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Paper Mario: Color Splash Review Thread

Richie

Member
Writing might be the best it has ever been in a Paper Mario game, but the combat is beyond boring. It takes so exceedingly long to get though a basic encounter that it gets old within the first hour. The amount of touch screen swiping you have to do only makes it worse. It's incredibly frustrating that they went with this system instead of tweaking it at all to make it less garbage. Holy cow it's slow.

From the digital preloads thread:

I prefer the button controls. You can use either touch or buttons with the "basic+buttons" setting. There's no real disadvantage. It's a lot more convenient and streamlined over needing to touch/swipe and go back to using the d-pad to time your hits.

Perhaps this helps?
 

KiN0

Member
You're not seeing the difference. What they're doing now is far easier than PM 1 & 2. Takes less effort, less creativity.

Really? The team did a bunch of research on paper and craft textures to make sure they could create environments that actually mimicked the materials appropriately. On top of that, the lightning gives the entire game (or at least what I've seen) a sort of paper diorama display look. There's plenty of effort and creativity in this game.
 
The funny thing is those people trying to make up weird reasons why good reviews don't matter or are inaccurate. It's like when a hyped game gets bad reviews and people flip out but in the opposite way.

I mean...I straight up don't care how it reviews, I'm not going to buy it. I don't know why people care about the reviews either as if changing the way a game is done automatically makes it a bad game. It doesn't necessarily. This game is probably good. I just...don't want this game.

And that's a fine reason to not want to get something or play it. The game has changed from what I enjoyed about the series, I gave it a shot with Sticker Star and hated it and this one is apparently more polished Sticker Star. If people like it, cool, but that's not appealing to me so I won't buy it.
 

El Odio

Banned
I mean...I straight up don't care how it reviews, I'm not going to buy it. I don't know why people care about the reviews either as if changing the way a game is done automatically makes it a bad game. It doesn't necessarily. This game is probably good. I just...don't want this game.

And that's a fine reason to not want to get something or play it. The game has changed from what I enjoyed about the series, I gave it a shot with Sticker Star and hated it and this one is apparently more polished Sticker Star. If people like it, cool, but that's not appealing to me so I won't buy it.
That was hardly their point at all if I'm not mistaken. It's fine if you don't wanna play this game or have any interest in it or it's reviews. Their response was probably more directed at the posts in this thread pointing out how SS got good reviews as if that suddenly discredits any sort of positive reviews CS now gets.
 
Can basically echo what the reviews are saying, personally. I think the 8-9.5 reviews are pushing it, though. I'd rate it a 7/10 (for reference, my other Paper Mario game opinions: 64 is 9/10, TTYD is 10/10, SPM is a 6.5/10, and Sticker Star is a 3/10). Rounding down a bit, it was about a 20 hour playthrough.

Ditch the combat and the game leaps to around an 8.5-9 range for me. The combat is just awful, the only saving grace is that action commands in Mario RPGs are always pretty fun to use... but what's the point when the battles themselves are clunky and largely a waste of time? Someone linked the Arlo review, and I'd recommend giving that a watch to see a demonstration on just how slow the combat is. He basically nails every issue with it (and later goes on to detail other issues with it), the only criticism I'd lob at him is that he could've really driven the point home by showing that even Sticker Star's battles were a significantly smoother affair. Along with that, Sticker Star had significantly fewer mandatory battles, whereas Color Splash loves to toss you into mandatory fights.

Color Splash is undeniably better than Sticker Star in every way (except for the battle system). It's an incredibly charming game that in its best moments brings to mind classical adventure games. That's really fundamentally what this game is. Ironically, its biggest problem is pretending that it's still an RPG. Cut the battle system, vary up the NPCs (even if they're all Toads, give them interesting designs and names at least!), and fix up a few poorer quality segments, and then you basically fix every problem in the game. As it is though, it's a pretty excellent take on Paper Mario as a Lucas Arts game. It's a flawed game, but it's a very good game. This is up there with Doom as one of my biggest/most pleasant surprises of 2016.
Your rankings for the previous PM games are basically identical to mine, so I'm leaning towards taking your word this is a flawed but still very good, 'different' Paper Mario game.
 

