~Fun with Mother 3 - Unassuming local guy cavorts with ghosts, news at 11
LET'S KEEP GOING
This is one of my favorite chapters because I love Duster. WHY BE COY ABOUT IT, IT'S TRUE
But ANYWAY in our last installment there was a ton of horrible trauma and sadness. WILL THERE BE TRAUMA AND SADNESS IN THIS INSTALLMENT? ROLL THE DICE AND FIND OUT!
(with this game odds are in favor of "yes")
Previous editions
First let's recap a bit from the first chapter, in case you're late coming in.
Oh Duster, so compassionate.
just gonna scoot down here for a sec
did
did you just talk flint
Duster just flabbergasted
But no, one of the things I really like about Mother 3 is how it plays around with or subverts typical expectations you have from an RPG. For example, the silent protagonist. But more on that in a second.
OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY
Thank goodness explosion season is almost over.
awesome no one saw me sneak out i'll just go to bed and
#@#$
oh like THAT'S new
The theme here is Passing Down Secrets, which for some reason I have on my playlist as "Handed Down from Our Ancestors" and thus that took way too long to find, haha. BUT ANYWAY it's just sort of ominous and kind of cool sounding really.
I'M AGAINST IT
Contrary Duster has spent too much time with Flint's family
AND TO THINK, NOT BEING CONTRARY WOULD MAKE YOU MISS THIS WHOLE CONVO which actually tells you a lot about their relationship oops
Wes, father of the year. I wonder how young Duster was when his leg got messed up (like 6-8)? What exactly were they doing? Did he fall off something, get chomped by a monster, spar with Wes and screw up, accidentally staple his leg, what? Did Wes just not take him to a doctor and it healed badly? Was the damage just so extensive that it just could never fully heal? Did anyone else in town notice that Wes's eight year old suddenly had a limp? Did they wonder about how Duster's leg got mangled if Wes brought him in? THIS RAISES SO MANY QUESTIONS FOR ME
In the first translation I was using going through this, it went something like:
"Duster...
It might've been better if we'd been born in a different time.
I pushed you in your training when you were young, and the limp in your leg, as well as the fact that you don't fit in with the other people in town, is all my fault...at least, that's what I think.
If you want to resent me, then by all means, resent me. If that makes you feel better then resent me all you want.
However...you cannot decide your own answer."
YEAH I BROKE YOUR LEG, WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO, CRY ABOUT IT?
like that's anything new
woah there's a castle around here?
NOPE, GOT IT
unlike my respect or admiration which you will never have
Thanks for the hot tip, pops.
More on those in a second!
Go screw up, got it.
Duster staring longingly at it.
IT MUST BE MY BIRTHDAY
Written where, what
YAY A BUG
THANKS DAD
Isn't this where Duster was sleeping before? He lives in his dad's basement, haha.
This comes in handy surprisingly often for bosses.
I cannot emphasize enough how important offense down/defense down is in Mother 3. It is WAY more important than it was in EarthBound or in fact in most RPGs I've played. Off/Def down will SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Duster's thief tools are freeee of course which is great, though they aren't 100% successful each try. But still, if you need to save PP for PSI attacks, then his thief tools can be super valuable. There is no battle that can't be improved with off/def down.
Heh, this is the hypno pendulum I stuck in the ukagaka. :B But sleep is sort of handy as a status, and it also has a side benefit, but I'll get to that in a bit.
This will at most buy you a turn, but if you're a real completionist, this thing is absolutely vital. But more on that later as well, haha.
And out we go! Duster chapterrrrr
But yeah before I mentioned the silent protagonist thing. It's just interesting to me that whoever you're controlling becomes silent, but is later revealed to have been talking the entire time, like Flint. The better for you to project your own responses onto them? WHO KNOWS but I think it's an interesting choice, haha. It definitely changes the feel and impression of the character. Sort of like you're closer, but the character themselves is... not as prominent? I'm not sure how to describe it, it's hard to put into words. It's one of those things that's a big part of how interactive media can change a story, if you know what I mean. Controlling Duster and as a result taking away his ability to speak changes how you view him, and so with a character like Flint, where you started that way and then it revealed that he had a character outside your control the entire time... it's just interesting you know? I dunno I'm probably not explaining this very well.
INSTEAD HERE'S AN OBSCURE MESSAGE
The theme playing while you wander around is Mind of a Thief I think, generally thought of as Duster's Theme. It's got a bit of energy but mostly just a kind of gentle flute lead, haha. A GENTLE THEME FOR A GENTLE GUY
SHHHH
Another thing I like about Mother 3 is that it gives you bits and pieces of information and lets you put it all together yourself, which of course is one of my favorite things to do, haha. Duster walks around alone at night a lot! Sort of like he doesn't want to spend much time at home for some reason.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO HELP
ALWAYS STEREOTYPED INTO MAP-RELATED ROLES
SO UNFAIR
Duster just too shy to talk to people
I GUESS IT WAS COOL I DUNNO that's all i got
WHERE DOES LEDER SLEEP
New sitcom coming up on ABC
Aww Fuel.
