Paper Mario Colour Splash (Jackson B*ll*cks)

OrangeRakoon wrote:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/wii-u/187636-paper-mario-color-splash/answers/442153-post-office-toad

Thanks for taking the time to find that post and to reply on here. Fortunately, I found it for myself. I was all set for trading this in - I honestly thought that something was wrong with my save file, or even my copy of the game. I gave it one more try before I went to work this morning, and started fannying about the plaza. I'm not painting all the white blotches in the game as I'm not much of a completionist, but I started to do so in the main plaza...I felt like such a walloper when I saw that I missed a white blotch that was actually a Toad. Raging. Lo and behold, it was what I was looking for.

~

I've been able to make a lot of progress into this tonight, just beating the first boss. As everybody else is saying, there's a lot of good things in Colour Spash, but the battling almost gubs the whole thing. I'm doing everything I can to avoid battles, because they're boring, samey and unrewarding. They're a complete waste of time and effort, mostly. I groan out loud each time there's a mandatory battle, and I can't see that not becoming a really big problem in agame that supposedly takes thirty hours in complete.

Don't worry, my job is basically googling things all day so it only took me 30 seconds

Balladeer wrote:

After all, they say, we still have the Mario & Luigi series for those who want proper RPGs!  Except none of the M&L games have come close to getting the level of quality and hardcore fan appeal that TTYD did (maybe Superstar Saga at launch).  

I think that's the problem for those looking for Paper Mario to return to being a proper turn-based RPG battler - I don't see Nintendo from a business standpoint (urgh) having two different Mario RPGs series. I think that's why they're trying to make Paper Mario its own thing, regardless of your opinion on whether or not said thing is worth any time.

Having said that, this is the first time in a while I've seen excited chatter over a Wii U title that wasn't Splatoon or Super Mario Maker, so it must be doing something right.

About to burst Jay's (paint) bubble - I've given it another couple of hours today and basically experienced a few thin set pieces. I get the sense that there's going to be a fair bit of backtracking, which would be OK if the combat system weren't so needlessly padded. Even the shortened version of the card preparation bit is too long: it means you're wasting time before you get to the usual Paper Mario timed hits'n'blocks stuff. There's totally no need.

tl;dr: what Cappa said.

What is this sorcery? A hammer capable of painting?! I wager that the Frost Giants are behind this devilment...

ZeroJones wrote:

About to burst Jay's (paint) bubble - I've given it another couple of hours today and basically experienced a few thin set pieces. I get the sense that there's going to be a fair bit of backtracking, which would be OK if the combat system weren't so needlessly padded. Even the shortened version of the card preparation bit is too long: it means you're wasting time before you get to the usual Paper Mario timed hits'n'blocks stuff. There's totally no need.

tl;dr: what Cappa said.

I don't want it to seem as though I'm an ardent defender of this game - I've never played it! If it's genuinely a bit weak, then fair play. All I was doing was advocating for a bit of optimism... it's a different story if it's actually a bit shite!

ThorOfAsgard wrote:

What is this sorcery? A hammer capable of painting?! I wager that the Frost Giants are behind this devilment...

It's always Loki, Thor. Always.

I get the sense that I'll be eating some of those words in the near future, as the game is slowly winning me round. It's thrown most of the rules about structure out of the window, as you can beat some 'levels' in five minutes whilst others take over an hour. There is some backtracking, as such, but that just goes back to the unusual structure. Fronk has just assured me over Twitter that the combat opens up (which is good, as it's rather boring and straitjacketed at this point).

Negativity has been replaced by addiction and cautious optimism.

What Zero said.

Or, to put it another way, this game definitely doesn't deserve a thread that's called 'Colour Trash'.

I could rename it with the subtitle "Jackson Bollocks"?

Who's Jackson Bollocks?

Whilst he does sound like a Viz character, I reckon Balla's doing his fun pun thing by taking off the painter Jackson Pollock.

Title change it is! Still not exactly polite, but perhaps preferable.

Glad to see people are getting on with this. I completed the game last weekend and overall I enjoyed my time with it. It's also one of those games that gets better and more challenging the more you play it, which in turn stops progression from feeling rather trivial like in other RPG-style titles.

