#i will only be talking about the tutorial puzzle room so no spoilers

[maplecaster]

chants of sennaar is a fun game if youre good at guessing what the devs were thinking

[abyssal-cryptid]

I keep playing Tears of the Kingdom (SPOILERS)

The Like enemies are the worst

I hate them

Yona is such a sweetie

They wrote Sidon and Link's relationship to be romantic in this and added a girlfriend to Sidon for deniability

Yona even calls me Sidon's 'true companion'

The people making tutorials for every little thing have my heart because I am dumb of ass

I cant be the only one who avoids the depths like my life depends on it

Its not even the depths, the chasms just make me almost have panic attacks

Anyways there is a chasm under Zora domain

Its free on enemies and has a forge

Im terrified of the dark

Also there is Zora statues

Why is Link dick sucking height for everyone

Sidon, Rauru, Ganon

I mean

I dont write porn someone else do that for me

I write sad Link

Not that sad Link cant suck dick I just cant write it

Anywaysss

I would go to the Tulin air temple but there is an ice spider there

FUCK I FORGOT TO TAKE A PIC OF THE BOSSES IN WATER TEMPLE NOO

MY COMPENDIUM

Also the boss bokoblin marches are so scary wtf

I saw group of black bokoblins paradin around and immediatly dipped into the ocean

Safety

Cant follow me

I was excited for pirates

But no its just monsters

Uhhhh quick tip dont sleep in the middle of killing the Lurelin village pirates

You bet your ass Im spending my precious time fixing up the village with Bolson

Its so fun

Im helping

I love these types of quests

In going to Hestu after this

I dont want to

I so dont want to

WAIT I WAS LIED TO

HESTU MY DEAREST

HE'S AT THE LOOKOUT TOWER

BABY BOY

I hate the depths

WHY IS THERE LIGHT EATING ENEMIES

But I need bombs and theres a lot of them here

Stop making me go down there

Let me be

Back to rebuilding

Im sure I was doing something but I cant remember

I need more space for meals

YAY WE DID IT

REBUILT

Roman is now 4*-5*-4*-3* horse and I love him so much

He looks like Epona and has flowers in his mane

Ive gotten like 9 memories

I love the animation for Link gaining hearts or stamina

Why cant the musicians walk

I love Mastro

His little ya yahs

Their band is really good

Makes me want to run in the woods

Anyways more great fairy!

Why is there no great moose

Why do I have to pay the great fairy

HOW DO I KEEP PREDICTING BLOOD MOONS TO A TEE

They gave Link so many slutty slutty outfits

Making Link wear the hylian hood when he opens a memory looks funny

LEAVE ZELDA ALONE

Why doesnt Master Sword ever talk to ME

Why does it only talk to Zelda

Maybe there was a mix up because goddess Hylia only talks to Link

Imagine

NO ZELDA NO DONT DO IT

ZELDA BABY PLEASE

ZELDA

NO

ZELDA DONT

ZELDA

Im going to write Zelda-Link fanfiction about this

Typhlo ruins being visible is kind of strange

Wait I can have a whip

Okay I admit I like the vehicles

All great fairies opened

Stable Trotters play so beautifully

The scales on the great fairies clothes are so pretty

Sidon's avatar has scared me so many times

Can I please get the ancient saddle back

YIGA FIT AQUIRED

I slayed

Literally

Got all the rewards possible from the hideout

Rauru is dumbass a little bit

Ganondorf is so hot here

Ganondorf is a liar but my god

Sonia is so beautiful my god

Zelda looks kind of like Sonia's daughter and I wonder if Ganon thinks she is

The Zonai clothing is stunning

Why does Ganondorf have to be so evil

I GOT THE HYLIAN SHIELD

OMG

I NEVER GOT THIS IN BREATH OF THE WILD

Slip resistance is like the most useless thing in this fucking game

Because it does nothing

Even on level 3

Nothing

NOTHING

WHY DID YOU PUT THIS IN GAME THEN

The Dream Homes are so cool

They cost so many coins

But Im so excited

Its so cute

I CAN HAVE ROMAN IN A PERSONAL STABLE

I got a kitchen too

And a study

And weapons room

I love it

Is it time for Gerudo town clearing? Yes yes yes

I hate this sandstorm and love the desert so

The Lightning Temple is so cool

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

WHAT

WHEN DID THIS BECOME A HORROR GAME

I HATE THAT

The puzzles are hard, I have so little brains

Boss battles are so hard

The Lightning Sage is majorly hit

Why is Demon Ganondorf so hot

WAIT DAYBREAKER WAS HER SHIELD

Is this like a traditional shield and weapon of the Lady of Gerudo?? I thought it was just Urbosa

Btw Urbosa is my favorite Champion and I adore her

Simple lesbian brain

Once again Zonai Zelda is the prettiest person in any room

Please Can I Marry Her

Why does Zelda have tear tattoos? Like did she just get them to complete her fit

Iconic

Why cant we see the faces of the Sages

Me every time they call Zelda the Sage of Time

Riju is adorable

She's grown so much

I intended to write a long fic about BOTW with my interpertation of Link and all

But then TOTK released

I do keep thinking about it

There is so many ideas and headcanons I have

I do miss dressing Link as a girl

He has slutty outfits but like let me explore Link's gender

RIJU'S AVATAR IS SO PRETTY

LIKE PRETTY AND FIERCE AND SCARY

I LOVE IT AND HER

I so had a crush on Riju in BOTW I was just dumb and in denial

GERUDO TOWN IS BACK TO NORMAL

MY BELOVED

FAVORITE CITY

I want to write a desert civilization inspired ny the Gerudo and also real desert civilizations

