User:TheHumanAmbassador/Asriel doesn't have two SOULs, Mother Interlude

Part 1=Note:This analysis is using Tomato's translation of Mother 1, to be more faithful to the original Japanese version. The game begins with character select. The main characters are Ninten, Ana, Lloyd, and Teddy. Ninten's favorite food is probably Prime Rib, based on the Mother Encyclopedia. https://kenisu.webs.com/motherencyclopedia.htm I'm not sure if this was the real deal, but I'll just use Prime Rib as a placeholder anyways. (You can't actually type that in English, but it fits in Japanese:プライムリブ) In the early 1900's, a dark shadow fell over a rural town in America. Based on this Encyclopedia, room ornaments started flying around, and a person who had abruptly gone missing returned home the next morning with no recollection [of what had happened]. Shortly after, George and Maria, a married couple, vanished. Two years later, George returned, but told no one anything. Instead, he deeply immersed himself in strange research. Maria never returned. According to the Mother Encyclopedia, George was originally employed for The Mothersday Times, and became "The Conscience of This Town", and had a Protestant Lineage. Also according to said encyclopedia, the abduction has all but disappeared from people's memory. And George lost his parents at a young age.
 * -|Part 2=We'll start Part 2 of the analysis by going over things I missed in the first part.

Mother 1 also had a manual:And that reveals a few tidbits on Ninten's character. He's hardly one to speak, and he actually wanted to know where his mom ran off to. And apparently, he created the manual himself-It's all from his perspective.

Okay, that's probably non-canon. But we can at least gain some insight from the manual. From this, Ness actually hates violence:He just reasons he HAS to fight. The manual also makes it clear which PSI ability does what-That should help bring more context to the player, in case they wish to to play out the game. (Unfortunately, Virtual Console doesn't come with the manual. ...Also, Ninten's mom's name is Carol.

Other things I missed were that the hospital allows you to get a "check-up" which heals your stamina for $25 ($54 accounting for inflation). If someone is knocked unconscious, though, they'll need to be hospitalized for $125 ($295). (Meet up with your unconscious friend. Diagnosis is the check-up.) The Encyclopedia also says that yes, the "enemies" we fight are being controlled, and it's not a battle to thrash them, but a battle to save them.

If you lose consciousness, you lose half of your cash on hand. This is why it is wise to deposit your cash. Refunds are half-price. Every two hours, Ninten's dad will call, to suggest Ninten take a short place. You can use Bread as Breadcrumbs, and following the path back to where you can lets you go back instantly. But you can't use this to warp between Magicant and the real world.

Also, healers cure curses.

Random Encounters in the Cemetery:Gang Zombie, Ghost, Mr. Batty, Pseduozombie

When increasing max HP and PP, you do not gain HP and PP.. Only the maximum amount is increased-So you'd need to "heal" the extra HP.

By pressing L, you can check for enemies.. If there are random enemies nearby, that's when "Danger seems to be lurking nearby..." happens. Were there supposed to be random encounters in the basement of Ninten's house? (Now that I think of it, what if Ninten's father's name was also Ninten? ...Could explain the sign. ...Then again, I could be proven wrong soon.

At a nearby church, the person who's trying to teach zombies to act friendly... happens to be afraid of them himself. Either there's a massive shortage, or this church is bad at sorting out the jobs. Also, pretty sure you can't convert the zombies. They're mindless-In this case probably magical constructs (controlled by the evil force)

Also, apparently, Pippi has no AI whatsoever, since they'll attack at nothing if they're told to defeat an enemy, and it vanishes. Wouldn't it make more sense to attack the next enemy?

Ninten enters a golden pillar, and it leads underground. Pippi's in the leftmost coffin-The other three have Pseudo Zombies. After finding Pippi, Ninten of course needs to bring her back. If Ninten says he's brave, Pippi calls him a goofball.

The intended path for Ninten to take is to return the chick from earlier to its mother in Canary Village, to receive the second melody. However, Stephen skips this for the time being, perhaps because this was never made clear as a quest. Canary Village was mentioned, with admittange being free, but it was never made clear you were supposed to visit there.

After saving Pippi, Ninten is rewarded.. But the mayor tells Pippi to say that the MAYOR rescued Pippi, rather than Ninten. So he WAS just doing this to get re-elected.. Ninten is given a quest to solve "the zoo problem". His assistant Abbot would give him a key to the zoo. Pippi invites Ninten to her house later on for an item (probably the Franklin Badge). Pippi would go with Ninten, but she's not feeling it.

The secretary has a secret for Ninten.. But she won't tell Ninten until "later." According to the encyclopedia, she's "quite beautiful".

The Franklin Badge reflects beam attacks. To get it from Pippi, Ninten has to say he's NOT brave, resulting in Pippi saying he IS brave, and then Ninten needs to say he hopes they meet again.

Minnie/Minny stores items for you.

And here is when Stephen reaches the zoo. So Part 2 end here.

-

In conlusion (also serves as a TD;LR):So far, not much has been learned, that wasn't mentioned in Part 1. But something very important is that Pippi has the Franklin Badge, and gives it to Ness. We don't learn exactly what the Franklin Badge is yet, of course. Perhaps we'll learn more of this two-of-a-kind object later.

