Paper Mario: The Origami King - Spoiler Thread

[MondoMega]

It seems like tradition now for new Paper Mario titles to leak before release; it happened to Color Splash in 2016 two weeks before release, and history has repeated itself once more. With an illegal dumped copy of the game on the loose ahead of release (which I will obviously not link to here), a few users in the Preview Thread requested that a spoiler thread be made to contain discussion about them and keep other threads spoiler-free.

With that being said:

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING - DO NOT PROGRESS ANY FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO VIEW ANY SPOILERS​

For those who wish to catch themselves up on some of the important info that was not covered in press previews, i've compiled lists of the key content below.

EDIT: With a complete playthrough available to view on YouTube, i've revised the information below to correct some inaccuracies and add more details.

Partners: Besides Olivia, there are five major partners that will join Mario for certain sections of his journey. Unfortunately, that means that all of them have already been featured in official footage (though two of them have not been shown as active partners), so no real surprises here.

Spoiler

They are:

• Bobby (Attack Name: : Bomb Bump)
• Professor Toad (Attack Name: Dig This)
• Kamek (Attack Name: Magic)
• Bowser Jr. (Attack Name: Tantrum)
• Bowser (Attack Name: Fire Breath)

Other allies will also follow Mario at certain points, though their roles are minor in comparison to the above partners (references to their status as party members internally are limited). They are:

• Luigi​
• Toad​
• Spike (Attack: Up-Chuck)
• Bone Goomba (Attack: Skullbonk)

Chapters: As expected based on pre-release media, there are six major regions; five dedicated to the colored streamers that surround Peach's Castle (Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple and Green; in that order), and one final area (the castle itself). Below are the maps for each area:

My earlier list of area/building names for each chapter is retained here:

Spoiler

• Prologue:
  • Peach's Castle
• Chapter 1 - Red Streamer:
  • Whispering Woods
    • Sweet Sap Loggins
    • Toad's BBQ Foodeatery
  • Toad Town
    • Toad Town Port
    • Musée Champignon
    • Battle Lab
  • Graffiti Underground
  • Picnic Road
    • Earth Vellumental Temple
  • Overlook Mountain
    • Overlook Tower
• Chapter 2 - Blue Streamer:
  • Autumn Mountain
    • Chestnut Valley
    • Water Vellumental Shrine
    • Eddy River
  • Shogun Studios
    • Tranquil Pipes Teahouse
    • Ninja Attraction
    • Shuriken Dojo
    • Big Sho' Theater
• Chapter 3 - Purple Steamer:
  • Sweetpaper Valley
  • Breezy Tunnel
  • Scorching Sandpaper Desert
    • Scorching Sandpaper Minor
    • Scorching Sandpaper West
    • Scorching Sandpaper East
    • Scorching Sandpaper Far West
    • Scorching Sandpaper Far East
  • Snif City
    • Snif City Royal Hotel
  • Fire Vellumental Cave
  • Temple of Shrooms
• Chapter 4 - Purple Steamer:
  • The Princess Peach (Cruise Ship)
  • The Great Sea
    • Bonehead Island
    • Mushroom Island
    • Crescent Moon Island
    • Full Moon Island
    • Hammer Island
    • Club Island
    • Heart Island
    • Spade Island
    • ? Island
    • Scuffle Island
      • Origami Workshop (home of Olly's creator, the Origami Craftsman)
    • Diamond Island
      • Ice Vellumental Mountain
      • Hall of Trials
  • Sea Tower
• Chapter 5 - Green Streamer:
  • Shangri-Spa
    • Spring of Purification
    • Spring of Rainbows
    • Spring of Jungle Mist
  • Shy Guys Finish Last
  • Bowser's Castle
  • Bowser's Airship
• Chapter 6 - Origami Castle:
  • Hotfoot Crater
  • Origami Castle
    • King Olly's Throne Room

Items: Below is a full list of Weapons, Items and Accessories that can be purchased:

Spoiler

Weapons:

