EarthBound Beginnings Analysis

[@Nafan__]

hope u enjoyed + thx 4 watching!! :^)

[@Marsman315]

I don't really put too much stock into KZbinrs and "content creators" or whatever but your videos are of excellent quality and (don't take this the wrong way) it sucks your channel isn't more popular than it is. Your analysis is always fantastic and you don't resort to usual clickbait crap or stupid KZbin trends which is such a breath of fresh air. Thank you for producing this.

[@Nafan__]

thank YOU for watching, glad you like the videos !

[@brickkid30]

​@Nafan__ there are certain words u need to use in the description to catch the algorithm if u wanna get more views, I'm nit sure exactly how it works but u can google it

[@tomdekler9280]

I think saying Earthbound is basically an upgrade of every aspect of Beginnings is very fair, and lord knows Ness, Paula and Jeff look _very familiar_ for people that played the first game or vice versa, but I actually think Mother 3 goes into a direction that had basis in Earthbound Beginnings and was never explored in Earthbound. I think Beginning's biggest strength is that when the story hits, it hits well. The titular MOTHER plays into 1 and 3 far more than 2, and the familial ties are a leading thread, whereas Earthbound only keeps the absent dad, storage sister, talking dog and cooking mom and leaves it at that. At times it feels like it wants to be a straight up reboot of Beginnings but the disconnect between Giygas and Ness, the "a bug told me I'm the chosen one and I have to fight this really uncomfortable demon" plot, while wonderfully strange, isn't on the same thematic level as Beginnings and Mother 3.

[@aerth6946]

You've got no idea how much I've been looking forward to this.

[@jickricksick5843]

Bruh Literally niggaman 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Lepstick_-]

i dont like commenting that much but ill make an exception. I love seeing your videos in my sub box. Its great seeing amazing content being put out and i genuinely have no clue why this channel isnt being pushed by the algorithm nearly as much as it deserves to be. you deserve waaay more for the quality you are putting out, and i hope you get another breakthrough like the mother 3 analysis.

[@Nafan__]

that would be nice! but honestly comments like these are enough, it means a lot

[@tomdekler9280]

30:56 Merrysville doesn't have a theme, that's "Bein' Friends", the song that plays when you have a party member. It'll play in Podunk too. I think Mother Encore changes this, not sure though as the demo doesn't go beyond the tail cave, but having Pippi in the party doesn't play the song. Gods I am forever in love with the shot of Magicant turning to rubble. They didn't have to add a shot like that but they did and I feel it really brought home just how final those moments were. What a treat to see that stage be brought to life in Smash Bros. Pretty in pink!

[@orenaissance]

Yet another excellent video game analyst has been recommended to me by the algorithm!

[@archagenteverlasting1239]

My wife and I are literally playing through MOTHER 1 as this video went up. Very excited to watch this!

[@kylefields3951]

Lets go, more Nafan Mother commentary and analysis. Side note, I believe watching your videos on Mother is what got KZbin to recommend Lute's video on Earthbound Zero. Cool, if true.

[@OMGusGonzalez]

Nafan!! Good looks rounding out the Mother analysis! It was a blast, homie ✌️- well done.

[@Nafan__]

thank you! happy to have it finished off :)

[@flip4119]

Just came across your channel, great stuff man. So far i really enjoy your style of analysis.

[@nova338]

This was such an enjoyable listen! Your reviews are always so genuine and thought-out. I played Mother 1 with Tomato's localization and the "Easy Ring" many years ago, and I really liked my time with the game. It's definitely weird how there's basically no tests of your battle prowess beside the Dragon (and even he can be taken down easily with PK Freeze Gamma), but it's pretty emblematic of the game as a whole. Like, the entire town of Reindeer is optional. It's not your usual RPG! It's not a game i recommend playing before Mother 2 and 3, but it's really cool seeing where everything started and how much charm it retains, even in 8-bit. Also hands down best OST on the console

[@lemmyphatch]

Excellent analysis as always, Nafan! Keep it up

[@Nafan__]

will do :)

[@patheticsongs9196]

I really like your style. Hope to see your channel grow because your content is very well done. I just subscribed!

[@reviewspiteras]

Just to clarify: at 38:30 that sprite is not a monkey but a man in a war airplane pilot suit because he is a veteran. He is a human, but I guess you can mistake it by the sprite

[@Shawn_of_hearts]

Thanks for making the video Nafan. Definitely made my Sunday.

[@reviewspiteras]

I am very glad you found enjoyment in the game. Most of people will not even give it a fair chance

[@isaacvogel4117]

I was looking forward to this

[@YxlarbandBosniancheese]

So glad you wrapped up the trilogy! Great video, as always!