But idk where to start

Oh I need to take a picture of Mattison for Hudson

I love Patricia

*feeds fruit to her*

I love that Padda also loves her despite her puns

WHY IS BOZAI STILL HERE

HOW DO I GET RID OF HIM

A VOE IN THE CITY

I really like the custom they have of the vai coming to live and grow in the city after certain age

FINALLY I CAN HAVE A NOBLE PURSUIT

I love the thunder helm

Haha you cant touch me

Its 3.30am rn

I should sleep soon, the sun wakes in like an hour

Impa, staring at me publicly in Gerudo town: I did not expect to see you here

She has the same energy as Yoda

[rayshippouuchiha]

I’m back again with your monthly dose of Undertale gushing! Actually, I’m pretty sure this is gonna be the last one becauseI literally can’t think of anything else to gush about without spoiling the entire game 😅 If I think of anything else I might go back on that but for now yeah.

Anyway, one of the things I adore the most about Undertale is the amount of heart that was put into it. Every inch of the game is just oozing love and care. You can really tell that the creator, Toby Fox, spent a large amount of time thinking “hey, wouldn’t it be neat if you could do X?”. So much so, that TV Tropes has an entire web-page dedicated to what they call “Developer’s Foresight” in Undertale, with 11 PAGES of things Toby figured a player might try and accounted for while coding the game.

I’ll give you an example that you’re very unlikely to find even with repeated playthroughs (because you have to be a complete dick 😂 I know I didn’t realize this until the Undertale wiki told me). In one of the areas of the game, you can find a snowman.

Since he cannot move, he will ask you to take a piece of himself so that “he” can see the world. Normally, if you eat the Snowman piece or toss it, you can go back to the Snowman and he will assume you lost it, then hand you another one. However, if you eat it right in front of him, he’ll be completely horrified and refuse to ever give you a new one. Even after you achieve the best ending and you’re being hailed a hero by all your friends during the playable epilogue, the Snowman will tell you that he knows “the truth”; that “your heart is as cold as his butt” 😂

This kinda thing not only happens with NPCs in the overworld, but even during battles you can find funny little tidbits if you experiment even after you could technically spare the monster and end the fight. Truly, I’ve never encountered a game that rewarded my curiosity more.

For example, in another area of the game you can encounter a germophobic monster. Usually, if you try to touch it, it’ll just say “yuck”. However, if you’re fighting it at the same time as a slimy enemy and happen to have hugged the latter at some point, it’ll be terrified of being touched by your slimy body and run away.

Also, none of the dialogue feels superfluous like it often does in most RPGs, where NPCs will either repeat tutorials you already know over and over or say boring, irrelevant stuff. In Undertale, I’d say ~99.9% of the dialogue is either funny, witty, or relevant to the story/characters in some way. Even dialogue that may initially seems random or unimportant tends to become relevant in some way later. It also might change depending on your actions. For example, at one point you can have a meal with one of the main characters at a bar/restaurant, and the dialogue of the other patrons will change to give you additional info about him. One in particular will tell you that he’s so lazy he mostly “reads car magazines” when he should be working. That text is highlighted in yellow, something that is usually reserved for important information, and I was puzzled as to why that was… until I reached the best ending, when we can see one of the people closest to that character has mysteriously acquired a cool sports car.

There’s also something in the game’s coding called the FUN value, which is randomly generated with every playthrough, and determines whether a few random events will occur, from getting a phone call where you usually wouldn’t to a whole new character/room appearing. There are many other secrets and easter eggs galore, from the naming screen at the beginning to the end. It makes every playthrough potentially unique depending on which ones you manage to find.

It’s always a bit frustrating to me that some of the best stuff about this game is a spoiler, and I can’t in good conscience gush about it to anyone who might play the game. If you play the game one day I would love it if we could talk about characters, exchange headcanons and share some of my favorite art. But until then, that’s all folks! Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk😊

(Note: the video is by 램Lamb on youtube, featuring cute art and my absolute favorite song from the soundtrack, Undertale)

[escapeesanonymous-blog]

How Accurate Are Escape Rooms Escape Rooms?

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is anonymous, and today I want to talk about the new movie Escape Room.  With a current rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes I’m not here to review the movie in that light.  Personally I enjoyed it!  My question going into the theater was simple.

“Are the rooms shown good examples of escape rooms?”  

With this movie potentially being the first example a new player is going to think about now I feel it’s important to look at it critically.  What’s accurate to the game, and what’s not even close.  On that note let’s start digging.  Also, potential spoilers ahead!!

To start things off, let’s cover the things that are done wrong.  The biggest error is that as the game goes on the movie loses it’s cooperative vibe, and becomes more “survival of the fittest.”  This is especially seen in the 5th room where 2 of the players end up fighting over the one antidote.  To be clear, escape rooms are co-op style games, where everyone wins or everyone loses.  Even if the room has an elimination mechanic it then becomes if one person wins all win. The other part is that not all rooms end in death!  The amount of stories found in escape rooms are almost limitless.  And besides, the actual death is in the movies just for the action.  Now let’s get to what they do right! 

OH ONE MORE THING!  If I see you breaking cameras in the rooms like the main character did I will HUNT YOU DOWN AND….*inhale*  you know what?  Just don’t do it ok?