Yes, TWO-of-a-kind, not one-of-a-kind. Still basing things off of the encyclopedia, his biggest reason for working for a newspaper company is curiosity. But opposing the Editing Officer got him fired, making him move to his current job. This would be where he met Maria. The same thing happened with kids who vanished while taking a hike-They lost all memory of what happened. ...It's quite important whether or not the encyclopedia is official:If it is, it has lots of story to it. Based on the encyclopedia, Ninten is the great-grandson of George.

I've done some research on what the Easy Ring is actually supposed to do... It halves random enemy encounters, and doubles experience/money gain. It also probably increases Ninten's defense as much as the Goddess Ring does. Several sources say it does, and Ness takes 1 damage per hit in the start of the playthrough. Unlike your typical RPG, there's actually a massive power boost for each level. It's no wonder Ninten is very powerful, for leveling up way faster. - Mother 1+2 actually has several changes from the original Mother 1. The fan translation reversed some of them, but not all of them:https://earthbound.fandom.com/wiki/Mother_1_%2B_2 - The game begins in 1988, with the lamps in the house going crazy, similarly to what apparently happened in the 1900's. A doll also went crazy. So Ninten tries to find out what happened, and his father calls him, speculating it was a poltergeist, and asking Ninten to find the basement key. The key happened to be placed on the dog by said father. Yes, seriously, the dog. PSI is learned by level, so Ninten learns Telepathy early. Based on the comments, it normally takes around 20 minutes to reach level 2. Danger is nearby in the basement, and George's Diary is there. It's mostly unreadable, but one part stands out.. "The password… Where is the god’s tail, that which was left behind by the ship that soars the heavens?" Ninten starts with $100 ($216 in 2019 money) deposited in the bank by his dad. We learn Ninten's mom likes to work hard as well, but his father doesn't think Ness should work too hard. This, however, was a response to continuing the game, so it's likely a message to the player, to take breaks from the game. The run button does not exist in the original Mother 1... But it does in the fan translation. We also have "Ninten's House". We also learn that "Pippi" has gone missing. Perhaps in the same way George and Maria did? Houses with round doors or signs are the ones that can be gone into. ...This is almost certainly a gameplay quirk:There's nothing magical about door shapes. Random Enemies in Mother's Day: "Redneck", Centipede, "Hippie", Crow, and more. If we presume that Wally replaced said "Redneck", and nothing else changed, than Stray Dog and Snake are the other two enemies. Defeating enemies make them "return to normal" if human, or "become tame" if animals. So Ninten gains experience from resolving conflict, not killing. This also means that the people, and potentially animals, were being controlled before Ninten sets them free by fighting. Zombies may have been created too. The hotel costs $39 per night. In 1988. That's $84.25 now, taking inflation into account. It's considered cheap, and that's correct:Average hotel prices are $128.94 as of February 2019 Canary Village admission is free! (...Admission into a village?) Unlike Ferret's notes, the ATM technology is not considered new. (It also first came to America in 1969) The Bugspray costs $300 ($648.05 taking inflation into account). What a rip-off. An antidote is only $20 ($43.20). Bread costs 6 times as much as orange juice. You get a canary chick for free if you're interested, but say no to the $85 price. ...The shopkeepers here are bad at business. The first quest is to save a child who strayed into the cemetery... And the time for re-election is near. Ninten is also revealed to be that "snot-nose kid".. It is revealed that yes, the animals have gone berserk. Probably Giygas' doing. There's also "Pseduozombies" that return to the dust of the earth when defeated. No bones, though. This creature is likely a magical construct. At this point, we have reached the cemetery. So we're ending Part 1 here.

TL;DR-George, the great-grandfather of Ninten, and Maria. both vanished in the early 1900's, when a dark shadow fell over a rural town. George came back, but he had changed, conducting research, and never spoke of the event. Maria didn't return at all. Ornaments went crazy. When people vanished and returned, they often lost their memory of what happened. Could this have happened to George? We don't know, but probably not, since he changed. In 1988, the lamps go crazy, just like before, meaning the shadow likely returned. Ninten's father says it's probably a poltergeist. There's also mention to a "god's tail". Pippi has gone missing, and she may be the missing child the mayor asks us to rescue. Animals, and possible people, were put under control, and defeating them in battle restores them to normal, and grants experience. Psuedozombies are likely magical constructs, rather than physical creatures.


 * -|Part 3=Contnuing on from Part 2, we find Ninten reaching the zoo.

Current known random encounters in the zoo:Tiger, Crocodile, Hyena, Elephant, Gorilla (Was this a reference to Donkey Kong?)

Once Ninten reaches the entrance, a monkey steals the key. Fortunately for Ninten, the lock happened to be broken anyways, so he can enter.

Some of the cages are empty, but others still have animals inside. It appears the evil influence hasn't gotten to all animals just yet. The cage of the world's only singing monkey, unfortunately, happens to be empty. But other monkeys were in their cages, so the evil influence doesn't progress through species-by-species.. That or it's currently reaching the monkeys.

Ninten eventually reaches the Manager's Office, which happens to be an entire building. Rats happened to be found there. Bread and rope were found there... Wrapped in presents. Seriously, who wraps bread in wrapping paper?

Ninten eventually finds a capsule, which contains a Starman… Jr. It's only move was a PK beam, which the Franklin Badge reflected. The beam had no effect on the Starman Jr. Starman Jr. does run out of PP, so we know even they are limited in psychic points.

