#she reminds me of olivia origami king

[twentytwoarts]

please don't make me cry

[fried-phrogcakes]

spoilers for paper mario: origami king !!

i uhhh havent finished it just yet but im so obsessed and in love that i need to ramble,, (just deleted purple ribbon)

you have been warned

OH my glob there is nothing in the world that can make me happier than this game,, dont get me wrong i love my boyfriend but this is just such an amazing game im going to fucking cry when i finish it because the first time experience will be over,, but !! ive been savouring it as much as i can

as i get closer to beating the game and saving all the toads i can find along the way, its still really weird seeing the stadium of toads filling up so much.. like what im just a guy- BRO and - mmmmMMMM

i havent played many mario games but this is absolutely by far my favourite mario iteration as a character. he is so silly and so goofy and hes not mean to luigi and he dances and grooves and has such a silly fun time i really hope there will be a bit more luigi content too after i save the castle or something i love them both so much

and like olivia was a lil annoying at first, some of her hints (esp during battle) can be pretty useless and she holds your hand through a lot of things,, reminding me that im playing a kids game, but ive grown to love her a lot i love how silly she is even tho she is quite oblivious sometimes. her dancing is so cute and while its not like technically her form or whatever its so cool seeing her fold into the different vellumentals!!!

.......i miss bob-omb "bobby" :( why did silly fun game have angst.. OUGH AND HE SHOWS UP IN THE PICTURES YOU TAKE AT SHOGUN STUDIOS IT MAKES ME SOB wah hes following and keeping along on the adventure :(((( i love him 😭 gary come home moment,,,

um.. anyway. moving on from my heartbreak theres just like a kajillion reasons to love this game, and while i dont have the comparison of the other paper marios i have no clue how the hell this one is deemed as the worst one!! sure the combat is a little weird but its puzzling and challenging and so unique!! ..albeit i dont like doing it over and over and over but as you get more health you get stronger and can just smack em with ur hammer and not have to fight them which i REALLY appreciate

anyways it just has so much in it and i love the puzzles and the silly little things inside i love the sneaky stuff and 😭 the shogun theatre show was just amazing. idk how many hours of gameplay i have in it so far but it feels like eons /pos

i dont think ive ever had a game that ive hyperfixated on so hard that has made me smile and laugh and cry so much this will forever hold such a strong place in my heart and while i cant wait to finish it i absolutely never want it to be over

so that being said!! if this IS the "worst paper mario game" then honestly all i have to look forward to is up!! i love the toads so much i love the silly ways you find them.... im also curious what wouldve happened if i agreed w the folded soldier in the very beginning and went yeah!! being folded sounds amazing sign me up!! .........bro........ that could open up a whole alternate storyline gameplay. probably not but like imaging it is so cool!! like.. mario gets folded and then instead of saving toads he folds em up n is on a quest to put all the ribbons in place or something

im not sure exactly how it would work out but a sort of anti-mario would be very neat

urgh okay its late im gonna conclude this as part 1 of my rambling abt paper mario lmao, a lot of words but not a lot was said

[protags-fic-blog]

Princess Peach Showtime Demo

So! Just finished playing the demo! It’s a little off-brand for this blog, but it’s very clearly a game targeted at women/girls, and I am in that target demographic. I thought I should talk a little about it. Minor spoilers for the first 2 levels.

🎀💐🎀

So! First thing’s first: the game. I think, so far, it’s pretty good! I saw someone a little upset about how the game controls are simple… but I have a feeling that the costumes will work similar to captures in Mario Odyssey. It controls pretty well. The combat is very easy if you’ve played combat games before though. Some simple timing and the like. I knew to do certain things based on visual language (jump over shockwave), so that’s good! One thing I noticed was that it does not entirely hand hold. The first level’s ‘boss’ wasn’t given a flashing red weak point, and Stella (we’ll get to her!) doesn’t give hints on how to defeat it. Instead, it uses the game mechanics established in the lead up to the battle, and lets you apply them.

I do wish there was a tutorial for Patisserie Peach’s cookie game, as I didn’t know that I could time it to where it glows rainbow—I figured I could only let it rise until it shines, which made me only get 1/3 stars. That should’ve been taught in the warm-up batch.

