Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

You can talk about almost anything that you want to on this board.

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
dougeff
Posts: 3079
Joined: Fri May 08, 2015 7:17 pm

Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by dougeff »

This is game design related, so it seems nesdev appropriate.

This game annoys the hell out of me.

The basic jump and land on a block physics are much too slippery. There are several (seemingly easy) jumps that I've had to redo 4 or 5 times, because I slide right off a block after I run and jump on it.

There is TOO much dialogue... all the time... and no way to skip it.

When you are deep into a world, x-4, and it starts to get hard, it's very easy to be low on health and without healing power ups... and you die, you go back to your save point...where you might have only 2 hearts of health. So frustrating, trying to get through the hardest part with only 2 hearts.

The only other option, would be to trek all the way back to flipside and buy some health restoring things. With 2 hearts.

So much is hidden, and you have to point the remote at the TV, to have some guy find a secret hidden thing... which is very slow and awkward.

I've had to look up solutions (internet) 4 or 5 times, and I'm not even that far.

There is a very uneven difficulty. Even on the easiest levels, they will give you (in 2d mode), tough to defeat enemies... You switch to 3d mode, and you just walk around it ridiculously easy.

Rant over.

Physics should be fun. Dialogue skippable. Play difficulty consistent. And put a health boost near the save point.
nesdoug.com -- blog/tutorial on programming for the NES
lidnariq
Posts: 11432
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:12 am

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by lidnariq »

Just for comparisons' sake, have you played Paper Mario (N64) or Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door (GCN) ? If so, how do you feel they compare?

For that matter, any of the Mario & Luigi GBA/NDS games?
User avatar
dougeff
Posts: 3079
Joined: Fri May 08, 2015 7:17 pm

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by dougeff »

No. Never played any of the games you mentioned.

I do plan on trying 1000 year door some day.

Also, might buy a used DS some day.
nesdoug.com -- blog/tutorial on programming for the NES
User avatar
Dwedit
Posts: 4924
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by Dwedit »

Paper Mario 1000 Year Door had no inertia in movement at all. When you released the joystick, Mario stopped moving.
Here come the fortune cookies! Here come the fortune cookies! They're wearing paper hats!
User avatar
tokumaru
Posts: 12427
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 9:43 pm
Location: Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by tokumaru »

Dwedit wrote:When you released the joystick, Mario stopped moving.
While this sounds bad for a Mario game, it's 100x worse in a Sonic game, IMO.
User avatar
mikejmoffitt
Posts: 1353
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 8:43 pm

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by mikejmoffitt »

tokumaru wrote:
Dwedit wrote:When you released the joystick, Mario stopped moving.
While this sounds bad for a Mario game, it's 100x worse in a Sonic game, IMO.
With an RPG, it's kind of what you want. Paper Mario for N64 as well as Super Mario RPG for SNES do not use intertia.
User avatar
rainwarrior
Posts: 8734
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by rainwarrior »

It's funny you bring this up because I played this game for the first time yesterday. I got as far as 2-1 but I think I've seen enough at this point and probably will never finish it. I don't think of it as a bad game, just not the kind of thing I really want to play more of.

It struck me as something for a much younger audience than me. The platforming is almost like a cosmetic theme applied to it, and the value in this game is more like an interactive storybook with a lot of humour. The puzzles so far seem to just be various forms of "check the 3D mode sometimes, and you'll find a secret message that tells you what to do". Not difficult or clever, really, but they serve to pace out everything else. It's almost a "hidden object" genre game sometimes.

