Unpopular opinions about the Mario series

Count Bleck With Claws said:
And the audience's thrown objects are fine too, because it allows you to attack any audience member preparing to throw something, good or bad, which adds a strategic element where you actually need to pay attention to what is being thrown before pressing X to attack them.
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I don't agree with this. It doesn't really add any strategy, it's just an extra annoyance to pay attention for. Paper Mario's strategy in general isn't even all that great, you can easily get by using just the strongest combos in the game, as some of the moves are far too overpowered to NOT use (Super Bounce for example). I get that FP is supposed to mitigate it somewhat but sometimes the FP cost is trivial to the overall power of the move.

Pokerninja2 said:
I feel like the items in Paper Mario should be improved upon, because after Chapter 1 the only items I ever use are ones that restore HP and FP outside of very situational scenarios.
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Probably because of the low difficulty the game has. Other RPGs that I know of heavily reward item use, maybe even sometimes mandatory against a lot of fights (rogue-likes especially you need items to survive). I've seen only like, the toughest Paper Mario fights use items, such as the Anti-Guy squad but aside from that, yeah.

Paper Mario 64 had serious item inventory issues. Stocking up on Fire Flowers would have been fun but yeah, you can only hold like, 10 items in the game, which is pretty awful?
 
Redshift said:
I don't agree with this. It doesn't really add any strategy, it's just an extra annoyance to pay attention for. Paper Mario's strategy in general isn't even all that great, you can easily get by using just the strongest combos in the game, as some of the moves are far too overpowered to NOT use (Super Bounce for example). I get that FP is supposed to mitigate it somewhat but sometimes the FP cost is trivial to the overall power of the move.
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ttyd's combat system had its flaws for sure but overall id call it an excellent job (both personally and non)
 
im not saying its combat was bad, im saying that it has a lot of grievances and annoyances that kept me from fully enjoying the game. i vastly prefer 64's battle system because i don't have to worry about turds being thrown at my character randomly.
 
Varian said:
This is an unpopular opinion in itself but I think Mario & Luigi was better than Paper Mario ever was. Shame we probably aren't getting another one.
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I prefer Mario & Luigi over Paper Mario myself, especially its concept. Mario & Luigi did the partner thing a lot better for starters. I can't dice it any other way: Luigi's just way better as a partner than any of the partners in Paper Mario. It's a shame that you can't switch between who leads after Superstar Saga, though. I also think they're more expressive than the Paper Mario iterations. Also, Mario & Luigi gave a lot of prominence to Bowser and Baby Mario/Baby Luigi while also attempting a crossover with the Paper Mario universe. I think it's pretty bold considering everything else the Mario series has been dealing with in terms of existing characters.
 
You probably shouldn't really go around changing semantics to personally suit you, especially if you have to explain such. In the end, it just confuses people, it obfuscates your points. Use appropriate words, rely on clear language, and use good evidence and reasoning.
 
Striker Mario said:
You probably shouldn't really go around changing semantics to personally suit you, especially if you have to explain such. In the end, it just confuses people, it obfuscates your points. Use appropriate words, rely on clear language, and use good evidence and reasoning.
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im not doing that, thats why ive switched to personal/nonpersonal rather than subjective/objective
 
Your reviews are still very much personal, though. The only difference is just that you're thinking critically of the game and describing every aspect of it.

This was especially apparent in your SPM review. You weighted gameplay so lightly compared to story and presentation, and no matter what popular opinion might be that's not "nonpersonal" by any stretch.
 
It just confuses/potentially annoys people for essentially no reason.

I mean it's not like it's a shorter word or anything either. In fact, non-personal is more of a mouthful than objective.
 
Mcmadness said:
It just confuses/potentially annoys people for essentially no reason.

I mean it's not like it's a shorter word or anything either. In fact, non-personal is more of a mouthful than objective.
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nah @Redshift was right objective kinda suggests its factual so no

Varian said:
Your reviews are still very much personal, though. The only difference is just that you're thinking critically of the game and describing every aspect of it.

This was especially apparent in your SPM review. You weighted gameplay so lightly compared to story and presentation, and no matter what popular opinion might be that's not "nonpersonal" by any stretch.
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You're right, I can't eliminate personal bias completely, but I'm making an effort to reduce to it.

I didn't weight gameplay that lightly. After all, it was not bad and I gave the game a 9 out of 10 rather than 10 or 9.5. I just reject the view that gameplay is by far the most important thing and so the overall score shouldn't be any more than 1 point higher than the gameplay's, because I really don't feel that's how MaRPGs are limited to entertain people, and what the community wants out of Paper Mario.
 