• Boots - Standard boots. Great for jumping on basic enemies.
  • Shiny Boots - Stronger than Iron Boots, but can't stomp spiked enemies.
  • Flashy Boots - Stronger than Shiny Boots, but can't stomp spiked enemies.
  • Legendary Boots - The strongest boots of all. Still cannot stomp spiked enemies.
  • Gold Boots - Wear these to stomp a few coins out of your enemies!
• Hammer - A classic. Mario's trusty hammer, great for hitting basic foes.
  • Shiny Hammer - Stronger and shinier than your regular, everyday hammer.
  • Flashy Hammer - An extremely strong and fancy hammer. Deals big damage!
  • Legendary Hammer - The strongest and fanciest hammer in the game.
  • Gold Hammer - Use this to knock coins out of your enemies' pockets.
• Iron Boots - Stronger than regular boots—and they can stomp spiked enemies!
  • Shiny Iron Boots - Stronger and shinier than your regular Iron Boots.
  • Flashy Iron Boots - Stronger and fancier than regular Iron Boots. They can deal huge damage!
  • Legendary Iron Boots - The strongest type of Iron Boots. Crush your spiked foes!
• Hurlhammer - A hammer that you can throw for long- range attacks.
  • Shiny Hurlhammer - A stronger option for long-range hammer attacks.
• Fire Hammer - A hammer that blazes with flames when whacking an enemy.
• Ice Hammer - A hammer that crackles with ice when whacking foes.

Items:

• Mushroom - A useful item that can restore Mario's health anytime.
  • Shiny Mushroom - A shiny Mushroom that restores even more health.
  • Flashy Mushroom - A dazzling Mushroom that restores a huge amount of health.
• Fire Flower - Use this to throw fireballs at enemies in a straight line.
  • Shiny Fire Flower - Throws stronger fireballs at enemies in a straight line.
• Ice Flower - Use this to throw ice balls at enemies in a straight line.
  • Shiny Ice Flower - Throws stronger ice balls at enemies in a straight line.
• Tail - Equip this to spin and flick your tail at nearby enemies.
  • Shiny Tail - A stronger Tail attack good for stronger enemies.
• POW Block - Shakes the ground, dealing damage to all enemies.
• 1-Up Mushroom - Automatically revives Mario if he falls in a battle.
• Hidden Block Unhider - Helps you find nearby hidden blocks.
• Toad Radar - Helps you find nearby Toads in trouble.
• Lamination Suit - Put this on to make yourself harder for enemies to see!
• Boot Whistle - Summons your trusty Boot Car Type B when you're in the desert.

Accessories:

• Heart Plus - Raises your HP a little bit during battle.
• Silver Heart Plus - Raises your HP a lot during battle.
• Gold Heart Plus - Raises your HP a ton during battle.
• Guard Plus - Reduces the amount of damage you take in battle a little bit.
• SIlver Guard Plus - Reduces the amount of damage you take in battle by a lot.
• Gold Guard Plus - Reduces the amount of damage you take in battle by a ton.
• Time Plus - Gives you extra time to arrange enemies once battle starts.
• Silver Time Plus - Gives you even more time to arrange enemies in battle.
• Gold Time Plus - Gives you a ton of extra time to arrange enemies in battle.
• Toad Alert - Makes a sound when a Toad near you is in trouble.
• Treasure Alert - Makes a sound when a chest or Collectible Treasure is nearby.
• Hidden Block Alert - Makes a sound when you're near a hidden block.
• Membership Card - Gives you a 20% discount on weapons and items in shops.
• Silver Membership Card - Gives you a 30% discount on weapons and items in shops.
• Gold Membership Card - Gives you a 50% discount on weapons and items in shops.
• Confetti Vacuum - Allows you to pick up confetti from farther away.
• Ally Tambourine - Raises attack power for all of your allies for a little bit.
• Coin Step Counter - Walk 10,000 steps to win a prize!
• Petal Bag - Turns your confetti into cherry blossom petals.
• Retro Soundbox - Changes hammering, jumping, and walking sounds for Mario.

Enemies and Bosses: There are four main types of enemies: Folded Soldiers (regular origami enemies), Paper Macho Soldiers (giant paper mache enemies), Vellumental (giant origami bosses) and Legion of Stationary (real-life stationary objects).

