I have an acquaintance who firmly believes that Super Paper Mario and Sticker Star are on the same level of quality (which, in this case, is bad and irredeemable). regardless of their opinions on Super Paper Mario, they are wrong because this game is poorly thought on very fundamental levels

there isn't a lot I can say that people haven't already said. combat outside of bosses is useless at best and actively detrimental at worst, which sucks because the actual combat system is... actually kind of okay. there's no sense of progression for Mario as a character - even Super Paper Mario, which was light on RPG systems, still had concepts of leveling up and obtaining characters and powers

bosses themselves are rather problematic. in order to fight a boss without dying or being forced to use up every sticker you own, you are required to find Things throughout the world. you have to use it at the right time or else it doesn't work as well... or something like that. it's been a while since I last played

most of the humor relies on "haha we're paper isn't that funny?" joke that was used thoughtfully in the first three games, except that's their only joke now

I have only gotten past the first world and I plan to come back to Sticker Star at a later time. I want to hope that I can find some more positives that aren't just the art style and soundtrack, but other reviews haven't left me hopeful