Paper Mario Thread.

[Kirbii]

im buying it on sunday is it good?

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

^ If you're a fan of adventure games + RPG + Nintendo magic, you'll love this. The best choice on the VC imo.

[UK]

^ If you're a fan of adventure games + RPG + Nintendo magic, you'll love this. The best choice on the VC imo.

 

Certainly the longest, it could've been released on the Wii and no-one would've complained.

[gekko]

It's a great game - you should definitely buy it if you haven't played it before. I've just beaten the first boss and got my first star.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

Certainly the longest, it could've been released on the Wii and no-one would've complained.

 

Yep, certainly is. Though the ending was a little bit of a let down and if you levelled up right, the final boss is too easy.

[Marshmellow]

Yay level 27, off to the Ice place.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

BTW I love the music in bowser castle!!! Love the little guitar riff.

[Chris the great]

see, i think that bowser is only easy if you spend ages leveling up to face him at full power. i dont like doing that in rpgs, takes the challenege out of it. hell i got to level 75 in FFVII and the final boss was a peice of piss

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

see, i think that bowser is only easy if you spend ages leveling up to face him at full power. i dont like doing that in rpgs, takes the challenege out of it. hell i got to level 75 in FFVII and the final boss was a peice of piss

 

Paper Mario kind of restricts you from going 'uber' anyway. After a while, enemies that gave you star points after you defeated them give you none.

[Hellfire]

I never needed to grind in Paper Mario I simply never avoided an enemy. Do that and you'll have no trouble.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

see, i think that bowser is only easy if you spend ages leveling up to face him at full power. i dont like doing that in rpgs, takes the challenege out of it. hell i got to level 75 in FFVII and the final boss was a peice of piss

 

Also the game tests your skill very well. For example, you have the option of defeating the dojo master and the giant kooper blocking your path. If you could beat the dojo master at full power (with 99hp), Bowser is simple (50hp) + the power you get from all stars just simplifies the whole fight.

[Zelda_Rulez]

When I first played this game 5 years back on my N64 Bowser was the only boss that killed me. I beat him on the second go though with some luck. I don't know if I was unlucky or underleveled but he wasn't easy for me. I even beat the Dojo master at full power IIRC.

[Lens of Truth]

Completed this about a week ago, and loved every minute of the 25 hours I spent on it. I think it's easily the best PM game. The others are fun but don't have the classic magic and charm. TYD is more develpoed in certain ways but seems confused and rambling (and more 'plasticy' than 'papery'), whereas SPM is a bit shallow compared to its forebears. I never played it on the N64 and I'm so glad I got it for VC!

[Tellyn]

I bought this when it first came onto the Virtual Console, but I only ever got up to the first star for some reason. Anyway, I've picked it back up and I'm now onto Chapter 2 (Dry Dry Desert), and I'm trying to find lemons for that damned thief. I found the oasis but there's no lemons, what the hell do I do?

 

By the way, I'm loving the game, I definitely recommend it if you haven't bought it already.

[darksnowman]

*phoenix down*

 

Not a Virtual Console update but a REAL one.

 

 

After how many years, 11? I've put this game to bed. I reached the final battle not long after it came out on the N64 and proceeded to waltz past the point of no return and get completely slaughtered by Bowser a few times, never to touch the game again. Well, for some reason it popped into my head the other day so I stuck it on and got to the second phase of the battle (for the first time, yay for progress) before getting wiped out.

 

So, I went for a dander back down the castle wondering if I really had passed a point of no return a decade ago... if I hadn't I could go by some items - seeing as I'd blew all I had bar one, just reaching the final showdown. I exited the castle and checked the map and decided that if I *could* make it back to a shop, it was going to be a pretty long walk, so I headed back up. Exploring every room again as I went, I hoped for one final Toad with wares to sell me. There was nothing of the sort but I did find a revival mushroom in the library wing. It was better than nothing.

 

Back to Bowser, I battled him about five times before eventually squeaking to victory! There was one time I was on the cusp of defeating him had he not incapacitated my partner for a few turns, and healed himself in the interim. A couple of goes later, however, I had it done. That time, he healed himself three times during the battle, meaning I didn't have to whittle him down from 99HP but from an overall total of 189HP. If he'd gone for a fourth heal I wouldn't have managed it. The mushroom I got revives you with only 10HP, so it wasn't a huge boon, but even that allowed me to survive an additional turn. And when things were down to such fine margins for error, it proved vital.

