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Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)


Swiss

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I think the majority of people have enjoyed this title, at least from what I've gathered when looking through the forums. It's different sure, but apparently very well designed.

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I don't usually like post for small things like this, but I think one of the things that was the most annoying for me (especially in the first half of the game) is the abundance of strong, shiny, and rare stickers.

Rant incoming.

At first, it seems like a blessing, having shiny or flashy stcikers as backup weapons, or so I thought.

But then, I waited and kept going forward, knowing eventually that something would be coming that would be useful to use these stickers on. I waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing.

Meanwhile, the rare stickers (not actually very rare feeling at all, considering I was constantly finding them) just ended up sitting there in my album, taking up more and more space, While making me feel that I had less and less space to store my vital standard battle stickers. Then I get to the first boss.

The bosses in this game are pretty hard. Even the first boss. Now, were they hard by being legitimately difficult battles, I would not be annoyed, no, I would be very happy. I love a good challenge.

So naturally, I finally start using my strong stuff. The Goomba King just takes it like a man because even the shiny and flashy and such stickers do fuck-all to him. That is where one of my biggest problems with this game lies. The Bosses are hard not because of difficulty, but because if you don't have the exact "thing" sticker, which is nearly NEVER indicated as to which one you're supposed to fucking use, have fun fighting what is compared to you a GOD.

So, congrats. You tried a bunch of random thing stickers (or used a guide like I did because I don't have that kind of patience) and FINALLY discovered the one that works well on a boss, making it too easy. That's when I realized how absolutely useless all these shinies are.

They are handed to you on a silver platter near constantly, but within the first 3 worlds, they are much too overpowered to even consider using on regular enemies, and they do jack shit to bosses. Want to save them for when you might actually need them then? Well then you'd better have a good amount of room in your constant inventory management struggle, because storing your rare and powerful items until you actually needed them in a shop is a thing of the past. Have fun!

This finally gets better in World 4 (my personal favorite), where the enemies are FINALLY strong enough to warrant using shiny or flashy stickers. The gameplay and combat feels much more fun and balanced in this chapter, and I applaud it for that.

However, this is the equivalent of hearing an awful song that becomes good once you're most of the way through. Yeah, you're glad you heard that great bit in the chorus, but you just wish the rest of the song didn't have to be stuck to it.

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The only worthwhile flashy sticker, for boss fights, is the Flashy Infinijump. You can seriously kill everything with it, though it does take a while.

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This really pisses me off. What RPG doesn't have a story to balance out the gameplay? Oh, less then 1% of the people who filled out the Club Nintendo Survey said the story was boring? Gee, has it ever occurred that nobody ever fills out those surveys because of how generic and stupid they are?

If you had real questions up there like "What didn't you like about this game?" "What would you like to see return in a future game?" instead of stupid shit like "Whoever plays the game the most in your house, how tall are they?" "What has your water bill's average been for the past 3 months?" then maybe I'd be inclined to answer some of them honestly.

And even if the story was incredibly uninteresting, (which it wasn't) you do what most developers do an create a better story in the next game, instead of ignoring it till it comes back to bite you in the ass (which is already has).

And when he says the original game was just a port of TTYD/TTYD's style he told I.S. to create new gameplay. First off, I could go on a rant about how series like NSMB are unoriginal and bland and same as fuck, but I won't waste my breathe. TTYD was extremely well received, and after the lukewarm reception of SPM, I.S. trying to do TTYD again was very smart of them, but noooooooo Miyamoto had to come in and fuck everything up.

And it's funny how he didn't want a port of the game and wanted to be original, this coming from the guy who almost remade Super Mario 64 for the 3DS.

I still think it's a case of damned if they do damned if they don't. I've seen people complain about the games not being different enough, and then screaming "THEY CHANGED IT, NOW IT SUCKS" far too often.

The problem with Sticker Star is, it's different, but it's sacrificed way too much Paper Mario Elements. Question, in this game, what did they do better/expand upon from the old games? Story? No. Characters? No. Combat? No. The only things is really the levels, and even then there's the level structure which hasn't been well received.