When the Starman Jr. was defeated, he was actually "defeated". Not "tamed", not "returned to normal", but actually DEFEATED. When this happens, the capsule leaves, and the animals making the animals go crazy stopped. So the Starman Jr. was responsible for all of this?

And sure enough, everything is back to normal! No random encounters in the zoo, and the singing monkey is back! By listening to it, we get the third melody! (Stephen skipped the second one, as I explained in the previous part.)

...But the Starman Jr. wasn't responsible for everything. After the zoo was left, a Snake was encountered. And just like usual, when defeated, it "became tame". It seems in Mother's Day, the animals are still under control. Could it be another Starman Jr. causing this?

Stephen then goes to Canary Village, the place where you're supposed to get the second melody. All the Canaries are unable to speak.. except one-Laura, the songbird canary. That one is the one who you give the baby Canary to. Laura is so happy that she begins singing.. And Stephen gets the second melody.

Stephen encounters the police, who happen to already know that Ninten can use telepathy, despite Ninten not revealing this information... at all. Something's quite suspicious here. Ninten's also quite a celebrity at this point, despite the fact that Pippi was told to say the MAYOR saved her. Did Pippi tell the truth to her parents, or did everyone somehow figure out that Ninten was responsible for saving the zoo problem? They also declare that the martial law (were they a roadblock to prevent sequence breaking?) is now over.

We're ending Part 3 here.

---

Conclusion/TL;DR-We learned that Starman Jr. have the ability to cause animals to turn crazy, and was responsible for the zoo problem. However, only the animals in the zoo were caused by this particular Starman Jr-Implying there's something else:Probably more Starmen.

Similarly, it seems as though the animals' way of singing happens to correspond with special melodies.. Is there a link between these animals?

We also learn that Ninten is supposedly a celebrity at this point, and the police KNOW that he has psychic abilities...


 * -|Part 4=Continuing from Part 3, we see Ninten approaching a cave.

Known enemy encounters (prior to the cave):Lil' Saucer

Stephen makes a possible connection between the crystalline.. thing, to something from Mother 3. Definitely making a reference over here, so that when I do analyze Mother 3, I'll know if there is a connection or not. If there is, though, Mother 3 holds the key to this-This does not hold the key to Mother 3.

When using Telepathy on this.. thing, we get "Where is the god's tail", the same question from his great-grandfather's (presumably George's) diary. The answer.. "that which was left behind by the ship that soars the heavens."

..What?

...Okay, this is clearly just a password. That's clearly not an answer to the question. But hey, I suppose that explains the line from the diary! (It also means the "god's tail" may not even exist at all. But it still might, so I'm not forgetting this detail yet!)

..Doing this warps Ninten to Magicant for the first time. We see a cat swimming in the ground, mentioning a candy that gives courage and strength to weaklings. If Ninten says no, the cat mentions that Ninten is a strong boy, so the cat doubts Ninten would need any. Saying "yes" simply gets a response "Hmm... You don't say". (This could be because Stephen said yes after saying no.)

Known enemy encounters in Magicant:Oak (Another can join mid-battle!), Whoosh Swoosh, Bonus Swoosh

This candy happens to be the Magic Candy, and it can only be given to Lloyd, to increase his Fight by 5.. When we get him, that is.

Fight increases your chance of getting a SMASH bonus, and can also increase your odds of dodging. ...Has anyone datamined the stats of everyone, to see if Ninten has the most?

We also see someone who looks like they have a magic outfit, saying Ninten is a little strange.. but they might like him.

We also see that the houses in Magicant look very similar to the crystalline object that we saw earlier. And it seems everyone in Magicant has these kinds of clothes, and Ninten's different clothes are what's weird about him.. And that he might attract monsters.

...Also, for anyone wondering, no Magicant is not a realm of spiritual, non-biological things. How do we know? Because Ninten was guided to the direction of a restroom.

But we also learn that the place has a Queen, named Mary.

Magicant also has someone who can store items for you. And someone who acts like Ninten's dad, even knowing how much money Ninten has in his bank account.. On Earth.

Putting items in the fountain transforms them. For instance, a Red Weed will turn into a Magic Herb.

Someone else borrows our ATM card to give us a Big Bag. They do give it back to us. It's filled with Magic Herbs.

Someone else had a dream that Magicant vanished into thin air. We also get the Ocarina of Hope, which can play the melodies we know. ...How is it different than a normal ocarina? Do we play it, and it saves it?

Ninten bends a spoon to fix it, since its owner bent it before. This gives him a free night with this resident.

There's also someone who says that happiness doesn't just walk to you.. But neither does unhappiness, and thus, if you don't want any trouble at all, you should just stand still. (...Yeah, see how that works out for you.) The one that "philosophizes about happiness". There's actually someone who asks if you've met him. If Ninten lies and say yes, the asker will know that he's lying, having the ability to see right through his tricks. Truthfully saying no leads to a statement that you can't part from someone you never met. (Why was parting mentioned..?)

Someone ELSE asks if we've met said person.. If we say no, then he asks us to.

We also learn that the residents seem to not care about the outside world. "Leave Magicant? That'll be the day!", and "Outside? What is this 'outside' you speak of?"

The residents of Magicant seem to have telepathy.. Since they "read your mind" and decided to make Steak.

..It appears that just about everything in Magicant is free.. Except for items sold by other humans.

North is a gate, and guards won't let us pass... Unless we solve their riddle. Fortunately, Ninten can just use Telepathy to cheese it.

