Board 8 > Paper Mario: The Origami King Review Zone

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https://opencritic.com/game/9585/paper-mario-the-origami-king

80 average through 31 reviews so far!

Summary: The Origami King is no Thousand-Year Door, but Paper Mario fans will still find a lot to love if they can look past the combat system.

Positives

• Classic Humor - The Origami King lives up to the series' family-friendly humor.
• Visual Design - Successfully delivers on its Origami visuals; its open world is vibrant and fun to explore.

Negatives

• Combat System - Combat has few interesting choices and quickly becomes repetitive.

Review Quotes

Paper Mario: The Origami King is an action-adventure game, not an RPG, which is sure to disappoint Paper Mario fans waiting for The Thousand Year Door's second coming. If you refuse to touch a Paper Mario game that's not an RPG, The Origami King will leave you dry and irritated, like the hands of a paper-folding master. But if you're OK with Paper Mario's turn to action, you'll find an enjoyable game packed with humor, secrets, and unique boss battles. The Paper Mario team is clearly learning how to make these distinct Mario games more appealing. - USGamer

The Origami King suffers from one-note combat and few real choices, but its personality and visual design are a joy. - IGN

The Origami King keeps its RPG systems and character work light, but revamped combat and solid gags throughout are the course-correction Paper Mario needed. - Gamespot

Origami King might not be the successor to Thousand-Year Door for which fans have been clamoring, but this time the formula works, allowing the series great writing and worlds to shine through. - Kotaku

One of the most relentlessly charming video games ever made and the best Paper Mario since The Thousand-Year Door. - Metro

As usual, Nintendo's quirky writing is full of laugh-out-loud moments, but your quest is full of tiresome backtracking - Game Informer

I want to share it with my nieces and nephews, as well as my grown friends. But I hesitate due to the frustration of the combat and those imposing boss battles those moments where I wish I had someone else to take over on the controller. - Polygon

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Yah I'm not seeing my equivalent of the Bat Signal in the sky telling me that I need to run to the nearest Gamestop and buy this thing. I only give these critics so much weight, but the complaints about the combat seem too consistent to ignore. Like Ghost of Tsushima, I'll wait until my Steam backlog has cleared a bit.

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For me the big thing I like about Paper Mario is its sense of humor and I also enjoy exploring the worlds.

So this game is probably for me. Whether its an RPG or not really isnt a factor.

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sounds like a thing I might play at some point but also maybe just wont
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lol polygon got filtered by the puzzles

honestly it's really great if you treat it as a puzzle game. Imagine a turn-based Professor Layton RPG (admittedly with only one puzzle type.) If you're expecting a full-fledged RPG, you're gonna be disappointed

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i don't understand why people keep saying "we would like you to make an rpg" and nintendo goes "ah, but how about this"

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Steiner posted...

i don't understand why people keep saying "we would like you to make an rpg" and nintendo goes "ah, but how about this"

There are a myriad of interviews you can read about how they aren't interested in making the same game twice and want new and creative types of games. Also the mass market is more profitable than the fairly niche RPG diehards

SPM and Sticker Star were misses, but Origami King nails it. I didn't play Color Splash, but if it's anything like TOK, maybe it's not as bad as people say!

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DeepsPraw posted...

There are a myriad of interviews you can read about how they aren't interested in making the same game twice and want new and creative types of games.

Well, they made SS and CS, so that's clearly not true.

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DeepsPraw posted...

lol polygon got filtered by the puzzles

honestly it's really great if you treat it as a puzzle game. Imagine a turn-based Professor Layton RPG (admittedly with only one puzzle type.) If you're expecting a full-fledged RPG, you're gonna be disappointed

OK guiga

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DeepsPraw posted...

There are a myriad of interviews you can read about how they aren't interested in making the same game twice and want new and creative types of games.

there are a myriad of exceptions to this rule that printed nintendo a boatload of money!

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I take back all the snide shitty remarks I made about this game being "sticker star 3" or whatever back when it was announced. It's a modern classic. EASILY a top 3 Paper Mario game, maybe even top two.....

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DeepsPraw posted...

I take back all the snide shitty remarks I made about this game

im gonna need a bit longer

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Up to 81 on Metacritic now which is more or less exactly what I expected, so a notable improvement from SS and CS (and the latter was already an improvement over the former). If we're getting super-granular it means that it is closer to SPM than to CS. Good news! I have a voucher and was waiting for reviews to see if this is what I use it on, and I think this response will push me over the edge.