OH YEAH
love is in the air
Perhaps why Jackie seemed puzzled to see Duster here! Since usually they'd be closed by now.
Let's take a quick detour for some heartbreak, courtesy Lucas. The saddest, tiniest little sprite.
I WISH I COULD HUG YOU LUCAS BUT I CAN'T
WHY ISN'T THERE A HUG BUTTON
although on that note WHY ISN'T FLINT HERE
FLINT YOUR SON SEEMS LONELY
Poor Lucas instead takes comfort in hanging out with Boney. You'll always be there for me, Boney.
If you guessed we might be going there eventually, you'd be right! And this isn't inaccurate at all. BUT I'D HATE TO SPOIL IT
Well that was odd. ANYWAY
FROGS
Duster instead made a habit of thieving pies
I dunno Butch, you tell me
I bet because they knew secret behind the scenes Mother 3 information that only pigs would know.
I mean he DID give me a literal bag of cash.
SUCKERRR
But Duster is too honest for such a thing. Although this does make me wonder, do Duster and Butch know each other? Seemed to talk to him fairly easily. They do both live to the east outside of town.
Dum de dum
PIGCRAFT!
A... POOPING PIGCRAFT what seriously
sup leder
So I mentioned the Siren Beetle up there. Most enemies have a front and a back sprite, and if you want to see the back sprite, the siren beetle is the easiest way to do it! Why would you want to? Well you'll see.
all this litter everywhere, someone broke my glow lamp
ants rule this town
oh hai zombie
I'm as puzzled as you, buddy
I got some bad news
Do I know you zombie lady
He looks a little gangly to me personally BUT HEY
Groups of zombies! Thankfully I picked up a bomb for just such an occasion.
Which makes short work of em all, suckers. Their battle theme is Zombeat which is just a drum beat basically, it's kinda boring but if you're practicing combos it's not too bad I guess? There's also a second Zombeat called Tight Zombeat which is mostly the same except with a bunch of tricky stops and starts designed to mess you up. CURSE YOU, ZOMBEAT
DUSTER SURE SPENDS A LOT OF TIME AWAY FROM HOME DOESN'T HE
HMMM
walking around the graveyard frequently enough for Nippolyte to notice
Beautiful
Man no wonder people are careful about stepping on ants, they get really pushy.
When I was first playing this, I had NO idea about this system until I talked to this ant, haha. It sort of blew my mind just THIS WHOLE TIME I COULD HAVE BEEN COMBOING AND I DIDN'T? AAAAA
I like that they wait all the way into Chapter 2 to tell you about it.
ow my heart
AAAGH GET AWAY FROM ME
There we go
Theme for these guys is Accelerondo I think, which is just a progressively faster song. Good practice for changing speed during a song and not too hard to combo, usually.
PLUTO NO
Head into Nippolyte's cabin, what's he gonna do
Slight water damage
8O
I'm not sure which enemy in here has it but Fate (Destiny) shows up somewhere around here, it's a pretty easy one to combo on if you can nail the sudden speed ups.
Is his leg just stiff and numb so that's why he can kick with it or does he just kick with the other one IT'S CONFUSING TO ME
HEY HOW YA DOIN
HEY DEBBIE COME ON IN
More Meddlesome Pests also shows up around here but I can't remember who it goes to. :B Super easy to combo usually.
It is so handy when Duster does this, I swear.
As a sidenote, I forgot that one of the translations I originally used called these birds "Tutoriole". WHAT AN AWESOME PUN
Mostly battle mechanic talk but hehe.
How do YOU get through, Nippolyte
BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE
nomnom
delicious angelhair for miles around
SUCK IT WALL
GROSS
STUPID PIGMASKS
Sez you
This is true, putting an enemy to sleep shows you the beat with a very loud BONK BONK BONK sound but honestly it never seems to help me much with hitting it. Sometimes it actually makes it harder because it's distracting, haha.
As many players frustrated by emulator lag discovered.
booooooo
ribbit
Naaah.
The theme here is Osohe Castle, just kind of spooky, ominous music, as you'd expect.
I better knock that ball down! But how to do it?
PERFECT
squish
How did I not manage to actually get a cap of it falling, way to go self
Fine, maybe from this way instead.
AAA GHOST
These guys are everywhere, so annoying. Their theme is More Dangerous Guys I think. It's a fairly steady beat, you just have to land on it right to get a good rhythm going. It does have some random stops for no reason just to screw you up arrrghh
A BEAUTIFUL BACK
UGH GROSS
NOT HELPING
BLEGH
As you might guess, feeling nauseous makes it so you don't want to eat anything. This can be a real problem when all your healing items are food, meaning that Duster can't do ANYthing to heal himself while nauseous. WHICH SUCKS
Meanwhile
GHOOOOOOOOOOOSSTTSSSSS
How convenient
I actually forgot about this but while rereading the guide, I found out that if you keep rotten milk on you for like fifteen minutes or whatever, it'll turn into yogurt which heals you 80 hp. :O
Unless you want to join the ghosts anyway
What an odd crest
Yesssss
Haiku writers around here can't keep it short
A beautiful portrait of Lemongrab
Haha I remember you guys. Their theme is Back Beat Battle - Hard and like it says, this is tricky to keep a combo going on.