Spoiler

Folded Soldiers:

• Boomerang Bro
• Fire Bro
• Hammer Bro
• Ice Bro
• Sledge Bro
• Swoop
• Chargin' Chuck
• Fuzzy
• Scaredy Rat
• Thwomp
• Ptooie
• Spike
• Snow Spike
• Stone Spike
• Blooper
• Scuttlebug
• Stingby
• Shy Guy
• Black Shy Guy
• Fly Guy
• Ninji
• Handaconda
• Galoomba
• Sumo Bro
• Sidestepper
• Mechakoopa
• Dry Bones
• Crowber
• Goomba
• Bone Goomba
• Shoe Goomba
• Paragoomba
• Buzzy Beetle
• Spike Top
• Snifit
• Koopa Troopa
• Koopa Paratroopa
• Piranha Plant
• Nipper Plant
• Rocky Wrench
• Jumping Piranha Plant
• Cheep Cheep
• Li'l Cutout Soldier
• Big Cutout Soldier
• Boss Sumo Bro
• Pokey
• Spiny
• Boo

Paper Macho Soldiers:

• Paper Macho Lava Bubble
• Paper Macho Bob-omb
• Paper Macho Spike Outlaw
• Paper Macho Stone Spike
• Paper Macho Gooper Blooper
• Paper Macho Shy Guy
• Paper Macho Goomba
• Paper Macho Goomba Outlaw
• Paper Macho Mummy Goomba
• Paper Macho Buzzy Beetle
• Paper Mistake Buzzy Beetle
• Paper Macho Snifit Outlaw
• Paper Macho Koopa Troopa
• Paper Macho Koopa Paratroopa
• Paper Macho Piranha Plant
• Mega Paper Macho Pokey
• Paper Macho Boo
• Paper Macho Chain Chomp

Vellumental:

• Earth Vellumental
• Water Vellumental
• Fire Vellumental
• Ice Vellumental

The Legion of Stationary:

• Colored Pencils - The Missile Maestro
• Rubber Band - The Elastic Entertainer
• Hole Punch - The Disco Devil
• Tape - The Shifty Sticker
• Scissors - The Dual-Bladed Duelist
• Stapler - The Fanged Fastener

Spoiler: Final Boss

King Olly

• Phase 1: Olly transforms into each of the different Vellumentals to attack Mario.
• Phase 2: Olly increases in size. Olivia folds Bowser into a giant Origami Bowser to defeat him, with Mario providing support.
• Phase 3: Olly continues to grow in size; Mario must make his way to a magic circle so Olivia can transform herself and deal the final blow.

The above list initially included enemies that were listed internally, but had no museum description or attack names present. I have since confirmed that they are not enemies in the final game; either appearing in the game as NPCs, being leftovers from Color Splash or seemingly being cut entirely. These are:

Spoiler

• Monty Mole - paper version appears as NPC
• Poison Blooper - leftover from Color Splash (?)
• Emcee Shy Guy - no clue; might be an NPC (?)
• Sombrero Guy - paper version appears as NPC; origami version appears in concept art.
• Slurp Guy - leftover from Color Splash (?)
• Parabones - cut enemy
• Dino Rhino - leftover from Color Splash (?); appears in concept art.
• Bony Beetle - cut enemy

Also, shoutouts to Amazing Flyin' Hammer Brother, who is not mentioned internally, but is included in the concept art.

Now; here's some great concept art from the in-game gallery (fair warning; there's a lot of pictures):

Spoiler

 

[Platy]

The concept art looks gorgeous

 

[Kinsei]

You don't even get to fight Peach? Lame.

 

[B. Spaceman]

Spoiler

At least Bowser isn't the final boss

I don't know if I have to put things in spoiler or not :P

 

[Mekanos]

Everything about the implementation of the partners sounds weak as hell.

 

[Phendrift]

Final Boss sounds pretty cool!!!

Also those concept arts are gorgeous, wow... I have a feeling this game is gonna be really fun to explore in

 

[Gartooth]

Thanks for organizing this all MondoMega! That concept art all look so amazing, I'm looking forward to seeing those areas in the game.

 

[Phendrift]

Dang MondoMega i guess you were right, not a lot of people wanna be spoiled it seems lol

 

[Dwebble]

Sounds like there's a hell of a lot of interesting areas to explore, which is good enough for me.

 

[HustleBun]

So partners will be back?
No not really. They are temporary, generic and cannot be controlled in battle.

Ok but surely there will be badges?
No not really. Very limited accessories but it's pretty thin.

Ok, but battles at least generate XP right?
No they don't.

Ok, that's fine, I'm cool with an alternative. What method of character profession do battles offer?
None.

Then why battle?
You get coins and sometimes confetti.

So you need to battle to get confetti?
Nope, it's all around.

But coins can buy you character upgrades?
No, they can't.

But they can still buy you equipment I guess?
Your equipment breaks over time.

So there is no point to battles?
Correct, early previews indicate that the player is encouraged to avoid battles entirely.

