I'm pretty sure they're talking about something you can do in a New Game+. If you take the right teleporter at the start of a New Game+, you go straight to the final boss. I've done it before, because there's a special ending!
Earthbound is a somewhat more traditional rpg with a lot of grinding/random combat.
One of the things that makes ChronoTrigger approachable is that all combat is prearranged by the design of the areas. You get the XP you need just by traversing it. Makes it easy compared to other rpgs from the time go. Take that as you will.
Earthbound is not linear enough. I couldn’t get past the first 20 minutes of gameplay without looking it up.
The root cause is I’m dumb but that’s just my opinion. Chrono was great. Had a good mix of non linear but also story made it obvious where you were suppose to go next.