Escape Room Basics

In order there are six rooms in the movie.  Last chance for deep spoilers….

1.      The waiting room seen in previews

2.      The ice room, which is another popular preview clip

3.      The upside down room, which is the last of the preview clips

4.      The poison room where our GAME BREAKER GOES OFF THE RAILS!!

5.      The antidote room which I’m going to pretty much ignore

6.      The parlor room 

All the rooms provided you with three of the key elements to an escape room.  A timed event, based on challenges of puzzles and logic, with a consequence if you are unable to finish in time.  I could do examples for each, but to save time let’s focus on one example.

In the parlor room our player had to solve riddles in order to get the proper combination to open a door. If he didn’t do it in time he would have been crushed alive by the room.  To clarify for those who are in the boat of “there was no clock” know that there was.  Not all timers are in plain sight, and in this case the timer was the wall sliding ever closer.

Good Starting Puzzles

It’s clear that the rooms were difficult, but one big thing to consider is that the first puzzle was easily accessible, and meant to be solved quickly.  Take example our ice room.  Upon arrival they had to solve a seven letter lock (yes not all locks are numbers).  After a few educated guesses based on one of the clues, one of the players has a…..delightful flashback and knows that the answer.  The kicker though is that even if he wasn’t there given enough time the team would have figured it out.  How? Let me share with you the clues found in the room, and see if you can figure it out.  Ready?

Up above the fireplace was a sign that said, “You’ll go down in history.”

The setting was a cabin, and on one was 9 sets of reindeer antlers.

On the plaques for each set of antlers was a letter.  The letters were D, D, P, V, C, C, D, B, R

You figured it out? The answer was Rudolph.  One common rule in escape rooms is that the entire game should be able to be solved in 60 minutes or less, by the average Joe. Where do the failures come in? When we start pulling something from nothing, and look at the wrong details.  Using only the first clue the team was trying to use seven letter presidents for crying out loud!  On another note, whatever you need, so that you can escape is normally already provided for you in the room.  Which leads to my only negative about the ice room.  If one challenge is going to be to get a key out of a block of ice, you should provide them with a tool or means to do so.  Throw in one more puzzle, or task to provide them with a means of chipping ice, and it would’ve been perfect…….for an entertaining deathtrap.

Style of Game Play

The last thing I want to cover is the overall execution of the rooms.  When it comes to how the rooms tic they all hit the right notes. One task leading to the next, until you successfully escape.  This covers how most escape rooms are designed.  It is known as a linear format.  The best example of this would be the parlor room, second being the waiting room.  The remaining rooms follow the opposite approach.  NON linear.  In this case it is clear where the finish line is, but how to get there isn’t as clear until all the pieces come together.  In the upside down room it was clear that they needed to get through a door, but needed a nob.  They eventually found a safe, but no code.  One found a slide puzzle, but the answer wasn’t clear.  You get the idea.  Once all the pieces came into place the room could be successfully completed. Of course it is also safe to say that nonlinear rooms are normally some of the toughest. Mainly because it requires a little bit more knowledge about how an escape room tics in order to be successful.

In conclusion if I were to have to explain what an escape room is I would happily show someone one of these rooms , as a brief tutorial.  They cover all of the important points, and are very engaging. The one that hits all the right points to me?  Hands down the waiting room.  Clearly a linear room, a smooth progression from idea to idea, with clues and props that fit the environment.  I must go now.  I need to prepare for an exciting week full of opportunities.  You’ll hear from me soon though.

Sincerely,

Anonymous

[breegullbeakreviews]

Summary: With the host of the masked ball missing, the staff have plotted to kill everyone at the party. The exception is you, Lafcadio Boone, who has been granted protection by a mysterious woman along with the ability to repeat the horrific final 12 hours of the party in hopes of saving everyone and uncovering the secrets of The Sexy Brutale.

Overall: The Sexy Brutale as of right now is a strong contender for my the best game I finally got around to this year, and last year would have given a Hat in Time a run for its money. For $20 it’s around 6 hours of quality entertainment that is absolutely worth playing.

There will be spoilers after the break, but there will be a warning prior to going into them

Gameplay: The Sexy Brutale is called a puzzle and adventure game, but I think stealth fits in there as well. The difference is that you can’t actually be caught. When the game begins not only are you granted the ability to repeat the day, but also prevented from sharing the room with anyone wearing a mask, unless you’re hiding in a cupboard. You can stumble into a room with someone else in it or they into the room you are in, but you are given time to leave before their mask tries to kill you. You can use this to quickly cross a room where you wanted to be on the other side as long as you aren’t chaining together too many occupied rooms, but considering I never “died” in this way it’s not a problem. This also doesn’t break anyone’s routine so you can’t cheat in this way.

The game starts with a simple tutorial giving you 5 in game hours which are maybe a minute each to prevent one of the deaths in a small area of the mansion. I won’t spoil the solution but the game teaches you how you spy one characters to learn how they spend their time in the mansion. Spotting the right character at the right time might grant you helpful information in regards to how to stop the murders. Since you can’t share the room with people you’ll need to peek through doors and hide in cupboards. While the former gives you a limited view of who and what is in the room, the latter gives a full view of the room. While items are reset after each day, any information you learn about the environment like passwords and secret passages you’ll retain.

