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Paper Mario: Color Splash Hands-on Previews - "a far better game than Sticker Star"

The consensus in the French reviews in the OP is that the writing is funny, the game is full of creative situations, and the presentation is beautiful. However it is very light on story and NPC diversity, and the Sticker Star battle system is back (duh).
 

Steejee

Member
Never played Sticker Star, so I can't react much to the ways it's better, but the previews sound pretty good to me.

Now I just need to fix/replace my WiiU Gamepad screen =/
 
Sticker Star was an alright hardcore adventure game, but that was the last time I paid for a Mario game restricted by the NSMB style. That shit is over and I can't believe they've become so terrified of making actual new worlds and characters, even after the brand imploded on WiiU because of all this generic standardizing of the entire franchise.
 
It isn't so much that the formula doesn't allow it to be good.. I think it's more that Sticker star, sort of like Federation Force, completely ran contrary to what people liked the series for to begin with.

I really liked Super Paper Mario even though I hated how they took out the turned based combat. But removing the story and interesting characters was almost unforgivable honestly.

I'd be ok with them messing around with the gameplay to an extent if it meant the "spirit" of the franchise with its interesting dialogue and diverse cast of characters were still around. But that doesn't seem like it will happen.

Greetings!
After reading the preview of Nintendo World Report, it seems the dialogue and certain happenings involving characters are having more charm than the "empty" Sticker Star. That gets my hopes up. If the puzzles are neat and the levels are worth revisiting, this could be a real treat. I think one should not lessen the fun of a game by laying it over a predecessor which had a different approach and constantly point out the things the current entry does not have.
I don't know what keeps the devs from making another TTYD game but I also do not blame them to lead Paper Mario into a different direction. I would only blame them, if the path they follow gets worse and worse. Not meeting one's expectations is not a mistake per se.
 

oti

Banned
The consensus in the French reviews in the OP is that the writing is funny, the game is full of creative situations, and the presentation is beautiful. However it is very light on story and NPC diversity, and the Sticker Star battle system is back (duh).

Those are previews. Review embargo lifts early October IIRC.
 

Bakkus

Member
If the Federation Force sales threads are any indication of whats to come with Color Splash then its gonna be a shit show.

And Nintendo plus non Intelligent Systems will have brought it upon themselves. No one else to blame.

IMO, skip the N64 game. Paper Mario and TTYD are basically clones of each others, and you're likely to love the first one you play and get bored with the second. And since TTYD has much more to offer, it's the only one you need out of the two. No wonder they didn't stick to the formula, it got old with only the second game.

Don't listen to this. Both are great and worth going thorught without having the feeling of fatigue. TTYD is far better tho, but it speaks for itself given that it is the GOAT.
 

rotpb517

Member
The closer to release the sadder I get... Paper Mario TTYD is one of my favorite games of all time, and it seems we won't be getting a return to form any time soon:(
 

Astral Dog

Member
And Nintendo plus non Intelligent Systems will have brought it upon themselves. No one else to blame.



Don't listen to this. Both are great and worth going thorught without having the feeling of fatigue. TTYD is far better tho, but it speaks for itself given that it is the GOAT.

CS is still a Mario game and Sticker Star did really well, plus its Holiday and Nintendo normally has a strong precense even on Wii U. i dont think it will do as bad as Federation Force.

To be honest i dont think sales are really a reflection of a games quality.
 
I read somewhere recently that a lot of the staff at Intelligent Systems that worked on the first couple of Paper Mario games are no longer there.

So that might account for something.
 

Yukinari

Member
The occasion to complain, I guess. Seems popular lately.


IMO, skip the N64 game. Paper Mario and TTYD are basically clones of each others, and you're likely to love the first one you play and get bored with the second. And since TTYD has much more to offer, it's the only one you need out of the two. No wonder they didn't stick to the formula, it got old with only the second game.

This is the most absurd reasoning to deter someone from experiencing the first entry of a series. Its like if i told someone not to play Crash 1 because Crash 2 has more content.
 

NotLiquid

Member
I read somewhere recently that a lot of the staff at Intelligent Systems that worked on the first couple of Paper Mario games are no longer there.

So that might account for something.

Maybe? I don't know. It's sort of been clear since Super Paper Mario and the interviews around that time that the series' frontrunners and producers were more interested in spinning it away from being an RPG and more of an action adventure. We're probably never getting a return to an RPG setup.
 

Kthulhu

Member
CS is still a Mario game and Sticker Star did really well, plus its Holiday and Nintendo normally has a strong precense even on Wii U. i dont think it will do as bad as Federation Force.

To be honest i dont think sales are really a reflection of a games quality.

Well when you market a game like they did for FF and it still fails it's gotta be because it wasn't good.
 

Merc_

Member
CS is still a Mario game and Sticker Star did really well, plus its Holiday and Nintendo normally has a strong precense even on Wii U. i dont think it will do as bad as Federation Force.

To be honest i dont think sales are really a reflection of a games quality.

It's not and it's weird that a forum with so many Platinum games fans would think that way.
 
