if you need the easy ring, get it. if you need to use keepinventory, use it. if you have difficulty in a game and need to lower the difficulty, do it. "games are supposed to be fun, not stressful"-somebody on the internet
The easy ring is almost necessary for new players. As someone who played Mother 2 first and didn't play Mother 1 until many years later, the increased amount of grinding was very annoying to play through. I can only imagine the amount of new players who was interested in the Earthbound franchise who started with this game but then gave up because they believed it wasn't for them. It's a real shame.
I actually first experienced the game with the Easy Ring! Totally agree with this vid lol, it made my first time with the game a lot of fun. I recently beat it on NSO as well and by using save states to really succesfully grind enemies I actually had a decent time. If I were to choose how to play it again though, I think an Easy Ring playthrough just makes the game more fun.
My brother in christ, im very glad to have found your channel. I love video essays, i love the mother series, and i love monkey moments. Subbed and bell rang, cant wait to binge ur whole channel 😘
For me personally, the easy ring is definitely the way to go, I used it as well for my first playthrough and it was very enjoyable :) just imagining having to grind, fight very unfair enemies, terrible balancing and an extremely high encounter rate is just painful.
When I first played the game, I didn't use the easy ring. I bought the game on the Wii U Eshop. It took me several years to beat, not because it was difficult, but because I got lost. I eventually beat it with a guide, and a hell of a lot of save states. It's not as hard as people say. It's grindy, sure, but I beat the game without the ER on my first try at level 30. (Extremely underleveled for those who don't know.) It's not as good as the others, but if you haven't yet, it's worth playing.
I think people blow this game's flaws way out of proportion. I mentioned in another comment that I'm glad that the easy ring let's people who would otherwise dislike this game have a good time with it, but I worry that people haven't given the original version a chance.
a lot of the game's issues is at the very beginning where you don't have any skills or party members, (which is why grinding with Pippi until Ninten is around level 9 is worth it). Ninten gets a LOT of utility skills which outclass even his offense a lot of the time, Loid is great when you are able to afford his Plasma Beam and Super Bombs, or if you get lucky, his flamethrowers. Also I even found myself using the super spray a few times. Ana is a pretty consistent damage dealer once she gets PK Beam beta (I couldn't find uses for PK Freeze or Thunder betas tbh) She also gets PSI shields which cut down ALL damage in half, and eventually gets PowerShield, which makes you immune to damage except for PK Beam gamma for only 9 PP. Currently just got to the healer's house after Mt. Itoi's beginning section and have been using for battles with 3 or more monsters (or that cerebrum monster), PK Freeze gamma on one while Teddy and NInten beat down the other monsters and can clear battles in 2-3 turns and I use PSI Magnet during the battles with the BlueStarmen to restore Ana's PP. This has been one of the more fun RPGs I've played in a while because you are rewarded pretty heavily for strategically using special skills/magic. Also Teddy + Offense Up is a god and I wish this game had 4 person parties instead of kicking Loid to the curb.
@@bunsmasterbunny"you can beat it at a low level 17" Haha, you are SO funny. In all seriousness, if you are at level 17, then you MAYBE finished 1/3 of the game, you have obviously not played this game before.
Gonna be honest while mother 3 is my favorite game of all time, I remember beating earthbound zero prototype rom before the first mother 3 translation and...the real memories I had about the game were about cruel moments like the church town
To me the biggest improvement to the battle system from mother 1 to 2 is that if whatever enemy you chose to attack in the next turn dies before the attack, it's redirected to another enemy, one of the most frustrating part of the grinding for me was figuring out exactly how many attacks by which character to do to a specific foe, and failing terribly whenever i met a new enemy, in this game a smash attack by ninten often meant lloyd and ana would waste a turn lol.
I"m currently playing the first game and I agree that the game can be a bit grindy, but I feel its positives outweigh its negatives (also the game has Teddy). Also the autofight feature is great for fighting weaker enemies and far more useful in this game then earthbound.
I agree the positives outweigh the negative, the point of this video though was to just zone in on the balancing aspect of the game, and how many are neglectful of a possible remedy to it.
My first playthrough was “legit” without any hacks or savestates and I’m definitely going to be using the easyring or an equivalent for subsequent playthroughs.
Yeah it's way better. I grinded a lot when I was a kid playing this game, but any time I go back to it now I use the easy ring. Cutting out mindless grinding is ideal, I have less time to play games as an adult
I think there's a lot of vale in playing the game the whole way through without it at least once, like you and I have. I think it's important to experience the game the way it was released at some point so you can better-appreciate the changes the ER makes when you use it.
I first played without the easy ring, and I had a great time with the game. But I suspect that's mostly because I had already played mother 2 and 3 many many times and I kinda knew what I was getting into, so it didn't catch me off guard. By the end of the game, the enemies were so ridiculously strong that once teddy left my party, I would literally just 4th d slip out of every single fight because actually attempting to fight enemies was pretty much guaranteed death. Thankfully you don't really ever have to actually hit giygas to beat him, so I was able to barely sneak my way to the credits. I can't fault anyone for using it, I am sure it would make the game more fun lol
I actually had a really good time with mother 1. Though I played it on gba with the mother 1&2 I found it very fun and perfectly challenging. I had to look up a few things though with the melodies. The cactus, bird, and something else I struggled with. But beyond that I never really farmed. I just spent so long in every area that I ended up fighting a lot of monsters. And the only time I ever grinded is for several minutes when I got a new party member. I actually like mother 1 more than earthbound XD
Mother was an amazing game. For its time. The problem is it hasn't aged well. Mother isn't a challenging game, it's a slow game. Most people will want to play it for the story more than anything.
I recently beat this game on the Switch, and I gotta say: I actually like it quite a bit more than EarthBound. I decided not to use save-states to preserve the difficulty and had a blast with it. I find it better than EarthBound because the game actually has many interesting opportunities to do things out of order (without glitches!). For example: you're typically supposed to get Lloyd first, but you 'CAN' immediately rush to Snowman on a suicide trek instead to recruited Ana first. Also, Ana is stupid strong and is the best character in the game by far with the three speed capsules.
Earthbound 0 was the first one I played and I gave up a lot before equipping the Easy Ring. The game is pretty fun when you can walk past your house. I'm playing through Mother 3 now
The emulator I downloaded Mother 1 for only has one turbo mode and it goes at like 4000% speed, it makes the game far less grindy, you step out of your house, have an epileptic seizure, and then you're level 20, and it only takes like 5 minutes of intense visual pain in the first area In my opinion, if you're looking for the best possible Earthbound Beginnings Experience, times 40 speed is the way to go
I legit spent like 2 days just grinding before I went to the desert because I was SUPER under leveled. It was very tedious fighting the same thing over and over and over again, and pretty much everything after the Yucca Desert got ridiculous. I spent hours of playing solely for grinding, but these guys can beat me in 2 hits, I hated that. I’m glad to have experienced the game and beaten it!
