3DS Catch-all

Demyx wrote:

If you use up one of your special stickers, you can check the window on the left side of the screen in the area where you make stickers out of objects. They'll sell the objects.

Thanks, I don't think I would have checked there. I like the shady toad selling the objects. Sombrero Shy Guy is pretty awesome as well.

So, I just beat the boss of world 1-6, and this game is awesome. Very different from the 1,000 Year Door, but still great in its own way. I love that it's the Paper Mario series in which Nintendo really lets its localizers flex their muscles; the text is always worth reading, unlike most Mario/Zelda games.

The sticker idea is interesting. It makes trash mob battles more meaningful, because you're trying to manage an inventory. Save the good stuff for the boss, beat down the weaklings with your weak materials, do I want to pick up that sticker over there or will I never use it? Since there are so many different attacks other than just Jump or Hammer every battle has some larger inventory-led purpose. Then there's the specials, which are crazy-powerful but take up four sticker slots. Very cool mechanic there.

I love the little paper tab pullouts when you open a new area. Makes me think of some old kids' toys. They just really nailed the paper theme so much in this game, maybe even more than previous ones. Speaking of...

BNice wrote:
Demyx wrote:

World 1-5 complaint, spoilers in case anyone really cares about spoilers in a frickin' Mario game :p

Spoiler:

When I got to the final boss, I tried to damage it with my stickers, but the stickers were doing very little damage compared to what they normally do. I realized there was probably some trick but I felt like I had enough stickers to win and didn't want to go back through the level so I soldiered on. I defeated the boss with literally my next-to-last sticker.

After the fight, the crown was like "You used all your stickers, there was a better way to do this!" I realize that the answer was probably to use the scissors. But the scissors cost a lot of money, take up a lot of room, and there were several possible specials to take into that level. I didn't notice any indication before entering the level that the scissors were a good thing to take. So my options on hitting the boss were to spend all my stickers in a frustrating fight, or quit the level, buy scissors, and traipse all the way back to the boss.

It's not pretty design. If I missed a huge clue to take the scissors with me, let me know. When I reach 2-5 I'll probably just look up what sticker they expect you to have.

Ahhh, yeah that happened to me as well. That is a prime example of the sort of point & click adventure nature of this game. How were we even supposed to know to use the scissors? I also don't even know what happens if I use scissors in a regular fight. Can I get them back somehow? Also, the dialogue from the head goomba was hilarious.

So I just finished this battle. I did it once without the scissors (for the heck of it) and once with. This game strongly encourages you to pick up clues from its general theme. The scissors and fan are both talked about quite a bit in the first couple of levels, right? Well, you can use them on anyone for 20-25 points of damage, including the end-round boss. But, if you wait until he flips around to show the 16 goombas, and it looks like a few of them are starting to peel off? That's your cue. The game wants to have made you see that little peeling off motion and think "ah, something's off here! An opportunity has arisen to exploit a weakness or find a new area!" If you use either the scissors or the fan at that moment, they will all fall apart and you can do a crazy amount of damage by attacking the head guy because his defense just drops to 0.

Even so, I only used about half of my stickers when I beat him "normally". I did a lot of spinning, basically every round; are you exploiting that? I don't get much benefit out of the specials that cost a lot, but I can typically line up two out of three for an extra attack, and since I have like 1800 coins the cost of 3 isn't too much of an issue.

I did look it up after I beat him and apparently all four of the obtainable specials will do really good things in that battle, from blowing him apart to making him "soggy" with the faucet (a status effect? Dunno.) So it seems that it will be a good idea in the future to always pack a few of that world's specials when you're tackling the fortress.

FYI, did you know you can get as many as you want for free? All you have to do is go back and get the "thing" again, and then "fling the thing" back at the town. The things regenerate once you leave a level and as far as I can tell you can do this as many times as you want. It's how I've been populating the museum without going broke.

Speaking of, I'm at 33/96 and 4/64 after world 1-6. Does that sound about right? I've been pretty diligent about sticking stuff up down there.

EDIT: I just now thought to try left bumper during the boss battle to see if Kersti says anything. Did anyone try that? Or does anyone who's about to face another boss want to try it?

I caved and picked up Sticker Star yesterday. I haven't dug into it yet. I have some credit left over and I'm really tempted by that deal where you can get Donkey Kong, but don't you have to buy the game on eShop? i.e. I can't use my serial code for Sticker Star to get Donkey Kong, right? I need to go look at that again and see what else they have that's worth buying.

Minarchist wrote:

FYI, did you know you can get as many as you want for free? All you have to do is go back and get the "thing" again, and then "fling the thing" back at the town. The things regenerate once you leave a level and as far as I can tell you can do this as many times as you want. It's how I've been populating the museum without going broke.

/mindblown

I love this running gag that Kersti thinks the wizard dude is a hipster

I knew you could go back to the level to get more copies of the thing, but I'm swimming in coins right now.

Had trouble with the end-boss of World 2, even though I did use the correct special item at the correct time. I think part of the problem was I only had the one special item and after using it, my normal jumps and all (even the shiny ones) weren't doing enough damage. I'm going to try going in with multiple special items next.

