Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

[Mega]

I really hope that the next Paper Mario game will go back to its roots with a big story. :[ I'll be really sad if Nintendo is tightening the leash with spinoff titles. What works for a platform game won't work for an RPG.

This applies to M&L, too. Those games are just as inventive.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Mega

[Toby]

I would love to see an HD Paper Mario in the same vein as TTYD on the Wii U <3

EDIT: Been playing for a good hour. So far I really like this, it's pretty fun.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Toby Barrett

[Your Vest Friend]

Good God Kersti and Peach are really callous.

I mean, they hold this sticker fest event every year, with the ultra-powerful wish-granting Royal Stickers in public, which attracts the attention of the local evil dictator, as expected. And then of course they blame him when things go wrong, not the whole thing about putting powerful things in their grasp or having shit security.

What gets me is that, in the ending, they then say that the Royal Stickers can bring disaster if used without wisdom. If that's the case, then those Stickers must be cruel as fuck to drive this single lonely snowman mad;

He only wanted to avoid losing his body and going through a cycle of non-existence again, is that such an inherently bad thing?!

[Salamander]

I really hope that the next Paper Mario game will go back to its roots with a big story. :[ I'll be really sad if Nintendo is tightening the leash with spinoff titles. What works for a platform game won't work for an RPG.

This applies to M&L, too. Those games are just as inventive.

Judging from the fact that Paper Mario always used to be on consoles and Mario & Luigi was on handhelds, it's quite possible the leash-tightening has already extended to killing M&L and replacing it with Paper Mario to unify the Mario RPG brand. Maybe the length of time it took them to localise Bowser's Inside Story was an early sign of disinterest on Nintendo's part with the series. I hope not - but on the other hand, I was going to buy this and now I seriously think I may not. I'm not sure I should be sponsoring this anti-story trend.

[Carbo]

Judging from the fact that Paper Mario always used to be on consoles and Mario & Luigi was on handhelds, it's quite possible the leash-tightening has already extended to killing M&L and replacing it with Paper Mario to unify the Mario RPG brand. Maybe the length of time it took them to localise Bowser's Inside Story was an early sign of disinterest on Nintendo's part with the series. I hope not - but on the other hand, I was going to buy this and now I seriously think I may not. I'm not sure I should be sponsoring this anti-story trend.

The reason why they'd go through with a Paper Mario on 3DS seems more because of the art style and setting being more of a fit to the 3D capabilities. That and considering how the game is built, it'd give them the opportunity to try out some new stuff.

I know someone who apparently said he was "disgusted" with the game. I can understand being a diehard fan of the previous iterations - hell, Paper Mario 2 is probably my third favorite game of all time. But I'm just not seeing where the overreaction with the game lies. If anything I find it kind of ironic why people are complaining about it being different for a change when most impressions are claiming it grows to become better with each progression, and while I can understand grievances of the story depth, as long as the writing is as rock-solid as it was in the first game it shouldn't matter as that was what always managed to give enough context to the story. The first game managed to be an epic enough on it's own.

FYI I didn't watch the actual game play of the final boss so I can't comment on how "fun" it looks despite knowing who it is because internet is an asshole. But knowing what kind of game it is, I hardly doubt that "looking boring" is something applicable to game play of this kind of ilk since lord knows it's always more fun playing Mario games than it is watching them. Unless it's Mario Retardy.

[Mega]

Yeah, honestly, most of my issues are with the story and not the actual gameplay. The jokes and writing I've seen have been very solid, it's just a disappointment for a longtime PM fan that the story's so vague, and I hope that the story was only cut down so they could focus on trying a new gameplay system.

[Conando]

After playing through World 1, this game is quite good. The writing is there, despite the back story being a simple "Bowser is a dick" deal. The battles are fun, despite no exp rewards I still jump into them, and the bosses are tough. As for the first boss, it was NOT the Goomba King, it was a bunch of Goombas under the influence of the Royal Sticker. It's pretty funny how the battle actually ends.

[Your Vest Friend]

Fucking hell, it's such a simple story yet people are getting confused by the ending.

No, Mario's wish wasn't to bring Bowser back, Peach explicitly says that he's fine albeit not with it yet, and he's twitching after the fight anyway. Mario used his wish to bring Kersti back, since she sacrificed herself in order to be used by Mario to power up.

Edited November 12, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[Nintendoga]

Okay so I've had the game for a few days, It's a somewhat mixed bad imo, alot of good things but also alot of very noticeable flaws. I'll touch upon them later when I talk about the game this weekend. But that's no what's important.

This is what's important

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/11/interview_the_team_behind_paper_mario_sticker_star

This is an interview with the Sticker Star team, and it answers alot of questions such as

*They chose the level structure so that it would be easier to leave them/remember where you are (which I'll admit, is kinda true.)

* There are no partners because they couldn't work them in with the sticker system

* This being on a handheld has nothing to do with the way the game is.

Interesting stuff, oh but wait, what's this....