Malus

Member
Your rankings for the previous PM games are basically identical to mine, so I'm leaning towards taking your word this is a flawed but still very good, 'different' Paper Mario game.

The idea that they rated it above SPM excites me considering I absolutely adore that game, but for that same reason I doubt it'll be as good.
 
The idea that they rated it above SPM excites me considering I absolutely adore that game, but for that same reason I doubt it'll be as good.
There's a lot I really like about SPM, but it's all over the place quality wise and I definitely agree it's way too wordy for a platformer. If Color Splash is like that rather than the total dumpster fire Sticker Star was, I'll happily take that, even if I'd prefer a proper PM3 down the track.
 
Hunting for all the shine sprites and star pieces, plus doing the trouble center and pit of 100 trials. Yeah, that's probably a completionist run, but I love the game so much, which is why i'm disgusted by the direction the series has taken.

Is it really that big of problem when it only takes a few minutes? The "backtracking" you're speaking of in chapter 5 is a joke. It takes no time at all to go from the camp to the cave entrance. And I still don't know what you're referring to in the prologue for chapter 6.

It takes no time except you must do it 4 times in a boring fetch quest and it ends up taking up the first 3/4th of the chapter. It's only tolerable when you're fighting enemies along the way, otherwise there is nothing fun to do except keep going left/right until the game decides that you are allowed to go to the next area. At least Chapter 4's backtracking was fun because you were solving a mystery and running around has to be part of it - same for Chapter 6. But Chapter 5 is the absolute lowest point of the game.
 

Ossom

Member
Very happy with that. Glad I didn't cancel my preorder.

It is a shame that the title will likely not be played by that many people.
 

Krabboss

Member
From the digital preloads thread:



Perhaps this helps?

It does, but it still doesn't fix the fact that the card selection process slows down combat (and sometimes makes your choice of attacks awkward) without actually adding anything.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
It does, but it still doesn't fix the fact that the card selection process slows down combat (and sometimes makes your choice of attacks awkward) without actually adding anything.


With the advanced button controls nothing change from the usual rpg attack scrolling selection
And the coloring part is a strategic layer due to it not being an on/off action
You determine the quantity of color and so the level of power of the card
 
So the game might actually be worth a try...after sticker star I didnt want to get it, but reviews and gaf impressions seem positive...

by the way, what about Mario Party Star Rush? doesnt it come out tomorrow too?
 

Mory Dunz

Member
Has Nintendo World Report ever given a first party Ninty game lesser than an 8?

quick google led to metacritic critic profile, which led me to

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness & Time
NintendoWorldReport - 45
Metacritic Overall - 60


seems like a pretty disliked game, but they seemed to dislike it more than everyone else.

edit: This is kinda fun
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
NWR - 45
Metacritic - 46

Warioware Snapped!
NWR - 40
Metacritic - 53

Mario Tennis Ultra Smash
NWR - 35
Meta - 58

Brain Age 2:
NWR - 70
Meta - 77

other m, Mario & Sonc 2014 (their score is 15 higher than the Meta), M&S 2012, pokemon Leaf Green (N - 70, meta - 81), etc but I'm bored now.
There's more Pokemons too like emerald...
 
Happy with the reviews. Skipped Sticker Star but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt. Just ordered it from TheGameCollection. Bonus if it manages to come tomorrow but I'm not expecting it to.
 
I'm glad it's better than Sticker Star. I'm still unsure if I'll pick this up for Wii U. I've lost interest in the system, at least until Pokken gets DLC. Fingers crossed for a NX port I guess.

I still feel that if IntSys are sticking with cards for the next game, they should talk to Monolith Soft about borrowing Baten Kaitos' gameplay.
 

casiopao

Member
Obviously it has, but that aside it's not surprising that people who write for a Nintendo-centric website would have a predisposition to enjoy Nintendo's games.

Umm, isn't that actually will become worst for game types like this where the game is not at all like the older ones? If the fans feel the game is good, it can actually be much better as they are able to beat the high expectation of the fans?
 
Seems like this game is carried by the writing you either let it help you ignore the gameplay issues and end up enjoying it or "its more sticker star" and you don't.
 
