Finished Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, for the fifth or sixth time. I continued my low level runs and finished at level 10 with no party member upgrades. I did KO a few unnecessary enemies because there's some that have a really low chance to flee after using a fright mask, so I would use 2 and then just KO the rest. However, I think that level 9 might actually be the lower limit though.
After finishing Paper Mario I said that TTYD was definitely the better game, but on replaying I don't know that I can really say that. It's a fantastic game, for sure, but it does have some flaws and I really can't say that I definitely like one of the first 3 Mario RPGs more than the others.
First thing I noticed when starting the game is that it really is a massive graphical improvement over the previous game. The characters are much more animated than before and have more expressions. Also the moments where they pour, like, a thousand sprites on the screen at once were pretty cool too. The battle system also had a number of improvements, such as the introduction of the superguard that blocks all damage with perfect timing and stylish moves, which are just fun to pull off regardless of the fact that they fill your special meter faster. Partners being able to stand in front and soak up damage as well as use items added options too. All these improvements don't make the fights easier because some of the new bosses are stronger than any from the previous game.
The reason I'm walking back my praise a bit from before is that there is actually a fair bit of padding in the game. It's quite surprising how many times you will be required to walk back and forth across the entire location to make progress. Sure some of the chapters are better and more inventive than anything from Paper Mario, like Twilight Town, Glitzville (my favorite section from any Mario RPG ever), and the Excess Express mystery, but then there's stuff like Keelhaul Key where it consists of running back and forth across an island 5 times and the Fahr Outpost chapter where you need to literally go to every area in the game again trying to find General White. It's boring. Another problem is that the dialogue doesn't update between chapters as much as it did in the previous game. Nearly everybody in Toad Town had new dialogue every chapter, and most of the characters in the other towns would change a couple times too. However in Rogueport it felt like the characters that updated their dialogue between chapters were the exception and often the new dialogue is the same as the old, with a very slight variation. Like the guy who blows all his money at the casino and every chapter the amount is 100 coins higher, or the guy who's hiding in a dump and always accuses you of horning in on his hiding spot and comments on a different aspect of it's decrepitude. In the first game the random NPC dialogue wasn't 'quite' enough to establish everybody as their own interesting character, but it was close, but here they feel more static than ever, which is a disappointment.
On the other hand, your party members get a few more chances to talk throughout the game than previously and Goombella is a far more interesting character than Goombario. Her tattle descriptions of enemies are more flavourful than the very textbook descriptions Goombario gave. We're still stepping down from Mario RPG levels of characterizations on everybody but Goombella, but it's an improvement from Paper Mario.
The sections where you play as Peach are back and once again form a fun way to break things up, but this time they are upstaged by the sections where you play as Bowser, and do stuff like rampage through sidescrolling levels from Super Mario Bros. and terrorize the NPCs in the various towns. Completely fantastic.
I didn't engage with much side content as a result of much side content this time as a result of my level challenge, but I remember that there is just a lot more than in any previous Mario RPG. Maybe that's why other parts of the game are lacking.
I guess the only other thing I want to talk about is how much I love Glitzville! It was such a fantastic idea to put Mario in a professional fighting arena with all sorts glamour and back stage mysteries. It would have been nice if the extra requirements were a little more challenging to pull off. Maybe the optional second time you climb through the ranks could have been a lot more difficult, but it was fun nonetheless. I would really, REALLY, love to see an entire game made out of this concept, actually. It's always one of my favorite parts of any game that features it like Fable: The Lost Chapters and Oblivion, but Glitzville is the absolute best implementation I've seen in a game.
Edit: Actually, wait. I just remembered something else. Just what is up with the staffing choices on the Excess Express? This is supposed to be a luxury trip, but they have only one cook, and one waitress. Despite that they pay TWO toads to stand at an abandoned station in the middle of nowhere ALL day. Why? Also why is there EXACTLY one blanket per passenger? What if someone was cold and wanted another blanket? What if one was soiled? Is this a luxury trip or what?
Anyway, a great game overall, definitely will replay again someday.
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