🎀💐🎀

Next up, characters! There are two new ‘species’, the Sour Grape crew and Theets. Sour crew is fine, cute design. The THEETS? Oh my goodness. I love them. I simply love them. They’re so cute! I love that their noses express their emotions. I admit, I’m partial to using body colors to show emotion, but it’s so cute—there’s a mad Theet by the door in the lobby and he reminds me of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Of course, we also have our new side-kick, Stella. She’s cute! I think she’s got potential. I don’t think she’s on the same level as Origami King’s Olivia, but she’s small and cute. I wish she was the bow in Princess Peach’s outfit though. Or like, an accessory on the bow. And it would fit right in, since our princess normally uses a blue hair tie!

Princess Peach is… here. She feels like Y/N. Like Link, she doesn’t have lines on screen to show us what she’s saying, even if it’s clear she’s talking. But she does have some small voice lines. I’m not quite sure how I feel about the voice yet though.

🎀💐🎀

Last category, is it worth it? Worth your time, yeah, sure! It’s simple, and pretty easy (but those were just the first 2 levels so take this with a grain of salt), but it’s fun and feels full of charm (ily Theets). But is it worth the price? I can’t be so sure. Nintendo games are consistently priced at $60 USD (though Walmart often sells them for less), unless it’s a remake (then it’s usually a base price of $50 USD). The demo took me about 35 minutes. Watched all cutscenes, played first level, tried to get Star #3 in that level after beating it and failed, then played the second level. With 10 costumes, assuming there are separate little ‘worlds’ for each, that’s about 150 minutes for every single first level. We have no info on how many levels each ‘world’ has, but assuming a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 10, that play time could be between 450 minutes and 1500 minutes. Take an even 5 level amount and that’s 750 minutes, or about 12.5 hours. But there may be more content! Who knows?

🎀💐🎀

So, my take. It’s cute, but I can’t say right now that it is worth that $60 USD price. I will be getting a job soon, and my birthday comes soon too, but I definitely won’t buy it until I see how long the average play-throughs are. I’m saving as much as I can for college, and if that means skipping on the game because there isn’t enough content, I think I’ll be okay. My advice is to play the demo, then see how you feel. And if you’re buying a Switch just to play this game—please wait!!! I made that mistake by buying a Switch for Animal Crossing…. Before it was delayed over 1.5 years. And then ended up not being my main source of fun. From one gamer to another, you’re essentially spending $360 for one game. Make sure it’s worth it first.

But, that’s all! Let me know what you all think about the game. Excited, disappointed, reconsidering buying, or reconsidering passing it up? I’d love to know <3

[agentcalypso]

Fic Masterpost

art/OC masterpost can be found here

I EXPECT YOU TO DIE: ESPRIT DE CORPS

Operation: Air Lift - Phoenix finally has a new mission, but...where's Earpiece?

Operation: Out of Order (CONTENT WARNING: VIOLENCE)- A surprise attack during a mission sends Phoenix and Handler reeling.

The Spy or The Liar? - Phoenix finds someone in the woods. Things get...interesting.

halloween time >:) - (CONTENT WARNING: BLOOD/VIOLENCE)- It's halloween in the EOD. Shenanigans ensue.

JUST DANCE

breathe faster to waste oxygen (CONTENT WARNING: NIGHTMARES, POSSESSION)- A midnight text from Scotty has Bec concerned for her friend.

I EXPECT YOU TO DIE - OTHER

where you go, i'm going (there is no me without you) - Agent Phoenix is MIA, and Delilah Elwood has to pick up the pieces her sibling left behind.

To her, the legendary Phoenix was Frankie, her older sibling that never left her side, plain and simple. But after the Peacemaker incident, she and her mother are barely allowed to speak about them.

When Delilah is cleaning out Frankie’s apartment, she runs into Director Simmons, Frankie’s resentful old boss. Simmons has heard very positive things about Delilah. She wishes to hire her to the Enhanced Operatives Division, & Delilah jumps at the opportunity.

With the new job comes secrets, allies, and the discovery that Frankie may not be dead after all. Now, with the help of Frankie’s old handler, Delilah is left with only one option: take her sibling’s place and rescue them. But Zoraxis is a beast that is not so easily satiated, and The Doctor has a new target on Delilah’s head…

I EXPECT YOU TO DIE x RIDE THE CYCLONE

No Soul, No Name - Jane feels lost. Mason helps.

URINETOWN

welcome to my life (it plays out just like a true crime) (CONTENT WARNING: GORE)- But it was impossible. Barrel had to keep reminding himself it wasn’t him. It. Was. Impossible. There was no way he was seeing the boy he’d sent to Urinetown not even two hours ago.

Or: Bobby haunts the narrative, both figuratively and literally. It doesn't end well for Barrel.

