Topic: NL Game Club Session 1: Paper Mario

Ok so now I'm at the volcano on lavalava island.

****Spoilers****
I just got the metal hammer and apparently the adventurer guy is telling me the next room has great treasure in it so it must be the boss room right?

Played it some more yesterday, got to Dry Dry Outpost after doing all the sidequests between Toad Town and the train. Yay Parakarry

Spoiler/Unlockable

I'd imagine the vast majority of you already know this - go two tiles immediately south after leaving Dry Dry Outpost and you'll find an oasis. Hit the blue block there and you can upgrade one of your party members to learn a new attack and boost their attack power. There's another blue block in Dry Dry Ruins too, iirc (and others to find for the rest of your partners through the game, of course)

Spoilers!!! (for Paper Mario and for Ocarina of Time)
I've had pretty close to ZERO time to play, so I just finished Chapter 2. Anywho, I didn't catch it my first playthrough, but did anyone else catch (what I think has to be) the Ocarina of Time reference in Dry Dry Outpost?? May be a stretch, but bear with me. So you're looking for this dude Moustafa, and in the process you get a few hints from a mouse named Sheek. Later, Sheek throws off his mask and reveals he is actually Moustafa himself. A Sheek with a double identity? Sheek/Moustafa-->Sheik/Zelda. You see what they did there? Or maybe just what I did there...

I've just started chapter 2. This game is hilarious!

@Stine: I know, I love the dialogue. PM: TTYD is pretty funny too.

I love just going around the place and getting Goombario to make observations about everything. He has a lot of interests. o_O

I'm taking my time with this game. Currently in Forever Forest, chapter 3.

SPOILERS CHAPTER 3

I explored every area of Dry Dry Desert, since I'm obsessive like that. Well, it was funny listening to Goombario complain about the heat. Also there are some pretty cool treasures in there, although I didn't figure out how to get the badge on top of that rock plateau. I guess I'm supposed to come back later once I have a new ability?

Currently at the Boo mansion. Forever Forest was interesting, to say the least. Piranha Plants finally made their appearance! I love how the Boos are actually pretty cool guys. Not scary at all (although that time the butler Boo turned giant was kinda freaky...) and you don't have to fight them (at least yet...). I'm at this part where there's a pot and you can turn into NES Mario... very strange, but a cool homage! Not sure quite what I'm meant to do as NES Mario though lol. Also, was waiting for some shoe upgrades. Glad I finally got them!

Go to the area with a stone cactus (it's on the central path). Go two south and one east. There's blue cacti. Let the whirlwind there blow you away, you'll land on the high rock.

The other treasures there are:

• Where there's 3 trees (three west, one north from Dry Dry Outpost), jump between them to find a hidden block
• One east, three south from the tent, stand on the rock and jump to find a hidden block (Attack FX Badge C)
• One north of the tent, hit the block to make another appear with a Mushroom in it. Hit the same block 10 times to make a Super Mushroom block appear, and 100 times to make an Ultra Shroom block appear.

@Raylax I got the first two, but I didn't know about the Super and Ultra Mushrooms! I already have loads of Dried Fruits from the Pokeys though and those outclass Super Mushrooms.

...I'm in Koopa Village! Go me! Making some progress...! n_n

_{stupid MHT eating all my time... grumble...}

I'm saved halfway through Chapter 5 now. Huzzah for progress!

I think I'm gonna look around for TTYD; I've pretty much only heard good things about it, and I absolutely adore this one.

Minor spoilers, chapter 2
Entered Dry Dry Ruins, but decided to go back and level up a couple of times before I got too far. So I've beaten up between 50 and 100 Pokeys as a result. And the idiots keep coming back for more!

Woop, uni's closed due to snow. Time to hit Chapter 3 _{Deadlines can wait yaaaay}

(Which means I'm not in tomorrow, if anyone in Britain just read that, looked at the clock, and wondered why I seemed to be planning to go to uni at 10pm)

SUPER BLOCK SPOILERS
Heh, turns out it's possible to get all four or your characters (Goombario, Kooper, Bombette and Parakarry) powered up before starting Chapter 3. I only knew about 3 of the blocks until now, but just found one more:

• Oasis in the desert, pretty hard to miss. Two south after leaving Dry Dry Outpost
• Dry Dry Ruins, again pretty hard to miss
• On your way back to the train in Mt Rugged, look for a stone block. Crack it open, there's a Super Block behind it
• Go to the Toad Town sewers, take a left and keep going until you go through a pipe. Jump across the platforms that move with your weight, and in the next room take a ride on the rising platforms. Instead of jumping off to the platform behind, stay on it and it will take you through the ceiling. Walk to the right, drop down the hole, and the fourth Super Block is there.

EDIT: Oh yeah, if you haven't already, take the time to explore the rest of the sewers. There's a lot of cool things in there - a few badges, a couple of minibosses, and blue warp pipes to towns you've previously visited (at this point, you can reach pipes to Goomba Village, Koopa Town and Dry Dry Outpost)

@Raylax The sewers have hard enemies in them, which is why I skipped them. But I can handle them now. I'll visit them next time I'm in Toad Town.

ONWARDS TO CHAPTER FOUR spoilers
I love Bowser's ingenious system of asking Peach which things Mario fears the most, and putting useful healing items on the list. I chose the tough enemies anyway though because I'm a masochist (and free experience points, yay)

EDIT: Woop, beat Anti-Guy. Shrink Stomp, Repel Gel, and liberal spamming of Power Jump ftw (with Power Plus and Power Rush badges equipped). And you get a Power Plus badge for defeating him. Now I've got two of 'em :3

@Raylax: I always do the same thing, because I like the Star Points and getting the enemies Tattled early. Speaking of Tattling, it really annoys me that there's ONE enemy in the entire game that it's literally IMPOSSIBLE to Tattle on. I know it doesn't really matter, but it bugs my completionist sensibilities nonetheless.

You had to use all that stuff to beat Anti-Guy? I just Power Bounced him to death.

I suck at Power Bouncing after you get the Spin Jump shoes. It becomes harder to time (for me, anyway)

Chapter four completed, woo. Getting pretty close to how far I got on my old file now.

IMMA BAKIN' A CAKE. Hee, I've put detergent in it to see what happens.
_{Meanwhile, in Paper Mario...}

@Raylax: I agree it's a good bit harder to time with the Super Shoes. The Ultra Shoes are much better, but I do all right. I really wish I was better at Multibonk, though. Something about how Goombario moves is makes it difficult for me.

Love that tiny text addition, by the way.

Spoilers
Woo, cleared Chapter 5. I'm further into the game now than I've ever been. It's all new from here
Time to do some sidequests before hitting Chapter 6, just defeated Kent C. Koopa. Yay for bonus bosses~

I'm totally gonna boot up TTYD and give that another run-through after finishing this one.

@Raylax: I'm strongly considering doing the same, especially since I've never played through the vast majority of TTYD (got partway through Chapter 2, as I recall). If the Club doesn't officially move on to that one (which it most likely won't), we should start our own discussion thread for it.