Each person you prevent the death of will go back to dying in the same way the next day, but you will unlock their masks power. These will grant you various abilities that open up new paths through the mansion as well as ways to gain information. The one you get for clearing the tutorial allows you to set a new location to start each day at, limited to the mansions clocks, and fast forward to 4PM and 8PM at any clock. The second allows you to hear any whispers.

From here each ability allows you to explore a little more of the mansion a way to reach another targeted guest or a pair. In fact most of the guest’s fates are tied to another’s. In fact after the tutorial the first rescue is a couple. The game progresses at a steady and fun pace as you deal with all of the murders, then things take a turn as the narrative takes over. The next several tasks aren’t murders you must stop, but story sensitive information you need to uncover which leads to a lot less playing with routines and a lot more exploration which is kind of boring in the gameplay department. The game does end with one final murder prevention, but it’s extremely easy considering how much experience you have at this point.

I have one complaint with the story, but honestly it was more an expectation that wasn’t met. Once you had saved everyone once I had expected that you would need to play through a day saving everyone in a single day. That never happens. I’m not sure if even wise it’s possible but with the amount of shortcuts around the house I know you could save more than one set of guests easily. This would have required a much more thorough design of when and how each murder and other event occurs, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Collectibles: The Sexy Brutale has two types of collectibles, playing cards and invitations. Like any basic deck there are 52 cards and you can find them lying on the floor and by interacting with objects in the environment. Some are time sensitive which means you need to explore pretty thoroughly to find them all which allows you to unlock an alternate and overall less satisfying ending, though it doesn’t remove the original so you’re fine to hunt them all down before completing the game. The invitations are 9 in total and there is one for each guest. While most you can pick off the remains of the guests after you’ve failed them, a select few will require some more exploration of your mask abilities to obtain. While not tied to a trophy you can also unlock an info dump on every character and room in the manor. A lot of these are tied to cards, invitations, and story progression, but a few others are tied to one of the last powers you unlock.

Music: I usually don’t talk music so this game had to do something else to warrant discussing it. The Sexy Brutale has a different audio track for every area of the mansion. So the Casino has a track shared with all of its rooms and the bar has its own theme shared with its rooms and so on. What makes it special is that all of these tracks are synced to the in game clock and therefore the events that occur each day. As a gun goes off the music plays it up. In fact you can hear some of the deaths and other events from other parts of the mansion and characters will comment on them. One of the deaths in particular plays the music up big time and it’s beautiful as it tells you for an extended period of time that you have failed.

Story(Now Spoilers): No seriously the story of this game is worth experiencing for yourself.

  Did you go and play it yet?

 Okay let’s get into it. The Sexy Brutale plays its Groundhog Day mechanics up as entirely supernatural, and from first glance that makes complete sense. Even as the game ramps up the fantastical elements as you make your way into the staff quarters it seems like it’s simply a cult like the game’s marketing would like you to believe. The truth is what punched me in the gut.

The Bloody woman is clearly someone of importance and it was pretty obvious she was this red headed woman in the house to me before the reveal. Turns out that Eleanor is the missing host Lucas’s wife, but he isn’t missing. He’s you. The party as you see it isn’t actually how that night went down. As part of an insurance scam Lucas planned to use timed explosives to burn the manor to the ground and start a smaller and quainter life with Eleanor. Unfortunately the bombs went off early and killed everyone in the mansion. Except for Lucas who fell from the tower and lived with the guilt his entire life. This game is that guilt. The player character is an old Lucas. The antagonist in the gold mask is Lucas. The man in the tank is Lucas. All the members of the staff are Lucas. The repetition of each day is Lucas reliving the guilt every day of his life. How the Bloody woman weaves her way into this string of guilt is a mystery. The game culminates with the choice to either restart the day again while continuing to live with the guilt, or end the cycle and try and move on with your life.

We all regret something in our lives. Some things are more extreme than others. While most people haven’t accidently killed all of their close friends, we all have made mistakes. I’ve seen stories try and tackle the idea of getting over guilt with forgiveness and they all seem to miss the mark pretty hard. They always soft ball the issue. Some things are so bad that even if those wronged forgive you for them, you still can’t forgive yourself. Sometimes it is about forgiving yourself and that can be really hard to do. It can make you feel like you never deserve to be happy again and as is shown here it can ruin the rest of your life, deserved or not. I can’t say that Lucas should be forgiven for what he did, but that’s the point. It’s up to you to move on and it’s something I’ve never seen discussed this honestly.

The game has an alternate ending. Using a key you can find over by the guest rooms you can open a door near the casino to find a demon who requests a full deck of cards. This is to reflect Lucas’s gambling problem. Upon handing the demon the cards you get sent to the ballroom where everyone is happy and partying and it keeps going until you break the glass in the rear of the room. Everyone stares at you and the credits roll. I like that this ending is here, but it’s certainly not as good as the main ending. 

[greyliliy]

Paper Mario: The Origami King

I loved Paper Mario: The Origami King. A lot. It's my first Paper Mario game and it is an understatement to say that I adored it. Enough so that I want to write a full review on my thoughts for the entire game. o-o It’s been so long since I’ve felt the need to do that and it feels good. It feels so good. T-T

So let’s do this. :D This is going to be a long one, and I’ll probably put the cut right before I start talking about individual chapters. Hopefully before that there are no major spoilers, but afterwards its’ a free for all discussion. So spoilers will be present! :D

A Brief History of my Relationship With Paper Mario

I saw an Arlo video talking about it when I was randomly browsing videos on his channel (I found him for something else believe or not) and I think that was the first time I even realized this franchise existed. Lol. (Which is funny because I have a Wii U and Paper Mario: Color Splash was like the last big game for that console).

