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This thread has been linked to the game 'Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door'.
The Paper Mario series has reached its fourth instalment on the 3DS with Sticker Star, but Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is the only one in the series I have played. The game was released on the GameCube in 2004 and it was developed by the Nintendo owned Intelligent Systems who also developed the Fire Emblem games.
The story begins with a mysterious force that destroys a prosperous seaside town and sinks it into the ground. After many years the town fades from memory and becomes a fairy tale. A new town called Rougeport is built on top of the old one and its name is fitting due to the area having a port to be accessed by ship and the inhabitants have a reputation for being shady or untrustworthy. When Peach ends up in this town she ends up talking to a mysterious looking salesman who gives her a treasure chest which he claims can only be opened by someone with a heart that is pure, which just happens to be Peach. Inside the chest she finds a map which locates a legendary treasure which she sends to Mario with a request to help her find the treasure. However, when Mario arrives at Rogueport via boat he finds that the Princess is missing. The tale eventually turns out to be a typical Mario rescues Peach affair but with a few additions and twists so that it is much different from saving Peach from Bowser’s Castle.
When Mario arrives at Rogueport he saves a female student goomba known as Goombella from the main antagonists in the game known as the X-Nauts. She tells Mario that she and her mentor, Professor Frankly are looking for the legendary treasure as well so she takes Mario to see him. The Professor quotes from the books on the legendary treasure that there is a Thousand Year Door below Rogueport and that seven Crystal Stars are needed to open it. If someone holds the map in the air at the entrance to the Thousand Year Door then the map will be modified to show the location of a Crystal Star. This all turns out to be completely accurate and Mario finds himself on the hunt for the seven crystal stars.
The story has eight chapters with seven of them ending with Mario obtaining a Crystal Star. The impressive part is that each chapter is its own mini story with new locations, characters and plot to follow. These stories have Mario solving mysteries on a train, commanding a pikmin-like army of tree dwellers, become a prize fighter and more. This is done so well that I can remember everything that happens, even though my timer was clocked at 40 hours by the game’s end. Even the side characters have memorable and well developed personalities
Many of the early chapters introduce new party members each with their own abilities both in combat and to solve puzzles in the environment. For example your first partner Goombella gives hints depending where you are standing if you are stuck on what to do. Later characters can blow up certain walls, blow objects away, hide underground and collect items from a distance. Mario also gains multiple paper transformation abilities such as the ability to turn into a paper plane, paper boat and turn thin to slide through narrow gaps. I personally found the puzzles straight forward but there are a lot of abilities that the environments test and it provides a change from combat. These abilities also allow Mario to access areas that he previously couldn’t reach in the game, so you have reasons to visit previous areas.
You won’t find any battle encounters in towns unless it is part of the story. When Mario walks around other areas of the world he will find enemies. They try to charge at Mario on first sight and if an enemy collides with Mario a battle commences. The battles take place on a stage with an audience who judge your moves and give you star power to perform special attacks. The audience may also throw objects and items at you or your enemies in between turns.
Mario and his partners attack and use abilities by using “action commands”. For example Mario has the ability to use a Jump attack or a hammer attack. If Mario selects a Jump attack and then selects the enemy to jump on, you are expected to press A just as you land on the enemy. Failing to time your attacks correctly reduces your damage. Mario also uses the A button to block attacks, so if you press the A button just as an enemy makes contact you reduce the amount of damage taken. This makes the combat slightly more engaging than selecting options from menus. The combat is given some depth with the variety of enemies’ within the game. There are flying enemies that can’t be hit by Mario’s hammer attacks and some enemies that have spikes on their head so that they can’t be attacked from the air. Some enemies have high armour requiring powerful or armour ignoring abilities and other situations are best overcome with area of effect attacks on multiple targets.
This game is an RPG as Mario is customizable for battle and in appearance. During the course of the game you find or purchase badges which can be equipped on Mario to give bonuses such as new moves, more attack power or more health. Equipping badges requires taking up battle points which you can choose to increase when levelling up. You can’t change what badges you wear during battle but you can unequip your badges and replace them with others. You can also buy costumes to dress up as Wario or Luigi if you wish to.
There are also choices that Mario can make on his journey, such as whether to invest money for an individual to go and look for oil or whether to eat a cake sent to you by a stranger. You aren’t given major story choices that change future chapters, but the results you get can be quite amusing or interesting.
If I had to give any negatives, it would be that by the end of the game I was bored of combat against regular enemies. There is some variety there, but not for this length of a game. There is a fair amount of backtracking, although it didn’t bother me much. There is a fair amount of text making it a story heavy game, which I also didn’t mid.