By moving to the right just as you approach the gate, "Flying Man" joins the party.

Beyond the gate is Queen Mary's castle. Here, two people both talk about the queen. One wishes to hear her song again (Implying she has a song), and the other mentions that Queen Mary has nightmares, where she talks like she's punishing a naughty child, and then being afraid.. Then she sings a song, but only a short bit. The fact that she can't remember it brings her pain.. And she wakes up with sweat.

There exists a room with six presents.. But for some reason, opening one opens the other as well, and makes them empty. The top-left has a Boomerang. ...Did the developers attempt to Quantum Mechanics?

The other presents work normally. But there is a "Flashdark", the exact opposite of a flashlight. ...Are we supposed to use it on a room filled with blinding light?

We also get the Onyx Hook, that lets us return to Magicant anytime. The people in the castle consider Ninten as one of them.

Queen Mary explains what Magicant is. It's a place where everyone is your friend, and you can have as much of anything as you want. So everything really is free. ...Queen Mary also can't seem to remember her song. Though she "knows" that if she can sing it again... Something will happen.

The next thing to do is to find a well, that brings you underground. And since this part is getting long already, I'm ending Part 4 here.

-

Conclusions/TL;DR:Magicant is a place where everything is free-It appears to be a utopia. Mary, the queen of the place, also has a bueatiful song.. That she can't remember. The residents of Magicant appear to have PSI, but are not transcendent to matter either.

Almost everyone in Magicant appears like a wizard... And it's filled with all kinds of magical objects, including a fountain that turns items into better items.

...Okay, maybe that's not much at all. But the finer details in the full analysis above might become important later...


 * -|Part 4.5=I'll start this part by going over what I missed in Part 4. ...And some of the other parts, by that matter. I missed a lot. So much, that this part is more corrections than actual content, which is why I'm calling this Part 4.5.

It appears as though the oddity involving a clone of Ninten's dad being in Magicant is even stranger than what I imagined. Here's the full (annotated) quote from "Ninten's dad".

"I'm great at impressions, you know!" (So it's not Ninten's dad.)

"I've deposited $#### into your bank account." (The #### is simply the amount deposited into the account.)

"Taking away from what you've spent, you should now have $#### in your bank account." (Yet he still knows how much money Ninten has on his account.. On Earth.)

This person ALSO knows that Ninten's dad is also thinking about hitting the hay for the night. It seems they know each other. Is this Ninten's mom? Ninten's uncle? Clearly, it's someone who knows Ninten's dad.. Or someone who can use Telepathy on said dad.

...He also even impersonates the TELEPHONE. That's right, the beeping is included in the dialouge as well. And he knows the amount of money in Ninten's bank account as well.

Looks like the devs were being lazy. But if you think you have an explanation for this, feel free to try!

Also, the PSI order has been changed around. We don't know what the original order was. Maybe we would if someone who spoke Japanese played the original Mother game.

Other things we missed (because Stephen also missed them) involve the fountain actually being accessible, healing you with a single touch, using Telepathy on it summoning a Helpful Old Man (ATM in the modified version, healer in the original)...

Then there's the Flying Men. They can only join your party in Magicant, cannot be revived if they're knocked out (They actually DIE and are buried-So keep them alive, Ninten), and there are five of them.

Only one can be in your party at a time, though.

Flashdark blinds enemies, PSI Stone restores PP. Ocarina is a weapon only for Teddy.

The Megaphone shots "Your mother is calling you" to the enemy, either decreasing its fight or increasing its offense, depending on whether the enemy believes it.

And something from all the way back in Part 1-Ninten's mom will give Ninten his favorite food to heal all of his PP and HP.

Here's a source for Earthbound Beginnings (The modified version of Mother 1):http://walkthrough.starmen.net/earthbound0/

Earthbound Beginnings does have a lot of differences to the original, many of which Tomato reversed. But Tomato used Mother 1+2, which has a few differences of its own from the original Mother 1.

A huge difference between the two is about the eighth melody. (They say an English translation of the text used for the cutscene lies unused in the NES prototype.. But I'm unable to find said text. I hope I can find it before we reach the seventh melody.)

I've been looking for a full playthrough of the original game, to see how strong Ninten is SUPPOSED to be, and because sources tell me the Crystal Caverns was a bit different in the original (The one I just gave you).. All I could find is a speedrun involving sequence breaking.

But here's a source of a few of these regional differences:https://tcrf.net/EarthBound_Beginnings/Regional_Differences

Now, let's continue where we left off.

Known enemy encounters underneath the well:Papa Swoosh, Ulrich, Swoosh, Swooshette

At the bottom of the well, lies caverns. In the original Japanese version, there was more maze to it. Or so they say. ..Well, there's caverns here and now.

You have to enter the staircases in the correct order to proceed to the very bottom. We don't know what happens if you do it in the wrong order-Though I believe you're just sent back to the top.

At the center of the bottom floor, there is a dragon, but you can't wake it yet. You lack the power to do so.

So we go the other way, and fight the Cave Master, a fish. Stephen already let the first Flying Man collapse-That's not a very good start..

Though in the original version, the dragon was at the very bottom, and it was easier to find the staircase..

After fighting the Cave Master, we get the Onyx Hook by going down another staircase, which lets us return to Magicant from anywhere.

Then, there's the "forgotten man", that tells us to ignore him. He can't live on if he starts to miss people. He was always alone..