I was curious so I browsed the Paper Mario Reddit and watched his Color Splash reviews and got interested in the series.

I ended starting to watch play throughs of Thousand Year Door (where I am mostly through the game? The players just finished the area where you get Vivian) and Color Splash (where I am halfway through the game maybe?).

My opinion on both games: They both look fine. TYYD has it’s good points. Color Splash has its good points. I feel like I would be irritated by random battles in both of them, no matter the combat methods. Lol.

But honestly I leaned more toward Color Splash because I love the Paper Aesthetic. Good story + Paper Themed World = My jam.

Which  means that first Origami King trailer smacked me in the face because it looked like I’d be getting both. I preordered the game as soon as I saw the trailer and it did not disappoint. Lol.

General Stuff

The Good: The characters! I adored all of them. Every character, whether generic minion or unique, was bursting with fun dialogue and moments that made me smile. Olivia was precious. I want an Origami Olly to put in my room (I love him so much) and the Legion of Stationary was surprisingly fleshed out. They were easily my favorite bosses in the game, which was a surprise after all the teasing they got in the trailers. Lol.

Plus: LUIGI. Oh my gosh. He’s amazing in this game. XD

The Music doesn’t need my praise. Everyone has praised the music in this game and it deserves it. Every. Single. Track. Is the greatest and I love this soundtrack. I’m listening to it right now (Where can I buy this Nintendo. TELL ME).

I also really enjoyed the battles. It had a nice blend of Turn Based & Overworld Action, keeping things mixed up and fresh. I wasn’t great at some of the combat (Which I’ll talk about below in the chapter by chapter section) but the game makes stuff easier if you fail too much...which I appreciated. LOL.

Oh. And the Confetti thing. I liked it. Filling holes with confetti was satisfying in a nice completionism way. It was kinda soothing, too, and it was nice to physically repair the world in addition to trying to save it in general.

The Critique: The game needed more time with Olly. I’m not just saying that as someone who loved him, I’m saying it as a story miss. We see Olly at the beginning. And we see him for like two seconds at a time between chapters to half-handedly ask Olivia to join him, and then...the final boss fight. One or two cut-away scenes showing what Olly and Peach were doing between the Streamer Banners would have been great and done wonders for fleshing out the story.

The Combat: Opinions on this have been highly mixed. Specifically, I have noticed a large crowd saying the combat is too easy; they line everything up on the first turn and kill everything on the first turn and then they’re drowning in coins so there’s no point to battle.

And then there’s Me: I rarely got the puzzle right on the first turn, which means I didn't get the bonus coins, and I usually burned through weapons and faster since I didn’t get the “Great Line Up!” on the first turn bonus. So I was...constantly fight enemies for coins (Stuff gets expensive in this game) and using them to get help from the Toads.

So when I got puzzles right on the first turn, I felt super accomplished. Lol. I did eventually get better at them (and used one of the help items from the Battle Toad) and was beating them in one turn 60% of the time. So while I really enjoyed the puzzle turn-based battles, I can see how some would get tired and bored of them.

I think a difficulty setting might fix the wildly different experiences with this. The puzzles get much tricker later, so if you’re solving even those too fast--the game could have given you harder stuff to solve.

Though it is sort of funny. If you do well at puzzles, you get a ton of extra bonus coins. But if you’re good at the puzzles, you don’t need those coins since coins are mostly spent on “Getting help for puzzles.” Which the people who are bad at puzzles need but don’t get...fun times.

Boss battles, however, were mostly scripted and I’ll talk about those in detail in the spoiler section below. XD

The Game

Okay! Let’s get into the meat and talk about each Streamer Section individually. o-o Whoooooooo. I’m glad the Game8 Wiki has a nice layout for me to reference. XD

Prologue

This is when I knew I was going to love the game. Luigi is adorable. Origami Peach is every bit as creepy as the trailer promised. And Olly stealing the castle was great. :D

The Red Streamer

This entire streamer is a tutorial. I can see how that could get irritating if you don’t like Olivia holding you hand (and I have seen many complain about it), but this is the only chapter where she does that. 

Which I understand. Every streamer follows the same sort of pattern (explore two or more themed areas to open up a path to a temple, beat a temple, beat a Vellumental, go clear the boss building/area, fight the Stationary Boss). Giving the audience a clear how-to guide to get through an entire Streamer Chapter isn’t the worst.

Plus Olivia is adorable and I used X to talk to her all the time, whether I needed the hint or not. Lol.

Whispering Woods

The mini story with the trees and the the little Toad camp ground are cute. I was surprised that I had to back track here later in the game a few times. XD

Toad Town

The hub world! Here you can find the Museum (which has all the fast travel pipes), the Battle Practice area (which if you visit 3x will give you items to make the Ring battles easier), and the shop (please remember to actually use your membership card you get from here and don’t be like me who paid 24,000 coins in the late game for a collectible when I could have had it HALF OFF but I forgot to equip the membership card).

It also features: A cool Graffiti area I need to visit again because I heard it gets more art as you progress through the game, many Macho Gumbas to beat, the Docks, a Toad that’ll tell you what Power Up Hearts you are missing, more fast travel options, and a great scene with Luigi that kick-starts his sub-story as he hunts for Princess Peach’s Castle Key.

