Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

[Mega]

Well, it's no wonder the story is so simple if Miyamoto refused to let them make new characters. :/ You can't make a complex RPG story when your characters are limited to generic Toads, a Wiggler, and a bunch of basic Mario enemies. I just wonder why he was so adamant against the characters that colored the RPGs before. People loved 'em!

[Barry the Nomad]

As somebody who only plays the occasional main series Mario title, and likes RPGs but never quite finished a "traditional" one, should I pick this game up?

[Chili Dawg]

Shigeru Miyamoto, tear down your wall. You've done great things, but please quit while you're ahead, you're only holding your creation back now.

[TrueBlue]

He's going into a smaller role in December, you're getting your wish.

EDIT: lol he's 60 today. Wouldn't have guessed that by looking at him.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Ringo ~

[Doctor MK]

Pre-order at GAME and get a free Paper Mario poster!

[Your Vest Friend]

...The actual fuck? Why not a Sticker Star poster, at least that would be relevant. :/

[Pelly <3's U]

I just got the game, it's fucking awesome.

Get over that it's not TTYD (or really even an RPG) and you will finally get to experience a new mario game that brings a unique, creative premise while still hearkening back to the old NES and SNES days of adventure games and mario platformers.

I think in time it will really be appreciated as one of the best Mario games to come out in awhile.

Also about it being "too hard", this game is frustrating me to no end, and it's one of the reasons I want to keep playing. I honestly have no idea how much I've missed or what I need to do most of the time and yet that's what drives me to explore....and it's what makes finding the solutions to puzzles to be genuinely rewarding. The part that I like is I've never gotten "stuck" to the point I can't keep playing....there's always been another level I can make linear progression on, so while the entire time I'm dying inside wondering what I'm missing I'm still able to keep playing the game in some way.

[Conando]

It IS a wonderful game, I think it being part of the Paper Mario series is what keeps people from seeing that there's a lot of good things going for it. The world itself is perhaps the best Mario setting I have seen in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time.

[Pelly <3's U]

The thing for me is that the whole paper setting finally makes sense to me in this game, rather than being some weird stylistic background choice. I mean ya there were a couple paper gimmicks in the other games, but in this game the whole world is really built around the paper and sticker themes, so it makes sense to me for it to be a paper mario title.

I love the Paper Mario RPG's and want another one, but honestly this is a very good game so I'm not complaining.

One thing that kills me is I can never execute the hammer timing or the damn flowers.

Edit: Also I just died again....that makes like 5 times. At first I was annoyed with the game autosaving but now it's like my saving grace

someone tell me where some HP ups are I'm in need D;

[Komodin]

Hey, from what I've heard, Bowser's not really much of a character in this game. Is this true? 'Cause it'd really bum me out if it is...

[Conando]

I only died once in the game, and it was due to environmental reasons. I am the greatest. By the way, Mario's max HP is 100.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

Hey, from what I've heard, Bowser's not really much of a character in this game. Is this true? 'Cause it'd really bum me out if it is...

Nope. Which is weird, because everyone else does, even his own son.

^^^^

[Pelly <3's U]

God I died in the qucksand twice (haha once because I wasn't paying attention) and then 3 times in battles.

The problem is this game is awful for an item hoarder for me. I seriously finish most games using about 5% of my items.....so in this game it's /so hard/ to deal with using my beautiful, beautiful stickers for everything ;__;

[Komodin]

^^^^

...Well, that's a spirit breaker. Bowser's usually (at least one of) the best thing(s) about the RPG's.

[Conando]

The reason for Bowser's character is plot related.

[Scorch]

Admittedly, I haven't played the game myself, but I have been watching some Sticker Star footage on Youtube lately, including that of the final boss, and I have to say that this game turned out to be a major disappointment. In fact, I'm so disappointed in it (along with all the New Super Mario Bros. rehashes) that I'm about this close to just giving up on the series entirely. I've tried to be as open-minded about this game as I possibly could, but the more things I learned about it, and the more video footage I saw, I found myself getting less and less excited about it.

This game, in my opinion, is an absolute slap in the face, due to the fact that they went out of their way to remove so many things that made the series so great in the first place (after they had originally presented the game as a welcome-back return to the original formula). It's like they've completely forgotten what this series is all about, and this is coming from someone who thoroughly enjoyed Super Paper Mario (and has beaten it several times). Honestly, what was Miyamoto thinking? What made him think it was a good idea to just take everything that the previous games have established, and just throw them out the window? Sticker Star doesn't even have half the charm that the first three Paper Mario games had.

