I started playing this game on Friday night, and I don’t think I’ve been this hooked on a game since maybe Neverwinter Nights. It got a 9.2 on Gamespot, for those of you who watch that, and it is cute and silly and lots and lots of fun.
Anyone else playing? We relocated some furniture in the house this weekend, and that is literally all I did other than play Paper Mario. I’m just starting Chapter 4.
I haven’t played it, and I’ve only seen one commercial for it. What is the idea behind it? Is it another classic Mario game, run through levels, bop things on head, etc?
No, it’s an RPG, surprisingly. It’s basically Paper Mario trying to discover what is behind a certain door. In the process he has to discover seven crystal stars; each star is a chapter. There are battles just like a real RPG…it’s a very sweet mix of traditinal Mario and a real RPG. here, I’ll see if I can link to the Gamespot review.
I never played the Marios but I play RPGs all the time.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/papermario2/review.html
Awesome game. I’m nearly done with Chapter 4. Have you, by chance, tried the first Paper Mario game on the N64? If not, that should be something to look forward to after finishing this one.
Also, was it just me, or did Chapter 3 take forever (which was fine by me, it was a great chapter)? I must have spent 4 or 5 hours, if not more, just in that one damn floating city. I’m sure part of the reason is because I’m a text whore; I talked to every person in the city’s vicinity whenever I moved up a few ranks, as the things the people say change frequently.
Huh. This game sounds… frickin’ sweet. I’ll have to pick it up now. Thanks for giving me something else to distract me from med school secondaries. It’s not like I wanted a career anyway.
No, I didn’t even know about it. Unfortunately I don’t have the N64 as I’m a diehard Playstation fan. I only bought the Gamecube because they let me trade in my PS1. I only have a few games for the Gamecube, Paper Mario, MarioKart, and two Zeldas (one came with the box!) As opposed to my 30 + games for my playstation.
Funnily enough, I’m playing through the original Paper Mario right now, since I didn’t get the chance back when it was released. Good stuff.
What about Super Mario RPG for SNES? Experienced that? I recently played through it again (yeah, I’m stuck in the RPGs-starring-Mario genre right now)…what a great game.
Hey, Nightwatch, is the original Paper Mario really great? I’ve been meaning to pick it up, but wasn’t sure.
Also, since we’re discussing the Mario RPG games, has anyone else enjoyed Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga on GameBoy Advanced? Great game. I especially loved the little voices for M&L. And that Fawful guy. His lines were great.
What amazes me is that RPGs based on the Mario universe have been consistently excellent, especially when none of them has been developed in-house at Nintendo, and until this one, all had very different interpretations of how best to make a fun, user-friendly RPG.
I’m just starting Chapter 4 as well, and so far it’s just been Paper Mario but better in almost every way.
My only complaints so far are minor at worst. The biggest is no quick way to switch allies out of combat. The L button is unused as far as I can tell, or the Z button quick commands could probably have been put to better use for this. And there aren’t enough buttons to switch menu tabs without canceling out with B, but that’s more a gripe about the controller than the game. Finally, do we really need to see the cooking/divination animations every time? Yeesh.
But overall, I’ve found the game so good that not only do just minor things annoy me about it, I don’t even notice them most of the time. Fights and leveling up are a constant reminder of just how elegant a complex battle system can be.
I especially liked how if the fights were getting too easy, just about when you’d begin to get bored they give you the item that doubles your experience if you never get hit at all. Kept things interesting. And the localizations, like the games, have all been great- Fawful was a dead ringer for an early-80s video game character to me.
The sheer magnitude of the translation still boggles my mind. Pretty much every character I’ve talked to has had at least three different speeches so far, and I’m still less than halfway. Goombella has something to say about every person, every screen, and every enemy. And all of the peoples’ names had to be redone to match with the English rendering of their species (Noko- to Koop-, for instance), including the awful Toad puns. Unbelievable.
It’s very enjoyable. It’s not something I’d spend a lot of money on, but then, you can get it cheap since it’s getting elderly. And you probably aren’t as cheap as I am anyway. 
