Which RPG should I play?

[Czario]

Alright, RPG lovers of the Mario Boards, I need your wise and "totally unbiased" advice about which Mario RPG I should play first. Super Paper Mario is not a choice because I'm going to play that no matter what. But that game is not a traditional Mario RPG, so I'm trying to decide which game to play in addition. I'll list pros and cons for each game based on how good they are reported to be, how old they are and perhaps a few other factors. Consider my Pros and Cons before instantly choosing your favorite game.

Paper Mario: *Pros: People say it's good; it's the first in the series. *Cons: Really old.
PM:TTYD: *Pros: People say it's good. *Cons: Pretty old; no easy way to obtain it.
SPM: Already getting it.
PM:SS: *Pros: Fairly Recent. *Cons: Seems to be considered the worst of the series.
PM:CS: *Pros: Most Recent. *Cons: Expensive; Seems to be considered not as good as the first three.
M&L:SS: *Pros: First in series; Said to be good I think? *Cons: Old.
M&L:PIT: *Pros: No one said it was bad; most recent game on virtual console. *Cons: Kinda old; Haven't heard anyone say it was especially good.
M&L:BIS: *Pros: Said to be good; not extremely old. *Cons: Slightly old, Not yet on Virtual Console.
M&L: DT/DTB: *Pros: Recent, No one said it was bad. *Cons: Said to not be as good as BIS.
M&L:PJ: *Pros: Most recent. *Cons: Said to have simple story, which I don't want.

 

[Alex95]

Paper Mario: *Cons: Really old.
PM:TTYD: *Cons: Pretty old
M&L:SS: *Cons: Old.
M&L:PIT: *Cons: Kinda old
M&L:BIS: *Cons: Slightly old

Well, now I feel old, considering I'm older than all of those :P

The first Paper Mario is pretty good, and Thousand-Year Door expanded on everything. Super Paper Mario isn't the same, but it's a good story and adventure nonetheless. Sticker Star was confusing and difficult and times, but it was fun to play (at least once). Haven't played Color Splash yet.

Superstar Saga, PiT, and BIS more or less have the same mechanics with a few exclusive ones for each (separate Brother controls for the first, four characters for the second, and giant battles for the third). While I haven't played them, DT and PJ seem interesting, though I've heard some lackluster reviews for the later.

Throwing my vote to either The Thousand-Year Door or Superstar Saga. (Sometimes old games are the best )

 

[Magikrazy]

I noticed Super Mario RPG isn't on that list. Any particular reason why?

Anyway, my personal recommendation goes to Paper Mario. Great characters, great settings, a few moments that made me chuckle, etc. Yeah, it looks a little outdated, but I think that gives it a nice charm.

 

[Czario]

Who voted for Sticker Star? Are you serious or joking? I really didn't expect anyone to vote for it., given the reputation it has.

I noticed Super Mario RPG isn't on that list. Any particular reason why?

Eh, I know it's considered to be a good game, but I don't really feel like playing it. I'd rather play a game from one of the two series. Ironic, considering it's the one that my older brother got on Virtual Console.

Paper Mario: *Cons: Really old.
PM:TTYD: *Cons: Pretty old
M&L:SS: *Cons: Old.
M&L:PIT: *Cons: Kinda old
M&L:BIS: *Cons: Slightly old

Well, now I feel old, considering I'm older than all of those :P

None of them are on the current system, not to mention they were all released over 6 years ago. So, I judge them to be old.

 

[Yoshi the SSM]

If your looking for a great game, Bowser's Inside Story and Super Paper Mario are really cool. Want a starter for the M&L series, Superstar Saga is the one. The Thousand Year Door is very great, but I'm not sure how great due to not playing it.

 

[freakworld]

Who voted for Sticker Star?

 

[Czario]

Who voted for Sticker Star?

 

[Ray Trace]

I voted for PiT buuuuuut

I think you should give the original Paper Mario a go

 

[Hobbes]

From my point of view, it's better to go from the oldest to the newest game. My reasoning maybe doesn't apply to Paper Mario games since the style is classic and the new ones are crap, but there are other series where if you play the newest games first and then the oldest you can't help but think how bad the old ones look, how many features they are lacking, etc.

 

[Magikrazy]

I noticed Super Mario RPG isn't on that list. Any particular reason why?

Eh, I know it's considered to be a good game, but I don't really feel like playing it. I'd rather play a game from one of the two series. Ironic, considering it's the one that my older brother got on Virtual Console.