With action games of the time like castlevania and ninja gaiden people who play them get better over time so i can justify the decision to make them extremely hard. With RPGs being hard is not the issue, if you put a few hundred hours into grinding the biggest noob can play through them, that's why proper balancing is more important there. Grinding for 4 straight hours and still getting your party oneshot isn't fun, the question shouldn't be about hard or easy, it should be about good and bad design and balance which this game just didn't really have
I'd just suggest playing 25th anniversary edition. Fixes a lot of the problems with Mother 1, including heavily reducing grinding. Now, what if you want to play the game legally.... uh... Why would you want to do that?
First time I beat the game, I beat it with Ninten at level 25. I was actually confused where one of the melodies was the for the longest time, and only after barely reaching level 25 climbing Mt Itoi, I realized the melody I missed was level locked the whole time... The only actual grinding I'll admit is really handy is catching Lloyd and Ana up, but honestly with how tough some of the enemies are, it's really not that bad. But hey, I also eat NES RPGs for breakfast.
only issue with teddy is that he doesnt stay with you *forever* but yeah, i beat the game without the Easy Ring on NSO, but one day if i can stand M1+2's terrible gba "music" ill try it out.
I'm a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to RPGs. Sometimes, I absolutely adore the punishment and grind of older RPGs, and that was how I first experienced Mother 1. But a lot of the time, I'm more in the mood to just have a relaxing experience, so I definitely do not shy away from lowering the difficulty in those cases. I only recently started a playthrough with the Easy Ring, and it was an amazing change of pace. I love having that option in the game to make grinding feel less like a chore. And gaining EXP so fast also just feels rewarding because my brain likes to see numbers go up, haha.
I played the game now on Nintendo switch online and the game was ridiculously hard, without rewinding through mount itoi I know this would’ve taken me another week at least
I literally just finished mother 1 for the first time last night, great timing lol. I played the nes version with the tomato translation patch, I think the GBA OST sounds atrocious unfortunately and yeah I definitely felt that the high encounter rate felt like filler to make the game feel longer (and it still is the shortest in the series) I'm just either auto battling or using defense up B/offense up on ninten, then auto battling. I didn't have to do much grinding, but that's probably because I never ran from any battles aside from mt itoi where I was spamming 4th D slip to avoid the grizzly bears. I'm really into classic dungeon crawlers though so I weirdly enjoy the mind numbingly constant encounters, it's sort of relaxing.
Im glad to know about this now, ive been playing the games in reverse order since I started with mother 3, and I'll probably use this once I get to mother 1. Mother 3 spoiled me with its pacing and battle system and now the other games feel slow and tedious by comparison. Easy ring probably will correct that.
Since it's optional, do a random commenter a favor and give the game a try without the ring to start. If you really do hate it by the time you get to the cemetery or the zoo, say screw me and put on the ring. I think this game's flaws are blown way out of proportion,but I realize I may be in a minority opinion on this.
@@tatertot64I know this comment is 1 year old, and I didn't previously have anything to do with this comment, but I just wanted to say my opinion. The thing with the easy ring is, I don't think it's a bad addition, but I think it makes the early game just a bit too easy. That being said, the easy ring is SO awesome. Most of the game is just grinding. The easy ring halves that. I guess most of my opinion is the same as in the video, but coming from someone who prefers no easy ring, the easy ring is so useful for during/post magicant, and attracts new players to this game. It really comes down to opinion, but whether you like or hate the easy ring, it is undeniable how much it impacts the game. Btw, I just want to say, I'm not hating on you or anything, just giving my opinion on what you said.
@@BrainChild542 This is a good point! I'm thinking when I have the time, I'll try a run where I use the Easy Ring later on, to see if that really helps mitigate end-game grinding. I definitely realize this is an opinion thing, and that I don't mind grinding as much in this game.
need to try this out. mother 1 is still the only one in the series i haven't beaten because the sheer difficulty put me off so much, which left me kinda sad
I had no issues with levelling up-in fact early on i spent too much time wandering and ended up fighting so much i was severely overlevelled. I just couldn't stand the constant battles that were over in one hit beacuse of my stupid high level so i ended up taking the ring lol
i used the easy ring back when i was 15 starting the mother series for the first time!! and keep in mind that this was a few years before eb beginnings came out on the wii u; eb0 gave me such great memories at the time and it made my gaming experience so much more fun, at the time i actually did not know that the easy ring was modded considering that i DID patch the game with the translation im 23 now and i beat the NES game itself recently without looking up any walkthroughs remembering my knowledge from that last playthrough (8 yrs ago), it required a lot more grinding than i remembered of course lol but overall i’m so grateful to have been able to use the easy ring back then which made me love the first game so so much!!!
I forgot to withdraw money to buy things at Fourside Dept. Store, Paula was kidnapped and i was thrown into a "i dont want to play anymore" meat grinder
Lose ≠ Dying. The challenge from Animal Crossing (for example) is attempting to collect whatever it is you so desire; the fish, bugs, furniture, clothing, etc. In this sense you can “lose” by missing out on opportunities or chances to attain them, even if you’ll eventually get another chance.
I almost agree with everything you said... except with the part of the easy ring getting obsolete. It's stats are equal to the highest defense giving equipment. All you get for trading for the highest level gear is... more encounters and less EXP and money. I still played both with and without and I can say it's the same defensive stats. Once you equip it, there is no tactical reason to unequip it
I played this game before it was called beginnings. All I can say is that Im glad they added that cause no sane person should play through the game's original difficulty these days
What i like about this game is that the overwhelmingly difficult encounters later in the game can be countered by some of the most OP PSI in the series. Grizzly bear 1 shotting your party? Just 1 shot it back with beam gamma. PSI resistant enemies still 1 shotting you? Well they can't resist PSI you cast on yourself so just supershield and they can't do shit. And for ppl who haven't tried it or played this game, this supershield is functionallly identical to the supershield that's on the first phase of giygas in earthbound. Full party of final starmen spamming beam gamma that goes through supershield because it's an instant kill? Just fire omega and kill them all instantly (though it takes a bit of grinding to get that one). At higher levels in this game you become so strong that the problem turns into how many encounters you can win before you start having problems.
The Sega Ages version of Phantasy Star also has a similar mode (reduces enemy encounter but severely boost Exp and money. And it has a map, so it's the ultimate way to play the game.) It really does make the game far less of a pain. A more extreme example is the massive rebalancing Dragon Quest I and II got. Which, at least for 1, include massive Exp Boost.