He asks if we're forgotten as well. Stephen answers no, so the Forgotten Man says to ignore him.. Then disappears.

The forgotten man will know Ninten is lying if he says yes, though, and demands Ninten to leave him alone and run to the girl waiting for him.

Going through the door that the man was blocking.. Causes you to leave Magicant entirely, returning you to a DIFFERENT cave, but that which looks identical to the entrance to Magicant.

..You know, the Crystal Cave wasn't all that long. It easily could have fit with Part 4, and would belong in Part 4. Which is why this is Part 4.5.

The actual Part 5 will be coming later on.


 * -|Part 4.8=Okay, we're going to be starting with things we missed in previous parts. Turns out I missed so much, this will be a part of its own, Part 4.8.

Having not read the Encyclopedia for a long while, I decided I'd catch up to where we were at, reading it. (As a reminder, it can be found here:https://kenisu.webs.com/motherencyclopedia.htm)

First off, it's apparently known that Mother's Day has low prices. But a horrible (or perhaps non-existent?) government has been at work for two years, as plans for an amusement park and enticement of the railroad have been left "pigeonholed" for two years. (This is likely because of the current mayor doing basically nothing.)

And the management of the cemetery south is sloppy. Why this is important enough to be put into the Encyclopedia Mother is beyond me. (Is it supposed to explain why there's zombies? We find it in the section for "Mother's Day"

And it's clear that the events of Pippi going missing and the zoo animals going loose happened in rapid succession. Likely because they share a root cause. We're not sure what got Pippi trapped, though.. (Did psuedo-zombies lock her up?)

We're also told there's a telephone that's $1 per call. ..Or you can just use a telephone card. Why that was mentioned, I'm once again, not sure. And saving occurs in-universe as "record".

And according to the manual, healers do in fact cure. Stoneification, in fact, by the power of Ki. This was likely changed later on, for some unknown reason.

The zoo was built three years ago. Yes, that was actually stated in the Encyclopedia Mother. Could we build a timeline of Mother 1? Maybe it'll help a bit more when we analyze Mother 2 (aka Earthbound).

And we're supposed to know that Magicant is someone's dream right off the bat-It's stated right there in the Encyclopedia Mother. We're not supposed to know who the dreamer is. "This place is in someone’s dream, so where is the dreamer?"-Encyclopedia Mother, English Translation by Kenisu

The narrator of the Encyclopedia Mother speculates that the God's Tail might be the pink rock within Magicant. Though how it relates to "the ship that soars the heavens" and what the ship actually is would be left a mystery.

It also tells us that a specific line is important:"Come see me when you get strong". Seems like the person who said that is someone we'll need to return to later. And we're supposed to find the Friendship Ring here. ...Which is useless. (It's replaced by the Repel Ring in Earthbound Beginnings, the English port)

And in one of the wells in Magicant, the sound of the city can be heard. This means Magicant is above the city. Nobody knows why the wells are there, since water is drunk from Queen Mary's fountain.

And nobody crossed the gate to the castle before. Yet, the townspeople have used Telepathy to call upon the Helpful Old Man, and the Handbook mentions that we can read people's mind, so the riddles won't be a problem.

Why didn't the townspeople try this trick, if they can use Telepathy? I think I found a plot hole in Mother 1. Can you fill it in, Ferret?

"Upon seeing your face, the queen bears a smile that reminds you of something out of the past, and tells you a tale which will likely let you in on a secret of your journey."-Mother Encyclopedia

Queen Mary's story was supposed to tell us a secret of our journey? Is it that we're supposed to be collecting the melodies? The eight melodies are the song Queen Mary couldn't remember? And the naughty child, being our enemy? Who is Giygas? Was that the intention of this teaser?

Anyways, now we've finally caught up to where we were at the end of Part 4.5. Next time, we'll move on to strictly new things.


 * -|Part 5=Now that we're done with all the corrections, we can continue with Part 5.

Let's respond to some of Ferret's notes first, though.

--Video 2--

Ferret:"Breadcrumb trails are actually a mechanic in this game?"

Yes. They are. Start by using it, and it'll form a trail. Then use it again, and you'll end up right back where the trail begins from.

Ferret:". ok, he was an actual zombie then. Also, gore."

Wait, actual zombies turn to dust when killed? I thought this meant they were magical constructs. I'm still going by that hypothesis, since they're PSUEDO-zombies.

--Video 3--

Ninten playing games isn't necessarily meta. It's not meta until someone mentions the Mother series itself.

Ferret:"SECOND MELODY FRAGMENT! Actually the third one, missed one earlier?"

Yes. Glad we both noticed this. Though I looked further into this and found out what happened, which can be seen in this interlude project.

--Video 4--

"Kid acts as Your Dad by doing impressions. And it works!"

You noticed it before me! Good job!

Wait, what makes you think that it's a kid?

"You can put things into the fountain to make them better?"

Yes, that's exactly how it works.

"If they die, they’re dead? In Earthbound crosses appear in front of the house?"

Yes, if they die, they're dead. If we do see crosses in Earthbound, that means that canonically, they did die in Mother. (Or between Mother 1 and Mother 2)

"Flashdark is a infinitely reusable item that blinds enemies."

That's good.

"Talking to Queen Mary’s Jester. (Sans-like?)"

It's a generic skeleton. We can talk about Sans once he starts messing with physics and making bad puns.