Might grab this.

Never played a paper mario so can't get upset about past titles but loving the art style and general enthusiasm by those who enjoyed it. Either will be soon or in a few weeks after beating a few other games first.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
So is combat still just a pointless resource drain like in Sticker Star? The RPG elements in SS were complete garbage and its the main thing I'm worried about in this game.

Reviews have stated that thanks to the new leveling system, battles serve a bit more purpose(essentially growing your available paint resources through levelling, which is also mentioned to be overkill). They also seem to state that the core combat can feel tedious when picking cards from such a massive deck when dealing with constant fodder battles. Everything outside of combat looks great, but this is the one major sticking point for me, as even watching example fights in videos has my interest lowered.
 
I sincerely wish they replaced the combat with something else, or made it more engaging. The game LOOLS beautiful, but it also looks like a chore to play.
 

Vibed

Member
If there's one thing they should've done like Sticker Star, that's putting the cards on a grid and page system.
 

Alastor3

Member
So, the characters and story are the only bad parts of this game. It's sad to see the directiom this series is heading towards.

Nintendo really take children for dumb-dumb. Why not create something intelligent and believe that the children with understand it.
 

Raven77

Member
I have a 5 year old that can play Disney Infinity pretty well. For anyone that's played this, do you think she could handle it if I read the text for her?
 
I'm pumped. Makes me wonder why they didnt just go RPG all the way though. The game seems like they shouldnhave just gone all the way since its kinda useless in its current form. But if the writing is as funny as advertised I'm in.
 
That was hardly their point at all if I'm not mistaken. It's fine if you don't wanna play this game or have any interest in it or it's reviews. Their response was probably more directed at the posts in this thread pointing out how SS got good reviews as if that suddenly discredits any sort of positive reviews CS now gets.

I was agreeing with their point. I don't know why people attempt to discredit or downplay reviews when reviews were never going to change their decision on a game. If I don't want to play it due to X, Y and Z then I simply won't play it and I don't need to justify that based on if it's good or not. It's confusing to me.
 

Intel_89

Member
So far my only complaint is the lack of enemy variety, it could also use less Toads but at least those have been fun to interact with so far.
 
Sounds like the game is a decent step-up, like how Paper Jam was (in the context of both being successors to Sticker Star in some form). Good for IS I guess, though given the platform and their explicit gameplay direction shift away from the first two games, sales would likely not be as favorable as the reviews.

Sounds like Star Fox where everyone wanted it to be like the first two games, but Nintendo wouldn't keep it like that
Except that's exactly what they did and people still complained.

No, that's not exactly what they did. See the divisive reactions about the forced dual screen control setup; and complaints about the game being another retread of SF64 in terms of content and story.

People didn't complain about Zero being like the first two games. People complained about Zero still screwing things up despite being like the first two games.
 

NotLiquid

Member
I'm still on the fence whether I should go with an impulse purchase. Haedox's review made me reconsider my increased excitement for it but GameXplain's review put it back up. Only reason I'm considering not waiting for a price drop is because I could really go for a chill, feel-good game with a lot of heart right now.
 

Crom

Junior Member
Can;t wait to try it out. Hoping it arrives in the mail soon. Despite people being disappointed after the initial videos...I thought it looked really creative.
 

R0ckman

Member
Writing is very good, but it pisses me off more, now that all treehouse's talents, blood and sweat is nothing more than putting make up on a pig. The writing can't save this game from all these Toads putting on different character hats, sometimes literally.

They could do so much with the old badge system to expand it. Combine badges to form special rare super powered ones. So many new ideas for partners, Sombrero Guy would have been a perfect partner focusing on buffs and debuffs like a bard.
 

PillarEN

Member
I wasn't even aware it was coming out tomorrow. These reviews have me undecided but it may be a possible pickup. Perhaps an Xmas gift to myself
 

Bakkus

Member
I don't think this is the best place to discuss TTYD, but Petal Meadows, Boggly Woods, Twilight Trail, Keelhaul Key, etc. are all straight linear levels, where you're asked to go back and forth until you can access the dungeon. Not sure about the Moon, I replayed it up to chapter 6 a couple of weeks ago.
No they aren't. There is not a end goal at the furthest right on every level. The tree in Boggly Woods and Castle in Petal Meadows are at the center and beginning in their worlds respectively, The castle at the end of Twilight Trail is not linear at all, neither is Keelhaul Key, which is actually more like a Zelda dungeon.

