My thoughts on Earthbound

Almost everything I write in this post is speculation. They are NOT to be taken as fact. This isn't an average review. I'm just saying what I thought of different in-game elements and how they seemed from my point of view. This is just my analysis of these elements.

Earthbound is a RPG set in an sub-urban environment. This seemed  like a nice change for me. Every RPG I've played before this took place either in some sort of fantasy world or in a futuristic sci-fi world or in Pokemon world. So the environmental similarities between the real world and the world of Earthbound really stood up to me. This game was bright, cheery and colorful. It was funny, entertaining and overall childish. However, something wasn't right. I felt a steady uneasy feeling throughout the entire duration of game-play.

Before you say stuff like " You're talking about Giygas, right? " or " But, Giygas creeped a lot of guys out. How is this any different?" or maybe " You've got to be kidding! Giygas was the only thing weird in the game. What else could've been weird?" I have to say NO! See, my uneasiness  didn't start with Giygas. It started in the very early stages of the game.

The feelings first started in Twoson. At first I didn't know why. Then when I finally got to Fourside. I realized it was because of the similarities the game's world had with the real world. In other games, if I see some kind of scary monster, I can shrug it off saying " It's just a game." But here, a lot of events were a super gentle version of serious real-life situations.

Let me explain, do you remember Happy-Happy village? The people there were brain-washed into an insane religion know as Happy-Happism. Their goal: Stupid and not important. The thing is, they way the villagers were brain-washed into Happy-happism, in real life, terrorists (Doesn't matter whether they are Muslims or Christians or any other religion or something different entirely) brain-wash normal people into bombing, hijacking etc.

In Fourside you hear about a guy named Monotoli who rose to power pretty fast. He steals people's land, homes, money etc. Isn't that what corrupt politicians do? Isn't that how they gain wealth?
Also you have to go to a cafe in the city. Everyone there drinks espresso. Seems normal until you talk to the hostess. She says something like "You're too young to drink espresso." Why would you need a age limit on espresso? True, kids probably won't enjoy it but, it's not alcohol. Then again, what if this cafe represents a bar? If that's the case, this makes perfect sense. Also, a statue that you had to find was hidden in a secret room which was accessible by touching a shelf that had a lot of bottles on it. If this cafe was a representation of a bar, then Moonside could easily be a representation of what the world seemed to a someone when they were high.

Also the enemies were unnerving to me as well. The Run-away dog for instance. Why would a dog just attack you for no reason. Maybe the Run-away dog was actually rabid. The mad taxis could just represent drunk taxi drivers driving their taxis while high. Pokey was a perfect representation of a selfish person in real life. Always staying with who ever is on top. The Plague rat boss reminded me why the plague is something to be feared.

Maybe I'm just over thinking this. But as I said before, this just what I think. It may or may not be true.

P.S: I got over some of my technical issues and will be uploading the first 2 issues of my comics before Eid (hopefully).

Thanks for reading!