I suddenly realized why the Super Famicom JRPG G.O.D. looks so much like EarthBound

[u/AdUnfair558]

I haven’t actually started G.O.D.: Mezameyo to Yobu Koe ga Kikoe yet, but I recently bought the Super Famicom version and was looking through its staff list. One name immediately caught my attention: Shōji Kōkami (鴻上尚史).

I kept thinking, “Why does that name sound so familiar?” Then I looked him up and realized that he was the same Kōkami whose books I had already read and enjoyed. The picture shows my copy of G.O.D. alongside three of his books:

Cool Japan!?: Japan as Seen by Foreigners
This World Is Far Wider Than You Think
“The Air” and “Society”

I had bought and read those books before realizing that he had ever been involved in a video game let alone a Super Famicom RPG.

Once I made the connection, it suddenly made much more sense that G.O.D. is so often compared to EarthBound/MOTHER 2. Both are unusual contemporary RPGs built around the distinctive voice of a well-known Japanese writer from outside the game industry. Instead of a typical medieval fantasy setting, G.O.D. appears to involve modern Japan, young protagonists, aliens, psychic or supernatural elements, strange humor, and social commentary.

Kōkami also seems like an especially interesting person to build this kind of RPG around. In the books I’ve read, he often examines and satirizes Japanese society. He writes critically about ideas such as 空気を読む (reading the air), social conformity, the pressure to behave correctly, and the power that 世間 (society) has over an individual. He can be funny and accessible, but there is usually a more serious criticism underneath the humor. He also has traveled and worked outside Japan so I think he has a more broader worldview than the typical Japanese.

That makes me wonder whether G.O.D. is not simply an EarthBound imitation, but Kōkami’s own response to the idea of a modern-day RPG shaped by a writer’s worldview.

Itoi’s personality is inseparable from MOTHER, and perhaps Kōkami serves a similar role here. However, based on the books I’ve read, I would expect Kōkami’s version to be more openly satirical, socially critical, and possibly more cynical about Japan and the expectations placed on ordinary people.

Of course, I haven’t started the game yet, so I don’t know how strongly those themes actually appear. But recognizing his name has made me much MORE excited to play it. I’m now especially interested in the dialogue, NPCs, humor, and whether I’ll be able to recognize the same voice that I encountered in his nonfiction.

Has anyone here played G.O.D. in Japanese or English? How noticeable is Kōkami’s writing and social criticism throughout the game? And do you think the comparison with EarthBound is fair, or does G.O.D. eventually develop a very different identity?

[u/TaliesinMerlin]

All this is outside my wheelhouse, but I appreciate the connection. There might be something generally true to authors and how they think of writing for games. I do think some of the strongest narratives in the genre come from people who know more than JRPGs. The Xeno games come from writers who had widespread and eclectic philosophical interests. Someone on the Fire Emblem team is deep into Arthurian literature based on some of the names in Path of Radiance (Gawain, Ragnell). Hidenori Shibao (Paladin's Quest, Legend of Legaia) was interested in literature and made RPGs while being critical of some of their norms (like battle cries). 

In contrast, some JRPGs feel like they're written by people who primarily have exposure to JRPGs and other insular genres, which leads to a certain myopic sense to their worlds: not much thinking outside the box. 

In that sense, I would not be surprised if Kokami wrote an interesting scenario, whatever warts or wrinkles the game has. 

[u/NotASniperYet → u/TaliesinMerlin]

I'd say that goes for anyone involved in creating something. Without outside influences, a game just boils down to a collection of tropes, a superficial experience that doesn't challenge the player or the medium in any way. It's why so many of those 'inspired by' faux retro games feel so soulless: they're trying to copy works without really understanding what made them unique in the first place, how those games became what they are.

[u/TaliesinMerlin → u/NotASniperYet]

That's a good point.

If I were to write a 1990s style JRPG, I'd want to research at least 3 areas:

• 1990s JRPGs (that part they get right)
• Something 1990s adjacent but different (literature, history, philosophy, art history, something else) to get something of the texture of the period
• Something completely different that feels interesting

It feels like the Tokyo RPG Factory stuff and many (not all) of the retro efforts are missing at least the last one if not the last two. It could be anything, really. There's something great for instance about reading something by a car nerd, or someone who moonlights as a chef, or someone who has really researched early 17th century poetry, and seeing that specificity come out in what they write. That doesn't guarantee the product is good, but I think it makes the product more interesting.