OH BOY THIS THING IS GREAT
Like it says, it keeps track of every enemy you've seen so far. You can also practice battle against them by using start to get better at certain song's beats and such. When I got bored I'd go into the battle memory on my Mother 3 cart and just practice battle with Unfounded Revenge or whatever, haha. I LIKE THE COMBO SYSTEM WHAT
As you can see, some of them have an R button on their picture, meaning you saw both the back and the front. Here's that completionist thing I was talking about - most of the enemies in the game have a back and front view, and some of them you only see once or twice. If you can get every enemy in here, you get a star, and I think if you get the back of every enemy too, you can unlock a secret hard mode. :O It's kinda pointless but you know, it's something that always sticks in the back of my mind like HEY TRY AND GET THE BACK OF THAT ENEMY IF YOU CAN
WHY NOT
Duster's siren beetle is super handy if you're trying to do this. But for chapter 1 when you don't have him, you just have to be really good at sneaking up on certain enemies that don't reappear later.
Sounds so delicious.
WHAT IS A TITANY
BESIDES HORRIFYING
I love this series so much.
IT'S TRUE
I'll try to keep checking in on here for new enemy descriptions. :B
BOOK: the book
just "fart" in tiny script on one page
MEANWHILE AT THE GHOST BAZAAR
Some of you may recognize Rope Snake from Brawl, haha. ROPE SNAKE IS ACTUALLY DUSTER'S i assume he just lent him to Lucas for Brawling purposes.
those beautiful eyes...
NO WAY I'LL REGRET THIS
me and rope snake are going to be best friends
how dare you
I forget these guys spawn new guys in battle so at one point I ended up in a chain of Arachnid!s and Stinky Ghosts just summoning more and more other enemies and it's like noooooo
New from Pixar
did anyone else go ...FOR SPIDERS!! really loudly in their heads
Into the wine cellar with the... fobbys?
don't eat my skin please
I think this guy's theme is And El Mariachi, it's got a fast pace which can be a little tricky to keep up with.
snuck up on a butt from behind
what ARE you?
Dry Guys goes to this guy I think, I had trouble comboing this for some reason.
Psssh probably nothing
EAT IT, STINKY GHOST
Dum de dum
Would ghosts really need passageways? Can't they go through walls?
excuse me can you fix the clock
UNACCEPTAAABBBLEEEE
Etude for Ghosts for Artsy Ghost and man I could not get ANYthing with this song, bah.
A bandana for chicks, awesome.
A nice yellow color.
AGH
VREEEEEEEEEEE
I think Astonishing March goes to these guys, pretty easy to combo.
tickle feather
I'M TELLING YOU, THESE THINGS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE
Hahahahaha
THERE ARE MORE??
Odor of... blood
twelve years dungeon
Aww yeah
I guess Duster and Flint have something in common, haha.
powpowpow
FINALLY GOT TO THE PARTY WOOOO
beautiful
The song for the ghost party is Ragtime Osohe, heehee.
HOW DARE YOU
unsubstantiated rumors
I like that everyone just looks at Duster and sees THIEF
like he's carrying around a sack of money with a dollar sign on it
ASK ME ABOUT WINE VINTAGES WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING
Staring at that meatball kind of intensely there, guy
wait nevermind
woops lazy capping OH WELL
I actually never looked at this, durrhurr
GET OFF MY LAWWWNNNNN
HEY! HEY! GET OUT OF MY BUSHES! HEY!
I love the booo boo booo part
ONE NON-EUCLIDEAN SALAD WITH EXTRA GLUM SAUCE
HOLD THE SOUR
Speaking of glum.
I don't think that's what Duster was getting at but okay
DON'T MIND ME
This is pretty sweet because you can just go back down the ladder, get an eclair, then come back up here and trade it for a beef jerky. TOTALLY FREE GAMING THE SYSTEM, HA HA
Not as many as I'd like sadly
aaarrrrgh
HI RANDOM JUMPING JAR WHATCHA DOING
blorp blorp
I'M TELLING YOU GUYS
groossss
This guy can be kinda tricky, but you can get a bomb off em for beating em, so hey. MORE EXP
GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSTTTSS
Might as well use some of these items I'm hoarding.
WHEEEEEEEE
i love this animation, haha. It's so smooth.
You look happy to see me
Heh, little lion tail. The theme for these guys is Serious I guess and frick I love this one, got such a great synth line to it. It's a variant of Fate/Destiny up there.
Dang, I missed it but the carpet monster yanked the rug out from under me. Waaaa
Stay awaaay
THAT SOUNDS LIKE I SHOULD FIND A SAVE POINT TO ME
suddenly a pinkhaired girl
what was that
Yeaaah now we're talkin
You can actually attack the sword and shield and knock them out first before attacking the knight BUT THAT'S FOR SISSIES
At least the beat's easy to follow.
Whaaaat all that for Yogurt
Well yogurt's pretty good I guess.