Picnic Road & Overlook Mountain

So many hidden Toads. Everywhere. XD It’s a very lovely area, but again, since this is a tutorial-ish Streamer there isn’t much there aside from enemies to practice fighting and a lot of examples of how Toads hide (including in the ground, in walls, as folded origami, on the other end of small over world puzzles, etc.)

Earth Elemental Temple & Fight

I loved the lead up to this Temple. The fake Koopa one with the small tour boxes was so great. It was funny, cute, and I loved that the fake Temple Tour ended with a real Temple.

The fight was easy (again...tutorial streamer) but I still messed up a few times. Lol. It took me a while to get the hang of the boss rings (and I kid you not, it was like five streamers in before I realized you could move the boss ring panels front and back in addition to rotating the rings).

Olivia turning into a Vellumental was a huge surprise. I’m not sure how I feel about it as a whole, but they use her transforming powers the entire game, so it’s thematically appropriate.

Overlook Tower & Colored Pencils

Fighting your way up the tower to get to the boss was fun. I loved the elevator bits & the drawings everywhere (Colored Pencils drew Olly!!!).

It was a very nice introduction to the future “Boss Building before the Fight” that you’ll face in every Streamer.

Also Colored Pencils having a personality was such a delight that I couldn’t help but grin. Legit, the Legion of Stationary are some of my favorite characters and I’m amazing at how much life and personality they shoved into these office supplies.

I’m sad they die afterwards though. T-T

But with the Red Streamer done, the game stops holding your hand and the game really gets going. :P

The Blue Streamer

One word: Bobby.

It’s fun having the second world be your favorite in the game. Lol. But it just hit all the right beats and made a great impact.

Autumn Mountain

Very pretty area. Lets you get to know Bob-omb (aka “Bobby” as Olivia likes to call him) and his personality as you explore a gorgeous, autumn area. Lots of warm colors and great music tracks. It had a few frustrating areas with the stupid falling Chestnuts (oh my gosh how long did it take me to figure out I needed to hit the wall to break it lol), but overall a good area.

Water Vellumental

I cheated on the slide puzzles. I’ll admit it. I paid the coins to have the Temple solve its own puzzles. LOL.

Years of playing Zelda made me terrified of a Water based Temple but it wasn’t that bad aside from the slide puzzles. A very lovely temple with a great design.

The boss fight was one of the easier ones, but I was still getting the hang of figuring out the pathing for boss fights so it took me a while to figure out how to execute the things I wanted to do (I figured out early I had to use Olivia’s Earth Vellumental form to avoid the Water Attack, but I wasn’t so good at lining u the On Button and the Magic Circles to do it lol).

Eddy River

Lord this was annoying. I missed one of the Holes to fill with confetti and that was the moment were I was like “I will never 100% this game” because the thought of going down that river again made me go “No.” XD

Shogun Studios

I loved running around this amusement park. There were puzzles and character interactions everywhere. (So many item trades between NPCs lol) and the Ninja Mansion was fun. Even if I had to do it twice because I missed Luigi the first time around...

Big Sho’ Theatre & Rubber Band

This was amazing.

Riding the up the tower in the audience seats. The captured Toad audience. The paper Macho actors. The different stage plays. Rubber Band yelling in the background before showing up as the Diva they are.

The Rubber Band fight was also a blast. I figured out the trick immediately and had a great time wrecking that boss. XD

It was fun. The Rubber Band Tower & Fight are easily my 2nd favorite Boss Area and Fight in the game.

Sweetpaper Valley to Breezy Tunnel

I know this area is technically part of the Yellow Streamer, but it feels like an interlude section, so I’m putting it in its own section.

I will admit, I had this part of the game spoiled for me. I knew about what happened to Bobby and I was like “Really. The game’s going to go there.”

And it did.

When you get to the Valley, Olly drops a bolder on Olivia and Bobby’s like “I know how to fix this.”

He takes you on an awesome adventure through the Princess Peach Cruise Ship that involves an incredible Macho Battle on the boat and the retrieval of a special item, and then when you get back...

Bob-omb saves Olivia.

The death of Bobby itself wasn’t the sad part. Honestly it was a little funny because the bolder explodes into a bunch of confetti that Mario picks up as he walks through it.

The sad part is Olivia.

When she realizes what happened to Bobby and runs away. Ug. Sitting with her in the dark as she sobs. Her grief. It’s so sad in the best way. And then Bobby! Bobby tells you to cheer her up and man.

That tiny “That’s not fair” she says to Mario when he makes her laugh? That’s the spot that got me teary eyed for the first time in the game.

It’s so good and it solidified this game as an all time favorite. Even if the rest of the game was horrible, it can’t take that scene away.

The Yellow Streamer

The. Music. This area has my favorite music. Every track is such a jazzy, awesome beat and I could hang out in the Snif City Hotel Pool Room all day to listen to that song. XD

Scorching Dessert & Snif City

Driving through the Desert areas felt a little like padding since you had to keep backtracking everywhere, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the Purple Streamer later, so in hindsight it’s less annoying. Lol.

Snif City has a fun design and I loved exploring it, along with the desert area. The Luigi cameo was pretty fun (as was the intentional game over I triggered to see the animation lol).

Professor Toad is a fun partner character, though I will admit I got stuck for a while because I didn’t realize you could use him to dig in spots that weren’t glowing (oops).

