Okay so this is my first time on this site and pretty much the first critical video game review I've ever written so you may have to bare with me on this one so here we go, first attempts at a completely spoiler-free review of The Last of Us Part 2.
The Last of Us Part II. A complex story of love, loss, and despair.
It is difficult to even think where to begin with this game. Even after a week of completing this journey, the thoughts, and emotions this game has brought upon myself still engulf me. This game is a complex, dynamic narrative like no other with the sole aim of taking the player on a journey with not only the characters, but the player themselves. This game comes with its flaws which it cannot hide from, but don’t let these flaws distract you from the fact this game is an incredible and illustrious feat in story writing like we’ve never seen in the industry before.
The post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us is once again brought to life in Naughty Dog’s latest and most ambitious project to date. As expected, The Last of Us Part II directly follows on from the events of the first game, with two of its most beloved characters: Joel and Ellie. This time, we have moved on around four years since the events of the first game, meaning Ellie is now a nineteen-year-old woman who has learnt to fight and fend for herself, and now takes centre stage as the main playable character throughout the story. Joel and Ellie have settled down in the town of Jackson, a settlement founded by Joel’s brother: Tommy. We have now been introduced to two new factions, The Washington Liberation Front (WLF) and Seraphites (Scars). All is well and life seems to be on the up for our two protagonists. However, this is the world of The Last of Us. It was never going to be an easy ride.
A huge step-up in gameplay
The Last of Us Part II was subject to a massive overhaul in gameplay since the first game was released, now over 7 years ago. TLOU 1 could often be related to a Telltale game with its basic gameplay which often left the player feeling restricted. It is a pleasure to say that in TLOU P2, this is certainly not the case. The Last of Us Part II does an incredible job of enticing fans back into the story of Joel and Ellie, without making gameplay mechanics feel repetitive and basic. Naughty Dog perfectly mixed the standard structure and base gameplay we know and love from their first title, with the new dynamic of improved movement mechanics, combat sequences, and additional gameplay features you could expect from a game with a 2020 release date.
First, I want to touch on movement. The movement in this game feels incredible and flows exquisitely across the entirety of the game. Ellie feels agile as she runs away from convoys of WLF soldiers chasing her down for blood, hurdling obstacles in her way and manoeuvring over the shattered terrain of a war-stricken Seattle, before using the new jump feature to drop onto her enemy like she’s fresh out of Assassins Creed, sinking her knife deep into her enemies neck. However, sometimes it is best to go quiet. Ellie can go prone and crawl through the overgrowth as she desperately tries to stay out of the sight of the extremist cult known as Scars. This new feature adds a substantial amount of depth to the gameplay mechanics like we had never seen in the original instalment, completely changing the stealth aspect of the game that brings us those tense and terrifying moments, which I will get on to later. This new feature also allows Ellie to squeeze her way through gaps underneath a vehicle or in a gap in a wall to move throughout the world and access new areas. It really is remarkable to see how far ND have come across their portfolio of titles and how the gameplay of a story driven game can easily compete with the gameplay of any other game in this generation.
Now, it’s time to talk about combat, and I do not even know where to begin. As you would expect throughout TLOU P2, there are several encounters which enemies, both human and infected. Every single combat encounter you experience is different; no two combat sections of the game are identical, and this helps massively in keeping the game feel fresh and exciting throughout. There is no single way to take on each sequence, you may choose to quietly take down each enemy one by one with your bow at range and progress silently without alerting enemies, or you may choose to go all Rambo on those WLF and light them up with your precious bullets whilst raining fire on them with the use of a well-placed molotov. This is just one of the aspects of the gameplay that make your playthrough just so damn enjoyable. Another improvement is very clearly seen in the enemy AI. Enemies feel so much more real and so much smarter than we saw in the previous game. Each enemy has a name, creating this sense of emotion between the enemies and these can be very clearly heard when the enemy shrieks the name of one of their fallen soldiers. If you alert enemies, they will find you. They will scour the entire area and will follow you around corners as you attempt to escape. Another fantastic addition is the introduction of dogs to TLOU P2. These dogs will pick up your scent and follow you trail unless you distract them by using the resources you have and the world around you. ND also made significant improvements to one-on-one combat as Ellie can now dodge hits from her enemies and duck out of the way of the flailing arms of incoming infected, before landing a counter strike with either her knife or any other melee weapon you may pick up along the way. This new system makes combat so much more immersive and gripping as the player now must time their dodges in order to achieve that all important kill, which is especially important on those higher, more challenging difficulties. Another fantastic feature was the introduction of the pistol silencer, which can be crafted at any time if the player has the correct materials required. This gifted the user yet another way of attacking those gripping encounters by giving Ellie another tool to use when stealthily executing those enemies.