OH, BY THE WAY, ALL YOU PAPER MARIO FANS SHOULD READ THIS

It wasn't included in the post last page, but here's what Intelligent Systems says about the future of the Paper Mario games, it's on the last page of the Iwata Asks

Kudo Well, as mentioned before, the mechanics present new challenges and the gameworld represents a new start. We worked hard so that this game would become the new standard for future Paper Mario games, so please play it to the fullest!

Yeeppp. This game may become the new standard for the future games. Take that as you will.

Do they really expect the Club Nintendo surveys to be answered honestly and do they expect people to into detail about the specifics of a game after already asking the same generic questions every time you register a single game?

Ironically, this and NSMB2 are the only Surveys I've actually filled out for Club Nintendo. Only because of how disappointed I was in them.

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Kudo Well, as mentioned before, the mechanics present new challenges and the gameworld represents a new start. We worked hard so that this game would become the new standard for future Paper Mario games, so please play it to the fullest!

Good god, I sure hope not. While I'm sure the sticker gimmick is fun in its own right, it seems downright impractical. I'd much rather have badges and star points back. As well as actual story, partners, expansive worlds that don't feel disconnected...

Just. I wish there was a way to make it clear to IS that the old games were fine. :X

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Oh god no. Seriously, I adored the first 2 Paper Mario games, and now they are taking the new, fucked-up gameplay system and the lame story and make it a new standard?!

This is so stupid. Not only did they take almost everything that made the first 2 games great and simplified and stripped them down until it wasn't even fun anymore, instead of, you know, IMPROVING the formula, no, they even make this new style that is worse in almost every aspect the new standard for the series. This is bullshit, I'm sorry.

They tried something new for once, I can't blame them for that. But in my eyes, the new concept failed, and seeing how they want to keep using it just pisses me off.

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I think the only thing they really mean is the aesthetics and game set up, as in areas are split into stages for fast traveling purposes. Could be wrong and they actually mean every game ever after this is a Sticker game but, I seriously doubt it.

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The map system was one of the things I thought was a good change, or at least a bit of a sidegrade of sorts.

One of the things I wasn't too fond of in the first two, and to a lesser extent SPM (but the towns in that game were a serious chore to navigate, so it still wasn't perfect), was how long it tended to take if I had to retrace my steps to get somewhere. For example, the Mz. Mowz sidequest in TTYD. In that respect, I quite enjoyed moving around quickly whenever I wanted.

However, that did somewhat take away some of the connectedness the world had before, (this is a problem with a lot of recent Mario games), and made it feel less like a real place that could exist in a world like this.

On the positive side again, if they implemented the traveling system for getting to new places that they did in the old games, but an optional, more convenient map system to revisit old levels instead of backtracking or going to the sewers to find the pipe to that area, that would be something I would personally really like, and be a genuine improvement.

On the topic of that quote, I really hope they see that this new gameplay didn't go as well as they had hoped, perhaps preventing some of the bad design choices in this from happening again.

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The map isn't so bad, I guess. SMRPG DID use a similar world map in that you did go from point to point. I'm just wary about the rest of the changes, personally.

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You know, I really like this game on its own merits, but the more I read about its production the more I kinda start to hate it. I mean, it's fun as shit, but... fuck, knowing it could have been a Thousand Year Door type game until our dear leader Shigeru Miyamoto decided it was too interesting pisses me the fuck off.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, I'm around 15 hours into this. It's.... fairly disappointing so far, really. :/  

 

It's not even the drastically different sticker mechanic that bothers me the most, it's pretty much just bad game design choices. Most of the game just feels like you're continually running into dead ends... until you find out that there was a tiny something hidden in the scenery that you overlooked. Progress feels more like it relies on your ability to notice tiny little objects or gaps in the stages, and your patience in finding them.

