Hey /vr/, I need your help:

So I probably started Earthbound around four times and every time I stopped playing at around Threed. The combat is just so tedious and boring, and you (or I) have to grind alot in every new area, which sucks all the fun out of the game for me.
I really like the humour, style and general comfy-ness of the game though, and I wanna play through it.

So my question is, is there a way to avoid grinding or the combat in general? I was thinking about just using cheats in an emulator, but I haven't found a guide that explains how to do that.

Anyone an idea?