TLOU P2 is of course a gigantic step up in terms of graphics compared to the first game. This game is simply stunning in every way from the glowing lights of flares in an infected-filled underground station, to the gorgeous warm glow of the morning sun beaming down onto the grass below. ND have once again done an incredible job with the feeling of the environment around you and the way that you really feel as if you’ve been dropped right in the middle of post-apocalyptic Seattle. The sense of loneliness and isolation that the environment makes you feel is nothing like I have ever experienced before in a video game, yet the player has to constantly stay on their toes because one moment you’re alone, next you’re on the run. Compare this game to TLOU Remastered, it genuinely looks and feels like you are already playing the PS5. Every little bit of this game is so immensely detailed right down to blood of your fallen enemies seeping into the gaps in between the tiles they lay on, or the water dripping off of Ellies clothes after climbing out of the water (yes, Ellie can swim). On top of this, thanks to TLOU P2’s built in picture mode it allows the user to capture their own beautiful shots of this diverse world to furthermore increase that feeling of immersion. However, I would have one slight nit-pick in terms of how this game looks. The game has a built-in grain filter, which adds to the aesthetic of the world of TLOU however can feel as if it is restricting the beauty of this game from excelling even further. But overall, the graphics in this game completely exceed any expectations I ever had for an almost seven-year-old console.
This game doesn’t just look good, it sounds good too
If you have played TLOU P1, I’m sure you would be aware of the iconic music that sends shivers down your spine and causing that surreal feeling of goose bumps. Well, Gustavo Santaolalla has done it yet again. The music in this game really hits the player right down to the core, often resulting in my eyes once again filling up with tears (thanks Naughty Dog…) The plucking of those strings instantly reminds me that I’m playing The Last of Us. Even now when I hear that soundtrack for TLOU P2, it triggers overwhelming emotion and instantly throws me back right into those thoughts and feelings that this game brought upon me. One sound that stood out to me the most is one called ‘Longing’ which you can find on YouTube. This incredible, simple noise perfectly sets the scene throughout the course of the game and allows the player time to take a step back and think, “wow, has that REALLY just happened???”. But not only is it the sound of Gustavo Santaolalla that makes this game incredible, its also the contribution from the two characters we know and love: Joel and Ellie. Throughout the game, Ellie will pick up a guitar along the way and begin to pluck those six strings in a way only she could. The use of Ellie and her guitar throughout your journey create an even deeper bond and connection between the player and their beloved characters. One of these scenes where Ellie picks up a guitar and begins to play also happens to be one of my favourite scenes throughout the entirety of this incredible story, you really feel every emotion that the characters are feeling and continues to remind you, this is more than just a video game. Also, huge credit to the sound design for this game, once again adding such a huge depth of immersion from the sound of long grass dancing in the wind, down to that incredibly satisfying sound of Ellie launching a brick through a nearby window and hearing the glass shatter on the ground below. Those harrowing sounds of nearby infected are now even more terrifying then they were previously (yes, this is somehow possible), and of course that iconic sound of a clicker waiting patiently for you to sprint past it for a little mid-day snack.
The elephant in the room- the story.
Just as a word of warning, this section will continue to be spoiler-free, however I will talk about the story with spoilers in greater depth at a later date with a follow up review to properly dissect the story. This story is extremely tough to talk about without spoilers, but I will try my best. Here we go.
The story of TLOU P2 is, simply put, an extraordinary achievement in storytelling, and one of which I have very rarely seen in a video game. I’m sure the vast majority have seen the leaks or have had it spoiled for them by now, and straight away I want to say, do not let these spoilers steer you away from playing this game. This game has to be played to properly appreciate this work of art.