Mr Kensuke Tanabe: The Paper Mario series started when we introduced RPG elements as a means of differentiating the game from the platformer series. Through the inclusion of this story and the characters we wrote to fit that story, we ended up giving the game a unique character. However, for Sticker Star, Mr Miyamoto asked us to create a game using only characters already found in the Mario world rather and not any of our own.

So instead of focusing our attention on the story or characters we focused instead on paper. We tried to add as many creative uses of paper as we could to the game. The theme of the game is stickers and we also put a lot of effort into this (including paperisation). Creating a world and story using only Mario characters meant for example we had to give each Toad a distinctive character even if they looked the same. So it was quite a challenge but I feel that we succeeded in overcoming it.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Yep, that's the reason why there's little story and no unique characters.

Because of Miyamoto.

I just...don't...understand. Why Miyamoto, why!?!?

And how will this affect the future Paper Mario game, Mario & Luigi games, and even the platformers!

Edited November 15, 2012 by Malpercio

[Tornado]

The fuck is up with Miyamoto lately? It's like he's trying to sabotage the goodwill Nintendo has been trying to build.

[Blue Blood]

The answer is simple- Mario is a a mere brand to Nintendo, much the same as Sonic is becoming more and more like a brand to SEGA (though admittedly he always has been). It's a crying shame when brand image is put before anything else.

NSMB, M&S series, Mario Kart and Galaxy 2 all feel the effects of Mario being treated as a brand. It's how Mario has seen such great success with the casual market.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Soniman]

Why the fuck is Miyamoto actively trying to stop his own series from growing and gaining a semblance of character and atmosphere?

This is a consistent problem that a lot of people are starting to notice with the Mario games recently and instead of trying to remedy those flaws, he's purposefully trying to keep it that way and in general make it worse.

What the fuck, man?!

Edited November 15, 2012 by Soniman

[Conando]

I don't know what's up with him. I mean, I thought the X-Nauts were freakin' stupid but, I see no problem in having original villains created for the series. I do appreciate what IS did with Mario characters they never even acknowledged before, though. I also appreciate how they gave the Paper Mario setting a unique feel, rather than just being an odd mix of 3D environments and 2D Sprite characters; they're actually paper and everything is paper now. Even coins are made of cardboard.

Edited November 15, 2012 by King Of Awesome

[Toby]

That's a crying shame really, I take back what I said earlier about Intelligent Systems.

[Autosaver]

To be the devil's advocate, we do have to thank Miyamoto for the gorgeous paper usage in the game. Since he did push the focus onto using paper in as many ways as possible.

[Solkia]

...

So he's retiring, right?

[Conando]

He's stepping down next year. But, what he did didn't ruin the game. I honestly like it, regardless of the story because, the world itself is so much better than what they had in the other 3 titles.

[Carbo]

Genuinely disappointed if that's the case. I won't think lesser of the game being what it is but I'd figure Paper Mario would be one of the things that didn't have to be tarnished by Miyamoto's simplifications.

Then again I shouldn't have expected any less considering Super Paper Mario occupied the same kind of extremely sappy tragic backstory that Galaxy had, if not more of it, that Miyamoto was openly critical against. The sooner Koizumi takes creative reigns of the entire series the better.

Christ I can hardly believe that over five years ago I actively lamented the thought of Miyamoto never influencing games anymore. Fate has some sense of irony, alright.

[Cola]

Well, look at the bright side! The Paper look and feel of the world will likely carry over into the next game.

As long as Miyamoto doesn't try to simplify the game again, we should be fine.

[TrueBlue]

Ha, it's funny contrasting the opinions on here with those of NeoGAF. A lot of people praising the writing and tight level design over there. Not so much here.

Can't believe y'all hatin' on Miyamoto though.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Ringo ~

[Carbo]

Ha, it's funny contrasting the opinions on here with those of NeoGAF. A lot of people praising the writing and tight level design over there. Not so much here.

I don't think many people who've actually played the game have faults to find within it as a package. In fact, most people are saying this is one of the best 3DS titles available.

Most of us here haven't even played it yet though. People are just expressing disappointment at the simplified story. The writing still seems to be as solid as ever.

[TrueBlue]

I don't think many people who've actually played the game have faults to find within it as a package. In fact, most people are saying this is one of the best 3DS titles available.

Most of us here haven't even played it yet though. People are just expressing disappointment at the simplified story. The writing still seems to be as solid as ever.

Eh, I'm fine with a simple story. Maybe I'm part of the problem, I dunno.

[Blue Blood]

Eh, I'm fine with a simple story. Maybe I'm part of the problem, I dunno.

I found the larger plots of TTYD and SPM, along with the hugely expanded cast of characters, to be the biggest draw to the series. Yes the gameplay was great, as were the music and visuals, but the story added so much more. Stripping that back is a disappointment.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Conando]

I thought the story of SPM was pretty dumb but, I did like the whole ancient evil thing going on in PM 2 because, it was so surprising for a Mario title.