Topic: Paper Mario: Color Splash - OT

First thing I do in any video game is find out what all the buttons do

Yes, and I'm sure there were teenagers and adults in the 90's and 80's making the same mistake in the same game.

People are not born knowing how to Mario.

@Meowpheel
Don't be ridiculous, people aren't born until they've Mario'd. Mario is life. He is the start button and the end credits. Our hero on NES, Mario be your name. Your Mushroom kingdom come, your jumping be done, on earth as it is on NES.

@cwong15 if that's the case (though id say it's their job to make RPGs viable again, like they did for fire emblem.), then I wish they'd at least go the super paper Mario way of gameplay instead of this faux semi-rpg gameplay. It would at least save a ton of time and accomplish the same thing

@Operative the Mario bros partner games are viable rpg's and make money. I just don't think they want two Mario rpg franchises at one time.

@faint Even though I disagree with their reasoning significantly, what I mean is, if they want to take the franchise away from its RPG roots, why don't they just sever them entirely? The turn based battles aren't needed, they could just go to bopping enemies on the head like Super Paper Mario did(with some paint-affected mechanic). It would at least save from the tedium of turn based battles. Unless there's another reason they kept them in.

Tell that to the people who are making turned based non-strategy game that specifically is trying not to be an RPG and expecting that to have an audience on Wii U. Or anywhere.

Also, Reggie has said they wanted to showcase focus on some RPGs on Wii U so...

I'd just wait to see how the game does when it releases, and then create my own thoughts on it. Though I've finished the original Paper Mario some months ago and loved it, nothing can really be concluded from just looking at the game. Watching someone play a game is different than playing the game yourlself, after all. Not to defend this game, but let's see how it ends. Will it surprisingly ressemble something from the first two instalments? Will it actually be Sticker Star 2.0? Or even a mash-up of the two? Will it be a good game? Who knows, only time will tell.
Thus far, I do think that it does look fun, and has more clever writting. Have Bowser talking again, and then my purchase will be guaranteed.

I hope for their sake that bowser is being possessed and is cleared of it halfway through the game. Because, surprise surprise, this is just like sticker star.

But.... At least the dialog is chuckle worthy.

@Operative This is like every single Paper Mario. Whether it's a powered-up Bowser or some other villain, it always starts with them kidnapping the princess (only Super Paper Mario bucks the trend a little by releasing her early), then Mario collecting seven or so Macguffins that will allow him to defeat the threat du jour.

WAIT WHAT?! The Flip power from Super Paper Mario is BACK?

Also, lots of info here:

Prologue:

General overview:

And the reason why this game got a PEGI 7 rating:

Good thing the shyguys became blue before that.

By the way, in the trailer, on Bowser's throne room scene, there is a colorless Peach hanging on a painting. There's definitely something fishy about Bowser...

Sorry for the double post, but here there is more awesomeness:

It certainly looks better than Sticker Star

I can't take it anymore. After seeing the trailer I am literally fanboying and I want to see more of the Koopalings ASAP. I'm guessing they're all going to get individual boss battles or maybe some of them will be in a group like in Paper Jam.

Not gonna lie, it's looking better. At least Bowser is talking again. As before, the graphics are incredible. The soundtrack is also pretty solid. I'm sure the developers are trying their best, it's a shame that the Nintendo higher ups have to keep on limiting them. Unfortunately for me, the lack of original characters ( "All Toads, right? It's just a bunch of Toads. So, we had to think, if it's all Toads, how do we make them distinct and give them personality?" http://www.usgamer.net/articles/risa-tabata-on-paper-mario-co... ) and lack of a proper story ( “This time we have–I don’t know if I want to say a proper story–but we have a story.” http://kotaku.com/the-paper-mario-game-not-everyone-wants-178... ) is gonna be a deal breaker for me. Those are core aspects that are essential to the soul of Paper Mario, if there is anything people remember from the older games, it's the characters. If this was a one time thing, where a Mario RPG game wouldn't have original characters and a proper story, I'd be willing to give it a chance, as I did with Sticker Star. However, this has become a trend now.

Miyamoto's rule ( "It's fine without a story, so do we really need one?" and "As much as possible, complete it with only characters from the Super Mario world." http://kotaku.com/5964444/miyamoto-convinced-the-people-behin... ) has stuck with Sticker Star, Paper Jam, and now Color Splash.

I fear we will never see original characters and a proper story in Mario & Luigi or Paper Mario again, so long as this trend continues. That's why I see the initial backlash as a good thing. Nintendo higher ups need to know that restricting the developer's creativity is not okay. Removing original characters and story, just because a few staff members want all of Mario to be story-less, is not okay.

It's great to see the developers trying their best despite the higher ups restrictions. This isn't a criticism to Color Splash, or it's developers. It's a criticism towards the higher ups who have come out with no justification for their choices. Trying new things is fine, but if an experiment doesn't work it should be dropped. It didn't work in Sticker Star, that was their chance to learn. Yet they keep repeating it with Paper Jam and Color Splash. If this trend is here to stay, if this rule is set in stone, that means we won't be seeing original characters and a proper story in Mario RPGs again. So it's something we must ask ourselves: are we okay with this?

I agree. I defenitely liked the first Mario RPG because of so many original characters and enemies and bosses that we'd never seen before. My only complaint is that it's too easy now. It's good for someone who's never played an RPG but it's very basic compared to todays standards.

@Rexcalibr I hope it doesn't stay too easy though. That's something we can only judge when we play the game ourselves. Mario has always been a franchise that had low-level entry games in genres. I mean, Mario Kart is more of a party game than an actual racing game for example. So if this is meant to draw in new players to the RPG genre, then that's also something to consider. I've never been a fan of the long story-driven JRPGs. Can't get into Fire Emblem and the likes, so I'm probably biased, but a game like this appeals to me more than a fully fledged (J)RPG.

I've never really liked the look of the characters from the earlier Paper Mario games, and I'm a guy that likes simplicity, so the idea that we're getting a RPG-esque game with the regular Mario enemies, is pretty neat. It's something that I've always wanted to see. This comes in a Paper form, but the Paper looks gorgeous, so I'm not complaining about that either. I'm intrigued by the card mechanic as well, as card-based games are pretty addicting; however, I do hope that there's some strategy to it in the end.

@Octane

I loved Fire Emblem Awakening. It's probably in my top 5 best RPGs of all time. I didn't like the newer one, Birthright or whatever. I was so excited to get it but I can't get as invested to it as I did with Awakening. None of the characters are that appealing to me and there are way too many that are introduced right away.

and yeah the trailer made the game look really good because of it's art form.