Olivia singing to raise the temple was a treat.

The Fire Vellumental

This temple is how I found out the game makes stuff easier if you fail too many times. There was a jumping area where you have to only jump on blocks that light up and I failed so many times it dropped all the blocks you couldn’t jump on. Uh. Oops. XD

The Fire Vellumental has my favorite design. It’s basically Moltres and Olivia looks awesome as a fire bird.

The Temple of Shrooms and Hole Punch

This might be my favorite Stationary Lair & Fight. The temple was great to explore. The Faceless Toads were fun and creepy. And oh my gosh the DJ dance room caught me so off guard I couldn't help but laugh.

Great music. Great Boss.

The fact he wouldn’t come out unless everyone was partying was fantastic. The fight itself was also pretty fun with the guy hole-punching Mario and having to find your pieces on the grid. The Hole Punch’s theme “Disco Devil” is also so good I can’t take it. Who gave a song a right to be that catchy?

I loved every second of this temple & fight.

Captain T.Ode

And then of course everything ends with Professor Toad finding the Toad he was looking for, finishing out his mini story arc. And using your fire powers to free him (And after the Shangri-Spa Toads worked so hard, too!! Lol).

The Purple Streamer

This is the only area of the game I didn’t like. It had a few good moments (Luigi and the Mushroom Island, a few of the puzzles islands) but overall I wanted to get through it as fast as possible and almost rage quit at one point.

The only saving grace was the ending with the Stationary Boss.

The Great Sea

It took me way too long to realize I had to take the boat out into the mist before it would prompt Captain T.Ode getting his submarine. WAY TOO LONG. I was sailing around aimlessly and screaming in the Museum wondering why the guy didn’t come get the Marino yet for like a solid thirty minutes.

Everything about this area was slow. Swimming from Island to Island. The loading screens between the Submarine sections. The small Island puzzles.

Just. Ug.

And of course when I find out I can upgrade the boat to go faster I didn’t have enough coins. So I had to go to another area to fight baddies to get coins and come back. XD

Even meeting Olly’s creator on an island (with a great Luigi sequence) was a disappointment. It was so short and all we really learned was that Olly is the one who made Olivia (which makes him more her Dad than her Brother...which I have talked bout before but will let the topic drop here for now). And that was IT.

Give me a flashback to Olly being made. Give me more of a hint to what the Origami Maker wrote to make the kid go nuts. Just. Something. Anything! *throws hands in the air*

The Ice Vellumental

This temple was annoying. The sliding ice puzzles were just...no. They aren’t actually that bad. I was just really burned out from all the sailing when I got to this temple and was in a bad mood. I’ll be fair--the temple itself was fine.

(Except for one area where you had to climb the stairs while dodging falling boulders and I kept messing up  my jumps and having to do it over and ARRRGH).

BUT THE BEAR.

I hate the bear. I had my first game over with the bear. I nearly rage Quit with the bear. And I beat him EVENTUALLY with 10 HP and because the game had pity on me and stuck the 1000 Arms Technique panel on the outer row.

I was fine up until the “Memorize the path and recreate it” section. The path would look easy. I’d remember where it was. But then the rings would get shuffled and I could not recreate the path for the life of me. I tried it so many times. I failed so many times.

*stares into the distance* 

I watched a Youtube Tutorial that beat that boss in five minutes. It took me like an hour. There is a special type of frustration that comes from “I know what I need to do and I know the trick but I can’t seem to make it work.”

The Three Trials

I paid coins to make these easier. I was so done with everything by that point, that failing the stupid Strength Trial twice in a row was enough to just. End me. XD

The Sea Tower and Tape

A shining light in a horrible Streamer. Lol. The Tower was fun to climb and I got excited for the Tape boss.

Who did not disappoint.

His greaser Punk personality and calling Olly “Boss” was the first thing that made me really grin this entire streamer. Even Tape’s fight gimmick taping the panels down was almost a relief and a much easier fight than the Ice Vellumental.

I loved the Tape fight. XD

The Green Streamer

Aka “Kamek is awesome and bless the Bowser Minions.”

Shangri-Spa

I liked this area more than I thought I would. When I first got there and saw the theme of Angel Toads I was like “Why” and then I saw Bower’s fallen Castle, met all the minions paying off their debt cleaning, and Olivia thought Kamek was a housekeeper.

Bless all of it.

And then Bowser Jr. gets cut into pieces by a pair of scissors and it was like “Oh, shit.”

You fix him of course, but the implications were like “Dude, those scissors killed Bowser Jr.” I honestly think one of the reasons they leaned so much harder into the “paper” aesthetic was to get away with more violence/darker content. The entire Scissors lair and fight is the perfect example. It sort of follows TV and Cartoon logic - if it’s not human, you can get away with a LOT more violence (like robots getting ripped apart or derezzing characters in Tron).

It’s not actual gore, but if you think about what it symbolizes, it really hits you (and why Mario Game Overs getting cut in half instead of reviving with his Green Mushroom).

You get a small break after that exploring all the Spas and their mini puzzles to fix Bowser Jr. The Jungle Area is the longest of which and has some nice scripted Game Overs that are fun to trigger and Olivia, Kamek, and Bowser Jr. have a good “Pick me!” scenario that gets repeated.

The boss of his area is also Macho Chain Chomp which is a win in my book because Chain Chomp is Best Mario Baddie.

(I love Chain Chomps. I have a Chain Chompette on my Keychain.)

