Sticker Star is maybe the best?

[Bookoostrikes]

To be really honest. Despite the fact SS took out important RPG elements, I personally think this is one of IS's best works yet. Although PMTTYD was my favorite Paper Mario, it's difficulty was a joke to be honest. I mean, beating the game with only 5-10 HP was my greatest challenge and if wasn't even that much of a challenge.

However the difficulty spike in SS is crazy! You have no meat shields to soak damage to you. You can't level grind for more HP, not to mention you need to kill things to get coins to get useful stickers. Plus enemies often appear in groups of 2-5 and its hard taking them all out in one turn and your punishment for not doing that is 3-10+ damage even when you do guard.

Then you have the crazy bosses. Let us see...first chapter boss has 95 HP, VS you with only 30 HP. It doesn't help that he has defense and that your attacks are kinda weak. Then the second chapter boss suddenly gets 300 HP? The most efficient way to defeat them is to use special stickers, but not everyone knows that and people like me rush into battle and get themselves killed. But this is for me the best Paper Mario in the series. I just wish the others were a lot harder.

[ZemZem]

I mean, beating the game with only 5-10 HP was my greatest challenge and if wasn't even that much of a challenge.

Danger Mario or not?

Either way, Sticker Star is one of the two games I want most for the 3DS, the other being FE13. I heard mixed feelings about it, but I'll have to see for myself.

[Bookoostrikes]

Danger Mario or not?

Either way, Sticker Star is one of the two games I want most for the 3DS, the other being FE13. I heard mixed feelings about it, but I'll have to see for myself.

Yes, but I only had one danger rush and maybe a few of the dodgy ones. I still took 2 damage if I got hit, which was 50% of time ._.

Trust me, it's really good. I guess the fact that you can't grind levels makes it a lot harder. But it's still great nonetheless.

If it's kinda relevant, on Gamefaqs it's the #1 3DS game.

[Samias]

Sticker Star is just a different beast from TTYD and requires a different set of expectations. Sticker Star involves a lot more problem solving in battle but to be honest I found the game pretty easy. If you aren't prepped with the right item for the boss you might as well reset and go get it. The maps are designed for you to be able to do this anyway. I think it is a fine game, the writing is stellar as always, and the game being set into stages is far more suitable for a portable platform. It isn't TTYD, but I would rather have something or that scale on a console anyway.

[Melonhead]

I was pretty surprised going into this to be honest, I wasn't expecting the difficulty to be so hard. Still, it's an amazing game and would recommend it to anyone.

[Galenforcer]

Ehhh... it was pretty fun, but wasn't worth my $40.

[Othin]

NO

Stickers. Don't. Fucking. Work.

Awful game. I agree that IS's best work is on the 3DS, but it's sure as hell not Sticker Star. Their best game is not one where you expend valuable items in every battle for a reward of a few pitiful coins, making the best strategic option in random encounters to just run away. Their best game is not one where boss battles are decided simply by having enough items with you to exhaust the boss's enormous HP reserves before you run out of options entirely. Their best game is not one where using abilities to progress means looking at a blank space and guessing at which valuable item to throw away in hopes that it'll be the precise one the game is looking for and not its near-identical duplicate, when the real one might be hidden somewhere in some random past level and force you to spend more time running away from enemies in hopes of finding it. Those are the characteristics of IS's worst game.

Make no mistake: there were some good ideas in Sticker Star. An increased need for inventory management, when implemented properly, can add a lot of strategy, but Sticker Star completely flubbed it, making the "inventory management" primarily entail grinding over and over to get more and more stickers. It's a disaster.

[Bookoostrikes]

NO

Stickers. Don't. Fucking. Work.

Awful game. I agree that IS's best work is on the 3DS, but it's sure as hell not Sticker Star. Their best game is not one where you expend valuable items in every battle for a reward of a few pitiful coins, making the best strategic option in random encounters to just run away. Their best game is not one where boss battles are decided simply by having enough items with you to exhaust the boss's enormous HP reserves before you run out of options entirely. Their best game is not one where using abilities to progress means looking at a blank space and guessing at which valuable item to throw away in hopes that it'll be the precise one the game is looking for and not its near-identical duplicate, when the real one might be hidden somewhere in some random past level and force you to spend more time running away from enemies in hopes of finding it. Those are the characteristics of IS's worst game.

