Topic: Mario & Luigi: Brothership

There's absolutely no way Brothership is worse than Paper Jam. It'll be better than that one at least.

Not that I hated Paper Jam, but that game is VERY flawed with many problems. Generic Paper Mario characters out the wazoo. Lousy minigames with the paper Toads. Bland, generic environments. Having a third playable character was sort of interesting and Yoko's music was good as always, but that was it. I never want to play through it again.

From what it seems like the main issue with pacing is similar to Dream Team or Paper Jam. A lot of handholding and tutorials. I don't think I'd mind it, depending on how they handle it though.

Also- people kept saying that there are random encounters in the game, but that makes no sense to me when we've seen gameplay and have seen that overworld encounters exist.

@VoidofLight I mean, my main issue with the BiS remake is that it was ultimately unnecessary. Didn't need to exist on a console that could play the OG/was well on it's way out by 2019.

@Dev1024 Okay don't be so dramatic, Paper Jam wasn't THAT bad. In fact personally speaking, I like it a little more than I did a couple of years ago having replayed it. It's not perfect of course for the reasons you mentioned(and then some), but it has a decent amount of strengths too that shouldn't go ignored.

@N00BiSH That's fair. I only got it because I couldn't get a copy of the original that was new at the time, and I never played the game before then- so I just got it the first opportunity I could. It's sad looking back at it now though, since it was clearly a last move of desperation for AlphaDream to try and make money in order to stay afloat. They probably didn't even get Switch dev kits at the time either.

@VoidofLight They probably did, given their last official title was the 2020 Mario & Sonic Olympics game.

@N00BiSH Huh. I didn't know that they made games for that series as well. Wonder why they never tried to make a new Mario and Luigi on Switch then. Would've probably saved their company and Brothership would've either not existed, or would have been handled by the full force of Alphadream's team.

@VoidofLight Well, they only did some light development work on the Tokyo title, and regarding the bankruptcy there's actually some evidence that suggests AlphaDream has been in trouble for a long while. YouTuber Lizardy has some pretty insightful videos on the subject.

@N00BiSH Ohh, I’ll go ahead and watch that then! I hope though that if this series continues to go on, more AlphaDream workers will be brought back to it.

So, initial thoughts after an hour of play.

Not a 5! Even if you hate the genre....it is not a 5 for sure.

Hah. But not a 9 for me YET. Needs more time to form a proper opinion. The first hour is very tutorial based. I like the animal crossing babble from the other characters for a start. Combat, I am not yet fully into, but might get better when I get the hammers and buffs and stuff opens up. I think my problem is just adjusting to how you press A to go through the commands with Mario, and then also press A to select the Commands with Luigi, but then it is B for his action command quick time input. Probably just need to adjust to that. Hopefully I will!

Feels a tiny bit on the slow side with exploring and load times after battles are there. When it stops instructing me every second of the way, it will probably be more fluid though! Characters and Writing wise is no Paper Mario or Mario RPG, but is not bad nor unfunny. Just not yet at the level of those two.

I feel that Kevin has done a good job with Mario and Luigi voice wise. Does not feel off. His Luigi is especially good.

Music is nice and I am plenty charmed and going to go play some more now. Again, this is only an hour impression. I feel it needs more time to get into the flow of it all and open up.

I'm not terribly far into the game as of now, but this is one of the things I don't like, and it extends to the overworld gameplay too; Previous games had Luigi stick close to Mario to make actions like jumping with two different characters easier to handle, and had heavier emphasis on creating a good rhythm with button presses. It was simple and easy to grasp from the get-go. Here, there's more distance between the Bros. and Luigi now has his own partner AI, similar to something like Tails in a 2D Sonic game. The downside to this is that it streamlines 'Green Stache too much and makes him feel less like a partner in that regard.

Also, I'm a little hit-and-miss on Kevin here. I really didn't like his performance in the intro. Every time the Bros. called out each other by name it took me out of it. Felt forced and not natural at all.

@N00BiSH Fair enough on Kevin. They are a getting a little 'too' chatty now. Could do with them not saying quite so much, especially when most of it just each other's names!

Yes, not quite feeling the intuition of having them work in tandem. Luigi does feel more like a Tails here.
It is not yet coming naturally. Same for battles.

On the plus side, the writing is getting better as it opens up. Laughed a few times with jokes about someone thinking the brothers are bugs, and a couple of people seems to think that they look like people 'who have never carried anything before'. I have the Hammers now and combat is a bit more fun with tougher enemies, but seems like I find jumping a bit easier. The load before and after a battle feels a bit noticeable.

Not fully grasping the opening up concept and travelling using currents yet.

Again, I have warmed to it more in the 2nd hour of playing, but still not feeling as at home with it as I expected.

I have no issues with FPS though I have to say. Not that I am really clued up on what the heck the difference is, but nothing is stuttering or slowing. Just more loading than expected.

Oh, as for the Random encounters business? This is not what random encounters means. You can see the enemies on the field and attack them to get a first strike as per normal Mario RPG type games.
You CAN avoid them or run away. I see some reviews saying that it basically forces you to do every battle, but that is not what it appears like to me. Maybe there are more narrow areas later in the game that make it impossible, but it feels like you could jump over and run away from them to me.

I have played the game for about an hour so far, and its even better than I thought it would be! It feels so awesome to finally get a brand new Mario RPG on Switch (aside from Rabbids)! The cutscenes, animations, and the Mario/Luigi voices are some of my favorite parts so far. I have had my doubts about the new Mario/Luigi voice actor but so far I'm liking in this game!

Growing on me further still. I am happy to have come across Toads! Lol. Starting to warm more to combat. I think you need to get out of the tutorial bits and into the proper game to get a proper feel for it! Having fun with it now.

Sounds so weird that Luigi is no longer controlled via the B button for his prompts. You think the team would’ve at least played the original games and understood Luigi has always been controlled with B.

Should I start playing today? I mean surely Unicorn Overlord can wait a little.

I’m probably going to try to beat Metaphor before I play my copy. So close to the end of that game- but I had to grind a bit to get me up to the level I’m meant to be.

@Jhena I would say so Go for it. You can see my trail of thoughts so far as above. I wasn't sure about it at first, but it picks up as you get used to it in my opinion. Looking forward to playing again soon!

@VoidofLight
Yep finishing Metaphor first sounds like a wise choice. It is always nice to start a new game without any regrets.

@Mana_Knight
Reading your impressions, it sounds like a game, that I will enjoy. I wish you and everyone else already playing a great time.