Paper Mario: Sticker Star

[nekunando]

You may need a guide for certain points, particularly the final boss which I felt to be something of a disgrace

 

It's a good game, despite some frustrating flaws, but I wouldn't judge the Paper Mario series based on this and Super Paper Mario. Go and play The Thousand Year Door and then see how you feel That game remains one of the best gifts I've ever received : peace:

[Ville]

It's a good game, despite some frustrating flaws, but I wouldn't judge the Paper Mario series based on this and Super Paper Mario. Go and play The Thousand Year Door and then see how you feel That game remains one of the best gifts I've ever received : peace:

 

Yeah, that's the vibe I've been getting from this as well. Might buy it later, but we really need some more Thousand Year Door -caliber awesomeness. I mean that game is a total masterpiece, so many new locations, characters and subplots...all covered with outstanding music. Screw the Mushroom Kingdom, Rogueport, Glitzville and mystery-solving penguins on a train all the way.

[Retro_Link]

Damn I wish Nintendo would put Gamecube games on the Virtual Console! So many I'd still love to play!... and it would sell me the console as a result.

[Fused King]

I'm also going through this, because a friend gave his copy to me for free

 

As a passionate lad on all things Mario RPGs, I am struggling to wrap my mind around what I am actually playing here.

 

Am I playing a Mario RPG or am I playing a platformer?

It's really quite strange, because Super Paper Mario had a huge platforming vibe, obviously, but it still felt more Paper Mario to me because of all the crazy characters and dimensions and plot twists etc etc...

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is just, ....just, ....uhm.... a bit bare bones.

It's such a shame that there aren't any more characters then the toads to interact with (mind you, I have yet to venture into the 3rd World) and that there's so little dialogue to go around When it's there, it's pretty funny and clearly shows that the writing&translation of the series has remained as brilliant as ever, it's just that there's so little...

The sticker system is okay, and I respect the developers for trying to shake things up a bit, but there's still something quite off about it and doesn't feel as satisfying as the fighting system in The Thousand Year Door. I do really like the objects from our world becoming attacks though and the collecting of them really reminds me of Pikmin.

Then there's the music, SWEET JESUS! Makes up for nearly all the flaws! God it's good, SWEET GOD IT'S GENIUS!

So catchy, and sets the tone really well!

 

I still have a long way to go, but, as it stands now, it is definitely my least favourite Paper Mario, whilst still being a joy to play, but it's also the most papery Paper Mario which I really like

 

I guess I was right on the money when thinking that I shouldn't buy this at full price.

[Ronnie]

I thought this game and Super Paper Mario were amazing, but then they're the only two Paper Mario games I've played :P

[Aneres11]

Well I got fucked off (pardon my tone) with this already last night having got to the end of a level and had to go into battle with 3 cone goombas only to basically use all my stickers and die. Right back to the start.

 

The battles every time a goomba is near seem like they could grow a little tiresome. I didn't know if I had to battle them, but I wanted to so I could get to grips with the stickers and the battle mechanic etc. Anyway, will stick at it by replaying that damn level again first!

 

Looks lovely though, great visual style!

[-Dem0-]

I just noticed that I don't even have this game let alone played it :p

 

Definitely looking forward to the day when my 3DS can breath again so I can give this a go.

[Hero-of-Time]

I just noticed that I don't even have this game let alone played it :p

 

Is it because it's the Year of Luigi and you refuse to buy any Mario only titles?

[-Dem0-]

Is it because it's the Year of Luigi and you refuse to buy any Mario only titles?

 

[Fused King]

I am really enjoying the vagueness of this game when it comes to finishing boss battles...

[Aneres11]

I put this game down and stopped playing about 2 weeks ago - haven't picked it up since.

 

Find it to be slightly tedious, all the 'battles' every other minute. Seems that you can't even really avoid Goombas half the time either - they literally leg it after you and battle commences.

 

Also, the boss battles are a bit of a nightmare too. For instance, it seems there's always a better way to battle the boss than I first think, but having used every sticker and spent about 15 minutes trying to beat the boss, only to be killed or have to turn back battered and stickerless, it loses the fun a bit...

 

It's a shame as well as I LOVE how the game looks and controls. I'd quite like to just have a 2d Mario platformere in this style rather than a NSMB to be honest!

