Mother 3's story is overrated.

[Mutsukki]

You know, Shigesato Itoi is a writer before a Game Designer. He's also a bunch of other things, the man's amazing, but that's another story. Since the first "Mother" days, he always strived for a compelling story, that does not lose humor or charm. A story that people can look to, relate and think about it themselves. The ending in every Mother game takes a turn to the weird, that's because it reaches it's climax and Itoi starts to show what he's really trying to do. Again, you sound like you didn't read -any- of Leder's dialogue. Basically everything is explained at that point. The freaking scene even has it's own music composed just for it. Of course you're supposed to be confused, as the villagers know nothing, you don't either. That's the charm of being immersed in the game's history.

If you, again, read Leder's story, you would see that they could have just erased their past, but they choose to have the Egg of Light conceal all their memories, instead of just going away with them. You don't realize that they planned to do this, to stay ignorant, because they learned with their past. You learn with the past, but you don't cling to it. Otherwise you'll be remorseful forever by past actions, at one point you have to let it go. That's one of the many messages Mother 3 tries to portray, and it does in such a natural way.

Now, to the Eagleland thing. The way you say it, it seems like Itoi is some American culture maniac, which is a way to completely miss the point. Of course he does enjoy American culture, otherwise it wouldn't be there in such a lighthearted manner. But, calling it a celebration is too much. That makes Itoi sound like some guy who just loves american culture and want to bring it to his own country, praising it as the best. Itoi always make sure to put japanese culture and things in his games, even if they're based on a satire version of America. And really, in general, he likes a lot of things, not every place in Earthbound is on Eagleland (I just discovered this yesterday). Foggyland, where Winters and Summers are, is a version of Europe (if Stonehenge wasn't a big clue enough). Chommo, where Dalaam and Scarab are, is a version of Asia/Africa (taking into account that Deep Darkness is part of it too). If you look at the first Mother's characters favorite things, aside from Lloyd, they always have a japanese thing listed, Ninten having the most (Giants game ticket and a baseball signed by some japanese player. Even if it's an american game, baseball is like, Japan's national sport). I agree that he does all the fun out of love, but it's certainly not to enforce (or suggest) that way of life on the players, that's for sure.