BENDY

kicking, screaming, sinking slowly - What I think the first "incident" in the Ink Fumes AU would be like. Wally suffers a bit :(

ZELDA

Wandering No More: The Great Calamity, As Told By Kali Taamu - Recently, the diary of Kali Taamu, a citizen of Hyrule during The Great Calamity and my late grandmother, was found. This diary shows a first-person perspective, fresh and not foggy with age, of the tragedy. This is that account.

PAPER MARIO

Refolded: The Beginning - We all know the story by now. Two siblings, torn apart by the actions of their father. In a rage, one swore to reinvent the world, while the other opposed her twin and helped to save it. Both died. Olivia and Olly. The Origami siblings.

But what if.....What if the craftsman hadn't been so foolish? What if he didn't write his message? What if Olly hadn't become King Olly, the Origami Overlord? What if he'd stayed as just Olly? What if the origami festival had gone on? But what if, somehow, things had still gone wrong? This is that story.

Refolded: Whispering Woods - The aftermath of the attack. Nobody has a good time.

Refolded: The Soul Seed - Olly gets jumpscared and does a favor.

SONIC x FNAF

Keep Moving - As Miles reached the end of the vent, he dropped down onto a conveniently placed mat in the main hallway of Superstar Row. As he looked around at the various objects on display while making his way toward Sonic's green room, an automated voice played over the PA system.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for visiting, and we hope you enjoyed! Sonic and the rest of the Glamrock Gang are pretty tired, but they'll be back again soon! Please make your way to the exit, and make sure you have all your belongings and your entire party with you." Then, in a very speedy tone, "16-Bit Entertainment is not responsible for stolen private property."

BENDY - OC x CANON

did you quake when you saw what's really at play? - Old memories don't often stay buried forever. Or: Or: The Dark Revival trailer grabbed me by the throat and demanded I make content for my years-old AU. This was the result.

SLY COOPER

sly cooper if it was a movie because hollywood is a bunch of cowards - Let's revisit Sly's origin story, shall we? Or: What I think would be the prologue/opening of a Sly Cooper movie; a retelling of the flashback cutscene of Sly 1. Written in screenplay/script format.

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

while im here i may as well show off my silly !!!!

meet my oliviasona Olives (or Liv), fold’s a mischievous but kindhearted jester who really looks up to fold’s brother Olly and is a part of what is basically my “nobody dies” / “pacifist run” au for PMTOK bc im a WEENIE and i HATE the source events so im REWRITING ALMOST EVERYTHING and nobody can tell me to not do it

idk what else to put here but i hope i get to actually show you guys stuff for said au bc it means a lot to me when i get to show off self indulgent stuff i make here lmao <33

[monkey-network]

A Favorite Moment in Mario 2

WARNING: Heavy Spoilers for Origami King. And here’s part one of this series if you’re interested. Thank you.

I sincerely love Mario, next to Kirby, Spyro, and DK, I can never not enjoy a Mario game. Has his stinker stars, but his library is definitely more good than bad. And really, it’s not just because the games to fun to fuck around with, especially the ones like 64, but there are some moments that honestly stick with me that remind me of why I love the games of this red hatted mustache hunk. As such, we look to 2020 for Paper Mario: The Origami King.

I’m honestly still on the boat that the latter Papa Mario games have been hit or miss compared to the first two games, but Origami King at least broke the middling streak with its charm and presentation, these two factors definitely making up for the easy and simple combat. It looks lovely as usual and again has its charming moments here and there, but there was one part of this game that stuck with me more than the other Paper games. First I’ll see to set the stage. Early in the quest, we meet the Bob-omb, Bobby.

He suffers from amnesia and appears different from other bob-ombs. I think a nice little trick is that you’ll probably notice the differing detail with him but won’t think about it until later on, which I’ll get to later. So we let Bobby tag along and when we get to the path that leads to the desert, we see this flat bastard again.

Olly arrives at the cavern entrance and not only blocks the way, but remorselessly crushes Olivia underneath. Mario and Bobby are unable to move the rock but the latter figures out a way to destroy it. So we head out to sea and after defeating the giant enemy kracken, we get a box and after returning to the rock, we get the backstory of Bobby’s original identity before he says goodbye 

and goes out with a bang

In my first playthrough, I honestly found it surprising that Bobby was without his fuse in spite of seeing plenty bob-ombs with them. To me, the truth was right in my face and the game did a good job keeping that twist out of my head as I was focused on the story. Not to say it wasn’t obvious, but I second guessed myself when it added up. But, this isn’t all there is to the moment. 

After the explosion, we revive Olivia and the realization of what happened slowly dawns on her. She runs off into the cave and is ultimately dejected with haunting music filling the air. We head off deep into the cavern where we meet a encouraging face.