LAZY GHOOOOSSSTTSSS
aw yeah this is gon be magical
I wonder how old Duster is. There are a few things the villagers say later, but just going off of this, he's old enough to shave anyway. Or just became old enough to shave. IT'S HARD TO SAY
\m/
got nothing on me
Rarely you can get two of them in battle and they'll charge each other but I didn't pull it off this time, oh well.
WHAT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
There that's better, yeesh.
TRICKERYYYY
Least the songs are easy enough to combo.
It's a little hard to tell, but everything in this room was flying around all crazy.
I AIN'T A PART OF YOUR SYSTEM
THROWDOWN IN GHOST TOWN
Mr. Passion's theme is Family Matters, 2nd Movement, which is an odd medley of a bunch of different classical songs. It's sort of hard to combo unless you start right at the beginning of one section and it's one of the more consistent ones, but it can be done!
overcome with emotion
how could you
STOP THROWING THINGS AT ME
sucker
I almost missed this, but he threw a mouse at me! :o It made a squeak when it hit for 2 damage, haha.
THAT'S WHAT I THINK OF THAT
I'm not really talking too much strategy here, haha. BUT FOR SIR PASSION THROW SMOKE IN HIS EYES BASICALLY
then hit em with scary mask/tickle feather once or twice and go for it. You can also throw bombs if you want, why not.
SIR PASSION JUST WANTED TO PLAY MUSIC
WHYYY
I think, if I remember right, that this is a remnant from a system they were thinking about putting in, but in the end cut. But more on that later I think. I don't think these messages do anything now though, aside from make you feel accomplished, haha.
Big blue pillows, my best friends.
Aww yeah VICTORY
A Most Mysterious Room
Drafty old castles, pish posh.
slithering around Duster's things
WOOO SHORTCUT
And it's day! I spent all night in the castle carousing with ghosts
dad is going to kill me
The slugs and the lobsters will miss me otherwise, you see
Freedoommmm
Aww. And it's a different bouquet of flowers too. DETAILS.
WE'RE JUST CONCERNED DUSTER, THIS IS ODD
GET MY HOPES UP FOR NOTHING
i'm between jobs
I WASN'T HANGING OUT WITH GHOSTS
talk to us duster honey
are you okay
egg noodle cookies
Oh honey.
For the dollhouse.
I don't gotta take showers if I don't want to.
THE ONLY PLACE FOR A THIEF LIKE ME
BUT WHAT COULD IT BE
Excuse me who are you again
Uh huh wait what
Stay true to your artistic vision, Jonel.
Duster eating it like a filthy squirrel, eyes darting this way and that.
You know Wes said that Duster didn't fit in with the other villagers, but everyone in town just seems sort of puzzled to see him out and mildly concerned about him. HMMMM.
Fliiinnnttt
And a lot of them haven't seen him in a long time. Was he only up while they were asleep, or too busy training to come into town? WHO CAN SAY
excuse me
IS IT THE MONKEY HITTER
Hi town thief come into my store
take all the time you want friend
Hi unclean cookie guy! I guess you and Thomas are related? I can see it.
Sounds like a plan.
A HUG
I MEAN
NOTHING
What
IT'S AN EPIDEMIC AROUND HERE
Heh, Lighter spun around a few times for emphasis. THIS SITUATION IS RIPE FOR HILARITY
BUT WHO COULD IT BE
hi i'm the town thief, we've never talked but you ever thought about getting married NO DON'T CALL THE COPS
I succumb easily to peer pressure
This sounds like it was in EarthBound but I can't remember where.
Lucaaaaasss
Fuel checking up on him, aww.
Boney just whimpers if you try and talk to him.
Oh Lucas, so much guilt.
MIND IF I SLEEP IN YOUR HOUSE, LUCAS
You can actually do it too which I think is hilarious. I even did a comic about it.
Picturing the two of them bouncing around on it. :<
So possibly Elmore last saw him as a teenager? Either way he can't be that old. I DUNNO I'M JUST TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER THE PIECES.
Richest family seems pretty chill with the town thief.
Mapson why are you in Pusher's house
NOBODY BELIEVES IN MY THIEF SKILLS
As mentioned I don't do many caps of the map for some dumb reason, but on the right is the way to Duster and Wes's house, and to the left is the way to the main village. It just amuses me that the grass is literally greener on the other side.
WE JUST WORRY ABOUT YOU
NO NEVER
now i have to kill you
It's almost like you're really unhappy at home or something!
Am I right guys, psssh
insert eyeroll here
Isn't that the FF victory fanfare?
I'll staple you to the wall, kid.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Oh yeah I got that vase at the castle didn't I, I should go give that to Wes at some point huh. NEXT TIME!
And also, for those of you who beat the game/have the soundtrack, I just found out about the ultra-high quality rips here. And I don't mean just taken from the game or the official released soundtrack or anything. Like it says, it takes the soundfont and midi data and combines them outside the GBA software so you can hear it way better than it would actually sound in game. It's entirely possible I'm way behind on finding out about this, but if not there you go.
BE WARNED if you haven't played/beaten the game yet, some track titles and info may have spoilers.