In many NES rpgs the best items were found in dungeons though. In final fantasy 1 the example you used here what you're buying late game is mostly some spells and potions. The only good equipment you would buy late game are the Cat Claw and the Protect Ring. I will grant you that a new player especially at release may not have known it though.
If I ever get around to Mother 1 I'm 100% putting that easy ring on. Nothing to be proud about with beating a BS NES game that requires crazy grinding, I'm just here for the story lol
I forgot there was an easy ring. I ignored the one in mother, I wanted the original experience. By far harder to get started in than mother 2 without the ring.
I do enjoy the Pencil Statue a lot, just used that picture to visually demonstrate my point, as the Octopus/Pencil change is one of the more well-known localization differences.
I played and beat the game even before Beginnings but I understand the appeal of the easy ring and honestly if I were to play the game again I would use easy ring.
People complain that Mother 1 is too grindy and hard, then complain about the easy ring taking away that grind... Honestly, Mother 1 is probably my favourite and I hate how it gets the bad rep of being "too grindy" and people always saying you should skip it. No. Hell no, the easy ring makes it very enjoyable and fun even for someone just starting with the series. Let people enjoy games, let people enjoy Mother 1 without the annoying parts, it's a way better game than people think and the easy ring makes those good parts shine, because it doesn't bury them with grinding.
As someone who beat the game without the easy ring (because at the time I did not know how to patch a rom), I can tell you the fabric dungeon and some battles early on can get boss level hard, and the robot boos battle can r*pe ya ass if you are not ready and that make me forgot bits of the story because I waste to much time grinding, same happen with Xeno 2. Persona 1, but then again once you learn to abuse mechanics the only annoying thing is keep battling under level enemies.
I played recently Mother 1 and beat it. The difficult is the thing that made me invested in the gameplay. The Thing is now since Wii U you have the ability to save states and I think that is the "mechanic" that should make newcomers complete it.
Yeah, but still offers challenge in its own right, even if it's on the easier end of the spectrum. Games don't need difficulty levels to be all good, they just need some semblance of stakes.
@MonkeyNess After I first played the second one, I kinda had an epiphany about Earthbound Beginnings. At that point I truly understood the minute details on just how the game was designed as a parody of other RPGs at the time, as the similarities with Dragon Quest/Warrior 2 specifically are insane.
I would like mother 3 the most if the in battle menus didn't stink (seriously why did they separate the psi levels as if they were new moves that was so annoying to deal with)
The only reason I can think of is because of the sheer amount of PSI moves in that game. There are so many that even if the layout was done like EarthBound, you'd still have to scroll down, and in a situation where the player would have to move very quickly to beat the rolling HP meter, it'd be easier to mistakingly press the wrong move since they'd probably be scrolling and hurrying to select something.
@@MonkeyNess if they were designing it around those situations they'd probably have put the recovery section first on the PSI menu. Also, that doesn't help in those scenarios either, it's one less button press in comparison to 2x the searching. Mother 3's combat is honestly so fun, but the menus for me were one step forward and another step back.
Level grinding is the main reason I struggle to enjoy JRPGs as an adult. They have to have a really compelling style or some game mechanic that make them stand out, or else I will lose interest. Because level grinding isn't a challenge, it's just a time waster. In most cases, it makes the core gameplay- the combat system- feel like a chore. If I wanted to do chores, I would just clean my house. If I'm gonna play a game, I want to enjoy the majority of my time playing it. So, it's nice when "easy" modes come out for games that have grind instead of a satisfying challenge. It makes otherwise great games even better, without messing with the artistic merit of the game itself. Making a turn-based RPG satisfyingly challenging is very hard, and many classics mess up the difficulty curve.
I agree with the rest of your comment but the first sentence baffles me. Most JRPGs don't require grinding, in fact it's usually only the ones widely considered either bad or poorly aged that do it at all.
I’m about 3/4 of the way through with my very first Mother 1 playthrough, right about to pick up Teddy. I haven’t thought that the game has been too hard. I’m not gonna shit on people who opt for the easy ring, but I haven’t really had any issues with leveling. I’ve run from a few battles but mainly doing hot 99% of battles and grinded as needed. Levels are currently sitting at 23,20 and 18. It’s definitely not a perfect game, but it’s definitely not debilitatingly hard.
@@MonkeyNess Oh interesting, I never actually knew that. The version I played back in the day on NES was an exp hack that doubled the amount of exp given, and it was STILL hard as hell. I think it's just an old game that's fundamentally flawed, but people can still like it.
I'm not trying to be a dingus here... But like... When I played mother for the first time I genuinely didn't have the easy ring in the game and I didn't think it was a difficult game. There wasn't a grind because the way the game lead me kept me not only interested in the game play but also invested in where I was going. I don't think that this item is a bad idea.
I first played Earth Bound Zero when I was a kid, and I beat the entire game without using the easy ring (because that didn't even exist yet at the time). The grinding never bothered me at all. Honestly, though, I don't blame anyone that it does bother. You DO need to grind a lot, and while I would argue that's not inherently a fault, I also think it's pretty reasonable to find it tedious. It's much more subjective than people like to say it is, though. I did try out the Easy Ring for a bit recently, and while it's definitely not my thing, it's perfectly fine to use it in my opinion. Grinding and watching my characters' stats grow has always given me a sense of satisfaction though, and actually I think the instant-kills of weak enemies in EarthBound and Mother 3 always felt __less__ rewarding to me. Sort of felt less like a 'reward' for getting stronger and more of a "Hey, you don't even get to do the work to get stronger yourself anymore, here's some free EXP instead". But again, I'm weird and like grinding lol. I think the best of both worlds for me personally would've been the weak enemies still running away from you, but also still triggering the battle menu. But yeah anyway, good video, I liked your take. Sorry for the ramble, I always seem unable to help myself with this game lol. Also I swear this has to be the third video I've gotten talking about Earth Bound Zero since I thought about making a video about it. I REALLY want to but the time investment required for that is intimidating lol.
I think the insta-win system helps substantially with cutting out some of the tediousness, as you can still fight stronger enemies normally. Mother 3's system of the "bumping" them out of the way seems a bit mid, though. I do however understand why some people enjoy grinding, it can be sort of therapeutic to be able to just mindlessly play for a bit.
@@MonkeyNess Oh yeah, it definitely helps with the tediousness. I don't think there's any question about that lol. It's only a problem for people like me who like tedious grinding 🙃 (Being therapeutic is actually a good way to describe it, actually)
currently playing doom 2 for the first time on hurt me plenty so its funny to see the comparison to it in this video. i consider myself a hardcore gamer and try to play on normal difficulty. i beat this game on FC emulation and some time after magicant 1, i downloaded an easy patch that does much the same thing. and thank goodness i did because i still had to grind for mt. itoi. i've beaten ninja gaiden 2 without savestates, yet i couldn't bring myself to grind a FC RPG because it's terrible and the worst thing ever. pro-easy ring from a pro-gamer.