It's a pretty good one, although there are a few issues like having to grind more frequently than later titles. Also, I feel Mallow is a bit unnecessary. He doesn't really add to the story, and he takes up the slot in the Five Man Band trope (The Smart Guy) that Luigi could easily fill.

Anyway, I'll give my thoughts on the other Paper Mario games I've played that I haven't mentioned yet.

Thousand Year Door is also a pretty good RPG. Naturally, the graphics have been improved, and it fixes a few battle mechanic issues the original had. The settings are also beautiful (well maybe not beautiful, quite a few are dark and look dirty, but it's nice to look at and thematically accurate). That being said, there are still some issues. While a few battle mechanics have been fixed from the first game like I said, it introduces some new ones, like the audience throwing random shit at you, the backgrounds falling on you, and fog appearing out of nowhere. These things happen at random and can really screw you over. While there are quite a few characters I just plain love, a good majority I don't really have a strong opinion on one way or the other. There aren't any I hate or even mildly dislike, though so that's good. That being said, the main villain is one of those I don't really care about. A few of the 7 chapters have moments you might find boring or repetitive, and a couple moments in the intermissions might come off as unsettling or even a little creepy. Still, it's a nice game for what it is and the pros for the most part outweigh the cons.

I know you're already buying Super Paper Mario, but I'll throw my two cents in anyway. This is a major "love it or hate it" game, and I mean major. This title shook up the format, throwing out turn-based battles in favor of platforming and restricting movement to 2D (although Mario does have the ability to flip to 3D). The partners have also been replaced with these fairy-like things called Pixls, and I'm not a fan of them. While the partners from the first two games had character and personality, all but one of the Pixls never speak after they join you. The story is a huge part of this game, and you can clearly tell the team behind this put a lot of effort into it. Does it pay off? Well, that's a topic of debate, but I don't think so. You see, this game takes place in another dimension, and as such, you won't be seeing any familiar faces apart from the four characters you can play as (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser). Now that's not a bad thing at all if the setting looks great (as Kirby's Epic Yarn proves). But sadly, this is not the case. Everything in this dimension is composed of simple polygons, including every character that's not the four playable ones. It just comes off as lazy and ugly to me. But I digress. The story is that the main villain Count Bleck, wants to destroy all worlds. To accomplish this, he steals an ancient tome called the Dark Prognosticus that prophesizes how all worlds will be destroyed. Little does he know, there also exists another ancient tome called the Light Prognosticus that prophesizes how all worlds will be saved, and that's my problem with this story. Mario isn't helping these people out of the goodness of his heart, but because a book predicted that he would do it. It feels like he's just a tool used by the shaman Merlon and Tippi the first Pixl you receive to locate the 7 (or was it 8? i honestly cant remember) Macguffins needed to save all worlds. It's as much about Mario as Mad Max: Fury Road was about Max. Also, there are a few boring levels. Ultimately, it feels like the game designers were more concerned with making an RPG story, and making it as dark and serious as possible, than making a Mario RPG.

That being said, there are a few things I like about it. Being able to switch between other characters besides Mario was pretty cool and I hope they try it again in the future (maybe Yoshi?). I also kinda liked how they decided to take a risk in switching up the formula, but in the end I feel it's best not to fix what isn't broken. After all, you may end up with something like...

Paper Mario: Sticker Star. I'll try to keep this brief as I already rambled on long enough about SPM. While the updated graphics look beautiful and a few jokes genuinely made me chuckle a bit, Sticker Star overall feels very boring. In order to not repeat the same mistake with SPM, Miyamoto told them not to add any new characters (except one, apparently), so did they dig through the vast library of Mario characters and use ones that would fit? Nope, they phoned it in. Hard. Pretty much all friendly NPCs are boring Toads, and the ones that aren't I haven't seen so I assume they don't exist. I will give them credit for bringing in Bowser Jr. and Kamek, though. It's good to finally see them in Paper Mario. I just wish we could see some others. Yoshi? Wario? Donkey Kong? They really messed up the battles by making every attack consumable with the stickers. That means if you run out of stickers, you're screwed. But the absolute worst part of this whole game is that neither Bowser nor Luigi get any dialogue. None whatsoever for the entire game. THE ENTIRE GAME. I appreciate what they were trying to do, but they took a lot of missteps. I haven't played Color Splash yet, but it looks like it improved a lot of what was wrong with this game.