Make no mistake: there were some good ideas in Sticker Star. An increased need for inventory management, when implemented properly, can add a lot of strategy, but Sticker Star completely flubbed it, making the "inventory management" primarily entail grinding over and over to get more and more stickers. It's a disaster.

Fair enough. At least you're not one of those Butthurt fanboys that cry, because its not Thousand Year Door. I had the same feelings as you when I first saw it. I thought it was garbage, but I said "ehh what the hell, might as well get it" now it's one of my top games. Better than TTYD to an extent. However I can't help but not agree with some of your points.

1. Using good stickers doesn't hurt you too much, because there's stickers EVERYWHERE. Plus, with the abundant amount of coins you get, money and buying stickers isn't a problem. Plus, those pitiful coins accumulate and at the end of each level, you get coins depending on how many enemies you killed. You can get a easy 200 coins in one level.

2. But isn't that the point of boss battles? Testing your skills to the limit and being prepared? You can't just fluke battles in SS unlike other RPG's. If you're not prepared, you better run away fast. Boss battles weren't supposed to be easy.

3. It's not that hard to decide which stickers to use. Getting rid of a sandstorm. Hmmmmmm what can suck a tornado? Maybe a soda? How about a bat? No, this game is about common sense. If you can't use your common sense properly in this game, you won't get too far easily. Last time I checked, puzzles required thinking, not hoping for the best.

4. I do respect you for the finding the right item though. Inspecting and finding all the secrets in a level isn't everyone's forte, but the thing stickers aren't really that hidden to be honest.

[Othin]

1. My point is that they cost you at all, in a game where you don't get any sort of Exp. If you get 200 coins in one level, you've sure as hell used up more than 200 coins worth of stickers.

2. Sticker Star's boss battles don't tax your skills at all. If you have a substantial reserve of stickers, they're an easy win. That's my point. They aren't remotely challenging; they just force you to go back and grind beforehand.

3. It's not so much of a problem when you actually have the item necessary as when you don't, and the latter is far more often the case. "Oh hey, a sandstorm? Perfect, I'll use my vacuum. Wait, what the fuck? ...There's some other vacuum I need to use instead? Well how the fuck was I supposed to know that? Fine, I'll just search every past level I've ever played in hopes of stumbling onto it." It's complete bullshit.

4. I like finding secrets, but it's insane how randomly they're placed, as items you need to find in order to actually progress. Especially when searching through those levels requires either running continuously from enemies or burning a ton of your other stickers. And the result of this is, no, I didn't. I found myself frustrated enough that I gave up and looked up the locations a number of times, which is really something for a game that I quit entirely at the beginning of the fourth world - the halfway point in a game getting more convoluted with every additional level to backtrack to.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Othin

[Byte2222]

1. My point is that they cost you at all, in a game where you don't get any sort of Exp. If you get 200 coins in one level, you've sure as hell used up more than 200 coins worth of stickers.

2. Sticker Star's boss battles don't tax your skills at all. If you have a substantial reserve of stickers, they're an easy win. That's my point. They aren't remotely challenging; they just force you to go back and grind beforehand.

3. It's not so much of a problem when you actually have the item necessary as when you don't, and the latter is far more often the case. "Oh hey, a sandstorm? Perfect, I'll use my vacuum. Wait, what the fuck? ...There's some other vacuum I need to use instead? Well how the fuck was I supposed to know that? Fine, I'll just search every past level I've ever played in hopes of stumbling onto it." It's complete bullshit.

4. I like finding secrets, but it's insane how randomly they're placed, as items you need to find in order to actually progress. Especially when searching through those levels requires either running continuously from enemies or burning a ton of your other stickers. And the result of this is, no, I didn't. I found myself frustrated enough that I gave up and looked up the locations a number of times, which is really something for a game that I quit entirely at the beginning of the fourth world - the halfway point in a game getting more convoluted with every additional level to backtrack to.

