As put by Shigesato Itoi's peers and fans, "Mother" is a therapeutic experience.
>http://youtu.be/lKpaKlatg5M?t=16s
The lovely thing about this is that every quote featured in this video is personal. They're short, but they reveal something about the experience these people had with the game they were playing.
And while the Americana setting helps people initially relate to Mother, it's the dreamlike quality of the design that makes it memorable. From the hauntingly poetic moments the player picks up the eight melodies to the frustrating peaks of Mt. Itoi, Mother is one hell of a journey. In a way, even the game's archaicness (which is its most-cited flaw) works in its favor by making it feel unconventional. That's why it was pleasing to hear some Mother 4 developers, Pastel in particular, mentioned their game was drawing heavy influence from Mother 1. I don't think four will be lacking because Itoi isn't behind it. Shigesato Itoi is not the only person who can make an interpersonally driven experience, and arguably someone who has been personally touched by his work could understand the game in ways that are worth telling. Itoi's done talking. Isn't it only appropriate someone responds to him?
Pastel has shown that he understands Mother is more than baseball bats and digs at pop culture, but let me be clear: I'm unsure I believe him. A huge part of Mother 1's experience is its musical design. None of the (fairly quality) tracks they have posted are remotely similar to Mother 1. I don't know if that's the musician's doing, but given that Pastel is the "creative lead," I can imagine he directs audio fairly closely. Why is most of the audio based off of one subset of EarthBound's soundtrack? (the funk driven quirky instrumentation with a few vocal samples)
(1/2)
The exceptions to this are Mom and Cooking and Boom Town Lounge, but the latter echoes Fourside more than anything more in Mother 1 and 3. The best way I can describe the sountrack of Mother 1 is "effortlessly emotional." They're light, flowing tunes - typically constructed of simple chords - that have a mystical aura to their melodies. I'd be lying if I could tell you what specifically made them that way, but it makes an impact.
The following are some examples of what I mean:
Title Screen theme
Wisdom of the World
Youngtown
Pollyanna
Eight Melodies
Snowman
Magicant
Please attempt to include tracks of these kind, Mother 4 team. Your game might feel a little more hollow without them.
I'm not sure if this is copy pasta or not, but...
finally, someone who can put his opinions in a calm, orderly manner without yelling 'OFCOURSEITSGONNABEBADNINTENDODIDNTMAKEIT'
as for me, I'll just wait for the game and then form an opinion
>>286336185
It isn't a copypasta.
I was thinking
Can we start labeling Mother-style rpgs QRPGs?
Q standing for quirky, as I don't think there are anything special about them really and they seem to attract a kind of audience that is only attracted to QRPGs i.e. the average Mother fanatic has never touched Dragon Quest despite them having nearly identical gameplay.
>>286337645
It's going to be.
>From the hauntingly poetic moments the player picks up the eight melodies
Get your head out of your ass. Just because it isn't your magical M1 soundtrack doesn't mean it won't be just as good or effective.
>>286338013
The aesthetic differences don't make it not a JRPG.
The thing that really bugs me, is the fact the trailers are focusing too much on the weird and silly aspects of the game.
It gives me a feeling it's gonna be trying too hard.
The Japanese trailers for the games always focus on the emotional aspects of the games.
>>286338013
QRPGs sounds fitting
Lisa's be best QRPG of the decade so far
Wait is mother 4 a jrpg?
>>286338863
>focusing too much on the weird and silly aspects
I'm sorry to break it to you but that is what sets Mother apart from other RPGs. Quirky characters and weird shit happening.
Not that it has good story or interesting characters per se, just weird shit happens. Not always a bad thing either.
>>286338953
Yeah I thought so.
I'd say Deadly Premonition is my favorite Quirk Person Shooter or Quirky Survival Horror ever.
>>286338863
They're focusing on the gameplay, but I agree - except for the first trailer.
It made me feel unease. Like, you see a cop, a zombie looking dude with a machine on his head, and this weird needle thing before the earth itself starts crying. It gave me the impression something in-universe was very wrong and left me fascinated.
>>286338863
I don't get the sense they're trying too hard. The gameplay trailer wasn't too quirky at all. (and for what it's worth, the dog dialogue was humorously touching)
>>286338331
It's bad that I'm asking for realized potential?
Mom and Cooking and Stuff and The Future's Breath give me the impression the soundtrack can and will do exactly what you're suggesting. I don't think they're going to go for all out atonal discord and wobbly noises.
>>286338013
MOTHER isn't quirky or wacky, though. That's all in the marketing.
>>286340949
Some of the soundtrack sounds like wobbly noises and atonal discord though.
https://soundcloud.com/shanemesa/battleagainstafamiliarfoe
>You will never make your own sequel to a beloved series because your autism made you misunderstand a quote from the developer
>>286341812
FUCK they hit the nail right on the head for Earthbound right there
>>286341812
That's one of the oldest tracks, and I just looked up the Q&A pastel did and:
>The music is very varied. The stuff on the soundcloud is probably the most discordant music we have. In towns and most battles there's a strong focus on melodic progression and many tracks don't even use Earthbound/Mother 3 samples.
https://archive.moe/v/thread/281952980/
Since Boom Town Lounge and the town theme from the gameplay trailer support that I don't think I'm scared of that.
>no title debate ITT
What has this world come to?
All they need to do is two things.
>Change the name
>Make it a complete reboot instead of continuing the story
Then I'll see it as something more than a pretentious art class project by hipsters.
Remember not to respond to the derailers.