I also posted this at dreamwidth with reluctant ambivalence. Comment here or there, don't matter to me!
This is one of my favorite chapters because I love Duster. WHY BE COY ABOUT IT, IT'S TRUE
But ANYWAY in our last installment there was a ton of horrible trauma and sadness. WILL THERE BE TRAUMA AND SADNESS IN THIS INSTALLMENT? ROLL THE DICE AND FIND OUT!
(with this game odds are in favor of "yes")
Previous editions
First let's recap a bit from the first chapter, in case you're late coming in.
Oh Duster, so compassionate.
just gonna scoot down here for a sec
did
did you just talk flint
Duster just flabbergasted
But no, one of the things I really like about Mother 3 is how it plays around with or subverts typical expectations you have from an RPG. For example, the silent protagonist. But more on that in a second.
OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY
Thank goodness explosion season is almost over.
awesome no one saw me sneak out i'll just go to bed and
#@#$
oh like THAT'S new
The theme here is Passing Down Secrets, which for some reason I have on my playlist as "Handed Down from Our Ancestors" and thus that took way too long to find, haha. BUT ANYWAY it's just sort of ominous and kind of cool sounding really.
I'M AGAINST IT
Contrary Duster has spent too much time with Flint's family
AND TO THINK, NOT BEING CONTRARY WOULD MAKE YOU MISS THIS WHOLE CONVO which actually tells you a lot about their relationship oops
Wes, father of the year. I wonder how young Duster was when his leg got messed up (like 6-8)? What exactly were they doing? Did he fall off something, get chomped by a monster, spar with Wes and screw up, accidentally staple his leg, what? Did Wes just not take him to a doctor and it healed badly? Was the damage just so extensive that it just could never fully heal? Did anyone else in town notice that Wes's eight year old suddenly had a limp? Did they wonder about how Duster's leg got mangled if Wes brought him in? THIS RAISES SO MANY QUESTIONS FOR ME
In the first translation I was using going through this, it went something like:
"Duster...
It might've been better if we'd been born in a different time.
I pushed you in your training when you were young, and the limp in your leg, as well as the fact that you don't fit in with the other people in town, is all my fault...at least, that's what I think.
If you want to resent me, then by all means, resent me. If that makes you feel better then resent me all you want.
However...you cannot decide your own answer."
YEAH I BROKE YOUR LEG, WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO, CRY ABOUT IT?
like that's anything new
woah there's a castle around here?
NOPE, GOT IT
unlike my respect or admiration which you will never have
Thanks for the hot tip, pops.
More on those in a second!
Go screw up, got it.
Duster staring longingly at it.
IT MUST BE MY BIRTHDAY
Written where, what
YAY A BUG
THANKS DAD
Isn't this where Duster was sleeping before? He lives in his dad's basement, haha.
This comes in handy surprisingly often for bosses.
I cannot emphasize enough how important offense down/defense down is in Mother 3. It is WAY more important than it was in EarthBound or in fact in most RPGs I've played. Off/Def down will SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Duster's thief tools are freeee of course which is great, though they aren't 100% successful each try. But still, if you need to save PP for PSI attacks, then his thief tools can be super valuable. There is no battle that can't be improved with off/def down.
Heh, this is the hypno pendulum I stuck in the ukagaka. :B But sleep is sort of handy as a status, and it also has a side benefit, but I'll get to that in a bit.
This will at most buy you a turn, but if you're a real completionist, this thing is absolutely vital. But more on that later as well, haha.
And out we go! Duster chapterrrrr
But yeah before I mentioned the silent protagonist thing. It's just interesting to me that whoever you're controlling becomes silent, but is later revealed to have been talking the entire time, like Flint. The better for you to project your own responses onto them? WHO KNOWS but I think it's an interesting choice, haha. It definitely changes the feel and impression of the character. Sort of like you're closer, but the character themselves is... not as prominent? I'm not sure how to describe it, it's hard to put into words. It's one of those things that's a big part of how interactive media can change a story, if you know what I mean. Controlling Duster and as a result taking away his ability to speak changes how you view him, and so with a character like Flint, where you started that way and then it revealed that he had a character outside your control the entire time... it's just interesting you know? I dunno I'm probably not explaining this very well.
INSTEAD HERE'S AN OBSCURE MESSAGE
The theme playing while you wander around is Mind of a Thief I think, generally thought of as Duster's Theme. It's got a bit of energy but mostly just a kind of gentle flute lead, haha. A GENTLE THEME FOR A GENTLE GUY
SHHHH
Another thing I like about Mother 3 is that it gives you bits and pieces of information and lets you put it all together yourself, which of course is one of my favorite things to do, haha. Duster walks around alone at night a lot! Sort of like he doesn't want to spend much time at home for some reason.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO HELP
ALWAYS STEREOTYPED INTO MAP-RELATED ROLES
SO UNFAIR
Duster just too shy to talk to people
I GUESS IT WAS COOL I DUNNO that's all i got
WHERE DOES LEDER SLEEP
New sitcom coming up on ABC
Aww Fuel.
OH YEAH
love is in the air
Perhaps why Jackie seemed puzzled to see Duster here! Since usually they'd be closed by now.