 

The game feels frustratingly difficult for almost all the wrong reasons. I'm constantly finding myself getting completely stuck through the game giving far too little guidance. Granted, I don't want a game to hold my hand, but the amount of guidance on offer here is pitiful. Again, it largely relies on your finding certain items to make into stickers; items which are hidden in usually ludicrous ways and places that rely more on scouring the landscape with a fine-toothed comb rather than any real skill. The hints you’re given as to where these items might be is minimal at best- granted it varies a little, but you’re usually left without much of a clue to go on.

 

Bosses are similarly frustrating; All but perhaps the first one or two bosses outclass you drastically in terms of HP, and the only real way to beat them short of repeatedly burning through a huge number of stickers is to use a strategy that’s specific to each individual boss and that you’re basically left to figure out on your own. In some cases the game gives you small hints, but there’s little you can do to figure out what they are short of failing miserably and then being given a small piece of advice as consolation.

 

There’s an area in the game much like the Lost Woods in Zelda; a branching path where all but one route will take you back to the start of the area. Whereas Zelda games usually have a mechanic to give you a means of figuring the right path logically, Sticker Star quite literally leaves you with the option of trying every possible route until you find the correct path each time. Yes, you can leave a proverbial trail of breadcrumbs in the form of stickered signposts indicating correct routes that you’d previously taken, but trial and error do not a good game make. Worse still, later in the game you then realise that there’s in fact a second, secret route through the forest; which again relies on nothing more than trying every possible exit until you stumble across the right one.

 

It’s not a terrible game by any means, but it’s certainly flawed in far too many places to be considered a particularly good one, either.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, that's pretty disappointing. Not sure if it's a problem with my copy, or with the game overall, but whenever I use the Bowling Ball sticker in the final Bowser fight, the game crashes and my 3DS resets. :/ Has anyone else had this? It's happened to me twice now, always when I use the Bowling Ball on Bowser.

 

727283C7-64B2-4023-B251-128059FD2931-372

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Hmm, apparently the glitch I encountered was a common one that happens every time you use an item that rolls against Bowser. 

 

Hopefully Nintendo patch it. D:

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You don't need to use a Bowling Ball on Bowser, nor should you waste space in your sticker album for it, but yeah, that should be fixed.

Edited by Kringle Of Awesome
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This game is not good for me. I mean it just strays too far from the original purpose of the Paper Mario series. best PM game is TTYD hands down. This one.... no partners........................

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For what it is, the game does a decent job. In one sentence, I'd describe it as a glorified puzzle game.

 

For what it could have been, it's a pretty major disappointment.

I'll say right away that you don't gain much, if anything by battling. The battle system is not particularly thrilling either.

It's best you run away from all optional ones and save your precious stickers for puzzle solving and boss battles. It's a much better game when you think of the game that way.

 

The writing is good. The story is lackluster. You'll enjoy the random dialog, but there is hardly coherence and continuity. Just pure and fun silliness.

 

All and all, it's a serviceable game. I would not recommend it to a friend, however. Unless he likes puzzle games that is.

Edited by FlameStream
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This game is not good for me. I mean it just strays too far from the original purpose of the Paper Mario series. 

Which was...?

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I kinda want to get this game one day, but Carbo giving the only fully positive review in this topic kind of has me worried.

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I kinda want to get this game one day, but Carbo giving the only fully positive review in this topic kind of has me worried.

 

Likewise. I keep getting close to buying it and then having to stop and reconsider. I'm gonna go watch some gameplay on YouTube, something I actively avoid for any other game. This one just has me torn.

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I kinda want to get this game one day, but Carbo giving the only fully positive review in this topic kind of has me worried.

I'll be getting it. We usually have drastically different opinions on games, so wait for my impressions lol.

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I've been planning to buy it as well, but I keep pushing myself to wait until I can get something like $10 off or something. Ugh, conserving money is harddddd

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It's a good game, just very very different from previous games.  In that regard it is like Super Paper Mario.  (In every other regard it is completely unlike Super Paper Mario).

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