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I've seen a lot of people really down on this game since it got announced. I don't blame them, I was too! Really wasn't a fun of Sticker Star, so seeing them continue that style of gameplay was pretty disappointing.
But then I went back to play Thousand Year Door a few weeks ago, and found myself thinking... "This is fun, but I use the same strategy every battle. There are so many cool badges but there's no incentive to use them all! I would be really cool if there was, like, a system where each attack was a one-time use, and you had to improvise by playing with whatever you have at the time, and... oh crap, wait a minute."
So I'm willing to give this game a shot with a more open mind. I do think it's lacking a lot of Thousand Year Door's personality in its character designs, and I'd love to see a story that's a little more bonkers than Sticker Star's, but watching this trailer, the game looks gorgeous. It's like a polished-up 2016 version of what Paper Mario should be! I don't think it'll quite reach the heights of Thousand Year Door, but man, some of that stuff in the trailer looks really cool. I'm looking forward to it.
@Scrawnton I look forward to your impressions! Get ready for some really funny stuff, absolutely stellar music, and eye popping visuals. Add to that all the fun, charm, and detail you'd expect from a "Paper Mario" game in 2016.
@DrFinkelstein The battle encounters behave like a Dragon Quest game (or others that do the same) though in that you can see most enemies on screen and avoid them if you want. I usually fight them all though, unless I'm backtracking, where I can pick and choose most battles. Like I said, I find the battles pretty damn fun though. You can get cards and coins out of battles though so obviously it's not useless. If one really wants to they can skip a lot of battles, especially when backtracking. I love the timing mechanics in combat, I think it's super fun.
I also don't skip a lot of battles unless backtracking. They are important too, in that they help fill you your hammer's maximum paint threshold. Which I've found to be actually very important. Certain cards use certain paints more than others. I've been out of one color quicker than other colors.
Just started the game and completed the first two mini red stars and man this game is pretty good. Its gorgeous the music is top notch. I don't think the music is as good as Sticker Star but its still better than 90% of games today.
Holy fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this game. It just gets better and better. HOW DOES A HUMAN BEING GIVE THIS A 7?!?!?!?!
What really blows me away is how they just keep adding more and more musical tracks. Unless something changes later, it's so fucking impressive how many new tracks there are. They're giving em out like they're candy! I was blown away after the first boss (which was already a new track) that there were 3 new tracks fucking BACK TO BACK. Then, a fourth. Like, really? They went all out with this damn game.
And I love the challenge the game presents. Although he can be cheap sometimes, Magikoopa messing with your cards can be really tricky. And the first boss killed me! I didn't see that one coming! Not to mention that progression can be tricky, as this game can be pretty Metroidian, and it doesn't exactly smack you in the face telling you what to do. You actually need to pay attention to things around you and you need to remember things too.
This game is so damn good, I can't get enough. I cannot believe I've only made a small dent in the game, being the first boss/dungeon what have you. I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us. It's crazy how there's basically something new almost every few seconds while playing this game. It doesn't stop!
Seriously, this is getting up there in the rankings along with my fave Wii U games. When all is said and done this might end up being my fave single player game on the Wii U. I love it this much and there's still SO much left to see.
Some of my Miiverse fanboying on display here. I wanna keep posting but I dunno if that gets into spoiler territory or not :(
I could go all day. There's others I'd like to post but I dunno if those are spoilers or not.
I say this with all sincerity... I might disagree with you on various game opinions Carlos, but your enthusiasm is enviable. It's kind of been a long time since I've been able to get that excited about games and I wish I could get it back.
So that part that Carlos shared a pic of where you unravel the world that was rolled up and you have to jump with the toad to flatten the shy guys... when you flatten them under the world, a glob of blue paint comes squirting out like blood and it's oddly disturbing in a way. I thought it was messed up.
@Zero I freak out over games pretty easily, true, but this one has really touched me. I enjoyed Star fox quite a bit and I loved Yoshi's Wooly World but I think PM:CS quite easily trumps both.
I could probably do with a little less child like enthusiasm haha. We could do an enthusiasm transplant!
@Scrawnton lol yeah that was surprisingly sinister coming from a cute little Toad. Premeditated double murder!
Finished theColosseum. What a delightful level. I failed once, but it was clear I missed a step. That's what I like about this game. When you fail, you fail hard, and it's clear you missed something. No dumb luck or anything like that (except for the chain chomp quick time event. I died 5 times before I figured out exactly what to do.)
I'm liking the variation of the levels and music.
Also, Roshambo can go eat a dick. What a horrible minigame. I have yet to beat the 3rd person, and the randomness after the 3rd try through each temple makes it almost impossible to get a perfect run.
It appears there's 12 or so levels left yet I've only collected the 2nd Big Paint Star. That makes no sense if I've apparently seen more than half the levels in the game. Is the world even bigger than it appears or is there some filler later?
I hate that feeling when the end of a game is creeping up on you, it always makes me avoid finishing it and that's often how I get stuck not finishing a game. Same happened with Alien Isolation and Wooly World.
@TheOldManFromZelda I'm just about to try that stage and the lava stage. I'm super excited to try these stages as I'm willing to bet those themes in a game like this will be awesome. And da music!
@TheOldManFromZelda Roshambo's "puzzles" feel kinda obtuse, but I haven't found them especially hard. I failed twice when I couldn't tell what the fuck the clues meant on the first one, and failed once on the second one. I think I made a clear run on the third. It's not that bad as you can just immediately sneak in and the combatants never change their cards. I think the third combatant is the only one who's cards are random, but I think what kind of opponent they are is a clue. Do you have to go back and do more at the Roshambo tournaments or are these one and done? And are they even necessary? You just get money which you don't really need to earn large amounts of, and a fairly useless 1up card.
The Coliseum was a good level but kinda mazy. I also died once even though I knew I needed that special card. I took one wrong turn just before you find it and got kinda lost when I forgot how to get there/that I even went the wrong way. Again, you need to pay attention to this game, and I like that. I preferred the first boss though.
The clowns at the feet of the stairs for the Roshambo arenas give the hints on the first two combatants. But if you fail to win after two run throughs, even the first two guys change their cards. I think the clowns say "I have no idea what card the 1st guy will play." Very obnoxious.
Yeah, pretty awesome how it changes up once you find the ghost toads. The soundtrack is on par with Mario Kart 8 so far as my favorite game soundtracks on Wii U. Smash Bros is pretty awesome, too.
