Super Mario RPG (for Switch! - 17th November 2023)

[darksnowman]

33 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Mario & Luigi (and Paper Mario) basically takes and improves the structure that Mario RPG laid down. Action Commands, humourous writing, Mario's signature weapon being a hammer, it all started here.

It's a significant game for that reason, but it will feel a bit basic compared to what came after.

Mario has had a hammer since day one.  

Agreed that Mario RPG is significant as a first foray for Mario and co into RPGs but the two or three that came after render it obsolete.

[Glen-i]

5 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Mario has had a hammer since day one.

Yes, but since Donkey Kong, the only time Mario's wielded one was Wrecking Crew and Donkey Kong 94, for obvious reasons.

Mario RPG's the point where it started to really become a trend.

I also don't think it's obsolete, it's a different game in a different scenario, and the only time Peach has been playable in an RPG. In fact Smash Bros. has had a nod to appearance in this game since Melee!

No, Super Paper Mario doesn't count. Totally different genre.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

[Happenstance]

I ended up ordering a copy anyway. A short RPG could be quite nice over Christmas. 

[darksnowman]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

the only time Peach has been playable in an RPG. 

You play as the princess several times in Paper Mario 64.

[Glen-i]

15 hours ago, darksnowman said:

You play as the princess several times in Paper Mario 64.

This was the one I was expecting. (Seriously @Hero-of-Time? Miitopia is basically cheating)

Anyway, she's not playable in the same way she is in Mario RPG, she's not a full fledged party member.

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Anyway, she's not playable in the same way she is in Mario RPG, she's not a full fledged party member.

"Well excuuuuussssee me" - Princess. 

[darksnowman]

3 hours ago, Glen-i said:

This was the one I was expecting. (Seriously @Hero-of-Time? Miitopia is basically cheating)

Anyway, she's not playable in the same way she is in Mario RPG, she's not a full fledged party member.

Equally expecting more stipulations. She's a fully fledged party member in Sparks of Hope.

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

"Well excuuuuussssee me" - Princess. 

And appears in Link's Awakening to boot. Plus the Zelda series was labelled an RPG back in the day and all. Though she wasn't a fully fledged party member so it's another one that's gonna be chucked on the null and void pile.  

[Happenstance]

Started playing Mario RPG yesterday. It's definitely charming and I'm enjoying it so far but I think the humour definitely is better in later games from what I've seen so far. Hoping the music gets a bit more varied at some point as well, I'm already getting sick of the same thing over and over again.

[Happenstance]

Just completed the story. As I said, lot of charm but not really on the same level as later Mario RPGs. Found it was getting a bit tedious by the end as well. Glad I've finally played it though.

[Ashley]

Is this difficult early on or am I rubbish? Back at the castle and died on my first attempt with the pogo stick/sword boss. I'll go again later but had enough anyway but Mallow is basically useless at this point and I've still not seemed to have mastered the defensive A button press so he dies after like 2 hits. 

Plus the shop keeper is cowering so I can't even buy anything. 

Edit

Went and levelled up for a bit and used a different strategy and barely took any damage. 

[Glen-i]

5 hours ago, Ashley said:

Is this difficult early on or am I rubbish? Back at the castle and died on my first attempt with the pogo stick/sword boss. I'll go again later but had enough anyway but Mallow is basically useless at this point and I've still not seemed to have mastered the defensive A button press so he dies after like 2 hits. 

Plus the shop keeper is cowering so I can't even buy anything. 

Edit

Went and levelled up for a bit and used a different strategy and barely took any damage. 

Bit late now, but the shopkeeper left a note on the counter saying to take what you like and leave the money.

Mallow is a bit of a liability in the original game, but this version gives bosses elemental weaknesses, which catapults Mallow into an absolute boss destroyer. Use Thought Peek on a boss, and if it's weak to Lightning or Ice, then spam his spells! If it's weak to fire? Well, just use Jump with Mario. Always use Jump with Mario (Not Super Jump), it gets stronger the more you use it.

The whole weaknesses thing makes Geno the liability in the Switch version. He can't hit any weaknesses at all. Even Bowser's crummy spells can make a few of the bosses cakewalks.

[Ashley]

7 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Bit late now, but the shopkeeper left a note on the counter saying to take what you like and leave the money.