God damn you Minarchist, I've been enabled enough this season. Shut up shut up shut up!

ccesarano wrote:

God damn you Minarchist, I've been enabled enough this season. Shut up shut up shut up!

What he said! Despite my reservations, I still think the game looks pretty cool. I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

Dyni wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

God damn you Minarchist, I've been enabled enough this season. Shut up shut up shut up!

What he said! Despite my reservations, I still think the game looks pretty cool. I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

Yeah this thing sounds awesome and I want it. I emphatically don't need another game right now though

I'm through the first world of Sticker Star, and have to say I'm really loving it. I'm glad I got past my disappointment about not getting an RPG. It's fun, cute, and plays more like a point-and-click or even a rogue-like, if that makes sense. And as always with these games, everything really fits in the theme, which works well.

grobstein wrote:
Dyni wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

God damn you Minarchist, I've been enabled enough this season. Shut up shut up shut up!

What he said! Despite my reservations, I still think the game looks pretty cool. I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

Yeah this thing sounds awesome and I want it. I emphatically don't need another game right now though :P

You guys, listen:

It's really good. Go buy it. The minute-to-minute actions are even better in this than in 1kYD, which I loved enough to beat it like eight times. It would be glittastrophic if you didn't buy it.

Hey, even at full price, it's like 33% off a 360 or PS3 game!

DSGamer wrote:

I caved and picked up Sticker Star yesterday. I haven't dug into it yet. I have some credit left over and I'm really tempted by that deal where you can get Donkey Kong, but don't you have to buy the game on eShop? i.e. I can't use my serial code for Sticker Star to get Donkey Kong, right? I need to go look at that again and see what else they have that's worth buying.

I bought this and Black Ops 2 yesterday.

I am a terrible, terrible human being.

On the plus side, both games seem to be really damn awesome, so... *shrug*

Minarchist wrote:

glittastrophic

Sold.

I'll wait until after Black Friday at least. I'll be getting stuff for friends then (and maybe myself).

In an effort to sidestep the problems we ran into with Theatrhythm and New Super Mario Bros. 2 where a single game dominates the conversation, I've created a catch-all for Sticker Star.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

In an effort to sidestep the problems we ran into with Theatrhythm and New Super Mario Bros. 2 where a single game dominates the conversation, I've created a catch-all for Sticker Star. :)

3DS games can support their own threads? Our little handheld is finally growing up!

Kingdom Hearts 3D could've supported a thread if anyone but me was playing it!

I mean, the sheer amount of ridiculous mindwarpery in the back third of the game was impressive to behold.

Demyx wrote:

if anyone but me was playing it!

Hey! I exist too you know!

Sorry, double post.

Today the first batch of third-party retail games were added to the eShop. Myst, Hotel Transylvania, and American Mena Academy go up today. Epic Mickey goes up on the 18th.

Not going to buy any of those, but very very happy to see this picking up steam. I'd so much rather buy things online, and have a bunch of games on console rather than dealing with dumb game carts.

Yep. I'm not thrilled with any of the offerings, but I'm hopeful this means we'll see some other games on there that I would buy, like Resident Evil or Tales of the Abyss.

I'll step up and take a chance on Epic Mickey. You can't keep me away from a platformer. I'll let you all know how that goes.

I'm looking forward to your impressions! The demo left me with pretty mixed feelings.

Oh wait, it's a side-scroller? Dang, I might have to try this demo.

Filthy skimmer here:
Does the 3DS XL improve on the annoying hand cramps experienced when playing an actiony game on a normal 3DS?

AndrewA wrote:

Filthy skimmer here:
Does the 3DS XL improve on the annoying hand cramps experienced when playing an actiony game on a normal 3DS?

Yes. I think so. But the spacing of the D-Pad and Circle Pad is still awkward, IMO. It's much better, though. I can play a game like New Super Mario Bros 2 without difficulty and I'm very sensitive about ergonomics.

AndrewA wrote:

Filthy skimmer here:
Does the 3DS XL improve on the annoying hand cramps experienced when playing an actiony game on a normal 3DS?

I bought an XL today specifically to try and get rid of the hand problems I was having with the 3DS and it seems to have done the trick. The change is not huge but enough to get over the problems i was having with the L and R buttons.

Cool - thanks guys.

So I can get strangely inspired while in the shower. Wait, no, hear me out! Nothing weird! Well, okay, maybe a little weird. My mind wandered to Sticker Star, and then this thread, and then Minarchist selling a few of us on the game when we were previously on the fence or more easily willing to wait (and yes, I know linking to a post on the same page as my post is silly).

Then came a whole big dramatization of it in my mind. So without further ado, my dramatic retelling of Minarchist selling everyone on Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

We didn't realize it yet, but we were an audience. We sat there in our little seats talking about this new Paper Mario game for the Nintendo 3DS, the little handheld that could. Not all of us had it, no, and those that had been playing it were expressing some irritation. I wasn't sure what to make of it myself. Some of it sounded fun, some sounded as if it could be frustrating. Either way, it was making this title an easy one to wait for. Oh, no doubt I'd buy it, but I'd buy it when I could afford it.

