (by the way, I had no idea that item affected it). It can call Starmen and Starmen Super for help, and it can wreck your party with Starstorm Alpha if you don't have PSI Shields up. In case you're wondering, Rust Promoter DX has no effect on any Starman enemies.
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Apr 21, 2016 07:50
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Going back to the last update: I think that bit about the Apple of Enlightenment is a bit off, since it doesn't have anything to do with Mother 1/Earthbound Beginnings. There, Giygas returns to Earth to kill the descendants of George (who learned the secrets of PSI from his alien race) and Maria (who was his adopted mother, hence the Japanese name for the franchise). That's why Ninten has PSI and why Giygas wants him gone. We see the results of his battle with Ninten at the end of the game, and it ain't pretty. Also the magazine article in the terrible house you bought is one of the best bits of texts in Earthbound. For this one: hope you enjoyed that photo op, because it's the last one you can get unless you backtrack and get the ones you missed. And some of those that you missed are ones that are gone for good (there's one at Stonehedge that you can only get when you're doing the rescue mission with Jeff). It's also the last chance to change the player's name, hence why the Tenda chief asks you if you're absolutely certain. The Bag of Dragonite is always powerful, but it deals fire damage, which isn't good against enemies that resist it. The Talisman Coin is an upgrade from the Lucky Coin, so you should have given it to whoever was equipped with that (the Souvenir Coin is still more powerful) instead of throwing it away. The Diadem of Kings is also Poo's equipment that gives resistance to PSI attacks. It's not on the level of the Rain Pendant protecting you from Freeze, but it's a needed boost for him. The "blackface spheres" are an upgrade from the Smilin' Sphere, which also explode upon defeat, and are also located in the Dusty Dunes Desert where you can ill afford to fight enemies like that. But more importantly, they have a 1-in-128 chance of dropping the Broken Antenna, which can be fixed to become the Gaia Beam, Jeff's ultimate equippable weapon, when he has 65 IQ. If you want to farm for it (why would you? You've got a drat Heavy Bazooka), you'll want to do it after beating the boss, which makes it so that all enemies in the dungeon run away from you. Just like the Starman Super, the Spheres come into battle with a psychic power shield, so it's not a good idea to use Fire on them unless you use the Neutralizer first. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Apr 24, 2016 |
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Apr 23, 2016 22:14
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The Rabbit's Foot is the ultimate equippable charm. Like the other charms, its defense boost is negligible (+3), but the game isn't lying about its speed boost- it gives the equipped character a whopping +40 speed in addition to protection from Paralysis. The Great Charm only increases speed by 5 and gives +1 defense, and the Crystal Charm increases it by 15 with a +2 defensive boost. Unless you're giving the Rabbit's Foot to Jeff to maximize his Bottle Rocket damage output, you're better off equipping a party member with a pendant. I like to use the Rock Candy glitch/exploit when I try and farm for a certain 1-in-128 item later on. The Electro Specter is the most forgettable Shining Spot boss. It's the third boss in a row that has PP but no psychic abilities. It doesn't have the Guts of the Plague Rat of Doom or the Flash Beta equivalent of Thunder and Storm. Outside of its shock attacks, it uses Shield Killer (you don't need shields for this fight), Neturalizer (kills its own shield), and Hungry HP Sucker (actually not useless). None of them are as frequent as its shock attacks, though. Even though it has over 3000 HP, you're better off saving your Multi-Bottle Rockets for the next and last Shining Spot boss. Lumine Hall does provide for a great thematically relevant moment in Earthbound, and it's also one of the scenes that appears in the Magicant stage in Smash Bros. for 3DS (although it just says "I'm Ness..." in a different font). Since you already said what the last Sanctuary Spot melody part is going to be, I can say that I didn't know until recently that Ness's victory music in Smash Bros. 64 and Melee is the last half of the Eight Melodies sped up. Sorta wish they went with that for him in future games as well. The Lost Underworld has one of the best tracks in the game, and that's saying something in a game with a soundtrack like Earthbound's. You're gonna want that Flame Pendant for the next Sanctuary dungeon, so it's a shame that Escargo Express doesn't go to that part of the world. You're also really gonna not like getting rid of that Night Pendant, either, since Ness will need it for a future battle. The Magic Fry Pan isn't worth the effort, since it only provides a +50 offensive boost to the Holy Fry Pan's +80. It gives +100 guts (the Holy Fry Pan gives +10) but it also has a 1-in-4 miss rate. I've found it a couple of times when not intentionally going for it.
