This is such a weird game. On one hand, it probably has the best combat in the series. Adding a third controllable character does wonders for this type of combat. On the other hand, there's.... everything else. Characters are boring, story is boring, and it's barely even a crossover. People say only Sticker Star gets referenced, but the truth is NONE of the Paper Mario games get referenced throughout the game. Nothing more than "this character...but PAPER."
Biggest sin of this game, though, is it's pacing. People complain about "toad hunting" a lot, but it's a much bigger issue than that. Origami King integrated hidden Toads into it's gameplay loop and it worked fine, but the problem with this game is the fact that EVERYTHING outside of combat has to be treated like a minigame. Simple scavenger hunts and fetch quests feel the need to cut to a separate scene, restrict you to a limited area, and give you a "ready...GO" with the same like 3 themes playing for each "event." This extends to Toad hunting too, because every time you find a new town you'll need to enter the Lakitu house and choose between the 3-4 new Toad hunts that you just unlocked. And don't save these for later or else you're gonna have a REALLY bad time. This sounds like a weird complaint out of context, but it really takes a nuke to the game's pacing.
Add to that the weak writing and the not-very-good papercraft battles that you're often forced to do and you get what's esily the worst in the series. Not a bad game at all, but could have been so much better. Shame that the last original game in the series had to be such a low point.
Biggest sin of this game, though, is it's pacing. People complain about "toad hunting" a lot, but it's a much bigger issue than that. Origami King integrated hidden Toads into it's gameplay loop and it worked fine, but the problem with this game is the fact that EVERYTHING outside of combat has to be treated like a minigame. Simple scavenger hunts and fetch quests feel the need to cut to a separate scene, restrict you to a limited area, and give you a "ready...GO" with the same like 3 themes playing for each "event." This extends to Toad hunting too, because every time you find a new town you'll need to enter the Lakitu house and choose between the 3-4 new Toad hunts that you just unlocked. And don't save these for later or else you're gonna have a REALLY bad time. This sounds like a weird complaint out of context, but it really takes a nuke to the game's pacing.
Add to that the weak writing and the not-very-good papercraft battles that you're often forced to do and you get what's esily the worst in the series. Not a bad game at all, but could have been so much better. Shame that the last original game in the series had to be such a low point.