The story is a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, and devastating journey that after 25 hours of playing, I didn’t want it to end. The structure of this story is a complex and ambitious approach from Neil Druckmann and co in attempting to take the player on a spiritual journey across the world of TLOU with our characters. Naughty Dog created a story that would continuously test the players emotions throughout the entirety of the game, and often leave the player feeling completely torn between what is right and wrong, whether they agree with the actions of a character, or even to an extent, making the player themselves question their own beliefs and emotions and impose guilt on them for their actions in a videogame. Many times throughout playing this game, I had to take a step back and take a walk. You become so immersed in the story of this game, that the emotions and feelings of the characters become your own, you cry with them, you share the same anger as them, and you truly do become them. Naughty Dog have perfected the art of putting the player into the characters shoes. You are Ellie. You are setting out on this seemingly blood-searching mission of revenge.
The games story is told in many ways. One of these ways is the incredibly emotional and soul-destroying flashbacks to previous events throughout the characters life. These flashbacks perfectly tell the story of the characters you encounter throughout the game and provide perfect understanding as to why they feel and act the way they do. Often the game would leave you wondering, what happened there? Why is this character acting like that? How did this character reach this position? And well, the flashbacks in this game perfectly explain every bit of that. Admittedly, some flashbacks can often be seen to be in the wrong place in terms of the timeline of the game. Some flashbacks may have had a greater impact if they were told in a different order, however this does not take away the fact that ND’s use of flashbacks is a spectacular achievement. These sequences are an incredible nod back to the previous game, which anyone who played and loved the first game are happy to see and hear.
In terms of pacing, this game has me feeling mixed. The game builds up incredible pace and tension to the point where it reaches a huge climax and can often suffer from a huge drop in intensity from one scene to the next where the player is left gagging for more. Of course, no video game should be continuous fast-paced action throughout and I am glad that TLOU P2 is not like this. However, often throughout playing this game, the difference in pace between certain sections of the story can often be just too great of a jump which results in often a damaging fall. However, credit where credit is due, Naughty Dog have once again mastered the art of fast paced sequences that leave the player on the edge of their seat, and yet again perfected those slower, more emotional moments of bonding and growth between the characters. These are those special gaming moments that stay with you long after you have completed this game.
Now onto the characters. This is a Naughty Dog game; I think you already know what I am about to say. The characters you encounter throughout this game feel real. The way they look, the way they act, the way this game allows the player to grow this understanding of a certain character’s personality is exceptional. Just like the original game where we had characters such as Tess, Henry, Sam, Tommy, Bill; this game introduces even more new faces to the player and once again tells their story throughout the entirety of your playthrough through new standout additions such as Dina and Jesse, two of Ellie’s closest companions. If you were a fan of the first game, then you will know exactly what I am talking about when I say that you fall in love with each character like a friend or family member in real life. Naughty Dog’s use of the live action capture we saw in the first game really does bring each character to life and allows the actors to perfectly portray each individuals personality through their body language and the incredible voice acting that we see throughout this game.
The story of The Last of Us Part 2 is a complicated emotional and spiritual journey told by a range of extensive storytelling and structural devices which can cause this game to be seen as messy. However, the sheer complexity of the story Neil Druckmann is trying to tell has to be approached with an open mind. Let the story play out, let Naughty Dog take you on this path they have created for us to discover and follow. This game is not your standard video game story. This is the sort of story you would expect to see in a classic novel or a blockbuster movie, this is not a simple story of revenge, this is not what you expect it to be. Just to quote the words of Girlfriend Reviews on YouTube, the plot and the story are two completely different things. The plot is the main idea of where the game will take you and what it will follow throughout. The story however is each individual character’s journey along the way and how we reach the ultimate plot goal. Simply put, on the surface the plot may be seen as simple, however the story is the complex artistic creation that lays underneath, and that is the part that should be truly appreciated across the entire gaming community.
This is a story of redemption, soul searching and the everlasting cycle of violence and where violence and obsession leads you. This game was designed to be uncomfortable to play, this isn’t just your standard video game, this is a story and Naughty Dog wants you to listen. This game will teach you lessons, and if by the end of it you haven’t learn anything, then you haven’t beaten the game, the game has beaten you.
