Topic: Paper Mario: The Origami King

I too thought the game was garbage early on, particularly when getting used to the battle system. Best thing I did was give it a chance.

Ring system is a bit simplistic early on, but it gets more interesting later. It's hard for me to really say it's a significantly worse experience than field battles in TTYD, which consist of executing the same two or three moves to dispatch enemies, even late into the game.

The lack of XP is more troublesome, but if you don't grind then it's not an issue, since you still need coins for various things throughout the game, and you progress in other ways.

The much more pleasant environments to explore and having the ability to auto-defeat weak enemies in the field is a god-send for a game like this. I got SO tired of getting into fights with random weaklings when revisiting older locations in TTYD.

I still rate TTYD above this, but that's primarily down to the writing and unique characters. If TOK didn't have stupid limitations on creating original characters, I could see this being the better of the two games.

@damien33ad
All good!

@Ralizah
I think Origami King would have been hugely improved with a simple XP system. The hearts are kinda/sorta ok as you get deeper into the game and there are more to find and you realize many can be optional, but it's still not a good replacement.

I didn't like the combat. I mean the battles were alright most of the time, but nothing I would replay.
That said, I never replayed a Paper Mario game, even if the combat was great (Super Paper Mario).

But I still give Origami King a 9/10 because everything else is so much fun.
If the battles were better it could have been the best Paper Mario game.

I've got the Goomba Mask in my useful items list but can't work out how i actually use it, i'm in the Breezy Tunnel & when i press the Y button it's not there but if i press X & go to the Useful Items list it's there. Can anyone let me know how i equip it/ use it please? I'm probably being really dim lol. Many thanks

@Jen10
I'd have to go back to that part of the game, but from what I remember, isn't it only used in a very specific circumstance?

@rallydefault Yes I need it for a specific task to progress in Breezy Tunnel, i've got the mask in my useful item inventory but can't find a way to put it on. I'm stuck in the tunnel at the moment.

@Jen10
Ok, so that's the tunnel after Bobby with all the moles. And you have to put the mask on for Olivia only after you've done everything in the mole village, if I remember correctly.

So make sure you've triggered some story stuff in the mole village - they're all standing around at first, but I think you have to poke around and do some exploration. I think at one point the moles leave to pick up the debris and you talk to Olivia when she is sitting down on a bench through a secret tunnel. It's a pretty clear plot point and when you come back out the moles are all together and talk to you.

After that, you go back to Olivia and you should be able to put the mask on at a context-sensitive time.

@rallydefault, thanks, i've tried all of that but when I go back to Olivia after talking to Bobby's ghost when I try to put on the Goomba Mask I'm not able to use it. I press Y but it's not at the bottom of the screen, if I press X & go along to the Useful Items list it's there but I'm not able to select it to use/ equip it. I think it may be a glitch & I'll have to start the game again as I can't leave the area as the boatman has gone & I need Olivia to be able to progress 😢 Thanks for your help. it's greatly appreciated.

@Jen10 I may be wrong as it's been awhile since I've played that part (and I probably am since @rallydefault says it is used there), but I don't remember having to use the Goomba mask there. I only remember the one place having to use it, at the Shogun theater. I thought where you are I just got the boot car and drove through. Again, probably remembering wrong, though.

@Jen10
No problem - so you talked to Olivia first on the bench after going through the mole town? Just make sure you have that conversation first. But yea, that's what I can think of.

@Xyphon22
Yea at the theater, but then when you're in that tunnel with the moles you have to put it on to cheer Olivia up after you go through some plot stuff with the mole village.

Wasn't that glitch supposed to be fixed in the update awhile ago....? I'd have to check but I thought it was specifically covered in that

@rallydefault, thanks so much, you've resolved it for me lol. I wasn't talking to Olivia when i went back in to see her after talking to Bobby's ghost, it's now working properly & i can progress. Thanks everyone who replied

@Jen10
Woo!

Old arse thread but I got the game cheap and played through it within the past week, more or less.

And I gotta say, I think this is my favorite Paper Mario game yet. I haven't played Sticker Star or Color Splash, but I like the characters (and yes, a bunch of them have generic enemies' designs but they're characters nonetheless) and ESPECIALLY Olivia much more than anything I've seen in the other Mario RPGs tbh. She's the sweet, naive helper character without EVER getting into the way of the flow, imo. She's funny as heck, too, and I like how the game is more so her story of meeting all those different characters and getting influenced by them in different ways.

I also genuinely enjoy how nice even Bowser ends up being to her without him losing any of the "edge" he has in Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi (rest in pieces). The writing is actually good. Not a groundbreaking or super mind-blowing story or anything, but it's super well handled.

I legitimately couldn't play TTYD past the chapter you get Flurry in - and I ultimately just ended up watching an LP of the game to see why people might like the story and writing so much, don't see it tbh - but Origami King managed to hook me like Super Paper Mario did, which also has your "main partner" deeply involved in the story, altho it's not as in your face right off the bat with Tippi, iirc. Outside of one of the bosses kind of stumping me because the ingame hint was just that bit too obtuse, in my opinion, I also had very little issues with the battle system. I'm terrible at the little puzzles for regular enemies, but every boss is unique and the ring system REALLY shines as a tool to find your path during boss turns. And while I didn't try to go for each and every enemy in the game out of fear of getting tired of the battles in OK, I managed to get the battle trophy without really grinding or feeling worn out by regular battles in the second to last "chapter". Certainly didn't feel like I was at 200 battles around that time.

I found that you don't have to grind in general in the game. You still need to soooort of budget your coins for the more expensive items and don't go too crazy on stocking up, I did actually manage to run super short on money during the same second to last chapter for a bit/before tackling the final "dungeon" of that area, but you never have to outright drop everything and grind. I really like that about the game, it doesn't waste your time with the typical (J)RPG padding. Pacing in general was really good, I think. There's not really any point in the game where I felt it dragged and I'm SHOCKED that I spent 30 hours on this so far - I'm right before the final boss, I believe.

I'm actually kind of curious what people generally thought of Origami King tbh because while expected to have a bit of fun with it, judging by people saying it's got fun writing and that the exploration is pretty neat, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the journey from start to (almost) finish so far.

There's honestly not a whole lot I could fault the game for unless it SUPER s***s the bed in the final stretch. Dang solid little adventure.

Also, may whatever god exists in the Marioverse bless my sweet boy Bobby

It’s the only Paper Mario game I have played and I loved it. Couldn’t deal with trying to do the final battle but did everything else which is pretty good for me. It was funny and not too difficult with a little youtube help here and there.

@Dom_31 The vocal minority of the fanbase that's overrepresented online was never willing to give TOK a chance because it's not an RPG, despite the fun exploration, great music, strong writing, etc.

The game's quality is fairly consistent from beginning to end, and the climax is shockingly emotional. Just a great experience overall, even though I probably still prefer TTYD's sharper sense of humor and more expansive cast overall.