Overall, I find that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door to be an enjoyable and varied game with some humour in its well developed characters and its mockery of typical Mario stories. You get the feeling that the developers enjoyed making this game and it certainly feels like a labour of love from Nintendo. If you have a GameCube you should certainly give it a try.
The story begins with a mysterious force that destroys a prosperous seaside town and sinks it into the ground. After many years the town fades from memory and becomes a fairy tale. A new town called Rougeport is built on top of the old one and its name is fitting due to the area having a port to be accessed by ship and the inhabitants have a reputation for being shady or untrustworthy. When Peach ends up in this town she ends up talking to a mysterious looking salesman who gives her a treasure chest which he claims can only be opened by someone with a heart that is pure, which just happens to be Peach. Inside the chest she finds a map which locates a legendary treasure which she sends to Mario with a request to help her find the treasure. However, when Mario arrives at Rogueport via boat he finds that the Princess is missing. The tale eventually turns out to be a typical Mario rescues Peach affair but with a few additions and twists so that it is much different from saving Peach from Bowser’s Castle.
When Mario arrives at Rogueport he saves a female student goomba known as Goombella from the main antagonists in the game known as the X-Nauts. She tells Mario that she and her mentor, Professor Frankly are looking for the legendary treasure as well so she takes Mario to see him. The Professor quotes from the books on the legendary treasure that there is a Thousand Year Door below Rogueport and that seven Crystal Stars are needed to open it. If someone holds the map in the air at the entrance to the Thousand Year Door then the map will be modified to show the location of a Crystal Star. This all turns out to be completely accurate and Mario finds himself on the hunt for the seven crystal stars.
The story has eight chapters with seven of them ending with Mario obtaining a Crystal Star. The impressive part is that each chapter is its own mini story with new locations, characters and plot to follow. These stories have Mario solving mysteries on a train, commanding a pikmin-like army of tree dwellers, become a prize fighter and more. This is done so well that I can remember everything that happens, even though my timer was clocked at 40 hours by the game’s end. Even the side characters have memorable and well developed personalities
Many of the early chapters introduce new party members each with their own abilities both in combat and to solve puzzles in the environment. For example your first partner Goombella gives hints depending where you are standing if you are stuck on what to do. Later characters can blow up certain walls, blow objects away, hide underground and collect items from a distance. Mario also gains multiple paper transformation abilities such as the ability to turn into a paper plane, paper boat and turn thin to slide through narrow gaps. I personally found the puzzles straight forward but there are a lot of abilities that the environments test and it provides a change from combat. These abilities also allow Mario to access areas that he previously couldn’t reach in the game, so you have reasons to visit previous areas.
You won’t find any battle encounters in towns unless it is part of the story. When Mario walks around other areas of the world he will find enemies. They try to charge at Mario on first sight and if an enemy collides with Mario a battle commences. The battles take place on a stage with an audience who judge your moves and give you star power to perform special attacks. The audience may also throw objects and items at you or your enemies in between turns.
Mario and his partners attack and use abilities by using “action commands”. For example Mario has the ability to use a Jump attack or a hammer attack. If Mario selects a Jump attack and then selects the enemy to jump on, you are expected to press A just as you land on the enemy. Failing to time your attacks correctly reduces your damage. Mario also uses the A button to block attacks, so if you press the A button just as an enemy makes contact you reduce the amount of damage taken. This makes the combat slightly more engaging than selecting options from menus. The combat is given some depth with the variety of enemies’ within the game. There are flying enemies that can’t be hit by Mario’s hammer attacks and some enemies that have spikes on their head so that they can’t be attacked from the air. Some enemies have high armour requiring powerful or armour ignoring abilities and other situations are best overcome with area of effect attacks on multiple targets.
This game is an RPG as Mario is customizable for battle and in appearance. During the course of the game you find or purchase badges which can be equipped on Mario to give bonuses such as new moves, more attack power or more health. Equipping badges requires taking up battle points which you can choose to increase when levelling up. You can’t change what badges you wear during battle but you can unequip your badges and replace them with others. You can also buy costumes to dress up as Wario or Luigi if you wish to.
There are also choices that Mario can make on his journey, such as whether to invest money for an individual to go and look for oil or whether to eat a cake sent to you by a stranger. You aren’t given major story choices that change future chapters, but the results you get can be quite amusing or interesting.
If I had to give any negatives, it would be that by the end of the game I was bored of combat against regular enemies. There is some variety there, but not for this length of a game. There is a fair amount of backtracking, although it didn’t bother me much. There is a fair amount of text making it a story heavy game, which I also didn’t mid.
Overall, I find that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door to be an enjoyable and varied game with some humour in its well developed characters and its mockery of typical Mario stories. You get the feeling that the developers enjoyed making this game and it certainly feels like a labour of love from Nintendo. If you have a GameCube you should certainly give it a try.
