Overall fun-enough game. It doesn't help that I grew up with TTYD and played PM64 afterwards.
The visual style, action command combat, and badge system are all clever ways that Paper Mario sets itself apart, especially for its time. To this day, over 20 years later, it's still rare to find a game that plays quite like the original two Paper Mario games. The variety of ways you can approach a battle is easy to customize, deceptively simple, and intuitive enough for all ages. I'm sure that repeated playthroughs can go quite differently with a simple change in personal strategy.
That said, the story is dreadfully boring and cliche even for a Mario game, and the cast of characters that follow Mario don't really have any agency or intrigue to them after your first meeting. You get to visit some interesting areas, but actual traversal is kind of a slog, causing the busywork side activities to pad out the journey to an uncomfortable length.
Overall, I'm more happy to move on from the game than satisfied with my journey.
The visual style, action command combat, and badge system are all clever ways that Paper Mario sets itself apart, especially for its time. To this day, over 20 years later, it's still rare to find a game that plays quite like the original two Paper Mario games. The variety of ways you can approach a battle is easy to customize, deceptively simple, and intuitive enough for all ages. I'm sure that repeated playthroughs can go quite differently with a simple change in personal strategy.
That said, the story is dreadfully boring and cliche even for a Mario game, and the cast of characters that follow Mario don't really have any agency or intrigue to them after your first meeting. You get to visit some interesting areas, but actual traversal is kind of a slog, causing the busywork side activities to pad out the journey to an uncomfortable length.
Overall, I'm more happy to move on from the game than satisfied with my journey.