Release Date: June 5, 1995
Platform: Super Nintendo
Developer: APE; HAL Laboratory
Considered a cult classic, I have never known anyone personally to dislike this RPG. In fact, I am not sure I know anyone who doesn't love it like crazy. But when the market for RPGs was still trying to gain steam in America, Earthbound had no place and the sales figures were awful. Released in a huge box with a huge strategy guide, Earthbound was obviously quirky from the start. While on the surface the game seems little more than a goofy parody of American culture and other RPGs, herein lies a high-quality adventure with a gripping story and superb game mechanics.
Controlling a kid named Ness, you unwittingly go on to save humanity after a meteorite crashes in your hometown. Along the way you pick up some of your friends and hobnob with aliens, dinosaurs, talking moles, and ruthless businessmen. With weapons like baseball bats and healing techniques like prayer and eating hamburgers, it is obvious the game is not concerned about the typical fantasy world RPGers play in. You call your parents to save your game. You access ATM booths for cash. And for the most part, the kids you control talk and act like kids. It's charming as hell.
Unfortunately, I think the unconventional theme along with simple (but colorful) graphics and music turned a lot of people away. But there's more to like beyond its originality. It was the first RPG I played that had a rolling hit point meter, meaning if your allies could heal you before your HP got down to zero, you'd be okay. The learning curve is gradual, but the game is certainly not easy (like say Mystic Quest). Battles have to be planned, and there's a few spots, especially late in the game, where's there an ass-kicking (yours) or two in store. There's also some high-quality, dynamic puzzle solving involved, thus the game doesn't mindlessly send you from point A to point B from beginning to end. And quite unlike most RPGs, the last half of the game isn't nauseating side-questing-until-you-completely-forget-to-go-beat-the-final-boss nonsense.
There really is little more you could ask out of Earthbound. If you love RPGs and you haven't played this, it's a damn shame. You'll spend a lot of time grinning from ear to ear when you do.
Two months in a row now I've recommended a classic but unheralded RPG, so now I'd like to hear from ya'll. What is your favorite RPG? What gem have I perhaps missed that I should really get around to playing?
The first RPG I played where I went, "Whoa, RPGs!" was Final Fantasy VII. I should see if I still have a copy of it at my mom's and fire it up in the PS2 now that I'm old enough to appreciate it even more. It probably does still sit as my favorite, that or Knights of the Old Republic.
Speaking of RPGs, I started in on Oblivion again over the Thanksgiving holiday. I had started playing it 4 years ago, or so, when my roomate had an 360 in the house. I had to stop when I moved into my own place, but, fortunately for me, his Xbox got the red ring of death so I took his copy. I know I have other games to finish, but I figure if I start Oblivion now, by the time I finsih Skyrim will be nice and cheap.
I've beat FFVII twice, but I think I'm done with it. It would still probably rank around my fifth favorite, but I'm not a huge fan of the final third of the game. However, the first half is amazing.
Fifth favorite... FF game? RPG? Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack?
Heh. RPG. Above it I'd probably rank Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest V and Lufia 2. Then it's a toss-up with FFVI and FFIX.
I tried Oblivion again after hearing that I should be salivating for Skyrim. I still can't get into it. It's got nice atmosphere, and there's are parts that I enjoy, but every time I have to quest with any sort of person, I invariably end up trying to assist them with whatever butterfly is currently kicking their ass, only to nick them in the process. They immediately hate me, and upon learning that I gave one of their townspeople a papercut, everyone hates me.
I'm not able to play a game like that for too long, I don't like having to either slaughter or avoid every town I stay in.
side-questing-until-you-completely-forget-to-go-beat-the-final-boss
Hate this. Hate. This. I really enjoyed the grind of FF XII for some reason, but by the time I finally went to fight the final boss, I forgot why I had an issue with him (in fairness, this is partially due to the fact that the game - and RPGs in general - have really been scaling back the importance of strong villains lately for some reason).
My favorites are Chrono Cross & Trigger, Final Fantasies IX, VII, XII, VI and IV, Suikoden II...eh, there's a good start. Lately there's been more bad than good, to the point that the genre is practically broken. It's to the point where I watch a video for a new one and nothing the voiceover says surprises me. Disgaea 4 looks like it could be some ridiculous fun, but it also looks like it would rule my life. Ditto Skyrim.
I haven't seen a JRPG that's been worth playing since XII (pre-ordered and spent $60 on Blue Dragon, only to play 15 minutes of it and essentially throwing it out the window), and I say that having actually enjoyed XIII to a certain extent (I loved parts of the combat system, and I loved that little stretch of the game where it opens up and lets you run around and find things to fight). I didn't even end up beating XII for the reason you mentioned. I ran a bunch of sidequests, eventually tired of things and shelved the game for something new.
Shame, too... I liked the characters in that one (Vaan excepted maybe... I can't remember) more than any since VI.