[Diogenes]

In fact, I'm so disappointed in it (along with all the New Super Mario Bros. rehashes) that I'm about this close to just giving up on the series entirely.

You're a fuckin' Sonic fan and this is going to make you give up a series?

[Scorch]

What makes you think I haven't been disappointed with the Sonic series as of late?

[Diogenes]

You might be, but you're still here, through things hundreds of times worse than anything the Mario series has put out.

[Chili Dawg]

I fucking love this game. I mean, I too was really disappointed with a lot of what I'd been hearing, and even playing the game I find myself missing a lot of classic Paper Mario stuff, but the game is just so damn fun. It's a different take on Paper Mario for sure, but it's still a damn good one. The game stands up so well on its own that I have a hard time being too upset about anything that changed.

Collecting stickers is so much fun, and the limit on them adds a whole new element of strategy to the battles. While we don't have as many characters as the previous PMs, the world itself has so much personality to it that I ain't even mad. I mean, come on, World 1-5, was that not one of the coolest things you ever saw?

So yeah, really loving this game a lot.

[Nintendoga]

*post*

Sorry dude, but I have to disagree with you because you are just simply wrong.

....Because World 4's entirety is much cooler then World 1-5.

This game just did a major 180 for me at World 3. I was loathing almost everything about this game up till I

Started collecting the Wiggler pieces if I recall correctly.

Dunno why that changed everything for me, but holy hell was I shocked. I'm not joking when I saw the story, the characters, the battle system, all of this gets better. The game starts to introduce more interesting takes on our usual enemies, (I won't spoil, but some of them are pretty cool, especially World 3's boss and most of the World 4/5 enemies) and after a certain part in the game, you start to get mainly shiny stickers.

I don't know why, but all these shiny stickers just make me want to fight enemies more. Maybe it's the fact that these stickers are powerful, along with the enemies getting stronger, but fighting with the new sticker system is more natural now. Not saying it's the best fighting system, but it works for what they're trying to do here.

The levels though, I mean jeeze, World 4 is just my favorite man. They got

* A frozen river where you have to run forward through it, while dodging all these penguins, before ending up in a pretty ice cave.

* A mansion where you have to help a Toad perform an exorcism on all of these Boos, and yes, this level is almost like a Paper Luigi's Mansion.

* You have to go up a ski-lift, sitting in a bench while dodging incoming enemies by moving left and right.

* A roller-coaster/trolley where you have two choices. Either fight every enemy in line, which while saving time, might waste stickers, or you actually WAIT in line while the enemies move up a spot every now and then. (Being to so many amuesment parks, this level had me cracking up the entire way through). And if you try to cut the line, they'll actually get mad and try to fight you sometimes!

* After waiting in said line, you ride a trolley and enjoy the music, while trying to not fall down into the pit below and either die/go back to the start

The music is great too. While I'm not that big of a fan of the jazzy soundtrack, most of them are pretty

along with a selection of songs you may or may not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-JoAxp_xco.

The story is also good. It's not TTYD or SPM complex/good obviously, but like I said before, it works for what they're trying to do. Also some characters actually get interesting, and they do have unique personalities. It's just mainly Toads though unfortunately. For some examples of ones I remember

A Snifit that hosts a gameshow called SNIFIT OR WHIFIT!

A Green Toad that's wise and mellow, and I think can see into the future? Not too sure...

A Blue Captain Toad who after experiencing what I'd like to call a Cheep one, gives up being a Captain

A purple Toad who's very creepy, and sorta uncomfortable to be around

The childish Wiggler

Even the bosses (not all of them) have a personality, not as much as the old games, but it'll do I suppose.

Any Paper Mario fan should get this game. As someone said before, it's a game that truly gets better the more you play it. It might be rough trying to get used to the battle system and go through some boring levels (*coughWORLD2cough*), but after a while, you'll find a game that's can be just as enjoyable as the other PM games.

Eagerly awaiting for the next Mario & Luigi/PM game. This one did not disappoint, not at all.

Edit: Fuck man

I....I just don't know what happened.

Edited November 25, 2012 by Mike Dawson

[Chili Dawg]

Oooooh, only gets better, huh? That's good, I'm still barely into it.

[Conando]

Yeah, the game continues to get better as you go along, in pretty much every aspect. It might not be the next Thousand Year Door but, it's a wonderful game that deserves any Paper Mario fan's attention.

[SuperStingray]

Alright, so I just beat the game last night. Here's what I think about it.