So the best we can hope for is great writing, a colorful world coupled with frustrating and underwhelming gameplay?
That's the trade-off, if you didn't mind it in Color Splash you probably won't mind it here.

 

[Phendrift]

I think the biggest improvements over color splash that make this exciting for me are

1. Exploration. The world looks so vast, and collecting toads, trophies, accessories is gonna be so satisfying. In General, exploration has never been a strength of Paper Mario so I cant wait to see how it's done here. I hope it makes for some really memorable locations

2. Puzzle battles. Instead of just looking at them as mindless RPG battles with no rewards, this completely shifts the focus onto solving puzzles to get a coin reward. It sounds like the battles are almost obsolete compared to the ring puzzle. And of course, the lack of EXP means I can choose for myself when I want to attempt those puzzles for the coin/confetti reward. Plus, you don't seem to lose as much as SS and CS given that a perfect puzzle solve means you can obliterate enemies with the non-breakable basic weapons

 

[MondoMega]

Everything about the implementation of the partners sounds weak as hell.

Click to shrink...

As someone who really loves the partner concept in 64/TTYD, and honestly wanted that to return more than anything else, I agree that from a gameplay perspective their implementation is half-hearted at best.

• They are temporary, only joining you for specific segments before leaving for different story reasons. Even then, they aren't even with you for the entirety of any chapter they take part in; they don't go into dungeons like the four Vellumental shrines, for example.
• There are only five that seem to be with you for a notable amount of time, and three of them are established Mario characters (so one of the biggest charms of the partners from a design and story perspective, meeting new characters from existing Mario species, is barely here).
  • As an aside: seeing references to a Spike and Bone Goomba while going through the text dump was an exciting find at first, but it appears that they're just part of an escort mission in the Autumn Mountain area (i'm going off this this scene and the script for that area; the Sombrero Guy asks you to go find the Spike and Bone Goomba so they can start their party).
• Not only do they only have one move in battle each (and no guarantee that they even have a field ability), but you have no control over its use; it just happens at the end of Mario's turn if you haven't defeated every enemy already. It goes without saying, but with no HP or selectable attacks (let alone the resource management aspect of FP), their presence in battle is minuscule (which makes it funnier that one of the accessories is pretty much Power Plus P, with no guarantee that it'll even come in handy).

If there's any silver-lining in how the partners are handled overall, at least what i've read of Bobby's story is fairly interesting (he does have a backstory that is elaborated on; the amnesia and missing fuse is explained), can't vet for Professor Toad or Kamek because reading through the script is very annoying, lol.

 

[Phendrift]

I find it very interesting that there's an "Origami Craftsmen" in the mushroom kingdom who made all of this... some cool story implication

 

[VPplaya]

I am so excited for this game. While its not TTYD 2, it does look to be a super fun adventure with way more originality than ss and color splash. I think if people just accept it isn't TTYD they would come around to it.

 

[CloseTalker]

Can't wait for this game. Snuck a peek at some of that concept art, and man oh man. Some incredible looking areas

 

[GamerJM]

Really sounds like more of Color Splash. Probably pass unless I hear a lot of positivity post-launch.

 

[Tochtli79]

The list of partners is super cool. Can't believe they wasted some of those characters allying with Mario in a game where they're not even playable.

 

[diakyu]

Is it true that the Bobby (I know he doesn't actually have a name)

Spoiler

Blows himself up to save Olivia? I saw that yesterday but saw no actual proof

 

[Rafroel]

Don't wanna get spoiled, BUT: any word on how long the game is?

 

[Terraforce]

God, they were SO CLOSE with partners. Even if they were chapter based, just allow them to go into dungeons and allow us to control their attacks like in 64. So close yet still so far. You hate to see it.

 

[MondoMega]

Is it true that the Bobby (I know he doesn't actually have a name)

Spoiler

Blows himself up to save Olivia? I saw that yesterday but saw no actual proof

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Yes, Bobby dies. He has a fuse reattached and blows himself up to save Olivia.

This scene from the second trailer? That's the scene where Olivia mourns after his death.

 

[Mory Dunz]

Is it true that the Bobby (I know he doesn't actually have a name)

Spoiler

Blows himself up to save Olivia? I saw that yesterday but saw no actual proof

Click to shrink...

so is he not called Bobby in the NA game?
I know he doesn't have a name in the JP version

 

[diakyu]

so is he not called Bobby in the NA game?
I know he doesn't have a name in the JP version

Click to shrink...

