Hah, aw man I didn’t realize how adorable Peach’s model was in this game. I won’t get to try this for probably another few weeks, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.
I'm a bit hesitant about picking this up. That's not to say I won't, in fact I probably will at some point, but that SMRPG is one of my all-time most beloved games and everything that has been changed seems to be for the worse or makes the game slightly less special. The changes to the battle system I don't really mind, though they seem ill-advised and threaten to make the difficulty of an already comfortable game entirely negligible. It's more a collection of the small things which collectively give the game its flavour and have been altered for no necessary reason. The transition to cutscenes to show previously seamless scripted in-game events feels like it will lose some of the game's diorama, pantomime quality. Many of the jokes in those sequences work because they aren't set up as 'events', but form a natural part of the SMRPG world. Timing and presentation matter in comedy and SMRPG's characters are relateable, and therefore funnier, because they're always seen in the same way throughout, the same way as we experience the game through the player character. Snapping to a cut-scene 'event' threatens to break that bond and the immersion: I've looked up some moments from the old game as depicted in the remake and so far, all of them are lessened by such changes.
(There's also a small issue in how the game no longer seems to differentiate in font between what a character is saying out loud and what they're thinking, which affects
Bowser's haiku
, something the character ought to have been thinking but instead says out loud, which is less funny and soulful to me. In the video I watched, the text also scrolls a lot faster, again throwing off the timing of the joke.)
Another is the changes to the script and the names. The one that epitomises my issue is when (minor spoilers) Mario disguises himself as a statue so a sculptor can sneak him into an enemy's palace, and when questioned by guards, the sculptor says the Mario 'statue' is called 'A Plumber's Lament' and describes him thusly: 'Observe...the thick mustache...covering the sad, innocent smile of a simple fool... And the sideburns...conveying his blue collar roots. And the legs...well defined... Strong. The legs of the masses!' It's a great joke, spoofing pretentious art criticism, Mario's blue collar design and his somewhat blank expression. The new translation is closer to what I understand was the Japanese original, calling the Mario statue
In Search Of Lost Brother
, which is apparently a gag originally referencing an anime series, altered for Mario lore. The problem is that this joke is not only less relevant to your average Western player - particularly since the anime title is actually different to how the new joke is translated - but has less depth, a little less bite and personality. The same goes for changing Mack's name to Claymorton, which is a pretty good name in isolation but removes the little joke referencing Mack The Knife, something which might not be as known in Japan, or Yaridovich to the vastly uglier Speardovic. Mario RPG had a famously janky translation but that jank produced a lot of what made the game distinctive. What is literally correct to the Japanese original is not necessarily best for other audiences nor an improvement on what players like me found special in the first Western release. At least they Peach's ??? in there.
To be clear, I'm not making this out to be a bigger issue than it is and will likely pick up the game at some point, even if in part to show support for Nintendo making more Mario RPGs (whether in this style or Paper). It surely still plays very well and the new visuals and music manage to modernise while staying faithful to the spirit of the original. It's just that, for me, what has been changed at the script level especially make a very special game slightly less special, and I'm not quite ready just now to play a less special version of a special game.
The original was amazing and I remember like yesterday. I'm playing the remake and so far it's soo good. This game and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure were my favs when I was 5-6. Jesus, I'm getting old.
Voice acting would ruin it IMO. I just got the first Star and it’s been a blast experiencing it with my five year old whom I get to read the text boxes to.
Everything is superb so far except for a few performance hiccups here and there. A great example of how an RPG can be very simple and yet super fun, and I forgot how funny the dialogue can be.
I'm a bit hesitant about picking this up. That's not to say I won't, in fact I probably will at some point, but that SMRPG is one of my all-time most beloved games and everything that has been changed seems to be for the worse or makes the game slightly less special. The changes to the battle system I don't really mind, though they seem ill-advised and threaten to make the difficulty of an already comfortable game entirely negligible. It's more a collection of the small things which collectively give the game its flavour and have been altered for no necessary reason. The transition to cutscenes to show previously seamless scripted in-game events feels like it will lose some of the game's diorama, pantomime quality. Many of the jokes in those sequences work because they aren't set up as 'events', but form a natural part of the SMRPG world. Timing and presentation matter in comedy and SMRPG's characters are relateable, and therefore funnier, because they're always seen in the same way throughout, the same way as we experience the game through the player character. Snapping to a cut-scene 'event' threatens to break that bond and the immersion: I've looked up some moments from the old game as depicted in the remake and so far, all of them are lessened by such changes.