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The Paper Mario series has reached its fourth instalment on the 3DS with Sticker Star, but Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is the only one in the series I have played. The game was released on the GameCube in 2004 and it was developed by the Nintendo owned Intelligent Systems who also developed the Fire Emblem games.
The story begins with a mysterious force that destroys a prosperous seaside town and sinks it into the ground. After many years the town fades from memory and becomes a fairy tale. A new town called Rougeport is built on top of the old one and its name is fitting due to the area having a port to be accessed by ship and the inhabitants have a reputation for being shady or untrustworthy. When Peach ends up in this town she ends up talking to a mysterious looking salesman who gives her a treasure chest which he claims can only be opened by someone with a heart that is pure, which just happens to be Peach. Inside the chest she finds a map which locates a legendary treasure which she sends to Mario with a request to help her find the treasure. However, when Mario arrives at Rogueport via boat he finds that the Princess is missing. The tale eventually turns out to be a typical Mario rescues Peach affair but with a few additions and twists so that it is much different from saving Peach from Bowser’s Castle.
When Mario arrives at Rogueport he saves a female student goomba known as Goombella from the main antagonists in the game known as the X-Nauts. She tells Mario that she and her mentor, Professor Frankly are looking for the legendary treasure as well so she takes Mario to see him. The Professor quotes from the books on the legendary treasure that there is a Thousand Year Door below Rogueport and that seven Crystal Stars are needed to open it. If someone holds the map in the air at the entrance to the Thousand Year Door then the map will be modified to show the location of a Crystal Star. This all turns out to be completely accurate and Mario finds himself on the hunt for the seven crystal stars.
The story has eight chapters with seven of them ending with Mario obtaining a Crystal Star. The impressive part is that each chapter is its own mini story with new locations, characters and plot to follow. These stories have Mario solving mysteries on a train, commanding a pikmin-like army of tree dwellers, become a prize fighter and more. This is done so well that I can remember everything that happens, even though my timer was clocked at 40 hours by the game’s end. Even the side characters have memorable and well developed personalities
Many of the early chapters introduce new party members each with their own abilities both in combat and to solve puzzles in the environment. For example your first partner Goombella gives hints depending where you are standing if you are stuck on what to do. Later characters can blow up certain walls, blow objects away, hide underground and collect items from a distance. Mario also gains multiple paper transformation abilities such as the ability to turn into a paper plane, paper boat and turn thin to slide through narrow gaps. I personally found the puzzles straight forward but there are a lot of abilities that the environments test and it provides a change from combat. These abilities also allow Mario to access areas that he previously couldn’t reach in the game, so you have reasons to visit previous areas.
You won’t find any battle encounters in towns unless it is part of the story. When Mario walks around other areas of the world he will find enemies. They try to charge at Mario on first sight and if an enemy collides with Mario a battle commences. The battles take place on a stage with an audience who judge your moves and give you star power to perform special attacks. The audience may also throw objects and items at you or your enemies in between turns.
Mario and his partners attack and use abilities by using “action commands”. For example Mario has the ability to use a Jump attack or a hammer attack. If Mario selects a Jump attack and then selects the enemy to jump on, you are expected to press A just as you land on the enemy. Failing to time your attacks correctly reduces your damage. Mario also uses the A button to block attacks, so if you press the A button just as an enemy makes contact you reduce the amount of damage taken. This makes the combat slightly more engaging than selecting options from menus. The combat is given some depth with the variety of enemies’ within the game. There are flying enemies that can’t be hit by Mario’s hammer attacks and some enemies that have spikes on their head so that they can’t be attacked from the air. Some enemies have high armour requiring powerful or armour ignoring abilities and other situations are best overcome with area of effect attacks on multiple targets.
This game is an RPG as Mario is customizable for battle and in appearance. During the course of the game you find or purchase badges which can be equipped on Mario to give bonuses such as new moves, more attack power or more health. Equipping badges requires taking up battle points which you can choose to increase when levelling up. You can’t change what badges you wear during battle but you can unequip your badges and replace them with others. You can also buy costumes to dress up as Wario or Luigi if you wish to.
There are also choices that Mario can make on his journey, such as whether to invest money for an individual to go and look for oil or whether to eat a cake sent to you by a stranger. You aren’t given major story choices that change future chapters, but the results you get can be quite amusing or interesting.
If I had to give any negatives, it would be that by the end of the game I was bored of combat against regular enemies. There is some variety there, but not for this length of a game. There is a fair amount of backtracking, although it didn’t bother me much. There is a fair amount of text making it a story heavy game, which I also didn’t mid.
