Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 94: Earthbound

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Todays game is Earthbound. How would you rate the story on a scale from 1-10?

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Previous Results:
Planescape: Torment - 9.83 (12 votes)
Omori - 9.67 (6 votes)
Outer Wilds - 9.6 (21 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.18 (34 votes)
The House in Fata Morgana - 9.14 (7 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9 (8 votes)
Steins;Gate - 8.94 (9 votes)
Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - 8.89 (19 votes)
Grim Fandango - 8.88 (13 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.85 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8.83 (6 votes)
Umineko When They Cry - 8.82 (11 votes)
Persona 3 - 8.82 (20 votes)
Xenogears - 8.71 (23 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.65 (23 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask - 8.56 (27 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.56 (16 votes)
Undertale - 8.45 (42 votes)
Chrono Trigger - 8.41 (39 votes)
What Remains of Edith Finch - 8.41 (19 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.38 (28 votes)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 8.37 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.35 (55 votes)
Final Fantasy VII - 8.28 (37 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.17 (18 votes)
The Walking Dead Season 1 - 8.17 (21 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.15 (40 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.13 (35 votes)
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 8.06 (18 votes)
The Wolf Among Us - 8.04 (14 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles - 7.94 (27 votes)
Spec Ops: The Line - 7.9 (17 votes)
Bloodborne - 7.88 (20 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.85 (31 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.81 (25 votes)
Bioshock - 7.64 (23 votes)
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - 7.7 (30 votes)
The Sexy Brutale - 7.7 (5 votes)
Celeste - 7.62 (25 votes)
Skies of Arcadia - 7.62 (13 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.47 (29 votes)
The Last Story - 7.47 (6 votes)
Mortal Kombat (2011) - 7.46 (13 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.24 (28 votes)
Red Dead Redemption - 7.23 (11 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (24 votes)
Mass Effect 3 - 7.16 (21 votes)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 7.1 (30 votes)
To the Moon - 7.07 (7 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7.05 (22 votes)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 7 (5 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (21 votes)
INSIDE - 6.93 (15 votes)
Gone Home - 6.91 (17 votes)
Bioshock Infinite - 6.87 (19 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.67 (31 votes)
Firewatch - 6.65 (10 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.61 (28 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.56 (17 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - 6.5 (13 votes)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - 6.38 (12 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 6.31 (35 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.16 (14 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.15 (13 votes)
Star Fox 64 - 5.8 (25 votes)
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception - 5.8 (24 votes)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 5.72 (9 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.78 (30 votes)
Metroid Prime - 5.67 (24 votes)
Kingdom Hearts - 5.59 (30 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 4.83 (12 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.79 (29 votes)
Fallout 3 - 4.76 (17 votes)
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - 4.72 (9 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.43 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy - 4.24 (19 votes)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - 4.13 (8 votes)
Resident Evil 6 - 3.74 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 3.69 (13 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.46 (15 votes)
Starcraft II (overall) - 3.4 (5 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates (overall) - 3.32 (11 votes)
Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void - 2.83 (6 votes)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - 2.66 (16 votes)
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm - 2.57 (7 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.33 (9 votes)
Tales of Zestiria - 2.14 (7 votes)

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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10

8.5

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7.5

Good ending
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6/10

Story is pretty meh, but the charming characters make up for most of the faults to an extent.

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I never finished this but I wasn't very impressed with the first 50-60% of the story. It's cute, I guess.

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8

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8

Lot of good stuff there

Charming

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@Whiskey_Nick

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I played so many games for the first time when I got my SNES classic (FFVI, Super Mario RPG), but I never got around to Earthbound. Need to change that. I remember this game having the highest rated final boss when I ran the "Rate the Final Boss" topic series here like a decade and a half ago.

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8/10

A wonderful, weird, goofy commentary on American culture seen through the eyes of youth, as well as an emotionally resonant coming-of-age story, as Ness and the gang learn the world outside is a lot more twisted and disgusting than what is apparent on the surface, as Lovecraft meets innocent suburbia way before the cast of Stranger Things pedaled onto the scene.

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Nominate DmC: Devil May Cry

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5.5

1

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8

Really unique and altogether funny adventure, with some dark shit in there for good measure.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

8/10

A wonderful, weird, goofy commentary on American culture seen through the eyes of youth, as well as an emotionally resonant coming-of-age story, as Ness and the gang learn the world outside is a lot more twisted and disgusting than what is apparent on the surface, as Lovecraft meets innocent suburbia way before the cast of Stranger Things pedaled onto the scene.

This is basically a perfect summary.

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9.8

nearly a perfect video game story

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8.5

There is not much in the way of a complex narrative to Earthbound but it is telling a story about a journey. And it's one hell of a great journey. I'm not gonna come in here and declare Earthbound to be the "Odyssey" of video games but it is in a similar vein of storytelling and it mostly kills it. Some parts of that journey do drag, and that's the only thing stopping it from perfection.

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10

One of my favorite games. It feels weird to say this about what is undeniably a text-heavy RPG, but Itoi is great at conveying a lot of meaning with a small amount of dialog, and his method of storytelling is perfect for the medium of video games. The game's best parts are all felt rather than explained, from the disorientation of Moonside to the nostalgia of Magicant ("We had fun one snowy day. I melted, but I am still real in your memory.") to the horror of the encounter with Giygas (IMO "Paula's cry was absorbed by the darkness" is one of the most powerful story moments in this era of gaming.) The game showing all the photographs that were taken throughout your journey in the credits is an awesome touch. Porky is a great villain, and shout-out to Ness, who gets a lot of characterization despite never uttering a word.

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7

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8

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2/10

Absolutely could not stand playing this game. The tone/humor/atmosphere didn't click with me at all.

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7/10.

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