me.letsPlay(Mother).getPart(0);
Now Playing: Mother
Well, since I don't really have the means yet to do video/audio recording (and I'm not super comfortable putting my voice on teh Interwebs~ - weird, I know), this LP is going to be another text review, like the LP of Metroid: Other M. Like the previous one, this is also a blind LP; while I have played the other two games in the series, and therefore have an idea of what to expect stylistically, I have not actually played Mother itself. So, without any further ado, it's time for...
Let's Play: Mother, Part 0!
Like it's sequel, Earthbound, Mother has you start off the game by naming your party, in spite of the fact that you only start with the first character in the party. I decide to start by trying out the default names - the main character does not have a default, but his name is listed elsewhere as Ninten. The favorite food also is not given a default, so I put in something silly.
Usually this makes for better characterization for things like RPing these characters.
... that said, given that this is originally an NES game, I decided "fuck characterization!" That's when I noticed a few... shall we say, similarities, between the sprites and a certain webcomic...
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Motherstuck.
So it's quite possible that I will be forever drawn to make as many Homestuck references in this review as I possibly can. Don't worry, I'll try to keep it entertaining for the rest of you. ^^
We start... with a screen of text giving us a story. How is it related to our hero? Who knows!
In the early 1900s, a bunch of stuff happened that may or may not be relevant. But you start in 1988, in what's possibly a completely different town!
The story begins on the outskirts of Mother's Day, since apparently towns are named after holidays now. No, seriously, take a look at the map.
I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.
In any case, when begin in a young man's bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, is this young man's birthday. Though it was thirteen years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!
... er. Wait.
No, this is John, our hero. Not that we're actually given anything to go on, other than a character in his bedroom. However, before he can get out of the room, the house begins to shake and the lights start flickering. Suddenly, the floor lamp lunges at John, and attacks!
GODDAMMIT GAMZEE, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT THOSE FUCKING DISGUSTING RANCID FAYGO CUPCAKES?
After handily dispatching a household appliance, John walks into the neighboring room, where he is accosted by another lamp! And in the room next to that?
Oh, hey Lil' Cal, what are you doing here? ... OW OW OW WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME? ;~;
Lil' Cal turns out to be somewhat tougher than a lamp, which... may or may not be surprising, depending on how you look at it. In any case, defeating him stops the shaking and the flickering, so therefore we must have done something right. On a whim, I decide to check out Lil' Cal again, now that he's stopped moving, and it turns out that he's got a music box or something inside of him. It only plays for about three seconds, though, which makes it kind of a shitty music box, imo.
"Take a melody..."
Afterwards, our hero heads downstairs, wondering just what the flying fuck is going on. Using the telephone lets us talk to Dad, who only has two things to say: one, that John should look into the basement for his great-grandfather's research on PSI and poltergeists, and two, that IT'S ADVENTURE TIME! That's pretty much all we're given to go on, "OH NOES POLTERGEISTS~". The journal we find in the basement is cryptic as all hell and was probably written while the author was high.
Great-grandfather kind of lost it in his old age, didn't he?
In any case, it's time for us to head into town. Why? Because we have nothing better to do, of course! Armed with a cracked bat (Batkind strife specibus, anyone?), John sets out for the city of Mother's Day. On the way there, I realize that Mother's Day must be Austin, because the wandering monsters are hippies and rednecks. Only in Austin.
In town, we learn that in addition to the occasional poltergeist, the local wildlife is freaking the hell out and the dead have been rising from their graves. The mayor is also looking for someone to do him a favor. Since we're just a little kid and obviously not at all qualified for pretty much anything the mayor could want us to do, clearly the best thing is to march right into Town Hall and offer our services. The mayor gladly accepts and tells us his problem: a kid from the city has wandered into the cemetery to the south and vanished. He's up for re-election soon, so he wants us to do his dirty work while he claims the credit. Since a cracked baseball bat clearly won't be good enough, I pick up a slingshot from the department store before heading south towards the cemetery.
Eventually John makes it to the cemetery, and after some wandering around, finds a hole in the ground where a large monument of some kind used to be. It's dark, and there may not be an easy way back out of the hole. Clearly the best thing to do is to jump right in. Fortunately, it turns out that there is, in fact, a ladder leading downwards to some steps, which in turn lead to another room with four coffins. Four visibly shaking coffins. Again, clearly blind and careless investigation is the answer. Oh hey look, a zombie! So it turns out that the first three have zombies in them, but the fourth one has the missing kid, Pippi, trapped inside.
Pippi joined the party!
As we're walking back to town, we get into a few fights that show that Pippi, surprisingly, is not completely useless in battle. Sure, she starts at level one, like John did, but by the time we get back to town, she's level five. In any case, we get back to Town Hall, and of course, the mayor takes all the credit for rescuing her. He pays us off with a $100 bribe, which one the one hand is not bad for a little kid, but on the other hand, I already had at least four times that in my bank account.
Pippi left the party.
The mayor tells us that he's got another job for us: the animals are still going berserk at the zoo, and he wants John to go take care of them, since he has a penchant for sending small children into incredibly dangerous situations in order to better his own reputation. At this point, I decide that's enough of this BS and turn off the game for the time being.
And thus begins Mother. Join me next time when I go to the zoo! Sounds like a wonderful trip, no?
Status:
John: Level 8
"Take a melody..."
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