The Last of Us Part 2 is a masterpiece. Albeit does have its flaws just like any other story may have, this game is an outstanding achievement in both design and storytelling like no other we have seen on this generation. This game will change the way you think and will completely alter your perceptions of any other game you will ever play. The Last of Us Part 2 is a must play, there is no other way about it. Don’t just take my word for it, play it for yourself and see.
One thing is for sure, the PlayStation 4 is signing off in style.
To Naughty Dog, Sony and all who worked on this game: Thank you.
@WillHar270 Wow, a great introductory review. Thanks for sharing it! I can see a lot of time and care went into it. And I’m glad you enjoyed the game so much. I have yet to play TLoU2 but your review has given me a lot to think about.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Thank you I’m very glad you enjoyed it and I hope it may raise your hopes a little before playing it! There’s just a lot to talk about with this game that I can’t say without spoiling hahaha so I’m glad my point came across!
@WillHar270 Great review! I particularly liked your use of screenshots throughout, as well as the detailed breakdown of the aspects you enjoyed about the game.
I'm also one of those people who has had the game spoiled for them, which, if anything, actually increased my interest, because it seems significantly different from the first game in a number of ways, which I was less than amazed by.
@WillHar270 Hey thanks for sharing your thoughts on TLOU2 - it is one of those games that seems to stir lots of emotions in those that have played it (ignoring the non-opinions of trolls). From my own thoughts, I think we differed on some points regarding story, characters and combat however that is entirely the point of critical discourse and putting well thought out impressions of games because it can challenge your own assumption. For me, the story didn't quite resonate as much as it did for you but that is often the point of stories - I am glad it connected with yourself and I don't think anyone could accuse this game of being badly or underwritten, especially from an ambition point of view. While I had my problems with the narrative structure, I do think that ND took a risk with what it was trying to do and I would prefer this then another Ellie and Joel Roadtrip Part 2 which would have been the safest route.
Hope you have time to add more impressions to the site!
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
@WillHar270 As somebody with less than zero interest in The Last of Us, I found myself surprisingly hooked by your review. It was an enjoyable read, largely because your passion was palpable and therefore more than a little infectious. Thanks for sharing it, and welcome to the forums! Here's to your next review!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Rudy_Manchego Exactly that, ND pushes the boat out and went with something different, we all would’ve been incredibly disappointed if it pretty much just mirrored the first game, even though I’m sure many people would’ve been more comfortable with it being a copy of the second game ‘just newer’. I feel as if ND created a game THEY were proud of and wanted to challenge their fans emotions, which is what I think they definitely did. Thanks for reading!
@RogerRoger I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thank you so much for reading! I just had too much passion about this game and the original game not to do a little write up because I had way too many opinions and thoughts floating around in my head! And thank you, everyone’s been great on here.
@PSVR_lover that’s fantastic to hear and was exactly what I hoped I could do to people! Don’t let the story opinions put you off, whether people like this game or not the vast majority will agree that it is visually beautiful and an incredible immersive experience. Hope you give it a play!
@Ralizah Thank you very much! I’m hoping I did it right because it was my first time haha, but your opinion is much appreciated!
That’s amazing to hear! It’s definitely very different to the first game, and personally I think that is a fantastic thing because it feels so fresh and new after I replayed the last of us the week before Part 2 came out. I definitely think people would enjoy their experience more without it being spoiled, but regardless anyone who plays it and has had it spoilt for them would enjoy it just as much due to the sheer quality in this game!
It's been a long time. I've been sitting on this impressions piece half complete for over a month, and finally felt like completing it.
Tales of Berseria (PS4) - Currently the newest entry in Bandai Namco's long running Tales Action JRPG. Screenshots weren't allowed.
Gameplay
Tales games are often considered JRPG comfort food, and this is a good example of that. It has pretty standard setup, where it's towns & dungeons are separated by field areas you must explore. Enemies roam freely in dungeons & field areas, and upon touching them you'll enter a battle where you'll fight a group in fairly standard ARPG fashion.
