Paper Mario TTYD Remake is out. Who's playing?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Hey this remake of a twenty year old classic is out today. I'm picking up my copy in a couple hours. Haven't been watching any trailers because A)this game already lives rent-free in my head so I can cut my own Mental Trailer, and B) if there are surprises then I want to be surprised. I figure we ought to have a thread because a Fire Emblem forum probably has a lot of fans for Intelligent Systems' other most popular series of games. 

Playing this game as a kid, I was unaware of the Superguard mechanic. So I always had this plan that if I played again, I'd try to get through the game using only Superguards to see just how powerful that tool is. And also get the satisfaction of mastering those defense timings. I'll also probably avoid HP upgrades to keep the fear of death alive. Does anyone else have any plans for their run? Preferred Yoshi color you'll be aiming for?

[Perkilator]

I just graduated from college and I’m considering getting it off of Amazon sometime later.

[Acacia Sgt]

I pre-ordered it, though I won't have the time to play until the weekend. Having played the original, I'm certainly looking forward to it!

Edited May 24 by Acacia Sgt

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I'm in the "not immediately, but eventually" camp. I replayed the game earlier this year, so while I'm not averse to revisiting it, I'm not in a rush to do so either. On top of that, there are a number of "bought, but not beaten" games in my backlog"... including Paper Mario: The Origami King. Obviously they play super-differently, but there is the feeling of "how can I buy a new game in a series, when I haven't finished the one I already own"? And if there's any fear with TTYD returning, it's that it'll resurrect the "Modern vs. Classic Paper Mario" debate. Where it feels very much like "you need to be on one side or the other!" versus "we can like one more than another, while also recognizing pros and cons within each one".

...In any case, though, as an owner of the original game, it's great to see this experience coming to a new generation. In, perhaps, a better format than before. It also makes me realize that a full generation has passed since I originally played it, which is precisely the reminder of my own mortality that I needed today.

9 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Preferred Yoshi color you'll be aiming for?

If I recall, Pink was my first one, while Red was my most recent one. I think I'd like to go for Black next time, even though it has one of the narrowest windows (at least, in the originals). Wonder if they'll be obtained by the same formula in the remakes?

9 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

I'll also probably avoid HP upgrades to keep the fear of death alive.

My latest run, I went with "mostly BP level-ups". Like, probably averaged 60% BP, 25% HP, and 15% FP. Who needs more FP when you've got the BP for Flower Saver and Happy Flower? Honestly, once you get the badges for it, BP is definitely the most versatile stat to level-up. Regretting your choice? Slap on an HP Plus or FP Plus badge, for an essentially equivalent transfer.

If I were to do a "challenge run" next time... maybe an Ironman? If a partner is ever defeated, then I can't use them in battle anymore. And if Mario goes down, it's a true Game Over. Would probably also mean "no resetting if I do something dumb, even if it doesn't cause a death or Game Over". Not sure how I should treat Life Shrooms in such a context, though...

[Lord_Brand]

Ordered ours from Walmart. Should be here by the 31st. Definitely glad to see this gem revisited after so long. I'm hoping it does well enough that Nintendo will finally quit with the Sticker Star shenanigans and give us the Paper Mario 3 we've been waiting for (sorry Shanty, just read your grievance about that debate; for what it's worth, I want to agree, it's just hard when I feel so frustrated with how Nintendo handled the series after TTYD). Given how long it's been since my last playthrough, I'm just going to play the game naturally. No personal challenges, no exploits, just a nice revisit to one of my favorite Mario games.

I wonder if FatGuy703 will do a Book of Mario translation mod for this version?

Edited May 24 by Lord_Brand

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Alright, got halfway through hooktail's castle for a good impression of the game. First off, the new expressions they drew for characters are great. In the original everyone generally spoke with the same blank stare, but now the characters get to be more expressive, not just the party members. Second thing I want to shout out is the dedicated What am I Doing? button with ZL. Because Goombella's out-of-battle Tattles often did not give you much of a hint to a room's puzzle or gimmick. Now you can get some more direct help while Goombella's Tattle can be her usual flavor text on the environment. And the dialogue can come from any party member, not just Goombella. The third change I like is being able to Retry when you die. Because I already died! On the Gold Fuzzy miniboss fight, my restricting myself to only Superguards got me killed in two turns. Not sure at this point if it's just Boss-like encounters that have the Retry function. If it was every encounter, that would take a lot of the fear out of running the Pit of 100 Trials. 

