Why do people hate Paper Mario: Sticker Star?

[A Paragoomba and the Koopa Bros.]

I actually liked this game because the stickers were a pretty original idea, there isn't any new final villian (because Bowser only had 2 roles of being a final boss in these games) and that Kersti did kinda helped with the advice.

Anyway, the game was pretty good for the second-last Nintendo game of 2012.

 

[GalacticPetey]

Let me give you an anology.

We have Super Mario Bros, a very fun series. How about we make a movie?

Sure, it may seem the same to begin with, but we begin to take away everything that makes the series unique. The creative enemies, the likable villain, an overall fun experience, and other things that made the original great. In essence. Sticker Star is for the Paper Mario series what the SMB movie is for the Super Mario series.

 

[Unknown Entity]

I liked the game. [insert same ole pros and cons i always do everywhere i see a topic like this]

[insert responders counterargument here]

I'm getting fed up with seeing topics like this...(that's just me, of course)

 

[Verbal Rhythm]

People hating Sticker Star is like when people hate a song because it's a different genre than the artist's usual style. Unless you look at Sticker Star on its own instead of a continuation of the Paper Mario series, you're most likely going to hate it.

 

[NSY]

I did kinda enjoy Sticker Star however it never lived up and with now we have Dream Team which is an excellent game in my opinion, Sticker Star has kinda gone down the drain.

People disliked this game because of these reasons:
Shorter than other games
Not much of a plot
Speechless Villain
World Maps and Levels, no open world
Stickers
Lack of Partners
Lack of Badges
No point of battling (I think there is a point, I'll talk about that in a future post)
Generic Bosses
How cheap the 5th boss is
Focusing too much on the Paper
How overpowered the things are
No memorable Characters, everyone's a Toad
Lack of sidequests
How easy it is to get stuck without a guide
How everything from the past games is gone
How excited everyone was then they got this

Missed anything

 

[Xiahou Ba]

olook another Sticker Star hating thread. Let's bash on Sticker Star

Sticker Star is hated because we were expecting the same old traditional Paper Mario game after Super Paper Mario came out. Then, there was an announcement that Paper Mario is coming for the 3DS! All the fans got really excited. Wow, a Paper Mario game you can take and play anywhere you want? That is so cool! The beta screenshots eventually got released and they looked cool. A Chain Chomp partner? Wow that sounds like a load of fun to use! People were expecting the traditional partners to return with some new Mario enemies as partners.

Then, later in development, the Chain Chomp partner seemingly disappeared. People assuming that it's not the final of the game and maybe you get it later on. The continued absence confused fans. But nevertheless, Bowser Jr. appears for the first time in a Paper Mario game. People were pretty happy and were looking forward to see the interaction between him and Bowser.

But, the game was released and that's when the problems arose.

First, the game is utterly devoid of any partners. That's one strike for people who wanted the traditional Paper Mario system. Two, the game developers got rid of all the original characters and replaced them with Toads and enemies from the other Mario games. No Clubbas, no Merlee family, nothing of that. The story is barebones at best, and Bowser is the main villain once more. We didn't mind that because Bowser is pretty funny but guess what, Bowser doesn't speak in the game at all. HE DOESN'T SPEAK! They got rid of his voice and Bowser was a pretty entertaining character! WTF is this? Bowser Jr. and Bowser barely get ANY sort of interaction at all. This ruined a lot of potential for character development and such. But this game lacked character development. Of any sort. The only new character you get is Kersti who some people may describe as a "stickerfied Navi". And you know how bad Navi is.

The gameplay is really badly executed. The idea of using stickers to attack is nice, but guess what, your stickers get used up even if you use a basic attack! So that means your technically screwed if you have zero stickers. Oh but the worst part is how the enemies don't give any EXP at all when they're defeat. You don't even level up in this game by the traditional "kill the enemies" thing. So what's the point of defeating enemies? Getting more stickers? That's pathetic.

I haven't played the game but this is what I got from fan's reactions and believe me, those complaints are recurring enough for me to decide that Sticker Star isn't worth my time. Maybe someone with an in-depth perception can describe the game better than I can.

Let me give you an anology.

We have Super Mario Bros, a very fun series. How about we make a movie?