1. Jump and hammer stickers cost 3 coins, even ignoring all the stickers lying around. If you can't comfortably get by on all the stickers you find and the coins you get, you're probably doing something wrong.

2. I'll admit, the Megasparkle Goomba caught me out. I'd breezed through world 1 and didn't realise the boss would be so hard. Half way through my second attempt Kersti chimed in recommending that I use a scissors or fan sticker. Seeing as I had neither in my album, I raged at her for a while but eventually took down the goomba without them. I learned my lesson. In world 2 I stocked up on thing stickers and, when I arrived at Drybake Stadium, I though "ah, I'm sure my bat sticker will come in handy". In the end, I didn't even use it correctly but, since I'd stocked up on thing stickers in preparation for a very hard boss, he still went down on my first go. I actually quite enjoyed the challenge.

3. Kersti gives you advice if you press L. She tends to point you in the right direction.

4. I'm not quite sure what to respond to here. I think I'll go with "I found the puzzles challenging, but I figured out what I needed without any help from outside the game," and leave it there.

OT: I've not finished Sticker Star yet (I'm at 3-12: Whitecap Beach) but I'm actually enjoying it. I didn't so much at the start though, I found the world 1 battles and puzzles far too easy, I was annoyed at IS for ripping out plot and cast (two staples of Paper Mario) and, as I explained above, got cross when I learned how the bosses worked. However, when the gloves came off in world 2 I started to get on with Sticker Star and its puzzles a lot more. I still don't think it's the best Paper Mario though, it feels like IS have been taken out of their comfort zone in a bad way (apparently Miyamoto himself requested no new characters and an excuse plot), I'm still not convinced by the sticker system (apparently another Miyamoto request to make it less "copy the prequel"-ey. Also, I miss badges and the customisation they offered) and I miss the sense of growth I get from levelling but I'm still enjoying the way they've done the puzzles. I feel like it's a very non-patronising style, more like the 8-bit and 16-bit era when you weren't going to have your hand held so you'd better pay attention.

Edited January 5, 2013 by Byte2222

[domflo]

Let's be honest here: Sticker Star is a good game, it is. But it just does not feel like an RPG to me. It does not convey that "Paper Mario" feeling that the first two games had. I have a similar opinion towards Super Paper Mario. It's a good game in its own right, but I think, being a Paper Mario game, it does not meet my expectations.

It lacks many things that ARE RPG to me, like leveling up. In my opinion, there is no motivation to actually fight normal enemies. It's just not worth it. There's nothing motivating me to do so. There is almost no customisation, and the plot (so far, I'm halfway into Chapter 3) has not offered much. As I said, as a Paper Mario game, it just does not meet my expectations.

Now, I don't want to cry over it. I had (originally) hoped for something in the style of the first one and TTYD, but I soon realised that that's not gonna happen. I knew this before buying the game, but I still bought it. Because, as a game in it's own right, I liked it's concept.

As I said, I think it is a fairly good game. Nothing exceptional, but worthwhile, even worth my 40 bucks, if ya ask me. Seeing it as a sort of puzzle game, I actually enjoy it quite a bit. But most of Sticker Stars downsides have already been mentioned, either by me or other people on this topic. I simply don't find it's puzzles or bossfights to be intuitive. I don't really know what to do and how to do it when the game expects me to know. Say, I wanted to wake Wiggler up with the jackhammer, which seemed logical to me. Had totally forgotten about that trumpet because I had used it already, and I had also forgotten where the trumpet was located. Took me quite a while, actually.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with being a rather challenging game, but sometimes it just feels stupid to me (well, maybe because I am myself).

So no, Sticker Star is not the best Paper Mario. By far, in my opinion. But I still would recommend it, not as a Paper Mario game, not as an RPG, but as a puzzle game with some nice dialogue in it.

[redturtle806]

Good game? Yes.

Best Paper Mario? NO!

Granted I'm only at world 3, but it doesn't top the N64 or TTYD. It is better than the more recent Paper Mario titles though.