Let's take a quick detour for some heartbreak, courtesy Lucas. The saddest, tiniest little sprite.
I WISH I COULD HUG YOU LUCAS BUT I CAN'T
WHY ISN'T THERE A HUG BUTTON
although on that note WHY ISN'T FLINT HERE
FLINT YOUR SON SEEMS LONELY
Poor Lucas instead takes comfort in hanging out with Boney. You'll always be there for me, Boney.
If you guessed we might be going there eventually, you'd be right! And this isn't inaccurate at all. BUT I'D HATE TO SPOIL IT
Well that was odd. ANYWAY
FROGS
Duster instead made a habit of thieving pies
I dunno Butch, you tell me
I bet because they knew secret behind the scenes Mother 3 information that only pigs would know.
I mean he DID give me a literal bag of cash.
SUCKERRR
But Duster is too honest for such a thing. Although this does make me wonder, do Duster and Butch know each other? Seemed to talk to him fairly easily. They do both live to the east outside of town.
Dum de dum
PIGCRAFT!
A... POOPING PIGCRAFT what seriously
sup leder
So I mentioned the Siren Beetle up there. Most enemies have a front and a back sprite, and if you want to see the back sprite, the siren beetle is the easiest way to do it! Why would you want to? Well you'll see.
all this litter everywhere, someone broke my glow lamp
ants rule this town
oh hai zombie
I'm as puzzled as you, buddy
I got some bad news
Do I know you zombie lady
He looks a little gangly to me personally BUT HEY
Groups of zombies! Thankfully I picked up a bomb for just such an occasion.
Which makes short work of em all, suckers. Their battle theme is Zombeat which is just a drum beat basically, it's kinda boring but if you're practicing combos it's not too bad I guess? There's also a second Zombeat called Tight Zombeat which is mostly the same except with a bunch of tricky stops and starts designed to mess you up. CURSE YOU, ZOMBEAT
DUSTER SURE SPENDS A LOT OF TIME AWAY FROM HOME DOESN'T HE
HMMM
walking around the graveyard frequently enough for Nippolyte to notice
Beautiful
Man no wonder people are careful about stepping on ants, they get really pushy.
When I was first playing this, I had NO idea about this system until I talked to this ant, haha. It sort of blew my mind just THIS WHOLE TIME I COULD HAVE BEEN COMBOING AND I DIDN'T? AAAAA
I like that they wait all the way into Chapter 2 to tell you about it.
ow my heart
AAAGH GET AWAY FROM ME
There we go
Theme for these guys is Accelerondo I think, which is just a progressively faster song. Good practice for changing speed during a song and not too hard to combo, usually.
PLUTO NO
Head into Nippolyte's cabin, what's he gonna do
Slight water damage
8O
I'm not sure which enemy in here has it but Fate (Destiny) shows up somewhere around here, it's a pretty easy one to combo on if you can nail the sudden speed ups.
Is his leg just stiff and numb so that's why he can kick with it or does he just kick with the other one IT'S CONFUSING TO ME
HEY HOW YA DOIN
HEY DEBBIE COME ON IN
More Meddlesome Pests also shows up around here but I can't remember who it goes to. :B Super easy to combo usually.
It is so handy when Duster does this, I swear.
As a sidenote, I forgot that one of the translations I originally used called these birds "Tutoriole". WHAT AN AWESOME PUN
Mostly battle mechanic talk but hehe.
How do YOU get through, Nippolyte
BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE
nomnom
delicious angelhair for miles around
SUCK IT WALL
GROSS
STUPID PIGMASKS
Sez you
This is true, putting an enemy to sleep shows you the beat with a very loud BONK BONK BONK sound but honestly it never seems to help me much with hitting it. Sometimes it actually makes it harder because it's distracting, haha.
As many players frustrated by emulator lag discovered.
booooooo
ribbit
Naaah.
The theme here is Osohe Castle, just kind of spooky, ominous music, as you'd expect.
I better knock that ball down! But how to do it?
PERFECT
squish
How did I not manage to actually get a cap of it falling, way to go self
Fine, maybe from this way instead.
AAA GHOST
These guys are everywhere, so annoying. Their theme is More Dangerous Guys I think. It's a fairly steady beat, you just have to land on it right to get a good rhythm going. It does have some random stops for no reason just to screw you up arrrghh
A BEAUTIFUL BACK
UGH GROSS
NOT HELPING
BLEGH
As you might guess, feeling nauseous makes it so you don't want to eat anything. This can be a real problem when all your healing items are food, meaning that Duster can't do ANYthing to heal himself while nauseous. WHICH SUCKS
Meanwhile
GHOOOOOOOOOOOSSTTSSSSS
How convenient
I actually forgot about this but while rereading the guide, I found out that if you keep rotten milk on you for like fifteen minutes or whatever, it'll turn into yogurt which heals you 80 hp. :O
Unless you want to join the ghosts anyway
What an odd crest
Yesssss
Haiku writers around here can't keep it short
A beautiful portrait of Lemongrab
Haha I remember you guys. Their theme is Back Beat Battle - Hard and like it says, this is tricky to keep a combo going on.
