i'm not saying the whole cast was bad, but some were more interesting than others. I would've definitely prefer Salsa over Boney in my party. Salsa felt like he mattered more and had more of a story. Boney's only excuse is that he's Lucas' dog.
I would prefer this game be named Mother 2.5 just because it relies too much on Mother 2 fans.
I highly disagree with Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. one is a gaiden, the other isn't. Mother 2 and Mother 3 are full fledged games within the series.
I'm not arguing that the game isn't melancholy (it is, but not as much as the previous 2), emotional? yes, it was very emotional, but sit back and think on how many moments were emotional? beginning (which had a slow start) and the ending were really emotional. But hardly ever did i get to see it build up in the middle. Maybe i cared for certain Magypsies.
The tone for Mother 3, was dark although instead of Mother 2 where its implied with more psychological, it just straght out goes for the fantasy. and that's what really gets me upset with Mother 3. it didn't feel like a unique experience, it felt like another nintendo GBA game. Play games such as Wario 4, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Kirby and you get the sense of what i'm talking about with Mother 3.
Mother 3 felt like it was designed to be a GBA game, and although that sounds stupid to say considering it is on the GBA, the previous MOther games were like no other in the series. you would play Mother/Earthbound zero and althouh you recognized it was a NES game you wouldn't compare it to others as easily. Same with Earthbound/Mother 2.