 

[Czario]

Things are looking good for Thousand Year Door right now. Right behind it are Paper Mario and Bowser's Inside Story. I'm going to wait longer before deciding, but I might have to play PM, PM:TTYD, SPM, and M&L:BIS. We'll see.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

You should try out any Mario & Luigi game. Maybe not Partners in Time, but I suppose you're a Luigi fan? You'll get more from those games since, well, you know.

 

[Czario]

You should try out any Mario & Luigi game. Maybe not Partners in Time, but I suppose you're a Luigi fan? You'll get more from those games since, well, you know.

Like I said, I'm thinking Bowser's Inside Story. It has the highest score of the M&L games in this poll so far. Also some of my friends on the wiki like it.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Game sounds good. Dream Team is also good, though it has a lot of handholding and slow pacing. May or may not hold you down. Has a ton of Luigi, though.

Superstar Saga is a solid entry, though it looks and sounds dated and is rather ugly. It's the only game where you can actually make Luigi lead Mario, though.

Thousand-Year Door, from a Luigi perspective, doesn't really like Luigi. The game thinks it's funny for him to be arrogant while his partners crap on him. I don't like that depiction at all, even though it's mildly amusing. But again, Mario & Luigi treats Luigi like a dork. You may not like Starlow in Bowser's Inside Story because she craps on Luigi constantly.

 

[Czario]

Game sounds good. Dream Team is also good, though it has a lot of handholding and slow pacing. May or may not hold you down. Has a ton of Luigi, though.

Superstar Saga is a solid entry, though it looks and sounds dated and is rather ugly. It's the only game where you can actually make Luigi lead Mario, though.

Thousand-Year Door, from a Luigi perspective, doesn't really like Luigi. The game thinks it's funny for him to be arrogant while his partners crap on him. I don't like that depiction at all, even though it's mildly amusing. But again, Mario & Luigi treats Luigi like a dork. You may not like Starlow in Bowser's Inside Story because she craps on Luigi constantly.

I don't totally judge a game by its Luigi. If I did, then I'd despise Super Mario 64, which I don't. (Although it does have some issues... *cough*wingcapcontrols*cough*)

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

I'm just saying from a Luigi standpoint, that's all. Some people do get so annoyed with Starlow that it impacted their enjoyment of the game... I think.

But you just got to play to find out if the gameplay will click with you. I still prefer Mario & Luigi games in general because I think it's more charming than Paper Mario, but Paper Mario is a tad more Marioy.

 

[Lord Bowser]

skip these rpgs (well minus ttyd) and play earthbound + mother 3 instead
you will not regret this decision

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Welp, my sister tried to play Undertale but didn't really seem to get hooked on it.

Meanwhile, I just started playing Yo-Kai Watch and I...can't...put... it... down.

 

[Ray Trace]

I've only played the first two hours of the game to be completely fair.

 

[MoonAge]

shaft all of these and play final fantasy vii

but for the poll, I'd say dream team since it's one of the only mario rpgs I've played

 

[Czario]

Since TTYD is winning, I looked up how much it would cost to buy it online, as it's not on Virtual Console. After seeing some surprisingly expensive used copies, I found one on Ebay which has 1 bidder and the highest bid is $0.99. It ends in about 30 hours. I'm pretty much broke. Should I ask one of my family members to buy it as a Christmas present, since it's such a good deal?

 

[Mcmadness]

Star League

 

[Czario]

Star League

 

[Alex95]

Since TTYD is winning, I looked up how much it would cost to buy it online, as it's not on Virtual Console. After seeing some surprisingly expensive used copies, I found one on Ebay which has 1 bidder and the highest bid is $0.99. It ends in about 30 hours. I'm pretty much broke. Should I ask one of my family members to buy it as a Christmas present, since it's such a good deal?

Unsurprising, considering how many fans love TTYD. But finding one for just 99 cents? That game better be in good condition. Might want to do some checking on it (game disk, box maybe?) before going for it. Otherwise yes.

 

[Czario]

Unsurprising, considering how many fans love TTYD. But finding one for just 99 cents? That game better be in good condition. Might want to do some checking on it (game disk, box maybe?) before going for it. Otherwise yes.

The description says that it comes with disk and case, but not manual. It also says the disc has a minor scuff that does not affect gameplay. Sounds good to me! By the way, it's actually tied with M&L:SS, but that can be purchased on Virtual Console.