I've never played a Paper Mario game before in my life, but always liked watching videos about it. People were always saying how TTYD is great, and when this remake was announced I saw my chance to pick it up and play to see if it was what as people say it is and they're right it's great. Super Mario RPG's Remake while it was fine with how it made it up for the post game boss fights, slightly disappointed for its main game and its story. This game's story is much more exciting with characters that I grew attached to really quick for its charming partners and npcs. It made the world feel alive with the different mario-esque designs from all walks of life in Rogueport and some locations that I feel in love with the game's presentation quick; I was going to do everything in this game. It even fixes some of the backtracking such as in Ch4 from what I've heard of so it's a plus. I admit it slightly teeters down in some parts of the game like finding that goddamn General White but it immediately picks back up again that I never felt bored. Oh yeah, obviously the games graphics are great in pushing the paper crafts aesthetic. That much I don't need to say--both the OG and Remake are pretty solid in terms of the looks and artstyle. Remake's looks are just a bonus.

Gameplay's something I ADORE too. Really cool to see an rpg utilize low damage numbers and the badge system is just fun. I will say it: you are missing out if you aren't heavily investing in badge points because there are various builds you can do once you've built enough BP late game to become unstoppable i.e. Peril Strats or the like. The theater-aesthetic with the crowd mechanics and various happenings that can occur in it as well as some bosses that USES the crowd to their advantage are great in both idea and execution. On the exploration parts, it also has that collectathon side to it for getting the star pieces and shine sprites that, as a reward, lands you more badges and stronger partners. Slight gripe about it is that the level design is very linear and that when the crowd wants to throw you something it is slightly more intrusive at the cost of seeing what they want to throw at you. Also hunting for recipes for the 100% is a pain. The remake adds in 2 new super bosses, one in the main game and the other in post-game (that I recommend looking up how to unlock), that are well designed to fight that I wish Nintendo would let IntSys cook again to make shit like this once more.

Paper Mario: TTYD is a game that makes me feel comfy with its fairy tale style storytelling, makes me engaged in the combat, and makes me appreciate how good the OG is that I'm thinking about play Paper Mario 64 and the fanmade work Bug Fables. Really enjoyed everything in what it does, and glad that it is more accessible on the Switch. I would kill for another game like this again.

Also, Vivian the goat.