(There's also a small issue in how the game no longer seems to differentiate in font between what a character is saying out loud and what they're thinking, which affects
Bowser's haiku
, something the character ought to have been thinking but instead says out loud, which is less funny and soulful to me. In the video I watched, the text also scrolls a lot faster, again throwing off the timing of the joke.)
Another is the changes to the script and the names. The one that epitomises my issue is when (minor spoilers) Mario disguises himself as a statue so a sculptor can sneak him into an enemy's palace, and when questioned by guards, the sculptor says the Mario 'statue' is called 'A Plumber's Lament' and describes him thusly: 'Observe...the thick mustache...covering the sad, innocent smile of a simple fool... And the sideburns...conveying his blue collar roots. And the legs...well defined... Strong. The legs of the masses!' It's a great joke, spoofing pretentious art criticism, Mario's blue collar design and his somewhat blank expression. The new translation is closer to what I understand was the Japanese original, calling the Mario statue
In Search Of Lost Brother
, which is apparently a gag originally referencing an anime series, altered for Mario lore. The problem is that this joke is not only less relevant to your average Western player - particularly since the anime title is actually different to how the new joke is translated - but has less depth, a little less bite and personality. The same goes for changing Mack's name to Claymorton, which is a pretty good name in isolation but removes the little joke referencing Mack The Knife, something which might not be as known in Japan, or Yaridovich to the vastly uglier Speardovic. Mario RPG had a famously janky translation but that jank produced a lot of what made the game distinctive. What is literally correct to the Japanese original is not necessarily best for other audiences nor an improvement on what players like me found special in the first Western release. At least they Peach's ??? in there.
To be clear, I'm not making this out to be a bigger issue than it is and will likely pick up the game at some point, even if in part to show support for Nintendo making more Mario RPGs (whether in this style or Paper). It surely still plays very well and the new visuals and music manage to modernise while staying faithful to the spirit of the original. It's just that, for me, what has been changed at the script level especially make a very special game slightly less special, and I'm not quite ready just now to play a less special version of a special game.
I'm a bit hesitant about picking this up. That's not to say I won't, in fact I probably will at some point, but that SMRPG is one of my all-time most beloved games and everything that has been changed seems to be for the worse or makes the game slightly less special. The changes to the battle system I don't really mind, though they seem ill-advised and threaten to make the difficulty of an already comfortable game entirely negligible. It's more a collection of the small things which collectively give the game its flavour and have been altered for no necessary reason. The transition to cutscenes to show previously seamless scripted in-game events feels like it will lose some of the game's diorama, pantomime quality. Many of the jokes in those sequences work because they aren't set up as 'events', but form a natural part of the SMRPG world. Timing and presentation matter in comedy and SMRPG's characters are relateable, and therefore funnier, because they're always seen in the same way throughout, the same way as we experience the game through the player character. Snapping to a cut-scene 'event' threatens to break that bond and the immersion: I've looked up some moments from the old game as depicted in the remake and so far, all of them are lessened by such changes.
(There's also a small issue in how the game no longer seems to differentiate in font between what a character is saying out loud and what they're thinking, which affects
Bowser's haiku
, something the character ought to have been thinking but instead says out loud, which is less funny and soulful to me. In the video I watched, the text also scrolls a lot faster, again throwing off the timing of the joke.)
Another is the changes to the script and the names. The one that epitomises my issue is when (minor spoilers) Mario disguises himself as a statue so a sculptor can sneak him into an enemy's palace, and when questioned by guards, the sculptor says the Mario 'statue' is called 'A Plumber's Lament' and describes him thusly: 'Observe...the thick mustache...covering the sad, innocent smile of a simple fool... And the sideburns...conveying his blue collar roots. And the legs...well defined... Strong. The legs of the masses!' It's a great joke, spoofing pretentious art criticism, Mario's blue collar design and his somewhat blank expression. The new translation is closer to what I understand was the Japanese original, calling the Mario statue
In Search Of Lost Brother
, which is apparently a gag originally referencing an anime series, altered for Mario lore. The problem is that this joke is not only less relevant to your average Western player - particularly since the anime title is actually different to how the new joke is translated - but has less depth, a little less bite and personality. The same goes for changing Mack's name to Claymorton, which is a pretty good name in isolation but removes the little joke referencing Mack The Knife, something which might not be as known in Japan, or Yaridovich to the vastly uglier Speardovic. Mario RPG had a famously janky translation but that jank produced a lot of what made the game distinctive. What is literally correct to the Japanese original is not necessarily best for other audiences nor an improvement on what players like me found special in the first Western release. At least they Peach's ??? in there.