Like he says, we gotta get Olivia out of her pit and so we head back to make her happy with the paper mache masks we got in the previous adventure. Where we get to my favorite moment where Mario cheers her up 

Everything about this made me love Mario a lot more as a character. This scene was very much on par with moments from the Mario & Luigi RPG series where even without dialogue, I got to see the plumber be that ray of sunshine in the midst of a tragic end of a good character. I’d say this is the best part of Origami King upon the other Paper Mario and even mainline Mario games. We get to see a far more expressive side of the otherwise stoic hero where he can be self-condemning but nonetheless keep going against the jaws of defeat. It helps that I got to like Olivia as we went on so being able to help her spirit brightened me up as well. To me, this was up there as a great emotional moment from the Mario games I’ve played. Not the best (that’s for next time), but certainly one that exceeded my expectations for both Paper Mario games and Mario as a whole.

I have my issues with Origami King as a whole, but this moment stood out as a reason why I enjoyed this game. That’s not to say there weren’t good moments before but this part was what stuck with me and I appreciate this game for being able to provide such a impactful and wholesome moment upon everything. 

I Loved It

[zachscarroll]

Final Thoughts on Paper Mario the Origami King with some major spoilers

I thought this game overall was incredibly charming and worth your time if you are a fan of the classic games like the original Paper Mario 64 or Thousand Year Door. It was leaps and bounds ahead of Sticker Star, and overall I thought it was better paper Mario game than Color Splash ever hoped to be.

Even though I'm pleased with playing it through it does have some glaring issues. Right out of the gate, this game is being held back by some sort of executive decisions from Nintendo and it shows tremendously especially within the first few hours of the game. I know nothing about the development of the game, but there are defiantly some things that seem either out of place or rushed which is strange.

Practically the first 3-4 hours of the game is nothing but tutorials, which they do need to explain stuff but not this much oh my goodness. They truly took a lot of the challenge out of the game and made it "very, very young kid oriented" and I'm not looking for the most challenging game out there--I usually play most games on easier difficulties so I can enjoy the adventure instead of having to be annoyed with redoing things. Olivia pops up way too much. I liked her character for the most part. Between Huey, and Kersti, Olivia was a very good one. Huey was a little bit more funny, but Olivia had a lot of charm and multiple emotional arcs. I know saying that sounds silly for a Mario game but she does grow as a character showing that she's still worried about whether or not she can really stop her brother. However, she pops up every time something happens. It's too much. I can see something has appeared Olivia. It's okay--but I'm getting off topic that's exactly what Huey did too in Color Splash. I hate to say it but when she leaves your party by being crushed by a boulder it felt like a classic paper mario game then. You had Bobby with you and he would add his own flair as the helper character.

Bobby truly was a great partner, and even if he's only with you for like maybe 2 or so hours I enjoyed having him around. I'm extremely glad they had partners return even if they felt more like story related. I liked having more than just Olivia with me. All of the partners except Professor Toad were really cool. It kinda sucks that Professor Toad is so forgettable because he is the only partner who has an over world ability. I think it would have been cooler if he was like a Monty mole or something instead of just a Toad with a shovel, there's just so many Toads in the game that an archaeologist Toad could have been cool, but I don't really know where they were trying to go with the character. He was like a scaredy-cat kind of character but also made weird like college references like about his thesis. At the very least he had an unique outfit? I don't know I'm reaching for Professor Toad. Why not just have Captain Toad who's an already established character and an explorer? Anyway, I found it kinda weird that no one else had an over world ability, and they could have done some more interesting puzzles if they had given Kamek or Boswer some. I loved having Kamek join and how he talked about being self conscious and lacking self esteem because Bowser never listened to him. Bowser Jr. was cool too, he wasn't as bratty as I thought he'd be. He was written like a tough kid. Both Kamek and Jr. have satisfying reasons for leaving your party. I liked how they put Mario first in order to save the whole kingdom. It made me as the player feel like "these bad guys know that Mario can save them." I know it's silly but again just a nice touch to the story. Of course you get Bowser to join you right at the very end which is just so great. He even talks about his parenting practices. Luigi also have a shockingly hilarious and "key" role to the story. I'm so glad to see these classic characters have great writing behind them, and really show off that these partners are pretty vital to paper Mario. Especially Luigi and Bowser when in the previous two titles had maybe like 8 lines between the two of them. Yes they don't do much in battle, but they are vital to the story. If my paper Mario games have a fun and unique story then that's all I really want.