Well, turns out that this was enough for a part of it's own. I guess this is Part 4.9..

..NOPE! I said Part 5 is next, so Part 5 is next! (Plus, this would be the shortest part ever, and I've had parts twice as long as this.)

---

Our story continues where it left off, with Ninten leaving the cave, and ending up elsewhere. The surronding area is filled with enemies, confirming that we're not done freeing everyone.

Stephen gets Ninten to learn Healing Beta! (This is almost certainly wrong. Ninten leveled up a bit too fast because of the Easy Ring. Though I suppose if you grinded enough, you could get that high of a level.)

Ferret:"Healing Beta cures Paralysis. Quick Up raises speed."

Thanks for that. And that is indeed accurate.

Known enemies in area:Lil' Saucer, Lynx, Skunk, Wolf

Possible unknown enemies (because they appear in Earthbound Zero):Barbot, Bear

Ferret:"Somehow, Ninten’s Dad is able to call him automatically after the battle, as if by magic? Or by PSI? There weren’t any cell phones back then"

He can actually do this from ANYWHERE. It always happens after two hours. Not sure how he can do this, though.

We then go to Thanksgiving (hey look, I'm making the script today on Thanksgiving!)

So, let's take a look at the Encyclopedia Mother and see what it tells us.

This town has two factories, and thus is the most commerce-prosperous. The factories came from Mr. Goldrick Duncan (he moved there in the mid 1950s)

..And he wants to build a "strip theater". ...Seriously? They put THAT in the Mother Encyclopedia? No wonder we never got an English version! (Yes, the townspeople oppose this.)

Big Ben's Casey's Hospital has a very strange way of charging you. You always have to pay half of what you're carrying-So if you have a lot, it's expensive, but if you have nothing, it's free. And there happens to be a cold going around.

Now, back to the playthrough:The next thing to do is enter the school. (Though you could fill out a questionarre for a phone call for 50 free calls..)

Based on the Encyclopedia, it used to have great quality, but bullying and deliquency have started to become a problem. And Mr. Duncan happens to be an honorary member of the commitee. This will be tricky. (The Bell was actually sent from Mother's Day, and the name "Tinkle" came from the sound of the bell.)

So, what do we do? Well, watch out, one of the kids has a virus, and will give you a cold if talked to. (I'm not sure if it's possible for you to then spread that cold elsewhere. I'd say it's not..) The school has a nurse that heals HP for free. (ONLY HP!)

There's also a piano.. That we can't play. No, we aren't horrible at it like we are in Deltarune, the game literally will not let us play it.

But as for what we're supposed to do? Talk to people, and find out about Lloyd, who is quite the geek, and rumoured to have stolen explosives (WHAT?)

So we need to look for him. Stephen got sick, and went to the hospital.

--Video 6--

Ferret:"Cold cured from hospital in town. Doctor talked about The Best Deal?"

That costs half of your cash-on hand. So if you don't have much, then it is the best deal.

So checking through all the doors except for the roof won't get us to find him. So he must be ON the roof. The janitor's office finally opens, so we talk to the janitor.

The janitor complains about his wife, though doesn't like it if you call her terrible. If we do good, he'll take us to the roof.

His wife was the first Miss Middle of Nowhere. Does this have anything to do with the Nowhere Islands?

We find Lloyd in a trash can. Apparently there's a fan theory that Llyod becomes Dr. Andonuts. Llyod Andonuts? We'll analyze that hypothesis on its own merit once we meet Andonuts in Earthbound. And the rumors about the explosives.. were TRUE.

And our new goal? Get Bottle Rockets.. For Lloyd to LAUNCH. Oh goodness..

Well, we'll end Part 5 here. Part 6 is hopefully coming soon.


 * -|Part 6=2020 brings us a new year, and my analysis continues. (Not sure what to do after April, though.)

As before, I'll be responding to some of Ferret's notes while analyzing the game. (That'll last us for a while, Ferret's already working on Earthbound)

But I realized I forgot something. I forgot to make my conclusions for every part after 4!

So, here they are, one by one.


 * Conclusions from Part 4.5|

So, we learned that there exists someone in Magicant that is able to make a perfect impression of Ninten's dad.. Including the telephone ring.

There's also the "Flying Men", who, when reduced to 0HP, actually die. There's five of them, and when one dies, a gravestone is seen. We can find out how many canonically died by looking at Earthbound.

Apparently, "your mother is calling you" is enough to lower their FIGHT. Are all the enemies kids or something?

There's also the Forgotten Man, a mysterious man who knows if Ninten is lying, and can vanish.


 * Conclusions from Part 4.8|

The events of Pippi going missing and the zoo animals going loose happened in rapid succession, implying that they probably share a root cause.

The zoo was built three years prior to the events of the game. (So it was 1985) And we're actually supposed to know right off the bat that Magicant is a dream. Speaking of Magicant, the narrator of the Encyclopedia Mother thinks the God's Tail might be the pink rock within Magicant. (How that makes sense and links to the ship is beyond me.)

We also know that Queen Mary's story was supposed to tell us a secret of our journey. The melodies? The naughty child?


 * Conclusions from Part 5|

Thanksgiving is a town with two factories. Duncan might be the reason why Mother didn't get an English translation for a long time, and delinquency has ruined Tinkle Elementary. The jantior's wife is the first Miss Middle of Nowhere, which may be connected to the Nowhere Islands. And LLoyd, a kid, somehow thinks it's a good idea to mess with explosives.