Battles take place directly in the environment (just with a circular boundary denoting the battle area, and if you press up against it long enough you'll build up an escape gauge that lets you flee most fights). Fighting is all real time though there is a meter that depletes for every attack you make so you can't just spam attacks. The meter can be extended in battle by inflicting status effects, defeating enemies, and dodging attacks at the last second (the last method actually produces an item in the battle area you need to pick up first though, and your party members can & will try grabbing it for themselves). The meter decreases if you are inflicted with a status effect or are KO'd. It goes back to default after battle.
Each of the four face buttons has a four step combo mapped to it, and although the combo is the same across all four at the start, as you unlock new moves you can customise each one as you see fit. Each move (or arte, as they're called) has a different element associated with it (more powerful ones usually have two), a specific enemy class it's strong against (dragon, person, beast, etc), and a status effect in can inflict (stun, burn, poison, etc). By paying attention to an enemy's elemental affinities and class type, you'll need to tailor a combo best suited to dispatching it.
Pressing the touch pad during battle will bring up a menu that pauses the action, letting you use items, give allies commands, and even customize your combos & change your equipment in the middle of battle. Other than a short waiting period regarding using items, there's no limit on doing this. You can only carry a max of 15 of each type of restorative item (and you can't use an HP regenerating item if you have any kind of status effect inflicted on you), so plan carefully.
Each piece of equipment has a master skill that you learn if you equip it long enough (these are usually buffs such as granting you a 4% resistance to fire attacks, or 8% increased damage to undead enemy types, for example), so it's good to try out a variety of different equipment (even if it may not grant you a specific upgrade in general stats) so you can build up an array of permanent buffs. You can also use materials you find (or obtain by dismantling equipment) to enhance the equipment you do want to use, which improves it's stats & gives you increased buffs while wearing it.
At some point you become acquainted with a band of pirates who you can send out on expeditions. They bring back food ingredients you can't find in shops (for cooking buffs, which I never used), items you can sell for large sums of money, cosmetic attachments (and the game's, very underwhelming, swimsuit costumes), and treasures (these tend to be little more than easter eggs referencing past games), so be sure to send them out as often as you can as there's no reason not to (doing it enough will open up a sidequest, too).
The main quest is marked by a star, while sidequests are marked by a speech bubble with an exclamation point (these don't appear on the map until active though, so I didn't bother until endgame where I had unlimited fast travel so I could scour towns repeatedly to find any I missed). While some may be blocked off temporarily at certain story moments, no sidequest is missable so you won't be punished for waiting (though some quests won't open up until another is completed, so if you do all available be sure to revisit towns to see if any new ones pop up).
Other side activities include Class 4 Administrative Zones (which are little islands with arenas on them, used to practice against a certain enemy class), Katz Boxes (you open these by collecting these little orbs that are scattered EVERYWHERE, and you earn cosmetic attachments/costumes & a certain secret location for doing so), and Code Red Hunts (there is a really powerful enemy roaming around each field area & dungeon, usually off in it's own little corner of the map, and it's worth your while to challenge them).
At some point you obtain a magical hoverboard that lets you travel on foot a bit faster. You have to find a glowy spot in each region to use it there though, so it's mostly used for exploring past areas (enemies so many levels below you will automatically be defeated while riding, though you'll earn no rewards/exp this way). You can also buy items at shops that let you return to the entrance of a dungeon or warp you back to any town you've been to (unless one is temporarily blocked off due to story reasons), and later on in the game you can obtain "bottomless" variants of these items that don't deplete.
Visual/Audio
It's not pushing the PS4 to it's limits (it seems to be using a somewhat spruced up version of the engine used in Tales of Zesteria, which was also on PS3), but things are generally crisp, colorful, and pleasing to the eye.
Stylistically I think it's quite a big step up from Zesteria. The previous game had generally bland locales & character design IMO, but despite taking place in the same world (just many years apart), Berseria generally has aesthetically better locale & character design, placing it closer to the charm that earlier games had.
the in-game range of alternate costumes has improved since Zesteria, though disappointingly the best stuff is still locked behind DLC. While there is a swimsuit line you can obtain in-game (for example), all male characters unlock the same black pair of trunks, and all women unlock the same black one-piece (which is actually more modest than Velvet & Magilou's standard attire). It's not a huge deal, but I still miss all the unique stuff you could unlock in Abyss & Vesperia.