Bobby was my favorite. If you haven't seen the one big twist involving Bobby, I'd skip this section and pick back up at the next paragraph. Anyway, Bobby sacrifices himself to save Olivia. While you can kinda piece things together and see it coming after a while you don't expect Bobby to just like straight up die. I remember when it happened I was like, "they really did this in a Mario game?". They even have a cute moment later on in Bowser's castle where Olivia thinks she see Bobby again. Overall he was amazing. That whole area of Shogun Studios felt the most reminiscent of classic Paper Mario games. I had a grin on my face pretty much the whole way through.

The one big gripe I had with the partners is other than Bobby any time you wanna go back to Toad Town or other areas they're just like "yeah okay i'm gonna stay here see ya later". Why? Why not let them come with you? The writers don't have to write any additional dialogue and if they did that would have been cool. Why wouldn't Professor TOAD wanna go back to TOAD town? There's an extra area where you can take Bobby at one point to get photos taken with him in Shogun Studios. Why not do that with other characters as a cool little Easter egg? Truly I didn't understand why they couldn't travel with you. I know in that infamous interview floating around with the directors and producers saying they only wanted one partner at a time so it didn't cause any confusion for swapping them out but that's so stupid.

Back to the game being held back--there were times I could see the designers desperately wanted to make a unique character better, or give something else a personality but they weren't allowed to. It hurts a lot when the original paper Mario games could give toads fun little names like  "Zess T." or "Fice T." and now we have "Professor Toad" or "Battle Lab Toad". There are two toads in Toad Town that both say something like "where's Purple Toad?" or "Where's Blue Toad?". Stuff like that takes me out of the enjoyment of the game. It's only when you go and look on the around on other sites that you find out that the Origami Craftsman man is actually Theofold. Yes, we did have captain T. ode, but like. That's just "Toad". Back to that interview from the producers of the game where they say they can't really alter Mario characters anymore like give them age, gender, etc. But come on. I'm not really sure why they can't give the toads proper names. I know that's an extreme nitpick, but that's definitely something that takes me out of the game and reminds me "oh yeah we can't do this anymore". Even Bobby, will constantly remind Olivia to call him "Bob-omb" It just feels like a slap in the face. Bring back Toadsworth? An established character who has been MIA for like years now. Just please. Please make the Toads different they did a very good job here with a handful like, the sea captain, captain T.ode, Professor Toad, and the Shangri-spa Toads. I remember those toads because they were dressed up differently than the other ones. I even remember the Toad who told you where the heart ups were because he was in a completely unique pose then the other ones. Please Nintendo I'm begging you just make them look more unique or don't rely on them as a pillar of a character. They are all the same. Just do more colors of Toads! There's red, blue, yellow, green, and purple.Make an orange Toad or something please. I liked finding the Toads in the different areas and they would unfold from origami, it gave me some korok seed vibes. Do more stuff like that!

Concerning the game's overall story, I liked it, but it could have been so much more. There were multiple key moments where I was like "why wouldn't they have a cut scene for this as like a flashback?". The first one was right at the beginning of the game. They instead of showing you in the actual game like a cut scene, they show a small slideshow of Toads setting up for the Origami festival with Princess Peach on the logo screen which I guess is okay, but I'm not a fan. Personally, I would have liked there to be a sort of storybook intro that the previous games had being like "every 100 years the toads in toad town set up a festival to honor the proud technique of origami" and then cut to Mario and Luigi getting a mail call from Parakarry (like the previous games) and then being like "the festival is today we hope to see you there." and then bam they're driving to the festival. I know that seems kinda dumb but why not show that in your game instead of Luigi being like "can't wait to get there" while he's driving his cart from Mario Kart. It's a little weird to me. The biggest moment like this happened when you first meet the origami craftsman (who yes is just a Toad) he explains these unique origami techniques he used to fold King Olly to make him come to life, but like brushes past it real quick. And then at the very very end (skip ahead if you don't want spoilers) Olly talks about this 1000 crane origami wish thing that was never brought up before by anyone. If he had mentioned it when he dropped the boulder on Olivia that would have been acceptable but it just kinda comes out of nowhere. If you're going to bring these things up then like at least mention them once before or have some type of set up and pay off for it. It just felt kinda rushed. The ending was cute though, and I remember liking Color Splash's ending a bit more but this one was surprisingly beautiful with how it ends with floating lanterns it reminded me a little of Tangled.