That's just what Olivia calls him along with other names. Granted I don't actually know if he remembers his real name eventually since I'm trying to steer clear of a lot of game footage.

 

[MondoMega]

so is he not called Bobby in the NA game?
I know he doesn't have a name in the JP version

Click to shrink...

Bobby is the nickname Olivia eventually settles on from him (it's a gag in the Autumn area; Olivia just doesn't understand why he wouldn't have a proper name).

 

[Gartooth]

Spoiler

Yes, Bobby dies. He has a fuse reattached and blows himself up to save Olivia.

This scene from the second trailer? That's the scene where Olivia mourns after his death.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

Oh man I was not prepared for this in a modern Paper Mario. Didn't think IntSys had it in them. Guess that explains temporary partners... though this game is gonna be depressing if they all bite it. lol

 

[Ramsay]

Stream just beat the game. My initial thoughts from watching the stream (this can very well change once I play it):

Spoiler

The stream took around 25 hours to beat the game.

The best part of the game by far is the creativity of the locations. The locations in Origami King feel like they have actual thought put into them, which is more than you could say than Sticker Star or Color Splash.

Similarly, similarly to the first three games, each chapter seems to have its own progression, which is appreciated after Sticker Star and Color Splash.

In addition, the world design is also pretty good.

Characters are serviceable, I guess? They're nothing special (there's definitely no Vivian), but I feel like they'll get the job done. Olivia was pretty nice, though.

The writing is very hit-or-miss. When the game's trying to be funny, it almost always works (there are jokes in this game that aren't the same overused paper or meta-jokes). Unfortunately, unlike Color Splash, which was always trying to be funny (even if it failed most of the time), Origami King also attempts to be serious at times - and these serious moments almost never work.

Olly sucked as a villain. He's definitely no Edelgard.

Combat against regular enemies looks to be irredeemable - so much so that Intelligent Systems realised this and gave you a lamination suit to help you avoid combat. The ring system causes battles against regular enemies to drag incredibly long (most fights take over a minute to beat) - which isn't helped by the fact that the only reward for combat is coins (which can be found everywhere in the overworld) and confetti (Which can be easily obtained by fight Paper Macho enemies, which are fought in the overworld. Honestly, I would have preferred that to be the combat system).

Combat against bosses seems to be much better than against regular enemies - being suitably challenging and engaging, from what I can see. That being said, there are instances of extremely suspect design in the boss fights.

For instance, in the Fire Vellumental fight, every time you damage it, hazards spawn in the arena in a random pattern. This wouldn't be much of an issue on paper, but late in the fight, you can conceivably be in a situation where you have to traverse over a hazard to get to the Vellumental. This happened to the streamer.

Similarly, at the end of phase 2 of the final boss, you have to spam you Thousand-Fold Arms attack. If you don't do so quickly enough to end the phase, then all of your progress in this phase resets.

Toad Points seem to unlock concept art, though I don't know if they provide a separate reward.

This is extremely frustrating, as if this game had TTYD's combat, or action-oriented combat, then it would have seemed like a solid adventure game. Instead, while the game seems like a step up from Color Splash, from what I saw of the stream, the game still only passable at best - and it's all because of the combat system.

 

[Kinsei]

Combat against regular enemies looks to be irredeemable - so much so that Intelligent Systems realised this and gave you a lamination to help you avoid combat. The ring system causes battles against regular enemies to drag incredibly long (most fights take over a minute to beat) - which isn't helped by the fact that the only reward for combat is coins (which can be found everywhere in the overworld) and confetti (Which can be easily obtained by fight Paper Macho enemies, which are fought in the overworld. Honestly, I would have preferred that to be the combat system).

Combat against bosses seems to be much better than against regular enemies - being suitably challenging and engaging, from what I can see. That being said, there are instances of extremely suspect design in the boss fights.

Click to shrink...

Exactly what I was worried about from basic combat since the game was revealed. If they want to keep making these adventure games then they really need to drop turn based combat altogether because they just can;t blend the two well.

That's a shame about the unavoidable hazards due to RNG in the boss fights. But at least it's not as BS as Kamek in Color Splash I guess.

Honestly the game sounds like it's be fine as a budget title. I'll likely pick it up if Nintendo ever introduces a Players Choice/Nintendo Selects line for Switch with TOK as part of it.