The scenario design really gelled with me. Each segment of game felt like a mini adventure to unfold, and the way every scenario linked together, not just in close proximity, but throughout the entire game, meant there was always a surprise around the corner. An early trip to Kiwano Temple ends up having relevance to events that occur later in the game, for example.

Likewise the locations were consistently top notch throughout the game, so I stand by my previous thoughts on that matter. If anything they get better and better -- there's a bit with parallel worlds later on -- and are so good that I can still recall entire layouts of nearly every area in the game despite only playing them once. The fact that I can only recall one low point (a real drag of a pirate ship cruise that outstays its welcome) speaks volumes for the rest of the game.

As for the battle system: I ended up really liking it! I think previously I mentioned that an abundance of coins trivialises any difficulty the game has, but that wasn't really understanding how it works. You have to trek back to Port Prisma to refit your deck, so the least you can expect is to be able to pay to do that, which opens up as many strategies as possible to you as you can pick from more card types.

The further you get into Color Splash the more cards you can play in one turn, the more varied enemies become, and the more cards you can choose from. I found myself struggling in the latter third of the game because:

1) more powerful cards are either really expensive if pre-painted, or require a lot of ink to paint if un-painted (but more affordable)
2) enemy types and combinations become more demanding, making you carefully consider what order you play your cards, or whether it's worth playing a card at all that you'd previously be able to use.
3) The 99 card limit means nearly every card you're holding onto can potentially become a liability to hold onto, but you'll also want to have a large stock of cards as you work your way through a level in case you run low by the boss.

So while in the early-game battles feel like a quick race to pick 1 or 2 cards to end things as quickly as possible, by the end of the game you're carefully considering which combination of cards to play at any point, and trying to mitigate disaster as soon as possible. For instance, a group of Shy Guys carrying coal at Toad Trainworks will do ~60 damage each with that coal if you don't either squish the coal or make them drop the lot before they attack.

Color Splash, as an adventure, is a triumph. By the end of the game it really did feel like I went on a sprawling, memorable adventure, which is something I can't say for most adventure games.

My issues with it are fairly minor all things considered. It can sometimes demand very exacting requirements: a scene where you grill a steak for a VIP guest became frustrating very quickly, and there are moments of the game where it's easy to be sent straight back to the title screen from a game over. But luckily they are usually accompanied by a save block to forewarn you. Also, some random battle elements like Kamek and the Shy Guy Bandit can become a drag when they pop up for the 60th time.

Did I mention how utterly fantastic the soundtrack is? There's so much variety and character in each location and event. The credits medley is perhaps one of the best I've ever heard - I haven't felt this way about a credits sequence since the Mario Galaxy games last gen.

ZeroJones wrote:

I'm feeling my way into the game in the time allowed me in the moments I can escape my Phoenix Wright addiction. It's certainly bright and breezy, and demands that I sit down and spend some time with it. Sporky's glowing Twecommendations - and post in this very thread! - mean that you have to sit up and take notice.

Haha, it is very good. One of my favourite games carrying the "Mario" name that I've played in the last decade, in fact! Really really liked it.

Yup, it's shaping up to be my Wii U Game of the Year (and I liked Star Fox Zero!). Just finished off the fourth boss and I want to mention that although the Things are back, which means every boss is essentially a trick boss, you get much more warning about which one is necessary. Thankfully!

Looking forward to getting further and unraveling the mystery.

ZeroJones wrote:

Yup, it's shaping up to be my Wii U Game of the Year (and I liked Star Fox Zero!).

Isn't Wii U game of the year pretty much a two horse race?

masofdas wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Yup, it's shaping up to be my Wii U Game of the Year (and I liked Star Fox Zero!).

Isn't Wii U game of the year pretty much a two horse race?

Even if you don't count eShop games (cos Axiom Verge will feature in my GOTY list too), you've got Pokken Tournament, Star Fox Zero, Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Color Splash that are strong-yet-flawed enough to compete for the 'crown'. That's if you're discounting games like Mario & Sonic, Star Fox Guard, and Mighty No. 9 (which is probably fair enough, in the latter's case).