The other big thing people are complaining about is no experience. This has pros and cons. pros: the battle in this game a lot of them are scripted or can be ran past no problem. However if you want to buy better weapons or accessories (this game's subtle nod to the badge system) you need a lot of coins. A lot of them. You use the coins in battle to let the Toad audience help you or use coins to buy more time to line up your foes properly. I like this system. While I could have gone for a little more incentive to battle I found myself using my coins even if I had thousands of them. I thought it was a pretty good balance. I don't see why they couldn't have thrown in a little more to make the battles worthwhile though. Why not after ever 10 battles let you pick a stat? Mario's running speed in the over world could be faster, Mario's first strike can be stronger, It doesn't cost as many coins when using them in battle? These are just thoughts I've had if they don't want to use a traditional style stat system. They had max up hearts that raised power and health it's just kinda strange why they don't want to have stats improve or give you another reward for battling other than money.

I will say while backtracking to get missing collectibles I avoided battles outright. If I got into a battle while backtracking I would sigh. I knew there was nothing left for me to spend my coins on so I would try to run from the battle but nine times out of ten I would fail running from the battle. At least the battles go by quickly, but it would use up durability on your consumable weapons. I'm very glad that they brought back permanent weapons and no stickers or cards. This weapon system is a littler underutilized though. I feel like if the designers went in they could have come up with three or four more weapon types. Why not use more Mario related power ups? Why just the fire or ice flowers, tail, and pow block? Why not have a jump move that hits in a 4x4 area like the hammer? They have a hammer item that works like the jump move! Why not have the frog suit back from sticker star or color splash that you can use to dodge unavoidable damage if you don't line up the monsters in time? I loved the battle system a lot more than Sticker Star and Color Splash but it seems like they only scratched the surface of the attacks Mario could do. If you're going to have different weapons that break why not have 10 or 20 unique different weapons as opposed to just more powerful versions of the same 5 weapons? Same with the healing items. Why only mushrooms, when in Toad Town you can get coffee that speeds you up or slows you down? Especially when you find a handful of coffee shops in the game, why can't I buy those coffees there? Why not bring back the cooking in the game from the first two? I know it'll never happen, but near the end of the game you get a spot to cook one item and I really got my hopes up.  I know I'm presenting a lot of questions, but this is all I thought about when doing the battles. If they do an "origami king 2" or something that reuses this battle system I feel like there is a lot of room for improvement and a lot more unique encounters. I also feel like they did this because they didn't want to over complicate things. They wanted the battles to be simple after you did a puzzle section. Also the battles are super snappy. Lasting two turns if you get the right line up and can be more if you don't. I think that's a really good way to make the player really learn the right way to move the board. That being said there were many times I didn't see the solution and would brute force my way through making some of the battles a bit of a slog.

They do flip the script a lot with the boss battles. First off "The Legion of Stationary" is great. While it took me a while to get used to them, they were some of the best fights in the whole game. The Tape boss was extremely cool and used an element that I wished more games could use. They let you get comfortable with the battle system then the tape is like "no you can't move stuff around, or you have to move the 2 rings around at once." This was such a cool battle and it really did make you think. I will say it was a little weird that the bosses were real life objects like colored pencils or a bunch of rubber bands, but I thought it was more comical. I know a lot of folks did not like them at all. They were set up and referenced though because all of the tools were mentioned in a bookshelf in the origami craftsman's library. This is how set up and pay off is done correctly because Olly would have seen him using them and so he'd use them against the toads and Mario just a nice little touch really. If you missed the book in the library scene they really hammer it home by showing you the legion of stationary was on the origami craftman's desk. I've looked around online and apparently a lot of the bosses can be beaten differently, they don't all end in 1000 fold arms finishers which is super cool.

Also the two other big mechanics for this game were the 1000 fold arms and the paper macho bad guys. The 1000 fold arm thing was fine, it felt right at home in a game like this which focused on origami. That being said the paper macho characters felt tacked on. They did not belong in this game, They were the other side of the battles being in real time and defeated by Mario using his hammer on them. The reason why they had to have these were if Olivia was not with you like on the cruise ship you had a way to take down a boss without her help, because she's needed for the 1000 fold arm technique. Cool idea, but felt wrong for this game which focused on origami it's like they really really wanted to make this a Zelda game and have action style battles to contrast to the puzzle ones. Again, I could see them being used in another game.  

If they do make another Paper Mario game, and I hope they do, I hope they keep pushing the needle forward.Every game since Sticker Star has been a HUGE improvement, and if we're not going back to the original games I hope each game makes an effort to address all of the glaring issues that all of us Paper Mario fans have.