I will say this on the subject of the combat and RPG systems - the RPG systems in 64 and TTYD were good, but they were there in service of the rest of the game that was the main draw. The story, world, characters, exploration, and so on. The RPG stuff was serviceable above all else. So if you came to Paper Mario for those specific systems then this might not be for you, but I think this game delivers on what made Paper Mario great in the first place.

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See this unassuming looking bob-omb? He has more characterization than Bombette and Bobbery combined, and a full emotional arc as good or better than any partner from the first 2 games

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Sticker Star is the way it is because basically the overall series head, Kensuke Tanabe, revealed in an interview that among the many games he was a producer for at Nintendo one was Freshly-Picked Tingles Rosy Rupeeland for the DS. Tanabe was enamored with how Tingle started and ended the game at the same strength level, instead using money to solve his problems, and that is why Sticker Star used the battle system it does.

As for why they haven't made a game like the first two it's because Japan is apparently not fond of Thousand Year Door and all the Club Nintendo surveys they got about Super Paper Mario said that fans overwhelmingly despised the story.

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I don't put much value in review scores but the content of the reviews definitely are making me go 'eh...'.

Like we have someone who goes "This game is unbelievably boring, 7.5/10" like what.

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Have any of the reviews touched on the difficulty? I find myself bouncing off of a lot of the non-platformer Nintendo stuff just because I struggle to not fall asleep while playing with how much hand holding and how easy the games are.

If it's not going to require me to think then I'll probably pass.

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ninkendo posted...

Sticker Star is the way it is because basically the overall series head, Kensuke Tanabe, revealed in an interview that among the many games he was a producer for at Nintendo one was Freshly-Picked Tingles Rosy Rupeeland for the DS. Tanabe was enamored with how Tingle started and ended the game at the same strength level, instead using money to solve his problems, and that is why Sticker Star used the battle system it does.

As for why they haven't made a game like the first two it's because Japan is apparently not fond of Thousand Year Door and all the Club Nintendo surveys they got about Super Paper Mario said that fans overwhelmingly despised the story.

Japan is the worst

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the gamexplain video touches on the difficulty of the combat a bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBT0XlKGE7M

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davidponte posted...

If it's not going to require me to think then I'll probably pass.

There are definitely some brain teasers! the game can kind of be as hard or as easy as you like. You can choose to do all the ring puzzles the right way, extending the clock if you need to. You can kind of half-ass them and take damage as a trade-off. You can turn puzzle hints on or you can just pay the toads to solve them for you.

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Also I could be persuaded to get the game for cheap if the writing actually is solid, but it's still pretty mind boggling that they keep making games where fighting is actively detrimental, especially because they were apparently inspired by friggin' Tingle

Japan is the worst

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On the Club Nintendo surveys it wasn't that people disliked the story but that they weren't interested in it as a draw. This I believe being worldwide not just Japan. Of course Nintendo clearly listened to the complaints there even by Color Splash since that game has significantly more story than ultra-barebones Sticker Star, even if the setup is familiar. And it sounds like this one's story is really good! So maybe the real mistake was just SS all along.

Leonhart4 posted...

Also I could be persuaded to get the game for cheap if the writing actually is solid, but it's still pretty mind boggling that they keep making games where fighting is actively detrimental, especially because they were apparently inspired by friggin' Tingle

Japan is the worst

Fighting is not detrimental. They fixed that. It's just that the old guard have now moved the goalposts from "fighting is detrimental" to "needs more incentive to battle".

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Leonhart4 posted...

it's still pretty mind boggling that they keep making games where fighting is actively detrimental

It's not like Sticker Star where there's the constant fear of running out of fundamental actions.

Fights are not really as detrimental as people are making them out to be since they're your primary source of coins, and you use coins to extend the puzzle timer and/or pay the toads.

And if you like the puzzles the battles are fun to do on their own! They can get a bit repetitive, though, and there's nothing wrong with running past an enemy.

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So it definitely leans into the puzzles then for combat. I might have to watch some more gameplay before making a decision because I'm big on "action adventure" and "very light RPG components", but "puzzle" is my least favorite genre of game.

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Ugh I actually didn't know that Tingle factoid. It's actually hard to complain about Nintendo's dedication to their inspirations, because it's caused just as much good as it has bad.

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I feel like people don't appreciate that games are made for wider audiences than they used to be.

Like Breath of The Wild was the hardest core zelda ever made (80 hours in I still had to remember how bomb controls worked) and they are currently making a sequel.

Not all games are for everyone. I might get this game for my son. I bet he would like it

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Lightning Strikes posted...

Fighting is not detrimental

Also this is wonderful news. As long as that isn't the case it instantly is at least on the radar

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Well, I guess "no real reason to fight" is technically an upgrade thanks to how bad Sticker Star was.