>>286338013
A shiton of RPG games copied the dragon quest layout, most of them expanded on that layout and became better than Dragon Quest, Mother being one of them
>>286342445
I'll bite. They said explicitly there will be no story connections to other Mother games save for minor ones like Mr. Saturns reappearing.
>>286342445
That sounds like your problem more than theirs.
>>286340949
>Mom and Cooking and Stuff
On second thought, I don't think this counts. It's a very melodic tune, yes, but it's...not much more than "soft." MOTHER 1's songs are vivid. They have confidence in their notes.
>>286342202
HOW THE FUCK WAS IT MISUNDERSTOOD?!?!
This game will be phenomenal, get YOUR head out of YOUR ass you asspie
>These elitist assholes are gonna ruin all Mother threads now
Mother 4 is gonna be to Mother threads as Project M was to Smash threads.
>>286333521
Over rated game general.
Don't respond to any of the derailers.
>>286342204
They used the same sounds as earthbound, but earthbound made a catchy tune from them. This is a mess.
>>286342653
The game still takes place in the recreated world at the end of Mother 3.
It kinda ruins what was designed to be the end to the series.
>>286342286
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
>>286338953
fuck off, shill
>>286342759
>Life is Mother 4 means I should make Mother 4
>>286342903
Source on this? They said the game takes place in the 70s and has no main story connections to any Mother game at all.
>>286343040
headcanon
>>286342654
>That sounds like your problem more than theirs
Well yeah, cause I actually played the games it was based on.
>>286343040
The 60s and 70s****
>>286343040
One of the old devs said so years ago, and judging by pic related, they're still keeping that plot point.
If this game shits on any of the plot points in Earthbound/Mother 3 then this game is instantly shit
DON'T BE NERVOUS xD
DISHWASHERS xD
BUZZ OFF xD
OH NO A MOSQUITO IN MY HOTEL ROOM xD
MR. SATURN BOING! xD
SWEATING CAT xD
STRAY DOGS xD
DIRTY MAGAZINES!! xD
Why are Mother 4's memes so dank?
>>286343391
The title already does this
>>286343225
To be fair, they got rid of some of their old devs because they were tumblr hacks who wanted to put in memes and self inserts.
I've heard them recently say that the game's setting is built around the 60s and 70s. Whether this is prior to Mother 1, or some 60s-70s setting built in a world after Mother 3 we don't really know.
>>286343391
They said there won't be any plot points from Earthbound or Mother 3 carrying over because it's a fangame and they want to make their own plot points to avoid a shitty mess of fanfic-tier nonsense.
>>286343625
>there won't be any plot points from Earthbound or Mother 3 carrying over
...so it's a reboot, then?
>>286343471
>DIRTY MAGAZINES
This is the first sign they were trying too hard.
It's clearly emulating the hip lady and "that's called sexual harassment these days"
It also gives me fear they're going for a Mother 3 tier story, and that can't be good.
>>286343847
Maybe there's a plot point where you have to get somebody a porno mag. I dunno.
The only thing I will consider M4 as is fanfic., and I won't consider it when talking about the mother franchise. That doesn't mean it'll be bad though. I'll probably enjoy it, it looks good, and I enjoy the discussion threads when it isn't name shitposting.
I don't get why people get so worked over it. It looks like a fun little fangame that will have sme good points and bad points, that's it.
>>286343847
What the fuck? That's not trying too hard at all. Stop digging so deep for meaningless things to critique the game on. OP is an example of real critique. You're just sweating the small stuff.
If you're baiting, at least make it more obvious like the post you're replying to.
>>286343625
>I've heard them recently say that the game's setting is built around the 60s and 70s. Whether this is prior to Mother 1, or some 60s-70s setting built in a world after Mother 3 we don't really know
What else would "The title might a bit to do with it" mean?
It's the recreated world, I can't see any other way it isn't.
>>286344049
>You literally can't complain about anything my beloved fanfic writers do or you're trolling
I swear you're like NeoGAF users.
>>286344039
This. I don't think any reasonable person hyped for Mother 4 will consider it anything more than a fangame, even if it does turn out amazing.
>>286344080
Even if it is the recreated world, it's almost the perfect way to bring in new plot points without bringing in the old.
I hope they weren't lying and won't touch Porky and previous plot points though if they do go for the recreated world.
>>286344203
Complaining's fine, but most of the "complaints" in this thread is mostly bait.
>>286344203
>still strawmanning
no one said you couldn't criticize. have critique that actually refers to the bigger picture.
>>286344039
Because PCfags will claim it's the best in the series because it's free and on PC.
They'll do just like Project M fags, when they stormed into every Smash Bros. thread and whined about how Sakurai was a hack, and you shouldn't play Smash 4 because fans know better than the creators.
>none of these plebs know Shakespeare wrote fanfic of the trojan war where Hector has another, sexier brother who Achilles meets and has sex with.
>Shakespeare is the one responsible for the interpretation that Achilles and Patroklus were lovers rather than close war brothers.
This shit was just accepted into canon for centuries.
>>286344483
>Because PCfags will claim it's the best in the series because it's free and on PC.
I can guarantee most of the people ITT that are hyped for the new Mother game are Mother fans m8. Mother fans are a different breed than Smash Bros fans.
Even Starman.net is hyped for this fangame.
>>286344318
The problem with the recreated world is the fact it was supposed to be left to interpretation.
Actually seeing it destroys the ending.
>>286344503
Hector literally did nothing wrong
>>286344483
All of the MOTHER games are free and on the PC.
