Paper Mario: The Origami King

[Gray Mage]

So, Nintendo just dropped on our laps that there is a new Paper Mario game coming. And it's soon! With a release date of july this year.

On one hand, it looks good and I miss a good Paper Mario game, on the other given the last few games I'm a bit skeptic. But I want to believe it'll be good.

[Lord Raziere]

Yeah me too.

I WANT there to be another good paper mario like the first three. but Nintendo's tendency to randomly reinvent wheels doesn't give me confidence. I've never been interested after Super Paper Mario, so I'll wait and see, if I hear good things about this, I'll check it out.

[Floogal]

What I liked best about the original two games is that there were basically Zelda-like adventure games with Mario characters, helper-partners instead of dungeon gear, and turn-based battles.

And the turn-based battles were fun:
- the always-welcome action commands added some action & coordination (much better than SMRPG's)
- the badge system is much better than a typical RPG's equipment system. Customize your playstyle exactly how you want. And nothing is ever obsoleted, as the better stuff costs more BP to equip.
- none of the awful number inflation that plagues most RPGs. Common enemies start the game with 2 HP and 1 Attack, and end the game with 12 HP and 5 Attack. Makes it much easier to plan and strategize.

Super Paper Mario was ultimately an alright platformer with a 2D->3D gimmick that eventually got kind of samey. And 100%ing that game was not nearly as fun.

I never played Sticker Star, due to the bad reviews. I heard Color Splash was better, but I don't have a Wii U.

I think part of the issue is focusing too hard on the "paper" motif. The first game, it was nothing more than a visual presentation (like the recent Zelda remake), it could have graphically looked like Mario 64 & it otherwise wouldn't have seemed out of place (besides looking much worse, on the N64 hand-drawn sprites was a good choice). TTYD had paper moves, but they could have been explained as a power-up of some kind. But then we got 3D flipping, stickers, paint, now origami...

I'm cautiously optimistic, the battle system looks like it could be interesting. But the video had Mario already having 50 HP, and doing 12 damage with his jumps...

[Lunix Vandal]

But the video had Mario already having 50 HP, and doing 12 damage with his jumps...

Sticker Star and Color Splash have somewhat higher health and damage numbers than the first two games did (but still smaller than what you see in the Mario & Luigi games or other "more traditional" RPGs). 50 HP and 12 damage while fighting Goombas is roughly in line with what you could do toward the end of the first chapter of Color Splash, as I recall. The full trailer shows Mario with 80-150 HP and dealing hits of 23 damage, on par with the halfway point of Color Splash.

The available gameplay footage doesn't seem to indicate the return of some things* I disliked about the last two games ... but not having them would confirm another round of wheel-reinvention.

I'll settle on cautious optimism and waiting for reviews, as well.

*Namely, capital-T Things and the Vancian spellcasting battle system built around them, which created a perfect storm of immersion breaking, excessive backtracking, and inventory-management headaches.

[AdmiralCheez]

I too am cautiously optimistic about this one. It looks like it could be interesting, but I still think I'll wait until a few reviews come out before deciding. On the other hand, if they ever remaster/re-release the first two on switch, that's almost a guaranteed buy for me.

[Gray Mage]

New video showing more of the combat was recently released and, while not a return to the original one, the fact that there are companions again and that they seemed to ditch the deck of cards aspect of more recent games and the combat seems more tactical (I liked how bosses switch the usual positions with them being on the middle).

Speaking of bosses, a bit of mixed feelings about fighting stationery.

Companions are back, too, although they look more like normal enemies and not a unique as the first two games.