OH BOY THIS THING IS GREAT
Like it says, it keeps track of every enemy you've seen so far. You can also practice battle against them by using start to get better at certain song's beats and such. When I got bored I'd go into the battle memory on my Mother 3 cart and just practice battle with Unfounded Revenge or whatever, haha. I LIKE THE COMBO SYSTEM WHAT
As you can see, some of them have an R button on their picture, meaning you saw both the back and the front. Here's that completionist thing I was talking about - most of the enemies in the game have a back and front view, and some of them you only see once or twice. If you can get every enemy in here, you get a star, and I think if you get the back of every enemy too, you can unlock a secret hard mode. :O It's kinda pointless but you know, it's something that always sticks in the back of my mind like HEY TRY AND GET THE BACK OF THAT ENEMY IF YOU CAN
WHY NOT
Duster's siren beetle is super handy if you're trying to do this. But for chapter 1 when you don't have him, you just have to be really good at sneaking up on certain enemies that don't reappear later.
Sounds so delicious.
WHAT IS A TITANY
BESIDES HORRIFYING
I love this series so much.
IT'S TRUE
I'll try to keep checking in on here for new enemy descriptions. :B
BOOK: the book
just "fart" in tiny script on one page
MEANWHILE AT THE GHOST BAZAAR
Some of you may recognize Rope Snake from Brawl, haha. ROPE SNAKE IS ACTUALLY DUSTER'S i assume he just lent him to Lucas for Brawling purposes.
those beautiful eyes...
NO WAY I'LL REGRET THIS
me and rope snake are going to be best friends
how dare you
I forget these guys spawn new guys in battle so at one point I ended up in a chain of Arachnid!s and Stinky Ghosts just summoning more and more other enemies and it's like noooooo
New from Pixar
did anyone else go ...FOR SPIDERS!! really loudly in their heads
Into the wine cellar with the... fobbys?
don't eat my skin please
I think this guy's theme is And El Mariachi, it's got a fast pace which can be a little tricky to keep up with.
snuck up on a butt from behind
what ARE you?
Dry Guys goes to this guy I think, I had trouble comboing this for some reason.
Psssh probably nothing
EAT IT, STINKY GHOST
Dum de dum
Would ghosts really need passageways? Can't they go through walls?
excuse me can you fix the clock
UNACCEPTAAABBBLEEEE
Etude for Ghosts for Artsy Ghost and man I could not get ANYthing with this song, bah.
A bandana for chicks, awesome.
A nice yellow color.
AGH
VREEEEEEEEEEE
I think Astonishing March goes to these guys, pretty easy to combo.
tickle feather
I'M TELLING YOU, THESE THINGS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE
Hahahahaha
THERE ARE MORE??
Odor of... blood
twelve years dungeon
Aww yeah
I guess Duster and Flint have something in common, haha.
powpowpow
FINALLY GOT TO THE PARTY WOOOO
beautiful
The song for the ghost party is Ragtime Osohe, heehee.
HOW DARE YOU
unsubstantiated rumors
I like that everyone just looks at Duster and sees THIEF
like he's carrying around a sack of money with a dollar sign on it
ASK ME ABOUT WINE VINTAGES WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING
Staring at that meatball kind of intensely there, guy
wait nevermind
woops lazy capping OH WELL
I actually never looked at this, durrhurr
GET OFF MY LAWWWNNNNN
HEY! HEY! GET OUT OF MY BUSHES! HEY!
I love the booo boo booo part
ONE NON-EUCLIDEAN SALAD WITH EXTRA GLUM SAUCE
HOLD THE SOUR
Speaking of glum.
I don't think that's what Duster was getting at but okay
DON'T MIND ME
This is pretty sweet because you can just go back down the ladder, get an eclair, then come back up here and trade it for a beef jerky. TOTALLY FREE GAMING THE SYSTEM, HA HA
Not as many as I'd like sadly
aaarrrrgh
HI RANDOM JUMPING JAR WHATCHA DOING
blorp blorp
I'M TELLING YOU GUYS
groossss
This guy can be kinda tricky, but you can get a bomb off em for beating em, so hey. MORE EXP
GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSTTTSS
Might as well use some of these items I'm hoarding.
WHEEEEEEEE
i love this animation, haha. It's so smooth.
You look happy to see me
Heh, little lion tail. The theme for these guys is Serious I guess and frick I love this one, got such a great synth line to it. It's a variant of Fate/Destiny up there.
Dang, I missed it but the carpet monster yanked the rug out from under me. Waaaa
Stay awaaay
THAT SOUNDS LIKE I SHOULD FIND A SAVE POINT TO ME
suddenly a pinkhaired girl
what was that
Yeaaah now we're talkin
You can actually attack the sword and shield and knock them out first before attacking the knight BUT THAT'S FOR SISSIES
At least the beat's easy to follow.
Whaaaat all that for Yogurt
Well yogurt's pretty good I guess.