And now, to the main part.

--

We begin right where we left off, on a quest to find Bottle Rockets for.. Lloyd. We also happen to be cheerful (Is this a part of Ninten's character, or are we cheerful because we're getting Bottle ROCKETS? I hope it's not the latter.)

Apparently the club was important enough to not only be a part of the Encyclopedia Mother, but ALSO in the actual game! (And there's no reference to what it became in Earthbound Zero. Did they actually KEEP that?)

"If it were up to me… I’d probably use a Duncan Factory rocket to blow up the rocks on the tracks."

Yes, Ferret, that is a hint.

"I swiped a battery from Duncan's Factory up north."

There are batteries there.

Ferret:"Big Bag can’t be sold, though (isn’t he supposed to be using it?)"

The Big Bag was a gift to us. We can do what we want, though I don't think you can sell bags like that to stores. Dropping the bag was definitely a bad idea, though.

Ferret:"Hotel is the same as in Mother’s Day, but still costs more."

Yes. Mother's Day Hotel was considered to be cheap, after all. $65 converts to $141.51 in current money, which is slightly above average. (I wonder if hotels were relatively more expensive back then.) Perhaps not that many people want to travel across towns just for a better deal, so Thanksgiving can take advantage and get more money?

"Are restaurant owners so musical everywhere?"

Is this restaurant owner eventually going to become one of the Runaway Five? (Or Tonzura Brothers?)

Apparently, the Earthbound Zero translation is "strip MALL".

Ferret:"“You can make 50 calls on public phones with this.” (that costs too?) always costs $1 anyways."

It doesn't. Stephen threw it away because it's only worth $50 ($1 per call), and it took up the last inventory space.

"Hey, why aren't you in school, kid? I'm pretty sure today's a school day."

Do we know what the scheduling of school is in Japanese countries in the 1980s? If it's like American schools, then that means this isn't summer, AND isn't a weekend. If we also have a day, we could conceivably find out the exact date Mother takes place in.

Then again, maybe the officer is just wrong. We don't know.

We also find out that Bag Lady is another enemy. So I guess people are getting controlled here as well. By saying something scary, our Fight drops. (Fight seems to be based on bravery and our willingness to fight, based on how it looks so far. That's similar to Undertale's will to fight, but the consequences are different in Undertale. This is evidence that Undertale and Earthbound don't follow the same rules.)

Yes, there's a rumor of a giant rocket in the Duncan factory. And the explosives Lloyd is looking for is in Sweet's Little Factory.

Thanksgiving's government also seems to be slow, since if things were let into their hands, the rocks would be there "well into next year!"

Stephen heads south, finding a bear and skunk along the way. Then he reaches the factory, where rats and Barbots lay.

Ferret:"Everything recovers some HP?"

No, Magic Herbs do. And Medicine. Okay, a lot do. Not everything.

There's also capsules, which increase its respective stat by 5. There's even one for Fight (so Fight seems to be reducible to a physical substance..)

Ferret:"In a trash can, you find a Bottle Rocket! What Lloyd requested. You can take several?"

Yes. Likely to prevent the game from being unwinnable if you drop or use the rockets. (Actually CAN you drop the rockets?) You can also use them as weapons. Though maybe for some reason, ALL the rockets ended up in the trash. (Perhaps because they're outdated compared to what is in the Duncan Factory?

So Lloyd tries to experiment with the rockets.. But they exploded and made a mess. Afterwards, LLyod joined the party!

We'll end Part 6 here.


 * -|Part 7=Welcome back! I've finally continued on my Mother 1 Analysis! (It's been so long!)

First things first.. It's not April anymore that Discussions is happening.. Well, maybe it still is, we don't know. But given the new updates and how we're still in the first release of Phase 1, I'm guessing May/June is the cutoff point.

But, you weren't here to see me talk about Discussions.. You were here to see me analyze Mother! So, let's start with what we missed in Part 6:A conclusion! (For the fourth time in a row!)


 * Conclusions from Part 6|

Determination is similar in nature to Fight from Mother.. Except it has completely different effects. Different rules.

Thanksgiving ALSO has a slow government.. Just like Mother's Day had a slow government.. What's with all the slow governments?

There really weren't all that many conclusions we could make from Part 6. But we did miss things from the Encyclopedia Mother, so let's get into that.

--

Sweet Little Factory exists because Duncan was given a cheap plot of land, in exchange for agreeing to make weapons, though this was behind closed doors.

As for Duncan's Factory, it had a complete reconstruction five years ago (So 1983?) Nobody knows what weapons are being made, and a terrorist organization has been making forged entry passes. Forged entry passes have been known to be dropped past their exparation date (So it's likely the pass we picked up was one of these.)

So, we left off with Lloyd joining the party after making a big mess.

Around here is where the Encyclopedia Mother (or at least its translation) in fact ends. There's one small little bit about Snowman, and another about Advent Desert/Yucca Desert, but this is the end. This is unfortunate, it'd be nice to have extra info on later parts of the game.

So, back to the main analysis we go.

---

So, who even is Lloyd? Well, he's an aspiring scientist, who's been reading Relativity since he was small. ..Yes, he rages when he gets a Game Over or "Error".

So, is there an exception to his scientific nature? ..Well, yes, in fact. Superman! (Information gathered from the Encyclopedia Mother. Canonicity dubious..? You can check out the link I gave in Part 1 to read up on it more.)

