Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@JaxonH Of course there's preconceived criteria. If they made this a brand new IP, I'd look at it with a fresh lens. But if you're going to use the Paper Mario branding, then it should follow that the game gives what that brand stands for. Which used to be whimsical, lighthearted, yet memorable stories.

I dunno, if something else was really scratching that itch I'd be less critical. But when both Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario have lost the magic that made them special (well, Paper Jam was the only M&L game that lacked that magic, but it's also likely the final game in that series), I'm going to keep looking for it. It's not like lighthearted cartoony RPGs... really exist outside of Nintendo tbh? The only other one I can think of that ever hit that sweetspot was Sonic: The Lost Brotherhood.

@link3710
I'd argue the games have all provided an experience that's consistent with the general blueprint of what Paper Mario is though. It's not like it's a completely different genre.

It's light hearted, whimsicle, humorous, charming, easy going battling... from a birds eye view that hasn't changed. It's just not an identical approach is all. And that's fine with me. I dont need a clone. I just need a game that's good.

The only thing I'm hesitant about is incentive for battles. If coins are the only reward, do they matter? Can you buy your badges with them and thus level up in a way? Or maybe you do increase your HP by battling. Idk. I hope you do. But if you don't, the coins need to matter.

Not that that's a deal breaker- itll just likely result in me only battling when I feel like it. Or when you need to in order to progress (which is also acceptable, when it's a barrier to progression, that's reason enough)

But that's really it. That's the only thing I can think of that I'm not 100% sold on yet. But given how great everything else looks, the game could take that hit and still be great in my eyes. It would obviously be eveb better if it did offer HP upgrades (or some equivalent incentive) but ya.

@NEStalgia I'd say to wait if we hear ANYTHING about P4G coming to Switch (which the leaker seemed to hint at in one of their tweets) in the next couple of days. If we don't, jump on it.

I don't think the odds are good, but then, I wouldn't have expected P4G to appear on Steam, either.

With that said, I think it's better to just enjoy something you want to experience rather than deprive yourself on the off-chance that an unlikely scenario might happen to occur at some point.

I'll personally be waiting until at least the end of the Switch's lifespan to play Persona 5 Royal, but then, I also played the original at launch, so I'm in no massive rush to re-experience it at the moment anyway.

And SMT 5 is still MIA. We'll find him one of these days; I promise you that.

@Ralizah yeah, i mean i might not even get to royal until october or even January. But i haven't played the original either. I bought take your heart edition on launch day. Then got switch........

Then i was finally going to open it... And YOU had to go and tell me about royal! . I figured better to wait for that before starting a hundred hour time sink

@JaxonH I haven't played Color Splash, so I can't speak there, but Sticker Star was completely devoid of personality. You claimed it was light-hearted, humorous, charming, and whimsical but... it was just plain bland. There was nothing tongue in cheek, surprising, thought-provoking, unique, nothing. You ran through 5 bland worlds where literally nothing happened, and then fought Bowser. The end. You didn't meet anyone except Kersti (who was also bland) or learn anything about anyone. No one had interesting designs, no one had interesting dialogue, nothing. The most memorable thing I can give the game is that it had a Yoshi Sphinx. Not to mention the things are one of the most disruptive, annoying and ugly things I've ever seen in gaming, every time I was forced to use or collect one it completely took me out of the game.

Like, it was a solid 6/10 game, but it was certainly not any of those things.

Oh good grief, were in a sticker star argument. Can't we talk about something less inflammatory like race or geopolitics? Think of the children. Before we know someone will mention star fox zero and the thread will be locked.

@NEStalgia The funny part is, I actually enjoyed Star Fox Zero for what it was.

@link3710
I’m gonna have to disagree there. May have been a mediocre game overall but it was definitely charming. It was humorous too. Might not of had this super funny cool dialogue but there were all sorts of things about that game that were lighthearted and humorous. The fact giant goats are eating enemies and stuff? I get that your jaded but, they most definitely did fit in all of those categories. That doesn’t mean it was great, but it certainly did fit the bill from a Birdseye view of where the paper Mario game is. It just had some mechanics that didn’t work that great and could have done some things better. But that doesn’t negate everything about it.

I’m not trying to argue it’s a great game, but there was nothing un-Paper Mario about it. It just went in a different direction and turned out to be not that great.

Sticker Star existing is a much lesser problem with Paper Mario than their refusal to make a game closer to what made people love the first two games (or at least doing so as slowly as possible), based on a fundamental misunderstanding of why RPGs work and an apparent inability to innovate in ways that aren't fundamentally flawed. And let me emphasize, often they do this by doing things that I bet the vast majority of people would prefer they don't do, including people who like the new games. No one on Earth wants less creative characters in these games, for example.

i mean they're apparently taking baby steps to get to somewhere better but sticker star was 7 1/2 years ago and TTYD was like 16, like cmon already guys

(also for the record, i dont wanna talk about this after this, i don't wanna be old man slider whining about a game that will likely still be good just because it isnt my paper mario)

@kkslider5552000

@kkslider5552000 funny thing is it's intelligent systems.... Not exactly RPG novices. Originally segmenting paper as not an rpg was because of M&L. But now alpha dream is bankrupt....

@JaxonH sticker star had charm, but it lacked substance, trying to not be an rpg, but also trying not to be a linear adventure like spm. It was, i guess "dry" is the best description. A likable world, especially in 3D, but it felt like going through the motions. The only part i really remember standing out was wiggler. Bad gameplay moments stand out in bad ways though.

So that could be forgiven if gameplay wasn't infuriating as well.

Imo everyone blames miyamoto, but I don't. He told them to ditch the overarching narrative and unique characters and stick to mushroom kingdom basics. It's IS that was obsessed with their flawed mechanics that i think it's what most remember about it. Color splash was a fantastic world that fixed a ton of sticker star flaws, but they tried to duct tape a battle system that should have been thrown in the paper bin. How that came from the same people as the weapons triangle, I'll never know.

Heh, I'm looking forward to Origami King but I haven't played any Paper Mario games before, which seems to help ....

Anyone like the Lite over the normal console?

It looks like Warner Bros Interactive is up for sale for $4 billion. Activision, EA & Take Two are all interested in the purchase. So it’s going to be one of those “lesser of the three evils” situations.

@FragRed - It's a shame Nintendo doesn't have enough petty cash to be considered a potential buyer for WB Games. I mean, just imagine if Mortal Kombat was Nintendo exclusive. That would be pretty wild. Anywho, best of luck to those bidding to make the purchase. Gamers in general lose regardless of who wins the bid because Activision, Take Two, and EA are all awful companies to varying degrees.

@Magician It’s a shame that Nintendo seems to feel it almost never see the need to acquire studios or set up new ones. They’re struggling to get games out the door as it is and God knows how bad it’s going to hit them when they have to again step it up with hardware that is of PS4 specs, let alone anything the PS5 and Xbox Series X will accomplish.

@FragRed The Batman and Harry Potter IPs aren't part of the deal fortunately.

@Octane That’s a relief though I’m curious to know how the licensing will continue to work with the Lego games. And I also have to wonder how this will affect that rumoured Batman title from WB Montreal and whatever Rocksteady are working on. It is odd to be selling what I imagine must be a profitable division of the company, and they have been in the industry for over 40 years one way or another.

@FragRed Apparently AT&T is doing it to pay off some of the losses they have; they're $200 billion in debt I've read. And companies don't really care about long-term profits, it's all about the short-term gains.