Story
It actually has a pretty interesting setup for the genre in that to the world at large you are the bad guys. Naturally things are more complicated (and there are some great twists), but it's a great twist that sets it apart from it's contemporaries (though of course there are excuses as to why your appearance doesn't become widely known, so you can still waltz into most towns at any given point).
The Tales series is known for the plentiful skits that pop up from time to time (where semi-animated portraits of the gang shoot the breeze about serious & silly topics alike), they're present & accounted for here, and as always help to flesh out the group as a likeable band that you're sad to say goodbye to at adventure's end.
It does take place before Zesteria, and while you don't need to play it to enjoy this, there are a lot of nods to it (and since it was released first, they're presented in a way that it's assumed you've played it first), and I think the game's story is that much cooler if you have done so.
Conclusion
It doesn't push the genre ahead in any meaningful way, but it's nice JRPG comfort food with a neat narrative twist & charm.
Didn't take any screenshots, as like with Zesteria you're not allowed to in most situations (only those Class 4 Administrative Zones, those copy pasted training islands, allow you to take screenshots).
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@RR529 Berseria did also have a PS3 release in Japan. Hopefully tales of Arise will look better as its current gen only. Assuming you can still call PS4 current gen in 2021.
So, having purchased Paper Mario: The Origami King at launch and having completed the first major chunk of the game (defeated the red banner boss), I have probably six or so hours in the game now, and I'd like to briefly discuss my experiences with it. Most of what I talk about won't be new to people, and I don't care if I change minds on it or not, but this is coming from the perspective of someone who has played (and hated) Sticker Star, and who also enjoyed The Thousand Year Door on the Gamecube.
PRESENTATION, MUSIC, AND ENVIRONMENTS
This is a flat out gorgeous-looking game. And has often been mentioned, the rudimentary paper look of previous games has given way to something more akin to the PS Vita game Tearaway, where your environments are ACTUALLY paper and they're finely detailed to look like they're made out of actual materials like cardboard and whatnot. Papery character outlines will crinkle after they've been folded up. The concept of origami is a new one to the world of Paper Mario, and is treated as a form of body horror for the characters.
Environments themselves are massive and detailed. I feel like I've been able to enter almost every building I've happened across so far (unless they're locked because you need to find their owner), and they all feel lived in and usually rewarding to visit. You'll enter buildings as shortcuts to find chests or get to enemies. Paper NPCs will be hiding in closets from their origami oppressors. Scope-wise, the locations are far larger than anything in Sticker Star or TTYD (whose environment's feel very basic and hallway-esque in comparison). Towns and field locations will often have tons of secrets hidden in them, and are laid out in a way that encourages the player to constantly explore them.
Musically, so far, this game has been pretty strong. Much moreso than previous Paper Mario game I've played. Especially battle themes.
I also really like the remix of Peach's Mario 64 castle theme in this game. And the weird vocal musical number that happens, like, an hour or two into the game.
NON-BATTLE GAMEPLAY
When you're running around these large environments, there are a few different things to do.
The most obvious addition is the fact that confetti is everywhere in this game, and you'll need to constantly be collecting it to fill up your confetti bag so that you can fill up the holes you encounter throughout the environments. You'll encounter simple environmental puzzles to solve in order to find chests that contains collectibles. You'll encounter different minigame activities (the most memorable of which so far was the card matching game I needed to complete to unlock a starman, which I then use to cross a thorny path to reach a chest). And you'll be finding tons and tons of hidden toads.
Running around looking for toads sounds horrible, like Sticker Star nonsense. But... it's really not. It's fun. Part of that is just how much variety there is in terms of how you find them. ANYTHING can be a toad in this game. Various animals in your environment can be toads. Toads can hide under rocks and behind walls. Fish you catch can be toads (oh, yeah, there's fishing in this game! that wasn't in either of the previous games I played in the series). Things you buy can be toads. Sometimes it's just a matter of running up to something and hammering it to reveal the toad. Sometimes they're simply hidden. Sometimes there's an environmental puzzle required to catch them.