[Agent Gibbs]

I put this down months ago and have no real intention to ever pick it up again, it was a chore to try and play it....it might be the first first party Nintendo game i'll actually sell in a loooooong time

[Ronnie]

I found it infinitely more fun than the boring, slow, tedious M&L Dream Team. Every level in this game felt unique and full of charm.

 

Having the landscape tip over like dominos is far more interesting than watching four stones fly into statues' heads one by one making a glorified ladder appear.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Ronnie

[Fused King]

You may need a guide for certain points, particularly the final boss which I felt to be something of a disgrace

 

Yes, yes it fucking is.

It is absolutely ridiculous.

 

Expect a passionate rant later on when I'm done with this .... this game?

[Grazza]

Expect a passionate rant later on when I'm done with this .... this game?

 

Can't wait!

[Fused King]

Oh, oh, oh o o, oh oh o, ...but o, o but, but o....

 

What a terrible experience.

 

Now I would never have imagined that a Paper Mario game, out of all series, would get me so far as to write a passionate rant.

You see, I hold this series very dear to my heart, because The Thousand Year Door was one of the first games I ever bought for my GameCube at the end of its life cycle. It was the first Paper Mario experience for me and that game is still in my top 10 favourite games of all time.

That it has come to this truly saddens me..

 

Right let's get the good out of the way first:

*The music was as good as ever! It felt very much as if I was in some kind of play in a theatre. I don't know how they pulled this off, but I've never experienced anything like this.

*Bowser, although having a very, veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery limited role, was at its most brutal at the end. I will remember that moment, because, even though he was all flashy, I had never seem him in such a scary, pissed-off state. When he roared it was like 'You motherfucking Mario Motherfucking Pizza Eating Fuck! Look what kind of game you dragged me into this time! I'm going to peel you like the sticker you are and stick you on the Toads' rotting corpses!'.

Truly one scary Bowser!

 

...and that's about all I've got that I truly appreciated.

 

I really don't want to say that it is a bad game, but for me it really is.

I have said before that I respect the developers for trying something different, but what I fail to understand is why this 'different' (sticker system) had to impede the things that makes Paper Mario so great as a series. They nearly stripped everything away.

It's funny because, for me, Super Paper Mario worked because it had so much creativity going for it and lots of interesting stories and characters in it despite the fact that the gameplay didn't really do it for me. Now, with Sticker Star, they go back to that good ol' turn-based fighting system, this time with a twist, but basically remove, the dialogue, the crazy worlds, the characters in favour of ... f*cking toads, they even reduced Luigi to a li'l easteregg and Peach to merely Princess Toadstool while in fact this series hAS GIVEN HER SO MUCH MORE PERSONALITY THAN THAT! I MEAN THE STUFF IN THOUSAND YEAR DOOR BETWEEN HER AND THE COMPUTER WAS PURE POETRY!!!!

*gasp* *gasp*

The areas, uninspired.

The sticker system was fun at first, but it really made fighting regular enemies too easy and boring and fighting bosses too damn weird and trail-and-error-ish. And getting hints from Kersti after a boss battle along the lines of 'oh, you used a lot of stickers. Try to think which one you really need next time...' really doesn't help. Though, when you do finally realise, it's quite the breeze. The ice boss is a testiment to that.

Both the beginning and the ending were so atrocious that I, ...I just....I can't accept that what I just played was a Paper Mario game.

It was some kind of weird Mario experimental game which had to blend Mario platforming, Paper Mario and a new kind of battle system together or else Miyamoto would throw a tantrum at the homes of the developers and demolish their tea tables.

 

You know, I caught myself in the act when finishing this game.

I said: 'Thank god it's over'.

I pretty much always finish a game I start with before I advance to the next one, and this son of a game made me feel like a damn hostage.

 

But thankfully, it's now over. I can now move on to the game which has been given much more love and care and a clear focus within Intelligent Systems. Indeed, Fire Emblem: Awakening.

 

O, and one last thing.

I'd like @Ronnie to come in here and explain to me where his love for this game came from, because I cannot and will not accept that the ever so great Mario&Luigi series' latest outing is worse than this shame of a game.

Very much looking forward to Dream Team Bros. and its crazy shennanigens.

 

I am so glad I didn't buy this game at launch and I am even more happy that I got this for free because a friend of mine couldn't take the blandness anymore.

By finishing it I have exorcised the demons :awesome: :weep:

[Grazza]

Don't know if I agree with that (haven't played it), but it made me laugh.