Sure, it may seem the same to begin with, but we begin to take away everything that makes the series unique. The creative enemies, the likable villain, an overall fun experience, and other things that made the original great. In essence. Sticker Star is for the Paper Mario series what the SMB movie is for the Super Mario series.

Not even Sticker Star can be compared to that-that-that MOVIE. Please don't. PLEASE.

 

[Verbal Rhythm]

The idea of using stickers to attack is nice, but guess what, your stickers get used up even if you use a basic attack! So that means your technically screwed if you have zero stickers.

I never had less than 1 full page of stickers, so you gotta really suck to let that happen.

 

[NSY]

The idea of using stickers to attack is nice, but guess what, your stickers get used up even if you use a basic attack! So that means your technically screwed if you have zero stickers.

I never had less than 1 full page of stickers, so you gotta really suck to let that happen.

This sums it up

 

[Pyro]

Well, it's good when you don't compare it to the other games. It really lost its charm from the other three games, with no real jokes other than recycled ones. It also destroyed many of the series traditions (Whacka, cooking, badges, unique enemies, star power, partners, etc.). The game had no enemies that were completely unique to the series (Arantulas, Clefts, and Growmebas are exclusive to the Paper Mario series and are not based on anything already in the game) - the new enemies were either new species or alterations of existing enemies (Sombrero Guys, Paper-Cone Goombas). The bosses were just stupidly resource-wasting and are insanely hard to beat if you don't know their one weakness. Usually they don't make sense - your only hint to Tower Power Pokey's Bat weakness is that you fight him in a baseball field. When you've already started the battle. Also, a Sponge for Gooper Blooper is just silly. The game also had many paper jokes which simply weren't funny. Before, paper was the art style and a small game mechanic in TTYD. Outside of that, nobody cared that the world was made of arts-and-crafts materials. The game also redesigned many of the enemies to their awful NSMB designs, which kind of ruined it for me as I loved the Goombas, Koopas and Dry Bones before. This game also removes the ever-present cuteness of the Buzzy Beetles, Spike Tops and Spinies in the Paper Mario series, making them menacing. Flower and Badge Points were removed for a badly-handled core game mechanic - stickers being one-use was a nuisance, meaning you had to stock up on stickers for a boss battle just to waste them all due to the boss having an unnecessarily large amount of HP. Tower Power Pokey should have had 200 HP - same with all other bosses except Bowser - and all the extremely powerful Thing stickers should have been nerfed. Heck, every sticker should have been nerfed. If they were going to make hitting the max on Infinijumps so easily, why couldn't they have made it like 50 or something and renamed it Power Bounce, the very badge it's supposed to mimic? The game is incredibly easy once you get all the HP-Ups and Things - Bowser took me one turn. Yes, Bowser took me one turn. Which brings me to another thing - why does the Battle Spin exist? To win those boss battles it's practically required, except for Petey Piranha, which I swear that they made him purposefully easy so you could last without Kersti. That guy really only starts choking up Dry Bones after you get Kersti out, at least for me, as I can do so much damage to him in the first turn at this point with the Squirt Gun. Also, another thing - the game has fake replay value. The Secret Doors are really useless - they're not hidden at all, the real challenge is to make your Sticker Album full enough for those incredibly large stickers. Since I'm the kind of person that has to get as close as you can to 100%, I completed the Sticker Museum, which was surprisingly easy because beyond the enemy drops you're bound to run into every other sticker by the time you're complete with the game, unless you haven't realized that the game hides stickers in the same way every time. Things are basically the Secret Doors - find out how many you can fit in your inventory, drop them off in the museum, rinse and repeat. The Sound Room was a disappointment - all the tracks they selected were overworld themes, and not the entire soundtrack so you can't listen to the truly great tracks in the game like Petey Piranha or Kamek's battle themes. The soundtrack is really the only thing good about this game. The enemy gallery would be much better if you weren't timed.

Alright, I'm done. tl;dr - Sticker Star has way too much wasted potential.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

The idea of using stickers to attack is nice, but guess what, your stickers get used up even if you use a basic attack! So that means your technically screwed if you have zero stickers.

I never had less than 1 full page of stickers, so you gotta really suck to let that happen.

Well, another thing is that if you're trying to conserve stickers, there isn't a way other than using them in battle or running away.