Some toads you find will be important and run back to town to open shops and services (so far, I've unlocked an item/weapon shop, a museum, a couple of accessory vendors, and a battle center where you can practice your timing in battle, and which also unlocks various items that will help the player on their adventures, including one that clues them in when there's a hidden toad in the area. Others will join your audience in battles, and, for a price, will help you in various ways.
Finding toads awards you toad points, which you can use to unlock art pieces at the museum. The museum also hosts 3D models you can find in chests throughout the environment, origami toad models you unlock throughout the game, enemy models more generally, music tracks from the game (which requires the player to fill in all of those holes located throughout the world, as I alluded to earlier), etc. I don't know if there's a larger reward to completing the museum at the end of the game, but, rather like in Animal Crossing, I'm finding the gradual development of my museum to be reward enough to consistently engage with the environments.
And there's so much to engage with, considering nearly everything in this game feels like it can be collected or reward the player in some way. It's all a bit skinnerian, of course, but it works well in the context of this game.
THE BATTLE SYSTEM
So, as people are well aware of by now, there's no XP system in the game. Battles award you with confetti and coins. This has been a sticking point for a lot of people, since they feel like this removes the incentive to battle, and... I don't know how I feel about that. You'll be spending money for a LOT of things in this game, including progressing the plot (via buying items, giving money to characters, etc.), buying accessories (think of a more streamlined version of TTYD's badge system), plying toads in your audience with money to help during battles, feeding money into a timer during battles to give you more time to line up rings properly, etc. This latter one I don't usually do during unscripted fights, though, since you stand to lose more money than you make that way. I guess there's not really any incentive to grind in this game, but I'm not finding that to be a problem so far, considering a LOT of the fights in this game are scripted anyway, and considering, even in TTYD, XP rewards level off quickly enough that I was quickly avoiding most non-scripted battles in that game as well. There are a number of RPGs where there's almost never any reason to battle enemies in the wild, like The Witcher 3, but it didn't destroy those games for me.
The reason people typically cite wanting a reason to battle, I assume, is because they're afraid the battles aren't fun at all. Now, maybe I'll feel differently later, but so far I'm liking this ring system a lot more than the "jump on an enemy's head; guard; wash, rinse, and repeat" system in TTYD. It's far less repetitive, at least once the game lets go of your hand, and stops giving you stupidly simple arrangements of enemies. There's actual thought that goes into fighting the enemies in this game. And, unlike Sticker Star and (apparently) Color Splash, these aren't driven by consumable items. Instead, it feels like a more interactive version of a JRPG with a grid system, like Trails in the Sky, where you want to try to hit as many enemies as possible with an attack. The primary difference is that you're arranging the enemies instead of changing your position on the grid.
Of course, this game does TTYD one better insofar as, as a certain point, in an Earthbound-ian twist, you'll actually be able to just hammer weak enemies in the environments and avoid the ring battles with them entirely. I get the feeling that backtracking to previously visited areas in this will be a LOT less of a nuisance than in that game.
There are certain enemies where your battles in them will be real-time and situated in the environment as well. You discover, for example, that a lot of the holes you encounter throughout the game are caused by these giant goomba mechs that are made out of what look like wire and paper-mache, and you'll need to bait their attacks and attack them with your hammer to defeat them.
BOSS BATTLES
Boss battles... I'm liking them. They looked boring in the footage, but, in practice, it's consistently engaging to use the ring system to chart a route to the boss. Crucially, every boss is like a big puzzle, so it's not enough to just run up to them and attack. Instead, you have to usually navigate to specific sections of their body to interact with them in certain ways to progress the flow of the battle.
There are more bosses than just the legion of stationary bosses that seem to guard the streamers. They're not really interesting personalities, which might disappoint some, but they're also not uninteresting. Primarily because the game does a good job of building up to them. The first boss in the game, the Earth Vellumental, has a decent-sized dungeon to run through before you get it, and you learn that it's revered like a sort of deity in the area via the optional narration booths located throughout the public area of the dungeon.