LAZY GHOOOOSSSTTSSS
aw yeah this is gon be magical
I wonder how old Duster is. There are a few things the villagers say later, but just going off of this, he's old enough to shave anyway. Or just became old enough to shave. IT'S HARD TO SAY
\m/
got nothing on me
Rarely you can get two of them in battle and they'll charge each other but I didn't pull it off this time, oh well.
WHAT
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH
There that's better, yeesh.
TRICKERYYYY
Least the songs are easy enough to combo.
It's a little hard to tell, but everything in this room was flying around all crazy.
I AIN'T A PART OF YOUR SYSTEM
THROWDOWN IN GHOST TOWN
Mr. Passion's theme is Family Matters, 2nd Movement, which is an odd medley of a bunch of different classical songs. It's sort of hard to combo unless you start right at the beginning of one section and it's one of the more consistent ones, but it can be done!
overcome with emotion
how could you
STOP THROWING THINGS AT ME
sucker
I almost missed this, but he threw a mouse at me! :o It made a squeak when it hit for 2 damage, haha.
THAT'S WHAT I THINK OF THAT
I'm not really talking too much strategy here, haha. BUT FOR SIR PASSION THROW SMOKE IN HIS EYES BASICALLY
then hit em with scary mask/tickle feather once or twice and go for it. You can also throw bombs if you want, why not.
SIR PASSION JUST WANTED TO PLAY MUSIC
WHYYY
I think, if I remember right, that this is a remnant from a system they were thinking about putting in, but in the end cut. But more on that later I think. I don't think these messages do anything now though, aside from make you feel accomplished, haha.
Big blue pillows, my best friends.
Aww yeah VICTORY
A Most Mysterious Room
Drafty old castles, pish posh.
slithering around Duster's things
WOOO SHORTCUT
And it's day! I spent all night in the castle carousing with ghosts
dad is going to kill me
The slugs and the lobsters will miss me otherwise, you see
Freedoommmm
Aww. And it's a different bouquet of flowers too. DETAILS.
WE'RE JUST CONCERNED DUSTER, THIS IS ODD
GET MY HOPES UP FOR NOTHING
i'm between jobs
I WASN'T HANGING OUT WITH GHOSTS
talk to us duster honey
are you okay
egg noodle cookies
Oh honey.
For the dollhouse.
I don't gotta take showers if I don't want to.
THE ONLY PLACE FOR A THIEF LIKE ME
BUT WHAT COULD IT BE
Excuse me who are you again
Uh huh wait what
Stay true to your artistic vision, Jonel.
Duster eating it like a filthy squirrel, eyes darting this way and that.
You know Wes said that Duster didn't fit in with the other villagers, but everyone in town just seems sort of puzzled to see him out and mildly concerned about him. HMMMM.
Fliiinnnttt
And a lot of them haven't seen him in a long time. Was he only up while they were asleep, or too busy training to come into town? WHO CAN SAY
excuse me
IS IT THE MONKEY HITTER
Hi town thief come into my store
take all the time you want friend
Hi unclean cookie guy! I guess you and Thomas are related? I can see it.
Sounds like a plan.
A HUG
I MEAN
NOTHING
What
IT'S AN EPIDEMIC AROUND HERE
Heh, Lighter spun around a few times for emphasis. THIS SITUATION IS RIPE FOR HILARITY
BUT WHO COULD IT BE
hi i'm the town thief, we've never talked but you ever thought about getting married NO DON'T CALL THE COPS
I succumb easily to peer pressure
This sounds like it was in EarthBound but I can't remember where.
Lucaaaaasss
Fuel checking up on him, aww.
Boney just whimpers if you try and talk to him.
Oh Lucas, so much guilt.
MIND IF I SLEEP IN YOUR HOUSE, LUCAS
You can actually do it too which I think is hilarious. I even did a comic about it.
Picturing the two of them bouncing around on it. :<
So possibly Elmore last saw him as a teenager? Either way he can't be that old. I DUNNO I'M JUST TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER THE PIECES.
Richest family seems pretty chill with the town thief.
Mapson why are you in Pusher's house
NOBODY BELIEVES IN MY THIEF SKILLS
As mentioned I don't do many caps of the map for some dumb reason, but on the right is the way to Duster and Wes's house, and to the left is the way to the main village. It just amuses me that the grass is literally greener on the other side.
WE JUST WORRY ABOUT YOU
NO NEVER
now i have to kill you
It's almost like you're really unhappy at home or something!
Am I right guys, psssh
insert eyeroll here
Isn't that the FF victory fanfare?
I'll staple you to the wall, kid.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Oh yeah I got that vase at the castle didn't I, I should go give that to Wes at some point huh. NEXT TIME!
And also, for those of you who beat the game/have the soundtrack, I just found out about the ultra-high quality rips here. And I don't mean just taken from the game or the official released soundtrack or anything. Like it says, it takes the soundfont and midi data and combines them outside the GBA software so you can hear it way better than it would actually sound in game. It's entirely possible I'm way behind on finding out about this, but if not there you go.
BE WARNED if you haven't played/beaten the game yet, some track titles and info may have spoilers.
I also posted this at dreamwidth with reluctant ambivalence. Comment here or there, don't matter to me!