Unfortunately, the sticker star gameplay and lack of story still seems to be there. They did add an inventive to get into battles now, but to me it doesn't seem like enough of an incentive...

At least the game's writing seems to have a lot more charm.

I'm still not buying this one and praying to god it flops enough for Paper Mario games with more classic RPG elements to come back.
 
Glad to hear it's better than Sticker Star. I tired of that game pretty quickly.

There's no way I'm buying this, though. The local library is getting it, however, and I'm the first person on the hold list.
 
My problem with SS wasn't the puzzles. Honestly I thought that and the level design were the best parts of the game.

No, the worst part of SS, and I'm assuming CS, is the fucking awful battle system. It's just bad, period, and re-adding the actual RPG elements would make it miles better.
 

AdanVC

Member
Aw yisss. Super glad initial impressions are good! I can't wait to play this. Wii U's last exclusive, can you believe it? :')
 

Simbabbad

Member
This statement can easily be applied both ways.
Not really, no. It seems that the logical next step for people who claim they hate a game by principle should be to go talk about something else. Or do something else.

But no. They go into every thread about the game, repeating the same arguments about why they hate it without ever having touched it.

I think it's more that Sticker star, sort of like Federation Force, completely ran contrary to what people liked the series for to begin with.
What "people"? The people that played The Thousand Year Door twelve years ago, that are still playing video games, still buy Nintendo consoles, still remember this specific game, and that want something precisely like it while not buying a Paper Mario game in another genre?

How many are those people compared to the more than four millions that bought Super Paper Mario (more than twice TTYD sales), which also focused on adventure game mechanics?

Zealots on gaming message boards aren't the whole audience.
 
Greetings!
After reading the preview of Nintendo World Report, it seems the dialogue and certain happenings involving characters are having more charm than the "empty" Sticker Star. That gets my hopes up. If the puzzles are neat and the levels are worth revisiting, this could be a real treat. I think one should not lessen the fun of a game by laying it over a predecessor which had a different approach and constantly point out the things the current entry does not have.
I don't know what keeps the devs from making another TTYD game but I also do not blame them to lead Paper Mario into a different direction. I would only blame them, if the path they follow gets worse and worse. Not meeting one's expectations is not a mistake per se.
I am cool with different directions, and I hope it works but my confidence is shaken in it. I'm still open to buying it if indeed like you said there is more focus/ effort on the story and characters then that is promising. I'll just have to wait on what other people have to say about it; def won't be a day one purchase like SS was for me
 
What "people"? The people that played The Thousand Year Door twelve years ago, that are still playing video games, still buy Nintendo consoles, still remember this specific game, and that want something precisely like it while not buying a Paper Mario game in another genre?

How many are those people compared to the more than four millions that bought Super Paper Mario (more than twice TTYD sales), which also focused on adventure game mechanics?

Zealots on gaming message boards aren't the whole audience.

"People" who are interested in, have followed, and purchased games in the paper mario series before. People who care about the brand and series. If this audience that has any clue about the older paper mario is so insignificant why even use the brand at all. "Zealouts", jeez.. You aren't a zealot for thinking the changes they made in Sticker Star were completely stupid. It's a pretty common opinion held by a lot of people who played the game. Even ones who came into the series later.

Also, ridiculous to dismiss TTYD because it came out twelve years ago then bring up SPM which came out nearly a decade ago as well; as if that is when the series starts or something. I even said I liked SPM because it still felt like a Paper Mario game so I don't even know what you are talking about.
 
Dont worry Paper Mario fans we heard your main concerns and made the puzzles better.

Because you know thats why you played Paper Mario, for the paper gimmick and puzzles.

Yes, exactly most people play Paper Mario games for this kind of stuff. That's the reason the PM games got more successful.
 

Simbabbad

Member
If this audience that has any clue about the older paper mario is so insignificant why even use the brand at all.
Because it's been used in the two previous games, which are also adventure games.

Look, I loved TTYD. I hated Sticker Star, and I think it's embarrassing it shipped with such a shoddy gameplay. But it doesn't make any sense to say: "the audience wants TTYD and not this game" - WHAT audience? How much do these people represent compared to, again, the four millions that bought Super Paper Mario? Acting like it's obvious that "people" want TTYD specifically is delusional, that's a very small segment.
 

El Odio

Banned
Excited isn't exactly the right word for me but I'm very much looking forward to this next month. I never played Sticker Star myself so I'm not sure where I stand on that one but hopefully this one will be fun to play through and honestly the videos have me convinced so far that that will be the case.
 
I bet the game is hilarious just like the past games. But, it's the battles that really draw most of us in. Shame to see it cut from this one, and I won't ever buy a Wii U either. Hopefully this game finds it's way to NX or PC through emulation. It looks like it deserves people's attention. I'm really crossing my fingers that we don't get another Federation Force situation.
 
Not really, no. It seems that the logical next step for people who claim they hate a game by principle should be to go talk about something else. Or do something else.

But no. They go into every thread about the game, repeating the same arguments about why they hate it without ever having touched it.

