Lee Chaolan
Oh, excellent!
Had a few thoughts on my mind that I kinda wanted to just put out there, so here goes nothing.
While I like this game, I have trouble seeing why people praise this game so much. It follows the original Paper Mario formula pretty well (which is nice) and adds a few new things, however not all to many of these make the game all that much better.
The chapters themselves are largely uninteresting and the platforming and such isn't designed all too well. Most chapters are just back and forth through hallway areas which are tedious to go through, however this issue has been acknowledged by pretty much everyone so I won't mention it too much. The general theme and progression of each chapter also copies a lot from the original, Keyhual Key is pretty much the same as Lavalava Islamd with the word pirate slapped on it. Chapter 1 is Chapter 1 from the original without much difference, Chapter 4 is the same expect with much worse level design, Chapter 8 copies Bowser's Castle on quite a few ways. Chapter 6 is backtracking while talking to people until you eventually get to an actual proper area. Chapter 7 had a boring moon segment (not to mention General White). Chapter 3 was pretty tbh so I can't bag it too much aside from its repititive nature. The bits inbetween each Chapter were a bit more tedious than in the original, having to go back to an area in the previous chapter (where you just were about ten minutes ago) so that you can experience "I love you" 100 times isn't exactly what I call fun. Overall it's still decent, but suffers from too manh flaws to make it great.
The dialogue in general can be funny at times, but more often than not I found myself skipping through from just bleh it was. The same can be said for most NPCs in general. Having someone not here what you're saying and than making something up gets old really fast, having a family crisis which has nothing to do with you isn't interesting, and having a detective who hears something and then says "Just as I suspected!" every time is just annoying. Most of the OCs, which the game focuses on, have generic personalities and bad designs, Flavio looks completely out of place is pretty much designed to be annoying, Beldam is just your standard mean person with power, Grodus is an incredidibly generic villian that has the usual goal of taking over the world, and the list keeps going on. I did enjoy Doopliss though, what they did in chapter 4 with him and his whole design is a pretty cool idea.
The story itself is not one that I enjoyed and is flawed with a lot of unanswered questions or useless information. Why does Doopliss join the Shadow Sirens? Why does Beldam want to bring back the Shadow Queen? Does Grodus have any motivation aside from "rule the world"? Why is he a robot with seemingly human qualities? Professor Frankly tells you that the Thosuand-Year Doors seal may break soon, yet Dooplisss tricks you into opening it for Grodus, which is pointless because it will open soon anyway. In fact, if the door will open soon, why are did Beldam need the map for the Crystal stars? Things like these show that the story tries to be well written while also giving you reason to go on, which it doesn't accomplish. Not to mention, this entire story is comepltly out of place for a Mario game and doesn't focus much on the Mario part. It's not as bad as SPM, but it's obvious that Intelligent Systems have been trying to make Mario something that it's not. It makes me appreciate what Miyamoto wanted the direction for Sticker Star to be, unfortunatly they didn't do that too well either.
The main reason I like this game is the battle system. It's like the original, with simple controls and concepts while also offering some deeper thought provoking strategy. However, I'm not sure if I like it more than the original. I like stylish moves as they make action commands more interesting and give an option to gain more star power by attacking, which is nice. Partners also have their own HP and are generally more balanced (they also got more personality but that's off point). There are more badges as well as more attacks, and once you acquire new boots or a new hammer, it gives you a permanent special attack, which I think is a good addition. These things however also lead to some more problems, as well as there being more problems in general.
First off, the stage/audience mechanic. The stage will randomly, without warning, give someone a status effect, hit someone, or make attacks miss because of the stupid fog. The audience can be annoying since you know that someone has an item but you can't see them from all the other audience members, and if you leave the Tv for a second the it's possible to get hit. It's not as bad as the stage mind you, I don't mind the audience too much because they aren't too much of a deal. The Bingo system is also another random thing that can either screws you or makes a battle much easier, which again doesn't make the game better.
Second thing, having more badges and Partners having HP can potientially be broken (Danger Mario, Quick Change gives an easy sponge character, etc.) and makes the game pretty easy. Super guarding is also another addition that makes the game easier by being broken, you can beat the Pit of 100 trials before beating Hooktail, and the timing isn't hard with some practice. In my playthrough, I was able to demolish every boss, including Bonetail, just by using a few Power badges and a few Power Bounces (and only having max 40 HP throughout the entire thing, yet never getting a Game Over once.)
Overall, the game is fun and does have some things over the original, but I don't find it all too much better and can't decide which one I like better. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up liking the original better like I know some people here do, and I don't see why people praise this shame to the point where any game that isnt TTYD is rubbish. Anyway, that's just my rant, feel free to comment or whatever.