To be clear, I'm not making this out to be a bigger issue than it is and will likely pick up the game at some point, even if in part to show support for Nintendo making more Mario RPGs (whether in this style or Paper). It surely still plays very well and the new visuals and music manage to modernise while staying faithful to the spirit of the original. It's just that, for me, what has been changed at the script level especially make a very special game slightly less special, and I'm not quite ready just now to play a less special version of a special game.
I was also irked by many of the script and name changes, and I agree the exchange with Valentina over the Mario statue was the official point that it all added up to enough to dock the remake a point. But, as you say, it's not that big a deal, and I don't think you should be worried about the cutscenes. I wondered about all that too, but I don't think they could have done a better job respecting the original game while still having cutscenes.
For example the cutscene with Mario explaining things to the Chancellor in the Mushroom Kingdom plays out exactly as it did in the SNES version. But when you walk outside, you get a more cinematic version of the cutscene where Mallow shows up. The same events take place as on SNES, but with new camera angles and expressions possible. Instead of watching Mallow faceplant from the sky, you see it up-close. It took nothing away from the mime-packed scene in the castle, while adding expression to the next outdoor scene. While really feeling like the game wasn't changed, you feel like you are getting a fresh/closer perspective on the same event you've seen 100 times. I think they did a good job tactfully deciding what scenes to FMV and which to remake the old way.
was kinda hyped for this game then i realized i didn't like a single mario rpg game after super mario superstar saga on the gba,
keep hearing that gamecube rpg is the shit tho.
i have the OG snes game at home. but looking at this footage, eh.
I absolutely loved this game as a kid. Thought it was so cool how they worked real time mechanics (timing buttons presses) into a turn based rpg. Also the game boy you unlock late in the game might be one of my favorite mini games in an rpg ever.
The changes to the battle system I don't really mind, though they seem ill-advised and threaten to make the difficulty of an already comfortable game entirely negligible.
This is the main reason I am skipping this. I’m glad I heard about how they have trivialized the combat before buying. Can this feature be disabled? Why would they do this?
This is the main reason I am skipping this. I’m glad I heard about how they have trivialized the combat before buying. Can this feature be disabled? Why would they do this?
I wouldn't say they have totally trivialized it. I was most worried that timed hits now damage multiple enemies. Thing is you have to execute a *perfect* timed hit and the damage on the other enemies isn't very substantial. The game differentiates between a standard action command and a perfectly timed one, which is not that easy to pull off.
That alone doesn't really trivialize the battle system, but in tandem with other changes, it does add up.
I find the new mechanics useful for the way I like to play this game after so many times, which is to blow through it generally avoiding unnecessary battles. It gives you more opportunities to rely on timed hits and special mechanics to pull things off without leveling, which means you are still really paying attention. But you're unlikely to play it this way unless you already know your way around the SNES version.
The original was amazing and I remember like yesterday. I'm playing the remake and so far it's soo good. This game and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure were my favs when I was 5-6. Jesus, I'm getting old.
This is the main reason I am skipping this. I’m glad I heard about how they have trivialized the combat before buying. Can this feature be disabled? Why would they do this?
This is what I don't understand. At least give us the option to have a little challenge. This game is supposed to be ultra faithful to the original ...but not in one important area..difficulty.
They did the same thing to Mario Wonder. You can't disable the ability to have an extra power up item at at all times so there's rarely any fear of dying in that game.
It's simply bad game design to not balance these mechanics. So stupid and unnecessary. Options!
They did the same thing to Mario Wonder. You can't disable the ability to have an extra power up item at at all times so there's rarely any fear of dying in that game.
