10th November 2004, 11:10 AM
OB1 Wrote:I finally got to play a bunch of Paper Mario 2 over the weekend and I really love it. I can't play anything else right now. :D It's a lot like the first game, but with enhancements everywhere. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. The original PM is one of my all-time favorite RPGs. This is one of the few RPGs out there where I really enjoy doing combat. It's not overly complex combat and so far it hasn't been very difficult, but I'd much rather be playing through an RPG with this combat system than any other, and that includes the BG system.
I'm only into chapter 2 but so far the game has been quite hilarious. The "curses", Murphy, Mario snoring whenever Luigi talks to him, and all of the other dozens of little jokes here and there. All great stuff. The graphics are great, very crisp and detailed. I agree with ign that the whole "paper" theme really isn't used that much aside from the characters and a few nifty tricks, but I can't complain too much when the game is so fun to look at. Chapter 2 is simply gorgeous. I love the art in this level in particular. And the music! Man, I wish Intelligent Systems made the music for every Nintendo game. This isn't low-quality midi stuff like most of Nintendo's GC games feature, this is high-quality music. The compositions are wonderful (possibly the best GC soundtrack so far) and the sound quality itself is terrific. I really wish Nintendo would release OSTs of their games...
GOTY IMO so far. Better than GTA.
I agree. This is much more fun than GTA. It was supposed to hold me over until GTA was released, but instead I'm finding myself playing PM2 everyday and GTA maybe once or twice a week at best.
I'm on Chapter 8, the last chapter. I've been playing for about 44 hours. The battle system is easy to figure out, but highly enjoyable. I've rarely gotten frustrated with random battles since they're usually done and over with in less than three minutes, and I can usually continue with almost as much HP/FP and all the same items that I had to start with, unlike in RPGs such as Final Fantasy, where random battles are unavoidable, sometimes difficult and frustrating, and they drain your supply of items and HP/MP, possibly even kill you just when you're two steps away from a save point or a town. As much as I love Final Fantasy, I can only stand that for so long.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is no doubt my favorite game this year. It's also #2 on my list of GC games, just below Wind Waker. (SSB:M holds the #1 spot if you count multiplayer.)