Post by Magikrazy on Nov 8, 2015 23:22:04 GMT -5
So Paper Jam, the newest entry in the Mario & Luigi franchise, is on its way. Personally, this game is looking alright, although we haven't really seen much if anything about it.
Some people are not as optimistic as I am. I understand this completely, as again, we've not heard much. However, I've heard a few people go so far as to say the Mario RPG series is dead, kaput, fin! And that's just preposterous!
I've got a question. If the series is dying, what's killing it? Well people tend to point to the game Paper Mario: Sticker Star, which is undeniably one of the weaker entries in the Paper Mario series. Specifically, they point to two things in particular the game does wrong. Now when I think of two things Sticker Star did wrong, I think of the atrocious job done to the battle mechanics (which Paper Jam appears to have fixed, if not removed [again, we'll see when it comes out]) and removing Bowser and Luigi's dialogue (which Paper Jam has at least half-fixed). But these aren't the two problems the Chicken Littles talk about. They're talking about the absence of original characters and story.
I'll tackle original characters first. I'm not a fan. I normally find them uninteresting. Of course, this isn't true with all of them. I enjoy a few of the bosses from the first two titles. But then my other problem arises with original characters. As soon as they're here, they're gone. What was even the point? I would have been fine without Rawk Hawk, but now I'm just peeved he'll never see the light of day again. Mario has a good, hearty cast of characters. Using that is just fine. And for the future, if they absolutely must bring in a new character, I hope they make them interesting and quirky, and then integrate that character into the rest of the series.
Now for story. I'll just say it now. Story should not be priority when it comes to making a game. Ever. Gameplay and graphics are way more important. If you put more effort into story than those, you end up with Sonic the Hedgehog, and not the 1991 version. Look at the greatest arcade titles from the golden age of arcades. PAC-MAN, Space Invaders, Asteroids, none of those games had any story, and they were fun as all hell. Really, stories in video games weren't big (except in text-based games on the Commodore and Amiga) until Donkey Kong had an opening cutscene. Yeah, that's right. Shigeru Miyamoto, the man some claim to be killing Mario RPGs and their stories, popularized the idea of stories in games.
Don't get me wrong. If a good game has a good story, props to it. But Mario isn't that type of game. Not even the Mario RPGs are that type of game. Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario's stories were "get the seven things or the dark overlord will rule the world". Nothing to write home about. I'd rather they put more effort into the gameplay and the graphics than try and do something epic. That's why I didn't like Super Paper Mario. The game felt pretty restrictive with it normally being in 2D, several parts were incredibly tedious and boring, and dear god, the npcs looked awful, especially the Cragnons. I felt like I was doing those monsters a disservice by not putting them out of their misery. But no, I guess it was more important to add a dozen or so new main characters and shove Mario and company aside to focus on a couple of nobodys who will be entirely forgotten about the next game.
So no, I don't think the Mario RPG series is dead. I think it's just going through a much needed reboot, the Paper Mario series especially. Sure, Sticker Star could have been a lot better, but it did some things right. It added some characters from the main games who had yet to appear, such as Bowser Jr. and Kamek. It updated the design of the enemies to match with the current designs (although I hope they do the main cast soon as well). I love what they did with the paper environments. The Sombrero Guys were great, and I'd like to see them again. Snifit or Whiffit was nice, and makes me wish Snifit was the host of the Mario Party games.
I look forward to Paper Jam, as well as the next installment of the Paper Mario series.
Some people are not as optimistic as I am. I understand this completely, as again, we've not heard much. However, I've heard a few people go so far as to say the Mario RPG series is dead, kaput, fin! And that's just preposterous!
I've got a question. If the series is dying, what's killing it? Well people tend to point to the game Paper Mario: Sticker Star, which is undeniably one of the weaker entries in the Paper Mario series. Specifically, they point to two things in particular the game does wrong. Now when I think of two things Sticker Star did wrong, I think of the atrocious job done to the battle mechanics (which Paper Jam appears to have fixed, if not removed [again, we'll see when it comes out]) and removing Bowser and Luigi's dialogue (which Paper Jam has at least half-fixed). But these aren't the two problems the Chicken Littles talk about. They're talking about the absence of original characters and story.
I'll tackle original characters first. I'm not a fan. I normally find them uninteresting. Of course, this isn't true with all of them. I enjoy a few of the bosses from the first two titles. But then my other problem arises with original characters. As soon as they're here, they're gone. What was even the point? I would have been fine without Rawk Hawk, but now I'm just peeved he'll never see the light of day again. Mario has a good, hearty cast of characters. Using that is just fine. And for the future, if they absolutely must bring in a new character, I hope they make them interesting and quirky, and then integrate that character into the rest of the series.
Now for story. I'll just say it now. Story should not be priority when it comes to making a game. Ever. Gameplay and graphics are way more important. If you put more effort into story than those, you end up with Sonic the Hedgehog, and not the 1991 version. Look at the greatest arcade titles from the golden age of arcades. PAC-MAN, Space Invaders, Asteroids, none of those games had any story, and they were fun as all hell. Really, stories in video games weren't big (except in text-based games on the Commodore and Amiga) until Donkey Kong had an opening cutscene. Yeah, that's right. Shigeru Miyamoto, the man some claim to be killing Mario RPGs and their stories, popularized the idea of stories in games.
Don't get me wrong. If a good game has a good story, props to it. But Mario isn't that type of game. Not even the Mario RPGs are that type of game. Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario's stories were "get the seven things or the dark overlord will rule the world". Nothing to write home about. I'd rather they put more effort into the gameplay and the graphics than try and do something epic. That's why I didn't like Super Paper Mario. The game felt pretty restrictive with it normally being in 2D, several parts were incredibly tedious and boring, and dear god, the npcs looked awful, especially the Cragnons. I felt like I was doing those monsters a disservice by not putting them out of their misery. But no, I guess it was more important to add a dozen or so new main characters and shove Mario and company aside to focus on a couple of nobodys who will be entirely forgotten about the next game.
So no, I don't think the Mario RPG series is dead. I think it's just going through a much needed reboot, the Paper Mario series especially. Sure, Sticker Star could have been a lot better, but it did some things right. It added some characters from the main games who had yet to appear, such as Bowser Jr. and Kamek. It updated the design of the enemies to match with the current designs (although I hope they do the main cast soon as well). I love what they did with the paper environments. The Sombrero Guys were great, and I'd like to see them again. Snifit or Whiffit was nice, and makes me wish Snifit was the host of the Mario Party games.
I look forward to Paper Jam, as well as the next installment of the Paper Mario series.
)
