Here I was, replaying Earthbound all carefree, thinking I had it all resolved until I was hit with the Fourside department store enemies. What a difficulty boost! These enemies are simply too powerful (and it's funny they're bizarre ones like guitars, vinyl records and... coffees). I know the fact Paula is not on the party, taking away PSI offense, already makes the game more difficult, but damn I just lost several times in a row trying to get to the dept store boss, unable to. Is there a strategy for them? I try using Ness' shield protection but honestly ir doesn't seem to be effective against these enemies attacks? Plus even losing a turn without attacking seems like a risk move.I also tried running away from battles, but it fails too much.It's funny but i'm stuck lol. I guess I gotta keep fighting them and level up a bit more, but maybe I'm missing something? Is there any special weapon or equipment I should be using??I remember this part giving me trouble in past playthroughs, but I didn't remember the spike being this huge.
its a big difficulty spike and kills a lot of speedruns. there are ways to manipulate some of the boxes. if you want to see those strats just search the game on speedrun.com
>>12060306make sure you equipped jeff with the franklin badge and platinum band beforehand. you can get them stuck on corners in the store. actually that's a good trick in a lot of places, particularly the mine and onett 2.
>>12060337forgot to add that you can despawn enemies too by going far away enough after getting them stuck, but i don't think this applies to the store actually pretty sure they're preset enemies.
>>12060306It can be rough especially if you've blown all your bottle rockets. You can buy more but IIRC they're pretty expensive.
Jeff should have the Franklin Badge if Paula didn't have it on her when she was kidnapped. The enemies move in angles and cannot change direction until they hit a wall so once you learn this it is easy to avoid. The coffee is the one to really avoid as it's coffee spill attack is the equivalent to PSI Fire Beta. The Department Store Spook can be taken out with a few big bottle rockets (hope you bought some before the lights went out) and Ness can heal Jeff.This part was always hardest for me as a kid. The enemies here are very strong, so much so that when you encounter them later in the game they am still are worthy opponents. The Mystical Record is weak to fire but at this point Paula is gone so it doesn't make much difference.
>1996 or 1997>first time playing Earthbound(on real hardware obviously)>play like I did other RPGs, practically doing a low-level run since I always rushed through>get to dept store in Fourside, have to go to school, use payphone to save game>come back after school, load save, try to leave store>can't leave, Paula has been captured, gotta go fight boss to leave again>keep getting wrecked since low-level and not preparedAbout 3-4 weeks later, RNG finally went in my favor, I got to the boss and beat him(barely), and was finally able to leave the damn store. I had effectively low-level run myself through Dragon Warrior 2 and 3, Final Fantasy 1 and 6, but Earthbound was the game that broke me of that habit. I didn't want to get stuck somewhere halfway through an RPG praying for good RNG to advance, once was enough. These days I'll go ahead and use cheats to wipe out grinding and turn off random encounters if possible. No fucks given, I paid my dues grinding my way through plenty of RPGs.
>>12060641I couldn't even defeat the Sharks boss in Onett. I restart the game but overleveled the whole way through. It was STILL hard!>These daysGames are incredibly easy now lol
>>12060659>Games are incredibly easy now lolIf they're not corridor simulators, then a modern game will be full of guide markers or arrows at least. It's disappointing too because there aren't any rewards or anything for exploring.
>>12060340>i don't think this applies to the store actually pretty sure they're preset enemiesYou're right it doesn't apply, but that's not because of preset enemies, it's because of the escalators.After an escalator spits you out, you can't just go back and retreat, so if there happens to be an enemy right next to you then it's going to be unavoidable.This happens pretty often as well.
>>12060306Can't you buy tons of Big Bottle Rockets from the shady weapons guy before the lights go out? Seriously, use those. It makes the game piss easy.