I think of it as more like a JRPG with an unusual battle system than a platformer with a lot of dialogue. Probably in this respect Undertale is very similar to it, but I like the writing and pacing in that game a lot more than this one. Of course, Undertale is a lot more difficult and also aimed at adults. Super Paper Mario is aimed at kids, and it seems like a pretty relaxing game to me.
User avatar
mikejmoffitt
Posts: 1353
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 8:43 pm

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by mikejmoffitt »

rainwarrior wrote:It's funny you bring this up because I played this game for the first time yesterday. I got as far as 2-1 but I think I've seen enough at this point and probably will never finish it. I don't think of it as a bad game, just not the kind of thing I really want to play more of.
When I tried the game when it was new-ish, that is more or less what happened to me. I hadn't played the other Paper Mario games at the time, but in retrospect the Wii game seems to be the weakest of the bunch.
Oziphantom
Posts: 1565
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 2:03 am

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by Oziphantom »

I loved the Wii version, I sat there and played it thinking "Why can't I work on fun stuff like this, look at the rainbow exploding over the top graphics when you get the thing" I can't remember what the thing is in that version. I have played the N64, GC, 3DS versions, also Super Mario RPG, Mario & Luigi etc

Yes it has it flaws but by the Wii they were "the way" it almost trolls it self. The games are like an old Point and Click, you need to get into the logic of the world other wise you just sit there and say "the watermelon in the tuba.. OF CAUSE", not sure if I used a guide for the Wii one, but I did for the 3DS a couple of times. I didn't bother finishing the 3DS one, I got to bowser, just couldn't be bothered..
calima
Posts: 1745
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:16 am

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by calima »

It's a RPG, you don't skip the dialogue in those, you play them for the dialogue :D
User avatar
Drew Sebastino
Formerly Espozo
Posts: 3496
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:35 pm
Location: Richmond, Virginia

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by Drew Sebastino »

rainwarrior wrote:Undertale ... aimed at adults
:lol:
Drag
Posts: 1615
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:57 pm
Contact:

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by Drag »

I enjoyed Super Paper Mario, but I also enjoy the Paper Mario series for its lore and presentation. I was glad when it wasn't just another Mario platformer, and it feels like 2D sidescrolling RPGs are pretty rarely done. I was also in college at the time it came out, with the Wii being new and being with my friends, so I might also be seeing this through rose tinted glasses; the idea of SPM just brings me back to when I first played it, which were good times.

I was pretty disappointed with Sticker Star and Color Splash. They're good in some regards, usually have nice music, and the world is enjoyable, but it feels very sterile and cut-back when you compare it to the earlier games. I understand the desire for everything to be a Toad, but can it not be? The other games were interesting for their nonstandard cast and portrayal of Mushroom Kingdom characters. I haven't played any of the M&L games past Partners in Time, so I don't know if it suffers from similar issues.

Color Splash in particular has a host of design problems which I've ranted about on twitter. :P

However, as many complaints as there may be with the various games, the writing in every Paper Mario game has been great so far, and it's what kept me going through Color Splash.
Shonumi
Posts: 342
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:31 am

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by Shonumi »

It's been ages since I played this game. Bought once it came out, but I only got through a couple of worlds/levels/chapters or whatever. My main complaint was that it really didn't feel like an RPG. It was a platformer that gave you HP and called it a day. Don't get me wrong, I do love me some good Action RPGs. I'm not strictly into turn-based RPGs. But Super Paper Mario isn't my kind of Paper Mario. It's a deviation from what the series was supposed to be for me: a spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG. The 1st Paper Mario and TTYD stuck to that line pretty well and were quality games as a result, in my opinion. But every Paper Mario game after that has been a miss in my book, even Sticker Star (in fact, especially Sticker Star).

Oddly enough, the Mario & Luigi games picked up the slack for me. Recently finished Paper Jam, and that was a lot of fun. Only wish the Paper Mario games had taken a cue from Mario & Luigi.
User avatar
dougeff
Posts: 3079
Joined: Fri May 08, 2015 7:17 pm

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by dougeff »

Beat the game today.

I still think the physics are too slippery.
nesdoug.com -- blog/tutorial on programming for the NES
calima
Posts: 1745
Joined: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:16 am

Re: Complaints about Paper Mario Wii

Post by calima »

Did you beat the optional dragon boss at the top of the optional dungeon?
Post Reply