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Apr 26, 2016 07:16
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Yeah, the marketing for Earthbound was horrendous. But that's not why I was so interested in getting it- the preview in Nintendo Power Volume 70 got me hooked. At some point, I want to scan the images and post them here. The preview contained some things that were changed in the finished version: Giygas was referred to as "The Geek" (probably because it was translated from Giyg, the Japanese name), Poo was spelled "Pu," the Runaway Five were the "Runaway Bros," and your bottle rockets were called Pencil Rockets (this was an actual item in Mother 3). All of this was put in a newspaper format: The Irrational Inquirer. It certainly had more charm than "This game stinks." The Cloak of Kings increases Poo's Speed by 40, so he's going to be your fastest character from here on out. The Major Psychic Psychos have a 1-in-128 chance of dropping a Star Pendant, which gives +30 defense (more than any of the other pendants) as well as protection from fire, flash, freeze, AND Paralysis. Unfortunately, it only spawns in parts of the dungeon where it's joined by another enemy, so you'll never fight it alone, making the effective chances of getting one 1-in-256. It's not worth getting, since only one of the things it protects you from is something that necessitates protection at the end of the game, and you'll be able to get that later. You're right, the Evil Elementals can possess you, but the Tiny Lil Ghost it creates can also be damaged by attacks that hit the whole group, so a powerful Fire attack will kill it. You'll never get an instant victory from fighting a Soul Consuming Flame because its defense is actually 262 (it even says so in the player's guide). All stats that aren't your party's offense and defense go back down to 1 after it hits 255, though. As I said, Bag of Dragonite deals fire damage, and Carbon Dog resists fire, so it did a pathetic amount of damage. Diamond Dog's glorious light is equivalent to Flash Gamma, so you're lucky no one died. It also has a hard bite which has a chance of diamondizing. The Multi-Bottle Rocket comes in handy here if the dog doesn't put up a power shield.
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Apr 29, 2016 04:30
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I'm not surprised at all that Jackie got teary during the scene before entering the weird realm that I totally know the name of but won't say. It's an emotional part of the game even if you're not pregnant with your first child.
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Apr 29, 2016 06:14
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Yeah, those are tomatoes. They're also in the Magicant stage on Smash Bros. 3DS. When I was a kid, I always thought of Pokey as Ness's friend who just decided to be a dick one day. I'm not gonna say anything about your speculation about him... you'll find out soon enough. The girl in line named Niko is named for the English translator's daughter. Depending on the background you get while fighting it, the Loaded Dice calls a different set of enemies. The blue background means it will call a Fobby, an Electro Swoosh, or an Uncontrollable Sphere. The multicolored background means it'll call a Beautiful UFO, a High-Class UFO, or a Magicant enemy you haven't seen yet. The French Kiss of Death only uses its poisoning kiss of death, so you'll always want to heal after you beat it. get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Apr 30, 2016 |
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Apr 30, 2016 20:23
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Note that the Earth Pendant didn't protect you from the fire attack as much as the Sea or Fire Pendant would have. That's because it really offers fire and freeze attacks (I guess it protects against flash) instead of outright protection. You can either buy a couple for the party members that don't have the Sea Pendant or stick with the Night Pendant. The player's guide is completely wrong about getting the Gutsy Bat (well, there is one instance where it's right). Krakens in the Sea of Eden will never drop one. I'm not quite sure why they declined to call the Mani-Mani Statue a "demon" when you'll find an enemy later in the game with that description. It starts the battle with a psychic shield, and it can also use PSI Smash Omega and Lifeup Beta. It's usually a long fight, and you got a fortunate SMAAAAAASH. This installment's connection to the Japanese franchise name is a lot more symbolic and less obvious than with its predecessor and successor. I'm glad that they stuck with Earthbound for Western releases, since you're traveling around the world. Pokey is only named what he is in Earthbound due to a mistranslation.