Even though, deep down, I knew such a thought would condemn this game to never being purchased. And if I happened to nab it on sail, it would go on the pile and sit there, ignored. This was going to be the fate of Paper Mario: Sticker Star for me.

Then the lights cut. Silence. Confusion. No one said anything, but we weren't aware of what happened. Then the flick of another switch, and a single spotlight shone over a man sitting alone. He wore a fedora low over his eyes and a smirk upon his lips, his fingers wrapped around a sniffer full of amber. At one glance you might have thought you were staring at a wannabe member of the Rat Pack, about to belt off some Sinatra or Martin only half as good.

No. He's quiet. He raises the glass and gives it a good whiff, and, somehow, I can smell it too. There's a faint smokiness, a scent of autumn leaves falling from pine. His smirk becomes a smile and he lifts the glass to his lip, sipping on the scotch as if it were a wine. He doesn't swallow immediately, enjoying the flavor, experiencing it, before he lets it down the hatch. Any other man might have winced, trying to hide the burn slipping down their throat. I could feel it in my own somehow. Yet he merely smacked his lips and said "Mmm..."

That's when he finally looked around and saw us. No embarrassment, though. Just a chuckle as he set the sniffer down on a side table.

"Sorry guys, didn't see you there," he says. No one says anything, just shrugs. That's okay, we all say telepathically. I find myself readjusting in my seat, my jeans, my low-brow bum pair of jeans, feeling a bit more confining than before. There's something about this man... I just can't place it.

He slips a hand into his pocket and withdraws a cigar. Nothing unusual looking about it at first, but when he swipes it beneath his nose, breathing it in, we know. We know. He steps out of his seat before pulling a wooden match from behind his ear as if by magic. He strikes it against the end table and it feels as if the house light becomes dimmer, allowing his face to glow in the orange light of the flame. He lights the cigar in a manner we all think we've seen in movies, but none of those actors could ever capture it. Not the true experience of the cigar. Not like this man does.

He takes a puff, two puffs, and smiles. The scent of the smoke travels behind the gray haze itself. I expect to cough or to react in my usual uncomfortable manner around it, but this time it is different. It reminds me of a camp fire in Canada. What's that? Have I ever been camping in Canada? Never. That's one of the things that is so magical about this cigar, or perhaps him. I smell it and I know.

"So I've been playing this nice little game lately," he begins. He's still smiling. There hasn't been a moment he hasn't had some sort of curl to the edge of his lip. That's good, because anything else would just seem so...unnatural. "It's called Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Let me tell you, it's pretty neat."

Normally you'd hear "neat" and quirk a brow. What kind of man says neat? A real man says it's pretty good, or cool, or sweet, or f*cking awesome. But you soon understand that these words are mere efforts to describe wonderful things in a manner our vocabulary cannot manage.

One hand in his pocket, the other waving the cigar around the air, tracing new shapes with his smoke (did he...did he make a smoke version of Mario?), he begins to pace while he tells us about this game. As he speaks I can feel him closer to me. He doesn't leave his spot, pacing in the same line on the floor, but I can feel his body against mine. His arm wrapped around my shoulder, the muscle resting assuredly against the back of my neck. I just want to cradle myself there, cradle and close my eyes, as if falling into a pool of him. Each word he speaks is spoken directly into my ear. I can feel his breath, sending shivers down my spine and the hairs upon my arm standing on end. His breath smells of the whiskey and cigar combined.

I can see colors pop as he speaks. Each time he explains a detail of the game it is visualized in fireworks. His voice is calm, but the pop and pow of each firework betrays his excitement, revealing it to us in the most wonderful detail. We can understand the wonderful potential of this game, and for a moment, we all feel the exhilirating fire that kindles each time his thumb presses a button, every time Mario discovers a new sticker, and each time something wonderful and new happens that wasn't expected.

Then it ends. The fireworks show is over. I feel his ethereal form slip away from me. My jaw hangs open, moving silently as I try to grasp for him, wanting to feel this wonderful feeling again. It is only then that I notice, through the haze of smoke and dust mites floating about like fireflies, that his cigar is down to a stub and his glass is empty. He puts the cigar out in an ash tray, that smile still on his face.

"Yeah," he says, nodding. "Yeah, I like it."

Then he straightens his hat, cracks his neck, and takes his glass. He doesn't look at the audience as he waves, leaving. The stage light pops out and we're all in darkness again. Then the house lights come on and he is nowhere to be seen.

That's Minarchist for you. He's there to remind you what is so wonderful about life, about these games. Just when I'm ready to cast a game aside he comes and makes me feel so...so alive. I look at the others, and we simply nod to each other. We know.

Minarchist saved us from a grave mistake.

And that's my dramatization of how Minarchist convinced me, Dyni and grobstein about how wonderful this game sounds.

...that's about all I have to say about that.

It keeps getting better, too. I played the haunted house in world 4 this morning. Just brilliant. Nintendo's curveball was popping when they made this one.