I'm a bit hesitant about picking this up. That's not to say I won't, in fact I probably will at some point, but that SMRPG is one of my all-time most beloved games and everything that has been changed seems to be for the worse or makes the game slightly less special. The changes to the battle system I don't really mind, though they seem ill-advised and threaten to make the difficulty of an already comfortable game entirely negligible. It's more a collection of the small things which collectively give the game its flavour and have been altered for no necessary reason. The transition to cutscenes to show previously seamless scripted in-game events feels like it will lose some of the game's diorama, pantomime quality. Many of the jokes in those sequences work because they aren't set up as 'events', but form a natural part of the SMRPG world. Timing and presentation matter in comedy and SMRPG's characters are relateable, and therefore funnier, because they're always seen in the same way throughout, the same way as we experience the game through the player character. Snapping to a cut-scene 'event' threatens to break that bond and the immersion: I've looked up some moments from the old game as depicted in the remake and so far, all of them are lessened by such changes.
(There's also a small issue in how the game no longer seems to differentiate in font between what a character is saying out loud and what they're thinking, which affects
Bowser's haiku
, something the character ought to have been thinking but instead says out loud, which is less funny and soulful to me. In the video I watched, the text also scrolls a lot faster, again throwing off the timing of the joke.)
Another is the changes to the script and the names. The one that epitomises my issue is when (minor spoilers) Mario disguises himself as a statue so a sculptor can sneak him into an enemy's palace, and when questioned by guards, the sculptor says the Mario 'statue' is called 'A Plumber's Lament' and describes him thusly: 'Observe...the thick mustache...covering the sad, innocent smile of a simple fool... And the sideburns...conveying his blue collar roots. And the legs...well defined... Strong. The legs of the masses!' It's a great joke, spoofing pretentious art criticism, Mario's blue collar design and his somewhat blank expression. The new translation is closer to what I understand was the Japanese original, calling the Mario statue
In Search Of Lost Brother
, which is apparently a gag originally referencing an anime series, altered for Mario lore. The problem is that this joke is not only less relevant to your average Western player - particularly since the anime title is actually different to how the new joke is translated - but has less depth, a little less bite and personality. The same goes for changing Mack's name to Claymorton, which is a pretty good name in isolation but removes the little joke referencing Mack The Knife, something which might not be as known in Japan, or Yaridovich to the vastly uglier Speardovic. Mario RPG had a famously janky translation but that jank produced a lot of what made the game distinctive. What is literally correct to the Japanese original is not necessarily best for other audiences nor an improvement on what players like me found special in the first Western release. At least they Peach's ??? in there.
To be clear, I'm not making this out to be a bigger issue than it is and will likely pick up the game at some point, even if in part to show support for Nintendo making more Mario RPGs (whether in this style or Paper). It surely still plays very well and the new visuals and music manage to modernise while staying faithful to the spirit of the original. It's just that, for me, what has been changed at the script level especially make a very special game slightly less special, and I'm not quite ready just now to play a less special version of a special game.
GameStop Pro Members can get the digital version for $53.99, or you can save $5 if you order physical for store pickup. I bought the digital version and used a $10 gift card I had for a total of about $48 after tax. Also got 300 coins for it. Pretty nice for a day one digital Nintendo game.
This remake of SMRPG was apparently made because of a contract from Nintendo, although people from Square Enix did supervise and the original composer remixed her own tracks. The developer was ArtePiazza who are better known for working on Dragon Quest.
Played for 5 hours yesterday.
thoroughly impressed by how they transplanted the original source material in a way that it looks how one would visualize it in his mind back in the day.
Only small blasmish is stuttering happening sometime.
Mario's "jump" special still has the hidden feature to increase the power the more is used.
Still waiting on my copy from Shop To, they have until 5 for their play on release guarantee so who knows
Anyway first time playing this, the original never came out over here in the UK so never had a means to play it outside of piracy and never got around to it (same with Paper Mario outside of the first 3) looking forward to it
Played up to getting Geno last night. Each star so far is pretty decent chunk of game to play through in one sitting with the kiddo before taking a break for the night. It’s probably been 20 years since I last ran through it but I’m pretty sure the latter stars take longer. I can’t wait for my kid’s shock when Bowser joins the party
This being my first RPG, I have such memories of what feels like playing this game forever "in the trenches" back in 1996 and really struggling to beat it. It wasn't until now that I realize it came out a paltry 4 months before Nintendo 64, and I'm kind of astonished I finished the whole game in that window. I just remember it completely decimating the fifth grade. My worst school year of all time.
as.com
perfect timing for 16 hours of travel