[Ema Skye]

I'm too annoyed at the lack of story this game has (which I'm blaming on how open ended it is), to want to play it anymore. I don't care that the partners or gone, or that the battle system is so different. As the player of this game, I'm not feeling at all involved with what's going on. The story of TTYD and SPM was some of the best work I've seen IS do. From my stance, its unacceptable.

I've gotten way to bored from playing this game because there's so much backtracking involved. The world 2 puzzle sealed the deal for me. I don't want to backtrack through three levels (not to mention find a secret exit in one), to be able to continue on with the game (I can't even call it a story ._.). After opening up the boss' level in World 2, I really got tired of playing this game because of how tedious it was to go back and find those tablet pieces, and I've yet to regret that decision.

The special stickers were kinda cool, but I found them really impractical, since you were pretty much required to use them for the bosses, but you needed some of them to progress in the game (again, not story). Guess that means more backtracking for me... yay...

and I hate having this opinion because I love the other three Paper Mario games, as well as the Mario and Luigi games. But Sticker Star is just... bleh.

[redturtle806]

I've gotten way to bored from playing this game because there's so much backtracking involved. The world 2 puzzle sealed the deal for me. I don't want to backtrack through three levels (not to mention find a secret exit in one), to be able to continue on with the game (I can't even call it a story ._.). After opening up the boss' level in World 2, I really got tired of playing this game because of how tedious it was to go back and find those tablet pieces, and I've yet to regret that decision.

That puzzle was bullshit. I would have never found those pieces without the internet.

[Party Moth]

I think the biggest thing keeping me from saying "best Paper Mario game so far" is the massive lack of plot. Having just finished World 4, I'm still left wondering what the hell is even going on and the implications of World 4 don't leave me exactly pleased with what I'm doing on my quest.

See, even though Super Paper Mario completely abandoned a large majority of the previous Paper Mario games' playing styles and mechanics, it retained the storyline, the spectacular dialogue and the memorable characters. As a result I still greatly enjoyed the game. But Sticker Star? There's no Luigi to provide his own sort of humor. There's no TEC to provide you with what's going on with the Princess while she's in captivity. There's no Count Bleck to give his signature laugh as he gives hint to a much darker reason as to why he is motivated to be the villain. With Sticker Star, as of World 4 or so, there's absolutely none of that. The most memorable characters so far are Kamek and Bowser Jr., not exactly new to the scene and only Kamek is providing a constant villain since Bowser's....somewhere, being Bowser (who knows at this point and why should I care?). So far, Kersti's done nothing but be a hint provider and complain about every little thing. She's constantly blaming Mario for being too slow at his job when he's the only one who can do it and that just ends up pissing me off.

tl;dr Until Sticker Star stands up and provides a plot I refuse to acknowledge it as the best.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I dont like how the battles are more or less pointless. Aside from getting coins, theres no real point. You dont get stronger for doing them. So why even bother? Stickers may be everywhere, but theres little variety to them. Theres just various "upgraded" versions of the same attacks. The Thing stickers get fun but are more or less one-use unless you shell out a ton of coins for the Thing again and make a sticker out of it.

The world is nice and non-linear for the most part, but pretty small. And a little uninspired. We've seen these locales before in other forms.

The lack of story is a bit of a turn off.

Its a good game overall, but as a Paper Mario game, its bottom tier.

[CinderSkye]

This is, hands down, the worst in the entire Mario RPG family - I can't include Super Paper Mario, I never played it, but I do include SMRPG, PM, TTYD, M&L, PiT, BiS.

1) I disagree with other people saying that there's no incentive to do battles. If you take the time and use the cheapest stickers possible, you'll always make more than you cost per level. However, "I get more coins" isn't really an effective incentive when you get down to it. It's boring, and I ended up with much more coins than I needed by the end. Those extra coins added nothing for me.