I really hate playing Mother 1 and 2 despite how much I like everything else about them besides the combat. Mother 1 is just slow old Dragon Quest type combat. In Mother 2 most the game you don't have enough health to actually get use out of the rolling health meter, or enough of a level advantage/proper positioning to use insta-kill. It feels like Mother 1 didn't do enough to set its combat apart and Mother 2 didn't lean enough into its own unique combat identity. Mother 3 I feel hit the nail on the head with the reusable unique character abilities and rhythm combos and so much more, making it truly stand on its own.
The easy ring is a must have if you're playing the first time when you start getting use to the game you can start playing whit out the easy ring. Mother 1 has a difficult spike out of nowhere even if you get teddy he's a temporary member. Nintent doesn't has any attacking psi and he fairs ok but he starts falling a part about the last portions of the game if you don't grind. Lyoud is a mediocre character he doesn't has anything going on big bottle Rockets don't exist so his availability is bad. Ana can be a monster whit pk bean and freeze but you have to go out the way to catch her up to the rest of the party she is also very frail which means she can get KO by any enemy. Bottom line use the easy ring it makes the game more enjoyable
My first time playing MOTHER was back in 2016 using the Easy Ring (I played Earthbound pretty much immediately after, and I still haven't played past Chapter 1 of MOTHER 3). I ended up playing through almost the entire game in one sitting, and it immediately became my favorite game at the time. Over the next few years I'd replay the game a few more times, eventually getting it on Wii U and later modding it onto my NES Classic. It wasn't until last year I actually beat the NES version. Overall it was a worse experience than the fan translation, though the better visual and audial quality was nice. The official translation, while not lacking personality, just felt lacking in many key moments compared to Tomato's translation. Oddly, the grinding never bothered me while playing, even though it's the reason I stopped at Mt. Itoi when I played on Wii U. Maybe it's just that I had stuff to listen to while doing it? I'm not really sure. I do think the Easy Ring made the game a better experience, though after a certain point I remember it making the game a bit too easy for my liking. I still haven't played the 25th Anniversary Edition, mainly because I'm not really a fan of the changes to the graphics. Based on what you said in Part 2, it seems like something I'd enjoy, not having a long grind or a huge drop in relative difficulty after I think Duncan's Factory? The fact that it uses Tomato's translation is probably it's best feature as far as I'm concerned.
im really a man because i played earthbound zero for the first time without easy ring but a little man because i was playing with nes.emu fast forward option enabled to get exp easy lol but speaking seriously THE FINAL PART OF THE GAME AT MT. ITOI ITS INSANELY DIFFICULT even at level 50 i had so much troubles with all enemies omg and without memory chip of gba remake mt itoi its very VERY painful
if you need the easy ring, get it.
if you need to use keepinventory, use it.
if you have difficulty in a game and need to lower the difficulty, do it.
"games are supposed to be fun, not stressful"-somebody on the internet
The easy ring is almost necessary for new players. As someone who played Mother 2 first and didn't play Mother 1 until many years later, the increased amount of grinding was very annoying to play through. I can only imagine the amount of new players who was interested in the Earthbound franchise who started with this game but then gave up because they believed it wasn't for them. It's a real shame.
I played mother 2 first, and then played mother 1 and loved it! Prob because it was extremely similar to earthbound even though its hard asf
Bullshit you just suck. Just grind and get EXP.
@@bunsmasterbunny agreed. It’s just like any other RPG. Just grind to get to the correct level.
@@outerspaceman7534 grinding sucks and isn't fun and doesn't excuse the games flaws
@@stagelights_ then don’t play another games. It’s part of them. You lack the patience to play such classics without using some cheat or mod.
Honestly he makes a very good point at the end.
I can't believe I couldn't realise the fact that mother 1 is the best because it has Teddy.
I actually first experienced the game with the Easy Ring! Totally agree with this vid lol, it made my first time with the game a lot of fun. I recently beat it on NSO as well and by using save states to really succesfully grind enemies I actually had a decent time. If I were to choose how to play it again though, I think an Easy Ring playthrough just makes the game more fun.
My brother in christ, im very glad to have found your channel. I love video essays, i love the mother series, and i love monkey moments. Subbed and bell rang, cant wait to binge ur whole channel 😘
For me personally, the easy ring is definitely the way to go, I used it as well for my first playthrough and it was very enjoyable :) just imagining having to grind, fight very unfair enemies, terrible balancing and an extremely high encounter rate is just painful.
The game doesn’t require grinding, the balance is fine, and the enemies are fair. Random encounters are valid.
@@bunsmasterbunny clearly you havent played the game
@@bunsmasterbunnyPlease play Mother 1 and get back to us on that.
When I first played the game, I didn't use the easy ring. I bought the game on the Wii U Eshop. It took me several years to beat, not because it was difficult, but because I got lost. I eventually beat it with a guide, and a hell of a lot of save states. It's not as hard as people say. It's grindy, sure, but I beat the game without the ER on my first try at level 30. (Extremely underleveled for those who don't know.) It's not as good as the others, but if you haven't yet, it's worth playing.
I think people blow this game's flaws way out of proportion. I mentioned in another comment that I'm glad that the easy ring let's people who would otherwise dislike this game have a good time with it, but I worry that people haven't given the original version a chance.
a lot of the game's issues is at the very beginning where you don't have any skills or party members, (which is why grinding with Pippi until Ninten is around level 9 is worth it). Ninten gets a LOT of utility skills which outclass even his offense a lot of the time, Loid is great when you are able to afford his Plasma Beam and Super Bombs, or if you get lucky, his flamethrowers. Also I even found myself using the super spray a few times. Ana is a pretty consistent damage dealer once she gets PK Beam beta (I couldn't find uses for PK Freeze or Thunder betas tbh) She also gets PSI shields which cut down ALL damage in half, and eventually gets PowerShield, which makes you immune to damage except for PK Beam gamma for only 9 PP.
Currently just got to the healer's house after Mt. Itoi's beginning section and have been using for battles with 3 or more monsters (or that cerebrum monster), PK Freeze gamma on one while Teddy and NInten beat down the other monsters and can clear battles in 2-3 turns and I use PSI Magnet during the battles with the BlueStarmen to restore Ana's PP.
This has been one of the more fun RPGs I've played in a while because you are rewarded pretty heavily for strategically using special skills/magic.