A few of those I did forget about as mainly as they were at the start of the year but isn't actually a bad line up of games, just if you compare it to any other platform it's by far the weakest and I for one want more from Nintendo then that.

Yes, definitely the weakest. Shorn of third party support and a strong first- and second-party focus, the Wii U has clearly been the third home console in 2016. As Cappa's said elsewhere, it's been dying for two years.

I do find it baffling whenever I see people claim that N64 was Nintendo's worst console -- Wii U has nothing on that format in my eyes.

I don't regret my Wii U purchase but it's been quite disappointing. There have been great games, but it's evident that the system didn't turn out the way it was meant to, and Nintendo's switched focus from it faster than any of us expected after realising that its fortunes weren't being reversed by big games like Mario Maker at the end of last year.

Kudos for Microsoft for putting Minecraft on it, and Ubisoft for actually bothering to finish Watch_Dogs. That was a thankless task.

I'm happy with Color Splash being the Wii U's swansong, even if Nintendo themselves can't be bothered to sing its praises and celebrate it in that way...

fronkhead wrote:

I do find it baffling whenever I see people claim that N64 was Nintendo's worst console -- Wii U has nothing on that format in my eyes.

We saw that from our vote a few years back N64 was the Number 1 system and something the 3rd worst. A lot of talk seems to be nostalgia, rose-tinted glasses and games juts not holding up from the it's not very good side of things, where the it's great side of things talk about nostalgia.

I'm on it's the rather good side of things.

Very close to endgame as I type. The last level is ready but I'm trying to get 100%... faffing about, not wanting it to be over. I should be finished by the time the Pokémon games come out, at which point there will be a Gintendo review.

I haven't thoroughly read everything in this thread, but I agree with the general sentiment which is A) that it's good, but not Thousand Year Door good; B) that the battle system is partly to blame for this and C) it seems that Nintendo are trying to make it its own beast, different from the Mario & Luigi series. My problem with that is that I don't think even the best M&L games were as much fun as PM64, TTYD, or (controversially) even SPM.

Colour Splash is its own beast, and I don't want to criticise it simply because it isn't The Thousand Year Door (which is one of my favourite games ever). But I hope the developers don't insist on using mechanics that are a bit tedious, simply because they're different from the other Mario titles, when the series started off so strong.

Everything you've said there is true, Mr. President. Whilst TTYD2 or TTYD HD would be very welcome, I would be quite happy with a sequel to this that refined the combat mechanics somehow. It's a shame that Nintendo decided to keep M&L as the 'Mario RPG series', as it's simply not as good as the first Paper Mario and its special sequel, The Ten-Cubed-Year Door. Of course, how do you follow up The Thousand-Year Door?

It's true, TTYD was brilliant and has a pretty devout fanboy following. But I dunno... Colour Splash - which I've completed now - was a lot of fun, but it just never even approached the heights of grand-but-silly epic that it could have done. The script was brilliant, and the battle system got more fun when you could use more cards, but I got frustrated at using Things in the boss fights (sometimes they are just slightly too obscure - for example, *that* fight in Tangerino Grill, which was brilliant in its own way but so specific and annoying), but even when you reached the end, it was just nowhere near as thrilling as fighting the possessed Peach, or Dimentio and Bleck in SPM...

Well, regardless, I had a lot of fun with it, and it did make me laugh more than any other game recently. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros is my focus now after having left it for a while, and it feels padded and just not as funny in comparison. But hey ho. I don't want to be one of those gamers who moans that a game isn't exactly like another game he really liked from before. I had fun and it kept me hooked.

Having sat on this for a few months I still think it's as fun, well written and enjoyable as it was when I played it. But yeah, the ways it feels special are so different to the ways TTYD felt special. In some ways that's great, but I do miss the crazy set pieces of TTYD and also the sheer manoeuvrability of Mario himself. The funny thing is, while Color Splash is a better adventure game, TTYD has nicer controls for adventuring.

I rebought Paper Mario 64 on Wii VC and honestly didn't think its battle system has held up well at all - I'd take Color Splash's cards over the snoozefest that was Paper Mario's. Though I suspect, like with Color Splash, Paper Mario 64's battles take a while to get going as you've got a highly limited moveset and enemy roster at first.