 

After a couple of goes, reaquainting myself with the battle mechanics (characters, badges), I settled on the following tactics:

With no items to restore HP or FP, I relied on the normal hammer attack, dealing 4HP of damage a turn, with Lakilester casting the move that gives you cloud cover for four turns, and with it the possibility of Bowsers attack missing. Between casting, Lakilester did his normal attack - dealing 3HP of damage. That meant I was hitting Bowser for 7HP per turn. If needed, I used the star move to replenish 5HP and 5FP, and the one that restores 20HP when I could afford it and things got really hairy. When Bowser was down to about 20HP I cast one final evasion up move with Lakilester and swapped him for Watt, who could deal 5HP damage to Bowser and opted for the Mega Hammer (I think it was) move with Mario to try and close it out. With that combo, I was hitting for 13HP per turn.

 

It was the most tactical battle I've had in a long time in any game. I usually brute force my way through RPGs when the going gets tough but on this occasion I'd no choice. Nice to see that I was able to win out, now having an extra ten years experience under my own belt.

[Jonnas]

It was the most tactical battle I've had in a long time in any game. I usually brute force my way through RPGs when the going gets tough but on this occasion I'd no choice. Nice to see that I was able to win out, now having an extra ten years experience under my own belt.

 

See, the Mario RPGs are great examples of games where grinding isn't needed/useful. Strategize more!

 

Paper Mario...Fun game, haven't played it in a while. By far, the N64 game that has aged the best, graphics-wise

 

Thousand-Year Door is a bitch to find, these days... I do hope it's released in the Wii U Virtual Console, or something.

[Eightbit]

*phoenix down*

 

Not a Virtual Console update but a REAL one.

 

 

After how many years, 11? I've put this game to bed. I reached the final battle not long after it came out on the N64 and proceeded to waltz past the point of no return and get completely slaughtered by Bowser a few times, never to touch the game again. Well, for some reason it popped into my head the other day so I stuck it on and got to the second phase of the battle (for the first time, yay for progress) before getting wiped out.

 

So, I went for a dander back down the castle wondering if I really had passed a point of no return a decade ago... if I hadn't I could go by some items - seeing as I'd blew all I had bar one, just reaching the final showdown. I exited the castle and checked the map and decided that if I *could* make it back to a shop, it was going to be a pretty long walk, so I headed back up. Exploring every room again as I went, I hoped for one final Toad with wares to sell me. There was nothing of the sort but I did find a revival mushroom in the library wing. It was better than nothing.

 

Back to Bowser, I battled him about five times before eventually squeaking to victory! There was one time I was on the cusp of defeating him had he not incapacitated my partner for a few turns, and healed himself in the interim. A couple of goes later, however, I had it done. That time, he healed himself three times during the battle, meaning I didn't have to whittle him down from 99HP but from an overall total of 189HP. If he'd gone for a fourth heal I wouldn't have managed it. The mushroom I got revives you with only 10HP, so it wasn't a huge boon, but even that allowed me to survive an additional turn. And when things were down to such fine margins for error, it proved vital.

 

After a couple of goes, reaquainting myself with the battle mechanics (characters, badges), I settled on the following tactics:

With no items to restore HP or FP, I relied on the normal hammer attack, dealing 4HP of damage a turn, with Lakilester casting the move that gives you cloud cover for four turns, and with it the possibility of Bowsers attack missing. Between casting, Lakilester did his normal attack - dealing 3HP of damage. That meant I was hitting Bowser for 7HP per turn. If needed, I used the star move to replenish 5HP and 5FP, and the one that restores 20HP when I could afford it and things got really hairy. When Bowser was down to about 20HP I cast one final evasion up move with Lakilester and swapped him for Watt, who could deal 5HP damage to Bowser and opted for the Mega Hammer (I think it was) move with Mario to try and close it out. With that combo, I was hitting for 13HP per turn.

 

It was the most tactical battle I've had in a long time in any game. I usually brute force my way through RPGs when the going gets tough but on this occasion I'd no choice. Nice to see that I was able to win out, now having an extra ten years experience under my own belt.

 

Love it when sheeet like that happens, you give up on a game, and its always creeping around the back of your mind until one day you get it out and give it a right spanking.

 

Brings a tear to my eye!

[Grazza]

Reminds me of (and I'm not saying this because it's @darksnowman) Metroid Prime. I ploughed through that game, but never, ever understood the gameplay or became good at it. Got up to the final boss but couldn't beat it - thought it was the hardest game in the world. Then one day I played Metroid: Zero Mission and suddenly understood Metroid. I found a 2nd-hand copy of Metroid Prime (I sold the original in frustration), played through the whole thing again (this time "getting" it) and defeated the final boss!

 

Anyway, well done 'snowman.

[Jonnas]

Did it recently with Gargoyle's Quest, 15 years later, though that one was kept unplayed for different reasons (language barriers + RPG inexperience scared off Kid Jonnas. Adult Jonnas picked up the game again after purging the bad memories temporarily). It is pretty awesome to complete/replay a game you left unplayed for so long.

 

Such moments are somewhat meaningless to anybody but ourselves, though. It's a very personal form of nostalgia.