Also Teddy + Offense Up is a god and I wish this game had 4 person parties instead of kicking Loid to the curb.
It’s not grindy. You can beat it at a low level 17. It’s also not easy to get lost in.
@@bunsmasterbunny"you can beat it at a low level 17" Haha, you are SO funny. In all seriousness, if you are at level 17, then you MAYBE finished 1/3 of the game, you have obviously not played this game before.
@@jeremyabbott4537Yeah the hard early game is a problem that is also in earthbound and is mitigated once you get a second party member.
Gonna be honest while mother 3 is my favorite game of all time, I remember beating earthbound zero prototype rom before the first mother 3 translation and...the real memories I had about the game were about cruel moments like the church town
This reminds me of when i started Persona 4 Golden on merciless. Like half an hour in a said out loud " this isnt fun" and started a new save
To me the biggest improvement to the battle system from mother 1 to 2 is that if whatever enemy you chose to attack in the next turn dies before the attack, it's redirected to another enemy, one of the most frustrating part of the grinding for me was figuring out exactly how many attacks by which character to do to a specific foe, and failing terribly whenever i met a new enemy, in this game a smash attack by ninten often meant lloyd and ana would waste a turn lol.
Lufia 1 did that too god i do not miss that
I heard final fantasy had this problem too until 3, though it wasn’t localized on the NES except for the NDS remake.
When you like Mother 3 or 2 you feel good but you didn’t even think about Mother 1’s TEDDY!
I"m currently playing the first game and I agree that the game can be a bit grindy, but I feel its positives outweigh its negatives (also the game has Teddy).
Also the autofight feature is great for fighting weaker enemies and far more useful in this game then earthbound.
I agree the positives outweigh the negative, the point of this video though was to just zone in on the balancing aspect of the game, and how many are neglectful of a possible remedy to it.
I can’t wait until itoi releases the first and only Mother spin-off game: Teddy’s Treasure Quest.
@@robertwyatt3912 I am on the hype train for that
@@robertwyatt3912 then we get Jeff's... uhhhhhhh... School? (HELL NAH PICO'S SCHOOL)
@@marsybarzTony: No Jeff! Put down the Death Ray! NOOOOOOOO
My first playthrough was “legit” without any hacks or savestates and I’m definitely going to be using the easyring or an equivalent for subsequent playthroughs.
I have to collect gameplay footage of mother 1 for a show. I'm definitely using the easy ring version out of simplicity and accessability.
Yeah it's way better. I grinded a lot when I was a kid playing this game, but any time I go back to it now I use the easy ring. Cutting out mindless grinding is ideal, I have less time to play games as an adult
I think there's a lot of vale in playing the game the whole way through without it at least once, like you and I have. I think it's important to experience the game the way it was released at some point so you can better-appreciate the changes the ER makes when you use it.
I have yet to tackle Mother without the easy ring but with it being on NSO, I'll definitely do so eventually
I first played without the easy ring, and I had a great time with the game. But I suspect that's mostly because I had already played mother 2 and 3 many many times and I kinda knew what I was getting into, so it didn't catch me off guard. By the end of the game, the enemies were so ridiculously strong that once teddy left my party, I would literally just 4th d slip out of every single fight because actually attempting to fight enemies was pretty much guaranteed death. Thankfully you don't really ever have to actually hit giygas to beat him, so I was able to barely sneak my way to the credits. I can't fault anyone for using it, I am sure it would make the game more fun lol
"The only cool guy with a katana"
You just mashed those nuts into paste.
I actually had a really good time with mother 1.
Though I played it on gba with the mother 1&2
I found it very fun and perfectly challenging. I had to look up a few things though with the melodies. The cactus, bird, and something else I struggled with. But beyond that I never really farmed. I just spent so long in every area that I ended up fighting a lot of monsters. And the only time I ever grinded is for several minutes when I got a new party member. I actually like mother 1 more than earthbound XD
Mother was an amazing game. For its time. The problem is it hasn't aged well. Mother isn't a challenging game, it's a slow game. Most people will want to play it for the story more than anything.
Let's go Teddy best boy shoulda been permanent without glitches.
Amazing vid
Mother 1 is the elden ring of jrpgs
Great video! I hope you make more interesting MOTHER content!
I actually make videos exclusively about the Mother series and monkeys :)
@@MonkeyNess LETS GOOO
I recently beat this game on the Switch, and I gotta say: I actually like it quite a bit more than EarthBound. I decided not to use save-states to preserve the difficulty and had a blast with it. I find it better than EarthBound because the game actually has many interesting opportunities to do things out of order (without glitches!). For example: you're typically supposed to get Lloyd first, but you 'CAN' immediately rush to Snowman on a suicide trek instead to recruited Ana first. Also, Ana is stupid strong and is the best character in the game by far with the three speed capsules.
I think you can't get to the trains if you don't recruit Lloyd
@@imwastedhere You can get their without the trains by just going though the tunnels buts its super dangerous.
@@luosiger yeah but it's going to be a hassle in my opinion is not worth it for the sake of playing it's interesting that you can do it
Earthbound 0 was the first one I played and I gave up a lot before equipping the Easy Ring. The game is pretty fun when you can walk past your house. I'm playing through Mother 3 now
The emulator I downloaded Mother 1 for only has one turbo mode and it goes at like 4000% speed, it makes the game far less grindy, you step out of your house, have an epileptic seizure, and then you're level 20, and it only takes like 5 minutes of intense visual pain in the first area
In my opinion, if you're looking for the best possible Earthbound Beginnings Experience, times 40 speed is the way to go
I legit spent like 2 days just grinding before I went to the desert because I was SUPER under leveled.
It was very tedious fighting the same thing over and over and over again, and pretty much everything after the Yucca Desert got ridiculous.
I spent hours of playing solely for grinding, but these guys can beat me in 2 hits, I hated that.
I’m glad to have experienced the game and beaten it!
i originally stopped playing just after i met ana because of the grinding, im glad the easy ring exists now
With action games of the time like castlevania and ninja gaiden people who play them get better over time so i can justify the decision to make them extremely hard.
With RPGs being hard is not the issue, if you put a few hundred hours into grinding the biggest noob can play through them, that's why proper balancing is more important there.
Grinding for 4 straight hours and still getting your party oneshot isn't fun, the question shouldn't be about hard or easy, it should be about good and bad design and balance which this game just didn't really have
Completely agree!
I'd just suggest playing 25th anniversary edition. Fixes a lot of the problems with Mother 1, including heavily reducing grinding. Now, what if you want to play the game legally....
uh...
Why would you want to do that?