Bowser’s Castle & Scissors

I noticed a lot of people saying Scissors was their favorite Stationary Boss and I didn’t quite get why until this Castle & Fight. He’s not knocking Hole Punch out of the way on my own list (Seriously that Boss fight music), but he is up there on the “Dude” factor.

Scissors is creepy. He is a literal sadist who tortures everyone he gets his hand on. His shadow paper minions are creepy and have cool Ring Battles.

The mutilated minions he used to make up a paper Macho Buzzy Beetle was dark if you thought about it too long - but it was a great Kamek moment. XD

Scissors himself had a great “I want a challenge!” attitude and his fight was intense.

I also screwed up and broke the blade guard on the first turn and uh. I died very quickly. XD That note that says “DO NOT BREAK THE GUARD” wasn’t kidding. I’m not super at timing action commands, so uh, jumping over the blades didn’t work out so well (especially when Scissors started cheating...).

Second time went much better. I figured out how to time attacks to avoid hitting his guard. I got to see the awesome cut scene where he took the guard off. I actually dodged a hit. I had fun. XD

And then Bowser enters the scene for the final areas of the game. Whoooo!

Finale

Bowers’ Air Ship appearance was epic. Very cinematic and I loved how he was like “I might use this against you later.”

Mario and Bowser team ups never fail to disappoint, honestly.

The air battle was messed up.

After that entire scene with Bobby in the Blue Streamer...I am now firing Bob-ombs at planes freely and in mass numbers because I have bad aim. I just. I don’t know if I want to laugh or cry. XD

The crash landing and the race out of the volcano were fun, though.

Peach’s Castle & Olly’s Castle

Luigi finally brought us the right key. I haven’t talked about Luigi much, but every single one of his appearances brought a smile with them. I loved how he had a key in every chapter like clockwork, and even now, he came through.

Bowser talking about Luigi was also pretty great. XD

But most importantly:

I love Olly. His few appearances here desperately made me wish there had been more of him earlier. He’s a dramatic little brat and I want to hug him.

The transformation of Peach’s Castle to Olly’s Origami one? Amazing. One of my favorite cut scenes in the game.

Fighting the Origami Castle itself? Eh. Aside from the great music tracks, it was a little tedious. It lacked the cool levels of the earlier Boss Areas and was mostly “use 1000 folding arms” to progress. I didn’t hate the area, but it was a bit of a let down.

Stapler was nice though. He was a good dog. That I crushed in combat. o-o

King Olly

His throne room covered in Paper Cranes is my favorite designed room & man, I wish I remembered to take more screen shots. It was so creepy and so dark and it looked so good with this tiny paper King sitting alone next to an empty throne since Olivia “Betrayed” him. 

I loved how his castle still had Olivia everywhere. Like they were meant to be together, but still separated. So good. T-T

The Princess Peach reveal was also so creepy and great.

But also made me wish for more cut scenes. Why did Olly want to make her into the wall? Why did he want her quiet? Did she annoy him? Or What? Tell me, game. Tell me!

Aesthetically it made the room look perfect though as his creepy little room. XD

As far as Olly's motivations go...I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, yes, it’s a little shallow. “A Toad wrote on me so now I’m going to destroy all flat paper beings and make them origami!” is sure...a thing. But I’m also a fan of Evil Characters that are just...evil. Maybe Olly really did just want to make everything Origami so they were like him. He was the first “Living” Origami creature and maybe he was just lonely. That’s why he made Olivia and wanted everyone to be like him. 

But that’s also reading into it...and makes me want to write a fanfic exploring it, but this is a review. XD

I’m fine with “Olly was looking for any excuse to go nuts and take over the world and the writing will just have to do.” Even if it does make his little “I guess I lost so now I’m redeemed” moment feel forced. XD

The Fights

The Bowser Origami Sumo vs Giant Olly thing was...okay. I get what they were going for, but it kinda missed the mark with me.

The Actual Olly fight? Oh lord. I had to do it like 10 times.

I failed the Action commands...a lot. Which meant a lot of game overs since I went into the fight with like 40 health (I may or may not be bad at jumping and the Sumo fight throwing stars may or may not have wrecked my health) and didn’t doge Olly's attacks.

Thankfully the game made the ring puzzle easier each time so I could actually finish it.

And it only took me 4 times to get the action commands right? XD Something like that.

I DID IT which is the point.

(This is a case of “If I was better at gaming I would have loved the fight” but my poor skills made it longer and more tedious than it should have been - only’s awesome speech at the beginning loses its bite after the fourth time hearing it.)

The Final Cut Scene

Olivia saying Goodby to Olly had me teary eyed. Her holding his little hand. Reading the message their creator left. Olly’s request for her to make him into the last crane.

Olivia’s freaking WISH. Knowing that She, herself, was one of Olly’s creations.

The cut scene was beautiful. The cranes. The light. The castles’ return.

The party at the end. The two little empty thrones.

I was sniffing through the (very well done and great to watch) credits.

Olivia was such a good girl and I miss her and Olly so much.

This ending was the perfect example of “Wouldn’t change it because it made me sad in a good way but Bless Fanfics and their “Everyone Lives” alternate universes.”

THE END

The game had a few hiccups but overall? I loved it. I can very easily see how “Your first Paper Mario is your favorite” is going to hold true. Wonderful game.

I might have to actually go back and try to 100% the game to get that extra ending I’ve seen spoiled.