 

[march_in_march]

I'm glad I checked this thread before making my decision. Gonna be a hard pass for me. I'd say I'm very disappointed but I've come to expect it.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

I'm glad I checked this thread before making my decision. Gonna be a hard pass for me. I'd say I'm very disappointed but I've come to expect it.

Click to shrink...

Yup, though there is risk of spoilers, I know my heart would be more broken by getting my hopes up and getting this at launch - then finding out. I tapped out of gaming for a while so I wasn't around for the SS and CS hype cycles and safely skipped them. Was this what it was like then too? I was so unbelievably excited by the first trailer and whatever new info has come to light since has been bad news or warning signs. PM and TTYD both rank high and are probably in my top 15 games of all time, it's so disappointing to see that formula abandoned for 1 disappointment, 2 entries of trash, and one somewhere in between.

 

[Moist_Owlet]

Makes sense, fire emblem 3 houses had garbage combat and difficulty, so IS newest game having zero progression or strategy isn't surprising. I think the reason why IS dropped advance wars is they forgot how to make a fucking combat system.

 

[MondoMega]

I've updated the OP now that i've cross-referenced some info with a complete playthrough; turns out a few of the enemies listed were cut after all.

 

[Richardbro]

Seeing this makes me angry.... Nintendo had another solid foundation and a gorgeous world that could have been utilized wonderfully like PM64 and TTYD and they fucked up again with the gameplay for the third game in a row... They seemingly destroyed one of the greatest and fun RPG series ever and have still not redeemed themselves.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

There are

Spoiler

Koopa Troopas wearing sunglasses

in the gallery, do they appear in-game too?

 

[Richardbro]

Makes sense, fire emblem 3 houses had garbage combat and difficulty, so IS newest game having zero progression or strategy isn't surprising. I think the reason why IS dropped advance wars is they forgot how to make a fucking combat system.

Click to shrink...

Agreed fully my friend. They need to stop making new games and just release an HD PM64 and TTYD.

 

[MondoMega]

There are

Spoiler

Koopa Troopas wearing sunglasses

in the gallery, do they appear in-game too?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, they do. GameXplain featured that part in their preview video, so I guess it isn't much of a spoiler (it happens in the second chapter).

 

[Rehynn]

Yeah no, I'll continue to avoid this series until they fix the battles and progression.

Sticker Star burned me really fucking hard.

 

[Flynn22]

I really wanted to believe that IS was going to do it this time, even if they didn't want to go back to the original gameplay style. But battles seem to be annoying af, most of the ones I've seen show you the solution before moving the enemies around making it super easy to guess the best way to place them, partners seem completely insubstantial and more than half of them are already established characters... The only good thing seem to be exploration and boss fights, but I couldn't be any more over the real life items joke tbh, so exploration better make the game worth it. What makes me angry is that this time they had everything to make something good and they refused by half-assing everything, what with the lack of experience points and depth in most aspects of the actual gameplay.

I'm probably gonna play it because it's being released just before my birthday so I'm sure someone is gonna pick it as surprise gift for me, but I wouldn't get it if I had to pay for it.

Anyway, here's to a good Bug Fables 2 eventually, because Paper Mario is never going back to its roots.

 

[Noppie]

Another Paper Mario thread down the drain.

 

[Cutty]

I honestly feel it's not just Paper Mario that's lost its way in terms of why people loved them in the first place, but other Ninty franchises as well. Mario Party comes to mind.

 

[Defect]

Another Paper Mario thread down the drain.

Click to shrink...

Another Paper Mario game down the drain.

 

[NoName999]

Bobby is the nickname Olivia eventually settles on from him (it's a gag in the Autumn area; Olivia just doesn't understand why he wouldn't have a proper name).

Click to shrink...

Of course it wouldn't be his name

 

[Xita]

The concept art looks nice.

I honestly feel it's not just Paper Mario that's lost its way in terms of why people loved them in the first place, but other Ninty franchises as well. Mario Party comes to mind.

Click to shrink...

I would say Mario Party's headed in the right direction again after finally ditching the car. Still needs work obviously but I enjoyed Super.

 

[Vector]

My hype is completely gone just like that. Hoping for an HD PM trilogy of the first 3 entries bc they were wonderful games but everything starting with Sticker Star has been terrible.

 

[Bard]

I really don't understand the rationale behind the combat. I mean if they want to do something new with it and not be an RPG it would be fine as long as the combat was worthwhile and actually gave you a reason to do it, but this game doesn't and it's been like this three times in a row. How is it that they don't see that this is not a good system?