Finally, the Soundtrack is certainly the biggest improvement. As much of a TTYD superfan as I've been the last twenty years, I've always conceded that the soundtrack is fairly bland. Sometimes Great, but just as often unremarkable (Which I would further characterize as 'Bad'. Songs should never get you to feel Nothing). But now in the remake, a simple swap in instrumentation, a few new verses in the old songs, the Rogueport Sewers music having a leitmotif callback to the game's opening music "gee what happened to that old City anyway?". It's excellent work. Can't wait to hear the rest.

35 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

If I recall, Pink was my first one, while Red was my most recent one. I think I'd like to go for Black next time, even though it has one of the narrowest windows (at least, in the originals). Wonder if they'll be obtained by the same formula in the remakes?

I think mine was Green back then. I definitely remember being very shocked to go to a friend's house and see his playthrough with a different colored Yoshi. For this run I'll just leave it up to fate.

Quote

My latest run, I went with "mostly BP level-ups". Like, probably averaged 60% BP, 25% HP, and 15% FP. Who needs more FP when you've got the BP for Flower Saver and Happy Flower? Honestly, once you get the badges for it, BP is definitely the most versatile stat to level-up. Regretting your choice? Slap on an HP Plus or FP Plus badge, for an essentially equivalent transfer.

This is true. I do think, in both Paper Mario games, FP is the optimal choice for that first level up. As it is the difference between Two Power Hits and Five Power Hits. But you can get a lot done with 10-20 maximum FP thanks to Refresh/Sweet Treat. And the abundance of items that restore both HP and FP. I also like how FP Drain's drawback may sound pretty awful, but It does mean you can use a Power Hit every turn, resulting in slightly more damage overall, so long as you're okay with spending that 1FP on each attack.

[Lord_Brand]

The ability to talk to any of your partners sounds really cool. I love when a game has those kinds of interaction options.

[Zanarkin]

On 5/24/2024 at 12:21 AM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

 Not sure at this point if it's just Boss-like encounters that have the Retry function. If it was every encounter, that would take a lot of the fear out of running the Pit of 100 Trials.

I decided to try the pit right after hooktail, and I got all the way to level 50. I stopped there because I had to redo a few level 40's. And that is how I found out it wasn't a boss-like encounters only feature.

I'm loving the game. It reminds me so much when I first played it and I really love all of the charm this game has now that I'm able to read english much faster and understand a more of the language based humour. Also I really love the addition of the battle master. I only learned about stylish moves watching some challenge runs of the original on Youtube, but I did not know every attack move can be done stylishly. I was very pleased the first time I did it and I love that the battle master lets me practice for as long as I want to.

Edit: Also pressing ZL only gives dialogue from goombella (An icon of hers show up on the dialogue box when other partners are active).

Edited May 25 by Zanarkin

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Just finished Chapter 2. And I'm liking the new Clear Bonus that awards coins for boss fights. TTYD was an rpg with a lot of important stuff to spend money on but no fast way to grind up cash, and this really alleviates that economy. They also added a Clear Bonus to each individual fight of the Pit of 100 Trials, separate from what you earn as the enemy poofs out of battle. That can definitely finance using the Mover to skip ahead several floors

There's also a new email from Frankly about the First Attack badge, which seemed odd. I go to buy it and discover it's 0BP in the remake. Some of these developers must have been playing Paper Mario rom hacks.

On 5/24/2024 at 6:12 PM, Zanarkin said:

Edit: Also pressing ZL only gives dialogue from goombella (An icon of hers show up on the dialogue box when other partners are active).

It gave me Koops telling me to try his ability when you have to hit the two switches to reveal the pipe that leads to hooktail castle.

[Zanarkin]

14 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

It gave me Koops telling me to try his ability when you have to hit the two switches to reveal the pipe that leads to hooktail castle.

I wonder if it is situation dependent. I'll have to give it a try next time the game tells me I have to do something while suggesting a partner ability.

Edit: Oh neat it absolutely is. I just pressed the hint button in a place I couldn't continue on, but could get something with a partner ability, and then Koops Icon showed up while I had Flurry as the partner. That is pretty neat!

Edit2: Also, abusing the lottery is very profitable. Changing the date is super easy, and can net you ultra shrooms (rarely), and life shrooms (somewhat common) that can sell for 75 and 43 coins at Pungent's store respectively. I got such easy money just trying to get that lucky day badge.

Edited May 27 by Zanarkin