Yes, it really is.This is fucking stupid. There are entire discussions that can be centered around the dislike of something, the problems something has and sometimes if a work is bad enough than much of the discussion will revolve around that. That's how it works. There are reams of pages and pages dedicated to the criticism of thought schools people thought were dumb, films and styles that cinematographers tore apart and books oh fuck don't even read anything on Shakespeare cause holy shit. There is inherent worth in discussing anything and what is problematic, negative or total shit about it.

That said we're on a fucking message board for fucking video games. There is no inherent worth to a person's post saying how hyped they are for a game or how much they loved Sticker Star or a post about how this looks bad and Sticker Star was ass-butt. They're the same.

So cut that shit out.
 

Red Devil

Member
That's good to hear I guess, but we'll see...

I'm still not buying this one and praying to god it flops enough for Paper Mario games with more classic RPG elements to come back.

Why do people keep saying things like that when they've openly said that now Mario & Luigi is the "Mario RPG" series.
 

Biske

Member
Not really, no. It seems that the logical next step for people who claim they hate a game by principle should be to go talk about something else. Or do something else.

But no. They go into every thread about the game, repeating the same arguments about why they hate it without ever having touched it.


What "people"? The people that played The Thousand Year Door twelve years ago, that are still playing video games, still buy Nintendo consoles, still remember this specific game, and that want something precisely like it while not buying a Paper Mario game in another genre?

How many are those people compared to the more than four millions that bought Super Paper Mario (more than twice TTYD sales), which also focused on adventure game mechanics?

Zealots on gaming message boards aren't the whole audience.


This. This. This.

We. Get. It. People don't like the game, they hate the game, hate what it is, hate sticker star. It never ends. At some point people just need to move on with their lives, or wait until they have played the game and then talk more about it.

But every thread, every new video "HEY! I HATE IT!!! ITS LIKE STICKER STAR!!! MORE TTYD!!!!"

It gets fucking old.
 

J@hranimo

Banned
To be honest I don't hate the game, I'm just like "Eh gameplay isn't for me" and play another game.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Isn't Sticker Star the best selling Paper Mario game?

No, that's Super Paper Mario by a very large margin - nearly double the sales of Sticker Star (coincidentally, it's also a much better game than Sticker Star, top-to-bottom). Sticker Star did outsell the original two, but the margin isn't particularly wide, 2.24m vs 1.91m for TTYD.

And this won't ever stop being a bad argument. The 3DS is much more successful than the GameCube and N64 (ditto for the Wii), and Sticker Star was released while the 3DS was flourishing, whereas Paper Mario and TTYD were released on consoles that were long past their expiration dates.
 
Maybe they should go all out with the card aspect for the next Paper Mario game and basically make it like Baten Kaitos. Get Monolith Soft to help out.

I mean, if they're not going to make another PM/TTYD game, then make a card RPG.
 
I skipped Sticker Star because, from everything I'd seen and heard of it, it wasn't what I wanted out of a Paper Mario game. Color Splash looks pretty and all, but it's still not what I'm looking for in a Paper Mario game. So I think I'll pass on this one too.
 

leroidys

Member
My problem with SS wasn't the puzzles. Honestly I thought that and the level design were the best parts of the game.

No, the worst part of SS, and I'm assuming CS, is the fucking awful battle system. It's just bad, period, and re-adding the actual RPG elements would make it miles better.
I firmly believe that if they had at least kept badges around, they would have made everyone happy(er), even if they still ditched XP. Really feel like it's a missed opportunity again here.
 

Lutherian

Member
Never played Sticker Star (and probably won't) but Color Splash might end up in my hands.

My main concerns (at this point) are :
- Most Attacks seems very long and unskippable (at least from what I saw). I hope it's just for super attacks and not for the most basic moves (like jumping / using the hammer).
- Is there a deck system like in Sticker Star ? And if so, do I have to farm objects to make my deck ? Can I end up having no ways to attack the ennemy if my deck is empty (I can't imagine a RPG, and from Nintendo of all things- to do such an idiotic thing but I have to ask) ?

Thanks in advance.
 

Simbabbad

Member
There are reams of pages and pages dedicated to the criticism of thought schools people thought were dumb, films and styles that cinematographers tore apart and books oh fuck don't even read anything on Shakespeare cause holy shit.
The little problem with this "aggressive to the point of being over the top" post is that those "pages and pages" you talk about are about works that people have already experienced. Are there entire books about movies people haven't seen, or about books people haven't read? No, because such an opinion would be completely worthless, and those "authors" would have been ridiculed for being that obsessed about something they haven't even experienced - as you and some others here need to be.

It's one thing to be careful because the previous product in the same genre disappointed you, it's another to spout your hate when you know next to nothing about a game while there are tons of other games around, and tons of other things to do in life. Move the fuck on.

And please, don't pretend again to confuse rabid entitlement and obsession about something that's not even released and legitimate analysis about something that you played through and which disappointed you. Like you so eloquently say, "cut that shit out".
 
Nope still waiting to buy until its used or $20, sticker star is easily one of the biggest burns I've gotten buying a game won't make that mistake again even if this is an improved Sticker Star.
 
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