[@sarahcleary7332]

Another banger, thanks for doing what you’re doing!

[@Nafan__]

anytime o7

[@BlackReaperGames]

I love your videos so much, please keep them up

[@Nafan__]

thank you, glad you enjoy them!

[@ayuphreek]

Great review! Thanks for putting in the time!

[@hallienowak3872]

i love your videos so much. thank you for doing what you do

[@joe5413]

Thanks dude that's the next hour of boredom gone 😁

[@Woot100]

this was SO refreshing, even if i'd personally disagree with a lot of your points [note: i'm fulla shit, i'm biased because i love this game and am immune to grinding fatigue] i really respect the amount of thought and care that went into this, and i'm happy you've rounded out your videos on the mother series-- funnily enough, i played them backwards, so this works great from my perspective lmao. i won't make up defenses for the game and act like you should just Know This Instinctively, but i will say the lore in the official mother 1 encyclopedia is REALLY enlightening to the story and themes of the game, ESPECIALLY the introduction which expands upon the characters of george and maria so heavily i almost wish they had a game themselves. The one translation online used to be terrible, so I think a lot of people passed it up, but over time its been revised and is pretty solid now: kenisu3000.blogspot.com/2022/03/encyclopedia-mother-contents.html?m=1 in general i'm still delighted this finally got an english language release and that people have been giving the game another chance in the past few years, even with its flaws i feel like its an invaluable supplement to the rest of the series. Thank you for taking the time to look at it with a critical eye as a work of art worth thinking about

[@Nafan__]

happy to hear you liked the video :). But yo, i just read over the george and maria part of that translated mother 1 encyclopedia and i totally agree! Having that context included would've been great. There's a larger emphasis on the nuclear family laced with american exceptionalism, possibly playing into the family dynamic of the final game. George's writing, based on the description given, seems like it could be almost mirroring itoi's own in tone, creating a connection there. The fact that george's serial seems like an rpg in itself, taking each town member and giving them a story, analogous to side quests. The extra details on the couples disappearance and how george felt afterwards... There's so many details in there that would improve the narrative content of the game if it was actually implemented. That's fascinating stuff, thank you for sharing that!!

[@reviewspiteras]

This is before ending the video. I love mother 1 so much so I am glad someone will talk about it

[@wigglebot765]

Awesome review, love your vids 😁

[@Nafan__]

thank you!

[@shadowfang1034]

Oh shit new nafan dropped

[@freesheep0]

Oh yea! This made my night.

[@reviewspiteras]

I disagree that Ninten and Ana love confession scene comes as an obligation,its a pay off. There is at least two setups to the relationship: the NPCs and Ana's dream(she even points out the fact that she fell in love with that dream). As you have pointed out Ninten has grown into a pretty good family and those values have make him kind so those dream must have shown that to Ana. It a price from the developers to the players for going through the adventure. The cute dance and dialogue to the fairy-like melody is to charm us and warm our heart.

[@Nafan__]

sure it is technically set up, but there's no meat to any of it, there's nothing unique or special that happens between ninten and ana within gameplay or over the course of the narrative that effectively justifies the confession, to me anyway (closest i can think of is the parallel between both their families). But i see what you're saying with the pay-off, the dance is a cute one time thing that granted does come after Mt. Itoi, so it's a moment of peace after the slog that preceded it

[@bubonicusblightmasterofver6314]

Love the opening statment brutha. Respoect to ya mob and people.

[@Nafan__]

likewise, much love

[@MrBanelingBust]

here we go!

[@ashkesslet1149]

Love the vids

[@maddie-mv1mk]

Another awesome video dude. I’m glad you finally completed the Mother series, I play the Earthbound & Mother 3 videos pretty regularly. I would love to see you playthrough and analyze Omori - another amazing RPG game that came out in 2020. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

[@_DF_]

Can't believe you didn't mention the vocal album

[@g3ek178]

am i crazy for thinking your voice sounds extremely different?

[@jovenintensa]

Hey Nafan, nice video. I'm glad you finally did Mother, although I find you analysis too cought up in a "videogame analysis" and less of a "text analysis". I would've loved you exploring not only Mother, but also the sequels, though their themes and structure, maybe a bit of a comparison with the beats of the later Mother games. I felt the bit about the last battle was too short and lacking of context save for explaining the mechanics of the battle and ostensibly pointing at John Lennon's song. Itoi has stated that he named Mother because when he heard that song he couldn't help himself crying, seeing how something supposed to be so all-so-loved as "mother" could convey such sad emotions: THAT is what Gygas is feeling at the end of the game, the contradictory movement of love and anger at the same time, towards different goals (as you pointed out, his sparing of Ninten for kinship stems from his love of Maria). Gygas is losing it by the end because he can't hold both feelings at the same time; he must either destroy the world that loved them when no one else did, or he has to drop the grudge for being abandoned (by death in one case, by betrayal in the other). Thematically, Mother's conflict and resolution is as fleshed out and poignant as the later games, and I will admit: Mother's ending makes me cry every time. Harder that Mother 2, but not as hard as with Mother 3 I guess you can always make a fourth video on Mother and go deeper into the philosophical apsects of the series (if you need feedback or help, count on my assistance).

