A highly satisfying third installment
Most of the characters are new this time around. This may initially irritate fans of SNES Earthbound, but with some exposure to the story, the new characters are sure to grow on just about anybody who gives this game a decent chance. The characters the player is introduced to in the start of the game are Flint (a cowboy who seems inspired by Clint Eastwood), his wife Hinawa, his twin sons Claus and Luca, and their dog Boney. At this early stage in the game, you have an opportunity to play as both Flint and Claus, but as you progress through the game, radical plot developments will change the makeup of your party several times.
The graphic style of this game is very much like that of Mother 2, with odd and simplistic looking scenery and sprites that look as if they could have been drawn by a child. However, looks can be deceiving, as this game features an incredible number of unique character animations, many of which appear only at strictly determined points in the game. The music and sound effects are also wonderful, and are highly reminiscent of the first two games (with a lot of tunes directly borrowed from those games).
The old text-based menu system has been replaced with an icon-based menu that is both better looking and easier to navigate. Also new to this game is the fact that, by holding down and then releasing the B button, characters can now dash around the map. As in Mother 2, enemies are visible on the main map screen, and touching them or being touched by them initiates a battle. However, when your characters are sufficiently leveled, they can dash right through enemies, either stunning said enemies or simply killing them. No experience is gained from this, but it can help players through tough spots and is somewhat less time-consuming than Mother 2's instant "You Win!" battles.
As for the battles that the player doesn't choose to avoid, this game at first seems to have a lot in common with Mother 2. Enemies appear in the middle of a colorful psychedelic background, with the protagonists' rolling health meters appearing at the bottom. However, this game adds a music-based combo system. When a character's turn to attack comes, press the A button repeatedly to the beat of the music, and you will hit the enemy multiple times. While not essential to completing the game, this new combo system adds an element of skill to the game that's not present in most turn-based RPGs, as well as increasing player involvement in battles (which makes them somewhat less boring). Characters all have unique skills, ranging from magic (called PSI here, just as in Earthbound) to the use of tools such as ladder spikes that pin enemies to the ground and a hypnosis pendulum that puts enemies to sleep. Boss battles are perhaps the hardest in the series. I found myself just barely able to beat many of the bosses in the game.
While the quest is not as long as Mother 2's, the storyline is riveting. The game is divided into chapters, with most of the early chapters introducing new playable characters. The downside of this is that these new characters have to start from scratch, experience-wise, and may not be playable later in the game, which gives the player a feeling that all the hard work of building them up was for nought. Nonetheless, the game's plot really takes the player on a wonderful ride. Though the game is basically linear (in terms of gameplay - NOT in terms of time; there are moments in the game where you can see a previous event from a different character's perspective), practically every chapter introduces a new plot twist, many of which are surprising or even shocking. Even the very first chapter features a certain development that seems to contradict the manual that came with the game. This game also seems to get more philosophical than previous games, dealing with issues of mortality and grief, and some of the characters even seem to exhibit a quasi-Buddhist attitude with regard to these subjects. As a whole, this game is a lot more interesting than either of the prior two games.
There are unfortunate downsides though. Along with the aforementioned leveling issues and short quest, there just doesn't seem to be quite the same level of originality that Mother 2 had. Some of the characters and monsters are truly inspired, but most are frankly pretty boring, and it seems like the developers just put a bunch of animal and plant names into a hat and pulled out two of them every time they wanted to design a new monster. This does go along with the storyline, but it was still a little disappointing. Also, the human enemies that were so hilarious in Mother and Mother 2 are largely missing. The chapter system also has its problems. At many points in the game, it's impossible to return to previous points. This really hurts a game like this that has many secrets and rare items throughout. Granted, this was also the case in Mother 2, but only for the very last dungeon. As a final gripe, the ending is just weird, but the more I think about it, the more appropriate it seems to just leave some mysteries alone at the end in a game like this. So while crude, it's food for the imagination.
Overall though, this game basically lived up to expectations and then some. It may not quite be a classic game as Mother 2 was, but the extremely strong story drives this game to greatness, and it will be a shame if Nintendo decides not to open this game up to an international audience.