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Needing a "reason to fight" is such a weird RPG-specific demand. The reasons to fight in this game are things like a shy guy is blocking your path or a galoomba is throwing spiky chestnuts down on you. They're obstacles. Do you need a "reason" to jump on a goomba in SMB1?

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They're framing this as an RPG no matter how they want to say it isn't. It takes half a second to stomp on a Goomba and then I'm moving on. If they're grinding the game to a halt for something other than a boss or plot reasons, I'd like an incentive, yes.

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Honestly I don't even get how repetitive combat is a huge turn off for people. I feel like that's most JRPGs. I'll use Repels in Pokemon and turn off encounters in Final Fantasy. Especially if I feel like I don't need the exp.

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DeepsPraw posted...

Needing a "reason to fight" is such a weird RPG-specific demand. The reasons to fight in this game are things like a shy guy is blocking your path or a galoomba is throwing spiky chestnuts down on you. They're obstacles. Do you need a "reason" to jump on a goomba in SMB1?

I don't really think they're all that comparable. Jumping on a goomba takes a second and doesn't really interrupt moving forward, while combat in this game requires more time investment than that. Of course you'll want more reason to do something that takes a minute than something that takes a second.

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BetrayedTangy posted...

Honestly I don't even get how repetitive combat is a huge turn off for people. I feel like that's most JRPGs. I'll use Repels in Pokemon and turn off encounters in Final Fantasy. Especially if I feel like I don't need the exp.

You'll put up with it if there's a greater purpose for it, even if it's repetitive. Like you said, once there's no reason at all to fight, then why would you?

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Leonhart4 posted...

You'll put up with it if there's a greater purpose for it, even if it's repetitive. Like you said, once there's no reason at all to fight, then why would you?

Just because combat gets repetitive doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable. Sometimes I just want to progress through the game and don't feel like fighting every enemy I see. I even did that with the first two Paper Marios.

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I mean, that's fine. I don't fight every enemy either, but I don't know why I'd fight random battles at all here.

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From what we saw in that 10 minute video clip earlier, it looks like you get more confetti from battles than from smacking the environment with a hammer, so if you come to a spot where you need a lot of confetti to fill in and the choices are do two quick battles that are close by or travel a longer distance to be able to smack enough flowers, I may still choose to do at least one battle.

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Well that's a good point, but to me even if battles really just suck and are pointless I'll avoid them and enjoy the story.

That's what I've always liked the most about Paper Mario anyway

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ninkendo posted...

Sticker Star is the way it is because basically the overall series head, Kensuke Tanabe, revealed in an interview that among the many games he was a producer for at Nintendo one was Freshly-Picked Tingles Rosy Rupeeland for the DS. Tanabe was enamored with how Tingle started and ended the game at the same strength level, instead using money to solve his problems, and that is why Sticker Star used the battle system it does.

As for why they haven't made a game like the first two it's because Japan is apparently not fond of Thousand Year Door and all the Club Nintendo surveys they got about Super Paper Mario said that fans overwhelmingly despised the story.

Horrifying.

Well at least they've finally made a not awful Sticker Star. I might play it someday.

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DeepsPraw posted...

EASILY a top 3 Paper

That's not a very high bar to clear when there are only two good PM games.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

That's not a very high bar to clear when there are only two good PM games.

Never speak to my child Super Paper Mario again

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Oh boy, map checklists with percentages. I do like me some of those.



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I actually dont mind fighting random battles as long as the map layout is pretty clear.

Once you get lost that's when battles suck.

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mnkboy907 posted...

Oh boy, map checklists with percentages. I do like me some of those.

Now this I can get on board with

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There are more Paper Mario games that aren't RPGs than ones that are

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Grand Kirby posted...

There are more Paper Mario games that aren't RPGs than ones that are

I mean Super Paper Mario is the only one I would say is definitely not an RPG

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Leonhart4 posted...

I mean Super Paper Mario is the only one I would say is definitely not an RPG

Sticker Star, Color Splash and Origami King are puzzle games disguised as RPGs.

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I really want to experience the world and story but don't want to go through the battle system. Normally I'd tell myself I'd wait for it to go on sale, but lol Nintendo games on sale.

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swirIdude posted...

Sticker Star, Color Splash and Origami King are puzzle games disguised as RPGs.

I mean, most RPGs have puzzle elements in them anyway.

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...How is Color Splash a puzzle game?

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Looks like Amazon will deliver it tomorrow.

Won't start it though until after I finish up deadly premonition 2

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