The colored pencil boss might seem stupid, but the build-up to it was really well done. You're traveling through this tower, encountering trashed environments, colored doodles, etc. and it's very clear that something has gone seriously wrong here. The toads are all terrified. And then giant colored pencil missles start violently burrowing their way into the building, forcing you to change how you travel through the tower. It's interesting. Do I miss not having interesting personalities like Rawk Hawk or Doopliss as antagonists on my adventure? Sure. The game would be better with actual villains than with monsters and sentient colored pencils. But the context in which you meet them is interesting enough that I didn't feel like they were necessarily bad bosses, either. I don't come down on Zelda dungeon bosses because they're not sarcastic and quippy, and I feel like the same sort of logic applies here. And, in terms of how you fight them, they feel much more explicitly like Zelda bosses.
WHAT I DON'T LIKE
The biggest flaw in the game, far and away, is the lack of interesting and unique NPCs to talk to. The Thousand Year Door is SO full of personality with regard to the inhabitants of its world, and I spent a good amount of the game laughing at the often cynical flavor of the dialogue I heard from its residents. There's... really nothing like that here. Almost everyone you meet is just a generic Mario character. Olivia is fine and cute and all that, but her dialogue doesn't really have a lot of flair to it. There's a lot of humor infused into dialogue and situations you'll encounter throughout the game, but it feels more like it's deliberately trying to be funny, whereas the humor in TTYD often arose organically from the situation you found yourself in. The game often makes me smile, but rarely gives me the deep belly laughs where I have to stop myself from choking eventually.
A lot of people seem to like the game's connected overworld (it's NOT open world in any sense I can glean; all of the areas just happen to be connected), but I find that backtracking can feel like a bit of a slog at times. Mario's movement speed should have been boosted a bit given the much larger scope of the environments here.
CONCLUSION
So, is it a good game? So far, I'm quite enjoying myself. It's extremely promising so far, and I haven't even arrived at the apparent overworld exploration segments yet! But it's not an RPG, and, honestly, it feels like an entirely different sort of game than TTYD was. It feels like a related but different Mario spinoff entirely. I kind of wish Nintendo hadn't opted to lump games like this in with the older, more explicitly narrative-heavy RPG experiences. It's hard, because, while I kind of wish this hadn't replaced the older style, I also don't want this style of PM game to stop existing either. It's very different.
I will say this: even if it's not what you wanted or expected, it's not a bad game. If you're a Paper Mario virgin, or if you're just open to experiencing something different from the older games, I'd say you should give it a shot.
@Arugula I'm tagging you because of the interest you showed about this game in the Nintendo Switch thread.
@KratosMD Thanks! If I enjoy this through the majority of the experience, then I'll definitely have to look into Color Splash. Since I hated Sticker Star, I assumed I wouldn't like it, but maybe that won't be the case.
And yeah, I... could definitely see this being the sort of game that's fresh and fun for the first chunk but becomes a slog later on. We'll see. A lot of it will depend on how engaging the content is throughout. While I LOVE the style of this game, it won't carry a 30+ hour game for me. TTYD was sort of basic mechanically, but the consistently excellent writing, setpieces, and storylines did a good job of making it a memorable game overall.
Out of interest, what didn't you like about Final Fantasy VI? I remember you mentioning you were becoming disenchanted with it, but I don't recall the specifics of your dislike for it.
@Ralizah I'm grateful for your Origami King not-quite-finished-yet-but-here's-a-review-anyway. I've been trying to convince my partner to get it, because I reckon he'll fall for its charms (and he rarely plays anything through to the bitter end, so some superficial fun in the first couple hours will suit him nicely). You've confirmed what I thought, in yet another great piece of writing, so that's really helpful, thank you!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@KratosMD Nice little writeup there. The Sly games are ones that completely passed me by but your review makes it sound like the sort of thing I’d like.
@RR529 I have no idea about this series either. Blocking screenshots seems pretty weird though. Some of the battle mechanics sound pretty neat and the escape function is a clever idea.
@Ralizah Nice thoughts as always. This game wasn’t on my radar at all as a non-Nintendo gamer these days but I do like the Paper Mario series. It sounds like they’ve got a fair few features from old games along with new ones and it’s made for a (mostly) fun experience so far.
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