*(Sanctuary Guardian intensifies)*
I personally recommend the 25th anniversary romhack these days. Rebalances the game, updates the graphics, retranslates it, etc
First time I beat the game, I beat it with Ninten at level 25. I was actually confused where one of the melodies was the for the longest time, and only after barely reaching level 25 climbing Mt Itoi, I realized the melody I missed was level locked the whole time...
The only actual grinding I'll admit is really handy is catching Lloyd and Ana up, but honestly with how tough some of the enemies are, it's really not that bad. But hey, I also eat NES RPGs for breakfast.
only issue with teddy is that he doesnt stay with you *forever*
but yeah, i beat the game without the Easy Ring on NSO, but one day if i can stand M1+2's terrible gba "music" ill try it out.
The terrible GBA-compressed music really is really more of a problem for EarthBound.
@@MonkeyNess i guess yeah
maybe my ears are just too picky (omg picky!)
I'm a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to RPGs. Sometimes, I absolutely adore the punishment and grind of older RPGs, and that was how I first experienced Mother 1. But a lot of the time, I'm more in the mood to just have a relaxing experience, so I definitely do not shy away from lowering the difficulty in those cases. I only recently started a playthrough with the Easy Ring, and it was an amazing change of pace. I love having that option in the game to make grinding feel less like a chore. And gaining EXP so fast also just feels rewarding because my brain likes to see numbers go up, haha.
I played it first without the ring, now i prefer it
I played the game now on Nintendo switch online and the game was ridiculously hard, without rewinding through mount itoi I know this would’ve taken me another week at least
I literally just finished mother 1 for the first time last night, great timing lol. I played the nes version with the tomato translation patch, I think the GBA OST sounds atrocious unfortunately
and yeah I definitely felt that the high encounter rate felt like filler to make the game feel longer (and it still is the shortest in the series) I'm just either auto battling or using defense up B/offense up on ninten, then auto battling. I didn't have to do much grinding, but that's probably because I never ran from any battles aside from mt itoi where I was spamming 4th D slip to avoid the grizzly bears.
I'm really into classic dungeon crawlers though so I weirdly enjoy the mind numbingly constant encounters, it's sort of relaxing.
Might have to make a video discussing the series's Auto-Fight feature.
Jeez raw Mother 1 is brutal
Im glad to know about this now, ive been playing the games in reverse order since I started with mother 3, and I'll probably use this once I get to mother 1. Mother 3 spoiled me with its pacing and battle system and now the other games feel slow and tedious by comparison. Easy ring probably will correct that.
Since it's optional, do a random commenter a favor and give the game a try without the ring to start. If you really do hate it by the time you get to the cemetery or the zoo, say screw me and put on the ring. I think this game's flaws are blown way out of proportion,but I realize I may be in a minority opinion on this.
@@tatertot64I know this comment is 1 year old, and I didn't previously have anything to do with this comment, but I just wanted to say my opinion. The thing with the easy ring is, I don't think it's a bad addition, but I think it makes the early game just a bit too easy. That being said, the easy ring is SO awesome. Most of the game is just grinding. The easy ring halves that. I guess most of my opinion is the same as in the video, but coming from someone who prefers no easy ring, the easy ring is so useful for during/post magicant, and attracts new players to this game. It really comes down to opinion, but whether you like or hate the easy ring, it is undeniable how much it impacts the game. Btw, I just want to say, I'm not hating on you or anything, just giving my opinion on what you said.
@@BrainChild542 This is a good point! I'm thinking when I have the time, I'll try a run where I use the Easy Ring later on, to see if that really helps mitigate end-game grinding. I definitely realize this is an opinion thing, and that I don't mind grinding as much in this game.
need to try this out. mother 1 is still the only one in the series i haven't beaten because the sheer difficulty put me off so much, which left me kinda sad
WOOO TEDDYYYY YEAHHHH!!
I had no issues with levelling up-in fact early on i spent too much time wandering and ended up fighting so much i was severely overlevelled. I just couldn't stand the constant battles that were over in one hit beacuse of my stupid high level so i ended up taking the ring lol
i used the easy ring back when i was 15 starting the mother series for the first time!! and keep in mind that this was a few years before eb beginnings came out on the wii u; eb0 gave me such great memories at the time and it made my gaming experience so much more fun, at the time i actually did not know that the easy ring was modded considering that i DID patch the game with the translation
im 23 now and i beat the NES game itself recently without looking up any walkthroughs remembering my knowledge from that last playthrough (8 yrs ago), it required a lot more grinding than i remembered of course lol but overall i’m so grateful to have been able to use the easy ring back then which made me love the first game so so much!!!
WELL… the only thing i looked up on my second playthrough was information about the dragon in magicant but THAT WAS IT I SWEAR
would safety ring be a better name?
I forgot to withdraw money to buy things at Fourside Dept. Store, Paula was kidnapped and i was thrown into a "i dont want to play anymore" meat grinder
It's inconvenient, but the arms dealer in the desert sells items that can make Jeff very helpful in that area.
"If you can't lose what's the point of playing".
Animal Crossing and similar games: "Am I a joke to you?".
Lose ≠ Dying.
The challenge from Animal Crossing (for example) is attempting to collect whatever it is you so desire; the fish, bugs, furniture, clothing, etc.
In this sense you can “lose” by missing out on opportunities or chances to attain them, even if you’ll eventually get another chance.
I almost agree with everything you said... except with the part of the easy ring getting obsolete. It's stats are equal to the highest defense giving equipment. All you get for trading for the highest level gear is... more encounters and less EXP and money.
I still played both with and without and I can say it's the same defensive stats. Once you equip it, there is no tactical reason to unequip it
I played this game before it was called beginnings. All I can say is that Im glad they added that cause no sane person should play through the game's original difficulty these days
Easy ring players = Baby
Vanilla EBB players = Teddy
Teddy's an Easy Ring player, that's why he's so strong compared to everyone else.
And this is all why I always play the GBA version
What i like about this game is that the overwhelmingly difficult encounters later in the game can be countered by some of the most OP PSI in the series. Grizzly bear 1 shotting your party? Just 1 shot it back with beam gamma. PSI resistant enemies still 1 shotting you? Well they can't resist PSI you cast on yourself so just supershield and they can't do shit. And for ppl who haven't tried it or played this game, this supershield is functionallly identical to the supershield that's on the first phase of giygas in earthbound. Full party of final starmen spamming beam gamma that goes through supershield because it's an instant kill? Just fire omega and kill them all instantly (though it takes a bit of grinding to get that one). At higher levels in this game you become so strong that the problem turns into how many encounters you can win before you start having problems.
The Sega Ages version of Phantasy Star also has a similar mode (reduces enemy encounter but severely boost Exp and money. And it has a map, so it's the ultimate way to play the game.)
It really does make the game far less of a pain.