I can't think of many great console RPGs in the last handful of years (Tales of Vesperia is great, supposedly, and Tales of Graces F, due out next year, is supposed to be better), but the portable systems have been killing it with very old school styled RPGs and great remakes of older RPGs for some time.
The PSP in particular has been a gold mine in getting a ton of great games remade that were either nearly impossible to find or never released in the West before. Tactics Ogre, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, a handful of Ys games, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, both Star Ocean games, Valkyrie Profile, etc. The DS doesn't have a shortage of these either; remakes of Dragon Quest IV-VI, Chrono Trigger, a great 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV, etc.
Portable gaming is awesome.
i grabbed a copy of red dead redemption from the local library and started playing it. it's pretty awesome, all right. unfortunately some assclown put it on reserve so i couldn't renew it. held it for an extra week with late fees anyway. can't wait to get it back.
oh yeah, and i haven't played a lot, but it'd be hard to beat FF VII. i'd heard rumors that they were considering re-releasing it. i want to play that game again, but i'd want to wait for the new version if they do that.
I finished the first "Portal" in about 4 days. It was fun.
Nice. I played it until I fell asleep and finished it the next morning, so 2 days I guess?
I'm hoping to get the sequel for Christmas.
My friend and I just went through the co-op version of Portal 2 again. It was my third playthrough, but since he hadn't done it, and I actually didn't remember all the solutions, it was still a blast. Great game.
I need to get around to playing this soon. I got the cart last year but just haven't sat down to do it. I've also been considering getting a repro cart of the NES prequel, and a back up card to play the GBA sequel so I can do them all in order.
I guess if I'm going to suggest an RPG, the best one I can think of that's maybe not so well known is Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. It's a spin off of the Dragon Quest series starring a slime named Rocket. It plays as an action RPG, and there is also some tank battles that take place. It's been years since I've played so a lot of the details are fuzzy, but it was one of the first Nintendo DS games I absolutely loved. I really hope the 3DS sequel gets announced for localization soon.
Speaking of Nintendo DS RPGs reminded me that I need to finish the absolutely wonderful Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I'm on a big Mario kick after playing hours and hours of Super Mario 3D Land, so now seems like the right time. If you haven't played the Mario & Luigi games, they're fantastic, silly RPGs. They have incredible writing and solid gameplay. It's very rare that a game makes me actually laugh out loud, but I was doubled over laughing at the M&L games on many occassions. Bowser's Inside Story also gives you several chances to play as Bowser, who is one of my favorite characters in the Mario universe because of the amazing writing of his characters in the M&L games.
I'm a Dragon Quest fanatic, and I'm sure it'll make an appearance in this column at some point. I'll have to check that one out.
How would you compare the M&L games to Super Mario RPG? That's one I've played twice but got bored about halfway through each time. I would laugh early, but then it got samey.
The M&L games are a definitely spiritual successors to Super Mario RPG, but better. The battle system is similar, but far more refined, there's a lot of fun puzzle solving that requires using both Mario & Luigi together, and the game just feels far more Mario-like than Super Mario RPG did. It has a lot in common with the Paper Mario games, if you're familiar with those.
The GBA game might be harder to find now, but it's probably in my top 3 games for the GBA. And that's saying a lot since I think the GBA had an incredible game lineup.
Yesterday night was the last night before my friend leaves for Belgium for two years. We decided to spend the last night playing a game that neither of us had played before. After some discussion, we decided on Dungeon Defenders. It's essentially a co-op tower defense game with lots of hack'n'slash elements. It's lots of fun, we ended up playing until the wee hours of the morning. Lots of loot, tons of action, great co-op play.
My current solo game of choice is Chrono Trigger. It's my first playthrough. It is a revelatory experience.
I never realized there was that many options in Rocket Propelled Grenade gaming. [winking smiley]
Over the Holiday weekend, I played "Angry Birds" for the first time on SiL's iPad. Decent fun, but I got bored with it. It's not really that different than Lemmings or Chip's Challenge or various other puzzle-solving games I've played. It does use that touchpad decently, though.
We also brought home with us the In-Laws' retired Xbox (first gen), mostly for the kids. Games Included: Halo, Halo 2, Munch's Oddity 2, Madden 2002 (Culpepper!), Fusion Frenzy, Some WWII game (Medal of Honor?), and some street-racing game. Kids will only get Madden, FF, and the Racer. I played Halo a lot when they first got that many Christmases ago. SiL and I barely slept for two days getting through that game. Halo 2 came out after CER was born, and I didn't have as much playtime. We don't have the console hooked up yet, because we need the cable to connect it to the TV. I fear that buying one will either be overly costly or difficult or both, but I haven't looked yet.
My favorites of all-time are probably Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, and Chrono Trigger (and Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3 if you like tactical). All the Suikoden games have something good about them, which is why it's my favorite series as a whole, but II is by far the strongest top-to-bottom.
I remember seeing Suikoden II for $35 at Wal-Mart many years ago. I really regret not buying that back then.