Like a lot of people, I really loved the first two Paper Mario games, and didn't care for the rest.
FINALLY, I can stop saying the first two were the only good ones.
I really enjoyed The Origami King! I loved that the combat became puzzles instead of grinding. I thought that losing Exp was going to be an issue, but after this, I wouldn't want them to go back to how it used to be. In terms of gameplay mechanics, this is my favorite Paper Mario game.
The downside of TOK is that the characters and world still don't quite hit those early highs. Olivia is without doubt my favorite character in the franchise, but I do still miss the variety of The Thousand-Year Door. The handful of partners are nice here, but with the exception of Olivia, they're very temporary. The levels/areas are great here too, but TTYD's shadow looms large in this respect as well. The same goes for bosses. The craft supplies angle is fun, but I'm not going to look back fondly on a boss fight against a tray of colored pencils.
The game is absolutely hilarious, and the writing is the best in the series. You can tell a game's dialogue is stellar when you don't find yourself skipping through it. Instead of mashing A, I was making sure I didn't miss a single word of it. The localization team really outdid themselves here!
All in all, I'd say this is a huge step in the right direction for the series, but that recent interview about the team not being allowed to make new variations on characters completely boggles my mind. If they could get the variety of Toads and Koopas from TTYD and the gameplay of TOK, that would be my dream Paper Mario game.
It took me about 35 hours to 100% Paper Mario: The Origami King, and I felt it was just the right length. If anything, I would say it felt a bit brief, but that's better than dragging on too long.
FINALLY, I can stop saying the first two were the only good ones.
I really enjoyed The Origami King! I loved that the combat became puzzles instead of grinding. I thought that losing Exp was going to be an issue, but after this, I wouldn't want them to go back to how it used to be. In terms of gameplay mechanics, this is my favorite Paper Mario game.
The downside of TOK is that the characters and world still don't quite hit those early highs. Olivia is without doubt my favorite character in the franchise, but I do still miss the variety of The Thousand-Year Door. The handful of partners are nice here, but with the exception of Olivia, they're very temporary. The levels/areas are great here too, but TTYD's shadow looms large in this respect as well. The same goes for bosses. The craft supplies angle is fun, but I'm not going to look back fondly on a boss fight against a tray of colored pencils.
The game is absolutely hilarious, and the writing is the best in the series. You can tell a game's dialogue is stellar when you don't find yourself skipping through it. Instead of mashing A, I was making sure I didn't miss a single word of it. The localization team really outdid themselves here!
All in all, I'd say this is a huge step in the right direction for the series, but that recent interview about the team not being allowed to make new variations on characters completely boggles my mind. If they could get the variety of Toads and Koopas from TTYD and the gameplay of TOK, that would be my dream Paper Mario game.
It took me about 35 hours to 100% Paper Mario: The Origami King, and I felt it was just the right length. If anything, I would say it felt a bit brief, but that's better than dragging on too long.