A more extreme example is the massive rebalancing Dragon Quest I and II got. Which, at least for 1, include massive Exp Boost.
If you fight many enemies, you only get the EXP of one
In many NES rpgs the best items were found in dungeons though. In final fantasy 1 the example you used here what you're buying late game is mostly some spells and potions. The only good equipment you would buy late game are the Cat Claw and the Protect Ring. I will grant you that a new player especially at release may not have known it though.
Guys listen grinding is really fun if you think about 🤓🤓🤓
This is a good video
I don't have anything funny to say, this is just a really good video
Thank you, Todd!
If I ever get around to Mother 1 I'm 100% putting that easy ring on. Nothing to be proud about with beating a BS NES game that requires crazy grinding, I'm just here for the story lol
I was confused because I never found this item in the NES version. Turns out it's exclusive to the GBA version.
@@X2011racer it’s exclusive to the GBA fan translation.
8:01
Suggestion for modders out there or hell even artist
Teddy in a kimono and a katana. Now that some epic shit
Agreed!
oh there's an easy mode? I need to get that to reduce the grinding, I took a break from playing because of that
I forgot there was an easy ring. I ignored the one in mother, I wanted the original experience. By far harder to get started in than mother 2 without the ring.
Yeah, but the pencil Eraser joke is superior!
It's in Mother 3
I do enjoy the Pencil Statue a lot, just used that picture to visually demonstrate my point, as the Octopus/Pencil change is one of the more well-known localization differences.
Luckily for me, I like it when games beat me down to a pulp so I played through Mother 2 and a part of Mother 3 without the Easy Ring just fine.
I played and beat the game even before Beginnings but I understand the appeal of the easy ring and honestly if I were to play the game again I would use easy ring.
Atleast were getting that Mother Encore remake right?
What about the "Beginning Ring"?
People complain that Mother 1 is too grindy and hard, then complain about the easy ring taking away that grind...
Honestly, Mother 1 is probably my favourite and I hate how it gets the bad rep of being "too grindy" and people always saying you should skip it.
No. Hell no, the easy ring makes it very enjoyable and fun even for someone just starting with the series.
Let people enjoy games, let people enjoy Mother 1 without the annoying parts, it's a way better game than people think and the easy ring makes those good parts shine, because it doesn't bury them with grinding.
It wasn't so bad, when I used the switch rewind feature to cancel any time I got hurt
I played the game on the NES online thing and uggghhhhh it was pain
Mt Itoi was awful to play since many enemy’s just one shot you
As someone who beat the game without the easy ring (because at the time I did not know how to patch a rom), I can tell you the fabric dungeon and some battles early on can get boss level hard, and the robot boos battle can r*pe ya ass if you are not ready and that make me forgot bits of the story because I waste to much time grinding, same happen with Xeno 2. Persona 1, but then again once you learn to abuse mechanics the only annoying thing is keep battling under level enemies.
I played recently Mother 1 and beat it. The difficult is the thing that made me invested in the gameplay. The Thing is now since Wii U you have the ability to save states and I think that is the "mechanic" that should make newcomers complete it.
ninten my beloved
Kirby has no hard mode
Yeah, but still offers challenge in its own right, even if it's on the easier end of the spectrum. Games don't need difficulty levels to be all good, they just need some semblance of stakes.
@@MonkeyNess I get angry when Kirby has no hard mode but I can’t beat mother
I believe the original one from the Game Boy has a hard mode, if you'd like to try that! :)
@@MonkeyNess thanks! I’ll have to dig around my house to find my game boy.
2:20 Is that from a Mother game?
Yes, EarthBound!
@@MonkeyNess I don't remember that part, care to refresh my mind?
@@jking4854 Cutscene before Ness goes to Magicant :)
@@MonkeyNess Thanks!
Have you ever played the NES Dragon Warrior games?
The first one. Playing the second one now, will cover them in a future video.
@MonkeyNess After I first played the second one, I kinda had an epiphany about Earthbound Beginnings. At that point I truly understood the minute details on just how the game was designed as a parody of other RPGs at the time, as the similarities with Dragon Quest/Warrior 2 specifically are insane.
I would like mother 3 the most if the in battle menus didn't stink (seriously why did they separate the psi levels as if they were new moves that was so annoying to deal with)
The only reason I can think of is because of the sheer amount of PSI moves in that game. There are so many that even if the layout was done like EarthBound, you'd still have to scroll down, and in a situation where the player would have to move very quickly to beat the rolling HP meter, it'd be easier to mistakingly press the wrong move since they'd probably be scrolling and hurrying to select something.
@@MonkeyNess if they were designing it around those situations they'd probably have put the recovery section first on the PSI menu. Also, that doesn't help in those scenarios either, it's one less button press in comparison to 2x the searching. Mother 3's combat is honestly so fun, but the menus for me were one step forward and another step back.
I played the game with no save states and no easy ring because NSO. It was fun sometimes and memorable but it was annoying allot of the time
Level grinding is the main reason I struggle to enjoy JRPGs as an adult. They have to have a really compelling style or some game mechanic that make them stand out, or else I will lose interest.
Because level grinding isn't a challenge, it's just a time waster. In most cases, it makes the core gameplay- the combat system- feel like a chore. If I wanted to do chores, I would just clean my house. If I'm gonna play a game, I want to enjoy the majority of my time playing it.
So, it's nice when "easy" modes come out for games that have grind instead of a satisfying challenge. It makes otherwise great games even better, without messing with the artistic merit of the game itself. Making a turn-based RPG satisfyingly challenging is very hard, and many classics mess up the difficulty curve.
But most don't require grinding.
They require either thinking or stop pressing the "Escape" button and start using your items and magic.
I agree with the rest of your comment but the first sentence baffles me. Most JRPGs don't require grinding, in fact it's usually only the ones widely considered either bad or poorly aged that do it at all.
My homework was reading a book. I found an audiobook. I did my homework while simultaneously playing Mother 1 because or grinding. Not that bad.
I’m about 3/4 of the way through with my very first Mother 1 playthrough, right about to pick up Teddy. I haven’t thought that the game has been too hard.
I’m not gonna shit on people who opt for the easy ring, but I haven’t really had any issues with leveling. I’ve run from a few battles but mainly doing hot 99% of battles and grinded as needed. Levels are currently sitting at 23,20 and 18. It’s definitely not a perfect game, but it’s definitely not debilitatingly hard.
Wasn't the easy ring only added in the GBA version by Tomato?
It’s been patched into the NES ROM too, though I had my explanation of it a bit backwards.
@@MonkeyNess Oh interesting, I never actually knew that. The version I played back in the day on NES was an exp hack that doubled the amount of exp given, and it was STILL hard as hell. I think it's just an old game that's fundamentally flawed, but people can still like it.