 

[CyberMonkey]

I honestly feel it's not just Paper Mario that's lost its way in terms of why people loved them in the first place, but other Ninty franchises as well. Mario Party comes to mind.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it feels like a lot of franchises peaked in the Gamecube/Wii era. I also miss the high quality Mario sports games.

 

[RainRainRain]

This game has some charming qualities that Sticker Star/Color Splash lacked, but overall it's so close to those games that I wonder why the team is so deadset on "not returning" to the old style yet keep bringing back so many things I did not like about Sticker Star. Seems very hypocritical. Not a huge fan of Tanabe as a developer at all.

Also, i'm gonna be frank, this game's combat system looks awful and unecessarily time-consuming, and the lack of any sort of experience points just make it so much worse.

Ironically, the bosses look really fun. I almost want to say this was some sort of bend in reality where the bosses should be really poorly designed but somehow they look really solid and fun. It's a shame they are all, you know, office supplies, but at least most of them talk

I don't think i'll ever get my hopes up based on rumors again. Return to form this definitely is not. In times like these where money is tight, I can't imagine spending 60 dollars on this game. Hard pass.

 

[Cutty]

I would say Mario Party's headed in the right direction again after finally ditching the car. Still needs work obviously but I enjoyed Super.

Click to shrink...

I just felt that way based on its lack of content and certain... pizzaz compared to past entries.

Yeah, it feels like a lot of franchises peaked in the Gamecube/Wii era. I also miss the high quality Mario sports games.

Click to shrink...

Definitely think GameCube was their peak for so many franchises (Smash Bros, Mario Party, Paper Mario, Pikmin) but I consider myself open minded. Unfortunately, a lot of Switch entries haven't landed for me. I'll still give TOK a chance though, but I'll forever be returning back to TTYD...

 

[MusicProposition]

I watched the complete playthrough. My thoughts on the game (as someone who is very open to the gameplay of the last few titles and actually looked forward to the new ring mechanic):

- I still don't get why Nintendo is hesitant to have a good story, its better than Sticker Star and Color Splash though.
- While I enjoyed the first 3 areas, I was disappointed by the sea chapter. It was amazing at first to have this huge open area which you can explore freely, but then you're going underground and instead of some beautiful scenery like in the previous chapters, the rest of this chapter consists of sterile dungeons only. For real: there are 5 dungeons in this chapter which look mostly like your typical temple set piece.
- I really don't understand why Boss Battles have a completely different gameplay systems than the typical fights. It does not make sense and eliminates any progression in learning the mechanics (which is a bold move because that would've been the only kind of progression in the whole game). It's basically like the things in previous games which were harshly criticized for being not related at all to the rest of the battle system. Furthermore, the Final Battle introduces even more completely new mechanics which have nothing to do with what you've done before, which takes away the whole idea of a climactic finale.

I was very hopeful about the game, even as someone who is totally fine with the absence of what made the original games unique, but I think Nintendo should make something the fans of the series actually want.

 

[Zelas]

But they can still buy you equipment I guess?
Your equipment breaks over time.

Click to shrink...

Fucking get over it already Nintendo.

 

[Flynn22]

- I really don't understand why Boss Battles have a completely different gameplay systems than the typical fights. It does not make sense and eliminates any progression in learning the mechanics (which is a bold move because that would've been the only kind of progression in the whole game). It's basically like the things in previous games which were harshly criticized for being not related at all to the rest of the battle system. Furthermore, the Final Battle introduces even more completely new mechanics which have nothing to do with what you've done before, which takes away the whole idea of a climactic finale.

Click to shrink...

This probably has to do with the fact that the battle system lacks any kind of possibility of progression. There's a limit to what kind of puzzles you can make based on the idea of rotating and sliding enemies, and also using the same system than in the normal fights would require the bosses to be comprised of groups of smaller enemies instead of big things that wouldn't fit in the battle ring. It doesn't really make sense and shows how poorly thought-out the battle system is.

It makes me angry that instead of making better the system seen in the first game they'd rather create a new, wonky system that does not work at all. And to add insult to injury, no exp points. You can go to the boss fights and not be punished for avoiding virtually all the enemies, because the battle system for the bosses is different (so no problem in not having gotten the hang on placing enemies to kill all of them in one turn) and you get no real benefits in your stats from battling. So yeah.