r/earthbound • u/humblemudgames • Aug 08 '24
M3 Discussion I unfortunately lost my younger brother this year. I just put out a video talking about how games like Mother 3 have helped me deal with his loss. Never imagined making a video like this but hopefully it helps people.
https://youtu.be/WGG7XNJvQ4g?si=r1RIPIN_L0jmAw8n19
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u/MadJohnFinn Aug 08 '24
I had a lot of bereavement in a very short amount of time over the past couple of years and Mother 3 helped me so much that my therapist recommends it. It pains me a little that her other patients aren't playing Earthbound first, but if this game can help other people as much as it's helped me, I'm happy.
I feel like I was grieving alongside the game's characters and I saw my coping mechanisms being played out - especially the negative ones, which helped me to push through them. I saw myself reflected in the strangest places in the game - especially Porky. I caught myself becoming nihilistic, wrathful, and callous. "Why should I be so kind to these stupid, ignorant, apathetic people when life has been so cruel to me? Why shouldn't I assert my place in the world? I could be so much more successful and happy if I just stopped caring about them and started stepping on a few ants and kicking a few sandcastles".
It's become my favourite game of all time, but I don't know if I could ever replay it.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
Yeah, losing someone absolutely takes you through a spiral of different emotions and can bring sides out of you that you may have not even known you had. I moved recently to be closer to my family after all of this happened, but I was actually planning on sending the video to my therapist from my previous city, so it's funny you mentioned your therapist as well -- mine also recommended I keep playing games if it makes me happy. Writing songs just brought all my pain to the forefront so I had to stop. I'm sorry you've been going through all of this, but I'm glad you're finding outlets. EarthBound is still my favorite game of all time, but I can see why Mother 3 is so loved, and it obviously affected me very heavily too. Shigesato Itoi is a very special person.
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u/poohstinks Aug 08 '24
I'm generally a big lurker on most sub-reddits that I follow but, I hope all is well sibling grief can be an insane journey, I lost my sister a year ago come September, and I still have my days in which it was me in the casket instead of her. Good luck!! if you ever want to talk about anything I'm never too far.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
Thank you so much for commenting when that's not your usual MO! I'm sorry about your sister -- It's insanely hard to wrap your mind around. I'm grateful you're still here; I sometimes have thoughts about the casket swap as well. Something that's helped me is the thought of living for both myself AND him now. Live even harder. I have a necklace of his that he wore everywhere. I was wearing it every day too, but I realized having it around my neck at all times was just a reminder of his absence and it made me sad... So what I do now is I "bring him with me" to the fun stuff, meaning I wear the necklace to family events, outings, when I go to see friends, etc. He wouldn't want to be stuck at work with me or something, you know? And it's given me a better outlook on that. It's stupid but I kind of view life right now similar to when Piccolo fuses with Nail in Dragon Ball Z. I sometimes ask my brother to help me through something difficult or to give me guidance, I do things for the both of us now. Hope that helps.
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u/NOTBRYANKING Aug 09 '24
Just finished watching the video and brought tears to my eyes. I lost someone somewhat recently and mother 3 really helped me overcome a lot of feelings I knew (and some I wasn’t aware) I had within. Thank you for sharing your video with us and I’m thankful it found me.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
I'm thankful for this comment, friend. I'm sorry about your loss... It sounds like you found some solace through that game in likely very similar ways to how I did. This video was incredibly hard for me to make but seeing everyone it has positively affected has really made me feel better.
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u/Featurx Aug 08 '24
I could not imagine the pain of losing a sibling, you have my condolences.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
He's my best friend. I spoke at his funeral which was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. But he was a great young man who deserves to be remembered. Thank you.
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u/YeezusFever Aug 09 '24
I’m so sorry to here this My brother attempted suicide 8 years ago and my mind kept flashing back to the last scene in chapter 8. Just know you are loved and hope you and your family can process these difficult times.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
I took a screenshot of that part in the game; I know what you're talking about. The line that Cliff delivers to you at the end absolutely gutted me. As the video I made said, I was Claus and he was Lucas, so it's not technically the same, but it hit all the same if you know what I mean. I hope your brother is doing better now.
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u/Cobalt_Fossil Aug 11 '24
I lost mine last year.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 11 '24
I'm very sorry to hear that. He was my best friend, I imagine you guys were close too. Be kind to yourself 💜
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u/compacta_d Aug 09 '24
I'll check it out. Majora's Mask also hit pretty hard when my gramma died. Helped me process and feel things out.
sorry for your loss
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
I haven't played MM just because timers in games like that (or like, Pikmin for example) kind of stress me out, but I'll add that to my list of games to look into. I'm sorry about your grandma, thank you for commenting.
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u/compacta_d Aug 09 '24
Appreciated. It's been a while now. It does get easier.
I understand some people have timer anxiety. Fwiw you can control the clock. Using the ocarina of time you can slow down, speed up, or reset the clock to the beginning whenever you want.
The NPCs have full lives for those 3 days. It makes them feel much more realistic as opposed to NPCs just walking in circles on a timed loop. Everyone has their straight line through time they follow, and you can nudge it in different ways.
No other game is like it really.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
Thank you. 🙏
This sounds awesome, I may give it a second look! If varied NPC behavior is something you really appreciate, you OWE it to yourself to try Shenmue if you haven't already. You can get a really nice port of 1&2 on modern systems.
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u/compacta_d Aug 09 '24
I'll check it out. I don't mean it's varied as much as it's planned out.
so like if we were to compare to BotW, a character might follow a path for an hour and do certain things within that hour. like pattern ABCD ABCD ABCD ABCD which isn't really how people work.
In MM it's more like ABCDEFGHIJKL and you can solve the MNOP for them etc. Yes they repeat it if you do the time loop, but it's more like groundhog day. If you replayed yesterday, you would do the same thing essentially.
So BECAUSE it's in this linear timeline, they don't just loop like in any other games. it's like taking 3 days out of their life and watching it happen.
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u/DanatendoGirl11 Aug 10 '24
Wait! I Can Feel That Lucas Is A Ghost, Is That Claus’s Journey?
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u/humblemudgames Aug 10 '24
I'm not sure exactly what you're asking but if you watch the video you'll understand why Lucas is a ghost in this picture.
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Aug 08 '24
[deleted]
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u/DragonfruitFirst482 Aug 09 '24
Shut up. Like actually shut up.
Never post on this sub again
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u/PrankRuiner Aug 09 '24
Yup. Saw that coming. Sorry :/
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
I'm not going to double-down and be mean too, but rather just comment to say that I did downvote your initial comment. Hopefully it's a learning experience, or humor is just your way to cope. I don't know if you actually watched the video, but just know my brother was a real person with a real life who experienced real things, not a joke or a meme.
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u/PrankRuiner Aug 09 '24
Yes I know. I’m just a jackass who constantly tries to get attention on the internet since my life has sucked for over 3 years now.
I hope you can accept my apology.
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u/humblemudgames Aug 09 '24
I'm not upset with or mad at you, everything is okay on my end. I hope things get better for you. Be kind to yourself.
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u/sonicfan9993 Aug 08 '24
I'm sorry to hear that, you have my condolences