Thoughts as I go:
First hour or two are painful, Nintendo should be required to add "I've ****ing played a video game before" modes to their games
The combat system can occasionally be engaging, but is a huge waste of time 95% of the time, you don't really gain anything but coins for engaging with them anyway, it bothers me that the number of moves and attacks you get is different per battle, and just enough to finish them perfectly, damage bonuses for lineups are just a positive feedback loop, so most battles are either over in 1 turn or become a slog
Give me an upgrade tree at least or something, I yearn for this to be a classic PM RPG.
Exploration and saving toads is the best part of the game, but maybe too densely packed
A lot of the dialogue is great (not you Olivia, shut the hell up), but this is going to lose at least half a point for the lack of ANY WAY to speed up the text
Whacking paper toads with my hammer never gets old