W video
What is Easy Ring?
I'm not trying to be a dingus here... But like... When I played mother for the first time I genuinely didn't have the easy ring in the game and I didn't think it was a difficult game. There wasn't a grind because the way the game lead me kept me not only interested in the game play but also invested in where I was going. I don't think that this item is a bad idea.
Everyone's experience is different! Glad you had a good time with the way you played!
I mean HONESTLY, can you even REALLY call Earthbound and Mother 3 good games?
...
Neither of them have TEDDY, Mother 1 is clearly the best
Teddy IS my mom
Video essay on this coming soon
@@MonkeyNess bestie we need that video essay
I personally think Earthbound is superior because it has
FRANK.
I would hate the easy ring in any game beside of mother 1
I first played Earth Bound Zero when I was a kid, and I beat the entire game without using the easy ring (because that didn't even exist yet at the time). The grinding never bothered me at all. Honestly, though, I don't blame anyone that it does bother. You DO need to grind a lot, and while I would argue that's not inherently a fault, I also think it's pretty reasonable to find it tedious. It's much more subjective than people like to say it is, though. I did try out the Easy Ring for a bit recently, and while it's definitely not my thing, it's perfectly fine to use it in my opinion. Grinding and watching my characters' stats grow has always given me a sense of satisfaction though, and actually I think the instant-kills of weak enemies in EarthBound and Mother 3 always felt __less__ rewarding to me. Sort of felt less like a 'reward' for getting stronger and more of a "Hey, you don't even get to do the work to get stronger yourself anymore, here's some free EXP instead". But again, I'm weird and like grinding lol. I think the best of both worlds for me personally would've been the weak enemies still running away from you, but also still triggering the battle menu. But yeah anyway, good video, I liked your take. Sorry for the ramble, I always seem unable to help myself with this game lol.
Also I swear this has to be the third video I've gotten talking about Earth Bound Zero since I thought about making a video about it. I REALLY want to but the time investment required for that is intimidating lol.
I think the insta-win system helps substantially with cutting out some of the tediousness, as you can still fight stronger enemies normally. Mother 3's system of the "bumping" them out of the way seems a bit mid, though. I do however understand why some people enjoy grinding, it can be sort of therapeutic to be able to just mindlessly play for a bit.
@@MonkeyNess Oh yeah, it definitely helps with the tediousness. I don't think there's any question about that lol.
It's only a problem for people like me who like tedious grinding 🙃
(Being therapeutic is actually a good way to describe it, actually)
@black hole i guess yeah. Was the way everyone played it before 2015. I did buy it when it came out on VC though.
Go to the moon buddy
I’m subbed
Thank you!
@@MonkeyNess np~ Keep spreading your love for Mother to the world!
Robot alien
currently playing doom 2 for the first time on hurt me plenty so its funny to see the comparison to it in this video. i consider myself a hardcore gamer and try to play on normal difficulty.
i beat this game on FC emulation and some time after magicant 1, i downloaded an easy patch that does much the same thing. and thank goodness i did because i still had to grind for mt. itoi. i've beaten ninja gaiden 2 without savestates, yet i couldn't bring myself to grind a FC RPG because it's terrible and the worst thing ever. pro-easy ring from a pro-gamer.
Is the easy ring in the NSO version? I didn't find it and i kinda stopped with the game halfway through
It's in the Mother 1+2 Fan Translation and some versions of the ROM for EarthBound Zero.
@@MonkeyNess oh so no NSO then? Well shit hopefully I'll pick it up someday
do you work as a game reviewer by chance?
Nope, but analysis of game design has always been an interest of mine.
@@MonkeyNess ok thanks
I really hate playing Mother 1 and 2 despite how much I like everything else about them besides the combat. Mother 1 is just slow old Dragon Quest type combat. In Mother 2 most the game you don't have enough health to actually get use out of the rolling health meter, or enough of a level advantage/proper positioning to use insta-kill. It feels like Mother 1 didn't do enough to set its combat apart and Mother 2 didn't lean enough into its own unique combat identity. Mother 3 I feel hit the nail on the head with the reusable unique character abilities and rhythm combos and so much more, making it truly stand on its own.
The rolling health starts to matter in about Threed or so. How far have you gotten?
@@superwooper5210 I've played all the games fully
The easy ring is a must have if you're playing the first time when you start getting use to the game you can start playing whit out the easy ring. Mother 1 has a difficult spike out of nowhere even if you get teddy he's a temporary member. Nintent doesn't has any attacking psi and he fairs ok but he starts falling a part about the last portions of the game if you don't grind. Lyoud is a mediocre character he doesn't has anything going on big bottle Rockets don't exist so his availability is bad. Ana can be a monster whit pk bean and freeze but you have to go out the way to catch her up to the rest of the party she is also very frail which means she can get KO by any enemy. Bottom line use the easy ring it makes the game more enjoyable
My first time playing MOTHER was back in 2016 using the Easy Ring (I played Earthbound pretty much immediately after, and I still haven't played past Chapter 1 of MOTHER 3). I ended up playing through almost the entire game in one sitting, and it immediately became my favorite game at the time. Over the next few years I'd replay the game a few more times, eventually getting it on Wii U and later modding it onto my NES Classic. It wasn't until last year I actually beat the NES version. Overall it was a worse experience than the fan translation, though the better visual and audial quality was nice. The official translation, while not lacking personality, just felt lacking in many key moments compared to Tomato's translation.
Oddly, the grinding never bothered me while playing, even though it's the reason I stopped at Mt. Itoi when I played on Wii U. Maybe it's just that I had stuff to listen to while doing it? I'm not really sure. I do think the Easy Ring made the game a better experience, though after a certain point I remember it making the game a bit too easy for my liking.
I still haven't played the 25th Anniversary Edition, mainly because I'm not really a fan of the changes to the graphics. Based on what you said in Part 2, it seems like something I'd enjoy, not having a long grind or a huge drop in relative difficulty after I think Duncan's Factory? The fact that it uses Tomato's translation is probably it's best feature as far as I'm concerned.
Nah, this game is easy if you just never run.
im really a man because i played earthbound zero for the first time without easy ring but a little man because i was playing with nes.emu fast forward option enabled to get exp easy lol but speaking seriously THE FINAL PART OF THE GAME AT MT. ITOI ITS INSANELY DIFFICULT even at level 50 i had so much troubles with all enemies omg and without memory chip of gba remake mt itoi its very VERY painful
Why he kinda sound like matpat
you people play video games? my only exposure to Mother 1 is the novel
There should be a hard ring for mother 2 & 3 that ups the difficulty to that of mother 1’s