The first great thing about Sticker Star is that it retains the humorous charm that the series is known for. Much like its predecessors, it's almost entirely built outside the fourth wall. And it has several events and mechanics that make it feel almost as if the designers are laughing behind the scenes, including a level you actually have to wait in line for and an item that lets enemies get eaten by an actual goat. But the real draw to me is that it plays up the paper motif more than ever before. Between this and Kirby's Epic Yarn before it, Nintendo has a real knack for games about arts and crafts. The game really feels like paper craft and the stickers really look like stickers. I thought it was an awesome touch how the shiny stickers' glare shifted around with the system's accelerometer.

But at the same time, I was very disappointed with the fundamentals of the game. And this really frustrates me too because the battle system and interaction with the world was so innovative and clever that I feel guilty for not completely enjoying its implementation. For starters, the battle system. Now, I played kind of conservatively so I tended to use weaker stickers when possible, but the problem with that is that there's almost never an occasion where super-strong stickers feel necessary. Most of the bosses and mini-bosses have some sort of gimmick that makes all but a few special stickers that you have to figure out an effective strategy. For instance, one of the bosses, which has like 200 health, can be taken out almost entirely with the baseball bat, but most other stickers only do about 2 or 3 damage, whether it's a basic jump or a big, shiny hurlhammer. In other words, it's easy to build up an arsenal of stickers that's completely overkill in most circumstances and completely useless in all others. Because of this, there really isn't a lot of decision making in battles. You either have useful moves or you don't. And there's no consequence to running either, so common battles aren't even necessary. And even if you don't have many good stickers, it's alright, because shops sell most of the good ones and coins are UNBELIEVABLY easy to earn. Beat an enemy without getting hurt? Have ten coins. Completed a level? Have fifty coins. Beat a shiny enemy? Have a hundred goddamn coins. I beat the game with about 4000 coins without EVER coming close to running out, even when I abused the slot machine. What else... oh, yeah. Action commands. Unlike the previous RPGs, Sticker Star doesn't give button prompts. With most items, it's alright because there's a little twinkle when you're supposed to hit the A button and good timing starts to come with practice. But with the special attacks, there's absolutely no way of knowing how it's going to work in advanced. Do I have to hammer the button? Do I have to time my presses? It gives you absolutely no hint or way of knowing how to use certain items until you try them; some of them I've used several times and I still don't know how to get perfect results with them. But on the other hand, even when they don't work out, they're really funny to just watch in action. My favorite is the water gun, where the game pretends to be a first person shooter for a split second.

As for the rest of the game, I'm kind of conflicted. The paperization mechanic is clever and makes you feel smart when you figure out a new way to manipulate your environment. Unfortunately, this game's puzzles kind of have that point-and-click adventure game problem where they expect you to make strange jumps in reasoning to figure things out. For instance, there was one level where you have to find and capture a ton of boos in a haunted house; there was no way to detect them outside of looking for hints and experimenting with the environment, so when there was only two or three left, there was a lot of wild guessing and retracing steps which got annoying fast. I finally found the last one hidden inside a small clock which gave absolutely no hint toward it being possessed. And there were also a few puzzles that used hidden blocks that I was somehow supposed to figure out existed. It didn't help that your partner gives absolutely USELESS advice when she has any to give at all. I don't want to downplay that there were many clever puzzles, most of which were REALLY fun to figure out, but a number of them were kind of obtuse or poorly telegraphed which broke the flow of an otherwise strong adventure.

Let me reiterate that I don't want to dislike this game. And on the whole, I don't. It's undeniably witty in both design and character and filled with all the things that make the Paper Mario series great. On top of that, it's innovative and experimental. I have to applaud that risk, especially for a franchise as prolific as Mario. But as they say, the devil's in the details, and with experimentation comes risk and with risk comes a stronger probability for shortcomings. Paper Mario Sticker Star is wrought with shortcomings, but between some pockets of bullshit, it did put a smile on my face.

Edited November 24, 2012 by SuperStingray

[Nintendoga]

Isn't life just swell?

Oh this is just...fucking perfect

Not even gonna rage

I was just about to kill Bowser

He had 30HP left

guess what...

I can't.

Because jump stickers don't work on him, which consisted of half of my stickers,

And I'm all out of hammer stickers and other stickers

So I can't hurt him, and I can't run away

isn't that just swell? I had about 20 jump stickers left too

Hahaha, and people try to defend the battle system

That's just swell.

Welp, time to accept my death, and redo the entire fight, which consisted of 5 semi-long phases.