I believe it's been almost two years since I finished omori, and I still think about it on the reg despite only having done one playthrough (though to be fair, I've watched videos of the highlight moments so many times). it's maybe just ahead of lisa for being the most interesting earthbound-like to talk about, at least from the ones I've played
your mileage with omori will vary based on how well you can compartmentalize its biggest flaw: the author is working backwards to get you to the parts they care about, and so everything else is not always very interesting
earthbound was probably made in sequence, where the goal is that each part feels both distinct and engaging. the final boss then being a convenient opportunity for the team to explore horror imagery that, on player recollection, makes everything before then feel a little unnerving
mother 3 sacrifices pacing a little to build towards a big finale that the author is focused on. omori is almost singularly concerned with getting you to the third act's events while a lot of what comes before is sometimes perfunctory
whenever I think about replaying it, I remember how much sweetheart's castle and humphrey's stomach drag on way past their welcome. cannot even imagine wanting to do more than the bare minimum in the faraway town sections because the side-quest design is intolerable
since the game makes it very clear that Something Is Wrong Here right off the bat, there's a tacit understanding between author and player which says "yeah you know that we're gonna get to the dark stuff eventually, but for now we need to build up to it instead of throwing you straight in"
if you can stick it out and forgive the game for that, then the payoff is tremendous. the final hours of the game are a rollercoaster of tension, discomfort, and melancholy. it's still the best finale to any game in my mind, moments of it are hauntingly beautiful and evoke strong feelings just thinking about them even now
the 180° genre shift into yume nikki exploratory horror, every gut-wrenching moment of the big reveal, the fucking gruesome confrontation between the two central figures, the slow buildup of "remember the people important to you" contrasted against the unrelenting psychological torture of the final boss (holy shit the music here), and the evangelion-esque moment delivering a paean to the value of life and hope despite everything
as far as the author was concerned, they just needed to patiently get there without letting the pacing ever slow down so much that they lose the audience. the central flaw is a necessary evil to set the stage for the main event
could it have been as great throughout as earthbound, undertale, or lisa? probably. but I've never seen a game, let alone any of those, wreck people emotionally as much as omori's ending does. that was a compromise worth making
