Topic: Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door!!!!!!!

Chapter 4 was still kinda annoying going back and forth, but I do like the shortcut this version gives to get rid of the last couple of trips. lol

...Also hitting people with the hammer in the remake is way more enjoyable now that everyone reacts to it. lol

https://metro.co.uk/2024/05/26/paper-mario-thousand-year-door...

wow, steady on...

Halfway through Chapter 2 so far. Having played the original game, I was looking forward to seeing this with a fresh coat of paint. I've been having a lot of fun coming back to it! I will say the only aspect that's disappointed me so far is the new music. It sounds pretty good most of the time, but I definitely prefer the original tracks. I'm glad there's a badge that allows you to hear the old tunes.

I like the new music, some of the new normal battle themes kinda aren't doing it for me, but, eh...I also think I prefer the original music for Glitzville, new version of the themes are just...weird. lol

@Joeynator3000 Mind explaining the battle theme thing? I've seen that take going around and it's kinda wild to me. Isn't a big complaint with having just one RPG battle theme is how no matter how good it is, it's bound to get repetitive at one point?

@N00BiSH I dunno, they're not bad or anything, just, somewhat forgettable. For me anyways.

I personally love the soundtrack. Feels like there's twice as many new songs as OG songs. The new songs are great. The original OST is better in my opinion (I have a lot of nostalgia for the music as well) (Glad I can still listen to it in the remake), but I still love the new songs. I'd probably say that some songs are even better than the original version (not all though.)

Honestly, the new character themes are a stand-out. They are so good so far! The new battle themes are really good as well. I think they did wonderfully with it so far!

Personally feel like most of the new songs are too "noisy". It's hard to explain, but I find myself listening to them for a bit whenever I enter a new area, then toggle on the original and feel it is much better. And that's without nostalgia since I never played this on GC.

I met Vivian now. Weird in the German localisation Vivian is not even ones bullied, by being called a man or anything male related. They talk to each other as females all the time. And now all of a sudden Vivian talks about being a sister and not a brother. This is really confusing, I will just go with the original from now on, where he is a boy and perceive him that way.

Oh well, time to move on.

@Jhena I've only played the remaster, so im not sure how the original portrayed this scenario. I met Vivian recently as well and I thought vivian was a girl based on the style and hair. But then vivian said "it made me happy to hear you call me your sister" ( paraphrasing here), so then I was really confused. So vivian is a man?

@NintendoByNature
According to the internet, Vivian is a crossdressing boy in the original Japanese GameCube game.

@Jhena so it sounds like the NA version is the same as the original Japanese version? Or am I mistaken?

@Jhena @NintendoByNature

"In the Japanese Nintendo GameCube version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian is implied to either be a transgender woman or a male-identified crossdresser. While various other characters and narrative text describe Vivian using masculine terms such as otoko ("man"), and otōto ("little brother"), Vivian initially describes the shadow sirens as san shimai "three sisters", and routinely uses the feminine first-person pronoun atai, though this pronoun is also used by some effeminate male or gender-ambiguous characters in Japanese media. Furthermore, she becomes upset when Beldam insults her by referring to her with masculine terms. In both her party profile in The Thousand-Year Door and her Catch Card in Super Paper Mario, Vivian is referred to using the term ｢オトコのコ」, otokonoko; being written in katakana, this can be interpreted either as 男の子 ("boy") or 男の娘 (otokonoko, literally "male daughter", a Japanese-language term that refers to a feminine-presenting or cross-dressing man)."

Source: https://www.mariowiki.com/Vivian

Vivian is clearly meant to be biologically male, but presents as female. There's some cultural ambiguity regarding differences in how Japan treats gender non-conformity and trans issues vs the West, but I think it makes the most sense to treat her like a transgender woman in the localization (which seems to be the route they went this time in English, unlike the original localization), considering she presents as female 24/7 and refers to herself as female.

@Ralizah thanks for the thoroughness. Makes a little more sense, now.

@NintendoByNature
As far as I know, they still changed some of the dialogue, but Vivian is male now, like in the original Japanese version.

@Ralizah
Thank you, for the thorough answer.

mother becomes pig,
son wants to eat her...

@Ralizah

that's interesting,
I know some cultures have considered there to be more than 2 genders for quite some time,
has that been the case in Japanese history?

@Uncle_Franklin Not quite, to my knowledge. There's a rich history of gender non-conformity, homosexuality, and the like, of course, as there is with virtually every society that has ever existed, but nothing as institutionally recognized as, say, India's Hijra communities. Actually, communities that played around with gender and sexual expression were quite common and accepted until the Meiji Restoration when Western culture began to more heavily influence Japanese culture.

Chapter 5 is done, yay!

Chapter 6 is, another personal favorite of mine, oddly enough. Even though I'm pretty sure with the Nostalgic Badge active will be exactly like the Gamecube version. I hope with the new music active, it will remain silent when you wake up on the 3rd day during that chapter. I just like the feeling it gives you when there's absolutely no music and everyone is missing. lol

EDIT: .....Ugh.....

Loving this remake of one of my favorite games.

Normally I'm someone who appreciates a remake that skews a bit from the source material. Such as Switch Link's Awakening's bold style, Fianl Fantasy VII Remake being almost a different game (but perfect), but I'm happy they were so faithful to the original here, it being just such a perfect game already in my opinion.

I really appreciate the quality of life improvements too, though I wish they implemented a few more. And I think the translations were updated in the best way.

And on the topic of Vivian, I think @Ralizah put it well. I think the way they're addressing her now is just more in line with original creator's intent for her. It's clear she wants to be identified as female, even when not everyone else does in the same way.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying my time with the game. The combat system is just as fun as I remembered. I'm just having a blast with these battles, even when the system itself if so simple. And somehow, can't put my finger on it, the system is just so much more fun than Paper Mario 1 - don't know how they did it.

There's a lot of variety in the game, which is very much missed from so much modern games (even modern Nintendo games). There's exploration, minigames, battling, puzzles, story, and there's just never a dull moment - except some of the backtracking required of course.

Still one of the best games of all time - and happy I bought it again.