One thing that I know is that some people who play RPGs a lot often tend to skip the story to get to gameplay when they've already experienced the game at least once. So I'd say gameplay is the most important aspect by a long shot, because you'll be forced to go through it every playthrough, but you can skip the story after you've already seen it.
 
I always thought in Mario's case, story takes a huge backseat to everything else. It's not really fair to grade games for having a bad/nonexistent story when the story is not designed to be substantial or worthwhile, or even if the story is meant to be a joke (Mario Tennis Ace's story, DDR Mario Mix's story, Mario Superstar Baseball's story). I'd harp on the story, however, if it has no commitment to what it really wants to do; for instance, Sonic Adventure 2 played its story painfully straight despite the absolutely ludicrous "destroy a part of the moon", hiding a Space Shuttle inside an Egyptian Pyramid (WHAT?), and whatever the hell that was Shadow's backstory. That sort of thing is supposed to be for stories that know they're ludicrous, and Sonic, I feel works way better when no one takes the settings seriously.
 
You cannot have a review without personal bias. It's an essential part of any review that you can't get rid of. So why not embrace it? There's absolutely no shame in putting your personal opinions in a review. In fact, oftentimes the best reviews are the ones you base off your personal experience.
 
Striker Mario said:
It's a shame that you can't switch between who leads after Superstar Saga, though.
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Glad to see I'm not the only one who was irked by this. Like, it's a minor detail overall, but it was a nice touch and I don't really get why no other game did that (including Superstar Saga's own remake, from what I've heard)
 
Mcmadness said:
Which is why the word subjective exists.
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It is subjective, but it just places a lesser emphasis on personal liking
Varian said:
You cannot have a review without personal bias. It's an essential part of any review that you can't get rid of. So why not embrace it? There's absolutely no shame in putting your personal opinions in a review. In fact, oftentimes the best reviews are the ones you base off your personal experience.
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I do embrace it and still have a personal opinion, but I recognise the reasons for it. I personally consider Mario Kart Wii a bad game, but I recognise the reasons for this as mainly being just because it's not my type of game rather than because it's badly designed and/or contains flaws which would hinder me from recommending the game to those who are into racing games, so I still consider it nonpersonally good. Or LIJ2, I do embrace my personal opinions that I very much love the game etc., but I realise that nostalgia is the main thing for it, hence my score of only 7/10.
 
Varian said:
That's actually not true. You can do it in the remake, it just works a little differently.
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What I heard was that Luigi only goes in front during Bros. Actions that require him to be in the front. Is that more or less what you're talking about?
 
MetaWeegee said:
What I heard was that Luigi only goes in front during Bros. Actions that require him to be in the front. Is that more or less what you're talking about?
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Yes, but you can also press X to make both brothers jump regardless of the selected move, so you can still essentially play the game with Luigi in front.

If anything I like the remake's system better because sifting through Bros Actions in the GBA version felt a bit kinky.
 
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Mr. Mr. Prosecutor Grubba said:
It is subjective, but it just places a lesser emphasis on personal liking
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Which serves no purpose, doesn't matter how much it's emphasized, something subjective is something subjective.

Just use objective/subjective, people will know what you are talking about better.
 
I am glad King K. Rool is back in the spotlight but I want him to return in the Donkey Kong Country series before he starts appearing in games like Mario Kart.
 
MetaWeegee said:
Glad to see I'm not the only one who was irked by this. Like, it's a minor detail overall, but it was a nice touch and I don't really get why no other game did that (including Superstar Saga's own remake, from what I've heard)
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I guess having Luigi in front of Mario was just too strange for Nintendo to handle. Still, it's that kind of strangeness I like. Also it's not really Mario & Luigi if you're really just controlling Mario, huh?

Pokerninja2 said:
I am glad King K. Rool is back in the spotlight but I want him to return in the Donkey Kong Country series before he starts appearing in games like Mario Kart.
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He has a good chance of appearing in another Donkey Kong, and we did get Fire Piranha Plant in Mario Tennis Aces in good timing after Piranha Plant was revealed playable, but we'll really see if Smash really meant anything. I kind of doubt Smash will propel Banjo to any sort of relevance, though

BlueBerryBlue said:
Unpopular Opinion:
Seadric's relatives are quite good.
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They don't seem like bad guys to begin with? But anyhow, Seadring.... how come no one has eve clamored for those to return? It's Shelltops all over again!!!
 
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