[bean-n-shroob]

The Origami King Review/Opinion

(I sorta hate that it has the word The in it cause when I did impressions or this review, it sounds strangely official)

I’m gonna review but if people don’t want spoilers here’s some Pros and Cons that I felt

Pros:

+ Music is fantastic! I love how the battle theme changes with every area/sub-area you go to.

+ Writing is good, it gets you invested in enough to sorta care. Humor is top notch as expected!

+ Olivia is a sweetheart! I love her so much and how she’s so marveled by everything.

+ Boss Battles are fun to figure and deal with.

+ Finding Toads is actually kinda fun, I enjoy figuring out where they’re hidden

+ Badge system is intriguing if not a bit clunkly put together (sorry, this is suppose to be Pros)

Cons:

- Regular Battles get old quick if puzzles aren’t really your thing and its a bit too easy to just not depend on the coins, thus making them pointless.

- Story sorta flops, it starts strong but then just sorta fizzles and all we got left is... fun experiences (I know this sounds like a Con, but while the experiences are fun, it is disappointing the story sorta flops hard)

- Character Design is very meh. The most well written character can’t save it from its extremely generic design

- But also Olly is not... that well written... so...

- Partners and Vellumentals are kinda under utilized to a disappointing degree (baby steps, baby steps ugh)

Anywho, that’s all my feelings (that I can remember and feel I can say without spoilers)

6.5/10 (I’ll explain the scoring under the cut)

Spoilers Under Cut

Hello and welcome to the Spoiler Bits of this Review/Opinion

Buckle in, this is a long one

Now y’all may be a bit curious as to why, with so much big things (music/writing/bosses/Olivia) being good and so little being bad, why a 6.5/10?

Well, I felt a 7 was too generous and would make people think “Oh, its good!” but a 6 is like “Eh... its mediocre” and a 6.5 is more like a “Its Good, But” and I feel that But is important! I know how this may sound, but TOK could’ve been WAY better and Chapter 2 was an example of how good this game could’ve been!

You know how people always bring up Huey, or the “Morton Leston” joke, or the “I would do things that would raise this game’s rating” line as examples as why Color Splash is actually really good and we’re all in denial?

I feel Chapter 2 will be that for TOK and its all because of Bobby! I like Bobby, I like Bobby a lot! I wish he stuck around! I loved how he and Olivia interacted together and how they formed a bond!

But

I sorta hated how overall useless he was to the action and adventuring. He’s the most useless partner that somehow leaves a deep impression on the player!

He leaves such a deep impression that I don’t think anyone noticed how badly written Professor Toad was! He was such a let down as a follow up to Bobby! And worst of all, he was like way more useful than Bobby! He can dig holes, he can wipe out a whole role of enemies, he has a function outside of battle and story.

Seeing how useful Professor Toad was, sorta put into perspective Bobby and his eventual sacrifice to save Olivia (I told ya this was spoilers). He just dies, in a shockingly emotional moment, giving a speech about how Bomb-Ombs live relatively short lives and are always trying to make the most of it.

Wow... I really wish Chapter 6 didn’t have a segment where you were half hazardly shooting bomb-ombs out of a cannon, cause otherwise, this could’ve been way more impactful!

But it also made it seem like "we can't make Bobby too useful, he's gonna die. So just keep him extremely simple and useless in every other aspect of the adventure, besides story."

I don’t get how TOK started out so strong! The intro and Chapter 1 introduced us to the basic loop how what we’d have to do and how stuff will play out and Chapter 2 took that and showed us how far we could go with this loop and how involved the world will be with this loop!

Only for Chapter 3 to just give up on everything and give us 1 expansive dessert to explore, a very one note partner who doesn’t leave a lasting impression, a boring quest of solving an ancient riddle and a very annoying boss dungeon segment that went on longer than it should’ve! And above all else, a very half-assed excuse for why he won’t be joining your journey! Especially since Chapter 4 doesn’t have a partner!

Chapter 4 feels like an overly-long intermission of Mario n Olivia’s adventure to Chapter 5. Legit the purple streamer of 4 could’ve been the green streamer of 5 and it would only flow just a little bit less smoothly. Chapter 4 has this weird send off to the Vellumentals, with the boss dungeon being a mixture of the last 4 Vellumental chambers you’ve explored. Which feels out of place especially since there’s like 2 more chapters of stuff happening afterwards! And like a thunder elemental like boss fight in 5 but I guess they just couldn’t be bothered to create a Thunder Vellumental fight to tack onto the story and just gave it to this Origami Sumo Bro! Okay!