Oh I saw that but didn't know where the items were. 

But yeah I used Thought Peek on my first attempt (the only thing he did before he died) so I built up FP and just spammed him with that. 

Thankfully the Toad random thing was an attack too which lopped off some health. 

[Glen-i]

13 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Oh I saw that but didn't know where the items were.

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet. L and R let you cycle through equipment and items in shops. (If they have them, that is)

Mallow shouldn't be dying that quickly. Make sure he has some pants equipped.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Glen-i

[Ashley]

Just now, Glen-i said:

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet. L and R let you cycle through equipment and items in shops. (If they have them, that is)

Oh no I got that, but I didn't know where to find the items to just take. Unless I did need to press the shoulder buttons? 

Oh well, it's moot now anyway

[BowserBasher]

 

 

Just beat the final boss and have to say after being apprehensive about the game, I absolutely enjoyed it. Even though it’s an RPG I think it’s more like a beginner RPG in the sense that it’s not complicated and is still pretty straightforward when it comes to moves and members. I never found myself getting confused on who I should have in my party or what to do when it came to moves. In fact by the end I think I was so powered up that I could have just used mainly the A button moves and would have eventually won the last fight. 

Spoiler

I ended up trying to find a good party or just using everyone as much as possible, but by the end there I had settled on Mario, Bowsser and Mallow as I was getting unstoppable with those three. Final boss didn't really give me any trouble;e, maybe cause I had enough Nushrooms and FP honey to just keep restocking everyone. And with Mallow on the team, I could use him too. Kept a triple team move to start the first part of the fight off, and by the time I was onto the main/second part I had filled it up again and was able to use it again. Other than that it was Mario Super Jump (managed a best of 51 streak on that), Bowser using his Drill Hand/Glove thing and Mallow spamming Lightning and Ice moves. Can't remember how long it took, but I maybe needed three revives and a few max mushrooms throughout. Otherwise it was so fitting that Mallow hit the final blow with his Snowy move.

Of course I hoarded a lot of items and ended up with way more than I needed and didn't use many that I had. But isn't that always the way?

Anyway,, I think I'll see what the post game stuff has. All my party got levelled up to 23 and had the best move each. Not sure I had the best item of clothing for each though.

Final pic of stats.

Edited January 1 by BowserBasher

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

  More thoughts (Reveal hidden contents)

 

Are going to share these thoughts with us, BowserBasher?

Edited January 1 by Hero-of-Time

[BowserBasher]

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Are going to share these thoughts with us, BowserBasher?

LOL, Ipad was messing up spoiler formatting so moved to MacBook and it must have posted without anything in there. Check the spoiler tag and post again.

[Ashley]

You should have mimed it out while transforming into the characters as a homage. 

[Glen-i]

21 hours ago, BowserBasher said:

Other than that it was Mario Super Jump (managed a best of 51 streak on that),

Dayum! Not bad! You should go to Monstro Town and talk to one of the residents there. You won't regret it!

[Ike]

Those Yoshi race controls are awful, somehow managed to flub a win eventually.

[Ashley]

13 minutes ago, Ike said:

Those Yoshi race controls are awful, somehow managed to flub a win eventually.

I did the tutorial yesterday and it kept telling me I was bad so I looked online to see if I'm making a mistake and they said it does that. Did the actual race and it was fine. 

[BowserBasher]

54 minutes ago, Ike said:

Those Yoshi race controls are awful, somehow managed to flub a win eventually.

Oh My Gosh, yes! I just didn't understand what beat I was supposed to be going with. Somehow managed to win it though.

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Dayum! Not bad! You should go to Monstro Town and talk to one of the residents there. You won't regret it!

Is that for a piece of clothing? I know you can get two of those for 30 and 100 jumps.

[Ike]

2 hours ago, Ashley said:

I did the tutorial yesterday and it kept telling me I was bad so I looked online to see if I'm making a mistake and they said it does that. Did the actual race and it was fine. 

I got tired of failing the tutorial so I tried that with no luck. I suck at rhythm games at the best of times.

I did actually manage to pass the tutorial the time I was successful though.

[Ashley]

I didn't even bother listening to the beat or anything, I just put a finger over each button and fixed my gaze at the bottom corner of the screen and just followed that.