MOTHER/EarthBound series

For me Ness didn't even take out the Ghosts of Starmen and Final Starmen. Paula just put up her PSI reflector and bounced back the Starstorms.

But on the point about Ness being strong enough to protect Paula, what use are the other two, ultimately?

Without Ness and Jeff, they'd have ended their journey at Happy Happy village and Threed, respectively. Poo was the only one who could take them to the Pink Cloud, and I suppose the power of Starstorm was prophesied somewhere. Jeff also meant they could teleport to Winters, and had the help of Dr Andonuts.

And ultimately, the quest as a whole had them touch the hearts of people all around the world. Paula's prayer wouldn't have reached so many people without that, I think.

And Ness's strength was needed to shatter the "nightmare boulder", whatever that is. Maybe he was needed to defeat the Devil's Machine. But Porky shut that off... Hm...

Ness's Nightmare is the Nightmare Boulder; it takes the form of a statue, which is made of stone (gold is a kind of stone), and boulders are also made of stone.

Gold is a metal.

But it's found either in rocks or as rocks.

Also, the legend talks about said shattering being because of the passage/flow of time.

I think that refers to Ness's eventual time travel.

I think that refers to Ness growing over time.

Ness's adventure gives him the strength to defeat his inner evil.

Except he got the full exten of the power right after beating the nightmare.

I think that, while the quest to get the melodies imbued Ness with enough power to stand up to Giygas's first few forms, the important part wasn't the melodies, or the power gained from the quest.

It was the quest itself. Ness traveled all over, made friens, gained companions, and touched peoples' hearts wherever he wen. And in the end, everyone came together and joined them in prayer to defeat Giygas. Including, in a Neverending Story (in the book anyway) sort of way, the player. The player is one of the people who Ness connected to in his journey, and who helped defeat Gigyas with the power of their bonds.

Recall Buzz Buzz. He said tht the most importnt things were wisdom, courage, and friendship. Power, despite the chance for a Zelda reference, was not there. It's useful, but incidental, I think.

In less heavy news, I just repaired the Shield Killer in my file! Woo! ...and it immediately fails to strip a Guardian Digger's power shield. Woo.

I meant that the quest gave Ness enough strength to defeat Ness's Nightmare. The passage of time (The quest and experience gained on it) will shatter the nightmare rock (Ness's Nightmare).

So basically Ness gained enough strength to gain more strength. Takes strength to make strength, I guess...

Of course, the nightmare rock could also be the actual Mani Mani statue, or the Devil's Machine.

Is the Mani Mani Statue an actual creation or agent of Giygas, or is it a completely unrelated evil power that just so happened to get caught up in this fiasco?

...I kinda like the latter idea, helps fragment Earthbound's plot even more.

I think it's Giygas-connected. It was telling Monotoli to keep Ness away from Summers and the pyramid.

Ah, that.

So then, was it created by Giygas, or is being manipulated/allied with by Giygas, is the million dollar question now.

You know, I was looking up the history of Earthbound/ Mother, and I realized something.

The official name for the main character is Ness, and Earth Bound was on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Or in other words, you play as Ness... on the SNES.

And then I spent five minutes kicking myself for not noticing this before.

And, gosh, the protagonist of the previous game is called Ninten! Do you reckon there could be some kind of reference there?

And Mother 3 is on the Game Boy Lu- wait.

Hey, I SAID "five minutes kicking myself," didn't I?

Ahah. I managed to get the double dialogue glitch on the Clumsy Robot fight.

I've never gotten that glitch, but it's really funny. I just tend to use paralysis on Clumsy, leaving it helpless.

Yeh, I had Power Shields up, so his last missle triggered twice.

Anyway, Poo has now joined. Got any good suggeestions as to where to quickly level grind him to be on par with the others?

Dusty Dunes Desert with the Criminal Caterpillar or Scaraba Desert with the Master Criminal Worm. A trick with that is that both those enemies spawn only in certain points on the map, so if you just make that spot go offscreen and come back repeatedly, you'll countinuously spawn them.

Bought it, started a file. Ness = Lucas, Paula = Hina, Jeff = Steve, Poo = Kim. Favorite food: Clams (don't know what i was thinking), and coolest thing? As a boy of 199X, it has to be Sonic.

What are these butterflies doing to me, again?

Also, is there anything I should be doing before heading off to Giant Step?

Getting the key.

Butterflies restore your PSI Points.

If you didn't find it yet, the Mr. Baseball Cap in the hidden treehouse just a little ways south of Giant Step is a nice defense boost before you have to deal with the ludicrously gutsy mice on your path.

You know what's funny? Naming Ness something vulgar.

Because then Giygas's "NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS NESS" line is instead Giygas swearing like a sailor.