I'll take chapter 5 as an example: first, you reach the end of Keelhaul Key to talk to Bobbery, then you go all the way back to the beginning of Keelhaul Key to talk to Flavio who asks you for a coconut (and I'll assume you already picked it up for the sake of brevity - I didn't). Then you go all the way back to Bobbery at the end of Keelhaul Key to give him the item and receive Bobbery as a partner, then you go all the way back to Flavio at the beginning of Keelhaul Key, he joins you temporarily and then the three of you go all the way back to the end of Keelhaul Key where you can finally enter the dungeon. It's not a few minutes or an occasional annoyance, it's the way the whole game is structured: a back and forth along a straight path until you have access to the (usually great) dungeon. The same formula applies to chapter 1 (with a single instance of backtracking), chapter 2 (a couple of instances), chapter 4 (I counted: seven instances). Chapters 3 and 6 take place in a small handful of rooms.

In context, it all makes sense. It's a fantastic story, but far from fantastic level design.
Again, all your examples only takes a few minutes to do. It's close to a non issue. It's also really misleading to say it's seven times in chapter 4 since you're then implying it's seven times both ways. Chapter 3, 6 and 7 plus of course 8, has nothing of this "few minutes of severe gameplay frustration" so you can't say that's how the whole game is structured.


Luckily it's not, take a look at the map:

http://i.imgur.com/IPhaRQe.png

It's a single interconnected world with fewer, bigger levels. Just like in TTYD, each area has a predetermined starting point, but then you're free to explore in different directions, and you unlock more levels at once. Yes, there are a few instances where two Paint Stars are placed close to each other and you need to travel through the level again (Kiwano Temple comes to mind as a big offender), but never more than once in a level, unlike the continuous back-and-forth I described above.

Here's Sticker Star in comparison. This is a streamlined game:

http://www.mariowiki.com/images/3/37/World4PMSS.png

It's not an interconnected world, when you can freely travel from the first to the last level by just moving a few spots on the world map. Is Super Mario World also interconnected in your opinion? Because that's what that pic reminds me of (actually it reminds me of a mix of that and Spirit Tracks, lol). Certainly far from what TTYD gave us in terms of effort. It doesn't really matter to me. I'm never gonna pay a dime for this game, due to me then contributing to sales of a game which takes a direction i'm infuriated over.
 

NotLiquid

Member
Kind of hard to sympathize with the world map/"interconnectedness" complaint when the least interesting parts of Paper Mario TTYD was all the downtime you spent between the chapters getting to places through means you've already found yourself repeating. Love TTYD but sidequesting becomes such a chore for me in that game. Considering the warp zone in the sewers I'd much rather have Color Splash's map or even a specific warp to accommodate me wanting to get from one point to another quickly. Even Super Paper Mario opted to move towards that kind of setup, despite it being moreso a necessity due to the shift in playstyle.

When the level to level moments interconnect as you'd expect of the game, criticizing a map seems completely pointless to me when it adds practicality in bursts if you want to go back to the town or stock up on something elsewhere.

Is Super Mario World also interconnected in your opinion?

Well... yes. I don't see how it isn't.
 
Writing is very good, but it pisses me off more, now that all treehouse's talents, blood and sweat is nothing more than putting make up on a pig. The writing can't save this game from all these Toads putting on different character hats, sometimes literally.

They could do so much with the old badge system to expand it. Combine badges to form special rare super powered ones. So many new ideas for partners, Sombrero Guy would have been a perfect partner focusing on buffs and debuffs like a bard.
Now you're just hoping for the game to be bad in every way to justify your hate for it.
 
Kind of hard to sympathize with the world map/"interconnectedness" complaint when the least interesting parts of Paper Mario TTYD was all the downtime you spent between the chapters getting to places through means you've already found yourself repeating. Love TTYD but sidequesting becomes such a chore for me in that game. Considering the warp zone in the sewers I'd much rather have Color Splash's map or even a specific warp to accommodate me wanting to get from one point to another quickly. Even Super Paper Mario opted to move towards that kind of setup, despite it being moreso a necessity due to the shift in playstyle.

