I've finished it, I'm going to talk about it, and I don't feel like figuring out what's a spoiler and what isn't, yadda yadda, so I'm just going to put tags over the rest of this post.
It's a great game, one of the best story-based RPG's in a while, and it really shows how the language, heart, and spirit of a game can go a long way. It's up there in at least the top 20 of all time, I'd think.. I don't have to go and point out what makes the game a lot of fun, you can play it and find out yourself. I will, however, point out everything I think we, as gamers, got shafted on in the rush to get the game released way back in 2006.
To begin with, I'll mention Salsa. I don't think Salsa's full story was fleshed out. Salsa is the star of chapter 3 and cameos in chapter 7. Salsa begins at level one, and really, his whole goal seems to be to stall until someone stronger deals damage. He gets abused, and he eventually finds Samba, his "Love Monkey," but we don't even get to see him do this, we meet him again for about 20 minutes, Samba in tow, and then he's out of the picture.
It's just strange, you see. I can't figure out why Salsa was included in the game, except to be a little bit of a side character for relief from the main party. He's not even necessary to the overall story, yet a chapter revolves completely around him. I know there's something missing, because aside from opening two doors, if he wasn't, the game would be unchanged.
That leads me to Kumatora. I think she's also an incomplete character. She appears, from nowhere, in Osohe Castle, and is a vulgar girl without a real history. We learn she was raised by Magypsies, that's true, but things still don't fit together. She just pretty much appears and helps, because she's supposed to be a princess of a castle full of ghosts.
If you were to ask me, I'd have to say that I think we got shafted a chapter. I think There should have been a chapter in-between 3 and 4, starring Salsa and Kumatora. It would have three parts, where they escape, where Kumatora learns something about herself, whatever it is that gives her real motivation, and then where Salsa gets captured and sent to the Chimera lab, or is on the run from the Pigmasks.
Lucas's story is fleshed out well enough as the game stands, and the same goes for Boney, clearly. Ch. 6, however, needed a briefing on Flint, who basically goes missing in the game after Ch. 1 and comes back at the end of Ch. 8 out of no where, really. While his story is "complete" in the game, it just doesn't fit. He needed to learn about Claus and get captured during Ch. 6, especially since the Masked Man-spoiler is just too obvious to not go ahead and reveal. Regardless, a Flint capture would connect the dots about how he ended up in New Pork, since, otherwise, before then, as far as we know, he was in the mountains.
The last bits that don't fit in: The theater and Leder's story. I can't help but shake the feeling that the theater, as planned in EB 64, was meant to do much of what Leder did. I think we were supposed to watch the things we knew and loved in EB be destroyed, and then watch a video of Porky/Pokey saving a few gems that meant something to him and Ness. A lot of the story here seemed like it was thrown in at the end to try to solve any plot gaps that might come up. It doesn't make sense, really. There's not much logic to how Porky just got stuck in Mother 3, and then used the islands as a playground. The Magypsies make little sense, since they can't die until a needle is pulled, then why would their ancestors be the ones that placed the needles. Wouldn't have been their parents, or even they, themselves?
In a way, this game is peculiar. Mother and Mother 2 really were separate games. Their ending boss and story connect, because essentially, Ninten saved the world in his time, but created a later disaster that Ness wound up cleaning up. The same holds true here, in Mother 3, but the actions that occurred in Mother 2 directly are addressed through pictures, dialog, and everything, rather than a light connection that must be inferred. I was disappointed, because too much was referenced to not reference more. For instance, Dr. Andonaut's mere presence in this game, as well as the Mr. Saturns, raises too many questions. Whats strangest is that Porky vowed revenge at the end of Mother 2/Earthbound, but this game implies he believed Ness was his friend, and they were, in Porky's mind, playing a game. That's fine and dandy, but since Ness is missing from this world, Porky must never have finished the game, it seems, or else Ness would be on display. However, if Dr. Andonauts was time-napped, you'd almost believe that Jeff and his friends just let it happen, something they'd never allow.
As conclusive as the ending was, there's so much left that I feel like much of the game has been chopped out, or that the plan was to produce a sequel or two to this one, explaining Ness's and Porky's relationship, the dragon, and the beginning of a new world. Just a lot more was left this time around, than before, I think.
Topic: Mother 3 Translation Patch is GO (Read 10355 times)