[Ronnie]

Seems to me that those who've played Thousand Year Door and the earlier style of Paper Mario games, hate Super Paper Mario and Sticker Star. I'm not surprised as from the looks of things they're two completely different types of games. SPM and SS are being judged by previous entries' criteria, rather than their own qualities.

 

I've only played the two more recent Paper Marios, and I ADORE both. I loved Sticker Star, every level had it's own charm and personality and it was so much fun making your way through the various worlds. I'd probably hate Thousand Year Door as much as I hate Mario & Luigi Dream Team, the most boring and stale 1st party Nintendo game I think I've ever played.

 

I don't get how people can dislike Sticker Star, ok the battles aren't amazing (compared to Dream Team at least), but the whole game oozes charm, looks gorgeous and plays superb, IMO.

[Guy]

Thousand Year Door is great, definitely give it a go if you can. I agree about Dream Team Bros too, it's so boring.

[Rummy]

Seems to me that those who've played Thousand Year Door and the earlier style of Paper Mario games, hate Super Paper Mario and Sticker Star. I'm not surprised as from the looks of things they're two completely different types of games. SPM and SS are being judged by previous entries' criteria, rather than their own qualities.

 

I've only played the two more recent Paper Marios, and I ADORE both. I loved Sticker Star, every level had it's own charm and personality and it was so much fun making your way through the various worlds. I'd probably hate Thousand Year Door as much as I hate Mario & Luigi Dream Team, the most boring and stale 1st party Nintendo game I think I've ever played.

 

I don't get how people can dislike Sticker Star, ok the battles aren't amazing (compared to Dream Team at least), but the whole game oozes charm, looks gorgeous and plays superb, IMO.

 

With you on this game Ronnie.

 

I've been with the Mario RPG series since a very long time ago - Mario RPG in fact! The ones I admittedly haven't played fully are Superstar Saga, Paper Mario(need to finish it) and Super Paper Mario(at all).

 

I enjoyed Sticker Star a lot, certainly more than I have been so far Dream Team. Yes, it was different, but getting over that, it was imo a really nice blend. Difficult, and a bit arbitrarily so, in places, but on the whole I found it an enjoyable affair - balanced between platforming, battling, and puzzles. I found it vibrant and charming, though less so than previous Mario RPGs.

 

@Fused King, could you in your mind separate this from 'Paper Mario' and view it as a game in its own right? Would you still hate it so? It's a label that it falls under, but it's not entirely a Mario RPG imo, so I find it easier to view it seperately.

[Agent Gibbs]

The thing is with viewing this as its own game, if you do that it you realise this is the super mario bros 2 of the series, it seems like an entirely different game reskinned to be mario.

change mario for a boy who's world has been turned upside down by a magic sticker comet, imagine the toads are now cartoon sitck men, change bowser for a mad scientist who pulled the comet to the boys planet.......

 

now replay the game in your mind like this....its a terrible game a terrible convaluted game with unmemorable characters, a terrible hint system that is more of an insult with a weak battle system that seems like a dumbed down JRPG turnbased system.

Imagining this game not as a paper mario game makes it even worse, the games saving grace is that its a paper mario game, paper mario carries this games inadeqacies

 

 

sorry sort of answered that question to Fused there

 

each to their own, if you loved it great, but i can't personally understand whats to like about it

[Rummy]

Couldn't you make similar recursive arguments about all games though?

[Fused King]

I knew people were going to point out that I should look at the game in a different light without the Paper Mario-tinted glasses.

 

But with or without those glasses I still find it an absolutely dreadful piece of software.

Nearly everything felt like a boring chore and the areas were so incredibly copy-paste classic Mario areas which had you jump a little, fight a little and search around a little, but none were really satisfying to me.

 

The game didn't know what it wanted to be, but the true horror for me was (puttin' them glasses back on:laughing:)

this shit:

 

 

Not Kamek and Mario, but the stuff in the background: the checkered line and circle with the star hovering over it.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?!

When I saw this, I knew that this game was going to be in line with the new kind of Mario games in which stages have to have a clear and defined beginning and ending.

All I could do was shake my head untill I had finished this freak of nature.

 

And don't even get me started on the rewards for collecting all the stickers in the museum.

GOOD GOD! That was just not okay, especially considering the dick spots (spotted dick:laughing:) where some thing stickers were hiding. GOOD LORD!

 

Anyway, the game had a few decent moments, but overall just an extremely boring game to me which just felt like the most basic of basic.