Origami King is grand, fun to explore through an open-worldesque structure with events, minigames and collectables. When it comes down to the world design; towns, dungeons and overworld areas it is the cream of the crop accompanied by a sharp narration mostly hilarious and some other times even surprisingly dark, as a true staple to the series Origami King holds no slack in breaking conventions.
Similar to every Paper Mario game released past the series two earliest installments, Origami King again strays from the roots of the original battle system and completely revamps its own, there is no exp or level up.
The incentive for battles is however to get more confetti by defeating enemies for sprinkling out hollowed areas to either advance in dungeons, fill out the completion list or to earn coins for a few expensive collectable trophies again mainly for completion as well as for the small handful of weapon upgrades and accessories to give you some extra time and hp boosts in battle.
The default battles now involves spending 1 turn lining up formations of enemies through a circle grid and using the second round to clear them out with basic attacks being jump, hammer or items with the biggest emphasis being the puzzle aspects while the set of attack options are very limited without any other abilities outside the neutral attacks. The system is simple but also occasionally tricky to solve without using any of the very easily usable assist tools you get throughout, it exists but on the long stretch it doesn't really evolve past what you see from the first battles.
The boss battles each plays out with their own rules and individual designs that sets them apart, they have several phases with increasingly intensifying stakes and are great climactic highlights for the respective story portions.
Trophies,Toads and Invisible Blocks are hidden all over in addition to some rare heart containers or maybe a fire flower or mushroom item. And mostly the completionist tour while not particularily beneficial in much else outside of the completion rate can be pretty enjoyable, except for a few very annoying minigame challenges to fully clear for the extra trophies.
All in all, Origami King is for the most part a good time, it's not the faithful return old veterans would want, the battle system in particular will forever be a divisive factor, though the rest of the game carries the same creativity and wits that has run through most of the franchise.
Similar to every Paper Mario game released past the series two earliest installments, Origami King again strays from the roots of the original battle system and completely revamps its own, there is no exp or level up.
The incentive for battles is however to get more confetti by defeating enemies for sprinkling out hollowed areas to either advance in dungeons, fill out the completion list or to earn coins for a few expensive collectable trophies again mainly for completion as well as for the small handful of weapon upgrades and accessories to give you some extra time and hp boosts in battle.
The default battles now involves spending 1 turn lining up formations of enemies through a circle grid and using the second round to clear them out with basic attacks being jump, hammer or items with the biggest emphasis being the puzzle aspects while the set of attack options are very limited without any other abilities outside the neutral attacks. The system is simple but also occasionally tricky to solve without using any of the very easily usable assist tools you get throughout, it exists but on the long stretch it doesn't really evolve past what you see from the first battles.
The boss battles each plays out with their own rules and individual designs that sets them apart, they have several phases with increasingly intensifying stakes and are great climactic highlights for the respective story portions.
Trophies,Toads and Invisible Blocks are hidden all over in addition to some rare heart containers or maybe a fire flower or mushroom item. And mostly the completionist tour while not particularily beneficial in much else outside of the completion rate can be pretty enjoyable, except for a few very annoying minigame challenges to fully clear for the extra trophies.
All in all, Origami King is for the most part a good time, it's not the faithful return old veterans would want, the battle system in particular will forever be a divisive factor, though the rest of the game carries the same creativity and wits that has run through most of the franchise.