2) The battles themselves are the most boring in any Mario RPG. There is only one kind of attack button input the majority of the time: Press A at the right time, a handful of times. Other games have included a lot of schemes, which added a variety of things for you to do in each battle. Off the top of my head, you commonly saw, "Rotate the control pad," "follow this button combination," "Spam the button" for your chosen attacks, and gave you a constant-on variety of defenses. You only have one defense at a time in PM:SS, and it's usually not worth it to spend a sticker.

3) Any difficulty comes from the game simply withholding information from you. Not the way a puzzle does, where you can reasonably figure it out; you learn via the school of hard knocks. If it doesn't work, you get ouched and often have to restart. And then you find the right sticker and you come back and the boss is easy as anything. It's completely unreasonable that none of the bosses have clues as to their weak spots before the battle, and most of the clues during their battles are subpar. And then, the best part is, it doesn't even matter. I defeated every boss without their special stickers or any outside-the-game help. They were boring endurance battles between my huge amount of stickers and constant self-healing via Kersti's slot lottery, and their large HP numbers. I had no enjoyment in any fight.

4) The idea suggests ingenuity; the game as played stifles it. I need to knock down a bunch of pins? Hey, I have a pool ball that'd be about the right size to be a bowling ball to them. Nope. I need a for-real bowling ball sticker. ...

The writing was atrocious.

If this had been a title I'd picked up used for half the price from a small developer, I'd give it props. But compared to every other entry I've played in the series, it's just bad. It's the worst of both worlds from standard Mario and Mario RPGs.

[Original Alear]

What is the, uh, atmosphere, environment and visuals of the game like?

I really thought that paper mario ttyd was the best of the IS mario rpgs, and I didn't think Super Paper Mario was really good from this perspective. I thought paper mario (64) was pretty good. And I think that Mario RPG's world is one of the coolest Mario realms I've ever explored.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Mouse

[CinderSkye]

What is the, uh, atmosphere, environment and visuals of the game like?

I really thought that paper mario ttyd was the best of the IS mario rpgs, and I didn't think Super Paper Mario was really good from this perspective. I thought paper mario (64) was pretty good. And I think that Mario RPG's world is one of the coolest Mario realms I've ever explored.

Visually, it is technically gorgeous and has a lot of fun with the paper theme, but the settings they're used on are nothing new. It's Nintendo's cutesy analogue to MORE AND BETTER RENDERED BROWN AND BLOOM EFFECTS that plague a lot of high performance but artistically uninspired FPSes: it's pretty, but soulless.

[Party Moth]

Visually, it is technically gorgeous and has a lot of fun with the paper theme, but the settings they're used on are nothing new. It's Nintendo's cutesy analogue to MORE AND BETTER RENDERED BROWN AND BLOOM EFFECTS that plague a lot of high performance but artistically uninspired FPSes: it's pretty, but soulless.

Yeah, I think this pretty much sums it up. Mediocre battle mechanics with no incentive coupled with a massive lack of dialogue and story. Next to even Super Paper Mario it looks, plays and reads like a soulless shell.

If it were a standard Mario game and not a Mario RPG, I'd be more forgiving. But this is unacceptable.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Duels at Dawn

[Loki Laufeyson]

The soundtrack is rather nice however. Very jazzy and quite different from what we are used to.

[Party Moth]

The soundtrack is rather nice however. Very jazzy and quite different from what we are used to.

Oh, yeah, that's probably the best thing about it. It was also the only thing good aspect of World 3's boss battle besides the cameo.

EDIT: I just beat the game. Most disappointing Paper Mario game ever. Was worth maybe $20, but no way in hell would I spend $40 (I got it for Christmas so I don't have to feel as bad).

Edited January 11, 2013 by Duels at Dawn

[CinderSkye]

I really don't understand why it's getting pretty decent reviews when the fan reaction has been overwhelmingly disappointed.

[Esau of Isaac]

I really don't understand why it's getting pretty decent reviews when the fan reaction has been overwhelmingly disappointed.

Because it's a first-party title and a big name on the 3DS. It's given much leniency as a result. It would have to be utter drivel to receive anything less than a 7 from most major gaming publications.

[Rehab]

Or be Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and be reviewed by Game Informer circa 2004