When the level to level moments interconnect as you'd expect of the game, criticizing a map seems completely pointless to me when it adds practicality in bursts if you want to go back to the town or stock up on something elsewhere.

Big fan of TTYD too, but I agree with everything you're saying. Yeah, those sewers weren't exactly fun...
 
TTYD's interconnectedness was definitely a step down from PM64 but I'd take it any day of the week over the level based segmentation the series went down immediately afterwards.
 

Bakkus

Member
Kind of hard to sympathize with the world map/"interconnectedness" complaint when the least interesting parts of Paper Mario TTYD was all the downtime you spent between the chapters getting to places through means you've already found yourself repeating. Love TTYD but sidequesting becomes such a chore for me in that game. Considering the warp zone in the sewers I'd much rather have Color Splash's map or even a specific warp to accommodate me wanting to get from one point to another quickly. Even Super Paper Mario opted to move towards that kind of setup, despite it being moreso a necessity due to the shift in playstyle.

When the level to level moments interconnect as you'd expect of the game, criticizing a map seems completely pointless to me when it adds practicality in bursts if you want to go back to the town or stock up on something elsewhere.



Well... yes. I don't see how it isn't.

I'm guessing Metroid and Metroidvania games are not for you? Because what you're describing is a norm in any non streamlined game. Zelda does this, every classical JRPG does this. I'm in actual shock. You're acting like this sort of thing isn't common in the vast majority of every Action-Adventure game and RPG game ever made, heck, every game you're given free movement of features this. And TTYD is far from the worst "offender" of this. It only adds to the experience. Having everything being divided by levels in an adventure game only weakens the experience for me, it has no positives. Practicality? I call it laziness. The "downtime" between chapters was one of if not my favorite aspect of the game.

Level selection can not be considered interconnected under any circumstance in my opinion.
 
I wrote a review on a Spanish site: Meristation (8,7)

I wasn't the biggest fan of Sticker Star. I think it has some good ideas, but sometimes the execution is really flawed, and for the most part lacks the charm of previous Paper Mario. Color Splash is an improvement in every sense, and the second half has some really great moments that would easily fit in a game like The Thousand-Year Door (still my favourite).
 

NotLiquid

Member
I'm guessing Metroid and Metroidvania games are not for you? Because what you're describing is a norm in any non streamlined game. Zelda does this, every classical JRPG does this. I'm in actual shock. You're acting like this sort of thing isn't common in the vast majority of every Action-Adventure game and RPG game ever made, heck, every game you're given free movement of features this. And TTYD is far from the worst "offender" of this. It only adds to the experience. Having everything being divided by levels in an adventure game only weakens the experience for me, it has no positives. Practicality? I call it laziness. The "downtime" between chapters was one of if not my favorite aspect of the game.

Level selection can not be considered interconnected under any circumstance in my opinion.

The Metroid comparison doesn't really work. I like how it's done in Metroid primarily because Metroid is a game that actively gives you ways and methods to mitigate backtracking through it's design philosophy. Sometimes it will be shortcuts from bosses/powerups that lead you back to a central path so you have a better idea of where to go next. Sometimes it will be through additional pickups and collectibles which you can now attain with the help of a new ability you've gained. Sometimes it will be through fun new ways you can use the environment to experiment with your new abilities. Not only that but Metroid also rewards hindsight once you realize a new powerup might be just what you need to get over a certain obstacle you couldn't do before. It constantly gives you options and opportunities while progressing and is part of the reason the whole game's design philosophies have become an amazing thing to analyze. This isn't really prevalent in TTYD since it doesn't have any way to make the backtracking elements any interesting, most of the time it's a matter of retreading familiar ground to reach a destination, and while being at that point might be fun, the journey itself becomes a fairly tedious one a lot of the time.

Zelda is also a poor comparison because that is a game that has given the player plenty of options throughout the years to skip back to worlds and areas you've been to, so that kinda defeats your point entirely.
 
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