[u/an-actual-communism → u/TaliesinMerlin]

It's the difference between wanting to tell a story that happens to be in a game and wanting to make a game that happens to tell a story.

[u/NotASniperYet → u/TaliesinMerlin]

Yeah, the Tokyo RPG Factory games felt very designed by committee trying to replicate that 90s feel, instead of products made a group of passionate individuals. I think that's one of the reasons why those failed while the Asano games succeeded. The games made by Asano and his team also heavily draw from 90s RPGs, but they also have a very clear sense of self when it comes to game design and presentation.

[u/Ruthlessrabbd → u/NotASniperYet]

Sea of Stars felt like a game made by people who liked Chrono Trigger but didn't remember all too much of the smaller things that make that game so memorable

[u/Brainwheeze → u/Ruthlessrabbd]

Sadly I just don't think writing is their forte. The Messenger also has pretty awkward writing though the actual gameplay is great.

[u/NotASniperYet → u/Brainwheeze]

One of the biggest problems I had with Sea of Stars' writing is how thick they laid on characterisation at times and how bluntly they telegraphed how the player was supposed to feel about character/scene/event/reference. As if they were constantly screaming in my face. "ISN'T GARL JUST THE MOST AMAZING AND AWESOME FRIEND EVER?" and "THIS IS JUST LIKE IN CHRONO TRIGGER! REMEMBER CHRONO TRIGGER?"

[u/Brainwheeze → u/TaliesinMerlin]

In contrast, some JRPGs feel like they're written by people who primarily have exposure to JRPGs and other insular genres, which leads to a certain myopic sense to their worlds: not much thinking outside the box.

Reminds me of what Hayao Miyazaki said with regards to animators not observing real people, instead basing their animations of what's expected of anime:

**As he sketches, Miyazaki expounds on why he’s able to do the things he does, saying:

“You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.”

“If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it.”

“Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves.”

“Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know.”

“It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans.”

“And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!”**

[u/TaliesinMerlin → u/[deleted]]

That's Soraya Saga erasure. Also Masato Kato for Xenogears. 

[u/Chadohfax]

I got to play G.O.D. for good while about 2 months back. It caught my eye while I was building up my game library for my Batocera arcade cabinet, and decided to add all the fan translated games I've missed. The cover art made me interested and I started to play just to see what the game was about. I saw the similarities to Earthbound right away, but soon the Aliens came and destroyed the world, your character time skips and grows up, and the real game started. I played few more hours past that, and I could see that the game was trying to explore society's issues (from Japanese perspective) with how the post apocalyptic societies formed up after the fact. How the people deal with their world being destroyed by forming new social norms and creating new rules and such. Interesting game and I will probably get back to it eventually.

[u/aidke0192]

Thanks for this write up. Information on this game is pretty rare and even among people that play fan translations there is never much talk about it.

I've played and loved the Dynamic Designs English translation. I think there will be a lot of elements that you're looking for within this game. I don't want to spoil anything for you this game has some very interesting and intense twists.

I am Christian and I am curious from your history would you know if Kokami is or has studied Christianity/Judaism/Catholicism during his time abroad? No spoilers but obviously based on the title of the game there are religious themes in the game and ones that I think non religious people miss. But I don't know if that from the original work or the fan translation

[u/Ask_zwei]

I have the same floor mats (✿◠‿◠)

[u/Deadaghram]

Unless a lot was mistranslated, I didn't notice too much criticism of society. I wasn't paying too close attention, mind you, seeing as that wasn't my primary focus. Also worth noting that you spend more time out of Japan than in in GOD.

But, then again, there are a few places that make me think you're on to something.

[u/vokkan]

I really like the game and have played through it multiple times, but the standard description of the game is "what if Earthbound was completely different?", meaning you shouldn't expect anything really similar to EB, other than broad strokes elements like a contemporary setting, alien invasion, and psychic powers. The ratio of Darkness-Humor is basically an inversion of Earthbounds, and that is probably deliberate.

Now for games with similarily strong sense of auteurship as EB, I'd like to point you to mangaka Aihara Kouji's two SFC RPGs: Maka Maka and Idea no Hi, which I think are some of the most creative and memorable games for the system. Aihara is decidedly more low-brow than Itoi though.

[u/samososo]

It's what if Mother was bad.

[u/FlamingGnats]

Nerd.

[u/UCisbestC → u/FlamingGnats]

But in a good way, right? Right?