While I like this game, I have trouble seeing why people praise this game so much. It follows the original Paper Mario formula pretty well (which is nice) and adds a few new things, however not all to many of these make the game all that much better.
The chapters themselves are largely uninteresting and the platforming and such isn't designed all too well. Most chapters are just back and forth through hallway areas which are tedious to go through, however this issue has been acknowledged by pretty much everyone so I won't mention it too much. The general theme and progression of each chapter also copies a lot from the original, Keyhual Key is pretty much the same as Lavalava Islamd with the word pirate slapped on it. Chapter 1 is Chapter 1 from the original without much difference, Chapter 4 is the same expect with much worse level design, Chapter 8 copies Bowser's Castle on quite a few ways. Chapter 6 is backtracking while talking to people until you eventually get to an actual proper area. Chapter 7 had a boring moon segment (not to mention General White). Chapter 3 was pretty tbh so I can't bag it too much aside from its repititive nature. The bits inbetween each Chapter were a bit more tedious than in the original, having to go back to an area in the previous chapter (where you just were about ten minutes ago) so that you can experience "I love you" 100 times isn't exactly what I call fun. Overall it's still decent, but suffers from too manh flaws to make it great.
The dialogue in general can be funny at times, but more often than not I found myself skipping through from just bleh it was. The same can be said for most NPCs in general. Having someone not here what you're saying and than making something up gets old really fast, having a family crisis which has nothing to do with you isn't interesting, and having a detective who hears something and then says "Just as I suspected!" every time is just annoying. Most of the OCs, which the game focuses on, have generic personalities and bad designs, Flavio looks completely out of place is pretty much designed to be annoying, Beldam is just your standard mean person with power, Grodus is an incredidibly generic villian that has the usual goal of taking over the world, and the list keeps going on. I did enjoy Doopliss though, what they did in chapter 4 with him and his whole design is a pretty cool idea.
The story itself is not one that I enjoyed and is flawed with a lot of unanswered questions or useless information. Why does Doopliss join the Shadow Sirens? Why does Beldam want to bring back the Shadow Queen? Does Grodus have any motivation aside from "rule the world"? Why is he a robot with seemingly human qualities? Professor Frankly tells you that the Thosuand-Year Doors seal may break soon, yet Dooplisss tricks you into opening it for Grodus, which is pointless because it will open soon anyway. In fact, if the door will open soon, why are did Beldam need the map for the Crystal stars? Things like these show that the story tries to be well written while also giving you reason to go on, which it doesn't accomplish. Not to mention, this entire story is comepltly out of place for a Mario game and doesn't focus much on the Mario part. It's not as bad as SPM, but it's obvious that Intelligent Systems have been trying to make Mario something that it's not. It makes me appreciate what Miyamoto wanted the direction for Sticker Star to be, unfortunatly they didn't do that too well either.
The main reason I like this game is the battle system. It's like the original, with simple controls and concepts while also offering some deeper thought provoking strategy. However, I'm not sure if I like it more than the original. I like stylish moves as they make action commands more interesting and give an option to gain more star power by attacking, which is nice. Partners also have their own HP and are generally more balanced (they also got more personality but that's off point). There are more badges as well as more attacks, and once you acquire new boots or a new hammer, it gives you a permanent special attack, which I think is a good addition. These things however also lead to some more problems, as well as there being more problems in general.
First off, the stage/audience mechanic. The stage will randomly, without warning, give someone a status effect, hit someone, or make attacks miss because of the stupid fog. The audience can be annoying since you know that someone has an item but you can't see them from all the other audience members, and if you leave the Tv for a second the it's possible to get hit. It's not as bad as the stage mind you, I don't mind the audience too much because they aren't too much of a deal. The Bingo system is also another random thing that can either screws you or makes a battle much easier, which again doesn't make the game better.
Second thing, having more badges and Partners having HP can potientially be broken (Danger Mario, Quick Change gives an easy sponge character, etc.) and makes the game pretty easy. Super guarding is also another addition that makes the game easier by being broken, you can beat the Pit of 100 trials before beating Hooktail, and the timing isn't hard with some practice. In my playthrough, I was able to demolish every boss, including Bonetail, just by using a few Power badges and a few Power Bounces (and only having max 40 HP throughout the entire thing, yet never getting a Game Over once.)
Overall, the game is fun and does have some things over the original, but I don't find it all too much better and can't decide which one I like better. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up liking the original better like I know some people here do, and I don't see why people praise this shame to the point where any game that isnt TTYD is rubbish. Anyway, that's just my rant, feel free to comment or whatever.