And then the Bowser Castle segment is right when they decide to get creative with enemy encounters, but only 2 enemy encounters (you can fight these two multiple time if you’re neither a chicken nor annoyed with the battle ring system) but then just stop right after cause Scissor makes cut out soldiers was the only excuse why that happened.

Again... I like TOK, I do. If I didn't, I'd rate it a 4 or 5 outta 10. I'll talk about the good, I will, but lemme just rant about 1 thing first! Its actually 2 rants but its gonna be about 1 topic I'm rather passionate about.

Character Design

I hate how generic the Legion of Stationery are! Once again, Chapter 2 wins by giving Rubber Band a very unique design, but everyone else is so generic looking! Remember how I said the personalities couldn't save them from their generic design? The Legion have such fun personalities, its so tacky and fun! But I cannot get over how it contrasts with the fact I'm staring at an object hoping in place or wiggling or jiggling as they talk! It kinda sucks, honestly!

I wish these guys had more creativity behind them, and truth be told it wouldn't have bothered me had Rubber Band not been an outlier! Why them and not everyone else! Its baffling!

But above all else, the worst offender, is the Origami Craftsman! The dude who folded Olly! Is a TOAD! That's it! A toad in an apron! WHY

And I get it, there's story reason behind it! Olly wants all Toads gone cause they all look alike and thus everyone reminds him of the Craftsman who wrote (a very touching message) on him!

And that SUCKS!

(uh oh, i forgot about Olly and his terrible terrible motive to be evil)

Speaking of Olly! Remember when I said he wasn't well written? Well besides being an evil prick who enjoys messing with the heroes (i dont mind that, evil just to be evil is fine), it sorta randomly just comes up that he hates Toads near the end! It just comes up!

And I THINK it was suppose to be hinted at by the fact all the Toads gets attacked and folded by Paper Macho and Folded Soldiers. But my problem with this is:

1. Would they have been daring as making Folded Toads as enemies? Thus the lack of Folded Toad enemies should've hinted at this

2. The enemies were origami version of Mario enemies! So enemies still being enemies but folded would've just strengthen the fact we'd be fighting bowser minions again, making the previous Toad hint moot.

3. Toads have always been in peril in previous PM games so the fact they're in peril again wouldn't have been a point of interest!

I GUESS the fact Folded Peach specifically asks whether Toads should be silenced could've hinted at this, but people just took it as "hah lol Toads annoying" and not "oh, this villain has a thing against toads~". Its just, who else would the villain have pointed out? There's only Toads here! Maybe if there was a bigger variety of npcs and we saw other npcs either becomes folded soldiers or be spared from the folded attack, we could've wondered "hey, why are only the toads getting stuck in places?"

But we don't!

Anyways, huff! Lemme count all the good, spoilery things in the game (that's not in Chapter 2) to end on a good note

I love how Olivia is so sweet, no one could bring themselves to be mean to her (except Olly), even Kamek has a hard time being mean cause she's so bubbly and caring (except for that weird bit in the forest where Kamek had to be all rivalry about it but I digress)

Bowser backtalking Olly was very funny, I loved it a lot!

The fact Olivia asks Olly to come to his senses before Mario smashed his face with the Olivia hammer (i need to specify this cause otherwise it'll look like Mario interrupted this scene with a hammer smash but no, Olivia fully knew her hammer weight was gonna fall on Olly's face and just gave some last words of pleas before not even letting him respond) I loved that.

I liked how sweet Olivia was to Luigi despite how much he kept screwing up (i forgot to rant about that but tl;dr, he's a bit of a buffoon and its a bit annoying) i thought it was very touching how Olivia kept rooting for him regardless.

The Tape talking like a Gangster was actually really funny, I liked that a lot.

Bowser's pep talk to Olivia was very funny, it was basically "dont be sad, look at me, my muscles are massive and I can punch through walls!"

As jarring as they were, I actually liked a lot of the singing and dancing that occurred through the game.

Olly having his own color scheme for his Vellumental forms was super cool!

The ending was really touching. Olivia wished for all of Olly's creations to be undone, and because you find out in Chapter 4 that she's also a creation of Olly, she is undone too. And they don't spell that out! You just find out she's not around and connect the dots. I think that was very well done.

And these are some of several reasons I liked TOK and why I couldn't rate it lower than 6. It has a lot of things that just doesn't live up to Chapter 2 and its disappointing to realize halfway through that the game peaked in Chapter 2. Its so weird, they showed us how good it can be and then never lives up to the expectationd set by Chapter 2. I wish it did

Thats why I rate it a 6.5/10