I’m only maybe halfway through (not sure exactly, as I don’t know quite how long the game is) and it’s been fun all the way. I will say that it’s definitely no Final Fantasy - if you want to micromanage eight different characters and go on four-hour-long sidequests, Paper Mario probably isn’t for you. But if you want a simple, fun RPG lite (with action elements!), it’s a good bet.
You’re right, it’s most certainly no Final Fantasy, but that doesn’t mean it’s worse. Frankly, FF just bores the crap out of me these days, but the Mario RPGs have kept me enthralled until the very end (and amazingly, through every battle).
Sorry if I misunderstand you, but you can switch out sidekicks in combat (but Mario must always remain). During the fight, go to tactics (either character can do this) and select ‘switch partner’ or something like that. Doing this uses that character’s combat action for that round however (unless you get the right badge).
I just finished chapter two last night and I am awe-struck by the art direction on this. I especially love the look of the first two bosses and would love to see paper dolls of these at some point.
Oh, I agree completely. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a Final Fantasy game because they’re so tedious. In fact, I’m not huge on RPGs generally - the only ones I play regularly are the Mario-based ones and Earthbound (one of the best games EVER).
Earthbound, now there’s a game I haven’t played in ages. Yeah, that was a fun one. Shame the US didn’t see the GBA compilation of Earthbounds 1 & 2 like the Japanese did.
This hijack has been brought to you by the letter L.
Not necessarily. I just checked eBay and copies of Paper Mario for N64 are going for $30-40 apiece. Some old games don’t get cheaper. I’ve seen copies of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III (US) going for $60.00; and Castlevania:SOTN going for $30 without original case or manual.
My advice is this: Check the video rental places in your area. I’ve gotten some great deals from Blockbuster, including a brand-new C:SOTN (Greatest Hits) for $15. If you can ignore some wear and tear on the cart and a sun-faded box, you could probably get quite a few N64 games on the cheap.
I used to like RPGs a lot, but now all the leveling up, sidequests, and secrets buried so deep you can’t find them unless you spend all your free time playing the game is getting on my nerves.
Of the Square-Enix games I’ve gone through, the ones that I still play now are:
I also occasionally go through Legend of Mana and Saga Frontier 2, but that’s largely because I haven’t really finished exploring all of the nuances of those games. (I wouldn’t mind selling/trading those once I’m done.)
I’d like Super Mario RPG more if it didn’t have the experience cap at level 30. And the 100 Super Jumps in a row thing is just plain nuts.
Sorry, my phrasing was pretty unclear. I was referring to how many button presses it takes to switch allies when you’re not in combat. (I’m a strong advocate of user interfaces in games that are both friendly and efficient.) Of course, since I posted I’ve discovered that the D-pad shortcuts to the menu tabs don’t require you to actually press Z beforehand; the D-pad just always goes to the menu. So that helps a lot- one can press D-left, go left or right to the ally you want, and then A.
It’s not exactly what I was hoping for, which is the ability to scroll through your allies by using, say, the L2 and R2 buttons, without entering a menu at all, similar to how changing your actions in Mario & Luigi worked. But as my surprise at the D-pad actually doing something different than the analog stick does shows, I’m far too used to the PS2 and XBox controllers.
Are you kidding? I have played every one from 5 to X-2. I even tried playing 1 & 2 when they came out, but the combat system and the graphics together killed me. I LOVE FF, and wait anxiously for each next one.
I think you mean Secret of Evermore instead of Super Mario RPG.
Super Mario RPG was a Square-Nintendo collaboration, and Nintendo has brought most of the Mario games to the USA (Exceptions: Mario Picross, the original NES SMB2, and the games for the Broadcast Satellaview).
On the other hand, Square at the time didn’t release a lot of games into the American market. See also: Final Fantasy V, Live-A-Live, Treasure of the Rudras, and of course Seiken Densetsu 3. Of course, I still don’t know what Square was on for releasing SoE instead of SoM2.