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May 4, 2016 22:51
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I said "bad decision" on your first enemy encounter. Ghost of Starman follows a set attack pattern like Robo-Pump- as you saw, it always starts with Starstorm Alpha. Then it smiles, then spends three turns counting down, then it unleashes Starstorm Omega, and it starts the process all over again. If you're not overleveled like you guys are, then the only characters that can go before it are Poo and Paula. In that case, you're best off throwing up a PSI Shield Sigma (something you should always do when it's teamed up with a Nuclear Reactor Robot). Evil Eye can diamondize a party member with its eerie glare, and you saw everything that the Mechanical Octobot (and Ultimate Octobot) has to offer. I think that the electric field it generates solidifies a party member, but it hardly ever works. Nuclear Reactor Robot is weak to Freeze, the Wild n' Wooly Shambler is the same as the regular Wooly Shambler but with better stats, and the Squatter Demon isn't really much of a threat except for its bite that has a chance of diamondizing, especially since you only fight it solo. You'll probably regret not buying a Night Pendant for Jeff.... Mr. Saturn pretty much confirmed that Pokey went back to the past to get to Giygas, but you still don't know why. Rest assured, it's as Pokey of a reason as you can get. If you say "no" to Dr. Andonuts after he tells you your party may not return alive, he defeatedly says, "I guess we have no choice but to wait for the world to end." Of course, you have to say yes. Notice that Dr. Andonuts finally acknowledged Jeff as his son, and not someone who wets the bed sometimes. One of the LPs in the archive
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May 7, 2016 00:51
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 09:53 |
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As promised, here are the NINTENDO POWER PREVIEW SCANS!!!!! This is what got me interested in Earthbound. It's as charming as the game itself. This was the cover of Nintendo Power Volume 70. Right below where the Chicago Bulls and (original) Charlotte Hornets mascot are tipping off is the section where the Earthbound preview ran. Epic Center was the dedicated RPG section of Nintendo Power, and it debuted in this very issue. They ended up running it inconsistently. Side note: I didn't keep this in good condition, so it obscures the "2" that comes after the first look at "Star Fox." That ended up being canceled. The Virtual Boy probably should have been canceled. Spoiler alert: Donkey Kong Country ended up winning Best Game in the 1994 Nintendo Power awards.  The preview hooks you right off the bat. "The Geek" is Giygas, and as I said before, it's probably because its Japanese name is "Giyg." Also, there are no living kitchen implements in the final version.  The format of the rest of the preview is in a spoof off the National Inquirer. Already, it's a hell of a lot better than the ad campaign that came out outside of Nintendo Power. Also, here is where you learn that Ness is 13.  Part one of the party and friends preview. Dodgeball, obviously, did not make the cut. And if you look closely, Ness's PSI Special is named "Drill." That's one of the default names you can choose for your favorite thing. Pretty badass. There's also a cute nod to Link and Zelda.  I didn't do as good of a job of scanning this page, but the screenshot with the Bad Buffalo shows that Jeff fired "five Pencil Rockets." That became the Big Bottle Rocket in the end. The name "Threek" became the more pleasant sounding "Threed," although it's probably a better name thematically considering that zombies overrun the town. The Inquirer calls him "Pu," but the screenshots show him off as "Poo." And they mixed up Apple Kid with Maxwell Labs, who ends up making the Bad Key Machine (your "best skeleton key in the world.") Oh, and the Ghost of Starman was originally Starman's Ancestor.  Nothing much to elaborate on here. "Escargo Express" is referred to by the actual spelling of "escargot." The end result probably makes for a better delivery pun.  There is no pie to be had in Earthbound, and they don't elaborate on what the "blobs" are made out of. 
get that OUT of my face fucked around with this message at 03:33 on May 7, 2016 |
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May 7, 2016 01:13
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