Of course, being our scientist, he also.. lacks PSI abilities. Though he's the best one for using items.. Like those rockets.

Ferret:"Only Lloyd can use bombs in Mother 1, even if others can in later games."

Good to note. Maybe these kids are younger than the kids in Earthbound? Ferret:"… how do you find a Trash Can in the swamp?"

Perhaps we'll find out when we reach that area of the game. At this rate, it'll be around Part 12 when we get there.

"Relationship between Lloyd and Dad seems similar to Jeff and Doctor Andonuts."

Which one's like Jeff, and which one's like Andonuts?

..Well, maybe we'll learn more about that in Mother 2. (Which also has a lot of differences between Japanese and English, that I'll be taking into account. Here's a good place to start for that before I get started. https://legendsoflocalization.com/earthbound/

LLoyd starts at level 1, so you need to train him.

"Guy has some AWESOME GEAR for sale!"

Most of them are useless. Last/Ultimate Weapon tells the player to turn the power off, the original Mother 1 had a time machine that takes you back in time to the destroyed lab (replaced by the more useful Super Bomb that destroys all enemies in localization)..

The teacher launches the rocket on his own, flying it into orbit if you buy it. So don't, it's a waste. Sticky Machine binds an enemy.. And there's a 87.5% chance you can use it again!

So next, you want to go to Magicant, to get the Magic Candy, that can only be given to Lloyd. (This happened in the gap between Video 6 and 7)

Now, the Flame Pendant.. Doesn't actually increase defense. It halves damage from PK Freeze.

Now, there are giant boulders on the train tracks. Which you'll have to destroy. So we go north to Duncan's Factory, and grab the Pass along the way. Except it's expired.

Known enemies: (The name on the right is localized, left is original. If there's only one name, then the name never changed)

Devil car/Psycho Car, Skunk, Eagle, Devil Truck/Psycho Truck

There are supposedly other enemies as well on this path, though we have not yet seen them.

???/Bag Lady, ???/Lil' Saucer, ???/Mad Car, ???/Mad Truck, ???/Maniac Truck, ???/Rope (Yes. A rope.), Wolf, ???/Cougar, ???/Barbot, ???/Fugitive

And now we've reached the Factory, though we have to fight the dog. We get a the flea bomb.. Which was localized to Flea Bag, which has a bunch of fleas, lowering defense and offense. (Not sure what it is in the original, though.)

The factory has a Super Spray with instantly defeats bug enemies. (There's a lot of fire enemies. Should have bought H20 Pendant instead..) In fact, the second Franklin Badge can be found in this factory! (So Duncan had a Franklin Badge? Where'd he get it? What was he doing with it?) At the top, Lloyd fires it, and destroys the rocks, allowing us to to move on!

While Dr. Distorto goes back to normal when you "defeat" him (only to get corrupted again soon after since you fight him again), the Old Robot in fact gets destroyed.

If you're wondering where I'm getting some of this extra info not in the video, check out this Earthbound Zero Guide:http://walkthrough.starmen.net/earthbound0/

So we need to go to Reindeer.. AND THEN Snowman.

Ferret:Song is “Paradise Line”, was released once with lyrics on an album?

Yes. Here's the song in question:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTVMhxeSQHg

Now, you're supposed to have the money to go to Snowman right away. However, Stephen didn't have the money, so he was stuck in Reindeer.

"Characters in the game are self-aware. Also.. is that a hint for something to do? Fourth Wall Break"

It's probably a reference to the fact that you can DROP items, rather than a hint.

Ferret:"Kid is amazed people can actually die from catching a Cold. You can here."

You can also get it from other people. This seems to be more like a Flu than a Cold. (And yes, you can die from the flu.)

Ferret:"(is he like the Forgotten Man who vanished in Magicant earlier?)"

Probably not, though it is a possibility. My take on the matter is that it's a reference. If he's in the bottom-right tile, then he's behind the tree, so he's hidden.

And there's a scam artist somewhere. I wonder who that person is.. There's also someone who ate five Prime Ribs (or whatever we pick as our favorite food).. without paying.

Well, why not look at the guide? There's someone who, if used Telepathy on, asks if you heard the dragons' Lullaby. The dragon is the sleeping beast in the Crystal Cavern. Which is in MAGICANT.

This woman might just be important..

There's an old man who lost his dentures. Find them, and you everyone in your party gets Mouthwash, an item used to cure colds.

By looking at the guide, we find out that we can actually meet this person, who gives us $432 in exchange for not telling the cops. You can't tell the cop anyway, if you say you saw the scam artist, the cop just says just say they lost him.

(Wikibound.info is a pretty good source. It has more info than the Earthbound Fandom Wiki)

The Death Beam (Plasma Beam) is actually a VERY good weapon to have! Stephen doesn't buy it, though.

"There's a flu going around here. Cough, cough."

Turns out the cold actually IS the flu! (In Mother 1. In reality, they're two different things.)

And that'll be the end of Part 7! (Now we're doing 1 part per Stephen video. At this rate, we'll be ending Mother 1 with Part 14.

--Conclusions--

The Duncan Factory has a FRANKLIN BADGE. There's a woman in Thanksgiving who knows about the dragon that only exists in MAGICANT. The cold is actually a flu. And we have a character flat-out saying this is a game.

--

Yes, I finally remembered to make a conclusion!