Overall, I find that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door to be an enjoyable and varied game with some humour in its well developed characters and its mockery of typical Mario stories. You get the feeling that the developers enjoyed making this game and it certainly feels like a labour of love from Nintendo. If you have a GameCube you should certainly give it a try.
The story begins with a mysterious force that destroys a prosperous seaside town and sinks it into the ground. After many years the town fades from memory and becomes a fairy tale. A new town called Rougeport is built on top of the old one and its name is fitting due to the area having a port to be accessed by ship and the inhabitants have a reputation for being shady or untrustworthy. When Peach ends up in this town she ends up talking to a mysterious looking salesman who gives her a treasure chest which he claims can only be opened by someone with a heart that is pure, which just happens to be Peach. Inside the chest she finds a map which locates a legendary treasure which she sends to Mario with a request to help her find the treasure. However, when Mario arrives at Rogueport via boat he finds that the Princess is missing. The tale eventually turns out to be a typical Mario rescues Peach affair but with a few additions and twists so that it is much different from saving Peach from Bowser’s Castle.
When Mario arrives at Rogueport he saves a female student goomba known as Goombella from the main antagonists in the game known as the X-Nauts. She tells Mario that she and her mentor, Professor Frankly are looking for the legendary treasure as well so she takes Mario to see him. The Professor quotes from the books on the legendary treasure that there is a Thousand Year Door below Rogueport and that seven Crystal Stars are needed to open it. If someone holds the map in the air at the entrance to the Thousand Year Door then the map will be modified to show the location of a Crystal Star. This all turns out to be completely accurate and Mario finds himself on the hunt for the seven crystal stars.
The story has eight chapters with seven of them ending with Mario obtaining a Crystal Star. The impressive part is that each chapter is its own mini story with new locations, characters and plot to follow. These stories have Mario solving mysteries on a train, commanding a pikmin-like army of tree dwellers, become a prize fighter and more. This is done so well that I can remember everything that happens, even though my timer was clocked at 40 hours by the game’s end. Even the side characters have memorable and well developed personalities
Many of the early chapters introduce new party members each with their own abilities both in combat and to solve puzzles in the environment. For example your first partner Goombella gives hints depending where you are standing if you are stuck on what to do. Later characters can blow up certain walls, blow objects away, hide underground and collect items from a distance. Mario also gains multiple paper transformation abilities such as the ability to turn into a paper plane, paper boat and turn thin to slide through narrow gaps. I personally found the puzzles straight forward but there are a lot of abilities that the environments test and it provides a change from combat. These abilities also allow Mario to access areas that he previously couldn’t reach in the game, so you have reasons to visit previous areas.
You won’t find any battle encounters in towns unless it is part of the story. When Mario walks around other areas of the world he will find enemies. They try to charge at Mario on first sight and if an enemy collides with Mario a battle commences. The battles take place on a stage with an audience who judge your moves and give you star power to perform special attacks. The audience may also throw objects and items at you or your enemies in between turns.
Mario and his partners attack and use abilities by using “action commands”. For example Mario has the ability to use a Jump attack or a hammer attack. If Mario selects a Jump attack and then selects the enemy to jump on, you are expected to press A just as you land on the enemy. Failing to time your attacks correctly reduces your damage. Mario also uses the A button to block attacks, so if you press the A button just as an enemy makes contact you reduce the amount of damage taken. This makes the combat slightly more engaging than selecting options from menus. The combat is given some depth with the variety of enemies’ within the game. There are flying enemies that can’t be hit by Mario’s hammer attacks and some enemies that have spikes on their head so that they can’t be attacked from the air. Some enemies have high armour requiring powerful or armour ignoring abilities and other situations are best overcome with area of effect attacks on multiple targets.
This game is an RPG as Mario is customizable for battle and in appearance. During the course of the game you find or purchase badges which can be equipped on Mario to give bonuses such as new moves, more attack power or more health. Equipping badges requires taking up battle points which you can choose to increase when levelling up. You can’t change what badges you wear during battle but you can unequip your badges and replace them with others. You can also buy costumes to dress up as Wario or Luigi if you wish to.
There are also choices that Mario can make on his journey, such as whether to invest money for an individual to go and look for oil or whether to eat a cake sent to you by a stranger. You aren’t given major story choices that change future chapters, but the results you get can be quite amusing or interesting.
If I had to give any negatives, it would be that by the end of the game I was bored of combat against regular enemies. There is some variety there, but not for this length of a game. There is a fair amount of backtracking, although it didn’t bother me much. There is a fair amount of text making it a story heavy game, which I also didn’t mid.
Overall, I find that Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door to be an enjoyable and varied game with some humour in its well developed characters and its mockery of typical Mario stories. You get the feeling that the developers enjoyed making this game and it certainly feels like a labour of love from Nintendo. If you have a GameCube you should certainly give it a try.