 

[Verbal Rhythm]

The Sound Room was a disappointment

Yeah, I have to agree with you on that, the Music and Enemy exhibits could've been done a lot better.

Well, another thing is that if you're trying to conserve stickers, there isn't a way other than using them in battle or running away.

I don't even try to conserve stickers and I need to battle enemies to make room for more stickers.

 

[Dorayaki]

Differences happen in many ways. Super Paper Mario itself was also different from the two predecessors, so I don't care to see a simple game for once in a handheld game.

However, since partners are one important element of Paper series, they should do something to make up for it beside a new sticker system. Not only the Sticker Star story isn't strong enough (both main storyline and chapters), it is based on a SMB formula like the first one and plot bugs still exist. Nintendo shouldn't expect it to be a success.

 

[New Super Mario]

They took everything great the first three games established and ruined it, really. It's just so average and not really much fun gameplay. The memorable characters, story, and funny dialogue are some of the best things in the series (all of the original three had that) and Sticker Star had none of it.

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

*reads topic title*
Oh hey look, another Sticker Star thread!
*leaves*

 

[Nabber]

the game is quite simply not fun

it's just badly done and I find it hard to bring myself to play it

 

[Xiahou Dun]

*reads topic title*
Oh hey look, another Sticker Star thread!
*leaves*

If you have nothing to contribute, then why post in the first place? Sheesh.

Sticker Star is a prominent example how there needs a fine balance between stagnation and innovation. But even that, Sticker Star succeeded a game that was vastly different from the other two, so that gave it even less of an excuse to tinker with Paper Mario. I don't know why Nintendo felt the need to change the core around. It's not like people are getting tired of it, especially since the last game that used it is only the second game in the series.

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

If you have nothing to contribute, then why post in the first place? Sheesh.

I contributed. I expressed my concern that there are too many threads about Sticker Star and why people like/hate it. Is there really a need for all these threads about the same thing?

http://www.marioboards.com/index.php?topic=26331.0
http://www.marioboards.com/index.php?topic=25376.0
http://www.marioboards.com/index.php?topic=24745.0

not to mention many posts in other threads about it. I myself am guilty of posting a lot about it, but I'm noticing this more now and think we are indeed beating a dead horse. A very dead, rotting, disappointing horse. Let's just let it rot, fade away and be overshadowed by the return to the original formula that PM5 will hopefully have.

 

[Mario4Ever]

return to the original formula

I hope not.

 

[Baby Mario Bloops]

This thread...

I will resist the urge to spit out what I've said like 100 times now, but Sticker Star was just basically a let-down to many fans because it had the potential to be like TTYD, but then was taken into the wrong direction that made many Paper Mario fans disappointed.

It's a good Mario game, but a terrible Paper Mario game.

 

[Sonicyay2]

inb4solarblazepostsonthisthread

 

[A Paragoomba and the Koopa Bros.]

Guys, I'm sure the next game will have partners and everything that makes the Paper Mario series enjoyable again. Still I want the NSMB designs, I don't wanna see a Dry Bones that is more of a cartoonish skeleton, weird Buzzy Beetles and that.

 

[EctoBiologist]

It's simply a piece of shit.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Guys, I'm sure the next game will have partners and everything that makes the Paper Mario series enjoyable again. Still I want the NSMB designs, I don't wanna see a Dry Bones that is more of a cartoonish skeleton, weird Buzzy Beetles and that.

I can agree with the Dry Bones, but I prefer the adorable Buzzy Beetles over the glowing-eyed one any time of the day.

 

[Baby Mario Bloops]

Well, it's just sad to think about some of the Mario series going downhill.

I mean, Mario Party was just destroyed by Mario Party 9's mechanic, and Paper Mario Sticker Star tarnished the name of the RPG series, even Mario Kart 7 brought down the series a bit with some of the stuff they did.

At least Mario & Luigi and the Luigi's Mansion series are all still very VERY strong.

I can agree with the Dry Bones, but I prefer the adorable Buzzy Beetles over the glowing-eyed one any time of the day.

OMG, yes! I love how cute the Buzzy Beetles are in the PM series!

 

[Pyro]

NSMB designs suck in my opinion. For comparison:

This

to this.

This

to this

There's really a huge difference in "flat versions of the NSMB enemies" to "cartoony paper redesigns that are extremely appealing".