It’s difficult to really nail down from individual conversations, but as the game moves from one environment and mission to the next (and does so at a nice, snappy pace it must be said), you get the sense that this isn’t just a parody of JRPG storytelling, it’s a claim on how to do it right. I would like to play the game in its original Japanese, because in a lot of cases I feel like it would fit the mechanical construction of poetry, and it’s just the translation that messes up the rhythm and form. There’s a sense of poetry and rhythm about how the lines of dialogue are delivered. If you compare this to a bad example of “funny because it’s random ” I suggest thinking of half of Adam Sandler’s films, then there’s a sense in Earthbound that the writers were really, really good at what they do.
So Earthbound is, tonally, like the PG version of Hyperdimension, I guess.Īnd perhaps I’m being a little harsh on the game’s writing for failing to be something that it never wanted to be. The only games I can think of that are comparable are the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, but those are far more interested in the fan service. The plot itself fails to hit any kind of emotional or intellectual depth and kind thanks to this “funny because it’s random” style of storytelling, but the trade-off is generally worth it Earthbound is funny, charming stuff and its tone is still, all these years later, quite unique for the JRPG genre.
The game is filled with hundreds, if not thousands of interactions that serve little purpose other than to make players chuckle, or alternatively be so surreal that they weird them out. I’ll hate bathrooms for the rest of my life.” I missed her because I went to the bathroom. “I heard Venus made an appearance at the Runaway Five show. Or how about this classic piece of Shakespearean dialogue: It’s a game where a sign in a hospital might read “We offer a special discount on tombstones for those that have passed away in our hospital.” In fact, all the signs littered around the game’s world are essential reading because they are insane. This is a game where an evil cult has dedicated itself to painting everything – including the local cow – blue.
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