[@DrCaesarMD]

problem is, this isn't a text, it's a videogame. And a video game can have a really solid story and themes on paper, but if it repeatedly falls on its face and fails to deliver a good mechanical experience, that can completely mar one's ability to experience that story. if the mechanics suck, or the pacing is bad, or many other problems the game side of the work is flawed, it can take you out of the story and constantly remind you of one thing: this is a game, and it's not very good at being a game.

[@jovenintensa]

Problem is I don't care about what you think. The Wire is almost as much a text and a Novel as Mother games are. Your very one-sided approach leaves a lot out of the door. This video is analysis, it is text though which we analyse another text. And by text I mean also non-textual text like someone looking someone else in the eyes and that meaning something. In other words, for me a painting is as much a text as a book, a tv series or a videogame. I don't want a critique of how hard or obtuse the game is. It is pointless drivel that only serves from detering the reading of the text -just like many people usually don't like The Wire until the third season or how Nier Automata gets really good after the first time you beat it- I already beat the game, I already know it's hard to swallow and there are mods that can remedy the grinding a bit and for me it is superfluous if you beat the real deal the hard way or if you beat the easy mod that makes it manageable. I care about -dare I say- analysis of the work of art. This is my critique, it ain't harsh, I think Nafan can make this game justice in another video, but in the current state of affairs, I don't think this video makes Mother justice.

[@DrCaesarMD]

@@jovenintensa alright man, that's what you want sure, but critiquing only the text of a video game feels like it misses the point of the medium. if you want text critique and zero critique of literally anything else, maybe don't engage in video game criticism at all. Like it or not, this work is a lot more than just it's text, and while i think it's text can sometimes be uniquely good for it's time, it's gameplay can itself take a lot away from that text. It just seems weird to go to a videogame critique and say "Ignore all of the game parts of a game, I don't want you to critique that part!" as if you're not asking him to ignore what Id consider to be the significant majority of the work. It's an extremely strange way to engage with art criticism.

[@OMGusGonzalez]

@@jovenintensaI actually agree with what you’re saying about focusing more on the text itself. It’s by far the most interesting aspect of the series by far. That said, the mechanical aspects of the gameplay do matter in how effective these themes are conveyed. Have you come across any good analyses of any of the series you can share? You seem to have a cool grasp of bigger ideas yourself. (Also, I too beat M1 with an easier hack 😅)

[@jovenintensa]

@@OMGusGonzalezglad you asked. I've been checking some Mother 1 videos lately and I think there aren't too many. It doesn't help that the official translation is of poor quality in my opinion. After playing Tomato's translation for the GBA Mother 1+2 I'm left wondering how much is lost on a subpar job that actually makes the game less cohesive with the rest of the Mother canon. Add that to the weird difficulty curve of the game (extremely hard at both ends and kinda easy in the middle) and it's a recipe for the lukewarm reception for Mother 1 in the west ever since the "official" release in 2015 The fan translation has the Easy Ring, making the terrible gringing a problem of the past, making it much easier to engage with the text.

[@Narwhal2100]

The man listened to my comment a few months back

[@andrewdelvalle4622]

This is the exact set up I want to use but 3ds and vita emulation doesn't seem quite there yet. Can anyone confirm? I have a switch and miyoo mini plus with onion os and I love them. I also have a 3ds and vita but also want something to plays ps2, gamecube but I don't want a million devices. Does the steam deck play 3ds and vita well?

[@Woot100]

SLAMMED the mouse button to watch this the second i saw it you are my FUCKING HERO. i'll make an actual real comment afterwards

[@Nafan__]

legend

[@krist0king]

too drunk to leave a proper in-depth comment, but good job :]

[@genyakozlov1316]

This is my favourite game of all time, so thank you about that final boss analysis. I personally disagree Earthbound improves on anything from this game. Even the artstyle in it is worse despite having more colours to work with, just compare the UFOs or the dogs and crows, and it's also too easy. I honestly greatly dislike Earthbound. Nothing in it grabs me. I wish we got a proper Mother 1 sequel instead. Mother 3 is great but it's too much of a tearjerker for me to be a favourite, but it's in top five for sure. Still, I prefer the Peanuts inspired artstyle of the first game.